A Gamer’s Rage | My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment

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<p>We&&num;8217&semi;ve all experienced gamer&&num;8217&semi;s rage at some point&period; We all have some memory of some impossible boss fight that caused us to lose it or maybe even some incredibly difficult jump that we just couldn&&num;8217&semi;t seem make&period; Sure&comma; the lion’s share of these kinds of moments are relegated to older gaming systems as games are becoming increasingly &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;hand-holdy&period;&&num;8221&semi; But regardless of the timing&comma; we&&num;8217&semi;ve all had video game related moments of pure infuriation&period; Many are prone to fits of rage in these moments and it’s not uncommon to hear of controllers being smashed or games and even consoles being heaved against the wall&period; Sometimes&comma; however&comma; there come moments when there is nothing to do but to sit and stare at the television screen in sheer bewilderment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That is what happened to me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It’s been a few years&comma; so I think my heart is healed enough to talk about it now&period; This is my gamer rage moment&period; This is the most frustrating and bewildering thing I have ever experienced in many years of being a gamer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is my heartbreaking story…&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was November of 1993&period; <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em> had just been released in theaters a few months prior&comma; and as a young&comma; dinosaur-loving child&comma; I was still on a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Jurassic  High”&period; My friend had taken me to see it for my birthday that summer but I lived way out in the middle of nobody’s nowhere in the middle of Oklahoma&period; My father never took us to the movies or anything like that&comma; so I had to settle for my memories of the film&period; We didn’t have cable or even a reliable VCR&period; My entertainment came primarily from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that sat in our living room&period; I only owned two games for it&colon; <em>Super Mario World<&sol;em> and <em>Street Fighter 2<&sol;em>&comma; both great games in their own right&period; But after beating them both multiple times&comma; I asked my dad to take me to the video store in town to check out their game selection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;45543" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-45543" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;a-gamers-rage-my-most-frustrating-gaming-moment&sol;2363891-snes&lowbar;jurassicpark&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-45543"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-45543 " title&equals;"A Gamer's Rage &vert; My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment screenshot 1" alt&equals;"A Gamer's Rage &vert; My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment screenshot 1" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;04&sol;06003849&sol;2363891-snes&lowbar;jurassicpark-1024x748&period;jpg" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"748" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-45543" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The image that will most likely grace my tombstone&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Now&comma; keep in mind I didn&&num;8217&semi;t live close to a Blockbuster Video or anything like that&period; I lived in Wellston&comma; Oklahoma and our only video rental option was Wellston Video which didn&&num;8217&semi;t exactly have the best selection in the world&period; &lpar;There used to be a place across the street called Video Visions but that’s another story&rpar;&period; Anyway&comma; my dad took my two brothers and me there one day&period; As they went to the horror section to peruse the 1980’s slasher gems&comma; I went to the video game section&period; Wellston Video didn&&num;8217&semi;t update their selection too often&period; They still had <em>Ten Yard Fight<&sol;em> for the NES on the new release wall in 1993&comma; but that didn&&num;8217&semi;t bother me&period; I went to the SNES section&comma; which consisted of a total of four titles&comma; and stopped in my tracks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There it was&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Like a glorious shining light of grace from God above&comma; I saw sitting on the shelf <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em> the video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System&period; I’m not certain&comma; but I think I soiled myself&period; Without looking or even thinking I grabbed the games off the shelf and took it home&period; I stuck it into the top of my SNES and&comma; unbeknownst to me&comma; began a journey of stifling frustration that would plague me for what may be the rest of my life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here’s the thing&colon; I loved the game as a kid&comma; but it was not a good game by any stretch of the imagination&period; It has nothing to do with the movie except that it is set in a place called <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em>&period; It followed all the old gaming tropes such as limited ammo&comma; no saving&comma; limited lives&comma; and vague if nonexistent direction&period; The only thing I knew that I was supposed to be doing was collecting raptor eggs&period; Eighteen to be exact&period; It was structured in a way that you would have to finish the whole game in one sitting&comma; but because I had little idea of what I was supposed to be doing&comma; I never even got close&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That didn&&num;8217&semi;t stop me though&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It didn&&num;8217&semi;t matter how bad the game was&semi; it was <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em> and I loved it&period; I rented that piece of garbage every week for over two years and I never even got close to beating it&period; It was becoming a torrid love&sol;hate relationship and I was determined to one day conquer that game before I graduated high school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It wasn&&num;8217&semi;t meant to be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;45545" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-45545" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;a-gamers-rage-my-most-frustrating-gaming-moment&sol;34212-jurassic&lowbar;park&lowbar;france-4&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-45545"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-45545 " title&equals;"A Gamer's Rage &vert; My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment screenshot 2" alt&equals;"A Gamer's Rage &vert; My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment screenshot 2" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;04&sol;06003836&sol;34212-Jurassic&lowbar;Park&lowbar;France-4&period;jpg" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"600" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-45545" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Welcome to Jurassic Park&excl; Prepare to have your childhood destroyed<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I walked into Wellston Video in the winter of 1996 to rent my game and was shocked to see that the game was