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Reed Rothchild

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  1. Reed Rothchild

    December 2022 Featured Member: a3quit4s

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    What originally brought you to NA/VGS?
    Black Friday, 2015, I was striking out finding anything to buy. My future wife and I met up with her friends at one of our favorite bagel spots on Long Island (Strathmore, Ronkonkoma). We were talking and somehow, we got on the topic of video games. She mentioned that she had an old Super Nintendo and some games that she no longer used and I could buy them if I wanted, since I didn’t find anything for black Friday. I always ask people if they still play them because I feel bad buying them if I do. She said she didn’t so we went back to her house and low and behold a beautiful yellowed SNES and some games were there waiting.
    I didn’t know it at the time but this would become the first purchase that I would make to start collecting. After this we got back to our apartment in Maryland (we were visiting for Thanksgiving) and I got on eBay and bought a Nintendo 64 and NES and from there, in early 2016 when we bought our first house together, I had a spare room to start building a collection. The first year of collecting was all over the place, I bought everything for everything. I started hitting yard sales back when there weren’t resellers for games all over the place. I remember the first “expensive” game I bought was Mega Man for NES.
    I stumbled on NintendoAge sometime in 2018, and was just hooked on how much information there was and the knowledge that people had on the subject. I spent a long time lurking just absorbing and eventually I created my account in order to heavily utilize the Buy/Sell/Trade section. My first target was CrimsonCobra – he had a Little Samson for sale. Since I was a new member, we started small in order to build trust – I bought Duck Tales 2 and then Mighty Final Fight. After those two went well, he sold me the Little Samson.
    I wasn’t really a true member on NA for all that long. I was a lurker for a while but the email to activate my account didn’t come until 5/28/19. VGS was born towards the end of October of that year and I joined the exodus out of NA to our new home here. No need to rehash the NA junk, but I’ve enjoyed this community more as it is significantly more welcoming.
     
    Story behind your username and avatar?
    I’ve been using this username as long as I can remember – I think it started very early on Counter-Strike or Team Fortress Classic before Steam was even around. A3quit4s is aequitas which is Latin for justice. It’s a Boondock Saints reference, one of the brothers has it tattooed on his trigger finger where the other has veritas or truth tattooed on his. Funny story I have it tattooed on my arm (18-year-old me made super good decisions). My brother has veritas tattooed on him as a shout out to me.
    My avatar changes semi-frequently. It used to be a 49ers logo but I switched over to the Link to the Past avatar a while ago and I just like it. I always thought it was cool to have an animated avatar. I’m old and remember like PHPBB based forums that didn’t support that.
     
    What do you do for a living?
    I work in Information Technology. I sometimes can be seen making comments to help people out with IT related issues they are having. Or bitch about NA not having an SSL certificate. My official title is Cloud Infrastructure Architect but I personally feel like I’m more of an engineer than an architect. This means that if you have a technical business problem or pain point or something you want to accomplish, you can talk to me and I’ll help you translate the problem into a technical solution and help you figure out roughly how much it’ll cost. Unlike most architects, I can actually deploy the solution as well. I work at Amazon Web Services in the Professional Service arm that serves the public sector. 
    I’ve worked with all sorts of teams and all kinds of problems. I come from a data center background before I got into Cloud Services and before that Sys Admin all the way down to help desk. I’ve been doing IT for 10-12 years and before I did that I was in sales, best career decision of my life.
     
    Where do you hail from?
    Funny story, right now I live in Wappingers Falls, NY which is the area I’m originally from – Dutchess/Ulster County NY. I’ve spent 30 or so years of my life here, except for about a year of living with my future wife in Long Island and 8 years living in Gaithersburg, MD.
    We moved back to NY in July, my wife is a teacher and wasn’t happy at her district in MD, we have a three-year-old and decided it would be good to be closer to family again (hers in Long Island and mine right around us). She found a job at a nearby district before we moved and my job is remote so I’ve come back home.
     
    Favorite piece in your collection?
    I think it has to be the guide for the NWC championships that I bought off a member of NA back in the day. I think I only paid like $100 for it – he was auctioning off a bunch of stuff that he had (rbudrick). A close second is my Zelda display case. Zelda is my favorite game series to play so I have a lot of them CIB in a nice Ikea display case that I put some LED lights in.
     
    Top 10 games of all time and why?
    Top 5 in order, 6-10 are interchangeable depending on the day!
    Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time – Ok Ok this is a pretty generic choice but hear me out. I started playing on NES in 1989 or so, moved to SNES in 1992. The move from NES to SNES was great, right? Better graphics, way better colors, and like way more buttons on the controller. Now think about the change from SNES to N64 and 3d. No moment in gaming changed my life more than stepping out onto Hyrule field for the first time (after that god damn owl stops talking). People complain about the Z targeting but hey even that was revolutionary. Once you get Epona and you can just ride around, I mean c’mon. This is the game that made my brain click to what games could actually be in the future.
    Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past – I agree with Reed on his ranking for this game. I can’t say it better than him. Read the rankings. I actually cannot remember for the life of me if I had this when I was a kid. I may have played it later on in my teens. Nonetheless, a prototypical breakthrough Zelda game.
    Super Mario Bros 3 – Ok so there were several iterations of Mario before SMB3. NES SMB gave us the baseline for a Mario game, SMB2 was a wtf moment and we really should have just got the Lost Levels here as SMB2 no matter how hard it was. Although Doki Doki Panic re-skinned as SMB was a fun ass game. SMB3 set the standard for a Mario game. It's creative, it’s fun, there are many different worlds to explore, each one has a gimmick, and most importantly, it has infinite replay value. I may actually play this more than my top 2 only because you can just pop it in and play
    Counter-Strike – My favorite genre of games has always been first person shooters and it’s because of this game. I don’t have close to the number of hours in any game I’ve ever played than the Counter-Strike series. I’m not really sure what it is about the game, it’s just fun to play; I’ve played it in clans, for fun, competitively (any old CAL folks here!). The gameplay is fun, the maps are on point (de_dust2)
    Halo – When I was in high school, I can remember my friend driving to my house in a snowstorm (school was canceled) to get my Xbox and TV so we could head back to his house to pile in his basement with like 20 other people to link 4 xbox systems and tvs together using a 10mb hub and playing together. Some of the best times I can remember are playing with 16 people or playing co-op and fighting the flood on legendary for the umpteenth time. Not to mention this game single handedly saved the Xbox. Blood Gulch 4 life.
    High Speed – I didn’t realize how much fun pinball games are on console. I find myself buying them across all the systems I have, which is a lot according to my wife. NES High Speed happens to be my favorite, so much so that it inspired me to buy the actual pinball machine of it which is just as fun. A close second is Devil's Crush on TG16.
    Ghost of Tsushima – This is probably odd on a list, but this is a game that I have the closest to of 100% completion and having almost 3,000 games, that says a lot. I never feel the need 100% games but for some reason after I finished the main story line, I just wanted to keep playing. It was really fun and really well done. The story was interesting as well
    GoldenEye 007 – I could put a couple games from the N64 on here but this one stands out the most. 4 player multiplayer on N64 was a game changer. Just so many nights with friends playing this where the person who came in last had to hand off the controller. The game modes were awesome – License to Kill on throwing knives lol. I mean for all the shit the N64 library gets it had some 4 player bangers – WCW vs NWO, WaveRace, MarioKart – N64 was a blast with friends, and if you were alone, play, I dunno, Ocarina of Time 😄 The single player is awesome as well, diverse levels, good controls for what they had to work with, didn’t stray away from the movie which I liked because GoldenEye is one of my favorite Bonds
    Stardew Valley – I don’t like farming sim games, but this one I love. I was straight up addicted to this game for like a month, which never happens to me. Usually, I’ll get a game and play it for a few days and move on but this game was so much fun. I had to put it down and force myself to play something else. I come back to it every now and again and start a new farm with something new that I learned from the previous play
    Grand Theft Auto V – I wasn’t a fan of the early like top down GTA games, I had one on game boy really early on that I got frustrated every time I played. GTA 3 or Vice City or San Andreas could be on here as well. GTA 4 was fun but it didn’t really expand the series for me. GTA V and the introduction of playing as different characters was really awesome for me. I played the shit out of this game. It’s on the list and I’ve never even played GTA online. There is just so much to do besides play the main story line, it’s a fun game that has excellent replayability. GTA games from 3 and one are just fun as hell to play, they don’t take themselves too seriously and know what they are. I’d be scared to release GTA 6 as well look at what we have come to expect from the series.
     
    Family? Pets?
    No pets. I’ve got my wife and my 3-year-old boy who is in the I never stop talking phase. Anyone have any potty-training advice?
     
    Favorite movie of all time?
    I feel like I don't really have one. I've watched a ton of movies in my 37 years on this planet. I actually used to collect them before I moved onto games. I had about 800 or so before I moved down to Long Island with my now wife. I'd say I have a couple that I will always watch if they are on TV or I see them in passing in some way. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World will probably come the closest to the definition of favorite. I actually own it on blue ray or DVD I think. Its just a great movie and a great graphic novel series as well. Obviously all the video game references are awesome and there is just something about the character that is alluring. I watch the Christmas Story marathon every year, I'll watch it at least twice fully through. It always makes me laugh and brings me into the Xmas spirit, although its been easier to get into since having my son too. The original Fast and the Furious I still love and will seriously think about buying a Skyline for the next month after I watch it.The Boondock Saints is up there too, I mean it's a fantastic movie with fantastic characters from like a nobody writer/director. I'll get shit here but I like the Twilight movies - I really can't explain this, I'm a hopeless romantic? ps. OK after Reed's last question I came here to put any movie John Hughes directly did or even had a hand in ie, Home Alone. Clearly as a hopeless romantic his 80's movies with Molly Ringwald I will forever watch.
     
    Favorite television show of all time?
    This is along the same lines as the above question - I mean I've got shows that I will always watch but I'm not sure I'd rank them above each other - The American version of The Office. I tried to watch the British one but Ricky Gervais is so much more cringy than Steve Carrell that I just couldn't even watch it. Dexter was absolutely awesome all the way through. Sopranos I could say the same about. The Witcher was amazing but now that Henry is leaving I'm sure that'll end up washed up after next season. Game of Thrones save for the last season IYKYK. Younger me loved Doug on Nickelodeon - OMG to grow up in the golden age of Nickelodeon is something I'd wish for all kids, I'm telling ya.
     
    Favorite musician/album/song of all time?
    I'm my mothers son here - Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction - Welcome to the Jungle. I've got a really eclectic taste in music (no country though) but when your mom has you when she is 19 in 1985 your going to know the words to all the songs on Appetite for Destruction before you know the ABCs. 
     
    Favorite book of all time?
    Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. There is no contest here except maybe with some of Kurts other books. Loved the man, shed a tear when he died. After reading Slaughter House Five, I read everything of his. Funny story, a guy I worked with at Wal-Mart a lifetime ago met him and Kurt said to him "I wouldn't picture me wearing these socks either". 
     
    Nice, I'm actually working on finishing the entire Vonnegut library.   What was your least favorite story?
    I wouldn't say any of them are my least favorite but I will say some, more than others, took me a bit to get into. Player Piano for instance, I think I had to pick it up 4-5 times before I was actually able to get through it. Like SH5 and Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle, you pick up and you are hooked. Player Piano, Slapstick, Timequake, and a couple others took me more time to get into. I also read them when I was much younger so my patience isn't what it is now. Not that its much better now.
     
    Player Piano is actually one of the two Vonnegut novels I haven't read yet (alongside Hocus Pocus).  I keep putting it off because I'm afraid I won't like it.  By chance have you read his son's novel about being schizophrenic?
    I mean it's still a Vonnegut novel, for me it just took longer to get into than some of the others that I read. It may have been that I went from like his crowning achievements to his earlier work when he was still finding his voice. Its take on automation it's definitely still spot on today though, maybe even more than it was when it was released. I have not read the sons novel, but it does sound interesting.
     
    Beer, wine, or liquor?
    If it's any of the three it's beer and that's very sparingly and it's probably a Miller Lite. Most people here know I'm not really a drinker. 1. I'd rather eat my calories since I'm pretty big on health these days (that wasn't always the case says me who used to weight 50-60 pounds more) 2. I dunno after that age when you drink a lot it doesn't really sit well with me anymore.
     
    Favorite restaurant? 
    Casa Vallarta in Poughkeepsie, NY at the moment. TexMex is my jam and this place delivers the best every time. Uncle Julios was my go to in MD before I moved a few months ago, I never thought anything else would compare. I was wrong.
     
    Which member of The Breakfast Club are you?
    This is a great question, Reed. Bender for sure. No respect for authority, getting girls way out of my league, and teaching the nerds to rebel! DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT MEEEEE TIL Tears for Fears does not sing that song.
     
    Game you're most excited for?
    Bandwagon answer here - Breath of the Wild 2, although I'm not really sure what I am expecting. Can team Zelda do it again? Is that asking a lot from people that have delivered some of the best games known throughout the world? Is it possible to give you Breath of the Wild, with more? And what even is more in this sense? I'm pretty stoked for Haunted Chocolatier as well, since you know my obsession with Stardew Valley.
     
    What are you playing right now?
    I just finished the main storyline in God of War: Ragnarok and am toying with the idea of doing some of the side missions. I was really caught up in the story and just went scorched earth through the main quest, which I sort of regret, but it happens. It's kind of funny, the game is really insistent on you doing some side quests; Mimir and Atreus will constantly hound you about going to do other things before heading back to the main quest. Main story was really good; I'm not crying, you're crying.
     
    You're working on a full SNES set.  What was the hardest game to track down?  Which one still eludes you?  What game cost the most?
    SNES has actually been fairly easy. At this point it's more just throwing money at a problem, rather than having a hard time finding anything. It's definitely been more buying on eBay and maybe finding some stuff at local game stores. I feel like when I did N64 and NES the Buy/Sell forums were much more active on NA and here. I've got something like 30 or so left and none is really further away than an eBay search. Aero Fighters was the most expensive, its the only one that cost over $1,000 and I got an ugly cart. Hagane was a near second. I'm not looking forward to alphabetizing them in the least bit. By now I had already alphabetized the NES set and put PS4 games as placeholders for the ones I was missing. 
     
    What does the wife think of your collection?
    She tolerates it. I mean don't get me wrong, I think she has been a good sport about the whole thing. I think she expected this to be like the many hobbies I have picked up over the years; I get really into it and then one day not long after it starts I'm over it and onto something else. She really enjoyed the shit out of me getting the actual High Speed pinball machine, which was odd, I never knew that about her that she liked pinball so much. She has definitely spent her fair share of time in the game room playing whatever, mostly Donkey Kong. I think now that our son is getting older she gets that it's something we can all bond over so maybe now she is even a fan of it. I'm not sure she is a fan of me collecting full sets, because really neither am I after completing four (SNES done soon). Just so much filler and it takes up so much space. But it is really awesome to look at! She has only asked me a few times what something I bought cost or how much did I spend at the game store, but I have never spent money we didn't have or anything like that so the collection has never been something we argued about. I'd have given it up long ago if it became a point of contention in our marriage.
     
    What's next for the game room?
    I'm not really sure. I think I've got it to the point of where I wanted version one to be. Now its just about going back to buying things to make it look super cool and comfy. I was thinking of making a super comfy corner for like handheld playing or reading old Nintendo Powers or something like that. I also realized that I should have gotten some sort of neon sign long ago because it would just complete the look. Now they are far too expensive for like a OEM Nintendo one and I'm not sure an aftermarket would do it justice. One of those Nintendo fiber optic signs would be awesome. Once I finish out SNES I'll have to look into it.
     
    SNES or Genesis?
    I was fortunate and had both. SNES at my parents and Genesis at my grandparents. I can remember playing Sonic and Jurassic Park on the Genesis and they were OK. Nothing was sending me off the beaten path of being a Nintendo child though. Shoot, I would have traded in all the games and my Genesis for just Super Mario World, the game was fantastic to play over and over again. Throw in Link to the Past and C'MON MAN there is no argument here. As an older gamer though, being able to get some of the titles I didn't know about on Genesis then and play them now it makes a stronger case but still doesn't compare.
     
    Saturn or PS1 or N64?
    Never had a Saturn or a PS1 growing up so it easily goes to N64 here. Like I said I'm a Nintendo child and now a Nintendo adult (although I play my PS5 and XSX way more than Switch). Even though I have a Saturn now and a PS1, I'm sure most people are like me and play the consoles they had as kids more often than the others. Plus if you get a number of people together, besides for Switch, the N64 is the best party console. Smash, Mariokart, Mario Party, Goldeneye...
     
    PS2 or Cube or Xbox?
    These consoles were released when I generally got away from gaming was I was younger. I did have all three at some point in my life though and especially now as a collector. I really wasn't a Playstation person until PS4, I mean I have a lot of PS2 games now, and PS1, and XBOX, but I hardly ever play them. Same could be said for Cube really, but right after High School I did have a Gamecube, so I'll have to give it again to the little Nintendo Box that could. Xbox really only had Halo going for it but Cube had Zeldas, Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario, more MarioKart, Tennis, Golf. No character can carry a system like Mario as hard as it is to say as a Zelda fan.
     
    DS or PSP?
    Gotta go PSP here. I remember working at like Wal-Mart in 2005-2006 and picking one of these up right around its release day and being blown away but what was possible on a hand held device. DS was like yeah we have two screens but this was made for kids. I was playing Twisted Metal on handheld babbbbbyy
     
    3DS or Vita?
    3DS. I'm not sure what happened with Vita but it went down this very odd course of having many JRPGS which don't really interest me. That followed by the not strong library of other games and then it basically just fell off a cliff. 3DS had more great games and a lot of great remakes/remasters/whatever like Samus Returns and then your normal library of Mario and Zelda and other oddities that made it fun to play. I wasn't really into handhelds then but it did provide fun on flights and being in the car driving back and forth from MD to NY.
     
