World 0: The Schoolyard Menace (Prequel Chapter)
World 0-1: Our House
I attended preschool at the YMCA when I was three years old. I was accompanied by my maternal grandmother. She would often stay with me during the classes. I was already showing signs of an attention deficit. My preschool teacher, Mary Ray, seemed very concerned with my inability to remain still. She also raised concerns about my delayed motor skills. My grandmother also seemed worried. I would be entering elementary school at Orchard Dale soon enough. A possible recipe for disaster.
A month before my first day at Orchard Dale, my parents and I moved into our new house. They had recently reconciled after a trial separation. During their separation, my mother and I lived with my maternal grandmother. I rarely saw my dad during that time. I still vividly remember the day that my dad drove up in his gold colored Chevrolet Monte Carlo. With a smile planted firmly across my face, I quickly rushed out to greet him. He took me in his loving arms, and it was then that I learned we would soon be moving into our own house. It was time to go home. As my entry into Orchard Dale grew closer, I began to settle into our new home. It was certainly a bigger place than what we had previously on Ruoff. I would even invite my imaginary friend, Haugau, over to visit on a few occasions. He had been a close companion of mine during those tough times while my parents were separated, but as their relationship improved, Haugau and I would slowly drift apart. I eventually learned that he too was moving away. We parted forevermore on a corner near my grandmother's house. Farewell, my shorthaired transparent friend. We shall always have our memories. Our home would soon be joined by two tabby kittens named Tom and Jerry. They were named after the popular cartoon series. My dad would refer to Tom as a puppy as he would often do tricks for him. My morning routine at that time consisted of a juice pack, a package of Ritz Bits and episodes of Woody Woodpecker, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Big Bird was like an idol to me. At long last, September was finally upon us, and with it, my very first day of Kindergarten. One could only hope that Mrs. Evans was prepared for my arrival.
Those early days and weeks in my new Kindergarten class were turbulent to say the least. I relished the idea of being left alone after becoming accustomed to my grandmother staying with me during preschool. I felt so afraid and bewildered. I found it quite difficult to follow Mrs. Evans instructions. I would sometimes even attempt to turn her lessons into games. When that resulted in a time out, I would then regress to more primitive tendencies. I found myself barking like a dog, hiding in corners and dumping the trash bins on the floor. In due time, I eventually made some progress in adapting to the classroom environment. I learned to sit still long enough to enjoy some of the stories that Mrs. Evans would read to the class. I would even occasionally engage with her questions. However, I still misbehaved from time to time. I even licked several other students in one particularly notorious incident. For everyone's sake, it would soon be time to return home and wash up. My dad would also be home soon enough, and I knew in my gut that he would not be pleased with some of the things happening in school. But if I remained on my very best behavior, he might just allow me to play the Atari 2600 on our big oak television set in the living room. My parents owned the original woodgrain Atari 2600 game console, but when I was two years old, I disassembled it piece by piece. I was curious to see how the thing worked. Electronics were like magic to me back then. It was replaced by a second generation Atari 2600 in the years that followed. The original Atari 2600 would have been the perfect match for our oak television set. I did not have a television set of my own at that time, and if my unusual actions in school continued, it may be a long while yet.
On your mark. Get set. Go! It was time for the big race on the big television set in the living room. Dad agreed to help me set up the Atari 2600 with the prerequisite that we first play Dragster together. It was one of the few two player games that we owned on the system. It was also a game that my dad could relate to a bit more easily. No space aliens or ghosts or anything else of that sort. Just two cars racing to the finish line. We took our starting positions at the left side of the screen. The screen was split down the middle to allow both racers full view of their car and track. I revved my engines a few times in anticipation of the big race. I even made my own sound effects to go with it. When the race finally started, I blew out my engines within seconds. It left my dad with a clear path to victory. As he neared the finish line, he too burned out his race car. We were both sent back to the starting line. "One more time?" said my dad with a certain degree of optimism. I once again revved my engines in anticipation of the race. I muttered aloud, "Vroom, vroom!" As the race began, my dad and I found ourselves neck and neck with each other. It was one of those intense dead heat kind of moments. With just the right amount of throttling, I managed to pull ahead of my dad. I could just smell the taste of victory. I was so close to the finish line now. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, my dad blew past me on his way to the goal. He had reclaimed his top spot and earned a place at the winner's circle. Dad was a fair sport. He let me choose one other game to play before bed. At which point, it would be time to put away the Atari 2600. There would of course be other nights to play another game.
A television newscaster made preparations for their nightly news broadcast. He went through and reorganized his notes as the final countdown began. A voice shouted from afar, "You're on the air in 3, 2, 1..." The newscaster said with a smile, "From the HTV Studio in downtown Orangetown, this is Tom Tornado reporting live. We here at HTV have been following a sudden string of cat burglaries for the last few days now. As we come on the air tonight, we have an update on the story. The cats have stashed a number of stolen items in the park. They appear to be licking themselves at the moment. Local authorities are currently assessing the situation. And now, we turn things over to our very own weather girl, Summer Winters. How are things looking out there, Summer?" Summer said with a look of disappointment," It looks like it is going to be another hot one, Tom. We are expecting temperatures in the high 90s. Folks looking for a little relief from the sun would be advised to stay indoors. Back to you, Tom." Tom, having just been handed a special report, said with a deadpan expression, "Ahem, we have some late breaking news just in to the news desk. We go to Peter Mars standing by at Herman Observatory for the report. What seems to be the trouble, Pete?" Peter said with a certain panic in his eyes, "Well, Tom, Herman Observatory has just spotted what appears to be a group of space crafts on a course bound for Earth. At present, it is too early to tell whether the space crafts are friendly or hostile, but one thing is clear. They are in perfect formation." The news broadcast was suddenly cut short. I quickly grabbed another game from our small pile of Atari 2600 games and inserted it into the cartridge slot. It was none other than Space Invaders. As the game began, I would often take cover underneath one of three bunkers. Several rows of alien ships were descending upon me at a rather rapid pace. I fired my projectiles every which way. Try as I might, I could not defeat them all. There were simply too many of them. With practice, I eventually learned to shoot my projectiles where the alien ship was going to be, not where it currently was. I also learned that I could shoot through the bunker and still use it as an effective shield. Those aliens were about to receive a taste of their own medicine. I took everything that I had learned and successfully sent the aliens packing. The Earth was saved from another hostile threat, and I could rest easy knowing that all would be right in the world tomorrow. Just another day of Kindergarten. "If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Welles
I stumbled throughout my year in Kindergarten, but ever so slowly began to properly identify colors and letters. I may have been a stubborn learner, but Mrs. Evans was a persistent teacher. I had even grown somewhat attached to her. As the school year came to a close, it did not occur to me that she would no longer be my teacher. I would have a new teacher in the fall. The first grade would offer a unique challenge for me. The school supervisors were well aware of this. They recommended further RSP support in addition to Special Day Class. The first grade was certain to be a test of patience for everyone involved, but now was not the time for thinking about school. A new arrival was about to join the Haley household. A baby brother. I would soon have another playmate. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to go to the maternity ward.
A greeting card message sent by Mrs. Evans in the summer of 1988: "Thank you for the pretty gold beads - And please thank mommy, too, for her nice note. I really appreciate it. And for these three funny birds on this card. We are seeing a lot of them on our trip. Do come to visit me next year. Thank you again for my special necklace. Hugs, Mrs. Evans."
Mrs. Evans and I
World 0-2: Sit and Listen
"Mikey!" called out a familiar voice from the hall. I awoke from my slumber before rubbing my eyes. I climbed out of bed and proceeded to open the door. It was my dad. He said with a smile, "Get dressed. We're going to go see your new baby brother." Dad quickly gathered a few things from the back bedroom, including our brand new VHS video camera. He planned to document our arrival and departure from the hospital. Dad and I hopped into the car. I was beyond excited at this point. I could barely sit still long enough to put on my seat belt. We drove to the hospital, and once we arrived safe and sound, dad retrieved our camera from the trunk of the car. He pressed the record button and proceeded to film the hospital sign. He panned around the parking lot and gave us a heartfelt introduction before beginning our walk toward the entrance. As we walked, I said with curiosity, "Is that still on?" To which my dad replied, "Yeah, we're going to record this as we walk in. This is the footsteps to see our new little baby." I said with further curiosity as we neared the entrance, "Does mommy know you brought that?" Dad replied simply, "Yeah, she told me to." I asked an awful lot of questions back then. I also happened to be fascinated by elevators at that time, and I made a special request that dad film them on the way into the hospital. I made sure to repeat this request at least a dozen times in an effort to put my anxiety at ease. We eventually arrived in the maternity ward, washed our hands and entered the room with my mother and new baby brother. I walked over to the hospital bed, turned to dad and said, "Come here and see the baby." Dad captured his very first video of the new baby and said with excitement, "Here Mikey, let's get a shot of our baby." He paused for a moment before he said with a light sniffle, "Little Mic... Michael's looking at little Steven." Steven may be little now, but in time, he would be big enough to play with me. Player three had joined the game.
With my newborn brother consuming much of my parents' free time, I found that I now had a considerable amount of time to myself. I would often sit alone in my room listening to The Beach Boys on a Fisher Price record player and I would also compose my own music via a toy piano. One of the songs was entitled "Doors." It was just a rudimentary series of increasing and decreasing notes, but it was music to my ears at the time. I also continued to watch Sesame Street every morning on the living room television set. It had quickly become my whole world. I was especially enthralled by the jazzy song that Ernie's friends performed for him. He wanted very much to learn how to play the saxophone, but could not seem to put down his rubber duckie. His friends taught him how to do so through their song. You have to put down the duckie. Put down the duckie. Put down the duckie if you want to play the saxophone. In the end, Ernie learned that he did not have to lose his duck in the process. He could simply pick it back up when he was finished with the saxophone. With my sixth birthday coming up in just a few short weeks, I had two things on my mind. A saxophone and a rubber duckie. Toys "R" Us had them both in stock. The marketing geniuses behind Sesame Street had it all figured out. They knew that young children would see the show and instantly want to play with these things themselves. When my parents pulled out the bag from Toys "R" Us on my birthday, I said with a smile, "I know those letters." I may not have known how to read, but I easily recognized the colors on the letters. I played that saxophone all day and night. I played it in my room, I played it in the backyard and I even played it in the bathtub. I felt closer than ever to my friends on Sesame Street. It would soon be time to put down the saxophone, however. I was about to enter the first grade at Orchard Dale. It was certain to be a doozy.
As I took my first steps onto the grander campus of Orchard Dale, I felt a sense of wonder. I had seen the rest of the school from my gated Kindergarten playground, but never been allowed to fully explore it until now. I naturally needed a little help finding Mrs. Hashimoto's classroom. I easily became distracted by the sheer size of the campus. I told myself that there would be time to explore the school after class. That first day was unproductive to say the least. There were a grand total of thirty-one other students in Mrs. Hashimoto's classroom. I found this to be quite overwhelming. I could not focus long enough to get any classwork done. I would instead rock back and forth in my chair while wringing my hands together. Mrs. Hashimoto did not have the resources to meet my special needs herself, and thus a one-to-one aide would be assigned to me when one became available. Until such time, it seemed as though I would be left to my own devices. The bell eventually rang and the students were let out for recess. I opened my little red lunch pale and ate my lunch directly in front of the classroom. I disassociated with the activities of the other students on the playground, and instead chose to do my own thing. I quickly discovered the main hall that connected all the classrooms. It was well enclosed and even had a few dark spots. In the coming days and weeks, I would find myself racing through that very hall quite often. I still felt a sense of wonder, but more so than that, a sense of mischievousness. I had no adult supervision during these times of play, and would often act on every stray impulse that I had. One day while I was standing in a darkened portion of the hall, I happened to spot a custodian finishing up his rounds. As he walked past me, I extended my leg outward. The custodian tripped over my foot and fell to the ground. I said while wringing my hands together, "What happened? Did something happen?" In my warped six year old mind, I was just playing a game with him, but the consequences were very much real this time. The custodian was sent to the hospital. And I was sent to the office. I was told to wait there for the principal. She eventually appeared from her office. She wore these beady eyeglasses. Her hair permed ever so short. Her name was Mrs. Grubbs and she just glanced at me with a look of complete disgust. She pointed to her office and said with a fiery tone, "In my office... NOW!" She made me sit in a compact chair desk for the duration of my visit. Mrs. Grubbs leaned against her own desk and said with contempt, "You can't just go around tripping unsuspecting people! What do you have to say for yourself, Michael?" I thought for what felt like a good minute before responding. I finally replied with fear in my eyes, "It was an accident. We were just playing." Mrs. Grubbs just looked at me with a cold expression. She grasped a piece of paper from her desk and said, "Your parents are going to hear about this. Take your backpack and wait out in the office." As I began to walk out of her office, she said with a certain vigor, "Oh, and Michael? Just so you know. I have my eyes on you. Wherever you go, I'll be watching." I looked back to see the look on Mrs. Grubbs face just as the door closed behind me. To say that she was displeased with my actions would be an understatement. I was sent home early and given a two week suspension. I would also find myself grounded for the foreseeable future. No television, no Atari 2600 and no saxophone. It would be like living in the dark ages. When you go medieval, you live medieval.
