I can still feel the burning in my shoulders from lugging that massive beige CRT monitor up the narrow staircase to Tom’s parents’ basement. Thirty-two pounds of pure gaming necessity, balanced precariously between my sweaty palms as I navigated each step with the caution of someone carrying nitroglycerin. One slip and there goes three months of lawn-mowing money. Behind me, Dave cursed as he struggled with his tower, a custom-built monstrosity he’d spent his entire…
The most nerve-wracking boss battle I’ve ever faced wasn’t against Sephiroth or Ganon or even that impossible Ninja Gaiden bird.…
I was working at Software Etc. in 1996 when Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (or Circle of Blood,…
The first time I encountered Chrono Trigger, I was fifteen and broke. I’d been saving up for Final Fantasy VI…
I still remember the first cheat code I ever learned. It wasn’t even from a magazine or the internet—those weren’t…
A long time ago in an arcade far, far away… actually, it was just down at the Westland Mall, sandwiched…
I’ve been staring at this blank document for about twenty minutes now, trying to figure out how to start an…
You know what I miss about the pre-internet gaming era? The mystery. The whispered secrets. The absolutely bonkers rumors that…
The first time a video game made me cry, I tried to hide it. It was 1997, I was 19,…
The first computer I ever built myself was a disaster. It was 1994, I was 16, and I’d spent months…
I still have the scar on my right thumb from the Great Mortal Kombat Debate of 1993. Jimmy Peterson and…
Christmas morning, 1985. I’m sitting cross-legged on our shag carpet, staring wide-eyed at this gray box connected to our family…
You know you’ve reached a certain point in your adult life when you catch yourself thinking, “I once spent four…
Halloween, 1989. While other teenagers were out causing trouble or attending parties, I was hunched in the blue glow of…
I never expected Minecraft to be the thing that would finally help me connect with my nephew Jake. He’s my…
