KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Members of the WBIR team share their favorite memories of playing video games when they were growing up.
Louis Fernandez, Sports Reporter
"When I was five years old, I got Pokemon Red Version. If you've ever played the game before, there's a lot of reading. So, I'd go to my mom and say 'Hey, can you read this? What does this say? What does that say?'
She eventually said, 'Louis, I can't read this entire game for you. You need to get better at reading.' So, because of Pokemon, I sat down and learned how to read."
Patrick Murray, Sports Anchor
"I'm a sports guy. Sports video games were huge for me growing up. Just about any sport, I played it. NHL, MVP Baseball, Madden. When I was younger, it really helped me learn all the names of the players and stadiums just from playing video games and playing against other teams."
William Winnett, Photojournalist
"When I was 3 years old, I was in the hospital for an asthma attack. I remember waking up, and I wanted something to do, some sort of entertainment.
So, the doctors roll in this big cart with a television. I had never seen this before in my life. I picked up the controller and started playing it. It was MegaMan 3. I distinctly remember that.
Ever since then, that's been my go-to game. There's 11 in the series now and several sub-series. I've played and beaten almost all of them."
Drew LaFasto, Digital Editor
"When I was growing up, I used to play a game called Animal Crossing on the Game Cube. That was one of my favorites because I was able to hear all the villagers in the town talk about how positive the world was. That was kind of nice since maybe everything else in the world was not as positive."
Danielle Katz, Producer
"So, my parents keep an old Super Nintendo in their bedroom. My cousins and I would play it. One of the games we'd play was Donkey Kong Country. They would teach us all the secrets and stuff.
Eventually, my sister and I decided we were going to beat it since all my cousins had. So, we spent several late nights trying to figure it out. It was a blast and a bonding experience."
Elizabeth Sims, Digital Reporter
"I'm not much of a gamer, but my little brother is. Growing up, that's how we bonded. We would just play Pokemon and Mario Kart. It became a tradition. Even when I moved away to school and then here [Knoxville] for work, every time I come home, we carve out a little bit of time to play those games or for him to teach me a new one and totally beat me at it."
David Schiele, Sports Reporter
"My introduction to video games came when I was about six years old. My first game was Madden '97. From there, I've been a Madden gamer all this time. I think it's really helped working in sports because you learn football rosters or baseball or basketball or hockey from playing these games and learning what players are familiar with doing what. You really become familiar with what league you're playing."