#I PLAYED IT ON A CRT ON MY WII.............................

[cloudykino]

I KNOW I SAID I WOULDNT DRAGON BALL POST HERE BUT

BUDOKAI TENKAICHI 4?

BUDOKAI TENKAICHI 4???????????????????????????

[xx-rememberthepast-xx]

[game-boy-pocket]

Been trying for so long to make my own wallpaper for my N64 everdrive and it always ended up getting corrupted when I tried to apply it, even after following all online instructions... well I finally found a premade one that I liked, so yay. I think the only thing I'll miss about emulating is the box art being on display on my UI of choice, but it is what it is.

SNES everdrive appears to have legit theme options. I'm dying to get my hands on one more than ever. Been chipping away at my copy of Super Mario World even though I said I wouldn't play the actual cartridges. Can't help it, I wanna take my SNES for a spin. I now remember how it feels to play with zero input lag and I want moreee.

[mas-y-menos]

i often joke abt how my type is autistic guys (i am a autistic woman)

but a guy info dumped to me about tekken and other fighting games for the whole 20 minute walk from class to the student center and i fell head over fuckin heels man

[theoneandonlyduskstrike]

Ramblings Reuploaded #2

My Trans story so far (2024)

Hoi there, and happy trans day of visibility. I can't possibly be more vissible then this right? I had to share my story with someone a few months back when i came out to them, and ever since then i had the idea of making it my next post in this inconsistent and confusing series.

I say series because this is part two. Here's part 1 on...sonic cd. yup.

So the format is simple. I take something i already typed and try to make it more legible for a blog type racket. No reason not to get right into it. Beware of typos, and transphobes begone!

I'm a kid in a barber shop. My grandpa is talking up a storm to some random clerk. I'm extremely bored. There are some toys though. Poly pocket. I never seen these before. These are so cool. I wish i had one of these but they don't make boy versions right?

Some time in 2022, I was at work dealing with closing cleaning type things which let my mind wander. I started thinking about a fairly innocuous interaction I had in FFXIV no earlier then 2021. The race I wanted to play was gender locked so I was playing as a female character. Two players starting joking around with me and the whole time they used fem pronouns for me. I didn't think too much about it back then but on that day in late 2022 it made me question why I was so ok with that use of language towards me

That was the day my egg cracked.

I spent the rest of 2022 trying desperately to figure out what my relationship to gender was. Just what the heck was I and did that even mean anything? Maybe I was gender fluid. It was hard to feel fem at work. Or oh! Maybe i'm just a drag queen in the making. But why did I not want that to be true and did that mean anything? Well clearly i wasn't actually trans right? Nevermind that gender fluid was trans. I thought maybe that I only felt that way because I was playing a character. So I made up my mind. In 2023, at the start of a new year I would begin to experiment.

It's around the era of the nintendo wii and something is bothering me feircly. I spent days on my gamecube on my tiny crt and realized I was picking princess peach a lot on my precious 'cube. I confide in my friend that I really must have a crush on her. When pressed I can't say why. I'm so glad he doesn't embarss me for my stupid feelings. It was a little weird I didn't like her as much in that one game though. Not my fault she just looked better in a dress.

I stopped cutting my hair and started trimming my beard and prized mustache so I was always smooth and baby faced. Anyone who asked I simply told them that it was a new year and a new me. Except for my friends who were the first to know.

My imposter syndrome was HIGH. And it remaind so for a long time. so afraid was I that I was actually, secretly, a fake trans. I had no evidence for this except piss poor self confidence. I only talked myself out of it much later with the idea that "Being trans and just really thinking you're trans is functionally the same so it doesn't mater if i'm 'fake' "

Unfortunately, my friend group wasn't doing a lot of online gaming at the time. I got a little desperate to see if my new pronouns fit. To my shame I basically asked one of them to contrive reasons to put pronouns into a sentence so they had reasons to use my new ones. They did not oblige.

Another pokemon game for my precious nintendo 3ds. I pick the girl because clearly they'll have better fashion options. I had just learned my lesson from Pokemon Y. No other reason. A few other simular things. I pick up megaman zx for the first time and choose the girl because, obviously, only female megaman.

I got a break when I was invited to a short lived DND group. I started hanging out with a separate friend group I was already beginning to know before gender stuff started. With ample chances to try my gender out I realized that something felt right.

So I went deeper. I remember wandering around a good will trying not to draw ire or eyes as I went and both tried on a dress and managed to bring it home. The few times I wore it felt great. Would feel much better if it actually fit.

It's my childhood again and i'm sat in front of the ps1 with my little brother. Namco museum only had one true co-op game. Toy Pop. I pick the girl so he won't have to.

In days to come I kept experimenting. I started to realize all the small signs. You already know many of them. I've peppered them througout my story. Unbeknownst to me I had already started to experiment with gender. Awhile ago I, once again trying not to get attention, bought some thigh highs from a party store. I really enjoyed wearing those. Everyone except for me knew I was trans before me, including me.

