I started on the Nintendo 64. Shortly thereafter, I acquired a Nintendo GameBoy, and then the Nintendo GameCube.
A few years afterwards, I had the DS, the Wii, the 3DS, and then the Wii U.
My parents were able to afford video games for me and my siblings growing up. I’m still thankful for my gaming up-bringing. Video games were an important and accepted aspect of my childhood. I have gamers in my family who encouraged me to play games.
I had quite a few first-party Nintendo titles as a child — my favorites always being The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Super Mario, and Super Smash Bros.
When it came to me finishing games? It rarely happened at all. I don’t exactly know why.
The first game I ever beat was Star Fox Adventures for Nintendo GameCube, and I loved it. I did it by myself — no guide — no help.
Every day after second-grade was dedicated to Fox McCloud and his trusty side-kick Tricky the dinosaur prince.
At the time, I didn’t know of its discourse within the fandom. It wouldn’t be until over a decade later when I found out that people hated this game.
Why?
I enjoyed it because it played similarly to a The Legend of Zelda title.
I didn’t have access to a computer with forums when I was that young, so a game that reminded me of my favorite series was peak for me. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought of it.
I largely contribute games like this to my overwhelming love for the action-adventure, puzzle-solving genre.
Thank you, Nintendo.
I was not a video game finisher.
I was a Zelda finisher.
Any game that was a Zelda title or played similarly to a Zelda title, I was easily obsessed with.
[We call that action/adventure… but okay.]
The only other series to make me excited like that was Pokémon, but I wouldn’t finish my first Pokémon title until I was 17-years-old.
[My first memories with the Pokémon series was getting all eight badges in Pokémon Silver, but never beating the Elite 4. I was around 7-years-old and we didn’t have any guides or YouTube back then.
I played Gen 3 but never finished it. I skipped Gen 4 and Gen 5 when they came out due to never obtaining the games.
I vaguely remember a lot of discourse over the Pokémon designs in Black and White, but the idea of a trash bag and ice cream Pokémon never once bothered me. Now in Generation 9 we have cars, tea kettles, and washing machines. If only we knew.
When Pokémon XY were announced, I immediately went and pre-ordered them with my birthday money.
Pokémon X was the first in the series I finished.]
I played many video games growing up.
I finished rarely any.
[Fun fact: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was one of the only other video games that was able to fully grab my attention as a kid! It came out when I entered the 9th grade at fourteen-years-old. I played that game religiously and made many friends at school over it. I will always cherish that game. My first character was a sword/shield user with basic fire and healing spells. Just like a hero. This was well before I started role-playing. I just wanted to be Link in Skyrim. That was a foundation for me.]
So, what made me want to create a backlog of over 400 video games, and go on a journey of self-expression, to gain experience and knowledge of gaming history?
Let’s discuss that…
Role-Playing:
I contribute a large part of my recent obsession for beating games I never got to play as a kid to the “RPG Class” role-playing.
It took over my life after I got into JRPG and started watching more anime.
I wanted to find characters that fit me both in combat-style and personality.
I knew I had a knack for sword users and characters with strong senses of justice and love for their friends.
This was when I decided that the “Hero Class” was my calling.
Ever since then, I’ve been playing more games in order to add my soul-bond characters to my repertoire.
In 2020, I finished a game called Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of An Elusive Age.
It was the first video game in the category “JRPG”, outside of the Pokémon titles, that I beat.
And I loved it.
I loved it so much.
It became my obsession, very similarly to how Zelda was when I was a child.
I’ve never played a video game that came so close to toppling Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess as my favorite games — but when I played Dragon Quest XI… it gave me a similar feeling of excitement and nostalgia.
I bonded with the story and characters. I really felt like I was the hero of legend destined to take the magical sword and destroy the evil demon lord!
It was just like Zelda!
It was another game that I deemed perfect for me in every sense…
And I wanted more.
Developing My Love For JRPG:
I got into the JRPG community on Twitter shortly after playing DQXI.
I joined Twitter in 2020, and started rapidly gaining a following and making new friends.
By 2021, I had a thousand followers — a personal milestone in my history.
Of course, follower count isn’t why I am on Twitter, but I do consider my followers extremely important to me, because the Twitter app is a base for me to share my gaming experiences with like-minded people that I consider my friends.
The JRPG community has been so welcoming to me as I take on new challenges and experiences for myself.
I didn’t know so many people loved this genre of games!
When it came to JRPG specifically, I wanted to find more games like Dragon Quest that made me feel the same way Zelda and XI did.
I started to “role-play” into this persona of a heroic swordsman protagonist, and I fell in love with characters like the Hero from Dragon Quest.
