One year


12 months


52 weeks


365 days


8,766 hours


525,949 minutes


And way too many seconds for Lord only knows!


[31,556,926... seconds in a year... coz I'm God y'kno -Ed.]


Wow. It's hard to believe a year ago today I launched RVGFANATIC. It's cliche, but time truly flies. Like a you-know-what. It's been a great year, and tonight we look back at the year that
was. But first...

GOING BACK... WAAAAY BACK

It didn't start one year ago, though, no, perhaps RVG was in the making since the late 90s -- about ten years, to be precise. I started using the internet regularly circa early '97. I loved sharing my thoughts with the cyberspace denizens. My first message board "home" was... ah yes, horrormovies.com. If any of you HM.com blokes out there remember the poster/handle Leprechaun (all 2 of you...), that was indeed yours truly. On a side note, holy crud, I just spent 5 minutes browsing HM.com for the first time in... seven years? WHOA. Very cool to see they still around. The red and black attack! *chuckles* Oh Lord do I remember that "Deep Discussion" board. Awesome to see they still kickin' over there

That same year, toward the tail end of '97, the
US Godzilla flick was garnering some major pub, and being the G-Fan that I was (still am, though it'll never be like it was in those days), I signed up at Godzilla.com to post on their green and black message board. Anyone recall the handle Gamera? Yep, that was me. That place had some great conversation about monster movies. I fondly recall reading through a really deep (as deep as one could get on the subject, anyhow) thread about Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, making a huge reply, and as soon as I finished, my mom came home with bag after grocery bag of goodies.
I tore open a TOTINO's, stuffed it in the oven and then ran back upstairs to continue browsing and posting until the pizza was ready. It was a dark and rainy evening. Winter '97. Good stuff

GvTSM had some macabre scenes. I recall several posters, myself included, having a great convo about the torch-tossing scene, and how atmospheric it was. It really was an innocent time still. Hmm. I just checked to see if the board was still around. Haven't been on there since the late 90s. No surprise: POOF, gone,
no more, FINITO

                                                    It really had some weird, trippy shit going on

Released in 1971, it's unlike any other Godzilla film out there

                                                Hippies stage a rally on Mount Fuji to protest Hedorah

Then we get a random shot of the elders on the outside looking in!

                                                       "Throw the torches! It's AFRAID OF FIRE!"

Another fond memory I have regarding Godzilla.com was the little 'uproar' I caused. It was no heroic deed or anything history-making, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. I petitioned for an
Off-Topic board -- I wanted to talk about more than just monster movies with my fellow G-Fans.
I wanted to talk about games, talk about girls, and I wanted to talk about LIFE. There was a
vote, and in the end my efforts paid off. The "Miscellaneous" forum was created. It was called
that as opposed to Off Topic, which is the usual moniker you see these days. Good times

I then moved onto a message board
forum called Monster Zero in the late
90s/early 00s. When infamous director
Shusuke Kaneko fielded fan suggestions
in 2000 or early 2001 about ideas for his
upcoming G-Film "GODZILLA, MOTHRA
& KING GHIDORAH - GIANT MONSTERS
ALL-OUT ATTACK," I took the liberty
to send him a message pleading for the
resurrection of my favorite monster not
named Godzilla: Baragon. I explained to
Kaneko how Baragon's less than gigantic
size (in comparison with Godzilla and friends;
Baragon is "only" 82 feet tall when standing
upright, and he's usually crawling around on
all fours) led to many great possibilities, such
as him peering into a mansion or something
of that nature

Imagine my thrill when Monster Zero's Main News page spread the news that Baragon was going to be resurrected for GMK! Now, there's no proof I was the source inspiration for it, and probably many fans called for the monster's return, but y'kno. And when the film came out December 15, 2001, that whole Baragon peering into a jail cell shot... it was just like what I'd told Kaneko! Every time I see that classic shot, a part of me can't help but feel I had something to do with it...

