When I turned 6 I got a Super Nintendo for my birthday. With it, came two games. Super Mario World, and an obscure F-Zero-esque space shooter called HyperZone. In my near 20 years of owning it, I’ve never beat it.
Today, my nephew came over and played SNES with me for the last time before he moves to Hawaii. He couldn’t beat the first level and I kept telling him if he keeps trying he will be able to. So he kept trying, After an hour on his own, he was beating it.
The story doesn’t end here because that game is nutsy hard, and he couldn’t quite conquer level 2. So he begged me to beat it and the next level and the next. Finally, I threw down everything I did and resolved to beat it for him. Unfortunately, he had to leave right as I was about to beat the 6th level (there are 8).
He left, but I was only more determined to keep trying for him. I can finally say that after 20 years of never beating that blasted game, I just beat HyperZone. The fact that he couldn’t be there to celebrate with me makes it a sad victory, but I couldn’t have done it without him teaching me to keep trying.
I’m going to miss that little guy, as well as my niece, as well as my sister (you don’t count, Michael, we’ve already been missing you). They are moving away in a couple days. Love you guys.