Introduction
It's New Year's, and it's time to look back on 2024 with the sequel to my "MegaMan52 Looks Back on 2023" Blog.
I continued doing the things that I do every year: video game collecting, travelling, watching Movies, hanging out with friends. I also continued to make Blogs, which I've been making since 2022.
Let's look back at some of the things I did this year, focusing mostly on the Highlights.
MegaMan52 Looks Back On 2022
Video Game Collecting
Introduction
The month is December. The ground is white. The temperature is below zero. Houses are decorated with colorful lights. It must be time to watch Christmas movies.
For my 40th Blog, I'd like to talk about my ten favorite Christmas movies. I've got most of the classics on DVD and Blu-ray, and still have lots of VHS tapes from the '80s and '90s. From VHS to Blu-ray, live action and animated, and classic to modern, here are my favorite Christmas movies.
Like my other
Introduction
This is something I remember from 2003 or 2004: Enter the name of a video game character (.com) in the Address Bar, and see where it takes you.
At the time, the results were unexpected and had nothing to do with video games or characters. Here is a list of some of the sites I remember, as well as some I found out about more recently.
Websites With The Same Names As Video Game Characters
Mappy
"Mappy" is the name of the mouse character from Na
Introduction
It's been five years since I joined Video Game Sage on November 19, 2019. This Blog focuses on where I was before I joined and what I've been doing here, such as posting Blogs that took several weeks or even months to make.
The Forums I've Been On Before VGS
GameWinners
GameWinners was the first place I joined in 2000. I stayed there until 2002 or so, then moved on to other sites. It was a typical forum site that also featured a section with
Introduction
I can still remember when Luigi's Mansion was first shown twenty four years ago in 2000, along with the GameCube. It was shown at the Spaceworld 2000 event held in Japan. Nintendo's American website had a banner featuring the GameCube, and a GameCube section with coverage of Spaceworld 2000.
I played Luigi's Mansion for the first time, briefly, at a Zeller's store in December 2001. They, like many other stores, had a GameCube Kiosk which I got to play for a f
Introduction
There have been a lot of games released over the years that include extra games. Games within games. These could be emulations or remakes of games released for other systems, or they could be fun little original games or games inspired by other games that were just included as extras.
Here's my top 10 list of games within games.
MegaMan52's Top 10 Games Within Games
10."That Is Galactic Dancing" (Ridge Racer Revolution, PS1)
Namco's Ridge Race
Introduction
Mega Man 9 NES Demo
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (Switch)
Mega Man 9 was originally released in 2008 as a downloadable game for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360, and for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One a decade later as part of Mega Man Legacy Collection 2. It returned to the audio and visual style of the NES Mega Man games, and played like the first two Mega Man games by removing Mega Man's slide and ability to charge up his weapon (the Mega Buster).
Introduction
Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn is the Nintendo 3DS's enhanced port of "Kirby's Epic Yarn", originally released for the Wii in 2010. It was the last game Nintendo released for the 3DS in 2019, and has become somewhat of an uncommon, hidden gem.
When the game was announced for the Wii in 2010, I didn't think much of it. I read some previews, watched some videos, and looked at some screenshots. I liked the game's visual style and that it was a side-scrolling platforming
Introduction
Of course, I had to talk about this eventually. Things have clearly changed in the last decade or so, and even in the last few years. For more than a decade, video games have been released both physically and digitally, with some games receiving digital releases only. With some exceptions (Disney Classic Games Collection, for example), video games don't usually include manuals anymore. Some games are released physically in a limited amount. Some physical releases don't in
Introduction
Nearly every game ever made has glitches. Some have a lot, some only have a few. Some are minor, and some are major. There are glitches that allow you to explore areas you're not supposed to be in, and other glitches that might be game-breaking and make it impossible to get any further.
Here are ten glitches I've come across over the years that were just fun to do, and others that surprised me.
MegaMan52's Top 10 Game Glitches
10.Go out of bounds in Icecap (Soni
Introduction
In the '80s and '90s, it was actually quite common to find video game related shows. There was Pac-Man, Saturday Supercade, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Legend of Zelda, and Captain N in the '80s, and Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mega Man in the '90s. This continued in the late '90s/early 2000s with shows like Donkey Kong Country, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Sonic X, and MegaMan NT Warrior.
Then there were the game sho
Introduction
I'm sure most of us have traditions, New Year's being one of them. But what about video games or movies? Do you play a particular game or watch a particular movie during a certain time of every year?
I got Animal Crossing for the GameCube in Dec. 2006. I still have my original copy of the game, and have played it every year since. I've also celebrated New Year's in the game every year since, and it is sort of a tradition. I've since also played Animal Crossing: New L
Introduction
For me, 2023 was a mixture of happiness, frustration, fun times, and, in a way, adventure. I made progress with both my video game and movie collections, got to see my family on my Birthday as well as Christmas, went to Monster Jam, and even looked in three malls (in different cities) and more than fifteen stores for a Chuck E. Cheese Funko Pop figure. There were plenty of good and bad days, but there were enough good times that I thought I'd make a blog about some of the highl
Introduction
First-party/Third-party/Licensed/Official games (whatever you want to call them) aren't the only games I collect. When importing games, I also collect bootlegs that came from Brazil, China, Taiwan, Poland, etc. Over the last three decades, many of these bootlegs have found their way into the U.S. and Canada.