When I was dead certain on my path I set up an appointment with planned parenthood. I told my grandparents I was simply heading to Dave and busters which was technically not untrue. I began my medical transition but I was also urged to come out to people. I couldn't live in the closet forever. So I did so with my very obviously gay manager… And it went nothing like I expected. It went well, but not how I thought. I ended up coming out to the whole work force as well.

The right wing had tricked me into thinking any "regular" person would react with shock and confusion on a reveal of my new gender identity. All the media I consumed had colaborated this.

I'm just entering furry twitter when I see quite a few posts of male characters in dresses, usuasly of the maid variety. How cute, i think. I'm allowed to do this one because it's a shared joke. So i draw the one dress.

And then a few more.

"I wish I could look as good as my characters do right now"

Eventually I managed to come out to my grandparents. They were confused but attempting to be accepting. Things have mostly been rocky in the sense that they haven't made any effort to treat me the way I ask, but they don't deny me. The parents who raised me are forbidden to know their daughter.

I even came out to my astranged mother. (seperate from my step mother mention a second ago). When I was in highschool she moved back in town and we started to rekindled our relationship. Being the first to know I was ace, it was a shock when she became a born again christian. I thought she'd never accept me and I was almost right. Behind closed doors she tells my younger sister to not refer to me by my pronouns, or so i'm told.

After I was out for awhile something weird happened and I stopped.. Policing my own behavior. How I held myself. The words I used. I was my own women. I didn't need to fit into a box. The more I went on the more free I felt!

I started holding my hands in gay little ways. I crossed my legs. I walked however the hell I wanted. I used 'hon' whenever i felt like it. I wore this cute little collar I owned out to my weekly dnd meetings. Who cares. I'm me now. This cat can't be boxed.

The longer I've been on this journey the more I felt right. And here we are now. A two year or more journey still ongoing

It's 2023 and i'm attempting to put on eyeliner for the first time. It goes horribly. I laugh, inform my friends of my mistake, and we play games through the night. I wear my favorite of the two dresses. I ask them if it's ok to do so. They laugh. What and absurd thing to ask. Why would a woman not be allowed to wear a dress?

I would like to thank a huge number of people for their help in my journey but my brain is mush so i'll try to get as many as I can

@tuttifruttifox my ex who's been supportive of my journey and put up with my experimentation @biddyfox girl you are my sister and I couldn't have done this without you. Thank you so much for everything. @bigbadkingboomboo for casually replying to my nervous bullshit with "ma'am this is mcdonalds" which was simultaneously very funny and very affirming.

@cynical-cy for being you. Honestly just being a out trans woman who's art I happened to enjoy did wonders I think. Sorry to tag you. I know we're not really friends.

@patricia-taxxon that one fucking video you made on just being a furry and doing your own thing litterally changed me. You made me stop hidding who and what i am.

Honorable mentions to my friend xio. he doesn't do tumblr, but He's been my best friend through everything and his support is invaluable to me. I love you buddy.

if you think you should be on this list too, let me know and i'll add you cause honestly it takes a village to raise a catgirl.

[professorhawthorne]

An update and RUMBLE WEEKEND!!

Hey everyone!

Its been a long time since I've posted to this blog but that's because I've been buisy getting life stuff sorted! My post-grad work is chugging along, I got a new job in my field and I'm learning to drive about 10 years late! But I've been playing a ton of pokemon in the mean time! I've got some full odds hunts in generations 3 and 4 on the go to get some fun playthroughs in before bank shuts down (Maybe in April?).

Fig 1. Full odds hunts for Spheal/Snorunt in RSE and Chimchar in platinum!

My luck with full odds hunting has been atrocious until the day of writing this post though. I've put the gen 3 hunt on hold because I was overcome with an urge to play Platinum again and do some pokeradar chaining so I expanded out to 3 consoles and took up soft resetting for Wimpod on the side in Sun.

Fig 2. Triple hunting Chimchar (My resets for Wimpod were done on the black and blue 2DSXL in the pile) ((I also cleaned up my desk finally, feels good))

Unfortunately I passed odds on Wimpod and a soft reset caused my 2DS to freak out and delete the entire game install, fortunately I was juuust in the time window to redownload it from the eShop so I'll pick it back up again some day! Until then though, the hunt for Chimchar continues.

I've also been slowly building up a collection of retro junk that's fun to tinker with! Meet my new CRT and VHS setup! (I'll get a tv unit for it the second I find an era appropriate one!)

Fig 3. He just wants his swamp back

While we're on the topic of retro tech, let me tell you about my favorite latest project! My roomie had a spare wii that he didn't want so I took it, soft-modded it and dressed it up in a pretty see through shell!

Fig 4. A top down view of the console and its first stickers!

