My history as a Video Gamer part 1 - NES Era

I  got an email request recently asking about my history as a gamer and I think that now would be a good time for me to share my story.  Like most kids growing up in the 1980s and 90s, I have had lots of exposure to video games in many different forms.  My history is quite extensive too.  My history is too long to do in one post, so I will have to break it up into several posts.  In this post, I will explore the NES days

Above is a picture of Mountain View, California as it is today as of 2010.  It was in Mountain View where I was born.  Memories I have of those years are very faint at best (though I do have some pictures and videos of those years) considering that I ended up moving to Illinois when I was about 2 years old.  Though sometimes I do get that home style feeling when visiting northern and central California (especially the Sacramento area).  Interestingly, I haven't been to Mountainview in many years.  Probably would not mind going there again someday seeing how much it has changed since I moved, though my family rarely takes trips to that part of California so I don't see myself going there again any time soon.

My video game history in the 1980s (NES and Atarti Era)

I don't recall owning an Atari, but I did get my first game system when I was 7, the classic Nintendo. However, I do remember when I was about 4 years old, I used to visit my grandpa on my Mom's side (Joe Shackelford) in Rancho Cordova, California (he used to live there before moving to Washington State in 2004 and later passing away during the summer of 2005) and I remember getting to know one of his neighbor's kids and playing video games with him sometimes.  Back then, my dad was in the Navy (mostly stationed in Illinois, though he was stationed in Mountain View for a while, where I was born), and remember he got deployed to Japan for a few months and me and my mother flew out to California from Chicago (yes I used to live in the Chicago area long before moving to the Seattle area back in 1994) and staying with him for several months (it was a long time ago, so I don't remember all of the details).  Can't remember if he had an atari or sega master system, but he had at least one of the 2 game systems.  I also faintly remember Aunt Linda (one of my Aunts) used to have an Atari system at her apartment (she lives in the Sacramento area too and had a son too, though I can't remember his name since he moved out when I was still young) and play some games on that.  Around the time I turned 7, the classic NES was already becoming popular with fellow kids and friends in my neighborhood and remember playing nintendo games with some of them (such as Super Mario Bros and Contra).  Eventually, I got my own Nintendo and got games like Super Mario, Duck Hunt, and others.  That game system definitely brings back memories.  I still remember playing games like Mario Bros 1 and 3, Mega Mans 2-4, Contra, Duck Tales, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Teenage Ninja Turtles 2 (The Arcade Game), and even Battletoads (took a long time for me to beat that game too).  I kind of got addicted to video games during those years too as I could spend long hours playging some of the games I had and often even visited friends and playing Nintendo at their houses too (most notably playing Mega Man 2 at this kid named Stephen's house).  Also was friends with Michael Blocker and he had games like Contra, Super Mario 2, and Mike Tyson's Puch out and used to play those games from time to time as well.  I remember some of the kids gave me a hard time for being hooked on video games too, and at least one kid spreaded false rumors about me plaing Mega Man 3 while he was gone at his house, though I faintly remember that day and have no memory of going there while he was gone (hey even if I did I probably didn't know better back then considering that I was probably only 8 or 9 years old at the time).

