{"id":107,"date":"2011-08-30T23:46:48","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T23:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=107"},"modified":"2011-08-30T23:51:10","modified_gmt":"2011-08-30T23:51:10","slug":"tmnt-nes-and-mega-man-3-nes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"TMNT (NES) and Mega Man 3 (NES)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might seem strange on the surface, but for me, these two distinct titles are forever linked.<\/p>\n

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1989 - NES (Konami\\Ultra)<\/p><\/div>\n

And…<\/p>\n

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1990 - NES (Capcom)<\/p><\/div>\n

When Mega Man 3<\/em> came out, I was fortunate enough to have gotten it for Christmas.\u00a0 I was so excited to finally own a Mega Man<\/em> title, that it actually ranks up there in my \u201cFavourite Christmas Moments of All Time\u201d.\u00a0 The game was just that great.<\/p>\n

What wasn\u2019t there to love?\u00a0 The bosses could be fought however the heck you wanted to (without any one perfect route), Mega Man had a nifty slide move, and best of all, you had a sidekick worth keeping in Rush \u201cThe Robodog\u201d.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if his surname ever stuck, but it sure worked better than \u201c1\u201d, \u201c2\u201d, and \u201c3\u201d from the second game.<\/p>\n

Even though it was many times tougher than the prior games in the series (mostly due to the re-appearance of the Mega Man 2<\/em> bosses), I managed to zip through it and have it almost<\/em> beaten by the time I went back to class after Christmas break.\u00a0 I can remember the excitement of getting to that first Wily Stage upstairs in my grandmother\u2019s bedroom, which is where I kept my NES hooked up on the longer trips.\u00a0 That under-water boss fight was intense!!<\/p>\n

The first time I beat the game, my best friend and neighbor Josh was there.\u00a0 We found out we had to beat Dr. Wily using the most ridiculous power up ever conceived for a Mega Man<\/em> game (up until that point, anyway).<\/p>\n

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The Top Spin...<\/p><\/div>\n

The credits rolled, and I couldn\u2019t help but find the music incredibly sad.\u00a0 The entire game\u2019s soundtrack was amazing, and the 5-note Proto Man intro music was no exception.\u00a0 So, when they took it and wrote an entire 3-minute tune out of it, I had gone from thinking \u201cawesome tune!\u201d to \u201cdid Proto Man die??\u201d\u00a0 The part of the credits where his image is in the sky certainly helped push me into thinking that.<\/p>\n

With the game complete, I did as I often would do with certain friends \u2013 trade one game for another, just for kicks. \u00a0Josh got Mega Man 3<\/em>, and I got Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I always thought it was a tough game, and I always thought that if I could get past the dreaded Dam level, I was golden!\u00a0 I managed to do that a few times, and even made it as far as rescuing Splinter at the end of the confusing Turtle Van level.\u00a0 In my mind, I had rescued both April O\u2019Neil and Splinter \u2013 why bother with the rest of the game?\u00a0 My job is done.\u00a0 Let Shredder terrorize New York City, cuz I\u2019m quitting.\u00a0 See you at the beach…<\/em><\/p>\n

When it came time for the re-swap, Mega Man 3<\/em> could not be found by anyone.\u00a0 Not Josh, not his parents, not me when I\u2019d go over to \u201cplay\u201d, but really to look for the game…\u00a0 it had vanished.\u00a0 Josh and his family even moved two or three times in the following years, and the game was still nowhere to be found.\u00a0 I was sad at losing such a great game, but to make amends, was allowed to keep TMNT<\/em>.\u00a0 Hardly an equal trade, but I took it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure the game accidentally got returned to our corner store, as Josh\u2019s dad used to own it.\u00a0 Perhaps the game was brought back to my house, and somehow got hidden.\u00a0 My family hasn\u2019t moved in 30 years, so I guess you just never know.<\/p>\n

As I see things now, that sort of thing happens.\u00a0 It killed me as a kid, knowing it was out there, not being played.\u00a0 To this day, I still go to flea markets half-expecting to have it show up.\u00a0 It had a little tear on the sticker on the top of the cartridge, close to the \u201c3\u201d, and I keep an eye out for it.\u00a0 For all I know, someone could have ripped the entire sticker off of it by now.<\/p>\n

As you can see, I was marked for life by this series of events.<\/p>\n