Live Magazine September 2017

YOUR RETROSAY
The Gamer
THE CONTINUING STORY
In the final lead up to the year 2000
I wasn’t exactly sure where my
life was going to lead, though that
could be said of a lot of people
once they hit their early 20s... or any
age actually...
I was pretty much going through the
motions, going to work and going to
TAFE. Seeing Amy on the weekends,
and hunting for video games
and Star Wars figures filled the void
during weekends, or times I wasn’t
working or studying. It would be another
year and a bit before something
big happened.
I was still regularly checking out
eBay for my retro goodies, but I had
noticed a trend among video rental
stores. It wasn’t uncommon for the
tables in the middle of the store to
be filled with ex rental VHS tapes
and DVDs, but I was finding that
many of them would have video
games scattered around the movies.
I would find the odd game in
these bargain bins, but most of the
time they were packed with sports
titles that no one wanted to rent, let
alone buy.
Just down the road from my old
school, St Paul’s College, on Paul’s
Drive is a collection of shops. Up
until recently there was a Network
Video. I’m not sure if it’s still there,
but it was when I last checked. Back
in 1999 they were clearing out their
Super Nintendo selection, though
there were still a few games left on
the shelf. Clinton and I decided to
check the store out, possibly to hire
some movies. Clinton didn’t usually
accompany me on my retro hunts,
so that was probably why we were
there. I checked out the ex rental
bins and wasn’t too impressed with
what I was seeing. On the shelf
however I found some very desirable
SNES titles, including:
Castlevania 5: Vampire’s Kiss
Terranigma
Secret of Mana
Megaman X2
Final Fight 3
I couldn’t believe my eyes! Here
were some of my holy grail titles just
sitting on a shelf. I eagerly grabbed
them and took them to the counter.
I asked the female clerk how much
these games were, as they didn’t
have prices on them. She informed
me that they weren’t for sale. For
a minute I felt stuck. In my hands
were five games that I absolutely
had to own but she wasn’t prepared
to sell them to me. As Clinton turned
to leave my internal filter switched
off for a second and I found myself
blurting out:
“What about if I hire them and
don’t return them? What would
the penalty be?”
Clinton turned back around, eyes
wide open in shock. I was equally
as stunned that I had actually said
that. The clerk showed no sign of