TFG1MIKE 365 – 2024 Day 154 – Six Video Games To Know Me!

6 Video Games In 1!

Hello all and welcome to the continuing Daily Blog series from me TFG1Mike. This is TFG1MIKE 365!! And it The idea here is for me to write something, anything, once a day for 365 days. From January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024. It’s Day 154 and I’ll be talking about the fact that these are the six video games to know me by!!!!

Video Games and I have been a thing since I was 5 years old in 1985. The first systems I remember playing on were the Atari 2600 and 7800. My mom had these, and I think my favorite game was barn stormers… I might be misremembering that, but that’s my brain for ya folks! After that I never had an NES, but I got the Sega Master System… (YUCK!) Alex Kidd is no Mario, Link, or even Little Mac! Bo Jackson’s Baseball was sorta awesome, but after that in 1992, I made the correct choice and got the Super Nintendo Entertainment System! I liked the Sega Genesis, and I thought the ABC three button thing was cool, but outside of Sonic 1 and 2, and the Golden Axe games, there really was nothing on the Genesis that I felt I needed over what the SNES gave me as a 12 year old in 1992! Sure the Genesis version of Aladdin was better, but one game does not a system make! I would spend hours on SMW and Zelda: A Link To The Past.

After that beginning of my console days, I went to the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Between Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, yeah you read that right, the 2nd game!!! Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, and the Kingdom Hearts games, PS2 was a complete joygasm for me! That’s pretty much where my console gaming ends though, as I entered the PC Master Race of gaming full time. The reason why I abandoned console gaming is because the controllers got too damn big. I play video games one handed, starting with the NES and going to the Playstation 2, I always had a controller that worked well with my left hand. After Ps2 the Sony controllers went too wide. The Microsoft controllers were always too damn wide, and besides I never cared about X-Box. Just like Nintendo was my choice over Sega, Sony and PlayStation was my choice over Microsoft and X-Box!

So let’s get to these six video games shall we? These will not be full in depth write ups, they will be little snippets of what I remember playing  from each of these specific games. Honorable mention to TMNT IV: Turtles In Time! (Although the arcade version was better, it was nice to have it at home too!)

^Podcast Banner Made By: TV’s Mr. Neil!

Super Mario World!

The Super Nintendo, was MY Nintendo. It was the first Nintendo system I ever owned that was mine! My cousins Rachael, Robby, and Cassie had the original NES, and I remember playing SMB, Duck Hunt, TMNT, and so much more at their house! However SNES was all me. From SMW, which was my favorite to Zelda: A Link To The Past, Pilot Wings, and so much more… SNES was MY NINTENDO!

What I loved about Super Mario World was the way the map worked, and the fact that Mario actually had a cape to be SUPER MARIO!!! No leaves, no raccoon tail, even though that was awesome for SMB3… SMW though kicked it up a notch. Most of the levels were food names which really made me laugh then, and even now! Donut Plains, the Vanilla Dome, and more! I loved how there were “Switch” Palaces that you had to activate for the multi colored blocks to be “live”, and then there were the levels that as a kid might have been a bit spooky. The Ghost Shop, and Valley of Bowser. Even though when you got to King Koopa, he wasn’t that difficult to defeat! SMW offered many hours of fun for me! I remember the first time I ever got to play Super Mario World! It was before I had gotten the system for Christmas in 1992. For those that may not remember there used to be “NINTENDO CENTERS” in THE MALL!!! Yes malls were a thing in the late 80s and throughout the 90s! And at the Kingston Independence Mall, we had one! It was this kiosk that you could go up to and try the games for FREE!!! It was amazing, I wish I could find phoyographic evidence of this, but trust me! Whilst I was writing this up, I needed to hear just the music from the game. I found Radiator Rampardos on YouTube! The playlist can be found HERE! Even to this day, now on the SNES Classic, I love playing Super Mario World!

And now… We head to Hyrule! Before going on this adventure, just like with Super Mario World, I wanted to hear the music of The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past outside the game. So I found Jammin’ Sam Miller! on YouTube, and you can find the playlist HERE! Ok now grab your sword and shield, and let’s find the pendants in order to get the MASTER SWORD!!!

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past!

A Link To The Past is the only Zelda game I’ve ever played consistently over and over! EEXXXXCCCCCCUUUUUUSSSEEEEE MEEEE PRINCESS!!! Now you have The Legend of Zelda animated series stuck in your head right? Good! I miss straight forward adventures like this game. The music of this one really gets me into the adventure, and the whole switching between worlds, that was just so damn cool. The sound effects in this game are awesome as well. It is your standard Link must rescue Zelda story, but as I said straight forward story telling works well for me. I love all the areas we get to travel to in Hyrule. If I had to pick a section of Hyrule as my favorite, The Lost Woods would be my choice from the Light World. From the Dark World I’d probably pick the ice palace, but that might change.

I’ve always wanted to use a boomerang in real life, but it was just a dream. Luckily in video games dreams come true. And I love that weapons like the boomerang are upgradeable! My favorite palace to complete in the Light World is the Desert Palace, because you can just run through most of it with the Pegasus Shoes! In the Dark World though I think my favorite is The Swamp Palace for it’s various challenges! A Link To The Past is not “just nostalgia” for me all these years later… It’s a game I love playing to challenge my mind, as well as escape into the entertainment!

