The year...1995. The place...Illinois. The season...summer. It was a summer I could hardly forget. It was the summer of the SNES for me and my family. The Super Nintendo has been out awhile but it wasn't affordable until this year. I learned more about the SNES when my friend's family got him one. The SNES was totally cool. The unit's graphics and games were looking great (for that time and age). Microsoft wasn't even in the gaming industry. With the SNES, I managed to get a variety of different games. The main games I enjoyed were Street Fighter II, Killer Instinct and of course Mortal Kombat. My SNES library also included Super Mario All*Stars and Super Mario 4. It was also in this same era that Super Mario Brothers Cartoon was active and Captain N " The Game Master ". Even to this day of the new Millinium, I think back and wish I could watch those same shows. None the less, the Super Experience wasn't fully realized until I got Final Fantasy II (North American Release). Here, I learned to master the art of RPGing. Little did I know that I was going to be upgrading my video game experience within the following year. In the meantime, I rented and played every game I felt interested in learning (ideally RPG games and Street Fighter Games).

It was 4 years after the release of the Super Nintendo. The spring season was just kicking in. My grandmother and I decided to get out of the house for the Saturday morning. We approached a little store in a strip mall called " Funcoland " (now called Gamestop). Because of my hunger for video games. I suggested that we stop in and take a look. My grandmother was hesitant but she gave in. After all, I don't get to do many things I want because I was attending a private school and we (as children) were limited as to how much we can do. My grandmother understood this factor.

We eventually walked into the store and I could not believe my very eyes. I was AMAZED at all the different game titles. I thought to myself..." WOW! This is a gamers' paradise ". As I turned to my grandmother to show her my excitement, I could sense an overwhelming sense of dread she was experiencing (even though she hid it really well). She knew I was going to drive her crazy into buying something or many things for me. I then came across a video game box (which they used to advertise what they had in stock). The game box said " Final Fantasy ". I almost felt like I was stuck by lightening when I saw that because it was in that very same moment did I remember a RPG (paper version) game of Final Fantasy that me and a few of the guys at my hall (Boy's Hall at the Private School) played. I wanted it. So, I approached my grandmother and persuaded her into buying the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) for me as well as Final Fantasy. She granted my request because the game system was in the right price range then. After all, the Super Nintendo System (SNES) had already been out awhile so the price for the NES was going to drop.

That night, I installed all the components together on my private TV in my room and away I flew. I immediately jumped on the band wagon and began to start the adventure of a life time. Little did I know that I had just started my long and tedious road of RPG video game playing background. Thus, an RPG player was born. The Final Fantasy Experience was a remarkable experience. I loved everything about the game. It was also in that moment did I become a Die Hard Super Square/Squaresoft/Square-Enix fan. To this day, I still will give Square-Enix's games a shot. Even if Square-Enix has really changed their approach to RPG fans.

It was a warm late spring afternoon. I just got back from grade school and recognized that the living room had changed a bit. I approached the living room and little to my surprise I saw my mother hammering away on a electronic device. While she was screaming at the TV I asked her what she was doing. She responded and said, " I am playing Pac-Man. " I was puzzled by that response and then she said " I bought us the Atari ". I never knew what the Atari was until she explained to me that it was a video game machine. She said, " Would you like to try? " I hesitated and then I gave it a shot. I didn't know then but that fateful moment when I picked up the Atari Joystick and held it in my hands. That moment was going to be my destiny.