It 'twas the darkest of nights. Not a speck of light were to be cast in my chamber. For I was being punished for my wicked misdeeds. A fortnight of solitude standith before me. I must heed the harsh lesson if I wished to be granted my freedom. The darkest of nights would eventually cease. Morning light broke through my dreary window, and I again set foot outside my lonely chamber. I quickly readied myself to venture outward once more. My mother had made arrangements to drive me over to Mrs. Evans house. My kindergarten teacher from the year prior. She just so happened to live directly across from the school. Seeing her again brought a smile to my face. I had missed her so much ever since beginning the first grade. Mrs. Evans thanked us for the pretty gold beads we gave her, and for the nice note my mother wrote to her. She had recently been on a trip up to the Oregon Coast where she saw a number of pelicans. A large water-based bird with a long beak. Mrs. Evans seemed disappointed by my recent transgressions in school, but wished me the best of luck in the future. It was certainly a joy to catch up with her again. I had not formed the same kind of bond with Mrs. Hashimoto, but was willing to give her a chance. We waved goodbye to Mrs. Evans and drove home. Night quickly fell over Haley Manor, but morning light once again broke through my window the next day. It was time to get ready for school. It was time to finish the first grade. That is, if the first grade did not finish me first.
With my two week suspension having run its course, I returned to Mrs. Hashimoto's class to continue my first grade studies. A one-to-one aide was now assigned to me. Her name was Edith Ridenauer. With her help, I managed to complete a few assignments here and there. We worked on a number of writing exercises and paper craft projects. One such project was made to look like my dad. On the back of the paper craft, it simply reads, "I like to mow the lawn with my daddy. I have my own mower." For Saint Patrick's Day, I was instructed to write a short story on lined paper. The short story is as follows, "We will hide and catch the leprechaun. We will eat the gold. It is candy." My penmanship was all over the place, but at least I was trying. The bell rang once more and the students were let out for their recess. I again opened my little red lunch pale and ate my lunch in front of the classroom. This time, a girl from my class sat down next to me. She seemed a bit shy and never spoke very much. She just really liked sitting there. In the weeks that followed, I began spending more of my classroom time in a quiet room on the far side of the campus. Try as I might, I could not seem to concentrate for very long in Mrs. Hashimoto's class. Even with the assistance of my one-to-one aide. When the bell rang in the quiet room, I would often find myself swinging around a pole at the end of the corridor. I ultimately never returned to the table outside Mrs. Hashimoto's class, and thus, I never did find out why that girl liked sitting next to me.
As the school year slowly drew to a close, I became increasingly disruptive. What little patience I had mustered for the classroom curriculum appeared to be dwindling. I spent much of my mornings in class rearranging desks and chairs, tossing papers onto the floor, shouting and screaming. On at least one occasion, I even appeared to be having a conversation with my backpack. A conversation that quickly turned ugly when the backpack began flying about the room. Someone should have notified air traffic control. One particularly bad day, I removed my shoes from my feet and threw them across the class. The teacher had seen quite enough. I was once again sent to the office. Mrs. Grubbs was in her office working on some paperwork for the school. I was ordered to have a seat in the compact chair desk in the corner of her office. She would deal with me shortly. Mrs. Grubbs really knew how to build suspense. I sat there just dreading her eventual response. Finally, she said aloud, "What are you doing in my office, Michael?" I responded with a tremble, "My shoes had a mind of their own." Mrs. Grubbs said with an ever so slight grin on her face, "Is that what you're going to tell your father?" I became as still as stone. I may not have behaved well around most of the people in my life at that time, but I always behaved when I was with my dad. Mrs. Grubbs seemed to know this very well. I sometimes suspected that she enjoyed digging her metaphorical claws into me as much as I enjoyed acting up in class. We had a beautiful thing going. Like an inconspicuous Venus flytrap waiting to catch its prey. Alas, it was not meant to last. The school could not tolerate my outlandish behavior any further and began closed door meetings to determine a course of action. The trial was about to begin. I was called into a large room with the principal and other high ranking school officials. A single chair stood before a row of tables. I was made to sit in that chair while the proceedings took place. It was unanimously decided upon that I hereby be expelled from Orchard Dale Elementary; to be transferred to a non-public school with enrollment beginning the following school year. Furthermore, the school board recommended that I be evaluated by The Diagnostic Center in Los Angeles; for a possible extended assessment. In other words, I would be forced to live away from home for a period of time. I took one last look around the school's campus after the trial had concluded. I tried my best to hold back tears. I was going to miss that pole. As for Mrs. Grubbs, we would ultimately see each other again in a few short years. We would have more opportunities to haunt one another in due time. For now, however, it was time to go home. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to face the music.
Standing in front of Mrs. Hashimoto's class.
Atari 2600 Game Collection
World 0-3: From Rossier with Love
My time at Orchard Dale had come to an abrupt end. I was to be placed in a non-public school known as Rossier beginning in the fall. I had the whole summer to think things over. Dad and I had recently started a small vegetable garden out in the backyard. We were growing a single row of tomato plants, a row of corn and three citrus trees. A small enough garden for me to handle on my own. I was responsible for watering the plants each and every day. Even while watering plants, I would still find myself chronically off-task on occasion. The water would sometimes find its way into other areas. On a few occasions, I would spray the hose over the fence into the neighbor's yard. It would often give the neighbor a good soaking while he was out tending to his own plants. He became ever more irritated with my behavior as time went on. Dad would ultimately use the tomatoes and corn from our garden for various meals. They were always the best. Nothing compares to the taste of a homegrown vegetable. Our garden would eventually grow to include cucumber, lettuce and zucchini. My dad was especially fond of the zucchini. He would chop the zucchini into small rounds, dip the rounds into an egg mixture, followed by a breadcrumb mixture. He would then fry them in a sauce pan for a few minutes. It was simply called breaded zucchini and it was quite tasty. I became so wrapped up in the garden that I had nearly forgotten about school. September was once again upon us, and I was about to begin attending a brand new school. It would also be the first time in which I would be riding the little yellow school bus. Was I truly ready for Rossier, or rather, was Rossier ready for me? Only time would tell.
My mother packed my little red lunch pale and I waited beside the curb for the school bus to arrive. It soon after pulled up in front of our house. After the bus driver opened the doors, I boarded and quickly found an empty seat. They were not the most comfortable of seats, but that was more than likely the last thing on my mind at that very moment. The other children were quite rowdy. Playfully teasing one another and kicking the seats in front of them. It was going to be a long ride. Rossier was a good ten miles from my house, and we still had a few other stops to make along the way. If I had known that Disneyland was just a few blocks from our destination, I would have probably tried to vacate the bus early. We eventually arrived at Rossier. As I departed the school bus, I felt somewhat disoriented. Everything was unfamiliar to me. I had arrived at a whole new school. I once again needed a little help finding my classroom. I was surprised by how few students were in the room. There were just six in total. It had an entirely different kind of vibe when compared to my packed first grade class at Orchard Dale. A quieter space with fewer distractions. I might actually focus on my assignments more often than not. For once, my shoes might even stay on my feet. My new teacher was named Karen Davenport. She seemed like a nice lady. Karen was more determined to help struggling students than some of the other teachers I had known up to that point. Sitting in her class while she read stories to the children reminded me fondly of Mrs. Evans. Of course, I did not always sit quietly. I would sometimes distract for attention. I would in time learn to be a little more cooperative. Rossier was better equipped to deal with behavior problems. They had dedicated aides on hand to respond to various situations. It was not long before they realized that time out was not the most effective punishment for me. It gave me time away from my studies to be in my own world. They would instead begin to utilize positive reinforcers. If I remained seated and completed my assignments in a timely manner, I would be given more playtime. It was ultimately a far more productive discipline. It would soon be time to return to the bus. I was anxious to catch up with my favorite television shows. A new one had just recently begun airing. It was a show about two sassy plumbers. I was so excited to get back home, I completely tuned out the other children kicking the seat behind me.
Rossier was the very first non-public school that I attended. Not to be confused with a private school. A non-public school often had far less funding than public schools, and focused solely on special needs students with severe behavior problems and emotional disturbances. These were not the kind of schools one wanted to attend freely. It could often be an unstable environment, but the teachers there seemed to be better prepared to deal with certain situations than the ones in public school. And overall, the smaller classrooms made for less distractions while learning.
While rushing from the school bus to Karen Davenport's class, I would sometimes find my eyes watering up on me. Occasionally, a tear would even fall down my face. My feelings about being transferred to Rossier School might not have been the best, but I felt this was ultimately caused by the morning air. My eyes were quite sensitive to it. Regardless of the cause, I quickly dried my eyes before getting to class. I did not want anyone to think that I was a wuss.
It is safe to say that I suffered from sensory overload in my first grade class at Orchard Dale Elementary. There were a grand total of thirty-one other students in the classroom. Karen Davenport's class at Rossier School was a rather stark contrast to that. Her class had just six other students. It offered an entirely different kind of vibe. A quieter space with far fewer distractions. I could actually focus on my assignments more often than not. For once, my shoes might even stay on my feet.
Rossier School is perhaps the only school I attended in which the class had a nap time. I have memories of laying down underneath the table for a period of time. This may have actually been called "quiet time." I don't seem to recall this activity taking place very often, however. It does eerily remind me of the lockdowns in later schools due to a disturbance on campus.
I remember stretching my arms backward while sitting at my desk one day, pencil in hand, when I managed to stab the teaching assistant. Until this very day, I feel as though it was an accident, but they took it very seriously.
I may have been quite the handful at Rossier School, but for a mere half an hour every Saturday afternoon, I was as content as could be. I was hooked on a fantasy sitcom called Out of This World. A young girl comes to realize that her father is an alien from another planet and that she possesses strange and magical powers. I was always fascinated by the way in which she stopped time with her fingers. I had also developed a rather significant crush on her at one point. Platonically speaking, of course. I was only seven years old. There was just something ever so enchanting about her eyes.
Fridays were always the day in which dad and I went to the video rental store down the street from our house. Dad would rent a VHS movie that we would watch over the weekend. I would naturally spend most of my time in the kids section. I looked around for some Atari 2600 games on occasion, but they were more than likely all phased out. In their place were games for a console that I could not even begin to spell at the time. It began with the letter N.
A System80 resided in the Rossier classroom. It was a fairly simplistic computer system that operated off a record and slide. Math and reading questions from the slide were illuminated onto a small display with five physical buttons beneath it to choose from. After the student chose an answer, the record would then play the appropriate response and the slide would move to the next question.
During my return to class from a gathering in the gymnasium, I dropped the center piece of a class project I was asked to carry, and it scattered outward into the field. I quickly raced to retrieve the shattered pieces of the project before the wind carried them away. But it appeared to be a losing battle. I could not hold onto everything. As I entered the field, I was taken by surprise as a group of students jumped down from atop the playground equipment and proceeded to punch and kick me until I fell to the ground. I was unable to fight back. I instead curled desperately into a ball. Eventually, the students grew tired of their attack and dispersed. I mustered the strength to stand and then walked back to class, empty handed. I was very much confused by the incident.
A positive piece of information found within my Annual Pupil Progress Report on April 30th, 1990 for Rossier School: "Michael runs from the bus to class and rushes to his seat each morning. He does not like to talk to peers unless he is in his room. Michael is very neat and tidy and keeps his desk free from clutter."
My dad and our next door neighbor had somewhat of a feud going. It was due in large part to my childhood antics. I would often spray the hose over the fence and sometimes it would give the neighbor a good soaking while he was out tending to his backyard. Their feud only intensified as time went on and they eventually came to blows with each other. I remember bits and pieces of it. I remember the neighbor saying rather smugly, "Look at the man watering his lawn." I also remember the neighbor saying angrily, "What's the matter, Paul, can't you control your son?" And I remember my dad being very upset about the whole ordeal with the neighbor. I rarely did anything out of anger at that age. It was often more of a playful, mischievous activity that just so happened to hurt people on occasion. But seeing my dad upset like that unleashed something inside of me. I decided that it was time to do my worst to the neighbor. I threw balls of mud at his windows and I even sprayed him directly in the face. Thankfully for him, he never met me in a dark hallway.
My local shopping mall used to be fully enclosed with a wide array of shops. Every few months, my mother would take me to the hair salon inside the mall. It was known as The Madd Hatter. A possible reference to Alice in Wonderland. After my haircut, we often walked around the shopping mall. The food court had a place that sold ICEE drinks. It was always my first stop after a haircut. ICEE was my favorite beverage at the time. In the very back of the food court, a video arcade could be found. It offered many then current hits, as well as a few classics like Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Watching that little yellow guy gobble up those white dots was entrancing. I could see myself standing there popping tokens into the machine all day, but then I remembered something. We had Pac-Man at home. The Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, that is. It was time to dig out the Atari 2600 for one more game. Gobble, gobble.
More powerful video game systems may have already been on store shelves for a few years, but the Atari 2600 was still the king in our household. The console's joystick was always a joy to hold in the hand. It offered diagonal control in addition to the standard up, down, left and right movements. It worked well for most games on the Atari 2600, but required a fair amount of patience to master some games on the system. As a result, the joystick definitely saw some wear and tear through the years. I am not sure if I even want to know what that sticky substance is on the handle.
My grandmother accompanied me to the Diagnostic School for a short-term assessment the week of June 24th-29th, 1990. We spent the better part of a week together in the dormitory while I was being evaluated by their staff. It was here in which I first discovered Nintendo. A little grey box that sat underneath a television in their recreation room. It was my saving grace. Through the exploration of worlds within that box, I would eventually overcome certain obstacles in my life.
