I was reading Ready Player One last night when I hit a chapter where the protagonist was playing video games on an old school console. That made me think about my very first console.
I’m sorry, but this blog is starting with a big fat lie. The first console we owned in our house was a Nintendo Entertainment System. My brother and I played games like Super Mario Bros. 2 and Duck Hunt endlessly. But, since we were brothers, we also fought like brothers and when my mum had enough of all that fighting and bickering, she sold that console. So, technically the NES was our first console, but last night I felt nostalgic towards MY first console: the original PlayStation.
It was the early 2000s and my mum bought it for my 12th birthday. By that time the PlayStation had already been out for years, but I couldn’t care less. I finally had my own gaming console that I didn’t have to share with anyone. I could play for hours and hours, without being pushed away. But it turned out that the best way to enjoy that console was with friends and family.
See, back then the only way to do multiplayer was couch co-op. You and your friends had to be physically present to enjoy the games together. And boy, did we do that.
My favorite games were Grand Theft Auto 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and Spider-Man. GTA 2 and Spider-Man we played taking turns, but THPS2 was a real joy to play together. Playing tag and trying to beat each other’s high score is now a core memory from my childhood.
Online multiplayer changed everything. Now I can play with anyone, anywhere in the world. But sometimes I miss the simplicity of just handing someone a second controller and saying: “your turn.”
I still think about those afternoons sometimes. No WiFi, no online lobbies, no matchmaking. Just a TV, two controllers and a bunch of kids trying to outscore each other in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Those where the days!