Featured Member December 2024: Strange

[Splain | 2,876]

IT'S STILL DECEMBER. IT'S FINE

Thanks @Strange!

Where does your username come from?
It’s my last name! Since everyone asks, no I didn’t get a PhD. I stopped at my Masters. Grad school is a terrible place. My dad’s first name is Steven. He’s the one that should have gotten the PhD.

What kind of Masters degree do you have?
Plant pathology and entomology, with some molecular biology experience too!

I was just looking at this thread where T-Pac, then CasualCart, posted the image where your profile pic came from. What was it before then?
It was a gif from Shinobi III, the beginning of stage 4 when you’re surfing. I was a SNES kid growing up but I love the Genesis’ pixel art and I really like that scene. I had made a joke that people who like Shinobi III are nerds (while I had the Shinobi III avatar) and T-Pac made the drawing of Joe Musashi in the surfing scene calling someone a nerd. I love it!

How did you come across NintendoAge for the first time back in the day?
I always had the collecting bug growing up and sort of naturally collected games throughout my life, but I really got into game collecting back in 2015. I was still an avid forum user back then, so I searched for game collecting forums and found NintendoAge and AtariAge. I wasn’t super active on either but I browsed a lot. When [REDACTED] happened and everyone moved here, I felt a nice sense of community and wanted to post more. I know I’m not the most active guy on here either, but I still enjoy popping in ever now and then to see what everyone else is up to.

What are your top 10 favorite games?
This is going to be my longest answer, sorry in advance. If you’ve seen my rankings in the rate this game threads then you’ll know I have a hard time definitively ranking things I like. A lot of the time it depends on my mood and I’ll likely look at this list in two weeks and feel like I left something out. My tastes also change, for example: Final Fantasy 3/6 on SNES/GBA used to be my favorite game of all time, but I’ve grown to not really like turn-based JRPGs anymore. I still like them for what they are, but it’s just not my genre anymore.

So I’m going to do a top three and then the rest are favorites that come to mind and are in no particular order:

1. Demon’s Souls. I’ve played both versions but the 2020 remake has an impressive amount of polish while staying true to the original. I feel DeS is just very well designed and probably the rawest version of “Miyazaki’s vision” that Souls fans online always hammer on about. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’m going to say it a thousand and one times but I feel World 1-1 in that game is perfect level design and a fantastic example of the developer giving you the tools to figure the game out while not telling you what to do. I like that.

2. Kingdom Hearts II. I’m not even really a Disney guy, but this is the game that made me fall in love with action combat, which while vague is my favorite type of combat/genre. The first boss fight in the final level (only added in the Final Mix version) is the type of fast combat that I love in games. It’s frantic and it tests your reaction time and understanding of the mechanics. KH3 has the best battle system in the series but KH2 is still the top one for me.

3. Super Mario 64. I need to stop being so long winded, so I’ll just say this one speaks for itself. I’ve always said if I could only have one game on a deserted island it would be this one and I haven’t changed my mind on that.

- Tetris (any version that isn’t gimmicky, although I enjoyed 99 a lot)
- Castlevania (NES)
- Sonic CD
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Half-Life (series, pick one)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (I know this feels like an outlier so if anyone cares I’ll explain in the comments)
- Shinobi III

And because I’m so indecisive, I’m going to rattle off some other favorites that could swap in depending on my mood: Ultima Underworld, Yoshi’s Island, Mario Kart Double Dash, Quake, 2D Zelda, Fallout (1, 2, or New Vegas), Wario’s Woods (yes, really).

Sorry, this is a terrible top ten list.

Do you dislike 3D Zelda?
Not at all! I just prefer the 2D ones. I will say I prefer the Ocarina of Time style 3D games more than the Breath of the Wild style, but they’re all good.

How excited are you to see the successor to the Switch?
I love handhelds so I’m excited to see what happens. My Switch fell to the wayside, admittedly, when I got my Steam Deck. I hope they pull out something really awesome. Whenever they announce a new 3D Mario I’m there.

Do you prefer "flagpole" 3D Mario (3D World, Galaxy) or "open world" 3D Mario (64, Sunshine, Odyssey)?
Open world, although I really like 3D Land on the 3DS too. Peach’s Castle in 64 almost feels like a second home. Isle Delfino is fun to just be in too.