In January of 1991, I began attending the Diagnostic School in Los Angeles, and thus, the Rossier School chapter came to a close. I still vaguely recall storming out of the principal's office when the final decision was made. I felt as if I had not done anything to deserve the transfer. I never took French in school, but this seems adequate: C'est la vie.
Those first few nights living away from home at the Diagnostic School reminded me of Big Bird's situation in Follow That Bird. Miss Finch just came along and plucked him from his family on Sesame Street. Big Bird was ultimately in the same boat that I now found myself. Sleeping in a strange bed with even stranger surroundings. "One little star all alone in the sky. Do you ever get lonely as the twilight drifts by? One little star in the darkening blue. Do you long for another just the way that I do? Sky begins to fill. Darkness ends the day. Someone who I love is far away. Oh, one little star. Shine on us all tonight." "It's bedtime. Not another peep or you'll be given time out," said a staff member sitting in the hall. If I made any more noise, I would be forced to stand out there with my head to the wall. I quietly whispered, "Good night, Big Bird."
Rossier Classroom
Atari 2600 Cover Mockup
World 1: Far From Home (Extended Cut)
World 1-2: In My Own World
As I write my Nintendo tale woven around my place far from home in 1991, I realize I have them, and video games in general, to thank not only for helping me through times such as that, but for at times enlightening me more than any school ever could. There were a few great teachers along the way, but I never quite absorbed knowledge the same way as if I had embarked on my own personal quest outside the school system. I cannot recall all of that which was studied throughout the years, but I can recall memorable moments playing video games with friends and family, and to that end, the lessons learned in life itself.
Jackal was one of the earliest NES games I played. I have somewhat vivid memories of playing it away from home at The Diagnostic School. I would not say it is a bad game per se, but for the longest time, I thought the player drove a tank, not a jeep. A tank would have certainly been a more rad ride. I had so much fun rescuing, and sometimes abandoning, prisoners of war. Just for the record, however, they are all heroes in my eyes. What they must have endured in those prison camps is unthinkable.
The Diagnostic School had one neat little thing that made the experience slightly less terrible. Every week, if we were good, the staff offered one item to each child in a store room. I usually picked a soft drink because the cafeteria food lacked any real flavor. It was a can of Welch's Grape Soda. There were other things to pick from, too, of course.
I was attending the Diagnostic School during the 1991 total eclipse of the sun. I remember being escorted out to the blacktop to observe it through reflective water. If memory serves me correctly, it was a one-by-one kind of thing. When one student came back to the class, another was allowed to view the eclipse.
Those wretched few months seemed like an eternity, but the day came at long last to say farewell to The Diagnostic School. Of all their staff members, one stood out above the rest in my memory. Her name was Nina and I could talk to her about most anything. Beyond her, I made only one other real friend in my time there. A boy who slept in the bed nearest the hall. I would sometimes attempt to converse with him during the night, much to the dismay of the staff on duty. While I was certainly happy to see the last of that place, I did feel sad for the people I crossed paths with, never to see again. Ah, but this was not the time for reflection. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to go home.World 2: Back in the Cradle (Extended Cut)
World 2-1: Home Sweet Home
A few additional thoughts on Murphy Ranch Elementary that I am tinkering with for the opening passage of Chapter 2: My feelings about Murphy Ranch Elementary are difficult to explain. On one hand, it felt good to be rid of The Diagnostic School, but on the other hand, it felt somewhat eerie to be returning to a normal school again. I remember walking into the school from Janine Drive. My mom would drop me off there by car every morning. It was one of the few times I did not take a bus to school while growing up. From the moment I set foot on the campus, I had a sense of not belonging. But that was of course a feeling I initially had with every school that came before. I could only imagine what this chapter would hold in store for me.
Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble always amazed me as a kid. It was the first time I had heard voiceovers in a game. It had a half-pipe you could practice on any time you wanted right from the start too. If you failed enough times, the skater would shout "No way, dude!"
Top Gun was one of the harder games to master on the NES. A certain degree of precision and even luck was required to successfully land on the aircraft carrier. There were also missions that tasked the player with refueling in midair. I never quite managed to complete that task, but I did play just enough of the game to have the theme song permanently burned into my memory.
I played Operation Wolf with the standard NES controller. I did just a bit of research on the subject, and it seems most people preferred that to the NES Zapper. Either way, this game stands out as a somewhat unique memory as I don't recall many other first person shooters on the NES. With the possible exception of Duck Hunt.
When I first played Dr. Mario as a kid, I often wondered how to unlock the platforming stages. It had to be Super Mario Bros. 4 in disguise!
With Super Mario Bros. 1, I liked to toy with the jump physics a lot. One Game Genie code enabled Mario to jump clear off the screen. I always wondered what, if anything, was beyond the flag pole/castle at the end of each level and with that code, I was able to find out. Not a whole lot, as it turns out. I would stick some of these memories into Nintendo Rhapsody, but I'm not even sure the Game Genie was officially approved by Nintendo.World 3: Genesis (Extended Cut)
World 3-1: I Know Those Letters
I would next attend Barbara Dawson Educational Center, where I would finally learn to read and write. I have Diane to thank for her encouragement, persistence and unique approach to instruction. I recall one book reading session in-particular for its use of non-linear progression. Diane would come to a key point in the book's story and I would be faced with two or sometimes even three choices. Each choice had a page number written beside it. Diane would then turn to the page of my choosing to continue with the story. A "choose your own adventure" story in a world filled with stories fixed in stone. My mind was suddenly set ablaze. It would be quite a number of years still before I could write well, but she laid the foundation. I gradually became more proficient with practice of my own. I missed out on so many funny mistranslated NES games, but I had a plethora of dialogue heavy games to look forward to on the SNES.
I recall one book, possibly a choose your own adventure book, about a boy that wakes up to find that the sky is green instead of blue. Perhaps a critical choice led him to awaken in another dimension/timeline.
A positive note written by Diane that was originally sent home to my parents: "Michael has been helping me tutor other students in math. He is really very good and can make it fun for the other student. He is doing very well - I feel like we've come a long way."
I still vaguely remember waking up, going to the kitchen for a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and watching an episode of Fraggle Rock before school in 1991-1992. One of my favorite things about eating Cocoa Puffs was getting done with the cereal and then drinking the chocolate milk that was left behind.World 3-2: Somewhere in My Memory
A short story I wrote in a school journal back in November of 1992. It is about travelling to new places and meeting new people. There are at least a few grammar mistakes and the overall sentence structure is rough at best, but I felt it appropriate to leave the original writing more or less intact: "Once upon a time there was a space shuttle that flew through space. The space shuttle had wings and the space shuttle had missiles. The moon was a city. Pluto was a village. Jupiter was an ocean. The space shuttle landed on the moon. The people got out of the space shuttle and went to the aliens and visited. The people had fun with the aliens and decided to stay with the aliens so the people did. Then the aliens went and took the space shuttle and took off and the aliens went to Pluto and got out of the space shuttle and the aliens went to the village and visited the space people. The aliens decided to stay so the space people took the space shuttle and took off. The space people went to Jupiter and visited the ocean and so the fish and decided to stay so everybody went to a new place and liked it. The End."
An entry in my school journal from October 15th, 1992 with a few corrections made by the teacher: "It makes me happy when I get a Nintendo game. And when I get to go to the mall. And when I go to Blockbuster."
I touched upon swingsets a few times throughout Nintendo Rhapsody's early chapters. Sitting alone - completely motionless - on a school swing in chapter two, and being pushed by my grandmother in a chapter three flashback. I don't think I ever talked about this little game I used to play, though. I would swing myself as far back as I could and then at the height of my swing forward, I would leap off the swingset in an attempt to cover as much distance in the air as possible. If I did that now, I would probably break a bone.World 4: Trial Separation (Extended Cut)
World 4-1: He's Got an Attitude
Mrs. Leary was my math teacher at Hillview Middle School, and due to my sometimes strange behavior, she was also my company for science, quest, art and keyboard class. While attending her math classes, I would often drift away from the problem at hand and begin writing down ideas for my own math system. I called this system Mothvision. In multiplication, one number is typically multiplied by another number. For example, two times two equals four. In Mothvision, those very same numbers would be doubled, resulting in this peculiar equation; 2m2=8. At least, that is how the system worked to the best of my memory. Needless to say, Mrs. Leary was not amused. I would still have to complete the original math problems as instructed.
My grandmother and aunt picked up my first computer from a business, to the best of my recollection, known as NET Computers. It was a custom IBM 486/66 with four megabytes of RAM. I knew next to nothing about computers in 1994. So little so that when I began playing SimCity 2000 and noticed the landscape had edges, I thought I needed more RAM to build bigger cities. I quickly upgraded to eight megabytes of RAM. SimCity 2000 remained, of course, unaffected. My aunt gave me a copy of the original SimCity and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. The computer itself came with Doom and Epic Pinball pre-installed in MS-DOS. Doom transported players to the one place nobody wants to go, but it was truly something else in 1994.
NET computers was far from a typical shop. It looked like the kind of place that was just being rented out. It had a very upstart feel to it. Office rooms without much of anything in them. Save for a few boxes and various electronic parts. There were a handful of computers on four legged tables near the entry way.
In 1994 or so, I began to use Microsoft Write (and later, Microsoft WordPad) to catalog strange and mostly irrelevant stories. These word processors offered rich text formatting, including multiple fonts and text decorations per document. My younger brother often worked alongside me to write these stories. It was entitled The Eggo because many of the stories were about Eggos and one man's struggle to overcome his addiction to them. We printed our collection of stories and passed them around to unsuspecting readers. Remember, this was before the Internet. Goal Books was our publishing label. It was four whole years before I used that name for my independent computer game projects.
Travel Log was inspired by Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, but instead of chasing a criminal, you chased your dream vacation. It was not a game exactly. It was a kind of "choose your own adventure" that I printed onto paper. A travel agent sets you up on a vacation. Where you go next is up to you. It was created using PrintMaster Gold.World 4-2: Live and Learn
My counselor at Barbara Dawson Educational Center, Dana Minovitz, knew more about game design than anyone else I had the pleasure of meeting while growing up. She was engaged to a developer from Interplay Productions. A developer who would later work as a producer on the Fallout series. During one of our counseling sessions, Dana questioned my use of cheat codes in games - everything from "19, 65, 9, 17" to "IDDQD." She wondered just how the game could be engaging for me if I was always taking the easiest route. For the fun of a video game should be in overcoming certain challenges. That oh-so rewarding sensation one has once they finally succeed after sometimes hours of practice. In other words, there is nothing gained by cheating. We learn from our experiences, both good and bad, and to cheat would be to take nothing away from the lesson.
B.D.E.C. was a bit behind the times in terms of technology. Their computer lab consisted entirely of Apple IIs in the mid-1990s. As one might expect, most of the software was educational, but they had at least a few games in their library as a reward for completing student tasks on time. Brøderbund's Karateka was one of those games. A game that is perhaps best described as a side-scrolling beat em' up. One of the earliest of its kind. Karateka was designed by Jordan Mechner, who went on to create the original Prince of Persia. The name of this game may have escaped me in the years following my departure from B.D.E.C., but I never forgot the sight of Mount Fuji present throughout many of the game's screens.
I went into some detail about my struggles with authority figures throughout Nintendo Rhapsody, but I think I omitted some of the scariest experiences due to other stories taking precedence. One particularly nasty example involves a chain smoking staff member at B.D.E.C. that would often shove students (myself included) up against a wall in his office. The scent of cigarettes was so strong, I can still smell it today. The Vice Principle of that school, the husband of the school's founder, was also a major dickhead with students. I have this one memory of being escorted to the office by a teacher's aide. The aide grabbed my hands behind my back in such a way that I accidentally kicked her from behind. The Vice Principle took this VERY seriously. I was pushed up against that very same wall while being yelled at. I tried to explain to him that it was an accident, but he wouldn't listen to reason. I certainly had some of the most unique experiences while growing up in non-public school, and they probably had an effect on the way I see the world today.
During my 1994-1995 school year at Barbara Dawson Educational Center, I was picked to be on the softball team. It was one of the highlights of my time at that school. We played a number of away games on other campuses, and at one point, I managed to hit a home run with a player on first and third. I remember how excited everyone was to hear about that. Especially Melissa.
A message written by Diane in my B.D.E.C. yearbook: "Michael, you are very special to me. You were in the first class I ever taught. I'm so proud of you! Stay good, remember to try hard."World 5: Nintendo Strikes Back (Extended Cut)
World 5-1: A Whole New World
Extended introduction for World 5: Nintendo Strikes Back: "A brand new chapter in my life was just beginning, but within my weakened psyche, I was still very much struggling to grasp the pain I felt in my heart. I experienced a whole slew of emotions previously unknown to me. I would eventually find a way to alleviate these troubling thoughts. In doing so, however, I shut out the possibility of another friend like Melissa. Another who could bring joy to my aching heart; who could bring butterflies to my stomach. It brought me great sorrow, but if there was one thing I did not want, it was to be hurt again." I ultimately decided to cut this part because I didn't want to linger on the events of World 4: Trial Separation. Still, the decision to discuss that particular life event placed the brakes on Nintendo Rhapsody for quite some time. When I finally returned to the project, I chose to ignore a few things in the forthcoming chapters that would have brought the subject back into the spotlight.
This one girl in art class kept telling everyone I had a crush on her. I always felt she was trying to make a fool of me. I eventually confronted her about it in front of other classmates, but I later felt pretty bad about doing so. I wondered if maybe it was just her way of telling me she liked me. And Ms. Tonkovich's art class was the same class where I was given the nickname 'Timmy the Toothman.' I didn't get to the bottom of that one until senior year. It seems everyone thought my name was Tim. It was also a reference to Home Improvement, no doubt.
