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| Friday, June 18th, 2010 | | 6:48 am |
I saw a luna moth today right outside my front door. I've never actually seen one before. It looked amazing. I tried to take some pictures of it with my camera, though they came out fairly blurry. | | Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | | 12:11 am |
So Masato Kato, the man responsible for the Xeno series, and Chrono Cross' awful plot, was RUNMARU in Ninja Gaiden. Wow I never would've guessed. I'm sure most of you have seen this interview already, but if you haven't go do so. http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/ninjagaiden/ninjagaiden9.htmNot only is it very interesting to read, but Kato actually posted two concept arts for the game. Concept arts are probably some of the coolest material of games and unfortunately a vast majority of them are probably lost to the ages. | | Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 | | 5:26 am |
So this wasn't the greatest Memorial weekend I've ever had. I've got a pretty bad fever right now, and my muscles ache. Maybe I got sick from taking a walk outside while it was humid? I've never been very good in hot weather, which is why I'm never going to move to Florida needless to say. I did finally get to check out a small park that's close by to me. It has a pretty big pond, and the breeze is excellent. I'm definitely trying to get myself outside more, which is not only healthy but helps with my going stir crazy. I think next time I better wait till its a little cooler. | | Thursday, May 14th, 2009 | | 5:53 am |
So I saw Star Trek. And it was pretty fun. As far as Star Trek goes I was never a die hard fan. That's not to say I dislike Star Trek, far from it. I do enjoy watching it from time to time, and of course the original series is still a lot of fun. I just don't follow the series very closely. Therefore I didn't really have too many preconceptions going into the film. I did still manage to catch a lot of references to the original show in the movie though, so I guess I am still a nerd. The movie did seem to have a pretty strong Wrath of Khan vibe to it, which in my mind isn't such a bad thing. The only part of the movie I did think was a little goofy was what happened when Kirk ended up on the Ice planet. The two people he happens to meet there was one hell of an extraordinary coincidence. But hey, that's movies for you. | | Friday, May 8th, 2009 | | 5:26 pm |
Hi guys. Its been awhile as usual. But at least I have somewhat of an excuse for not updating this time. My brother bought a condo and last week I moved in with him. This has been a pretty huge change for me considering I've lived in our previous apartment for over 19 or so years. (I can't even remember how long exactly.) So yeah this is pretty much the first time I've really lived anywhere else. Change can be pretty annoying, but at the same time I do feel that I've needed a "fresh" start for awhile now so this might be my chance. I'm still trying to adjust. The condo is nice with plenty of space for my brother and I. Plus we've lived together for years and years so there's still some familiarity. Only bad thing is it takes me a little longer to get to work now, and I really hate driving cars. The fact that I live in Massachusetts, which may very well be the worst place to drive in the United States probably has something to do with that. Still I think I'll like it here. Its a very nice area with a lot of trees, and there's a park nearby I can go to on walks. I'm thinking about buying myself a bike again one of these days as I've had some urges to ride one again. | | Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | | 5:09 am |
I've just spent practically the whole day playing Dragon Quest V. Its a very nice remake so far. And this time Square Enix actually bothered to translate the party talk. Unfortunately I'm still pissed off at them for removing it from IV. Also a few days ago I actually managed to finish the Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy on the Nes, without cheating. At all. No Game Genie, no save states, nothing of the sort. And this wasn't the Aladdin version either. The original cartridge release with the slow as molasses walking speed of Dizzy, and the annoying schizophrenic spiders that don't have any coherent pattern at all in moving up and down. The latter was actually the main reason I usually dreaded trying to finish Dizzy. I've beaten the Aladdin version several times since the alterations Codemasters made to the game actually made it a lot easier, but it still feels pretty good that I finally conquered the original version of the game. And it only took several years to do it! You see Dizzy isn't exactly an easy game to get through. Not only is Dizzy