Almost all of my articles feature discussions surrounding the film industry. While film making is my preferred art form, I still have a lot of history and love for video games. Video games have been a prominent part of my life and have influenced many aspects of my artistic tastes. Video games introduced my to colorful and imaginative worlds, unique characters, and creative forms of gameplay. While I don't have time to go over every game series that inspired something in me, I just wanted to discuss a select few that left a significant impact on me.

One video game character and series I can't avoid discussing is Sonic the Hedgehog. To this day, Sonic is the franchise most responsible for my introduction and continued love of games. I would play the original Sonic games on my cousin's Sega Genesis and I immediately fell in love with the unique character designs, colorfully distinct levels, and catchy music. I also love the speed based gameplay that requires moments of speed ramping, momentum, and a certain understanding of physics. Sonic introduced me to the platforming genre, which lead to my introduction to other platformers like Mario.

Speaking of Mario, the Mario games introduced me to a more leisurely, open world style platformers with games like Super Mario 64. However, I actually played more side games in the Mario franchise such as Luigi's Mansion, Mario Kart, and Mario Party. Luigi's Mansion was the first video game I ever completed which I still view as a source of pride. The Mario Kart and Party games were also endless sources of fun and frustration for me, my friends, and my family. Mario also introduced me to other Nintendo games like The Legend of Zelda.

The Legend of Zelda is a game series that I fell in love with rather late in my young life and became interested in the franchise due to my general love of fantasy. The things that always draw me to a new Zelda game are the changes in art style from game to game, the mostly consistent dungeon raiding style of gameplay, and the amazing music that ranges from calm and relaxing to loud and epic. While these are all well known game franchises, one franchise might come as a bit of a surprise (unless you know me really well).

The various Lego video games are games that I play just to relax and unwind from life. Whether it's Lego Star Wars, Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Marvel, Lego Batman, or Lego Indiana Jones; the Lego games offer a simplistic platformer/puzzle gameplay mix that's just hard enough to be fun, but not hard enough to cause any real struggle. The Lego games have this light, humorous attitude that also lends to their relaxing nature.

These games introduced me to colorful worlds like the Mushroom Kingdom and Hyrule, while influencing my own imagination. Games like Sonic introduced me to physics based platforming. Games like Mario Kart helped introduce me to the basics of driving at an early age. These games helped me get an early grasp on concepts I would learn later in life. Games, like any art form, can help shape who you become later in life.