I was a Sega supporter for years. Back in the 8-bit days, I begged my parents for a Sega Master System. Sure, all my friends had the Nintendo, but the games on the Master System looked sooo much cooler. I got it for Christmas in 1987. I also got Zillion and Alex Kidd. I soon added Zillion 2, Kenseiden, Walter Payton Football, and a ton of other games My friends enjoyed coming over to play the games, but preferred the Nintendo because it had all the big name games. Just wait, I told them. Sega has a new system coming out soon.

I had to save my allowance for a year to pay for the Genesis. It was worth the wait. I picked up Forgotten Worlds with the system. My friends and I spent many a day playing Altered Beast. They loved the Genesis, and each one of them purchased one. Of course, I don’t have to rattle off all the cool games that came out for the Genesis.

The Genesis lasted me from the summer of 1990 to the fall of 1995. Between that time, I picked up a Super Nintendo and 3DO, but neither got the play that the Genesis did. In college, I was the Drake University MaddenBowl Champ and the Jewett Hall MK2 champ. Life was good.

Then, in the trade magazines, I heard rumblings about a threat to Sega. Sony was making a video game machine to rival Sega’s next offering. The PSX looked impressive. “That’s OK,” I told myself, “Since I work at Toys R Us, I’ll test out both machines and make my decision. On September 9, I sunk a huge chunk of change in a Sony Playstation and 3 games. “I’ll pick up the Saturn around Christmas,” I told myself. It was OK, because at Toys R Us, we had a Saturn display. I could play the new games there.

Christmas 1995 turned into Christmas 1996. Still no Saturn. May 1997 rolled around. I just got my tax return, and I had nothing to do. I was in summer school, trying to finish out my college career. So, I took a trip to the Games To Go, Des Moines’ answer to Funcoland. I bought a Saturn. I was impressed by Fighting Vipers and Virtual On! I loved my Saturn. All was well with the world.

Until June. Triple Play ‘98 was out for the Playstation, and I needed to pay for books for school. I sold the Saturn, telling myself that I’d pick one up after I got home. I didn’t. I did get a Nintendo 64 and Mario Kart for a graduation present. I’ve had it for 8 months now, and I haven’t bought a new game yet.

A couple of weeks ago, I went into MicroPlay here in Chicago. I looked at the N64 games. Blah. I looked at the PlayStation games. Nothing I haven’t seen or owned. Then, I looked at the Saturn. Games were pretty cheap, and there were some imports that I liked. So, today, I took my N64 to MicroPlay and picked up a Saturn with Virtua Cop, Panzer Dragoon, and Fighter’s Megamix. I love all three games.