I read about many of these and other bootlegs in the early and mid 2000s. In the last decade or so, I've managed to get some of them. Some were bought on eBay, some ar
Introduction
I'm guessing most of you who have read my blogs think I only like console and handheld games. Not so. I've visited numerous Arcades since the late '80s/early '90s, including Arcades in Theaters, Bowling Alleys, Airports, and Ferries, playing most of the better Arcade games like Pac-Man, Street Fighter II (don't remember which one), Ninja Turtles, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Cruis'n USA, San Francisco Rush, Mario Kart Arcade GP 1 and 2, Luigi's Mansion, and Super Monkey Ball, as
Introduction
I joined YouTube on June 26, 2006. Since then, I have made over 500 videos (the majority of which were recorded and edited by myself).
2006 was a simpler time. It was before Google made many changes to YouTube, when videos were still standard definition, before the site resembled Facebook and looked more like its own thing, and before ads were shown at the beginning of (and during) videos. That year was also when creators didn't have to put so much time, effort, and stress i
Introduction
I've been playing the NES since 1990 or so, and have played hundreds of games for it. As a result, I've heard a lot of good (and some bad) NES soundtracks that I still remember and think about often. I've listened to not only the original versions of these soundtracks, but also remixes and fan-made MIDI's (dating back to the early 2000's). The soundtracks are that good.
My Favorite NES Soundtracks
10.Battletoads
Battletoads isn't just known for its dif
Introduction
I mentioned in a previous blog that I might make a blog about the Pac-Man World series. Like many, I've played a lot of Pac-Man games over the years in Arcades, on consoles, handhelds, PC, etc. But as great as traditional Pac-Man games are, there's one series of Pac-Man games that I've always appreciated because they both have traditional Pac-Man gameplay and successfully brought the character into 3D: the Pac-Man World series, consisting of three main entries, a racing g
Introduction
I grew up playing the NES and have no nostalgia or memories of Sega's 8-bit console, the Master System. In fact, I hadn't even heard of the Master System in the '90s. I always assumed Sega's first console was the Genesis/Mega Drive, and that they had only made Arcade games prior to the release of that console.
In 2001/2002, I came across an NES site called NES Player (mentioned in my previous blog about gaming sites I used to visit). They had several shrines (pa
Introduction
Since first browsing the Internet in the late '90s/early 2000s, I've visited a large number of both official and fan-made video game websites over the years. The very first game site I ever visited was none other than Nintendo's official U.S. site in 2000 or so. The site featured images of various characters such as Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pikachu, and (of course) Mario. There were pages for not only the N64, but also the SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color. There were screensho
Introduction
Yes, you read that correctly. Not PC games, but FLASH games. Those games you may have seen on various websites in the past that were playable on the Internet. Sites such as Newgrounds, Miniclip, Iragination, and Homestar Runner.
Flash was discontinued over a year ago, but despite that many Flash Games can still be played today. The Flash games from Iragination, the company behind various Mega Man Flash games such as Fireman: Incoming Storm and Fall of 21XX, are still play
Introduction
I like the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, both of which I watched in the Theater and bought on Blu-ray. I got some Sonic 2 Movie toys at McDonald's last year, and also got a poster. So naturally, I got excited about the new Super Mario Bros. movie. I remember seeing the first image/poster for it, which was full of Easter eggs and references to many of the games. I watched the Trailer videos. Some people were disappointed about Chris Pratt voicing Mario and sounding different than M
Introduction
I've bought so many gaming items over the years, that I've got various games and other items that could be considered holy grail items. In the past, I've shown a few of my rarer games or items here on VGS. But the fact that I've acquired several uncommon items (including one or two items that some collectors might be unaware of) led to the idea of creating a blog about ten items, as well as some honorable mentions, in my collection that are so uncommon they migh
Introduction
With a new Mario movie being released in Theaters soon and the weather warming up, I thought I'd talk about another Mario game. The game I'd like to talk about is yet another underrated game (nowadays, at least) for an underrated console: Super Mario Sunshine for GameCube.
Unlike Kirby Air Ride, Super Mario Sunshine actually received positive reception from critics when it was released in the Summer of 2002. Nintendo Power gave it a 5 out of 5, though that isn't too s
Introduction
When someone asks what everyone's favorite game systems are, sometimes Handheld systems are left out and people are more interested in knowing what everyone's favorite consoles are. The original Game Boy is my favorite Handheld and my second favorite game system, largely because of its library. So, being one of my favorite systems, I figured I might as well list my ten favorite games for the Handheld along with some honorable mentions.
Some of the games in the top 5
