My buddy from my college days came to visit the past few weeks (which explains the lack of posts here), and there was a lot of reminiscing about the good ol’ times. Many of the topics that came up was the games we played during that time. One particular story came up which made me smile.

GoldenEye 007

Yes, GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. Before there was Halo, before the Gears of Wars, and the Call of Duties. Heck, the old XBox and the Playstation 2 weren’t even out yet at the time. During my Freshmen year of college, I was decent at Physics, Calculus, and Chemistry, but was pretty good at GoldenEye.

The Tournament

My college held a video game tournament my Freshmen year, and I participated in it. The games which were involved were: Mario Kart 64 (N64), Tekken 3 (PS1), Tony Hawk 2 (PS1), and GoldenEye 007 (N64). The way the tournament was set up was that each game will have their own individual tournament, and the winner of each game will play each other in neutral game in the next round.

I, of course, played in the GoldenEye bracket. Me and my buddies all entered the GoldenEye bracket, and each of us made it pretty far in the single elimination style bracket (sometimes having to eliminate each other). I was the only one who made it into the final round. They randomized the weapons this time, and it was Remote Mines. At the moment they picked that, I turned over to my friends, smiled, and gave them the thumbs up.

I was one of the few people in that tournament who knew (at that time) how to remotely detonate the mines right after throwing them (in mid-air). I completely destroyed my opponent with the score of 25 – 2, in a 10 minute match.

GoldenEye 007 Winner: Me

World Class Track Meet

There were now four finalist, the winners of each of their individual games. We were now to face each other in a game none of us were expecting. World Class Track Meet for the original Nintendo (NES). The one which uses the Power Pad!!!

We were paired up with our opponents. Me vs Mr. Mario Kart, Mr. Tekken vs Mr. Tony Hawk.

At that time, I was fairly in shape (not saying much about now). I played a lot of basketball and football among friends all throughout High School. I also did a lot of swimming which help me rid of my Asthma. My opponent, not quite in shape. So I was quite confident I could beat Mr. Mario Kart in the 100m Dash, 110m Hurdles, and Long Jump.

The best part though was, when my opponent yelled out, “I… *huff* don’t… *puff* have… *huff* enough… *puff* stamina…!” during the 110m Hurdles. The room broke out in laughter.

I won my Power Pad match pretty easily and watch the other two guys face each other in their Track Meet. I’m not sure who won, but I’m going to just say Mr. Tekken won because it’ll be faster to write. So it is just me and Mr. Tekken left as we head into the final round of the tournament. After having to play on the Power Pad in the last round, I was curious of what they had for us to play in the final round.

Double Dragon

Yes! A game I remember playing many times during my childhood on the NES. Double Dragon had a 1-on-1 versus mode I remember playing with my friends a lot. My chances are good.

The told us it was best out of 3 matches, and the character select was only to be set to Billy and Jimmy Lee (main characters). The match started, and at first it started off slow. I took my time walking around, getting used to the controls. While Mr. Tekken was chasing me around with a knife. B attack, A jump. Okay, I’m ready!

I did a jump kick and picked up his weapon, and started chasing him around. Then I remembered something! You can throw in this game! The rest of the match was him trying to run away, only to get a knife thrown at him, and me picking the knife back up, and doing it all over again. I won in the first 2 matches, winning the entire tournament.

Entry Fee: nothing, Free Pizza: nothing, First Place Prize: $200