Most memorable games from the NES days:
- Mega Man 2, 3 and 4.  I remember used to have a friend named, Stephen Santiago (lost touch with him after moving to Washington State) and I remember how I used to often have sleep overs at his house ang play video games like Mega Man 2 and 3 with him sometimes.  By the way, I did get the Mega Man Anniversary collection for the Xbox, which was fun to play through (as it features all of the classic mega man games, except for Mega Man and Bass, Mega Man 9, and Mega Man 10).  I remember I used to spend long hours playing through that game (sometimes spending several hours in one sitting playing the games from beginning to end).
- Super Mario bros.  You know you are a typical 1980s kid when you have played through classic Super Mario bros at least once or twice.  I remember getting hooked on this game too and would often spend long hours playing through the 8 worlds. I remember visiting friends and doing 2 player super mario bros with them from time to time (one person plays as Mario while others play as Luigi).  By the way, this was far cry from say New Super Mario bros Wii or Wii U where 2 or more players can play simultaneously.  Back then, players usually switched off between their characters die (which can mean long or short waits for the other player depending on how good the other player is).
- Super Mario bros 3.  This was definitely one of the better sequels in the series (besides Super Mario World and others).  The game is huge compared to the first game and features huge maps of each world.  By the way, good luck playing the game from end to end without using the whistles since back  then, there was no save feature, so if you wanted to play from end to end, you would either have to use the hidden whistles to get from one world to the other or if you are the diehard type, you could spend long hours playing the game from end to end too (definitely could take an entire day to play from end to end in my opinon considering that each world is long with several boss fights in between each world and each getting progressively harder than the previous ones).
- Contra and Super Contra.  Definitely 2 classics in the contra series.  By the way, who remembers the Komnai code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start)?  It is almost essential to know for players serious about beating the game considering that getting hit even once usually results in instant death for the players and you only get so many lives and continues before you have to start over from the beginning.
- Ninja Turtles 2 Arcade game.  I remember playing this game in the arcades before a version came out for the consoles too.  Forget the first ninja turtles game, Ninja Turtles 2 was definitely awesome.  Given the difficulty of the game, along with the fact that you only get 3 continues, most people probably won't make it to the final boss against shredder though there are some cheats players can exploit to get there.  Also, the game even has its classic villans for enemies and boss fights too, such as foot soldiers, mousers, krang, baxter, beabop and rocksteady, casey jones, and even shredder himself.  The game is also one of several arcade style ninja turtles games for consoles since developers would later develop Ninja Turtles 3, Ninja Turtles 4 Turtles in Time (for the Super Nintendo) and later Ninja Turtles Hyperstone Heist for the sega genesis.  I remember you can also either play the game on solo or team up with another player and work together to play through the game.  By the way, wouldn't it be awesome if a version of the games came out for Xbox One and utilized the 4 player system either locally or via Xbox Live?  That would be awesome.  They could even remake the games and give them arcade style graphics instead of the old 8 bit or 16 bit graphics too.
-  Mega Man 3.  This game was definitely a hit in the classic mega man series.  Set sometime after the events of Mega Man 2, Dr Wily is at it again and it is up to Mega Man to foil his plans once again (a theme that would happen again and again over time).  This game is also unique in several ways that in addition to fighting the usual 8 robot masters, you also have to fight a whole another set of robot masters from Mega Man 2 (in the form of the gamma robots that uses the abilities of their fallen comrades) in remixed versions of some of the levels you went through earlier.  It is also the first game in the series to introduce Protman too (back then he seems to be hostile to Mega Man, at least till the end).  It is also one of the few classic mega man games where the boss music changes between  the regular robot master bosses and later the wily castle bosses.  In many other games, the boss music either stays the same most of the time or doesn't change till the final boss.  It is also one of the last games in the series where capcom gets creative with Mega Man's final confrontation with Wily.  From Mega Man 4 onwards, the final boss (where Wily telports around the room) is more or less the same (barring capcoms creativity for Wily's first form).  I remember some kids used to bully me over this game and one kid spreaded false rumors about me going to his house while he was gone and playing mega man 3.  My memories from the incident are sketchy, but even if I did do that, I probably didn't know better back then (was probably about 8 years old at the time) and was probably set up too.
 - Battletoads  This game was definitely one of the most challenging games I have played on the NES, but definitely one of the more fun ones too.  You play as one or 2 super hero toads in their quest to save Pimple and their girlfriend Angelica from the evil Dark Queen in an adventure consisting of 12 huge levels full of enemies, obstacles to overcome and other challenges to get through along with the occasional boss fights along the way too.  By the way, if you thought level 3, the turbo tunnel was hard, that was just the beginning my friend as the game is 12 levels long with each level getting progressively tougher to play through than the previous ones, plus you do have several more similar levels such as surf city (where you are riding a surf board instead of a bike) and volkmire inferno (where you fly a plane through a fire filled level).  The final 3 levels get insanely hard too and you only get so many lives and 3 continues before it is game over.  I also like how the dark queen taunts the players on the way.  It took me many attempts to beat the game, but eventually I was able to get to the end and defeat the dark queen on the top of the tower of shadows, with help from game genie of course.  Good luck beating the game without game genie if you insist on not cheating.
- Castlevania Simons Quest as well as Castlevania 3.  I remember the earliest incarnations of the castlevania series.  Took along time to beat Simons Quest, but it was pretty fun to play through non the less and is one of the more different titles in the series.  Castlevania 3 was pretty fun to play through too considering that you can either play as Trevor, Alucard or their allies going up against Dracula and his cronies.  It is also the first Castlevania game to feature the "big battle" boss music too (which would eventually happen again in Circle of the Moon).  By the way, newer castlevania games (especially Symphony of the Night Style castlevania) games would give the series a huge boost.  So far my favorites are probably Dracula X, Symphony of the night, portrait of ruin, dawn of sorrows, order of ecclesia as well as Castlevania Harmony of Despair.
Other honorable mentions:
- Double Dragon
- Mike Tyson's punch out - I remember playing this game with Mario posing as the referee and you do several levels' worth of boxing matches with Mike Tyson himself being the end boss in the game.
- Duck tales and rescue rangers.  These were fun game based on their cartoon counter parts, both developed by capcom.  By the way, there seems to be a remake version of Ducktales for the xbox one.
- Adventure Island
- North and South - I remember me and my brother Brett would play this civil war themed game sometimes where one of us would play as the union soldiers and the other plays as the confederates.  Doing various battles and even doing these levels where you have to try and rob a train or steal an enemy flag.  Usually Brett would beat me, but it was still fun playing through sometimes.
- Superman.  This was a classic rpg game where you play as Superman in his quest to rid the world of its villans.  Never beat the game myself, but it was fun to play nonetheless.  Kind of hard to get to the end of the game if you don't know what you are doing.
- Bart vs Space Mutants - long before the simpsons game on the Xbox 360, there was Bart vs Space Mutants.  Only rented this game, but never actually beat the game (back then, you usually had to go to the local store like Blockbuster or even Ben Franklin if you wanted to rent games).  Not sure how people rent games now that Blockbuster and many other well know video stores have gone out of business.
- Super Mario 2 (this game was definitely an odd bunch in the series compared to the other super mario games)
- and many others

