I was playing Grim Fandango around August 2001

[Calavera]

That is why my name is Calavera. Now you all know

[Dr. Zoidberg]

If you were playing Ecco The Dolphin in August 2001, you would now be known as Ecco.

[Calavera]

If you were playing Ecco The Dolphin in August 2001, you would now be known as Ecco.

I've never been a fan of Ecco The Dolphin so luckily there was no chance of that happening!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I've never been a fan of Ecco The Dolphin so luckily there was no chance of that happening!

OK, Bubsy.

[Calavera]

I've never been a fan of Ecco The Dolphin so luckily there was no chance of that happening!

OK, Bubsy.

Just call me GREEN DOG!

[pixel]

If you were playing Ecco The Dolphin in August 2001, you would now be known as Ecco.

I've never been a fan of Ecco The Dolphin so luckily there was no chance of that happening!

Had I trusted the advice of a Funcoland employee back in August 1996, I would've picked Ecco the Dolphin over Contra: Hard Corps.

[Calavera]

If you were playing Ecco The Dolphin in August 2001, you would now be known as Ecco.

I've never been a fan of Ecco The Dolphin so luckily there was no chance of that happening!

Had I trusted the advice of a Funcoland employee back in August 1996, I would've picked Ecco the Dolphin over Contra: Hard Corps.

They actually recommended you buy Ecco over Contra: Hard Corps? At least you knew better. I remember way back in the day going to Wal-Mart with my parents and they said I could pick out a new game for the Sega CD. We went to the electronics section and I looked at the games and none of them looked interesting. I remember looking at Sonic CD but thought well I've already got a Sonic game (I might have even had Sonic and Sonic 3 at the time) The other game I looked at was Ecco the Dolphin. I almost was going to get it but even as a kid I knew it would be a waste. Pretty crazy that the game selection for that system was so bad that a kid would rather get no game then wasting their parents money on a crappy one. The only games I had for it when it was current was Sewer Shark and some point and click Jurassic Park adventure game that I never could get anywhere in. I later got Road Avenger from my cousin.

Then in the early 00s when Sega CD emulation came around I tried out all kinds of games for it and still didn't find anything that great. At the time buying that Sega CD was a huge waste of money but looking back on it now it was kind of worth it just for the nostalgia I have for Sewer Shark and Road Avenger!

[pixel]

If you were playing Ecco The Dolphin in August 2001, you would now be known as Ecco.

I've never been a fan of Ecco The Dolphin so luckily there was no chance of that happening!

Had I trusted the advice of a Funcoland employee back in August 1996, I would've picked Ecco the Dolphin over Contra: Hard Corps.

They actually recommended you buy Ecco over Contra: Hard Corps? At least you knew better. [...] I almost was going to get it but even as a kid I knew it would be a waste.

Yes but I didn't mention the best thing about Funcoland: You could test any game in store before you bought it.

For a few years in the nineties, my parents took us on a back-to-school shopping trip to the Mall of America in Minnesota. It had every clothing store we needed (and no sales tax) and it was a fun little day trip at the end of summer. Each of us kids had their favorite store, mine was Funcoland.

They specialized in used games with a price sheet printed in a small font on newsprint. I pored over it as soon as I got to the store. You'd ask a clerk which games the location had in stock. If they didn't have something, they gave suggestions on other games you might like.

If I remember correctly, they'd ask you questions about what you've played recently. Ecco came up first and I was interested. The graphics and audio always seemed really cool and mysterious, but the game didn't seem all too fun to play. If you didn't like a game, they'd bring you another one to try. Hard Corps came out and the explosions and aliens were a big hit for me. I remember waiting the whole car ride back to play it again.

We drove four hours one way to reach the Twin Cities and it was an escape from the drudgery of my hometown. There was a Best Buy, Target and Walmart here but I never seemed to ever meet anyone that was really excited about video games and computers. Going to places like Funcoland or CompUSA felt like visiting the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz. It seemed like CompUSA had aisles of Mac OS-compatible software, whereas back home the platform was an afterthought. Finding a box copy of freaking Catz was a revelatory experience compared to back home in South Dakota.

I had the same experience with Sega CD, but we bought a 32X on steep discount at Wal-Mart instead. I still appreciate the system because I had fun playing some games but I always wanted Sonic CD. I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as I did when I was older. It didn't fit in with Sonic 2 and the rest of the U.S.-led games and I would've been more critical of it when I was a kid.

[Calavera]

the best thing about Funcoland: You could test any game in store before you bought it.

For a few years in the nineties, my parents took us on a back-to-school shopping trip to the Mall of America in Minnesota. It had every clothing store we needed (and no sales tax) and it was a fun little day trip at the end of summer. Each of us kids had their favorite store, mine was Funcoland.

They specialized in used games with a price sheet printed in a small font on newsprint. I pored over it as soon as I got to the store. You'd ask a clerk which games the location had in stock. If they didn't have something, they gave suggestions on other games you might like.

I can only remember going to Funcoland once back around 2001-2002 or so. I remember they had a Dreamcast backpack I was going to buy but then was like eh I don't need that. I was so dumb back then, I wanted to look at Dreamcast,SNES,Genesis and other older games but felt embarassed to do so. As if people would see me and be like "Lol look at that dumb kid looking at those old games! What is he poor? Get an Xbox!"

If only I'd known how expensive those games would become, I could have probably retired just from that one trip to Funcoland!