College

I have been to college three times. No, really. It was on three separate occasions, three different colleges, three different lengths of time. The first time was a one-year stay at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. (Which was incredibly stupid considering I’m an Atheist, but that’s another story) The second one lasted three years at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, and no, I didn’t graduate. Quite the opposite, really. The most recent was a nearly six-year stint at the Art Institute of York – Pennsylvania, which the location of the school is in the name. And sadly, no longer exists. I did graduate from the Art Institute; my degree proudly hangs on my wall and countless memories I have of the school come to mind on a regular basis. I loved the teachers (well, almost all of them), it was the first time I came out publicly as transgender, I took so many different classes that left different kinds of impacts on me, on and on. There were also downsides, of course – like one time a mean comment from a classmate sent me into a depression spell in the middle of class – but I loved the school dearly and it’s saddening to know it’s no longer there.

But this story, oddly enough, takes place during my first trip to college, when I was eighteen. Young and dumb, I’d wanted to go to OBU because the campus was pretty, and the people were so friendly to me. That was it. I’d denounced my faith five years prior for Atheism and I had no interest in ever going back to religion. I still feel this way to this very day, more than twenty years later. I’d had no idea what I wanted to do for a career when I went to OBU, I just knew I wanted to go to college. Besides, it’s okay to not know what you want to do when you first go to college; you can always decide whilst taking classes.

At the time, I hadn’t ever heard of the word “transgender”. This was 2001, okay. However, I’d been labelled as a “tomboy” many, many years prior due to my general disinterest in “girly” things and desire to dress and act like a boy; I would later be considered “one of the guys” when joining a group of them to play a collectible card game with them in 2002-2003. Despite this, my body was still female and… well, developed as a female body should. This made things quite uncomfortable for me when developing certain… things, shall we say, as well as when a particular cycle would begin. It all felt so weird and wrong, but I never knew why until around 2010-2011.

The reason I’m mentioning this is because OBU was a two-hour drive from home, which meant I had to live on campus. The dorms were separated by sex and yes, I was put in a three-story dormitory full of nothing but freshman girls. I was on the top floor at one end of the hall, and believe me, it was extremely uncomfortable being around so many girls every single day. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against girls and women, but to be forced to live with them and be treated like one when I’m not one of them… It’s very off-putting. One time, the girls on my side of the hall (the hall was exceptionally long, so it was divided into halves) decided to have a “girls’ night” and I seriously felt like screaming and running as far away as possible. I was the only one who felt this way. It was a gigantic red flag that pointed at me being transgender, but again, I didn’t know the word existed. Instead, I had to put up with feeling sick to my stomach whilst the girls planned their night of makeovers, pizza and Friends (the show). When they held the girls’ night, I stayed in my room all night and watched anime and cartoons by myself.

On the ground floor by the front door of the dorm, there was a little office of sorts for an upperclassman or faculty member to occupy and make sure the people who came in and out of the dorm were the ones who resided there. Also on the ground floor was a sort of commons area (think a big living room), where there were huge couches and chairs and a big-screen TV. Boys were allowed into that area but had to leave after a certain time. Just down the hall from the office and commons area was a small computer lab; I frequented that place so much outside of class and was online very regularly at all kinds of ungodly hours. I loved surfing the internet, checking out websites of my favourite shows, chatting to online friends, reading fan fiction and occasionally playing online games.

I generally wouldn’t go into the commons area – I had no friends from other dorms, and I hated whatever they had on the television – but I’d sometimes glance in there just to see what was going on. One day, a Saturday, I believe, I had to stop and nearly do a double take at what I saw on the TV.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time.

My eyes were huge. Nobody in the entire building had any video games – I only had my Street Fighter II from Christmas several years prior, so I didn’t bring it with me – so it was a complete shock to see not only someone owning a Super Nintendo, but they were playing a Ninja Turtles game on it.

I beelined it for the commons room and gaped at the TV. My eyes fell on a Super Nintendo that rested on the table in front of the couch where a boy was playing the game; presumably, his girlfriend was the one sitting beside him and making a poor attempt at playing as well. Neither were doing all that great in the game, and I longed to hold the controller in my own hands, to play as my favourite turtle, Donatello.

I’m an extremely shy person, both online and in person, so it took a few minutes for me to work up the courage to ask to play. When I did, the guy said I could and handed me the controller so I could play with his girlfriend. I couldn’t believe it: I actually had the chance to play a Super Nintendo all on my own, without having to sit to the side and watch a sibling play. It was just me… and this girl sitting nearby.

We started a new game, and of course, I chose my boy Donnie. We began playing through the level, her playing poorly and me taking time to figure out the controls and how to beat up the enemies and avoid obstacles. I’m not a spectacular gamer by any means – I’m quite lousy at all of them – but I was certainly playing better than this girl. I figured she’d not played video games before and didn’t really want to make the effort; she’d been playing before to please her boyfriend.

