Renmauzo

I decided to pull the trigger once I saw Thunder Cross was on the list. Besides that, at least the versions of relatively easily accessible games aren't what I was expecting, so that's a bit of a plus. Seriously though, if not for Thunder Cross, I would have passed on this collection and never given it a second thought.

I understand. I feel like there are too many people in the world who put emphasis on the wrong beats where Christmas is concerned, and I wholeheartedly agree with @Glovesthat you have the power to make it what you will; often times, being miserable is a choice. That said, I do understand. I get a little crazy with the cleaning and wanting everything to look and feel perfect even though my parents, my aunt, my brothers and sister, sister in law, and the kids are all super chill and everyone insists I take it easy and enjoy myself. I've discovered - about myself - that, in the pursuit of the perfect holiday moment and memory, I've tended to risk losing the point. In the end, the drinks come out, the board games come out, the food is awesome, and we laugh 'till it hurts into the wee hours of the morning for Christmas and the days that follow. In the end, it's what you make of it. Some things will be within your control while others won't, but by and large, you call the shots.

I'm happy with the soft pouches. The Sony pouch for PS VIta, the fanny packs for Game Boy and Turbo Express, the beautiful pouch for the Neo Geo Pocket, and the drawstring pouch for the 3DS...these have all served me well, but it's more about protection from dust and the like; I've never had issues with drop damage or anything like that.

The State of the Arc Podcast does a 'video game book club' of sorts in which they do a deep dive analysis for a selected game and you play along over the course of however many weeks it takes to complete and analyze the game. For the last few weeks, it's been Silent Hill 2: the only game I ever returned open because it freaked me out back when it released, and a game that I would later buy again when I got the nerve but on XBOX. Having beaten the game tonight, hindsight made me realize that the game was never scary in the way that most horror tries to be, but in that unnerving/what's real and what's in my head sort of way. A pervasive sense of doom and damnation stayed with me throughout, and is evident in my ending stats...lots of saves, and mostly physical damages to enemies...I finished the game with over 500 rounds of ammunition and a few dozen healing items because I kept fearing I'd run out if I used them and would be screwed later. In the end, I see now why this game is considered an all time classic and a masterwork of horror...there is A LOT to unpack philosophically, psychologically, and thematically with this game...everything has meaning and was presented for a reason; it was quite the experience. I'm glad I finally mustered up the nerve to see this experience through.

How timely! I just got the Genesis version in the last week or so and am looking forward to playing it as I've been hearing more and more great things about it of late. I've always enjoyed the Capcom version (escaping the Cave of Wonders is thrilling), but I had forgotten how tough the game is. I'd rented the game a couple of times with my friend back in the day but never beat it. Flash forward to earlier this year, and I found myself thinking, "Why haven't I picked up Aladdin?" which I rectified. Once in, though, the game promptly kicked my ass. My only gripe with the SNES game is that I find the controls aren't always to the level of precision of, say...a Mega Man X. I found myself dying numerous times where my sister said (on seeing me getting frustrated), "I literally watched your hands, you totally did 'x' and he didn't do it!?" Despite that, an easy 7 for me and a wonderful game; I'm hoping for something comparable on the Genesis and am confident it won't disappoint!

I'm the 'clean them when I get them, then test' type. When I think about it, it's a matter of respect for the games, for the time and effort put into getting and playing them, and the legacy they represent. I'm sure many have had - or still have - that friend who'd leave their cartridges on the floor in a heap, leave loose game discs all over the coffee table to get scratched to hell, and it always bothered me for several reasons. Perhaps growing up poor instilled a sense of appreciation and respect for my things, as well as those of others, but there's also a certain reverence for everything that went into creating these things. From the conceptual phase to the programming phase, to manufacturing...it was a process created by many to bring to us these magical experiences in a way that everyone benefits, monetarily and/or experientially. In the end, I like to keep things clean and orderly because that's an outlet that helps me find balance, and it just feels right for me.

