The hard choice & regrets

[Gemini-Phoenix]

One gaming memory I have is from back in 1994 when I bought myself a GameBoy. I enjoyed RPG style games, and went into my local GAME (Formerly EB or might have even been GameZone back then) and browsed the GameBoy section. I decided upon buying one of two titles: Zelda Link's Awakening, or Mystic Quest. Only having enough for one of them, I plumped for Zelda, and never looked back, but there's a part of me that has always wondered "What if...?" ~ What if I had chosen Mystic Quest instead of Zelda? I look back now, and still think I made the right decision - After all, Link's Awakeing is one of my top 5 games of all time, but there's just a subconscious feeling that makes me think that things could've turned out differently...


Again, years later (1998 I think), I had just bought a PlayStation and went to HMV during a 6th form free period to get myself a new game. I had narrowed my purchases down to two games: Resident Evil or Command & Conquer. I chose the former, and again had the same subconscious "What if...?" feeling ever since. This decision could have been the turning point in my perception of games ~ Had I decided upon the latter, would I be the gamer I am today? Would my gaming tastes have evolved the same?

I later bought Command & Conquer (After Red Alert I might add), and believe I again made the right decision. I am thankful that today I am not in the position where I have to pick and choose, so I can have the best of both worlds


The moral of the story is, trust your instincts, but don't dwell on how things could have been had you made a different decision...

[Daltone]

Oddly my brother and I were faced with the same Zelda/Mystic Quest choice when on a ferry on the way back from France one year. It was fairly easily sorted - I ended up buying one and he the other. Ah the advantages of siblings!

[hbkprm]

i chose pheonix wright over metroid prime pinball
i didn't regret it

[8-bitNesMan]

i chose pheonix wright over metroid prime pinball
i didn't regret it

I never thought I would like Phoenix Wright, but it is a really cool game. Metroid Pinball is pretty cheap now if you can find it. It's really good too.

On topic, I think Link's Awakening is the best original GB game. And MAJOR good choice picking Resident Evil over Command & Conquer. I know they're popular, but RTS games are so boring to me. Damn my short attention span...

[bangtango]

This is a nice thread. We have a few threads up about regrets but not one so specific that it comes down to a choice of one game over the other.

Whenever it boils down to picking one game over the other, I always make the wrong choice.

Once as a kid, my parents let me pick out one Gameboy game at Sears. My final two choices? Dr. Mario and Bart vs. The Juggernauts. Dr. Mario stayed on the rack and Bart Simpson's newest game came home with me. How could a Simpsons game be bad, I asked myself. Please note that was before I played Simpsons games on NES and other systems. I regret that a lot because I grew to like Dr. Mario on the NES and wish I had grabbed that instead. To this day, I am interested in a complete-in-box copy of Dr. Mario for the original Gameboy. My mom even recommended I grab that one over Bart vs The Juggernauts. In her words, she used this foolproof argument, "you should get it because it's Mario!"

Want another bad choice? Saw the top-loading NES for its bargain basement price in my local Walmart in the mid-1990's. Had enough to get that or one game. At the time, I thought Tony LaRussa was the greatest manager in baseball. Lo and behold, one of the Tony LaRussa games had just come out for my then-favorite system, the Sega Genesis. It was the best thing ever, I was thinking. Suggested retail price of $50, which was about the same value as that top loading NES. I should save myself the humiliation and stop there. I'll give you a hint as to what choice I made. I never did get around to obtaining a top loading NES until 2000. It'd have helped if the Tony LaRussa game was actually GOOD but it sucked ass and is one of the worst baseball games I ever played.

[7th lutz]

I know the feeling myself. I had to do that alot for the Sega Master system back in the late 90's and the early part of this decade.

[Rev. Link]

Hmmm... The only time I remember having to make a choice like that was one birthday when my mom told me I could pick a game out. I was stuck between Actraiser 2 and Skuljagger for the SNES. I went with Actraiser 2 after thinking about it for a while.

Never did get to play Skuljagger, so I don't know if I missed out on anything, but Actraiser 2 was a complete flop, especially when compared to the gem that was the original.