THE BIG VIDEO GAME COMEBACK

Early 2001 was when I really got back into video games. I had a Saturn for two years by '01,
but it wasn't til January 2001 that I became a diehard. That year I became a regular on neo-geo.com. It's really the place where I picked up most of my experience writing about games,
life and whatever. It was a nice launching board to eventually, what you now see today

Ironically, exactly five years later from January 2001, my Saturn honey moon finally died and I was left burned out on the system I once loved so dearly. I felt it was time for me to return home. The SNES. And so I did. 2006 was a fun year, buying games by the dozens, receiving 7 packages in the mail on the same day, playing my old favorites and discovering the ones
I missed out back in the day, ahhh

In my Saturn heyday I had plans to eventually create an all-encompassing Saturn thread that I'd post on NG.com, DP, SegaFans, etc. I even had the title: MEGA SEGA Saturn Thread. What would it have entailed? Simple: a crapload of Saturn gameplay pictures, reviews, related stories and memories. The games reviewed would have covered the US and Japanese spectrum, ranging from the bad, the epic, the obscure, the common, and everything in-between. (Sound familiar? It should, as that's the gist of my banner!) I also had planned to end each Saturn review with an overall score out of 10, games scoring an 8 would earn the Silver award, 9's the Gold and 10's PLATINUM. Identical to EGM, except I wanted to add one thing: games which scored a 7.5 rating would get the Bronze award. It's a rating system I've always wanted to employ a la the olympics or elementary school with the honor roll system. You see how this all relates to RVG? A lot of these ideas have been brewing in my head for MANY years now

But of course, before I could get the all-encompassing Saturn topic off the ground, I burned out with the system. It was an event even I did not foresee. I thought I would be a Saturn junkie for life... now I truly know nothing is forever. Hell, it would not surprise me at all if in four years, history repeats itself with the SNES. Once you've played and conquered it all, what else is left, but to do it all over again? Humans move on by nature once a feeling of "Been there, done that" seeps in. We all go through different stages in life, and most of us look for new mountains to climb

OBSCURE... WHEN THE WORD ACTUALLY WAS

These days it's common to see the word "obscure" being thrown around in video game circles. But several years ago, not so much. I'm not trying to suggest I was there first, but I was into (discovering) obscure games and posting my impressions on obscure games before the word became a household name


In 2003 and 2004, I created two very popular topics on several video game message boards that highlighted my impressions on "Obscure Sega Saturn Imports."  It was some of the most fun I ever had posting... sharing with people all these obscure gems they oughta play, and the ones
to avoid. Keriotosse!, Crows, Hissatsu!, Welcome House, etc. Good times

When I got back into the Super NES January 17, 2006, from that very first day I had the mindset of creating that Saturn thread I never did -- but of course for the Super NES. What a great chance for redemption! I also regretted not tallying a record of my Saturn acquisitions. Date I purchased Game X, for how much, and any interesting side-stories related to the purchase. My SNES resurrection gave me the chance to do things right this time around. So, I charted every SNES purchase I made, and in the near future had plans to launch a thread detailing my SNES experiences, memories, reviews, impressions and stories. Each review would start with the date I purchased the game, for how much and whether it was cart only, with manual or complete. Again, you see how this all connects to RVG? I'm fairly stingy as a buyer, so the price I paid would be an accurate indicator (roughly speaking) of the game's going value at the time of purchase. It's these subtle things and personal little touches I love doing...

The only problem was, by summer 2006 I had acquired (believe it or not) an insane 400 (!!) SNES titles. There was just SO much to play. I did not feel the time was right to launch my Super NES thread, BUT at the same time I did wanted to create a series of SNES-related impressions of one sort or another. Thinking back to my Obscure Saturn Impressions topics, and how much fun I had with 'em, naturally it hit me. And thus, "Steve's Obscure Super Famicom Impressions" thread was born

I posted them on eight (!) different boards. September 8, 2006 saw the birth of the thread and it's funny, initially I was very hesitant on pulling the trigger. You see, I could easily have emulated all the games and play them via that format. But no, I must have the real thing. The last thing I wanted was to possibly drive up my competition on eBay, so I was in a bit of a bind