2022 went far better than 2021, and I've only missed 4. I think I'll be trying a comparable list for the coming year and bringing over 3 of the 4 I couldn't complete; Nexzr feels impossible, so I think I'll be retiring that one. I'll likely add the odd title, but only backlog games, never something new. 1. Kid Dracula (Game Boy) – Unbeaten 2. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (NDS) – Beaten 07/10/2023* 3. Resident Evil Gaiden (Game Boy Color) – Unbeaten 4. Tales of Destiny (PS1) - Unbeaten 5. Tales of Destiny II (PS1) - Unbeaten 6. Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis) - Unbeaten 7. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1 or Saturn) - Unbeaten *Started* 8. Tactics Ogre Reborn (Switch) - Unbeaten *Chapter 3 so far* 9. Elemental Master (Genesis) - Unbeaten 10. Magic Knight Rayearth (Saturn) - Unbeaten 11. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - Beaten 03/06/2023 12. Xenoblade CHronicles Definitive Edition (Switch) - Unbeaten *3/4 through the game so far* 13. Mega Man 8 (Saturn) - Unbeaten 14. Albert Odyssey (Saturn) - Unbeaten 15. Snatcher (Sega CD) - Unbeaten 16. Eternal Darkness (Gamecube) - Unbeaten 17. BioShock (XB360) - Beaten 26/01/2023 18. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (NDS) - Beaten 04/10/2023 19. Koudelka (PS1) - Unbeaten 20. Ghost of Tsushima (PS5) *w/Isle of Iki expansion* - Beaten 13/08/2023

I've been working away on J-Saturn stuff for the last little bit and am super excited for that in the coming weeks, but over the past few weeks, here's a combination of what came in the mail and what was picked up locally: I don't do toys much or often, but, I mean, FFT Bring Arts figures!? Just had to. Agrias here joins Ramza, and now I'm just waiting on Delita to show up...these are going to be really fun to set up! Other than that, I'm both a big Horizon fan and Hades fan, so I felt compelled to get both of the Nendoroid figures. On the games front, I picked up GoW (just got 100% last night), and Tactics Ogre...one of my favourite games! Shredder's Revenge showed up from Nintendo Force magazine from a contest win for a letter I wrote back in the issue that featured the game on the cover; not sure why they sent me a Euro copy, lol. I bought Aladdin for $3 because I keep seeing it talked about lovingly, and although I'm a Capcom Disney game fanboy, I figured I'd give this version a try. As for Beyond the Beyond, I used to own the game years ago and gifted it to my younger brother since he was really interested. As I near the end of rounding out my collection, I've gone back over the lists and this was one that I decided to add back in. And finally, a little more progress on the Game Boy front. Dexterity was the November game of the month for Yokoi Kids, so I put a focus on getting a copy now rather than later, and Wacky Sports was silly cheap for being fully complete; checking back regularly online and being patient does pay off. Oh, and the Pocket finally decided to show up, lol! It looked gorgeous online, but holding it and using it in person...I immediately loaded up some Legend of the River King and it was glorious!!! *** That's it for now, later all, and good luck on your hunts!

Hahaha, 102, love it XD. 40 for me today, and my daughter made me a 'home made' peanut butter cup with a Kirby mold, and my son accidentally made me a father's Day card...it's been a pretty funny morning so far

This has been a wonderful and addictive game that I've dumped many hours into at different points over the years. The addition of multiplayer gave it new life, and the expansion that added the island added a lot to the late game. There are a lot of things done in Stardew that outshines what inspired it (in fact, Story of Seasons has taken some of the ideas that Stardew developed), but as with all farming games, once you've done all there is to do, there's little reason to keep playing. That said, the game is so good that - with a little time away on the shelf - you tend to want to go back and relive it all again in a slightly (or significantly) different way before too long. Easy 9, bordering on a 10 for me.

That was fun! I just learned about this Smarties business while in the US a few weeks ago and was confused why Rockets were labeled as Smarties o_0? I like the way your mind works; it made for 'can't put this book down' reading

I'm guessing your camera skews warmer where colour is concerned, so the saturation looks a little high on Final Fight Guy but otherwise, spacing and orientation looks identical to mine (I got mine from LaC about 5 years ago). I don't have DK Jr. Math, so I can't speak to that one unfortunately.

I always find myself conflicted with Super Metroid. The atmosphere is fantastic, from the graphical choices to the music and boss design, but I don't love the gameplay (which I tend to find imprecise and frustrating at times) and feel that some areas overstay their welcome. I can understand why the game is a favourite for many, but just can't seem to feel the same way no matter how many times I've tried going back to the game over the years; I was relieved to finally beat Super Metroid last year with my younger brother riding shotgun since it's his favourite game of all time, and made for a nice memory with the game for me. While not a popular opinion, I prefer - and really like - Fusion.