Fig 5. A side on view of the transparent shell

I've been using this puppy to catch up on all of the gamecube and wii games I've missed, mostly Colosseum, Gale of Darkness and Resident Evil stuff! However there is one other thing I've been loving~ Pokemon Rumble and its fan mod, Weekend Edition! The mod adds in gen 2 and 3 pokemon that were missing from the base game and there's even a roughly quarterly shiny hunting event called Rumble Weekend where you only hunt in Rumble! The odds are roughly the same as the gen 3 and 4 games (1/8192) but the encounters fly by so fast that shinies feel relatively common.

I participated for the first time this weekend and after only an hour or so of playing I had my first two Rumble Weekend shinies!!

Fig 6. My first Rumble shiny!! A beautiful, healthy Manectric

Fig 7. My second Rumble shiny! A lovely Ourple Swampert!

I wanna try and play more next Rumble weekend but I'm so happy to finally break my shiny drought with two gen 3 gems!! I plan on posting more now that I'm transitioning to a new job with a much less chaotic schedule, see y'all around! <3

[thegardengrows-infrozenrain]

A Small Collection of Archived Wii Message Board Official Nintendo Messages

from my Wii Family Edition (black) - it was used when my family got it in March 2013 to replace our other Wii (disc drive died) and apparently the former owners got some system messages - as did we, one message being from when we first obtained the system.

Images:

excuse the quality, automatic shutter speed on iOS is a bitch when attempting to get pictures of CRT screens. (inb4 just use a capture card)

Full texts:

under cut as they are incredibly long, sorted (as best as i can tell) chronologically.

1.

[Nintendo]

Nintendo Channel Update Notice

March 16, 2011

The channel that delivers exclusive previews and information about Wii(TM) and Nintendo DS(TM) games has just been updated!

This update provides quicker navigation for information about the Nintendo 3DS system.

Don't have the Nintendo Channel?

Want to know more?

Access cool game previews, in-depth interviews, and more! See what hot new games are on the recommendation list! Download the Nintendo(R) Channel today!

To receive an update or to download the Nintendo Channel:

Press the Start button near the bottom right of the screen to start up the Wii Shop Channel. On the first Notices screen, select Start Shopping and then Wii Channels. Find the Nintendo Channel, and then press the A Button to download.

* The Nintendo Channel may be downloaded for 0 Wii Points(TM). Nintendo

2.

[Nintendo]

Wii Menu version 4.3 has been improved. This update provides a behind-the-scenes fixes that will not affect features but will improve the overall system performance. To update your Wii Menu to the latest version, please select the Update button at the bottom of the screen or select the System Update option in Wii System Settings.

Because unauthorized modifications to save data or program files may impair game play or the Wii console, updating to Wii Menu version 4.3 will also check for and automatically remove such save data or program files.

**Please note: If you've updated your Wii Menu after 9/7/10, you may not need to update again.

Thank you for updating your Wii console!

Nintendo

3.

[Nintendo]

Play your Wii games and accessories on Wii U

Did you know that you can play nearly all of your existing Wii games on Wii U? Your Wii controllers and many Wii accessories can also be used with a new Wii U console—along with any downloaded games, save data, and other info stored in your existing Wii console.

It's time to discover Wii U

Wii U is the all-new home console from Nintendo. It's not just an upgrade—it's an entirely new system that will change the way you and your family experience games and entertainment.

The second screen on the included Wii U GamePad controller enables never-before-seen ways to play games and enjoy TV. And for the first time ever, you can see Mario and your favourite Nintendo franchises in glorious HD.

Learn more about Wii U at Nintendo.com/WIIU < http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/what-is-wiiu/ >

[84s]

Today i found my curbside grail . Functional (sans top buttons as far as i can tell they didnt work when we tested a cd) 2002 karaoke machine with a color crt tv... its sofucking cool idek if i can get it to function as a cd karaoke machine bc the top cd control buttons dont seem to work but. afaik the cassette and vga outputs do so i can play tapes or plug my wii into it or something it also has built in tetris and snake games you play with the front buttons?? it works as a radio and normal tv too

not my picture but its this exact one, its in really good condition too... idc how much space i gotta clear for this (a sizeable amount, the screen is 13 inches to put it into perspective) its worth it im obsessed its a fucking dope piece of vintage(old as me LOOOL) tech i got for fucking free off the curb

[lunatic-harness]

still chasing that feeling i had as a kid when i put gamecube isos on my hacked wii and played melee on real hardware on a crt for the first time and it was just so SMOOTH. even though i was emulating the game at full speed on my pc the experience couldn't match up to real hardware+crt

[greenjokwe-blog]

Monthly Greej Media (February 2024) - Month of Scrambling

Sometimes I forget that February is the shortest month. Even when it's a leap year (which I only just barely noticed happened this year), a single day can be the difference for me on whether or not I write about something here or not. Especially this month, where I decided that I would take up several long media properties... while also not having the dedication to go through them at a constant rate to actually get close to finishing them. It's been a weird month.

