twiztor

i really don't want to give this up, but the time has come. the Cute Girl or Feminine Boy framed photo is ready for a new home. It has hung with pride next to my retro games for the past year and needs some new surroundings. If you are interested in hosting this wonderful artwork for the next year, just reply here saying that you are IN! a random drawing will take place on/near Thanksgiving to find the next recipient- more details as the deadline closes in! huge shout out to @Ferris Bueller for kicking this off 10 (TEN!) years ago. and also to @Foochie776 for being the previous foster home.

i'd be happy to get that Fire Troll (#28), but i'd also be down to donate it if somebody didn't get a T-Pac Original (TM) and really wants one. i have my Angry Spork hanging next to my PC, and Bub and Bob hanging on the fridge, so i have no shortage in my house already. thank you again for doing this event this year. It really is one of my favorite things about this board. i think this every year (this is the first i'm saying it) but i want to not only have an awesome suggestion next year, but also contribute some OG artwork. much respect to everyone else that contributed as well. i love it all.

looks awesome, @T-Pac! sorry i never got a chance to circle back around and find another choice, but you picked a great one and did the typically great job you always do. much appreciated!!

a couple of years ago, i needed a high capacity MP3 player, as my iPod Classic had died for the last time, and i was tired of trying to get refurbished ones to last more than a couple months. i did a bunch of research and settled on one like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sony-NW-A55-Walkman-Hi-Res-Moonlight/dp/B08286VLNB/ref=sr_1_1?c=ts&keywords=MP3%2B%26%2BMP4%2BPlayers&qid=1698427429&refinements=p_89%3ASony&s=electronics&sr=1-1&ts_id=1264866011&th=1 which fit all of my needs perfectly. it gets plenty of use and is still running flawlessly. I don't know if it will work for you, because it is mainly a touchscreen. but possibly worth checking out.

love candy corn, specifically the "Harvest Corn" (we formerly used to refer to this as 'Indian Corn', don't know if that was regional or what):

it seems like this thread is supposed to be for food you actually COOK, but i'm going to take it in another direction. i'm kind of obsessive, and like to try all the flavors of Mountain Dew. So, naturally, i had to track down a bag of the Dew-flavored Doritos and give them a shot. Sure, they only released in Australia, and they expired in 2020, but how bad can they be?

first game: the Legend of Zelda (nes). i played that f'ing game for years. drawing maps. Game Genie'ing parts until i was good enough to do it for real. it is easily the first game that i not only beat, but have mastered. it is my #1 favorite game of all time for that reason, and directly led to the Zelda franchise being my favorite series ever. last game: Spyro's Adventure (ps1). from the Backlog thread. i have been trying to play a bunch of ps1 games that i missed at the time (which is basically all of them....n64 for life!) i am finding that i don't really have a lot of interest in ps1, so it has been slow going. game was fun enough though. mid point: Gauntlet Dark Legacy (GCN, but also later PS2). so Diablo is one of my favorite game franchises (#2, behind only Zelda!) and when Gauntlet Legends came out for the n64, i was completely enthralled by it. For sure played it all the way through a few times. So when the sequel was announced for the GameCube, you can bet that i was the first in line. spent many many hours playing through, unlocking all the secrets characters, leveling everybody up to 99, maxing out all the stats, all the fun stuff. after selling my GameCube, i missed this game and picked up the PS2 port and did the same thing all over again. i re-bought a GameCube (grrr) and sought this game out immediately, only to play through AGAIN. i still love to pop it in and run through an area or two.

the software is the impetus for the experience. so if the software doesn't exist, the experience doesn't take place. if the game sucks, the experience is vastly lessened. in both examples you mentioned, the experience requires external factors, so i'd put the software's contribution around 72%. for single player games at home, the percentage rises to 95%+

yeah dude, it's all good. my thought was that most of your characters (at least the anthropomorphic ones) read to me as male, so i was hoping for a female character. definitely doesn't have to be some bikini model or anything. just trying to throw in some variance. if i get the time to find a better example, i will post it, but i have a busy couple weeks so we'll see.

ok, but you asked for it! how about this dancing girl enemy from Clash at Demonhead?

easiest choice ever for me. i own a few hundred games that i have played, or at least play-tested, that i would love to get back to. there's only a couple new games each year that even interest me. so yes, give me only the games i've played before.

first and foremost, i voted Mew. but only because Rattata (which evolves into the best pokemon ever!) wasn't on the list. seriously, check this cutie out! it's a classist war against rodents, i tells ya!!

