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Secret Origins: Mega Man 4

For some reason a lot of people like to be the first to do something.  In the old days that meant being the first to climb a mountain or the first to walk on the moon.  Many of us will never have the chance to do those things and are limited to the little firsts in our own lives.  For some people that means clinging to getting the "first post" on a blog entry, but for those of us in the position of reviewing video games, we often get the chance to be the first among our circle of friends to play the latest hot game.  Look around the Internet and you'll find a bunch of game journalists posting photos of themselves (or their hands) holding the newest craze about a week before you'll get the chance to buy it for yourself.

I try not to shoot my mouth off about what I have that you do not (although I am still shamefully guilty of bragging from time to time), but back in 1991 on the elementary school playground I had the need to own the hottest new game before my friends.  It was a lofty goal that seemed almost unattainable, but then two events came together came together one week with remarkable timing: my father was about go on a business trip, and Capcom was about to ship Mega Man 4 for the Nintendo Entertainment System to stores.  I gathered my saved allowance money and handed it to my father as he left for Raleigh, North Carolina with a simple request: find that game!

Secret Origins: Ghostbusters 2

All this recent talk of a possible new Ghostbusters video game for modern consoles has me thinking of the old games based on the franchise that I played as a child.  It would be far too easy to praise the fantastic Ghostbusters game for the Commodore 64 that I played relentlessly once upon a time, so instead the time has come to share the story about how I acquired what has to be the absolute worst game in my Nintendo Entertainment System library.

I was devoted to the Ghostbusters franchise in my youth.  I got my start with The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, and somewhere around the age of six or so I found out that there had been an actual Ghostbusters movie that preceded the cartoon.  My parents had kept that little fact from me for quite some time, concerned that the film would be too frightening for someone of my young age.  Eventually the movie turned up on television one Saturday night, and since all movies are edited for broadcast, they decided to let me watch since the truly frightening stuff would have been removed or toned down.  After seeing the film I became even more hooked on the franchise.  I started reading The Real Ghostbusters magazine every month, and it was in an issue from late 1988 I learned of the film's upcoming sequel, Ghostbusters 2.  As you can imagine, euphoria set in.

Secret Origins: Maniac Mansion and Gremlins 2

Ever since the Nintendo Wii was released I've been flooded with games to play.  Reviewing games during a new console's launch window is hectic, as every week something new lands on my doorstep, plus let's not forget all of the games that I want to play for myself.  The little game cases are stacking up, some of which are still shrink-wrapped.  I've had Red Steel in my home for a month now and haven't had a chance to crack the seal! I picked up Psychonauts cheap for the Sony PlayStation 2 and haven't even thought about when I'll have the time to tear into it.  All of these games atop my television remind me of the time first time I was (from my young point of view) flooded with games to play and was faced with that eternal question: which game to play first?

Secret Origins: Castlevania

With the Halloween season fading into recent memory I cannot let the holiday pass completely without recounting my first exposure to my favorite of all "horror" games, Castlevania.  While your Resident Evil and Silent Hill may give more outright fright for the dollar, Castlevania has always relied more on theme and environment to give chills rather than an angry zombie eager to eat your brain.  While the series has evolved into a Metroid-type adventure in recent years, my first Castlevania was, fittingly enough, the original Castlevania, but the encounter didn't take place on the trusty Nintendo Entertainment System.

Secret Origins: Darkwing Duck

By 1991 the Nintendo Entertainment System had become the center of my entertainment universe.  I had a closet full of old Nintendo Power magazines, had slept on the Super Mario bedsheets, carried notebooks and folders with Link on them to school, and consumed my share of snacks shaped like famous Nintendo characters.  One afternoon my Dad and I were out running errands, and somewhere while driving from one store to the next we started talking about the future of video games.

Now, this wasn't a very deep conversation.  We weren't talking about how someday in the future we'll all be waving controllers around in front of a sensor bar and downloading optional levels to store on a hard drive.  Instead we were talking about video games and how, someday, they might be able to teach as well as entertain.  Now, even by this point there had been edutainment titles.  My elementary school was loaded with Apple IIe machines that taught spelling and math skills, and my own Commodore 64 at home was used for learning as well as fun.  But the issue at hand was about the actual NES itself and how, according to my father, it had no educational value.  His opinion was that it would never be able to teach anything of value.  I countered that not only could it teach, but there were already games to do so.  We went back and forth on this for a while, and eventually he proposed a bet.  If I could prove that there were educational NES games, he'd buy me the game of my choice.

Secret Origins: Bubble Bobble

It seems only right that the first story I share as part of the Secret Origins series be the tale of the purchase of my very first video game.  After becoming enamored with a loaner Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986 at the age of five, I knew I had to have a console of my own.  My parents had set a policy that if I wanted a NES, I'd have to pay for it with my own money, and by the following summer I'd managed to save enough allowance money and wrapped pennies to afford a NES of my very own plus one game.  Every month my mother and I would go shopping in the nearby city of Orlando, and while these trips involved mainly just tagging along through department stores and occassionally trying on clothes, one particular shopping day ended at Toys 'R' Us.

Secret Origins

All the talk about the future of video games and digital distribution got me to thinking about all of the game cartridges and discs I've purchased or been given over the years.  A lot of those cartridges have a little origin story behind them involving a memorable day, a special event, good friends, romantic infatuation, or some other such special moment.  They're personal stories, stories that I keep and remember, and stories that I want to share.  "Secret Origins" is a new ongoing feature here at Press The Buttons in which I'll share the stories behind the acquisition of some of my favorite video games, all the way from the first game I ever purchased up to the present day.  You'd be surprised how much game cartridges have to say if we'd only just listen.