How Owning A Genesis As A Kid Cost Me $400 Now
Posting Location: My Home, Parma, OH.
WARNING: There are points in this post where I grow entirely too poetic considering the subject matter. I blame this on both the hour and the lack of any other recent writing on my part providing an alternative outlet.
Being both a fan of the first two games and an absolute sucker for crossovers, I got excited when Super Smash Brothers: Brawl was first announced. And like many, my interest in the game went up a few bars when they first let out that a third-party character would be included for the first time. Unlike many (or so I've gathered), I began personally following developments as they were leaked once I learned about the official website. Mostly, this was an exercise in masochism; the list of additions and features kept sounding better and better, but I never seriously thought I'd be buying the game. My personal funds have historically been a little lacking, and with very few exceptions every video game I've ever owned I received as gifts from other people. Brawl was a "must have" game, but in the same way as at least ten films will become "must see" for me every summer, and as many new television shows will become "must watch" every fall.
And then, in mid-October, they officially acknowledged that Sonic the Hedgehog would be appearing in the game. Above and beyond even the average child of the 90's' reaction to the concept of an official game in which Mario and Sonic could fight each other, this revelation jolted me.
At this point I'm going to go into a little backstory about myself. Up until then my family had only ever owned one console from the most recent generation at any given time (and yes, consoles were effectively family-owned). On top of this, we tended to join the most recent generation (at best) a half-generation behind due to cost considerations; and, as icing on the cake, our choices tended to put us on the "losing" side of the current console war (though not the outright-failing side).
All this meant we got a Sega Genesis in 1996; what this meant was that from '96 to '98 I was incurably obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog. Technically speaking this obsession can be traced back to the early 90's when I watched the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons --- both the good one and the bad one; either way, it became full blown once I actually owned the relevant system. I owned every "main" Sonic game from "One" through & Knuckles, plus 3-D Blast and Mean Bean Machine. I not only followed the comic book, and it's spin-offs, I actually purchased back-orders of certain issues. I had it bad; looking back, it might have continued in that fashion indefinitely were it not for the fact that in X-Mas 1998, we finally got a Nintendo 64, and I was permanently distracted by what some sources claim to be the greatest game of all time.
But even thought that initial mania had long since faded into the mists of time, and even though it had been deadened by almost a decade's worth of novel content, shifting tastes, and a rapid decline in the quality of new games in the franchise, that period of my life had still left a mark on my soul. And even before I had scrolled down to see the screenshots or teaser trailer, the realization hit me, not so much a conscious decision than it was an epiphany: I would have to buy this game.
Of course, aside from the price of the game itself (~$50 was a little daunting, considering I was at the time employed at a seasonal part-time job that would soon be ending, with nothing solid on the horizon), there was one major hurtle. If you've been paying attention, you'll have noted that my family was then still on the previous generation of consoles --- a GameCube, to be exact. This meant that I would first have to buy a Wii -- and the only way I was going to be buying this game was if I could justify purchasing an entirely new system for it. There had never been any single game that had had that power over me; only Twilight Princess had ever even come close, and that had been a moot point ever since they had announced the GameCube version.
Unfortunately for me, Brawl had already been a very attractive lure, and the addition of Sonic was in some ways merely the straw that broke the camel's back.
Doubly unfortunate for me, this "epiphany" had come just as it was announced that Nintendo's rate of Wii production was at roughly Inadequate Number units per month; the chances of my getting a Wii by the launch of the product were grim*
This is where a friend of mine comes in. Said friend had acquired a Wii when they first came out. Said friend had also become jaded with the product, and (unlike myself) felt nothing in the forseeable future would be worth buying for it. Said friend, basically, was looking to sell their Wii, and was looking to friends first. The only problem there (apart from the aforementioned lack of personal funds in general) was that he would have no use for his Wii games, or extra Wiimote, or two nunchucks once his Wii was gone. Thus, they would all be included in the final sale --- jacking up the price from the street value of ~$250 to an even $300. These games included a game I already owned for the GameCube, a game I had no real interest in playing, and a game apparently everyone hated.
I held out for about a month; after seeing the X-mas Wii Shortage first-hand (as a newly-hired electronics store employee), and under threat of another potential buyer, I finally caved. This not only marked the first time I had bought a console expressly for a game exclusive to it, it was also the first time I bought a console with my own money, period, to say nothing of breaking the console cycle my family had been in since the NES days. As soon as my treasury recovered from that initial purchase, I pre-ordered Brawl, and that, as they say, is all she wrote.
Well, except for one last detail: After I finally got the game, I had the same friend over to try out the multiplayer. The game left an impression on him. Large enough for him to go out and get the game and another Wii to play it on. Go figure.
*And of course, it had to be launch when I got it, otherwise the Internet would spoil everything still kept as a suprise about the game long before I ever had a chance to play it. Hell, as it was, I had a self-imposed fast from the Internet As Culture for about a month surrounding the launch for the very same reason.
