It's actually a misspelling of Ushas (for whatever reason, it's written in all caps). the goal is to find four pieces of a jewel in four different areas so you can assemble it and place it on the titular statue. you can also collect coins and then exchange them to restore your health or improve your stats. the ending is pretty interesting, too.

Ah, I see. I screwed up. and I see what you did there. clever.

I'm surprised that song was left uncensored for so long.

TAS runs never use patch codes. if you slow down the footage, you can see Robocop attempt to block with his arm whenever he's about to get hit.

Yeah, each character can set their own "warp points" with the Bread item. reading about the glitch in detail, what's happening is that the warp coordinates for Ninten are set at 00 when you start the game, 00 being that bizarre garbage area. when you return her home, she gives you all of her items, including the crumbs, even though the warp coordinates for Ninten haven't been set yet. the glitch doesn't work with Loid/Teddy, because the item disappears when they switch places.

As I mentioned, the NES version fixed the Bread Crumbs bug. there is no fan-translation of the original FC version. the Japan-only GBA version was fan-translated, but it's based on the NES version, so you can't perform the bug there, either.

Remember that Ninten doesn't have any offensive PSI powers like Ana does; only healing and defensive PSI powers.

Also note the up-down ladder bug and the "enemy levitate" bug (at the waterfall area of 3-1); the latter glitch can't be done in any other version; (not even Doki Doki Panic.

DG made a sequel video about Dr. J & Mr. H. [Link] and one about the kill screen in Tetris. [Link]

Here's some more interesting TAS vids I found. [Link] [Link] [Link]

A desert area looking like doodles...
---
This was the first turn-based RPG to have an Auto feature. the next RPG to use it (Mother) just had it as a menu option.

Having Megid (deals around 400 damage and never misses), some Star Mists (fully restores everyone's health; can be used to "negate" the recoil damage of Megid), and the Deban technique (halves damage) will give you the best chance of winning, and the Visiphone will prevent you from having to walk all the way back to him if you do lose. also, only 3 of the 6 status effects he can inflict with his possession spell will fully disable a character; the rest only disable you for a single turn.

Now that you mentioned it, this is the only PS game to not have a vehicle or final boss theme.

I remember you mentioning that. didn't know it became a running joke between you and your GF, though.

Reminds me of Little Nicky where the titular character gained the ability to release rainbows from his hands. didn't kill anyone with them, though, just made them good.

I think I remember you talking about that game, too. [and BTW, I was referencing the slogan for Kraft Meltdowns in case it went over your head.]

Pug of Fascination? umm... fascinating. as for conversation, it's good to know that the option to be private is there, but I likely still won't join Steam.

I used the website to look up the maps for obscure Famicom games.

So it's not worth it.

I was actually saying that "variety" line regarding the DJ who got fired; I didn't really had anything I could really say regarding your comment on the current state of gaming.

I remember you telling me that you didn't like that there's no left-handed option in Wii games (since you're a lefty).

So it's better to just not listen to the radio.

Now that would be an amusing parody line.

Yep. Romstar actually did it in January 1991.

I see.

From what I've read, Japanese is considered a "prodrop" language, where they basically omit terms if the context can be understood; you can even omit gendered terms, making it very easy if you want to keep someone's gender a secret. they also don't use verb conjugation with subjects. Japan has many first-person and a few second-person pronouns (enough so that you can tell a person's gender, age, and even personality just by looking at the pronoun they use to refer to themselves).

A step in the right direction, at least.

Linus Tech Tips covered the Stop Killing Games story on their weekly WAN Show. Hopefully more big names jump on this and convince their audiences to act.

Thanks! Though my banner/theme has changed again since then. Giving this whole "light mode" thing a shot for a change, mix it up.
I really like Kirby 3's 16-bit manila paper aesthetic in its menus, trying to reproduce it here. Kind of wish they'd stuck with it a little longer. It also took me way too long to notice that it reuses KDL2's Game Boy font for its menus and credits.

He ho ho, ya ho ho ho
He ho ho, ya ho ho ho
Mario Paint
Oooooh!

