I was sitting here at work, waiting to go home (in two hours) and I saw this post on Destructoid about a fan remake of the greatest Game boy game ever, Metroid 2. I got crazy excited, seriously I screamed a bit. Ok, I totally freaked.
Why?
My brain was then flooded with memories that I had long forgotten. I was nine years old and living in Tucson, AZ. I was into gaming at the time with an NES and a broken Power Glove. I loved Metroid, not as much as my friends who had drawn huge maps with every enemy and item location. I remember the commercials for Metroid 2, I was psyched and needed a Game boy. I remember going to Price Club (now Costco) and seeing Game boy’s stacked to the ceiling in a glorious pyramid of excitement and escapism. I begged my parents for one, I needed it, and my NES was useless to me now. When they said no way, I freaked out and cried, I remember balling my face off because I could not get one. I sound like a brat, I think I was, but it was extremely important to me. We were not rich by an stretch of the imagination, some months I could tell we were not doing so good, my parents worked very hard for us and when I look back now I feel like a jerk for acting that way because here comes the glory….
The Glory
Maybe a week after this traumatizing incident my parents surprised my brother, sister and I. When we came home from school my parents gave us each little piece of paper with a clue. I remember mine, oh yes I do, I have no idea what they got. One of them was a clue about my race car bunk bed, there was another clue hidden in the bed, another was a clue that I think led me to the kitchen where I found another clue about fish … Ahh, the final clue, our fish tank. Behind the doors under the fish tank was the most beautiful box I had ever seen, a box plucked from the Price Club pyramid of loveliness, life was good. I was so excited, I was not at all bummed that Metroid 2 was not a part of the gift, it was my big ol’ fat Game boy with Super Mario Land and Tetris. This was my thing, It’s what I did, I played my Game Boy and Super Mario Land was really hard, but that made me feel hardcore. I would stuff that thing in my little pockets and take it with me everywhere; it was painful because I could barley walk. This is one of the best memories I have from kiddom and my parents rule!
Grandma Rules Too!
Hey grandma, we don’t see you that often because you live eight hours away, you could buy us a present and stuff. Actually she offered, we went to Target or K-Mart or something and I sauntered on over to the games. Hello games, hello METTTRRROOOOIIDDDDD!!!!! I got it. I have it. It’s mine. After this was many hours of eye melting brilliance, I loved this game. The graphics were so RAD! The gameplay, AMAZING! And I could take it with me everywhere. I loved figuring out where to go, remembering where everything was, the tunnels the weapon upgrades the missiles the bosses. Get this, I did not buy another Game Boy game after this. That was it.
Goodbye
I had my Game Boy for 6 years after that until my sister moved away when she was 18. I handed her my Game Boy and Tetris, gave her a hug and watched her get on a plane to San Diego. I kept Metroid. I eventually lost it because it was useless to me as just a cartridge. It is a big reason why I love games so much now and have played games all of my life. I am going to play the fan remake as soon as I can.
Thanks Samus, I love you. (My wife is cool with it ;)
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