    We’re both big San Francisco 49ers fans.  What do you expect from the Niners the rest of the season?
    Man, I've been back and forth about this. With the Niners its always about staying healthy. Shanahan has been cursed since he came to the Niners. I don't know if he is running these guys ragged at practice or what but it seems like someone is always out. Christian McCaffery was a huge addition, but again the risk/reward if he can stay healthy is there. 3TDs in what his second game with us? I expect if we stay healthy to be contenders for the Super Bowl again, we basically already made it there with the team we have and have CMC now. If we can't stay healthy, well at least maybe we get a decent pick unless we have traded them all away already.
     
    What are your thoughts on Trey Lance?
    Haven't seen enough of him to really comment yet. Second game as the starter and you are out for the year. Tough breaks. I wasn't really expecting much of him this year as it was, but now you are set back a year and OMG if Jimmy wins a Super Bowl this year, yikes. I do know what generally happens to young QBs that have a lot of expectations but the jury is still out on this one. As a fan, I do hope the best for him though. I've had the golden years of QBs as a Niner fan and whatever the heck the complete opposite is of golden years....JT O'Sullivan anyone?
     
    I actually attended the JT O'Sullivan game in Seattle where they beat the Seahawks.  Don't think I've ever seen those people so angry - parking lot fights as far as the eye could see.  Ever been to a Niner game?
    This actually goes together with your story, I have seen the Niners play twice, once in like 2007-2008? They were playing the Giants and JT O'Sullivan was the QB and I think they got stomped out, which is better because the Meadowlands are not friendly to away team fans in the least bit and its worse when they lose. I saw them play the G-Men again (I'm from NY) in 2015 like the day after I got married. Kaep was QB then and even though we were winning for most of the game we still lost. I think I've only seen them in person twice and never at home. I'm hoping to change that this season. My wife and I were supposed to go to a wedding in Jamaica but then COVID and we still have the airline credit. Sucks that they don't play at the Stick anymore, I'd like to see San Fran but then I gotta go to Santa Clara for the actual game. I've heard the commute isn't fun.
     
    Deebo or Kittle?
    Jeez, that is really a toss up man, two great players that are just bound for greatness. Kittle's impact on the field is well known before he really even starts catching passes, and once he gets involved in the offense my man catches everything and just YAC all day. The best part about that is I could very well be talking about Deebo as well, my man also catches everything and is a complete YAC machine. I gotta tie these two, I think they are both great and headed for even better things.
     
    Bosa or Warner?
    I'm going to give a slight edge to Bosa here, but that is like having the greatness conversation about LeBron and Jordan, like you give Jordan the GOAT but LeBron is no short of legendary. I give the edge to Bosa because this dude just destroys games when he is on. Forget the fact that he is a sack machine, Bosa has QBs looking over their shoulder on every play; commanding double teams, flushing QBs out of the pocket. Fred is a stud LB, worthy of a comparison to THE number 52 Patrick Willis himself. Apparently, this is why the Chiefs are our kryptonite, because Mahomes plays better out of the pocket and when you play the Niners your QB is running for his life the whole time.
     
    McCaffrey or Juice?
    Juice is a fundamentals nightmare, he just does everything that he does perfectly. In a league where the FB position is dying everyday, he is the outlier that makes the position relevant. Blocking, running, pass catching, he is a one man show. It's funny that almost all 49ers have this thing in common on offense, they can literally play anywhere. Bring CMC to this equation and we really have a shot at the Super Bowl again this year. I hate Troy Aikman but watching the Cards game the other night, he mentioned that CMC would be an all-pro at slot receiver just as easily and it really made me think about yes that is true. Especially after watching some of the catches he made in just that game. I mean c'mon the dude had his hands in 3 TDs his second game as a Niner, his football intelligence is off the charts. I gotta give the edge to CMC though, he is younger and I think he has a lot of years left in the tank, even as a RB with great hands. He is really going to flourish under Shanahan and that is saying something because he was excellent as a Panther.
     
    Niners winning it all this year?
    This year, next year, and every damn year after that
     
    FMK: Garappolo, Kittle, Shanahan
    F - Jimmy for sure, he is just the best one night stand material.
    M - Kittle, Jimmy I want to spend the night with, George I want to spend the weekend with.
    K - Shanahan, 28-3, nuff said
     
    FMK: Donald, Kupp, McVay
    K - Donald, no one is allowed to be that good and play against the Niners regularly.
    F - McVay - He is good looking but I can't stand him.
    M - Kupp, for as much as he shits all over everyone on the field and is the best WR in the league, super down to earth and cool, and humble.
     
    FMK: Cersei, Daenerys, Brienne
    K - Cersei, get her before she gets you.
    F - Daenerys, on the crazy/hot scale burning down a city is about what I would expect from her.  So I'm going to have one go with her and ghost her.
    M - Brienne - Out of the three this is the choice that leads to the most normal life and possible one where my wife isn't regularly trying to kill me. 
     
    Gi Joe or Transformers?
    Neither for me really. If my son were to answer he would definitely say Transformers because he was watching the crap out of Rescue Bots for a while there.
     
    Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers?
    I grew up with both but Ninja Turtles for sure. Honestly, I still have Ninja Turtles stuff and will always seek it out. Not as much as games, but I've got a bunch of Ninja Turtle stuff around. I really wish I had kept all the figures that I had in the early 90's, not because they are valuable now but because they were really cool. I actually just watched the live action movies on Netflix again because they are on there. I made it halfway through the 3rd because its so damn weird and off script from the first two. I don't even want to think about how much money my parents and grandparents spent on TMNT stuff over the years.
     
    Country you'd most likely to visit?
    Hmmm...I think Japan would fit in here. I don't know -  I know so little about eastern countries and it seems like a good place to start. I'd only be concerned about what I would eat there because I'm not a huge seafood person but I'm sure I'd find something. Obviously, I would need a guide/translator but maybe not. For all I know the country is very english speaking friendly, at least in the cities. If I ventured out into the country I'd probably be pretty screwed. Brazil would probably be a close second, something about the culture and the nightlife would probably bring me back a couple years, but I'd also have to be careful where I traveled too. I've heard South America can be a tourist's dream as much as it can be a nightmare.
     
    How many different states have you been to?
    I'm fairly well traveled in the US. I've covered the east coast; I flew down to Florida from NY with some friends to get a car and drive it back up from FL to NY. I've driven from NY to ME with my ex many times over the summer for vacations in ME. I've been to Cali, Nevada, Texas, PA, and the District of Columbia. One place I haven't been that I'd like to go is New Orleans, it just seems like a blast.
     
    Ever met anyone else from NA/VGS?
    No one yet in person. One thing I have still yet to do since I have started collecting is go to a convention. I keep meaning to go to the one in PA but just haven't done it yet. I blame COVID. I'm sure I'd meet up with some VGS folks there.
     
    Favorite Xmas movie?
    No contest here, A Christmas Story. I think I've been watching the TBS or whatever channel it's on for 24 hours for at least 20 years. I always laugh at it and it just kind of puts me in the mood for XMAS. Even when we broke out of cable for streaming, I bought it on Blu Ray in order to watch it every year. It's nuts that they are making a new one, I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest. Like all things it can go horribly wrong or horribly right. It won't ever replace the original for me no matter how good it is, but hopefully it'll have some good laughs.
     
    What are you hoping to get for Xmas this year?
    I volunteered to be an elf again this year for Secret Santa, which is by far the coolest tradition that VGS has, and Santa asked me if I had anything on my list. The answer is nothing really. I'm a shopaholic by nature so if I want something I usually buy it for myself. I did tell my wife I wouldn't mind getting the NFL Blitz Arcade1up for the last spot that I have left in the game room for a smaller scale arcade machine. A Stadium Events would also be nice?
     
    How does one get a tree in the NYC area?
    I'm far out of the NYC area by about 90 miles and around the Hudson Valley there is never a business that is selling them more than 5 miles apart. If there is anything we have an abundance of by me its XMAS trees. Funny story though, when I was still watching hockey regularly, I was following the NY Rangers. There was like an inside look at the team series and I still remember Marion Gaborik going down like 5th Ave to buy a tree and flopping like this 6ft tree over his shoulder and walking it back to his condo.
     
    What'd you get the kid for Christmas?
    Just a few things so far. You know we have so much family that gives him stuff we usually don't buy him much. Trying not to make him a spoiled brat but as any parent will tell you its harder than it looks when all you want to do is spoil them 100% of the time. I've got a feeling it'll be another Paw Patrol ass Christmas, can't get enough of those friggin dogs I'll tell you. He is also in that cars and trucks phase so some of that. Construction vehicles are his big thing now which is odd because I don't know one damn thing about construction vehicles. He'll be like "Daddy look an excavator" and I'll be looking at a garbage truck or something and be like "Oh yeah Bub thats so cool". I did manage to get him another one of the like dinosaurs that transforms into a car from a specific set he really likes and has been playing with for months. Kids are tricky, they really love something for a week and then its onto something else.
     
    All-time favorite Xmas present?
    It really bothers me sometimes that I can't remember what year it was. Had to be like 1989 or 1990. You gotta remember I grew up out in the STICKS in NY, Dover Plains NY. So word takes time to travel about cool toys from the city folk. But one of those years I got my NES and it was beautiful. I actually don't even remember ever playing one before that or even any of my friends having one. I just remember being really excited because it was like the Action Set box with the Zapper and oh man I was about to bust down some ducks. I had this little 16" TV in my room which at the time was probably ballin and from there I was hooked. Got Legend of Zelda with it and I remember my mom and me playing it and filling out the map with all the cool stuff to find. A close second was the Ghostbusters Firehouse that mom and dad managed to get me, it was sold out everywhere. I have no idea how my parents managed to find it. Mom told me the story about it once, I need to ask her about it again.
     
    If you could meet one person, living or dead... 
    Gotta go with Kurt Vonnegut on this. I'm not even really sure why, I'd really love to hear his take on just the current state of everything that is going on in the world. I could probably do with some of his humor at this point as well - maybe if he hung around long enough he could give me an idea for something he would write about and I could pass it on to someone deserving of authoring it? I'd be awesome if I knew I was meeting him ahead of time so I could see about how his kids and grandkids/great grandkids because I am sure he would ask. A lot of people only think about what they would ask the living or dead person, but if we are bringing someone back from the dead you've gotta be prepared to answer their questions as well! 
     
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    I'm getting shit on for this answer but neither. The closest I'll ever get to being a fan of either is the JJ Abrams versions of Star Trek. I don't know, I was born in 1985 so these were a little before my time. I haven't watch much Star Trek besides the aforementioned, but I did buy the 6 movie Blu Ray for Star Wars and watched them with my wife. I don't know if they were like OK movies. Not something I would go out of my way to watch again. I'm also not really a fan of the LOTR trilogy. I've got weird taste I guess cause I'll watch the shit out of the first Fast and the Furious movie! It's not even like I'm not a fan of science fiction or fantasy movies.
     
    Disney or Pixar?
    Shit, this might be the hardest question you've asked me thus far. When I was a kid it was all about the Disney movies. My grandmother had a shelf of the VHS tapes that came in those vinyl white holders that could cut your finger clean off if you opened them wrong. Robin Hood was my favorite, which I think I mentioned before, but we had them all; All Dogs Go to Heaven, Lady and the Tramp, Rescuers Down Under, Fievel Goes West, Aladdin, Lion King, the list just goes on and on. Even when I was a tween, the Disney Channel Original movies were dope; Brink, Johnny Tsunami, Zenon, Smart House, etc, etc. Pixar though man, just fantastic movies all the time and the dialogue in them is just funny at all ages. Pixar might be a better gift to the world that Steve Jobs left over Apple. I have to give the edge to Disney right now, only because they have been at it for so long and the sheer volume of their library, but make no mistake Pixar is the real deal. Up has to be the most emotion that I have felt in a children's movie in my entire life. Although, I just Wiki'd Up and saw that Disney distributed it and didn't know that Pixar has been a subsidiary of Disney since 2006. Really a pick for either is a pick for Disney
     
    Who should I interview next?
    I feel like @Naked Warrior has a good story or Mr. Dragon Warrior himself @Ferris Bueller, @CasualCart, so many options!
     
  2. Reed Rothchild

    April 2023 Featured Member: Tabonga

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    What originally brought you to NA and VGS?
    Let's see - I don't remember how I heard about NA since it has been awhile - might have been from Bighab or Daria who were also fellow members at Shining Force Central Forums.  And then someone from NA contacted me about VGS...
    Yeah, me! 😆
    I wasn't sure but I thought it was - verified it in the banned thread later.  Anyway, I decided to lurk about (under a different name) at first since I had some misgivings about NA - VGS seems to have avoided most of the things I considered problematic about NA.
    Story behind your username(s)?
    This is likely atypical - I settled on an avatar first and found a name to match.  My snake/tree is actually an old Hing Fat toy that was originally in a monster bucket they made.  They are now collectible and go for way too much on ebay - oddly enough you can still get them in a different manufacturer's toy bucket and you get two of them (along with a strange assortment of other toys) for under $20.  I have about 20 of them as part of a fantasy playset I put together.  Tabonga was a demon inhabited tree that killed people on a South Seas Island - found in a pretty cheesy 1957 horror movie called "From Hell It Came".
    What about Natty Bumpoo? [it was his handle on NA]
    Natty Bumppo was the real name of Hawkeye from the James Fenimore Cooper series of novels that "The Last of the Mohicans"  was part of.  He had a whole passel  of different names - I don't remember them all but there were at least 8.  We got to read things like that in junior high way back when.
    Where do you hail from?
    Originally from Eden Prairie, Minnesota - then went to Yankton, South Dakota and then moved to the Denver area where I still am.
    What do you do for a living?
    I am retired after slogging though the State of Colorado's classified employee system - generally miserable job (not because of the work but because of their horrible management system).  I was able to survive long enough to qualify for an ok state pension - not getting rich but it keeps the wolf off of the back stoop.
    Top ten favorite games of all time and why?
    I hate these lists - not enough room - I am gonna cheat somewhat though.
    1.  Dark Wizard (Sega CD) - Awesome game for the time (despite having an AI that is dumber than a box of rocks - something that most strategy games suffer from).  Large overworld with large battlefields that have hex grids and ZOCs.  Armies of up to 40 units that are pretty much totally customizable. Lots and lots of secrets to find. Easily the game I have played the most often to try different things.
    These are in no particular order.
    2. The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past.  Don't think I need to justify this one!!   I wish Nintendo would get off its ass and redo this one like they did Link's Awakening.  They owe us after jacking around with the release of Advance Wars Reboot for so long.
    3.  Advance Wars 1/2 - great games with an amazing amount of play both in the campaigns and the supplemental menus.  The only major complaint I have is that you can't go into the campaign battles so you wind up having to play through everything to get at the alternate battle paths and to try different strategies.  Hopefully they will address that in the upcoming (finally) reboot edition.
    4. Nectaris (Ps1)  - Not an SRPG but a straightforward strategy game based around the classic Military Madness (which is included on the disc) on the TurboGrafx.  The game has some unique mechanics with hex grids and ZOCs.  A lot of the scenarios play out as puzzles (has to do with how you get reinforcements) as well as strategy ones. There are a whopping 108 scenarios - any of which (after the first play) you can go into and play but itself to try different strategies.  It is probably IMHO the best Ps1 game that can still be had for a reasonable price.
    5. Brigandine - Legend of Forsena (Ps1) - another SRPG with hex grids and ZOCs (did I mention I like those in games?? ^____^) You can play any of six countries with knights that recruit up to 7 monsters that also upgrade with changing skills.  The monsters can suffer perma death while the knights go off for R&R for a month and are unavailable.  Lots of gameplay as you can play the game from many many different approachs.  The battles last no longer than 12 turns so gameplay flows really quickly.
    6. Shining Force 1/2/CD (Genesis/Sega CD) - lumped together since the gameplay is pretty much the same - SF1 was the first SRPG (along with Master of Monsters - also for the Genesis) I got (which I played immediately). Simple gameplay so it is almost relaxing to play - there is a storyline to each game but each of the 30 characters in each game has a short story,
    7. Final Fantasy II (SNES) - This one holds a special place in my memory - it was one of the first two games I got with my SNES (the other was Tetris).  It really intrigued me since it was my first console RPG and long enought to keep me engaged for god knows how many hours.
    8.  Any of numerous Sokoban games (where you are a hapless warehouse drone who has to pack crates in the most poorly designed rooms imaginable).  Not a lot of replay in any one of them but they were wildliy popular in Japan - and you don't need any knowledge of Japanese to play them (with the possible exception of Power Sokoban).  I always thought the Genesis version of one of them had a really funny title - "Shove It!".
    Now for a couple on the switch.  
    9. Mercenaries  series by Rideon - six games in the series with a seventh one not yet translated.  The mechanics are the same in all of them so not really a learning curve after the first game.  The skill tree is simple.  The differences in the games are found in the equipment which can imbue character qualities and the characters in all the games have different but similar skill sets.  And the battles are fairly challenging since terrain plays an important part in them.  They really reward replays since accumulated weapons and the attached skills carry over - and each game has at least one alternate path.
    10.  Banner of the Maid - kind of a sophisticated Shining Force game set in an alternate Napoleonic era France.  No magic but it does have an interesting mechanic where you have to weave through support from the various factions  in Paris to improve weapons.  A lot of interesting battlefields where the terrain is as much a factor as the enemy.
    Well, you're obviously a major "tactics" guy, so I'll ask your thoughts on the following [I grouped these based on his replies]:
    Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics
    While I have various iterations of these I never could maintain interest in them to get very far.  If something doesn't grab me from the get go I often lose interest.  I also tend to go with stuff I like since I only have so much time avaiable.
    Fallout Tactics, Myth, Close Combat
    Not familiar with those - likely on formats I don't have or maybe PC - we usually only had one PC and I deliberately stayed away from games on it since it would take too much time away from Mrs. Tobanga's time.
    Panzer General
    I have that and Allied General on PS1 - played them but neither  impressed me that much - real historical stuff doesn't seem to provide as good of a game basis as fictional stuff.
    Langrisser
    I really liked the original (one of the first 4 Genesis games I got - the others were Master of Monsters, Phantasy Star II and Shining Force I) despite the cannon fodder soldiers.  The only real weakness was the one serpent knight class which was a neat idea but became useless very early in the game. I particularly liked the first battle where you could stick around and win (with a lot of skill and more than a little luck) rather than slink off like a whipped cur like the game wanted you to do.  You only got a little bit of gold and a little bit of experience but it was a rush to accomplish it.  
    The switch redo was ok - they shrunk the maps and added the not so hidden treasures - most of which were pretty lame.  It was nice to be able to play the second one in English though.
    Wargroove
    I really liked Wargroove - I pretty much ignore time limits and go for total conquest a la Golden Horde where I slowly take everything on the map.  I even have the little pennants they originally made for each country in the game.  They also have a DLC package with three more characters and some challenging gameplay.
    Vandal Hearts
    I really like both Vandal Hearts PS games despite the serious flaws both had.  
    VH1 had pretty gory graphics and solid gameplay except for the Vandelier class (which had the goofiest helmet ever - looked like the hats in Leningrad Cowboys Go America) - once you achieved that the hero could just sit back and cast plasma waves every turn with absolutely no fighting whatsoever.
    VHII had gorgeous maps and the ability to interact with the terrain was neat (the block making was very much like giant legos in the war zone).  Also had my favorite magic spell in any game - "Grave Stench" - where the animations featured the afflicted characters choking in a puke green miasma cloud. Unfortunately the game was saddled with that horrible simultaneous movement system.
    (As an aside the strategy guide for the game was great - full color glossy maps of all the battlefields with hidden locations and all the charts you would need. 
    X-COM, Fire Emblem, Into the Breach, Disgaea, Triangle Strategy
    Have them (more than one where applicable) for the switch and they are in the queue - as is par for the course with me - I always wind up buying more games  than I can play.
    What else do you collect?
    Other things I collect,  All sorts of stuff - I have going to thrift stores, flea markets and yard sales since I got out of college.ht
    Here are some highlights. 
    Lots and lots of books - I don't collect them (although I do have some rare ones - a coffee table The Raven by Poe from the late 1880s with the Dore steel etched engravings. A 1740 chess book by Philador - first edition but 6th printing.  Those are probably my best ones) but I tend to keep books I like after reading them.  I do have a lot of vintage paperbacks - including a complete run of the Ace Double scifi books - they were two novels bound back to back and upside down from each other - published between 1952 and 1978.
    Favorite movie?
    Favorite movie is for sure the Road Warrior - hard edges* and other than a few techical impossiblities it a believable scenario. (The Feral Kid was my avatar at NA.  And it never really lags.
    *It says a lot that Toady getting his fingers sliced off passes for one of the few bits of humor in the movie.
    Book?
    Favorite book is by a historian (no surprise huh?) named Otto Bettmann.  He was a Jew who escaped from Nazi Germany and founded the Bettmann Archives - consisting of historical prints and photos - stuff from that is used in virtually every US history book that uses images.   The book is entitled "The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible!"  (The cover has an image of a garbage scow if that tells you anything.) It covers various aspects of everyday life in the US from roughly the close of the Civil War to 1900.  People whine about things today - but everyday life for most people was sheer drudgery and a constant struggle to survive at even a minimal level. We've come a long way baby
    Favorite piece in your collection?
    My favorite piece is the canvas map I had made from the excel file I created for the overworld of Golden Axe Warrior (which by all rights should have gone in my top ten - I likely could have weaseled it in with Link to the Past somehow).
     