The Controller Pak was an add-on that attached itself to the Nintendo 64 controller and allowed the player to save replay data in Mario Kart 64. Otherwise known as ghost data. This permitted the player to race against themselves in an effort to better their own times. The Controller Pak was also required for certain games to save game progress in general. I still remember going to Sears with my dad and brother to pick it up in the early spring of 1997. I was so excited while holding the box in my hands. The woman at the cash register just gave me a blind stare and said, "It's just a memory card." It was my first memory card.
Of all my weird writing projects from the 1990s, Survival: Jurassic Park is likely one of the weirdest. I wrote it in MS-DOS Editor during summer school of 1997. It sees Mr. Hammond, who I referred to as Dr. Hammond for one reason or another, eaten by a T-Rex at one point. I would like to think he's maybe still alive (like Bowser's Inside Story). At another point in the story, a zookeeper is called out to investigate a disturbance at the Los Angeles Zoo. As he gets closer to the enclosure, he realizes that the animal inside is not one of their own, but in fact a Velociraptor. That might have made for a better opening act.
I found and added a brief message from Michael Berry to the end of chapter five. The nickname I added is probably only going to make sense to anyone that knew him around campus. Michael Berry had an affection for cowboy hats and boots and he lived and breathed country music. "Have fun this summer. Cal Hi is all yours." -Michael Berry (Rhinestone Cowboy)World 5-2: The Man Behind the Curtain
After finishing Space Ruckus, I quickly began work on a second game. Space Ruckus II: Quest for Home was also made with Clickteam's Klik & Play. It was released a mere two weeks after the first game. It was at a time when I seemed to be pumping out content on a weekly basis. Space Ruckus III: In Search of Bill Grig had a slightly longer development period than the first two games. I had originally thought about making it into a comedy game. Sergeant Bill Grig would have flown his ship directly into the screen after a dramatic narration at the start of the game, causing a series of cracks to appear. At the time, I felt as though Bill Grig's story had concluded with Space Ruckus II: Quest for Home, therefore any further games would be of a more comical nature. I eventually decided it was best to do a time jump. The third game would now be set nearly twenty years in the future, and Bill Grig would take a backseat in favor of a new protagonist. Bill Grig's own son would be that protagonist. Space Ruckus IV: Dope Goomer's Revenge returned an aging Bill Grig to the starring role. When an old adversary returns from the dead, now Captain Bill Grig assembles a crew of his own to contend with him.
Near the end of junior year, Ms. Davis informed me that another student from Barbara Dawson Educational Center would be transferring over to California High School in the coming 1999-2000 school year. They would be enrolled in her first period English class. I initially wondered if, or perhaps hoped, this student might be Melissa. But as it would turn out, this student was Israel. A name unfamiliar to me at the time. I had the whole summer to think about what Israel and I would talk about. Surely, he must have a lot of interesting stories of his own from Barbara Dawson. Or as he himself would later call it, Hell.World 6: It's About Time (Extended Cut)
World 6-1: To Far Away Times
Every morning in Ms. Davis' English class, she would have a different journal assignment written on the chalkboard. It was most often in the form of a question. For example, "If you were Ms. Davis, what would you do?" The class would then be expected to write a short essay on the topic. I included an easter egg in Goalsoft's Pumpkin Seed Revenge and Pumpkin Seed Heist featuring her chalkboard and a few made up journal assignments. Ms. Davis always seemed to get a kick out of being in her own video game.
Roy Hemphill's thoughts on my time as a P.E. assistant for Ron Hales: "I remember vividly Patrick McLean and I were obsessed with this foreign (European, maybe German) girl in our sophomore P.E. class. I think you may have been a year ahead. She has short dark hair. None of us would talk to her. Total too scared. You always did your own thing for the most part. Some times helping the teacher or walking the blacktop if I recall correctly, and one time she walked up to you and started talking to you and Pat and I were so interested, we came over to see what she was saying and she was introducing herself. I still dunno if she was an exchange student or what and then you just said 'why are you talking to me?' And Pat and I (to ourselves) were like 'damn!' He just shot down German girl! Haley got high standards!" I don't think it was high standards. I think I was just stupid back then. Perhaps I was just surprised that she was talking to me, but the words that came out of my mouth sounded like a rejection.
Hybrid Heaven for the Nintendo 64 was the very first RPG that I owned myself. Before I played Chrono Trigger in the early spring of 2000, I was not the biggest fan of the genre, but there was just something about Hybrid Heaven that drew me to it. Maybe it was the stealth mechanics, the alien invasion-type story or perhaps even the setting. It was set in and under the streets of New York City. Hybrid Heaven even featured a two player versus mode. The game was developed by Konami.World 6-2: Pomp and Circumstance
A brief report written by Ms. Davis on May 17th, 2000: "Michael has made some progress in the area of independent living skills, but is still apprehensive to attempt new tasks. He has independently made purchases at the grocery store, attended all field trips, worked in the cafeteria, been a teacher's assistant and made his own computer games."
I came into this life a destructive force of nature. I was, in my own way, ever curious about the world around me. I just failed to show it in an appropriate manner. Being the slow learner that I was, I would often paint my own version of reality based upon my then limited comprehension. Needless to say, I learned a lot from the school system, but much of it took place outside the classroom - on the playgrounds, in the lunch rooms, in the offices. It was the people, not the curriculum, that truly mattered. I came to the realization that I was not alone. There were students with far worse disabilities than my own, and there were staff members that legitimately cared for each and every one of them. It was a treasure trove of experiences, and at the end of the day, it matters not if they were good or bad ones. All that remains to be seen is whether or not something was learned from them. Life, itself, is an institution for learning. The ultimate school system. We pass on what we learn, and what we pass on gives others reason to learn. Graduation day looms for us all, but for now, we continue to experience, to learn and to live.World 7: The End of the Beginning (Extended Cut)
World 7-1: Uncharted Territory
GW-BASIC Program Addition to Nintendo Rhapsody World 7: Among other things, I was instructed to write a GW-BASIC program from scratch. It would prompt the user to enter a salesman's name, employee number and sales amount before printing their commission.
Two of the floppy disks I recovered data from contained schedule information and class projects for my college computer class with Mr. Davis. This particular document details the complete Fall of 2000 semester. The subject of the week and which chapters to read.
Questions like these on school tests always threw me off. It's actually two questions in one. "Within the 'My Computer' window, the letter 'C' indicates what piece of hardware; the letter 'A'?" The letter A, of course, used to indicate the presence of a 3½-inch floppy disk drive. Once we had successfully identified what the letters A and C indicated (i.e. the easy stuff), we moved on to more complex matters, like programming, "In the evaluation of computer languages, what is the low-level language, that reduces long binary numerals to shorter code, called?" I answered with "Machine Language." I think "Assembly Language" might have been a bit more accurate. This particular instructor never marked which answers were right and which were wrong, so it's hard to tell when and where I was docked points. He simply wrote "OK" at the bottom.
Someone sat in the row directly behind me in Mr. Davis' computer class who prided himself on creating domains with slightly different spellings. A popular search engine at the time, Scour, being one of them. He would thereby draw in people who misspelled a domain and use this to generate ad revenue. To this day, I cannot say whether that was evil or pure genius.
Near the start of my fall semester, I talked to a counselor about my plans for the future. It was decided that I would attend Cerritos College for two years and then transfer to a four year college.
I digitized another class schedule spreadsheet for my Fall 2000 college semester. This schedule focusing on my general routine from week to week. It seems that I spent quite a bit of time designing games for my Goalsoft web site over the three day weekends.
My introduction paper for the Math 20 instructor: "My name is Mike Haley. As a career, I want to design video games. I also want to run my own company in which I will design these video games from. At the moment, I already have a website devoted to some home made games I've done. The most popular is currently a game series called Space Ruckus. Most of these games are very amateur in looks. In the future, I want to design 3D based video and computer games. Even at the moment, I'm working on trying to make 3D games using a visual 3D graphics making program. My reason for taking math would be for me to be able to program my future games in specific computer languages since they all use mathematics. My website address is Goalsoft.cjb.net."World 7-2: Man in the Moon
I happened to come across the complete Fall 2000 semester schedule for my Math 20 class, as well as the name of the instructor (I had long since forgotten her name). I had to retype the schedule line by line since my scanner is having problems again. I will be adding this information to Nintendo Rhapsody's seventh chapter, The End of the Beginning.
I never felt as if I was truly connecting with the math teacher, Pilar Mata, during my Math 20 class sessions. Most of the classtime consisted of the teacher jotting math equations down on the chalkboard in a face forward position. I would then copy the equations onto ruled paper. I imagine this process is meant to help students retain knowledge, but it always made me feel uninspired by the work.
The week of September 26th, 2000, I was tasked with reading the sixth chapter, Storage, of Discovering Computers 2001 in the Shelly Cashman Series for Mr. Davis' computer class. I would then have to write down the definitions of various terms, such as access time, hard disk controller and data transfer rate, for my chapter six assignment due on October 2nd. Meanwhile, in my math class, I was about to embark on the fifth chapter of Essential Mathematics. A chapter dedicated to decimal numbers.
A public meeting for Goalsoft was held on September 30th, 2000 at Parnell Park. My high school friends and colleagues Marlon and Israel were both in attendance that day. We discussed, among other things, the state of Space Ruckus 6: Return of the Grigs, Quest for Zendar and my recent endeavors with RPG Maker 2000.
The group I was originally assigned to in my Career Guidance 200 course (business class) removed me for being the "weak link." They were likely afraid of not passing the course themselves. I never found another group to join and therefore could not complete the final presentations. It's not something I generally like to reminisce about for projects like Nintendo Rhapsody as it might appear as though I were blaming them for what happened next, so I don't know if it is something I should amend to the college chapter or not.
With my college class schedule extending to 4:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Career Guidance 200 and Math 20), I would often stop at McDonald's on the way home for a burger, fries and a shake. Mathematics always seemed to give me the munchies.
I recreated a portion of my college campus in RPG Maker 2000 for an animated version of Nintendo Rhapsody's seventh chapter. The mathematics building, lecture hall and parking lot is included here. The computer science building is over to the left.
As much as I tried to stay focused on my homework assignments, I could not help but lose my train of thought on occasion. One might say that I sometimes had my head in the clouds. On this particular occasion, the train appeared to be bound for a depot in Sector 1. I was a member of an eco-warrior organization known as Avalanche and our target was the the mako reactor there. It was slowly killing the planet. My brother had a copy of Final Fantasy VII on his PlayStation. It was yet another JRPG that I had never played before. Unlike Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross, the battles did not happen when you encountered an enemy on-screen. The battles occurred entirely at random. This was something that took me a long time to get used to. I played through the opening bombing mission of Final Fantasy VII the first time I tried the game, but would not finish it for many years to come. Indeed, it would be many years before I discovered the joys of The Gold Saucer, what was lurking in the depths of Gaia's ocean, and just how much of a prick Sephiroth was. "You gotta understand, there ain't no getting offa this train we on till we get to the end of the line." -Barret Wallace
Final Fantasy VIII may have been the game that resided in my brother's Sony PlayStation most often, but he did also own a number of other games for the system. One of those games being Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. I would sometimes pick up and play the game while he was busy with other things. Pulling off the various tricks and combos was so satisfying. It took me right back to playing Skate or Die! on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I used to have a lot of fun tricking off the game's practice half-pipe. I seem to remember spending the most time on The Hangar and New York parks in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. I played just long enough to unlock a few skater videos in the options menu.
I finally rediscovered the complete schedule for Romero's Career Guidance (C.G. 20) class. I found it among a stack of old stapled papers. This is the class I have sometimes referred to simply as business class. I now have all three classes from that Fall of 2000 semester documented and included with the seventh chapter of Nintendo Rhapsody.
As busy as I was with Goalsoft, I still found time to write into Nintendo Power for their September 2000 issue, and for the very first time, I was featured in their Player's Pulse.
Toward the end of my time at Cerritos College, I applied for additional academic help. I remember rather clearly some of the questions during the evaluation process. I was asked about the swinging apparatus inside of a grandfather clock. At the time, I knew very little about grandfather clocks. I did seem to recall one level in Super Mario 64 with such a thing. I muttered something like "Ock." The correct answer, of course, is a pendulum.
I scanned in my ID cards from Cerritos College for the fall semester and the spring sememster. I added them to chapter seven of Nintendo Rhapsody. The ID card for the spring semester is perhaps a bit of an oddity now. I had no classes that semester.
Here's a little something from my Career Guidance class from the week of September 26th, 2000. It's a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It deals with the way in which I used my perception and judgement, and how I gathered information and made decisions.World 8: Pros and Cons (Extended Cut)
Reported Type: INFJ (Introverted Intuition with Feeling)
Preference Scores:
Introversion - 15 (Moderate)
Intuition - 23 (Moderate-Clear)
Feeling - 9 (Slight-Moderate)
Judging - 3 (Slight)
World 8-1: Home Sweet Home Again
In the months following my exit from Cerritos College, TechTV became one of my primary sources for news from the technology sector. TechLive broadcasted throughout the day, and would often discuss computer and Internet related topics, as well as the state of the stock market. I found myself invested in stocks such as Microsoft, Apple, and of course, Nintendo. It was perhaps the only time in my life in which I took such an interest in the stock market.
