4/5 ★ – elkniodaphs's review of Jumping Flash!.

In 9th grade, I shared a table in biology class with a boy named Sean. He had a small stature, short and slight. We were friendly to each other, both interested in video games, but he was also a sports and Army type of guy. There's nothing wrong with that; I've been known to enjoy the occasional endurance race in Suzuka 8 Hours, or take in the views at Torrey Pines in Links: The Challenge of Golf. As far as the Army goes? Well, I still have my complete set of Desert Storm Trading Cards. We sat behind a girl named Crystal. She had a wavy blonde bob, blue eyes, and thin wire-frame glasses. I liked Sean, but he was always working an angle with Crystal. He wasn't exhibiting aggressive pursuit, he was simply trying too hard to get her attention. "I can perfectly mimic the sound of headphones," he quietly told me. He leaned forward toward Crystal so she could hear, pursed his lips and strengthened his bite. Sean produced a sound that didn't really seem like anything, maybe like humming against a comb wrapped in wax paper, but muffled and staccato. Satisfied, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He proudly chuckled while looking at me, bright eyed. I could only imagine he was thinking, "Yeah, that will impress her." We made plans for me to visit his house. It seemed as if he was very excited about his new PlayStation and wanted to show it off. I hadn't gotten the console yet, falsely believing it was targeting a younger demographic. I mean, "Play" Station? It sounded like one of those wooden beads and looping wire toys they keep on the floor at the dentist office. I arrived at his home, it looked a lot like mine at the time. Nineties suburbia. Minimalist. Plant mom. Fish tank. I was almost overwhelmed, being rushed by hand through the unfamiliar house. His room was tidy, like mine. This is something I wasn't used to, concerning my other friends. I was distracted by it, rendered aloof, but Sean didn't delay. The PlayStation went on with the television, and Jumping Flash! came to life. The game looked great, vibrant colors, interesting gameplay. It was the antithesis of Kileak: The DNA Imperative ~ my PlayStation touchstone. A dark and brooding game which somehow didn't change my false notion regarding the intended demographic of the console. Kileak looked like Space Hulk, Jumping Flash! looked like a living cartoon. Sean played well, surprising me with his fluid control in this 3D space. When I played, I struggled. It wasn't my first 3D game, not by a longshot, but it didn't really feel like the others I had known. It felt plodding and deliberate, yet when Sean played, light and agile. Jumping Flash! left an enduring impression on me after only a brief time spent watching someone else play it, someone I wasn't even very close to. Kileak might not have softened my position on the PlayStation, but Jumping Flash! would. Despite my misgivings, I liked what I saw, childish and cartoony. Maybe it's okay to embrace these innocent things from our youth. We could secretly watch A Nightmare on Elm Street at sleepovers, we could listen to Rage Against the Machine before we were able to grok the lyrics, but we could also participate in whimsy. Maybe Jumping Flash! left its enduring impression on me because I sensed that it aligned with a developing part of myself, a future nostalgia informed by a bright escape that I would use as therapy against the "Kileak world" we live in. Sean didn't attend class the next day, and I wouldn't know at the time that his family had to suddenly relocate due to military necessities. In biology class, I now sat behind Crystal alone. On occasion, we were meant to read aloud in class from our textbooks. Flubbing the word "organism" isn't something you aspire to do in front of so many people, though Crystal thought it was funny. She ran up to me after class and asked about Sean. "I'm not sure why he's not here today," I said. "Everything seemed fine yesterday." She replied, "Well, if you see him, ask him what song he was listening to on his headphones yesterday. I really liked it."