You ever think about what your "best game" is? Of course for some of you really pro people your best game is starcraft, kudos to you for being the l33t-est people on the planet. But for those of us who can't just let the micro flow through us to our compey, what do you think your best game is? I look back to the first game I owned, Super Mario World. I got an SNES when I was three years old and living on the East Coast. If I ever had to prove that I was pro at gaming (don't look at my ICCup record to try an refute that please) I would whip out the SNES and pwn some koopas. I think my understanding of the mechanics of Super Mario World surpass my understanding of really anything else in my life. Now I look at some of the other games that I think I'm good at. I get Starfox 64, best 'effing game ever made. I got that when it first became player's choice in '97. Two years later I bought Super Smash Bros, a game that I can still beat n00bs 3v1 at. The correlation between these games is simple: I started playing them when I was young. There is an obvious correlation between young kids and their ability to pick up games quick. You all know those little bastards who pwn at Counter Strike when they are like 12. Our ability to understand complex mechanics in games is much easier when we are younger. I've never looked at a strategy guide for Super Mario World and yet I was able to beat every level and even get past worlds without unlocking the switch palaces using crazy moves like flying while crouching or holding shells to force Mario through small holes. I now find myself pouring over the strategy forums and stuggling with my 1v1 in Starcraft. I wonder now if its because I am too old to seriously pick up the mechanics. I would certainly hope that I haven't peaked at 18. I just can't shake the feeling that I may not be able to play this game. That's something that has never happened to me before. Not being able to do this sure is a strange feeling.
I'm really good at Halo PC and pretty good at X-COM. That's all that comes to mind at the moment. There are others I'm good at, but not enough to mention here.
Some of my buddies and I were basically pro at Halo 1 (played an average of 75 hours a week), pistol sniping base to base on blood gulch, it was an "off" day if it ever took 5 or more shots to kill someone w/ pistol, etc etc
i can relate i have one of the fastest 70-star and 16-star speedruns of super mario 64 in the world. i have spent zillions of hours on that game and know a trick or shortcut (not built in the game, but a shortcut as in a way to get a star faster than was intended) for almost every star. (not even kidding, if someone owns the game please ask me)
however im still only D+ at starcraft and thats because its just a harder game, and your opponent (which is the AI, the dangerous stage, etc, etc. in a console game) is a human being which cannot be manipulated nearly as easily and wants to win just as bad if not more than you. Being good at starcraft is harder than being good at any other video game on the planet, and thats just "good" on a foreigner level -- the best of whom rarely match up to korean amatuers.
however thats part of the reason its so great and has so much depth, and why its also the best spectator video game so far.
Super Mario World is the easiest Mario that I have ever played, period. It was good, but even when I was young I was let down by how easy it was.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was realllly hard for me back in the day, but playing it now when I'm a bit smarter it's a piece of cake. I always had problems memorizing which pipes to go through in SMB1, but I eventually beat it with some assistance.
I did however beat Super Mario Bros 2 (US one, not lost levels obviously ) when I was like 6, and that was one of the harder ones in my opinion... and I don't think I even used warp pipes.
I think game difficulty also needs to be taken into account.. go play Link to the Past or the original Legend of Zelda. Those games were virtually impossible for me without a faq (although I'm sure I could have beaten LttP eventually without one). It's not that they were actually hard, but the ability to miss something huge was there and it was never terribly obvious where to go to find what you missed. And then there's Ghost and Goblins and other games with murderous difficulty.
I feel like I use faqs more these days, but that's because of their availability and the fact that a lot of games include mindbogglingly tedious crap that I'd rather not bother figuring out on my own (at least in Zelda it was an adventure figuring it out). Or stupid triggers where you have to do x thing so you can advance (Phoenix Wright is really bad about this during investigations).
