Confessions of a Video Game Junkie Part 1

Hello there. My name is Bryan and I'm a video game junkie. I've been into games for nearly 20 years now. I could quit anytime I want; I've kicked the habit in the past - several times. I've certainly got things under control now. I only game for, perhaps, an hour a day. Anyways, I'm here today to chronicle a personal history of video games as seen through the eyes of an Alright Guy.

It all began some twenty years ago, when I was just a young boy. My father sold and serviced old pinball machines in his spare time. I used to go with him on service calls. I'd sit and drink pop and ask him questions while he had the machine open with tools and parts strewn about. We had probably 15-20 pinball machines set up in our basement along with a jukebox full of 45rpm records. Every Tuesday night the house was open to neighborhood kids with the pinball machines set to free play. There was only one video game my father ever played regularly: Ms Pac-Man. He owned a suped up version of the game. Growing up with an arcade in the house was really damn cool.


A childhood well spent. This was back when arcades had normal, good old fashioned video games. This was before Dance Dance Jack-off Revolution Gold or whatever.


The first video game console I ever laid eyes on was my neighbor's Atari 2600. The thing only showed like 6 colors and everything looked like a box. The controls consisted of a stick and a button. It was awesome. I remember being in awe of Pitfall the first time I saw it. It was great because it was something you could have in your house. Arcade games, however, were far superior to home games still. My father would take my sister and I up to the arcade in town one night a week, give us a pocketful of tokens and turn us loose. I formed an addiction to Galaga that is with me to this day. In the mid eighties, there was a phenomenon in Port Huron known as The Arcade Wars. There were arcades all over town, all competing for business. Tokens could be had for as low as 20 for a dollar. My father would take Alright Guy Tom and I to the arcade and give us 10 bucks while he played the living hell out of Ms Pac Man.


Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I took Your holy name in vain when the goddamn cunting little blue bumblebee thing crashed into my ship. Amen.



I don't remember exactly when or why, but at some point my parents bought an Atari 5200. It was nearly the downfall of the industry, as it was really expensive and they overproduced the few games that were actually made for it. Of course, I didn't know this. I only knew that I loved the 5 or 6 games that we did have. We had Mario Bros, Popeye, Kangaroo and Space Invaders. That last one triggered my Galaga gene and I spent much of my formative youth cursing at the television and shooting alien bugs from behind my deteriorating defense pads. Mario Bros was great fun, and little did I know that the funny little plumber guy in the red and blue jumpsuit would be, in some way, a part of my life to this day (I just finished the N64 title Paper Mario today.) I wasn't yet truly hooked at this point. The real addiction wouldn't begin until I got my Nintendo Entertainment System.