#Cheat Codes Podcast

[multifanrae]

Where tf do all the avatars get their money from? Like I can’t imagine being a vessel of an eldritch god necessarily pays well. Do the entities just throw darts at a board of wealthy families or something??

[cranesofibycus]

.... I've ... run out of yarn for my CR catch up knitting marathon... how... how do I watch without keeping my hands busy????

[panelshowsource]

That Robbie Williams post reminded me something I heard a few days ago: I was listening to a podcast, and they discussed who the most famous British people are who are not known to Americans, like the discourse about Robbie Williams when his film came out. I'm British, so I would be interested in your opinion as an American. Who do you think is the most famous British person that very few Americans know?

this is such a fun question!

i feel like my answer 10–15 years ago may be different to now! like, in 2005, it wouldn't have been crazy to say michael barrymore, you know? so i'm going to try and compromise by sticking to my pov as a mid 90s baby and young millennial

i thought long and hard......and......i'm gonna say......ant and dec. that's my final answer. they have been such a constant in the british television industry for 30+ years that every single person of every single age demographic has at some point encountered them, and they're still quite in demand and relevant. i get that these days people may prefer to see claudia winkleman, alison hammond, whatever, this isn't a convo about being beloved but about being FAMOUS—and does anyone in the uk not know ant and dec? because i cannot impress upon you how unknown they are in the states, like absolute and complete nobodies i'm sorry �� i genuinely think the only way an american would have come across them is from a viral BGT clip, and even then ant and dec are not the focus of those clips so they just don't register at all. isn't that wild?

my other top contendor was noel edmonds (+ mr blobby), but i felt like he was too much of a throwback since he's pretty irrelevant now. still, if i'm doing my top 5–10, he'd still be in it, and i'd also mention terry wogan, parky, des o'connor, phil and holly (many americans will know the "if my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike" clip but have no idea where it's from or who the people in it are, so imo it doesn't count as 'knowing' them cuz it's nothing more than a meme), peter kay, lee evans, and a fictional character like phil mitchell, pat butcher, or delboy. i am sorry to agree that take that members like robbie williams and gary barlow certainly qualify as well!

i do understand sports can be a major blindspot for americans — especially football (soccer), snooker, and darts — but there are enough americans who will follow these sports that i don't think the relevant figures win over some of the other people i listed. like, bobby charlton, wayne rooney, ronnie o'sullivan, dennis taylor, eric bristow, i could go on—very unknown in the united states overall, yes, but well known by the select few americans who care about these things. that said, the disparity in the fame a top footballer experiences in the uk vs here is probably the biggest disparity in this whole convo

i didn't really get into politicians (and by extension someone like david dimbleby or moira stuart?), feels like a cheat code to this game

i hope that was fun for any of my british followers to read! hahahaha i genuinely could name so many people because of course british news, entertainment, and sports are a unique culture that does not cross over nearly as much as we assume it does! but these are the people who seem to me to be the most widely recognised in the uk who i guarantee you no americans know

[parrishsrubberplant]

Staying Informed Under 47

It has not been enjoyable watching my country's rapid (un)planned disassembly. I have family and close friends whose lives' works are funded by the NSF, NIH, and NEH. I want to someday receive the Social Security benefits I've paid into over the last fifteen years of my working life. I believe the federal government can make people's lives better (the interstate highway system! the ACA! etc.!). I prefer to practice kindness over cruelty.

I've been walking a fine line between staying informed and doom-scrolling. Oddly, it helps that I have a commute now. My previous commute was an 8-10 minute walk (yes, I hate my past self too). Noise-cancelling headphones have become essential. In fact, they are The Cheat Code to making public transit bearable. Lalala, itinerant preacher, I can't hear you preaching before 8 am - instead I hear Jon, Jules, Jonathan, et. al:

Pod Save America - lots of opinionated snark, yes, but it also feels like a flamethrower against the darkness a lot of the time

Politico Playbook Daily Briefing - the perfect length for the first leg of my commute to work. Eugene Daniels's voice is the auditory equivalent of qiviut yarn.

the NPR Politics Podcast - these are a good length for my morning walk with my dog (15-25 minutes). The hosts are chill (as much as anyone can be while dangerous oligarchs grab everything) and conversational.

The Guardian's Politics Weekly America - there's so much happening so fast that the weekly format of this show is helpful--it can't cover everything, so it doesn't. Jonathan Freedland also has genuine conversations with the experts he invites on.

Slate's Outward, because queer joy is magical and queer history is everywhere.

I have to mentioned 99 Years (subtitle: "A Black exploration of the deliberate creation of the whitest state in the nation."). Which state? Maine! Ten minutes into the first episode I was sending the link out to everyone I know who listens to podcasts (so, @allthefoolmine, who has been trying to get me into podcasts for literal years).

I tried Citations Needed on Tumblr's advice and it really, really didn't work for me--so I shan't link it here. Go forth and search for it on DuckDuckGo if you wish.

I also subscribe to the following newsletters / visit the following news sites:

WTFJHT specifically focuses on the Presidency.

Letters from an American - sometimes Heather Cox Richardson's sources overlap with Matt Kiser's. If you're looking for fluid prose, this is the newsletter you want. Oftentimes LfaA is less of a news summary and more of a meditation on a specific facet of the news (or response to a specific date - this morning, 12 February, was about Abraham Lincoln as today is his 216th birthday).