Anyways, yeah, kids are a lot quicker at picking stuff up. I was better than my dad at like every video game by the time I was 8. He stopped playing me after I was like 13 hahaha... I wonder how soon my kids will start making me not wanting to play. ;/
Hm, for non-PvP games it's really difficult to tell how good you actually are, especially since most games are designed to be able to be beaten by most people (thus are too easy for the best -> difficult to distinguish people). I guess there are some metrics through, like score for shmups or speedrun times. btw Atrioc is your 16-star Mario 64 under 19:47? 70-star under 1:01:32? If so you need to hook yourself up to a DVD recorder ASAP. ~_^
For PvP games, before the age of top tournament match videos on the Internet it would be hard to tell where you stack up. Totally destroying all your friends or people in your area usually doesn't mean too much unless you're sure you're one of the biggest fish in one of the biggest ponds, so to say.
But with confidence I can personally say I am not so great at any game. My best might be Senko no Ronde based on results, being by a small margin the best non-Japanese player of the game. That's in spite of having no real fighter or shmup talent, and because only like 20 guys outside of Japan have tried learning the game seriously in the first place.
The thing is, your skills at a game are only really relevant in the scope that you are aware that the game is played. For instance, before I realized that there was and ICCup and a proleague i was the shit at Starcraft. My ability to beat video games has never really been comprimised until I was aware of the higher skill that exists in Starcraft. Any sort of Halo or other FPS game with a low skill ceiling I can destroy at with a little practice. I have been finding it difficult to figure out why I can't comprehend this game well
I was good at Quake 3 (multiplayer). Was in one of the best clans here. But haven't played anymore since 2004, and because the game is so fast I also need a CRT to play, otherwise it's irritating.
I could also name several other games (mostly singleplayer) where I am or was decent, but I've spent a lot of time on these two and that's why all other games can't really compare.
With SC it's difficult. :> I also played that quite a bit, but I never really concentrated on either 1v1 or 2v2 or fun maps, so I always played what I was in the mood for, so I never became a really good player. But if I had used all the time for 1v1, I would have been one.
There were a couple years in my life when i totally dominated at all the Ratchet and Clank games for PS2. I forgot when I first got my PS2; ratchet and clank (the first one) came with it, and I got addicted. It's a platformer where you go around shooting bad guys with various weapons and solving puzzles. Loved it. Played through the game like 11 times lol. I got so good at it, and could speed run it in about 3 hours 45 minutes. Got the hoverboard skill point (beat it in a certain time) without using the boost that you get later. Rarely, if ever, died.
The second one came out, the battle mechanics were much better. Played that a ton and pwned the hell out of it. Third one came out, same thing happened. Fourth one came out, beat it and played it a lot, but I didn't completely pwn it. I think school, friends, diablo2, and scbw became priority during that time.
I really want to play the fifth one when it comes out, but it's only for PS3.
I am really good at Wonder Boy 3 for sega master system, it was the greatest adventure game ever. I got the game when I was 4, and now I can beat it without even thinking about it.
I was in one of the top 5 clans in real mode soldat, started when I was 15, slumped harder than Savior last spring... and I quit. Now even lowly LRS clan members can beat me in a 1v1... I can still kick YOUR ass though.
I always wondered if beating bots in godlike mode in UT99 mean that i was good at this game ( i had no internet connection when i played UT ).
Please answer
I was also happy to finish Baldur's Gate 1 with one character althought i used a lot load/save. Won a civ 3 game in some really hard difficulty level ( i think it was monarch with a lot of load + save too ).
Oh and maybe the best ( i was quite young and really proud of it ): first mission in rainbow six with one character, shittiest equipment possible and in hard mode. ( you cant save here, one shot and you dead ). I was too lazy to even try the second level -.-. My old brother who completed the game, couldnt believe it hahaha. He tried like 10 time and failed xD.
Also, i rock at super mario land 3 ( i had only it + tetris on my game boy ).
ANd i suck at Sc ( D+ ) althought i never really tried to be good.
EPT
) when I was like 6, and that was one of the harder ones in my opinion... and I don't think I even used warp pipes.
