Booting up memories, one blocky sprite at a time
Let’s talk about *that* puzzle in Monkey Island 2. You know the one. 7-year-old me had no idea a monkey could double as plumbing equipment. LONG before online walkthroughs, I was in pixel hell
The first time I got genuinely anxious playing a game. ASCII nightmares, blocky monsters, and the constant fear of getting trapped...
I must've been about 8 when I first booted up Duke Nukem on our family PC— an unassuming side-scrolling action game that somehow oozed more attitude than most adults I knew. It was loud, pixelated, and made me feel like I was doing something just slightly forbidden.
The EGA graphics were a marvel, the one-liners hit harder than they should’ve, and the moment Duke yelled anything remotely out there, I instinctively reached for the volume. That game taught me two things: how to blast aliens, and how to alt-tab really fast when my mum walked in.