Grist - a Tumblr reccommendation that happily did land for me. Focuses on climate and the environment.

Pro Publica (balanced / skews left on the media bias chart)

AP News - if folks on Tumblr say 'no one is talking about this' for Pete's sake check here; the Associated Press has most likely covered it. Brief and clear. Their Lifestyle and Oddities sections are often fun. I deeply appreciate their AP Fact Check articles.

My Mom likes PBS NewsHour! She and my Dad spent lockdown looking for Lisa's cat who often appeared in the background when Lisa Desjardins was reporting from home.

[echoweaver]

Not sure who can read this, but this article in The Atlantic about ways to find joy online jumped out at me.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/04/five-joyful-ways-to-spend-time-online/682418/

The lead anecdote was, copy-pasted so you don't have to deal with paywalls:

In moments of chaos, I want to play The Sims. Lately, I’ve been playing it a lot. I’ve had various iterations of the game since I was a child, when there was such a thing as a “computer room” and games were bought at Best Buy as very precious, very scratchable CD-ROMs.

Give me the soothing, dulcet tones of the “Create a Sim” music while I pick my Sim’s new party outfit and personality traits (Art Lover, Nosy, Lactose Intolerant). Or the cheap thrill of having everyone at the same virtual table eat the same food at the same time (harder than you might think). Or the humble reminder that a kitchen stove can catch fire at a moment’s notice.

What better salve for reality than micromanaging other people’s lives, in which there are truly no stakes? Even if that stove does catch fire, you can “rosebud” your way to a better one. The cheat codes even extend life itself: I’ve turned off the game’s aging feature because my Sims family has a dog, and I just can’t deal with that right now.

— Jinae West, senior podcast producer

Yeah, that touches my soul.

Of course, since I play Sims 3 v1.67, I don't need to be online to do it. But I do need to be online to be here, and this simblr feed has done a lot for my mental health over the years. It's been a place I can obsessively reload for fresh content where the content is friendly and the community is supportive. This is a good corner of the Internet.

[idlingintheimpalapodcast]

New Episode Alert: “Fandom is my fandom.” Interview with Jules, SuperWiki managing editor

Sandra and Kasey got to chat with a very special guest who manages a legendary resource well-known in the Supernatural fandom.

Jules is the managing editor of SuperWiki, a Supernatural Canon and Fandom resource. This site about the CW show Supernatural is a collaborative archive used far and wide for decades. It’s helped the production of creative projects and settled debates worldwide.

Jules talked about her fandom journey and the monumental task of maintaining an evolving and ongoing canon encyclopedia, being an SPN advisor on The Winchesters, and so much more!

Listen on Spotify Watch on Youtube:

Chapter Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:13 - SuperWiki is the podcast’s research go-to 00:04:01 - Jules’ fandom origin story 00:08:22 - Television Without Pity 00:09:50 - LiveJournal and the Whedonverse 00:10:45 - NCIS 00:12:17 - Fandom explosion and commercialization 00:17:12 - The streaming and social media age 00:19:11 - David Lynch and Twin Peaks 00:20:17 - When did Jules succumb to Supernatural? 00:22:54 - The Supernatural Delay and how people kept up worldwide 00:25:56 - How the fandom made LiveJournal work for them 00:27:37 - Controlling and curating your fandom presence within a community 00:34:11 - Simsnatural 00:35:03 - Is it Sam or Dean for Jules? 00:38:19 - Jensen is the biggest Dean fan 00:39:11 - The Sam AND Dean of it all for Jules 00:43:09 - The visual aspect of SPN in the early seasons 00:45:35 - Convention stories conservation 00:47:34 - Six Degrees of Supernatural 00:49:13 - Mourning rec and master lists 00:51:15 - How SuperWiki came about 00:55:00 - The SuperWiki is not just about the show 00:57:47 - The show and fandom feedback loop 01:00:44 - The SuperWiki managing editor role 01:03:58 - Early SuperWiki days - creating the content and shaping the structure 01:06:47 - The importance of collaborators 01:08:01 - SuperWiki as a fandom project 01:09:00 - Sandra has a SuperWiki suggestion 01:10:08 - User suggestions and changes to the SuperWiki over the years 01:14:20 - Nipples and chest hair? SuperWiki’s got a page for that. 01:20:09 - Time traveling with the show 01:21:54 - How can a fan contribute to the SuperWiki? 01:26:58 - Helping fans get the reference and feel included 01:30:32 - Being the “Super” consultant for a fandom 01:31:45 - Supporting fanfic 01:32:56 - Fandom statistics 01:36:04 - Why didn’t SPN creators consult the SuperWiki? 01:45:17 - Did the plot choices undermine or open up possibilities? 01:47:58 - Chuck Cheat Code 01:51:17 - Creators have to make difficult choices 01:52:25 - The Jensen Connection on The Winchesters 01:55:47 - J2 are pros with press and people 01:58:18 - Kasey’s secret question 01:59:26 - Tentacle tangent 02:00:42 - The hope and future of the SuperWiki 02:08:50 - Closing thoughts and outro

[ellaa-writes]

Henlo!! I just saw ur doctor/medic reader story and i feel like they would all want to hear the absolute crazy cases and gossip from reader

Im a student and i work in a large hospital/shadowing some doctors aswell and someday’s these crazy things happen randomly. In the least expected ways. From getting a sudden code stroke to seeing 🪱🪱on body parts to hospital staffs gossips in the med room. Its so random sometimes.

