Madden 93: 1HN Hammer Redemption

Last night, I pulled off what I had never thought I would actually do, despite the numerous opportunities that were granted me in the past: I bought the Sega Genesis game cartridge for John Madden Football 93 (or Madden 93). Several months ago, I had spotted it in a local retrogame store; believe it or not, there is a store dedicated to retro video game cartridges in my town! Feeling a bit down about my prospects of an X-Wing Miniatures Game match being shattered as my sparring partner comforted his distraught friend, I ventured to that store and, for seven measly American dollars, I acquired that once long-lost gem for myself. To be honest, though, it wasn't really "long-lost," as much as it was destroyed in a fit of anger. I shall elucidate...

During my second year of college, I purchased a Sega Genesis Model One from KB Toys in Los Angeles. At the time, the Model One Genesis was on sale for $129 or something like that, and I knew that this was a great deal. I had wanted a Genesis for some time, having been the owner of a Nintendo Entertainment System which had been long outmoded by then. Throughout my high school years, my friends Ed and Tim owned a Genesis. We used to spend evenings playing various games, especially Madden 92 (I wrote a post about that). After acquiring that magical piece of 16-bit hardware, I meandered home and plugged it into my old CRT television with the provided RF adapter. I inserted my first game cartridge, Sonic the Hedgehog, and fired up the console. Sure enough, the Genesis was as fun as it was during my high school days.

I don't remember exactly when I acquired Madden 93, but I know that by 1994 (when I acquired the Genesis), it was an older game. Nonetheless, I bought it and played it numerous times with Ed, who was one of my roommates at UCLA. One of my all-time favorite video game memories was playing alongside Ed as the 1985 Chicago Bears. We may a simple rule for ourselves to enhance the challenge of playing against the computer: we could NOT score on offensive plays. We could score after an interception, a fumble, a punt, a kickoff, or as a result of a safety; otherwise, we had to punt the ball. We experienced some hilarious scenarios. One scenario was after we would intercept the ball, run it to the opposition's 4-yard-line, and then get tackled; because we couldn't score on offense, we had to punt, so we had to angle our punt to the sidelines AND kick with as little power as possible to move the ball to the 1-yard-line! Another funny scenario was trying to rush the quarterback at the same time only to have both of our sprites dive past the fortunate quarterback. We used to shift the defensive line off to one side and rush from other other side. We also got really good at batting down passes... I don't know if we could win in a modern football game in this way, but I can say with certainty that doing so wouldn't be as delightful as it was with Madden 93 on the Sega Genesis.

Anyway, as my second year of college came to a close, I moved out of the apartment I shared with Ed and moved into a studio apartment with Chris. To summarize very briefly, Chris and I were like oil and water; we didn't mesh very well. In retrospect, I recognize that he was a very nice guy and was more selfless than a lot of college students, but our senses of humor were very different to the point where his sarcasm offended me to the core. Because he was my roommate, he would sometimes challenge me in a sports game on the Genesis; usually it was NHL 95 or Madden 93, which I was still playing despite my owning Madden 94 (in my opinion, the game quality got worse between Madden 93 and Madden 94). During those games, Chris was highly proficient at mind games. For instance, if he were losing, he would say, "Oh, I had to scratch my arm, so I messed up that play," as if my winning were accidental; conversely, if he were winning, he would tout his video game greatness. It used to wear on me like the proverbial nails on a chalkboard. One day, Ed visited me and made an off-hand comment about Chris. For reasons I still do not fully understand, I was enraged at being reminded of Chris, so I proceeded to smash my beloved Madden 93 cartridge with a hammer and threw the entire package down the garbage chute.

Thus, I destroyed the cartridge. That was 24 years ago.

For years, I regretted my rash actions. It was very counterproductive for me to annihilate my own property, but to do so with a game I thoroughly enjoyed was an especially poignant regret. Up until the end of my college days, I had a problem with anger that occasionally drove me to destroy things. Even as a born-again Christian now, I am still plagued with this rage, but I do not wreck things as I used to do. It is a tendency that I endeavor to eliminate in my character.

Fast-forward to last night. After I purchased Madden 93 for the second time, I feel as if I have corrected a past mistake. I know that God is not concerned with wrecked cartridges or video games, but I would like to think that He chose to bless me with it again. I vow to care for this cartridge and enjoy it again with Ed, as well as my sons.

