that rat bastard, Lakitu

A simple tribute post (mostly because of this article, care of Andy) to the many, many, many hours I've spent in my lifetime playing video games of all varieties. Starting way back in the day on Dad's old Atari, through my fanboy devotion to Nintendo with NES, Gameboy, SNES, N64, and Gamecube. Trying other platforms, games, and genres at friend's houses. Computer games and arcade games, too. Hours, afternoons, weekends perfecting strategies and combos with Brad. Video games hold many fond memories for me, both recent and from the distant past. I'm not ashamed to admit that my father can still out score me in Pac-Man.

"Space Invaders was a little before my time -- by the time I was old enough to really enjoy video games (i.e., tall enough to see over an arcade control console) Namco had already upped the stakes with Galaga. And for my money, Galaga is the ultimate shoot-em-up. You can keep your Panzer Dragoon Ortas and Radiant Silverguns, friends. Nothing will ever match Galaga's zen-like combination of reflex, simplicity and strategy. Nothing will top the thrill of killing swarms of evil space bees. Stealing back your fighter craft and plowing through an entire bonus wave without missing a shot is one of those perfect gaming moments that simply sticks with you ever after."

-Jeremy Parish