I have a happy memory for every game I've played. But this one is special, coz it just put the maniac in me on the center stage.
I am from india. We had no arcades. Instead we had game parlors. Some guy would buy a pirated console ( NES, SNES, Genesis, PS, PS2, Dreamcast...... you name it ) and start a game parlor. You pay by the minutes. I started with 50 paise for 10 minutes on nes, Ended it with 4 Rs. for 10 minutes on ps2. All My life, untill I got a pc, I've been paying in parlours. Me and my brother played together. We had a maniac tendency to put the initials "Ryu" and "Ken" in high scores. If the parlor was in our area, it has to bear our name. I bunked school a lot, Twice a week. Saturday were half days and Sunday a full day at game parlor.
Ok, the story. This guy got a N64, First one in our area. I didn't know that we could save games. Not our fault, the owner forgot to mention it. In fact, he didn't buy a single rpg for snes, bcoz it would mean no repeat value for him. Who will play a game from start if he can begin it from, say one hour from beginning? He would lose money and time is money, as the saying goes. I played chrono trigger only on snes9x. Sad, very sad.
I started playing Donkey kong. Hard game. School starts by 10, ends by 4. Curfew starts at our home by 7, you've to be there in the evening b4 dad comes.
I paid the owner to keep the 64 on while I was gone. Go back home, change and eat, if forced, and come back. Most of the time, owner would say,"There was a blackout....". I couldn't finish it b4 6:30, my time to go back.
Now, my brother asked me what is the problem, why are you coming late, parents would ask, you will get caught. He hasn't played Donkey kong yet. I told him,"I'm stuck in this game." He said that's impossible. I said this one is really long and hard.
B4 this my brother had turned model, between genesis and snes. No bunking classes, no games, just studies. Miraculously, he said he'd help.
From next week, we started playing. I will miss two days in school, he will miss alternate two days. We will find all the shortcuts, make a log who found what and exchange tips. Saturdays and Sundays, two hours each, when one goes home and another plays. Whole parlor was egging us on,"Finished it yet?"
After two week, on sunday, by 5'o clock, we were this close. We were playing from the morning 9 or 10, full co op, if one couldn't finish the level, we changed the controller between us. The parlour had 7 tv's, two nes, two snes, two genesis and one 64. By 5:30, nobody else is playing. Tension was paramount, everybody was scrampering for places to watch our game. The owner was going nuts, telling other kids to get out if you are not here to play. Nobody was listening, some were booing, lots of noise, total silence at the beginning and end of every level. Guys going outside were coming back with more guys when they told others that we were trying for a long time to beat this game.
It looked like we couldn't finish it, by 6. but by 6:20, we did. Lots of cheering.
And the owner shut the 64. Total bummer, Total silence. And then a lot of cursing. He didn't let us watch the credits. We are cursing him, he is cursing us and the rest of the guys are going totally nuts. We vowed to never return to the parlor.
Some other owner bought a PS. And we didn't return to 64 guy until he bought mario on 64 AND memory cards for it.
My brother resumed the bad ways, until ps2 Residential Evil : Code veronica. His last game. Again no more games.
The funny part is, I don't even remember how the game ended. I think there was a podium finish or something. I don't remember.
Oh, and another one. I got blisters on both my hands by playing guilty gear on PS. Music was for maniacs.