Gamer Flashback: 9-9-99

I have a confession to make: I don't play video games nearly as much as I used to. Not that this is necessarily by choice mind you, but it seems that the older you get, the more life tends to "get in the way" – at least for me it does. Yeah, I'd like to devote more time to gaming, but I've got other things these days to keep me occupied – for better or worse.

But growing up, gaming was a fairly constant staple in my life. Thanks mostly to the old man, my younger brother and I always had some gaming system to play around with. Ironically, the first "system" (if you can even call it that) I cut my teeth on was the Mattel Aquarius. What? Yes. The Mattel Aquarius. Why my father decided this was the perfect gateway into gaming for me I'll never know, but it was fun and kept me regularly entertained. Too bad it was discontinued five months after it was released. Take that, Dreamcast mourners! Oh the memories. I can still hear Prince's "Purple Rain" playing on my Dad's record player (yes, I'm that old) as I battled my way through Astrosmash. Hmmm, now that I think about it - I still tend to listen to music when playing games. Oh boy...

Purple Rain! Puuuurrrrrple Rain!!!

After the Aquarius, we moved on to the Commodore 64. Yep, another fricken "home computer/game system." I'm not sure why my Dad would continually eschew the likes of the 2600, Intellivision, the Master System, and the NES in favor of these weird Frankenstein-like machines. Perhaps he thought he was smart for buying a so-called "computer." Or perhaps he just loves dot matrix printers (yep, we had one of those, too). Regardless, the C64 was a pretty *** fun computer/gaming system/box with a large variety of games to choose from. My personal favorite? 'G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'. Bam! Picking on that astronaut-looking robot never got old. But don't forget to "turn the disk over!"

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0flr_PYtf4:450:0]

The robot will kill us all!

By the time 1988 rolled around, my parents finally saw fit to welcome my brother and I into the world of video game normalcy with our very own NES. Finally, the real deal. And it was then that my world changed forever. As my zeal for gaming grew, so did our collection of systems. Hello Game Boy. Hello Genesis. Hello Super Nintendo (I shun you!). Hello PlayStation. Hello N64. Hello countless array of games to feed said systems. Hello indeed. My gaming fix was almost satisfied via my parents and/or jolly old St. Nick. I would purchase games if and when I could, but the $4.30 an hour wage I was making at the local Kmart (my very first job, thank you very much) only got me so far.

It doesn't get any better than this. Believe it.

Then came the college years. And "better" paying part-time jobs. And credit cards. And copious amounts of fast food. It was the perfect storm for me to not only become a lazy fat a**, but to delve even deeper into the world of gaming. And delve I did. And it was wonderful. The PlayStation era was the first generation in which I purchased the majority of the games I had for a system. If I had any money to spare, it was gone in a flash at the local EB or Funcoland. No longer was I a prisoner to the financial whims of my parents. I can easily remember a number of times I'd head to the store with the intention of picking up a particular title only to leave with three or four in tow. Even better was when I knew I'd be purchasing multiple titles I'd been eagerly waiting for. Xenogears AND Metal Gear Solid on the same day? Oh, you're taking pre-orders for Silent Hill? Don't mind if I do. Final Fantasy Tactics comes out when? Yeah, life was good – physical well-being and homework be damned. It really couldn't get any better, or so I thought.

With my gaming habit at an all-time high, I entered the summer of 1999 in full male deconstruction mode. Working at a lumber yard, a few of my co-workers and I would take lunch breaks we liked to call "The Magical Mystery Hamburger Tour" in which we'd go to each and every fast food joint in town and order their signature burger. That usually meant a Big Mac, a Whopper, a Bacon Deluxe, and a Frisco Burger (back when there actually used to be Hardee's) all in one sitting. With fries and a drink. We also liked to venture over to the Chinese buffet to see who could eat the most sugar donuts. Those were good. Afterward, we'd stumble home and jump into a little Driver or Madden 2000 or whatever other game we could get our hands on. This was the routine for the majority of the summer – pathetic but fun. Then one fateful night, I was perusing the web and ran into my first glimpse of something called the Dreamcast. And that's when it all began...