Other noteworthy memories:

Picture of my former house on Timber Lane when I was living in Lindenhurst in Illinois.  The area is more developed than it used to be and obviously has new owners (also I don't always remember the extra floor there), but that is where I used live back when I was in Illinois. By the way, back in the 1980's the house used to back up to a cornfield (with a farm in the distance) and the McDonalds Forest preserve was a short walk away, providing easy access for families who want to go on a hike there.  

- Back then, I was living in Lindenhurst, Illinois (situated about half way between Chicago and Milwalkee maybe about 5 miles south of the Wisconsin border).  Lots of fond memories there (even have home videos of those years).  I remember I used to take more trips to Wisconsin than I did going to various places in Illinois.  Of course, I was too young to drive back then, so I had to rely on my parents to take me places.  I also remember going on camping trips to places like Door County and Minoqua in Wisconsin.  Even went on a cabin trip to Ely Minnesota once (north of Duluth).  Interestingly, my family is  talking about going on a trip to Door County this fall.  Not clear if or when we will do such a trip, but it would mark my second time going to Wisconsin since moving to Washington (the first time occured back in the summer of 2000 when I visited my old friend, Matt Bleich and we went on a camping trip to Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin).
- I remember having this toy red jeep that I would drive around along with Brett and Matt.
- I had some other friends like Megan Kasper, Michael Blocker (lost touch with him, though my mother is still friends with his mother, Debbie along with her older sister, Joni), Sara Koth (lost touch with her) and Stephen Santiago.  Sometimes I would go to friends houses and play nintendo with them too.
- I don't remember doing the Sega Master system back then, though I did eventually get the Sega Game gear, which does seem to have some the games from the sega master system.  Most if not all kids back then either had an atari or nintendo.    
- I definitely have lots of other fond memories from those years, such as going to several different elementary schools before getting mainstreamed at Millburn (before then, I also attended school at BJ Hooper in Lindenhurst, a school near Lake Villa and later a school in Antioch).  Was placed in an early childhood program too, so I was pretty much in some form of schooling from when I was about 3 years old through the end of my college years.
- Used to do block parties on 4th of july, Halloween parties at my old house, etc too.
- Remember going to Chuck e Cheeses for birthdays sometimes too (most notably when I turned 5 years old).  I also used to like this girl named Heidi too (though I ended up losing touch with her after moving to Washington State).
- It was also during my time in Illinois where I would break a bone on 3 different occasions.  First time I popped my shoulder after messing around on a one of those spider web poles you see in some playgrounds (did this thing that some kids would do where you would climb around the poles before sliding down, and that proved to be a mistake for me since I lost my grip and fell).  Ended up in a cast for a while then.  Also broke my pinkie finger once not too long after that (I think I tripped on something and broke it that way).  The third time it happened was when I was living on Mallard drive and fell backwards from a playground bridge.  Was taunting some kids (didn't know better) when I slipped and fell (definitely learned my lesson from that) and ended up in a cast for the whole summer.  Luckily I haven't broken any bones since then so far.
- Unlike present time where I live with 2 dogs (a golden retriever and a shih tzu), we did have a dog for a little while there, a springer spaniel named crocket (he looked like snoopy).  Unfortunately the dog had behavior problems and did not fit well in the family so we ended up giving him away.  It wouldn't be till 1997 till we got our second dog (Teddy the golden retriever).