Got a box from VGP this afternoon! I finally got copies of Deathsmiles and Horgihugh, Baldo came in (I was following this before release and like the idea of Ghibli-esque LoZ game), and Earth Atlantis has looked very interesting. While I know it's nothing like In the Hunt, that's what popped into my head every time I saw it. I'm very excited to play Village again, but in 3rd person this time (I really don't care much at all for 1st person gameplay), and...I'm a sucker for constantly giving Star Ocean another chance...I just can't help it Lastly, I got this really cool NOS PC-Genjin/PC-Denjin drawstring bag. I love the artwork and how utilitarian stuff like this is! So so ends another box. Thanks for looking and good luck to everyone out there; I hope you all find what you're looking for

@fcgamer, what is a 'dank collector'? Honest question, I'm not familiar with the term. I'm trying to parse the two words and can't figure out how 'dank' and 'collector' fit together, and if it's slang, that's a new one to me. "Inquiring minds..." and all that

This was my first time trying to carve a picture into a pumpkin and I think it turned out pretty well! All I had available to use in the way of 'carving tools' was a steak knife and a pair of chopsticks. Unfortunately, the front of the pumpkin here with the smoothest surface had/has a blemish on it that makes it look burnt in the dark. I was trying to think of something to do for the Yokoi Kids game of the month, Bubble Ghost, and then it came to me: carve a Bubble Ghost pumpkin!

While I understand the economic sensibilities behind it, I don't like the idea of some exec deciding what I may or may not like and thus cutting me off from experiences. This factored big time into Sega's North American Saturn strategy for choosing what to bring here which resulted in us getting cut off from so many amazing games, which makes having a Japanese Saturn collection a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. I only had a few NES games growing up, and one of them was a Famicom cart of Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa!! which got play on par with SMB3 and Star Tropics; I love that game and is the sole reason I have a Disc System now. That someone decided North Americans 'wouldn't get it' or something equally as insulting is frustrating to me since a good game is a good game regardless of nostalgia. So with that said, I'll be wherever the good games are, regardless of region. Neither nostalgia nor 'collectibility' are factors, and I certainly don't care about full-set collecting and having hundreds/thousands of games I'll never play; the only factor that counts for me when making a decision on a purchase: "Is this game awesome enough to me that it's worth owning?".

Cody, not gonna lie, that got me a little choked up...made me think of my grandparents and something similar. What an awesome discovery; I'm really glad you found a special piece of your childhood like that

Two boxes arrived today: one I had shipped before leaving for PRGE (from the box in the US), and the other on the Monday after the show (shipped at the FEDEX store back to my address). I've had Jade Cocoon for 20+ years, but never got the second. As I was going over the 'to get' list to update it for the final time (as in, no more additions to the list), I did some looking into the sequel and think it will be a game for me. With regards to Eternal Darkness, my younger brother has been preaching to me about this game (his personal favourite of all time) for years and years, so I decided to start listening and watched a SuperBri64 episode about the game. I was convinced, and as I've waited for the game to arrive, I've found myself getting more and more hype; I think this is going to be my Halloween game this year (although, I still plan on making time for a bunch of Castlevania ). Wario Ware Touched - as has been the case for several Wario games - was one I thought I'd picked up an age ago but turned out to be my memory playing tricks on me...for some reason this has been a mostly Wario-centric phenomenon o_0? This was the third-to-last DS title I'd been after aside from SRT and Commando. ...and Gear Works. Ugh, I'd been trying to find a complete copy for ages, but refused to pay the price I was seeing for the copy I'd been seeing on ebay. Finally (a few weeks ago), someone posted a copy at a reasonable price and was willing to come down even further. I LOVE puzzle games like this; I think there will be quite a few nights in my immediate future in which I keep pushing back going to sleep while I play in bed. This was what I shipped after PRGE, and the item I won at auction. I went to the dinner that evening and had some great conversation. I didn't want to do the WhatNot thing, so one of the store owners offered to bid on my behalf and I simply paid him the winning bid in cash. I love all things Game Boy, so this was just the coolest to me. Back then, the store I worked at was too small to get one of these units, so I only every got to see them elsewhere, When I saw that a fully complete Metroid Zero Mission kit (all inserts, adapters, brackets, and packaging) was going to be available, I felt compelled to bring this home to the game room. This was one of those 'dreams come true' moments as this kind of stuff has always felt so far out of reach due to a lack of access and always being just 'too late'. ********* And that is it for today...likely for another few weeks really. Thanks for looking everyone, and I hope you all find what you're looking for!

