So at SakuChan's request, I'm posting my little story about how to young lads from the Jacksonville area drove for 12 hours to have 4 hours of Destructoid bliss and give the Rock Band performance of a lifetime.

Our journey starts in Jacksonville at 1pm. We're pulling out the driveway with enough trail mix, fudge rounds, and chocolate lover's cookies to make a fat kid blush. Our experience with Miami has been very limited, and after a fairly uneventful drive down (the highlight of which was an awesome rendition of Sound of Silence in perfect harmony) we approached Miami with joy in our hearts and excitement in our pants. We had received faulty directions from Google Maps and as such arrived just in the nick of time to get turned down for the Street Fighter IV tournament.

Still, we registered ourselves for Smash Brothers (which were utterly destroyed in), Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (which I had never seen until I played) and Nintendo World Championship 1991 (which pitothe42 placed 2nd in). Nintendo World Championship was by far my favorite of the tournaments and rife with old school strategizing. Niero gave an nearly flawless run (except for a single crash in Rad Racer) and came away with an impressive 440,000 points. He humbly backed out of competition though, because the next closest score was 240,000, and he gave us plebians the prize we so viciously desired.



Speaking of Niero, we had the amazing opportunity to meet him and Colette for the first time and my head almost exploded. I had actually brought a copy of Earth Defense Force (SNES) for Colette to sign, but got pitothe42 to initiate the conversation (it's amazing, I'm married with a kid but still have a pathological fear of starting up conversations with pretty girls....or pretty Nieros). Anyway, that was definitely one of the high points of the night as we got to take a picture with Colette and I got a classic Niero pose:





We talked to Colette for awhile about the finer points of Retroforce GO! (Jet Force Gemini episode ftw!) and then eventually got called off to a tournament. The rest of the night went by in a blur as we played Left 4 Dead and Rival Schools and MvC2 and Rock Band until our true moment of glory came. At the end of the night, after patiently waiting for our turn at Rock Band, we were informed that we would not get to play as it was time to shut down. Downcast, the guy running the Rock Band machine worked his magic and allowed us to play our favorite performance song: Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld.

I took my place at the drums and pitothe42 grabbed the mic as we warmed up to blow these people away. As I was settling in, Niero walked by and I grabbed him and told him that he might want to take a seat, because things were about to get epic in here. The crowd before we started was about 10 regulars who had been watching Rock Band for awhile. As the song started, pi turned to the crowd and sang the words that he had memorized so long before. There was a hapless civilian not 2 feet away when he unleashed his first TIMMMAH! Naturally, the crowd was shocked by this development and after regaining their senses, began to stare in awe (or so I'm told).

Previously, people had been playing Rock Band. Some "woos" and "awesomes" could be heard after a particularly challenging song, but we were there to ROCK. I played the drums like I never have before and I beat them like a red-headed stepchild. Luckily I did not break them, but I almost fell off the drum stool a number of times. Pitothe42's screams could be heard pulsating through the large speakers and rocking the entire room. When we finally finished, I turned around to a crowd 2 rows deep screaming and clapping and trying to collect their melted faces. The first thing I did was receive Niero's blessing upon our rock then I thrust my aching, cramping wrists into a nearby cooler full of ice. After I could feel again, we talked to Niero for a bit and said goodbye to Colette and found ourselves back on the road.



Proportionately, 12 hours of driving for 4 hours of a party is usually not worth it. But after meeting 2 of the coolest people ever and paying homage to the community that I've lurked in for so long, I could not think of a better thing to do on a Friday night. I had more fun than should be legal and I would do it again in a heartbeat.