Well that is all for this post.  Stay tuned for post number 2 (the 1990s').

Noteworthy moments in the 1990s': Sega Genesis Days, computer games (such as Xwing and Mech Warrior 2), Sega CD, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and Playstation.  Even moved about 4 times during those years too.

TEENS REACT TO NINTENDO (NES) Video and Commentary

You know, just watching this video below makes me feel a little old (considering I was a little kid back in the 1980s and did have an nes system back then too.).  In this video, long story short, teenagers get to play classic Super Mario Bros on the nes and share their reactions to it.  Interestingly, I am not sure if any of them have played NES before.  Check out the video below







Commentary:

Ah, being in my 30's, this video showing teens the classic NES definitely brings back memories.  In case if you do not recall, long before the current generation game systems (Xbox One, PS4, and WII U) back in the late 1980s and early 1990's (before the Sega Genesis and SNES) there was the classic NES (though obviously game systems have changed dramatically since the 80's, especially now with the PS4 and Xbox One being the latest generation of game consoles).  I definitely like the reaction of the teens when they try out the old game system and I do remember that the NES was definitely the style back in the 80's and early 90's.  I still do have some retro games myself, such as the Mega Man Anniversary collection for the Xbox (which features Mega Mans 1-8 along with Mega Man power fighters 1 and 2) as well as Mega Mans 9 and 10, which are 8 bit in that incarnation (despite being for the xbox 360).  Here is a list of games I had when I had (or played) the NES:

- Battletoads - argurably one of the best and yet hardest games of all time.  Boy if you though the Turbo Tunnel level was hard (level 3), that level was just the beginning as the game was 12 levels long, with each level getting progressively tougher than the last, especially from level 7 on.  Game Genie is almost a must have if you want to beat the entire game given the limited lives and continues.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
- Super Mario 1 and 3 (don't have 2)
- Rescue Rangers
- 1943
- Duck Tales
- Castlevania 2 Simons quest (though my favorite castlevanias are Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Dracula X, Symphony of the Night, and harmony of despair).
- Contra
- Mega Mans 1-6 (my favorites were probably Mega Man 3 and 4).
- and others

By the way, the above video is not the only video showing kids reacting to NES era stuff.  I will share other videos over time.  By the way, you know what I thought was funny about the above video: Mario dying in level 1 considering that level is just the beginning.  I think my favorite Mario games were Mario 3, Super Mario World, Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros wii.

What did you think of the NES era?  Especially in the light of current gen game systems.

Bonus content: Teens Reacting to classic mega man:
  

Top 10 Video Game Romances and couples part 1

Ah, Valentines day is here.  I don't have a girlfriend, but I do have friends who are in relationships.  Anyways, in this post I will talk about several romances and romantic moments in video games.


#1 Super Mario and Princess Peach (aka Princess Toadstool) - super mario bros series


Video of Mario rescuing Princess Peach once again in New Super Mario Bros Wii.  Mario and Peach (aka Princess Toadstool) goes along ways ever since the 1980s.  In case if you are not familiar with Super Mario Bros, it is a generally a series of video games (usually side scoller and platformer) where you play as either Mario or Luigi, where they set out on quests to defeat Bowser and his minions usually over a series of 8 different worlds and rescue the princess.  Of course, in the sequel, the princess (somehow) always manages to kidnapped once again by Bowser (perhaps Bowser has a crush on Peach too) only to be rescued by Mario and / or Luigi once again.  Both plumbers seem to like the princess so they often compete for her heart.  Perhaps the most amusing Super Mario quest was the one in New Super Mario Bros wii where up to 4 players can team up and work together to get through the many levels in the game, which can get amusing to watch too as players tend to die alot, much to the frustrations of other gamers.