Because of this, there isn't going to really be much in terms of video games for me to talk about. There's a few films I want to cover (and some I'm probably gonna save for a later point... again... maybe), but truth be told there isn't actually that much interesting in terms of new games for me, unless I wanna parrot what I wanna say last month (played a lot less of those two games though, even). I was going to have two shorter games beaten by the end of the month, but I was only able to beat one of them in times for this. There's a good chance that if I don't decide to talk about the other game next month though, I'll just make a short post about it at some point.

The one game I JUST managed to finish, is Earthworm Jim: Special Edition for the Sega CD.

I've been pretty public about my enjoyment of the Earthworm Jim series for a while, but I think I'm not as vocal about how my enjoyment basically EXCLUSIVELY comes from Earthworm Jim 2. Specifically the Genesis version, which was the one available on the Wii Shop Channel, but any of the non-GBA ports are good. Learning about the Special Edition was wild to me, which I had previously had no idea existed, as my general EJ1 experience mainly came from attempts to play the original Genesis version and falling off after a couple of levels... and replaying the old demo on the apple store on my old iPod Touch back in the day (which I'm 90% sure that version is lost media now?). Anyway, hearing about the "superior" Sega CD version of the game made me curious, and as someone who has never really beaten a game for the Genesis addon before (the closest example is Sonic CD, and that was the updated Whitehead rerelease), I thought it'd be a fun idea to boot this version up. I'm glad I did, cuz this definitely heightened my opinion of the game.

There's a lot of reasons why the Special Edition is the superior version of the game, from beautiful animations and visuals (which, when testing around with CRT Filters via Reshade like I have for the past month, are EXTREMELY visually impressive and basically look HD), an improved soundtrack, and just generally more content and levels. What I think absolutely sells it though, is that the overall game experience is just BETTER here, compared to the other version. Obviously nicer visuals and sound will do numbers in terms of making the game feel better to play, but I'm mainly talking about the game's flow and pacing itself.

Level order has been changed, new levels add a more interesting difficulty curve than the previous versions, and there are new secrets to find, including all-new secret paths that are not only loaded with rewards for the betterment of play but are just generally better than what was in the original game, it's a vastly better experience. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely some stuff here that's kinda stinks up the experience (that last level especially can blow me), but compared to how I previously viewed this game? It's much better now. I still wouldn't consider the first Earthworm Jim better than the second one even with this version, like a large portion of people (mainly... what I'd describe as "oldheads" but I mean this is Earthworm Jim we're talking about) seem to believe, but I at least get the logic when people believe that. Also like, Earthworm Jim 2 is one of the most creative platformers of all time so it's like, kinda hard to beat that. What went from a difficult recommendation from me went to something absolutely worth checking out.

But uhhh... Yeah that's it for video games. Like I said earlier, there's a little bit more to talk about for films this month, so I guess I'll start with... uhh... So uh... Oscar season is happening, right? I wouldn't really be able to tell for myself but from what I've heard 2023 has been a good year for movies, so I decided to make it fun for myself and make sure this year I've seen at least half of the best picture nominees before the show starts (not really that hard, but I've never done it before). It succeeded, although I'm still debating as to whether or not I should watch some of the others as well to make it fun for myself (namely Killers of the Flower Moon and Anatomy of a Fall). I thought it was a good time, while the film was just barely still in theatres over here, to watch one of them on a brand fancy new screen at a local theatre. That film, of course... was Poor Things.

Oh boy.

Oh boy.

This ones gonna be... difficult to talk about for me, for a large, LARGE variety of reasons. One of which I might cover in a future blog post, but let it be known that I did NOT expect the kind of movie this was when going in. I knew about the sex symbolism, for sure, but to the level that it was...

OK, I just wanna say that I do appreciate what the films going for. It's weird. Weirdest film I've seen in theatres, and by far the most adult. And a lot of the subjects in this film are not being discussed at all! It dares to actually talk about shit like how women get taken advantage of by men and patriarchy, the conditions of sex work, and the failure of society to not protect women who aren't seen as perfect or exhibit traumatic responses in the real world! However, the actual result of these subjects being discussed... eh...

I will say that it does get the some of the points across well by the end, the second half manages to do a good job of making sure it's messages are sent. Although at this point... the film feels like it kinda needs to come to a halt to do so? A little? Also there are some implications here and there... weird one to chew, not sure how well some of these are gonna be seen generally, sometimes feels contradictory sometimes it lands perfectly into its message about women's choices. But overall, I still think I'm glad I saw this film, even if it made me feel like that one scene in Taxi Driver (even though I saw it alone). Weird and interesting, glad to support this kind of cinema, even if I don't know whether or not it'll grow on me as time goes on or I'll just start to resent it more. We'll see I suppose.

The last film I saw before the Oscar's was one I decided to watch at home, and that was The Zone of Interest.

Holyyyyy. What a film. I'm gonna be very short about this one because I feel like this is a film you need to experience for yourself but put simply: A film with pure vision. Pretentious arthouse indie cinema used as malice. Abhorrently aesthetic-focused to its favour. Exists only within frame but ALWAYS vividly presented outside. A film with a very clear, ageless message that defies all conventions to proceed, but still feels especially required and relevant in the current climate. A one-note experience, but that note is an unforgettable drone that lasts long after viewing. Perfect cinema. It's also the weaker of the two Jonathan Glazer films that I've seen. How the fuck does this man do it.