Imagine doctor reader casually telling the time she caught so and so cheating in an empty room in between 2 codes. And shes so chill about it like shes seen and heard enough but the Kortac officers r eating it up like listening to Nurse John’s podcasts😂

Reader: yk this reminds me of the time i did my trauma rotation in—

Konig: wait! Let me get my snacks and tea👀☕️

Hello!! Thank you <3 This is so silly I love it. Decided to have fun with it. It's kinda gross but hey that's what happens. Lol.

It's going to be a rough day, you thought. Not even 2 hours into your shift you had two concussed idiots sitting in your waiting room. This is gonna be a long one, you started at noon and won't be done till 4am the next morning.

Clutching your coffee you prayed for a miracle, an alien ship or a metor. Either one would do.

Later that evening, specifically dinner time. You were the last to arrive, having to help hold down a patient as another medic stitched up a gash on his forehead.

"I know, I know." you said as you sat you lunch down in front of your chair. Running off to grab a much needed coffee. It was your turn for the over night shift. It wasn't a bad shift, just babysitting the wounded soldiers that are currently being held. Coming back and setting yourself into your spot, digging into your food without a cause to the wind.

"You guys won't believe my day." you started off, slurping down your heart spaghetti. "Some rookies decided to play chicken and now they both have a concussion. And one probably memory loss. Couldn't even tell me his name." you shook your head, recalling the incident. "Than Hutch came in, complaining that he can feel worms crawling in him. I had to explain four times to that dense mother fucker that worms can not survive stomach acid." you stopped to take a big gulp of coffee. "But he wouldn't listen, said it wasn't in his stomach but inside his skin. Ran some blood tests and no hallucinogenic. But he could have fooled me." you didn't realise you were blabbing until you looked up from your plate to see a few of your team members surpressing their laughs.

"What?" you asked, mouth full of spaghetti. "Why don't you chew a bit more." one of them offered. Making the other laugh, "Oh fuck off." you spat. "Anyways, had to give Hutch an xray just to prove there's no damn worms in him." you explained.

"An xray? Does that-" you cut them off. "No, not at all. But it shut him up." they all bursted out laughing. "It reminds me of a patient I had back at the ER. Complaining about his ass itching. The other nurses weren't taking him seriously. Just sent him to the bathroom with some baby wipes." you stopped abruptly, this might not be a good dinner story.

"Oh come on Katze, don't get all shy on us now." König said, you didn't even notice he was there. You also didn't notice the rest of the mess hall getting quiet to listen to your story.

"Oh, well we're eating." you tried to explain but was met with loud booing. "Fine, fine." you yelled back. Wiping your mouth, your food finished, you pushed the tray away from you.

"Ok, so they sent him to the bathroom and he came back later saying he can still feel them."

"Them?" Horangi interrupted, and was followed by shushing. "Damn, sorry. Continue." he slinked back into his chair.

" So they put him in a room, told him to strip from the waist down. Another trainee and myself were assigned to this case along with a RN. She had him lay on the side has she spread his ass cheeks. Like you would a child." you stopped from dramatic affect. Watching as your tream and the rest of mess hall looked on in anticipation.

"We saw nothing. So she took a swab, had me spread this grown man's cheeks as she inserted it into the recum, shoveling out what ever was in side. Still nothing." a few people got up and left and others choking back a gag.

"She wet had him pop a squat over the trash can and cough. Sure enough a worm came shooting out. So did some green chunks, thankfully they were just some cucumbers. Guess the guy stole a cucumber from his neighbors garden not knowing it was infested with worms. He shoved the thing right up and it broke. He was like that for 2 weeks, worms up the ass. Still not the craziest thing I experienced, let me tell your that." you reached for your tray, but König took it for your instead.

"A cucumber up the ass?" Horangi asked. "I've seen people shove all sorts of thing up their butt. Idk what it is or why but it's way to common." you threw your finished coffee cup in the trash.

"Sorry I gotta get back. The results for mister chicken should be in by now." you said you goodbyes and waved to others, rushing out of the lunch hall.

"What a women." König said, hearts in his eyes.

[sillycyan]

im tryna think of like all the paras that just do not have names… SO JUST GONNA GO OFF ON WHAT I REMEMBER OKAY?

> the like polycule mfs that Reign met in texas

> the one couple that is kinda known in NW bc the wife always drops off lunch and the husband is like the most helpful mf in the building

> the two mfs in the “a story with two sides” thing

> the mfs with the podcast who were trying to “crack the code” of Hamfo n stuff and it’s like this friend group or wtv

> the guy who is emotionally attached to minecraft herobrine

> the granddaughter of the like founder of NumberWon who would soon becomes the owner

> the little girl that Reign works for and literally will lose his job of anything happen to her

> Cenciaos ex husband…? ex fiancé?? her ex.

> Nori’s husband?? i don’t think she has one tho.. she might be lying ??? HAHAH

> the mf Reign dated after Fin.. (update bc its 3 days later and his name is Vixen..)

> the one friend Yasmin has had since highschool

> follow up.. the girl she ends up dating…. it’s part of some oneshot i had that turned to paracosm canon sooo yah

> the like three mfs that Meil is friends with and is now talking to again

> the one mf who keeps going to NW through the building to get connected with them and they keep just sending them to Reign and it’s really sad but also kinda funny bc they are lowkey starting to become like friends in a way

> the mf that Fin cheated on Reign with.. how could i forget.