I played through Luigi's Mansion twice because I wanted to get the perfect mansion. You have to collect EVERYTHING. Leave no stone unturned. "When the ghouls come out at night, and everyone is filled with fright, who are you gonna call? Why, Luigi of course."World 8-2: Lost at Sea
Mark Gillie (meelWORM) was an online colleague with whom I shared a number of antics and hijinx. From the moment he first entered into the agigames.com chat, I could tell that our brains operated on the same frequency. We shared the same spark of creativity, and more than that, a common interest in mischief. Our brains were so alike, we often finished each others' sentences. We were, in short, diabolical together.
Mark Gillie was always a hoot in the group chat room. He would often imagine something funny with which to gross everyone out. One of his more frequent jokes was in the form of masking dirty web links in the chat. We would initially believe we were being linked to a news article about Star Wars or maybe even news about Sierra On-Line.
For a brief moment in time, Mark Gillie and I had the whole adventure game community turning heads with a persona named Conrad Sheldon. A grammar challenged character who, ironically, made me realize that my own grammar was in serious need of improvement.
Colin Fleming, my high school colleague and computer graphics mentor, would go on to form Wireframe Dreamscape. An up-and-coming 3D animation company. I would often turn to him for further inspiration during the early 2000s. I needed quite a bit of help with my early 3D projects like Space Ruckus 6: Return of the Grigs. Of course, I also looked forward to seeing the projects he had in the pipeline himself. Ant Wars 2 would certainly be a treat.
Space Ruckus 6: Return of the Grigs proved to be more of a challenge than I first thought. I produced a number of 3D models and animations for the project, but it ultimately fell short of becoming an actual game. With the aim of creating a somewhat professional game all around, I began to wonder if it might just be better to reboot the whole series. I grew increasingly worried about players going back to Space Ruckus 1-5 after playing Space Ruckus 6. It would be an understatement to say they had not aged well. Thus, I shifted my time and resources over to Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, a remake of the first game with the help of a few other up-and-coming developers.
The story of Legend Fighter, a movie adapted from an unused game idea of mine that I worked on alongside Israel. Also, the story of Low Income, a series of low-budget mockumentary videos starring Israel. While dropping Israel off at his apartment complex after filming the first Low Income episode, he gave me a glimpse of the FMV sequences present in the Sony PlayStation version of Chrono Trigger. I would not come into possession of that version of the game for at least a few more years.
Sword Quest 4: Resurrection, my fourth endeavor with RPG Maker 2000, deals with the recovery of the pieces of the Ienlander sword, which was destroyed at the end of Sword Quest 3: Dimensional Drift. Somehow, it came into the possession of a king travelling abroad, and while transporting it across the sea to his kingdom, his ship is ambushed by thieves. They murder the king and take the pieces of the sword into their possession and it is not long before the descendants of the chosen ones learn of this, putting a plan into action to recover the sword before it is reassembled and the world once again falls into ruin for another one thousand years.
The original Goalsoft Retrospective on the subject of high school friend and colleague Marlon Castillo: "Marlon Castillo, much like Mike Haley, had a dream about designing computer games. Regardless of where he went, he carried a binder full of notes. Tunchiza was his most cherished story. It featured a world in great turmoil. An evil wizard had formed an army of soldiers, who were bent on ravaging every last resource. Meanwhile, three heroic teenagers set out on a quest to find a mystical being known as Zendar, who could restore peace. In the spring of 1999, Marlon Castillo met up with Mike Haley, who loved the notes. Mike Haley invited him to join Goalsoft. He had one small suggestion about Tunchiza though; change the name to Quest for Zendar. Mike Haley began programming Quest for Zendar, while Marlon Castillo revised his notes. However, similar to the troubled world that they were creating, trouble was brewing for the project itself. Mike Haley had recently begun programming a Space Ruckus sequel. Thus, he could not dedicate enough time to Quest for Zendar. Marlon Castillo wasn't going to let his beloved story die, so he attempted to program the game himself. It wasn't long before he gave up. Sadly, Quest for Zendar was cancelled. In 2001, Marlon Castillo became the interviewer for the Goalsoft Magazine. He interviewed several Goalsoft developers, including Dave Smith and Jordan Calder. Marlon Castillo still looks back on Quest for Zendar, and hopes that it will come to light someday."
Marlon's thoughts on the one year anniversary of Goalsoft's rebuilt (2.0) web site: "We've been online awhile now, about four years. I remember when the web site looked really ugly and then Mike lost everything, so we decided to start all over again. Now look at us and what we have become."
A brief mention of Marlon's rebooted Quest for Zendar, which I worked on for a few weeks in the summer of 2003. It ultimately didn't get very far. I spent most of my time building a rather complex menu system. This section could actually serve as an emotional farewell to Marlon (as he departed Goalsoft shortly afterward). I never went into detail about the original Quest for Zendar project in Chapter 6, after all. It might also be a good idea to restore Marlon's original script and game title (Tunchiza). I changed the story so much over the years to suit game design needs that Marlon's original vision has become somewhat lost to time. "A hundred years ago in the Korak era there was a magician who believed that there was another dimension. This man is known as Enelsos. He wrote, that in order to find the other side of the world, you must find a man that is capable of such power. His name is Zendar." -Marlon Castillo - Tunchiza, Chapter 1
A few thoughts about the state of Goalsoft near the end of 2002: Goalsoft appeared to be in a period of hypernation for the time being. The last "game" to be released was Swashblood Isle II's demo in January of 2002 with no more releases that year. Web updates continued throughout the year, but they focused on lesser projects.
A game based upon Conrad Sheldon began development shortly after the truth was revealed regarding the shenanigans that unfolded on Chris Cromer's AGI Message Forum. The Big Con was itself an AGI game, and it was being designed with AGI Studio. I used another AGI character as the base for Conrad Sheldon's AGI cells and slowly filled in the changes. Conrad Sheldon was given a pair of broken glasses, a blue striped shirt and gray pants. Unfortunately, the project struggled to keep momentum going, and I eventually shifted my focus over to Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion.
I am still searching for a suitable message from Chris Cromer to add to the end of the eighth chapter. I would honestly rather it be a message about his CBB message board system than Conrad Sheldon. I think he has had more than enough representation over the years. I went into this chapter looking to flesh out a few general thoughts about my prankster friend Mark (meelWORM) and my time moderating for Chris Cromer's AGI Message Forum. Both of which seem to be rarely documented. And Chris Cromer's AGI Web Site would appear to be lost to time now.World 9: Reboot
World 9-1: Little Boy Blue
Goalsoft had come a long way from its humble beginnings with Clickteam's Klik & Play. My initial goal of building a simple space shooter had evolved into so much more. Goalsoft had since undertaken everything from point and click adventures to turn-based RPGs. As the VP of Goalsoft and Chairman of RPGs, Marlon Castillo, wrote in his yearly press release for 2001, "We are expanding faster than ever before and have a vast community of visitors. In the future we will grow and grow and someday make professional games." That day would appear to have arrived. I had begun work on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, a modern 3D reboot of my very first computer game. It would be Goalsoft's ultimate test. Our first truly professional game. And it would be designed with a whole new group of developers. Mark, my fellow moderator and whimsical friend from Chris Cromer's AGI Message Forum, would serve as the game's assistant designer. Ass. designer for short. His expertise in the field of programming would almost certainly prove useful to the project. He had previously, and perhaps most notably, designed a series of desktop applications during his college years. A brand new chapter was just beginning, not unlike the school chapters that came before. Despite the ongoing pressures of game design, I would still find time for other things in my life. I continued to correspond with my middle school friend and pen pal, Melissa, through old fashioned letters of a handwritten nature. It was a joy to see something new in my mailbox every few weeks. We would come to find that we still had much in common. I also still found time to watch television on occasion. I had discovered a new program on the Discovery Channel that seemed to peak my interest. It was known as Mythbusters. Various myths and urban legends were put to the test by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. They were my new science teachers. My very explosive science teachers. And of course, I would still find time to play the Nintendo GameCube. Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! had just recently joined my collection, and they would soon be seeing quite a bit of playtime. Especially once my nephews and nieces arrived for the holidays. Let the games continue.
Space had fascinated me from the time of childhood. Every star offered a new possibility in a void that appeared to stretch onward into infinity. Throughout my childhood, my dad would bring home trinkets from his workplace at Rockwell International. Everything from display models of the space shuttle to buttons and pins. My dad always seemed so proud of them. After all, he did play an instrumental part in constructing the actual shuttles. He helped craft the sheet metal that would eventually be used on the outer shell of those space crafts. I may not have said it at the time, but I was quite proud of my dad and the work he did for Rockwell International. I could only imagine the amount of work that went into what he did. The capacity of my own abilities were of a far more limited scope by comparison. I had however begun to develop a talent for writing and storytelling. Naturally, one of the storytelling settings I was most fond of exploring was that of outer space. The sheer vastness of the cosmos filled my head with an abundance of ideas for stories. With my sights now set on rebooting Space Ruckus, I wasted no time drafting a treatment of the game's story. Bill Grig would soar through the stars once more. My boy would finally reach his full potential.
In a distant star system, an orbital base has been constructed for the purpose of mining the resources of Ralin V. A Class V gas giant with enough natural materials to power an entire fleet. A formal request was recently made for additional personnel. The base had found itself short-staffed for several lunar rotations. A transport ship is due to arrive shortly. Captain Seth Trilobite monitors incoming communication signals from the bridge of the orbital base. His crew is eager to see some fresh faces. A signal is soon detected from the transport ship. It has requested docking bay permission. Captain Seth Trilobite stands in attention and simply bobs his head to indicate approval. The transport ship lands in the docking bay. An "All Clear" message is given over the loudspeaker. Captain Seth Trilobite departs from the bridge and enters the lift. A stream of multicolored lights pass over him as he descends through the lower decks. The new fleet personnel begin to emerge from the transport ship. A man in a blue suit steps out onto the deck of the docking bay. He approaches a security officer with a clippad in their hands. The officer asks the man for his name and rank. The man replies with a grin on his face, "Bill Grig. I am only a rookie, but I promise you won't be disappointed!" A man in a grey suit emerges from the transport ship. His name is Joe Commer. These two men were previously stationed together on the Ethorian orbital base. They are very good friends. Captain Seth Trilobite welcomes the new personnel to the Ralin V base. He only wishes that Commander Bob Gunner could have been there to welcome them himself, but he is currently away on a deep space assignment. Members of the existing Ralin V crew greet Bill Grig, Joe Commer and all the other new arrivals. They are then escorted down the corridor and assigned crew quarters where they take a few moments to settle in. Bill Grig enters his quarters and has a seat on the bed. In an effort to give his new living space a touch of home, he removes a photo from his bag and places it on the overhead boarding. In the photo, Bill Grig's mother can be seen holding a delicious looking cake. Back on his homeworld of Orth, she is a renowned chef specializing in desserts. Bill Grig is proud of everything she has accomplished. A message is soon transmitted over the intercom. All new personnel are ordered to report for duty.
With 2003 drawing to a close, I found myself daydreaming about the blue blur. Sonic Heroes was set to release on the Nintendo GameCube in early January. I had previously played through Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on the GameCube. A game which had reignited my passion for the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Sonic Heroes promised more traditional speed and platforming stages and the ability to have all three main characters playable simultaneously. I may flesh out a few more detailed thoughts on Sonic Adventure 2: Battle that could lead into an emotional flashback for my elementary school friend who I played Sonic & Tails with at recess. His name was James, but in my heart, he will always be Tails. "How about one last race, Sonic?" That flashback would then lead into the section on Sonic Heroes. It would be an "eggstra" nice piece of writing.
A friend of mine worked for GameStop in the early 2000s, and they would sometimes hook me up with discounts. On one rare occasion, they even supplied me with a free demo disc for the Nintendo GameCube. A disc that was traditionally only intended for GameStop's demo kiosks. The demo disc included Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, Soul Calibur II, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Viewtiful Joe. It also included two games that could be downloaded to the Game Boy Advance, Dr. Mario and WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgames. I remember spending the most time with Splinter Cell and Viewtiful Joe. I was relatively new to the stealth genre at the time, with the exception of games like Police Quest: SWAT, so Splinter Cell offered me a somewhat unique experience. Wandering around in the shadows while my enemies went about their business made me feel untouchable. But let's be honest, I always had more fun popping out from my hiding spot and spraying the room with bullets. Viewtiful Joe was another game that I instantly fell in love with. It had such a charming cel-shaded art style. The side scrolling beat 'em up gameplay really took me back to the days of the Super Nintendo too.
A new TV series was set to debut on ABC on September 22nd, 2004. A plane carrying passengers from Sydney to Los Angeles crashes on a mysterious island in the middle of nowhere. Without an immediate means of rescue, the passengers must learn to survive on the island. Little do they know what the island has in store for them. LOST was somewhat of a phenomenon when it premiered in 2004. Every week, Mark and I would speculate about what we thought might happen on the next episode. Were the passengers truly alone on the island? What was that thing out in the jungle? What was inside the hatch? How many times will Hurley say "dude?" We waited with bated breath for every new piece of information. The production team would often drop hints of things to come online, and this would only further the speculation. It often involved piecing together various clues. A kind of metagame.
