Favorite Video Games #1

 Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig.

I can tell you the first time I ever played Dig Dug. It was the early 90s and I found myself at an urban amusement/theme park called Felicilandia. Note that Felicilandia sucked. Large and ungainly it was a county fair made permanent by the tropical latitudes. The sort of rides they truck in to the fairgrounds every summer? Those were held down by cinder blocks at this park. It had an open air arcade with rows of cabinets, their backs to each other, under a high zinc roof. There I first played Dig Dug. I don't remember anything happening or "clicking" in that moment but it is the only game I can remember exactly where I was when first playing it.

DigDug is a maze game, like PacMan*, except you make the maze as you dig through the brightly colored strata. There is a satisfaction in clearing away the level albeit that is challenging as the game eventually sends the enemies into a frenzy and speeds them up.

How you defeat your enemies? Will you poke them and then you blow them!** But, seriously you pump them up with air until they pop.

A great feeling in Dig Dug is finessing killing two enemies on both sides of you by flippings the joy stick left and right pumping one enemy and then flipping to the other before the first deflates. You are able to shuffle them back and forth until you are out of a jam.

You can always go deeper in Dig Dug save that not much changes save the color of the digital dirt. Your level is signified by a flower on top Roman numeral style. Each little tulip is one level and then big spindly one is ten. 

Dig Dug is the only game I can see I am somewhat good at. And good in the way of netting high scores. Not anything to specifically brag about. The world record is in the millions but I can get to 75,000 which is enough to hold it down on the arcade side. This is the oldest game on the list (1981) and it is one where you can memorize patterns and "get gud." The first few levels are all muscle memory save when you want to have fun and mess around. Clear all the spaces and try to crush four monsters at once with a rock. 

It is GREAT to crush enemies with a rock. You can kill them by pumping them. When there is only one enemy left, the last one freaks out and runs away meaning you can always leave one survivor. Crushing with a rock? Now that is classy. It is using a semi colon appropriately. It is satisfying like pulling a long seam of painter's tape off the baseboard. Two enemies at once with a rock! Just lovely. Three? Its Babe Ruth calling a home run blast. Four at once?! Pure power!

Dig Dug reminds me of The Happy Dog bar in Cleveland and playing for hours with out of town friends on the square table stop cabient. Your look down into the game and can set your drink on the glass! Later that night...we had an early Halloween party and told everyone we were expecting our first child. 

There is a Dig Dug port on the arcade game at work. One (the best) of the 5000 games on it. I swear no one plays the thing save for me (Dig Dug) and someone deep down the hall who plays Tetris. More digging for me. 

*Made/owned by same company and the DigDug characters are canon in the PacMan lore. Whether the lore is in the original games I doubt (Ms. PacMan had cut scenes) but the later games had something.

** I know that is not the exact quote but too good to turn it down

Favorite Video Games #2

 My daughter's first day of kindergarten began in her room on a Chromebook that I had, years ago, bought and provisioned for children that were now likely second graders. This was right in middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and remote learning. And her teacher was holding the morning meeting Zoom call letting everyone know the rules even though we were all, using the parlance at the time, asymmetrical. I recall her teacher, who, at the time was also a coworker, being everything on the screen, highlighting her freckles and curls "We are going to teach each other. I know a lot about letters and numbers and animals. I don't know a lot about Roblox or Fortnite or Minecraft, but I bet you do"

Minecraft. Yes, my kids knew a lot about it. Minecraft is likely the game I have played the most in my entire life. Xbox did this thing where during its 20th anniversary it sent reports of hours played and Minecraft came in at close to 800. And in vanilla* Minecraft. Note, my children shared my account, but yeah its a lot. I spent many early morning evenings during the work from home period just going endless in Minecraft.

This is a favorite video game because it is game I played with both of my children who have dressed as Steve, the "hero" of the game, and then an axolotl. Which is not from Minecraft originally but my kids know what it is because of the game. 

