Raffle: Japanese Sega Saturn Console with a dozen games

[PukeSter]

Hey PCEFX,

I got this system months ago as a gift. I never put the time aside to set it up, and the games that came with it are not my type. I can't find one of the cables, and the games include Virtua Fighter, NIGHTS, and some Human wrestling game. That said, I don't want to exactly sell it either.

This is an open raffle. Any member can join. I'm not an elitist who constantly frowns upon resellers or so called "collectards". Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the winner does sell the games. Who cares? It's all free.

Here's the catch. If you really wanna join, you gotta be sincere. Instead of a funny caption contest, which some of us aren't too great at, I'm gonna try something else.

In 500 Words or less, tell your life story. It doesn't even need to be game related.

I'm not looking necessarily for a sob story, just something that lets everyone get to know you better. If you write some bullshit post, I'm not going to consider you for the raffle.

Deadline is April 9, 2016 about 2 weeks from now. Hopefully there is also some good discussion.

If you really want a minimum post count, it is 1. This 1 post is your life story.

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~Lukester

P.S. Winner will also get to hear my life story if they choose.

[o.pwuaioc]

Very generous, lukester! The Saturn is a mighty fine console and Virtua Fighter and NIGHTS are great starter games (if you're into their types). And now that it's even easier to play imports, there's no reason not to get the console.

[TDIRunner]

That's a pretty awesome raffle.  The Saturn is an great system that I've gotten many hours of enjoyment out of.  This sounds like a great starter kit for someone.  I know you said the minimum post count is only 1, but I'll still sit this one out since I want to establish myself more before joining in on things like this.

If the winner is a first time Saturn owner, I highly recommend getting an Action Replay or any other device or mod that allows the playing of imports.  There were a lot of great games for the Saturn that never made it outside of Japan.

[esadajr]

I nominate Luke for forumite of the year.

The Satty is worth telling the story of your life.

Whoever wins it, make aure you get an action replay cart.

[xcrement5x]

I like this idea, kudos to you my man. 

[grolt]

Great to see something like this here, you're too kind, lukester.  The Saturn really is the companion console to the TG-16 - successful in Japan but a failure in NA, bolstered by a stable of great first-party titles, and filled with a library of interesting games and franchises that lived and died on that console alone.  NiGHTS is my all-time favorite game, a fever dream of color, whimsy and creativity, from it's complex A-life system to its addicting infusion of racing, platforming and flight game principles.  I bought a Saturn during its launch window with the Virtua Fighter pack-in for $550 at the time, and don't regret a thing.  It had a promo in Canada to get an additional free game, and while I picked BUG! on my SEARS mail order form, they ended up sending me some game that didn't even have the title on the spine - ASTAL I'd later learn, and while I was initially disappointed it was not the 3D game I wanted, it too ended up being one of my favorites, one of the most beautifully realized 2D platformers on any console.  Aside from the famous shooters, franchises and Treasure games on the system, there are, like the TG-16 a cavalcade of unappreciated gems on the system in virtually every genre, from the genre-bending RPG Dark Savior to the refined racing game F1 Challenge.  It really is one of the great systems, so if you've never played it yet, you owe it to yourself to bare it all to lukester in 500 words.

[schweaty]

Awesome raffle.  Really never seen anything this impressive in a forum give away, so props to ya.  I've never had a Saturn.  I don't even think I've ever even played one.  All that being said, I have wanted to get into the Saturn for a little while now and this seems like the best possible way to get introduced.  You asked for it, so I will be the first.  Life story starts now:

I will start with a some video game history (this is a video game forum after all).  Our first game console was an Intellivision.  We had donkey kong, frog bog, and one of the trons (there were a few as i recall) but i mostly liked sea battle and space battle.  Sea battle was probably a strange choice for a a young kid (it was sort of a sea-based strategy game) but the box art was incredible.  Later we had an Apple II (Summer Games anyone?).  Not much of a game machine since we only had a B/W monitor but there were a few games my dad copied (we didnt call it pirating back then.  i didnt even know you werent supposed to do that). 

When I was in the 4th grade a kid who lived down the street  got a NES.  I had never even heard of it, but all the kids started talking about it and we went to his house every day after school.  I was blown away by the graphics and the controls.  He only had Super Mario Bros, but that was all we needed.  When the kid who owned it found the warp vine on level 1-2, we didnt even believe him.  He couldnt remember how he did it, so we thought he was making stuff up.  We didnt understand how that could be a thing in video games up to that point.  That Xmas, every kid i knew got a NES and we were no exception.  We had the deluxe version with ROB the robot.  I remember getting Ikari Warriors (which i had asked for), Xevious (which I thought sucked at the time), and Metal Gear.  9 year old me really gave MG a shot, but it was just too much nuance for me to comprehend at the time.  Little did I know that would end up being the jewel of the bunch (and a great game I still enjoy playing). 