WARNING: There are points in this post where I grow entirely too poetic considering the subject matter. I blame this on both the hour and the lack of any other recent writing on my part providing an alternative outlet.
Being both a fan of the first two games and an absolute sucker for crossovers, I got excited when Super Smash Brothers: Brawl was first announced. And like many, my interest in the game went up a few bars when they first let out that a third-party character would be included for the first time. Unlike many (or so I've gathered), I began personally following developments as they were leaked once I learned about the official website. Mostly, this was an exercise in masochism; the list of additions and features kept sounding better and better, but I never seriously thought I'd be buying the game. My personal funds have historically been a little lacking, and with very few exceptions every video game I've ever owned I received as gifts from other people. Brawl was a "must have" game, but in the same way as at least ten films will become "must see" for me every summer, and as many new television shows will become "must watch" every fall.
And then, in mid-October, they officially acknowledged that Sonic the Hedgehog would be appearing in the game. Above and beyond even the average child of the 90's' reaction to the concept of an official game in which Mario and Sonic could fight each other, this revelation jolted me.
At this point I'm going to go into a little backstory about myself. Up until then my family had only ever owned one console from the most recent generation at any given time (and yes, consoles were effectively family-owned). On top of this, we tended to join the most recent generation (at best) a half-generation behind due to cost considerations; and, as icing on the cake, our choices tended to put us on the "losing" side of the current console war (though not the outright-failing side).
All this meant we got a Sega Genesis in 1996; what this meant was that from '96 to '98 I was incurably obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog. Technically speaking this obsession can be traced back to the early 90's when I watched the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons --- both the good one and the bad one; either way, it became full blown once I actually owned the relevant system. I owned every "main" Sonic game from "One" through & Knuckles, plus 3-D Blast and Mean Bean Machine. I not only followed the comic book, and it's spin-offs, I actually purchased back-orders of certain issues. I had it bad; looking back, it might have continued in that fashion indefinitely were it not for the fact that in X-Mas 1998, we finally got a Nintendo 64, and I was permanently distracted by what some sources claim to be the greatest game of all time.
But even thought that initial mania had long since faded into the mists of time, and even though it had been deadened by almost a decade's worth of novel content, shifting tastes, and a rapid decline in the quality of new games in the franchise, that period of my life had still left a mark on my soul. And even before I had scrolled down to see the screenshots or teaser trailer, the realization hit me, not so much a conscious decision than it was an epiphany: I would have to buy this game.
Of course, aside from the price of the game itself (~$50 was a little daunting, considering I was at the time employed at a seasonal part-time job that would soon be ending, with nothing solid on the horizon), there was one major hurtle. If you've been paying attention, you'll have noted that my family was then still on the previous generation of consoles --- a GameCube, to be exact. This meant that I would first have to buy a Wii -- and the only way I was going to be buying this game was if I could justify purchasing an entirely new system for it. There had never been any single game that had had that power over me; only Twilight Princess had ever even come close, and that had been a moot point ever since they had announced the GameCube version.
Unfortunately for me, Brawl had already been a very attractive lure, and the addition of Sonic was in some ways merely the straw that broke the camel's back.
Doubly unfortunate for me, this "epiphany" had come just as it was announced that Nintendo's rate of Wii production was at roughly Inadequate Number units per month; the chances of my getting a Wii by the launch of the product were grim*
This is where a friend of mine comes in. Said friend had acquired a Wii when they first came out. Said friend had also become jaded with the product, and (unlike myself) felt nothing in the forseeable future would be worth buying for it. Said friend, basically, was looking to sell their Wii, and was looking to friends first. The only problem there (apart from the aforementioned lack of personal funds in general) was that he would have no use for his Wii games, or extra Wiimote, or two nunchucks once his Wii was gone. Thus, they would all be included in the final sale --- jacking up the price from the street value of ~$250 to an even $300. These games included a game I already owned for the GameCube, a game I had no real interest in playing, and a game apparently everyone hated.
I held out for about a month; after seeing the X-mas Wii Shortage first-hand (as a newly-hired electronics store employee), and under threat of another potential buyer, I finally caved. This not only marked the first time I had bought a console expressly for a game exclusive to it, it was also the first time I bought a console with my own money, period, to say nothing of breaking the console cycle my family had been in since the NES days. As soon as my treasury recovered from that initial purchase, I pre-ordered Brawl, and that, as they say, is all she wrote.
Well, except for one last detail: After I finally got the game, I had the same friend over to try out the multiplayer. The game left an impression on him. Large enough for him to go out and get the game and another Wii to play it on. Go figure.
*And of course, it had to be launch when I got it, otherwise the Internet would spoil everything still kept as a suprise about the game long before I ever had a chance to play it. Hell, as it was, I had a self-imposed fast from the Internet As Culture for about a month surrounding the launch for the very same reason.
posted by Mithrandalf at 2:34 AM
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