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A Turbo Oral History Pt. 1

 Like Mega Man said, "We are the sum of our experiences." One of the exciting things about being an adult gamer is sharing your gaming background with other adult gamers. Every gamer is different, because every gamer grew up in a different environment, with different access to different games and gaming devices. So, in the great tradition of ... oral tradition, Turbo Boss Battle's two editors present the first part of their gaming history.

Alex: I'll start with a question to you to get started: What was the first game you played, how old were you, and what year was it?

Paul: The earliest game I remember playing was Metroid for NES at my cousins’ house. It must have been 1990 or 91, so I was 3 or 4. That's what I feel in my gut anyways

Paul: Now back at you. First game?

Alex: It was Mario and Duck Hunt for me, that’s what I remember playing a lot of when I was really young. My parents said I was 2 when I started playing which would have made it 1989.  I definitely don't know how much I actually "played" but my parents joke that I was basically born with a controller in my hand

Paul: So your older brother had an NES?

Alex: Yeah, it was my brother's. Strangely, I don't remember playing video games with my brother at all even though we shared video games consoles for many years

Alex: What was your first system?

Paul: My first system was actually an Atari 2600 that a family friend had given to us - I was 5.

Alex: do you have any fond memories of specific 2600 games?  What were some that stick out in your mind?

Paul: I had lots of fond memories - it was a gorgeous piece of hardware and I had it hooked up to this old knob-turner TV in my room. I had two controllers and liked to play COMBAT with my mom, especially the tank game with the bouncing bullets. I had a lot of games but mostly liked Defender and Frogger and this space game I can't remember. And yes, I had Pac-man, and yes, even that young I knew it was bad.

Paul: Have you ever played a 2600??

Alex: The only time I remember playing it was when we would rent out a condo in New Hampshire or Maine to go skiing.  I think the owners used to put their children’s old systems in the condo.  I only ever remember playing Pitfall and feeling really smart for figuring out I could run to the left.Years later when we had a Genesis, that condo replaced the Atari with an NES, I was a little disappointed because I had already moved on from NES, but Atari was so rare to me

Paul: Yeah, there’s a special place in this world for the 2600. I still have it somewhere in my parents’ house. I need to find it, even though I can’t play it on any TV I own. Not that I’d want to. I just want to look at the console itself.

Alex: How do you think those early gaming moments defined you as a gamer or person, if at all?

Paul: Well, since I had my Atari in my room, I know I grew to prefer gaming as a private experience. If it's just me, a console, and a TV, no one can interrupt me and I’m not interrupting anyone. With later systems that I had to play on the living room TV (composite cables and all), I’d always have to stop when my parents had shows they wanted to watch.

Alex: Even though I always had to share consoles, I think I feel the same way. We did have separate TVs, one in the basement, and one in the living room, so I wasn't booted off if someone wanted to watch TV. I very much liked my game playing to be an experience, something I could really focus on and get into.

Paul: Yeah exactly. I’m sure that, and being an only child in my case, then led to me being into RPGs, the ultimate solitary game experience.

Alex: We had a good variety of NES games, and I remember I would always borrow games from my neighbors. The kids over there were older and grew out of the NES but they would let me borrow games, which I think really got me to enjoy all sorts of different games- from sports, to RPGs.

Paul: Did you ever rent games?

Alex: Ohhhh yes, Stop & Shop right down the street was where we used to go. I don't remember very many rentals, but I remember that they had a Game Genie you could rent, and they even gave you the book with it, but it was like, you weren't getting a game too, though sometimes my parents would let me rent that and a game as well, I feel sort of bad now that I asked them to rent both for me.

Paul: Stop & Shop was a great video store for renting games. Can I just add that, before ever having played any video games, I remember renting a caveman videogame from Stop & Shop with my dad, and not knowing you had to have a console to play it in.

Alex: Wait wait. A caveman game? Like the one I bought from Stop & Shop?

Paul: Yeah man, maybe Joe and Mac? Is that it?

Alex: No, I think it was Big Nose. Yeah, Big Nose the Caveman

Paul: Yeah, had to be because it would've been for NES. OMG it’s our nerd destiny.

Alex: Haha, that amazing. Big Nose was a great game, I have a very specific memory of my parents saying "You can buy a game from Stop & Shop", and we went there and I chose that game for no reason other than the cover art.

Paul: I have the SNES Phantom 2040 from Stop & Shop, but that's jumping ahead a few years. I have to remember that with my 2600, I couldn’t rent any games. My parents would take me to Save the Dragon, this independent game store in downtown Beverly, MA, and they would have to dig in their attic for 2600 games.

Alex: Hmm, any other subject we should cover?

Paul: Yes, the Atari came with an issue of the official Atari Force comic and I loved it

Alex: Haha, what was Atari Force?

Paul: Atari Force was this futuristic, G.I. Joe type organization that did missions for Atari or something. I didn't really understand it as a kid - I didn’t get why Atari was this pseudo military organization that was sending people to the moon. But it had great art, and I’m a good artist! So I have Atari to thank

Alex: Did you ever have an NES?

Paul: Yes - at some point my parents got me a pre-owned NES from that Dragon game store, along with the combo Mario Bros/Duck Hunt cart.The only other game I owned for it was Kirby's Adventure - my first brand new game.

Alex: Ohhh what a great game.

Paul: I also owned a broken Super C I got at a yard sale.

Alex: Ohh, we had Contra.

Paul: That NES was a champ though... I sold it to Brendan in 2004 and he still uses it.

Alex: I think I’ll have to write a more in depth article about specific NES games. Mega Man 2 sticks out in my head.

Paul: I rented a lot of games, I def rented Mega Man 5 a lot. Part 2 should be the 8-bit, heavy rental years

Alex: OK, one last question.

Paul: Shoot

Alex: How far away from the screen did you stand when playing duck hunt?

Paul: Well I was really bad for a long time, then got a lot better - and to be honest I’m not sure if I started far away and got close or vice versa.

Paul: You?

Alex: The gun was touching the screen, haha.

Paul: Hahahha

Alex: When I got older I finally stood back from the screen.

Paul: Wasn’t it easier when you actually aimed?

Alex: Nope, just touch the gun to the screen where the duck is and shoot.

Look for Part 2 of our Turbo Oral History next Friday!

About Paul

Paul has been playing games since he cut his teeth on an old Atari 2600 in the early 1990s. He has played every console generation since, and currently jams on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and DSi. He proudly does not own a Wii, and goes back and forth on whether he'd want a gaming PC (he did his fair share of Mac gaming back in the day though). Games-wise, Paul came up in the world a pretty big JRPG nerd, but now he's mellowed plays mostly anything good or weird. He does maintain a pretty impressive collection Playstation 1-era RPGs.