Hello. My name is Luke and I am becoming video game-obsessed.
A strange thing to declare when I’ve been running a video games website for nearly a decade but here we are. It all started late 2024/early 2025. After finishing Toomanywires’s 2024 review, I realised that I played so few games and the ones I did play were mostly Pokémon titles. I’d threatened to play Golden Sun a million times but didn’t want to start if I wasn’t going to finish. So I did what any self-respecting person with FOMO would do in that situation: I researched how to play more games instead of playing them. During that fact-finding expedition, someone on Bluesky had an enlightening albeit reductive response:
Just play games.
At first, I felt the classic pang of regret: seeking out help and receiving it in a neat little “have you tried?” package. But once I dug into their advice and turned it into something actionable, it worked out for me. I hadn’t picked up a game and played it. And in their defence, they mentioned playing and finishing quick games if that was what I was after. And to be honest, it was. Pokémon takes hours over days and weeks to beat and squeeze every last drop out. I tend not to go beyond beating the story. I’m not much of a shiny hunter, a competitive player, or someone who goes out of their way to complete the Pokédex (unless there’s an incentive—not the diploma though, I can’t even print out the new ones!)
X marked the spot
And what game did I pick as my first of a new gaming era? X-Men: Mutant Academy for the Game Boy Color. Armed with How Long To Beat data (it took most people about 30 minutes to beat), I “acquired” a copy and started playing. It took me about 45 minutes after I realised I could cheese my way to beating the story mode but I felt accomplished. It was the first random game I’d played and beaten since childhood. Sure, it wasn’t a good fighting game but it was a new experience and that’s what I wanted in my quest to play more video games.
I was off work at the time for an extended Christmas period so I dived headfirst into more small titles. Sonic the Hedgehog was a slog as I’m terrible at platformers (ask my son who heard me tilting for hours until I finally conquered it). Mickey’s Ultimate Challenge which was a lot easier than I expected (FORESHADOWING1) and Kirby’s Dream Land was my first Kirby platformer and even though I got mad playing that too, I beat it and enjoyed my time. By the 9th January, I’d completed 5 video games. Could I finally call myself a gamer?
FF stands for First Foray
There was only one way to test that theory: by starting the Final Fantasy series from the very beginning. Apparently that was an unusual game to choose as my first FF game according to an Aftermath Discord user but I like to start counting from 1 rather than 7 or 14. Overall, I enjoyed FFI and it’s simplistic RPG gameplay even though the end grind was an epic slog and very telling of a bygone era of JPRGs (kids today have it easy… and I’m happy for them!) Naturally, I kept going and after about an hour of FFII, realised weapon levelling over standard levelling was not for me, and jumped into III which felt like an upgraded version of FFI, building on existing mechanics and introducing me to the idea of the job system which I wouldn’t experience until V. But before that, I had to beat III and IV and each new game was better than its predecessor—always a good sign in a series. V was absolute fave by the end; whimsical, challenging, and a joy to switch between jobs. Building up unique attacks and character combinations was also a highlight (P.S. I love you, Faris).
Then I started VI. I’d tried to play that game twice, in 2022 and 2024. I got as far as Terra and Locke meeting Edgar in his castle and then stopped. But my third and final attempt went all the way. I wasn’t feeling the first half despite everyone calling it one of the greatest games of all time. “What were they talking abou— oooooh!” That was my reaction once the second half started. Suddenly, the character development took centre stage and I was actually caring about characters. I developed a deep affection for Strago and Relm like they were family and I still wish I could hug them because they so damn cute. I got to the epic finale and realised I’d played one of the best games ever…
And that remained my opinion after beating VII. Yep, that’s right—I didn’t enjoy VII that much. I played the original and its reputation did not precede it. Rough dialogue, characters I didn’t care for, too dark for me to relate to (I’m aware many people did relate to this so it was more a me thing), and while I was fine with Materia, I missed VI’s Espers. The end was awesome and I did lock the hell in during the opening Midgar section but it left me wanting for the most part. Because of that, I don’t plan to play any of the remakes, redos, or reduxes. Have fun but it’s not for me. From there, I skipped VIII because its reputation did precede it (derogatory) and I didn’t fancy wrangling for hours until it got good so it was onto IX.
Final Fantasy IX. What. A. Game. Even writing about it makes me emotional. It was breathtaking from start to finish, and the finish was exquisite. I’m a hopeless romantic so that shit took me into my feelings’ feelings. Just brilliantly done. Gameplay was a breeze without diluting the progressions of previous titles, every character had a great story and lots of growth. There was an abundance of whimsy. No notes. Best game ever.