This eventually led me to obsess over finding characters that fit that hero archetype, and fortunately for me the JRPG genre was slap full of young, anime sword-boy protagonist, heroes for me to soak up into my SOUL.
I found characters like Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Ichiban Kasuga from Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and Crono from Chrono Trigger — characters who all fit my bill and match my personality and fighting style.
I was heavily motivated and inspired to play more and more games in order to find characters that fit me just like Link and Hero did.
[This role-play archetype even extended into anime as well, where I’d try to find Shonen characters that are like me…]
[While my anime knowledge is lacking worse than my gaming side, I’ve still decided on characters like Metal Bat and Future Trunks w/ Sword as my soul-bound characters. Eventually, I want to touch on this more — so consider it a work-in-progress.
Thankfully, JRPG are basically like anime that you play. The decisions have become easier for me over the past two years.]
Other Genres:
JRPG wasn’t the only genre I got into. I found comfort in playing other games as well.
While I’ve learned that I love Japanese Role-Playing Games, other games like Resident Evil, Uncharted, Sly Cooper, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, and Dead Space, all offered characters that I could attach to as well.
I just wanted to find characters that people can look at and are reminded of Vohris.
“Vohris The Hero”
Whether they used a sword or not, they’re immediately fit into the archetype of a heroic individual with a strong sense of justice and are motivated by the power of friendship.
A Journey with Friends:
The biggest motivation behind my backlog is the feeling that I’m on this grand quest to play more and more video games with all of you.
I’m on a journey, just like Dragon Quest, with all my friends.
My homies from Twitter: Lucid, Davis, Nikko, Enate, Angel, Nightfall, K-Mo, Lester, and Drakus talk to me about their backlogs all the time. It makes me so happy to see their updates and progress, and to know I’m not alone!
[I even found a Twitter friend who is trying to beat every single JRPG from a book of over 600 pages. Give Becks a follow. I believe in her journey!]
[Nikko and Nightfall are two other people I know who enjoy role-playing into their respective archetypes; Nikko being a mage user, and Nightfall being a Ronin class.]
All of us are fighting the same battles, day in and day out, finishing countless stories together.
The backlog never seems like a daunting, endless task — but instead a fun challenge to tackle together with my party.
We use social media platforms to stay in touch, share knowledge, and most importantly be together.
Having a community of other gamers to share information and experiences with is the greatest treasure of all, and I’m more than thankful to get to play these games alongside my friends.
Knowledge & Experience:
[Mario is my character for the Super Mario series. He may not use a sword, but he’s a physical brawler with access to a Hammer.
He is the older brother — like me, and loves the color red — which is my favorite color. He’s a hero protagonist that does what is right!
In the Mario & Luigi series, I level up Mario’s Attack stat and use him as my main attack option, while leveling up Luigi’s Defense stat, using him as my defender. This balance between Attack/Defense is like using a sword and shield — thus sticking with my class.]
Since I never finished my games growing up, there’s a ton I’ve missed.
Before 2022, I never got to see what it was like when Cloud used Omnislash on Sephiroth, or what it was like to defeat King Boo in Luigi’s Mansion.
These experiences — this knowledge and insight, are things I long for.
I want to be embraced by these video games.
I want to see them through to the end.
I want to be able to say, “I played that,” and “I remember that part.”
It doesn’t matter to me if it’s an old retro title or a new modern game.
I want to be able to hold a discussion about them all, to be able to have played a game old or new.
I love video games for what they are and for what they have given me in my life.
A man in the Twitter space that I respect is Danteku, a guy who I consider a great friend. He’s played over a thousand video games in his life, and for better or worse, has obtained the knowledge and experience to be able to discuss a majority of games from the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s.
To have over a thousand video games played…
is my dream.
My Goal:
To conclude this blog, I will tell you guys that my ultimate goal with gaming is to finish my backlog.
Eventually, I want to teach others how they can finish theirs, too.
I want to help people. I want to recommend my friends games, because I’ve finished and experienced them for myself.
I want to prove to people that it actually is possible to finish your list of games.
It seems impossible, it seems unfathomable, it seems like a fools-errand.
But it’s not. Not to me. It never has been.
Not once have I doubted myself.
I waited many years to play these games. I will play them for many more to come.
In the end, it’s all about the journey.
Some day, I will complete my backlog.
Thank you to everyone who gave this blog a read.
A special thanks to all my friends who’ve been on this ride with me over the last two years. I’m looking forward to completing 50 games next year as a special challenge. I hope all of you will tag along for the 2023 Grind!
Please consider following the friends I’ve mentioned in this blog on Twitter. They’re all wonderful people who are working hard on completing their personal gaming goals.
Much love, and keep gaming every single day.
— Vohris 🗡 🛡
