#sega ass graphics

[thewitchqueen281]

hot take but.

rf4 is fine.

rf5 is still better.

[brainjuicezz]

WHY IS IT POORLY OPTIMIZED

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic Superstars!

Superstars is out! And guess what? It's good! It's a worthy new entry in the series, and I mostly like it. Mostly. Except for the handful of parts I don't. As usual, allow me to share my thoughts.

(For the record, I got the PS5 version of Superstars. I can't speak for how it plays on older hardware like the Switch, or how the weird Steam version that seems to make you log in with Epic runs. But I encountered zero performance issues, personally.)

General thoughts

The thing is, aside from two notable flaws I'll discuss in greater detail below, I can sum up my feelings on most of Superstars quickly. You see, it's... a Sonic game. This will either be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. It's not a bold new take on the series that'll blow you away, but they also didn't fuck it up. There's no catch this time! There's something refreshing about that straightforwardness, given how rare it is to get a regular-ass New Sonic Game from Sega. It's just a new classic-style game where you can play as Amy, set on a new island with all new zones, and Fang is in it! This might be damning with faint praise, but that's what it says on the tin, and they did a good job overall.

(It also has co-op. That's nice. I didn't play it in co-op.)

It plays exactly how it should. At no point did anything feel Wrong. The graphics might not have the absolute highest fidelity, but I think the character models look really nice, and the levels look appropriately good with vibrant color palettes. A couple zones like Sky Temple gave me Klonoa vibes, which I like. One zone is an absolutely incredible homage that I won't spoil. The story here is minimal (as expected), but there are a few good moments of telling the story through the gameplay, particularly one very cute sequence with Trip. I did find a couple stage gimmicks moderately annoying (Speed Jungle 2 and Press Factory 2, looking at you), but like... I could say the same thing about Mania, and also damn near every other Sonic game ever made. There's always That One Level. Superstars may not raise the series to new heights, but it generally executes well on the standard beats of the series. It's an easy recommendation for all fans of 2D Sonic.

Really, aside from the two big flaws (we'll get to them), this game's greatest crimes are simply not being quite as good as Mania, and also coming out the same week as the more creative and polished Super Mario Bros. Wonder. If we hadn't gotten Mania, I would easily be calling this my favorite 2D Sonic game since... what, the Advance trilogy 20 years ago? I like the Rush games, but if you asked me to replay one or the other, I might have a better time with Superstars. And, yes, it beats the hell out of Sonic 4. It's not even close. Anyone who says this game is exactly like Sonic 4 is just being a hater.

...I guess I would say that $60 is a bit steep for this, but you know it'll be on sale for a more appropriate $30-$40 in a few months. This isn't a Nintendo game we're talking about here.

Nice little tweaks

Superstars also features a number of welcome quality-of-life updates over Mania, bringing it more in line with the design ethos of modern platformers.

You have infinite lives! No more getting a game over on the final boss and having to redo the whole final zone - or, god forbid, the entire game

Time overs are gone! It'll warn you before you go over ten minutes, but I have no idea why because it doesn't kill you anymore

The game features a hub from which you can easily replay previous levels, rather than needing to beat the game or put in a cheat code to unlock the level select

This means you can easily go back and hunt for any special stage rings you missed. However, as a tradeoff, it seems like you can only get one Emerald per zone now, rather than being able to get Super Sonic by the end of the first or second zone

You can swap characters between levels! No more having to start a whole 'nother save file to play as Tails

And those characters even have optional little movement tutorial rooms available from the hub, which is great for new players who may not know about things like the Drop Dash

And, finally, checkpoints now feature arrows pointing in the direction you were supposed to be going, in case you forget upon respawning

Of course, while you might not be getting game overs, Superstars certainly compensated with some bosses that kicked my ass.

Bosses

Here's what I would consider notable flaw #1.

I have mixed feelings on the bosses in Superstars. I don't think many of them are poorly designed - in fact, a lot of them are good, and offer fun moments of spectacle. But for a 2D Sonic game, they're REALLY long and drawn out, and by the late game this was starting to get draining.

Bosses tend to be the type where you have to dodge their attack patterns for a while until you get the chance to hit them exactly once, MAYBE twice. A few bosses seem to have quicker options if you abuse your post-hit invulnerability or play as a character with a double jump, but many will either be completely invincible or run away to the background for long periods of time, making it impossible to damage them outside of the allotted windows. And even if it seems like you'll be able to get in a second hit, many bosses turn invincible and skip ahead to the next attack pattern as soon as they take the first hit. Again, most of these fights aren't BAD, but because of this behavior they sometimes take almost as long to beat as the entire levels preceding them. This didn't bother me much early in the game, but against the more challenging bosses towards the end that kept killing me several minutes into a long fight, it got tiring. The final boss of Story Mode probably took me like an hour.

While this certainly isn't an uncommon style of boss design, part of me suspects they did this for the sake of co-op players. For one, playing in co-op means that you don't necessarily have to start the entire fight over if one person dies, so I assume the length is less of an issue. But in particular, true classic-style Sonic bosses that you can just hit repeatedly with good timing would go down in a few seconds against a team of four players. Likewise, the swarm of clones from the "Avatar" Emerald power would probably obliterate every Genesis era boss with one button press. So I get why every boss needs all these invulnerability periods, but still. I at least wish they'd made some of those attack patterns shorter and given you more frequent opportunities to deal damage.

Emeralds and their powers

Speaking of the new Chaos Emerald powers: they're neat, I guess? They're fine. I didn't use them much. Actually, I kept forgetting I even had them - although the game will play a noise and show an icon in the corner of the screen to remind you any time you reach a spot where a specific power is useful. Avatar, the first power you get, is at least good for getting a couple free hits in on the trickier bosses. Yellow's ability to slow time is obviously good, but, again, I always forgot I even had it and made it through just fine without it. I was also pleased to realize that the swimming power is useful for the water levels and not just for climbing up waterfalls.

Oh, and the new grappling-based special stages kind of suck, but they're not the worst, and I'll at least give them credit for trying something new. (Motion Sickness Zone from Sonic 1 does return as a bonus minigame, but I only did it once lmao.)

Battle Mode

I haven't played Battle Mode. Couldn't tell you if it's good or not. It did, however, give us official designs for Metal Tails and Metal Amy after all these years, and also it let me make this:

...Okay, enough beating around the bush. Let's talk about the thing that REALLY drags down the experience.

The soundtrack...

(This lengthy section on the music will feature some light spoilers for things like zone names and themes.)

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some bangers in here that I've been listening to on loop. But this is one of the most inconsistent soundtracks I've ever heard, and I'm not sure I've ever played another game where the music has such a sharp dip in quality in the back half.

As anyone following this blog knows, prior to release I was a little obsessed with trying to gauge what the soundtrack would be like. "Jun Senoue" and "new Classic Sonic game" naturally evokes the memory of Sonic 4, but from the start we knew Tee Lopes was involved as well, and almost all of the music previewed before released leans more towards the sound of Sonic Mania than anything else. I was hopeful! I was excited! Jun deserved another chance at doing another classic Sonic OST, and Tee is one of my favorite game composers of all time between his Sonic material and other works like the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge OST. I frequently thought back to this Sonic 4 remix medley by Jun and Tee as a reminder that these two could really be the dream team, bringing out the best in each other's work.

Sure enough, the front half of the game is largely dominated by the Mania sound, whether it's a track by Tee himself or one by an in-house Sega artist that's compatible with his style. Pinball Carnival Act 1 by Rintaro Soma (an up-and-coming composer who wrote a bunch of the Cyber Space themes in Frontiers) takes obvious inspiration from Mania's Studiopolis Act 1, to the point that I was shocked when Sega posted the track and revealed it wasn't written by Tee. Act 2, however, forges more of its own sound by leaning into the act's spooky haunted carnival theme. And despite being the music lead, the only level theme that I know for sure was written by Senoue in the front half of the game (Bridge Island Act 1) was actually arranged by Tee Lopes to give it more of that Mania sound. Hell, the level clear jingle is literally just the one from Mania. A few level themes by other composers don't quite match that style, but they fit in well enough.

But there are early signs that this sound won't be consistent throughout the game. Our first warning of things to come is the boss music:

When early copies started floating around and the soundtrack leaked, many, many people hoped that this was merely a placeholder, like the literal Sonic 4 Episode II music used in the earliest previews of Speed Jungle, and that it'd get replaced with a day one patch. Oh, those poor, innocent fools...

Even if you don't mind the poor production with the returning Sonic 4 faux-Genesis sound, this is a very simplistic thirteen second snippet of music that then plays a second time in a higher key before it loops. This wouldn't be the end of the world if the bosses were as short as the ones in the Genesis games, of course, but they're not! This theme is used for a ton of lengthy fights throughout the game, including an EXTREMELY long and tedious autoscroller boss at the end of Golden Capital Act 2. Maybe I would've enjoyed the bosses in this game more if they were paired with some earworms that'd get me hyped up and sell how cool and exciting the fights are supposed to be, but grating songs like this just made the minutes spent fighting those bosses feel like an eternity.

Still, boss music (and menu music) aside, all of the level themes in the front half of the game ranged from decent to great, with the peak easily being the phenomenal Lagoon City Act 2 by Tee Lopes. And then... I got to the back half of the game. And the Mania style completely disappeared, replaced largely with the dreaded Sonic 4 sound. That isn't the style for EVERY song in the back half, but even the ones that try something different tend to be weaker than the material from the first six zones, with less engaging melodies and less intricate arrangement. Many sound straight up unfinished, leaning on extremely basic synth patches with no personality. And there isn't a single track from Tee in the back half. He just disappears from the project altogether.

What this means is that we go from this absolute banger by Tee Lopes in zone 6, which elevates what's otherwise a bog standard desert level to a thrilling adventure:

To... this, in zone 7:

It's EXTREMELY jarring!

The thing is, this is actually one of the better tracks in this style. I have to assume this is by Senoue, because you can totally hear a good Adventure or Heroes era Senoue track in there once you get past the crude synth replication of the Genesis era Sonic sound. Senoue is still a great composer, as you can hear clear as day with Bridge Island, but he's working with a restrictive sound palette that doesn't play to his strengths at all. If only he'd bust out that damn guitar, or at least pick some better synths.

(And no matter what people will tell you, no, this is not an accurate recreation of what the Genesis's YM2612 chip really sounded like, nor is it representative of what it CAN sound like at its best. Go back to the Streets of Rage 2 or Ristar soundtracks if you need a reminder.)

While I can at least see what the Press Factory tracks were aiming for, some other faux-FM synth tracks are just really bland. They don't have anything interesting going on, and they also don't seem particularly tailor made for the levels they accompany. They're just attempts to mimic what Sonic 1-3 sounded like on a very literal level. Take, for instance, the Golden Capital Act 1 theme, AKA "we've got Sky Sanctuary at home." While the better level themes in this game enhance the mood or even completely carry the vibes of a level, the weaker tracks can really suck all the air out of the room and make a level feel like more of a slog.

What kills me is that there are, in fact, a couple examples of how to do throwbacks to classic Sega FM synth music well on this very soundtrack! They're just not the Sonic 4 type tracks. I love the Frozen Base Act 2 theme, presumably composed by legendary Sega composer Hiroshi "HIRO" Kawaguchi, who's responsible for all-time classic arcade soundtracks like Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Hang-On, After Burner, and more, as well as the hacking and pinball themes from Frontiers. Maybe to an untrained ear this doesn't sound all that different, but it has a catchier tune, better instruments, and stronger production overall. I'm also a fan of the track for Sky Temple, which isn't perfect, but it blends a few Genesis-esque instruments like the Sonic 1+2 snare with other instruments for a richer sound. If the whole soundtrack sounded more like these examples, I'd definitely be complaining less.

