Found Laying Around the Shop

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Astroboy Mayhem.

The new job digs has me busing from the eastside up into the s.w. hills. Total commute time is about 30 minutes on 2 buses. The river-crossing bus is a short, 10-minute trip, but the bus is quite crowded. The 2nd bus, from downtown up into the hills takes about 15 minutes, but it never has more than 4 other passengers aboard. Compared to the x-river bus, this leaves me ample seating, perfect for... ASTROBOY MAYHEM!!!1


When I acquired my pinkpearl GameboyAdvanceSP last summer (in anticipation of some extended air travel), the devastatingly fun Astroboy: Omega Factor was its 1st cartridge. 2-3 weeks later, although deep into Astroboy, I purchased the equally fantastic Advance Wars 2 to have something else to play on the plane. The Mighty Atom was thereafter carried around, but never played, as I campaigned relentlessly in Adv.Wars2 until victory was achieved some months later. The robotic Tobio may have had his 10,000,000 HP engine gunned a few times after that, but I got stalled at that pyramid in ancient Mu. Y'know, where the big steel discs come tumblin' down? Enter Super Robo Taisen.

It wasn't until recently, when I became fatally bored w/ Pokemon, that I started playing around w/ games that were actually fun again, like Drill Dozer & Astroboy.2 Add the perfect setting of a bus for 20-30 minutes per workday, & I now find myself in the closing chapters of Omega Factor.3

The lesson learned? The GBA SP hath no warmer hearth than in transit, whether by bus, train or plane. Depending on how you look at it, this either a bright new day, or a dark step into pathetic geekdom. For now I can obsess about console-based games AND portable-based ones AT THE SAME TIME (sorta). For example, I play Astroboy during my commute, & Shenmue on the Dreamcast in the evening before bed.4

I suppose, if I wanted to notch it up, I could play Super Robo Taisen 2 in bed, before I went to sleep, but that would be excessive. Scary, even.

-d.d.

1 I would gladly spend my time on the 1st bus w/ Astro, but in addition to a scarcity of elbow room, I'm also nursing a full mug of coffee.
2 It suddenly occurs to me that my rather sudden & immediate boredom w/ Pokemon:FireRed, which I still think is an excellent game & an excellent series, stems directly from the acquisition of a Sega Genesis & having fun guys like Sonic & Vectorman around.
3 Much to Fat's consternation, I have absolutely no memory of getting past those steel discs in Mu. None. When I fired up the cartridge 3 weeks ago the save file was at the beginning of the boss fight which, it turns out, follows said steel-disc-on-the-pyramid stage. This disgruntles Fat because he advised me on how to get past the discs. I remember the advice, but have no memory of implementing it.
4 Or Jet Grind Radio. Or, Phantasy Star II on the Genesis.

1 comment:

  1. I just picked up Lunar Legend. Defeating the last 2 of the 5 Great Robots in the Final stage of Astroboy may have to wait another 3-6 months.

    The fatalistic link b'tween the GBA/SP & Astroboy is maintained & perpetuated...

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