Steam Is The Image Source!

Metal Gear Solid!

MGS1 OST Playlist by Terra T can be found HERE!

SSSSSSSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAKKKKKKEEEEEEE!!!!!! The year was 1998, and after Spyro, Crash, multiple Need For Speed entries on the Sony PlayStation at the time… Enter Hideo Kojima and his tactical espionage action game METAL GEAR SOLID! I was blown away with this game. Everything you could do, everything Snake was up against, the sneaking action of it all. The challenge of going through levels without being spotted by the enemies, yeahhhhh this was a new kinda game for me, and I absolutely loved it! I still love it to this day, and last year was the game’s 25th Anniversary! Mike Laidman and I reminisced about that in this podcast episode right HERE!

The cool thing about MGS1, it’s a game you can play any way you want. You can be silent, stealthy, and sneaky, or you can run and gun it! Then there are multiple ways to achieve the goals that you need to achieve! Even if you accidently get spotted by the soldiers and other enemies, that escape to cove countdown is amazing!

The storytelling was off the charts here, and this is truly where the Metal Gear franchise overall began for me. I’d heard of the NES versions, but I was more of a Contra kid back in the day!

Steam Is The Image Source!

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty!

LLLLLIIIIIIIIIQQQQQQUUUUIIIIIIIDDDD!!!!!! The year was 2001, and after MGS1 in 1998, I was ready for Snake’s next big adventure! Although it wasn’t really Snake’s story was it? Or was it? We have The Sons Of Liberty here, and that first mission with Solid Snake was everything for me, I played THAT demo all the time!!! Then I finally got the game! I came around pretty quick to Raiden’s character, and I loved how his move set was completely, well almost all different than Snake’s move set.

Every game sequel needs to have new stuff, and the first person shooter mode was all new for MGS2 and the PlayStation 2! I thought that was the coolest aspect of the game! I love how you feel at home, and you think you are getting the exact same game in the beginning with Snake, however once we get to The Big Shell everything changes, and it’s a whole NEW game. Admittedly there are similarities, as there should be to keep fans of the first game wanting to play more. There was just something about MGS2, that made me enjoy the whole MGS world even more. Raiden was more of a ninja in my mind then a straight up soldier type. He was a mix of Snake and Gray Fox. I felt very at home with each of the villain fights, even though the characters are different, and the skills they use are different, it felt very Shadow Moses to me. A great thing about this game is the different skill sets Raiden has, so many new things to explore for how to be sneaky in the game.

The music in this game is just as awesome as the first game. I absolutely love it. If you are ever wanting a really amazing tactical espionage game to play MGS2 is one you should try!

Grand Theft Auto IV!

image source!

Before GTA IV, I had only ever played San Andreas, and while I love that game, the story of Niko, and everyone else in Liberty City is really my favorite GTA game! It’s a game that after all these years I can still go back and play it, and enjoy every moment of it. It is also a game that I used to get frustrations out with. Just get in a cop car (or in my case the Hummer), and go hunt down criminals! GTA IV is my go to, even though I started my GTA journey with San Andreas, Niko’s story and everything about GTA IV is always replayable fun for me. The amount of choice you get is amazing. And then there are all the little things in the game. Such as helping out friends and more! My three favorite weapons to use are the grenades, rocket launcher, and the M4. The desert eagle ain’t bad either, but the other three I mentioned have amazing performance. My only complaint about GTA IV is the number of times the game DEMANDS you to be social. Seriously was 2006 really that desperate as far as social media? “Call Roman to go bowling” and every other option with all the characters. I get it, it is a side mission type thing. However I do not want that in my single player game.

Other than that one aspect, I do love GTA IV as I said. You can see in the video above how I play video games one handed, and I’m very interested to see what the story of GTA VI will be.

Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005 Edition)!

The year was 2005! And no this has nothing to do with The Transformers! Need For Speed, ever since Hot Pursuit and Hot Pursuit 2… I have loved the street racing side of this franchise! I can’t stand the race car side of NFS, so I’m no fan of Pro Street and it’s sequel. I understand why NFS does those types of games, but I prefer the sleeker side of Need For Speed. And the first MOST WANTED in 2005 was a game changer for me. It had everything Hot Pursuit 1 and 2 had, and sooooo much more. I would always go back and play this version of the game, because at the time I thought it was inspired by New England locales. (In doing some research to write this, nope that was not the case.) It was heavily inspired by the Pacific Northwest, not that I have any problem with that, I just thought something else for the last 19 years… Yes folks November 15, 2025 is the 20th anniversary of this game! Holy Smokes!

Game Central Station – Final Boss Thoughts!

It wasn’t until Wreck It Ralph 1 and 2 had come out that I had thought of a great name for my GCRN Gamers Gaming podcast here on The GeekCast Radio Network! Although this idea has been on paper for at least a decade…. And I think someone else already has that title for a podcast… That was the genesis of it, and hence why the closing thoughts of this are called that. Would you listen to a gaming podcast entitled Game Central Station from me? What are the six video games to know you by? Sound off in the comments!

Join me next time when I’ll be writing about something!