> All of Reigns clients and 'clients'

> Donis' friends

> KAG / AYP / TTA members (main ones at least)

> The rest of the "girl group" that Cenciao was in..

> The rest of the mfs who are the same status as Reign in NW.. I kinda need the named for that big yearly thing they do

> the Lurrodin in the two ongoing stories

> the people before they were turned into the main entities

> the kids that hang around Khoson house

> the two mfs in that gay oneshot that lowkey is turning into a bigger thing

> the other two mfs that are from the idea my friend kinda just gave to me and now i gotta figure out a proper story for it..

> Ameriel's Husband

> White guy who is like Donis but from America??

( EDITED TO ADD MORE AND CHECK OFF )

[newtiative]

Cheat code for success | @newtiative Chris Williamson (born 23 February 1988) is an English podcaster and YouTuber.

#motivation #entrepreneur #inspiration #learnfromfounders #innovation #money #investing #startup #growthmindset #quotes #newtiative

Learn from founders. Invest wisely. Achieve financial freedom. Follow for expert analysis, inspiring stories, and actionable tips.

[mannyblacque]

The Sleuth Sisters are back together!

via Deadline:

"Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto, In The Heights) and Melissa Fumero (Digman!, Velma) are teaming up on a new comedy podcast from iHeartMedia’s My Cultura Network launching on May 30.

More Better with Stephanie and Melissa will take listeners along on a personal ride through all aspects of life. They’ll share cheat codes for adulting, anecdotes and probably a few embarrassing stories."

[missvanta-xoxo]

Black men should be very for real.

Like I love you. But I need you to be very for fucking real. Listen to the grits and eggs podcast, drink water, wash your ass, eat more veggies and fruits, and say I love you to your home boys and get therapy from other black men whose job it is to be therapist and get on meds.

That's the cheat code.

[mikehawthorne]

It's the last day to secure your copy of my new, 200 page figure art book, Life Studied Vol. 2!

We've unlocked 3 stretchgoals, including the Cheat Codes bookmark and a Backer ONLY episode of Life Studied's sister podcast.

Those freebie stretchgoals are NOT available after the Kickstarter. So don't miss out!

We're also very close to unlocking a 4th stretchgoal where physical book orders get a free sticker!

[katgametable]

TAZ Abnimals Episode 12 Loose Eel

Written on 06 Feb 2025, shortly after listening, before listening to Ep13.

This episode establishes that the Royal Seals suck. Probably even more than the Amphibi-Force.

The Royal Seals come into play because Eel Patrick Harris swam off, ended up near one of the Seals’ station, and decided to hide out in there, and the Seals happened to arrive at that particular station around the same time. It turns out the Seals are a family operation, which means that Golden Seal, the leader, is Navy’s father. It’s also mentioned that they’d been operating for some time before they decided to go colour-coded, and I think this might’ve been glossed over by the guys playing, but it was mentioned that Navy was assigned navy. He didn’t pick it, one of the others did, possibly Golden. And then he not only got slung out of the group, he got ostracised by his family and thrown out of his home. A conversation later in the episode with Teal Seal, Navy’s sister and the group’s engineer, indicates that there’s mixed feelings within the family, but Golden is very much the patriarch, and what he says goes.

…it would probably make for a much darker podcast if they actually dug into the implications of all that.

Anyway, the station was built by the Royal Seals in association with Barker Industries – the scientists dudes who made the robots – which does then somewhat beg the question why Navy didn’t know who Barker was when he turned up at the arena, but I guess it’s a case of fleshing out backstory as you go, so I’ll give them a pass.

What actually happens in the episode is they track the eel to the station, get help from one of the Seals’ support guys to find him, interrogate him, find out the Bayside Baddies were hired by The Walrus to take Carver to another location, but Eel and his friends stayed behind to delay anyone Carver might’ve called and Eel doesn’t know exactly where they took Carver. Then because they happen to be in a Barker Industries facility, they get some upgrades. Roger gets a pocket watch that can hack things, Navy gets a bit more of an upgrade to his splash pack (that’s the convo with Teal I mentioned) and improves his bulky boy skills, and I cannot remember what Lyle did.

Regarding The Walrus. We the listeners know that this must be Walter Russell, partly because we’ve heard the post-credit scenes, and also because he’s the only walrus that has been mentioned. But the team haven’t figured it out. I’m not sure if they’re thinking about other potential walruses or what, obviously Travis can’t ask them without giving the game away, but also…

I wish they hadn’t had those post-credit scenes. The unhinged PSAs aren’t bad (they didn’t have one this episode, btw), but Travis has given away a big secret of the game, which to me, kinda sucks. Of course I’ll keep listening to find out how the team find out what we know, but still.

I’m mostly feeling cheated of a mystery.

[nickburn]

UFO 50 - First Impressions

I've played UFO 50 for over 30 hours now and wanted to quickly jot down my first impressions of each game included. From the many reviews I've consumed so far, it seems everyone has a unique experience playing UFO 50, due to the sheer variety and quantity of retro games on offer, and it's somewhat difficult to predict which games will click with a player and which they'll bounce off of immediately. I've technically played each game, but some for only minutes while others for several hours. I've earned gold disks for seeing the end of only a handful of games so far, and I'm not close to getting the cherry achievements (the hardest challenges) of any of them. I expect my opinions about many of the games to change a lot after I've finished them all, a task which I'm positive will take still dozens more hours. Also, I suspect many of the games to take on a different tone, difficulty, and flavor once I've found many more of the cheat codes available and tried playing each game with the cheats active.

