That's amazing! I was hoping he'd give it a shot or say something about it. Thanks for the link; I was able to catch him in the middle of it. It was cool getting a first time reaction.

Perhaps I'll try to play the original System Shock soon before the remake, at least until I can purchase it myself. I've played the original before, but it's overwhelming with how much the interface has going on lol. Still, it's such a cool atmospheric game.

Lol. No worries, shit happens.
Thanks! I'll probably change it soon. I really like these bright colour schemes but it's also a bit much on the eyes too lol.

Yeah that's true. Doom can be pretty tense at times, especially when you hear an enemy that you really don't want to deal with. I'll have to see if I can find the PlayStation version at some point.

I did some of the secret ones, but I don't think I did all of them. I pretty much did the bare minimum for which would be all the ones required for the achievements. Some of those levels seem insane, especially the "fun" ones.
Oh yeah the pain elemental looks wild in D64, where I always thought they looked a little lost on the original sprite lol. They always live up to their name, though. Dealing with those things. The amount of times I accidentally blew myself up because I shot a rocket just as one spit out a Lost Soul...
Overall I think the game looks pretty good. Not sure what it looked like on the N64, but I guess the criticisms were pretty much what would be expected from around that period.

I was playing on I own Doom! Yeah I couldn't imagine lol. Especially back then, I could not imagine pulling that off on the N64 controller. Even simple movements with that thing are a pain (sometimes literally!).
Oh yeah, "Even Simpler" was one of those names where I curse the devs for being smartasses lol! Just like "Barrel's of Fun" in Doom II lol. I think that's also the first level with Mancubus as well iirc.

Stranger danger!!
Doom just wouldn't be Doom without at least a little bit of goofiness.
[Link]

Sweet! I hope you enjoy your stay at Hotel Dusk.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I actually think there's a solid chance we'll see something of Prime 4 this fiscal year. I'm inclined to think that Remastered's release earlier this year was meant as a primer for something, anyway. I am confident Prime 4 will still hit the Switch, though. While I can see Nintendo pulling a Twilight Princess / Breath of the Wild on it, Prime 4 was announced as a Switch game and still shows up in Nintendo's financials as one.

Regardless, I really look forward to the inevitable exposés detailing Prime 4's development. Nintendo announced Retro Studios restarted development of it in 2019, and as recently as last year they've continued hiring for it. But I really want to know what was up with Bandai Namco's scrapped version.

On a related note, and excluding DLC, Nintendo's only got three games slated for the Switch: Pikmin 4, Everybody 1-2 Switch! (which is supposedly terrible and Nintendo's announcement of it the other day could not have been any less enthusiastic), and Prime 4 (which... well, y'know). Most of their teams are certainly working on stuff for their next system by this point, but here's hoping we get a general Direct later this month to see what's next for the Switch. I, of course, am rooting for Donkey Kong.

Thanks! I was just looking for fellow game collectors that have larger game collections and I clicked on your profile and saw the 1400+, so added you.. Hope you don't mind.

Thanks Macc!
Yeah I decided to go with a lighter theme this time. Got tired of the same dark colors
Thank you! FFII is still one of my favorites.
Love your Metroid Prime theme!! Still need to beat MP:Remastered

I gotta disagree, I think the GBA version of King's theme in Mega Man & Bass sounds better. The Super NES one sounds pretty underwhelming in comparison.

Hmm. I thought My Life in Jaming was BL themselves, actually. Thanks for clearing that up.

It has been some time since your last post, but I do remember to some degree what you said in regards to the idea of putting too much blame on YouTubers in regards to classic gaming (and last gen for that matter) pricing woes. Even if they aren't completely 100% to blame, they're still a problem. When you have a Patreon and you're like "get my videos early before everybody runs off to eBay", even if you're exaggerating, that's still admitting that you have some influence. The YouTuber Jenovi put out a video about Pat the NES Punk and this comment pretty much mirrors my thoughts:

""I've been collecting games since the mid 90s and ever since Youtube started up, these people swarmed in on the hobby and destroyed it. Every single one of them saw AVGN and then decided to use retro games as a way to get internet fame and avoid getting a real job. Pat, Game Chasers, MJR, John Hancock....they're all the same. The inflated prices, the grading, the vultures who saw the hobby as just another thing to make money from...it's all a result from these people. People realized they could make money from Youtube and Patreon and donations and whatever and it just snowballed from there. And now you just keep getting more and more of it, as evidenced with that recent Lady Decade scam. This hobby is a magnet for scumbags for some reason. Something I don't see in record collecting, vintage RC car collecting, laserdisc collecting, or any other niche hobby I'm into."

I'll just leave it at that, as I've more than enough ranted about this stuff more than a few times months back. Now, Price Charting? Yeah, that probably is just people trying to make a quick buck by selling their copies of Legend of the Ghost Lion for $150. Sensible people will say "Eff that, I'll just emulate it", but some people might get swayed by a YouTuber they like just because they make videos about hidden gems you never played and that makes your life meaningless and void just because you don't have them, but don't you want them now, don't you?