My early experiences with the Grand Theft Auto series were of a more passive nature. While visiting my high school friend Anthony's apartment, I would often watch him play the original Grand Theft Auto on his Sony PlayStation. I could tell that he was having fun by the expressions on his face as he mowed down an unsuspecting row of pedestrians. I would later watch my brother play Grand Theft Auto III on his Sony PlayStation 2, and on occation, he would let me play using my own save data. When he was not busy playing Final Fantasy VIII in backwards compatibility mode that is. A game that he had been playing for several years at that point. I could only assume that it must be a fairly long game. I fully upgraded my computer hardware in the spring of 2003. Thus, opening the door to a whole new generation of games that were simply unplayable on my old machine. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was one of the first games that I picked up for the new computer, followed soon after by the PC port of Grand Theft Auto III. I could now play Rockstar Games' murder simulator any time I wanted. I never quite reached the third and final island during my time playing the PlayStation 2 version of Grand Theft Auto III, so it was nice to finally see the story through to its bloody and explosive conclusion. I had a lot of fun exploring Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as well. The game's retro 1980s setting still sticks with me to this day. Every time I hear "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls on the radio, it instantly takes me back to Vice City. In 2005, I picked up Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PC, and my Grand Theft Auto III trilogy was complete. San Andreas came encased inside a hardcover book with guides to the cities of Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas. At the time of the game's release, it was one of the largest open worlds ever created. I certainly had fun exploring its many secrets. Melissa was never fond of the series herself. She told me that I should not be playing it. She firmly believed that it went against the Christian faith. For the longest time, I actually did stop playing the series. I never exactly agreed with her sentiment, but I really just wanted to make her happy. No more murder simulator for me.
A brief inclusion for my nephews and nieces, who I would entertain on Christmas Eve with games like Mario Party 4 and 5 and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The development center for Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion included a number of databases, design documents, archived development discussions and various pieces of concept art. The last of which was often referred to internally as "chicken scratches." I logged more hours than I care to admit into things like the update tracker, file uploader and dropdown box system. My hope was that the ease of use would promote more steady development on the game.
With my preliminary pre-production work finalized on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, I thought it might be a good time to look into online college courses again. I had been given free credit to use toward a course. I considered a few computer classes before settling on one that I thought I could handle. It was a very different experience from the days of being in a physical classroom. The instructor appeared via conference call with the class given the opportunity to interact through a chat window. Much like my experiences at Cerritos College, I didn't quite feel as though I was really connecting with the instructor.World 9-2: Palpitations
One of Goalsoft's slogans was "we make making games fun." Fun was something that I felt a good game company needed to thrive. Without it, work would just be work, and developers would never find that special spark of creativity. In the years that followed, I seemed to lose sight of that. Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion was lacking that "fun" factor. It felt more like a grind most of the time. We had milestones to reach and deadlines to meet. Sadly, it was never fulfilling in any truly meaningful way.
Throughout the course of Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion's development, I worked to improve my HTML coding skills. I learned a lot while snooping around the source code on various web sites that existed at the time. I also learned quite a bit from Mark. He was a master of HTML as well as PHP programming. I would ultimately program the 2.0 version of Space Ruckus: The Official Site completely from scratch.
The Goalsoft name had served me well enough over the years, but with my team now transitioning into the field of professional game design, it was time for a change. Several names were proposed including RalinWare and Gridline Games. RalinWare was considered primarily because Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion begins on the Ralin V orbital base, and it would have been a good way to honor our roots moving forward. The team would ultimately settle on Gridline Games. A name that illustrated our transition from 2D to 3D. A set of new logos were designed and voted upon. The news was then made public and Gridline Games was officially born. Goalsoft may have been put to rest, but the goal remained the same. The continual improvement of ourselves and the games we design.
The Nintendo GameCube had received a Star Fox game in its early days in the form of Star Fox Adventures. A game which admittedly offered some of the most breathtaking graphics and hair physics I had seen at the time. It just never quite felt like a proper Star Fox game, however. The gameplay was more akin to The Legend of Zelda than Star Fox. When Star Fox: Assault was announced for the Nintendo GameCube, a game that went back to Star Fox's Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 roots, I was understandably excited again. It featured primarily arcade-like aerial and ground combat. Seeing as I was deep in development of Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion at the time of Star Fox: Assault's release, I figured that it may even help to further inspire my own game development.
A section dedicated to my early experiences with the original Psychonauts in 2005. It may even be fun to write a passage set in my own mental realm. A realm that could consist of things from childhood school experiences. This section could possibly end with a Bill Hicks quote. "The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, cause that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round; it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud and it's fun... for a while."
Melissa and I had been writing letters to each other for the better part of two years. Naturally, I was quite anxious to see her in person again, and I had a feeling she felt the same way. I began to work out a plan for her to come visit California. I started saving up money and looking into travel options. Greyhound was one possibility that I considered. I even made an itinerary for when she arrived. All the places and people she might want to visit while she was staying in California. The arrangements ultimately fell apart before they even began due to how protective the group home was. I later considered traveling to Texas myself, but never could get a definitive answer from the group home about how and when Melissa and I would be allowed to spend time together. It just didn't make a whole lot of sense to travel halfway across the country without knowing what was going to happen when I arrived.
Working with and keeping together the team necessary to produce Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion was often a nightmare scenario. In one notorious case, a musician left the project in a fit of rage simply because I had recruited another composer to help with the soundtrack. In hindsight, I may have tampered with the sacred musician's code! In another particularly troubling case, a modeler began posting his Space Ruckus models on a public forum for all to see. This may not have been quite so bad had he let us know in advance, but he was soliciting feedback on a very important asset from a group entirely unrelated to the project.
Mark and I would often meet in Space Ruckus' IRC chat room following his late shifts at Walmart. He worked in the meat packing department. Mark was understandably tired after these shifts, but he still found time to joke around about the latest happenings on the Space Ruckus project. From time to time, we would even play a little Unreal Tournament with each other. Mark chose the CTF-Face map on most of those occasions. My memory of our play sessions may be a bit vague, but I distinctly remember faking a bad Internet connection a few times. I would repeatedly run into a wall just to see his reaction. We also gave the multiplayer side of Grand Theft Auto 2 a try on a few rare occasions, but that one actually did have connection problems due to its outdated TCP/IP options. It would soon be time for Mark to hit the sack. He needed to be rested up for another night of handling meat.
A scratch drawing that Mark Gillie and I worked on via mIRCboard (a multi-user paint program similar to Microsoft Whiteboard) whilst trying to decide how best to arrange a Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion poster. I honestly don't remember who the green guy is. He must have been cut at some point. My only guess would be Joe Commer's rival from pilot school.
In the summer of 2006, I constructed a theme park for Gridline Games within RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. It included lands and attractions for Space Ruckus, Swashblood Isle and even Conrad Sheldon. It was aptly titled Gridline Studios. I painstakingly crafted a Main Street-style entrance plaza, a themed parking lot and an enclosed roller coaster with imported assets from Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion. I originally documented the process on Space Ruckus: The Official Forum. The contents of which were later transferred to The Grig Post entry Gridline Games Tycoon.
While working on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, I would sometimes take a walk over to Starbucks for a cup of their venti, their largest coffee at the time. Dad would often accompany me on these walks. On one of those occasions, we stopped by the park playground on the way back. I was surprised by how agile he seemed that day. Moving around and navigating the equipment with ease. This was also about the time I began to experience my heart palpitations. It may have been a combination of the strong coffee, lack of exercise and anxiety.
Chapter 5: Nintendo Strikes Back closed with a flashforward to my time working on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion. I will more than likely flesh out some of these details for Chapter 9: Reboot. "As I tugged and pulled on the Master Sword, something strange began to happen. A beam of energy surrounded me. It engulfed my very essence. A bearded sage appeared before me. He informed me that seven years had come to pass in the blink of an eye. He said that he would do everything in his power to help me, but that I needed to explain my condition in more detail. A less than stellar development period on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, a reboot of my first computer game, had led to an ever worsening habit of coffee drinking. One cup of the tallest Starbucks beverage had suddenly sent my heart racing. The year was 2005. The sage, who answered to dad, was with me while I underwent a few EKG tests at the hospital. I was given an X-Ray of my chest, a treadmill test and a prescription of Lorazepam, an anxiety-disorder medication. It would ultimately prove to be psychological in nature, but the tests gave me peace of mind."
World 9 Finale: Dad and I just happened to drive over to Best Buy on the morning of the Nintendo Wii's launch. There was a long line outside the store, and we decided to stand in it (not really knowing what it was for initially). A store clerk eventually came around and gave everyone a ticket. We were just a bit too far back in the line to receive one. When we finally entered the store, I got my first look at the Nintendo Wii and its peripherals as other customers were picking it up. I felt more than a bit disheartened. It was at that moment that I became determined to secure a console for myself. I didn't leave the store completely empty handed that day, however. I bought a new high definition TV to replace my old standard definition TV set. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to go home.
A footnote for World 9: Reboot originally written by Mark Gillie on the third anniversary of the Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion project: "It certainly has been a rough first three years for the project, but I'm glad that we are holding together in hopes of seeing it through to completion. The Development Team has certainly seen quite a few face changes throughout the project; however, we still have a small handful of charter developers with us that manage to keep the project held together and on the right track. Most importantly, large credit goes to Mike's great passion for Space Ruckus, and inability to let it slip away, which has been there since the beginning to constantly keep the project fresh in our minds when we tend to wander off to do other things."
A footnote for World 9: Reboot including a suitable quote from Adam Savage of Mythbusters: "I make lists for projects. This can be daunting. Breaking something big into its constituent parts will help you organize your thoughts, but it can also force you to confront the depth of your ignorance and the hugeness of the task. That's OK. The project may be the lion, but the list is your whip."
A potential footnote for World 9: Reboot written by Eigen Lenk in the years following his time working on the Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion project: "I like programming. And playing games. Especially I like programming games. I think it's one of the best creative outlets you could ever have. You can draw, compose music, write the code and best of all, see it all take shape on your screen. It's really exciting." -Eigen Lenk (Music Composer and Level Designer for Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion)
A potential footnote for World 9: Reboot written by Eero Ränik during a particularly rough period in the development of Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion: "As I've experienced, this 'when I have free time' kills productivity pretty successfully, which might account for the lack of frequent updates around here. At least we have this game planned out very well." -Eero Ränik (Assistant QA Team for Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion)World 10: The Telltale Heart
World 10-1: Rock, Paper, Scissors
I found my Nintendo Wii two days after launch. The lady at GameStop was glad I was the one who showed up in store and not this other potential buyer (he seemed a bit hostile over the phone).
Nintendo Wii and Dad's brief return to gaming with Wii Sports (Bowling) and Wii Sports Resort (Bowling).
This chapter will begin and end with Wii Sports Bowling (in November of 2006 with the original Wii Sports and in August of 2009 with Wii Sports Resort). A game that I played exclusively with my dad.
The Telltale Heart is going to be a bit packed, I think, because it is meant to explore Telltale Games, the conventions and the lingering Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion project, but I also need to talk about the three Paper Mario games released up to that point, as well as Super Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess. Oh, and the Wii Virtual Console. Super Mario Galaxy: "So long, Bowser. You're stardust." Twilight Princess: "It's always darkest before the dawn."
Exploring Fry's Electronics and assembling my first custom built PC. Fry's was like a candy store for geeks. Every computer part you could possibly imagine was sold there.
My introduction to Telltale Games as it appeared in my 2009 article titled Telltale Games (A Retrospective Blog): "March 3rd, 2004 is a day that will live in infamy, for on that day, LucasArts canceled Sam & Max: Freelance Police, and thousands of rabid fans weeped openly. The announcement came in the form of the following sentence: 'After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, [LucasArts] decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC.' For many fans, this signaled a death blow to the already declining adventure game genre. However, as it turns out, the cancellation of Sam & Max: Freelance Police was actually a blessing in disguise. The development team went on to form their own company. A company free of the restrictions imposed by LucasArts, which usually resulted in countless Star Wars games being green-lit over more original projects. The name of this new company was Telltale Games."
Regarding Telltale: I, like many others, was regarded as a superfan of sorts. I was always trying to become involved in the projects being worked on at Telltale. Looking back, I think I was an overzealous fan; perhaps even rabid. But, more than anything else, I just wanted to be a part of something, and my heart was with Telltale.
Of all the people that worked for Telltale Games, Dave Grossman was certainly one of the most seasoned. He had previously worked on LucasArts titles such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. He went on to write several children's books and even authored a book of "guy poetry" entitled Ode to the Stuff in the Sink before joining Telltale Games. Ode to the Stuff in the Sink being a book that he personally signed for me. He wrote and I quote, "To Mike. Thanks for buying this book. Make believe I wrote something really witty here, OK? Thanks. DAVE." Dave Grossman always struck me as the kind of guy one might find teaching a chemistry class. He personally described the life of a game designer as "like being shot out of a cannon without a helmet." A clear reference to The Secret of Monkey Island. Perhaps in another life, he opted for that quiet life of a chemistry teacher.
A response from Jake Rodkin following my early discovery of a Sam & Max: Season Two episode title on Telltale Games' VIP server (a possible footnote for World 10: The Telltale Heart): "Haha, it's clearly not public domain if the folder is called 'assets that go with Sept 26 announcement' and it's only September 19! Still, good work on finding it! But... I deleted your post and removed the files from the server. Thanks for pointing it out inadvertently, though. Doug nearly had a heart attack."
A brief introduction to social media. The latest revolution sweeping the Internet at the time (2008). I started out on MySpace before also creating Facebook and Twitter accounts. The latter of which (Twitter) was due in large part to Telltale Games using Twitter that July to promote their Comic-Con events. I wanted to seem as cool as they were.