In 1990, my best friend at the time got a Genesis.  Once again, I was stunned by the graphics (and once again I got jealous).  My folks were not so much into shelling out the bucks for a new system since the NES purchase was still pretty fresh in their minds.  No amount of begging was going to get me a new console outside the birthday/xmas cycle.  My bestie had Phantasy Star II at the time and I just didnt get it.  I guess I was too much of a action/platformer/sports game player at the time.  We moved away not too long after that over the summer. 

That summer, I set my eyes on the newest (and best, so I thought) system out there.  It was going to make my buddy's Genny look like a pong machine in comparison.  It was the TurboGrafx-16.  And that Xmas..... I GOT ONE!!!!  My first 2 games were KC and Splatterhouse (which I asked for).  Splatterhouse I really liked.  I was genuinely afraid the first time I got to Biggy Man.  KC I was less enamored with.  Frankly, it sucked (and still does).  I just didnt get it (and still dont... I mean, why would you bring a video game based on a Japanese anime TV show that was never introduced to the US public to be your introduction of your system to America?).  Unfortunately, those were the only 2 games I ever owned.  I remember renting  Bonk's Adventure and Legendary Axe I & II from the video store.  This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but never could get past the first level on Bonk.  I didnt realize you had to "Bonk" the lizard on the head to get him to open his mouth.  None the less, I still remember renting it at least 3 times. 

Unfortunately, and I wasnt the only one to do this, I sort of gave up on the Turbografx in 1991 (shame... shame... shame... *rings bell).  I loved the idea of the Hucards and the Turbo Express, but it was so expensive, I didnt even ask my folks for it.  Additionally, once the CDROM add-on came out, I convinced myself all the really good games would only come out on CD and I would never be able to get one.  That was also way out of reach for me and my folks at the time.  So time went on and I picked up a Super Nintendo in HighSchool but it was just a casual thing at this point in my life.  In college i didnt do much console gaming at all.  All I really had time for was a little Diablo and Starcraft on my roommate's PC (this introduced me to PC gaming which is all I really did until I got into "Retro" gaming in 2012).  That's probably the main reason, I never got into the Saturn.  I was a very busy poor college student with neither the time or resources for it. 

Now for the rest of the boring bits:  After college, I joined the Air Force.  I finished my AWACS training in 2001, then 9-11 happened and changed everything.  Many deployments followed and I am deployed right now as I am typing this.  You know what they say "May you live in interesting times".  Well, my 16 years in the AF have always been interesting.  That's the short and sweet of it.  Good luck to everyone in the raffle.

-dan

[TDIRunner]

I think that was more than 500 words.

[Dicer]

Awesome raffle...Saturn is my fave of that gen, and with that being said.

Here is a great gaming story of my life....

Playstation, Illegitimate child and near death
I almost died when I was 23 (Viral fluid infection in my hip joint that led to an Pulmonary Embolism) and I was pissed cause the original Playstation came out and I had one waiting for me if I lived, I had like a 85% chance of kicking the bucket, but obv that didn't happen. Anyway I lived and the girl I was dating had her kid while I was in hospital, only it wasn't MY kid...was my old roommates. She had bought me the Playstation and asked for it back when we broke up, that was a good hearty laugh I had for myself. I played the shit out of that thing at my Grandparents house while I re-couped. I also really needed to get my rocks off after a month in the hospital, so my grandparents left one day for a bit so I raided gramps Videotape porn stash and popped one in and got down to biz, in the living room on my knees cranking away, got the job done all over the living room floor, no problem, I'll get up and clean up my shame put the tape back...only my legs were stuck from not being used very much while in bed dying, so I freak cause I am stuck on my knees jizz all over the carpet and grandparents set to come back sooner than later. Regardless, I managed to unstick my locked knees wipe up my shame and get the tape back in it's proper slot with about a minute to spare.  Also, they took care of my Iguana while I was in hospital and two old folks they never made a lizard look so happy an healthy. There was also a moment of my ass being cleaned out by a hot Asian nurse, cause my bowels were impacted, but that's another story for another day.