I'm very thankful I got the jump on this stuff (Think I paid no more than $15 for Valis w/box in 2008?) beforehand. It was a glorious time. An unknown game like Koudelka could be $10 and nobody but people with a genuine interest in old games wanted them. Now, though? It's all about just a popularity contest. Who can get the biggest collection, who can have the most decked out game room, just, ah God. Can we just... play the games and talk about the games?

[Link] Have you looked much into this Doom WAD yet? It's really interesting... I want to give it a shot soon. I didn't know there was more to it than what it seems.

Sorry for the late response! I sort of went on a manga binge last few weeks and barely played any games or updated my account.

That's a fair point! I think I got most of the ones I absolutely wanted, but for sure there could be something I didn't know about or didn't think I'd like at the time, so I will keep that in mind. Thanks! Once upon a time, before VC was a thing, I did do so for a few SNES games I missed out on. So I'm not above it. Just now that I have the means, I do try to support when I can. But I do agree with you that goes out the window when you can't even get it legally anymore.

That's good to know! If I manage to finish it, maybe I'll go back to Donkey Kong Country. I game overed in the ice area and didn't have it in me to do the barrel level again. Haha. Or maybe I'll tackle some other oldies (we have all the older Castlevania games via the collection...that could be a good one to try next). I will admit, the use of save states helps a lot for some of these really tough games since I am not that good at them.

That said before Zelda 2, I did play Zelda 1 and a few others (i.e., SMB1, SMB3 GBA, DKC), so I'm not a complete masochist.

Fair enough, and maybe one day it will become second nature for me as well - but for now I use stuff like Pokemon, Harvest Moon and VNs are my go to de-stressor (and manga now that I'm back on that. Haha).

Heya, thanks much for the ring day wishes! Hope you've been doing well lately, too.

Urgh, I (unfortunately) managed to finish Mythologies the day before ToTK came out and GOD. Absolutely as dire as everyone says it is. I had it as a kid, and I managed to beat it back in the day...on Easy, where the game stops abruptly and basically tells you to git gud and play on a harder difficulty. The audacity when the game is so awful is truly staggering, but I've had a grudge against it all these years because of that!

So anyways YEAH I beat it on Medium, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Truly can't fathom why they didn't just make a straightforward Streets of Rage-style beat-em-up with MK characters instead of...whatever the hell the final product is supposed to be? The bizarre controls and level layouts work perfectly with each other to make sure you have the worst time possible. Truly impressive, but for all the wrong reasons. I feel so bad for anyone who's ever tried to finish it, especially that poor dood! You've gotta have nerves of steel to play it for six hours solid like that.

I love that Romero actually streams his games and interacts with his fans. He just seems like such a cool dude. Meridian is pretty good! I'm playing them as I type this. They're giving me Queensryche vibes. I'm gonna bring this up next time my dad's jamming out in the other room.

I'll play the SNES version of Mega Man & Bass, in that case. I doubt one version is easier than the other, no matter which one I go with lol.

Yup, that's pretty much what I got going on. I think it's working out pretty well.

Right?! A Quake reboot in that style would be insane, especially since Quake was already more intense and fast-paced than Doom to begin with. There's so much they could do with it.

Heh, exactly. I've just come to accept that I suck at shoot 'em ups, but hey, I still enjoy playing them and having fun with it. Axelay is one of the best SNES games ever in my opinion, but damn do I suck at playing it legit.

I saw the new Mario movie with my sister a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was a solid 6 or 7/10 film. I'd recommend it for when it's out on streaming and all that. As for the live action movie, I haven't seen that since I was too young to even know what Mario is. (I didn't own a Nintendo console until the GameCube when I was 9 or 10) That's a movie I gotta see again for sure. Speaking of movies, though... I went and saw Evil Dead Rise. Now, that was a damn good movie. It's my film of the year, so far.

"Well maybe I should pick up the Genesis version of Valis, then. My Genesis collection could use a bolstering."
Do it! It's worth it. Well, I'm actually not sure how much most Genesis games go for, these days. I just emulated it. I'd probably pay like 20 or 30 bucks for it max.

That was far from the only run I've done of Rondo of Blood. It's also one of my favorites in the series. I've played it on PCE CD (emulated), Wii VC, PSP (remake and port), and of course the PS4 version. It was my first replay in 6 or 7 years, though, so I'm glad I did! It's an amazing game. I thought Dracula X on SNES was halfway decent, too, but there were some odd things about it. I mainly wish Maria was still playable with her new design.

I took one look at that FPGA console, and it looks SLICK. The handheld does, too. I wouldn't mind having the Analogue Pocket. How's the d-pad on it, though? Do you own one? That can easily be a deal-breaker for me.

Oh, that's right! Damn I still have to finish VB Wario Land haha. It's emulated. I was having a lot of fun with it, so I'll be sure to get back into it soon. I'm trying to work my way up to Wario Land 4. I hear good things about that one.

