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Six years ago, I had this "grand dream" of building my own YouTube channel.
I had my blog over at http://ControlPadBlues.com where I'd recollect various parts of my childhood as they related to games - like the My Retro Life YouTube channel, but less related to *getting* the games and more related to the other memories tied to them - and I thought "hey, I think people would watch if my blog entries were turned into videos". My wife and I had been having a tough time with trying to have a child, and I needed as many distractions away from that as I could get... so I started recording footage.
Footage from around the yard where my grandparents used to live. Footage from around the neighborhood where I grew up. Footage from stores and restaurants and other places I'd go as a kid that reminded me of my childhood with games. And finally, I recorded gameplay footage.
All I had at the time was an old VHS-to-digital recording device with composite video input, and it worked just fine... until the old desktop PC I was using kicked the bucket.
Not to be deterred, I finally bought a decent laptop and an elgato Game Capture HD for Christmas in 2014. It worked great, and I immediately set out to gather enough footage for a whole "season's" worth of potential videos. I had 10 games recorded... and then the craziest thing happened.
We became parents!
After four and a half years of trying unsuccessfully, and being told it probably wouldn't happen, we got pregnant (well, my wife did) at around the same time we had just accepted that life would be just the two of us. To say that from fall 2015 until summer 2016 was a whirlwind would be an understatement. Games were the last thing on my mind, and I didn't really get back into them until a month or so after our son was born.
[img width=700 height=525]http://www.controlpadblues.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/natpic1.jpg[/img]
I was still recording - life was now 250% more insane and I didn't expect to ever get around to doing the YouTube stuff, but I did enjoy the idea of documenting my progress... besides, maybe if I had footage of it, I'd be less likely to play something I had already played through 20 times.
I mean, I love Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man 3, but my other games need love too, right?
My son would come to love Mario as well, and he'd come see me in my "Mario Room" whenever I was in there doing stuff - that's what he came to call my game room, and he still calls it that now. One day in 2018, as I'm sitting there with him on my lap, both of us admiring my collection, I thought, "there are too many of these that I've only played half-way through, or that I've never played at all. That needs to end."
[img width=700 height=437]http://www.controlpadblues.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/collection.jpg[/img]
That was that, but how would I decide what order I'd play them in? One "problem" (if you can call it that) about having a collection this size is that I could never make up my mind as to what I wanted to play next. I'd stand in front of my shelves and be completely overwhelmed with the "responsibility" of choosing my next game. Too much pressure! Decidophobia is apparently a very real thing, and I have it when it comes to choosing what game to play next!
Having kept tabs on my collection here at RF Generation, I was able to export the whole shebang into an Excel file. I then color-coded it by console (because why not), split up the compilation games into individual entries (i.e. the "Orange Box" entry became individual Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, and Portal entries) and then tried to ensure that every game I owned was in the Excel file.
I cut out the 32 games I had played since starting the recording process in late 2014, because I already had the footage and it was time to move onto other things.
[img width=527 height=637]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETVTbK4XgAEVx2v?format=png&name=small[/img]
Then, there were a handful of JRPG's I owned as part of compilations that I removed (or, "set aside"), simply because I'm terrible at those games and have no interest in playing them - although I did keep Final Fantasy I and III, as well as Earthbound on my Classic Consoles as a way to see if I'd end up having fun with them after all. If I enjoyed those, I could always add the Phantasy Stars and whatever else I had later.
Speaking of compilations, I took the older arcade games where the goal is just to gather points, and grouped them as best as I could. For example, Atari Anthology on Xbox is comprised of very simple games where there is no end goal other than gathering points, or quick and dirty sports games. For these, I would tackle *all* of the games on the disc at once. That way, I didn't need to bust out my Xbox for a few minutes of playing Asteroids, then put it away to bring out and hook up whatever console I needed next.
I did the same with similar points-focused games on Capcom, Namco, Midway, and other compilation discs, and gave the games with a more hearty campaign their own spot on my list (i.e. Mortal Kombat II became its own entry, whereas A.P.B., Timber and others went under a single entry under Midway Arcade Classics 2).
If you're still reading through this, I commend you for sitting through how nitpicky and OCD I am.
In the end, my number was around 950. Once I had the number, I could go about spreading all the Mario, Star Wars, Zelda, Grand Theft Auto, and all other series of games evenly throughout the list. My hope in doing that was to not get sick of one genre or the other.
I would also make an effort to not look at the next game on my list. Whenever I would complete a game, it would be a complete surprise as to what I played next. That also meant that I wouldn't have to decide what to play - the somewhat randomized list I threw together did it for me! 
So, that was almost two years ago.
I'm now on my 82nd game in the list, which is Assassin's Creed on Xbox 360. I've written the dates of each game's playthrough on the spreadsheet, just for fun. 20 years from now, I'll hopefully be able to look at it and say "I remember playing through Super Mario RPG and Excitebike 64 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Weird times, man."
I've added a few newly acquired titles to the collection, and my grand total is now at 960. I've also taken the liberty of adding new games I really want to play as the next game in my list if I choose to do so - as an example, my Mom got my son Super Mario Maker 2 last summer, and really not wanting to wait to experience it, I plunked it down on my list as game #56 (I was on game #54 at the time).
This project is filling me with a weird sense of pride as I go through and actually beat everything - even the games I've already beaten before, but am simply recording for the first time. Depending on how much fun I have with each one, I'll either decide to speed through it (like I did with Injustice: Gods Among Us) or accomplish/collect everything (like I did with Super Mario Galaxy). I'm quite interested to see how long it takes me to finish everything, and as time progresses, I certainly hope my soon-to-be 4 year old son will start helping me with this endeavor.