Idk if that's 500 words, but all of it is true...and for your enjoyment.

[TheClash603]

Great raffle, someone will get something awesome.

I never have owned a JP Saturn, I always used the Game Shark to play imports...  but my damn slot is all jacked up now.  No need to enter me, but JP saturn or some sort of region switch is the only way to go

[TR0N]

Very generous raffle i don't need to be enter i have mine still and plenty of games for it.Good luck to all those that and enter and remember you must play sega saturn !

[Bloufo]

Awesome raffle...Saturn is my fave of that gen, and with that being said.

Here is a great gaming story of my life....

Playstation, Illegitimate child and near death
I almost died when I was 23 (Viral fluid infection in my hip joint that led to an Pulmonary Embolism) and I was pissed cause the original Playstation came out and I had one waiting for me if I lived, I had like a 85% chance of kicking the bucket, but obv that didn't happen. Anyway I lived and the girl I was dating had her kid while I was in hospital, only it wasn't MY kid...was my old roommates. She had bought me the Playstation and asked for it back when we broke up, that was a good hearty laugh I had for myself. I played the shit out of that thing at my Grandparents house while I re-couped. I also really needed to get my rocks off after a month in the hospital, so my grandparents left one day for a bit so I raided gramps Videotape porn stash and popped one in and got down to biz, in the living room on my knees cranking away, got the job done all over the living room floor, no problem, I'll get up and clean up my shame put the tape back...only my legs were stuck from not being used very much while in bed dying, so I freak cause I am stuck on my knees jizz all over the carpet and grandparents set to come back sooner than later. Regardless, I managed to unstick my locked knees wipe up my shame and get the tape back in it's proper slot with about a minute to spare.  Also, they took care of my Iguana while I was in hospital and two old folks they never made a lizard look so happy an healthy. There was also a moment of my ass being cleaned out by a hot Asian nurse, cause my bowels were impacted, but that's another story for another day.

Idk if that's 500 words, but all of it is true...and for your enjoyment.

I wasn't sure you were on the level, but the Iguana story at the end made it real for me.

BTW, being in hospital is a great way to get free stuff. Folks tend to feel all sorry and shit for your predicament. That's how I scored a steering wheel and pedals for ps1 when I was in hospital in a coma due to accidental poisoning. Even slightly moldy Greek Feta cheese can do that to you. Stomach pumps are not cool.

[wildfruit]

Hello everyone. I'm Chris, I'm 32 and I'm from England. I have a wife, 2 children and a modest home. I am not university educated but I educate myself. My first console was NES when I was about 8 or 9. Then game boy, mega drive. The list goes on. I can fly a light aircraft. I like computer games and not much else. I grew up in a dodgy place called Dagenham and now live in a slightly less dodgy place. Was recently on the verge of bankruptcy but after a divine intervention I am comfortable. I like holidaying on a little Portuguese island called Porto Santo.
In short I would like your Saturn please.

[Medic_wheat]

My life story:


I came


I saw


I typically fucked things up

Then I made a sandwich.

[EvilEvoIX]

My life story begins in the suburbs of Central NJ.  I come from a mixed family of Irish and Italian immigrants who had come to NYC at the turn of the century.  Their names are within Ellis Island.  I am proud of both of my Grandparents as they both fought in World War II (One on the Island hop in Japan slowing taking over Island after Island building airports until we dropped the big one, the other pushing up through Africa into Italy killing Nazi's and Fascists.) After the War, both my parents were born and raised in Brooklyn and once I was born they didn't want to raise me in the city and chose a suburban lifestyle.

Growing up I  had the text book suburban lifestyle.  I had a great house, over an acre of backyard enclosed by trees where I could play with my friends and launch model rockets I built while in the Boy Scouts.  I had to mow that lawn every Saturday without fail!.  My father was a Computer Engineer and we had a PC through my entire life.  While I was a young we had a Colecovison with the Atari 2600 adapter.  I remember playing Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Lady Bug, Smurf, and Zaxxon.  Little did I know that would be the last Video Game console they would EVER get me  growing up.  My father had seen the Video Game Crash 1st hand in 1983 and thought that consoles were waste of money and inferior to a PC.