@T-Pac you're doing awesome work. i don't know what my favorite part of this forum is..... Ink-Tober or Secret Santa. sorry i don't have a suggestion this year, but keep up the awesome art! i appreciate you!!

i didn't even know this was a thing but it's very cool. congrats!

sad but not surprised by this Best Buy news. when Guardians of the Galaxy v3 came out, i stopped at Target to pick it up. there were no copies on the floor, and their new release endcap hadn't been reset in 2-3 weeks (it should change every single week). so i stopped at Best Buy. there was 1 dvd copy available, but no blu-ray. So i had to resort to Wal-Mart. they had 3 BD copies. just crazy to think about. this was a major studio motion picture, not some little indie flick. but i had to stop at three major chains to find a physical copy. i knew things were bad, but not THIS bad. saw a report a couple months ago that select Target stores are also getting rid of physical music/movies. it didn't mention video games, but it's certainly a matter of time. whoa! i have a part time job at a record store, and some used vinyls came in last weekend. one had a Peaches price sticker on it (49 cents!) but i had never heard of the chain. funny timing to see this now.

seen them all. most of them have their own sort of charm. voted Goldeneye as my favorite, but that is 100% because of the game. solid enough movie, but i don't objectively think it would be tops. missed opportunity to not have a poll as to who your favorite Bond is (Dalton, for me). another missed opportunity to not have your favorite Bond song (would have to give it my thought, but "Diamonds Are Forever" is kind of the quintessential Bond song i think of. "Die Another Day" by Madonna ranks as the worst IMO).

Spyro the Dragon is finished. a deeper review can be found in the Backlog 2023 thread, but here's a pic.

i beat Spyro the Dragon (ps1) tonight. it was fun. varied level design and set pieces. the music was lighthearted and fit the vibe of the game, but kept cutting out randomly....gotta love old cd based games. this wasn't terribly challenging to just play, but the most rewarding part was exploring every nook and cranny to find all the secrets. (and before anyone asks, no i did not 100% the game). i think i ended up with 73 dragons and 9000ish jewels, so a pretty respectable showing for an initial playthrough. having the final boss essentially be a timed chase was certainly a choice that i didn't appreciate, though. give this a try if you just want to kick back and chill with a game that won't stress you out.

damn, got serious flashback vibes from reading that AA thread. Hope it goes better for them than it did for us.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis picks up where the first one left off. a fun puzzle platformer that is made up of 8 Worlds, of 9 Stages each. You must navigate your Mini Marios to the exit, collecting coins and avoiding hazards and enemies. It's not terribly challenging, although there some tricky stages and mazes along the way. it's a perfect game to pick up, play a handful of stages, and set down.

when i was a kid, i would obsess over the manuals. even the generic one-pagers that came with rented NES games. it was just another way to live in that world. nowadays, i will usually quickly breeze through them if i pick up a new game (big IF it even comes with s booklet) or a new-to-me game (disc based only). IMO the loss of manuals is a significant decline in the gaming world.

went the full 10 on this one. endlessly quotable.

this might be the most depressing thing i've read on here, ever.

i have never had to say/pronounce "CIB" aloud, and hope to never have to. i prefer to write it as "CIB" but say "Complete".

i wouldn't mind a signed AVGN game for display purposes, but that's as far as i would go. Definitely wouldn't be my play copy- i would be afraid to wear the sharpie off the cartridge. i would love to get a copy of Mario or Zelda signed by Miyamoto. a sports/licensed sig (like @CIB_Wholesale's Tony Hawk above, or Mike Tyson on Punch-Out!!, or even Harrison Ford on an Indiana Jones game) would be fine too, but not something i'd seek out. OK, maybe the Tyson one. actually, getting both Schwarzenegger and Peter Weller to sign a copy of Terminator vs. RoboCop would be pretty cool. But none of these people are "influencers", so now i'm just rambling.