Before I knew it, her turtle had lost all his lives and she’d given up playing. This left me completely alone to play the game.

I was delighted.

The two stayed nearby – it was the boy’s console and game, after all – and they watched me beat a couple of levels on my own. They were astounded I was playing better than both of them; even the boy hadn’t gotten to the third level.

Unfortunately, that was where Donnie ran out of lives and the boy politely asked for the controller back. I returned it, grateful he wasn’t being mean or demanding, and happy I got the chance to play an awesome Ninja Turtles game. When I left the commons room, the boy was playing Super Mario World; it was a fun game, but I was still thinking about Ninja Turtles and how much fun I’d had playing that game.

I wish I could have some neat follow-up to this part of the story, where I finally obtain my own copy after some number of years. But sadly, I do not own a copy of TMNT IV. Since playing the game the first time at OBU, it slipped from my mind for many years until about 2010 when I got my first brand-new computer. I’d only had old, used computers that previously belonged to my parents, so it was a big deal that I finally had my own new computer. Somewhere down the line, I discovered ROMs and emulators, and amongst the countless ROMs I tried, one was TMNT IV. It was still a blast to play, even if it was illegal to do so. When I later became a serious collector, I attempted to find the game, only to discover the price was more than I wanted to pay. Unfortunately, the price has never gone down – the pandemic’s made it go even higher now – so I don’t bother looking for it anymore. However, I still have my memories of playing it at OBU, which is good enough for now.

Going back to college in 2001, the reason I’d mentioned the office in the front of the dorm was for another gaming story. On occasion, the upperclassman who sat in the office for a few hours was male, but he generally stayed in the office only, sometimes stepping out to use the nearby restroom. The office was a short walk away from the elevator, which I frequently rode to the ground floor to visit the computer lab at the aforementioned ungodly hours. I’d even pull an all-nighter in that little room once or twice.

One time, in the wee hours of the morning, I decided I’d had enough of the computer for the night (even if it was 5:30 AM) and left the lab. On my way to the elevator, I caught sight of the TV in the office, as somewhat familiar music was playing from it. I headed to the office and peered inside: an upperclassman I knew – I’ve since forgotten his name – had an NES hooked up to the TV and was playing Super Mario Bros 3. The music was familiar because I’d heard it in Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES, which my brother had rented at one point.

I stared at the TV in amazement. I knew there was a television in the office, as it can get mighty boring sitting in there for hours on end, but I didn’t think someone would have an NES to hook up to it. The graphics were much more primitive than the SNES port, but it was still astounding to watch.

I made some remark about the game, and the guy in the office talked to me about it for a bit. I honestly don’t recall any specifics, only that I desperately wanted to step inside the office and play the game for myself. I was too shy to ask to play, and the guy gave no indication that he would let me play. Instead, I had to content myself with watching from outside the office. It was just like all the times I had to sit to the side and watch my siblings play.

After some time, perhaps thirty minutes or so, my feet began hurting from all the standing, so I admitted I’d been up for about twenty-four hours and excused myself to bed. The game stayed in my mind a while longer; I sure wished I could have had a chance to play Super Mario Bros 3. Oddly enough, I never saw the NES in that office the rest of the year I was at the school.

Now, I do have a neat follow-up on this story, as I eventually bought my own copy of Super Mario All-Stars shortly after getting my own SNES in 2009. I played SMB3 plenty of times then. Several years later, in late 2016, I’d bought my own NES and made sure Super Mario Bros 3 was one of the first titles I bought to go with it.

I’ve played it a fair bit since buying it, and it’s my number one favourite of the SMB trilogy. (My favourite Super Mario game overall is Super Mario World) It’s just incredible how much Nintendo crammed into that 8-bit NES cartridge with Super Mario Bros 3, with the many various worlds, enemies, bosses, colours, graphics, music and powerups. The game’s overall feel and setup is remarkably similar to Super Mario World, which I know was started with an SMB3 base. But it’s amazing the NES title had so much in it, they were able to take the framework of that game and not only transfer it to the SNES but expand upon it so much to create a game as fun and filling as Super Mario World. It blows my mind just thinking about it.

Moral of the story: Someone wanna cough up seventy-five bucks for me so I can get that Ninja Turtles game?

Edit: I'm well aware of the Cowabunga Collection that's to be released sometime this year, and I'm beyond excited to get it. Sure, it's $40, but it's worth that price for TMNT IV alone. And there are lots of other great games in the collection, including the near-masterpiece that is the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade). I'm going to buy Shredder's Revenge in the near future, and hopefully Cowabunga Collection will be a day one buy whenever it's released. Getting both physically, of course.

Edit 2: At the time of originally writing this story, 19 June 2021, the price of TMNT IV was selling for roughly $75. It's since dropped to about $55 as of 14 June 2022, which is still much more than I want to pay for it. Will be keeping a closer eye on the price in case it continues to go down.