Hi @AirVillain, just thought I'd chime in. Ian was speaking about me. I bought the Commando Steel Disaster off of him and we had a conversation about it at the table on Saturday. It turns out that we have a mutual friend and had a bit of conversation about GB/GBC/GBA and PC Engine games (and Lardo's sandwiches) on Monday over lunch. As an aside, since Pat and Ian are just a couple of regular guys who happen to have a podcast (albeit with reach due to various factors), why not start a podcast of your own? I'm sure the feedback you get will prompt good conversation. I get feeling like you don't have people to talk to who care about the subject matter, but a few of the folks on VGS have a podcast and have interesting takes; maybe you could ask to be a guest for a round table discussion on the topic? Regarding the question you posed: "Are there people who will buy a game and NOT play it????" Absolutely. The first person who comes to mind is Cooper from Double Jump. He has a massive collection, only does the full set thing, and has gone on record in one of his videos stating he's got no intention of playing the retro games he buys, he just loves the hunt. There are plenty of other broad strokes examples, but at the end of the day, does it matter? To my mind, if what you're doing with your collecting makes you happy and isn't harming either the people in your life or yourself, have at it, no? While that - in and of itself - is a pretty obvious statement of opinion, just like any other opinion, everyone's allowed to have theirs...objectively or subjectively right or wrong. There are other things going on in the retro gaming community that are - to my mind - actively harmful and I feel like it really altered the atmosphere to PRGE this year; suffice to say, my wife and I agreed that we don't see ourselves going back. Now that would be an interesting conversation I'd love to engage in on a podcast! Well, a conversation for another time and thread

Agreed, it was the one game I thought there'd be no chance of seeing...not even on ebay most of the time, so to get it complete and decently under what I've seen it go for (the odd time I would see a copy too late) was a show making moment for me

PART 2 Here's the other half of the things we were able to track down at PRGE 2022: An AES was my primary focus for this show. I'd brought a bunch of trade bait with me to the show and put it all towards this and the memory card; the games were included, but I plan to get a NEO SD or a converter and use my MVS kits (probably just going to go the Neo SD route though). I wanted it CIB, but someone beat me to the only US Gold Bundle that was at the show. One day... My wife tracked down the Shadow Hearts games to go with the Koudelka I bought 15 years ago for $10. She did a great job at getting these for cheap Game & Wario was the one Wii U game I still wanted but was missing, and Super Robot Taisen OG Saga was a game I thought I'd had all this time but found out recently was the one DS Atlus game I seemed to have missed. I really like the SRT games, and this one has Kos-Mos in it (and I'm a huge Xeno fan...). Commando: Steel Disaster was the one game I didn't expect to see at all, so when I saw that Ian was selling it and for sweetheart price, it was was equal parts joy and shock. I got another copy of the Yokoi Kids fanzine (for my brother) as well, and we talked about this month's game, Bubble Ghost. Seriously, to any GB fans out there: check out Yokoi Kids (GB game-of-the-month club), play a game and submit something related to the game for publication; it's a ton of fun! I was disappointed to see a lack of import Saturn this year, but I was able to start my import collection off with Castlevania (despite the lack of love for this version - and I understand why - I'm really looking forward to playing it) and X-Men vs. SF (with the 4mb RAM cart), a fighting game I adore; I'm looking forward to the improvements over the PS version! I recently fleshed out my NES list...something I'd been putting off for ages, so I went looking for some specific things and found a number of titles. It was tough to find Genghis Khan with all the inserts, so it was nice to get that (I'm one of those that love these Koei strategy games/simulation series) and Kickle Cubicle looks like it may as well be new! I was really happy to find a beautiful complete copy of Scheherazade, love puzzle games like Puzznic, and Silkworm was another that my wife was really happy to have scored fully complete on the cheap. Snow Brothers was a last-half-hour haggle... ...along w/Toki . I tried Project Blue at the creator's booth and fell in love with the game, so I bought the Famicom version 'cause I thought it looked cooler than the NES one. That WonderSwan battery pack/charger is awesome and was field tested by someone I know, so I got one too! ...and that's pretty much it! I had to mail back an item I won at auction which should be here next Wednesday, so I'm really excited for it to show up! The show was a mixed bag this year and I'm not sure I'll head back next year; we're thinking of doing MGC instead in April as all our American friends are also running booths/going to that event and asked us to come. Everyone's had nothing but glowing things to say about the last couple of MGC events, and we have a standing invite to be shown around Chicago before/after the show. Honestly, the people are what saved PRGE for me this time as much of the magic had been otherwise lost and the commercialism has massively taken hold, especially with Whatnot being so heavily tied to the show this year, and many of the major grading/auction services being ominously present. Until next time!