And that's when I discovered the awesome japangamestock.com. By happenstance I read a post praising JGS on GameFAQs September 1, 2006. I visited JGS for the first time that night, and ordered over 30 SFC imports... most of which were on my large want list. I paid for them the very next day, which is why you might have noticed 9.2.06 in a lot
of my obscure SFC impressions under Acquired. With over 30 wants crossed off the ole want list, I was now able to launch the Obscure SFC Impressions thread without remorse. I had the Obscure SFC thread in mind for about 3 months, since early summer '06, but did not want to launch it until I had stake my claim on most of the games I would be writing about. It's funny whenever people ask me, "Do you really own all these games?"  You bet your ass I do  =p

THE TOPIC THAT TURNED INTO A BEAST

Originally I'd planned for the OSIT (Obscure
SFC Impressions Thread) to go no further than Halloween 2006. But I kept buying more obscure SFC games and so the thread rocked on. It became a beast -- it was very well received at all eight boards, even stickied on a few. I posted a new impression every other day, with no more than a 3 or 4 day break in-between. The first post was about the game I had been curious about for over 12 years! It was an absolute blast sharing with the gaming world my impressions on these little seen, little played and little known titles

By October '06 a guy told me I should compile everything and put it on a site. I really didn't give
it much thought. But by the time I read the same comment from a handful of different people, I started sleeping on it. During November I was in talks with YAKUMO (Segagaga Domain owner) quite a bit about starting my own site. I even had webmasters asking me if they could host my material. Initially, I preferred that idea. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense
to have my own site. In December 2006, DigitPress member PeteWhitley left this message in my OSIT. It was the straw that broke the camel's back

• Steven, this is soooo the best thread going on DP right now. In addition to continuing it, you should really compile everything you've got into a web page and concurrently add to this thread and that web page. You would have a pretty sweet document of some rarely played games right there, and it would be more permanent than just a thread on the DP boards. Just a thought, but in my opinion you have something way better than a thread going here

In late December I began tackling the endeavor

January 7, 2007 -- RVGFANATIC launched. The
first day saw no actual content; just a little note
to introduce the reader. The very first impression
I wanted to post and kick start the site with was
the game I opened my OSIT with. Transferring
Godzilla: Kaijuu Daikessen over on January 8,
2007, I was so proud to see my work presented
on an actual website as opposed to the message
board medium that I've used since 1997. January
8 also saw Battle Cross, Hyper Iria and debuted
Mission/Q & A. I remember that day very well. It
was such an exciting time. Corny though it may
sound, publishing January 8's content really felt
like cutting the grand opening ribbon

NAMING THE BEAST

A special shout out to JVGFanatic for suggesting the website name RVGFANATIC. I was stumped on a site name so I asked some old Saturn buds of mine to throw out some suggestions. JVG suggested these two, which I sort of liked for various reasons:

• Retro Fire

• Obscuretro

Retro Fire seemed kind of cool right off the bat to me. It has a nice little 'punch' to it. So what irked me?  Nowhere in the name did it suggest a video game site


Obscuretro was a very clever little name. I almost went with it, but it looked a bit funky
and although my site would, initially, be heavily built around my obscure Super Famicom impressions, I wanted to eventually shift the focus to SNES reviews. Super Metroid isn't
exactly obscure! So that didn't fit, either...


His third and final suggestion was a tongue-in-cheek, sort of last second throw-in by the Japanese Video Game Fanatic, but I knew almost right away it was the one. RVGFANATIC...

SPECIAL THANKS

Looking back, the OSIT was very critical. Without it, I never would have opened my own site. NEVER. One of the toughest things in my opinion with launching a new site is giving it enough support material right away so that it gets off the ground blazing. It's very difficult to launch a site and have little to show for it. With my OSIT in the wings to be transferred over, as well as all my old Saturn material, I had plenty of juice to legitimately say, "This is how my site will be different from all the others."  It also gave me the strength and inspiration to create new material that takes what I've learned from past pieces I've created, to refine my technique into the style and spirit you see today. Basically, striking while the iron is hot

The OSIT became so mammoth, and had such a following -- combined with the fact that so many peers urged me to preserve the reviews on a proper website -- it finally got my butt in motion. I'm really grateful for JapanGameStock, my Saturn buds and everyone else who supported me and pushed me on. If you ever viewed my OSIT, even if it was only a few times, then hey, I did my job

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

If you remember this original
banner, give yourself a cookie.
If you remember Virtua Writer,
give yourself two!