I really just have to wonder... how did this happen? How did this end up being so inconsistent? Many fans on social media are jumping to the conclusion that Senoue is just extremely stubborn and refuses to ditch the style from Sonic 4. I can't deny this possibility, but some things just don't add up. The almost complete lack of "retro" style music in the promotional material. The fact that the style just suddenly shifts halfway through the game, then disappears for the final zone, as if that's not the note they want to end on. The complete lack of any tracks by Tee Lopes in the back half. The focus on the Mania-style tracks in the bonus "mini soundtrack." And most perplexing of all, the fact that three of the first tracks you hear in the game were Senoue compositions that were given extra attention with arrangements from Tee Lopes.

This is pure speculation on my part, but it almost seems like they straight up ran out of time.

Perhaps Jun wanted more of his tracks to get full arrangements from Tee, or for Tee to contribute more songs, but things were down to the wire and they chose to leave in some of the raw Sonic 4 style demos. The soundtrack being crunched out in a matter of months at the end of development would certainly explain why Speed Jungle had to be demoed without its music a mere four months ago. It'd also explain why a game that's only a few hours long needs NINETEEN composers listed in the credits. And also the fact that multiple zones just have completely different, unrelated music by different artists across their acts. Did they need multiple artists working on different acts simultaneously, completely independent from each other with no time to cross reference each others' work, due to extreme time constraints? I'd buy it.

Ah well. It's not the end of the world. I've heard worse Sonic music. But I'll always think of what could have been...

At least the final battle with Eggman at the end of Story Mode has a pretty kickass boss theme, which ALMOST makes up for how bad most of the preceding boss music is (and the fact that that very difficult fight doesn't have a checkpoint between phases and took me like an hour to beat lmao). It even seems like it might be written by longtime Phantasy Star Online composer and recurring Sonic contributor Hideaki Kobayashi. That's the guy who wrote NONAGRESSION!!!!!!!

The postgame

Speaking of beating Eggman! It turns out Superstars has a good deal of postgame content, as merely beating the last zone with all the Chaos Emeralds doesn't take you to the true final boss. In order to do that, you'll need to do something else.

Before we hit the big spoiler warning, I'm going to give any future players who are still reading a warning. If you value your sanity... don't force yourself to do all the postgame stuff. Don't make the mistakes I did. It's not worth it, and it may very well knock your personal score for the game down a couple points.

----------------------------------------------------------------

SPOILERS FOR THE STORY, UNLOCKABLES, AND THE POSTGAME BELOW THIS POINT

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

----------------------------------------------------------------

The bonus scenario

Sonic Superstars has a big surprise in store for anyone who beats the main story. For the first time since... what, Silver? In 2006? We finally have a brand new playable character in a new Sonic platformer! (I wouldn't count the player avatar in Forces as a full-fledged New Character.) Yes, after the credits roll, you unlock Trip as the super-secret fifth playable character. I was really excited to see this. Trip is cute, even if her masked appearance from early in the game is perhaps a more unique design than a Sonic-ified lizard girl who can only vaguely look like a real sungazer lizard. She IS the first new Sonic character Ohshima has designed since the '90s, though, so she gets points for that - and she gets even more points for literally turning into a dragon when she goes Super. We love a girl who can turn into a dragon, don't we folks? And her playstyle is fun, too, with a double jump and the ability to roll along walls and ceilings.

But Trip isn't just playable. Like Knuckles before her, she gets an entire alternate story mode of her own, which somewhat remixes the level layouts, generally makes things more challenging, and swaps out Eggman for Egg Robo. I was so excited to see this! It really felt like the game had so much more in store for me than I'd anticipated.

...Then I spent probably around three hours attempting to beat the new final battle with Fang at the end of Trip's Story. And it made me regret doing Trip's Story at all.

Once you learn the patterns, a lot of them are actually piss easy. But the difficulty comes down to a few misguided factors:

The fight is LOOOONG. On a successful attempt the whole thing will probably take the average player about, like... seven or eight minutes? Maybe longer? This is where I really started to get pissed at the game for making me wait through these stupid attack patterns before I could attempt to hit the boss once.

The fight is divided between two phases, one with Fang in a vehicle and another with him in a giant robot, with no checkpoint between them. Dying to one of Fang's bullshit attacks on the second phase means having to redo the ~5 minute first phase all over again. And, worst of all...

Fang has multiple projectile attacks that are guaranteed instant kills, even if you have rings.

Also there's a stupid desperation headbutt attack that can really easily catch you off guard and kill you, but I only got that far in the fight once.

It's the instant kills that got me. If those fucking immobilizing net attacks just made you drop your rings, or you could at least wiggle out of them by mashing buttons (EDIT: apparently you CAN do this but you literally have to button mash so rapidly that it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll physically be able to do it), it would have been totally doable! Kinda fun, even! Slow, but pretty cool in terms of spectacle. But nope! Three hours! Three hours on this! This is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I have ever faced in any Sonic game, period, and one of the hardest bosses I've ever seen in ANY game. All because of one attack pattern where making a tiny mistake means starting over.

The glitches didn't help, either. Something about the way the circular boss arena was set up in both stories' final battles seems to make the floor intangible sometimes for non-player objects. Occasionally my dropped rings, enemies I was supposed to knock towards Fang, or one of Fang's insta-kill projectiles would just fall through the floor randomly. This definitely wasn't my main problem, but it helped drive home the idea that this fight just wasn't worth my time.

After three hours of attempts, I gave up. I just went and looked up the ending of Trip's story, as well as the contents of the Final Story, on YouTube. Turns out I made the right call, because boy, that true final boss looks like dogshit. It's just a very dull fight against a big generic cartoon dragon. Apparently this is the thing Eggman was looking for. It appears and is defeated with little fanfare. I think I liked it better when I assumed the scary dragon being foreshadowed was just Super Trip.

...Also, hey, what's up with The End being very conspicuously visible in the background of the last zone?? I know it's just a cheeky cameo, but, like... isn't it supposed to be sealed away in Cyber Space right now? Should I be taking this literally? Does this have lore implications? This is one hell of a way to remind people that the timeline's been reunified, I guess

Closing thoughts

I really hate to part ways with Superstars on a sour note like this, because like I said up top, I mostly enjoyed my time with it! It's really just a small handful of particularly frustrating bosses and the inconsistent soundtrack that drag it down. Other than that, it's solid as a rock. Maybe wait for sales if you're not dying to play it, but it's definitely worth playing for any Sonic fan. Just... skip the true ending. I would have stepped away MUCH happier with this game if I'd done that.

I wanna try to end this on a more positive note but I'm tired, so, uhhhh... look, you can unlock a Metal Nights skin for your Battle Mode bot!!

Anyway back to jamming to about half the soundtrack on loop while pretending the other half doesn't exist, and looking forward to the continued Fang Renaissance with his upcoming IDW miniseries

[crusherthedoctor]

It's really sad how people keep going after your group just because you defend yourselves

Apparently, the statements "I'm generally content with the quality of my personal stories" and "I spot many issues with this comic" justify getting spammed with graphic death threats and ableist insults

Yet it's insisted that you're the ones who are too harsh? It's straight up unfair.

Who would have thought that a group of people might occasionally get upset after being crucified and ridiculed by countless strangers?

Funny how they NEVER have a justification beyond "well shut up no one wants to hear you"

Somehow, it's always YOUR fault that a part of the fandom goes rabid whenever someone doesn't conform to the current "right" opinion, and YOU'RE to blame for THEIR ungodly behavior. That doesn't make any sense, does it?

This fandom is vain and abhorrent to the nth degree and y'all deserve better. That's all I wanted to say.

Par for the course, innit. They'll lash out at us. They'll hand out death threats. They'll make disgusting ableist comments about my autism, and similarly terrible comments towards my friends. They'll threaten to bomb SEGA HQ and stick Iizuka's head on a pike, among other wild declarations of violence. But don't you dare make a goofy meme about Surge not living up to her hype. And whatever you do, don't even think about criticising the unprofessional antics of the IDW crew. What are you, a monster?

They dismiss us as insignificant one minute, then fearmonger so hard that they see fit to give us a boogeyman-esque moniker the next. I'd be surprised if they could walk in a straight line without contradicting themselves.

As for "You talk so much about your fics!" ...No shit. I'm a guy with a blog. This isn't a movie production with a budget, I don't have a team or advertisements backing me up. And unlike fanartists, I don't have my own art to catch people's attention. I kind of have to talk about my writing in order to get it out there and inform people of its existence, and while I try not to sound too much like an unskippable YouTube ad, what else am I supposed to do? Upload them silently and then never refer to them again? How is showing passion for my work any different from official creators showing passion for theirs? Just because fanfic tends to get less attention on here than fanart doesn't mean it's not worth sharing, do they want fandom to flourish or not?

When I compare my work to a certain comic, I do it to highlight the dissonance. If fanfic writers - plural, not just myself - can understand the importance of keeping the characters recognizable, and making the universe faithful despite any necessary differences, then what excuse do official writers who have been involved with the series for over a decade have? If someone who doesn't even love Sonic that much compared to other characters, finds him annoying and unfunny half the time (no, not just in the Pontaff games, in general), and even finds it a pain in the ass to write for him at times and has more fun writing other characters because of this, can still attempt to write what made him appeal to fans... why do writers who supposedly love him so much keep fumbling so hard with him?

I compare for the sake of highlighting why these off-kilter portrayals are so easy to spot. If Sonic Twitter only gets "He's just stroking his own dick" from all of that, then they haven't been paying attention.

The most ironic thing about it all is that they've only gotten more vitriolic as most of us have mostly moved on from the height of IDW discourse (cause the comic goes in circles at this point, and is very likely to be running on fumes due to IDW's financial troubles, so there's no point). Yeah, I'll still criticise it now and then, and make a meme on occasion, but I rarely make lengthy ted talks about it or participate in ongoing Lanolin Is A Bitch/Silver Is Uwu-ified/Whisper Is Trauma Bait/etc back and forths anymore, because it's just tiring now. And since most current Sonic stuff has been putting me off in general, combined with growing fatigue and frustration at not being able to criticise certain games without people waving the finger at me (especially SA2, since the Year of Shadow has made it the center of attention yet again...), I've took a step back from intense Sonic discussion to focus on Stellar, as well as other fandom projects, like my recent brainstorming for Paper Mario or: How I Learned To Insert Eggman and Love The Vivian™.

In no way can you say I've been up in their faces as of recent. Yet they continue to cry otherwise, because they want people like me gone completely.

[munson-blurbs]

Hopper volunteers to play Santa for the kids and reader is an elf.. and things get spicy (once all the kids are gone for the day of course...). I got Violent night Santa look in my head and it's living there. :)

I'm not sure what I've done here but...either I'm sorry, or you're welcome.

Warnings: smut (18+ only, minors DNI), mean!Hopper, costumes, oral (m! receiving), p in v, brat taming, no aftercare, semi-public sex (no one is around), age gap (reader is 21, Hop is in his 40s), degrading language

A/N: Divider credit to @firefly-graphics. Thanks to @trashmouth-richie and @corroded-hellfire for their feedback and patience <3

At some point in their lives, everyone fantasizes about someone they shouldn’t. For some people, it might be their teacher; others may think about a friend’s parent or their boss. 