[Link]

A lot of people told me Devil May Cry 3 is the best in the series, and I am pretty sure I will enjoy it once I get to it, but I played Devil May Cry 2 with both Dante and Lucia back to back, and that really burned me out on it for now. I will get back to it at some point, I am quite certain of that.

Language is fuzzy, numbers are precise, and I do not mind having both. This is why my "numbers" are typically complemented by "Awards" and a short review. Once the Backloggery remake is on, I will also definitely use the "Review" field a lot more, but the current one does not have enough characters for my reviews to be actually publishable. Also, then 10/10 is just to say that this game is as close to perfection as can be for that time. I have very little games that are 10/10... less than 10, I think.
But those games are games that really moved me and I could barely imagine them being better.

Anyway, yeah, different stances. After our last writing, I briefly considered switching to letters, but my issue with those is that I would need more than just 6 or so, and I kinda don't wanna start rating the visuals of a game as an "H" or something, because I realize, it is worse than the "F" and "G" I gave earlier. Also, "H" graphics could be misinterpreted...

Also, nice insider with IGN, but they are starting to self reflect on their grading issues. Also, they play so many games, at some point everything feels like a 7 unless it is outstandingly good or abysmally bad.

I am very confused....
In my eyes, you are the avid gamer that rocks the hard Mega Man games, finished Battletoads, completed the NES Castlevanias, challanged the Devil and Ghosts & Goblins, bested shadow Link in Zelda 2... and you find Diddy Kong Racing hard?
No doubt, the final confrontation with WizPig is somewhat difficult and you need a trial or two to beat him... but I have a considerably less impressive pedigree of "hard games I beat" (Castlevania NES, Ikaruga) and had little trouble with DKR.

But maybe it is like that God of War / Devil May Cry thing with your lady. Different types of challenge. I, for myself, really dislike those ungodly hard NES games. Anything in a 3D environment is a lot easier for me than when I am stuck on a 2D plane...

I guess it does make a big difference, that your first gaming experiences are from around the year I was born in.

When waking up this morning, I just had a silly idea. The board game Clue, but set in the SaGa Frontier world.

"It was Gen, in Wakatu, with the steel pipe! I saw him swing it like a sword! *leaps off the board*"

It's been a few months since I finished the game and I still think about it all the time. It was occasionally a frustrating and difficult play but the world and setting are extremely memorable.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Hello, I saw that you were replaying, or at least going back to complete, all of the Yakuza games. I'm still working my way through them slowly for the first time. I'm on Yakuza 3, just at the stage where the stakes of the plot are going to go off the charts, as they always do . How are you finding going back to them? I think I'd find it daunting to go back to all of them, but I like the idea of one day going back to Yakuza 0 with all the knowledge of what's to come, and make that the one where I 100% the completion list.

Not to mention the impracticality of "just buy physical" when you're shifting towards PC gaming, right? Or the logistics of having to switch/swap "quick fix" games out of the console every time you want to play them for a few minutes and then switch back (this is getting surprisingly difficult to do with modern consoles, especially the Switch). Or shipping costs for physical goods. Or physical editions being made in vanishingly low quantities and scalped and resold for multiple times their original price. Or disc rot. Or space constraints when you live in the big city and even a small bachelor apartment is beyond the budget of most people. Or....

And yeah, you're exactly right. There's the ever looming threat of "companies could just turn off the servers" but even for digital only titles people can and will find ways to get them before they're gone, reverse engineer, and shut off their servers.

The real evil is, as you said, "games as a service", the deliberate FOMO of "if not enough people play this game NOW, we'll shut it off because it's not making us money", etc.

I never watched his Freeman's Mind stuff much, I don't really care for machinima style content generally. But his Game Dungeon is one the oldest "essay" style videos I really fell in love with and one of the only youtube uploads I get legitimately excited to watch. Great dude all around.

Haha. I wasn't worried about our opinions not matching, moreso that when I tried to reply I wound up ranting about Ava for too long and just wound up deleting the comment a few times. Didn't feel constructive and then time got away from me again.

I haven't played Grandia enough yet, but Justin seemed like a boring standard anime boy to me from the opening bits I played through.

