Ana Pires 2.0

Being eight years older than me, my brother had a computer before I did, naturally. It was an Amiga 1200 from Commodore.

Of course he did some work, but in all truth, the Amiga was mostly about games. And how I loved to watch him play. Looking back now, I’m sure it was quite annoying for him, but the magic of that little box (gigantic in today’s standards) was just hypnotizing for me.

When I was around 7 years old, he got another computer, a PC with Windows. Since I had already learned how to read and write, my brother decided to teach me how to work on the Amiga and how to play some games. Not because I nagged him almost to death, he just decided it was nice. Yes, anyway.

At first, the only types of games I could play were Galaga and Arakanoid styled ones, and my English consisted of the words “play”, “load”, “save” and “quit”.

As time went by though, I started playing games like SimCity and the Monkey Island Series. Games that actually needed you to understand the language they were in. It was with that computer that I really started learning English. It’s one thing to listen to cartoons on TV. Actually having to read and write and understand a language, for the sole purpose of having fun, works completely different. My grammar was far from perfect, obviously, and I’m sure I was quite a pain for my brother, always asking questions. But then again, look at where I am now (University, Portuguese/English “Languages, Literatures and Cultures” course).

At a certain point, I was completely addicted to all the games we had - and they weren’t exactly just a few… My mother would even have to yell at me so I’d get off the computer to go to the bathroom. There were just so many of them and they were all so exciting, I never felt like stopping. If I got bored with one, I’d just pick another one up. Those were the days.

I never really got the same excitement with the games that exist now as I did with the ones from Amiga. The new SimCities are great and beautifully made, I wouldn’t trade my Final Fantasies for anything, and there are also the online games. But still, it’s different. Every time I thought of the wonderful times I had in front of that great machine, I felt nostalgic and sad.

Our Amiga is now put away. The monitor had to be thrown out, because we’d get an electric shock every time we tried to turn it on (it was that old), but the rest of the computer is carefully wrapped in plastic bags and old cloths, kept safely in my room.

I tried looking for emulators and getting them to work with the games I missed the most, but I never really managed to succeed. They were all too complicated and I would almost always end up with a new virus on my Windows. It’s only now, with my iBook, that I’ve finally been able to play the old Amiga games, using DOSBox and MacMame.

Do you remember Bubble Bobble? And Alley Cat? And Cannon Fodder, Fury of the Furries, RoboCod, the Dizzy series, Beneath a Steel Sky, Dune, SuperFrog, Alien Breed, the first SimCity, Lemmings?

The excitement, it’s still there!

I still feel like I’m missing a lot, and every week I end up remembering another one and getting it. My DOSBox folder just keeps growing and growing. My latest addition was the way-too-cute and addictive-all-over-again Rainbow Islands. And there are still some I haven’t been able to find, like Fire and Ice and Wiz’n'Liz and even the extremely well done Agony for example.

You can seriously have no idea or understand my happiness if you’ve never played any of these old games. You’re not too late, you can still give them a try.

I feel like that was the beginning of gaming, and that I’m very lucky to have been able to witness and live through it. When I’m really old, I’ll get to tell my grandchildren about these ancient games I used to play that no longer exist… Anyway, I’m getting addicted all over again. You can certainly expect more of these posts from me, because I’m honestly going crazy here.

I’m just going to have another go at- is it four in the morning already?