Up until I purchased the game, I tried to remain as unspoiled on UFO 50 as possible. I am still largely unaware of the grander meta-narrative about UFO Soft that's included and believe that more easter eggs and secrets have yet to be discovered. I expect these to color my opinions of the game overall as well once I've seen them, but regardless I'm confident in saying that UFO 50 is a must-play for anyone interested in retro games or getting into game design, art, narrative, programming, music, etc. Spelunky 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, so I was already primed to enjoy another title by Derek Yu and Eirik Surhke. But still, I'm very impressed with what I've experienced of the game so far and think it deserves a lot of discussion and study. Both Spelunky 2 and UFO 50 seem to have been largely overlooked by the professional games media/podcast machine post-launch and I think that's a huge shame, although a lot of popular YouTubers and smaller podcasts are giving the game its due. So if you're still reading this asking yourself "Is UFO 50 the kind of game for me and worth $25?", rest assured the answer is most likely "yes" and you should go buy it and play it right now. Come back and tell me what you think if you do. That said, let's get into the games...

I originally tried all 50 games in their listed fictional chronological order of release, as I believe was probably intended, and will present them as such here as well:

Barbuta (1982) feels grindy, obtuse, slow, and overly-punishing until you start to make sense of the game's design language and solving its mysteries. As many others have theorized, I think Barbuta was put first in the list primarily to encourage users to try other games and come back to it later. I'll probably have to draw my own map of the layout to finish it, and I'm actually looking forward to that. I really like Barbuta overall, as both a callback to 1980's CGA/EGA graphics PC platformers of yore (none of which I'm very familiar with) as well as a contemporary of games like Animal Well, You Have to Win the Game, and I Wanna Be the Guy.

Bug Hunter (1983) immediately called to mind modern tactical roguelike games for me, primarily Into the Breach. Unlike Barbuta, this game felt easy for me to sink an hour into before moving on, though I've since put twice that much time into Barbuta. It has fun systems, a fairly gentle learning curve compared to many of the other games, and great art and UI that tells you just as much information as you need to make informed decisions.

Ninpek (1983) - I'll be honest and admit I'm not the biggest Contra fan (although I do really like Ninja Gaiden), but I don't think Ninpek's brutal difficulty does its genre of platformer/shooters many favors. That said, I keep coming back to it and find that I do make a lot of progress after I've warmed up a bit. I also appreciate that the game is fairly generous with extra lives and doesn't force a total restart until you've lost them all. It is very easy to get into a death spiral and quickly lose your last few lives though. While it's tough, I think Ninpek will be completable for most players who dedicate a few hours to it; I just don't know how enjoyable those hours will be on average.

Paint Chase (1983) gives me some nagging anxiety in a way that's hard to describe. There are so many things happening on screen at once that it's hard to pay attention to any of them. Trucks and planes barreling down lanes threaten to undo all your hard won progress, right down to the last few seconds of every round. The constantly changing blue and red squares can really mess with your vision too. I think I still enjoy the game, especially the meter that agonizingly ticks up your paint percentage at the end of a stage, determining if you pass or fail. I'm just not itching to finish it any time soon.

Magic Garden (1984) is the kind of game I wish I was naturally better at, but surviving in twitchy, one-hit kill arcade games long enough to rack up impressive high scores has never been my strong suit. Still, it's impossible to ignore this game's charms, and I'll keep coming back to it, even if I never really expect to master it.

Mortol (1984) struck me as one of the zaniest and most interesting game ideas I've ever seen. It's something of a bummer to spend a lot of bodies finishing a stage only to not have enough to finish the next one, but the game is so fun to play that I don't think I'll mind by the end.

Velgress (1984) has been on my mind a lot, distracting me for a few minutes here, a half hour there. It's easy and addicting to play a few runs, in the same way that Downwell or Spelunky are. I'm very confident I'll finish this game after I'm more accustomed with levels 2 and 3 - it's really just a matter of time.

Planet Zoldath (1984) I gave several solid attempts at first but it's not a game I enjoy playing all that much. I like what it's doing as a game idea though, as a procedurally-generated Zelda-like with some off-the-wall writing. The game seems directly influenced by the randomizer trend too, which is a really interesting design space to explore.

Attactics (1984) is one of the only games I really dislike so far, mainly because of its frantic and disorganized nature. I'm not really an auto-battler person, and having to play a Chess-like game with real-time movement just makes me panic and makes the game very hard to learn at first. I'm expecting this one to be a lot more enjoyable after some more practice, but it's very rough at the start.

Devilution (1984) weirdly reminded me of a game in another collection of games: Dungeons & Diagrams from Last Call BBS (2022) by Zachtronics. I enjoy setting up a Rube Goldberg machine of monster attacks and rocket launches and seeing all the dominoes fall at the end, but I can't help feeling there are some missing quality of life features here that could make the game a lot easier to parse.

Kick Club (1984) reminds me of Bubble Bobble, a game I've loved since I was a kid. It's relatively tough as a single-player game, but I imagine it's a lot easier with a Player 2 in coop. I love the sports theming of the enemies and the many different ways you can knock the deadly soccer ball into them.

