Welcome to IMPAKT nostalgia.
My name is Daniel Quasar, and on today’s
episode we’re taking a look at another game
I purchased while saving good grade money.
Let’s get started.
In 1994, Capcom released its popular SNES
title Mega Man X on the PC.
This version of the game was very similar
to its console predecessor, but with a few
differences.
For instance, the graphics were identical
to the SNES version, but the PC version was
missing some animations and other little flourishes.
However, unlike the version on the SNES, you
could type in the code “xstuf” on your
keyboard to unlock ALL the weapons and extras,
including the secret Hadouken power up.
Trust me, I could find all the other weapons
and items, but I was never able to figure
out the Hadouken sequence on my own so I was
glad for the code.
Mega Man X wasn’t my first time playing
as the Blue Bomber, as I had played a lot
of the classic NES games from the series,
but it was the first to be solely mine.
Like I’ve said in other episodes, I never
owned an NES.
Playing this game allowed me to get more involved
with the franchise, and actually I prefered
the better graphics and more sophisticated
take on the character.
I have always had an interest in things in
the sci-fi genre, especially A.I. and robotics.
Mega Man fit this bill for the most part,
but I wasn’t interested in the more childish
or retro aspect of it.
X provided a more modern take on futurism,
and the character seemed more my age at the
time.
From a visual standpoint, I really liked that
I could learn the moves of the bosses he defeats,
and that his armor changed color based on
which weapon he had currently equipped.
I was a visual kid, and loved patterns.
I don’t really have a specific scene or
moment in the game that stood out, but more
I see the game as a whole piece or concept.
I loved the idea of it, and the ideas it presented.
This game sparked my love for the franchise,
but also helped grow my interest in the things
I love now.
I feel like my connection to color and pattern,
and my interest in computer graphics, spawned
from this game and the way I expressed my
fandom for it.
Like the episode about The Neverhood, I spent
my time outside of the game collecting pictures,
music, animations, and videos; creating little
websites for Mega Man X as well.
The internet was still the wild west back
then and there wasn’t much going on besides
spending your days searching random terms
in webcrawler or yahoo.com.
There were no social networks like Facebook
or Twitter, but we had our own way of creating
community in the form of Geocities.
Geocities.com was a web host in the mid-90s
where could get your own slice of the internet
real estate to create web content.
You’d sign up for an account and be placed
on a server that was named after the type
of content you intended to create.
This translated mostly to horribly flashy,
poorly made websites,
But today, there is a nostalgia for that aesthetic
and it’s not usually seen in a negative
light anymore.
There were others, such as Angelfire, and
they all had simplified website creators but
the real gold was in coding your own, or using
a third party program to visually build sites.
I remember using CorelDraw and Notepad to
find different ways to create.
Thinking back on this I’m wondering, do
you remember old websites you created for
games, or anything, you had interest in?
I wonder if sifting through the Archives of
Geocities I would be able to find my old creations.
Sounds fun, ...and also a little terrifying.
Thanks so much for watching, and let’s never
forget the games that are important to us,
and the memories attached to them.