But yeah... Jesus. That shit bummed me out. A great experience, but a drowning one. Anyone want a pick me u- oh god damnit.

Saw this at the beginning of the month, so my review is gonna be a bit hazy, but I do think it says a lot about me that this was the film that I enjoyed the most out of everything I have seen so far this year. This year being y'know. The past two months. Not in terms of releases this came out in 2016. Whatever.

God this film is sad. It's so fucking sad. Manchester by the Sea is a film that should not be watched unless you are either currently depressed or ready to be depressed. However, that being said, it also manages to be such an realistic portrayal of suffering and grief that I absolutely fell in love with it. The film not only looks beautiful but feels it as well. I've heard complaints ranging from that it glorifies trauma or that it represents it's symptoms as "personal failings", but I think it rounds around to me to represent something truly human and honest with itself. There are the occasional times in a couple of scenes where it takes the safe route of modern storytelling for my liking, and there's definitely other issues (mainly the sound design, if you know you know), but there are few films that feel as groundedly sad and wonderful as this one does. Even if it's extremely sad and bittersweet, there's something reflective I got from this film that almost made me feel... Weirdly satisfied? Very strange thing to say, I'm aware, especially if you've seen the film and know what I'm talking about. Maybe I just like movies set in Boston Massachusetts. But god damn... what a film. Highly recommend if you can handle fucked up dark trauma films.

Anyway, last up, music!!! Still not a lot to say here, so I think I'm just gonna post the chart and dip I think. A couple of these were new listens for me (aside from Friko being a brand new release, the Allman Brothers Band and David Kauffman albums were my first time hearing them). A vast majority of them I went back to a few songs often but only just went back to the album now. Some of these I just haven't heard since ages ago. So yeah, that's it. Cya either next month on in an extra post I make in a week or so, we'll see what happens first.

[metroidprimepics]

More miscellaneous observations, mostly from Corruption.

Prime etc.

Since there may be Switch remasters of these games on the way, I’d like to clarify that this blog is not an accurate representation of how these games look on console.

For one, I do bump up the resolution, which makes smaller details much clearer. (The base textures are unchanged, though I believe there’s a fanmade HD texture pack for Prime. Which admittedly could kind of use it.)

I also often tweak the lighting in post - usually brightness/contrast, sometimes white balance. (On top of that, I turned down bloom by 10% on Corruption, because it’s a bit much.) This is about as much I would edit a photograph which I took of real life.

Finally... Keep in mind that these games were originally meant to be played on a component video output hooked up to a CRT, which (as you may or may not know from personal experience) is a very fuzzy experience.

That being said, all I’m doing is adding extra polish - Prime games look decent under any condition. (My actual play setup is trash...) So these remasters, provided they exist, have a lot to live up to.

Moving on.

This is what it looks like inside the morph ball. So... now you know...?

Activating two cutscenes at once means they play simultaneously.

It seems Gliders were originally going to be used as platforms at some point. It is very difficult to get on top of one without noclip, but as you might hope, Samus can totally ride on them. Whee!

There’s no issues with sliding off or anything, either - you’re clearly meant to be able to stand on top. (Wish the same was true for my sad attempts to boost onto Quadraxis’ flying head without stunning it first - water off a duck.)

Apparently there’s even an unused scan image depicting this exact scenario, which more or less confirms it.

This applies to some midsize harmless flying enemies in the rest of the main trilogy as well, specifically the drones in Sanctuary and the cargo carriers in Skytown, both of which speedrunners ride to get out of bounds. Perhaps they’re using the same code...? Or maybe those are programmed like “crates that move” and the fact that they’re also flying platforms is a coincidence, who knows. It’s all platforms, always has been.

Different game entirely, but bear with me. These statues in front of Elun reminded me of this statue in Prime 1, specifically with the robes/armor. Might be a coincidence, though, especially since the main series basically ignores Prime.

Echoes

I love Echoes, but I don’t have much to say about it this time.

Spoopy.

The regular human corpses are about the same size as Samus, but when Ing-possessed they get... bigger. (Morph Ball is about half her height - when unmorphing, she comes up to the armpit.) So that’s weird and kind of gross to think about!

Corruption

The MPT version of Corruption seems to have significantly better load times than the Wii release, though it takes longer to boot up at the start.

The Pirate Phazon storage that Dark Samus reconstitutes herself in during the opening cutscene (left - sorry for terrible angle, it’s hard to fight the cutscene camera) isn’t one of a kind. It’s the same room model as the Phazon storage/processing room that you pick up X-Ray Visor in much later (right).

...gonna chuck that one on the right in the queue, actually...