Avianos (1985) is not nearly as hard to grock as it looks at first, which is something I can't say for a lot of contemporary strategy games. I quickly learned what the different symbols meant and tried to pick the most optimal Ancestor to pray to every round, and I find the core loop really satisfying. Sure, it doesn't have nearly the same depth as a Civilization or a Crusader Kings, but I also dislike having to spend upwards of four hours on a single match of those games.

Mooncat (1985) is meant to be a spiritual sequel to Barbuta, but I don't think I'll end up liking it as much. The gimmicky movement controls are more frustrating than interesting to me right now, and I don't see how even the best level design in the world could help me get past that. I've been wrong before though, for sure, and I want to give the full game a fair shot.

Bushido Ball (1985) is mildly enjoyable but can often be frustrating due to what I suspect is a very quick ramp up in difficulty of the enemy AI. Not only do you need to learn every character's strengths and weaknesses, you also need to react extremely fast or predict where the enemy will hit the ball next, usually long before the ball actually gets there. It's not impossible or completely unrewarding to learn, but I'm not convinced the juice is worth the squeeze with this one.

Block Koala (1985) will probably end up as one of my most-played games of the set, and I'm excited to get back to it. Even the early puzzles are really daunting, though, and I'm not very experienced with sokoban-style games. I'm glad the game comes with an undo button, but it still feels tedious to rewind more than a few steps. There's inherently a lot of trial and error involved in solving a puzzle, which can make individual puzzles take a very long time and make watching your koala slowly navigate through the same areas over and over more annoying than fun or relaxing.

Camouflage (1985) is a cool, logical extension of Frogger with kind of a stealth twist. I wish you didn't need to watch the same long animation of your lizard getting devoured every time you die though. The game is really asking you to go slow and plan your route ahead of time, but it's still easy to mess up and accidentally step into a hungry amphibian's path.

Campanella (1985) is both adorable and challenging as the titular UFO of UFO 50, and I'm still making up my mind about it. Flying the too-tiny UFO around can be physically painful when you have to constantly hold or mash the A button to keep it aloft, and its momentum definitely takes some getting used to. The ship also can only attack nearby objects, making every encounter with an enemy or obstacle a risk. 50 levels seems like a really tall order to complete when any brush with a random wall can end your run. Thankfully, though, it's easy to earn 1UPs in this game and many helpful secrets abound. I've already found one hidden teleporter in the first world that skips you forward a few levels, and I suspect there are others later on. The music, art, and humor of this game are great too, and Campanella is probably one of the more polished games of the set.

Golfaria (1985) is one of those weird game ideas that kind of works despite itself, like Pac Man 2 or the Sonic franchise. I don't love tediously navigating an entire world with limited golf ball physics, but I tend to enjoy golf games and ball-rolling games like Kirby's Dream Course, so I think it'll grow on me.

The Big Bell Race (1985) is Campanella racing and most reminds me of the Top Ride mode from Kirby Air Ride. I'm always down for silly racing games with power-ups like this one, but I still don't understand why the UFOs can only slash and not shoot lasers. This game is probably best played with another player.

Warptank (1985) feels like Blaster Master but with gravity switching and I'm mostly into it. Controlling and aiming the tank upside-down is not always intuitive, but the checkpoints are plentiful and you can retry a section as many times as it takes you to progress.

Waldorf's Journey (1986) is a great idea that's as funny as it is potentially frustrating. I love the idea of a flying walrus in a drug-induced dreamscape, but I don't love trying to land on tiny platforms or watching Waldorf fall to his death due to running out of fish meter. A little more leniency could have gone a long way here, but thankfully Waldorf's dream doesn't last long and focuses more on speed than stamina.

Porgy (1986) is another game that looks more fun than it is to play, due to some tough controls, water physics, overly-aggressive enemies, and punishing stamina mechanics. I keep bouncing off it right after I boot it up and get killed by the shark, but I'm determined to make some real progress.

Onion Delivery (1986) might be someone's favorite game (maybe even yours), but for me it's too annoying to control and too difficult to finish all the deliveries and return home without dying. I really like the cutscenes though and want to see more of the aliens and the story. If you're a Grand Theft Auto 1 & 2 fanatic, this game is probably for you.

Caramel Caramel (1986) might also be on the too-hard side of things for me but I really enjoy playing it. Just don't ask me why this fish-ship thing has a polaroid camera strapped to its face. The camera mechanic is brilliant in gameplay, though, serving the purposes of freezing enemies (making them easier to shoot and blow up in a chain reaction of double points) as well as revealing the many secret caches of orbs hidden in the environment. I don't understand why there are no checkpoints in this game though, when extra lives are so difficult to earn already. The music, art, and gameplay are killer otherwise though, making this one of my favorite games in UFO 50.

Party House (1986) is perhaps the best game in the first half of UFO 50, so it makes sense to put it at the halfway point chronologically. I really enjoy roguelike deckbuilders, and I've never played one with this goofy or charming of a theme. Again, the difficulty is very finely tuned, but you can definitely win scenarios with a little good luck and patient planning. Unwinnable situations still come up, for sure, but it's quick and easy to reset the game and try again if you don't want to play out all 25 days of a scenario.

Hot Foot (1986) calls to mind the Kunio-kun soccer and dodgeball NES games of my youth, but it's neither as ridiculous nor as fun as those. The writing is funny but the bean bags just feel awkward to both dodge and throw, and I haven't gotten a handle on what makes a good team yet. Combine that with some weird NPC AI and needing to manage two characters concurrently and I just don't think this works as a single-player experience. 2-player coop though I could see being pretty fun, so long as you don't chuck too many bean bags at your friend's head (in the game or otherwise).