Gaming began with a IBM Compatible 386. Had a bunch of older DOS games but then the Kings Quest Series, best ever.  I had the old Duke Nukem, Police Quest, Demon Stalkers, A10 Tank Killer, Ninja Turtles, Arctic Fox.  I came home from school one day and my dad was playing Wolfenstein 3D for the first time and I was blown away.  The Nazi symbolism, the blood, the 3D(ish)!   This was my go to game until my friend called me one day said he was playing this new game DOOM.  I rode my bike over to his house and was in awe.  Slept over his house the first weekend after that and played it the entire weekend.  I was so jealous as he had a 486 which was powerful enough to do way more than my old Dos Prompt beast.   My old 386 couldn't run doom.  I would have to wait until later in 1995 when we got a Gateway Pentium 60MHZ.  Doom was mine then.

I loved PC gaming, friends would "Copy that Floppy" in school and we could trade games.  Copy protection then was answering a question in the instruction manual like a letter, word, or phrase (I remember calling friends who had the game to give me the code word just to play the new game) so we would make copies of the entire booklet and share games.  Good times.  I could go on but I've just hit the 500 word limit right exactly NOW!

[PukeSter]

I want to remind people that the prompt is 500 words or less. Imagine this like a college application.

Evo and schweaty, nice stories! But you guys will need to revise in order to be considered. Schweaty, yours is about 900. Evo, yours is over 600.

Use this site to double check

https://wordcounter.net

[EvilEvoIX]

I want to remind people that the prompt is 500 words or less. Imagine this like a college application.

Evo and schweaty, nice stories! But you guys will need to revise in order to be considered. Schweaty, yours is about 900. Evo, yours is over 600.

Use this site to double check

https://wordcounter.net

FIXED!!!  500 on the nose.  Thanks again, I actually enjoyed reminiscing and how good things were, I never new how good I had it my dad was right.

[bartre]

I'm not gonna post my life story, just my PCEFX story.

I joined in 2010, after discovering how much of a shithole Digitpress.com was.
it really bugged me how much those folks were motivated by rarity or the money they spent on the gaming hobby.
I decided to make an account here to see about finding some games that i didn't have for the PC Engine Duo-R i had just bought (Ys books 1&2 being the favorite of the games i did have)
but i guess i found more than that, i pretty quickly found myself hanging out in the shoutbox (when the site had it) and talking to the longtime members more and more.
later, in 2011, i brought up to my girlfriend at the time the Midwest Gaming Classic.
to my surprise she was all about going and we attended that year, finally meeting in person several members here.
I've since gone to MGC every year, seeing the same people grow (along with myself) and I would do anything for the friends I've made here.
This is my second home; I can't fuck up for this.

[LostFlunky]

Thanks for the raffle.  Too bad you don't feel the Saturn is your cup of tea - It is pretty much a SMUTs or SMCHMUMPS or SMBS and BEMP or BEMUP or BTSOUS paradise though.  Good luck to the entrants.

[bob]

if i win, i have concerns about how you might package it for shipping.  can you 100% guarantee that it will arrive safe and working?  can you insure it so you dont waste my time?

[o.pwuaioc]

Thanks for the raffle.  Too bad you don't feel the Saturn is your cup of tea - It is pretty much a SMUTs or SMCHMUMPS or SMBS and BEMP or BEMUP or BTSOUS paradise though.  Good luck to the entrants.

Technically he only said that the games that came with it aren't his type, which is fair. 3D fighters aren't my thing either, and NiGHTS is a divisive game (I won't say love it or hate it, since hate is a strong word, but you either really like it, or it is only a neat tech demo).

But yeah, Saturn is awesome for shewties.

[Medic_wheat]

if i win, i have concerns about how you might package it for shipping.  can you 100% guarantee that it will arrive safe and working?  can you insure it so you dont waste my time?

Not sure if trolling or being honest in expression of opinin.

[EvilEvoIX]

if i win, i have concerns about how you might package it for shipping.  can you 100% guarantee that it will arrive safe and working?  can you insure it so you dont waste my time?

Not sure if trolling or being honest in expression of opinin.

Probably a little of both.  The Saturn is a great system.  i had one for $50 after it died and the three pack in games.  Got the second panzer dragon and played it to death.  Never went deep with it cuz I had a PS1 at that point.

[BlueBMW]

I grew up in the suburbs of Denver Colorado.  My father was an engineer, my mother a nurse.  We were well off but not exactly wealthy.  I was always kind of that geeky smart kid but I wasn't exactly socially adept.  I started playing computer games and board games at a really young age.  My first PC game was Civilization in around 1991.  I would sit and watch my dad play that game for hours and hours.  Eventually I just flipped the machine on and started playing.  I would have been about 7 years old at the time. 