You? You couldn’t keep your imagination from running wild with dirty daydreams about Jim Hopper: full-time Chief of Police and current Starcourt Mall Santa Claus.

A scowling boy hoists himself onto Hopper’s lap, mouth and fingers sticky with lollipop residue. “Santa!” he barks, tugging on his beard. “Last year, I asked you for a new TV, and you didn’t bring me one. You suck!” He sticks out his tongue and blows a raspberry. “This year, I want a Sega Master. Got it?” The kid jumps off and stomps over to where you’re standing off to the side in your ridiculous elf costume. He holds out his hand and stares at you expectantly. “Um, hello? Candy cane!” You roll your eyes but oblige, placing the candy in his palm as he skulks over to his mom.

“Good riddance,” you mutter under your breath, just loud enough for Hopper to hear you. The usually humorless man snorts lightly, but quickly regains his composure as the next spoiled tyrant demands a list of toys they just need to have.

Tonight is Christmas Eve, which means it’s the final night for you to make your move. For the past month, you’ve been eyeing Chief Hopper, doing your best to discreetly obtain his attention. Rolling your skirt at the waist so he could get a better glance at your ass when you leaned over, wearing a push-up bra so the top of your cleavage was visible to him, or seductively sucking on the leftover candy canes at the end of your shift. Yet every night ended the same–he smoked a cigarette before grunting a goodbye, speeding away in his old Chevy.

You’re determined to make tonight different, and you put your plan into action the moment the last kid leaves.

“Think that’s the last of ‘em,” Hopper announces, stretching his meaty legs from the plush velvet seat. His eyes are tired after a long day of fake smiling and half-listening to whining rugrats. He cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders, groaning. “This is the last time I let the guys on the force convince me to do this shit. ‘Giving back to the community,’ my ass.” He pulls a pack of Camels and a Zippo from his Santa suit pocket and lights up, taking a long drag.

“Actually,” you say, sauntering over to him, “I think there’s one more person who needs to tell you their Christmas wish.” You gingerly sit on his lap, fluffing out your skirt so that only your green tights and lace panties separate you from him. “You see, I’ve been a really good girl this year, and there’s only one thing I want.”

 “Let me guess,” he mumbles, taking another puff from his cigarette, “a diamond necklace? Shiny new convertible?”

You shake your head and use your forefinger to tilt his head towards yours. “I’ve always had a thing for you, Hop,” you admit, unhooking the fake beard from his red-and-white cap, unveiling a thin line of stubble along his jawline. “The way you walk like you own this shithole town, commanding authority wherever you go…it’s really fucking hot.”

Hopper laughs gruffly, nudging you from his lap. “What are you? Twenty?”

“Twenty-one, actually,” you retort, repositioning yourself so you’re now straddling his waist. “And unless you have another pack of cigs in your pants pocket, I suspect you’re into me, too.”

He snuffs out his cigarette on the arm of his chair. “And I’d suspect that you’ve never had a man turn you down. Isn’t that right, princess?”

“You’re not about to be the first, are you?” you ask, pouting as you press your chest against his. “Because that’s not a title I’d wear proudly.” You lean in to kiss his neck, but he turns slightly. “What’s not doing it for you, hm? Tits not perky enough? Body not tight enough?”

Hopper rests his head back and chuckles meanly. “Now, princess, you know that’s not the problem.”

“Then what is it?”

He lets out an exasperated sigh. “I’m more than twice your age, I’m your coworker–”

“Not after tonight,” you remind him pointedly, moving his arms down to your ass. To your surprise, he doesn’t move them. 

“Right, yeah,” he sneers. “Well, that doesn’t change the first part. And I have a reputation of keeping order, and I’m not about to tarnish it by fucking you in the middle of the mall.”

“Interesting,” you purr, pressing soft kisses along his throat. “Because I have a reputation, too. But mine is for getting what I want, when I want. Now, Chief,” you grind slowly against his burgeoning erection, “if you tell me to leave, I’ll leave right now. But I have a feeling that’s not what you want, is it?”

Hop’s eyes flicker to your heaving chest, and you feel him start to cave. His strong hands grip the flesh of your thighs as he bites his lower lip. “I’m no good for you, y’know that?”

“I know.” You kiss him hungrily, brushing your tongue against his. He tastes like smoke and peppermint, and you moan into his mouth. “Can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted this…needed this,” you amend.

“I like this better when you don’t talk,” he snarls, and you nod obediently, fingers flying over his coat buttons as you undo them. He’s wearing nothing but a ratty undershirt, and you whimper at the tufts of chest hair that peek through. He’s a real fucking man, not one of those idiot frat boys that plague your college campus. “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it my way. Got it, princess?”

“Y-yes, sir,” you whimper. 

“On your knees,” Hop commands, and you scramble to get on the floor. He pulls his cock out of the confinements of his velvety pants, hissing at the release. He’s so thick, with veins straining along the shaft. You’re unsure how much you’ll be able to take, not that you’ll admit that to him. 

He grabs a handful of your hair as he guides you to his length. Precum is already beading at the tip, and you have to bite back a smile at the confirmation that he’s just as turned on as you are. You hollow your cheeks as you suck him off, gliding your tongue back and forth from tip to base and back again. 

“Bet you’re used to callin’ the shots,” he growls. “These dumb guys falling at your feet, beggin’ you to make them feel good. You’ve never had to beg like this before, have you?”

“Mm-mm,” you manage with your mouth full of him.

“Thas’ right,” he slurs, pushing your head down to the thatch of curls near his pelvis. You sputter and choke when his tip hits your gag reflex. “Am I more than the princess can handle?”

“I can h-handle whatever you g-give me,” you whisper hoarsely. You start to make your way back down to his cock, but he stops you, tugging you by your hips back onto his lap. He rips open your tights and pushes your panties to the side, and you gasp at the sudden chill.

“Only good girls get to make me cum with their mouths,” he states, wrapping his palm around your neck with one hand and rubbing himself against your wet folds with the other. “You said you were a good girl, but you seem like a brat to me.”

“Wanna…wanna be a good girl f’you,” you moan breathily. “Do anything for you, sir.”

“That’s better.” Hop smirks. He lines himself up with you, teasing your hole. “Sit on it, princess.” His eyes nearly roll to the back of his head as you take him in, inch by inch. “Pussy’s so tight, so damn good,” he mutters, and this time, you can’t contain your satisfaction as he starts to crack.

“Am I more than you can handle, sir?” you shoot back, eager to use his own line against him.

Hop’s eyes turn sharp at your reply, and he tightens his grip on your throat. “Watch it,” he warns, “or I won’t let you cum.”

“‘M sorry, sir.” You have no time to feel any sense of shame before he’s bucking his hips into you, groping a costume-covered tit roughly. He’s hitting your sweet spot rhythmically, sending shockwaves through your body each time.

“Not good enough,” he scoffs. “Need to hear you beg me to let you cum. An’ you better do it fast, b’cause I’m close.”

“Please, sir; please let me cum. ‘M sorry for being a brat. I’ll be a good girl; I’ll listen to you, I promise. I just need to cum, need you to make me cum.” The pleading ripples past your throat, and you realize you’d promise anything just for an orgasm from him.

“Move your fuckin’ hips for me.” It’s his way of forgiving you, and you snap your hips back and forth. He’ll leave a necklace of bruises with the grip he has on you, and you’ll wear it with pride.

“I’m gonna cum, sir–if you’ll let me,” you plead one last time, desperate for his approval.

He nods, moving his hand from your throat to your hips, stifling some of the pressure as you ride him. “‘M gonna fill you up and leave you dripping with my cum, princess. Want you to see how I fuckin’ ruined you.”

You squeak out an mhmm as your orgasm washes over you, finishing while he thrusts harder. His own release comes just seconds later, and though you thought his cock felt perfect, nothing compares to him spilling into you.

There’s no cuddling or sweet nothings whispered into your ear; Hop simply pulls you off of his softening cock like you’re weightless. His cum drips down your leg and, always determined to get the last word, you scoop it up with your middle finger and lick it off. He cocks an eyebrow.

“Fuckin’ brat,” he says with a shake of his head.

Your tongue pokes out between your teeth as you fix your panties and adjust your skirt. “Am I a good girl yet?” you question, feigning innocence.

Hop lets out an incredulous laugh, lighting another cigarette. “Go home before you get yourself in more trouble.”

“Not too much trouble that the Chief of Police wouldn’t bail me out of though, right?” You bat your eyelashes at him.

He blows out a cloud of smoke and tucks himself back into his pants. “Merry Christmas, princess.”

[dreadlock-detective]

Every just kinda... on a whim remake every single sprite and tile from a game from 1988 while also adding in tons of new tiles and new frames of animation so you can make it look fancier? No? Well, I mean, you should. It’s fun! And extremely time consuming!

Wonder Girl in Monster Land, based off my drawings I did a while back

Wonder Boy in Monster Land for the Sega Master System is such a part of my youngest days (that and the original Wonder Boy). The Wonder Boy games got rereleased recently but the Monster Land there is the original Arcade version which is different from my nostalgia and STILL super ugly so I stuck to this one.

And, like, its funny, cuz I think Monster Land is ugly as hell and also that it plays kinda like ass, but damnit, this game has such a place in my heart I can’t help but love it.

I didn’t INTEND to fully remake every graphic in the game but... well like I finished Wonder Girl... and then well, might as well do a small scene to put her in... and well, the snake was fun to make, I could at least do all the normal enemies... i could at least do all the bosses. I could at least redo all the levels (yes, not included here, but I recreated all 12 levels of the game in the new tiles), might as well redo all the shops and NPCs... might as well redo the title and pause screens... Also real Wonder Boy fans might realize the final boss sprite was redone to much closer resemble its appearance in Wonder Boy 3 Dragon’s Trap, because NEEEEERRRRRRRRRD!

[zbbaskin]

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (龍が如く6 命の詩。, Ryū Ga Gotoku 6: Inochi no Uta., lit. "Like a Dragon 6: The Poetry of Life") is an open world action-adventure video game developed and published by SEGA for the PlayStation 4. It was originally released in 2016 in Japan, later localized in 2018, and on March 25, 2021 was released on the PC and Xbox One. It was originally also going to be released in Korea, but was cancelled the day before its scheduled release due to its contents.[1]

The game is the seventh main entry in the Yakuza series of action-adventure games. Unlike the previous three main entries, Yakuza 6 only features one playable character: series staple Kazuma Kiryu. In addition to Kamurocho, the game also features a new explorable city, Onomichi, Hiroshima. It also introduces a new yakuza organization, the Yomei Alliance.

After Yakuza 6, Yakuza Kiwami 2 was released. A remake of Yakuza 2, its engine, graphics and combat system are largely borrowed from Yakuza 6.

My ass is too sober for this gimme a sec

[archoneddzs15]

PC Engine - Ninja Ryukenden (Ninja Gaiden)

Title: Ninja Ryukenden / 忍者龍剣伝

Developer/Publisher: Hudson-Era H.K. / Hudson Soft / TECMO

Release date: 24 January 1992

Catalogue No.: HC92052

Genre: Action

Format: HuCard

First, we had Sega's Shinobi. When I was 9 years old, I spent many a quarter on the arcade version (and much of my allowance, to my mother's dismay (^O^). Why? Simple: ninjas are the video game world's greatest and most versatile heroes. So how do you 1-Up an awesome game like Shinobi?

