GameStruck4 Challenge on Twitter Has Gamers Talking

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Since he wasn’t a movie fan, Marcus (@EpicNameBro) decided to cultivate some conversation by taking FilmStruck’s lead and using the hashtag #GameStruck4.

It clicked instantly.

People love video games, and we’re finally at the point where nerd culture is accepted and embraced, as opposed to being a big bullseye for wedgies.

The industry has never been hotter.

Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and even iOS games are selling at pretty crazy rates considering the mass amounts of games that are coming out weekly.

And for the people who no longer play, they still have these vivid memories of huddling around a screen with their friends until the wee hours of the night.

Video games are the ultimate blend of cutting edge technology and nostalgia, but they can be so much more.

It’s another platform for storytelling, and the world needs more storytellers.

The conversation grew outward in all directions, and GameStruck4 became a trending topic and even a “Twitter Moment.”

https://twitter.com/TwitterMoments/status/986779016936833024

Just like with the film version, #GameStruck4 struck a chord with thousands, and Twitter became flooded from people of all platforms and walks of life.

There were gamers, social media companies, actors, and strangely enough a bunch of wrestlers:

https://twitter.com/StoolGametime/status/986996207963836416

Of course, it also gave platforms an opportunity to highlight some of their greatest hits, which isn’t a bad strategy:

And then one dude who has no idea how hashtags work:

It’s been interesting to go through and see the answers to this question from people I follow, but now it’s time for the main event…

My GameStruck4:

Unlike the film selections, these aren’t games I necessarily see myself in as much as they brought something out in me.

Each of them sucked me in and took up hundreds of hours of my time, each one passing like a second as I grinded and grinded.

Each one of them helped shape how I play games now and what I look for in games now.

Honorable Mentions:

Kingdom Hearts I & II, Final Fantasy VII, the NCAA Football series, Life is Strange, the Legend of Dragoon, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Brothers, Sonic Adventure, Paper Mario, Donkey Kong Country, WCW vs. nWo: World Tour, Mario Party, Borderlands 2, and quite a few others.

Super Mario World

This one was such a difficult pick because I was essentially picking between Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, and Super Mario World.

But I hate racing games other than Mario Kart, and I rarely play fighting games.

What I love, however, is damn near any game that involves Mario, and while I played some older ones before Super Mario World, it was in the Super Nintendo’s side scroller that he really latched his mustachioed mouth onto me (kinky but true).

Playing this game game me that first set of muscle memory that I still use today.

To be fair, you have to develop muscle memory and skills quickly, or that death jingle would drive you insane.

There’s an anger involved with playing a game like Super Mario World, a frustration that builds to a breaking point that either involves throwing your controller or screaming something that would likely get you grounded.

Especially the world with all the pipes, which this dude listed as the second hardest Mario level ever:

Side note: What is wrong with people who want to play Super Mario Maker? Just play the levels they give you, nerds.

When I become an old man with grey hair, wrinkles, and a huge gut, the one thing I will still remember as the rest of my memory fades away is how to beat that first level without any hesitation.

It taught me resilience.

Pokemon Red

Pokemon introduced me to RPGs.

It’s as simple as that.

Despite being mocked relentlessly by older brother, I got into Pokemon Red, and I got into it in a way that I never gotten into any game previously.

From the second I picked Bulbasaur (4Lyfe), I was hooked like an addict.

The battle system was fresh to me, and each new Pokemon that popped us was this new, intriguing species.

I wasn’t available on the Internet back then, so I couldn’t Google to see when a move was going to be learned or when or what a Pokemon would evolve into.

It was all learned through experience.

And then there was a steady dose of the cartoons and trading cards to build upon the experience, creating all these crazy subcultures that I never knew existed around games.

I was so hooked that I bought Pokemon Blue, even though it was essentially the same game.

And I did it because I needed Magmar and Mouth and the rest of the Blue exclusive Pokemon.

That’s when you know they’ve got you, when you don’t even care.

All that mattered was catching all of them.

It taught me perseverance.

Final Fantasy X

I don’t want to be hyperbolic or anything, but that intro changed my life.

That intro grabbed me and took me on a journey that honestly impacted how I viewed anything: books, movies, other games, everything.

From that point on, I was chasing the dragon, trying desperately to find something that could stir up those same kind of emotions in me, and I have done that a few times, but the standard is so high because of it.

Final Fantasy X was both my introduction into the Final Fantasy series and my introduction into cinematic JRPGs, ones with cutscenes that could tell these elaborate, deep, adult stories, stories with themes that made me uncomfortable.

On my first play through of the game, I actually didn’t even beat it. I got to Jecht (final boss) and just quit because I didn’t want it to end.

After waiting a full year, I picked it back up, put 100 hours into it, and faced the fear of absolution, and it broke me.

I actually just beat the HD Remastered version again on my PlayStation 4 about a week ago, and still, the memory haunts me. It’s such an emotional kick in the dick, even though I know it’s coming.

This is my favorite game of all time, and it will likely always be.

It taught me that ends do come to stories.

Halo 3

I was never a huge Call of Duty guy, and I never gave a damn about Nazi zombies.

But I do love Halo.

Beginning with the original and the second, I had two friends who I would play with until the sun came up, destroying the campaign mode time and time again.

When Halo 3 came out, I decided to take the plunge into the Xbox 360 and leave my PlayStation 2 behind so I could play without having to go to a friend’s house.

That decision changed how I played video games.

The co-op campaign for Halo 3 is still one of the most entertaining campaigns I’ve ever played, frustrating on hell at the highest level of difficulty but always fair.

It isn’t as cinematic and beautiful as FFX, but saying Halo 3 isn’t cinematic would be uninformed at best.

There’s a lot to love about the story: violence, classism, betrayal, and a strong ending that leaves you uncertain about the future.

And when the Flood comes, everyone’s plans change and shit gets pretty real.

But let’s be honest here.

As good as the campaign mode was, people truly got into Halo because of the online play.

I became obsessed with that game, and I would hate to see how many hours I actually played.

I can remember where each gun is on each level, the best place to pop out and shotgun folks, the anger that sword would bring me when people would seemingly glitch across the world and stab me.

It still gets my blood flowing.

It taught me to murder and berate 12-year-olds.