1000awesomegamethings

When Super Mario Bros. hit the scene in the 80s, people freaked out (or at least I assume as I was yet to be born) as nothing like it had been seen before. The adventure of saving a princess we knew so little about was motivation enough to have us hop from castle to castle. The game could be defeated by literally beating each level and making it all the way to the end. But something special could be found in the first underground area of the game… a warp zone!

By getting to the very top of the underground section you are able to pretty much avoid all obstacles and access a secret area with three different pipes which will send you to a later world. That’s right, no codes needed, you could skip some pesky levels easily. That feeling was rarely seen at the time and even though it might not seem like much of a secret today, it’s impact has never been forgotten.

We all love that amazing Italian brother (and his sometimes forgotten brother) for the amazing gaming experiences we’ve had the pleasure of sharing with them. And we all know they will be showing up more than once on this list. But let us not take away the fact that it was a defining moment for many children growing up in the 80s.

AWESOME!

Yes I know, the Grand Theft Auto series contains a lot of violence, sex, and vulgar language which gets many people in an uproar, but it’s not meant for kids, this is purely adult fun. And fun it is, each game in the series has an intriguing story crafted by the fine people at Rockstar Games. The missions contain a wide variety of activities which keeps things fresh. But you know what the best part is? You can do whatever you like and have a blast doing it.

The options avaialble to you are near limitless and almost overwhleming. Forget about all the side missions, collectables, and ‘extras’ that are in each title; what about grabbing a car and taking it as quickly as possible from one end of the city to the other while trying  to not run over any pedestrians? Or maybe just running around picking fights with random strangers? Or stealing a police car for no other reason other than you just can? These are the times where there are no real consquences, you set your own goals and have fun with it.

One of my favourite things to do, once in a while, is to get a car and try to drive as normal as possible. Might sound boring to you; obeying every traffic light, following the speed limit, and respecting pedestrians, but to me playing the game in a different way other than what the developers mainly intended is a victory and a joyous one at that.

Don’t take things so seriosuly and remember what the purpose of video games are; to have fun. Open worlds like this are meant to be explored and tinkered with in ways your imagination sees fit.

AWESOME!

If you were a kid that grew up in the 90s then more likely than not you were obsessed with Pokemon. As a kid, the whole concept was like crack to us; we needed to capture, train, and trade these fascinating beasts. We watched the anime, begged our parents to buy us the cards, and poured endless hours into the video games. Most specifically, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue were the first games of choice.

We got to live out our dreams in the palm of our hands. In the playground we would share our tips and strategies, the rare Pokemon we’ve encountered, the battles we partook in. Heck, I even remember the rumours that of course were fake but our small minds wanted to believe they were true (Pikablu anybody?). Remember this was before the internet became widely available, so word of mouth passed these legends and rumours, having no idea where they first began. But one massive rumour ended up being true, bringing tears of joy to our eyes.

By performing a few tasks in game (just in case you were living under a rock or weren’t a kid at that time, here is exactly how you do it) you were able to duplicate pretty much any item as much as you like. Master Balls, Rare Candies, Gold Nuggets… it didn’t matter, you could have it all like your own personal genie was granting your Pokewishes.

In the center of all this was a mysteriously glitched Pokemon listed as MissingNo. (most likely for missing number). As is with the majority of glitches, this occurence was never meant to be viewed by human eyes but the fascination was almost instant. What seemed to be a bunch of visual gibberish (which messes up part of your game if caught) quickly built a following with mysterious lore created by fans.

It may not be a real Pokemon and just a ‘glitch’ but the first time you heard about it and actually witnessed it unfold before your eyes, you must admit that it was…

AWESOME!

We’ve all been there before, your mom comes knocking on your door to tell you to get ready as your extended family will be here shortly. You can’t bear to listen to a bunch of stories from your grandparents or have your aunts and uncles tell you how tall you’ve gotten. So you plan on changing things up this time around, dusting off those extra controllers to play a little bit of Mario Kart with the fam. You and your cousins might know what to do but hilarity will ensue when your uncle tries to participate only to find out minutes later that he was holding the controller upside down.

And this is what makes gaming with non-gamers so much fun; the mayhem. After explaining the rules and controls a million times, your aunt is finally able to make it around the track, only falling off 7 times. Some might be annoyed or frustrated by the experience, but seeing someone who has no clue or knowledge on your passion take a stab at it should be enough to make anybody smile.

I’m not saying to make fun of grandma when she realizes she’s been looking at the wrong screen the whole game. Everybody will have a chuckle for sure, but the bonding that takes place is something that is rarely seen doing any other activity. Who knows you might awaken an inner gamer within and the next you visit their house you might see a shiny new video game console hooked up to the television.

So embrace those friends and family that have never picked up a controller in their life or have never heard of Nintendo’s Italian plumber because some serious fun is about to go down!

AWESOME!