                Oh geez... wow. Here's the
                original side menu, it was
                changed before the site
                launched on 1.07.07


                SNES Memories was very
                short-lived and just recently
                I replaced SEGA Saturn
                Times with the SUPER
                NES FILES

TEXT ME, BITCH!

One of RVG's staples became the text-embedded shot. It's something you don't see a whole lot of on other sites, if at all. Four days after the launch of RVGFANATIC, I incorporated the text-embedded shot with my 1st brand new obscure SFC impression since the close of the message board OSIT: Amazing Spider-Man: LF (Lethal Foes)

The texting rage all started here, and I have Peter Parker's alter ego to thank, or blame for!

My second SNES review, Fievel Goes West (posted the very first month of RVG's inception), was the first SNES review to have a text-embedded shot, and as RVG readers know, it exploded from there on out. These days, it's not uncommon to find 50+ (!) text-embedded pictures in any one review. It's all part of my style and help make RVGFANATIC different from all the rest

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

Ah ha, we've come to the part of the evening where we'll hand out our Review and Article of the Year awards

Overall, the one review I feel is the best? Hmmm, a tough one. I'm proud of each of them in their own way, and I could seriously pick from a handful I'd say deserves to win the honor. Legend of Zelda: LTTP, Street Fighter II, Brandish, Demon's Crest, etc.

Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em...

       "ARE YOU KEN!"


       "No, I'm Guile. YOUR KEN!"


       "My Ken what? ARE YOU KEN!"


       "Oh bloody hell... this writer's
        strike f*ckin' blows!"


       A-KEN to that, brother!



       [Oh dear. I wish we would have a
       writer's strike around here! -Ed.]

But I can only pick one

*Drum roll please*

And the winner is... World Heroes! It's my favorite review of the lot, and just captures those innocent times of the early-mid 90s for me


Congrats, World Heroes! WH Anthology to hit the PS2 Spring '08, hurrah!

ARTICLE OF THE YEAR

RVG isn't all about reviews, nor is it all about video games

Revealing all my sniping tactics, this is a fool-proof plan (I would know, I was the fool that tested it!) I've used to make eBay stress-free and bargain-galore for over five years now. Tired of getting sniped? You gotta play fire with fire! Wanna know the best techniques? Then read Art of eBay: How To Snipe

Honoring the little bro
I never had, BUON COMPLEANNO! looks at my times with my cousin David, and the adventures I had with him over the years trying to enrich his life like how my older cousins have done for me in years past. Pay it forward

Highlighting A Very Cutlip Christmas from The Wonder Years, and connecting that with an unforgettable experience
I had with my 8th grade English teacher [....... -Ed.] Coach Cutlip & Ms. Haas examines the human spirit

            There are other venues to buy games than eBay or online.
            Why not try browsing your local Craigslist? You never know
            what you might unearth, as well as the people you'll meet.
            Craigslist Memoirs highlights my times on CL; the bargains
            I receive, the places I been, and of course, the nice and
            down to earth (ex)-gamers that I've met

Ahh, there's nothing like the smell of fresh grass on a hot summer afternoon. Baseball. America's past time. Hot dogs. Field of Dreams highlights my memories of the game, and features a little tribute at the end for the title film

The debuting piece for Miscellaneous,
this tale was originally told in my OSIT.
A simple and short tale about my good friend Eddie and his chasing a girl friend that he would have to eventually.... learn to let go. Together, we attended her wedding banquet, and what follows, well, read about it: Jessie's Girl

I loved renting games as a kid. All the little trips my dad and I shared, the things we saw and did. It was definitely a more innocent and care free time. From renting Oh mah Gawd! imports to watching my dad stand up for me, I will never forget my Memories of Renting

This man's speech moved me, and I was able to re-enact parts of it for a college graduate course I had not too long ago. If you love reading about tales which shed some insight on the power of the human spirit, with some wrestling peppered in, you will love reading about Mr. USA Tony Atlas

What happens when a man is backed into a corner by a smothering female? He reverts back
to his caveman instincts that's what! Read about Kevin Arnold's trial, as
well as one of my own:
Of Mastodons and Men

My best times at college came when I put my best foot forward and made my high school dream come true: to be in a school play. From the friends I made, to the times we had, the Playback trilogy tells all

Playback, Playback II and Playback III

Returning home... in
more ways than one.
SNES comeback, 10
year anniversary, and
more: Resurrection

Spring 2007, my very first semester in my grad program, was so memorable, and led to this piece: Spring FEVER 

God Bless Amy Jo Johnson, AKA the Pink Ranger, for thanks to her puberty sure came fast for many boys growing up circa 1994. And thanks to EGM, I capitalized on a bet my classmates and I had
[Double meanings FTW! -Ed.]


Those were some damn good innocent times. By the way, the guy I hustled, I heard from my old best buddy Nelly that Josh is currently in jail. Holy shit. Well then, I truly have no regrets now suckering that sucker!


Power Rangers and the power of an EGM subscription... good stuff: The Bet

Speaking of EGM, man, we sure been through a lot. So many memories of the brand. Where does it rank on my list of top five magazine publications? Find out at My Top 5 Magazines

On 3.19.06, I made an
80 minute trip to reclaim
bits and pieces of my
childhood. Read about
that fateful Sunday...

Nine freaking months it took. But it was all worth it, yes. The Super Play Drama chronicles it all

The final piece of 2007,
I fondly recall the glory days of EGM's past,
in particular, their
spectacular Holiday Issues

What does this man, the Dead Man . . . have in common with the SNES? You may be surprised... WWF-SNES Connection

Tha Crossroads is rare in the sense that it might be the only piece I have on RVG containing no pictures. The article recalls Valentines Night '98, my uncle's wedding, a drunk bastard, and how the cousin I admired all those years ago came to my rescue

And of course, last but not least, SSM Top 50 Part 1 begins Sega Saturn Magazine's Top
50 countdown, a message board piece I originally crafted in late 2003 that was transferred over.
That topic led to SSM former editor and writer to personally email me, to which I had the honor
of conducting Interview with SSM! Rich and Gary, wherever you blokes are out there, rock on

So, which article takes home the prize?

I am most proud in particular of Memories of Halloween and Coach Butler and 9/11. Halloween 1994 and September 11, 2001 are two dates I will never forget, and those two pieces chronicle my experiences on those two days so much better than I could have ever dreamed. Like movie making and many other ventures, you always go into creating something looking for the best end product. But some days you just don't have it for whatever reasons, and you know it. That's how it goes some times. But on a few rare occasions, the stars align and you create the "perfect" piece of art. For me, those two represent just that. The Coach Butler piece speaks on the infamous day, in addition to the weeks leading up to it, the aftermath, and connects it all with the one professor I will NEVER forget

Halloween night 1994
was one of the best
nights of my life. It's an
experience that I've told
in real life to probably
over one hundred
people, from classmates
to friends to a seminar
on public speaking
which I had the honor of
modeling for the newbies
how it is that effective
story tellers spin their
craft. And on Halloween
2007, I launched the
article on RVG to share
with a worldwide
cyberspace audience. It
is a three-part epic, first
highlighting some of my
favorite scenes from the
HALLOWEEN films to
act two, where I share
one of my favorite
cartoon episodes ever,
Doug's Halloween
Adventure, shown in its
entirety! Finally, to take
us home the article shed
light on that infamous
Halloween night of 1994;
a night I will always
remember no matter
where life takes me

Indeed he is. *heavy breathing*

                                                            One of the all-time greats, this shot

Act II shares the tale of Doug's Halloween Adventure

                                                           And the final act, Halloween night 1994

But only one can win. The Article of the Year award goes to....

Memories of Halloween. The really cool thing is, if you click on the "undefined" link in that article, it will open up a youtube link of a guy playing the classic Halloween theme on the piano. If you open that and start reading the article immediately, at an average pace, the music should stop right as you finish the Halloween stuff... leading into Act II's Doug piece. I DON'T know how that ended up working out, I did not plan for it to, but like I said, the stars were in perfect alignment!

Overall, from my entire body of work, I'd say that piece is my best work so far

BURN OUT (added 1.10.08)


As Melf of SEGA-16 once wrote, ironically, in his Year One Retrospective piece which I read for
the first time last night, new website owners usually burn out within six months. You see it all
the time. Somebody new always joins the ranks in hopes to have some fun, maybe even shake
up the video game website scene with their own unique brand of flavor and viewpoints. But more
often than not, the fan site fades into obscurity as the webmaster gradually loses interest. Melf
pointed out two reasons why which I agree with whole-heartedly: there's a lack of direction, a
loss of interest, or both


Luckily, my interest is as high as it's ever been, and my direction is to provide a unique SNES-based site that is unlike any other (gaming site) out there. RVG is ran solely by me, and as
you can see, my fingerprints are all over the place. Whether I'm writing a new SNES review, converting my old Saturn material, recalling my first crush or lionizing my favorite retro game magazines, I have a ton of fun sharing my experiences, thoughts and memories to anyone who cares to take a peek. Although anybody can improve at writing reviews and articles, the people who are really good at it, I believe, are simply wired differently. You may even say they were born for it. They have a way of making a connection with the reader. I don't like to toot my own horn, but glance at any review or article on the site. From all the pictures to the novel-like length of most pieces, it's pretty remarkable what I've done here in my first year. From Saturn to SNES
to random life memories, RVG is unlike any other website out there. I'm pretty proud of that

FEEDBACK

Time to address some of your feedback . . . .

• 1.8.07
  
  I can tell this is the start of something great. Good luck Steve!
  -JoshF from SEGAFANS.com

Josh, my ole pal, you were wrong  ;)

• 1.10.07
  
  Love the site Steven! You're gonna drive me to the poorhouse trying to find all these obscure games, lol.
  
  -PeteWhitley

HA! Once again thanks for leaving that inspirational message in my topic. Made me see the light

• 1.18.07
  
  As a keen follower of your work on the Sega Fans site and Assembler Forums, we are absolutely over the moon about your new site. There is already some cracking material amongst those sites to get you off to this flying start. And we look forward to more hidden crackers over time. If you fancy swapping links, we'd love to have your site on our links page. And if ever a title proves out of reach of your search and locate skills, we'd love
  to keep an eye out for it. Please keep up the excellent work....
  
  -Pete
  GenkiVideoGames.com

Pete, glad you liked my work over the years. Cheers for the offer mate, but thankfully I have pretty much all that I've ever wanted, with regards to this hobby. Wish I could say the same about some other things . . . HA!

• 1.24.07
  
  Hey Steven, nice place you put up here. Once I get the OPCFG back up and running,
  I'm definitely linking to you. Nice work!
  
  - Rob

Rob! Man... I remember browsing the OPCFG in the late 90s. Truly an awesome site. One of the all-time greats. If there were a video game website hall of fame yours would be a first ballot! In a world of samey, me-too gaming pages, yours definitely stood out, as well as the test of time

• 2.14.07
  
  I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you that I think your work so far is amazing. Your reviews are refreshingly free of laziness, even if the game isn't particularly deserving of such overwhelming effort. Further, real-life "blogish" entries like Jessie's Girl and the second half of Coach Cutlip are truly touching. It's always one of the highlights of my
  day when I can come home from work and find a juicy update or two.
  
  Keep it up and please try to not get bored.
  
  -Mercatfat

Thanks man. Really nice message; one of the best I've received. As you can see, I've lasted a good year now. I don't update as often as I'd like, but when there is an update you can take it to the bank it's a worthy one. I'll try to keep RVG going strong for as long as I can. Many website owners burn out after 6 months or so, but I have plenty of juice left in the tank... knock on wood

• 3.6.07
  
  I love this website, specially for the obscure SFC game section... Many of these games
  I never heard of... Fond memories of my old SNES reborn for me... Thank you
  -Lucio

Appreciate it. Glad to help revive some fond memories for ya. Playing through these old favorites has been pretty surreal, as well as playing the ones I missed back in the day... it really feels like I'm "fulfilling my childhood dreams" as one guy once eloquently put it

• 3.18.07
  
  Excellent site. You have a great writing style --something that reminds me of the good ole days of fansites. I enjoy your reviews and impressions and your "old VG mag" style. Old EGM was pretty rad. Keep it up
  -Matt

Thanks Matt. I love the old mags. The spirit some of those old issues possess are off the charts. You really felt like you knew the writers and there was just a real ZING to the whole thing. If you feel a similar feeling with RVG, then I've done my job right

• 5.10.07
  
  Hi. Not sure how i stumbled across this site but bloody hell i'm glad i did. Kinda reminds me of a time in gaming when mags like Mean Machines and Super Play were big, and sarcasm and humour played a big part of gaming journalism, before the 32bit boom
  when everything started to get all serious. Good times, anyways rad site dude, got it bookmarked.
  
  Cheers.
  -butane bob

I'm bloody hell glad you did as well ;)

• June 22, 2007
  The Obscure World Of Super Famicom Redux
  
  Last September I directed your attention to Steve and his wondrous forum thread of Super Famicom obscurities. As it often happens with these sorts of things, the forum thread became such a laborious exercise that Steve pulled the plug on new updates and instead channeled his energies into a website packed full of obscure Super Famicom and Sega Saturn curiosities. Thrill to all new reviews of games such as The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes, Super Back to the Future II, Iron Commando, and Lode Runner Twin!
  
  Aside from the rarities, Steve is also reviewing the average run-of-the-mill games of the Super NES library. Super Metroid, Aladdin, and Rocky Rodent are among the games given a second (or, in some cases, first) look. Everything is written with a tongue-in-cheek style, meaning that in addition to learning something, you'll also be entertained, and really, isn't that what the Internet is really all about?
  
  -Matt, webmaster of PRESSTHEBUTTONS.com

Thanks Matt! Seeing this really made my day. (I also noticed a spike over the weekend that you posted this on your site). I don't do RVG for recognition, but of course it is nice when someone takes the time to recognize your efforts

• 7.30.07
  
  I read a few of your reviews, I loved 'em, entertaining and unique. Today I was glancing through your Magazine MADNESS, and Mission/Q & A sections as well as the Journal, and I must say, you have a very good perception and appreciation towards gaming, much like me. And you keep a very detailed gaming log just like I do, notebooks full of nostalgic goodness, records of purchases and games beaten 'n stuff. Of all the classic sites I have been to since having access to the internet your's ranks as one of my favorites. Thank you for impressing me beyond the norm. :)
  
  -Megan

[*GASP*  A FEMALE!  Quick!  The net!  -Ed.]

Uh, ignore him. Bit of a scamper, that one. Thank you for the kind, heartfelt message, Megan.
Ya made my day when I read it. You won't, can't, please everyone, especially all the time, but you don't worry so much about that. You just gotta do you. The one thing I'm really proud of RVG is the fact that I do whatever I want. I remember in years past having reviews rejected, because it deviated from the basics of graphics and gameplay. Many sites frown on game reviews going off-topic, but what's wrong with throwing in your personal memories of a game? Is it professional? No. NO. But who cares about professionalism in this sense? Not me, not here. The freedom is awesome and as a result, you never really know what you might see in any article or review. I create these pieces asking myself "What do I want to see?" Although not everyone will agree with you on this or that, knowing that once in a while, someone will see something and go, "Wow, that was really something else" is a great feeling, on top of everything else

GOODBYE 2007, HELLO 2008

So what does 2008, year two for RVGFANATIC, bring? Honestly, Lord knows. With career, family, and all the other real life stuff piling on, who knows where we'll be in 2008. I will definitely (do my best to) keep the site going, but if all goes well, you'll see less of me on here. Future reviews may be shortened; more on a Super Metroid scale. Then again, we'll see, as old habits die hard


All in all, it's been a great first year for RVG. I had a blast and I hope you did, too. Don't fret if in the near future you see no updates for 3 weeks at a time, RVG will not die like so many others before it. Rest assured, the site will always remain true to itself in an era of constant change
and fly-by-night gimmicks

I hope you enjoyed tonight's one year retrospective. It's been fun being your host for this evening as well as the past 365. Drive safe y'all and have a good night!


Cheers
-Steve

"AHEM!"  *taps into the microphone*

[Hey, what's going on??? -Ed.]

*adjusts tie*  Ahem.... well that's all the time we have for tonight... see you next time!

2012 edit... here ya go!  Super Mario World