Ross Scott stepping up and leading the charge. If only we were all so bold.
Thanks for the signal boost, I'll spread this around.

Thank you.

As someone who primarily collects digital games out of convenience (and physical space constraints), this is very important to me.

Ross Scott!

Also, sorry for not getting back regarding Borderlands yet. You've successfully stun-locked me by saying you liked Ava as a character. I genuinely don't know how to reply to that haha. To me she is totemic of the destruction of the plot-side of Borderlands and is one of the worst characters I've encountered in a game. Which is kind of impressive considering she's from a game where I don't think I really liked a single character? Genuinely can't recall liking anyone in BL3. I do remember feeling heartbroken they keep turning my favorite characters into increasingly annoying jokes though (Tannis, the original playable cast, every Tales character (also didn't play Tales, but I know all of the characters have been turned inside out and are just unbearable in BL3)).

To be clear, I just disagree in totality, not trying to drag on your opinion.

Just doing my part to give this as much visibility as possible: [Link] The short version is that if you care about video game preservation AT ALL, head on over to stopkillinggames.com, especially if you live in Europe or Brazil, and ESPECIALLY especially if you own a copy of The Crew.

It's been two months already? 😵 God, this year has been flying by.

What do you make of the site remake so far? I've been playing around with it for a little bit and I think it's mostly an improvement. I'll definitely miss the mid-00s style of the current site, but the new features are a decent tradeoff.

Was the Turbo version of Ys 2 really that grindy? Holy moly. I guess I'll find out whenever I get around to the PC88 version on Switch.

Since that last comment, I've gotten about 4 hours into Celceta, and you're right on the money. I really like what I've been through so far. It *has* been about a month or so since I've touched it so maybe that opinion will change. We'll see whenever I have some free time next

Wrt Ys 5, I think the biggest missing piece--for me--was definitely the music. It's like decent SNES JRPG music, but it totally doesn't fit Ys at all. Let's hope the eventual remake does it justice in at least that regard.

Still haven't gotten around to Anodyne but 2 is on the wishlist and All Our Asias is in my library now. Given how short they are and their winter vibes, they might make for a great distraction during an international flight I have in December.

How're your PC woes lately? What you described sounds like the fault could've been in a number of different areas. I hope it's resolved for ya. Being without a computer of some kind in 2024 can be a hassle.

They probably have way more in common than you give the CE credit for Apple's push for user upgradable memory and expansion slots pushed the PC industry into a great direction. Really makes you wonder why they've abandoned that all these years later.

Yeah, EGG's kinda-maybe-half-baked DRM is an enigma. It really makes me wonder why they went this route. If the games are gonna be DRM free anyway, why add all the extra hassle?

Just a heads up. I saw this in the readme for the conversion to the new Backloggery site, and as we're both the type to write extensive character-limit pushing reviews in the Comments section of our individual games, I figured I'd let you know.

🚨 IMPORTANT NOTE II: If you would prefer your game comments to be converted into Reviews instead of becoming part of the expanded game notes field, change your backloggery.com footer text to "Reviewer" without the quotes.

Fun fact: I did not play Devil May Cry 3, but I did go through DMC 1 and 2, and that's where I stopped. Yeah, I get it, the S is "Super" or something like that, but it is still weird to have it in a grading system. Anyway, everyone can "grade" games as they like, I just know what works for me, and it is numbers.
Also, 10/10 doesn't mean "perfect" necessarily, just a game that was a lot of fun, a good time, and that I never mind replaying, no matter what. Even with Majora's Mask (my favourite game to date), I have an idea or two about what I would have improved, but I am not a developer, and talking about what I would have made different is easy, actually implementing it, is not. Especially not within the development time the team was given...

Shadow of the Colossus is a 9/10 for me. I really like that game. The atmosphere is amazing, the soundtrack is great, the controls are good, the landscape is desolate and depressing (which is absolutely what that game was going for) but also has its beautiful spots, and the boss fights are amazing puzzles.

Maybe you should give it another try some day. Or not, and continue to have "a wrong opinion" about it!

(I think you know me well enough by now that you know I'm joking, but just in case... there's this sentence in a bracket )

Also, anti-gravity chocolate! Conker salutes you!

