So much for keeping to a schedule postings these every Friday... geez. When work gets in the way, work really gets in the way. So from now on I'll just be posting these whenever  I can. 
 

Super Mario RPG for the Super Nintendo was an epic game that I often rented with my cousin during the summer holidays of 1997. During those memorable sleep overs, we played it nonstop the entire time only taking a break for a few hours to sleep. I had always wanted it in my collection but it constantly eluded me for years. This was a (mini) white whale early on in my collecting. I was finally at the point where I was determined to get it, especially when I noticed it on Kijiji. Unfortunately it was slightly higher than market value at the time. But at this point I didn't care, it was finally time to add this one to the shelf.

Fortunately, the address from the ad was extremely close to me. It was in an old military living quarters neighborhood  built in the 1950's-1960's, which I had always wanted to explore more. These houses were all very basic and old. Not run down or dirty, just very aged. So we set up the deal for later in the evening since I had a different deal on the go earlier. He lived so close to my house that I zipped over in no time. As I pulled up to the town house, I called to let him know I had arrived. He instructed me to come to the door.  Surprise surprise... No games in hand! (this becoming a running theme to my stories) then, I was then invited inside. Reluctantly I entered. The first thing that came into my brain was WEED. It completely reeked like marijuana, that sweet sweet smell of fresh reefer (or stink whatever your preference is). "To each their own" I thought.  The inside was quite bare, not filthy but not clean either. The guy that answered was younger, early 20's and wore in a massive puffy black winter jacket and a backwards baseball hat.  I noticed an arcade cab with a Final Fight marquee smack dap in the middle of the kitchen upon entering. "Interesting " I remember thinking. So he leads me into the living room and stops, so I stopped. We stood there a few moments not saying anything. There where 4 people were lying on the floor and couches watching a large flat screen TV, at least I think they were people, could have been zombies. No one batted an eye or moved when I (a stranger) entered their space. Why I was brought into the living room???? At this point all I can think is "where's the flipping game already?". Ironically he then says "the games are upstairs" as he leads me to the staircase down the hall. Why did he need to take me into the living room with his burn out buddies? That was completely unnecessary!

The next thing I know we are in the upstairs hallway standing in front of a door that had a deadbolt lock on it. He pulled out a key ring that a medieval dungeon master would have had, unlocked the dead bolt and we went in. Taking up half the room was a massive locking glass display case, like one out of a jewelry store. Then he gets his keys out again and starts to unlock the case. I could see numerous bright yellow Game City price tags with insane high prices nicely organized just like the game store had them (to this day even). Myself being a savage beast of a collector, I had my eyes fixated on nothing but the video games. Unfortunately there was nothing else worth buying after a quick glance over. As I looked, he handed me the Super Mario RPG CIB and I handed him the cash. Thinking the deal was complete and I was free to go I moved towards the door, but he stood there blocking the doorway. After another few awkward silent moments he then went into a sales pitch. Not a video games sales pitch but for the hundreds of boxes of contact lenses on the bottom shelf of the display cabinet.  Contact lenses that change your eye color or shape and such. He spun me around to show me all sorts of advertisement posters of all the styles he had to offer. He was getting a little aggressive in his attempt to sell me on them. I obviously kept refusing until he finally gave up. He gave me a look like it was my loss and locked the case, then we left the room.

I followed him back to the kitchen and I could finally see the door. I thanked him and made my way towards the exit. "Wait!" He barked, I froze in my tracks... He started to fire up the MAME Arcade machine. He showed me how it all the menu's worked and then he picked Street Fighter 3. "Let's play". So I put the game down and grabbed the joystick and picked my favorite Street Fighter character, Ken in the yellow gi. Now, I have never claimed to be a good in the fighting game category, and especially SF3 since I never played it before but this night I was on fire. He was a formidable opponent and he won Round 1 but I took him down in the 2nd. I kept my cool and destroyed him in the 3rd Round. Right after my glorious victory he got a call on his cell and then proceeded to kick me out because he "business to attend to". I wonder what business that could have been? I left with a smile, a story and most importantly Super Mario RPG.