    A few other things I collect:
    Movies - both on laserdisc and dvd
    Boardgames - both vintage and not so vintage
    Old metal bookends
    Fanatasy/Rpg cloth/canvas/vinyl maps - mostly from video/computer games but other ones that catch my eye - I even have a touristy handkerchief map  of Andorra.  I have about 10 tablecloth sized vinyl maps from various Zelda games (including a Zelda game that doesn't actually exist).  
    Old plastic Staunton chess sets.
    Associated with those above are the briefcase  game compendiums I collect - mostly from the thirties through fifities.
    What's your prize piece in each (sub)collection?
     
    That is like asking which of my children is the best!
    Movies - I have a Hong Kong laserdisc of Night of the Comet.  Pretty rare - especially since the Hong Kong market was mostly a rental one so the often got damaged just through normal use.  And at some point in time a lot of them were melted down to recycle the materials.
    Boardgames - I have a mint copy of Message From M - probably the rarest of the James Bond games.
    Bookends - I have a pair of Buddhas in  creche-like enclosures that I  gave the late Mrs. Tabonga as an anniversary present. So they are pretty neat but have great sentimental value to me.
    Two faves in the maps - the world map for Golden Axe Warrior I made and the game map for the Zelda game that doesn't exist - it was originally created as an April Fool's joke and that was pirated by a couple sellers on Ali-Express.
    I have a bakelite Lowe combined chess/chess checker set in a briefcase.   The chess sets are relatively common but the variation with the checkers is much rarer.
    I have a Crisloid combination set that has never been used - still has all the tissues wrapping everything. It is odd in that it has a small chuck-a-luck cage - not unheard of in these sets but decidely on the rare side of things.  Crisloid chess pieces were generally made of hollow plastic with a weird green snap on base cap.  There is a note from the manufacturer that the pieces  can be filled with sand, salt or sugar to weight them!
    If you could make any board game a video game, and any video game a board game...
     
    Somebody made a homemade board game from Link to the Past that looked really sweet.  I would like to see something like that made.
    There was an old Avalon Hill game (Blitzkrieg) that was an elaborate fictionalized version of WWII complete with minor countries.  It was pretty crazy since you had large armies wherein the units could be broken down in smaller units - so a unit with a strength of 10 could be broken into 10 smaller units.  The whole thing was too cumbersome to really use on a board game.  Properly done with a console to handle all of the routine stuff it would make a good videogame.  They also had a game based on the Battle of Jutland with counters for all of the ships present - it took up several square feet of floor space and you had to track damage to all of the ships. Plus a lot of maneuvering on paper before you could place your ships.  We never managed to finish a game.  Really doable with a console thought.
    Do you still talk to @Daria (she registered since I started this interview) much?
    I first met Daria at Shining Force Central Forums (Bighab was there too) and I was off work for several weeks after my first heart attack in 2000.  We had just got our first pc and I came across that site.  We have kept in sporadic touch - last time was after she moved from Florida - I got the impression that she had moved on from video games to other aspects of life.  Which is too bad - I immensely enjoyed her videos on youtube.
    Beer, wine, or liquor?
    I don't really drink anymore - I think I have had one screwdriver in the last 10 years and a handful of beers.  When I was younger I generally preferred beer and probably drank too much in college.  I got by with mostly free beer because I am one of those people that can open their throat and pour liquids down.  Never lost a chugging contest in that time period.  I had a buddy who would follow up by chugging a beer whilst standing on his head.  (By that time we were betting small amounts of money rather than beer.)
    Coffee or tea?
    Ice tea - I think I have had at most two cups of coffee in my life.
    Favorite restaurant?
    [Think he missed this question, but @Tabonga feel free to let us know!]
    You've met up with JamesRobot once or twice.  What did you guys do?
    We had a period where we went out to lunch every other week - we would take turns paying.  He has been busy for the last few months and we haven't met.  We are actually going out to lunch this Friday to re-establish that habit.
     
    Ever go to Casa Bonita?
    I went there a couple of times when I moved to the Denver area - I wasn't terribly impressed with it - but I have never been a huge fan of Taco Bell.  I plan to check it out when it reopens since I live really close to it.
    Did you ever meet the rest of James' crew?
    I never did - I am not a super social person - became a bit more so after Mrs. Tabonga passed away.   Besides James I have about 6 people I go out to lunch with on a regular basis - which for me is progress.
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    While I liked the first season of Star Trek a lot it got cheesier as time went on and a lot of the episodes are now embarassing to watch.   And the whole concept has really outlived its shelf life IMHO.  The original 3 Star Wars* were awesome to watch in the theatre and the first especially was light years (as it were) beyond anything up till then - despite being based on the old cliffhanger serials - I suspect most peeps here are not familiar with those - but they were a pretty unique chapter (again as it were) in American cinema.  (Raiders of the Lost Ark was also based on the old cliffhanger serials.)  *I haven't kept up with all the subsequent stuff but the franchise seems to have lost its luster.
    Serials - Yeah, I've never actually seen one, but I'm aware of them through whatever form of pop culture osmosis.  Like when Annie Wilkes is railing against them for "cheating" in Misery.  Did you manage to see any back in the day, or had they already died out by then?
     
    The last two made in the West were done by Columbia Pictures in 1956.  I think there was a Japanese one in 1957.  So those were a bit before my time. I did see a couple of Flash Gordon and/or Buck Rogers ones that a museum ran when I was in high school.  Over the years I have seen maybe 60 - I have about 35 on laserdisc.   
    In 1983 Firesign Theatre released a video called "Hot Shorts" - which was their own dubbing over (mostly) clips from some serials.  That is one seriously (usually) funny production.
    As an addendum a lot of the serials were re-edited as feature films - didn't work all that well since they were pretty choppy to begin with (it was largely hidden since viewers at best saw them weekly - assuming they didn't miss any) and editing out a bunch of footage didn't help (I think most of them were around 200 minutes for 12 chapters - longer for the 15 chapter ones) so most of the footage wound up in the circular file - made for some seriously challenged continuity in the final cut.
     
     
    We were all greatly saddened to hear of your wife's passing several years ago.  What are your favorite stories with Mrs. Tabonga that you like to remember?
     
    Thanks - her loss is still felt - as I tell people while things don't get better with time they do get easier.  If that makes any sense.
    When I moved to Denver I got a job working in a small private college library.  I was in the media department but we all worked where needed to cover things since the library staff was very small in number.
    I had barely been there two weeks and hadn't even really learned my main job let alone the other ones.  Everyone else had to go to a meeting and they left me in charge of the circulation desk despite the fact that I could check out a book and that was about it.
    The not-yet-Mrs. Tabonga came in and wanted to check out some books.  Since we were a private library we didn't have a public patron policy.  She had registered for the fall semester but unfortunalely she didn't have anything to prove that.   So I wouldn't check out the books to her.
    When she started school she worked as a student in the library and that is where we got to know each other and the rest was history..
    ==============
    When we were dating we used to go to a local arcade and play air hockey and the old game "Joust".  She used to call Joust "flop" since the dragons (or whatever the mounts were) more flopped/flapped around than anything else.
    Did she enjoy many of your hobbies with you?
    She played a few video games - mostly Sonic and Ecco.  She was also a heavy reader - although we tended to read different things.  She had other hobbies such as knitting and she liked working in the garden.  We each mostly did our own thing - which meant we gave each other a lot of space - which in our case was a good thing since we were both pretty independent people.  We did enjoy going to movies together - especially after we retired.
    How's retirement treating you?
    All things considered life isn't bad.  I have survived more than one major health crisis and just keep chugging along like the energizer bunny.  While I am not getting rich the wolf isn't  on the back stoop pounding on the door either (I think he is lurking somewhere in the alley though...)
    Before we had video games, what in the world did you do for fun?
    I have always read a lot and played board games.  Plus we watched a lot of movies - laserdiscs were a big move forward for us and then dvds.
     
    Normally I tell people to walk us through a day in their life.
    Please walk us through a day in your life.
     
    However...
    Please also walk us through the entire life story of Mr. tabonga.  I can't imagine how many interesting stories you could tell.
    Well I get up (which I figure every time that happens I am ahead of the game), check email etc, shave etc.   Check in here at some point in time.  I do a lot of reading and play a lot on the switch.  (Usually listen to ambient stuff on the chromebook while this is going on.)  I have a small group of friends who I go out to an early lunch with - about every two weeks for each person - we take turns paying.  Aside from occasional trips to the grocery store etc that is abou it.  I do not lead a terribly exciting life!
    Lets see - we lived in Bloomington Minnesota when I was born.  When i was pretty little we moved to Eden Prairie (which is now an expensive suburb - back then it was the sticks).  It was nice though since  my family owned about 7 acres - mostly wooded - so we had lots of space to roam around on whilst growing up.
    We grew up dirt poor but it was pretty enjoyable - never really  realized how poor until I started slowly working into the lower middle class over the years.
    Went to college in 1970 (although I wanted to work a couple of years first- but that would have involved a side trip to Vietnam so that was not a good option.  I went to school for 3 years in Yankton. South Dakota and dropped out (mostly due to boredom) since the draft had  ended.
    I then worked for the State Psychiatric Hospital for two years - mondo strange job - was hard but it was really hard on my head.
    My family in the meantime had moved to the Denver area so I went there and got a job in a library in a small private college where I met the not yet Mrs. Tabonga.  We got married the day after she graduated.  In the meantime I finished my BA there since I could take free classes since I was an employee.
    The college folded in 1988 and I got a job at the state university in Denver shortly thereafter where I stayed until I retired in 2014. (Mrs Tabonga also worked for the state and also retired at the same time.)
    ----------------
    One odd story involves the theater at the college where I worked.  Although not a theater major I (as a hobby basically) worked on sound for theater productions.  Right after I started to work at the college I offered to run sound for a summer show.  I would go the theater after work (4:30 or so) and work for an hour or two on stuff there. 
    The theater (like just almost all theaters) was supposedly haunted although I had not heard the stories yet.
    I went over one afternoon and there was no one else in the theater since they were off eating.  I was laying down zip cord and was behind some flats - from where I could see the stage exits from the flats and the main stage entrances  were two sets of stairs on the opposite wings.   It was a large theater - 1000 seats and the stage area was commensurately large.
    I heard someone walk across the stage from one of the wings and they stopped mid stage.  I called out and got no response - so I got up and walked to one of the flat entrances and there was no one there.  if they had exited via either wing I would have heard them since they would have had to  move pretty quickly to not only to get off the stage but to the back of the house (or trip one of two spring doors) .  They didn't leave via the stage since I could see those exits.  Not sure what happened - but I decided it was a really good time to go have supper!
    Any big plans for the rest of 2023?
    Nothing big planned - although my immediate future is going to heavily involved with Advance Wars Reboot! Looking forward to that one a lot.
  3. Reed Rothchild

    Featured Member June 2022: Estil

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    We're trying out something new here on VGS.  Well, sort of new...  Some of you may remember a series of interviews I did with various members of NintendoAge that centered around the Weekly NES contest.  This is a partial reboot of that effort.
    And to kick us off is the one and only @Estil.  The good-natured, cat-obsessed Kentuckian that loves to post his cherished YouTube clips!  And he threw me an early curveball by changing some of the questions I asked him. 😆  Enjoy! 
     