Minecraft is the biggest video game of all time. It is likely the most successful (over 100 million copies sold. We own five different versions of it on multiple platforms) albeit there is debate that Tetris beats it. It is so big Microsoft bought it from the original developers and now its licensure is integrated into bundles of licensing for Windows, Word, etc.

Trying to talk about it is akin to trying to talk about an entire country. A good writer would struggle and this is just a blog I write to be read by a lonely bot on the shores of Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia. So I will talk about things that impressed me about the game and why I played it so much.

Minecraft is a sandbox game. Everything is block and the world is made of distinct biomes, inspired by real world and fantasy locations, that are randomly generated when the game save launches. The game has a decentralized lore where the word is live in (There are monsters** and people but you are the only person that has any impact on the world). There is no reason for you, the player, to be here.

And when you begin a new world (Seed in the game's nomenclature) you are just dropped into it and that its. There are no tutorials or in game prompts. Just go. Build or survive. I always played survival which is the more arcade style element where you have health and hunger and enemies can damage you. The other is creative where every block (feature) is available and you can fly/float in every direction and you can make anything. But, fuck, I did not know that and I sucked when I began. I am not ashamed that I, as a "noob", did not know how to make a bed and spent the first in game week (about 40 minutes in real time) awake, never saving, and being attacked by the mysterious Phantom monster. That only comes out when you don't sleep. 

My children, at the time 5 and 7, had to tell me, having learned the lore and mechanics from YouTube. How do you make redstone work? How do you get to the end? How do I tame a wolf? How do you make glass? TINTED GLASS!? These are all things they taught me like I helped teach them brush their teeth and make toast.

Once briefed by my in house advisors the world was mine. My favorite thing was just to walk/sail for hours (literally) and, as I move, setup small base camps and cairns (lit with torches). I would find a unique spot where the landscape seemed unique and make an ersatz castle from the materials there. Then, after that, would hike back to my original starting point and my original home. Then, I would repeat this, going in another direction. Eventually I would stumble on old camps and bases and recall a specific time or memory. Here is the home I made by the swamp where I first saw a Witch. Here is the mine where I first found some diamonds. I named it Big Hole Country. There are spots by rarer biomes (Mushroom forests and Jungles) and a spot where I dug an underground and underwater tunnel uniting two islands across a digital bay. 

I never achieved the holy grails of Minecraft (beating the Ender Dragon) and never found a Woodland Mansion but that world is still there. 

*Unmodified. Most games, especially BIG games, have modding communities that let you tinker with the code to make things look a certain way, sound a certain way or get really out there. Way beyond me. 

**The iconic Minecraft monster, the Creeper, needs to be up there with Goombas and the PacMan ghosts as iconic video game villains. Their wonky yet menacing blocky look and their tendency to just sneak up to you and then EXPLODE really makes you feel worry from the curls of your toes. You are digging underground and constantly turning around to make sure that soft whisper isn't behind you.

Favorite Video Games # 3

 You ever see that meme where someone is holding a sign that says "Your music saved me!" and then the next panel it is something like "Never Going To Give You Up" or "Cotton Eye Joe"?

Stardew Valley, number 3 on the list, has that same vibe save that it is sincere with no hints of irony.

Stardew is a farming simulator where you build up an abandoned farm from nothing but packs of turnip seeds and rusty gardening tools.

Stardrew is a slice of life simulator where you live in a small port town and meet, and possibly romance, close to 20 distinct non playable characters (NPCs).

Stardew is retro pixelated top down combat simulator where trying to get to the bottom of Skull Cavern is as hard as any better known dungeon crawler. 

