Waiting It Out

The DS library was thin. SquareEnix had spent years dismantling the Mana series and selling it back in pieces. Brain Training games were pointless. The job sims—lawyer, surgeon, fishing guide—weren’t happening. I needed something to make those endless subway rides feel like less than purgatory.

2008 was supposed to deliver. Tales of Innocence was coming for actual RPG depth. Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings would continue something that had worked. Dragon Quest IX was a real event. Rune Factory was there if I wanted to pretend farming made sense. Final Fantasy IV was getting remade, which sometimes was all you needed.

Then there was Teenage Zombies for something completely sideways. Ninja Town if tower defense actually mattered. Mizuiro Blood when I was feeling experimental. Space Invaders Extreme for the pure nostalgia. Dragon Tamer Sound Spirit just because it existed.

One of the trailers genuinely did it for me. Not in any way I could sensibly explain. The movement, the colors, something about how it all came together—I couldn’t look away. You know that feeling when something just hits you like that. One of those immediate things.