Home at last   
Tossin It Up main                                                                                                                            by Mike Rubin
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                             
    
    
Introduction                                        August 07, 2000
Well...I finally made it here.  I have been playing video games since "Combat" for the Atari 2600.  I loved games. I still love games.  I still remember trading in my 8-bit Nintendo and 20+ games for a Super Nintendo. And I will never forget the day I had the Neo Geo in my house for one week.

You see, I thought that I had the best with the Super Nintendo.  The Genesis didn't seem to compare to the Mod 7 technology at all.  I was at the Utopia.  Then one day, I was at the park playing basketball with a few friends of mine and we look down to the other end of the court and there was Moses Malone.  You know, one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time??  Yea.  He was shooting hoops with his son Moses Malone Jr. who happened to be our age, was new in the neighborhood, and didn't have any friends.  Game time.

After they destroyed us in a game of 5 on 2, they invited us over to their "house" to have some refreshments and meet the rest of the family. And there it was.  I don't know how I even knew what it was.  I just knew it was the Neo Geo.  I knew that it was expensive as all hell.  I knew that it was the best.  What blew my mind is that it was sitting on top of a bunch of clothes and NOT HOOKED UP TO A TV!  I remember picking up the heavy control pad and feeling the power run through my arms.  We didn't get to play the Neo that day.  We played it for the next few days.  We played the Neo so much that I stayed at his house 2 nights in a row just to play all the games he had. (He had them all)

I had to have it. However there was no way that my parents were going to get me it.  No way.  So I challenged Moses Jr. to a game of 3 on 1.  Believe me, the odds were in his favor. We were in 8th grade and he could dunk from almost the free throw line.  The terms you ask?!  The Neo Geo in my house for an entire week. 

We won 15 to 13.  I had the Neo in my house.  I have never felt such a feeling in all my life.  I played ever single day and night for the time I had it.  My parents even asked me "How much does this thing cost?"  My heart
started to flutter....Every time my parents asked me that question I got what I wanted..."$600" I replied. 

Needless to say I didn't get a Neo and I had to return it that minute.  After that I went into Neo denial.  I figured my parents were right. Too expensive.  What a crock of....

I just stopped thinking about the Neo completely.  I guess it was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Syndrome.  I bought a Playstation when I had the money.  The N64 when I had the money.  In fact I have every single home system Known to Man.  Except!!! The Neo Geo AES Home System.

Recently I won a Neo Geo AES Home System on eBay. Complete with the box, and 2 games: Samurai Showdown and Cyberlip for the total of $400.00  Jumping for joy I bought and additional $615.00 worth of software on eBay that week.  Then trouble came. UPS delivered my NEO to my next door neighbor instead of me and didn't make her sign for it.  SHE KEPT IT AND SAID THAT SHE NEVER GOT THE PACKAGE.  I went over to her house and pleaded with her to get it back because UPS logged in where it was dropped off.  She said "I don't have any packages now go away" then just jumped in her car and took off. The same UPS driver that dropped it off went back several times to reclaim it and she wouldn't answer her door.  She even left the UPS packaging box that it came in on her font porch with the labels ripped off.  Although I am getting all my money back from UPS...  I was a broken man that day. After several attempts, UPS went with the police to her house and reclaimed the NEO.  It had been taken out of the box and was lying on her floor.  I had to refuse it.  I didn't know what she did to it. She could have dropped it a few times for all I knew.  No Neo for me.  I had to sell all the games I bought back on eBay and lost $40.  I even have a copy of Metal Slug 3 still unopened in its factory plastic bought from NGF months earlier, rebought on eBay for $400.00 -- that I can't play. 

I guess it was never meant to be..me and the NEO AES just never had the Chemistry. Until recently I saw an ad on eBay for a new 1 slot MVS for sale from NGF! I couldn't believe it.  After a minor delay I sent the money order yesterday.  The master plan is to sell my Metal Slug 3 and with that money buy a SuperGun.  Then I can buy all the MVS carts possible from NGF as soon as I can.  Soon I will be playing all the games that I have longed for.  And with encouragement  and supply from NGF I will be that 14 year old kid again playing day and night for hours and hours thanking those that got me here...Home at last.

Thanks for reading,
Mike



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