    Hello Estil.  First off, where did your username and avatar come from? (humor me here)
    It's my first name...I guess you gotta ask this of everyone though.
    What originally brought you to VGS and/or NA?
    I honestly don't remember...mentioned on GameFAQs, found in Google search, maybe?
    As many on VGS are aware, your wife Denise passed away just over a year ago.  How did you two meet? Any particularly cherished memories you'd like to share?
    Well we first met online on Yahoo Messenger (those were the days!) on 2/19/05, then we met in person in St. Louis on 3/17/05, then she moved in with me on 5/20/05 (yes I'm the sentimental/nostalgic type so I do actually remember the exact dates).  We got married (my first, her third) on 6/17/05 by a local judge who happened to be my first cousin once removed.  
    I guess one of my favorite/funniest memories (though she didn't think so) was when we were at her mom's (she was so sweet/kind; the total opposite of the Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law stereotype!) house and we got to do the wishbone game (I honestly didn't even know that was a real life thing!) and figuring I may never get another chance to pull a wishbone (and I never did) I tried really hard to pull and my wife didn't have a good grip on her end and "it made me bleed!" (her words).  Would you believe (again totally opposite of the stereotype) her mother actually stuck up for me and explained that I didn't mean to (and would never) hurt her?  As for my wish...well...I wished to get the bigger piece! 😄
    You love cats.  Tell us about your , past and present.
    My first pet was a beagle hound named Misty when I was real little.  Then I had an Australian Shepard named Blue during my childhood.  In my college days I had a cute (but very old) golden blonde Pekinese named Gizzie (his original owners named him that because they thought he looked like Gizmo from the Gremlins).  
    Yes growing up we did have a few "barn cats" running around outside (it's not the same though) but it was not until my wife came along and in 2010 insisted she wanted a kitty and "she wasn't gonna let some man tell her she can't have one".  I was skeptical of the idea but Tweetie (gray American Shorthair) lached on to me and I instantly fell in love with her and all those cute cat things I never seen before (when I first saw her "kneading"/"making biscuits" I thought she was exercising and I still like to call it that).  Sadly she went to kitty heaven in 2012 and shortly after is when we got our "incumbent" cat Jamiee (golden blonde American Shorthair).  He was just a kitten at the time and for the first few days he was actually afraid of me!  But he became "obsessed with me" (wife's words) and we've been best friends/pals/buddies ever since!  I'm very very much a wannabe "crazy cat lady" and would love to have a bunch of kitties but sadly my apt only lets me have one :,(
    Past and present occupation or anything you are aspiring to be?
    After college I worked for a local Kroger from 2004-10 (shortly after I had to go on disability).  I would've liked to have gotten a more "college educated level" job/career but the main problem was I had no clue what exactly I wanted to do in that regard.  But make no mistake about it, I'm GLAD that I went to UK and got double BA's (history & political science) and it was quite rough sometimes (I only managed a 2.57 GPA; it didn't help that I had undiagnosed Asperger's and was working almost six hours most weeknights and all day Saturdays)) but I made lots of happy memories (for example going to DC for the first and so far only time!) and my UK degrees are by far my most cherished possessions.
    What would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment in life?
    Earning my double degrees (history & political science) from the University of KY in 2003...the year of our basketball centennial!
    Favorite non-gaming hobbies?
    Reading my local newspaper archive from newspapers.com, reference books (especially the yearbooks from World Book, Britannica, my collection of trading card sets (over 100,000 cards all in albums believe it or not!), and I just recently got into coin collecting (the old fashioned "coin roll hunting" kind)
    What's on your bucket list?
    I'd LOVE to travel to places such as Cooperstown (baseball Hall of Fame), New York City, and of course Japan (especially if I can find/buy retro Famicom games, as well as those kitty cafes and that island with kitties and of course those cute chicks!).  So far I've never been to another country or even west of St. Louis.  But sadly I don't know if I'll ever have nearly enough money or chance or whatever.  And even if I did who'd take care of my kitty? 😞
    What fictional character best represents you?
    Dennis the Menace, especially the early 60s B&W sitcom.  I often like to tease/aggravate (I've been told I get that from my late Grandpa Estil who got a Purple Heart in WWII) though Dennis doesn't mean to, he just wants to be helpful!
    What skill do you wish you could have?  What super-power do you wish you could have?
    I'd love to be able to time travel in such a way I don't have to worry about screwing anything up...like what happened or almost happened sometimes in the Back to the Future series?
    Favorite vacation you have taken?
    I was student manager for my high school baseball team my junior/senior years as well as football my senior year and during my senior year (spring 1999) I got to go with the baseball team to Florida (Cocoa Beach to be exact) and I got to see the ocean/beach for the first and so far only time and I even got to see where the shuttles are launched way off in the distance (no launches at the time though)
    Gamer?  Collector?  If both, what would you consider yourself to primarily be?
    I haven't been able to in the past few years but I would love to start collecting cartridges (especially NES; I got about a third of them) again but lately I've added to other hobbies (though I don't get to do much on just SSDI every month).  Since my Everdrive cartridges and such cover the gamer part, I guess I'd love to do the collector part more, if all of that makes sense.  Plus I'm more into gaming history so there's that as well.
    Favorite gaming series?
    I guess getting caught up on the blue chip retro JRPGs, especially Tales of/Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy?
    First video game or arcade game you remember playing?
    Ms Pac Man & Pole Position (probably either version)
    Favorite era of gaming?
    Well I grew up in the 90s so naturally the NES/SNES is my "first love".  And the GC/GBA era of the early 2000s also is nostalgic for me as that was during my early 2000s college days
    Favorite console?
    Kinda depends on my mood, TBH.  Though my first ever console was getting the NES for my 10th birthday in 1990 and that by far makes up the plurality of my retro game collection (I think I got about 220-ish?) and you know what they say about never forgetting your first love, right?
    Least favorite console?
    Never owned one but from the very start I knew the N-Gage was a complete joke...who wants to pay triple cost (at launch) to play WORSE versions of GBA games (Sonic Advance)?
    What's your favorite item in your collection?  Favorite non-gaming item?
    I guess I'm most glad I still have the Mega Man Legends Trilogy games from my college days (early 2000s) considering how expensive they've gotten!  As for non-gaming I have many extremely limited edition 90s insert sets such as 1996-2001 Ultra Gold Medallion sets (with SP's!), 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection, 1995 Score Platinum, 1993-1994 Topps Finest Jumbo All-Stars among others.  And boy did it take me a LONG time to finally find those 1988 and 1989 Kentucky Collegiate Collection sets!  Let's just say they don't get NEARLY as much Ebay attention as the North Carolina ones.
    What game are you most proud to have beaten?
    Getting all 400 emblems in both Sonic Adventure games back in 2004.  And getting my first two platinum trophies from both versions of Dragon Quest 11.
    What's your favorite obscure game?
    Is The Misadventures of Tron Bonne and the rest of the Mega Man Legends Trilogy obscure enough?  I LOVED these games in my college days (early 2000s) and even did full transcripts/guides for all three games (see them at GameFAQs)
    Describe your gaming setup to us.
    I use two gaming monitors; to my left is a 20" Emerson CRT (for retro games) and to my right is a 42" Sharp Aquos for my computer monitor and PS3/PS4/WiiU.  As for my retro consoles I have a top loader NES, SNES (regular), N64 (regular), Genesis 1, Wii (Christmas gift 2008), GameCube (for Game Boy Player), PS1 (PSIO equipped), PS2 original (with ISO loaded hard drive), original Xbox (for the arcade and MS-DOS games)
    Collecting goals?
    I do love to collect complete sets of MLB/NFL/NBA/non-sports cards from 70s/80s/90s.  My wife being from Malden (greater Boston) was very much Red Sox first be we did have a Super Bowl party together (just us) whenever her Patriots were in it.  As for me naturally as a native Kentuckian and UK alumnus I'm a fan of UK basketball (mainly their history) as well as my HS (I was student manager for baseball as a junior/senior and football as a senior).  As for the "major league" teams I'd LOVE so so so much if the Kentucky Colonels ever came back.
    Ever met anyone famous?
    Tubby Smith (coach of UK basketball at the time), Joel Utley (radio voice of Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers since 1962), Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader), Jim Bunning (also KY senator, HOF pitcher who also pitched a perfect game, Bruce Brubaker (local car dealership guy who pitched a few innings in MLB and has his own 1967 Topps card (#276)
    Chocolate or vanilla?
    I'm more into salty foods rather than sweet foods though I do enjoy Reeses as well as fresh baked chocolate chip cookies or fudge brownies (no nuts please!!)
    Favorite cereal?
    Wheaties, Frosted Flakes, Life, Cap'n Crunch (favorite childhood cereal)...though I don't like milk on mine as I don't like soggy cereal 😞 So I just eat it crunchy right of the box!
    What's the most bizarre "safe for work" dream you remember? 
    Whenever I dream of either my wife, grandpa, or uncle Jerry (all deceased) as if they are alive again, especially if I question in the dream how it happened.  In a recent dream I questioned how Denise could be back when I have her ashes (kept in a special black plastic box) as well as how to get her back on her SSDI again and restarting other things like that.
    Favorite ABBA song?
    Gimmie Gimmie a Man After Midnight (because in the video Frida makes cute gestures)...plus I came up with a neat version regarding the famous Ikari Warriors ABBA code: Gimmie gimmie gimmie more lives after dying, won't this code help me chase the game overs away? 😄  And their versions of the classic American folk songs "Pick a Bale of Cotton" and "Midnight Special" are quite addicting!
    Favorite music genres?
    Classic country (especially 70s outlaw era) as well as 70s/80s...especially since my wife was the "disco queen" of the era (late 70s)!
    Favorite TV show?
    Way too many to list but I could spotlight a couple...Dennis the Menace (the 1959-63 sitcom) and for the REALLY obscure, my favorite children's show was Color Me A Rainbow (1987; ACTS cable channel) and I wrote to them constantly at the time and I did get to email/call the show's creator Linda King a few years ago and she now has the episodes posted on YouTube now!
    Favorite movies?
    Again way too many to list...though I suppose the first two Ninja Turtles movies, first two Home Alone movies and The Wizard were by far the most impactful in terms of childhood memories/nostalgia.  To this day I refuse to watch the Academy Awards since The Wizard got completely snubbed...not even one Oscar nomination!! 😄
    Have you ever dreamt of Tiffany?
    Tiffany the singer?  Not really though I bet if I was a few years older at the time (born 1980) I would've had a major crush on her. 😄
    Favorite books?
    My sequence of Cats Pauses (1985-2020) and Kentucky Media Guides (1973-2010) and World Book yearbooks (1931-2013) as well as my collection of books about my home city/county.
    Favorite trophy? (I meant on PSN)
    The one I awarded and got created for my wife for our then tenth anniversary, which I had made 17 inches tall and the base six by six inches to match our anniversary date.  It's a big silver color with gold color highlights (not real silver/gold of course!) and on the front of the base is a shiny red plate (her favorite colors are red/black...black is the color of the base) it reads "CONGRATULATIONS DENISE!  For being the best wife you can be!  2005 - 2015".  On the back side of the base is my name on a blue plate (UK's color), left plate is gold color with Jamiee's name and right side with silver colored plate with Tweetie's name (the colors both cats were/are).  Her black box of ashes are under the trophy as they match the trophy's base and in front of that is a small memorial to our first cat Tweetie with her ashes inside it.
    As for me, the only trophy I ever got was as a DARE graduate in 5th grade...and yes I still have it.
    Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy or Tales of...?
    Not sure about favorite of these series but my favorite game of each series is Dragon Quest 11 and 5, Final Fantasy 9, and Tales of Phantasia (translated SNES version with the surprisingly eh, colorful dialog!)
    Tifa or Aerith?
    You mean Bianca or Nera/Flora or Deborah? Nera/Flora!  When I first played Dragon Quest 5 I couldn't decide so I had my wife pick and she chose Nera/Flora...and I guess we both found her more feminine/attractive and in the SNES version she is the most adorable bride ever!  And her personality/demeanor and her using flowery terms like love/sweetie/darling would in fact be ideal should I get another SO in the near future.  For much this same reason in Dragon Quest 11 S I "married" Serena though Veronica is cute in her own way too.
    Sony or Nintendo?
    In the 90s all I had was NES/SNES and wasn't much interested in Sega or Sony that much.  I did get my first non-Nintendo console back in 2000-01 and I couldn't believe how TINY that PSOne was!  I only got it to play the Mega Man games on it (which were mostly PS1 exclusive for 5th gen) at the time.  In 2013 of course is when I got over my stupid turn based combat phobia and started doing JRPGs (some of the best ones were on PS1/PS2 so...) and then the past few years I've also gotten into trophy hunting on PS3/PS4.  Still only got two platinums (both Dragon Quest 11 versions) though.
    Sonic or Mario?
    I have far more experience with Mario so I'll go with him.  I got SMB3 for my 11th birthday in 1991 so nostalgia/memories and all that As for Sonic, my favorites by far is Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the two Sonic Adventure games.
    Mashed or baked potato?
    Baked but I'm very much a freedom fries person by far
    Liquor, wine, or beer?
    None, I don't drink adult beverages (they all taste nasty to me and considering a couple of my adopted relatives got into major trouble with them that's probably for the best) nor do I smoke anything
    Pepsi or Coke?  Coffee or tea?
    Diet Pepsi, gotta watch my figure (lol) though I'm more a coffee (just brewed Kroger Supreme Blend, none of those fancy designer/take-out coffees!) and sweet tea person (I typically drink the latter with my meals; I get Kroger gallon jugs)
    Ten people you could meet, living or deceased?
    Obviously my wife and grandpas and other relatives, but among celebs I'd love to meet Adolph Rupp, Joe B Hall, Fred Rogers, Ronald Reagan (President I'd most like to meet), Happy Chandler (governor I'd most like to meet).  And why not fellow cat lover Mark Twain?  As for living, my boyhood idol Don Mattingly and it would've been neat if my late wife got to somehow meet her idol Carl Yastrzemski or Nomar Garciaparra.  I KNOW there's a few I'm leaving out...
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    My wife as a big time Trekkie, especially Next Generation (Data and Troi where her favorite characters) and yes I did very much enjoy watching the series with her.  It sure aggravated her though when I'd also read all about Star Trek Next Generation as well and end up knowing more about it than she did; hee hee  The sixth (Undiscovered Country) and eighth (First Contact) were my personal favorite Trek movies.
    First thing that comes to mind: Louisville Cardinals
    Playfully calling them LOSERville and their traitor former coach BeneRick...hee hee...
    First thing that comes to mind: The state of Kentucky
    Kentucky Fried Chicken!  It's better than s...e...x... 😄 I haven't been able to have any in at least the past year because our nearest one is too far away and is expensive.  And being a proud Kentuckian I always say the full Kentucky Fried Chicken, NOT "KFC"! 😛
    First thing that comes to mind: Tennessee
    Osmond Brothers' "Rocky Top"...it honestly does rock as both the Volunteers' and state song.  Same goes for John Denver's "Country Roads" for West Virginia, both their university and state song.
    First thing that comes to mind: Canadia
    The flapping head characters on South Park...where did they that idea anyway?  As well as The Red Green Show!
    First thing that comes to mind: French Canadia
    That song from South Park (The Wizard of Oz theme one; one of my wife's favorite movies BTW) where there's no Canada like French Canada it's the best Canada in the land! ^^
    First thing that comes to mind: Indiana
    My late grandpa was from there so naturally when UK did poorly he'd call me and teasingly tell me "they played like little kittens!"  I also love to call them "Clown U" and I really do miss our rivalry and I hope it comes back soon...of course the rivalry was especially fun when they had Bobby Knight (my all time FAVORITE Bobby Knight moment was when he was trying to figure out what a "game face" was!)
    First thing that comes to mind: Montana
    The fact that the United Kingdom is about the size of Montana (no really, look on a globe) and I'm VERY iffy about the idea of being all alone for many miles around as many in those big area/small population Plains/Rocky Mountain states do.  Oh yeah, that song Meet Me in Montana by Dan Seals and one of my wife's all time favorites, Marie Osmond
    First thing that comes to mind: Australia
    Those "How to speak Australian" commercials...especially the one showing rugby and calling it "TOUCH FOOTBALL"!
    First thing that comes to mind: Brazil
    How aggravated they must be whenever someone goofs and thinks they're Spanish when they're actually Portuguese!
    First thing that comes to mind: the other UK (United Kingdom)
    Interesting how up to WWI/WWII or so "the sun never set on the British Empire" yet the UK proper is only about the size of Montana and England is only about Indiana size (no really, look it up on a globe).  And I guess being careful sometimes to clarify where I'm from UK (usually!) means something VERY different!!  God Save The Queen!
    FMK (f#ck, marry, kill - match them up with each option): Taylor Swift, Agnetha Fältskog, Frida Lyngstad
    Just being roomies with the ABBA girls would be amazing (you know, like Three's Company) and I'd love to hear stories of their prime ABBA years and such.  And I'd love to play with Taylor Swift's kitties!
    Pro wrestling or NASCAR?
    I don't really follow either one though (though like a lot of kids in the late 80s/early 90s I was a "Hulkster" at the time and did enjoy his movies) for history's sake I did watch the first two Wrestlemanias (yes I'll get to the famous third one and the others after at some point) and it was interesting all the different guest stars in the first one such as Cyndi Lauper, Lou "Mario" Albano (I didn't know he was in the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun video!), and most surprisingly Billy Martin!  And who could've imagined back then Jesse Ventura (one of the commentators) was a future governor??
    If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?
    Easy!  I'd want to get early 70s and then 60s Topps baseball (and football?) card sets with the HOFs in the 70s sets in PSA 7 and PSA 6's in the 60s sets.  Other than that and maybe getting a near complete set of NES/SNES cartridges I honestly wouldn't know what to do with the rest.  I'm perfectly content with my current apt, I don't drive so it wouldn't do any good to get a shiny black Cadillac so...*shrugs*?  And as I've often said, if I was offered a million dollars in exchange for my kitty I would without a moment's hesitation say thanks but NO thanks!
    What's the stupidest question I could ask you right now?
    I don't know if this really counts but I do find it cute to respond to "Can I ask you a question?" with "You just/already did!" 😆
  4. Reed Rothchild

    Featured Member October 2022: OptOut

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    What originally brought you to NA?
    I'd first heard about NA probably sometime around 2014 or 2015 listening to Pat the NES punk bitch about it on his podcast. I was just getting back into collecting at that time after a pretty long hiatus during my college years. I lurked there for a while before finally signing up in the start of 2017, at which point I worked tirelessly to bring the website down from the inside. Didn't take long. 😉
    What's the story with your username?
    OptOut looks nice, sounds nice, and has a bit of edge. Suits me pretty well, I reckon! Came up with it as an angsty teen, but it's served me well since... There have been a good few times in my life where opting out of particular circumstances or situations has turned out to be the right decision. Words to live by, not just a pretty name! 😎
    What's the dealio with your avatar?  People still use the word "dealio," right?
    OptOut Dog is my fursona. I found him painted on a mural in an outdoor community art project within walking distance of my home. He basically sums up all my aspirations in just one image, he's cool and confident, he knows where he's going and getting there fast, and he's got a smoking hot bitch on the side. I think we could all learn a lesson from OptOut dog. Dealio.

