{"id":2886,"date":"2013-06-19T12:29:02","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T12:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2886"},"modified":"2013-06-19T12:35:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T12:35:02","slug":"e3-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=2886","title":{"rendered":"E3 Memories…"},"content":{"rendered":"

People\u00a0did it on Twitter, and\u00a0a few other websites did it as well, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon!\u00a0\u00a0Here are\u00a0some of\u00a0my favourite\u00a0E3 memories!<\/p>\n

1995<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first E3 brings back a few memories, mainly\u00a0related to\u00a0issues of\u00a0Nintendo Power<\/em> that were quite memorable for one reason or another.\u00a0 As expected, Nintendo had a pretty strong presence, and used the event to unveil their “VR32” project…\u00a0 ah yes, the Virtual Boy.\u00a0 Sony might have stolen some of the spotlight from Sega and Nintendo by showing plenty of now-classic PlayStation games, but the house Miyamoto built had “virtual reality” in their corner.\u00a0\u00a0Games could finally be played\u00a0in “full 3D”.<\/p>\n

This was the way of the future!<\/p>\n

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\"Look<\/a>

Look at all the awesome colours!
It’s bordering on false advertising, but it’s still a great cover.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Of course, Nintendo Power<\/em> magazine went all out with their coverage of the Virtual Boy.\u00a0\u00a0I got this\u00a0particular issue\u00a0in the mail\u00a0the same day\u00a0we\u00a0went to see friends at their cottage by the lake.\u00a0 I didn’t know these people at all, and I had no interest in\u00a0being social that day.\u00a0 Once we got to their place, I opened the plastic bag the NP was in, ripped out the 3D glasses and\u00a0read in the car.<\/p>\n

The Virtual Boy was truly shaping up to be a great little system, and the VR-like headset really made it seem like it was the beginning of “the future”.\u00a0 Even though the graphics would only be in shades of red and black, I couldn’t wait to give it a shot for myself.\u00a0 The 3D images in that\u00a0magazine\u00a0were incredibly fun to look at, so the thought of playing Mario<\/em> or Zelda<\/em> games in such a way got me all pumped to try it out.<\/p>\n

It was going to\u00a0be on my Christmas list, that much was certain!<\/p>\n

Eventually, I ran out of articles to read, so I moseyed into the cottage to join my parents.\u00a0 It’s a good thing I did, because my dad and the guy (I still have no idea who it was) were about to head out for a boat ride on the lake.\u00a0 It had a motor and\u00a0went pretty fast, and I ended up having a great time!<\/p>\n

As we zoomed across the lake, I could see a split in the trees in the distance.\u00a0\u00a0As I looked at\u00a0the trees\u00a0in both\u00a0the foreground and the background, it dawned on me;\u00a0 at that very moment, I thought to myself “this\u00a0WHOLE WORLD is in\u00a03D!!”\u00a0 My mind was blown.\u00a0 I mean, I already knew this, but I was 11, and the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.<\/p>\n

It was\u00a0then that I realized\u00a0there wasn’t anything all that special about\u00a0a red and black video game in 3D.\u00a0 After that unexpected little boat ride, I didn’t want a Virtual Boy so bad after that.\u00a0 I finally got to play it for myself a little while before Christmas that year, and though the 3D effects were cool enough, I\u00a0wanted one even less afterwards.<\/p>\n

The Virtual Boy will definitely go down as an ambitious console that took a big\u00a0gamble and failed.\u00a0 Still, it paved the way for the 3DS many years later, which is a fantastic little device!<\/p>\n

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\"I<\/a>

I had these forever, but they ended up falling apart from me using them so much. \ud83d\ude41<\/p><\/div>\n

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Donkey Kong Land<\/em> was actually featured in\u00a0the issue\u00a0the month before, since it had been announced (if I remember correctly) at SpaceWorld in May.\u00a0 While it wasn’t quite E3, SpaceWorld (also known as Shoshinkai) was actually hosted by Nintendo themselves.\u00a0\u00a0Simply put, they’d use E3 to show off their new stuff later on, but it was at Shoshinkai\u00a0that they would unveil it all.<\/p>\n

They showed a lot of Nintendo 64 footage that year, and though that was bound to garner lots of\u00a0coverage from Nintendo Power<\/em>, it was the surprise announcement of DKL<\/em> for Game Boy\u00a0that had people curious.<\/p>\n

How could an 8-bit system like the Game Boy handle the awesome\u00a0rendering\u00a0seen in Donkey Kong Country<\/em>?\u00a0 It seemed nearly impossible, and the cover story for the July ’95 issue reflected that sense of disbelief.<\/p>\n

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\""ACM<\/a>

“ACM on Game Boy? When Pigs Fly (partially covered by the address sticker)”<\/p><\/div>\n

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I used to bring in copies of the magazine for reading period at school.\u00a0 Bringing English reading material to a French school was somewhat frowned upon, but I never got into trouble for it.\u00a0 In any case, whenever I was done reading an issue, I’d let my friend Jan read it.<\/p>\n

A year or so down the road, Jan and I were talking about games one day.\u00a0 He brings up the Donkey Kong<\/em> games, and asked whether or not I had ever played Donkey Kong Land: When Pigs Fly <\/em>for Game Boy.\u00a0 I didn’t correct him, but I knew exactly where it was that he’d picked that up from!<\/p>\n

I haven’t spoken to Jan in quite some time, but I wonder if he still thinks the full title of DKL<\/em> ends in “When Pigs Fly”.\u00a0 I always get a chuckle when I think of that!<\/p>\n

This post definitely got a bit longer than I expected, so I’ll probably make a couple more E3 posts.\u00a0 For now, I’ll leave you not with footage from E3 ’95, but SpaceWorld ’95!\u00a0 Giddyup!<\/p>\n

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