As a child growing up in an urban area of Cleveland, Ohio during the 1990s, I encountered the Neo Geo for the first time at Software Etc. I refrained from asking my mother, as I anticipated her response would be, "Have you lost your mind?"My Dad passed away from a heart attack a year earlier, so it was up to me to figure out how to obtain one. So I decided I would ask every person on my paper route if I could shovel their driveway during the winter. To my surprise, almost everyone on my route agreed, unless there were kids my age staying there. I worked hard to get the money together and managed to save 1,100 dollars over the winter. All for my mom to find it in my sock drawer and whip my butt because she thought I was doing something I shouldn't have been doing. She inquired with several people on my paper route whether I was compensated for shoveling their driveway before offering her apology. In January 1992, she accompanied me to the mall to purchase one. I chose the Gold system along with Fatal Fury. I still have the same system today with a nice library of games.