pretty annoying to control at times, but it was a long adventure and once you ran out of lives that was it. Game Over, back to the start. Codemasters really loved doing this to players in all their games. Must be a British developer thing. Codemaster/Camerica Nes games and I always had a pretty strange relationship. Even though those games were hard as hell, and nearly impossible to get anywhere with without a Game Genie, (Also made by Codemasters! Hmm...) there was something about the games that I really liked. I dunno why. Maybe the presentation of the games just struck a chord with me. Codemasters' games certainly had far better visuals and music than the other unlicensed companies at the time. Or maybe it was that Codemasters' games actually did have some underlining good features to them if you could get over the fact that they never seemed to put friggin continues in their games even though they desperately needed them. (Except for probably Linus Spacehead. Fuck that game. Cosmic Crusade managed to be okay though.) But in any case my brother and I use to play these games frequently when we were younger, usually with Game Genie. I even set out trying to buy most of them. Metal Man, a game Codemasters announced for their Aladdin peripheral, (No relation to the famous Megaman boss.) was actually one of the first unreleased Nes games I was really interested in back in the day. Though my interest isn't quite so severe anymore, a small part of me lingers that would like to see that game. This post started with Dragon Quest V and went straight to The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy. Sometimes I can be pretty damn random. | | Sunday, March 8th, 2009 | | 4:14 am |
So on Saturday night I switched the TV on which happened to be on Cartoon Network, which was showing one of the craziest shows I've seen in awhile. A British comedy called "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace". Anybody else ever heard of this show before? It was the first episode and I wasn't too sure what the hell I was looking at first. The premise is that Garth Marenghi is some kind of Stephen King type of horror author who supposedly made a drama/horror show in the 80's that didn't air because it was too controversial. But its now being "presented for the first time" in the present along with interviews with Garth and his publisher Dean about making the show. The show itself seems like some kind of demented cross between St. Elsewhere and Tales from the Darkside. The most amusing thing is the main character Garth Marenghi himself, who writes, directs, and stars in the show and naturally has something of an ego. Okay a really big ego. His character displays lots of Mary Sue type traits. The first episode is available on Youtube if anybody reading this wants to sample it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfQ0ORwSDMBefore that Adult Swim also had this strange show called "Look around you" which was apparently a spoof of those old educational programs you used to see on PBS throughout the 70's and 80's. Those Annenberg CPB Project programs I'm thinking of specifically. This show is also British, but I guess educational shows were basically the same world wide. I guess Adult Swim is currently on some kind of British comedy kick? | | Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | | 11:41 am |
At Gamestop I found a copy of Exit for the DS new at $9.99. Not a bad price. I'd been interested in trying that game for some time, but never got around to the PSP versions. Since I play the DS a lot more I figured what the hell. A couple of Taito's handheld games cost that much actually. I also saw Legend of Kage 2 for the same price. I was a little tempted to try it, since I've actually heard it was pretty good. Its been how many years since the first Legend of Kage? I guess it would have to be better. Also Space Invaders Extreme I've heard praise for. But I'm not sure which version is considered the "best" one. As I mentioned above, I tend to play the DS more, so I'm leaning towards that version, but I don't know if the PSP version has anything different. Also I noticed Konami's Elebits for DS got released as well. I do have some interest in that title, but I figured I'd wait till I heard a bit more coverage first. Doesn't seem to be too many reviews of that one at the moment though. | | Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | | 1:06 am |
