Wait, how did you get here?

[ReyVGM]

I don't know if there's a topic about this, but how did you come across Hardcore Gaming 101?

From a forum? A friend? Gogol?

Personally, I don't remember how I stumbled upon the site. I heard Kurt's name from the Castlevania Dungeon, but I don't think I ever talked to him before this site.
I checked my forum registration date and Kurt's and they are both on Mar 19, 2006. So basically I registered the same day that Kurt registered.

I doubt I was so lucky to stumble upon the site the very same day the forum opened, so that must mean that I was probably visiting the site from before it even had a forum.

But god damn it, I can't remember how I even came across it.

[TheChosen]

At second year in tech school, during another boring computer class, I googled "Hardcore gaming", because I was wondering what qualifies for that. Kurts site pop up first and I was instantly hooked. It introduced me to the wider world of emulation, Japanese gaming, arcade games and tons of other obscurities, not to mention It rejuvinated my interest towards console gaming and turned me from cranky old-schooler into more open minded, "gaming scholar".

Joined the forums not long after that. Tried to convince plenty of other people to join too, but I guess they're too PC-oriented.

[ReyVGM]

Good origin story TheChosen.

[Snarboo]

Despite reading the site for years and lurking on the forums, I didn't join until late 2009. However, I forget specifically how I discovered HG101. I used to frequent ClassicGaming.com from the late 90s until they removed their user sites, especially Shmups and the Contra HQ. I think I might have stumbled upon HG101 from West Mansion in the mid 2000s, but it's a bit hazy.

[thethird]

I remember I was reading some Gamepro article and there was a flame war erupting in the comments section where two guys were arguing about who was more hardcore than who in gaming. One of the dudes posted a link to this site and said that you were only a hardcore gamer if you had played most of the games that had articles written about them. I read a few and got hooked-they were a totally different kind of writing than I had ever seen about games before and really in-depth and informative. I remember I joined the forums a while after that but didn't start actually posting until quite some time after I joined cause this place is damn scary sometimes.

[Ace Whatever]

I can't remember either. I stumbled on some random articles back in college and didn't join the forum until the Virtual On article came out even though I knew some of the regulars here from the ye olde VGM forum. Now that I think about it the HG101 forums weren't even a year old back then?

[justjustin]

I was really into Castlevania at the time and The Castlevania Dungeon had tons of great information. I soon found out HG101 was a related site so I checked it out and began to skim through the articles. It wasn't enlightening, I already knew about most of the games on the site at the time, but it was really great to read articles written by people who had a similar appreciation for games. It was something I hadn't encountered before. I think I joined the forum just to ask some questions or help someone out with something. That's usually how I start out when I'm new to a forum. I don't get into any actual conversations, just small stuff like giving tips on games or sharing whatever knowledge I have.

[ReyVGM]

Mar 26, 2011 11:28:13 GMT -5 Ace Whatever said:

even though I knew some of the regulars here from the ye olde VGM forum.

Ye olde indeed...

[beach1]

I don't know how exactly I found this place, but it was some time in 2004-2005, I think. I used to visit this site a lot along with insert credit. Later on I realized this place had a forum and lurked for a long time and finally joined recently.

[Warchief Onyx]

Kurt's a RL friend of mine from college, so I found out directly from the horse's mouth.

[Feynman]

I was looking up information on a game. I don't remember what game, or what about it specifically I was searching for, but HG101 popped up on Google. I read the article, poked around the site, and was quite pleased with what I saw. About eight months later I joined the forums.

[camanchi]

All Kitten.

[Jave]

I was mucking around on Wikipedia, and wound up on the page for After Burner. There was a link at the bottom of the page that took me here. I was just blown away by the comprehensiveness of the articles.

I was dabbling in writing about games at the time, and this place just seemed approachable, but with exacting standards at the same time, so I gave it a shot. At the time, joining the forums just seemed like a logical extension from writing for the site, so I did. Then I very quickly found out that I'm a lot less knowledgeable about the medium than I'd previously though... but, you know, in a good way.

[Deleted]

I believe it was the Ys article that got me here. I found it by googling.

[Weasel]

I found my way here upon being introduced to the rather exhaustive Phoenix Wright article, which is almost single-handedly responsible for my introduction to the series (along with the "Comeback Courtroom" fan translation). When the forum showed up, I had to register - I think I might actually have registered on day one.