Placeholder for "My 25+ Years in Gaming"

So this is a placeholder for my self about Me and Game world for the past 25 years (I'm 27 years old btw). And beside gaming, I will also write something about me and movies, anime and others stuff. I still don't know what I'm going to type yet (as in structural and grammar), so if its looks like unfinished or jumping all over the place, that's because this personal project will takes probably a while to type it all out. I will probably start with the main point and work from there. Feel free to read and comment if you want, but just remember, it is a work in progress.

Living with Technology (Working Title)

Born into the world April 14th 1983, in Jakarta, Indonesia. My father was a 2nd generation Chinese descendant and my mom was 1st Chinese descendant. My father skin tone was light brown, and my mother was white. From the mixture above, my skin color actually pretty dark, it was probably because Jakarta is a pretty hot place to lived. Oh by the way, My name is Suharjo, yes, no last name in my birth certificate because it is pretty common for naming a baby just using a single name. Try to type in Indonesia past President (Suharto and Soekarno, they both have only one name). But I do have a Family name thought, which from my father side, my family name is Fang and my mother is Lee. The reason I don't use Fang as my last name probably because it will sound really weird to combine those two words. Why? because my name is 100% Javanese name, while my Family name is 100% Chinese, it is kind a like mixing Pentium processor with AMD motherboard (Yes, I love computer stuffs a lot, so probably I will use some joke using computer/game/movie related). Other things about me? I'm the only child, so yes, I'm most likely being spoiled a lot.

I. 0-3 years : uh... Can't remember too much

I remembered that I lived pretty close to anything that was electronic (CRT TV, Radio, and Atari). I have a bit of Short Term Memory (STM) so I can't remembered clearly how was my early childhood. I knew my father had a 14 & 21 inches CRT TV and also I remembered a bit that I played some space shooting games which mainly have a green background, and also play couple games with my close cousin. Beside that, I only remembered that I watch old Roger Moore James Bond, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies, because my father own a Betamax (I love Betamax).

II. 3-6 years: Nintendo, Cartoons and Indonesian Movie.

I was so fortunate that my father also interested in game. One day, my father showed me Nintendo out of no where, as a 3 or 4 years old kid, I was curious. My father showed me how to open the cartridge slot, put the cartridge in, plug the controllers, and turn on the machine. Obviously he didn't show me how to hook the RCA cables to the TV.

The first game was Mario Bros, I was so clueless that I don't know how to react and do with the controller, I just stared at the TV. My father then starts to play the game and show me through the first level, until the finish line (which is the "grab the flag"). Of course my father also new to the game so poor Mario died a lot before he managed to make to the end of the level. And then my father asked me to jump to the flag, of course at first I failed miserably. So for a while before I know how to play Mario, I become the flag grabber.

Next game on the list was The Legend of Zelda, my father actually managed to finished the game, while for me, I'm confused navigating the map, at this point I'm probably 4 years old, so I know how to kill enemies, get potions and stuff. But still my lack sense of direction actually starting at a very young age (until now, I still bad with remembering which way should I go). so I played Zelda for quite a while, I remembered even after couple years later I came back to this game and tried to finish it, which I never be able to till now. No not because I'm suck, it just because my father bought so many other NES games that I want to try.

Games like Contra, Solomon's Keys (which instantly become my dad's favorite), Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, and all others NES games that I have in my collection, so I juggling around to play the games. Bad habit of mine (that I have till now) I usually leave the game half way through and start a new one. That's why I have a lot of games, but I finished only like 20% of them.

Cartoons! I grew up with Tom & Jerry, Mickey Mouse of course. I have tons of cartoons in Betamax, including Thunder Cats, Silver Hawk, Tarzans, the original Johnny Quest, Mighty Mouse, Popeye and I also have Danger Mouse. I fall in love with cartoons since the first time I saw it, even thought the language is in English, which I have no idea what the hell they talking about (I understand only Indonesian and Hokkiannese when I'm under 6 years old). Other memorable cartoons such as Space Ghost, which I hope there will be a live action version sometimes in the future.

First time I went to a movie theater probably around 6 years old (when I was on 1st elementary). The movie theater was about 15 minutes walk from my home or 3 minutes using Bajaj (a three-wheeler transportation). Back in the days, Indonesia cinema produced a pretty good movie (not like now days which 80% of it are really BAD). I love to watch local comedy movie in theater. The best comedy movie was anything from "Warkop DKI", which is a very famous trio comedians who made a very silly but entertaining movie. Other movie genre that I watched was, Indonesian horror with the most famous "Queen of Horror" named Suzanna. Most of the movies played by Suzanna will be the equivalent of Meryl Streep in drama genre, that's how high I respect Suzanna. My first Suzanna movie was "Ratu Buaya Putih", which I still remembered really scares me ( I was 6 years old by the way).

III. 7-12 years : 386! , Sega, Super Nintendo, Tamiya, Comics, Hollywood and Chinese Cinemas. And the introduction of Ghibli.

