What is your retro video game spirit animal?

[J T]

If you have true knowledge of self and true knowledge of old school gaming, then you may already know what retro video game is your spirit animal, or totem, that best represents who you are or who you need to become.

If you know already, then tell us what it is and why. If you do not know, are unsure, or are just curious for a second opinion, then you may ask me and I will meditate with Dhalsim down by the crystal springs, divine your spirit animal from our visions, and return to you with an answer.


Disclaimer: When I present you with your spirit animal, you may be forced to confront truths about yourself that you have never had to confront before. Beware.

Disclaimer 2nd: Actually, I'm just blowing smoke and thinking I'm funnier and wiser than I actually am, so you can honestly disregard whatever I say.

[Exhuminator]

I can not resist your meditative deduction. Please give me your divination oh soothsaying one.

[Xeogred]

A robot dog named Rush?

(I'm guessing JT is writing a novel with all these topics lately )

[Key-Glyph]

And to the surprise of exactly no one, my answer is Ecco the Dolphin.

I wish I could put it into words, but it's difficult. Everything about that game lines up with me in such a way that I can't tell if I'm drawn to these same themes and aesthetics again and again naturally or if my intense experience with Ecco started it all.

My other video game spirit animal is the first Mass Effect. It's actually tied for first place, I think. Following these is the Metroid series, which I believe is going to rise even higher in personal importance next summer when I play Super Metroid and have a breakdown over its events. I've said it elsewhere, but I've never had my own thoughts and a character's line up as much as they did in Metroid II: Return of Samus. I found out at the end that Samus and I were the same person, and it blew my freaking mind.

What do all of these games have in common? Ambient music, a pervasive atmosphere of loneliness and loss, sacrifice, unknowable enemies, regrettable wars of self-preservation, storytelling that is steeped in mystery, space, silence, awe, strong solitary characters who are forever changed by their experiences, and... squid aliens. Also, they've all made me cry.

And no, I don't know what this says about me personally. All I know is that I love this particular deep feeling that has no succinct descriptor, and that I've started referring to games with it as having "umami."

Exhuminator pointed out that Shadow of the Colossus is of this ilk and he's totally right: that game is umami through and through. I watched someone else play through it and wept repeatedly. But yeah, whatever that is, it speaks to something in me.

I'd like to hear J T's idea of what spirit game would be despite all this, though.

[J T]

I can not resist your meditative deduction. Please give me your divination oh soothsaying one.

I have finished eating my tacos and watching televisio... errr... I mean, I have knelt before the altar of the crystal shrine and meditated long and hard and come up with you spirit animal.

Exhuminator, your retro game spirit animal is: Donkey Kong.



You are strong like King Kong and stubborn as a donkey. You have built this rickety construction site yourself, from the ground up and will chuck a barrell at anyone who tries to take you down. Some may look at your simple pixels and think that's all there is, but you are a more complex character than that, full of subtle moral ambiguities. Sometimes you are cast as the villain, other times as the hero. How you're viewed is usually all a matter of perspective. Sometimes people are trying to rescue women from you, sometimes you are just trying to be a good father to a strong Jr., and other times people just have a bug up their butt and are trying to spray their poison up yours. Through it all though, you stay funky as a monkey and dance to the beat of your own konga.

[J T]

And to the surprise of exactly no one, my answer is Ecco the Dolphin.

...

I'd like to hear J T's idea of what spirit game would be despite all this, though.

Key Glyph, both Dhalsim and I independently had visions of Ecco the Dolphin while meditating on who your spirit animal would be (so you must have a high degree of personal insight and self reflection!). We had great conversations on the topic. I pointed out that people's initial impression of you is that you are cheerful, colourful, and friendly just like Ecco, which Dhalsim agreed with, but he noted that for anyone willing to spend more time with you (or Ecco), it becomes apparent that there is a tinge of melancholy and a chronic pain hidden from plain view. This is all part of your humanity and mysterious charm. We agreed that there is an ocean's depth to your personality. Ecco travels a complicated timeline, never settling on the past, present, or future, just as you do as you reminisce over the past, live mindfully in the present, and work hard for a future. You care a great deal for the other creatures of the sea, and will even jump through hoops to make others happy if necessary, but you are at your most graceful and beautiful when given the independence and freedom to jump joyously through the wide expanse of the great blue sea.

[J T]

(I'm guessing JT is writing a novel with all these topics lately )

No, I just think that it's hard to talk about retro games without rehashing 'best of' lists and old topics, so I try to come up with weird ideas to talk about old games in new ways.

[samsonlonghair]

I think that animated gif is hard on the eyes. It may just be that I'm sleepy though.

[Exhuminator]

I enjoy J T's threads lately, it's nice to see such creative topics.

--

I think J T's retro video game animal choice for myself is exceptionally spot on. At first I was taken back by his pick, but his description made more and more sense as I read it. I also find his choice particularly amusing because my wife's pet name for me is "monkey".

If I was going to choose a retro video game animal for myself, I would have chose:

http://ghostsngoblins.wikia.com/wiki/Firebrand

But that's not as good as J T's pick, admittedly.

--

Cool thread, I hope more people join in.

[arcadifvid]

i considered a blue hedgehog or a green dinosaur.. but i think the giant bat is more appropriate for me.