Divers (1986) I know is one of the longer games included and so I've mostly put off playing it. I do really like the callback to the TMNT NES game's dam level though, and I'm excited to discover the game's secrets.

Rail Heist (1987) is one of the few games I've finished so far and probably one of my favorites. It took about four hours for me to complete all 20 missions (not going for stars or good times) and I was engrossed the whole playthrough. Getting the cowboys to do exactly what you want within your 9-second window can feel a bit random, and it never feels great to be shot from offscreen. But I think Rail Heist is mostly about those panicky moments between certain death and success, teaching you to form a plan and play precisely rather than waste a lot of time, which is what I love about Spelunky too.

Vainger (1987) has a lot to live up to as a Super Metroid clone, but I'm interested to see how its gravity-flipping will be used as more than just a gimmick across the whole game.

Rock On! Island (1987) is the first tower defense game I've played in a long time and one of the best, period. It's hard, it demands a lot of thought and attention, and it will upset you when 10 pterodactyls fly a B-line directly into your base because you didn't think to set up air defenses beforehand. But I really love the core loop of this game and there's something about the theme that feels very nostalgic to me. There are so many interesting decision points along the way to building a winning strategy, with just enough wiggle room for experimentation. There were a lot of NES and SNES games with cavemen-versus-dinosaurs themes too, for some reason, and Rock On! feels very faithful to that tradition.

Pingolf (1987) looks, sounds, and feels great to play but has some truly agonizing level design. I'll often line up a shot and whack the ball, only to watch it ricochet back at me and land further behind than where I started. This can happen very often in the later holes, demanding that you memorize the best routes to win. Getting good enough to win a match of all 18 holes will probably take me a few hours of practice, but I'm not sure I won't be sick of the game by the end of it.

Mortol II (1987) fails to live up to its predecessor's genius for me so far, sadly. The different classes feel stiff and difficult to manuever, and it's very frustrating to lose a man and then have to start over from the beginning yet again, even with 100 of them at your disposal.

Fist Hell (1987) makes a lot of sense and it's fun to play a River City Ransom-style beat-em-up with zombies. It's just very difficult to survive for long. Attempting the game with two players seems ideal.

Overbold (1987) lets you dig your own grave through raising the stakes of each fight with the promise of winning more points. It seems like a false promise, though, for all but the most dedicated of players. Getting killed in one hit here seems overly-mean, and I don't really enjoy this game's brand of Robotron-style slaughter either way.

Campanella 2 (1987) I've heard is the "Spelunky 3" of this collection but I've yet to see how that plays out. I'm not very excited about flying more Campanellas through tiny spaces or moving around as a slow, pixellated astronaut though. At least Isabel can shoot lasers when she gets out of the ship, I guess, similar to Cave Story or Blaster Master. This is yet another game I really wonder about the lack of checkpointing.

Hyper Contender (1988) was surprisingly easy for me and I finished my first run of the game using Elka, which took about 10 minutes including a few deaths. It's very similar to the versus mode in Spelunky 2, and I think it'd be fun to play with friends.

Valbrace (1988) is one of the games I was most looking forward to trying, and so far it's lived up to the hype. It has some of the same navigation issues that many classic dungeon crawlers had, but the automap is pretty helpful and the combat is a lot more engaging than just picking the same old options from a menu.

Rakshasa (1988) feels like Ghouls N' Ghosts or Contra but doesn't seem nearly as hard as those games to me. I really like the death save system turning the game momentarily into something like a shmup. The player's ghost also seems like a callback to Ninpek, and I love when these games are in conversation with each other. You can really see how UFO Soft progressed and developed in a lot of areas throughout the collection.

Star Waspir (1988) is unfortunately too hard for me and maybe needlessly so at first blush. I'm not an expert at shmups but to me this seems to be targeting only the most dedicated and hardcore of arcade grinders who can spell EGG.

Grimstone (1988) is a "Western" Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest clone and I'm super excited to play through it and see how my party develops.

Lords of Diskonia (1988) is what happens when you mix Heroes of Might & Magic with something like marbles or crokinole and it works surprisingly well. There's a lot of strategy and skill involved in how and where you shoot your disks, and sometimes a weaker army can still win the fight through some clever placement and opportunistic bounces. I'm looking forward to playing through the whole campaign.

Night Manor (1988) lives and dies by the quality of its art, atmosphere, scares, and puzzles, and it's mostly successful. I'm really glad there's a puzzle horror game included in the list at all, though, and the fact that it works surprisingly well with a controller with two buttons is remarkable.

Elfazar's Hat (1988) is tough but seems mostly fair so far. I really like this kind of slower-paced shooter and played a lot of Gun.Smoke on the NES growing up. The card pick-ups are a fun sub-objective and keep you exploring the environment.

Pilot Quest (1988) I knew was an idle clicker game going in and so I've mostly left it to its own devices after planting a few seeds at the start. It and the original Planet Zoldath remind me of Pikmin, but the gameplay doesn't seem nearly as fun or interesting so far. It's very cool that the game continues collecting gems even when you're not playing it though.

Mini & Max (1989) really appeals to me as a Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers kind of game with a shrinking mechanic. The opening level seems a bit plain and empty, but I'm hoping it gets more interesting from there. The pixel art and writing so far are top-notch.