So youth turned into adolescence and then into young adulthood.  I attended Littleton High School and graduated in 2002.  Following graduation my folks retired and moved to Knoxville, TN.  Being 18 and clueless at the time I moved with them.  I attended technical school for automotive technology and after a year I started working at a BMW dealer as a technician.   Less than two years later a friend offered me a job with his father's plastic injection mold-making company.  I ended up working there for three years.  While the work was interesting and I was really quite talented at it I decided that seventy hour weeks were not the way I wanted to spend my life.  It was then that I decided to return to college.

Having bought at house at age 21, and having left what was relatively high paying employment I needed to earn a decent wage while working out the means to return to school.  I ended up returning to the BMW dealer and continuing to work as a technician.  In 2008 I started taking college classes at a local community college there in Knoxville, TN.  Six years passed while I toiled away as a BMW mechanic and took college classes at night.  It was a slow and difficult process.  The truth was it was taking too long.  In 2013 I made the decision to move back to Colorado and pursue full time school.

Summer of 2014 I finally made arrangements to move back to Colorado.  I moved in with a friend and essentially sold my home to my parents who were looking to downsize.  One year after moving back to Colorado I resumed school at the University of Colorado at Denver.  This time I was attending full time while I worked a full time night shift manufacturing job.  So that brings us to today.  I am in my second semester of attending full time and have just recently left my manufacturing job for an internship.  Last week I started work at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO assisting researchers in whatever projects they are working on.  In order to afford the intern life I moved back in with my parents who moved back to the Denver area this year.  My goal is to finish a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and then continue on to graduate school for energy research.  I hope to graduate by age 36.

[slinkyturd]

I was born in Pittsburgh, Pa to a heavily Mormon family. I'm told I was a sociable kid. We moved a couple of times when I was young. At age 2 to Virginia outside of DC and June 28, 1990 to Boston. Now I was very much on my way to becoming the typical backwood rube that populates the mid-atlantic Appalachian countryside. The Northeast is a different animal though. The typical person there is sarcastically sharp and quick of wit. A slow talking bumpkin like myself was like the lamb in the lion's den in Boston and in truth I didn't assimilate well or at least quickly. I can remember in forth grade giving up on the morality of not swearing. I actually practiced in my room so that it sounded natural. In high school that assimilation process was completed. I was the class clown and king of freaks' corner. My folks divorced shortly thereafter and when my dad met a woman on line, I moved with him to northern California which is where she was in 2003. I lost my faith and had to leave. The whole situation was sour. Our moral outlooks on life didn't match anymore, and she was (and still is) a complete cunt. I became a door to door salesman of pest control in Arizona in January of 2005. I failed miserably at it. 2 weeks, no pay, no sales all in the hot sun. I decided to try my hand at spraying instead of selling. I excelled at it! I bounced back and forth over the next 4 years between northern California working at Blockbuster and a city of my choosing to spray bugs in the summers. I was so good at it that salesmen still call me to come spray for them. I was able to travel all over as a result -Arizona, Colorado, Washington state, Idaho, Utah, Chicago, and Baltimore. I loved the work, but the hours were too demanding. It's an 80 hr/week job. I don't have the patience for it now. So I worked retail. Blockbuster became Harbor Freight Tools when they all went out of business. I injured my back there and was bed-ridden for 6 months. I've not worked since then. I realized that I was underutilizing my mind and could no longer work a job that required my physique more than that. I've re-entered school. I got my associates last year -something that took me 8 or 9 years to do. I brought my low 2 GPA up to a 3.2 in the process and hope to be attending Berkeley in the fall for History. I think I want to teach while writing books. Not sure yet if I want to write in regards to history and religion or history and economics but both seem interesting. For now I play the waiting game till the fall. Between gaming (primarily PS2 at this point) and torturing my friends with the best bad movies I can find, I keep busy.

[PukeSter]

if i win

How about you actually post something first, and then we can talk.

I'm excited to hear your story Galam!

Note to everyone, pictures will be up tomorrow.

[Koop]

Life story

Wow. Well, I guess here is my entry.

I too was raised in the suburbs of Central NJ. I too came from a mixed Irish and Italian family. My Grandfather also fought in World War II, in fact, he was at pearl harbor during the attack from the Japanese- he lost partial hearing in one of his ears that day. My parents honestly were honestly not well off, but my father worked in many trades- carpentry, electrification, building maintenance... We certainly did not have a backyard like yours I can say that much!