Stardew has a fishing mini game (a tricky one but once mastered you never want to stop) which is a lock for making me love any game*

Stardew also have a classic video game vilian, a time limit, with each 24 hour day (about 15 minutes of in game time) being your chance to water crops, feed animals, buy seeds/supplies, harvest your artisanal products (You can make wine, beer, cheese, etc.), chat with your NPCs, fish, chop wood, mine, and then go sell your items. And there is a wizard and cat that sells hat. Oh, and doing all this helps you save a run down community center beating out a global conglomerate (Joja Mart) and their threat to small town life!**

And, while I didn't need saving,*** this game is loaded with a vibing and wholesome community of people who say how it cured their depression. How it made them good cry.**** How it winds them down after a long day. It cures their anxiety. It makes them feel accomplished. They bonded with their spouse over a shared game. 

The game was also made primarily by a single guy, Concerned Ape, who is sort of tech bro we THOUGHT we were going to get when unboxing our first PCs.

You hear all this and the game is not overwhelming. You can play at your own pace and if you don't want to mine (and fight goofy cartoon monsters) then you don't. You don't want to fish? No problem. Sure, you don't get to see every cut scene and check every box but that is ok. And, if you are completionist, then this is the game for you. And a diverse set of things to track down, make and find. Not just more of the same in a huge map. When I found the enigmatic Prismatic Shard I screamed "OMG A Prismatic Shard, yes!" and my wife laughed from the neighboring room. "What a nerd!" This game can be many things and it can also provide satisfaction to us elder millennials who dream of maybe owning a home in a walkable community and saving the world with our sustainable agriculture. Get friendly enough with Shane, the surly town drunk NPC, and you save him for suicide in probably the darkest scenes in the game. SDV firmly makes you the hero of your own story.  

With so many options you can sink hundreds of hours into the game and then start a new save and have a distinct experience, particularly with the dating/marrying option. I don't have the heart to start a new save so it is just me and the local sculptor, Leah, and our kids on Ironhoe Farm. 

*Does your video game have a fishing mini game? Then you automatic get 8 out of 10. Does it have women holding swords? 9 out of 10. Women have neon pink/blue, etc hair? Fuck! 10 out of 10. Must buy!

**UNLESS you got the Joja route and buy a membership and instead just repair the community center with money. Doing this nets same in game effects save the forest spirits (Yeah they help fix the community center when you offer them crops) have to exile themselves. This is the bad choice and controversial among fandom. 

***At least, not that I know of. If any game will save me it will have a fishing mini game in it. 

****In the early part of the game you are given a choice to adopt a dog or cat and name it. It is common for people to name them after childhood pets often long deceased. And eventually, if you pet and feed the animal every day, the game will prompt you with a text that says your pet loves you. And its sweet and cut like a knife. 

Favorite Video Games #4

Between 2006 and 2010, I spent most of my time looking for jobs. And not the kind off job hunting memed in young professional memes and reels. Not looking for something better if not just looking for something. I spent this time not necessarily always unemployed but under employed. PT hours and gig jobs. I got paid in a 100 Target gift card once. 

But, when at home, I played ROMS of Gameboy games. ROMS being bootleg rips of games you could play on an emulator program on your machine. Your laptop could be a Gameboy (or anything if you have the right specs) and play for free any and all games. 

Here I played Pokémon: Crystal which was the second Pokémon game but this was years after its release.

Now, original Pokémon? Red and Blue. Oh yeah I played the hell out of that and lived the schoolyard memes (Missingo hack, etc) but just stopped playing once I went to college. Pokémon went on. And on and on.

Those games in 2008 (now some one firmly in kid 20s) were a return and hint at everything new. The new starters. The goofy look of Wooper and how adorable Mareep evolves into beady eye Ampharos. Here I got wrecked by Whitney's Miltank, a brutal battle in games now known for ease of access.* It made me love the franchise all over again even, almost 30 years from the first, it hasn't moved much beyond animated gifs slamming into one another.

I used to work at a school and my knowledge of most Pokémon from generations 1 through 6** was always impressive to the children. I have this art nouveau styled Umbreon shirt that I would sometimes wear on Fridays, which is when the already casual dress code rules*** were even slacker, and be the envy of all the middle schoolers

"What is this shirt that is making all the seventh grade girls go crazy!?" asked a teacher pulling me aside in the hallway. I felt truly small and pathetic hearing that exact phrasing. 

