The Video Game In My Memories

When I don't feel like indulging myself in stories told through literature, a surge of graphics across the television usually does the trick


Because in my opinion, video games are as great of storytellers as paperbacks and parchment


But there was one game, an oddball game that loomed in obscurity for eons and eons following


I remembered the game vaguely, and struggled to find it for a time and time again 


I vaguely remembered the graphics and the characters, the atmospheres and the surroundings


The defenses and mechanisms, the meanings and morals


It was all fuzzy, all blurry


All I could interpret was the music, the high pitched, jingly tune of happy go lucky serendipity 


The music stuck in my convoluted brain like a shard of nostalgia or fascination 


And I tried to use the music to guide me to the mysterious game 


It was like a flashlight, pulling me through dark, cloudy areas I couldn't see through 


It was a heck of a journey, it took my months and years, decades perhaps


And I grew jittery, I grew hungry to know what the game was, what it stood for


I felt like ripping my clothes off and turning green, pulling every ounce of hair out of my scalp


There was something about the game that brought on merry memories of past time


There was something about the game that brought on merry memories of childhood ambitions, hobbies, and explorations


There was something about the game that brought on merry memories of what I once was


I was a bouncy child, a child who got into everything and was blown to the ceiling by even the simplest of occurrences


I was a child obsessed with purple dinosaurs, mystery solving Great Danes, mice with red shorts, annoying rabbits and flabbergasted ducks, clowns who ate too many hamburgers, and yellow cartoon people who drooled over donuts 


I was a child who loved stories and pixelated stories only you could maneuver 


I loved every ounce of that matter, I still do


I love it as much as a Dr. Pepper rainstorm 


But I was destine, destine in one form or another to come across this game, the glory game of fond past days


Then, I discovered it, like an archaeologist  finding an ancient relic of an ancient tribe


You see, I was a big fanatic of the Adventure Island series of games. Just the title alone made me feel like I was stranded on a desert island, fighting snails with a hammer and decapitated island demons and I attempted to rescue my girlfriend





I was first introduced to the game series through Super Adventure Island for the SNES, but that game was in the possession of my relatives


And as I sat playing the pixelated adventure, I said to my erratic noggin


There is something familiar about this game series, something, something remarkable reminiscent 


I had to figure it out somehow, you wouldn't believe that that was a heck of a journey as well


I researched the Adventure Island games on the web and I was stunted to learn that the first game, the game that kicked things off, was a mock of another game, an arcade game to be exact


The game was Wonder Boy, the brain bells starting ringing! 





I rushed to another location of the web and saw footage of the game....but


Darnit! It was the WRONG version. It wasn't the version I recalled in my memory strands. It wasn't the one that made me think of how much childhood meant in my spirit. The music wasn't even the same cheerful harmony I whistled as I slept at evening 


 It was a console version of the game. What a sundae with poop topping on top! 


Talk about a devilish disappointment


But even that devilish disappointment didn't stop me from continuing my research


I simply said to myself, I WILL SEARCH FOR THE ARCADE VERSION, PLAY IT PERHAPS


 I typed in WONDER BOY ARCADE VERSION, pressed ENTER, let the screen load, and without a single drop of hesitation, I set my fingers to a small video clip


I pushed the ENTER button, like I was opening a portal to the past


Could this be the game I fancied for thousands of days and nights? 


Could this be the game that plays that legendary theme as the protagonist rides skateboards to victory? 


The music still played in my memory strands, the brain bells were about the ring off the hook 


It all was about to climb back to the surface


It did, at last! 


The arcade version was the game, the game I doodled with as a curious todd, the game I admired as one of the first I ever set eye sockets too 





It was the game of all games, the game that played that joyful, jolly tune like an ice cream truck


I finally found that idol from the ancient tribe 


And the ancient tribe was my childhood, waving it's hands and saying a quick hello


It all returned for a brief reunion, and I savored it like sweet honey


I finally found the electronic piece of gold, Wonder Boy


How wondrous it was when I found the wondrous Wonder Boy


The journey was over, and I can go to the grass knowing I found the game


The eminent, the exciting video game in my memories 


What a treat