I really liked video games growing up. I'd save every penny for a game. If I did something good, or if I did something positive, I was always rewarded with a new title. The NES was my babysitter.

I was a lock and key kid growing up, so I'd come home to an empty house quite a bit. The SNES kept me busy and out of trouble for sure.

There were so many games I wanted. :hs:

I got into Anime for a bit (Ranma 1/2, DBZ) but then was exposed to import games. At the japanese toy store, I'd see all these strange Super Famicom (JDM SNES) titles ranging from Macross, to Ranma, to odd versions of Nintendo branded Tetris.

I wanted them all ... but they were $89.99 A POP. (1994ish)

I never got one.



Around 1997, the emulation scene took off hard. I was there when I saw these $80 titles become available for free. I was there when there'd be a weekly release by internet groups. I remember having to download the .zip file before the free Geocities bandwidth would become exhausted from over use.

After gathering titles for free ... I started to look into system mods and disc burning.

My first CD recorder was $449.99, wrote at 4x, and came with an internal SCSI card. A pack of 50 blank DVD's was $59.99.

I just know a lot about games because getting shit for free turned into a hobby. h: