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Editorial

Be Careful With What You Wish For


November 1, 1998


Have you ever missed a video game you really wanted, and then, as the years went by, you never forgot about it, and regretted it ever since? This is what happened to me with Lunar: Eternal Blue for the Sega CD (I will call it from now on "Lunar 2"). At the time the game was released I was a student with no income, and my Sega CD was at my parents' home, 4000 miles away from where I was then (and still am). So I passed on the game.

Then, as time went on, I always wondered on the back of my mind how it would be like to play this game. And I heard many testimonies from the people who played it, saying it was great.

Eventually I said to myself that I was not going to wait anymore, and that I was going to buy it. Of course, it was not the best time to make such a purchase, since I'm currently between jobs, but I've waited enough. Besides, I wanted to play the original version before the PlayStation versions came out.

Little did I know that it was easier said than done. Buying another Genesis 2 was relatively easy and cheap. But I couldn't wait much longer, since the stores were running out of inventory, replacing them with the Genesis 3, which could not be connected to the Sega CD. Finding a new Sega CD 2 unit was an entirely different story. Nobody had it. Toys R Us, Electronics Boutique, Software Etc, Babbage's, even Funcoland and Sega got rid of their Sega CD systems long ago. And all the employees looked at me weird when I asked them and never understood why would anyone want to buy such a system. I was getting scared.

I finally found it at Video Game Liquidators, a store that specializes on old video games and video game systems.

Meanwhile, I was searching for Lunar 2. That was also very difficult to find, even used, since RPG fans who bought the Lunar series tended to keep the games and not sell them. First I bought a used copy from eBay, an online auction. The copy was supposed to have been on very good condition, but it never arrived. I will never buy anything from eBay again. I then tried Working Designs. I know, I know, I should've tried them first. But I swear a year or two ago they announced they completely run out of Lunar 2. I called them and, much to my surprise and relief, they had some on stock. It arrived a few days later.

As a bonus, since my birthday was approaching, I asked my mother to send me all my other old Sega CD games. She did. Vay, Lunar 1, Eternal Champions, Silpheed, Sonic CD...they are now finally next to me again. My original Sega CD and Genesis systems are still at my parents' home, since I thought it would be easier to buy them again. Ha!

I am now playing Lunar 2, and it's a relief to finally be able to do so after all these years. The game is great so far. The lower resolution and fewer colors used to bother me a little at the beginning, but not any more. The animation is better than the one at Lunar 1, plus the game is funny.

To finish, I'm not sorry I went through all that trouble to get it, but looking back, I wish I wouldn't have worried so much for so long about a video game. All these energies would've been better spent worried about something more important, like my career.

Be careful with what you wish for...it might come true.

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