I’m going to tell you a little story about a game that’s just magical.

Chex Quest is a total conversion of Ultimate Doom created by Digital Café that was packed into boxes of Chex cereal in 1996. It’s a first-person shooter based on a breakfast cereal. There’s no joke there, it’s real. I’ve played it.

I remember having a pretty good time with it when I got in in 1996, and really I just made my mom buy the cereal because it had a video game in it. I mean, Doom was fun, so this had to be fun too, even without the hell demons and chainsaws.

You play as the Chex Warrior (who is apparently named Fred Chexter), who is sent to the planet Bazoik in order to fight against a race of aliens called the Flemoids. You’re armed with your trusty Zorcher, which you use to teleport the Flemoids away. That is gameplay fortified with eight essential vitamins and minerals right there.

There was a sequel (appropriately titled Chex Quest 2) released as a download in 1997, and Chex Quest 3 was created as a thank you to fans and released in 2008.

A thank you to fans? What? Really?

Oh yes. I’ve talked about cult classic games before, but Chex Quest is a cult classic in the sense that I think the fans are an actual cult. Apparently there’s quite a large group of fans who still find the game crunchy after 14 years of sitting in milk. I had completely forgotten about the game myself until recently, and I was surprised to not only find information about it, but a thriving community backing it up. Well, “thriving” may be overstating it a bit, but I think in this case any more than three or four fans is considered thriving.

There’s an entire Chex Quest Wiki. There’s a fan forum. There’s fan made levels, custom enemies, and even a fan-made Chex Quest 4. It’s mind boggling when you think about it. A non-violent conversion of a first-person shooter made to promote a corn (or rice or wheat depending on your preference) breakfast cereal has enough of a fan following to survive for FOURTEEN YEARS. It’s got two official sequels, fan mods, and its own WIKI.

I’ve been told that I have a unique passion for video games, but I think these guys have me beat.