I found out that Christmas in 2010 when I received Ninja Gaiden for my PC Engine, developed by a Hong Kong-based joint venture between Hudson Soft and Era Communications Inc. I popped that box open, grabbed the HuCard, and bashed it into my PC Engine CoreGrafx so quickly it nearly choked on it. I flick on the power and sit back. And THAT'S when it caught my eye... HOLY CRAP!! CUT-SCENES!! CUT SCENES ON MY 8-BIT CONSOLE!!

I was floored: I almost thought I was watching a movie; I had NEVER seen this high-quality look on my system! So I watch one ninja fall to the ground, and then I see the guy who would be the hero: Ryu Hayabusa...Ninja, Ladie's Man, Professional Ass Kicker.

I didn't even hit Run (PC Engine lingo for "Start") yet, and I was too impressed already! Anyway, Ninja Gaiden's got it all. Ryu's quite fleet-footed, quick on the draw with his sword, and slices and dices like no one's business. He listens to your every command (read: dead-on control). He does about 50 flips in the air during a jump. He's got cool Ninja Arts to aid him on his quest, including shuriken, Windmill Shuriken (they boomerang all over the screen!!), the Spinning Blade (jump and slash in a circle), and the Invincible Fire Wheel (TOASTY VILLAINS!!). And he'll need them, too...I'll explain why later.

Although I did explain the cut scenes already, I think I should go into a bit more detail and cover the in-game graphics, sound, and music while I'm at it. The cutscenes in this game, for 1988 on the Famicom, were amazing. For 1992 on the PC Engine, it looked even more so.

They conveyed the story in such a way that it almost seems like an anime OVA (incidentally, there was a Ninja Gaiden OVA in Japan, but it was poorly written and animated, and Ryu was only a bit character in it. BLASPHEMY!!), and you get such a feel for the characters that you would think that they were alive and for real. The story is nothing short of excellent, and the game plays it out perfectly, breaking the action up into six acts of 2 to 5 stages each, for a grand total of 21 stages. The difficulty level in the game slowly progresses from very easy to hardcore gamer tough, but it progresses steadily from stage to stage. The bosses fall in the same category as well, with a very easy first boss to a hair-yanking hard final boss. More on the difficulty later.

The graphics in this game are pretty good, albeit a little grainy. Everyone is of a decent size but oddly drawn, but the animation in this game is just stunning; it's so fluid that you wouldn't think at first that this is still just an 8-bit console competing in the 16-bit console wars. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, has at least 3 to 4 frames of animation; even little details like Ryu throwing a weapon look awesome in motion! The sounds are pretty good for a PC Engine HuCard although a few sounds are a little odd like the "FWP-SPLSH!" sound enemies make when they're killed (sounds like an explosion splashing into water!), and Ryu somehow makes this blasting sound when he gets hit. Is he laden with nitro or something? ^_^

But never mind that, the big draw in the sound department? The MUSIC!! Mark my words: MUSIC MAKES OR BREAKS THE GAME!! In this case, it doesn't just MAKE the game, it's the BLOOD WORK!! The music in this game is just TOO FUCKING GOOD!! The composer made some excellent use of the PC Engine's sound processors, which is just a miracle, honestly. It's so awesome that I used to use the Sound Test code, then tape all the tunes off the TV with a portable tape recorder held to the speaker, just to listen to it later. It's THAT GOOD!! Every single tune, even to this day, rings in my head for all eternity, and out of every track, my personal favorite, the track from Stage 4-2 (Bazlisk Mine Field) just RULES! Thanks to emulation (and the Internet!), I now have the entire soundtrack in MP3 format, and I still can't get over how amazing the music is!

[aeondusk]

So, I want to try and get into SMT, but as a broke ass trans girl with a potato laptop I dunno which is the best one to try

Any reccomendations?

Most SMT fans are going to have pretty different opinions on which ones are the best, but most of them are worth playing. I’ll talk here about my favorites.

It’s worth understanding that SMT is made up of a main series but also a dozen or so subseries. I’ll skip over the subseries I haven’t played or didn’t like.

Also general tips: most SMT games (read: not Persona) are hard. Brutally hard, sometimes. Save whenever you can, make sure you’re prepared. Most bosses will take multiple attempts. Don’t be afraid to completely rearrange your team for a new strategy, if the game has fusion be fusing often, and put any buffs you get onto the MC to help them survive. You cannot plow through the entire game with your initial team like this is Pokemon.

I got into the series via Persona, like many people. The Persona games have diverged pretty strongly from the rest of the series, and (in my opinion) aren’t as good. Still, it might be worth trying Persona 5 Royal to see if you like the demon fusion and turn based elemental system, which is at its peak there. Idk how well it would run on a potato pc, I played it on ps4.

If you want more story over gameplay, then I think Persona 3 is leagues ahead of its younger siblings. Unfortunately the remake doesn’t have the infinitely superior (and gay!) female mc route so I haven’t touched it. You can emulate the PSP original on a potato via PPSSPP emulation, but it’s painfully grindy and poorly paced at times, esp. toward the middle. On the plus side you can be a cool lesbian with a gynoid gf which for me is a huge selling point for me at least.

Avoid Persona 4.

Okay, actual SMT. Nocturne is called a masterpiece and for good reason. Genuinely peak of the series. The first ‘real’ SMT game I played and it made me fall in love. It’s wildly different from most JRPGs and I adore it for that. The remaster is probably the best version, and it’s on PC. I don’t know how it runs on PC since I played it on switch, but it should work fine? If it’s really too much for your pc then PCXS2 can emulate the original, although I’m not sure if that would be better or worse. Nocturne is also the one Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry Series.

My personal favorite game(s) in the series is Digital Devil Saga (1 and 2 are two games telling one story). They’re PS2 games with no ports, but PCX2E should run them fine. Bonus points for having canon queer rep.

If you can get Citra running you can try SMT IV, which is also very good. A little slow at times, difficulty is very hard early on and then drops off a cliff after the fourth or so major boss, but overall a very high quality game. Unfortunately I’ve never been able to get Citra to work well on my PC, and even then there’s way too many graphical issues that make it just feel Off to me.

The most recent game in the series is V, which is a switch exclusive. Or it was until literally today, because the expanded version Vengenace is on PC. The base game of V is disappointingly middling, the second half of the game feels shockingly unfinished IMO. The gameplay is fire though so if you’re fine with a little repetitive overworld bullshit and the plot just kind of. Skipping an entire act? Then yeah I’d consider it. Obviously it’s a brand new game so idk when a cracked version will appear, maybe try something else first. On the other hand good plural rep kind of? So that’s cool.

Soul Hackers is a personal favorite because hot lady I mean hot lady I mean. Nemissa. Surprisingly good plural rep with her and Hitomi. Pretty dated gameplay, since it’s a sega saturn game (I played the 3ds port) but the story is peak cyberpunk bullshit. Soul Hackers 2 was the most disappointing sequel of the decade (it was okay but painfully just okay).

The Persona 2s (there are two Persona 2s) are probably the queerest games in the series. Plot is peak esoteric bullshit. The PSP versions have several QoL features so I played those ones, but they also broke the difficulty curve so even on Hard they’re some of the easiest titles in the series. Sometimes a bit grindy and slow but in what other game do you get to kill Nyarlathotep possessing Hitler wielding the Spear of Destiny who is also your gay bf’s abusive dad? <- not a shitpost this is really the final boss of Innocent Sin. 100% worth playing just maybe not as the first game

Games not to try first:

Some people will tell you strange journey is good. These people are wrong :p Didn’t hate it but do not let it be your first game.

SMT IV Apocalypse is a direct sequel to IV. Do not play it until you play IV, it will make no sense. Even then it’s not as good as its predecessor.

Devil Survivor is a strategy rpg for the ds/3ds. They’re good but probably not a good introduction to the series on account of being so different.

Anything before Nocturne: they’re going to be jank and need a translation patch. The gameplay that makes SMT iconic was invented by nocturne, so any game before that plays more like a middling 90s jrpg. Some good stories in them but do not start with, say, SMT 2.

Catherine isn’t part of the series proper but it’s in the same universe, has many of the same writers, and is popular with certain parts of the fanbase. It’s also transphobic as hell. Avoid forever.

Unfortunately PC ports of the series are a relatively recent development. For much of its existence SMT has been a ps2 series, then a 3ds series, and now it’s being revived once more on multiple platforms. Unfortunately the ones getting PC ports are the more recent or popular games, which means Persona and nothing else. If you don’t know how to emulate, now’s the time to learn. It’s not as difficult as people think it is tbh.

tl;dr play nocturne (remaster pc port or PCSX2 emulator). then do whatever you want forever

[tmlfan1977]

I consider myself very fortunate to have been a kid in the 80's. I was in fact born in 1977, but by the time I was old enough to walk, talk and wipe my own ass without parental guidance, video games were ALL the rage! Arcades were aplenty (our city had 3 in the downtown core alone), and home consoles, albeit expensive, were popping up in a great many homes.

Now, depending on when you were born, I'm sure you have a memory of your first console, whatever it may have been. If you were born in the late 80's, it may have likely been the Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo. If you were born in the early to mid-90's, it was possibly the original Playstation or Xbox. But for me, the first console in our home was none other than the ColecoVision.

Now the ColecoVision at the time was a revolution in home gaming as the graphics were far better than that of the Atari 2600 which was released about four years prior. The problem, however was the fact that the console and the games themselves were so bloody expensive..... hence the system's quick demise into obscurity.

Our system sat in my parents' bedroom on a 13" black and white television, set to channel 3, and was connected by an RF modulator. We owned only four games (again, expensive!) which were "Donkey Kong", "Smurf", "Q Bert" and "Popeye".

At only 6 years old, I have to say, "Donkey Kong" was my jam! I played it only when I was allowed. Fortunately for me, I was a pretty well-behaved kid so I managed to play quite a bit!

It was a few years after we had purchased the ColecoVision when we had decided to switch to an Atari 2600. As I'd said above, the graphics were far inferior......but the system and games were FAR cheaper, so we basically opted for quantity over quality. We had literally dozens of Atari games as opposed to the 4 Coleco titles we owned, including a much shittier version of "Donkey Kong" which included a character that didn't even look remotely close to an ape.....but I digress.

As much as I loved my Atari, as well as the systems that followed, The ColecoVision will always have a special place in my heart as my very first console, and ultimately my first foray into gaming.

[killscreencinema]

Aladdin (SNES)

Aladdin, developed and published by Capcom in 1993, is one of those games I was obsessed to play back when it first released. I was a huge fan of the movie, and was envious of my Sega Genesis friends who got to play Aladdin for that system (which looked amazing to me, despite being a die-in-the-wool Nintendo kid).

So I was excited to get an Aladdin game for the Super Nintendo, and was doubly excited it was actually good! You play as the titular character, and the game's story follows pretty closely with the movie's, except for an odd bit of filler where you must pursue Abu through an Egyptian pyramid, I guess because the game come in too short? Either way, I guess I can't complain about more of a good game.

Unlike the Sega version, Aladdin is not equipped with a sword (unfortunately), but instead throws apples at enemies to stun them before jumping on their heads to take them out. It works fine, and the tight controls make it functional. Still a sword would have been... cooler. You navigate through the levels, always going right, collecting gems and occasionally a golden scarab that opens a bonus wheel at the end of the stage where you can win extra lives, continues, or health.

