My Most Memorable Gaming Experience.

Half-Life 2, LAN Parties, DOD Source, Final Fantasy 11, I've spent a fair amount time with each of these games and I've had a lot of fun on each of them. But my most memorable experience was none of them. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 for NES takes the cake since it is a cooperative game which are by far the most fun. I was about 11 years old and I was at my friends house for the weekend. When we started we didn't have in mind to beat the game exactly but we sure did turn into a great gaming duo.

We battled the Foot Soldiers with brute force, Mousers stood no chance against us, the bosses were a bit of a challenge but we had them beat pretty easily. Krang proved difficult too since it had two mode, body mode and floaty mode. Still yet we powered through, in a mode of concentration like no other. We made it all the way to Shredder, the final boss. Shell shocked and hungering for more pizza we battled every hologram, and beat Shredder to within an inch of his life but we both died and the game was over.

Even today I struggle with losing in games. I get angry, curse, hit the desk, and just act ridiculous. Mom used to always say "It's just a game." Yeah? Well tell that to all the soccer fans of the world. I am passionate about video games. While I am playing a video game, in that moment, it feels like the ultimate accomplishment, or failure of my life depending on how I do. I vividly remember shouting a curse word while playing the NES, which was usual when Mom wasn't home, but Mom was home this time. I got the worst hot sinking feeling I think I have ever had that day. The punishment wasn't grand, but that feeling alone was enough.

The peculiar thing was that -- instead of trashing the place out of so much blinding anger we had this incredible rush of energy. It was like we had reached the peak of our lives. So since we were still brimming with energy, we walked -- no we floated through his cow field for over an hour blurting out our excitement to one another, talking of the intricacies of how we played and how we in many ways had triumphed, and yet ultimately failed. As we dodged cow patties we were truly elated. We wished of course that we had beat the game, which I had done a few times playing the game alone, but never in cooperative mode. We really enjoyed the experience.

I suppose that looking back on this experience, even though I'm not a huge fan of sports, I do understand why sports are so important to so many people. The passion for gaming and camaraderie I felt that day was almost an out of body experience. Which seems kind of dangerous when I think about it now. I think it would have been if that happiness had been replaced with the rage that I would normally have had. The absence of which baffles me to this day.