Do you consider yourself more of a collector or a player?
Early on I would have said player but now I’d say 50/50. When I first started I had the mindset where I only wanted to collect what I could play, but the longer I’ve been in the hobby the more I’ve come to appreciate what these games represent. I love my copy of Ultima Underworld -  but I’m not building a DOS PC to play the copy on my shelf. That’s what I have it on GOG for. Same with Half-Life - I got it for $0.50 on Steam. I paid waaay more to have a nice copy on my shelf. Most of the time I’m playing my NES/SNES/Genesis stuff on my Analogue Pocket but I’m still buying those games for the shelf.

What's your underrated gem that everyone needs to play?
I’m not sure how underrated these first two really are but for Nintendo - Sin & Punishment. Super fun N64 exclusive with a Wii sequel. I wish Nintendo would bring this series back. For Sega I would also say Nights into Dreams - there’s nothing else like it that I’ve found. It’s super unique and I feel like everyone should try it. When I first watched gameplay I was like “What even is this?” but then I played it and it just clicked. Last one is Ex-Zodiac on Steam with a planned Switch release. A love letter to Star Fox with some Space Harrier special levels. Made by one person who is clearly very passionate.

Do you remember the first video game you ever played?
The Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge. My brother placed me in front of his NES and SNES as soon as I could hold a controller. The first game that was mine was Pokemon Gold. I got it for Christmas one year with my teal GBC. My parents loved the Atari 2600 so they were more than happy to get us our own gaming stuff.

What are you playing right now and what do you think?
Right now I’m getting into Tekken 8. I’ve been meaning to get into Tekken since 7, but I finally took the plunge recently. I also play Call of Duty, that’s my junk food game. Grinding camos keeps me occupied and gives that dopamine hit. I recently replayed Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II so I could fight the superbosses.

What console has the best library?
PlayStation or PlayStation 2. They have nearly everything you could want. Collecting for either is one of those never-ending endeavors and I like that. You’ll never run out of stuff to seek out. That’s infinite dopamine, baby.

What non-video game hobbies do you have?
I’m really into music. I thought at one point that I wanted to be a composer. I play a few instruments here and there. I’m also a sports fan, with hockey being my favorite (Go Preds). I also like antique stores because I like old stuff and have a shopping addiction.

Have you ever composed anything?
Unfortunately not but I did some light arrangements for fun in college. We had this project going where we were going to arrange Feel Good Inc. for athletic bands but then the girl I was working on it with and I broke up lol.

What instruments do you play?
Various strings like guitar, bass, violin, banjo, mandolin, and dulcimer. Some winds too like flute, French horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, and saxophone.

Where do you live?
In Nashville. My girlfriend is finishing her PhD at FSU (she’s also from Nashville) and she stays here some months out of the year.

Favorite book?
My book tastes are boring, I love nonfiction. I was a biologist before I left academia. A book that changed my life was The Viking in the Wheat Field. It’s about Norman Borlaug’s passion and work to fight world hunger.

Favorite movie?
Jurassic Park. There’s not much to this, dinosaurs are cool. Monster movies are cool. Movies about scientific and business hubris are cool.

Favorite tree?
Peltogyne. Willows and oaks are cool too. Bonus answer, flowers: peonies and lotuses.

Do you have a lot of plants at home?
Not a lot at the moment, but a few. Highlights are my grandmother’s Chinese evergreen plant that has been alive for decades. Another is this terrarium I built and put dwarf mondo grass in. I sealed it almost ten years ago and it absolutely exploded with life. It’s a little ecosystem in there now. Looks very humid.

Do you play smartphone games at all?
Against my better judgment I play Pokemon Go. It passes the time. But I genuinely enjoy Mini Motorways and the mobile version of Papers, Please. Air Twister was an Apple Arcade exclusive but it’s on PS5, Steam, and Switch now. It’s a Space Harrier-style game made by Yu Suzuki.

Any pets?
I’ve got one cat - well, it’s my girlfriend’s cat. I fostered a cat a few years ago but when my childhood pets passed away I just didn’t have any desire to have another right away. But it feels good to love a pet again.

What's your best "life hack" that everyone should be doing?
I’m not sure if this is a life hack per se, but I would encourage everyone to keep your mind sharp. Read more (books, not articles), play an instrument, do puzzles. At the risk of sounding like an old man yelling at the clouds, the brain rot from constant social media and scrolling is real. I’m guilty of it. I’m working on giving myself time each day with absolutely no external stimulation. Our brains weren’t meant to handle this constant overstimulation from 4 different sources at once.

[Strange | 1,743]

Thanks for this! I had a lot of fun doing it.

[JamesRobot | 6,256]

Master Strange sounds good too. 

[Strange | 1,743]

2 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

Master Strange sounds good too.