Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s video game imports.
Human beings are a fickle bunch. In our never-ending pursuit of good times and warm fuzzies, we often overlook just how good we’ve got it. Allow me to explain by offering a timely personal tale.
With Aksys’ announcement that its bringing Cho Aniki Zero to the PSP as a digital download, my first thoughts turned to my early days in the wild west we know as the Web. It was Fall 1998 when I was surfing the ‘net on my WebTV (yup, a WebTV–I didn’t own a PC at the time) one night when I discovered a small fan site devoted to the original PC Engine Super CD Cho Aniki game. As someone whose videogame edginess extended to Sonic impatiently tapping his foot when you didn’t move him about the screen in a certain amount of time, seeing musclebound men frolic in space with strangely phallic-shaped missile was bizarre – - and totally awesome.
Cho Aniki was my gateway drug to the import scene. I quickly began to discover the major and minor tweaks to some of my favorite titles, and knew that if I wanted the purity of the original Japanese concepts, I had to pay $80 to $100 to a grumpy store clerk in Chinatown. Despite empty pockets, it was so worth it to play Castlevania: Rondo of Blood as originally conceived, not the hacked to death SNES version. Besides, it was cool to be the kid on the block with a cool, foreign game with squiggly letters.
Do you miss the days of importing, or do you like the easy access we have to games (for the most part) today?
