Grew up in Nelspruit. Away from the big city lights and hi-tech sentra.
My earliest (and best) gaming memories:
Walking down to the Greek greengrocer/cafe on the corner of one of the two main roads crossing the town. There was two or three games cabinets with - if I think back now and with the knowledge that is the internet - was pirated games. At that stage the message about this game being illegal outside of wherever didn't really make an impression on anyone. Still don't. Depending on the budget, you would buy some slap chips, a coke, half loaf white and exchange the rest for a hand full of 20 cent coins. Yes, 20 c per game (you younguns don't know nothing, uphill through the snow there and back...).
It wasn't really a question of favourite game - more a question of whatever was there at that stage. The one I played most back then and still return to is Phoenix. This was interspersed with Asteroids on a school trip to Ermelo once. Then came universiteit in Pretoria and I graduated to Space Invaders, Battlezone and Centipede. Centipede used a trackball as controller, something new and strange at that stage. Again on the pavement outside the local Portugese (this time) cafe.
Over weekends I would go stand with my nose against the window at a computer store in Church Street, looking at the screensaver display on some colour computer.
Graduated again, this time to Sunnypark. Ghosts'n Goblins. R-Type. By now there was competition and you had to wait your turn. But this also gave an opportunity to watch over someone else's shoulder. What turns they made, shooting, dodging and know what to expect and where to find the hidden power ups. Frustration crept in when - just as you started to master a game - the game somehow became more difficult. Didn't know about dip switches then. And then - when you master the new version of the same game - it disappeared and a new game took its place. Before you managed to get to the end.
Now it is back. MAME rules and sometimes I wonder if I am chasing the BIG BOSS at the end, or chasing a lost childhood...
Yeah dude. over the shoulder tips was the method used before websites like gamefaqs.com came into play with full walk through manuals. Back then, it was observation and skills alone that made you progress. You were either good back then....or you sucked..lol. Good luck with the comp.
Arcade box at the Greek cafe on the corner