#2 Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Roses (Sonic the Hedgehog series)

(video or pic will be added later)
Amy Rose and Sonic goes all the way back to Sonic CD era of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, where Sonic rescues Amy from the clutches of (then) Doctor Robotnik's Mecha Sonic and saves the world from certain destruction.  Since then, Amy gets a much bigger roll in Sonic Adventure era Sonic games.  Perhaps my favorite was Amy Rose in Sonic Adventure.  She hasn't seen Sonic in many years and is more than happy to see him once again in the adventure.  Of course in Sonic Adventure, she is constantly pursued by another one of Dr Eggman's robots who wants to kidnap her and the bird she was watching over (it had been carrying a chaos emerald that Eggman wanted to feed to the monster he was trying to create in the game).  She even had her own storyline you could play through too where she was wielding a special hammer that she could use to whack enemies and ultimately defeat the evil robot that was pursuing her in the game.  In subsequent games, she often functions as a support character and assists Sonic when needed (like in Sonic 2006 when she stood up for him when Silver the Hedghog was trying to defeat Sonic after being tricked by the evil Methalees into thinking that Sonic was evil).  In the most recent incarnation of the series (Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric), Sonic and his friends (Tails, Knucles, and a new character with boomerangs) set out on a quest to rescue her from the evil Lyric (he replaces Dr Eggman as being the primary antagonist) who kidnapps her at the beginning of the game.  Amy definitely has a huge crush on Sonic and will stop at nothing to win his heart.  Sonic tends to brush her off though, so it is not really clear if they are an item or not, but they definitely make a cute couple in the games.


#3 John Marston and Abigal (Red Dead Redemption)

Set in the early 1900's (though still has a wild west style feel), you assume the role of John Marston in a grand theft auto style adventure in this western action RPG.  In the game, John Marston was a former gang member that abandoned his old ways and was "recruited" by corrupt government agents, to hunt down his former comrades and even get involved with a Mexican civil war after they take his wife, Abigail and his son Jack Martson (along with their family dog).  Throughout the game, Marston remains loyal to Abigail in the midst of all challenges that would test his loyalty, such as getting close with a lady named Bonnie, resisting flirty saloon girls who vie for his attenting, and even does Edgar Ross's dirty work (such as hunting down a gangster named, Dutch) to ensure his wife's survival.  At the end of the game, Ross decides to betray John Marston by setting up an ambush against the Marstons house and John was willing to sacrifice his own life to save his wife and kid so that they may live.  If you play as Jack after the storyline ends, he gets a chance to avenge his father's death by engaging Edgar Ross in a gunfight in the game's epilogue.  Interesting tidbit: did you know that in Grand Theft Auto 5 online it is possible to create a character under John Marston's lineage?  I created a character like that in the Xbox One version which I dubbed, Uncle Steve (I don't have a picture of him yet, but I will post it later).

#4) Carl Johnson (aka CJ) and Denise in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

GTA San Andreas officially became the first game in the GTA series, where the game's protaganist can have a girlfriend.  CJ saves Denise from the Ballas gang (a rival gang to the grove street gang, which CJ is a member of) and like any game or movie where a hero saves a woman (like Sonic and Amy or Mario and Peach), she automatically becomes a romance option for CJ at the end of the mission.  She pretty much lives down the block from CJ (in the next street over if I remember correctly) and is probably the easiest girl to please in the game.  CJ can win her heart by taking her to the local club, going out for fast food with her, drive her around the block, and even let her do some gangsta style drive by shooting.  She will call CJ or a heart will appear at her house when she wants to date CJ.