The last Sega system I had ever spent any time with was the Genesis. In fact, it was the only Sega system I ever spent any time with. I ignored the Saturn completely and by the time '99 rolled around, I hadn't paid much attention to anything Sega had been up to. So it was safe to say the Dreamcast wasn't really on my radar. But by August of '99 the exposure of the Dreamcast was exploding. Every gaming magazine and website was up to their eyeballs in coverage of Sega's 128-bit powerhouse – you couldn't avoid it. So, like any self-respecting gamer, I figured I'd dig a little deeper and see what all the fuss was about. My investigation led me to a video of the upcoming Dreamcast launch title NFL2K. The previews were glowing to be sure, but I figured it couldn't be that great, could it? I mean, the Saturn was an unmitigated disaster. Surely the Dreamcast would follow suit. Just to be sure I decided to click on a video to see how "great" this NFL sim truly was. Suffice to say, I was left speechless.

Doesn't Moss look pretty........and fat?

I still remember clearly to this day watching that video on my computer of NFL2k and being absolutely blown away by everything I saw. The graphics, the sound, the presentation, the sense of realism the game achieved. It was the best looking sports game I had ever seen and I had to have it. I then proceeded to watch videos for Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, NFL Blitz, and Ready 2 Rumble. Oh my god. I don't think I had ever wanted a system so badly as I did the Dreamcast. Call me a graphics w****, but these games were visually leaps and bounds beyond anything the PlayStation or N64 could offer. And besides, I had never gotten a system on a launch day; I was always late to the party, so to speak. Not this time. Mark it on my calendar, biatch: 9-9-99. A Dreamcast would be mine. Oh yes, it would be mine.

So with a little less then a month before the September 9th release date, I started saving up my money as I carefully plotted out all that I'd be picking up that day. After much research I decided on the following menu of items: A Dreamcast, two controllers, NFL2K, Ready 2 Rumble, NFL Blitz, Soul Calibur, and two VMU's. Not a bad haul, but the final price tag would hit a cool $450. Yeesh. Oh well, good thing I had a credit card! Cha-ching! I strolled into my local Best Buy and laid down money to not only reserve the system, but all four games as well. I was so stoked – September 9th couldn't arrive fast enough. But there was a problem...

As I was making my way out of the store, I noticed a little display and was stopped dead in my tracks. The words "Final Fantasy VIII" hit me like a semi-truck. WTF?! When is this game coming out? It's gotta be a few months from now. They're just building up hype, I'm sure it's a long ways. I mean, how soon can they .... September 9th! Whaaaaaaa?! And like a pyscho, I trudged back to the counter and put some more money down to reserve a copy. Thanks a lot Sony, thanks. Trying to steal Sega's thunder and undermine the wallets of millions of gamers. I hate you, but not really.

As I left the store all I could think of was how monumental, as a gamer, 9-9-99 had become and ultimately would be. Jesus, where is my time machine?!

After much anticipation, September 9th finally arrived and boy was I prepared. Not only did I take the next three days off from work, I also told next to no one my plans for the day. I didn't want anyone interfering with the love I was going to share with my Dreamcast and Squall and Co. Ok, that was kind of gross, but you get the picture. This was my day to be selfish and I was going to relish every minute of it.

Walking into Best Buy that day was one of those surreal moments that only seem to happen during the launch of a highly anticipated product – be it a game system, a cd, or a blender. There was a buzz in the air and it made everyone's excitement that much more palpable. It was interesting to note who was picking up what. I was surprised as to how many gamers were, in fact, picking up both a Dreamcast (and games) and FFVIII. Not that I blamed them, but doing so definitely set you back a pretty penny – I should know. Suffice to say, the store was packed the morning of September 9th. Dreamcast boxes were stacked as far as the eye could see and were only rivaled by the sheer number of copies of FFVIII. It was a glorious sight.

I stepped up to the counter, gave my credentials, and was presented with a gaming haul so bountiful that I almost crapped myself right then and there. They muttered something about the remaining balance I still owed. Whatever. I didn't care. I haphazardly threw my credit card down. Money didn't matter at this point in time. Give me my crap. And in a flash, I was out the door with the largest bag of gaming goodness I'd ever purchased in my life. I'm so good with money.

