Neo of Mine   

                                                             8 MAN

Eight Man to me is one of the best games on the Neo Geo. I have probably beaten that game about 40 times. I remember the first time that I played that game in 1992. I saw it at a Funcoland and even before I played it, I knew that I must have this game. I went to a local arcade called "Video Quest" that had EightMan. I only had a few quarters and I quickly died but I vowed that I would return to beat the game. The store was overrun by a group of stupid kids who would skate throughout the store and hit you on your head when they passed you by. I remember one time when they were grabbing the chairs off the floor and using them to lock some people in the back room by using the chairs as a barricade. It was a real kick when a kid came in and asked to use the phone because he had just been expelled from St. Mark's just a block away for fighting. The store owner tried to make a new image for his store by calling it "Hockey Quest" and specializing in hockey equipment. This of course did not work and he soon went out of business.

I remember the first time I beat EightMan. I walked the 4 blocks to the arcade and started to play Eight Man. I was out of school because of my illness but as soon as my Mom left the house, I stole some of my dad's quarters he had in a can and walked a few blocks to get there just to play that game. I had about 102 fever and was sick as a dog but didn't care because I would do anything to play that game. A kid who was younger than me who skipped class at St. Marks came over and played the game with me. We both pushed the bomb button at the same time and it led to a spectacular effect. He soon ran out of money and had to leave. After playing awhile, these two kids came in (this was late 1993) and they wanted to play Samurai Shodown. They asked me in a rather rude voice, "When the Hell are you going to get off the machine?" The other guy said, "This guy will be here for a while so let's go." I beat the game and even before I could watch the closing credits, the shoved me aside and started to play Samurai Shodown. I can see why that store went out of business. Damn, it was good to be young.

Best Regards,

James




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