Topic: Miyamoto, Memories & You.

So hey,

I'm a fairly new user, and was reluctant to make a post in case it goes splat. But a couple of things made me want to give it a go.

That Miyamoto/Miyamoto's daughter article, then some reminiscing on these boards about my DDR days and THEN some recent real-life gaming discussions with my mom, my dad and my future brother-in-law. It all just got me thinking. Possibly enough for a post.

So hey community, do any of you have some positive stories about gaming with family or future brothers-in-law or maybe your cat? I'd love to hear them. I think the comments on the Zelda/Miyamoto article started something interesting. I think it's a side of gaming that doesn't get its chance to shine.

And Moderators, if this post exists somewhere else, I apologize and feel free to take the Mario Paint flyswatter to it.

Haha, "splat".

Anyway, I'd like to comment that while I don't have may memories of gaming with my immediate family (aside from the odd game of Sunset Riders for the Super Nintendo with my brother) games have been a major source of bonding with my wife and her family.

My favourite memories come from sharing RPGs with my wife. From playing Final Fantasy VII for the very first time on her Playstation when we were first getting to know one another - I would play late into the night and she would make me peanut butter sandwiches - to more recently playing "pass the controller" for Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (we only have one nunchuk), Etrian Odyssey IV, and even Pokemon.

(The latter example is nothing short of a miracle.)

But funny you should mention gaming memories with my cat. My wife and I have a cat that seems to love curling up on my lap to sleep only when I'm play Mega Man games. Possibly it's because I was playing Mega Man Zero 2 when he was just a kitten and it was a good memory for him too, so he curls up to listen to the music.

One of my favourite memories was playing pig out with my brother on PC, such a fun game. The next was sonic 3 and knuckles, hard game but we beat it in the end.
My final game was my first (also one of the first) nintendo game, donkey kong, took a long time as I was six.

@Miss_Dark Haha! Your brother must be quite a fun guy. (I was surprised when it was just the original song! When you said "headbang," I thought it would be a rock remix).

@Yellowgerbil You beat Sonic 3 and Knuckles? I couldn't even pass the first level! (Granted, it's been a while, but still). And yeah, Donkey Kong is rough.

One of the things and my sisters and I used to do was play "Who's Who" with every single RPG any of us touched. So basically we'd gather around and try to name real people in our lives who were like the RPG characters. That was fun, and sometimes oddly revealing (like when my little sister said I was Maya to her Mint, during our Threads of Fate phase. Uh-oh).

I only have memories of Jack Tretton and me~
Spent great times playing many Sony games.

He has memories of me? I ain't dead! >:0
He certainly didn't listen to me either. So I can say there are no fond memories. >:[

My visiting brother and I are constantly doing Brawl tourneys at the moment. I faced alot of Brawl competitors, at meetups clubs, and parties. But he's my greatest adversary.

@Kyloctopus Yeah! Brawl is a big hit in my house. And everyone has different favorites, so it's interesting.

But I'm kind of the same way with my husband. He's a Super Smash Bros. enthusiast for life (or...at least since the N64 days), and I started with Brawl. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing Mr. Game & Watch finish off Marth or lately, and more frustratingly, Lucario.

I like to record those victories and then say, "let's cut to the footage!" when he says he's better than me, heh.

I have been somewhat unfortunate with my gaming buddies throughout my life. My brother is extremely competitive and claims to have let me win whenever I beat him, and when he wins he gloats like there's no tomorrow and never fails to call me names. My sister has an anger management problem and throws the controller on the ground when she loses. I used to play games with the neighbor kid, but he was terrified of losing and would go home if he lost. My girlfriend is my best gaming partner so far, but she rarely has time.

@Fazermint Ouch. Sorry to hear that. My youngest sister used to be angry like that too. She's mostly grown out of it and has gotten into games again, so no more controllers have been harmed. But it all kind of sounds like you rule the school at games, and everyone else is a bit jealous?

Animal Crossing has also been very relevant in my family. With every new release comes a different way to play animal crossing with my family. With the original, we had a different reason to play. My older brother liked to use cheat codes, and travel time no matter what. My sister just enjoyed to see everyone, never found a reason to time travel. I just liked getting whatever NES games I can get in my house. Wild World was somewhat tough to co-operate with, because my two brothers and I had to share a house. We have different tastes. Never worked out. City Folk was when my two brothers and I decided to play fairly, and simply play the game how it was meant to be. Even my father, who hasn't played video games in over a decade, decide to join our town. Now with New Leaf, my older brother decided to buy a 3DS, and likes to compete for the best town. He never stops playing that game, so naturally, he wants to brag about how great his town is, and how awesome his neighbours are.

@Kyloctopus I admit I've still never played an Animal Crossing game. I know I'd like them; it's totally my thing, except the in-game clock creeps me out for some reason. It's too bad your brother is so competitive. Maybe he feels like he has to live up to your gaming skills?

Well, I'd say I'm above average, at least My brother is better than me at Smash Bros (the games we usually played), I guess the ratio is something like 60% - 40%. He's just a donkey. I have a theory that he wants to undermine my self-confidence because I'm generally more successful with other things (school, relationships, etc.) than he is, and he wants to be better than me because he's the older brother. I might be over-analyzing the situation, though... I haven't played any games with my sister for years, she's in the "cool" phase where she is too cool to hang with her big bro.

As a result, I have a major preference for cooperative games over competitive games now

@Fazermint It might not be the same for brothers as with sisters. But, speaking as an older sister who went through a jerk phase for similar reasons, you are probably spot-on with your analysis.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of co-op where it is offered. The last few days, Dad and I have been playing co-op Tetris. He's one of those guys who can get to those crazy levels that shouldn't exist and are impossible, so playing against him would be endless frustration. Co-op is bonding time.

Another couple of memories come to mind since the announcement of the Game Boy Mega Man games coming to the 3DS Virtual Console.

The first is one of the day my wife, then a mere child, was at my mom's hair shop with her mom and saw my Game Boy with Mega Man 2 inside. She wanted so bad to play it - being a fan of the games - and my mom told her that she could. My wife thought that she should ask me first, but was too shy to do so and thus didn't play the game or even speak to me that day. Narrowly missing the chance that we would have our first meeting as children and we instead met years later after having both graduated from the same High School. Not really a memory of MINE per say, but my wife likes to joke about our near meeting.

The other was years later having the apartment to myself for the weekend with nothing productive to do, I turned on my wife's Playstation 2 and put in Mega Man Anniversary Collection, then I proceeded to beat Mega Man's 1 though 8 over the course of that one weekend. A crowning achievement and possibly one that I will never top.

@World I don't think he has to live up to anything. He just really likes having the rights to brag.