You won't really need extra lives or continues, though, because this game is easy. The only real challenge is if you choose to collect all of the red gems, which unlocks a special end screen, but that's pretty much it. The game isn't so easy, however, that it feels like a baby's game and as a kid it was honestly nice to play a game that I could actually beat in a weekend without it mercilessly kicking my ass. As an adult, it's still a fun, quick playthrough with bright, colorful graphics and decent animation (although it doesn't hold a candle to Sega's of course).

[tastydregs]

AI Makes 1993 Video Game Look Photorealistic

Kick Ass

When Sega released Virtua Fighter in 1993, it was a game changer — literally. Widely hailed as the first fighting game with full 3D graphics, it upped the technical prowess of a genre that had been largely confined to 2D sprites, with titles like Tekken following the next year with 3D graphics of its own.

Now, in the age of both remastered gaming classics and the boom in AI generated images, it’s fitting to revisit Virtua Fighter with a technological new coat of paint.

A Twitter thread from artist Colin Williamson shows us just that, thanks to the power of Stable Diffusion. Normally a text to image model, Williamson used an image-to-image variation called Automatic1111, according to Williamson's tweet.

And the results are pretty impressive — not to mention amusing, intentionally or otherwise.

Stupid AI art trick: I feed the cast of VIRTUA FIGHTER (1993) to Stable Diffusion.

pic.twitter.com/AJmKcIen8X

— Colin Williamson & 1986 OMEGA TRIBE (@ColinWilliamson) October 3, 2022

Akira. I never realized how super-jacked these models were. pic.twitter.com/qXrVmZTmRZ

— Colin Williamson & 1986 OMEGA TRIBE (@ColinWilliamson) October 3, 2022

Polygone

With the help of the AI model, Williamson transports this early 90s titles straight into photorealism territory, looking less like a graphical upgrade and more like actors portraying the characters in a cutscene, to an extremely comical effect.

"When I played this game back in middle school, I was like 'That's it. Graphics can never get better than this,'" said Williamson in a tweet. "And my dad was like 'I'm not so sure, this looks kind of crappy.'"

In hindsight, their dad wasn't wrong. Getting it to look just right though, even with an all powerful AI, takes quite a bit of tinkering.

"Just describe the character, and img2img does its best," Williamson told Ars Technica in an interview. "Though the hardest part was simply figuring out how to describe the characters' clothes."

"Once I found a good prompt, I'd do a batch of around 50 and cherry-pick the funniest ones," Williamson continued. "I tried this thing called 'negative prompting,' where you tell the AI stuff like 'please don't draw messed-up-looking hands,' which does an excellent job in that now your characters have only six fingers instead of seven."

More on AI art: AI Dreams Up What Your Fave Dead Celebs Would Look Like Today

The post AI Makes 1993 Video Game Look Photorealistic appeared first on Futurism.

[rmoonstoner]

The Temple

The Temple

***

Chapter 1 - Our Hystory Makes Who We Are

***

Warnings:

18+ smut, angst, and fluff, sexual themes, foul language, traumatic past memories, mentions of Randall dying, graphic depictions of a car accident, mutual pining, happy ending, mentions of death, injuries, blood, and gore, trauma, childhood trauma,

This is a one shot. I have no plans to make a sequel. I MIGHT make a follow up, but I don't know. I am a clown. 🤡

Summary:

Khonshu has been asked by his sister, Hathor, to retrieve a priceless artifact. She has specifically asked for you to accompany his Avatar(s), and not Layla, yet Hathor refuses to say why. Khonshu doesn't give two shits about why, nor does he care enough to ask. All he cares about is the fact that Hathor guaranteed him of your safety.

There's just one thing… You have been head over heels in love with Marc, Jake, and Steven for years. In fact, you were the only one who knew about all of the alters, even when they didn't, and each one had a special connection to you and fell in love with you, but they refused to say anything, fearing you would leave them.

***

You met Marc first, so long ago, when you were children. You had met him the year before his brother had died. You would see him and his brother every weekend when your parents got together to drink and play cards, while the three of you would play out in the yard, or down in your basement playing games on an old Nintendo or Sega. Things were great, and Marc was always kind to you, mostly because you were so nice to his brother, making sure he was always included, even though he was younger.

You would play video games at your house on the game systems. You were nice to Randall, letting him win all the time, but you never showed any mercy to Marc, and kicked his ass every time. When you went to their house, you would play in the woods or the creek behind their home.

Just being with them made your life so much brighter. You didn't have many friends to begin with, and you had just moved to their neighborhood. Now for the past year, you've spent nearly every day with them, the weekends being your favorite.

Even though you made new friends, you spent a lot of time with Marc and Randall. They were your favorite, because Marc was your best friend, and his sweet little tag along brother was no bother to you.

Then one day, the accident happened.

The day that Marc's brother died.

It was a regular cloudy day, during the flooding season. You were playing outside, and exploring the area like you always did with them, but today was different. Today the boys were trying to impress you, by showing you the caves in the woods. You had never seen a flood before, so you didn't know why it was so important to stay away from the creek and the caves.

But Marc knew better, and yet all he wanted to do was show you the cool caves, hoping to impress you. He figured it would be an in and out job, but alas, things didn't go according to plan. The cave had filled with water too fast, and you and Randall had gotten stuck in a deep end of the cave.

You and Randall panicked and cried. You managed to calm down enough to talk Randall down as you held him up on your shoulders to keep him out of the water. While trying to help Randall up the wall to his brother, he slipped and kicked you in the face. You were temporarily stunned and you lost your balance and slipped, falling back against the rocks.

Everything went black as your head and back filled with pain, and you inhaled dirty water. Your body didn't put up much of a fight, and you didn't move, blood trailing down your face as you faded away into unconsciousness. Randall was screaming about you being hurt and bleeding to Marc, and Marc had scrambled up that wall so fast, he had no idea how he had done it.

Unfortunately by now, Marc had a choice to make, to save you first, or his brother, then go back for the other, and it would forever haunt him. He didn't even know if you were still alive, but he leapt to you first, and scrambled up the wall again to drag you all the way out of the caves to safety. He somehow got you breathing, then raced back to get his brother.

The same thing happened to Randall in his panic to get out while being alone.

Tragedy struck, and Randall died.

Marc had chosen to rescue you first, and ever since then he had changed. You blamed yourself for it, and you believed it was your fault that Randall died. He never once said it was your fault, but he also never said it wasn't, either. He blamed himself the most, and became a broken shell of your best and most precious friend.

Marc and his family were never the same. Ever since his brother died, his mother became a mean drunk, and your parents decided they didn't want you to go there anymore, because she blamed you just as much as she blamed Marc for Randall's death. The visits suddenly stopped, and you didn't see them until the funeral, then it was once a month you would get together, but usually away from Marc's home.

Soon the visits petered out to once every two months, then three, until it was three times a year, when Marc would be shipped off to your house for the Spring, Summer, and Winter breaks away from school, and his mother. It was your father's idea to invite Marc over so often, trying to do Marc's father a favor to try and keep his son away from his abusive wife.

Abuse you didn't have any idea about.

You noticed over the next three years that Marc had changed drastically. He would zone out a lot, and you assumed he was daydreaming to chase away the pain, but when he would come to, it was like a switch had been flipped, and he was no longer your best friend.

Well not the one you had met anyway.

This new version of himself was timid, shy, and soft-spoken, very much like Randall. He was quiet and barely spoke, choosing to read books all day, but if you asked about what he was reading, which you always did, he would tell you all about it with such passion, energy and gratitude. He was nicer when he was like this, truly a sweetheart, and the very definition of a good boy.

He suddenly started opening doors for you, insisting for you to go first. He was pulling your chairs out for you to sit, giving up his spot if there was nowhere to sit. If there was only one treat left, you gave it to him, only for him to break it in half to share it with you. He would make sure to walk between you and the road, and he always kept your pace. He would listen patiently and not interrupt you while you spoke.

Even though he looked the same, he was entirely different. His eyes were lighter, and he smiled more. His voice changed, and he sounded British, which you didn't mind. You had always made comments to Marc that you liked the English accent, and that they always sounded friendly, even when they were mad.

It was six months after Randall had died, that this new Marc told you his name was Steven Grant. You recognized the name from one of Marc's favorite movies, some sort of archeologist treasure hunter like Indiana Jones. You didn't dare laugh, or make fun of him for it, figuring Marc was playing pretend or whatever to cope. You went along with it, and made friends with Steven, the gentle and sweet cinnamon roll.

Steven was a very good friend, always kind and considerate of your wants and needs. When Marc came back, acting like his old self, he would apologize profusely about checking out and leaving you with a broken version of himself. You assured him it was fine, and that you enjoyed Steven's company, and valued both his and Marc's friendship. He begged you not to tell Steven about him, and to just let Steven live a happy and simple life, free from his horrible mother. You agreed, and were there for them, through thick and thin.

His father, Elias, noticed the change as well, and he took notice of the fact that you knew, and you didn't make fun of his son or try to push him away. He noticed how you would always call his son by the name of whoever was in control, like it was second nature, and for that he was ever grateful.

A year after meeting Steven, during the Christmas holiday, you met Jake.

Marc was shipped off to your house, mostly because his mother demanded a vacation to Hawaii, and she was dead set on not having Marc there. Your family did Marc right, and they decorated your home with both Christmas and Hanukkah things. Anything they needed for Hanukkah, they made sure it was there for the boys. Your family celebrated both holidays, and they made sure to include them in Christmas.

Your parents got Marc practical and useful gifts both he, and Steven would enjoy. They knew about Steven, but they never really talked to you about it, but you knew that knew, by how they treated Marc when he was Steven. It was a silent understanding. Plus there was absolutely no way they could deny ever hearing you outright calling Marc, Steven.

Every traditional thing that could happen for Hanukkah, happened. Giving the daily gifts, usually small toys or candy coins and using them to play games, like Dreidel. Your dad would read scripture readings every day, and your mom would make home-cooked snacks, like latkes and jellied filled donuts.

Three stockings were hung over the fireplace, all plain and unmarked. When Steven had asked who the third one was for, your parents claimed it was for the local charity for one lucky child to receive. He accepted that answer, and because he was such a well behaved lad, he never peeked inside of any of them.

On Christmas morning, Steven was up before Marc, and when he came down, your family did a round of gifts, and let him check his stocking. Then once all of his things were gathered and stashed away in Marc's suitcase, Marc came out and you all did another round of gifts.

It was the day after, on Boxing day, a tradition of massive sales just starting to become a thing, when Jake came tumbling out.

You were in a large mall, scouting out the toy and electronics sections with Steven, when you had found the last copy of the video game you had been wanting for a while in the bottom of a bargain bin. You held it in your hands, a look of triumph on your face as you squealed and said you were going to buy it.

Some large older boys happened to overhear you, and one of them snatched it from your hands. You tried to get it back, but they laughed at you and shoved you around while calling you names. You begged Steven to help, at the very least help take you away from them, but he froze up.

Boy did he ever. You saw him twitch and his brows furrowed. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he calmly asked for the boys to stop. The second he spoke, the boys started making fun of him for his accent, calling him weak and stupid, among other hurtful names.

Again Steven twitched, and you thought for a split second that Marc was coming out to deal with the situation, but boy were you wrong.

Your friend growled as he took a few steps forward with a mean look in his eyes, and his teeth bared in a threatening sneer. 

