Well it's time for me to give a special shout-out.
As an old-school gamer that group on on the SNES (my GOAT system), this was the first of the "mini" series that I was truly excited for. Memories of ActRaiser, Super Mario World, UN Squadron, Turtles In Time, Street Fighter II Championship Edition, NBA Jam, my lame-ass Super Scope 6....so many of my best memories were on the SNES with my friends. I instantly knew I would want one of these SNES minis when they were announced, but considering how the NES mini went down I was duly skeptical of my chances. Well, fast forward to the pre-order phase and I found myself among the masses who tried and failed grandly trying to get a pre-order in. I was happy to see others squeeze an order in between the madness, but was kinda disappointed that I might not get a chance to relive some of those classic memories outside of regular old emulation.
Fellow GAFer Earthbound64 reached out to me about the SNES classic and let me know that he might have been able to score one for me among some he was able to pre-order along the way. He couldn't promise me that he would have one for me when it came time for orders to be fulfilled (and who could given all the random cancellations we've seen) but that he would try. Given his reaching out to me was totally unsolicited, I could only send him appreciation that he thought of me at all. I asked him what the best way to compensate him for his troubles would be if he was able to happen upon one for me and he refused payment. Not used to any sugh generosity from someone I don't know, I kept pressing on a way to pay him back and he kept on refusing. Well, fast forward a few weeks and sure enough: he was able to get one extra and he wanted to give it to me. *tear* After struggling to convince him to let me pay him, I finally acquiesced.
So this shout-out is to
Earthbound64 whose generosity and kindness has made an old-school Nintendo gamer smile. I get to jump into A Link To The Past and Super Mario World again in style for the first time in about 25 years thanks to you.
GAFers are the best, but some are decidedly better than others. Now to figure out how to pay it forward. :-D