I'm talking less about the game itself and more the experience. This is an intergenerational franchise with manic adult fans and kids. It makes oodles of money because of that as compared to say a Power Rangers fandom, which is for kids but is held up by adults. But, yeah, we knew the Team Rocket anime saying by heart and I spent a vacation trip to the USVI desperately hunting for batteries for Red and Blue games on the OG Gameboy. The seeds for this were already laid when I downloaded those roms and reconnected in Johto, Generation 2/Pokémon Crystal's home continent. Crystal got re made in the mid 2010s onto the Nintendo DS as Heart Gold/Soul Sliver and damn those games are amazing. In color and popping with a neat gimmick of the Poke Meter. It was a pedometer shaped like a white and red Poke Ball that could take to the game via likely RFID or some infrared connection. So drop your Pokémon in the Pokemeter and go for a walk and it gains levels, finds gear, even other Pokémon! I worked a warehouse job then so getting 12K steps a day was nothing. My pokes were yoked!****

I have bought every Nintendo handheld (The DS allowed for cross play from older Gameboy Advanced games so that helped me with Ruby and Sapphire) so I can play these games and its my turn with the Switch when Scarlet came out! Out of the way kids. 

The franchise for sure needs a refresh. We have Pokémon dogs based on cinnamon rolls right now and how many more horrible fish Pokémon can we get? But, it allows for a conversation with young and old and scratches that itch of cheerfully grinding for incremental advantage. 

And, my top ten, fwiw

1) Vaporeon (Poke Mermaid!)

2) Crobat (Lighting Bat!)

3) Litten (Fire Kitty!)

4) Mudkip (MUDKIP MUDKIP MUDKIP!)

5) Annihilape (Spooky King Kong)

6) Sandslash (BA Dirt Porcupine)

7) Raichu (Alolan) (Trippy Surfing Thunder Mouse, Go!)

8) Luxray (Lighting Kitty!)

9) Rockruff (Rock Puppy!)

10) Breloom (Punching Mushroom!)

*Gen 1 is brutal. The way stats were set up meant the psychic type gym was near impossible. Counter it with bug type moves? Well they all suck. Counter with ghost moves? Well all the ghost typed are also poison which psychic wrecks and Shadow Ball runs off attack Stat. Why?! Gen 2 was ok save for Milbank and Gen 3 is where we get a nice balance of hard the quality of life improvements. This isn't me being some Poke boomer. I appreciate not needing HM slaves and not keeping boxes free and sharing experience but damn did an all level 60 team feel great back in the day.

** Each game is a generation setting the tone for the show and Manga, etc. 30 years of Pokémon and nine generations so far.

***I once had a co worker bemoan that we allowed the Assistant Principal to wear ripped jeans. Could I do something about it? No, I had no business talking about the AP's pants.

****I promise to never say that again.

Favorite Video Game 5

 When Twitter died (for what seems maybe real albeit it has been over many times before), I moved to Mastodon. Mastodon is neat but in a DIY sense. The people on Mastodon remind of that one guy in 8th grade computer club who really liked Linux and our collective response was "What?" We were debating which of the Solitaire card backs in Windows was best. People on Mastodon have their houses wired with mini network rooms. 

At the time, the trend was to drop a hashtag and introduce yourself My Space style with favorites, dislikes, etc. And since it is the Mastodon fediverse there is no algorithm to glean your info. Instead it is left for people to find by searching the hashtag. Mastodon has an early 00s message board feel where you find certain people, chats, veins and then run with them. Its work but feels redeeming. I remember spending a lot of time trying to get stars on the Fish Lore or The Agony Booth to get that same feeling.

One of the intro hashtags was favorite video games. For this ask I always have my answers ready. Its an ice breaker that I have anxiously practiced over hundreds of times*

So, ill milk this for a series of posts to get those numbers up and those two sets of eyeballs reading.