Putting the Final in Final Fantasy
Sadly, that’s where my run of main series titles can’t sputtered. After a FF break to play other titles, I jumped into X and it felt… different. The jump from PS1 to PS2 was never going to be seamless and while I was excited for the upgraded graphics and an amazing story, there was friction in how I wanted to play and what the game gave me. The UI was different, Active Time Battle was kinda there in spirit but you had no idea when an enemy would attack alongside it being turn-based. I put a few hours in and wasn’t jamming with it. I even picked up FFXIII on the Christmas Steam sale like a weirdo and gave that a try. An hour in and I went from wide-eyed to furrowed-browed when I realised most of it was spliced FMVs with some combat in-between. Looking the game up made things worse when I saw that there’s some weird superiority amongst its fans and how the combat system is actually the best and you’re just bad at it. I’ll take the discount price hit for not touching it again. You can have that!
RA stands for Really Awesome
By the end of 2025, I’d completed 16 games which was remarkable for me considering the quantity and the fact that only one of them was a Pokémon game. But this year I’ve kicked that milestone to the curb and that’s thanks to RetroAchievements.
RetroAchievements (RA) is site that lets you earn and track achievements in compatible games over a variety of older systems all the way up to Wii. You log into your account using a compatible emulator (I use RetroArch) and there are “sets” of achievements for things like beat a stage or beat a boss without taking damage and you get points for them. You can do this in two modes:
- Hardcore: the OG way to play games where you can’t use cheats (things like rewind, cheat codes, and save states—you can save state in hardcore as long as you don’t load them or your achievements will not count towards hardcore points)
- Softcore: this is where you can use any kind of cheat your emulator will allow
There’s a weird supremacy amongst some/many(?) hardcore players who like to say “I could never play softcore as I don’t think those are real achievements but you do you/play games how you want!” a lot but I’m softcore-first and hardcore-second (I like the gold border you get when you 100% a game in hardcore). But I digress! The point is RA gives me access to a ton of new games I’d never have heard of without the site and its community. They have sets for homebrew games, unlicensed games, hacks, and plenty of retail games. Not every game has achievements and I was sad to see some of my childhood faves without them but hey, maybe that’ll change in the future.
What RA has done for my gaming experience is lock me in. I have goals where there were none before. Getting to the end is one thing—and something I live for now as I can get to the end however I want (I think you know what that means)—but there’s also getting everything out of a game to “complete” or “master” it by completing all the achievements. Where I used to pick up a title and played it for an hour max and felt like I’d got everything out of it, now I’m getting more out of that hour or even putting more time in to see what I can achieve. And because these games are more accessible and “cheaper” than newer titles, it’s easier to start and finish. I played a Hamtaro game on the GBC and spent like 5 hours on a Sunday 100%ing it and it was one of the gaming highlights of my life. Hamtaro did that, the little cutie!
God mode is a cheat code
But I don’t want to gloss over a fundamental part of what all this gaming has been for and that’s to cope. My mental health hasn’t been the best over this time and that’s been a contributing factor to this whole journey. Between things like social anxiety, depression, general anxiety, the state of the world, and loneliness, games have taken my mind off things for hours at a time. They’ve been comforting and perhaps to a fault. Now all I can think about is games and which ones to play next. I’m doing it now and hoping I can quickly finish this and see what title takes my fancy. I know that’s concerning but while it’s nowhere near the point of needing help, I’m too self-aware to shrug it off nor am I going to cut myself off video games. It just needs a healthy balance.
I have a few social commitments this Easter and while I’m anxious about them because people, I know it’ll be good for me. I’ll still bring my 476H on the road and play in quiet periods like I used to when I was 8 in the back of my dad’s care, playing Tennis on the Game Boy between the motorway lights. This gaming renaissance has reminded me what I loved back then and what I get to love now thanks to better access. Ironically, money was the stumbling block when I was a kid and now it’s not even a factor and if there was a title I longed for then, I can get it now and there’s nothing stopping me. Well, besides work and stuff. Jill Scott was right.
- I played this again last night to try and master it on RetroAchievements and when I tell you the final puzzle took me HOURS and I didn’t go to bed until 5am. This is a CHILDREN’S GAME! For up to EIGHT YEAR-OLDS! ↩︎