A Bridge Too Far?
1996. I'll remember the day for a loong, long time. I was with my father, in a local game shop. I came for a new game, a new rental.. It was always a once a week thing. My dad would take me to Gameworld to let me rent another SNES game for a whole week. Wow, what a dad. He's the one who got me my SNES, I don't know how many years ago. I still have it, tucked neatly on top of my T.V. stand, with a glorious game that may as well shine golden in my eyes, sticking out of it's still-clean game slot.
Now, I'm very picky and fickle at renting games. Not too much appealed to me back then, and just as much now. I still spend as much as 25 minutes on a whole 3 racks of gamecube games, and at least a half hour deciding what I want to buy at the videogame section at my local Walmart. But sometimes, once in a blue moon, something happens. I see something that I know I will immediately like.
This happened on that fateful say, of fall 1996.
I seen something sticking out, on the top shelf. A box. A rather huge box, sporting on it a glorious golden robot, with a young man, face shining with optimism, reflected in his gleamingly evil visor. In large, colorful yet diginified lettering, the title.. Earthbound.
There was no contest. I chose it, and took it home. Decided (like I usually do in these situations) to play a previously played file. What's this? A desert? Wow. Nifty harmonica-esque music playing in the background, and a cute chick and a nerd following me? Even better! I strolled around for a bit, keeping to the roads, and made my way to fourside. Wow! Big city, cool slantyness, and all that fun stuff!
I quickly reset and started my own file, and was captured. Captured by the sound of a giant ball of fire streaking through space, and landing with a startling crash practically next door. This excited me. I had to see what was going on!
A week came, and went. Made it to fourside, to the apartment store when Paula is kidnapped (OH NOEZ SPOILERZ!11!1!). And time passed. Every game I played, every adventure Mario went on, or Link, or Donkey Kong.. I couldn't forget "the kid with the red hat".
Years came, and went. I tried re-renting it, but apparently it was bought by someone who obviously wanted it more than me.
2001. My friend Paul's house. His older brother had a SNES, he and I used to exchange NES games for days at a time, by the near dozens! I noticed the familiar cartridge, laying there among uniracers and some other title I haven't heard of..
Earthbound.
Now, my memory was fuzzy. Still is. But I remember asking, "hey. isnt that the game with that kid with a red hat?" and surely enough, it was. He lent it to me, long enough for me to beat it. And fall in love, all over again. I was enthralled. I was estatic. I was only 14, and couldnt afford to buy it off him, which I would SO have done, had money permitted.
Time passed again. I grew farther from my older friends, and once again found myself thinking about it after every video gaming experience. Earthbound. That kid with the red ha- no. No, this time I knew his name. Ness.
2004. Middle of May, my birthday was days away, when I received a package from my girlfriend in toronto (still together since 2002). It was glorious, it was beautiful, and I still thank her to this day for giving me.. Earthbound.
2005. Wow, what a haul. Mother 1+2 comes out, and I'm trying desperately to find an english patch for it. No luck. That's when I first found this site, Starmen.net. I hear about what happened in 1999, and I'm kinda upset that I wasn't around this site that long. Long enough to be excited about the sequel to the greatest game of all time. I have beaten Earthbound literally DOZENS of times now, and knew the game inside and out. Knew the HP of nearly every boss, not from any walkthrough, but from having faced them so often.
And now, 2006. Here we are, awaiting the return of the Mother series to our hearts. Ten long years after its predecessor, and even longer since the release of Mother, which also is a fun game.
It's been a long road, but in all honesty? It's been fun. I can't wait for Mother 3. I have it preordered, and.. Honestly, it kinda saddens me that I won't have to jump through the same hoops I did to play Earthbound.
A bridge too far? No. No, ten years was barely enough time. I'm not upset for having to wait that long. I can see how some people would be, yeah. But me? I kept myself busy those ten years, and had quite an adventure running into that fantastic game in many different locations.
The big box. The gold robot, the kid with the red hat, the desert..
Earthbound, Final Starman, Ness, and the Dusty Dunes desert. From such humble beginnings, here I am. Still loving every second of it.
I'll see you all at the premier release of the longest awaited sequel in the history of video games. (Unless Uniracers 2 makes its appearance soon. But I doubt that.)