My mother agreed to buy me a computer for a school works, because I need to learn about Lotus 123 and some other program during elementary school. So my mother ask my cousin to help me get one. If I remembered correctly I received my first computer when I was 4th grade (or was it 5th grade?). It was a intel 386 with 80MB HD, 1/2 MB Tseng VGA, Sound Commander, and 14" monitor. and a gray Genius mouse (3 buttons). It was windows 3.1.1 if I'm not mistaken, but later on it got upgrade to win 95. Oh the joy of having a computer was really nice. I remembered that I never be able to understand Lotus 123 or any other school program, because I'm a really lazy person to learn that kind of stuff. However I know that my knowledge of DOS and windows at a pretty decent level... for a 9 years old kid. King Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory. Are probably the most memorable game for me. I remember I almost scared to dead when I played Police quest, because the graphic was "too intense". Yes we can buy the game pretty easily because Indonesia don't have a rules about minimum age to purchase restricted games (I could get Larry and Elvira if I want to).

Sega Megadrive, I consider as one of the best video game console in early 1990, why? Because of Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm a super big fan of the first Sonic game, because I love the speed and the excitement of the game. Music and graphic are top notch as well. Thankfully, Sega pretty popular in Indonesia, so I can easily obtain the games. My father barely touch Sega because he said to me that Sega is "too advance", so basically my father just bough me almost all of the Sega new release games. I probably have like 120+ games of individuals Sega cartridges, I might miscounted because I haven't see my Sega storage for ages. Let just say I have tons, from Ghouls and Ghost, Kid Chameleon, GunStar Heroes, Mickey Mouse, all Golden Axes, Bare Knuckles, Hokuto No Ken (Fist of North Star), Techno Cop, Pit Fighter. Seriously, just name all of the Sega games I probably have it with the exception of: Sports game, Vectorman, Earth Worm Jim, and Comix Zone (I believed because I couldn't find one).

One day, I went to a mall and saw, oh wow! a new video game console (which is Super Nintendo Obviously), and I asked my father to get it for me. This is probably only me, but SNES somehow, feels less memorable in comparison to Sega Megadrive (probably because I'm a Sega fan - till now). The best SNES game for me is Mario Kart, Earth Bound, Chrono Trigger, and some Dragonballs game which I don't remember which version.

During that period of time, my father found another new hobby, and that was Tamiya. For those who never heard of it, Tamiya basically a car product for children or adult who hobby in tweaking their battery car for competition (or just for hobby). At first I hate Tamiya, because I don't know how to assemble it together, I always asked my father to do it for me. Of course he gladly assemble for me, and I can start play it on the track. After a year, I started to really hooked on Tamiya because of the anime :Dash Yonkuro, an anime about a kids that fight using Tamiya. That is also the first time I'm consider my self as a collector items. Because I bough almost every line of Dash Yonkuro cars (including Dancing Doll, which a girl character car). I even have a car that had 2 Dynamos or using 3 Battery (Shooting Star). That was a really interesting era, because every weekend me and my father always go to "Toy City" A mall where most of Jakarta Tamiya hobbyist, gather and play together. Every time we played Tamiya, we always bring a tool box, full of battery, screwdriver, tires, lights, and the barrier. It was like we consider Tamiya like a F-1 Racing, and we are the pit stop.

When I'm at 1st elementary grade, I started to get some allowance for buying snack or others stuff. that is the time that I realized that reading comics interest me. Good things that my school have a library that have a comic sections, and Donald Duck is the first comic I ever read. I'm enjoying Donald Duck a lot, then I start considering to buy the comic once every week. That is probably the only comics that I read till 3rd elementary grade, then I started to read thicker pocket sized comics, such as Tekken Chinmi, Doraemon, Dragon Ball, and some Shoujo Manga that I borrowed from my cousin. such as Candy Candy and Popcorn. When I getting older, I read some more Eechi manga such as City Hunter, or a bit gory one like Fist of the North Star.

My love for movies always keep growing. almost every week I go to movie theater with either aunt or cousin to watch some movie. I remember watching some National Lampoon, James Bond, and a lot of Chinese movie. Other good things is, my father always keeps the Betamax collection up to date.

The most memorable Betamax that I watched at elementary school must have be Laputa: Castle in the Sky. It was dub in Japanese with Chinese Subtitle. Even though I didn't understand at all I keep watching it over and over again, because I love the movie so much. If I have to count, probably I watched Laputa for more than 60 times on Betamax and thats for the period from when I was 6 - 12 years, because I stopped watch it again after I go to Junior Highschool. The funny thing about Laputa is, even though I watched it for plenty of times, I still don't understand what Pazu and Sheeta talked about, until I had the DVD back in 2004! And I start watch it again for another 12 times on dvd at least.


IV. 13-17 years: 3DO, Saturn, PlayStation, PSII, MMX, Athlon, DDR, Megamall, Counter Strike

My mom likes to go to Hong Kong and China. The total time I traveled to China was 2 times, with 1 travel consist of around 10 city ( Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Shenzhen, HangZhou,GuangZhou, FuZhou, TianJin and other areas that I couldn't remember where). As for Hong Kong trip, it is more than 4 times as far as I remembered, and we didn't use any tour agency as in Hong Kong, my uncle and aunt lived there.

