Well, I'm back out on the street and raising my dukes in Street Fighter Zero 2, top-earning arcade game for 1996. By now you know the story: I pick someone with whom to try it out (Zangief, this time), I win three fights in relatively easy fashion, and then I lose and move on.
Look, I know that I'm not a fighting game guy; I don't care to learn the button combinations (well, I learned a few for the first Mortal Kombat) and I flatly refuse to block. It seems, though, that I can win three fights just by jumping, kicking, and punching.
(I almost had you in this one, Ryu)
I can remember the first opportunity that I had to play Super Mario 64. I was working a two-week, holiday job at Zellers where I went in at night to restock shelves and they had a cabinet with a Nintendo 64 and the Mario game loaded to play.
For anyone of a slightly younger age who has read about the eye-opening, mind-blowing experience of playing the 3D re-imagining of Mario for the first time, let me assure you: it was eye-opening and mind-blowing.
It was a little while until I had an N64 of my own, and as my bundle came with Mario Kart I was focused on that for quite a while before I circled around to getting a cartridge of Mario 64. I never played it to 100% completion, but still found myself pouring hours upon hours into collecting stars and finally toppling Bowser.
This time, I played it through the reliable Switch Online library and played to the first Bowser battle pictured above. It's still an incredible game.
Next up is Pokemon ... almost. The number-one selling game in handheld gaming, on the Game Boy, wasn't available yet in North America, but its sales in Japan were enough to put it on top.
It's not Pokemon yet because it's still called Pocket Monsters, and you can play the Japanese version here.
This was me playing the game with the aid of Google Translate and picking a name because I liked the way the characters looked (ネネ). I made it through the introductory story, met a few people (including the very first guy to express his awe of technology, a character that would become a staple in Pokemon games), got my Charmander, and called it a day.
I missed out on Pokemon until the last couple of years, so this is a fun history lesson for me to go back and play some original content.
And to wrap up: last year's best-selling PC game wasted no time in developing a sequel to its hit Command & Conquer and it retained the number-one spot with Red Alert.
This game, which I didn't really know was a prequel in this alternate reality storyline until I read up on it afterwards, is a much more refined version of the first game. I found it easier to follow and more intuitive in a pick-up-and-play fashion. From what I saw the mechanics are largely the same, but the graphics have received a substantial upgrade.
And hey - I rescued Einstein on my second try, so I felt pretty chuffed about that.
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