By the way, regarding the game itself, it is one of the easiest football games to learn in the world of video games, especially compared to Madden games on the XBox or PlayStation. With three buttons and a directional pad, Madden 93 on the Sega Genesis is fun, fast, and readily accessible. Also, you receive the benefit of learning about American football. Of course, you would have to accept that in 1993 there were no two-point-conversions, Texans, Ravens, or Titans. Set those differences aside and you're in for a night full of entertainment.

To quote John Madden: BOOM! He'll remember that number!

NES Satellite: 1HN Wireless Non-Necessity

Pop quiz: Was it possible for four players to play one game at the same time on the NES?

The answer: It depends on if you owned the NES Satellite (and if you owned a compatible game).

The Satellite was a wireless peripheral that was released for the NES in 1989. It allowed for both wireless play and for up to four players to play an NES game. All you needed was a boatload of C batteries, up to four NES controllers, and a game that accommodated four players and you were set. Or, if you wanted to play a non-four-player game alone wirelessly, you could do that, too.

Most of this information can be gained from Wikipedia or with a cursory Internet search, so I will share my personal experience with the Satellite. Now, the funny thing about my owning the Satellite was that I was an only child. Of course, I'm STILL an only child, but I often dreamed of having three buddies over to play NES. Outside of one or two occasions, this didn't happen. Also, because my NES and TV were, like, six feet from my bedroom wall and door, playing wirelessly was never really that beneficial.

So, why did I ask for the Satellite for Christmas one year? Because it was cool and, yes, I did dream of a day when I would have a bunch of friends over to play NES Play Action Football or Kings of the Beach. I remember one time when I did have some neighborhood kids over and we played Kings of the Beach, which is a two-on-two beach volleyball simulation. I don't remember how the game went (except that everybody besides me played terribly, mostly because I was the only one with any experience with the game), but I recall the elation of plugging in extra controllers into the third- and fourth-player ports of the Satellite. I think there was also another time when Ed and Tim were over and we played NES Play Action Football... Maybe.

Anyway, the Satellite was pointless for me to own, but was reflective of that childhood desire to play games with other people. This feeling wasn't confined to video games as I was a semi-avid collector of board games. Sadly, as with video games, I rarely had opponents against whom I could play. Ironically, when I did have a friend over, I rarely played the board games because I hated losing. How sad!

In retrospect, if I had made it more of a point to challenge people, I would have played more board games, as well as used the Satellite more often. Nowadays, I have my sons (and my wife, if she's in a gaming mood) against whom I can play games. I don't mind losing to them; and, I've gotten over the hang-up of losing to anyone because I have embraced the mere joy of understanding the dynamics of any game and engaging in the finer points of gameplay. By this, I am much more willing to play games. If I ever get my NES Control Deck working, maybe I'll bring out the Satellite. Unlike my only child days, I have three opponents in my own home.

Comic Book Stores: 1HN Nerddom Fellowship

In the early 90s when I was in the latter days of high school (and even my first couple of years at UCLA), I was an avid comic book collector. I didn't collect EVERYTHING as I didn't have that much money to blow on comics, but I collected a lot of X-titles, such as Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force, and Excalibur (the British mutant superhero team). You may recognize some of these titles, especially if you are a fan of the X-Men films (Bryan Singer directed the first two; Brett Ratner directed the sub-par third one). I also collected a lot of titles from Image Comics, which was (at the time) an up-and-coming comics studio that boasted a stable of ex-Marvel superstar artists who had their own stories to draw and tell. My dalliance with Image notwithstanding, I was a Marvel homeboy as I expanded into Incredible Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man. However, as artists and writers changed and inferior storylines infected my once-beloved titles (Scott Lobdell, I'm looking at you... how could you ruin Excalibur in the span of three issues?!), I lost interest in comic books until I eventually gave up the hobby for good.

So, why am I writing about comic books? Well, I was driving to work today and my thoughts began to drift wistfully to those days of excitement when I awaited every Friday eagerly. In high school, I used to save my part-time job money for Fridays when the local Comic World would stock their shelves with the newest titles for that week. Sometimes, I would buy one or two comic books with bag boards, which were absolutely necessary for preserving comic books (they were collectible items, you know), but on certain weeks a flood of X-titles would come out and I would clean up... Anyway, what struck me this morning was that comic book stores are harder to find. In my hometown, I knew of two comic book stores (one of which was right down the street from my high school), and I knew of four others in neighboring towns. Now, there are no comic book stores in my hometown, and those four others outside my hometown are (as far as I know) gone.