By the way, given the twisted nature of the Grand Theft Auto series, Denise is not the only romance option for CJ, as there are several other girls that CJ can date as well, such as Helena in Blueberry, Millie in Las Venturas (she automatically becomes a romance option during the Las Venturas missions), a retired police officer named Barbara (which is an ironic relationship considering that CJ is a common criminal just like other members of his gang just as any other protaganist is in the series), a nurse named Katie (you meet her in San Fierro) as well as a driving instructor named Michelle, who likes to take CJ for a ride sometimes in the city of San Fierro).  It is also possible for CJ to "cheat" on Denise by dating multiple girls, especially if you manage to obtain all of the hidden oysters (hidden under water) in the game, which pretty much gives CJ unlimited sex appeal and automatically makes him attractive to the other girls even if he doesn't meet their standards in appearances (normally, with the exception of Denise and Millie, you have to meet certain appearance requirements if you want to date Katie, Michelle or Helena).  Apparently, there are versions of GTA San Andreas where a jealous Denise can chase after CJ in a car when dating the other girls, but that event doesn't seem to happen in the Xbox version of San Andreas (I tried it), though I have noticed that she can die suddenly if you take her to a rival girl's city (such as driving her to San Fierro if you are dating Katie or Michelle).  Also, like real life relationships, Denise and CJ can break up (if your relationship level with her is low enough) and she can also be killed off too. Waring about Denise: be careful not to kill or break up with Denise unless if you don't care for her, or at least do not save the game should something like that happen since it is pretty much impossible for her to respawn or get her back should she die or break up with CJ  (apparently some of the other girls respawn after a while if they break up or are killed off, but Denise and Millie do not respawn as far as I can tell if they die or break up).  

By the way, GTA 4 has relationship options as well, but they are not quite the same as the ones in San Andreas. In Grand Theft Auto 4, for example, there is Michelle (Nikko dates her early on in the game) and later Katie McReary (who later replaces Michelle as Nikko's love interest), but both relationships are short lived.  Michelle turns out to be an under cover FIB agent that is sent to spy on Nikko and Roman (which is understandable considering that Nikko often works for the crimnal element in Liberty City and even assasinates various targets too).  Kate eventually replaces Michelle as Nikko's love interest, but you lose her during the course of the game's final missions (one scenario has her breaking up with Nikko and the other scenario has her getting killed off by Jimmy Pegorino, another kingpin who is in league with Demetri (the primary antagonist in the game) who Nikko gets entangled with during a drug deal gone wrong mission that Jimmy tries to force Nikko to do do.  By the way, it is also possible to get a girlfriend via the internet in GTA 4, but I never tried it, so I don't know how that works or how they compare with Michelle and Katie.

In GTA 5, the girlfriend system gets done away with, Michael De Santa starts out as a married man in the game (married to Amanda) and has 2 kids (a son and a daughter), though he and Amanda temporarily seperate around the mid point in the game after a series of event, such as the jewelery store heist mission, FIB agents resurfacing in his life, parenting issues (like the mission where Michael forces his daughter off a party boat and gets pursued by her "friends", as well as the crazy Trevor Philips showing up at his doorstep not long after the Jewelery Store heist mission (happens shortly after the "Friends Reunited" mission (if you play as Trevor or Michael).  As for Trevor, he doesn't really have a girlfriend or wife, though he does attraction for a lady that he and Michael kidnaps during one of the missions (though eventually he returns her to his husband), and later he becomes the owner at Vanilla Unicorn and can develop with some of the ladies he works with there, especially if you are going for the "booty call" achievement (towards the 100% completion).  As for Franklin, technically had a girlfriend, named Tanisha at the beginning of the game (you never see her in person till the "Lamar Down mission", but she automatically breaks up with him early on in the game via a Dear John letter  (via email), which is basically a "dreaded" (depending on how you look at it) letter or email that a boyfriend or girlfriend may send you that pretty much states that they want to break up and "just be friends" (much like what happens between Tommy Oliver and Kimberly Hart early on in the Power Rangers Zero series, where she sends him a "Dear John" letter during one of the episodes, effectively ending their relationship permanently ).

#5 Romance options in Mass Effect series


Above is a video where Shepard gets a picture of Tali "unmasked", which is only unlockable if you romance her in Mass Effects 2 and 3.  BTW, I originally wanted to show the romance video between Shepard and Ashely, but I figured it might be too much for some people, but if you want to see it, you can find it on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1DtASoSShA.


