Escape from reality with the world of video games

[a_natural_beauty]

So it's been a minute since I wrote anything about my personal life. I was going to do this post last week, but got caught up with my other hobbies, the one being playing my new favorite video game - "Paleo Pines".
I think this journal entry will be about a few of the video games I enjoyed throughout my life to date.

On and off again I have played different sorts of video games, computer ones and different sorts of systems. It all started with an old Sega my sister and I got from our older brother. That involved us playing hours of "Sonic", "Golden Axe", some knockoff Tetris game and a bit of "Street fighter" that I can recall. Then it evolved into the love of "Pokemon" and I got a Gameboy color - which, again took up many hours of my life as I only bought and played "Pokemon" games on it. My sister dated a few guys who had game systems and would bring them over and play a wide assortment of games while we either would join in or just watch . Sometimes I would spend time drawing the characters off of the covers.

Sometime during the 90's we got a computer and that came with the love of those cheesy yet addicting Sim games like "Sim park", "Sim safari", "Streets of sim city", ect. I got into this game called "Creatures", which was a huge favorite for many years to come. You hatched an egg and had this little monster who you raised and over time you could raise more in this weird little world. We also had other weird games, some learning ones, but others that were just weird - a game called "Afterlife" where you created a heaven and hell, which was very difficult and probably not the best for a teen at that time in my life. And this weird game called "Titanic" or something related to that where you were some sort of spy or detective and had to solve this crime before the ship hit the iceberg. I could never do it and always ended up dying. But it was still pretty weird and kind of exciting. When I got to be older I got into "Unreal tournament" and that was probably the most violent game I ever enjoyed playing, mostly I liked capture the flag missions. For what feels like a short period of time I played some more "Pokemon" games and "Harvest Moon" on my computer. I feel like we had maybe a dozen of other games but I can't recall important details right now. While I hug out with my boyfriend at the time we would play games on his PC - the main one we loved was "The Sims". Where we created all sorts of strange people with their strange lives. It was it's own kind of fun.

Then as I got older I got a 3ds. Which was fun, with that came games like "Mario Kart", "Animal crossing" and more "Pokemon" games. I still have my one old 3ds and all of my games.

And later on I got my switch and that involves all of my new current games I've been playing, like "Pokemon" (of course, I have a problem!), "Mario Kart", "Tetris", "Puyo puyo tetris", "Animal crossing", "Sky", "Disney dreamlight valley" and now Paleo pines".
During covid and during a moment of weakness I bought an old Game boy color to play "Pokemon" again and that was fun briefly. I now have a sega with "Golden axxe", too. But I have played little of that.

This post came out much longer and involved more thinking than I fist thought it would! Maybe this is what I get for neglecting you guys! :-p
But I guess what I am getting at is these games - like everything else in my life - has shaped my past and in a way, who I am today with my taste of games. I've been playing so much of "Paleo pines" because it is simple, slow-paced, cute, colorful and just lets me get away from the world and all of the issues we are currently having. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the life I have, but sometimes I just need to get away. Right now my comic is hitting a sad spot and at times that can really bring my mood down. So when I am not doing my other hobbies like putting a puzzle together or stamps in an album or reading a book, I may be curled up on my couch playing this new cozy dinosaur game.

Comments

[matt_zimmer]

I have a Switch too. I love Mario and Kirby games the best.

[jasonderoga86]

Definite Kirby fan here! Though I gotta say... Kirby games may look cute and colorful, but I've seen some pretty dark themes in them. For example, take the concept of the characters Dark Matter and Zero; Dark Matter is pretty much HAL Laboratory/Nintendo's idea of The Exorcist, and after having fully completed Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, I gotta say that Zero Two's bleeding eye was a bit unsettling. 😲

[a_natural_beauty]

I actually have never played many kirby games! But I did watch the show as a kid. :)
Yeah, they can be pretty dark! Maybe someday I will try some of them out. They do look fun and there seems to be a good variety.

[a_natural_beauty]

Hey, if you want to ever trade friend codes we can! :)
What Mario games do you like?

[matt_zimmer]

What's a friend code?

I am currently playing Super Mario Maker 2 and the classic games for the NES / SNES on Nintendo Switch Online.

[a_natural_beauty]

Oh, maybe there is a different name for it...but you can add others as friends and can see what they are playing, play with them in certain games - things like that.

Mike (Lord myk as you know him as) likes playing those NES / SNES games on his switch :-)

[matt_zimmer]

That sounds a little daunting to me. Thanks though.

Very interesting! 😊

[jasonderoga86]

Man, I can totally relate to the Pokémon craze on the Game Boy. To me, the best of the series was unquestionably Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal (Johto League). My brother got Silver Version as a birthday gift, and let's just say that time no longer really existed for the next four or so months. Add to that my near-obsession with the franchise at the time (especially with the character Pikachu; to this day, I find it to be one of the cutest video game characters ever. Its voice, its mannerisms, its "tough guy" moments... and fun fact: Pikachu was actually part of the basis for Sneakers's design from Sneakers' U-Force, namely the facial features and the baseball cap), and yeah. Summer was Johto Season for us.