What contributed to this turn of events? Obviously, the advent of online shopping has killed many comic book stores (and the video store... and the record store... and the big-box electronics store... okay, not yet, but Best Buy is going the way of Circuit City), but I also think that the advent of high-quality films based on comic books (ironically produced by Marvel and DC Comics) has largely rendered comic books and the stores that sell them an afterthought. Oh, and when Marvel and DC pulled artists and writers from titles, those titles became shadows of themselves (why did you let Alan Davis go from Excalibur, Marvel?!). But, I would also contend that the flooding of the market with titles and companies in the early 90s contributed to the downfall of comics and, consequently, comic book stores. Back then, there was Marvel and DC, but then came Dark Horse, Valiant, and Image; titles entered the market at breakneck pace; and the "Issue Zero" trend also came into effect, in which every title seemed to have a prequel issue (I'm talking about you, Valiant!). There were so many choices, so many companies, and so many pencilers, inkers, colorists, and letterers out there putting out mediocre to amazing work. How much could one really collect?!

I'm not a comic book historian, but there seemed to be a point in the 90s when comics declined. For a long time, they were collectors' items, but because of the flooding into the market new comics rarely gained value, and often lost value relative to their cover prices. People seemed to care less about buying comics, but cared more about movies. First, Marvel had Blade, then X-Men, and then Spider-Man movies; DC, of course, had Batman movies going, but the Batman Begins film saw the character reaching a wider audience than even the Tim Burton films did (though some may contend this). And, because of the availability of information and images via the Internet, no one needed to buy comics to follow the story lines; they could just read about how each title was going online.

Okay, so where am I going with this? I must admit that I don't miss comic books, per se. My nostalgic feelings stem more from missing the excitement of Friday: that feeling of buying the latest issue of X-Men; wondering what was going to happen in that issue; beholding the Jim Lee artwork; gingerly turning each page, and then carefully placing the issue into a secure bag board. I miss going to Comic World with Ed and Tim to check out what was on the shelves, and I even miss going to the comic book store near UCLA's campus in Westwood with all the colors and the smell of newly-minted comics. But, what I miss most are the odd, nerdy characters I would encounter in those comic book stores and the conversations we would have about the first appearance of Carnage or which comic was really Cable's first appearance (I think it was in a cameo in New Mutants #86, right?). For a time, comic book stores were the nexus of nerddom and esoteric comic-centric discussions where one felt like one belonged and wasn't rejected because one loved school, D&D, Star Trek, Star Wars, or Warhammer. Now, Facebook, blogs, and forums have replaced comic book stores for such talk, and Wikipedia has become a reliable source of comic book information.

I guess I miss all of that, but not enough to start collecting comics again. Interestingly, I have a place where I am accepted and can have all the oddball discussions I want, and you wouldn't suspect it: my church.

Madden Football 92: 1HN Friend Cash Pool

This blog entry is not as much a review of Madden Football 92 for the Genesis as a recollection of personal events related to the game. Mind you (the reader), I played Madden 92 numerous times with my friends Ed and Tim (who are brothers), so this game is indeed 1HN (first-hand nostalgia) for me. But, what makes this game stand out in my mind is the circumstances under which we purchased it.

It was fall of 1991, and Ed and I were seniors in high school. It was one of those Saturdays when my mom and dad let me crash at Ed's house. There were many great things about crashing at his house: I could be loud if I wanted; his parents were very easygoing; Ed was simultaneously hilarious and mildly irritating; and, Ed had a Sega Genesis. In those days, I still had my NES, but had given up on it because, hey, I was in high school and I didn't have time for that "kiddie stuff." Having said that, the Genesis was certainly NOT kiddie stuff; this was a serious cutting-edge gaming console. I remember the day when Ed brought over the Genesis with Altered Beast to my house. I was blown away, to say the least.

Anyway, I was hanging out with Ed and his family when Ed started to scheme. See, he and Tim knew that Electronic Arts had released Madden Football 92 for the Sega Genesis and they were pooling their cash to buy it. They were a bit short on cash, but I had some. I think now that it was odd that I willingly contributed a share of cash to help them buy a game I couldn't play at my own home, but I quite enthusiastically offered to pay a third of the cost just so that they could buy the game that night. With sufficient funds in hand, Ed, Tim, their dad, and I piled into their dad's battleship of a brown station wagon and made the five-mile journey to some mom-and-pop video and game store.