It’s really impossible to overstate just how tiny humans* are in the Metroid universe, compared to almost every other species. Other humanoid species are generally at least as tall as Ghor. So if you’re looking for an in-universe explanation for all these conveniently morph-ball sized vents... Uh, I guess those are still pretty small for most species.

*or, in this case, Gandrayda badly impersonating a human - though she’s the exception, being about the same size as Samus anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if they use the same model.

Speaking of Gandrayda. This isn’t a new discovery, but I figure it’s worth mentioning that there’s some otherwise unreleased concept art in her body texture. Seems someone was using it to colorpick...

Feeding my statuary addiction with these busts on Bryyo Fire.

This save room in Skytown has a mysterious solar system model. My pet theory is that it’s home. Like, the lore on the nearby Cyrlic tree is that this Chozo tribe bioengineered it and brings it from place to place (you also see this exact species on Tallon IV). So maybe if that tree is from home, this model is depicting home? I don’t know.

There are a lot of assumptions there and an environment artist probably just stuck it there because it looks cool. Just kidding! This is approximately canon.

While it seems odd that the HUD is a 3D element in the world, it does let it interact with lighting, like this orange glow. It’s subtle, but a nice touch.

...now that I know you can make it invisible I’m turning it off though... Invulnerability cheat doesn’t work in this game, so whatever happens happens I guess!

Quick look at the dying parasite queens in the Skytown Xenoresearch Facility elevator wall. Which is... You know. A completely normal place to store your dying specimens.

If you’ve ever wondered where exactly in Samus’ body her Phazon growth is located, wonder no longer: it is located above whatever Leviathan seed she happens to be in! (In this case, Bryyo. Blue things on the walls.) Hope that helps. 😔

In the drop cutscene, two Spire pods are loaded at the same time, though you’d never see them both with a normal angle.

You might have to take my word for this, but the text in the biohazard scan is once again basically keysmashing. All homebar too, very classical. There’s one word on here, “extra”. And some numbers, 123123, @@@, etc.

Finally. (deep sigh) Shoutouts to the artist at Retro who decided to give the Reptilicus about 6 polygons of lizard bulge. Maybe they can hang with the artist at Mercury Steam who kept giving a bunch of ZDR critters detailed bolas.

[onthegreatsea]

i bought a CRT :3c

light! gun! games !!!!

time crisis!!! house of the dead !!!!!

also finally being able to play my Atari again. i missed those bleeps n bloops. fucked up that a CRT was less than half the price of of RGB modding the damn thing

currently trying to figure out how many of my spare consoles actually work. think its like.. gc/wii, xbox, n64, snes...... the saturn should be fixable. fairly sure the ps2 is completely dead tho. ohhhh i wonder if my game gear will have less sync issues on it           !

[game-boy-pocket]

I really am considering getting some form of playstation console as my next retro console. I just don't know which one to get. It seems like they aren't like the cartridge based consoles where all you need in order to play the full library is a simple plug 'n play everdrive. Even the Wii seems simple by comparison since all you need is to soft mod it and get a USB stick to play Gamecube and Wii backups.

I kind of want to get a PS3 because it had some decent games on it and it still played PS1 and PS2 games, but only if you get an original model which are apparently prone to breaking, and I have no idea how to make it play ISOs, it also doesn't se native hardware for PS2. Also I'd rather play my PS1 and PS2 games on a CRT with a wired controller.

Kinda want to get PS2 because it's the best selling console of all time, still plays PS1, and has a huge library, but I can't seem to find any reliable information about weather any means of modding also allow it to play PS1 games.

I wouldn't mind a PS1, but it would be a bummer to not be able to play PS2 as well, and PSIO doesn't seem that simple.

So like idk what to do here.

[owlixx]

Arcade Review

I attended VCF Midwest 18 (retro computing festival) in Chicago with my dad this last weekend and we stopped by the Galloping Ghost Arcade. I jotted down a list of the games we played and figured I’d flesh that out with some notes/context for tumblr.

1. Tron - they had both the original machine and the Discs of Tron machine. Considering we had both brought Tron shirts, this was a hit with us.

2. Qix - I’m familiar with the “cut off the box while something bounces around in it” genre and I had heard this name before but I don’t think I’d ever connected those dots before. I wanna play some more of this one sometime.

3. Asteroids - a classic and not much to add, but the vector graphics were so bright and vivid here that it really looked cool. and the momentum feels pretty good too on the ship.

4. Street fighter/mortal Kombat - we played MK2 and 4 which was good fun, I’d like to play more of all of them. And we did one round of SF1-4 which was super fun. I wish it was easier to get into fighting games. And that I didn’t have to pick one main!

