In November of 1994, I’d just turned 14. I remember paying for Donkey Kong Country at my local Electronics Boutique with a sandwich bag full of $60 worth of quarters. I devoured the manual and its descriptions of the many enemies in the game. I remember liking the camouflaged rock enemies the most. By the time I had…

My blood pressure spiked watching this, so thank you, Tim, for taking that bullet instead of anyone else.

I confess, the beginning of this video series was the first time I’d encountered you, and, given my own love of Final Fantasy VII and memories of the not-dissimilar anecdotes about how I came to discover the game and what the social sticking points turned out to be, I shortly thereafter got strapped in for what would…