Well the first major thing I've done this year has been to buy myself a new car. 2004 Toyota Corolla. I'd been getting by using a shared family car for the past few years, but it had to be done eventually. Its in good shape, though I'm still getting adjusted to it as each car feels a little different. Hope I have good luck with it. I've always kind of seen driving as a necessary evil than a luxury. Always a fairly nerving experience whenever going anywhere. But again without a car, there isn't many places I could go. Well enough of that. If you guys didn't notice yet, Parish posted an interview from EGM in which they interviewed Hidenori Maezawa, a composer for Konami from the Famicom days and the creator of the VRC6. If you like Konami or just the Famicom in general go read it. http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5379721 | | Sunday, January 4th, 2009 | | 11:00 am |
Well its the new year. 2009. As with most new years, I hope to make things different from last year, but resolutions are so difficult to abide by. I think I may pay this place more of a visit this year, and hopefully maybe finding a bit more direction with myself. | | Friday, November 21st, 2008 | | 5:05 am |
Well I've already watched through Popeye Volume 3, and indeed Popeye's battles with Japanese stereotypes was there in all its glory. What really stunned me was how the episodes didn't force the viewer to sit through dozens of disclaimers, or Leonard Maltin/some celebrity reminding us that these cartoons were from a different era when people were ignorant, etc. The Popeye DVDs do run a disclaimer when the disc is first loaded about how the content might be offensive, but still I kind of thought they would still put in extra disclaimers as a precaution. There's something that's just plain bizarre though about browsing the episodes and seeing "You're a sap mr jap" just so casually listed among them like its no big deal. The restorations are terrific in this set, and I think might be of higher quality than the previous one which did have some issues. (The title card of "The Jeep" violently shaking stands out to me.) The actual cartoons themselves are a mixed bag, though most of them are still pretty fun. This marks the end of the Fleischer era of Popeye. The first disc is the stronger of the two, containing the last of the Fleischer shorts, and beginning with three humorous cartoons with Popeye's pappy. The second disc has the "hungry goat" which is a very popular cartoon from what I've seen browsing around cartoon blogs. It has some inventive 4th wall gags, but I don't really like how Popeye seems to have had a brain transplant with Elmer Fudd, and the goat is really obnoxious and it would've been nice to see Popeye clobber him. And "Happy Birthdaze" introduced the character of Shorty. You don't know who Shorty is? There's a very good reason for that. But disc two does contain Me musical nephews and cartoons ain't human. (The latter of which is my favorite Famous Studios Popeye cartoon.) I preferred Pipeye, Pupeye, Poopeye, and Peepeye when they were just figments of Olive Oly's dream in "Wimmin is a Myskery" on the last volume, but these two cartoons are fun so I'll let their existence pass. In a way I'm kind of sad that I'm now finished with all the Fleischer Popeyes. I'll admit that I don't care for the Famous Studio Popeyes nearly as much as Fleischer, but I don't hate them. I imagine I'll continue to buy the sets. I'm also curious if Warner Bros plans to put those made for TV Popeye shorts from the 60's onto a set or not. (Those were the ones that usually ended with a fancy quill writing out "The End" in cursive.) The quality of those were pretty hit and miss, but I'd probably get them for the hell of it. | | Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | | 5:37 am |
It was a historical day in America. We got our first African American president elected. And even bigger than that, Popeye vol 3 came out complete with world war II cartoons. Popeye versus horrible looking caricatures of Japanese soldiers in remastered quality! Who could ask for more. And you bet your bottom that I went out and got that DVD on release day. Looking forward to viewing it. (Well maybe not the whole racist part, but it was WWII what do you expect?) | | Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 | | 8:29 am |
So today was the day I got to play Megaman 9. My friend's brother got it on his Wii. Now I can see what the fuss is about, its pretty impressive. I guess my Nes skills are still in decent shape after all as while I found the game to be very hard, it didn't seem "impossibly hard" like others have said. I chose Magma Man first, died twice, but managed to reach him before game over. Guess I feel kind of good about that. Tried Concrete Man after that, had some slight trouble with one of the elephants, but still made it to him. He was the first boss I beat, felt very good once I worked out his pattern. Playing for a bit I managed to beat Splash Woman, Hornet Man, and Galaxy Man. I dunno if its specifically his weakness or not, but Splash Woman's weapon was pretty handy in the Hornet Man fight, since it pierced