One day in Hong Kong, one of my uncle suggested me to travel to Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, where I found Panasonic 3DO FZ-10, back in that time, no one in Indonesia ever heard about it except for a few that subscribe some game magazine. So I "negotiate" with my father and mother to buy me the video game console, saying that SNES and Megadrive are already a last gen, and this one have a capacity of playing disc and it is at least twice as powerful as the other (which is true). After a long negotiation, my mother finally allow me to buy 3DO (yay!).

I don't remember what first game that I played on 3DO, but I do remember that I have plenty of "live action video games", if you guys know games such as : "Mad Dog", "Drug Wars", "Crime Patrol" that is the type that I'm talking about. Back in the 1990's games that could show the ability to play a real human was pretty hot thing. Games that I really loved in 3DO (I probably have like 60+ games) is Captain Quazar, which I consider it as the "unofficial mascot"
for 3DO. It was a really fun 3/4 camera angle shooting game, really comical and I believe the opening video was very good in terms of the animation, the graphic and the music, I still can remember the music actually until today. Other great games in 3DO that I have is "D" it was a horror adventure games which really makes me have a hard time playing it alone. plus I was playing on 32" CRT Toshiba that I sit 6 feet away while playing this game. The game that I really enjoy it a lot, must be Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, Mark Hamill was awesome as the main character in that game. Why I love Wing Commander III? to put it simple, Wing Commander III = Mass Effect, the decision that we made might killed your comrade, and also we can decide who is our favorite wing man.

Myst, Virtuoso, Total Eclipse, Theme Park, Syndicate, Strahl, Star Control II, Space Pirates, Space Hulk, Space Ace, Shock Wave, Road Rash, Return Fire, Rise of the Robots (Bad games, very good graphic), Primal Rage, Sailor Moon, Panzer General, Need for Speed, Mega Race, Killing Time, Flashback, Brain Death 13, Ballz and Gex (which really reminds me of Geico nowdays) and some other games that I don't remember.

From the list above games that I enjoyed a lot such as:
- Strahl: the fact that you could get a lot of different endings, makes this game have an ultra replay value (back in 1990's), plus its an interactive anime game (if I may say that)
- Syndicate: I prefer the PC version compare to 3DO because it is easier to navigate using mouse, however, Syndicate is one of the best game by Bullfrog. (plus Syndicate wars ofcourse)
- Star Control II: This is a legendary game, it released on PC during the floppy disk era ( Yes I have the game in PC as well, and I got the galaxy map). However they improve it significantly without dropping any essential parts, it is more like they add it more in the 3DO version, such as the voice dialog, and also better music. If you consider your self a gamer, you might want to check out this game (available for PC, I'm pretty sure now it is become a Freeware)
- MegaRace: It might be an equivalent to "Blur" now days, it was a very fun racing car, and also the "virtual host" in the game was hilarious.
- Flashback: One of the greatest 2d platform (beside the retro prince of persia of course). I recommend anyone who reading it, check the game.
- Return Fire: The game music always stuck in my head. The main objective of this game is simple. Choose your vehicle (jeep, tank, chopper), and capture enemies flag on their base. but it become one of the best game if you play it versus your friend.

Suddenly I read in game magazine that 3DO going to bankrupt and developer are either closing the company, or developing for other console (Saturn & Playstation). I consider 3DO as my favorite console because it was my first 32-bit system, but seems like I need to move on to other consoles.

I read about Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation probably around year 1995, both consoles received a very good reviews from game magazine, but it looks like Saturn was big in Japan, while Playstation was big in USA. It was a really hard decision for me to make, which console should I get first. I like Japanese style game such as Magic Knight Rayearth, and I don't like games such as Crash Bandicoot back in the day. Finally I decide that I'm getting Sega Saturn (white version) after moving from 3DO era.

Game that I received with Saturn was Magic Knight Rayearth and Gotcha. The thing that I love about Sega Saturn console is, they have an internal storage, and also expandable slot on the back. Not only the slot can handle more storage, but actually we could use it to upgrade the RAM for the console (no joke), at the end I have like 3-4 expandable cartridges, it works well for most of the fighting games (which make the animation frame looks smoother, I dare you to try). All of my friends at that time think I'm weird because I choose Saturn over Playstation, because all of them have Playstation, and yes, I'm one of those few who have Saturn.

Games that makes Sega Saturn stands out are: Panzer Dragoon, Nights Into Dream, Dragon Force, Virtual Fighters, Fighting Vipers, Mr. Bones, Sega Rally, Sonic series, Shining Force, Shining of the Holy Ark, Legend of the Oasis, Virtual Cop, Daytona. There were a lot of other good games, but this are the games that I remember, since I have all of the games above (including a lot other games). At the ends I have probably 100+ Sega Saturn games.