    Tell us about being a Britonian.  I mostly just picture Lord British from Ultima

    Being British is awesome. I can walk around all day snooting my own farts and no one can stop me! It's a sense of entitlement you really don't get with other nationalities. Britain itself, on the other hand, is a radioactive slag heap. There's a reason we spent hundreds of years building a monstrous system of genocidal oppression and rapacious imperialism, just so we could find somewhere it rains fewer than 300 days of the year, and the women have all their front teeth...
    What brought you to Taiwan?
    I wanted to live somewhere it rained fewer than 300 days of the year, and where the women have all their front teeth.
    On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to hear Chinese fighter jets flying overhead in the next 3 years?
    I actually hear Taiwanese fighter jets overhead pretty regularly! Them China want Taiwan bad, who can blame 'em, eh? Taiwan is a great place! I presume they're not actually gonna invade, doesn't seem very viable, but who knows!
    When they come, are you gonna go Red Dawn on their ass?
    I, for one, welcome our glorious red commie scum overlords! All hail Winnie the Pooh, please don't kill me and my family! ❤️
    How did you meet Captain WhatsHisFace... uh, David?
    I met Dave on NA, back then they had little flags next to your name so you could see where people were from. I saw his Taiwan flag so I just dropped him a line!
    When did you leave England?
    I first left England for an extended period of time in 2009, when I went to study abroad in California. This was also where I happened to meet my wife, who is Taiwanese. We got married in 2011 in Taiwan and moved back to England for a few years. Then in 2015 we moved out here for good! It would be pretty pointless to list all the ways in which living in Taiwan is superior to living in the UK, basically just name a feature of life and it's better! 🇹🇼
    What is it like being a foreigner in Taiwan?
    I really like being a foreigner in Taiwan! I was always a huge weirdo back in the UK, never felt like I fit in there, but here I have an excuse for not fitting in! Obviously I have a lot of support from my family here, so I'm well sheltered from some of the difficulties some others my face living in a foreign country, so I'm grateful for that. But I can't complain about living in Taiwan honestly, it's cheap, great food, great people, great weather, I mean what more could a guy want? 😄
    Brick mentioned a potential Taiwan visit.  What are you going to do to make that happen?
    I have left a series of increasingly cryptic clues spanning the length and breadth of Australia, eventually leading @Brickman to a flight scheduled to arrive in Taipei on December 31st 2039. If he gets started now, he should have JUST enough time to solve the riddles, defeat the basilisk and recover the sacred sceptre in time to check-in to departures at Melbourne international. If he hurries he should even have time to pick up some cheap booze from the duty-free! 🛫
    Wife and kids?  Humor me here.
    Wife, yep, we're holding on in there! Kids, those two little bastards are great! Luv em to death! 😍
    What does she think of your wall o' Nintendo 64 games?
    My wife and I live by the hallowed game-collecting husband principle of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". I HIGHLY recommend it. I think it does hit her sometimes when she remembers that when we first moved back here to Taiwan my current gameroom used to be her bedroom... Let's just say I'm a good negotiator! 😋
    *Opt takes a quick breather*
    Bleh... Where am I? What happened? Must've passed out due to the pain of it all! Oh my God. It wasn't a dream... more like a nightmare! When will the suffering end!!!! 😭
    What's this? More questions, haven't I given enough?! FINE! Use me up, spit me out... I need a fuggin vacation! 😩
    Well, I think everyone needs to bear witness to your outdoor plumbing project.  Why don't you give us some pics and deets'.  People still stay "deets", right?
    Oh that silly old thing... I'm sure someone will be able to drag up the picture, I think it's on my old phone... Let's just say, measure once, buy once, measure twice, a fooled man can't be fooled again! Deets. 😅
    Top 10 favorite games of all time and why.
    Top ten video games of all time, that's a tricky one! Ten is way too few, I dunno, there are so many parameters! I can barely come up with a top ten for N64! I'll just chuck out the first 10 really great games that come to my mind, and we'll call it that...
    Goldeneye 007, Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros. Halo (actually several games in this franchise could go in the top ten but I'll stick with this one.) Umm... what else, how many more? Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, Donkey Kong Country 2, Sonic 2, Metroid Prime, and... I dunno. Pokemon Shuffle.
    There you go, it covers most of the bases! 
    Favorite console of all time.
    Nintendo Sixty Fucking PHWOUR! Next question. 😎
    Favorite franchise of all time.
    I think the easiest answer to this question would be Mario, but I mean it's just such a big franchise with so many games, especially if you consider the spin-offs. Feels like cheating.
    I would say the franchise I like the most as a franchise, rather than necessarily the games themselves is Pokemon. It's just so colourful, so many characters, it's so vast and expansive and you can kinda take it at your own pace, sort of get your own thing out of it. If you just want to focus on the games, they are obviously great and there's a TON of them, but if you just want to chill and look at the cool and cute characters you can get just see them everywhere, and there are so many to choose from. It's an epic franchise whatever way you slice it, I'm actually surprised it's actually more popular than ever now, I figured it would probably just be a fad!
    If it comes to just pure gaming, like no frills, no distractions, and taking Mario out of the picture, then I would say Halo. I am a big fan of the single-player Halo experience, I think those games provide absolutely first class game design, control and balance, hugely detailed and vibrant levels to explore, and decent lore that doesn't slow the gameplay down too much with story bollocks. The games aren't perfect, I'm not a fan of the Flood levels in the first game, for example, but they do so much right it more than makes up for it. I've played through Halo 1, 2, 3 , ODST and Reach so far, I have Halo 4 as well so I'll probably play that next!
    Favorite piece in your collection?
    My favourite pieces in my collection are DEFINITELY my two UltraHDMI modded N64's. Got one PAL and one NTSC unit, and I'm in heaven whenever I play on em! 🤩

    Personal holy grail?
    I'm not like super fanatical about filling my collection with especially rare or expensive pieces, although I won't turn down a good opportunity when it presents itself! I would say probably the thing I would most like to do, if money was no object, would be to complete my 64DD collection, the two games I need and the unit itself. Unfortunately, each of the games I need is over a thousand USD, as is the unit itself, and I just can't justify that sort of expense really when I won't even probably play it much. I'd rather spend the same amount on games to fill out my shelves and play!
    Actually, that's not much of a grail I guess, I mean it is obtainable, at least... How about the Mario 64DD prototype disc, which is basically just normal Mario 64, but on a DD disc, and it was found in an Akihabara game store out of nowhere. Okay, that's my grail, Mario 64DD!!!
    OH... Oh wow... feeling woozy... What was in that sandwich?! Where did all those clowns come from??! Where are you throwing me!!!?!?!?!!?!?!? 
    *Opt takes another breather so he can drink his evening tea or something*
    Good morning awesome friends! Man, what a great day! It's amazing how comfortable you can get chained to a radiator, once Stockholm syndrome sets in! 😊
    Questions? Why certainly! Just... no more clowns. Please. 😬
    First game you ever owned?
    First game I ever played was Super Mario Bros, although it was my cousins' at the time. When they traded in their NES for a SNES, I got to keep their games so I do in fact own that very cart. At our house when we first got our NES the following Xmas, we got Super Mario Bros. 2 and Isolated Warrior, again I still own those to this day. Definitely got a first-class videogame upbringing, all the way up from NES through the generations, until the epic gaming peak of N64, followed by a slow decline from that glorious shining hill.😃
    Favorite movie of all time?
    Favourite movie, that's gotta be Independence Day for me! Hit me at Just the right time back in 96, I was 11 years old and massively into aliens and Area 51 and all those sorts of conspiracy theories and stuff.
    I feel like the movie does an excellent job of setting the scene of a globe spanning alien invasion, it really builds up the tension so well as the government finds out about the aliens, then spends time trying to figure out what's going on, trying to communicate before eventually realising the effort was in vain. It really EARNS it's way to the massive explosions, it really feels like a proper powerful moment when the aliens finally attack. Great cast too, and the movie does a decent job handling so many different characters.
    I know Independence Day gets a lot of flak, but for me, it's just got it all, and most of the usual criticisms just don't matter much to me when I watch it! Some people don't like the plot holes, but I mean, I'm not a big plot hole kinda dude. Some people don't like it because its too American, or like stereotypically American, but as a foreigner I LOVE how American this film is, watching it is like deep throating a bald eagle while farting the national anthem, you couldn't get more American than that! 🦅🇺🇸
    What if I told you I had the poster for Independence Day hanging over my bed as a child?
    I didn't think my level of respect and admiration for you could get any higher, but damn it I'm happy to be wrong! 😊
    Favorite book of all time?
    It probably wouldn't surprise many people here that I'm not much of a reader, at least not much in terms of fiction, which I would imagine this question is about! Last book I read for pleasure was about ten years ago, I rarely make it through a whole book. However, one book I DID read all the way and really enjoyed was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I think we can all learn a thing or two about taking drugs and wasting our human potential on paranoid fantasising from that book!
    Favorite song/album/artist of all time.  Pretend you like music like a normal person.
    Music, yeesh, that's another blind spot for me! I never paid much attention to music, other than as a background thing. Now I only really listen to music on YouTube when I'm drunk!
    I don't really have a favourite band, maybe you could say the Beatles because I did listen to a lot of their stuff with my friend back when I was like 19-20 that sort of age. I read a lot about what they got up to in the 60's, sounds like a nightmare to be honest, to put up with all that attention and pressure! I do have a favourite album tho, believe it or not. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon. I know that's a pretty basic bitch answer, but I mean, it must be good if even someone like me enjoys it right?! 😅
    What do you do for a living?
    My wife and I own and operate an English school here in Taiwan! As a small business, my wife and I basically have to fulfil almost every role in the place, and we work very long hours Monday to Friday, plus many weekends on top! Actually, it wasn't my idea to start a school, I naturally lack motivation/ambition, so I would basically be happy doing any job or no job at all as long as my belly was full (of beer).
    But my wife had this whole thing about doing something with our lives, securing our future, providing for our family, and being a part of the community, etc. So I was like, eh, fine, gosh! So yeah, now we have an awesome school named after me, and I am a decent member of society! 😄
    What age/grades do you teach?
    I like to get em young, you know? Before their prefrontal cortex is fully developed and the moral and ethical concepts of right and wrong remain ill-defined. It feels great to be influencing a whole new generation, hundreds upon hundreds of young lives and young minds moulded in my glorious image! 😎
    Best story from the classroom?
    Classroom time is like a performance for me, it's a great chance to show off in front of a room full of my mental-peers. It's pretty easy to get laughs out of a room full of dumb kids, so whenever I go out there to teach I feel like the world's greatest entertainer!
    I can't recall anything especially interesting or funny about the classroom, tbh, it's like just a day-in day-out sort of thing, they all blur together. Zero fatalities so far, that's the main thing. 😅
    Do the kids know about your massive hoard of video games?
    They are indeed, although they don't seem to take that much interest in the old stuff! They play a lot of Switch and 3DS though, and games like Smash Bros are good for getting them introduced to a lot of the older franchises and characters. They also get a lot of exposure to classic gaming through YouTube, I think the new generations have a great chance to develop an interest in retro gaming due to the recycling of all the old retro imagery in modern games and related content.
    Do you ever drop a piece of gaming knowledge on your class just to let 'em know you're still young and hip?
    Actually the students do seem to get a kick out of seeing me playing on my Switch on breaks between classes, and it's a good way to relate to them on their level when you're playing the same games they are! 😄
    Non-gaming hobbies?
    Non-gaming hobbies, I mean I barely have time for the gaming stuff tbh! When I'm not working I try to spend as much time with my family as possible, and often we're going out to various places and going to eat at restaurants and stuff, or just chilling at home on the couch watching Netflix or playing a board game or whatever.
    When I do get some time to myself I will usually prioritize gaming, but I may watch some Simpsons or a movie or something if I'm feeling tired. I also have either YouTube or a podcast running pretty much 24/7, whether I'm working or gaming, so I would say that is the closest thing I have to a second hobby.
    FMK: Queen Elizabeth II, Dame Judi Dench, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
    I would marry the queen, for sure, she can't have much time left, and it would be cool to inherit a couple billion pounds worth of land, titles and jewels. Plus, I look GREAT in a crown! 👑
    Dame Judy Dench is actually in fine condition, for her age, and just looking at her you know she's got that confidence and self-assuredness, you can tell she knows what she wants in bed, and how to get it! We'd probably go out for a fancy dinner in a top London restaurant, share a couple bottles of wine and a few stories. After that it'd be a short black cab ride to her multi-million pound penthouse overlooking the city. Once we made it into her bedroom, I'd just put on my gimp mask and follow her lead... 🥒
    Kill Camilla, I mean, come on. ☠️
    *The Queen dies like LITERALLY the next day*
    Oof, maybe I spoke too soon about marrying the Queen there, eh?! 😅
    FMK: David Beckham, Hugh Grant, Harry Styles
    David Beckham, oh my god FUCK, hell yes! He still retains a lot of the boyish charm of his younger days, but matured now into that classic middle-aged male smoulder. Then you have the muscles and general physique, plus I'm sure he smells amazing. He looks like he smells like the inside of a designer boutique. Gentle lover too, I'm sure, he's got that soft-spoken, family man vibe. I would feel cared for and safe in his strong arms, no doubt. ☺️
    Marry, this is an easy one, Hugh Grant. I know he's a bit of a cad, and there's no WAY I could actually trust him, but imagine how many charmingly befuddling misunderstandings, and comical mishaps we would have! Plus, he's a great conversationalist, and we would be hosting the most epic dinner parties/sex swinger gatherings. I reckon we could make it a good two or three years before the inevitable messy divorce!
    Kill Harry Styles. I don't know that much about him, other than he's some sort of cross-dresser and he looks like a rat.
    FMK: Princess Di, Amy Winehouse, Mary Poppins
    Princess Di is the easy lay on this question, she was undoubtedly hot before Prince Charles had her killed for exposing his paedophile ring in the palace, although we'd definitely have to visit a hairdresser first to get that WHACK 90's hairdo sorted! I'm pretty sure posh birds like Di like it rough in the bedroom too, to take out all the pent up frustrations of acting all prim and proper all the time, so I'm sure we'd have a lot of fun! 🥒👸
    Marry Mary Poppins, it would make life pretty easy having a bit of magical help with the chores around the house, and I also enjoy getting bossed around by stern women. Plus, she's holding down a fulltime job there, babysitting or whatever, so a second income stream would really help out the household finances.
    I'd kill Amy Winehouse, I couldn't imagine either of the other two options being much fun with her. You'd definitely wake up with some sort of disease. 😬
    FMK: Your wife 10 years ago, your wife today, your wife in 10 years.
    My immediate gut reaction to this one is to go back 10 years to bang my wife. I mean, she still puts out today, don't get me wrong, but we were on a whole different level back then, there was a LOT of go in her! It would be pretty epic to relive some of those more wild times, before kids and responsibilities and the weight of the world brought things down a notch. However, I'm not sure how ten years ago me would have felt about the whole situation. I would have become pretty jealous of my wife for getting to bang me, unless we could arrange some sort of three's up scenario! It would also mean I would have to kill either my current wife or kill her in ten years time, which would suck pretty bad.
    So, I'm going to assume this is working on Avengers: Endgame time travel rules, where altering the past creates an alternative timeline, rather than influencing the present, and therefore I will travel to the past to kill my wife ten years ago, so I can remain married to my wife in the present. After that, I will continue boning her for the next ten years until the inevitable F comes to pass! 😉
    Favorite werewolf memory?
    Oh boy, more questions! I think my Stockholm syndrome is back, thank you daddy! 😚
    Hands down my best Werewolf experience was the Ninja Turtles game headed up by mah boi @Jeevan! I was a wolf that time, The Shredder himself, and I watched as each of my wolf team mates were picked off one by one like bitches. I reached some terrifying lows along the way, surrounded like a rat in a trap, but with a bit of moxie and using @Gloves as a human crash-mat, I was able to miraculously barge my way through like 3 sequential rounds of votes and kill all the Turtles, securing a win for myself! Many people caught PTOD (post-trusting OptOut Disorder) that day, an epidemic that ravages the boards to this very day! 😎
    If you could kill any player in werewolf and get away with it scot-free, who would it be?
    I am assuming for this question you mean whilst actually playing the game, and not in real life... Lots of KILLING related questions coming up here... Should I be getting nervous?! 😰
    The answer is, I DO get away with most of my killing in werewolf anyway, and I will kill and kill and kill again, ANYONE who gets in the way of my victory. Especially REED. 😒
    Favorite Survivor memory?
    I have enjoyed my time with Survivor both times I played, but obviously the first game, getting through to the final 3, that was a real highlight! I think the entire process of getting there, strategizing and picking the appropriate targets to either befriend and/or betray, and just the general comradery and fun alongside the competitive element, I really think it gave me the chance to stretch my talents for communication and social manipulation... Basically everything other than my actual video-gaming skills, lol! 😂
    Tell us the full story about your recent injury.  Wife beat you up again?  Kids beat you up again?  Class beat you up again?
    My foot? My broken foot?! YOU did that to me after you brought me here and I tried to escape! 😭 Said you'd come back for the other too, if I didn't answer your SICK little list of questions here, you MONSTER!

