It’s Christmas Day, which means most people aren’t online, which means barely anyone will be reading whatever is posted today. So why even bother? Because I care, gosh darn it.
Or possibly because I have a sickness. Whatever.
I hope your Christmas* is hecka sweet, as they say down here in Orange County. I thought “hecka” was a terrible stereotype until we were out having dinner the other night and heard a couple of girls say it. And my heart grew three sizes that day, to hear such unflattering stereotypes given flesh. A real Xmas miracle, if you will.
Meanwhile, two new (“new”) articles are up for your perusal, should you be one of those people who (gasp) uses the Internet for dumb stuff like reading about video games on holidays. Both are chapter summaries for GameSpite Quarterly 5. The first, An Active Retirement, is nothing special — the sort of thing you read just to complete your collection for when you trade your Articles I Read On The Internet cards with your buddies. The second, however — The Apocrypha of NES — is actually pretty good! Please do not overlook it on this splendid holiday, or the baby Jesus will weep in his manger. And that would be, like, hecka sucky, y’know?
*Unless you don’t celebrate Christmas for religious or allergen reasons. In which case I hope you enjoy a similarly satisfying soy-based substitute.
I’ve never heard “hecka” and I grew up in Orange County. Also, Merry christmas
whereas i used to hear hecka all the time among kids who didnt want to say hella.
Hella. The first I read of the CV3 localization business
was in the Top 100 list of EGM. Emulation, indeed, was the first
opportunity I ever had to try and fall in love with the Japanese
version of that game. I also have memories of downloading stuff
like Gradius II for the Famicom onto a floppy to take home with me
from college, and finally getting to play Kid Icarus for the first
time in years after my cart piddled out. I think Zelda II had been
scorned for years before though, judging from NEXT Generation, for
instance.
As someone who grew up in Norcal in the 80s, I recall “hecka” being a very common word among younger kids. Normally in social situations, such as school, where saying “hella” would get you in trouble.
To this day, my wife, a completely grown-up individual, still says hecka when speaking informally.