5. Commander havoc - this really impressed with the vivid vector graphics and interesting track-cylinder controls. I didn’t even get to the platforming part until playing later in the Atari collection on my vita! Which emulates the track-cylinder using the touch screen which is a nice touch, never heard of this game before

6. Battle zone - again, this is familiar territory but playing with the real headset and joysticks really elevates it.

7. Batman forever - this one was just silly, the photo scans of the actors looks so goofy on top of the movie already being goofy

8. Berzerk - a favorite of my dad’s

9. Wizards of Wor - this one played like Pac-Man if Pac-Man has a gun, really wasn’t bad despite never hearing of it before

10. Dragon’s lair - got further than I think I ever have before, new goal of mine is to actually beat this game or at least watch the full “movie”

11. Capcom vs - always fun until the game actually starts lol, love the rosters but I suck at these even more than normal fighting games. Highlight was my dad recognizing a couple character from tatsunoko and promptly kicking my butt with them

12. Dungeon and dragons hack and slash - already own this at home but always fun to see, I really ought to beat my copy sometime with someone else

13. Virtual fighter/tekken - again, takes me back to a simpler time but I need a local player 2 for these to be fun

14. Darius - I think we played the oldest and newest one. Neat novelty for the wide wide screen. On the old one, you can tell it’s a CRT in the middle flanked by mirrors reflecting CRTs on the bottom of the machine. I have burst on my vita and never played it before, it’s cool to see how arcade accurate it is now!

15. Silent scope - always gotta pop my head in here because it’s a fun novelty, I should try the home port someday for fun

16. La machine guns rage of the machines - I have this on Wii but it was fun to play the arcade version! I was surprised by how strong the rumble was. I need to play this, NY gunblade, and ghost squad more at home with my legit Wii zappers

17. Aerosmith - never knew this existed and boy is it buckwild and kind of hilarious. Never would’ve expected the Aerosmith game to be a rail shooter

18. Moonwalker - we played this for about 30 seconds before sharing nervous laughter and moving on

19. Journey - we called this one out ahead of time thinking it surely wouldn’t be here. Plays like tron where it’s actually 5 minigames featuring poorly digitized heads of the band members. Pretty funny

20. Resident evil gun survivor 2 - this was really curious! You aim with a lighting but also move by using the light gun as a joystick. Pretty neat but the multiplayer didn’t work for us. Looks like there’s a home port exclusive to EU/JP? I’d love to play more of this oddity

21. Castlevania arcade? - I think this was just a port of Castlevania 1 but still interesting

22. Super Mario bros versus - couldn’t tell if this was different from Mario 1 at all functionally but playing with an arcade joystick and buttons was neat!

23. Mario bros - I’m so used to the remake included with GBA Mario games that the original makes me embarrass myself when I play it

24. Donkey kong - I need to actually clear all the stages at least once

25. Sinistar - my dad clutched a win against the S man himself, kinda neat how this game has multiple phases and free movement

26. Star Wars arcade - we played a super low poly one because it was 2 player with a much higher poly one next to us but single player only. Also played a ROTJ speeder bike game with neat handlebar controls

27. Defender/Stargate - a classic, I need to get decent at this one sometime

28. Tempest - TxK was the first game I got on my vita and I didn’t really get it, but now I get it more and the graphics really impresses. I’d like to play more versions of this game

29. Pac-Man/mania - a staple like bread or eggs. Maybe someday I’ll play all them in order

30. Joust/2 - this was super fun. Really shines in PvPvE with an uncertain alliance. Transforming the mount in the sequel is neat, had never seen it.

31. Warlords - 4 player pong basically, but also reminded me a bit of boom blox. Keeping an eye out for this one now.

32. Night driver - never heard of it before but kind of fun

33. Pole position - feels so much better with a real wheel and pedal

34. Qbert - terrible at it but cute

35. Spy Hunter 2 - pretty fun in 2 player mode actually

36. Speed racer - this really surprised, this was super fun. Jumping over my dad was the highlight until we both collectively ran off a cliff and quit

37. Gauntlet dark legacy - somehow plays way worse than the GameCube version? But fun seeing this guy here

38. Robocop/2 - first one sucked, second one relatively impressed especially with the Wild Guns-Esque shooting gallery minigame

39. Contra - we had just played the DS Contra 4 so we had to play this one for comparison. As hard as I remember, especially for him lol. Also played an odd 2.5D contra in Japanese. I got the feeling it was a phone game port and googling now confirms yes, it is, called Contra Evolution

40. Ikari warriors - fun to play because of the unique twisting joystick. My dad lamented that we didn’t get to the tanks

41. Crystal castles - my dad showed off a secret warp trick on the first try that I managed to recreate on my vita port that uses the touch screen as a trackball. Way cooler with trackpad than joystick like I’d played before. Also always think of the musical artist

42. Cyberball - hot nonsense, he crushed me. Fun dual screen corner setup

43. Sonic the fighters - I had thought it would be fun if they had this one and they did! Didn’t play long but just fun to see it show up

44. Segasonic - this was my wildest guess as to what could even appear here, very happy to see it! My only chance to ever really play this game. Sadly, had a rude guest next ti me during it

45. Yi are king fu - this was high on my dad’s list and did in fact appear, he blazed through the first five levels quickly. I’d like to try and play this a bit more