When we arrived, I noted the dark-wooded trim of the mini-mall dating back to the late 1970s. After we parked, Ed made a beeline into the store where the game was located. I looked around inside the store and considered the relatively small space. There were videos and games lining the walls. I remember thumbing through some CD singles where I found "Nobody's Fool" by Kenny Loggins, which was the main theme from Caddyshack II. I put the single aside and turned to watch as Ed and Tim purchased Madden 92. Ah, our prize... Finally in our grasp!

I remember getting to hold it and looking at the blue-bordered front cover of the cartridge box. There was John Madden with his Super Bowl ring and microphone, mugging for the camera as if he had just finished some color commentary. I also recall going back to Ed's house and waiting eagerly as Tim inserted the cartridge into their Genesis.

Madden Football 92 for the Genesis was a wonderful pick-up-and-play football simulation that amounted to hours and hours of fun. Ed and Tim used to record statistics when they pitted specific teams against other teams. They even kept season standings as if they were NFL commissioners. I marveled at the stats they would keep and their diligence in recording those stats. I could never be so motivated to retain stats from a sports game like they did, though I would certainly fret over rosters in other sports games. In any case, Madden 92 represented for me how video games could bring friends together and, ironically, encourage social interaction. Ed and I used to spend hours playing or watching games, goading each other or laughing at the ridiculous plays that the Genesis CPU would conjure out of thin air. Did Ed ever pay me back, I wonder... Even if he didn't, it was worth the cash just to spend time with my friends.

Role-Playing Games: A RETROspective

(Originally posted as Role-Playing Games: One Christian's Perspective on Epinions)

Okay, this is a tough one; why RPGs are a "tough" subject is something I'll explore later. So, before I offer my "brief" opinion, let me provide some background:

From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, I was a HUGE RPG fan. It all began with Choose Your Own Adventure-type books, like Lone Wolf (by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk) and the Wizards and Warriors series. As I became interested in the fantasy milieu, I delved into the "dreaded" world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), starting with "first edition" Advanced D&D in the 80s and then second edition in 1993. I expanded into other worlds of gaming, such as various Palladium RPG series like Robotech, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles, and Rifts. Because I often didn't have the time or enough friends that were interested in playing RPGs, I was more of a collector and reader of the rule books than a player, though I spent countless hours rolling up characters and designing game campaigns in my head. When I did get to play, I was often the Dungeon Master (DM) or Gamemaster (GM), telling the interactive story while relatively inexperienced players assume the roles of characters. One classic session of gaming featured my friends Ed and Tim, who were brothers, playing the roles of bungling assassins. Ed's weapon of choice was a trident because it did the most damage (one twelve-sided die's worth of damage) and his primary tactic was charging at non-player characters (NPCs) with it. Ed once kicked Tim's character in the butt for double-damage (which is done by rolling a 20 on a twenty-sided die), reducing Tim's assassin to one hit point. Ah, the heady times of RPGs...

During my college years, I largely left RPGs behind in favor of comic books and, later, collectible card games, so my books sat in boxes for years until I unearthed them last year in my parents' garage. I thumbed through those old tomes, remembering the good times: games with Ed, Tim, and Brian; the hours of rolling up characters; memories of the histories of characters that existed only in my imagination; the times I walked to Comic World, eagerly awaiting the purchase of any newly-released book. At the time, RPGs seemed like intelligent, but somewhat carefree fun with wizards, fighters, clerics, and thieves intermingling in fantasy worlds of adventure and combat; the rules could be dense, esoteric, and almost impenetrable to the novice enthusiast, but RPGs were simply rules for conducting interactive games unlike any board game.

However, having given my life to Jesus in 1999 in Japan, I now peruse those books as a Christian. As a believer, I cannot help but consider some of the themes that are present in many RPGs: violence, stealing, questionable character decisions, occult imagery, the (pretend) use of magic, and the general darkness of the motifs and settings in many RPGs. I also consider the broad array of critical articles and opinions leveled at RPGs, particularly D&D, by Christians: in the 80s, D&D was linked to the suicides of obsessive players; in the 90s, the criticisms were largely redirected at card games like Magic: The Gathering, but RPGs were still viewed with scorn as gateways to the occult, witchcraft, and devil worship. Even today, RPGs, which are mostly digitized and game console-based, are nonetheless associated with the same negative influences as the paper RPGs of twenty years ago.

