I recall my GameCube days.

The GameCube was the first proper console that I acquired as a child. I had gotten a GameBoy Advance when I was younger, but I only had a few games, and played it very rarely. My family had an old PC running on Windows 95, so for me, PC gaming was out of the question. One day, as I was sitting on the toilet, I decided I wanted a gaming console.  In this frame of mind, I finished my business, and presented the idea to my mother as she was cooking dinner, so that she was ill prepared to do away with the idea outright. I had planned out my entire speech, and I must say, it would've been hard for anyone to say "no" to it. She was skeptical, as was her wont, but she presented the idea to my father. I knew that if it had gotten that far, it was only a matter of time before I got my console. 

And so, for next five or six months, I dreamed of my console. I had planned out the games I was going to buy if I got an Xbox, likewise for the PlayStation 2. Even at the age of eight I was sure of what I wanted. Heck, I even knew what kind of controller and accessories I wanted. The only problem I could foresee was not having enough
money for any of this, but this seemed a minor issue at the time. Silly little eight year old me. Money is always an issue.

Anyway, my birthday rolled around, and I was sure that this was when I was going to receive my console. Well, I was right. My birthday is several days before Christmas so all my gifts are set around our Christmas tree, and we usually celebrate it in the same fashion as Christmas proper. I rushed downstairs from my room, and pounced upon my parent's bed, thrashing around quite a bit. In hindsight, this seems a lot like those cheesy Christmas mornings on an ABC Christmas television program. Truly hideous.

With my parents roused and gathered around the tree, I began to dig into my loot. I can easily recall the exact contents of that particular haul, but it's somewhat irrelevant, so I don't think I'll bother listing it all. Suffice it to say that it took a bit to reach the largest package of all, cleverly hidden behind the majority of the stash. Let it never be said my parents weren't clever. With growing excitement I snatched it up, and quickly removed (i.e. destroyed) the wrapping paper. I was...surprised. It was neither the Xbox, nor the PS2 I was expecting. It was a Nintendo GameCube that sat in front of me. I managed to hide my disappointment from my parents as they explained to me that they had chosen this instead of the more mainstream consoles due to the fact that there are too many more mature titles on the other consoles, and this was much more child friendly. My parents were very conscience of hurting my little mind with violence at the time. A foolish sentiment, but what can you do?

I also received the games Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue, Tales of Symphonia, and Mario Kart: Double Dash. None of these were games that I heard of, and even if I had, they wouldn't have been high on my list for purchasing. I was once again surprised by how much I was to enjoy these games for the next few years. I was disappointed to be sure, but I was in too high of spirits to forgo at least trying it. After about 20 minutes of fiddling with the television and the cords, I managed to get it up and running. I put in Double Dash first, as it was multiplayer, and my father wanted to try it pretty badly. Luckily my parents had had the foresight to purchase a second controller, so two people could enjoy it at once as they put it.

Much to my surprise, I had a lot of fun. I put in the other games after my father and I had finished the first couple races, and found those two to be to my liking as well. It wasn't long until I had beaten Both Ty2, and Symphonia. I finally managed to scrape together enough money to purchase even more games. Soon enough I had a good twenty or so GameCube games at my disposal. So all in all, the console that I thought would be the dullest thing ever, turned into my most prized possession for many years. So I guess the moral to this story is something along lines of don't judge a book by the cover. Or something like. I'm no philosopher.

If you enjoyed this, and want more stories about my life, say so in the comments.
Later peoples.