My parents actually really enjoyed video games. They had Pong, they bought an intellivision- to them a video game console was a sure gift. Growing up my older brother and sister (my sister being the oldest) both got game consoles. My sister started with a master system while my brother got an NES. I honestly cannot remember a time in my life where a video game console was not easily accessible- for better or worse. Eventually my sister got a Genesis and my brother got a TG-16, and eventually even a Turbo Duo. Whenever they weren't playing I would be. My father busted his ass to actually make a really great entertainment center in our basement (now a mess ever since hurricane sandy) where the Duo was set up. First console I ever got to say was my own was a SNES I got for my birthday. My grandfather every weekend would take me down to the game rental store where I'd rent Genesis or SNES game for the weekend.

My dad tried to get me to do a lot of sports like my older brother. Baseball, football, all that sort of stuff. Honestly though I absolutely hated it, mostly because my dad was always the coach.

 I don't really remember when, but obvious sometime in the mid 90s my Uncle bought us our first gateway computer with windows 95. I guess it goes without saying that the internet was absolutely life changing. So with the world's information at my fingertips of course all I did was read about video games, emulation, and PC gaming haha.

Fast forward to 2001 with the release of the Gamecube. My father brought me to the nearby Best Buy- I'll never forget how cold it was. Looking back my dad got me that Gamecube for no reason other than to make me happy. I spent many afternoons with friends playing games like Melee with my friends, it really brought us all together.

Unfortunately after I moved out of my parents home I lost a lot of the games I grew up with to theft. That's a whole story in itself sadly. To this day I am trying to get back what I had.

I talked about my dad a lot because sadly he passed away. Yesterday was his birthday and I still miss him very much. Thank you dad for all the sweat, blood, and tears you shed your whole life to raise our family. Thank you.

[Medic_wheat]

Guess I'll post something real. Although I do like my rift on the quote vēnī, vīdī, vīcī.

Life story:

I was borne premature with my twin sister. My mother call us to Thai day her mirical babies as we were not expected to survive being born nearly a full trimester earlie. My parents would moment how we each could be held in the palm of their hand and dolls clothing fit us.

Going through school was "an experience". Being held back first grade because you couldn't read and being placed in special education due to a mixture of dyslexia and ADHD is so the way to become popular. More so when your mother is considered a ball buster of a teacher during your Jr high and high school years.

Eventually I graduated high school and entered college because my parents didn't want me to make the same mistakes they did. My father himself a high school dropped out only to later obtains bachelors in science mathematician. All this while inky taking night courses and working full time in a job he hated.

I attended community college but it wasn't for me. Feeling of directionless and doubts of my future lead me to drop out softly after 9/11. However I made a deal to complete a degree in something prior to enlistment with my parents. The following semester I obtained my associated of education in teaching.

I enlisted in the Army fully aware that it was no longer "party" time like it was for many family members who joined right out of high school. I like to think that mentality prepared me for combat as a medic and infantry Army solider.  It didn't.

I served eight years and eventually grew tired of it. I was to driven to excel and too stupid to play the game for promotion. So after separation I returned home and completed graduate studies. In-between service I obtained a bachelors degree in psychology and was half way done with graduate studies.

After completion of my graduate studies I went to work for the state as a rehabilitation counselor. This meant I helped those with disabilities such as myself ovarian and retain employment. This also meant I became a desk jocky developing long narratives as to why this person or that was found entitled or not for services and what those services entailed.

Recently I made the leap from state to federal with the VA. I also married two years prior and Annie a father of an 11 month old. This has now brought with it new challenges and introspective insights as to what future I now see for me.

I plan to enter into doctoral studies in 2018. Why 2018?  Well firstly I wish to cement my new job and my own confidence in my abilities. Secondly being a parent especially for a young child is draining. Best to be prepared for the efforts of a doctoral program instead of barging head long squandering effort money and potential before I am ready. The good thing is I still have 13 months of my post 9/11 education benefits remaining. I then have Hazzelwood Act for having enlisted in Texas for the remainder of school. Beyond that time will tell.

[o.pwuaioc]

removed

[cr8zykuban0]

very awesome raffle man! i absolutely love the sega saturn. i currently have 2 different japanese saturns (gray and white) hooked up to 2 different tvs so dont enter me in the raffle. just wanted to give you props on the awesome raffle

[Sarumaru]

Oh, baby-lukes. you are a clever little egg~ 

[EvilEvoIX]

life story

Amazing parallels!  You think that the life you have growing up is your own but as time passes you realize it's a shared experience.  You were very lucky to have all those consoles.  Sounds like you ruled during the 8-bit to 16 bit period and it must have been a blast.