1996. I'll remember the day for a loong, long time. I was with my father, in a local game shop. I came for a new game, a new rental.. It was always a once a week thing. My dad would take me to Gameworld to let me rent another SNES game for a whole week. Wow, what a dad. He's the one who got me my SNES, I don't know how many years ago. I still have it, tucked neatly on top of my T.V. stand, with a glorious game that may as well shine golden in my eyes, sticking out of it's still-clean game slot.
Now, I'm very picky and fickle at renting games. Not too much appealed to me back then, and just as much now. I still spend as much as 25 minutes on a whole 3 racks of gamecube games, and at least a half hour deciding what I want to buy at the videogame section at my local Walmart. But sometimes, once in a blue moon, something happens. I see something that I know I will immediately like.
This happened on that fateful say, of fall 1996.
I seen something sticking out, on the top shelf. A box. A rather huge box, sporting on it a glorious golden robot, with a young man, face shining with optimism, reflected in his gleamingly evil visor. In large, colorful yet diginified lettering, the title.. Earthbound.
There was no contest. I chose it, and took it home. Decided (like I usually do in these situations) to play a previously played file. What's this? A desert? Wow. Nifty harmonica-esque music playing in the background, and a cute chick and a nerd following me? Even better! I strolled around for a bit, keeping to the roads, and made my way to fourside. Wow! Big city, cool slantyness, and all that fun stuff!
I quickly reset and started my own file, and was captured. Captured by the sound of a giant ball of fire streaking through space, and landing with a startling crash practically next door. This excited me. I had to see what was going on!
A week came, and went. Made it to fourside, to the apartment store when Paula is kidnapped (OH NOEZ SPOILERZ!11!1!). And time passed. Every game I played, every adventure Mario went on, or Link, or Donkey Kong.. I couldn't forget "the kid with the red hat".
Years came, and went. I tried re-renting it, but apparently it was bought by someone who obviously wanted it more than me.
2001. My friend Paul's house. His older brother had a SNES, he and I used to exchange NES games for days at a time, by the near dozens! I noticed the familiar cartridge, laying there among uniracers and some other title I haven't heard of..
Earthbound.
Now, my memory was fuzzy. Still is. But I remember asking, "hey. isnt that the game with that kid with a red hat?" and surely enough, it was. He lent it to me, long enough for me to beat it. And fall in love, all over again. I was enthralled. I was estatic. I was only 14, and couldnt afford to buy it off him, which I would SO have done, had money permitted.
Time passed again. I grew farther from my older friends, and once again found myself thinking about it after every video gaming experience. Earthbound. That kid with the red ha- no. No, this time I knew his name. Ness.
2004. Middle of May, my birthday was days away, when I received a package from my girlfriend in toronto (still together since 2002). It was glorious, it was beautiful, and I still thank her to this day for giving me.. Earthbound.
2005. Wow, what a haul. Mother 1+2 comes out, and I'm trying desperately to find an english patch for it. No luck. That's when I first found this site, Starmen.net. I hear about what happened in 1999, and I'm kinda upset that I wasn't around this site that long. Long enough to be excited about the sequel to the greatest game of all time. I have beaten Earthbound literally DOZENS of times now, and knew the game inside and out. Knew the HP of nearly every boss, not from any walkthrough, but from having faced them so often.
And now, 2006. Here we are, awaiting the return of the Mother series to our hearts. Ten long years after its predecessor, and even longer since the release of Mother, which also is a fun game.
It's been a long road, but in all honesty? It's been fun. I can't wait for Mother 3. I have it preordered, and.. Honestly, it kinda saddens me that I won't have to jump through the same hoops I did to play Earthbound.
A bridge too far? No. No, ten years was barely enough time. I'm not upset for having to wait that long. I can see how some people would be, yeah. But me? I kept myself busy those ten years, and had quite an adventure running into that fantastic game in many different locations.
The big box. The gold robot, the kid with the red hat, the desert..
Earthbound, Final Starman, Ness, and the Dusty Dunes desert. From such humble beginnings, here I am. Still loving every second of it.
I'll see you all at the premier release of the longest awaited sequel in the history of video games. (Unless Uniracers 2 makes its appearance soon. But I doubt that.)
