NCAA Final Four 99 (PS1) & Metal Gear Solid....?
Posted: April 1st, 2019, 5:27 pm
March Madness - This time of year always brings me back to one of my favorite gaming memories.
I don't play many NCAA basketball games (more of an NBA guy myself), but I'll always have a soft spot for NCAA Final Four 99 on the PS1. Final Four 99 is the main reason Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game series. Weird statement, right?
Quick story.... In 1999, my local Wal-mart had a tournament for Final Four 99 during March Madness. It was pretty casual -- just 2 TVs set-up in the electronics section, and a small crowd gathered to watch. They gave out demo discs to practice with the weekend before, and I spent the whole weekend getting ready for the tournament. With practice, I learned how to spam 3-pointers, making them almost every time. With that, I killed it and won the tournament easily, beating out a lot of adults along the way. Grand prize: a Sony Playstation system. However, I already owned one that I just got a few months earlier, during Christmas 98. So the friendly folks at Wal-mart let me exchange the PS1 (worth $130) for the equivalent value in games. This was HUGE for me -- I was a pretty broke kid and only got new games at Christmas, so winning $130 for games was like 2 Christmases worth of games, all in one day. I had to make some quick decisions, and had heard great things about Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo, so I got those two games (my third game, with the rest of the money, was Rugrats: Search for Reptar... but let's pretend that didn't happen ). Anyway, MGS and GT were smart choices, and became two of my favorite franchises.. By the time I played MGS2 and MGS3, I realized MGS was my favorite series. But I can honestly say, if not for NCAA Final Four 99, I probably would never have played the MGS series at all!
Oddly enough, the real March Madness tournament that year was also the most memorable for me, because my local college team - the UConn Huskies - won their first national championship over a heavily-favored Duke team in a classic game. (I also used UConn in my win at the gaming tournament.)
Funny thing is: I've never played Final Four 99 again since that day at Wal-mart in 1999!
I still have the demo disc at home though, so it's time to change that this year. I'll make sure to play it this week, and post my thoughts here. Anyone else played this game or have a March Madness story?
I don't play many NCAA basketball games (more of an NBA guy myself), but I'll always have a soft spot for NCAA Final Four 99 on the PS1. Final Four 99 is the main reason Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game series. Weird statement, right?
Quick story.... In 1999, my local Wal-mart had a tournament for Final Four 99 during March Madness. It was pretty casual -- just 2 TVs set-up in the electronics section, and a small crowd gathered to watch. They gave out demo discs to practice with the weekend before, and I spent the whole weekend getting ready for the tournament. With practice, I learned how to spam 3-pointers, making them almost every time. With that, I killed it and won the tournament easily, beating out a lot of adults along the way. Grand prize: a Sony Playstation system. However, I already owned one that I just got a few months earlier, during Christmas 98. So the friendly folks at Wal-mart let me exchange the PS1 (worth $130) for the equivalent value in games. This was HUGE for me -- I was a pretty broke kid and only got new games at Christmas, so winning $130 for games was like 2 Christmases worth of games, all in one day. I had to make some quick decisions, and had heard great things about Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo, so I got those two games (my third game, with the rest of the money, was Rugrats: Search for Reptar... but let's pretend that didn't happen ). Anyway, MGS and GT were smart choices, and became two of my favorite franchises.. By the time I played MGS2 and MGS3, I realized MGS was my favorite series. But I can honestly say, if not for NCAA Final Four 99, I probably would never have played the MGS series at all!
Oddly enough, the real March Madness tournament that year was also the most memorable for me, because my local college team - the UConn Huskies - won their first national championship over a heavily-favored Duke team in a classic game. (I also used UConn in my win at the gaming tournament.)
Funny thing is: I've never played Final Four 99 again since that day at Wal-mart in 1999!
I still have the demo disc at home though, so it's time to change that this year. I'll make sure to play it this week, and post my thoughts here. Anyone else played this game or have a March Madness story?