☆ Imraan's Gaming Adventure - Video Games Memories ☆ #Retrogaming

Today's Guest Blogger Is Imraan.

I came across Imraan whilst sifting through Instagram and all the cool retro gamers who hang out on there.

Imraan is a passionate Retro Gamer and collector who would like to tell you his cool story of how it all began.

I'm guessing his story will be familiar to millions, so pull up a seat as we listen to Imraan's Gaming Adventure!

"Hi, Imraan is the name and retro gaming is my thing.

I am now retro video games and console collector and I play them more than my latest games console which is the PlayStation 4.

Before I write about my retro games and console collection I would like to take you back in time to where my gaming adventure started.

It all started in the early 90s when I got my first video games console, the Sega Master System 2 with Alex Kidd in Miracle world built in. I was a young kid at that time.  I don’t know when it was purchased; all I know is that my older sister brought it for me and my older brother.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was the first ever game I played and was one of the best games on the Sega Master System. I remember that you control a character named Alex and you go around different levels defeating bad guys by using Alex’s martial arts skills. Well, his martial arts skill was just a punch ;).

To defeat the bosses you had to play the Rock, Paper and Scissors game.  You had to win two rounds in order to get to the next stage. Before Sonic the Hedgehog Alex Kidd was the mascot of Sega at that time.

At that time and even to this day I find the game difficult to complete. I remember when I was a kid playing the game and you started off with 3 lives and if you got hit once you lost a life. It was not like Super Mario where you have two chances. In Alex Kidd, you just had one. Another thing that made the game difficult was there was no continue mode. Once your 3 lives were up it was game over unless you got an extra life.

All that changed when my older brother made an amazing discovery. He discovered the continue mode cheat. What we had thought was impossible was now possible. With this cheat, you can carry on with the game even when getting a game over message. Even with the continue mode cheat I still found it hard to complete and the cheat was only for a limited use only.

Hold and press 2 eight times. This was the continue mode cheat. To confirm the cheat was correct you would hear a sound the words continue mode will appear on the screen.

I recently managed to complete Alex Kidd but still had to use the continue mode cheat to complete it. Maybe one day I will complete it without the cheat. ;)

I still play the game to this day. It is one of those games that I can play over and over again.

This was the game that started my gaming adventure.

The Console and The Video Game That Made Me a True Gamer

1993 was the year that I got hooked on video games. I remember one evening my older sister and brother came home with a box in their hands. This was no ordinary box. This box had the artwork of a famous fighting game and had a picture of a very popular console of its time. It was of course Street Fighter 2 the world warrior on the Super Nintendo.  

I remember me and my older brother would play this game at the arcade machine at our local chicken shop. I would always lose to my brother at Street Fighter 2. All I knew was how to kick, punch, throw and jump. My brother knew the moves and would knock me out. For some reason, I was always player 2.

When the Super Nintendo and Street Fighter 2 came to my house I was so excited and could not wait to play. This meant that I could play in the comfort of my own home and play for free. No more inserting coins. ;)

My brother and I would play this game a lot. Even on the home console I was still player 2 and he would be player 1. I still don’t know why that is, maybe because he is older than me.  ;)

I remember he would set up my button configuration the same as his. Even till this day I still use the same button configuration for the Street Fighter games.

Also he would teach me the moves of the characters and it got to a point where by our match points would be so close to each other. Sometimes he would win by 1 or 2 points, whereas before he would beat me a lot of times with a big score difference.

Also we would have something called a Hadoken match. The rules were that you can only do Hadokens and nothing else. You either win by Knock out or time over.

Not only did I become a gamer through this video game it was also the first fighting game that my brother taught me to play. I still use the same button configuration that he set up for me. Thanks bro.  ;)

On the Super Nintendo I was also hooked on the following games:

• Street Fighter 2 Turbo
• Starwing
• Super Mario World
• Super Mario kart

It got to a point that I played so much that my sister packed away the Super Nintendo!

2014 The Start of Retro Gaming

My retro gaming adventure started in the year 2014 when watched a video on YouTube called Retro Game Base.  This is a shop based in London and in the video they showed a tour around the shop which had retro games and consoles.  They had consoles like Sega Master System, Super Nintendo, Atari and many others. Also they gave tips on cleaning games cartridge. At the time when I was watching the video I was seeing flashbacks of when I was a kid. The last time I saw a Sega Master System and Super Nintendo was a good 20 years ago. At this time in 2014 I owned a PlayStation 1 and 3, Nintendo Wii, Game Boy Advance and a Nintendo DS.

The only thing close to retro that I had at the time was a PlayStation 1 which I had packed away because I got the PlayStation 3. After watching this video I wanted to check out this shop.

One weekend I drove to the shop as it wasn’t too far from me and saw the outside of the shop. It had pictures of Pac Man, Mushrooms from Super Mario Bros, the character Super Mario and blocks from Tetris.

I opened the door and walked inside the shop. On the right of me I saw cassettes for Commodore 64 games; on the top right I saw console boxes for SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Mega Drive, Super Famicom, Mega Drive Jap edition and Sega Master System.

There were others but those ones stood out for me as it reminded me of my childhood. On the left I saw something that I thought I would never see again. When I saw this it was like I went back in time. I saw the arcade machine for Street Fighter 2 The world Warrior. When I saw that I just had memories of when my older brother and I use to play it at our local chicken shop.

The people that worked there were friendly and I told them that I watched the YouTube video of your shop. They seemed surprised that people watched their video.  At the time it was quite rare to see a shop dedicated to retro gaming.

I looked around the shop and I saw the consoles for Super Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive and Sega Master System, which I had not seen for 20 years. I was amazed by this as I thought I would never see this again. I held the Super Nintendo control pad and I had flashbacks of my older brother beating me up in Street Fighter 2, playing Super Mario World, F-zero and Starwing.

Then I held the Sega Master System control and there were only 3 games I remember playing which were Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Sonic the Hedgehog and Action Fighter.

I had one last look at shop and walked out.

After coming out of the shop I wanted to buy retro consoles and games.  At the time I was thinking of just buying the Sega Master System 2 and Super Nintendo.  

A week later I went onto to eBay and I brought a Sega Master System 2 with Alex kidd built it. This was the first console and game that I had played all those years ago and the game and console that started all.

Now the Retro games consoles I have are the following:

1. Sega master system 2
2. NES 
3. SNES 
4. Sega game gear
5. Gameboy
6. Gameboy Pocket 
7. Sega megadrive
8. Sega multi mega
9. Ps1
10. Ps2
11. Ps3
12. Ps4
13. Nintendo ds
14. Nintendo 3ds 
15. Nintendo wii
16. Sega Dreamcast 
17. Nintendo 64

I also have an Instgram page which has pictures of my Retro games and consoles collection.

Please feel free to take a look its game_cheats87

Catch me at my website where I write daily about my retro gaming collection.

Please take a look: thethrowbackgamer.com/imraan-nazir

Thanks for reading"

Presented by: Imraan Nazir

Instagram @ game_cheats87

thethrowbackgamer.com

A Great Read From Imraan! Thank You!

I'm sure a lot of you can identify with getting beat up on Street Fighter 2 by your older brother (or sister)

Let Me Know If YOU Have Any Video Games Memories To Share In The Comments Box Below...

"Stay Frosty!"