46. Ring king - boxing game my dad was looking for, we really struggled to get started with the controls

47. Punch out - it was neat to get to play the arcade original with the wireframe graphics like his alternate costumes in smash bros

48. Judge dredd - this one was just kinda funny, classic stiff digitized photo graphics ala mortal kombat

49. 3D xevious - had never seen this, kinda neat

50. Super puzzle fighter - a favorite of my mother’s, fun to see the cabinet version. Especially since the XBLA port is weirdly compromised in some ways

51. Space invaders - this one was fun because it had a physical background graphic that the game sprites seemed to hover above, which was much more impressive than seeing just the game sprites in isolation

52. Mega man power battle - I had beaten both of these before on the capcom arcade collection for $1.99 a pop, but playing and seeing a real cabinet was a real treat

53. Paperboy - I always associated this game with the NES but the arcade version with a unique handlebar controller is a lot more charming. Still far too hard.

54. Pit fighter - so bad it’s good, this was on my dad’s list

55. Quake - this was a curious one, having to aim and move with just arcade buttons

56. Star Trek - pretty cute vector game, the Split View of first persons and top down is pretty neat

57. Cliff Hanger - fascinatingly, a laserdisc game in the style of Dragon’s Lair but repurposing clips from Lupin III without advertising itself as such.

58. Wrestlemania - not my first time playing this one, but always fun to see the super over the top moves

59. Rampart - one of my dad’s favorites, admittedly kind of advanced for the time with the base building in between rounds. Kind of an addicting gameplay loop if I am being honest

60. Quantum - super cute vector game with trackball that plays like Pokémon ranger where you have to draw circles around objects. Pretty good game feel, curious about this one

Didn’t get to play:

Popeye - favorite of my dad’s, screen broke

Star Wars episode 4 - similar

Mk3 - working but poor screen, my favorite MK

Soul calibur - the only had 2 and we ended up skipping it anyways

Silent hill - beautifully giant machine but was either down for repair or occupied

Monkey ball - had that silly banana joystick but down for repair

[princess-viola]

i went to best buy today (yesterday cuz it's 1:41 am now) and i was just going there to buy a USB-A to USB-C cable and a set of composite video cables because one of the USB ports on my laptop died and i have a modern laptop so it has fuck all in terms of ports (it has two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, HDMI, ethernet, 3.5mm headphone microphone combo/jack, and an SD card slot and the other USB-A port is occupied by the receiver for my wireless keyboard (the 'd' key on the laptop keyboard doesn't work) and i needed the composite video cables because i have an A/V switcher for composite and s-video so i don't need to unplug and replug in cables to switch between the TV, Wii, and my VCR/DVD combo unit (when i get that plugged in again, at least)

and yeah anyways i found those at the store (well i actually couldn't find just a USB-A to USB-C adapter, i had to buy a fuckin USB file transfer cable that came with an adapter 🙄🙄🙄) BUT i also found a four port USB-C hub, which is also cool if i need to plug in more than three fucking things to my laptop BUT THAT'S NOT THE COOLEST THING I FOUND AT BEST BUY

I FOUND A FUCKIN EXTERNAL BLURAY DRIVE!!! it was on sale too for only $80!!!

absolutely i bought it because i literally have no bluray player* and even tho it looks like you need two free USB-A ports to use it (which would be annoying even if my laptop still had both USB-A ports working considering they're on different sides) a review on their website said 'yeah if you get a USB-A to USB-C adapter, it'll just work out of one USB-C port just fine' and YEAH IT DOES

AND I GOT BDs PLAYING THROUGH VLC TOO. i know i'll have to keep that one file with like the BD keys up to date but i own like 4 or 5 BD movies right now and i'm not exactly regularly buying them, so just bookmark the link to that file and update it when i buy a new thing on BD and bam, i'm fine

*yeah i know, it's literally 2023, bluray has been a thing since 20-fucking-06 and streaming media is (sadly) taking over and i still don't have a bluray player SHUT UP my main TV is literally still a CRT and i have a VCR still (pretty sure i have two VCRs actually, maybe three - not sure if i got rid of one of them), do i look like the type of autistic bitch who keeps up with modern media formats?

[sibyl-of-space]

I’ve been replaying Ocarina of Time because someone found a way to inject the OoT v1 onto a Wii and I haven’t played v1 since I was a little kid and was curious and because of who I am as a person, have also been digitizing it using my Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 capture card. I’ve done a lot of tweaking to the card’s proc amp settings to get the footage to look as close to how it looks on my CRT TV as possible; I really like how these captures look compared to what I could get on my GV-USB2. This card is really good at capturing contrast and darkness, and that’s part of what makes old games look so much more alive on old TVs.

I know Ocarina of Time is pretty much one of the most well-documented games on the internet in terms of footage but I don’t like the “emulator-like” aesthetics of most captures and I’m a hipster, so I am making my own. I may or may not be all but filling a hard drive with lossless .avi captures of gameplay scenes. I’m having a great time.