PART 1 I just got back to the island from Portland and PRGE 2022 (travel day started @ 3am PST, ended @ 11:30pm AST @_@), and it was a decent time. Really, hanging out with some of my Neo Geo buddies and making some new friends was the real highlight (and that Sega Saturn lounge was AWESOME!). I'd been saving some pennies for the show over the past few months, and here's what I came back with: It was surprisingly difficult to find a clean copy of Shining Force, but I found a beautiful copy tucked away at a table on the Sunday, while my wife snagged a fully complete Alisia Dragoon and talked the seller down. I found Steel Empire in a bin not intended by the vendor, so the price was practically a steal . I found Hellfire S in the last half-hour of the show and haggled to a good price, bit the bullet on Cotton, and finally tracked down an Avenue Pad 6! >_> ... I thought I was done with NGPC...BUT I COULDN'T RESIST! I'm not a full set guy at all, but I'm so close to having all the North American releases and love the NGPC so much...I had to do it. I was able to negotiate a good price on Gals Fighters at least. The hunt continues for Game Boy games, but all I was able to track down was Little Mermaid and a sealed R-Type DX (couldn't find an open one, and it was cheap; looking forward to playing that one). Iridion II was the last thing I bought within the last 5 minutes of the show, and the vendor gave me a sweetheart deal! Not much of an N64 fan, but there are a couple dozen games I'm into and these were 3 of the 5 remaining games I'd like to have before I consider myself done. I saw the other 2 (Mario Party 2 and Pokémon Snap, but none were fully complete so I passed). I made it my mission to find Decathlete, so I was really excited to finally score a beautiful copy at a great price; that game screams mid-90's Sega to me and really takes me back to sleep overs at my friend's house staying up all night with the Saturn. I got Guardian Heroes from the same vendor as the Cotton, so we worked out a pretty smoking deal, and my wife snagged this Panzer Dragoon Saga (first game we bought at the show). It is pristine and it was the cheapest copy at the show by far (2019 pricing), although we saw less of them than in 2019; my wife has been very happy with herself on this find It was surprisingly difficult to find MvC at the show; I only ever saw this and one other copy that was sun-faded beyond belief. Before I found this one, Josh (SideQuest) ran a Whatnot stream on Sunday afternoon and the price shot to $180 which was crazy and irritating. Luckily, about 15 minutes later, I stumbled across this one and talked the guy down to a pretty cheap price. Mickey Mania was the last Sega CD game I'd been looking for, and this was another of the games I got with Cotton and Guardian Heroes. It was missing the poster, but I found one online for $12, so it still worked out to less than the going rate. As for JoJo, my son really likes the series and was hoping I'd find this as it would be much easier to get going than the Dreamcast version given my Dreamcast setup over VGA. I had to pay the going rate, but it was only one of two copies I saw at the show and the other was more expensive and missing the back artwork. My wife was feeling disappointed as the game she was looking for most was the Monster Hunter Stories 2 CE, but I saw it randomly near the end of the day on Saturday and was even able to negotiate down to retail; she was over the moon! I picked up Elden Ring, Tales, and Mario Party at the Gamestop in the local mall to take advantage of Oregon not having sales tax (15% for my province in Canada) and a sale they were having. I'd picked up DioField a few weeks ago on launch day and it is fantastic in my opinion! Isamu Kamikokuryo is one of my favourite artists which sold me on the game initially beyond just the concept. This game has been a great appetizer while waiting for Tactics Ogre next month TO BE CONTINUED...

From recent memory, Picross 3D is fantastic and addictive (one of the games I completed this year) and costs $10 or less.

I watched the Tokyo Gameshow coverage for the Battle Network collection all the while grinning ear to ear. the BN series is my favorite series of games, and so it makes me happy to not only see the series put in the spotlight again, but to reach - potentially - a new generation of gamers. I'll be buying the collection on all platforms to do my part in sending the message to Capcom that people still love Mega Man; I'vedecided to 'speak with your (my) wallet' as they say .