Heh, I take it that the "Tetris knockoff" game on the Sega console was probably "Columns." And as far as Sonic the Hedgehog goes... I'll put it this way. Had it not been for the little blue "dude with a 'tude", I don't think I'd be interested in drawing today. The day I first played Sonic the Hedgehog on my cousin's Sega Genesis -- I was around 5 years old at the time -- I was so fascinated with the game, and Sonic's design was really appealing to me. So appealing, in fact, that after we were done playing, my cousin and I spent hours drawing Sonic and Dr. Eggman (called Robotnik in America). From that day on, every day I was drawing Sonic doing something. Then elementary school came, and I read my first Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book. From that day on, I had decided comics would be my preferred way of writing and illustrating stories. Also, and this is probably pretty obvious, most of the character designs from my "OmniLegend Tales" comics take some inspiration from Sonic characters.

Oh my God, Unreal Tournament... that was around my early teens, and a very poignant introduction to M-rated games in general. I wasn't really good at it, yet it was strangely addicting. Personally, the most violent video game I've ever played is definitely Resident Evil 4. I was very hesitant to play that one; my friends had to kindly "strongarm" me into trying it out. I do not regret it -- it was actually REALLY good -- but man, So. Much. BLOOD, and So. Much. GORE.

I too have a 3DS, or more specifically, a 3DS XL. Like many, I took the bait of a glasses-free 3D gaming experience hook, line, and sinker. And the 3D slider was neat, but I later found it to be ineffective when actually playing a game. Still, I had lots of fun playing it, and it had a hefty library of games. The last game I remember playing the most on it was Pokémon Y, and it was an interesting step for the franchise, but also a bit too easy.

Ah, Nintendo Switch... it took me up to February of this year to finally buy one. The circumstances were perfect; I bought the Switch as a gift to myself in light of all the hard work I accomplished at my new job, as well as how far I came with my graphic novels. Right now, the game I've put the most hours into is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That game is MASSIVE; I still can't grasp how Nintendo was able to put so much stuff into one tiny game card, and that's to say nothing of the ability to play something this big on the go. Video game consoles have certainly come a LONG way, and in Nintendo's case, I have NO IDEA how they can top this console as far as innovation goes. It's gonna be really difficult to raise the bar again from this.

Nah, I don't think you've neglected us at all! 😆 I can relate on the point of video games being an escape from reality. I think that's what they've always been made for, to brighten one's mood or test one's reflexes/thinking patterns (as is the case with me and Zelda). I fall back on this when I'm not lost in webcomics or creating my own stories, and after a long and difficult decade of struggles with physical and mental health, I'm glad to say that things are looking up for the most part. To me, escapism isn't "keeping one's head in the clouds." The truth of the matter, as many will tell us, is that the real world isn't all sugar and rainbows; it can at times be very cold and cruel. And during those times, we all need an escape to defend ourselves against depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. It's a perfectly sensible and logical way for anyone to remember the good in things, and by extension, the good in the world. 😇

Re: Very interesting! 😊

[a_natural_beauty]

Wow, well this is good information to know about you and Sneakers before I do your review this week! (Tomorrow or Saturday at the latest I will write it and share it!) Yes! I can totally see it now! That's amazing!!

Pikachu is pretty darn cute. I'm not a huge fan, but I do like Pikachu enough not to hate it. I feel like there can be some very strong hate towards Pikachu. My favorites are from the first two generations - Chansey, Bulbasaur and probably Nidoqueen. My favorite game was also Gold, Silver and Crystal. I eventually owned them all. I think what excited me the most was having a female to play as finally!

I think you are correct about Columns. It was fun, but just didn't stick in my memory well enough to remember the name. :-p It sounds like you had a really fun childhood. I spent a-lot of time playing with my sister until she got older and interested in boys... blah! I remember mostly drawing out Pokemon characters to hang on my walls but I most likely drew sonic at some point, too.

Yeah, Resident Evil always looked pretty dark to me. I'm not sure why, but just seeing all of that and all the killing... it's always been a turnoff to me. I forget what game my one ex played... but there was a part where one of the characters had a shield of slightly alive people. And you could hear them scream, move in pain and slowly die as you had to shoot at it. No thanks... -__-

That reminds me! I had a 3dsXL, too! And traded it in for my smaller one I think.... Gosh, it's been so many years.

I've heard good things of the new Zelda games. But I never got into it. The newer Pokemon games are pretty fun if you want to try something new. :) I feel that the storylines to the games aren't the best- but I love how the new games go - the battles and everything involved with what you can do to interact with your little pocket monsters.

Thanks for saying that! When I log on here I see how much you guys update and sometimes I feel bad for not logging in sooner and seeing what you are up to! I do love this site, it's just sometimes I don't like being on my lap top much. But I feel this week I have gotten more accomplished than I normally have in the last few. And if you ever want to trade friend codes, let me know!

[jazznevermore]

I'm not really much of a gamer these days, but there's one thing I do know, and that is the fact that video games are all about escapism. That's their whole job.

I remember a mobile game I was really into a couple years back called Urban Rivals, which is basically a quick and lightweight CCG with simple gameplay mechanics but a shit-ton of variety. I quit playing it after a while, but I'm thinking about re-installing it.

[a_natural_beauty]

Huh, I never heard of Urban Rivals. But I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
The only CCGs I got into was Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oho that I learned how to play. There were a few others I collected.

We all need some escapism from time to time.

[jazznevermore]

Yeah, escapism matters.

[adafrog]

:)