Hi guys, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is David Chattaway, I’m based in Adelaide, SA and I recently joined the Novastream team! I grew up with five siblings, so I’m no stranger to fighting for a controller!
When I think about my fondest gaming moments a few spring to mind. I still remember hours spent on Duck Hunter, aiming slightly to the left, accounting for the terrible crooked sight on my orange and grey gun and the glorious moment I stumbled across a Sega Saturn – a console I didn’t even know existed – at Cash Converters with NiGHTS playing … what a fortunate acquisition that was!
For a good portion of my childhood, games were played at my friends’ houses. That was until I woke one warm Christmas morning to find a large box under the tree with my name on it. After shredding the paper off I laid my eyes on my very own Super NES! It came with two controllers and a copy of Super Mario World. After that my gaming life is a bit of a blur. I played so many great games and owned virtually every console released. If I had to pick a period of my life when gaming meant the most and left the greatest impression on me, I would have to say it was during the N64 era. Other than the extensive list of incredible games released, I think it’s special to me because – in my opinion – the Nintendo 64 was the last of the consoles which was solely about games. It was also the last time you could fix a game (or at least think you were fixing it) by ejecting it and blowing heavily across the precious golden contacts. It was before the days of day one patches and the graphical step up from the previous generation was enormous!
Top Six Games…
Number 1: Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)
I struggle remembering all the games I’ve played over the past twenty-five years, but when it comes to OOT I remember every single moment. This was the first game I remember finishing without distraction. It’s also the only game to this day I’ve completed and then restarted immediately.
Number 2: Tetris (Game Boy)
I must have played this game for more than one hundred hours (or dozens of pricey AA batteries!) I still sometimes randomly start whistling the theme music. Few words can describe the satisfaction of finally getting a magnificent rectangle piece and slotting it into the perfectly formed gap, or the feeling of dread as you near the top while pieces continue to fall as the speed increases … one wrong move can cost you hours of work!
Number 3: Time Crisis 2 (PS2)
Swapping innocent ducks for drug lords and thugs … hey, they probably deserved the justice I dished out, right? Before I had home consoles I spent hours at Timezone, so when it was released for PlayStation 2 I had to have it. Goodbye life for a few months.
Number 4: Crash Bandicoot (PS)
Crash Bandicoot was just one of those games I would throw on when I had thirty minutes to spare. It made me laugh out loud and still had really challenging moments that I love to hate in games.
Number 5: Jak & Daxter (PS2)
My love for platform games started early with Sonic and Mario, but the Jak & Daxter games were brilliant to play and the Precursor Legacy in particular was such a crazy, entertaining game. I’ve played the three games at least twice through on PS2 and PS3.
Number 6: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (Xbox One)
Although a recently released game, SOM makes my top 6 because it’s the first game I loved enough to hunt every possible achievement. I’ve finished loads of games over the years, but SOM was so much fun to play I kept coming back until that sexy 100% was achieved.
