It is crazy to think that it is Christmas time once again! This last year has flown by so fast, and with yesterday being our first snow of the year here, I can't help but think back to the Christmas of 2006. This one was really special to me, and, despite talking about it some in the past, I wanted to take the time today to tell the full story. It wasn't a simple Christmas, and the events leading up to the day itself were pretty wild.
The Dream of The Wii
In 2006 one of the hottest Christmas presents was none other than the upcoming Nintendo Wii. It was Nintendo's latest and greatest console, but what was really drawing people to it was the motion controls. This was a console that not only had existing Nintendo fans interested in it, but a whole new market of non-gamers as well. It was a console being marketed for everyone, and seemingly the entire world took note of this. Kids, parents, and grandparents alike all had their eyes on it, and it wasn't going to be easy to obtain.
I still remember the first time I got to play the Wii was the demo station at the mall about an hour away. I got in line, my dad gave the people at the counter his driver's license (I was 15 and didn't have one), and when it was my turn to play I got to try out Excitetruck for the very first time. And it was fun! I really liked the motion controls, and the game itself was crazy over the top racing; how could I not enjoy it? Funny enough my friend BeamBrain happened to be there as well, so once I was done I passed the controller off to him and his cousin. I'm assuming he had a similar experience with the game, because the Wii was something both of us would talk about at school nonstop from that point on. (Little did he know, his dad was able to purchase one directly from Nintendo, so I KNEW he was going to be getting one.)
Anyway, of course the Wii was on my wishlist as well, but finding it was impossible. Everywhere was sold out, and if you called a store they simply laughed at you.
The Ice Storm
November 30th of 2006 was a very weird day. I went to school like normal, it was a Thursday, but I was well aware of what was said to be coming. The weather was calling it one of the worst ice storms to ever hit the area. It was said that ice would accumulate quickly, it would become impossible to travel, and to expect a lot of damage to property. I still remember sitting in my algebra class when the intercom came on letting us know about an early dismissal, and the next thing I knew I was waiting outside for my mom to pick me up.
At that time she still managed a home for the developed mentally disabled, and needed someone else to pick up her shift. Thankfully she was off that Thursday, but Friday would be the issue if she couldn't make it in. Normally my Grandma would come in and work the weekend, but with things getting bad soon, my mom was thankfully able to find someone else to cover both shift. She got to stay "safe" at home with my Grandpa, but they'd actually have things a bit tougher soon. As for me and my mom however, once someone showed up to cover for her, we went home, and waited for my dad as well.
Then things kicked into high gear.
I remember seeing the ice fall, and at first it didn't seem like anything too crazy. It's sleet, and it is something most of us have experienced (assuming it is cold enough to snow where you live). However, this sleet never stopped, and more and more of it feel. Imagine a heavy rain storm that causes flooding, except the rain is frozen. THAT is what happened here. It didn't take long for everything to be completely covered with it, and even the trees were completely outlined and frozen. Next thing we knew trees and power lines were going down, and there was nothing we could do about it!
I'll never forget looking outside our front window and seeing one of the largest branches on our HUGE tree come crashing down. It fell directly on my mom's car, and bounced off of the windshield. With how big it was, and with how heavy it was, you'd assume that was it; the windshield was crushed and the car smashed. That wasn't the case though! In fact, there was so much ice on the car, that the limb truly did bounce off and didn't leave a mark. The frozen solid car was protected by a few inches of ice, and it was completely fine. But that also shows how bad the ice was...
Considering 0.10" of ice is road hazard conditions, and that 0.25" of ice (or 1/4") can do serious damage to trees... What do you think inches of ice will do? Yeah, not pretty.
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| (Credit to Stormhighway.com) |
Surviving the Storm
Thankfully we had it easy at our house. We were locked in, but nothing too bad actually happened to us. We were one of the lucky ones in town that didn't lose power, and simply didn't have internet or cable. Of course that made it hard to learn what was going on, and when schools would be reopened, but at least we were warm and safe. My grandparents on the other hand? They completely lost power, and my Grandpa had to break out their generator they rarely used. It was enough to keep their front porch area of the house heated and livable, but not the rest of it. Meanwhile my grandma's sister who lived down the street had nowhere to go, so she ended up staying at our house for awhile (wasn't easy getting her there). Ultimately the life or death aspect of this faded away for me, but the rest of my family was struggling with no end to the craziness in sight.