    Anyway, I've done what you asked, please, just let me go!... I have kids!... I'll let you do what you want to them, I mean absolutely, by all means go nuts, just PLEASE let me go! 😭😭😭😭
    Walk us through a day in the life of OptOut.
    Walk, huh? WALK! Real funny, smart-ass. Once my broken foot is better it will be heading directly for your ass, with intent to kick it. I don't need this kind of disrespect, I'm a well liked local sideshow! 😤
    SNES or Mega Drive?
    Personally I prefer the Mega Drive over the SNES. Don't get me wrong, SNES has some epic games that I really love, and inarguably the top tier of SNES is better than anything on the Mega Drive. But, what I really love about the MD is the style and the sounds and the attitude of the games. They really have this look and feel, the music and everything, it really sums up the early nineties in a way I feel the SNES just doesn't for me. SNES has that sort of orchestral, synth sound, but I prefer the dirty industrial electronic rock of the Mega Drive. The box art on MD games is also fantastic, there are so many painted covers that look like something you'd see on a heavy metal album!
    In terms of games, I'd say the best possible experience you can have on MD is the shooters. There's just so many great shooters on the system, and personally I've barely scratched the surface and I'm already loving em! There's tons of great sidescrollers, beat em ups and puzzle games on there too, all my favourite genres are well represented. Plus, a big bonus is the lack of RPGs, which really weigh the SNES down IMO, hate em! 😉
    N64 or PS1 or Saturn?
    I think this is possibly the dumbest question I've ever been asked. I think I own a PlayStation... I got it in a bundle of crap from a junk shop for a pittance. I've been meaning to throw it out, but it's buried somewhere and it's already broken so it's not harming anyone. I have two broken Sega Saturns too, and I've never been happier.
    I am utterly uninterested in either of those platforms... MAYBE the Saturn, if I could find one that actually works and do the SD card mod or something, but I've got so many other systems it's unlikely to happen. There is no space in my life for anything PlayStation. I have a deep, visceral revulsion to the brand and all of it's systems.
    Cube or PS2 or Xbox?
    AHH, now we're talking! I am a HUGE OG XBOX fan! I love the system, the S controller is probably my favourite controller of all time, and the library is just awesome IMO. I am a huge fan of console FPS, so obviously I am in heaven on the XBOX, there are just so many great FPS games on there! There are tons of great racers on there too, whether we're talking more realistic like the Project Gotham games, or more arcade style like Burnout. Also, there are just TONS of Star Wars games on the XBOX, it is actually probably the best system ever for Star Wars games, Battlefront, Knights of the old Republic, Jedi Academy, Clone Wars, Republic Commando, I mean even more than that! Then, on top of that, basically all the 3rd party stuff of that generation, the best versions of the best games are all on the XBOX. It's a huge system in every way, a real beast!
    On the other end of the weight scale, you have the GameCube. I like the GameCube, but for me I will always see it as the disappointing follow up to the N64. I was SO hyped for the GCN before it came out, I was counting down the days! I think I was way over-hyped tbh. Basically, the way I see it is the GameCube just has worse versions of a lot of N64 stuff. I prefer Mario 64 to Sunshine, the N64 Zelda's to the GCN Zelda's, F Zero is better on N64, I prefer Mario Kart 64 to Double Dash, and the GameCube HUGELY suffered from the loss of Rareware honestly, that was a CRUSHING blow to me back then. Even some of the good games aren't substantial enough to make up for the shortfall, like Luigi's mansion and Pikmin, like they're good games, but I was expecting more.
    The games I DO like on GCN are some of the more unique releases, like Metroid Prime 1 and 2 and Eternal Darkness. I will also say that Rogue Leader is better than Rogue Squadron on the N64, and Melee is better than OG Smash Bros. I also like all the sonic games on GCN, there are so many! So, for me, the GameCube is a mixed bag. I don't hate it, but it's far down the list of my favourite systems.
    Which member of The Breakfast Club are you?
    Tony the Tiger. No, wait. The bee from honey loops.
    Favorite food?
    Probably my all-round favourite is Pizza, it ticks a lot of boxes all at once for me. I am fine with a bunch of different toppings, although I am not a fan of seafood on pizza, which is a big one here in Taiwan, and I definitely prefer Tomato sauce to BBQ sauce on the base.
    There's a local Pizza chain here in Taiwan, Pizza Rock, beats the shit out of the crap you get from Dominos or Pizza Hut. Every single Thursday, without fail, I get Pizza for dinner from Pizza Rock. I am quite partial to their Mexican pizza, topped with ground pork, black beans and both jalapeno peppers and the SUPER hot spicy red chilli peppers. I also like your more conventional peperoni, supreme and/or meat feast, although Pizza Rock also do an amazing Chorizo pizza... It's super salty and probably takes a month or two off the life of your heart with each slice, but it's SO good as a treat every now and then!
    Oh, and I'll get this out the way right now. Hawaiian pizza is fine, I'm fine with pineapple on pizza, although I wouldn't choose it before any of the flavours listed above, but I WOULD choose it above seafood, BBQ or plain mozzarella.
    We're gonna need a picture of some Pizza Rock
    Let's see here...

    This is from the website, they use the same image of that dude on the menu. I think he's like Canadian, Dave has met him I think. It's good damn pizza, honestly, and compared to literally any other pizza you can get in Taiwan, it might as well have been sent directly from the Gods! 😄
    Beer, wine, or liquor?
    One of each, please! 😉
    Seriously though, beer, yes, I'm a lager guy generally, your standard piss-water beers, mainly because when I drink I like to drink a LOT so the heavier beers kinda slow me down a little, and the risk of hangover is higher. If I'm only planning to drink a couple, then I may choose a better quality, heavier and more flavourful beer in that case.
    Wine, yes, yes! Wine is probably my favourite alcoholic beverage, it's got a great ratio of alcohol content to drinkability. In years gone by, I preferred white wine to red, especially in the UK where you can keep it cold longer. Here in Taiwan, however, good white wine is hard to find and it's very difficult to keep it chilled while you drink... I like BIG glasses.... so, I have developed a decent taste for red wine. I have a big ol' mug I like to fill up with red wine, you can fit like half a bottle in it, and just play video games, or hang out watching TV or whatever, and just keep refilling it whenever I need to until I pass out.

    As for liquor, well, that's tricky for me. Many kinds of liquor make me sick. I can't drink whiskey, brandy, tequila or rum, basically all the dark liquors. I like gin, it's a good taste and decent drink for mixing, but I get TERRIBLE hangovers on gin, specifically. Probably for the best, because I would be a monster on gin.  My REAL favourite liquor, and my darkest muse, is vodka, but I really shouldn't...
    I can drink vodka endlessly without feeling sick, and without getting hungover the next day. This is a HUGE problem, because it is stupidly potent, and it gets me in trouble... blackouts, emotional outbursts, unintended self-harm, the WORKS. I do my best to avoid drinking vodka as anything other than a nightcap when I KNOW I will be going to bed straight away, it's the only way I can handle myself on it, I'm a fiend.
    Best local beer?
    There's actually a pretty good micro-brewery pub in Taichung, the next city over, been there a couple of times with Dave! They have a special tasting menu where you can try out like thirty different beers or something, and you can get some wacky flavours! It's nice for a treat, but generally I stick to your average cans of piss.
    Coffee or tea?
    I like tea and coffee. I can generally only have one tea or one coffee per day though, because I'm very sensitive to caffeine... It won't surprise many of you that I am already pretty highly strung, high tempo kinda guy at the best of times! I don't really need much more pep in my step!
    I like many kinds of tea, all the colours of the rainbow, hot or chilled. I prefer coffee, my favourite way to have it is hot, black, no milk, no sugar. However, I also like coffee or tea with milk sometimes, more like a desert or a treat than a beverage. But never with sugar though, the milk is sweet enough as it is.
    Crumpets or pasties?
    Never been a huge fan of crumpets, but a good pasty is a meal in itself! I actually prefer sausage rolls to pasties though, but I can't get either of those in Taiwan, sadly! 😥
    Haggis or black pudding?
    I've only had haggis rarely, but I liked it when I tried it! Black pudding is delicious though, especially as a part of a full English breakfast! 😋
    American The Office or British The Office?
    The British Office is absolutely one of the best, most finely crafted television series ever made. It is as close to perfect as that kind of observational-style sitcom could be, from the writing all the way through to the performances, it's an all time great. The American office is a fine sitcom, but it's a lot more conventional. I haven't watched all of it, but I enjoyed what I saw.
    Black Adder or Mr. Bean?
    Blackadder and Mr. Bean are both great shows in their own right, but quite different. I prefer Blackadder, due to the amazing wit and writing, and again, incredible performances from some Britain's greatest comedic talent of the 80's and 90's. I am also a keen history buff, especially British history, naturally, so the theming and some of the specific jokes and scenarios are especially appealing to me.
    Mr. Bean is a great performance from Rowan Atkinson, there really are very few other comedic actors who could have pulled of the range of physical and silent comedy bits that he manages to convey through his body and facial expressions they way he did. It's so good, the kids in my school STILL love to watch the clips on YouTube to this day, as well as the later cartoon series they made. You know, if they rebooted Mr. Bean with an American actor, I reckon Bryan Cranston would do an excellent job, I think he is one of the few modern American comedic actors who could replicate that range of physical and emotionally expressive comedy.
    Braveheart or The Patriot? 😎
    Never seen either movie, but I'm gonna say the one where we killed the savage Scotsman. 😉
    The Patriot's from the same guys who made Independence Day.  Just saying...
    I will take any advice from you on which movies to watch under advisement from my lawyers. 
    Dead Poets Society or Stand and Deliver?
    Nah.
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    I like both Star Wars and Star Trek, both franchises have so much and such varied content that I think most people with an interest in sci-fi or fantasy can find something to like.
    For Star Wars I am into the original Trilogy, I like Episode 7, 8 an Rogue One from the new movies, and I am into the Disney+ series as well, particularly the Mandalorian and the new Andor series. I am also a big fan of Star Wars video games, especially on N64, GCN and XBOX.
    For Star Trek, I like TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise that era, and I also like the new movies as well, I thought they were really well done. I am also a fan of The Orville, which obviously isn't technically Star Trek, but it might as well be, definitely worth checking out!
    Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask?
    I love both games, I'd say they are my two favourite Zelda games, without question. I used to prefer Majora's Mask, due to the greater emotional depth of the game, but over the years I have found OoT to be much more fun to revisit and replay, so I now consider that to be the better game of the two.
    Super Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie?
    Again, both games are absolute greats. I think in many ways Banjo Kazooie is the better game, whether that be the graphics, the dialogue and characters, or the overall world design, which makes each world feel more like actual locations as opposed to some of the Mario 64 levels which are more like obstacle courses. There is also better variety in the available moves, and a lot of the objectives to earn puzzle pieces in Banjo Kazooie.
    However, I would say Mario 64 PLAYS better, in a more immediate sense of control and the framerate it a bit smoother, which adds more to the gameplay experience. Mario 64 also has more levels and feels a little more streamlined in terms of getting straight to the action. For these reasons I would say Mario 64 is more replayable, and as with OoT vs. MM, over the long-term I think replayability beats out some of the more particular advantages a game like Banjo Kazooie may have over Mario 64.
    Any other VGS/NA'ers you've met?
    Not yet, it's a little tricky all the way out here, but I'd love to visit the states and/or Canada and hang out with a few more cool VGS dudes one day! 😚
    Ever torn your palm open playing Mario Party?
    Oh yeah, who didn't back in the day? Bleeding palms and epic highscores on the flying wind-up Shyguy minigame were badges of honour back then!
    First thing that comes to mind (for each one):
    UK. 
    Miserable
    America. 
    Fatdumb
    Australia.
    Chazwozzer
    Japan.
    Hentai
    Brazil.
    Shaven haven
    China.
    Monster
    Hong Kong. 
    Victim
    Sony.
    Satan
    Nintendo.
    Jesus
    Sega.
    Sonic
    Gloves. 
    Mother
    Jeevan. 
    Lover
    ZeldaFreak. 
    Brother
    Reed.  
    REED. 😒
    Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
    Probably very similar to what's going on today really! I hope to have gotten the business to the point where it will need a lot less time and input from me and my wife, so we can take a little more time back for ourselves. Hopefully a bit more time for gaming, a bit more time for fun, and just happy days! Yeah, sounds good! ☺️
    Who should I interview next?
    Well, I wouldn't wish this tortuous process on my worst enemy, but if you are twisting my arm, it would be remiss of me not to suggest Dave, @fcgamer! I'm sure he would light up the comments section something fierce with a few of his spicy takes here and there!
    I'd also love to see @ZeldaFreak get his time in the spotlight, although you may need to up the site bandwidth to accommodate his epic-length responses!
    And, of course, mah boi @Jeevan... I'm sure he'll take your numerous movie suggestions in good faith! 😅
    What am I thinking about right now?
    Untying my bonds, unlocking my cell door, chaining up the attack dogs and calling me an Uber to the airport? 🤞
    Ok
  5. Reed Rothchild

    Featured Member August 2022: Brickman

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    00
    @Brickman
    Okay, so to start off, tell us what originally brought you to VGS and/or NA.
    I joined NA around 2011 but I didn’t post much, I mainly lurked and bought and sold stuff. VGS is a lot more open and friendly than NA was imo. 
    And what is the meaning behind your username?  Or usernames, in this case. 
    Started with SHMUP because I really love the genre (especially bullet hells) even though I’m not very good at them. Then decided it’s time for a change and went with Brickman, this name relates to my second passion, LEGO.  
    Is there a Mrs. (or Mr.) Brickman?  Kids?  Pet gerbils?
    Married but no kids, unless you count our two cats 🙂
    What do you do for a living? 
    Short answer IT. Longer answer, support and whatever projects my boss throws at me. We’re a two-man team so I basically do everything from “have you turned it off and on again?" to upgrading our phone system. 
    IT Crowd or Office Space?
    Hard to compare because one is a TV show and the other is a movie. Both are fantastic. IT Crowd for all the IT jokes and Office Space because I think it captures office life perfectly. 
    Do you and your boss have a small 2 man office?  Which character from Office Space are you, and which one is he? 
    Yep with a goth living in a closet too. I think we’re both the main character Peter haha.  
    American The Office or British The Office?  ...or maybe Australian The Office...(?) 
    An Australian office would be pretty funny. I didn’t like the US Office when it first came out, just thought it was another one of those series that they remade because the US wouldn’t get UK humour. But it’s pretty good until Steve Carell leaves, then it just goes downhill. The US seem to over stay their welcome with comedy shows and drag them on pass their prime. The UK Office is better though. 
    What is your avatar?  I actually have no idea.   Though now that I look at it closely I'm guessing it's whatever a Blacksad is. 
    Yep it’s Blacksad, I think he’s a panther. Anyone who hasn’t read the comics should do so! 
    Gamer or collector? 
    Both. This year I have been more a collector because I haven’t had as much time to devote to gaming but last year I did way more gaming than collecting. 
    10 favorite games of all time, and the reasons why they're in your top ten.   Go.