"Give her back the game. She found it first, gilipollas." The boys laughed in his face, with one of them shoving him and knocking him on his ass. He snarled as he got up, and shoved the guy back, then kicked him in the balls in a swift movement. He turned and punched another in the face, breaking his nose in the process. The last boy standing handed the game right over and he ran off.

You ended up getting the game, and neither of you got in trouble, thanks to the clerk who had arrived just in time to see the whole thing start because of those unruly boys. The whole car ride home, your friend was quietly watching how happy you were to read the box and the little booklet that came with the game. He decided that your smile was precious, and he would do anything to make sure people like those delinquents never harmed you again.

He was quiet when you unboxed the game completely, and stuck it into your console. You did a happy little dance when the title screen came on, without having to fuck around with it like most of the games for that system. You asked him to play with you, and he did. It wasn't a game where you beat each other up, it was a cooperative puzzle game, and he seemed like he loved it. He barely spoke at all, but he smiled when he saw how much fun you were having.

You spent the whole day with him, noticing how he was again so different. This boy sounded much different from Marc or Steven, and he spoke fluent Spanish sometimes. Especially when he lost a game of beat 'em up with you. You didn't understand the words he would say, but he was just as nice to you as the other two were. Before bed, he told you his name was Jake Lockley, and that he wished to remain a secret to both Marc and Steven, so you kept his secret.

***

Over the years you maintained the routine of Marc coming by during breaks, and it became increasingly clear that he was much safer in your home, than his. Everytime he would come back to your family, he would be covered in cuts and bruises, or other worse injuries, like a broken nose, or busted up hand on multiple occasions. Your parents never noticed Jake, but he was always the one to greet you when Marc arrived at your house. He would stay just long enough to say hi and have a shower, then he would switch out, allowing Steven or Marc out to live their lives with you and your family.

High school was rough for Marc, and he always let Steven take control while at school, then take control when he got home. He started to spend less and less time there, and came to your house more frequently. You grew closer and closer to each of them, until high school was done, when Marc mysteriously vanished off to the military.

You barely heard from him, but when you did, you always picked up where you left off, like nothing could break your friendship.

What you didn't know, was that Marc had been seeing a therapist. He had been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, and he had told his therapist he was scared he could never be happy for the rest of his life. He would be blazingly happy when he talked about you, which was a very popular topic of choice when he saw his therapist. 

Then one day… One day his therapist suggested that Marc might be deeply in love with you, and he was really actually scared that you wouldn't return his feelings. That if he told you, you would run from him, a broken man with multiple people in one body. His therapist tried to reason with him, that you never had run from him before, and that you had been his friend for so long, even when he would disappear for months at a time.

His therapist would ask him questions about you all the time. What you were like, how your life was going. He knew everything about you from his talks with Marc, and because of the enthusiasm of which he would speak about you, told the therapist everything he needed to know.

***

It was right after yours and Marc's twenty-fifth birthdays, that you had gotten hurt. You were in a terrible accident that involved a taxi cab that you were in. You had almost died in that accident, and Marc had witnessed it.

The cab you were in was almost at your workplace, where Marc was waiting to surprise you. He had managed to get a text from you, saying you were handing in your notice that day, because you got your dream job in England. A job at a famous museum, the very same one that Steven dreamed of working in. You told him you might be able to get him a job some day, if you stayed long enough.

Marc had brought flowers, your favorite candy, and a necklace. The necklace was just like his, and you had said on multiple visits that you loved the way the Star of David looked on him, and though you weren't Jewish, you wanted one. Marc's father had heard about it, and he gave him Randall's necklace to give to you, knowing that if anyone deserved to wear it, it was you.

His plan was to say hi, then allow Steven to come out right after to discuss your future in London, while he stayed in the background watching the two of you interact. He would briefly take over after Steven gave you the flowers, which were your favorite. The flowers were Steven's idea. Then Marc would give you the necklace, and switch out again.

But as Marc stood there at your place of work, he could see the taxi driving towards him. You had just texted him to say you were excited to see him again. You could see him, and that you were waving. He looked up after he read the text, hoping to spot you inside, when a large delivery truck came out of nowhere and collided with the cab. 

The cab was hit full force, flipping the car three times, before it slammed into a vacant bus stop. He had heard the sickening sounds of the crash…

The exceptionally loud bang, the screeching sounds of metal crunching and crumpling…

The scraping of metal on concrete and the smashing of glass…

He heard the cab driver scream as it happened, then when the car finally stopped, the driver was silent…

But he couldn't hear you at all. He didn't even hear you scream, nor did he get to see your face. All he saw was that your body was violently projected out of the open window where you were sitting, and now you were sprawled out in the middle of the road. He saw the way the car was totaled, and his heart dropped in his chest. 

He started running, forgetting his duffle bag and the flowers next to the security guard where he was standing next to. His legs carried him as fast as they could, making it to you in just under a minute. He knelt by your side, and tried to see how badly hurt you were. You had a broken arm, cuts and scrapes everywhere. Your nose was bleeding, and you were barely breathing.

He could still, to this day, remember the gurgling sound of the air trying to escape you…

How you struggled to breathe, and how you didn't move…

How your eyes looked into his, pleading with him to help you without words.

He held your hand, telling you that help was on the way, that at least five people were dialing the emergency line to call an ambulance. He was terrified you would pass away in his arms, his only friend, and the only person he loved more than anything else in the world.

Before you passed into unconsciousness, you uttered the words he had only ever dreamed of hearing from you.

"I love you. All of you."

All three of them had heard you say it.

***

Marc had let Steven out after you became stable in the hospital, but not before putting his brother's necklace on you in the hopes that you would see it when you woke up. When Steven came out, he was confused for a brief moment. Steven was shocked to be in the building, and when he turned his head, hearing beeping and the whirring of machinery, he saw your weak form on the bed, attached to all the machines.

His heart dropped.

All he remembered was waking up that morning, excited to see you and spend a week with you to help you pack. Now he was in a hospital, standing over you, wondering what had happened.

He grabbed the patient clipboard to read what had happened, and his heart nearly broke. He canceled all his plans, as did Marc in order to stay by your side until you were better. They both would do anything and everything to aid you, and it would take months for you to get better.

Steven would read to you in the mornings as you ate your breakfast. He would end up bringing you snacks and drinks frequently, and he made sure to keep your apartment nice and clean.

Marc took the initiative to call your landlord, telling him that you had an accident and were in need of staying until you healed up. He told his father about it, and the man had shown up with a basket of things for when you went home. He even helped Marc with making it livable there for the first week, and Marc had slept in your bed.

Unfortunately after the first week, when Elias left, Marc zoned out and Jake came to the front. Jake had told you Marc couldn't bear to see you like that, but Jake could, and he did. He made sure you were okay, and he did everything in his power to make you smile. Jake would buy you flowers and make you food, while Steven would clean up and help with the chores.

They never mentioned the fact you told all of them that you loved them, and you never spoke of it again. It was a silent understanding that you both knew, but didn't want to bring it up again and possibly ruin your friendship.

***

More years passed, and again Marc slipped into the habit of vanishing for days, weeks, or months. The next time you saw him, he showed up looking tired, and told you he almost died in the desert. That he had seen some shit he didn't wish to talk about. Whatever it was must have been bad, because he refused to tell you about it, no matter how much you asked.

Ever since then, you would see a tall shadowy figure lingering close by to Marc, usually on rooftops or hiding in dark corners. It was as if some mysterious force, a ghost or spirit was haunting him. You'd even catch Marc outright talking to the being, but you would always pretend like you didn't know. That you couldn't see the spirit.

But that figure knew you could see and hear him, yet he didn't inform Marc that you could. He didn't even acknowledge your presence, even when he was talking about you, in front of you.

Then not too long after that, Marc showed back up again. He was with some woman you had never met before, and the way she looked at him made your heart break. You had lost him, and there was nothing you could do about it, but be supportive. You just kept telling yourself that his happiness was more important than your own.

This time, you didn't get to see Steven at all, and that saddened you. You knew Marc was dating this girl, and he was keeping it from Steven. That broke your heart even more, knowing sweet and loving Steven was being buried away so Marc could have some sort of physical connection with someone.

It broke your heart even more when you found out Jake knew about Layla, and that he didn't want to be with her at all. You found out when Marc convinced you to come out with him and Layla to a bar. He told you that Layla had no idea he had Dissociative Identity Disorder, and he didn't want her to find out. You promised, even though it made your heart ache that he was willing to lie to someone her supposedly cared about.

What you didn't know, was that Marc was planning on proposing to this woman, and Jake was purposely trying to screw things up for Marc.

At the bar, Jake took over and started ignoring Layla, in favor of talking to you. He made a point of buying all your drinks, and not offering to pay for Layla's. He took you dancing on the dance floor, and he was very suggestive in the way that he moved with you.

You knew who was fronting, but you kept your promise not to say anything. Instead, you played dumb, like you were innocent to his special treatment. You pretended to be drunker than you already were, so he wouldn't take it too far and hurt that poor girl's feelings more than he already had. This only infuriated Layla, and she started to dislike you more.

But Marc bubbled up after a few drinks, and he still ended up proposing, right in front of you. And for some fucking reason, Layla accepted the proposal. You figured she did it as a slap in the face move.

And it sure was a slap in the face. It was a slap to your very heart.

As Marc was down on one knee, he waited expectantly as Layla inspected the gorgeous looking ring. A ring you had saved a photo of and shown to Jake and Steven. The one you had always wanted if you were to ever get married…

Marc thought he had made the correct choice, that is until he saw your face, and the tears that were forming. Your eyes were focused on the ring, seeing every little detail you wanted, right fucking there on Layla's hand.

He knew he had made a terrible mistake. 

He watched as you immediately muttered out a small congratulation to him, then excused yourself and left right after. He didn't see or hear from you for a week, and even then, your texts were short, and only sent after he sent you one. You never reached out to him, and he knew damn well why. You attended his wedding as his best woman, but you remained distant from him, choosing to stay near his father as you stayed perfectly quiet.

When you stepped out to go for a joint in the courtyard to calm down, Elias approached you. His father made a comment that you should have been standing where Layla was, but you brushed it off, saying you just wanted to see Marc happy. If he loved her and was happy, then you would be happy for him. 

Elias didn't believe you one bit, and he went to find Marc to tell him he was making a big mistake.

***

The months sped by, and you moved away to England to take that job you always wanted. Sometimes Jake would purposely pull them towards you. He would start verbal fights with Layla, leave Marc to escalate them, leading to Marc getting so angry, he would drink himself silly. Jake would come out, then ditch her to show up at your door, all the way in England. He would say hi, and hug you tightly, then promptly let Steven out to spend as much time as he could with you, going as far as to make sure that Marc's phone was hidden from you and Steven.

It was during these visits that Steven would grow closer to you. He would cuddle with you on the couch, make you tea  and he would do housework. It felt almost domestic, and you enjoyed every moment of it, even if you were just dancing around the subject of attraction. It was on one of these visits, that Jake begged you to get Steven a job at the museum you worked at. You were hesitant, because if Marc ever were to come out, he'd most definitely fuck things up for Steven by trying to run from you again. Jake assured you Marc wouldn't dare, because he missed you dearly.