Anyway, I'm kind of beating around the bush, so I'll go straight to my opinion, assuming that you, the reader, have at least been exposed to RPGs either as a player or as a reader of the criticisms against RPGs. In my opinion as a believer, playing a paper-based RPG can be a fun, social event with friends who want nothing more than to make characters, do a little play-acting, and take part in an adventure told by a storyteller. Granted, there would have to be the proviso that certain things would not be done, such as playing characters that commit atrociously criminal acts in the game, worshipping deities, and summoning demons or other hellish creatures. Also, the friends would have to agree that the game would start and end at times decided beforehand, and that future games would occur only at set times -- this prevents the potentially life-sucking temptation to play daily. More than that, one would have to look critically at any game and decide if the story and the characters are an affront to Christ, but what does that mean? That would be up to the individual, in prayer and contemplation, to determine. With all of these conditions in mind, an RPG can be a viable way to spend time with friends.

All of that said, I find it extremely difficult to reconcile RPG play with a Christian worldview because most of what makes RPGs "fun" is predicated on action and violence. Now, for me, I don't have a problem imagining a quest to rescue somebody and having to fight orcs, dragons, beholders, and the like; after all, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, who were big influences on Gary Gygax and his creation of D&D in the 1970s, often depicted epic battles between the forces of good and evil in their Christian-influenced works. But, many campaigns often involve one-on-one violence between characters and NPCs; yes, even though the violence is highly imaginary, one must question if one's imaginary actions reflect what is in one's heart. Though Jesus spoke of adultery in Matthew 5:27-30, what He says is also applicable to violence; in other words, if violence is in your heart, it is just as bad as committing the act of violence. Of course, violence is a topic I have broached before, and it is a tricky one vis-a-vis games, especially pencil-and-paper games like D&D or NES 8-bit games like Contra, but the idea that your heart can be reflected in your gameplay cannot be dismissed.

Besides violence, there is still much to consider regarding the imagery of some, but not all, RPGs. Obviously, D&D and other fantasy-based games are steeped in wizardry and occult elements while games like Robotech (which is based on the animated series of the same name) are not -- this is undeniable. One may point out once again that Tolkien and Lewis also employed such elements allegorically, and that they were using spellcasting and witchcraft as plot elements, but are these concepts that anyone, let alone children, should allow in their minds and hearts? Some would say these things are merely in-game actions; if your conviction towards such things is this, then I cannot speak against that. Likewise, if you feel convicted about having any of that in any game or medium in your household, I cannot speak against that, either. The important thing is knowing one's own weaknesses and not exposing oneself to ideas that can take away from Christ.

I could go on and on about the positive and negative aspects of paper-based RPGs, but I will just present the basic ones. The positive aspects of paper-based RPGs are the use of imagination, the inherently social nature of gameplay, the creativity necessary to conduct the games, and the sheer fun of rolling cool-looking dice. Conversely, the negative aspects of paper-based RPGs are the imagery, the incorporation of violence, the encouragement of occult activity in the game, and the temptation to spend too much time in game play and game preparation. I do not believe that RPGs are inherently satanic or demonic, and I don't believe that RPGs are categorically amoral and mind-warping, but much of what is published for game use can be all of these things -- that is the danger of paper-based RPGs. If, somehow, one can elevate the positive aspects and minimize the negative aspects, one may can have a fun time with paper-based RPGs, yet this is more easily said than done.

To close, I must mention video game-based RPGs -- the kind you play on your computer or game console. Because these games are audiovisual and presented for the player, one is both dissociated from the action and engulfed by the action: dissociated insofar as the action is external to the player's mind and reduced to button presses and hand-eye coordination, yet engulfed in that one's senses of sight and sound are enraptured by the graphics and effects of the game. In this way, PC- and console-based RPGs are no "worse" than paper-based RPGs except that console RPGs are mostly non-social and somewhat isolating while paper-based games are not; and, console RPGs require little or no preparation to play, so one can play these games anytime, which enhances the addictive qualities of such games. Plus, one has to ask oneself: what is more powerful, the imagined appearance of a monster, or the appearance of a monster as visualized in a computer or console game? I'd choose the latter because the detail is too particular and too realistic.