With the Super Mario RPG remake on its way to Switch, I should probably flesh out a section on the original game for Nintendo Rhapsody. I was reluctant to talk about it for the sixth chapter because the first time I played the game, it was via SNES emulation on a PC.
From a very young age, I remember crafting paper airplanes, and much to my elementary school teachers' dismay, tossing them freely around the classroom. My understanding of aerodynamics was virtually nonexistent, but the planes were still more than capable of putting someone's eye out. It would be many years before a video game captured the spirit of this prepubescent activity. That game was none other than Paper Mario.
A thought or two on those picture pop-up books from elementary school. The kind that pop up and outward as you fully open the page, revealing a three dimensional picture.
A section on Kita/Fawful/MC that begins with a poetic passage about art and how therapeutic it can be. "An artist's canvas is like a window into another world. A world free from the sorrow we often find in this one. Micheal would paint the world the way in which they wanted to see the world."World 10-2: Player Two
This would be an amazing find if I could verify that I wasn't just messing with the Nintendo Power staff for a spot in Player's Pulse. Also, my dad did not create the Virtual Boy. I dodged a Bullet Bill there. "I was playing Super Mario Galaxy when my Dad said to me, 'You know, Mario can't be going on adventures forever. He should settle down in Italy, marry a nice woman, and have some kids.' At first I dismissed it as a silly thought, but as he told me more, I started to agree! Could you pass this on to Miyamoto the next time you see him? Or possibly publish a line of Super Mario Super Romance novels? I guarantee that this would be a great business move, and when Super Mario's Island of Love is a bestseller, you'll have me to thank!" -Michael H. "By any chance, did you or your dad create the Virtual Boy?" -Nintendo Power Editor
In the late fall of 2007, Melissa informed me that she would be leaving the group home she had been staying with and relocating to a Job Corps facility to study to become a culinary chef. I realized at that time that it might be awhile before I heard back from her. It wasn't until the Spring of 2008 that she reached out to me over the phone. I still remember how excited she sounded that day. She told me that she had some news. News that I might want to brace myself for. Melissa informed me that she was going to be having a baby. I paused for a good long minute before reacting to this news. It was one of the last things I would have expected. Later that same evening, I wrote her a message to better express myself in writing. I told her of my initial gut reaction. How sudden the news sounded. I felt as though Melissa and I could open up about anything with each other. I closed out the message by congratulating her and the father to be; her new boyfriend and fiancé, Junior.
Following Melissa's revelation about her sudden engagement and pregnancy, I talked to my dad about the whole thing. He ultimately felt that what Melissa and I had didn't quite compare to other relationships. My dad had been married once before he met my mom, and fathered four children with her. Melissa and I may not have had that kind of history together, but my feelings and dedication for her were as real to me as any feelings anyone else has ever had for a woman. In his own way, I am certain that my dad was just trying to help me get over Melissa. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, as it were.
In July of 2008, I rebuilt the Space Ruckus web site from the ground up, utilizing everything that I had learned about HTML in the process. I chronicled the development of this new site on The Grig Post. A week before the launch, I shared Space Ruckus 2.0: T-Minus Seven Days, and on the day of the launch, Space Ruckus 2.0 is Live! The new code was far more manageable. Updates would be a breeze moving forward.
I attended San Diego Comic-Con for the first time on July 26th, 2008. While I did not have a booth of my own, I brought my Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion materials with me to present to people at the convention. Naturally, I spent much of my time hanging around the Telltale Games booth, picking the minds of their developers. It was only a matter of time before the subject of Monkey Island came up. I asked about a possible sequel at both the Telltale Games booth and the LucasArts booth. It would be another year before Telltale Games' Tales of Monkey Island game was finally announced. I later attended their panel in Room 4. Sam & Max, Strong Bad, and the Secrets Behind Turning Comics into Games. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, one of their newest games at the time, was a highlight of that panel. After the panel concluded, I caught up with Sam & Max creator, Steve Purcell, and walked with him back to the Telltale Games booth. He was scheduled to do a signing there. I had some of my own Sam & Max merchandise signed. Later that afternoon, I shared the same space with Peter Mayhew (Star Wars' Chewbacca) and a fairly lifelike Dalek from Doctor Who.
Nearing the end of my time at Comic-Con 2009, I began to succumb to the weight on my shoulders. I had amassed a considerable amount of swag that year. One of the new Telltale Games girls, Bonnie, saw that I was struggling and gave me a sturdier bag to put some of my stuff in. The other bag was beginning to fall apart. Worried that I might miss the 5:55 PM train home, I quickly made tracks back to the train station. The next one was not departing until 10 PM. As a result, I don't think I ever had a chance to properly thank Bonnie for her kindness.
In the spring of 2009, I compiled a list of all the schools that I attended. It contained freshly scanned photographs, rap sheets and a few other pieces of information. It was the first time I had attempted to seriously document my school career. It doesn't hold a candle to the Nintendo Rhapsody chapters I would begin writing six years later, but it may have helped lay the groundwork for it. My Schools can still be found via The Grig Post.
This section was difficult to write, seeing as this friend misunderstood things time and time again, eventually going so far as wishing karma and justice on me and my friends, but I thought I might at least give this a try without sinking to his level. He became so involved in my life that it is almost impossible to write around him: During a recent visit to my local park zoo, I happened to spot a bird that resembled Brady Culture from Sam & Max: Season One. I regretted not having my Sony Camcorder on hand that day and vowed to return to the park in an effort to prove its existence for the Telltale Games forum community. Sure enough, "Brady Featherly" showed up for the camera. I decided to take a few photographs of the other zoo animals while I was there. I managed to coerce the old pig to come out from his pen. This drew the attention of another parkgoer. He told me that he rarely saw the pig emerge from his slumber. He appeared to have a keen fondness for animals. We chatted for what seemed like an hour. When I was all set to walk home, he accompanied me down the block. We discussed a variety of subjects. He even felt comfortable enough in my company to open up about his life. I tried to share a few stories from my own troubled life, including my time spent at Barbara Dawson Educational Center. When we finally parted ways, it was well past dinnertime. Dad was beginning to wonder where I was. The pizza he had ordered was getting cold. I explained to him that I had lost track of time while chatting with someone I met at the park. His name was John and he had a rather vast set of interests. More than anything else, he loved fitness and nature and the chance to combine the two. He loved eighties new wave music. Tears for Fears being one of his favorite bands from that time period. He was particularly fond of their song Mad World. He was most partial to these lyrics, "Went to school and I was very nervous. No one knew me, no one knew me. Hello teacher, tell me what's my lesson. Look right through me, look right through me." It had something to do with his own school experiences. His most cherished television show was I Love Lucy. One of the very first television programs. He deeply related to Desi Arnaz's character, Ricky. John's first language was Spanish and Ricky often spoke it on the show. Buenos días, Señor Ricardo. John's favorite film franchise was Hellraiser. A fact that few would ever mistake. John often quoted the movies aloud. He would say ever so vibrantly in the voice of Pinhead, "We have such sights to show you," and "Feel free, explore!" John was a virtual stranger to the video game world. His family owned a ColecoVision and Nintendo Entertainment System when he was but a small boy. He once recounted a time in which he played the original Super Mario Bros. with his long lost brother, Louie. Louie identified with Luigi, having a very similar sounding name. He would therefore grant his little brother, Johnny, the use of Mario for their game sessions. Deep underneath it all, beneath the various interests and joyous memories, John harbored a pain I knew not how to heal. It often manifested in the form of resentment for his neighbors and those closest to him. He was hurting on the inside and he needed someone to be there for him through it all. It was sometimes best to just let him talk it out on our long nature walks. I always felt as though interrupting him would be a bad idea. There were a few times I did try to very delicately change the subject. Despite this challenge, our friendship would continue to grow over the years. I would like to think I learned something about patience from these experiences.
Shortly after meeting John for the first time at the park zoo, I caught up with my high school friend Jovani over the phone. I happened to tell him about the meeting at the park, and he encouraged me to stop by his place sometime. It's possible he felt bad for me meeting up with strangers at the zoo. I began dropping by Jovani's house on Saturdays for an hour or two. Sometimes, we would sit and chat in the kitchen, and other times, we would play games on his Xbox 360. It was there that I played Grand Theft Auto IV for the first time. I ran an ambulance off the highway during a high speed pursuit. An ambulance that was reporting to the scene of another accident I happened to cause. Jovani really seemed to get a kick out of my in-game antics.
During the summer of 2009, I began writing a new blog series entitled From the Graveyard. It chronicled several abandoned projects of mine that I wished to bring to light. Space Feline and Conrad Sheldon's The Big Con included. It also offered me a perfectly valid excuse to talk about a two year old gaming convention that I had yet to blog about. E For All Expo. Telltale Games and Nintendo were two of the very few companies that showed up to that event, and I couldn't seem to think of a whole lot to say immediately following its conclusion. I had originally planned to keep the blog series going with stories about Swashblood Isle II and Martin Kool's Good Old Adventures, but life took a dark turn over the following months. I ultimately never returned to the blog.
Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion had entered a rather dormant development period. I continued to update the web site and development center behind the scenes, but many of the game's developers had come and gone. It was not long before I began to fear for the future of the project. In the spring of 2009, I put a plan into motion to jumpstart development. It would ultimately be the project's Hail Mary pass. One last ditch effort to save Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion. I began work on a fresh outline for every scene in the game. Micheal Cross would then animate these outlines into a storyboard for use by the 3D modelers. Gordon Wallace had long since departed the project, and thus, a new 3D modeler was brought aboard to model these storyboards. His name was Joe Rugar. Nearing the summer of 2009, I made a plan to release a teaser trailer for the game in the coming months. I felt it would help renew interest in the project. Progress had slowed on the storyboard's production, so I asked Micheal Cross if they could produce a set of storyboards specifically for use in the teaser. Micheal Cross was my hero. They delivered the teaser trailer storyboards and I handed them off to our 3D modeler and music composer. Trevor Howard composed the perfect track for the trailer. It was positively eerie. It was the precise mood I was going for when writing the storyboard descriptions. Joe Rugar was slower in delivering the 3D models necessary for the teaser, but I was certain that he would come through in due time. This was, after all, the most progress the Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion project had experienced in a number of years. And for once, time appeared to be on our side. With the summer of 2009 in full swing, I thought it might be a good time to challenge my dad to another round of Wii Sports Bowling. Wii Sports Resort had just released for the Nintendo Wii. It featured a whole new set of sports, alongside the existing ones. Bowling was the only sport that dad and I would play together, however. He had not lost his magic touch in the three years since the original Wii Sports. Dad still possessed the upper hand when it came to the game's motion controls. As usual, he was a master bowler. As we finished our final round, I made him promise we would give this a try more often - but time, as it would seem, had other plans.
Mark Gillie's first thoughts on the teaser trailer project for Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion: "Teaser concept looks great! I look forward to seeing those storyboards. Micheal has done some great work for the project already, so I'm sure they will be very helpful in creating the final product."
I had a dream shortly after my dad's passing in 2009 in which he suddenly stopped our car, walked around to the driver's side door, kneeled before me and said something to the effect of, "I can't drive anymore. You'll have to take over from here." I then tried to ask him where he was going, but I couldn't seem to get a straight answer from him. I thought this might work perfectly at the end of Chapter 10.
My new twenty-four speed bicycle was coming in handy for getting around town quickly. It was also a good source of exercise. Something I definitely needed more of at the time. I would often stop by a few local parks on these outings in an attempt to clear my head. I found myself thinking back on my troubled school years an awful lot. Contemplating different choices I could have made. The ongoing Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion project was also weighing heavily on my mind. It had been lingering in development for several years now. My dad had recently been feeling under the weather too. He seemed to have far less energy than usual and he said that food didn't taste quite right. I remembered telling him that I didn't think it tasted right either. I didn't want him to feel bad about it. I figured it was a stomach flu and that it would pass in a week or two. I enjoyed those brief moments of zen at the park so much that I felt almost saddened when it was finally time to ride home. I painfully collected my bicycle. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to go home. It was time to face the final chapter.