You did get Steven a job, not the one he wanted, but Steven was happy just the same. He was mostly happy that he got to work with you, even if Donna was a major cunt towards him. He would frequently try walk you home and hang out in your flat. At night, he would talk about his day at work, telling you just how much of a bitch Donna was, and how she didn't know jack shit about the museum or the things in it at all. He would complain about JB never getting his damn name right, and you took mental notes to talk to those individuals about it later.

But, Marc would eventually come back, be baffled as to why he was with you, and not with his wife. You could see it in his eyes the moment he was fronting, and then you could see the shame on his face when he sputtered excuses to leave you and go back to her.

To keep shutting out Steven, locking him in a prison of dark nothingness.

You had to lie to Donna frequently, telling her any excuse to keep Steven on as a staff member. Donna would always be pissed about it, but you held more seniority over her, so she couldn't fire him, even if she wanted to.

You didn't know it, but you covering for Steven only made your three boys more fond of you.

***

It wouldn't be until a year later, a whole year of Marc and You not talking to each other. A whole year of only Steven and Jake calling and texting you from different numbers to give you small updates, or to see how you were doing. A whole year of working closely with Steven, having him come over every day… 

A whole year of secretly loving him from afar. 

Then one day, Jake showed up at your door to inform you that Marc had left Layla. You were both glad and upset to hear that. Glad, because he was single again, but upset that Marc married someone to purposely distance himself from you. Upset, because he had ignored you for so long, but you were still so damned happy to see Jake.

When you asked why Marc left Layla, Jake told you that Marc didn't love her. He was never home, and never did anything nice for her. Jake said Marc only married her, because he felt he was responsible for her father's death, and even then, he felt so guilty that Steven was entirely unaware of it all.

He told you that Marc was living a dangerous life, unbeknownst to Steven, and they were all still hiding or ignorance from each other. Jake sat you down, and finally told you all about the spirit that was following them. It was the God, Khonshu, and they were his Avatars, well Jake and Marc were. Steven still had no idea what the fuck was going on, and was blissfully unaware. You took the news quite well, which surprised Jake. Khonshu introduced himself to you, well officially anyways. Jake seemed flabbergasted that you already knew him, and his master wasn't upset by him telling you about him.

***

A month passed, before you would see any of them again, and when you did, it was a complete surprise.

You were just minding your own business at the museum, trying to get the paperwork done to get rid of Donna and the useless security guard at the front that always got Steven's name wrong. You wanted them gone, either fired or transferred, since you had been promoted. A promotion that happened while the boys had been gone, doing only a certain God knows what.

A very timid and nervous Steven came walking into your office, holding a silly little 'Congratulations' card, a small cactus, and a hopeful expression. He asked if you were mad at him for being gone for so long, and you smiled sweetly at him, assuring him you weren't. He blamed it on his sleeping disorder, which you knew damned well he didn't have, but you just humored him and told him he was still welcome to work at the museum. That you had made special exceptions for people with disorders to be more inclusive.

He was so ecstatic, he hugged you with tears, thanking you for your understanding. That you were truly his best friend, and he didn't deserve you. You told him that was nonsense, as you'd do anything for him, knowing he'd do the same.

Steven had decided he was in love with you from that point on.

***

A week later, one of the women in another department started to show interest in Steven. You paid her or her advances no mind, mostly because she wasn't Steven's type at all, and he wasn't very keen on her brash attitude. She would approach him, and talk to him, and he would be nervous and scared, because only you had ever shown him any sort of interest.

But Steven wasn't interested, and this bitch wouldn't let it go. She mistook Steven's scared hesitation as nervous arousal. She took his stuttering and excuses to get back to work, as being flustered over her. It started to bother you, and Steven would catch you staring, only for you to look away and leave the room shortly after. You left, because you didn't want him to see you cry. To you, it looked like he enjoyed the attention.

Well, Jake was getting angry that this woman wouldn't leave Steven alone. He was sick of seeing your hurt expression. He devised a plan to get her to fuck off, without turning her down outright. Unfortunately, the day he put his plan into motion, you were at work when you shouldn't have been. You were supposed to have the day off, and be at a music festival the next city over.

Steven was scanning a bunch of Egyptian plush toys into the system when that woman approached him again. She flirted with Steven, and he backed away a bit, feigning like his cell phone had gone off. He managed to grab his phone, when the lady outright complimented him on his ass, and how juicy it looked.

In an instant his eyes rolled back as he twitched and stood straighter. He came back over and leaned on the counter with one arm as he stared her in the eye with a shit eating grin on his face. He asked her out on a date to an expensive steakhouse, and she said yes.

When she walked away, he noticed you and Donna were standing there with shocked faces. You turned away and left, and he knew you had seen the whole thing. He saw how your shoulders slumped, how you frowned, and the look of disappointment in your eyes.

Jake had fucked up.

***

So I had to break it up into separate chapters, mostly because Google docs was getting glitchy at 20k words. I still consider this a one shot.

Beta reading thanks to: Little Bean

Proofreading thanks to: I got trigger happy while high. I was supposed to get someone to proof read this for errors. Whoops.

[themattress]

My Top 30 Favorite Video Games

Inspired by @ultraericthered’s Top 30 Favorite Anime post. 

Although I’m doing mine in countdown form, ‘cause it’s more fun that way!

30. Super Mario Bros. - Arguably the first “blockbuster” game to be released, not only does Super Mario Bros. still hold up over 35 years later but it’s a gift that keeps on giving with how many different incarnations, remixes, fan games using its assets, etc. that we have now.

29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - OBJECTION! While I cherish the entire original Phoenix Wright trilogy of the Ace Attorney franchise, I’ll always be the most partial to the original outing. The sheer audacity and hilarity of the concept, which is grounded by endearing characters and compelling mysteries, shines brilliantly in this little, easily accessible game. 

28. Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa - While similar in many ways to Ace Attorney, Danganronpa boasts a variety of more actual gameplay than mere point-and-click text scrolling. But what really makes this stand out, beyond gameplay or even the strength of its concept, story and characters, is the atmosphere it creates. For good and for ill, traversing the pristine, neon-lit hallways of the abandoned Hopes Peak Academy looking for clues as I’m forced to play by Monokuma’s twisted rules is an experience that will stay with me forever.

27. Star Fox 64 - Beyond all the entertainment this game provides through memes, it’s really just a fun, reasonably simple but just moderately complicated enough game that’s accessible to any player even if they usually don’t go for aerial shooters. It’s also one of the earliest console games that I ever played, so of course it’s going to hold a special place in my heart.

26. Batman: Arkham City - It’s an impressive feat when an open world game can still feel so claustrophobic in all the right ways, and that’s what Arkham City accomplishes. This game is essentially The Dark Knight to Arkham Asylum’s Batman Begins, escalating the action, suspense and sheer Batman-ness, providing unlimited opportunities to enjoy yourself playing as Gotham’s defender and facing down the greatest Rogues Gallery in comic book history.

25. Red Dead Redemption - Look, I know that Red Dead Redemption 2 is technically the superior game. But its complicated story, sprawling cast of characters, and vast canvas of a world can be pretty daunting, whereas I feel like the original Red Dead Redemption struck a much better balance. Allowing open world freedom within the confines of the straight-forward story of John Marston’s redemption really makes you feel like you’re in an old Western film, and the way that choices you make as a player impact the way that film ultimately turns out is one of the strongest arguments for video games being worthy of consideration as true art.

24. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - So, ten years ago an open world adventure video game series releases its fifth entry...and to this day, we’ve had no sixth, in favor of expansions and updated re-releases of said fifth entry. But that’s not a sign of laziness; it’s a sign the developers know they hit such a peak in quality that they have no need to rush anything further out the gate, as Skyrim is a gift that keeps on giving. Addictive in how unlimited in possibilities it is, with each playthrough never being the same as the one before, Skyrim is a gaming masterpiece that I don’t think I’m going to get bored with playing anytime soon.

23. Super Paper Mario - This may be an unpopular opinion, but I vastly prefer this game’s action-platform-RPG hybrid gameplay style to the prior installments’ traditional turn-based RPG style, which feels more at home in stuff like Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series. But gameplay aside, I think this has the strongest story of any Mario game, trading in the usual “save the kingdom/princess” fare for saving all of reality, with legitimate emotion and drama and even character development. It’s one of the Wii’s shining gems, to be sure.

22. Epic Mickey - This game’s graphics are by and large unremarkable, its gameplay is fraught with issues (that camera is unforgivable), and it’s nowhere close to the best on its system or genre. But Epic Mickey is a case study in where the effort put into crafting the game’s world and story, not to mention the obvious love and respect for the material being worked with, pays off. Any Disney fan will love this game for its story, which puts Mickey front and center as an actual character rather than a mascot and dives deep into his history as he meets his “half-brother” Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and its mystical, unique atmosphere - what the graphics can’t deliver, the fucking music more than makes up for. All of the game’s flaws mean nothing compared to the sheer heart on display, and I treasure it greatly as a result.

21. Batman: Arkham Asylum - I already mentioned that Arkham City is the superior game, but as was the case with Red Dead Redemption and its sequel, personal preference strikes again. The simpler story and narrower confines of Arkham Asylum just appeal to me slightly more, and I feel like the borderline horror atmosphere this game has could never fully be replicated by all of its sequels and spin-offs. Also, you can play as the Joker in this. WIN.

20. Metal Gear Solid - And on the subject of Arkham Asylum, it owes much to this game, which created the template of a lone badass hero having to use stealth and weaponry to liberate a government-owned island from the lunatic terrorists that have taken over. Hideo Kojima famously never wanted this game to have any sequels, and I can definitely see his point, as it’s a complete and wholly satisfying experience in of itself and I don’t feel like it’s ever been topped. At the very least, it’s certainly the most enjoyable of the series to me.

19. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Also, speaking of “borderline horror atmosphere”, we have the freakiest game that the Legend of Zelda series ever put out. What was supposed to just be a gaiden to Ocarina of Time mutated into this beautiful monstrosity that’s become just as iconic. Nobody who plays this game is ever going to forget that fucking moon and all the constant jumping back and forth in time across three days as you try to prevent the apocalypse of Termina. It’s the kind of gaming trauma that’s well worth experiencing.

18. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - Like Majora’s Mask, this game is a case study where you can take a bunch of recycled assets and gameplay, and then make something unique from it if you have a well-crafted story with a dark and disturbing atmosphere. It’s hard to experience or appreciate the transition between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II without playing this midquel, which takes the narrative and characters to deeper levels without being pretentious about it and sets the stage for the proper console sequel perfectly. And if you can’t get into it being on Gameboy Advance, then just play the PS2 remake (which is arguably the superior version anyway) and you’re good! Just...don’t mind the cards, OK?

17. Sonic CD - And now we have another game about jumping back and forth through time to prevent an apocalypse! See the common threads at play here by this point? Sonic the Hedgehog is at his best in 2D gameplay, and I personally enjoy this the best out of all the 2D games in the series. As obscure as the Sega CD was as a system, it was powerful enough to take the blue blur’s speed to its maximum level, set alongside beautiful graphics and a kick-ass soundtrack (well, two different kick-ass soundtracks; and I actually prefer the US one). 

16. Pokemon Black & White - While there were advancements made to story and graphics and gameplay features in the third and fourth generations of the Pokemon series, nothing felt as truly ground-breaking as the second generation games until the fifth gen with its Black & White games. This was arguably the game series’ peak in quality on all fronts, but its specifically the story that lands it on this list, as its well-written and paced, subverts many formulaic elements from the previous games, is set in one of the most unique regions in the Pokemon world, and has a timeless message that has only grown more relevant with age. 

15. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - The whole series could really go here, but fortunately the most recent entry is the perfect embodiment of said series, with every playable character there’s ever been and then some. The sheer variety is unmatched by any other fighting game out there, and its story mode, “World of Light”, is quite possibly the greatest video game crossover in history given how many characters are featured as both fighters and spirits.

14. Super Mario 64 - I’m pretty sure this game used to be higher in my favor, but replaying it on the Nintendo Switch recently has made me aware of how, as the first game on the Nintendo 64 and the first 3D platformer, it’s poorly aged in several areas. However, I must stress that it is still a very good game. The fun of going to the various worlds within paintings in Peach’s Castle hasn’t changed, nor has how smoothly and seamlessly Mario managed to make the jump from 2D to 3D. Just like Super Mario Bros., the number of games that owe something to this one is too great to count, and that’s an achievement that remains timeless.

13. Dark Chronicle - Also known as Dark Cloud 2. I hadn’t heard a damn thing about this game before renting it on a whim many years ago, and I was caught off guard by just how good it was. It’s got a simple but effective story and likable characters, a timeless atmosphere, beautifully cel-shaded graphics, dungeon-crawling gameplay, action-RPG combat gameplay, literal world-building gameplay, and even a fishing minigame! This game can actually stand besides the Zelda series without shame; it’s truly an underrated gem.

12. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Oh, speaking of Zelda, this game goes full Lord of the Rings-style epic fantasy with it and it is glorious. Between the near perfect gameplay, beautiful 3D graphics, and one of the best stories in the series (with one of the best characters: Midna), Twilight Princess’ most prevalent complaint from critics all the way up to its own developers is that it wasn’t even MORE expansive and awesome given how long it was hyped, and if that’s the biggest issue with the game then I’d say it’s in pretty good shape.

11. Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario 64 may be held back a little by how its aged, but no such thing is holding back Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Odyssey might be as good or possibly even better, but I just don’t hold the same feelings of amazement and respect toward it that I do for this game. From the blitzkrieg-style attack on the Mushroom Kingdom by Bowser to the discovery of Rosalina’s space station, this game had me hooked from the first few minutes, especially with it blaring that awesome orchestral score the whole way through. To this day, I maintain that this is Mario’s greatest 3D adventure. It’s simply magnificent.

10. Final Fantasy X - Ha! See what I did there? This game has caught flak for some of the awkwardness that comes from being the first fully 3D entry in the series, but I think that’s tantamount to nitpicking when compared to all it does right. To me, this was the last really good installment of the main Final Fantasy series, with a story and world so brilliantly developed that the game earned the immediate breakthrough success and acclaim that it found in its native Japan. 20 years later and, as the HD remaster has shown, it still holds up as one of the most engaging JRPG experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.

9. Banjo-Kazooie - At the time, this was basically Rare’s copycat version of Super Mario 64, although considered about as good. Now, however, there’s a difference: the aging issues I mentioned for Super Mario 64 don’t apply for Banjo-Kazooie. Whether replaying it on the Nintendo 64 or on whichever Xbox you’ve got, this game is still just as fun, imaginative and hilarious now as it was back then. It’s quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made.

8. Pokemon Crystal - The definitive edition of the Gold & Silver games of Pokemon’s second generation, taking what was already a phenomenal advancement and improvement to the first generation and making it even better with additional features such as the ability to play as a girl for the first time and a more clearly defined storyline centered around the legendary Pokemon featured on the game’s box art. Pokemon had been written off as just a passing fad up until this point. This was when its staying power as a video game juggernaut was proven.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Talk about a win right out of the gate for the Nintendo Switch! This game returns the Legend of Zelda series to its roots while also applying all that has been made possible in video games since the original game’s release, and the result is an enthralling, addictive, open world masterpiece that has set a new standard of quality for both the Zelda series and for many modern video games in general.

6. Kingdom Hearts II - The Final Mix edition to be precise, although in this day and age that’s basically the only edition people are playing anyway. This game is the apotheosis of Kingdom Hearts as both a video game series and as a concept; filled to the brim with Disney magic and Square Enix RPG expertise and paired with some of the most refined action-based gameplay there is. And when it comes to bringing the original Kingdom Hearts trilogy’s story to a close, does this game ever stick the landing. The series could have ended right here and I would have been completely satisfied (and its reputation would be a lot better off, too!)

5. Pokemon Yellow - While I maintain that this game, the definitive edition of the original first generation Pokemon games, still holds up as fun to play even now, I’ll admit that it’s pure bias that it ranks so high. It was the first proper video game I ever played, there was no way I was leaving it off the top 5! Its blissful nostalgic atmosphere is always such a delight to return to.

4. Banjo-Tooie - Remember when I said Banjo-Kazooie was “quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made”? The “quite possibly” is because its in stiff competition with its own sequel! And personally, I’m in Banjo-Tooie’s corner; something about how inter-connected its worlds are and the addition of so many things to do all while maintaining your full moveset from the original game is just beautiful to me. Both it and its predecessor are like obstacle courses that I never tire of running through, which is the hallmark of brilliant game design.

3. Kingdom Hearts - Another case where the sequel may be the superior game, but my own personal preference leans toward the original. And in this case, it’s a highly personal preference: this game and my memories of playing it for the first time are so very dear to me. The characters and worlds of Disney put into an epic crossover RPG was like a dream come true for me and no matter how far the series it spawned has deteriorated, nothing can detract from the magic of this game. It’s got a certain, indescribable feel and atmosphere that’s never truly been replicated, and that feel and atmosphere still holds up whenever I revisit it. The gameplay may not be the best, particularly when compared to Kingdom Hearts II’s, but the charm of the story and the characters and the world and the very concept more than makes up for that. As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of Disney and Square’s greatest masterpieces.

2. Final Fantasy VII - I was aware of the hype this game got and was totally ready to call it overrated, but damn it, it got me! I don’t know what it is about this game with its blocky early 3D graphics, poor sound quality to its excellent soundtrack, and frequently mistranslated script that proved to be so gripping and enjoyable to play through, but man did it ever Limit Break its way into my heart. This is considered a JRPG classic for a damn good reason.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Do I really need to explain this one? It’s famous for being frequently cited as one of the greatest video games ever made, and like Final Fantasy VII, its hype is well-deserved and totally justified. Whether you’re playing it on the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, the Wii, the 3DS, and hopefully the Nintendo Switch in the future, there is a magic quality to this game that permeates through every step you take in its fully 3D world. It’s a triumph that has stood the test of time, cementing the Zelda series as truly legendary.

[crusherthedoctor]

People are actually defending Chronicles?! A game that's subjectively worse than 06? (Obviously 06's legacy is bigger and it's objectively the worse game but Chronicles seems more suckish to me)

Apparently so. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

I guess they really like whatever isn't done by SEGA by that one fact alone. Even if that means continuity errors up the ass, copying Ken Penders' story (of all things to choose from), clown death rattles disguised as music, terrible graphics unworthy of being on a PS1 let alone a DS, Sonic being an OoC douche, Big being a dumbass, Shadow and Knuckles switching personalities, Eggman walking like he just shat himself, etc.

[heamatic-archive]

how did u get into mortal kombat, pls tell me the story!!

For munday, you’re allowed to ask me anything you want.

Oh dear! It may be a loooong story, I don’t really know haha! (It probably will be, so sorry for the novel I’m about to write!) I got into the franchise when I was 13 years old, so… twenty five years ago ( yikes! I’m old ;.; ) when my dad brought home the first game for the Sega Genesis. I don’t know what attracted me to it so much: it was different from any other game I’d played before I suppose? I’d never played a fighting game before – and I fell head over heels for Sonya as soon as I saw her. My 13 year old ass was like “I wanna be like Sonya when I’m older” (well I missed the mark by a few miles oops lol ).

Fun anecdote: the Sega Genesis version of Mortal Kombat 1 only had blood and fatalities if you entered the blood code. So the game never did any fatalities on me until I rented Mortal Kombat II, where it was suddenly free for all. First time MKII did a fatality on me, I shut off the console and didn’t wanna play the rest of the day because I was traumatized. I got thrown into the Acid Pit lol But it grew on me rather quickly. Anyway, I didn’t know there was blood and fatalities until then. Note that I did not speak english at the time, only french, so even though my dad bought a few video game magazines, neither of us could read them anyway. Lol

But I digress. I remained a huge fan until MK4 when I didn’t have the console to play. And the graphics then didn’t do it for me. In fact, while I did keep playing during the 3D era, I wasn’t a big fan of it at the time. I mostly played the mini games, like Chess Kombat (which I think they should definitely bring back!).

Fast forward a few years and MKvsDC came out. Not the best of games, but it was decent enough, and it was the first game associated with Warner Bros. Honestly? People can shit on it all they want, this is the game that decided the fate of the franchise. WB wouldn’t have picked it up without testing the waters with Midway. A little while later and MK9 was announced, and suddenly my love for the franchise came back full force. The only reason I didn’t roleplay it at the time is because I didn’t know there was a roleplay community for MK at all at the time lol I was still rping on forums.

MKX came about and I actually, believe it or not, refused to play it for years because my dumbass was under the impression the original cast had been completely replaced with their kids. I wasn’t interested in their kids: I wanted my beloved characters. Little did I know they were still there, because I was dumb and didn’t do my research. I caved in six months or so before MK11 was announced and was shocked by how cool the game was… and pissed off at myself for being so damned stubborn. By then I WAS rping on tumblr however, and gave Mileena a try – unfortunately the community was dead, so I didn’t last very long. Maybe a few weeks at best.

Now MK11 gets announced, and I get hella excited because those graphics? HOLY shit. But I still didn’t have it in me to rp in the community yet. And even if I had, I didn’t know which muse I could pick up. But I kept up with the news, with each trailer, and even got to play the demo when it came out, where you could only play as 4 incomplete characters: Jade, Scorpion, Baraka and I forget the other now. Cassie’s trailer dropped and I remember I was completely enamored. I didn’t like Cassie much in MKX except in Story Mode, and even then, didn’t like her enough to pick her up… but when I saw her in MK11? Right up my alley. Few days later I was adding her to my blog called Grimsouled at the time, a multifandom/oc/multimuse. And honestly? Next to Becky? Best time I’ve had rping in a long while. Later on I picked up Raiden since I was already writing him as a side character in threads – then I picked up Sindel when she was announced because I loved her since MK3 – and finally I picked up Fujin a couple of months ago after seeing his trailer: same as Cassie, I fell in love with him right away. There’s a few reasons I dropped the other muses I had when it was still called Grimsouled instead of Heamatic, or moved them to new blogs (like Maria from Silent Hill 2), but mostly it naturally turned into an MK multimuse as the last year went by.

I’ve really enjoyed the story of Mortal Kombat, especially as of recent. The characters are generally deep and developed, but there’s still enough left to interpretation to make your own headcanons. I like that it took on a more serious tone in the recent years, and the graphics have blown my mind with MK11. Are there mistakes? Oh yes, plenty. But to me it doesn’t matter, it’s the essence and maybe a bit of nostalgia keeping me around. I like this game. It’s FUN. And I love the muses I picked up. :)

I hope that uh… answered your question. Guess I had a lot to say after all LOL Sorry for the wall of text XD

tldr: my dad brought MK1 home when I was 13, 25 years ago, and I’ve MOSTLY been in love with this franchise since.

@conorbyrne