Here's the first chunk of games I played through a while back, and what my spreadsheet kinda looks like now...
[img width=557 height=380]http://www.controlpadblues.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/list.jpg[/img]
If I had to guess, this will take me about 20 years to complete. I'll be in my mid-50's by then. Whoa.
In looking at my YouTube channel's suggestions for "sprucing things up" a little bit, they suggested I create a trailer (of sorts) to tell people what the channel would be all about. After going through some old home movies to see just how video games had an effect on me growing up, I had some fun in creating this. I also had some help from my friend Jordan (who also participates in the Nostalgicast episodes), who provided the killer soundtrack for the trailer.
Enjoy!
Hi folks!
It's been a while since I've posted anything here, mostly because I've been posting semi-regularly at my blog over at ControlPadBlues.com.
I know a few of my friends read the blog whenever I post, and I don't think I have much of a following, which I am completely okay with! This was, after all, a personal journey through my own childhood memories, and an outlet that was infinitely better than random Facebook statuses that were sure to have me "hidden" from many friends' feeds. haha
In any case, after completing my Top 100 favourite games countdown, my friend Jordan asked the million dollar question; "what do you do next?"
Well, to tell the truth, I still have a dinky little Notepad document with various games and the childhood memories I have attached to them. Whenever I feel like writing up a post, I refer to that, and make the best use of those skills I gathered before dropping out of Journalism at Saint Thomas University (here in Fredericton, New Brunswick).
Avoid clutter. That is all.
Anyway, aside from Grand Theft Auto V (which is beautiful and a lot of fun, by the way), my interest in more recent games has dwindled. How could I get "back on the wagon", so to speak?
Moving the blog into video form, of course!
The concept is pretty simple - play games, remenisce about all the little things in life that playing them reminds us of, include a bit of visual stimulation to break up the "monotony" of "just gameplay", and share it for the world to see.
We couldn't care less if he and I ended up being the only two who watched these videos, and we honestly think that's the way we should approach these.
Here's the catch, however.
Jordan is from here in Fredericton, but lives in Montreal, about a nine hour drive away. He was my witness when I married my wife in 2011, and I was his witness when he married his wife just last September. I don't doubt that being this far away from his family can be pretty tough, at times, so I think playing through some games together can help bridge that gap a little bit.
Of course, there is no way to play these together aside from emulators, which I feel a bit dirty in using. I used to be a-ok using them, but once I started collecting, fuggetaboutit. Still, it's the only way for us to do this... for now.
In any case, we hope to have the first video up by next week, some time. We spent an hour and a half playing (and being awful at) Super Mario Bros. 2 last night, and we feel that we've done a pretty fun job of remeniscing.
At least for us, anyway. That's all that matters, isn't it?
I try not to clog everyone's sidebars with blog posts relating to my other, more personal non-RFGenerations blog... I figure if you're gonna read it, you've already got it bookmarked, and don't need to hear about it here. haha
Still, for this one particular post, I figured I'd bring to your attention. It deals with a subject close to me, which is breast cancer.
I used to run in a NASCAR simulator online league, and made great friends (and fierce competitors) along the way. One of them was my friend Jared, who now races another game online.
He thought it would be a great idea to try and raise funds for the CIBC's Run for the Cure, which benefits the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. He's trying a variety of different methods of raising money, and he asked if I could have a shout-out on my blog for him.
I hesitated at first, not knowing how I'd relate to video games (because, after all, that's what my blog is 100% supposed to be about). Thankfully, I managed to write a lot more than I expected to, and in a round-about way, was still talking about video games!
http://www.controlpadblues.com/?p=1044
Check out the blog if you wish, since it's for a great cause.
Also, if his goal is met, Jared will paint his go-kart pink for the final event of his professional karting season. As someone who used to clash with him on the virtual track on a regular basis, I wouldn't mind seeing this come to fruition.
Cheers, folks!
A recent trend on Twitter was #10favoritegames, which had my friend and I going back and forth about why we chose the ten games we did. It wasn't necessarily a heated debate, but the number of games we considered favourites quickly escalated from ten to about twenty each.
"OH, damn, forgot so-and-so" was repeated a few times between both of us, and we joked that we would need a Top 100, not a measly Top 10.
That got me thinking... maybe I *should* make a Top 100 list of my favourite games of all time. Yeah, it'd be tough to actually create such a list, but it would be fun trying!
So, thanks to RF Generation and the ability to look at my collection and wishlist (I figure that pretty much covers all my bases in terms of favourite games), I was able to narrow my collection of 550-plus games into the 100 I enjoy more than any other.
Sorting them in order of preference was a bit of a challenge, but once that was taken care of, I couldn't wait to share my own list with friends. Each entry will have a bit of the "childhood memory" feel to it like the rest of the blog was intended for, but really, I just expect a fun little jaunt down memory lane.
MY Top 100 - #100
http://www.controlpadblues.com/?p=729
Also, a bit of a disclaimer to anyone who might actually be interested in this countdown of mine... there are certain genres I've never really enjoyed playing that much, notably RPG's. The countdown will be void of anything Final Fantasy-related, or even Chrono Trigger. It'll also have a few critically panned games, but then again, we all have those games that are guilty pleasures.
Keep that in mind... on that note, I hope you enjoy my countdown!
I'm not sure how much I'll end up posting to this blog in particular, because I do have another one on the go already.
http://www.controlpadblues.com
Some time last year, realized that almost every game I own (500 and counting) has a vivid memory attached to it. Through the power of the blogisphere - is that even a word? - I've decided to share them with whoever reads them.
Keep in mind, it's a personal blog, and stories might be told in my own quirky way. Enjoy!
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