    Persona 4/Persona 4 Golden. My favourite JRPG and game. The story is superbly written, every character is fleshed out, the dungeons are varied and interesting, the demon fusing is fun and there’s lots of side things to do. I don’t really want to give anything away story wise so I’ll just say that if you like JRPG’s and haven’t played this, stop playing whatever you’re playing and play this instead. You won’t regret it.  Dark Souls- While I did enjoy Demon Souls, it didn’t grab me like Dark Souls. I loved how everything was interconnected to the main hub and even after doing a slog through Blighttown you’d eventually come back to the main hub bonfire and see the characters you had interacted with along the way. The boss battles felt epic and varied, and even though I don’t think I know everything about the story, I loved it. This game isn’t as hard as people make it out to be, once you learn the combat it’s not very difficult.   Ocarina of Time- This is still my favourite Zelda game (BotW is fantastic though). The transition to 3D works well and the story feels so epic. The time traveling was an awesome concept and I spent ages just riding Epona around the field. I didn’t have a guide for this game, so figuring out some of the puzzles took me forever, but felt like a huge accomplishment when I did.   Mario 64- I think if there was only one Mario game I could play for the rest of my life this would be it. I think I could get the 120 stars in my sleep by this point. It never gets old. I think the transition to 3D was done very well, there’s a huge variety of levels and a killer soundtrack. It really was incredible at the time seeing Mario move from 2D to 3D.  Silent Hill 2 – This is still my favourite horror game. They did a fantastic job making the PS2 limitations feel like part of the story, like the fog covering up for the draw distances. The enemies are some of the best in horror game history (even to this day) and I love the themes the story touches on, that was definitely pretty ground breaking at the time. Metal Gear Solid- It's probably hard to explain how much of a big deal this game was when it came out. The cut scenes were mind blowing at the time, the story felt like a movie and the gameplay was ground breaking. Psycho Mantis is probably still one of my favourite villians and boss battles. I loved how it broke the 4th wall and mocked your gaming history on the memory card and having to switch your controller to port 2 was so crazy.  Bloodborne- What's almost as good as Dark Souls? Bloodborne! It took the slower/careful combat approach of Dark Souls and flipped it around. It made for a nonstop brutal game where being offensive was rewarded. Loved the gothic vibe and the boss battles were made interesting by having two phases. Final Fantasy VI- This is the game where I think FF really broke out from the RPG mould. FF 4 and 5 are fantastic games and rank as some of my favourites but this one just takes it to another level. The soundtrack is probably my favourite from the FF series and the story really did start taking JRPG’s in a new direction with the steam punk theme.   Chrono Trigger- Similar to what I said about FF VI really.   This was actually the hardest game to decide on because there are so many games that fit in the top 10 and I’d like to include them all. I’ll go with Super Metroid. I only finally got around to playing this for my backlog last year and loved it. I’ve always been a fan of Metroidvania’s but never played the one that started it all. Probably not much I can say that hasn’t already been said besides go play it if you haven’t yet. Did you get a chance to try out P.T./Silent Hills? 
    Yep really loved it. Still have it installed on my PS4. 
    Give us a sneak peak of your 2023 backlog list. 
    I’m doing badly with my backlog this year so probably some of those games. If I don’t get a chance to play it this year, Elden Ring will be at the top, along with some GC games. 
    Game you're looking forward to the most? 
    Breath of the Wild 2, I think they’ll take everything that was great about the first and add even more amazing features. 
    Favorite item in your collection? 
    I have the Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes Japanese Gamecube. That’s probably my favourite item I own right now.  
    First game you ever played? 
    Pac-Man on the Atari. My parents bought an Atari when they came out and I played that before they got me a NES and SMS. 
    Favorite franchise(s) of all time? 
    Persona- Love this series. I’m a big JRPG fan and this series has amazing story telling, great characters, some of the best game music in a series and I love the turn-based combat. I could probably spend all day trying to create OP demon fusions while Aria of the Soul plays over and over in the background. 
    Dark Souls- I fell in love with this series from the first day I played it. While 2 and 3 aren’t quite as good as the first, I love them all in different ways. 
    Final Fantasy- It's had its ups and downs but it is the first JRPG I ever played and I have to credit it for introducing me to the genre. 
     Favorite console of all time? 
    It would be between NES and PS2 but I’ll go with the PS2. Both are great systems but the NES is probably biased a little more towards nostalgia. The PS2 I do believe has the best library in gaming so far. It has pretty much anything you could ask of it. The horror games and JRPG’s alone make it worth playing. Explore the PS2 if you haven’t done so, you won’t regret it. 
    Favorite movie of all time? 
    Mulholland Drive. I’m a Lynch fan and this is my favourite of his and my favourite movie.  
    Explain the plot of Mulholland Drive in 25 words or less.
    Is this even possible? 😆. Here is a very simplified version: An aspiring actress comes to LA and meets a woman who lost her memory in car accident. They set out to discover who she is.  
    I was hoping you'd mention the Diner Cave Man... guy.  Least favorite Lynch film? 
    Haha I was going to but that wouldn’t fit in 25 words. Inland Empire is probably my least favourite film of his. It was ok but it didn’t grab me like his other films. 
    What if I told you David Lynch and I were both born in the same small town? 
    Are you trying to tell me you are secretly David Lynch? 😮
    You're a horror guy.  Name an obscure selection that everyone should watch. 
    Newer stuff: The first that comes to mind is probably Martyrs (original French version not the US remake). Fair warning, it is pretty intense. Titane is an absolutely brilliant film that came out last year, highly recommend this one. A lot of great subjects explored. Finally, Possessor by Brandon Cronenberg (son of David Cronenberg).  
    Older stuff: I watched Onibaba last year and really enjoyed that, it’s a Japanese Drama/Horror. Chopping Mall is an awesome B grade movie everyone should watch. The Burning is a good early 80’s slasher that has Jason Alexander. Pieces is a so bad it’s good 80’s slasher that everyone needs to watch.  
    Favorite book of all time? 
    This is a tough question. I’ll say that I have two equally favourite books. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, seriously read this book if you haven’t, it’s the ultimate revenge novel. Second is The Road by Cormack McCarthy. 
    Favorite television series of all time? 
    Six Feet Under. Amazing show about a family that owns a funeral home starring Michael C Hall (and other fantastic actors) before he was Dexter. The ending is probably my favourite ending to a TV series. 
    Favorite member of the Six Feet Under family? I can't remember their name.
    At the time I related with Claire in some ways but I think Nate had the best story lines. 
    Did you cry when his... er, "thing" happened? 
    Don’t think I cried but I was pretty shocked and then sad. I feel like re watching Six Feet Under now. 
    Favorite song/album/artist of all time? 
    Song- Strawberry Fields Forever 
    Album- The White Album. Dark Side of the Moon would probably come in a close second though. 
    Artist- The Beatles. No matter how many times I listen to them I never get tired of them. 
    Paul, John, or George?   ...or Ringo, I guess.
    John Lennon and George Harrison were the best songwriters imo and I really love their solo work too. Paul’s a good musician but most of his songs weren’t my style. And Ringo, well I don’t think anything needs to be said about him. A drum machine could have done what he did 😆
    Best song on Dark Side of the Moon?
    Us and Them but Time is a close second. 
    Won't argue there.  Time is actually my favorite song of all time.  Arguably the song that got me into classic rock.
    Excellent taste  I’d rank it in my top 3. Strawberry Fields, Us and Them and Time.  
    Do you recall the first time you heard it?
    Not sure when I first heard it, my dad is a huge Pink Floyd fan so I’m sure it was pretty early. But my first memory would be around 10-11. My dad had the Pulse VHS and played it religiously and way too loud. 
    You're a metal guy.  Best metal album of each decade, go. 
    Geez this is going to be tough. I’ll just start from the 70’s because that’s generally the accepted decade metal begun. 

    70’s- I consider Queen’s early work to be pretty close to metal of that era so I’m going with Queen ‘A Night at the Opera’ but if I can’t say Queen I’d say Black Sabbath ‘Paranoid’. 
    80’s- Now this is a tough era. This was a great era for metal. These are the three albums I had to debate over. Metallica- Ride the Lightning, Judas Priest- Screaming for Vengenance and Helloween- Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1. I went with Helloween, I just really love that album and could listen to it and never get tired of it.  
    90’s- There were some good albums in this era too. Metal was pretty diverse in the 90’s but I think I’ll go with Dream Theatre’s ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory’. This album was my first intro to Dream Theatre and John Petrucci is what inspired me to play the guitar.  
    2000’s- No contest for me. Opeth – Blackwater Park. Absolute masterpiece. 
    2010’s- Another no contest. Devin Townsend Project – Z2. I reckon I’ve listened to this album at least 200 times by now and I’m still not sick of it. Devin is a Canadian god! 
    2020’s - we’ve just started but I think Ghost’s Impera is going to be hard to beat, unless they put something even better out by the end of the decade. 
    Best Helloween song of all time?
    A Little Time- Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1
    What if I also told you I've never listened to Keeper of the Seven Keys.  Should my metalhead card be revoked? 
    I had never heard it either until I met my wife, so we can both hand our cards in 
    Best Dream Theater song of all time?
    Stream of Consciousness from Train of Thought.
    What if I told you I've owned half a dozen DT albums, but never Metropolis Part 2? 
    I’d say get on it!  
    Best Opeth song of all time?
    Is this even possible with a band like Opeth? 😆. I’ll go with Reverie/Harlequin Forest. Such a great journey and really highlights how talented Opeth really are. 
    What if I told you that the only piece of Opeth swag I own is this Harlequin Forest shirt... 
    What if I told you I don’t own anything besides their albums! 
    Best Devin Townsend and/or Strapping Young Lad song of all time? 
    Stormbending from Transcendence.
    I never owned that one.  In fact, most of my metal buying ending back when Addicted came out.  Sounds like I need to add that and Ziltoid 2 to my amazon cart... 
    I think Amazon Prime has most of Devin’s albums so if you have prime you can check them out. At least they do in Australia. You’re in for a great listening experience 🙂
    Best Ghost song of all time?
    Body and Blood from Infestissumam
    Well, I guess that means we can rule out you being a Christian. 😂  For the longest time I thought the lyric was
    ...ever been to one of their "rituals"? 
    Haha nope. Religion isn’t very big in Australia. I actually had to google what you meant by ritual, turns out that’s what they call their concerts. I’ve seen them once and it was a great show, definitely one of my favourites. 
    You mentioned you are a melodic death metal guy: In Flames or Dark Tranquillity? 
    Dark Tranquility. I feel In Flames have continued to put very mediocre albums after Clayman. Reroute to remain started their downfall for me. They had a great run before that. Dark Tranquility have mixed things up through the years but I always enjoy what they put out.  
    Best concert you've ever been to?  
    Geez that’s hard. Probably seeing Roger Waters. Alice Cooper and Ghost also put on amazing shows so they wouldn’t be far behind. Oh and Rammstein were great too. 
    Wine, beer, or liquor? 
    I don’t drink so none of those. I do like cherry coke and Dr Pepper though. 
    Coffee or tea? 
    I don’t really drink either of them but I like a good cappuccino over tea. 
    Favorite food?  Did I ask that already? 
    Mexican or Colombian food. Probably Mexican a bit more. 
    What part of Australia are you in?  I feel like Google maps implies everyone is pretty close to the coast.
    I live in Melbourne, Victoria. Pretty much all the major cities are close to the coast then sprawl out. I live in the mountains about 35km from the CBD, it’s nice and peaceful. This is roughly the area I live in if you want to have a look around: https://goo.gl/maps/C64M5EWi6sNxZb6z8 
    Crowded House or Split Enz? 
    Crowded House. Both are great but I love pretty much everything Crowded House put out, Split Enz I need to be in the mood for. 
    The Road Warrior or Fury Road? 
    I really loved the story in Fury Road so I’m going to go with that.  
    Russell Crowe or Hugh Jackman? 
    Russell Crowe is technically New Zealand but is essentially Australian. I still like Hugh Jackman, just seems really down to earth. 
    Yahoo Serious or Paul Hogan? 
    Haha should this even be a question? Paul Hogan. He really sums up 70’s/80’s Australia.  
    Hugo Weaving or Ben Mendohlson? 
    Hugo Weaving. He is another who is technically not Australian but essentially is. He’s done so much for Australia and the arts. I love pretty much everything he’s done that I’ve seen him in.  
    Star Wars or Star Trek? 
    Star Wars. I don’t like Star Trek at all. Although, now Disney is absolutely milking Star Wars and I’m getting a bit over that series too. 
    Which member of the Breakfast Club are you? 
    I haven’t watched the Breakfast Club in like 15 years so I don’t really remember the characters that well. *goes to do an internet search*. Not really any of them, I guess Allison in some ways because I can be a bit of a hermit haha. 
    Cricket?  Football?  American football?  Some sort of crazy Australian sport involving sharks, spiders, or snakes? 
    Haha. I don’t mind Cricket, I like T20 a bit more than test cricket though. A sport involving sharks? That would probably be surfing haha. I like to watch it if it’s on but don’t follow it. I find Australian football boring. 
    I enjoy American Football and try to watch a game each week when the season is on. 
    First thing that comes to mind: New Zealand 
    Brother from another mother. They’re our little bro 🙂
    First thing that that comes to mind: the US 
    Absolute mess. 
    First thing that comes to mind: the UK 
    OptOut? Haha. Probably the Queen. 
    First thing that comes to mind: Japan 
    Rich culture and amazing food. 
    Does South Park make sense to you, or is most of it lost on non-American sensibilities? 
    Yeah South Park is probably one of my favourite cartoons. They manage to consistently mock pop culture, trends and society in general.  
    FMK: Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Rose Byrne 
    F- Nicole Kidman, she still looks so good! 
    M- Margot Robbie, because you get the M and the F and that’s a double win in my book! 
    K- Rose Byrne, she's alright but we can kill her. 
    FMK: Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Chris Hemsworth as 'Kevin'
    Hahaha. I didn’t know who this Kevin person was meant to be and saw it was that Ghostbuster 2016 reboot so that can definitely be K. James Hunt F because it would be handy being married to Thor. 
    Was that 'Dingos got my baby" movie accurate?
    I haven’t watched it since I was a teenager but that story is pretty crazy. Dingos really did take and kill her baby and it was one of the stupidest blunders of the courts and police.  I’m glad she was eventually released and sued the courts.  
    Stuff you collect aside from video games? 
    Oh boy, this is going to be a bit of a list. 
    LEGO- This is my second passion after video games. I tend to buy what sets interest me, doesn’t matter what theme. 
    Garage kits/Model kits- I like painting garage kits/model kits. It started with Warhammer when I was younger but now I just find cool looking kits and paint those. 
    Blu Ray- Recently started a collection of Blu Ray, I really love the stuff Criterion put out, so a lot of it is from that collection or horror stuff from Scream Factory. 
    Manga- I've been really getting into manga this year and before I knew it, I had a bit of a collection going. 
    Vinyl- Always loved vinyl and my dad had a pretty big classic rock collection which he gave me once his record player broke. I haven’t bought much in a while because, like video games, prices have gone a bit crazy on a lot of stuff. 
    Favorite LEGO set?
    10497 Galaxy Explorer and 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay 
    I had to google them.  When I was a kid I didn't have much money, but my pride and joy was 6273 Rock Island Refuge.  My kids still play with it when I go back home.  Do you still have all of your childhood sets? 
    Nice set. Original Pirates and Space are still my favourite themes. I don’t have any of my original sets unfortunately. They’re doing a rerelease of the Galaxy Explorer though which I’ve already pre ordered. 
    Ever watch that LEGO competition show? 
    Yep love it. Interesting fact, all the layout and images used in the US LEGO Masters is taken from the Australian LEGO masters.
    Typical unoriginal Americans, amirite? 
    Haha it’s normally the other way around. Australia normally just gets lazy and copies everything from the UK or the US. 
    First LEGO set you ever got?
    Can’t say for sure, but one of the earliest sets I remember having is 1498 Spy Bot and 885 Space Scooter when I was about 7. 
    What does your wife think of your hobbies?
    She is pretty nerdy too and works in IT so she likes them 😊 she says she prefers I buy games over smoking or drinking haha. 
    Flight of the Conchords or What We Do in the Shadows?
    Was never a big flight of the conchords fan. Love What We do in the Shadows. 
    Thor Ragnarok or Wilder People or Eagle vs Shark? 
    It’s a mixed bag for me with Taika Waititi’s movies. What We do in the shadows in my favourite of his and then probably Eagle Vs Shark but I didn’t like Thor (although I’m pretty much over Marvel movies anyway so maybe that’s why) and I thought Jojo Rabbit was an ok film, I enjoyed it but didn’t love it like some people. Haven’t seen Wilder People. I have heard Boy is good but haven’t seen that either. 
    Favorite Werewolf memory? 
    @G-type’s Among Us game was pretty epic and heaps of fun. I don’t know if he meant it, but due to the length, I really felt like I was stuck on a ship in space. I thought it would never end. Some highlights include trying to decipher the robots beeps with @Splain, shooting the shit with @Jeevan then him trolling me 😆 and trying to figure out how to clean those damn vents! 
    If you could be meet one member of VGS (aside from myself, the obvious pick), who would it be? 
    Haha I probably would say you anyway, you seem to have the most in common with me. We’d chill and listen to metal, watch some horror movies and play some SNES while debating our favourite King novels. But if we ignore you then OptOut would be fun to catch up with and is probably the most likely person I will possibly meet one day due to my wife's sister-in-law being from Taiwan, so we have free accommodation any time we want to visit Taipei. We’d probably chill with some N64, shit on Americans like @fcgamer, chat about the queen and he’d take me to weird Taiwanese restaurants. 
    Best collecting find you've ever come across in the wild?
    There’s not really a lot of great deals here like the US. The best is probably $10 for a CIB Ocarina of Time from a Blockbuster sale back in the day and for recent times I got each of the Labo sets for $15 each when Target were trying to get rid of them.  
    Collecting holy grail?
    I’m not really into super rare items so there’s probably nothing super super hard for me to obtain with enough time (or money) but having a complete Famicom and Super Famicom library would be awesome. 
    Persona or Shin Megami Tensei? Favorite SMT game?
    SMT III Nocturne.  
    3DS or Vita?
    I think the 3DS has the more solid library but the Vita is also a great underrated system. The Vita TV was a great addon that they didn’t use enough of unfortunately. 
    Favorite Vita game?  Aside from Persona 4. 
    If we just stick to exclusives and ignore stuff like Demon’s Crown and Odin Sphere then I think Uncharted Golden Abyss  
    DS or PSP?
    The PSP has a really solid library but it can’t really compare against the Castlevania games, Mario RPG game, Professor Layton series, Pokemon, Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, Etrian Odyssey games, Devil Survivor games, and that’s only scratching the surface from titles off the top off my head!  
    What is your favorite DS game overall? 
    Castlevania – Dawn of Sorrow 
    Switch or PS4? 
    Not even a competition. Switch. Being able to play games like BotW on the go is awesome and has meant I can game even more. 
    N64 or PS1 or Saturn? 
    This is pretty tough. N64 has a killer library with first party and Rare but then it dips a bit. However, it is a small library so technically it has a lot of great games haha. Saturn is fantastic if you include the Japanese library, if you don’t, it’s pretty average. PS1 has sooooo many great JRPG’s, horror games and just a better well-rounded library. This is why I would say PS1 slightly beats out the N64.  
    SNES or Genesis? 
    What’s a Genesis? 😆. SNES. The MD is great but how can you compete with the SNES library? Then if you include the Japanese library, it gets even crazier. 
    Game I desperately need to cover in the debates?
    Celeste! Although knowing the people here, most probably haven’t played it 🤣
    Yeah, I've considered it many times, but the indies don't seem to get much of a response.  Slay the Spire was a total fail... 
    Yep very true. Their loss 😊 I just had a look at your list. You haven’t done Super Metroid, Bloodborne, Persona, Super Mario World, The Witcher, Deus Ex, Neverwinter Nights, Baulders Gate, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Quake, FF 9, Double Dragon, NES Mega Man games, Gradius. I think that should keep you busy for a bit 🙂
    Walk us through a day in the life of Brickman.  I almost said a day in the life of shmup. 
    Woke up, fell out of bed, 
    Dragged a comb across my head 
    Found my way downstairs and drank a cup 
    And looking up, I noticed I was late 
    Found my coat and grabbed my hat 
    Made the bus in seconds flat 
    Found my way upstairs and had a smoke 
    And somebody spoke and I went into a dream 
    Sorry, I told you I was a Beatles fan. 
    It is very boring, get ready for the most boring day in the life you will ever read haha. 
    Wake up, study daily kanji/Japanese words in Anki, read game news, read finance news, read VGS.  
    Drop my wife at the station, go to work. Lunch time I’ll do more Japanese study or watch a show or movie, sometimes play Switch.  
    Come home, do some more Japanese study (watch anime, read a book or practice speaking) 
    Pickup my wife from work, help cook dinner. 
    Watch a show with her/catchup on each other's day. Then I study more Japanese (normally reading or grammar practice) and then finally try and play some games for an hour before bed while she is watching TV (this is why the Switch is so handy!). 
    The weekends we try and see friends, go out to a café, do some gardening, go for a hike or check out an exhibition if there’s something good on. Or some weekends we’re lazy and just watch movies all day. Not having kids gives you a lot of free time. 
    We do try and go on holidays for 4-5 weeks a year so hopefully that makes up for our mundane life 🙂
    Have you ever visited Japan?
    Not yet. We were planning to in 2020 but covid prevented that. We plan to visit for about 4-5 weeks next year. Can’t wait! 
    How close to fluency are you? (learning Japanese) 
    I’m still a long way off but each month I can see my progress improving. I’m a lot more comfortable with reading and can read a lot of manga that is slice of life orientated, game manuals are also great for reading practice 😊 Speaking, I haven’t really put enough time into because I don’t have anyone to speak to but I plan to try and find a tutor to focus on improving that. It’s a really fun language to learn 😊 
    Weirdest rated PG-13 dream that you can remember?  And for the record, this question is from Gloves. 
    Why does @Gloves want to know about my dreams? I don’t remember my dreams so I don’t really have anything to say. I do still sleep walk though, the weirdest place I’ve ended up so far is in my closest haha. 
    Let's switch the roles. You get to ask me one question.  Go. 
    Oh good pay back time! Your top 10 games of all time and why. Go! 
    Brutal.  And poetic.
    (a month later)
    This is off the top of my head, so I'm probably forgetting something, and I'm excluding 3 SNES games so as to avoid spoiling where I have them ranked.  So I replaced them with the #11-13 games.
    Myth: The Fallen Lords - An early RTS game from Bungie that came out in the wake of Warcraft II and the C&C games, alongside stuff like Starcraft and Age of Empires.  Except, while all of those games task you with building units, collecting resources, investing in infastructure and upgrades, the Myth series is solely about battle tactics.  You start with a squad of units, and you have to make them last for the entire mission.  Kinda similar to later games like Dawn of War.  But these are way better.  Endlessly deep, and fiendishly difficult, they're also some of the very first truly 3D RTS games, letting you rotate the camera and zoom in and out.  The story in TFL is also one of my absolute favorites in all of gaming.  Telling a bleak high fantasy tale about mankind's final stand against the forces of the darkness, and the last-ditch suicide mission they undertake in order strike at heart of the enemy.  This is arguably my favorite game of all time.
    Myth II: Soulblighter - The sequel, where everything is refined, the missions are more elaborate and creative, and you get more of everything.  Granted, the story doesn't quite reach the high marks of the first game, but it's still amazingly good.  I've heard Bungie basically re-told it as the basis for Destiny.  Almost makes me want to check that franchise out.  But what IS better than the original game is the groundbreaking multiplayer.  Basically a battle royale against 1-7 other opponents, it had an early ranking system, with various insanely fun modes of play (capture the flag, king of the hill, etc.).  But, most importantly of all, the game shipped with the complete game-making tools that the developers used, so there was an incredible mod scene, including my favorite mod of all time: WW2 recon.  Recon is my favorite multiplayer of all time, bar none.  I've had to force myself to uninstall Myth 2 multiple times so that I was forced to do other things with my life, because I would play for 8 hours a time.  I would literally kill for a remastered version of Recon, with an active community.
    Ocarina of Time - This is the single reason I chose an N64 over a PS1 back in 7th grade when I was given a choice of console for a Christmas present.  And as much as I was hungering for Metal Gear Solid, and the Final Fantasy games, and Symphony of the Night, and everything else, Ocarina is ultimately what moved the needle for me.  And it wasn't a bad decision.  I obsessed over the game from day one, playing hours and hours at a time, getting a full 100% completion, and then immediately starting over and doing it again.  And I never do that with games.  Some people complain about this game showing it's age nowadays, but I don't see it.  Still plays like a dream.
    Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - For being the best Metroidvania of all time, and creating a new term that endlessly triggers people.  And for looking and sounding so damn good.  I played this game on a kiosk for like a billion years, and I never played on kiosks.
    Ikaruga - I see this game when I close my eyes at night.  Kinda like when you see falling Tetroids after playing too much Tetris, except with hypnotic black and white patterns and shit blowing up.
    Total Annihilation - The great soundtrack of all time.  The greatest expansion pack (DLC, for you kids) of all time.  The greatest unit set of all time.  The greatest RTS controls of all time.  The greatest interface of all time.  The greatest naval battles of all time.  The greatest artillery battles of all time.  The greatest bombing runs of all time.  The greatest... you get the picture.
    Heroes of Might & Magic III - This is probably the most addictive and approachable game I've ever played.  Everyone loves it.  Your sister loves it.  Your grandma loves it.  It's impossible to not get sucked into it.  And it's the highpoint of the series.  IV just slowed everything down, and ruined the perfect balance that this game had.  Go to GoG and download it right now.  Then you can come back and thank me for it.
    Baldur's Gate II - This might be the biggest baddest game of all time.  Take everything from the original (amazing) game, and make it bigger, better, prettier, and beefier.  I truly hope they capture even a fraction of this magic with the third game.
    Slay the Spire - The "new" most addictive game of all time.  I had to take this cart out of my Switch and hide it, lest I never play anything else ever again.  Every single time I've ever died on a run, I've had the incredibly strong compulsion to immediately start a new one.  There's no rage, no frustration, no defeat.  Just the need to jump right back in.
    Half Life - Remember when people thought games like Jedi Knight and Quake 2 were amazing?  And then this game comes out where you're shooting down Apache helicopters with guided tow missiles, and everyone suddenly forgot about all of those others games forever, for the most part?  Game changer.
    Okay, back to you.  Dumbest question I could ask you? 
    This one? 
    Correct.  Finally,what VGS member would you like to see be featured? 
    I’m sure @OptOut is on the list so I’ll go with @PuppyWaffles. 
  6. Reed Rothchild
    What initially brought you to NA?
    I initially came to NA after we bought our house in like 2012-2013.  We’d both come armed with NES games.  Mine were childhood games and some stuff I’d picked up randomly from the local used media chain during college but most of hers were given to her by some dude I can only assume was named Pringle.  One evening I decided to go through the boxes to see what was in there and what it was worth.  That process and Google led me to NA where I discovered in my possession some game I’d never heard of; Little Samson.  Next thing I know I’m on eBay buying Dragon Warrior II.  Got hooked pretty quickly.
    What was your initial reaction to seeing the value of that Little Samson?
    My initial reaction to the Samson price was something along the lines of “What the hell is wrong with these people?”  After the shock that any of these games could be worth that much wore off I pretty quickly settled into wanting to snatch up some more of that NES nostalgia.  Hanging out at NA turned on the crazy mode pretty quickly.  I used to spend a morning reading the forum and be struck by the overwhelming urge to buy a bunch of stuff.  
    Story behind your username and avatar?
    My username is based on the most bad assedly named town in Norway with a twist on the end evoking the glory of the height of the Roman Empire.  Yes, I used to be a problem drinker.
    The Avatar is easy.  Quantum Leap is awesome.  Not the new one though.
    Top 10 favorite games of all time?
    Top Games?  Suikoden II, Dragon Warrior, SMB3, Castlevania SOTN, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy VII, Legend of Zelda, PTO II, Klax, EVO.  That’s vaguely in order but not really and I’m sure I’m forgetting important stuff that should be on that list.  I really enjoyed the Witcher 3.  Fuck. Paperboy should be in there.  I love paperboy.
    Family?  Kids?  Domestic geese?
    Let’s see, I live with my semi-non-platonic life partner and we have 2 kids together.  I actually left my job a while after the second one was born and covid was in full thing and for now I’m the stay-at-home dad.  It’s pretty cool most of the time.  I get to partake in all the things while they are little.  We’ve also got a dog Edith, and a cat Tessa and a grandpa that live in the basement (RIP my gameroom).
    Favorite book?
    Favorite book is hard to pick one so you’re getting a couple: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is up there, Dune is a big one - I read this series until one of the last ones that Frank Herbert wrote and it got kind of weird,  Generation of Swine - I’m a big fan of Hunter Thompson’s work and this one is my favorite and probably my most reread book.
    Movie?
    I’m really not a big movie guy, probably Amadeus. My wifelike person complains that I never pick anything that was released in the last 20 years.
    TV show?
    Star Trek - most of them.  TNG is my favorite but I’m also a really big fan of TOS and I think Deep Space 9 is really underrated.  Really the only thing I ever actually watch these days.  Everything else just gets put on in the background while I don’t pay attention.    
    Futurama - Love this one.  Seen them a billion times but I haven’t seen the new ones yet…because I started watching from the beginning again so I’ll update you guys with my feelings in 2026.  
    Song/album/artist?
    This is too tough to pin down as some sort of all time pick.  I think there’s been a lot of top bands over the years and the formative years influence of someone like Metallica weighs heavily.  Amon Amarth is a solid contender for all time.  Currently the band I keep coming back to is Polyphia.  I love guitar melodies that are emotive and interesting enough that you don’t need vocals.  I also really like shit that makes me go wow.  This is really the headspace I’m in music wise these days.  
    Alright, obviously you're a big metal guy, so let's hear it.  Top ten songs of all time, go.
    I’m gonna spitball this one some because the final list is only scheduled to be released upon my death.

