Is there any particular video game that still haunts you up to this very day? One that, if you died today, you'll be sure to be earthbound because of this one "unfinished business"? Okay, so that was morbid. But that pretty much drove the point home now, didn't it?

I first got introduced to the wonderful world of gaming consoles through the NES, otherwise known as the Family Computer in Japan. Now this little wonder brought me some very fond and special memories growing up, thanks to its wholesome and now-retro 8-bit graphics. Games like Galaga, Battle City, Twinbee, Contra, and of course, the immortal Super Mario Bros. kept me company during stale afternoons, with ignored chocolate-covered donuts sitting beside me across our living room floor.

And then came a whole new generation of gaming consoles. Handhelds like the Game Boy and its successors, and even the simplistic Game & Watch, to the more powerful modern consoles we have today, all played a part - no matter how minute - in my formative years. They certainly kept me off the streets, for sure. I guess I only have them to blame for my not having developed that "streetsmart" gene in my system.

Even after all those games and gaming machines, however, I still couldn't let go of that one NES game that I never got to finish: Adventure Island.

• The cap he is wearing actually carries the brand of Marlboro

• Master Higgins is a chain-smoker (I don't know why they let a chain-smoking man run through the woods like that. It's no wonder he gets all spent up so easily. His lungs aren't made for such a physical endeavor. Then again, maybe that's why they placed those skateboards in those eggs in the first place. To give that much-needed lift when his oxygen is already running low, thanks to all the nicotine stuck in his lungs.)

• He has a physical condition (lung cancer?) that thus requires him to be always fed. This "illness" would explain why it is imperative of him to fill up his life tank with the various tropical fruits scattered about.