Mega Man X (Super NES)

I’m taking a break from editing my latest video game movie to update this often neglected blog of mine.  Even though I’ve had my reasons for not touching it for a while, it’s a shame that I’ve let it gather dust for so long!

My YouTube account recently got a copyright “strike”, due to me uploading a Star Wars\South Park mashup that I had downloaded about ten years ago.  There are other videos of this pairing that are currently on YouTube, and because I thought all would be good, I went ahead and uploaded what I had.  I guess I was wrong in thinking it wouldn’t come back to bite me!  Curse you, Viacom!

Because of this strike, I can’t upload videos any longer than 15 minutes like I used to, which puts a bit of a kink in my plans to post these video game movies.  The show goes on, however, because I don’t really make these videos for anyone but myself!  My lust for video game nostalgia carries on, as does my hobby of creating these silly movies.

Today, on this snowy Easter Sunday, my wife and I are sitting back and relaxing.  We’re not able to travel, so why not?

Though I intend to get back to games based on The Phantom Menace in due time, here’s a game that had me just as excited as any updated Zelda or Mario title, back in the day…  how would the Blue Bomber fare in the 16-bit era???

I vividly remember sitting on our house’s front step on a summer day, reading a few issues of Nintendo Power with my friend Jean-Luc.  While breezing through a Pak Watch section, I had a “eureka” moment…  you know, similar to when Lloyd Christmas sees a picture of Mary “Samsonite” Swanson in an Aspen newspaper.  There it was, one of the most anticipated moments in my gaming life – Mega Man was making his debut on the Super NES!  This was a huge deal.

Unfortunately, I seem to be missing the issue this preview was in, but it showed two screenshots of levels and bosses that didn’t even make it into the final version of the game.

Patiently, I waited.  In early ’94, this issue of NP came in the mail.  Right off the bat, I knew it was something special.

Not only did this issue hold all the info I needed about a game I had waited so long for, but it also had a guide for Mega Man 6 for the NES!  I was fairly excited about that game as well, but I had moved on.  I was done with the NES for the most part, just looking to see what the new advances the new console era would bring.

About a week or two later, I experienced one of those incredibly exciting moments at Blockbuster Video.  If you saw a new title on the shelf, and that plastic box behind it as a signal that it was available to rent, it truly was an awesome feeling.  I snatched it up right away, and it was mine all weekend long.  I was sick with a cold, so this would go a long way in helping me rest.

For some reason, even though I was incredibly excited to play this brand new game, I only played it for bout 15 minutes when I got home.  It was a sunny Winter day, and my friends across the street thought it would be a good idea to play some street hockey, like we often did.  “Sure.  Why not?”  I was sick, but a little bit of physical activity wouldn’t kill me.

Much like the YouTube clip I shouldn’t have posted, I was way wrong about that one, too.

I was physically drained after a few minutes of playing.  Because I couldn’t play properly and the teams were now uneven (who would want to play with a useless sick guy on their team??), hockey was no longer an option.  Instead, we started wrestling and pushing each other off snow banks on the side of a driveway.  This wasn’t helping how I felt, either, and I started hacking and coughing while on top of a mound of snow.  I layed back and let other kids wrestle each other on top of me, while I just laid back and just coughed up some nasty stuff.

Here’s where it gets gross.

My friend Mike was off to the side watching this, and noticed I had my head hanging off the side of the snow bank.  Still coughing, this huge chunk of phlegm came out and hung off the side of my cheek.

All I remember was Mike screaming “AHHHH!!!  AAAHHHH!!!  PHLEGM!!!!  EEWWWWW!!!”  I was so out of it at the time, I didn’t even notice I had learned a new word.  That was called “phlegm”?  I had always just called it mucous?

In any case, the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing in my room, playing Mega Man X and learning all the new little gameplay quirks.

*Not related to Mega Man X, but…*

In issue 56 of Nintendo Power was the following preview for an add-on device for the original Game Boy that I never even knew existed.  Though I can’t say I ever actually saw the Game Boy Advance’s E-Reader on store shelves, the idea of being able to play NES games on the go like this seemed like a decent one.  I had no idea that it wasn’t the first such device!