(AN: Woo, chapter 1, in the bag! I hope you all like it; the only OCs I'll be using will be human, and with luck, they won't be too annoying. After all, what's the point of using the setting if you don't focus on the videogames? :)

I have an idea that I'm a really big fan of, and that's the main reason I'm writing this, but another big factor is the fact that I really want to beta read. Buuut, this story has to be at least 5000 words before I can officially do that. So, if you like, send me your chapters, I'll go over them, and with luck, the general quality of everything will go up!

But that's enough from me. Lights! Camera! Action!)

Posted by: mariokoopa96 at 7:25, 8/19/13

Thread title: old game easter eggs!

hey, what was your favorite easter egg when you used to play retro games? And dont just post things everyones heard of!

for example in fix it felix jr if you get to level 20, it opens a bonus level where you ride a q*bert! :)

Posted by: retrogameluver9 at 7:30, 8/19/13

Uh, excuse me? You're obviously very young, so I'll cut you some slack, but there was never such a thing. There's no point in making up rumors when I can just check for myself with google. This is even worse than your post about King Candy in Sugar Rush.

Besides, I've played Fix-it Felix Jr. about a million times, that game's as boring as dirt.

Posted by: mariokoopa96 at 7:45, 8/19/13

well if your going to be rude about it... look I never made anything up you must of gotten a bad copy.

I swear I never made anything up.

The man entered the building for the twelve thousandth time in his life, and there was light.

It was the sickly, dim sort of light that was generally found in old arcades. After all, it was easier to see a screen in the dark, wasn't it?

The oldest business in town was Litwak's Family Fun Center, and it showed. From the dusty old carpeting to the 8-bit game machines, everything about it felt like a bit of the 90s had been lopped off and stuck in a building. Yeah, Mr. Litwak made a few token efforts to modernize things, sure, when a game broke or malfunctioned, he'd replace it with something newer, but he really couldn't bear to change too much. After all, the Center had been in business for over thirty five years! For him and for many of the adults who visited, there was too much nostalgia in the air. Not to mention the sawdust and smell of dry soda that seemed to cling to everything, despite Litwak's best attempts.

And that was just how the inhabitants of the arcade liked it. There was something to be said for job security, and it was very assuring to know that if you did what you were meant to, and nothing went wrong, you weren't going anywhere. The trick was making sure everything went smoothly.

At first, it looked like every other day at the arcade. There was a brief period before opening where all the characters took a second to look themselves over, tune up their carts, and generally make sure that nothing about them was out of order. Around this time, Game Central Station was a lot quieter. You might see some still-homeless NPCs huddled around a fire flower, but not many people were reckless enough to risk missing the opening of the arcade.

After 8:15, anyone could come in, and usually there was a small trickle of kids that slowly turned into a torrent as the day went by. Birthday parties came and went, and the games played just as well as they always did. Later, Felix Jr. would lament not paying closer attention to the actions of the regulars who wandered in, and Ralph would smash several important pieces of architecture out of frustration, instead of his usual scripted rage.

Today was Litwak's Nephew's birthday, and he had a very specific wish.

Jeremy had been playing videogames from a very young age, and had gotten his first computer when he was 12. In retrospect, he was very, very thankful that he'd gotten a computer instead of the NES that he wanted. After all, he had been forced to learn a bit of coding to even work the damn machine, and what was the point of having a game console when your uncle had an arcade?

He had learned pretty quickly that he was popular in school because of his ability to score free parties at Litwak's, and he had learned even faster that he wasn't nearly confident enough to reject them because of this. Sure, he was being used, but it was much better than being alone.

As the children grew older and older, however, the promise of free arcade games grew less and less tantalizing. After all, videogames were baby stuff, and those who DID play games usually had an SNES tucked under their bed with a rats nest of wires and controllers surrounding it like a cocoon.

And Jeremy was left alone, with his crummy old computer.

It had been years since that occurred, and now, Jeremy was almost thankful for his trials. He had programmed tens of games since then, usually simple little affairs, and had put them up online in a desperate plea for attention. He received none. It was when he began modding games that his chance came along, and before he knew it, he had a library of "original" platformers, and 14k in the bank from his work. His programming was his hobby, his job, and his life.

And DESPITE ALL THIS-despite the work and passion he had for his job!- his uncle never, ever let him mess with the insides of his machines. Too risky, the man would always say! Too likely to make poor ol' Ralph and Felix kick the bucket, if Jeremy made a mistake. It always annoyed Jeremy, how the old man would refer to the characters as if they were old friends of his. It reminded him too much of how he used to make up stories about their adventures.

All of that was irrelevant, now. For his birthday surprise, his uncle left the building, picked up his nephew from work, smiled, and said the one thing that made every bit of frustration Jeremy had ever had with the man vanish.

"Well, I s'ppose you know more about those old machines than I do, when it comes down to it. You can have a poke around Felix and Ralph's machine for a bit. As long as you can fix it afterwards, well, why shouldn't you have a gander?"

Jeremy gawped, gave a wide, goofy grin, and hugged his uncle for the first time in 10 years.

Then he laughed. "I can fix it!"