End Of An Era

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1 Corinthians 13:11 (King James Version)

Let me just start off by saying that I have a hard time letting go of certain stuff. And I'm not talking about particularly useful stuff either. I'm pretty sure, for instance, that when Ben Franklin said "Waste not, want not," he was not referring to old books, comics, toys, or especially old video game systems. But when it comes to keeping useless stuff, those are the things that I really want to hang on to. Old clothes? Chuck 'em out. Resident Evil: Code Veronica for Sega Dreamcast? Hmm... Well, that's a tough one. Yeah, I know that I have 2 other, newer video game systems with newer Resident Evil games. So what if I haven't played Code Veronica for 7 years, or my Dreamcast for 4? I might want to at some point in the future. I mean if I've read a book and give it away, I can always check it out from the library, but if I give a video game or system away and I want to play them again, I'm screwed then aren't I? Deep down, I know that this is pretty stupid, but I can't help it.

Besides, the Dreamcast and I have shared so many great memories. Seriously, when I lived with Ryan Bruce and Ryan Davidson, our multiple video game systems were like roommates. We spent hours playing fighting games against each other, most notably the Street Fighter Alpha series on Bruce's Sega Saturn. This was the three of us at our most competitive, leading to a permanent Akuma vs. Ken (Bruce and Davidson's respective characters) tally on a dry erase board. And later, when we had all changed living arrangements (not because of animosity, but rather out of necessity), we would bring our controllers over to Davidson's and duke it out the Dreamcast playing Soul Caliber, Power Stone, and the Marvel Vs. Capcom series. And let me tell you, Marvel Vs. Capcom was ridiculous! The graphics were awesome and the gameplay was frenetic. Each player could switch back and forth between 3 different characters, tag-team style, as well as calling on your back up characters to assist the character you were currently using. It was absolute madness and it was definitely the most fun we had playing each other, mostly because it was so crazy, that it didn't feel like you were testing your skill against one another, you were just playing to have fun.

Fast forward to my life after graduating from college. Even when all my friends were still single, and we still had time to mess around playing video games multiple times a week, I had a tough time getting anyone back in Omaha to play me in fighting games. I think some of them may have even liked games like the Street Fighter series, none of them had played them for hours on end throughout college, which put them somewhat at a disadvantage. In short, I guess that I just wasn't that fun to play. Without any human competition to challenge me, I pretty much retired from the world of fighting games. Around the same time, even though it was a great system, support for the Dreamcast died out as well. So, with no one to fight me and with no new games coming out, my Dreamcast had essentially been gathering dust for a couple of years. Even though the world and I had moved on to newer systems like the PS2 and the Game Cube, I just couldn't bring myself to party with my ol' Dreamcast.

While I may have retired from playing fighting games, there are still a couple of games I still get into. For some reason, college football video games have filled the void left by Street Fighter. True, beginning with the somewhat awkwardly titled College Football's National Championship for Sega Genesis in 1994, I have pretty much bought a college football video game every year since, but more recently, my brother and I have been almost religious in our devotion to EA Sports' NCAA Football series for the PS2. The most recent in the series, NCAA Football 07, came out on July 17 and in a rare moment of self restraint, I told myself I didn't really need to buy it, at least not right away. Well, a couple of weeks later, pressure from my brother and anticipation for the upcoming college football season made waiting any longer unbearable. But, I also knew Megan's position on my buying the "exact same" game every year and on my probably too large collection of video games. So, I hatched a plan that would make us both happy: I would trade in my Dreamcast and Dreamcast games and in order to get the new NCAA Football.

So, I boxed up my Dreamcast and games and went to Gamers to trade it all in. After waiting for almost an hour, I finally queued up in line and had my stuff evaluated. The clerk stated numerous times that he was greatly impressed with my collection and the good condition that I kept the games in. His compliments made me glow with geek pride. Normally, I guess they have to test every game you sell to them, to make sure they all work, but due to the good condition they all appeared to be in, he said he'd only need to test one to make sure the Dreamcast itself worked. So, guess what game he picked? Freakin' Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. As I stood there and watched, he started playing the game on a HD flatscreen TV. The game never looked so good. I was just starting to have serious doubts about whether I really wanted to part with my stuff, when the other employees started to gather around the screen and remark how Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 was the best game made for the Dreamcast. A single tear slowly rolled down my cheek. Luckily, no one saw my sorrow, and I was able to leave Gamers with NCAA Football 07, almost $200 in store credit, and my dignity intact. Or as much dignity as you can have after spending nearly 2 hours at Gamers.

Anyway, it's been over a month now, and I have managed to survive without my Dreamcast. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that any spare time I have is consumed by NCAA Football 07, but that's not really the point. The point is I was able to get rid of some of my stuff, without anyone making me and I haven't even missed it. You have no idea how encouraged I am to finally start selling some of my comics on eBay. Some day, I'll probably give up comics and video games altogether, but right now, I'm not in that big of a hurry to grow up. As long as I keep making progress, I think I'll do just fine. And besides, Rebecca Sinkler, former editor of the New York Times Book Review once said, "The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius." I can't argue with that.