Science fiction style romance anyone (such as Padme and Anakin or Han and Leia in Star Wars)?  In the Mass Effect series players assume the role of, Commander Shepard (which can be a male or female captain depending on your preferences) and make various choices that can affect the main storyline in all 3 games, and Shepard can also take on a wide variety of romance interests.  If you are a male shepard, Ashley (assuming she survives the events of Mass Effect 1, meaning you save her over Kaiden during the Virmire Missions) and later Miranda (from Mass Effect 2) are very tempting options for Shepard (probably the best looking female characters in my opinion).  Of course, Shepard can also opt to date other crew members if he chooses, including Liara (an alien Asari), Tali (the masked alien lady) or even Jack (she is a "firey" lady that you can rescue from a prison ship in Mass Effect 2).  He can also romance Samara's "sister" Morinth assuming he saves Morinth over Samara, but she literally kills him if Shepard decides to romance her (kissing her leads to the game over scene) as a result of a condition she has where people trying to romance her get killed in the process.  Female Shepards can also date people like Kaiden (assuming he survives the events Mass Effect 1), Garrus, Jacob, Thane, and others.  Same sex relationships are also possible too (such as female shepard and Diana or female shepard and Liara) if you want to make Shepard "gay" (not sure how else to put it. It is also possible to date more than one person at a time during the series (such as Ashely and Miranda considering that Ashely has much lesser role in ME 2 compared to the other 2 installments in the series), leading to love triangles that Shepard must resolve during the course of the game.  In my playthrough, I actually killed off Ashely during Mass Effect one and ended up dating Tali.  As female shepard, I thought it would be funny to have her date Diane, so she did.  What romance option you go for is up to you.

Notes about romance options:

- Miranda, Jack and Tali: these relationships must be started in Mass Effect 2 in order to work in Mass Effect 3.  In addition, they must be loyal (by completing their loyalty missions successfully as well as siding with them when getting feuds with other crew members, such as Jack vs Miranda or Tali vs Legion) and they must survive the game's climatic suicide mission at the end of the game too (which is very doale in my opinon).
- Ashley: relationship can be started in Mass Effect 1 or 3.  A relationship with her assumes she assumes the events of Mass Effect 1 (either she or Kaiden will have been killed off during the course of the first game).  In addition, Shepard must regain Ashely's trust too, which is inevitably shaken during the events of Mass Effect 2, where Shepard finds himself working for Cerberus while trying to defeat a diabolical alien race known as the collectors that want to kidnap humans and want to harvest their dna for the reapers, and later during the Mars mission on Mass Effect 3 when the Illusive Man and Cerberus start to show their true colors and attack the base, even almost killing Ashley in the process..

- Tali.  A relationship must being with her in Mass Effect 2 and requires you to complete her loyalty mission successfully (the one where she is falsely accused of treason by her fellow aliens).  Interestingly, she has a mask during most of the series and you can't really see what is behind the mask, so she is a mysterious woman.  I like to think that Tali is a beautiful woman behind the mask, but her face is not revealed tills Mass Effect 3 and assumes you are in a relationship with her.  Note: she must survive the events of Mass Effect 2 with her loyalty in tact for a relationship to work.  Warning about Tali: she commits suicide in Mass Effect 3 should you save the geth over the Quarians during that leg of the game (Legion tries to upload a program that would cause the geth to turn on the Quarians, but Shepard can stop him and either bring peace to the 2 races or let one race destroy the other).  If you want her in Mass Effect 3, you will have to stop Legion from uploading the program or bring a truce between the 2 races.

Other notes:
- Jack is definitely an interesting character and is often suspicious of Shepard and Cerberus.  Interestingly, she seems to have a guy's name too (unless if her name is short for Jacky).  She is also a fiery type too that has a short temper too.  Date with caution.  dating her requires you to do her loyalty mission in ME 2 as well as siding with her during a dispute she has with Miranda).
- Liara.  She is a classic alien type that Shepard can date.  If you are in to alien types, she is right up Shepard's ally.  She also becomes the shadow broker after the events of Mass Effect 2 (there is a DLC mission that if you are willing to spend the extra money where Shepard can take part in the mission where he can help her take down the existing shadow broker on Illium).  She can date either a male or female shepard.
- Diana and Samantha Traynor - if you are into lesbian style relationships, it is possible for fem Shepard to romance those 2.
- Some relationships can prove to be dead end relationships (which automatically ends), as is the case of Jacob in Mass Effect 3 or Ashley / Kaiden during the course of Mass Effect 2 since they don't take kindly to Shepard working for Cerberus during the events of Mass Effect 2 (not that the player really has a choice in the matter since Shepard's tenure with Cerberus is pretty much scripted during the course of that game and can't be chanced as far as I can  tell), though those relationships can be rekindled in ME3.

For more information about romance options in Mass Effect 3, you can read the article on romance options at Wikipedia: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Romance.

That is all for now.  Stay tuned for part 2.

Other ones includes:
- Scott and Ramona in Scott Pilgrim vs the World (btw I have finally seen the movie recently)
- Princesses you can rescue in Castle Crashers
- Fable relationships
- and mroe