Nevermind; tonight's business as usual.

"This 1990s NES soundtrack just blew me away!"
Thumbnail: Pictionary title screen with the caption "This should not exist"

Lionel Hutz: I rest my case.

Again, that's great how this shit has been devolved into Buzzfeed esque drivel. I heard Pictionary's music back in 2005, where's this guy been? But it's like you said, sometimes people act like they're the first to discover something. Fair enough, you're only human, but to make an entire 12 minute video with such clickbaity elements really screams desperate. The worst part? It works, because the video has been viewed over 100k times, and why would they stop when people watch and enjoy the content?

Addendum: I often feel like I'm playing with fire whenever I start ranting about this stuff. It was in response to your comment about the bizarro trend of collecting/hoarding for glory in the past few years and was just giving my input. By all means, they're certainly allowed to do whatever. I know not every game collector or person who talks about classic gaming is doing it for glory, but that doesn't mean there isn't like, a dark side to the trend.

Oh, I completely understand, playing an fps game on a controller is like trying to shoot a real gun irl but your hands are made of rubber, or something akin to that feeling, Gosh, platinuming Bioshock on my PS3 is going to be a herculean task for me lol. Moving, swinging, and driving are so much more natural with a controller in games, at least in my case, but guns, nah, that was made for a mouse and keyboard, especially after years of getting better at them with a mouse and keyboard it just feels unnatural to try it with a controller.

That is wonderful to hear! I liked the game, I really did, but everything felt a little off, you know? Everything was perfect, characters, writing, music, and gameplay, but everything was so short, guess it is my fault for expecting a longer game, but it is not like I just speedrun through the story, I genuinely tried to finish as much side content as possible and it still flew by. That being said, it will make the game much more fun to replay, I was just mentally prepared for a 50-100+ hours game that I did not get, granted I got something very fun and don't regret playing it, but there are still DLCs and the mater of completion, after that, I shall tackle the sequel and I can't wait!

Now that is a lot of Yakuza, time to clean those few pesky 100+ grindfests huh? I wish you a lot of luck, some of them are much harder than others, I would recommend Kiwami 1 first, easily the fastest one to complete! Oh and have fun too!

I briefly brushed upon that with Malons as well, the dark side of gaming collection culture that mostly consists of people who desperately want you to know they have ten expensive NES games and people who obligate themselves to squirt out videos on the regular just to stay relevant. That has to be really neurotic overall, having to robotically churn out videos just to get extra money for food or utilities.

It saddens me that a game like Little Samson is frequently a subject for "Hey guys! I found the RAREST games in this place! WoOoOoOoOoah!!" It really just kinda speaks for the way classic gaming is used in a Buzzfeed-esque manner. If the only thing you have to say about a game like EarthBound or Little Samson is "it's rare" or "it's an underrated hidden gem", then chances are you're nothing but a trend chaser who knows next to nothing about these games and has little to no respect for them outside of their value. Again, I always use Legend of the Ghost Lion as an example. You think these people would actually bother to go through the game? Do you think those same people, if the opportunity were there, would've bothered to play it back then when classic gaming was niche? Nah, it's $150 now, so suddenly it's in people's interest. The whole "rare games" shtick is getting kinda played out. Know something? My repro guy made a Touhou demake cart that's transparent and purple. That's more interesting to me right now.

Well fair enough, it's true that audio isn't the GBA's strong suit. Mother on GBA I do believe takes cues from the US Prototype where all the changes were for the better, but it still has things like the crow enemy with a lit cigarette. There's also an Easy Ring which cuts encounter rate while also giving you more EXP and money. Again, I dislike running with R, but it's more or less the definitive version.

Sometimes, NES ports of arcade games actually turn out better. Bionic Commando and Gun.smoke are two examples. I'm sure Heavy Barrel is good. I hate that it was $25, more proof that YouTube collection propaganda could be real (or the price is just because this particular store inflates prices a little), but nonetheless...

By any chance, did you play Sorcerer's Kingdom on Genesis? I discovered it while browsing SEGA Retro. It's NCS/Masaya so it may get a rerelease, but if it doesn't... you think it's worth getting?