It took a week for things to begin to clear up, but thankfully stores started opening up before then. We were able to (mostly) safely get to them to buy things we needed, but for the most part everyone was still stuck in doors. I'm sure a lot of people were going stir crazy by then, but as for me? I had two games to keep myself occupied.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Now this is something I discussed before, so I won't spend a lot of time on it, but The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was one of the main games that helped me get through the ice storm. Since we didn't have internet or TV, video games were the only source of entertainment (sorry parents, not sure what you guys did).
I didn't own Majora's Mask, but my cousin had brought it over not too long before then. I remember during the ice storm he also brought over his new iPod so we could watch episodes of Myth Busters, but until that day I was checking out Zelda, and it had me hooked.
While my mom didn't like me playing Zelda (my uncle convinced her it was evil or something), my dad didn't care (and would buy me Zelda merchandise), and I'd sit in my room outside of their view anyway. At first I struggled with the game and its time mechanic, but with nothing but time on my hands I began learning more and more about how it worked. Before I knew it I had mastered the game itself, and started looking for more ways I could have fun with it. Thankfully I had a GameCube Action Replay preloaded with cheat codes for it, so I used that to make Majora's Mask my playground for awhile. It was REALLY a lot of fun, but I quickly learned not to use it with any of my save files to prevent corrupting them...
Anyway, thanks to being stuck with a copy of the game, Majora's Mask became one of my all time favorite Zelda titles, and is something I still go back to to this day. Of course now I own multiple copies of the game (including virtual console copies, the 3DS version, etc), but it was all thanks to my cousin that I even got the initial chance to try it.
Harvest Moon 64
Besides Majora's Mask, I also took this time to finally dive into the Harvest Moon series. I had obtained a copy of Harvest Moon 64 prior to the ice storm, but I hadn't really given it much of a chance yet. I'd start it up once in awhile at night, but I didn't really know what I was doing, and I struggled to make money or gain in game friends. It took me a bit to realize I was wrong to treat it like Animal Crossing, and once I realized that things got a bit better for me.
Since my Grandma's sister was now staying at our house (which no one wanted as she pretty much hates everyone) I had to be careful about what I played at night, and had to make sure I didn't wake her up. The living room was just off of my room, so closing my door and turning the volume down as low as possible was the only way to do that. Harvest Moon 64 being a "quiter" game in general helped also, so I found myself playing it more than Majora's Mask at night. I guess a normal person would've just went to sleep, but I was enjoying my rare week off from school, and wanted to make the most out of every late night that I could.
This is the moment I became a true Harvest Moon fan.
I still remember spending countless hours building a fence around my farm, only to have it be destroyed by a storm and need to be reset. I remember finding which girl I liked the best, and stumbling on gifts until I realized she liked to drink. (I guess her hanging out at the bar should've tipped me off?) Still didn't have internet, so I was completely blind just like in the good old days of gaming. I stumbled my way through the game, trying whatever I could, and eventually I came across the different heart events that allowed me to progress my friendship with each character. I'm glad I didn't know taking too long would result in the towns people marrying each other, as that would've added extra stress on me, but thankfully it ended up not being a problem at all. By the end of that week I had done pretty much everything I wanted to do in the game, and I found myself wanting more. That's why I would eventually get a copy of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, and later on download Harvest Moon Boy and Girl to my PSP when I was quite a bit older. The thing is that these two latter titles are basically the exact same game, and both of them reused characters from Harvest Moon 64, so I basically played the same game three times... But oh well, I still loved every second of them all.
I'm sure I would've still became a fan of Harvest Moon if it weren't for the ice storm, but the unique situation of being stuck at home for a week without internet or TV is what really forced me to make due with what I had. Of course I could've just played all my old games over and over again, but I was smart and used the opportunity to try something new, and now I'm really happy that I did.
I still replay Harvest Moon 64 from time to time, but it isn't quite the same as it was back then. It also doesn't help that I've played hundreds of hours of future Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, and Story of Seasons titles, nor does it help that I've spent so much time in Stardew Valley. I'll always have that nostalgia for Harvest Moon 64, sure, but it isn't my favorite in the series anymore, and I've been spoiled by the future.
Christmas and the Wii
With the ice storm said and done, my aunt was lucky enough to be at a store when a shipment of Nintendo Wii consoles arrived. She purchased one for me (my parents paid her back), and that Christmas I woke up to the nice surprise of actually owning one!
Again this is something I discussed a few Christmases ago, but to quickly recap... That Christmas day was amazing.
