On 26 September 1993, my grandparents allowed me to spend 2000 Belgian francs (a mere $50) on a toy of my choosing as a birthday present. Back then, Belgian toy chain FUN was open for only a few hours on a Sunday.
September 1993 marked the height of Jurassic Park mania. The movie was just around the corner, I had seen the ads, I had read the reports in the Suske and Wiske weekly, I was a dinosaur fan since the big 1992 exhibition had opened in the Natural History Museum of Brussels ... needless to say, I was psyched. Naturally, I opted for Jurassic Park merchandise. The GameBoy game retailed for 1800 francs ($45) - on a par with Nintendo 3DS games of now. Inflation-wise, games could be more expensive today.
(Alan) Granted, this was before the internet and before I had ever heard of a thing called "reviews". I picked the game because the cover art said Jurassic Park! I honestly liked the game, but it was way too hard for an inexperienced gamer. I don't think I ever made it past the third level. Not understanding any of the English dialogue didn't help matters either.
Flash forward to 2 March 2015. Having just seen Jurassic Park again (anticipating the fourth installment, Jurassic World), I decided to give the GameBoy game another shot. Lo and behold, it proved to be not that hard after all. Only the fifth level forced me to face two 'Continue? Yes/No' screens. Two hours after inserting the cartridge, I completed the game.
21,5 years after receiving the game, I finally beat it. A footnote in life? An unimportant event? Sure. But also a strangely fascinating and satisfying one.
Julian De Backer, 16 March 2015
