I grew up in South Africa, and the NES was ludicrously expensive there. Fortunately, there were a slew of ridiculously cheap knock offs. I think I still have my Excellence Computer (or Execom as I like to call it now… it’s just a black Famicom) at my parent’s place but it doesn’t seem to work any more sadly.
Anyway, these knock offs were very widespread, the games didn’t came in boxes, and I used to love window shopping, they just lined up the carts like a brick wall behind the window. One store had a TV playing demos of their latest wares, and one of those demos was for METAL STORM. I was mesmerised… the images stuck in my head and never went away. But… I was a good kid, I appreciated whatever my parents got me, so I never felt the need to ask for more. If they didn’t say “do you want to get a new game?” I wouldn’t have asked for one. So… I never got to play it as a kid.
Then when I was in high school I discovered the wonderful world of emulation. I got to play all my old favourites without worrying about the fidgity machine resetting every now and again, as well as discover old classics I never played as a kid.
When I found Metal Storm I think I had a little mini-heart attack. I couldn’t believe I could finally play this game! And… it was everything I could have hoped for!!! This absolutely is one of my favourite NES games ever, in fact, if I was to write up a top 20 of all time, I’m sure it would feature.
Thank you for showing this game the appreciation it deserves. My only wish is that it gets release on the virtual console or something similar one day. I feel like I missed out on something special (if only I was more of a brat hehe) so I’d like to at least own it officially through the wii.
Sorry for the long essay, I just felt I had to share