Think that's about all of it. Hope you have a great day!

Edit: Are you a Helloween fan, by any chance? Love that band. King Diamond/Mercyful Fate is another favorite of mine.

Adjusting the colors manually like that must’ve been arduous, but the final result looks great!

I do plan to un-null some of these games in the future; a few of them I am curious about and they deserve a chance. I’d like to get my nulled total under 50 percent, at least. And I also null duplicates of games, too (I’m not bothering with the Devil May Cry HD Collection on my PS3 when the 360's my preferred platform of the two).

If you grab Hotel Dusk, please let me know what you think! I hope it resonates with you.

I am enjoying Prime 2 so far, and I definitely plan to get Remastered at some point. I wonder if we’ll finally see Prime 4 sometime this summer?

I actually did not notice the time of day change. That's a really nice detail!

I'm not privy to Nintendo's business expenses, but regardless of that, losing easy access to so many games—some of which will probably never score a re-release—just sucks.

Thanks, though my record is a lot less impressive once you notice over half of my collection is nulled. I've gotten stuff from various bundles and Games with Gold "freebies" that I have no interest in. With that said, though, I do want to start cranking through those nulled games eventually.

Hotel Dusk's pacing is odd, the solutions to some of its puzzles are obtuse, and it really isn't a game I can readily recommend. Still, the game is brimming with personality; that's why I love it so. It's also the first game I played with a real focus on narrative and characterization, so it has a special place in my heart for that.

When I got the Wii U, it was two months later I bought a Western Digital My Book 1TB External Hard Drive Storage (it plugs into the console and then an ac adapter for external power). And I've had it for several years since up to the day Wii U and 3DS closed its stores and made all of its titles, even the freebies, unobtainable. So all the content I got on the Wii U's EXT HD is what I'm satisfied with.

Oh nice. I think I've been watching him since Normal Boots. Back in the early 2010s when JonTron and PBG were taking off. Yeah I'm sure it won't take me nearly as long as it did when I was a kid. I really enjoyed it from what I remember, even if I still prefer Paper Mario. That was the one I played first after all.

Yes for sure. The enemies are all easily identifiable which is very important for snap decision making. That was actually one detriment to Doom 3 imo, is that it wasn't always easy to tell what it was, since they all look grey and leathery. Haha yep I always whip out the BFG or rocket launcher immediately with the arch vile. No nonsense, I will not fuck around, nor find out lol. I'll have to watch that later thanks. at work rn as of writing this.

Makes sense. I'm a metalhead, so naturally I gravitate to the original sound. It did have it's fair share of eerie suspenseful tracks, to be fair. But I can see why the spooky sound has merit. Especially with D64, some of those tracks would feel perfectly at home, in the Resident Evil soundtrack. I think the world building in 3 is what kept me invested honestly. I still feel the beginning was a bit of a drag, so it hampers its replayability a bit, but overall I wouldn't say it is a bad game by any means.

I'm fine with no Pain Elementals cause they are a pain in the ass lol. But yeah I share similar complaints. There were so many things where I thought to myself "I didn't think that would be in the game", since they took so long to show up. The Cacodemon was one of them. And it's design... I just don't know what to say. And yeah thats fair. up until Doom 3 it was practically the same formula. Doesn't hurt to change it up every now and then. One last thing on the topic, is that the Inp's walk cycle is hilarious in contrast to the more gritty surroundings.

Thanks for the controller recommendations, btw. I'll look into it. Nice clip lol. Looks like fun.

Doom 64 is pretty fun so far. Hard to believe it was an N64 game, since it really just feels like more Doom. One noteworthy thing I've noticed is that this game LOVES to throw Hell Knights at you. Maybe it's the difficulty I'm on, but god damn one of the earlier levels had at least 12 of them lol. At least they give you lots of rockets.

Dr. Mario Miracle Cure? I remember that. It's Dr. Mario on your 3DS! Sold (GB VC aside.) Didn't it come out during the Year o' Luigi?

'm srry to intrude on your conversation

"You definitely want to play Rockman & Forte on the Super Famicom for the music alone. The difference between SNES and GBA audio is night and day"

What about the Wily Battle theme? The GBA version of that song sounds better. That's really the only song I remember though.

"You know, I've never seen the awful 80s mess, maybe I should see that first?"

I'm actually surprised a huge Nintendo fan such as yourself never really checked out the 1989 DiC cartoon. I say yes, maybe during the morning when you eat breakfast and get ready for work. Don't expect greatness, they are what they are, but they're worth watching for the... I guess nostalgia of it? The feeling of being a kid in the NES era? Also check the Zelda cartoon if you can.

"Well maybe I should pick up the Genesis version of Valis, then. My Genesis collection could use a bolstering."

Go for it, dude. You have my support.

You got some sort of external usb hard drive hooked to your Wii U?

No doubt with all the games you downloaded to your Wii U, your Wii U is still downloading all of them. Glad to see you remind yourself of that with your profile picture.

With an avatar like that, you really are BL's resident Nintendo historian!