right through his bees and into him. Amazingly I got through Galaxy Man's stage on my first try, till I got to him. Again I don't know if its his weakness, but Hornet Man's weapon made that fight fairly easy since it was able to hit him while he was in the air. (And that weapon is pretty awesome all in all, it even grabs power ups for you.) Hopefully I'll get another chance to play it soon. Wario Land Shake actually comes out today, and my friend plans to get that next, so I might actually get to see it later. As a huge fan of the Wario games I am really looking forward to it. Hope it doesn't disappoint. Makes me wish I had a Wii right now, but I'm still probably gonna have to wait a bit. I just need to save money right now. ( Some stuff about Dragon Quest IV, lj cut cause this entry was getting too long ) | | Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 | | 5:27 am |
 Well I finally updated the early Nintendo carts picture. If you look carefully, you should see that Donkey Kong Jr Math is now part of it. So this is all the early "pixel" cover art carts. I have to say though that going through my games, finding these carts was an eye opener. I forgot just how many Nes games I accumulated over the years. I haven't made a specific count yet, but it seems like I may have over 100 Nes games. Yikes. Before emulation, I had been a fairly big Nes collector. While not nearly a complete collection by any means, I guess I am somewhat impressed by the number I managed to get over the years. I guess I do kind of miss the old days when I would buy an Nes game, not quite knowing what to expect. And it was always fun bringing them to my friend's house. But nowadays all the carts really seem to do is take up space and collect dust. As you get older, you don't really have time anymore. Not to mention that I generally play all these games on emulators now. Guess one of these days I'm gonna have to sell them. A lot of them aren't in the greatest of conditions though. I'm trying not to think of how long it would take to clean them all up. You can be sure that the games in that picture will be staying. Long live the pixel cover Nes games. (Wonder if Journey to Silius should count as one?) | | Friday, July 4th, 2008 | | 4:04 pm |
Lots of announcements have happened lately. Quick thoughts before I go to work. Megaman 9 - Well the cynic in me knows this is mainly a ploy to suck a massive Nes/Famicom nut like me in. At the same time though there is something pretty cool about seeing modern developers making a new game and deliberately limiting themselves. Though the game isn't being made on actual Nes hardware, so how much of those "limits" they actually stick to I can't say. At the very least there shouldn't be too much flickering. I know there are a lot of people who are annoyed with the retro look, but I have to admit that for a long time I have secretly wanted to see something like this. Sometimes when developers are limited, they can get fairly creative with the graphics. (Like La Mulana looking like an MSX game.) Guess we'll see. The Castlevania fighting game - Or whatever the hell its called. Simon looks like Light from Death Note. Nuff said really. If you want to amuse yourself go look at this. I don't post on Toastyfrog's messageboard but I have from time to time lurked on there. In this thread Tomm throws a hissy fit over the reactions to the game. Can you tell he works for Konami? http://www.gamespite.net/talkingtime/showthread.php?t=4947Chrono Trigger DS - The reason Square is reluctant to join the Virtual Console parade. Look I'm glad the game is going to be readily available to new audiences again, and it will be nice to have the game available on the go. But I have to agree with a couple of people online that its pretty irritating how Square cannot just simply rerelease these games on a cheaper format, and instead include some extra dungeon they whipped up in a few minutes to justify charging full price for an older game. Still you can't really blame them, if fans are willing to buy the same games again. If you've never played Chrono Trigger before, go for it. If you still own the Snes cart though, I'd personally hold off. Money is kind of tight these days, for me at least. So with a bonus dungeon surely there will be a super boss, cause Square has a crazy hard on for super bosses. Everybody who DIDN'T think FFVgba's bonus dungeon would contain palette swaps of Omega and Shinryu who were even harder than the originals, raise your hands. .... Hmm, nobody. :P In non related news, I actually found my cart of DKJR Math, which you'll remember I had to leave off the early Nintendo picture I made a few entries ago. The bad news is my games are a bit scattered at the moment but as soon as I sort them out I'm gonna make an "updated" picture. | | Monday, June 23rd, 2008 | | 3:48 am |
| | Sunday, February 17th, 2008 | | 7:48 am |
| | Friday, December 14th, 2007 | | 8:31 am |
 Well well what do we have here folks? Looks like an ending to Kid Icarus doesn't it? Yet its probably one you've never seen before. Yeah I finally got the "Pit turns into a Specknose" ending I had heard about some time ago in the Japanese version of Kid Icarus. Thanks to this excellent guide on Gamefaqs by Ultimortal. This is one of the best FAQs for the game you will find if not the best. The information on how to get it appears near the very end of the faq. (Section 15) http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/game/587380.htmlThis ending wasn't so much removed from the US version, as it had just simply been "bumped" off so to speak. The US version had gotten a brand new best ending, and this pushed all the other endings downward, making what used to be the second to worst ending in the Japanese one, now the worst period. I gotta say this ending is ridiculously mean spirited. You go through the trouble of saving the goddess, and because she doesn't think you're "hip" with high enough stats she turns you into a hideous specknose human hybrid for the rest of your life in thanks for saving her. What the hell. Oddly enough this ending is also far more difficult to achieve than the best ending. You have no idea how irritating it is getting through this game with just 2 strength. More on early Nintendo stuff later tonight. | | Monday, November 19th, 2007 | | 7:16 am |
So I was thinking about buying Dragon Quest Monsters Joker. There's just one small problem I have. Well I don't mean any disrespect or anything since I know a lot of you like it and all, but I've never been able to get into Pokemon or basically any games like it where the sole purpose of the game is in collecting monsters and battling people. I don't know why exactly that is, but its a genre that just never seem to pull me in. I suppose part of it might be that the battling aspect of the game is its main purpose, and I'm not exactly the most competitive person. (I do occasionally play vs modes, but I've always been more of a co-op type of gamer.) I also have no real desire to go around looking for people to battle with. On the other hand it is still a Dragon Quest game. The main reason I feel compelled to buy this game to be honest, is because it may very well be a factor in Square Enix bringing out the DS versions of DQ 4, 5, and 6. And I'll be friggin damned if Enix is going to fuck up bringing the remake of DQ4 over to the US. AGAIN. I just hope Joker has a more involved solo quest, if you're not going to use the vs mode that often. | | Monday, October 29th, 2007 | | 7:01 am |
So I picked up Dracula X Chronicles recently, so I now officially own the Turbo Duo version of Dracula X, and I didn't have to fork over $100 dollars to some ebay guy. Its also time for a confession. Are you ready? Well here goes... I actually had not yet played Dracula X prior to this point. .... Yeah I know what the hell is wrong with me? Its my secret shame. I guess when it comes down to it, I was a bit too lazy to try tracking down a working ISO of the game and admittedly I was a cheapskate and didn't really feel like shelling cash for Magic Engine. (The only decent TG16 emu at the time.) So yeah, hope none of you think less of me. Or any lower I dunno. :P Regardless of why and how, the fact is I have access to Rondo of Blood now so I can finally try it out. So far my impressions are pretty good, though damn have I gotten sloppy at old school Castlevanias. You see what happens IGA, when you keep babying us with the Metroidvanias, or Castleroids, or whatever the hell people are calling them these days? I'll make a more in depth opinion in a later entry. (Really I swear this time.) But first there is something I really need to get on right now, something I've said I would do but keep holding off. I'm talking about that early Nintendo project I have going. I think its about time I get off my ass and do another entry don't you think? I actually have been writing the next one off and on for the past couple of weeks, but I never seemed able to get it quite like how I wanted. I figure I should just post what I have cause otherwise I don't think I'll ever get this finished.  ( Read on if you have some spare time, or can't get to sleep. )You know maybe starting with the Donkey Kong games wasn't all that great. I mean who could hate these games? If you hate the original Donkey Kong, you may need to reassess yourself when it comes to video games. I figured I had to start somewhere, and kind of wanted to get these over with. In any case I'm just glad I finally posted something. Good night. :P |
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