This is my contest entry for Archdruid Contest Gaming Decades: The 90s. I'm not an old-time gamer since I didn't game that much back in the golden era of gaming.

I did however, have a taste of some games from the 90s, fell in love with gaming thanks to some games from the 90s, had the best laugh from a game from the 90s, even caused a small earthquake—literally speaking—from a game from the 90s. 

Age of Empires II, the Game That Started it All

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Since I've been making some humorous haikus about game and anime lately, let me start this one with a haiku about Age of Empires.

Sound of clashing swords
Champs attacking the castle
No f***ks was given

This game was the gateway for me to get into the world of gaming. I discovered this game when I was in the 3rd grade. It was a week-long holiday, my school went on an exciting holiday trip that I'd been waiting for. Sadly I was sick and couldn't go with my classmates. So I stayed home, bored and extremely frustrated.

One afternoon, my father took me to this super cool 5 floored internet cafe with lots of games. That's where I double-clicked that medieval helmet icon for the first time, and it was one of the best life decisions I ever made.

Before AoE II, I know about video games, of course, but way too little that the concept of RTS was very alien to me. The moment I learnt the basics and what this game is about, I was overwhelmed by the awesomeness of this new experience. We would go to that internet cafe almost every day after school for the sole purpose of playing Age of Empires II. 

At first I didn't know that this game uses rock-paper-scissors mechanic in terms of how units works. I used to always rely on Paladins in most cases. While Paladin is a badass all rounder unit, little did I know that good countermeasure strategy for different situations are always needed. 

I remember leading a group of Paladins to a forest to destroy the enemy's lumber camps to disrupt their income, only to watch my badass horsemen got rekt by a couple of medieval Chuck Norris called Teutonic Knights. Had I brought a group of archers or Monks with them, they would live to tell the story.

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Ahh, yes, the Monk...let me tell you a story... 

Basically, there's this unit called Monk that I really hate.
Wololo!
Basically there's this unit called Monk that I really love. 

Once I only used them to heal my troops. But one day, in the heat of battle, I heard it...the distinctive "wololo" sound. Suddenly, one of my mighty War Elephants changed colour from blue to red, and started attacking my units. I thought the enemy's Monks were healing, so I left him alone, which was utterly stupid. So the wololo kept going until I was wololo-ed to near defeat. 

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Usually I would turtling for as long as possible until my army is ready to storm the enemies back. That's because not only I enjoyed the large-scale bloodbath, but also establishing a kingdom. I always really good at the economy, so good that I was able to build impenetrable rows after rows of bombard towers and castles. 

Then, when my infantries are riled up, the horses are uneasy, and the Arbalests lined up in front of the Trebuchets, my front gate open, and end is the world.

Thanks to Age of Empires II, I was officially hooked into the world of video game. 

_{All the images are property of Age of Empires.com.}

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, My Most Special Experience in Gaming

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Ahh yes, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, the second game I'm so grateful for existing. All that time I thought game is only fun if it has conflicts and fights, or puzzles to solve. Until this game about farming and socializing says hello. 

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is a game about a boy who inherited his grandpa's neglected farm. We will restore it, take care of it, and design it in whatever way we like to see our crops lined together...while also try not to; accidentally hoe the crops, accidentally toss away an item, and accidentally slash the dog. 

While it may be known best as a "farming game", tending the farm until we rich is not the only thing the player will do, as we'll run around the small town to socialize, make friends, get a girlfriend, expand the house and get married. This game is so unrealistic like that, but it's fun.

The source of income is not only from farming also, as you can go fishing, mining, and taking care of the farm animals like cows, chickens, your ex, and sheeps to sell their produce or process them to something else like cheese for example.

In such a small setting, the game feel so full of contents that can take a good amount of time for me to finally done with it.

Whnen other games put me in charge as a warmonger, throw me to hell to fight demon horde and John Romero, or let me be a brutal fighter doing fatalities, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature put a blanket over me, give me a hug and a cup of hot choco.

_{Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4.}

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and the Earthquake

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To be honest, I only knew the title of the game is Cadillacs and Dinosaurs by the time I wrote this post, years after the last time I played it with my childhood friends. There was an arcade in our neighbourhood that was evolving with time. Not one of us didn't like this game, only didn't like each other at times for fighting over who get to eat the roast chicken to restore HP.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is a side-scrolling beat 'em up about 4 80s/90s badasses-looking group that take on a journey through dinosaurs infested 26th century world to find the bad guy who's creating dino-human hybrid experiments. 

And not only cadillacs and dinosaurs, but there's also bikers, mutants, muscular machos in jeans, kickass bombshell, Mad Max-esque bandits, except they're not in brownish hue...the mix is like the fantasy of 80s kids. 

_{Car chase sequence against Hogg.}

One day, two of my buddies played this together. As they progress further into the game, they became louder and louder in excitement and frantic button-smashing. There was this one chubby kid who kept yelling "HERO! HERO HERO!" in every kicking move for no apparent reason, just for laugh, you know. The rest of us were watching them slay intensely because it's rare for us to get that far in the game. 

When they were close to the final boss, one of them died and didn't have more coin to continue. So this chubby "hero" continue to battle alone. I was tired of standing and there were no stool left, except the one behind the chubby hero that he didn't sit on. So I asked him if I could use it instead. But he was unresponsive He kept fighting and yelling "HERO HERO!" and ignored the rest of us. So I pulled the stool. 

And then...

_{Quick 3d illustration made with Blendy 2.8 EEVEE}

We all felt the ground quake. He was a chubby kid, but I didn't think it would feel like the force of a falling building. The best part is, he stood up immediately and continue to fight the final boss, a mad scientist who transform into a dino-man thing called Morgue. Since then, we called him the Earthquake Hero. 

I started with a haiku, now let me close this post with a haiku. This haiku is about our Earthquake Hero.  

Bandits or dinos
The hero can conquer all
Except gravity

_{Image sources: 1, 2, 3}

I hope you like the post, Steemians and fellow gamers. Thank you for visiting and thanks to @archdruid, @veryspider, @elfranz and @curie for the contest. You guys are awesome, stay that way. 

Extra information, I will be open for commission very soon. I'll make 3d character portrait for your icon, ava, poster, wallpaper, etc, and game-ready weapons. 

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^{©2019 Adam Rainite Lawsone}