Hello all,

I'll always remember the first time I played mega man, I was 6 years old and my babysitter had a NES that we played whenever she would let us (which wasn't often, let me tell you).  You see the system was her children's old system (they had recently bought a sega genesis), but the last game they had bought before upgrading was a little game called Mega Man 6.  Now I know what you're thinking, but that game was so important to that I can't even express it (I'll try anyway though). 

You see, I was home schooled, and only had a small number of friends, plus my family wasn't the most wealthy (which when you're from South Dakota, is less than the "norm" ) so we didn't have the money to go to places, the most I ever got was to eat out on my birthday and rent one game for a present from my parents (My grandparents had bought us a NES one year for Christmas).  And having played mega man 6 to death I was hungry for more, so when my 7th birthday rolls around I just had to rent the only Mega Man game the video store had: Mega Man 2. 

And I fell in love with it.  It was awesome, everything about it was better then 6, the boss were cooler, the stages were more fun. I played that game all weekend long, I stayed up late and got in trouble with my mom just so I could play it more.  Then it had to go back, I begged and pleaded my parents to rent it again, but they said "we don't have the money right now, but maybe you'll get it for Christmas".  Needless to say Christmas couldn't come soon enough, and when it finely did, no mega man.  Years later I found out that the store had stopped selling NES titles to make room for all the new SNES games coming out, but at the time I was devastated, so I was stuck with mega man 6 when I could talk the babysitter into it (which as I said, wasn't often), for Mega Man 2 once a year for a weekend. That is until one fateful day two years later.

My dad would every once and a while, stop in to our local pawn shop.  One day, after he picked me up from the babysitters he asked if I wanted to go to the pawn shop, he said that they might have something I wanted.  We get there and what should be on the shelf but the game I had been wanting for two years, Mega Man 2.  I rushed to it, and my dad said he had been in the day before and seen it, but wasn't sure it was the game I wanted. I assured him it was, and we walked out of the store with MY copy of Mega Man 2, my first game. 

More came after that, half a year later I bought Mega Man 4 from the same store.  and not long after that we got a SNES and my cousin gave me Mega Man X for my tenth birthday.  My parents gave me X2 for getting my driver's license, and my wife gave me X3 for our first anniversary. Every single game was a treasure; pure fun incased in plastic.  Whenever I'm sad or depressed, I can hook up my old NES pop in my beloved Mega Man 2 and be a happy kid again.

Which I suppose, brings me to the point of this, When I first heard that Capcom was making Mega Man 9, I was awestruck.  You mean a new game with My Mega Man? not ZX or zero or battlenetworks or whatever, but with the blue bomber that I know and love?  You can't imagine the joy I felt, the pure un-adulated joy.  And when I saw the press package, I didn't care I had to have one, no matter what the cost (within reason).  But then my heart fell only two hundred to be given out to select people, or $2000.  there is simply no way I could afford that.  I called my wife and told her, and she said that I should try this, to tell of my experience and how important mega man has been to me growing up.  To tell you how I've loved this series from as far back as I can remember.

So I beg you with every fiber of my being, please, this isn't just some guy who's going to turn around and sell it on e-bay the next day, this would be going to a home where mega man is cherished and regarded as royalty.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely

Andy 

I had my left arm removed and a blaster attached.

Very painful procedure and not as useful as it sounds.

I'd imagine having a blaster makes certain things very tricky... like showering...

I posted a similar story here:
http://www.capcom-unity.com/mega_man/go/thread/view/7461/4969191/Favourite_Megaman_Memory

That Blue Bomber... always changing our lives...

It doesn't matter whether he can charge or not.

What really matters is if he can slide.