Am I the ultimate Megaman fan?

I don’t think that’s a question that I ask myself a lot. Heck, I don't think I've ever asked myself if I am the ultimate Megaman fan.

Let's see... I don't own any Megaman music CDs. I don't own any Japanese versions or Japanese-Only Megaman games. I don't own any action figures. And I don't have every game.

I guess that means I'm not the ultimate Megaman fan...

I can understand the person whose reading this is probably thinking, "I already know he's not the Ultimate Megaman fan so why should I keep reading?"

But let me ask you this question: Am I a deserving fan?

Of course, I'd like to say "Yes." But, that's not in my place to decide that. I'll let you to decide, if you first decide to keep reading that is.

I started to get into Megaman about two years after Megaman 7 came out. My cousin was the one who introduced me into Megaman. He showed me his new game, Megaman 7. He was so excited, not even caring for that fact the game was used. I couldn't understand why he was so excited. I never liked playing used games because used games are sold back because they're bad, right? I still couldn't understand even when I was watching him play.

But then he asked me, "Do you want to try?"

I hesitated, and then said, "Sure."

I couldn't have been more wrong. The moment I put that controller in my hand, I finally understood. I never had so much fun with such a game. The idea was so simple! Choose a stage, beat the boss, and get their weapon. Simple yet fun.

I loved it so much that I asked my dad to buy the game that night. I was only 7 years old so I didn't have any money to myself. Heck, I never got an allowance, so my dad was the only person cabable of buy games for me.

And the next night, I was excited to see him bring me back the game: Megaman 7. It was also used, but I didn't care.

For the next two weeks, I spent all of my free time playing this awesome game.

I never understood the password system, so I always restarted. But it didn't matter; I finally beat the game early in week 3.

After Megaman 7, I tried my cousin’s versions of X and X3 on the SNES, but never liked them nearly as much as 7. Because of this, my interest in Megaman quickly dwindled

Fast forward to a year. The N64 and PSX are out and duking it. I went with N64, hoping that a Megaman 8 would come out for it. I was sad to see my cousin wave around his copy of Megaman 8 with his PSX. I didn't feel like playing the game, and I didn't even want to watch him play.

So, I sat with my N64, playing other games such as Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooie... you know, fun games. But I wanted fun with Megaman too, and I didn't think I would ever get that chance ever again.

But one night, and all of a sudden, my dad came home with a used NES and a whole bunch of used NES games. He was very excited, he wanted to set it up ASAP so that he could play The Legend of Zelda; a game he loved and hadn't played in years. So, while he was playing that game, I browsed through the other NES games he just bought. I then came across five beauties.

Megaman games 2 to 6. I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew there must have been eight Megaman games, but I never even thought of playing the Megaman games before 7. I was shaking with excitement; I could NOT wait to finally play a new Megaman game! Sure, they're old Megaman games, but they're new to me; and that's all I cared about.

My dad finally got off of the NES. And I swooped in, ready to grab my prey, forcing Megaman 2 down its throat. And I turned it on, and I played it.

I played all of the games that night. Sure, I never beat any of them, but I played all five.

As the year went by, I attempted to beat all five. However, I only managed to beat 2, 3 and 5. To this day, Megaman 2 and 7 are my most favourite Megaman games.

Fast forward to another year, my dad bought a (used) PSX. It came with Megaman X4. I thought, "Bleh, an X Megaman game..."

But I tried it. And I had more fun with that game than I did with the other X games. I thought to myself, "Eh, X games aren't so bad." After beating that, I borrowed X and X3 from my cousin. To this day, I never gave it back, but anyway, I beat both of those. Eventually, as the years went by, I got all of the X games, all the way to X6. And I finally got my copy of the first Megaman game one Christmas morning.

Yeah, most of these games are used. To this day, I couldn't understand why people would sell such excellent games.

Today, I've beat all of the Megaman games, both Legends games, all of the Battle Network games, the first Zero games and X games 1-4, and 6.

You may wonder why I haven't beaten the other Zero games, the ZX games, and the Star Force games. Well, I own the first Star Force game, but... I just didn't like it. In fact, I forced myself to beat the Battle Network games, and I just couldn't do it with Star Force. It just wasn't Megaman to me.

The Zero games, well, I didn't like it very much. ZX looks like Zero, so I stayed away from that as well.

Now you're probably asking, "Why haven't you beat X5?" Well, I don't hate the game... I don't expect you to feel pity for me, but I was in the middle of X5 when my mom came in, crying, telling me that my Grandpa has died. I stopped playing the game right there, and never finished it after that. I still have no desire to play that game.

To the person who is reading this, I thank you for reading all of this so far, but my story isn't done yet. I want to explain another reason why Megaman is so special to me in my heart. Please, read on.

In... 2003, I think, I found this website: www.megaman.co.uk

I thought the website was an official Megaman website from Europe. Lo and behold, it was a fan site, with a very neat Chat Room that almost plays like a game; you get to be any Robot Master you want to in this chat room and you can move from room to room with a click on the mouse.

There were also Moderators in this chat room, who had unique avatars. I looked up to these people, as if they were people full of Justice, ridding our haven of lamers and malicious trolls.

I went to this chat room nearly every day. I watched people come and go; and I've became friends with these people. I learned about the Message Board that the website also has, so I joined that too, and saw even more people who didn't care about the Chat.

And I've became friends with these people too. I even became friends with the moderators, who I later found out were normal people like me. And I even consider the administrator to be a friend of mine too. All of these people are dear to me.

Today, we still visit that message board. Most of us have known each other for a few years now, and I can't imagine my life without these people. These people are my friends, and I would truly cry if I found out that one of them suddenly dies. Of course, I hope that won't happen anytime soon.

And then I think about my friends on that website. And I realize:

The only reason why we're together in the first place is because we all love Megaman.

What if I never came across that website? What if my cousin never showed me Megaman 7 in the first place? What if I never became a Megaman fan?

And I have to thank Megaman for bringing us together. Yes, I know, he's not a real character. I know Capcom and Keiji Inafune are the ones behind Megaman. But as a child, I didn't care about them. I cared about Megaman. And Megaman is the reason why I have such great friends.

I think I would truly be alone without Megaman.

And that's why I think I'm a deserving fan: I'm so grateful for the things Megaman has done for me. I wouldn't have ever met such wonderful friends if it weren't for him, and as I said, I couldn't imagine my life without them. To you, they're just people on the internet, but to me, they're some of the greatest people I have ever known.

Thank you, Megaman.

And thank you, the reader, for getting this far. Thank you very much.