Combatants (1989) - or "Combat Ants", if you will - might be the weirdest game on this list, combining the theming and obtuse non-controls of Sim Ant with a hardcore RTS like StarCraft. I'm not sure if it's a joke game with a larger meta-reason for being the way it is or simply just bad, but I'm betting on the former.

Quibble Race (1989) appears to be purely a gambling game, and as such I have basically zero interest in it thus far. On the surface, it reminds me of one too many boring mini-games to want to play it. Maybe it will surprise me though!

Seaside Drive (1989) released the month and year I was born (in the fictional world of UFO 50) and as such I feel some kinship with it. Thankfully, it's got a great, synthwave theme, chill music, and fun gameplay. It plays kind of like Moon Patrol on crack and adds a drifting mechanic, and recalls other nostalgia-fueled indie games like Hotline Miami and Retro City Rampage as well as films like Drive and Point Break.

Campanella 3 (1989) shifts the perspective of the Campanella series from 2D to 3D, in one of the more technologically impressive outings of UFO 50. I mostly enjoy games like Star Fox (when I can survive long enough in them anyway) and I'm looking forward to giving this a real shot.

Cyber Owls (1989) spoofs on the likes of Battle Toads and many, many other NES and SNES team action games, but I'm not convinced it's as good as any of the best of those so far. The gameplay ideas are there but the execution feels a bit lacking, in the case of each individual owl's levels and gameplay.

And that's it! I also wanted to mention the Garden in UFO 50, which acts like a trophy room for your achievements in every game, and I love it. Please don't take anything I've said about the games too seriously, as, again, my opinions are likely to change about many of them. But I hope you've enjoyed reading this if you've made it this far, and maybe I'll end up doing a full(er) review of this game down the line when I've collected a lot more gold disks. Until then, I really hope you go out and play UFO 50 yourself; the devs deserve the support and I know you'll find a game or two you love here.

Cheers, Nick

[inkibuni]

🫣

So… I have been working on a tiny project…

Still working out the kinks (and fighting both my lazybones antics as well as overly critical thinking that makes me change things over and over again smh 🤦🏻‍♀️) but I’m going to post my babies on here because I want to share them lol

Under the cut has nothing spicy or anything but because it will be a spicy content story minors DNI!!!!! MINORS, children and anyone under the age of 18 DO NOT INTERACT. Go away! I do not want y’all here. DNI with my tumblr account and me I Repeat Do Not Interact.

Alright with that psa over 💁🏻‍♀️. I’ve yet to decide where I want to have this game/story published. I originally had the Dorian app set up but idk I’m starting to think maybe making it on ren’py buuuuut I can’t code to save my life so this may take a lot longer.

Also might redesign all the characters again too maybe simplify my art.

Anyway below the cut is the cast of

Creeping 👀 Crushes

A story about a tired cfo who retires early to move out into the woods and pursue their spooky podcast dreams.

They were over telling other peoples creepy encounters with the occult and paranormal. So they decided to move out into the woods known for being the most haunted forest in the world. Ferrymen Forest. After an incident with your now ex.

Your colleague and new cfo best friend try’s their best to change your mind even while you’re getting into your truck. But you’ve made up your spooky lovin mind and are ready to move out of Fenzal City!

Your forest cottage is beautiful your bestest boy pupper named Goose happy to be with you.

Your first night in your new home goes without a hitch. As you walk around your new property and let Goose go potty. Your ex texts you wondering where you went. They then call you to berate you over your “lame podcast” telling you you’re crazy. But you’ve saved money and have everything planned out your selling merch and your podcast already has a large following plus retirement check is a bonus. Your set and he down need to worry and should really stop you warn about blocking him again. 

Your ex still upset & trying to convince you to go back to the city saying you can move in with him 🤮 you laugh and tell em to fuck off and NO!

Hell no! he cheated and made a fool out of you. At a work event. Getting caught sucking face in a photo both during your most important speech of your career really hit the sharpest nail into the coffin that is your relationship. You’ve had your suspicions about them. That night through the tears you looked at your savings and there was far more than you had planned. Plus early retirement and your podcast. It was time to do what you truly wanted!

As you yell into your cellphone at the audacity of your ex. You feel eyes on you. But not just one but multiple glares. You can feel it in your bones. You hang up on him, they try to keep calling you back. You got the silent button.

You call for Goose, but he doesn’t respond. You hear leaves rustling and you turn. A forest ranger pops out of the woods. Goose trailing behind them. To your relief but you still feel the eyes they’re less intense now. But still…

The ranger apologizes for scaring you but warns about Goose running around, should still leash him just in case.

You apologize back and say he usually doesn’t run off like that. Something must have really caught his attention

They cut you off their face serious.

“Honestly I don’t think you should live out here by yourself. There are strange things out here. You should go back.” Your taken aback, they’re tone isn’t like it was two minutes ago. And now you feel scared.

Duhn duhn duhhhn!

These two are the mcs, you have your masculine and feminine mc. I plan to make more options with two more skin tones and a non binary option too they’re in the works but these two are fleshed out. 💕

On to the fun part the LI 😈hehehehe

Meet Chuy, a Jersey devil 👹they/them

Meet Zilar (pronounced z•eye-lar) Alien👽 he/they

Meet Atlus, Moth man 🧚🏿 he/him

Lastly meet Emrik, forest spirit/Leshen 🦌 he/him