Like I said before, not only was the Wii a must have for Nintendo fans, but it was a console that interested even non-gamers. This included my parents! After I did the initial setup and made Mii characters for me, my mom, and my dad, all three of us spent pretty much the entire day playing Wii Sports. Sure I'd work in Excitetruck here and there, but it was mainly the three of us practicing bowling, and tennis, and trying not to hit each other with the Wiimotes. (Our poor dog walked up behind my mom while bowling...) Of course by the end of the day our arms were killing us, but it was well worth it! So much fun, and so many great memories of that day.
Although the novelty of the Wii eventually wore off from my parents, they'd still play it with me from time to time, while I mainly used it for the core Nintendo titles I really wanted. Many years later my original Wii's disc drive would go out, and the device became my family's main way to watch Netflix and play digital titles like Super Mario Bros or Dr. Mario. So I guess my family never really fully stopped using the Wii (it is actually still connected to their TV to this day), but Christmas Day of 2006 was the only time we all really dove into it like that.
The Second Wave of Ice
As if one ice storm wasn't enough, a second came through in January of 2007. Although another state of emergency was declared, I was thankfully on the outskirts of it and didn't get it as bad as the first time. Sure, everything was frozen over once again, but school wasn't out nearly as long, nor did any of my family lose power. While the news was reporting on how bad it could possibly be, the main topic of discussion was the abduction of a young kid, and his (thankfully) eventual rescue, along side a teen who had been missing since the early 2000s.
This story was insane, and I remember feeling so relieved to hear that he was safe! I didn't know him, obviously, but the fact we shared the same first name kinda hit closer to home for me. I realized it could've been me (actually almost did happen to me as a younger kid in Walmart), and I felt so sorry for the family going through this right after Christmas. But again, thankfully the story had a very happy ending, and resulted in saving the life of another kidnapping victim as well... Hard to believe it's getting closer to 20 years since that day...
Anyway, despite having no connection to this event what so ever, the whole thing had an impact on me, and it is something I'll still think back on from time to time. It scares me that this sort of thing still happens, and it is something I would never wish on anyone...
But on a happier note, while all of this was going on, and once again we were stuck inside thanks to an ice storm, I found myself using my new Wii to finally finish playing MegaMan X Command Mission. It is one of my all time favorite MegaMan games, and one of the first turn based (not Pokemon or Mario related) JRPGs I ever finished! Playing that game through to completion, and taking down all of the secret bosses are the happy memories that resulted from the ice storm, and it helped serve as a gateway to my future JRPG obsession. Well, that and Kingdom Hearts, but that is a bit different.
What came next
Looking back, the events of 2006 and early 2007 had a lot of impacts on me. The ice storm itself was a scary time, but it lead me to discovering my love for Majora's Mask and the Harvest Moon series. I'll always look back on those memories fondly, and if I could do it over again I would. I loved both of those titles so much!
Getting the Wii for Christmas was a gateway to so many other great Nintendo games, and it was something me and my family bonded over. It's really future games like Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros that had the biggest impact, but none of that would've ever happened if I didn't get the Wii to begin with. I didn't mention it before, but there was a tiny moment where I contemplated asking for the Xbox 360 instead to play the newly released Sonic 06, but I simply watched all of the cutscenes on YouTube instead. Getting a 360 was still a dream of mine, but it was something I'd achieve on my own in a couple of years. (And yes, Sonic 06 was my first game for it.)
The whole thing with the kidnapping really bothered me, and helped open my eyes to the horrors of the world. I think this was the first time I truly understood that anything can happen to you, and it is why I get so protective around kids (including ones I don't know). I NEVER want to see something like that happen again.
And finally, MegaMan X Command Mission really did fuel my JRPG addiction. It lead me to finally 100% Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, it along with Kingdom Hearts pushed me into the Final Fantasy games, and when I got older I started playing Star Ocean, .hack, and many other PS2 greats. Thanks to BeamBrain I also got a chance to play Earthbound and Super Mario RPG, so that was cool too. I wanted to get Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King on Wii also, but that never happened. Overall the Wii didn't really offer too many JRPGs until much later, so the Wii itself didn't really contribute much in that regard. But it was fine, I still loved the console for what it was!
In the end, Christmas of 2006 might actually be one of my all time favorite Christmases, and I'm happy to finally get to share the full story with everyone. I hope you all enjoyed my (long winded) tale, and I hope you look forward to the rest of our Christmas content this year! We have quite a bit planned, so don't forget to check back soon!
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