Upon arriving home, I quickly went to work unboxing the beauty that was my new Dreamcast. She was a beauty. So small, so sleek, so sexy, so.... Anyways, after admiring the system for a while and all the games that accompanied it, I hooked the Dreamcast up to my little 19" TV. Yeah, I was living large. The time had finally arrived. I popped in NFL2K and waited with bated breath as I pressed the power button. And the rest, as they say, is history.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOsw-Au9JCo:450:0]

A thing of beauty...

I spent the remainder of the day firmly stuck in front of my little color TV. The Dreamcast kept me entranced for hours and hour on end. To this day I can still remember how absolutely floored I was by Soul Calibur's graphics. That game, even to this day, was and is a thing of pure beauty and is, in my opinion, still the best in the series. NFL Blitz was just as good if not better then its arcade counterpart while NFL2K became a mainstay with its finely tuned gameplay and top-notch presentation. Did I mention the graphics were great too? As for Ready 2 Rumble, it was a fun if shallow affair; it was good, don't get me wrong, but my experience with it was tainted by the fact that it suffered from the skipping problem that many Dreamcast launch titles were stricken with. So the game was rendered fairly unplayable until I was able to exchange it for a fixed copy. A minor flaw in what was a superb launch for what would eventually be Sega's swan song.

And then there was Final Fantasy VIII. I had a hard time debating whether I should even start the game when I had all of this Dreamcast goodness to keep me busy. I mean, is there a greater time suck then a Final Fantasy title? I think not. Needless to say, my curiosity got the best of me and I popped disc 1 of VIII into the ol' PlayStation. What I was greeted with is one of the greatest openings for a video game – ever. Seriously, it's that good.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd5KLb7RQjE:450:0]

Almost makes me forget how much I hate Squall.

So into the world of Balamb I went. Squall was an annoying disaster, but Quistis was pretty freaking hot. I must have spent a good six hours rummaging through the early stages of VIII trying to wrap my head around the insane Junction system. Where's my Materia? It was a good time, but then it dawned on me: I need to be playing my Dreamcast! And so I would, and then I'd go back for a little Quistis loving. Back and forth we went. This pattern would continue for days, weeks, months even. What an amazing/horrible cycle to be caught in. By the time 9-9-99 came to a close, I felt like I had literally OD'd on video games (if that's even possible). I was tired, delirious, but above all, happy. And broke. But happy nonetheless.

The Dreamcast, to this day, is still the only system I've ever purchased on launch day. That might be one reason why it's so near and dear to me (the other being its impressive list of high quality games). The whole pomp and circumstance surrounding its 9-9-99 release was something to behold. Never had a game system launch been such an event. These days, it's commonplace, but back in '99 it was almost unheard of, and Sega pulled it off with style. (Unfortunately for them, it was too little too late.)

As for FFVIII, it's the one Final Fantasy title that I've probably sunk more time into then any other. Thanks to the bewildering Junction system and that asinine/addictive Triple Triad minigame, VIII kept me busy way longer than I ever thought it would. The game became such an investment that I eventually tired of hearing the same in-game music and sound effects over and over and started listening to my own CDs instead (thank again, "Purple Rain"). And as a result, 311's "Soundsystem" album will be forever linked to the adventures of Squall. Talk about a weird dichotomy. Thankfully, the payoff in VIII is one of the best I've ever seen in a game as all my hard work proved to be well worth it in the end.

With the way my life is these days, it's hard to believe I'll ever have another day like September 9th, 1999. Life does, in fact, tend to get in the way the older you get. And while it's a little sad on one hand, it also helps to solidify just how unique that day truly was. And that's probably why it resonates so much with me. It was a time in which I could fully embrace gaming to my heart's content, casting aside any and all responsibilities I might have had. Now, not only do I think I couldn't pull off such an act, I'm not entirely sure I'd even want to (both from a time and financial point of view). I love gaming, but more in a bits and pieces kind of way as opposed to the binge and purge style of my late teens/early 20's. It's still as fulfilling as ever, but as with almost everything in life, things and priorities change.

Thankfully, my memories never will (knock on wood). Here's to you 9-9-99.