[Medic_wheat]

Medic_wheat, whose boobs are those you've linked us to in your signature? 

Interesting. Well had best delet that signature link lol. Might get in trouble having nudity linked.


The boobs are of a old FWB from my single years.

In fact many of these pictures are single years. Well minus Pat screen grabbed images of his porno and the one image of my wife (sorry non nude) lol.

[Koop]

life story

Amazing parallels!  You think that the life you have growing up is your own but as time passes you realize it's a shared experience.  You were very lucky to have all those consoles.  Sounds like you ruled during the 8-bit to 16 bit period and it must have been a blast.

Haha yeah you can definitely say I was classically educated, I am very fortunate that I got to experience all the games I did growing up. Would've told more but I ran out of words! I actually got to experience a bunch more major console afterwards too- N64, PS1 (my brother got the PS1, I will never forget the Christmas he got Final Fantasy 7), PS2, Xbox... Didn't get a Dreamcast till after the fact and never got a chance at the Saturn till recently. It's interesting though because I obviously never got the same real exposure to PC gaming like you did. Of course I play most new releases on PC.

Nowadays modern consoles just feel like shitty PCs, especially compared to how things were in the past. I guess you could argue it was always like that but now it's just so much easier to pick up a multiplatform title on PC and run it 10x better than a console release. The same magic just doesn't seem like it's there- but I guess I am just getting old.

Anyhow if anything it's cool to see someone else who grew up in NJ. NJ pride or something like that I suppose lol

Looks like lukester's plan worked. 

[Sarumaru]

The sega saturn was my first internet device in 1996. Working at a blockbuster video at the time, I was too poor for a computer. Traded games on bbs sites like cd-rom trader on my blazing-fast 28k connection. Those were the days~ This topic is making me want to play some Saturn now.

[BigusSchmuck]

Life story.. To be continued when I get home from work. I plan to write about my childhood experience from the neo classic era of arcade gaming.

[ginoscope]

My life story thus far....

Born in Long Island, NY to Puerto Rican parents who moved when mom was pregnant with me for a better life for us.  I went to Catholic school where I was always into getting decent grades but had a serious issue with rules and authority.  My dad worked for Grumman as a mechanic on the F-14 so he was always into gadgets.  In the 80s he got the computer fever and he got a commodore 64.  My siblings and I ended up using it more and I even had magazines that showed me how to program in basic.  This is funny because it was the start of my future career that I had no clue at the time.

In 1989 at age 13 my parents moved us to Texas and I was in culture shock.  As a way to help me fit in the parents got me a TG16 that summer since I adjusted so well to Texas.  The thing with moving south was that I was so ahead education wise that my classes were so easy.  Around the time I was about to graduate high school the old man expected me to be a mechanic like him.  I refused and decided to go to college which was a black sheep move in my blue collar family.  Still to this day most of my family think of me as an outsider because I went to college.  I know it's really insane but reality sucks sometimes.

In college I rediscovered my love for programming and went on to major in it.  Crazy thing being that after the C64 I did not own a computer again until I was in college in 1998.  It's been almost 16 years since I graduated college and I have been pretty successful as a software developer.  It boggles my mind that the thing I did for fun on the commodore in 1986 ended up being my career. 

As great as my career turned out my luck with woman was horrible.  The first wife was pretty mentally abusive but I finally woke up and left.  I am happily married again with 3 great kids but it's been quite the ride.

This journey always made me fond of the TG16 since it was there when I moved and it helped me a lot through my divorce.

The end for now....

[BigusSchmuck]

Life story right. As some of you know, I grew up in a small little redneck town called Goldendale WA where the cows were plenty and country music blaring on every street corner. During the late 80s early 90s though this town went through a crazy kind of boom with arcade games. Hell, there was arcades in even the freaking gas stations and super markets! One of my fondest memories was going to a small little frozen yogurt shop called the Sub Shop to munch on pizza and frozen yogurt. In the depths of this place, was a little arcade. When I was about 7 years old, they had all sorts of System 16 games and a NES Playchoice cabinet. If I recall correctly they had Outrun (had to get a stool to steer the damn thing lol), Golden Axe, Hang On, Gradius and Goonies. Golden Axe, by far was my favorite there and my go to machine. I never managed the finish it, but I eventually got it on the Genesis years later. Over the years they would swap out these machines with crazy titles like Rygar, Atomic Robo Kid, and Superman but for some reason that Golden Axe machine never really left the building. Even after several owners bought the building, changed it from a pizza joint to a sandwich shop, and then to some sort of gift shop that cabinet stayed put. Since about the mid 2000s, the building has been closed down sadly. I still drive by there on an occasion and peek through the window and can see that Golden Axe cabinet staring right back at me. Perhaps one day I'll purchase that iconic machine when I get the room in my garage.

