From the Memory Bank: My History with Video Games

Blog Update #10 - The 10-Year Anniversary

Well, it's been a long time since I've done one of these! According to my notes, the last update was posted seven years ago, in November of 2017.

I guess I was too busy playing and talking about games!

So welcome, friends, to the 10th anniversary of this blog! It's good to have you.

Honestly, I can't believe that it's already been a decade. It seems like only yesterday that I came over to this place to test out its features and then decided, on a whim, to finally carry out a dream project. Then I began to tell the stories that I never thought I'd be brave enough to tell.

And here we are ten years later. The fun ride continues.

So here's the plan going forward: In the short term, I'm going to finish rewriting my old Memory Bank pieces. The fact of the matter is that the mission's first phase kinda failed, and I'm doing what I can to save it. The first time around, I didn't really do what I intended to do. I didn't properly convey my thoughts. That's because I wasn't ready for the challenge. I didn't know what I was doing, and I lacked the literacy necessary to describe feelings and turn them into words. And consequently I wound up producing works that looked as though they were written by an 8-year-old.

But I don't lament my failure, no. I realize, now, that it was necessary. I needed to fail so that I could learn and improve and thus gain the tools necessary to succeed. That's how it had to be.

It's just too bad that the "remastering" process is eating up so much of my time. By this point in my life, I wanted to be writing about new games and pumping out reviews, examinations, essays, and other fun content. But it hasn't worked out that way.

So, sadly, the next phase will just have to wait. (If you want to keep up with my progress in the rewriting effort, you can do so by visiting my Twitter account. Click here to do that.)

But it'll arrive eventually, and when it does, I'll be ready (hopefully) to start carrying out new projects and excitedly talking about all of the new games I've been playing in the intervening period!

And that's one of the reasons why I've been slow to update the old Memory Bank pieces: I've been playing so many news games!

Mainly, I've been continuing my evolution as an enthusiast, and I've been doing that by playing and beating hard video games. Over the past few months, I've taken down many of them in rapid succession! I've beaten games that I never thought I'd be able to beat--games like Impossible Mission, arcade Ghosts 'n Goblins, Alien Soldier, Battletoads and Kid Chameleon.

Resultantly, I've taken the next step and become the "advanced player" I always dreamed of being. I've opened up a path to a whole new world.

And it's been quite the experience. It's changed who I am as an enthusiast and helped me to grow. (I mean, I never thought I'd be a person who could take down Battletoads games on the regular, but here we are.)

Lately, that's all I've been doing gaming-wise: finding the hardest games out there and beating them! The natural consequence is that I no longer return to my favorites on a regular basis. I simply don't have much time for them anymore. But that's not a downside, really. It's actually a good thing. It has the effect of making them feel more special. It makes returning to them feel like a big event.

So next time I play Mega Man, Metroid, Castlevania or Rygar, I'll surely do so with an excited energy. I'll appreciate it more.

That's how favorites deserve to be treated. It's better than playing them constantly and wearing them out and consequently turning gaming experiences into empty exercises.

It's like they say: Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

So that's all I've got for this updated. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know what's up.

In closing, I'd like to thank everyone who has ever read this blog or contributed to it some way. I hope that you continue to visit this place and share in my thoughts and memories (and I have so many more of them to share!).

I appreciate every one of you!

So here's to another decade of writing about games and expressing my fondness for the world's greatest creative medium. May it be as fun as the first one.

The mission will continue.

And I hope that you cool cats decide to come along for the ride!