[SllX]

> I don't know how I convinced my parents to get me this in elementary but not a single other person I ever met had heard of it.

It was an interesting almost niche thing. My cousins had a unit and the service which I played all the time, but trying to describe it to other children at school years after the fact was difficult because nobody had ever heard of it. Honestly it was a toss-up if they even knew what a Genesis was at that point in life. I didn’t even know what a Sega Channel was called until I had finally found a solid description online with an accompanying picture at some point in high school.

[jbmny]

I vividly remember playing Genesis in my living room as a kid when my parents were having friends over from out of town. My dad and his friend came in after a couple beers and my dad explained what I was playing. His friend knew all about Genesis already: "We've got the Sega Channel. I play 50 games a year!" I remember being very fascinated until he started laughing, which to me signaled that he was pulling my leg. I spent the next 30 or so years thinking the "Sega Channel" was a dumb joke from an inebriated friend of my dad's. Until today.

Looking back, maybe my dad nudged him to change the subject so that I wouldn't spend the next month begging for a subscription.