[TR0N]

The sega saturn was my first internet device in 1996. Working at a blockbuster video at the time, I was too poor for a computer. Traded games on bbs sites like cd-rom trader on my blazing-fast 28k connection. Those were the days~ This topic is making me want to play some Saturn now.

Talking about the saturn netlink ? That was also my first internet connection as well.It's internet browser was good enough beside playing lot's of dukem nukem 3D and saturn bomberman online.

[EvilEvoIX]

Life story right. As some of you know, I grew up in a small little redneck town called Goldendale WA where the cows were plenty and country music blaring on every street corner. During the late 80s early 90s though this town went through a crazy kind of boom with arcade games. Hell, there was arcades in even the freaking gas stations and super markets! One of my fondest memories was going to a small little frozen yogurt shop called the Sub Shop to munch on pizza and frozen yogurt. In the depths of this place, was a little arcade. When I was about 7 years old, they had all sorts of System 16 games and a NES Playchoice cabinet. If I recall correctly they had Outrun (had to get a stool to steer the damn thing lol), Golden Axe, Hang On, Gradius and Goonies. Golden Axe, by far was my favorite there and my go to machine. I never managed the finish it, but I eventually got it on the Genesis years later. Over the years they would swap out these machines with crazy titles like Rygar, Atomic Robo Kid, and Superman but for some reason that Golden Axe machine never really left the building. Even after several owners bought the building, changed it from a pizza joint to a sandwich shop, and then to some sort of gift shop that cabinet stayed put. Since about the mid 2000s, the building has been closed down sadly. I still drive by there on an occasion and peek through the window and can see that Golden Axe cabinet staring right back at me. Perhaps one day I'll purchase that iconic machine when I get the room in my garage.

Dude,  buy the machine.  It'll complete you.

[Koop]

Dude,  buy the machine.  It'll complete you.

I know right? You gotta get that Golden Axe! Imagine that as the conclusion of the story- full circle, would be so cool.

If it's been in that building for so long who owns it? Heck why not just sneak in one day... 

[BigusSchmuck]

Dude,  buy the machine.  It'll complete you.

I know right? You gotta get that Golden Axe! Imagine that as the conclusion of the story- full circle, would be so cool.

If it's been in that building for so long who owns it? Heck why not just sneak in one day... 

Not sure as it has passed so many hands over the past 25 years. Next time I'm in the area, I'll inquire about it again. And maybe take some pictures too while I'm at it. Just as long as they don't turn the building into another church (16 in a town of 3500). Gawd, they did that with the Bowling Alley and so many people had a shit fit it was ridiculous. Anyway, awesome raffle Luke!

[PukeSter]

True to my word, here is a photo of the goods. I won't be able to ship until Sunday. Winner is chosen tomorrow.

[Medic_wheat]

True to my word, here is a photo of the goods. I won't be able to ship until Sunday. Winner is chosen tomorrow.

/1z3m5nk.jpg

Cool beans.

[EvilEvoIX]

True to my word, here is a photo of the goods. I won't be able to ship until Sunday. Winner is chosen tomorrow.
/1z3m5nk.jpg

Very nice!

[PukeSter]

After careful consideration, the winner is...

Medic_Wheat! Your story had a consistent focus, little focus on gaming, more focus on your personal life and career. I also identify with you as a premature baby. I had other delays instead of dyslexia however, that took me years to overcome. You used the tools you were given and made an impressive career and family for yourself. PM me for your address.

Dicer with 2nd place, for having the balls to tell such a strange tale about his blue balls. ;) No prize but bragging rights.

[Koop]

Grats to the winner!

[BigusSchmuck]

Well congrats! Be sure to get plenty of Saturn goodness for your new console!

[Medic_wheat]

Well congrats! Be sure to get plenty of Saturn goodness for your new console!

I have a "little"






This worked out for me as my Saturn system recently died. 


After it was dropped duri my move to the house. 


From the  third flood of an apartment building.

[Medic_wheat]

The one missing the side art with game name is Saturn Bomberman.