The Christmas dinner is always the most important meal of the year.
It marks the end of the year and the reunion of families.
In the living room, the television was already turned on and tuned to a Christmas special.
Vincent's father, Kent, was already sitting in front of the television, waiting.
Emma was cleaning up the mess on the dining table.
Vincent himself carefully hung a pair of beautiful bright red stockings by the bed.
This is a Christmas stocking. If a good child hangs it by their bed, they will receive a gift from Santa Claus the next morning.
" Vincent, come open your presents!"
Emma's voice came from the living room.
Clearly, we've now reached the point of exchanging gifts.
This is also the time Vincent looks forward to most all year round.
He looked forward to it even more than to Santa Claus's gifts.
He rushed into the living room and went to the Christmas tree that was covered with colorful lights.
Kent, the father, personally tinkered with the chainsaw, and Vincent helped out quite a bit.
Several gift boxes tied with ribbons were piled up under the tree; some were sent by relatives, while others were wrapped by the recipients themselves.
"Come on Vincent, these are yours."
Emma picked through the pile of gifts, and soon the gifts were stacked into a small mountain.
"This is a new dress your aunt gave you—this is a new pair of shoes your uncle gave you—"
After a whole bunch of miscellaneous gifts, Emma finally placed a delicate book-sized gift box on top.
"This was prepared for you by your father. As for this—"
She smiled mysteriously, reached behind her back, and as if by magic, suddenly pulled out a tiny gift box, barely the size of a palm. "This is a gift for you."
When Vincent saw the gift box, his whole body trembled, and his eyes widened instantly.
Although it was wrapped in wrapping paper and ribbons, he could already vaguely guess the answer just from the size and proportions of the box.
He unconsciously swallowed, quickly took the gift box, and tore open the packaging without saying a word.
With just a small tear, a corner of GAMENOVA's iconic logo was revealed.
This made Vincent even more certain of his guess, and he immediately cheered and tore the entire package off.
"Hooray! It's NovaPocket! I have my own NovaPocket now!"
Mom actually bought herself a handheld game console!
This was something he had always dreamed of owning, and it was the only GAMENOVA device he didn't have.
And now, it sits quietly in front of me.
It feels like a dream.
The device has a white, streamlined body with a small, high-tech LCD screen embedded in the center. It's small enough to fit in one hand.
"Ahem, you haven't opened my gift yet."
Just as he was getting excited, his father Kent's voice suddenly came from beside him.
Vincent then came to his senses, scratched his head sheepishly, quickly picked up the next package, and gently opened it.
Pokémon Red - Anniversary Edition
Tetris
Shanghai
This is a stack of game cartridges, NovaPocket handheld game cartridges.
"This----!!"
Vincent finally realized that this was a big surprise his parents had conspired to give him!
If Vincent had to choose the happiest moment of his life, he would choose this very moment without hesitation.
But...
They weren't the only ones who prepared surprises today.
"This is a gift I prepared for you."
Vincent chuckled and pulled out two gift boxes that he had wrapped himself.
He gave one of the smaller ones to his father, and the other, which was larger, to Emma.
"Let me see what you've prepared for me, you brat."
Kent laughed and immediately disassembled it.
Inside the box was a metal medal wrapped in velvet.
The front features a sharp-looking bald eagle, while the back is engraved with the words: "To the best dad in the world."
"Good lad! You truly are my son."
Kent immediately took a liking to the gift and pinned it to his chest.
Then, he puffed out his chest at Emma, his smugness practically overflowing.
Emma, however, didn't care at all. She hugged her gift box and gently opened it.
Emma was slightly taken aback when she saw the GAMENOVA logo, which was exactly the same as the one on the gift box she had just given Vincent.
Then, she opened the lid and saw what was inside.
That's the Nova Kart CD and steering wheel kit!
"Oh my god!"
Emma was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise and laughed.
"Honey, it seems I've won?"
She winked at Kent and smiled even more broadly.
But amidst the banter, the two also exchanged a glance.
Now a very awkward problem has arisen.
Kent glanced furtively at a small, inconspicuous package under the tree.
That was the copy of " Nova Kart " that he originally planned to slip into Vincent's sock that night.
I bought the same thing twice!
The two steering wheels were placed on the carpet.
The planned viewing of tonight's Christmas special was doomed to fail the moment Nova Kart appeared.
Unfortunately, due to hardware limitations, the game only supports two players simultaneously.
So Kent simply made an excuse to go visit his son's second uncle and drove off, so that the mother and son wouldn't feel restricted.
Insert the disc and turn on the computer.
An extremely bright art style and a frivolous background music were simultaneously displayed before the two.
In that instant, it had already declared its true position to the world.
The [ESRB: E(6+)] on the card case also confirms this.
"Mommy, what do 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc mean?"
Vincent pointed to several options on the selection screen, looking somewhat puzzled.
If this is a difficulty level selection, shouldn't it normally be something like "easy," "normal," and "hard"?
"This is the engine displacement of the race car. Just understand that the larger the number, the faster the car will be."
Emma had read all the information about the new work several nights in advance, so she knew much more about it than Vincent.
After thinking about it, Vincent simply chose the slowest 50cc.
Since he's a beginner, going it slow is good for him to get used to the game's pace.
The next step, unsurprisingly, is to select a driver.
A large number of characters from Gamenova game IPs are listed above, and each character's car model is slightly different based on their own characteristics.
This design was actually used in Rock N' Roll Racing long ago.
Emma, of course, was already used to this.
However Vincent had never played that game before, so it was indeed a rare and novel experience for him.
"Hmm... I'll choose Arcanine; it looks really fast."
"Hoo hoo, then I'll use Schwarzenegger—I mean, Guile."