Crosby, Stills & Nash's Our House
World 11: Going Home
World 11: Going Home (Cover Art)
World 11-1: Bread and Butter
Diagnostic School Flashback: When I was eight years of age, I lived away from home five out of seven days a week for a period of six months in East Los Angeles at a facility known simply as The Diagnostic School. On Friday afternoons, I would be released to spend the weekends at home with family. Every Sunday at 5:00 PM, I would have to return to The Diagnostic School for the forthcoming week. Once there, I had to eat cafeteria food. I grew to loathe cafeteria food. On those particular nights, however, I would often choose a bag of Skittles. I hated Skittles. I greatly preferred M&Ms, but Skittles was all that they seemed to have. I would sit on the far corner of the cafeteria, my back to the window, eating my bag of Skittles. All the while, dreading the days and week ahead. I peered out into the darkness of the night every so often. Every night, I slept in a room with other children such as myself. It was arranged somewhat like a dormitory. When I was bored and could not sleep, I would make funny sounds to pass the time. This often garnered the attention of a staff member monitoring from just outside the room. I would then be asked to stand in the hallway with my face to the wall for a few minutes. A friend of mine slept in the bed nearest the hall, and I would sometimes attempt to talk with him during these periods of discipline. On a few rare occasions, the staff member on duty that night would forgo this penalty and instead drag me down to the padded room at the end of the hall. Once inside, the staff member would lock the door and turn out the light, leaving me in pitch blackness. It was a frightening experience unlike any other. Desperate to see light of any kind, I tried to peer through the small viewing window in the door. My friendly chaperone for the night became wise to this activity most of the time, and also shut out the light in the corridor just outside the darkened room. It was for my own good, I was told. If I learned to behave, I would be allowed to return to the bedroom. Each day, I attended classes per usual. These were one-on-one experiences. An assistant was always present during hours of study. There were no windows in this room. More than likely to prevent unnecessary distractions. A star system was used to reward students for hard work. I used these stars to purchase items from the school store. More often than not, I chose a can of Welch's Grape Soda. It was one of the few saving graces of The Diagnostic School. Soon, it would be time to eat from the cafeteria again. I braced myself for the sludge mine. I was escorted back to the bedroom to wash up before lunch. I was all set to head for the cafeteria when I was told that I had a visitor waiting for me out in the hall. I rarely received visitors in the middle of the week, so this came as a legitimate surprise. My eyes lit up wide when I realized who it was. On leave from a jury summons in Los Angeles, my dad had stopped by to surprise me. With a smile planted firmly across my face, I quickly rushed out to greet him. Dad had arranged to take me out to lunch that day. There would be no cafeteria food on this day. No, on this day, we were to eat like kings. We were going to McDonald's for a burger and fries. It was the sweetest burger and fries I ever ate in my life. And I am not just saying that because of the sludge I had to endure at The Diagnostic School. It was because I was spending time with my dad. It was truly one of those rare whisked away on a magic carpet ride moments. One which I will never forget. The only thing that made me feel sad was that it had to come to an end. I would have to return to The Diagnostic School at the end of our little field trip. And I could tell that my dad was as broken up about this as I was. We would have to part ways. It was almost too much for either of us to bear. "Bread and butter," my dad often said aloud when our locked hands met a pole. It meant I have to let go now, but it won't be forever. It won't be forever.
I came back from a bicycle trek one afternoon to find my two brothers conversing in the living room. I knew not about what at first.
Death; the proverbial reset button. My life counter read zero and those terrifying words appeared before me: Game Over. I had only just begun my adventure, but now, it looked as though it were at an end. Untimely as it may be. Peace would eventually come to the lands I fought for. Of that much I was certain. However, it would be without my guiding hand. Just as everything went dark, I knew the final hour had arrived. I pressed the reset button on the Nintendo Wii and congratulated dad on a good game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Next, I would challenge him to a round of bowling in my newly purchased Wii Sports Resort. He had not lost his magic touch in the three years since the original Wii Sports. Dad still possessed the upper hand when it came to the game's motion controls. As usual, dad was a master bowler. As we finished our final round, I made him promise we would give this a try more often - but time, as it would seem, had other plans.
Seeing as I never used the Counselor Dana memory in Nintendo Rhapsody proper (see "The Lost Archives"), I could possibly use it in World 11 (as a thought provoking flashback that seemingly ties into later events): "My counselor, Dana, was engaged to an employee from Interplay. I forget just who for the moment, but she knew a lot more about game design than anyone else I had the pleasure of meeting while growing up. She questioned my use of cheat codes, whether it be "19, 65, 9, 17" or "IDDQD." For the fun of a video game should be in the learning curve, not the easy route." In other words, there is nothing gained by cheating in life. We learn from our experiences, and to cheat would be to take nothing away from the lesson. Those lessons are sadly sometimes quite brutal, leaving us with a number of unanswered questions, but still we persevere. And in doing so, we grow stronger.World 11-2: I Love All Y'all
"Remember him how he was, not how he is." -Paul Haley
I don't know if I was ever very clear on just how tear-jerking the final chapter will be. I will use it as a means to reflect on the chapters that came before while talking to dad in his Hospice room. Therefore, it will include reflections on playing the original Super Mario Bros. on NES with dad, various SNES gaming memories, Wii Sports and others. I had to mentally prepare myself each and every time I was about to enter that Hospice room.
Shortly after the sudden passing of Satoru Iwata in July of 2015, I wrote a brief article about Nintendo memories. It ultimately served as the original inspiration for Nintendo Rhapsody. These are the thoughts I shared about my own dad. They may help me flesh out a critical flashback for the eleventh chapter. "When we received our first Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, I would play with Dad from time to time. Great times were had with such games as Duck Hunt and Excitebike. I think he enjoyed them more before my brother and I became NES wizards. He would later recall times playing the Super Mario Bros. games with the most fondness. Because, I presume, they were somewhat less competitive. When I picked up the Nintendo Wii in 2006, he decided to give it another try. He found the motion controls gave him an edge at Wii Sports Bowling. I think I may have let him win 'sparingly!' We held our last match in August of 2009, just two months before his own untimely passing. Wii Sports Bowling is one of those rare games I have not had the heart to play again in the time since. It would seem some of the sweetest memories are not captured on film!"
Life is the biggest adventure. Mine began most unusually. I glimpsed a wondrous light at the end of a tunnel, but could not follow as a result of my umbilical cord. It had become wrapped around my neck and the more I struggled to free myself, the tighter it became. My time in the womb flashed before my eyes. Soon, I began to lose consciousness. A strange tingling sensation was followed by a strong shift in vibration. I then felt myself go limp. I had died. My heart had stopped and my adventure had seemingly come to an end. Yet I could still hear the melody I enjoyed listening to in the womb. I may not have known what a boat was or just how to row it, but I could almost picture them in my mind. Just like that, I found myself in a majestic place. I was sitting beside a beautiful body of water. Numerous living organisms were rooted into the ground. They had bright colored tips growing from their arms. Some of the tips brushed away and fell into the water below. The water carried them to shore. It was simply astonishing. I was suddenly filled with overwhelming joy as a magnificent being appeared, as if from nowhere, and sat beside me. She asked in a loving voice, "Do you come here often?" I replied with a smile, "Actually, this is my first time." She smiled back and said, "You couldn't have picked a better time. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom." I looked her in the eyes and said, "It really is quite lovely. I wish it were like this every day." She glanced down at the palm of my hand and said, "Is that a fortune cookie?" I was, at first, hesitant to reveal its contents, but I finally budged and said, "Why, yes. I ate lunch over there and this was in my order. It reads: Today will be a very good day. Today you will find your destiny." She gave me a blind stare and said, "Well?" Confused, I replied, "Well... what?" She said with a smile across her face, "Did you find your destiny?" I replied with butterflies in my stomach, "I believe so, yes." With a certain gleam in her eyes, she said, "My name is Noemi. What's yours?" I said with a happy heart, "Aratana Hajimari, but you can call me Mike." Noemi smiled and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Mike." She stood up, and as magnificently as she appeared, was set to leave. I said in a frantic hurry, "Wait, will I ever see you again?" Noemi chuckled and said, "I come here every day at the same time, so there's a pretty good chance." It was a very good day. I found Noemi and was filled with indescribable feelings. It must have been like riding a bicycle. Once I learned, I never truly forgot. I had not died. I had merely graduated. No longer did I need Nintendo to soothe my aching heart. I could finally spread my wings and fly away. I was suddenly surrounded in light. I felt a great sense of joy and peace, but more than anything, an overwhelming sense of love. It was a state of being not unlike nirvana. I slowly began to regain consciousness and found myself to be in a room full of caring beings. They seemed very concerned with my condition. I was injected with a saline solution while my head was covered in a warm cap. One of the beings approached me and said while trying his best to contain a tear, "We thought we had lost you, Mikey!" He appeared to possess a brighter glow than the rest. I remained in intensive care for quite sometime thereafter, but I was eventually allowed to leave. Dad was waiting for me. It was time to go home. It was time to enter the third dimension.
It's not so much the destination that matters in the end, but the journey we took to get there. The people and places we encountered along the way. That's what really counts.
Eero Ränik's thoughts and condolences following my dad's passing: "My deepest condolences to his family. May his memory live on and may he rest in peace. My dad died a few years ago -- I know how hard it is to lose a close relative. I wish you all the strength you need to get through this time." -Eero Ränik (Assistant QA Manager for Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion)
World 11 Footnote Messages:World 12: Happier Trails
"I started reading Nintendo Rhapsody not too long ago. I'm on World Four. Very insightful and introspective writing. Well done!"
-Colin Fleming (High School Alumni)
"Finished your post. FYI, I left Calhi junior year. Calhi failed us on so many levels. But yes there are many things to be found of. I do enjoy your time capsule of work and writing. And Tonkovich was a diamond in the rough for sure! I graduated from Sierra Vista home schooling rather quickly after leaving and continuing work credits." -Roy Hemphill (High School Alumni)
"Like any other entertainment medium, we must create an emotional response in order to succeed. Laughter, fear, joy, affection, surprise, and - most of all - accomplishment. In the end, triggering these feelings from our players is the true judgment of our work. This is the bottom line measurement of success."
-Satoru Iwata
World 12-1: Lean on Me
Throughout my life, I have played a vast number of video games. However, very few games have entranced me the way that Chrono Trigger has. The game's art, characters, music and approach to storytelling were incredible for their time. I also happened to be obsessed with anything and everything time travel related at the time of playing. Chrono Trigger featured several different time periods, all with their own unique characters and problems to solve. It was time. Chrono Trigger beckoned me once more. I had just recently picked up the Nintendo DS version of the game and encouraged myself to play it as soon as possible. Returning to Chrono Trigger after ten years felt like seeing an old friend again. Crono was still sleeping in late, Lucca was still building various contraptions and Marle was still masquerading around the Millennial Fair. And everyone was oblivious to the existential threat facing the world. It was a moment worth savoring once more. In due time, the party would again confront the evil sleeping beneath the Earth's surface. Lavos. The Nintendo DS version of Chrono Trigger also included two entirely new areas. One of which being the Lost Sanctum. Playable from the time that the Epoch is granted the power of flight. The other being the Dimensional Vortex. Playable after Lavos is defeated. The Dimensional Vortex includes a few previously cut locations, musical tracks and enemies, and even attempts to better connect Chrono Trigger to Chrono Cross through additional story elements. The Dream Devourer awaited me at the end of the vortex. If I thought that Lavos was a challenge before, The Dream Devourer was going to be a nightmare. It was time to pack a few mega elixirs and stand by ready to heal up after every single turn. The Nightmare Devourer, as I would henceforth refer to it, possessed several attacks capable of instantly killing party members. If I was going to defeat it, I would have to be fast, and I would have to come into the battle with the strongest gear I could find. The nightmare would eventually see its end. As a special treat for having defeated it, a brand new ending was unlocked. Chrono Trigger's thirteenth ending. Fourteenth, if you count the bad ending where Lavos consumes the planet's surface. Chrono Trigger will always have a special place in my heart. It was first introduced to me through two high school friends. Their love for rich story-based JRPGs inspired me to play Chrono Trigger for the very first time and Chrono Trigger inspired me to further my own creative writing pursuits. "In our world, every storm has an end. Every night brings a new day. What's important is to trust those you love, and never give up." -Cathedral Priestess (600 AD)
I rediscovered Excitebike: World Rally while browsing through a few Wii games released in 2009. It was basically a WiiWare remake of the NES game. It included a number of new race tracks and even an updated version of the track editor. I had completely forgotten about this game's existence. Likely due to the fact that it released in November of 2009. Just one month after my dad passed away. When I first added the game to my notes, I placed it under the tenth chapter. Having not observed the game's release date. I have since moved this to the twelve chapter.
I bought the steelbook edition of Metroid Prime Trilogy from Best Buy in 2010. The paper had suggested that the price was just $20. A price that I couldn't seem to pass up. I rushed over to pick up the game and quickly checked out. I was so excited that I didn't realize the steelbook had actually registered as $50 until I was already on my way home. The $20 deal must have expired the day before. Knowing that the steelbooks were in short supply, I decided to let it slide. $50 for all three Metroid Prime games was still a pretty good deal at the time.
If I should ever write as far as the twelfth chapter of Nintendo Rhapsody, I imagine it will focus primarily on the Nintendo DS. I brought it with me on numerous nature treks and other outdoor adventures beginning in March of 2010. It was a difficult time not long after my dad passed away. I feel as though I was trying to find myself again.
The Nintendo DS feels just old enough now to be considered nostalgic. I picked up the XL in March of 2010, and for about a year or so, it was my primary camera. I brought it with me to the filming locations for Back to the Future, to Comic-Con and various bicycle treks along the San Gabriel River. For those longer treks along the San Gabriel, I loaded up the Nintendo DS with music converted into AAC format via my PC. Queen's Bicycle Race comes to mind. I think I had Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) albums on there too. I owned only a handful of games for the Nintendo DS. Those games being Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, New Super Mario Bros. and Sonic Chronicles. Game & Watch Collection was a freebie via Club Nintendo. There were also two Brain Age Express games packed into the system, alongside Photo Clock. Photo Dojo was another Nintendo DS freebie I had fun with for awhile. It was not easy trying to coordinate friends to pose for the character movesets, but it certainly made for some laughs. I seem to have lost those pictures when everything transferred over to the Nintendo 3DS.Is this Tomodachi Life? Is this just Final Fantasy? Caught in a penguin's slide. No escape from virtual reality.
Nintendo Rhapsody Chapters
World 0: The Schoolyard Menace
World 1: Far From Home
World 2: Back in the Cradle
World 3: Genesis
World 4: Trial Separation
World 5: Nintendo Strikes Back
World 6: It's About Time
World 7: The End of the Beginning
World 8: Pros and Cons
World 9: Reboot
World 10: The Telltale Heart
World 11: Going Home
World 1: Far From Home Redux
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