I'm one of those many people who got away from the, quote, "nicer" games - most of the stuff of Nintendo. Pokemon, Zelda, and other Nintendo franchises. Even though I'm a huge Sega Genesis fanboy, that fanboyism comes mostly from my love of realistic games. But fact of the matter is, I still love Nintendo, along with the nicer of games available on various platforms. I still have a soft spot for such games in my heart.

The original "hardcore me" started with the NES, as was the case with most avid gamers. You always hear someone refer to Super Mario Bros. as being "ye beginning of gaming". Even though that's not true, what is solid is the impact Nintendo's franchises had on the game industry and gamers as a whole. That's why we have things like the 8-bit chiptune music movement centered around a love of Nintendo nostalgia and paraphernalia.

We've seen gaming head in a ton of other directions throughout the ages, but the brunt of truth behind most people's love of gaming begins with a NES, if not a gaming platform that eventually led folks to a love of the NES. The various works seen on Nintendo hardware are just lovable pieces of history.

 

I want to say this is all because of Pokemon.

 

Because of Pokemon, I'm pressed to explore more Nintendo games, some of which I'm familiar with already, like Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, and Zelda. Yes, Zelda. While I detest the fanboyism that surrounds things like Zelda, MLP, and FNAF, what I'm willing to pour my time and love into is design. I've seen blogs where people berate the game design in the Zelda franchise, but despite all my tryhard efforts to do the same, I actually dig Zelda deep down. I like the top-down Zelda's most, though, but I've played Wind Waker before, and I have Ocarina of Time on my original Wii, though I'd lean more towards Wind Waker. Still, I love the retro stylized Zelda's most.

I mention Pokemon because I've been playing lots of Pokemon Red of the original Gameboy...on my PSP! Not the authentic original Gameboy experience, of course, because of no link up connectivity with other devices, but the old-school RPG experience is still there. I'm actually itching to go back and play the first Golden Sun now (I've never played the second one.). That, and any retro stylized Zelda game.

I have grown up with a couple of the newer Nintendo games, but certainly not the newest ones. Several Gameboy Advance titles (the GBA was my first Gameboy, but I did get a taste of the original one early on through a friend), less so Gamecube titles, but several, About 12 original Nintendo DS titles, and much less "Original Wii" titles. I can see a trend starting here. In time, as per affordability, I'd be even more an avid Nintendo supporter. And this doesn't surprise me, since before making the jump to the PS3 I first chose to make the jump to the original Wii.

 

Through emulation, I'm in a mood to revisit the many Nintendo games I remember, and enjoy old ones that are new to me. I never grew up with the Pokemon games! And the only reason I know about Fire Emblem and the first Golden Sun is because I was always a Final Fantasy Tactics and Suikoden 1 & 2 fan.

I've been wanting to be far less of a hard ass in many areas of my life lately, including where the whole "Christianity vs Atheism" thing stands. There's good and bad people to be found on both sides of that spectrum, and I've always been much of a hater towards the side of Christianity. I'm willing to change that...

 

Pokemon Red is fun! It's reviving my love of old-school RPGs like Phantasy Star 2 and 4, and the original first 6 Final Fantasies. ^_^