And Number 5, is kind of a cheat. Sorry! Because its a category of a game. And, one I made up.

It's the Big Dumb Shooter.

First experienced in the aforementioned computer club when we played the first few levels of Star Wars Dark Forces from demo dics.

And then just honed to death in Goldeneye of which I was the generation that argued over people cheating by picking OddJob and the guy who insisted on Licenses to Kill (you die in on hit) and then Slappers only (there are no guns just people running around trying to karate chop each other). 

Not to mention arcade light gun shooters. I sank way too many quarters into Area 51 and Revolution X. The latter being a rail gun shooter (you cant do anything but aim and shoot. No moving through the area. All the arcade shooters are like this, making this aside somewhat moot.) where you fight a tyrannical rock and roll hating regime with CD shooting guns while being mentored by Aerosmith. There are super soldiers in rubber yellow and black armor running around on rollerblades and bug eyed ninjas throwing Nerf throwing stars at you. Other things in this game

• Steven Tyler tells you, dead to rights, "Music is the Weapon"
• Laserdisc are flaming CDs which deal even more damage
• You have to save hostages (The same bleached blond 90s California babe in a pink tank top) by shooting away the locks on their stripper cages. Note they are still dancing while there is a gun fight happening. That male gaze is something.

But, the first time I ever played a big dumb shooter and thought "Damn, is this is a game**" was Far Cry 3. That game is a banger with an open world (That doesn't feature that enemy scaling bullshit. No point in an open world if there are areas you are wink wink not really allowed to go to) and a real sense of clawing your way back. The premise?

You and your friends are partying in a pictaresque Indian ocean archipelago and get kidnapped by pirates save for you (who escape) and then have to shot and stab your way to save them. You have to craft weapons, gear to carry more weapons, and then medicines from the animals and plants on the islands. This is all pretty reductive save to say that the world felt alive (Still empty. There are people there but, like an shooter world, its either shootable or not) particularly with the animals. You will be running away from enemies after messing up some stealth attempt to take down an outpost and also waiting for the game to let you heal*** and jump into a pond. And then, there is an alligator in there and you are WTF! You are lining up to take a long sniper shot and the familiar hiss of a Komodo Dragon pops up and you are No no no no, fuck!

The game also sets up umpteen sequels (all just derivatives of FC3) that add more features (In FC6 where you fight in a fictionalized Cuba you have a backpack that shoots rockets and a cock fighting rooster that can kill people) but its just lots of fluff. The core formula works so well that they have set it to run in Paleolithic time (Primal) and cyber vector punk futures (Blood Dragon), then Nepal (4) an Montana (5 and New Dawn)

Far Cry 3 also has an overpowered bow and arrow weapon which can one shot guys in armor. The developers weaken this in later games but damn is it satisfying to plunk people with it. Lets me say "bend back your bow" which is a lovely phrase.

Next one (and all the next ones) are less violent so don't worry. This is as dude bro as it gets.

*As an introvert (The last time I did a Myers Brigg I was INFJ If that helps you contextualize) the worst thing with icebreakers is not the questions themselves but going first. For this, I have many canned responses and quirky facts. I enjoy the lesson teaching semi woke ones meant to make you think. These feel better in an 8th grade classroom but fuck yeah can I name 10 countries in Africa. 20, 30, 40, 50. Bring it on! 

**Note that there are many great games I have played but arne't on the list. Not a knock on them just that if you tell me "Hey, no way you would ever be allowed to play these games again." then I would be quit sad, indeed.

***Big douche daddy shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield (I actually like the B3 soundtrack fwiw) popularized the "hide behind a crate and heal" motif. Far Cry does that save that the game lets you start a manual heal. Which then involves varying scenes where you characters heals by pulling a shark tooth out of their hand. Or shoving a bundle of matches into a wound to cauterize it.