gone&period; Nintendo 64 was the new big deal&comma; and all the SNES games had been sold&period; Sure&comma; freaking <em>Ten Yard Fight<&sol;em> was still sitting there&comma; but Jurassic Park… MY <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em> game was gone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thieves&excl; Those filthy little thieves&excl; They stole it from us&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I walked out into the cold&period; I had been defeated&period; The two year battle against the game that I loved and hated was over&period; The dinosaurs had won&period; Well played&comma; <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em>&period; Well played&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Flash forward eleven years…<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I’m now an adult&period; I have a wife&comma; three children&comma; a job&comma; and I am happy&period; My love of video games continues and I have found myself in a store called Game X-Change in Norman Oklahoma&period; I have just purchased a device known as the FC Twin which is a remarkable machine that plays both NES and SNES games&period; I was perusing their impressive selection of Super Nintendo games and suddenly I was flashed back to my childhood&period; There&comma; sitting on the shelf was <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em>…MY <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em>&period; Just like I had done years before&comma; I snatched it up and plunked down my very reasonable &dollar;4&period;95 for it and I took it home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You’re mine now&comma; game&period; You are going down&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I wasn’t taking any chances this time&period; We live in the age of the internet&comma; and so I printed off a very detailed walkthrough&period; I was not playing this game to enjoy it&period; This was something more serious&period; This was revenge&period; This was redemption for over a decade of mockery and nightmares&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I put the kids to bed&comma; kissed my wife good night&comma; and I fired that bad boy up&period; Walkthrough in hand I sat on my couch&comma; guiding my pixelated Alan Grant through some of the worst platforming and FPS stages known to man&period; The game had not aged well&comma; and I knew that had the <em>Jurassic Park<&sol;em> license not been attached that I would have NEVER played this game in the first place&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t care though&period; I was scooping up eggs and blasting dinosaurs and as the dark hours of night crept into the wee hours of morning… victory was nigh&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Now&comma; here’s the thing about this game&colon; you have to collect all the eggs and escape the island before it explodes&period; I finally&comma; with the help of the guide&comma; navigated the poorly designed island and was elated as I saw the screen announce to me that it was time to get to the helipad so that I could escape the island&excl; Suck on THAT&comma; game&excl; I got your stupid eggs&excl; I am heading to the helipad and a decade of demasculating misery is finally going to end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Or is it&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I’m guiding my character to the left of the screen and like a beacon in the night&comma; I see the edges of the helipad and then I see the helicopter&excl; There it is&excl; I’m three steps away from stepping onto that thing and leaving the nightmare behind&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Then it happened&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;45547" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-45547" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;a-gamers-rage-my-most-frustrating-gaming-moment&sol;34220-jurassic&lowbar;park&lowbar;usa&lowbar;rev&lowbar;a-1&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-45547"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-45547 " title&equals;"A Gamer's Rage &vert; My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment screenshot 3" alt&equals;"A Gamer's Rage &vert; My Most Frustrating Gaming Moment screenshot 3" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;04&sol;06003824&sol;34220-Jurassic&lowbar;Park&lowbar;USA&lowbar;Rev&lowbar;A-1&period;jpg" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"600" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-45547" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Look at him&period; Prancing around&comma; poking fun at my misery<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>It wasn’t a blackout&period; I would have preferred a blackout&period; That would have made more sense&period; What I experienced is often called a brownout&period; Even that is a little extreme though&period; What I experienced was more like a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;flutter”&period; It lasted about a quarter of a second&period;  A tiny surge in the electrical current of my home that at any other moment wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t have lasted long enough for even the television to go dim&comma; but as fate would have it&comma; it was enough to reset my video game system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There I sat&period; 1&colon;30 in the morning and I was staring at the title screen of the game&period; Nothing about my game was saved&period; Not one single egg&period; I don’t know how long I sat there but I know it was a good ten minutes&period; I was mere seconds away from slaying the monsters of my youth when a near imperceptible hiccup in my electricity slapped me in the face and laughed at me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t believe it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I had never been so angry and yet&comma; I lacked the strength to act on it&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t throw anything&period; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t break anything&period; I just slowly got up off the couch&comma; turned everything off and like a zombie&comma; staggered in bewilderment to my bedroom&period; I woke up my wife to tell her because I thought that she would have a right to know why I would not be getting out of bed for the next few days&period; I lied there in the dark and as I tried to fall asleep I was sure I could hear small traces of laughter coming from that cursed game cartridge in the other room&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That was six years ago and although I have moved on&comma; the wound is still raw&period; I still have the FC Twin and I still have the game but I’m not ready to put myself through that just yet again&period; Someday though&period; Someday I will do it&comma; and when I do… ice cream for everyone&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That’s my story&period; What’s yours&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"zemanta-related-title" style&equals;"font-size&colon; 1em&semi;">Similar articles from around the web<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<ul class&equals;"zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style&equals;"margin&colon; 0&semi; padding&colon; 0&semi; overflow&colon; hidden&semi;">&NewLine;<li class&equals;"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style&equals;"padding&colon; 0&semi; background&colon; none&semi; 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