    Sanitarium (Metallica)
    Imaginations from the Other Side (Blind Guardian)
    Without Fear/Victorious March (Amon Amarth) - Cheating a little with 2 tracks that are connected and i think make the strongest 1 2 punch I’ve encountered
    Not Unlike the Waves (Agalloch)
    Towards Dead End (Children of Bodom)
    White Willow (Elvenking)
    A Trace of Blood (Pain of Salvation)
    Dante‘s Inferno (Iced Earth) - I hate that this is on here after what’s happened but the number of times I’ve threatened my upper spine with serious damage because of this song is undeniable.
    Built on Ashes (Zeal & Ardor)
    Eppur si muove (Haggard)
    Oof.   No order there.  I feel like there’s an entire galaxy of bad ass shit that probably could be plugged in there if I thought on it long enough.
    Lol I keep a Spotify playlist called peak metal that I reserve for only the most bad ass metal tunes.  Sort of a running top Songs candidates list.  So anyway, I’m listening to it in the background as I’m coming up with this list and as soon as I sent it Drapery Falls comes on and damn what a good tune.  Don’t know who I‘d remove to get them on there though.  
    Star Trek or Star Wars?
    Star Trek easily.   Something about the world they’ve created I find pretty engrossing and comforting.  The world also feels more tangible as opposed to space ninjas and cowboys pew pew.  And have you seen the diverse alien life forms they encounter?

    Best Star Trek game?
    Are there actually any good ones?  Of the ones I played I’m partial to the SNES The Next Generation game.  Even more than actually playing the game I always really enjoyed just scrolling through the computer files.  Some cool stuff in there.  It’s one of the handful of SNES titles I’d really like a CIB copy of.
    Best Star Trek movie?
    I’m really not a movie guy so I’m not really that big on any of the movies.  My favorite is probably The Wrath of Khan.  Im also partial to the Voyage Home.  In my head the Blind Guardian lyric in Theatre of Pain about “when the last whale went away”  always makes me think of this one.  The TNG movies were kind of sucky.  I was not impressed with that Sting looking dude as the villain.  The newer movies were entertaining but kind of pew pew Transformers action movie-ish for me.  
    The real gold is in the different series and their ability to address real deep philosophical topics the episode after dressing everyone up like Robin Hood characters.  Also, Deep Space 9 does not get enough love for how good it was.  
    Coffee or tea?
    Coffee.  Unless it’s iced tea.  Unsweetened always.  
    Wine, beer, or liquor?
    Beer.  Pretty narrow band of interest there too.  Don’t really like „craft“ beer usually tastes like they’re trying too hard.  Generally I keep it under 6%.
    Which member of The Breakfast Club are you?
    The cool one, definitely the cool one.  Who am I kidding, I never got detention.
    SNES or Genesis?
    Both?  I had both of these systems during this generation and I don’t have a strong preference for one vs the other.  Both systems had their highlights.  Slight edge SNES.  I really enjoyed EVO.
    PS1 or N64 or Saturn?
    This one’s easily PS1.  I didn’t realize it at the time but I was an earlyish ps1 adopter back when long boxes were still prevalent.  This was like JrHigh/High School years so a major phase in gaming for me.  I got the magazines at the time (including PSM from the very beginning) and I got to ride all of the hype trains for these absolutely juggernaut genre-defining games that came out.  Ahh I remember riding in my buddy‘s Monte Carlo to the Best Buy to the local shopping mall to pick up our pre-ordered Resident Evil 2s like it was yesterday.  
    The N64 was cool too.  I was always jealous of my buddy getting to play Wave Race.  Led to me buying Jet Moto.  Yeah, not the same but still fun as hell.  
    Do you collect anything besides games?
    Nope not me.  I really buy myself almost nothing in the way of stuff.  Game collecting was my one splurge.  
    Other interests and hobbies?
    Music is my big hobby.  Live music is pretty much my main going out activity (you may have noticed from the concert thread) amongst other patronages of the arts.  We got season passes to the theater last year which I was skeptical of at first having only seen the Book of Mormon previously.  I’ve got to admit, it’s actually been really enjoyable with some really excellent surprises.  Go to comedy shows too sometimes when I get the chance.  Bill Burr at the football hall of fame stadium was the last one.  Good stuff.  
    Where do you hail from?
    I‘m from just west of Cleveland.  I’ve lived in Northeast Ohio my whole life.  So…that’s cool.  
    First game you ever owned or played?
    The first game I ever owned definitely would’ve been SMB/DH.  Everything pre-NES is just a bit too old for me with no older siblings or anything.  One of my earliest NES memories has to be playing through the Legend of Zelda with my dad and hand drawing maps of the dungeons on this yellow paper he used to get from work.  Man I wish I had those maps.
    Dream vacation?
    Ya know you can do these six month long cruises around the world that sounds like a pretty awesome retirement present.  But, we’ve never been on a cruise before so that might be awful.  Probably more realistic is somewhere in the Caribbean.  One of those nice ass resort type deals.  I don’t want to have to put effort into anything.  
    Favorite restaurant?
    Like a local eatery?  Don’t really have one of those.  Maybe like Taco Tantos.  I do have a pretty firm rule never to eat any food from Elyria.  I’m sure there are some perfectly not disgusting dining options but I’m not looking for them.
    If I’m given completely free rein to choose dinner I’m probably going with the Brazilian steakhouse Texas de Brazil.  Nothing more satisfying than the meat sweats.
    Favorite meal to make?
    I’ve been pretty into making a Cajuny pasta lately with the sausage and shrimps and the whole nine yards.  I’ve been hooked on this comedian Uncle Rodger lately and it’s really made me want to try my hand at Fried Rice.  I’d have to buy a wok though.  Any suggestions on that front world be appreciated.
    Chocolate or Vanilla?
    Chocolate
    Fast food of choice?
    Taco Bell
    Best cereal?
    Honey Bunches of Oats.  Or Count Chocula
    Best yogurt?
    Key Lime
    Best local drink?
    The water.  Our water is the best water.  Ask anyone.  I’d like to take a moment to recognize what overrated tryhard trash Great Lakes brewing is.  Christmas Ale is straight up gross.
    Browns or Cavs or Guardians?
    Sigh.  Browns.  It disgusts me though.  Glad they finally got an “adult” in the qb spot.  It’s fine.  Everything is fine here. I’m all in on the Lions train right now though.  
    Baseball sucks but I do like that I can take the whole family to a game for like $8.  Go to quite a few.  
    (asked before the Super Bowl) Chiefs or Niners?
    Niners.  You guys fucked up getting Phil Dawson a ring but that’s ok.  Appreciate the attempt.  I think we’ve all had enough of the Chefs winning.
    Deshaun Watson or Johnny Manziel?
    Johnny Football.  At least he didn’t show up for work because he was passed out wasted in a hot air balloon not because he was busy giving handjobs in the parking lot of a Parma Walmart.  Why’s that shoulder sore again Deshaun? Actually can we just have  Brandon Weeden back?  At least that was horrible and hilarious.

    Ohio State or U of Cincinnati? 
    Can’t Read, Can’t Write, Kent State baby.
    The Browns winning the Super Bowl next year?  Or are they regressing?
    Lol no.  Everyone remembers the 0-16 season but nobody ever mentions the other Hue Jackson season at 1-15.  Or the entire decade prior where it was a successful season if they went above their usual 4 wins.  There was like 3 years in there where they just had Josh Cribbs play every position.  That went as well as expected.  They don’t call it the factory of sadness for nothing.  
    Ever watch The Drew Carey show?
    Of course.  It’s been a lot of years but I remember it being pretty entertaining.   Oh how novel, coffee beer.  Now that every hipster in a man bun makes coffee beer can we finally admit that it was and is gross?
    Michigan, Indiana, or Pennsylvania?
    As far as I’m aware Indiana is just a bunch of creepy religious weirdos.  The only time anyone goes to Indiana is when they miss their exit looking for Dayton.  
    Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Deliverance in between.  A genuinely terrifying place that I would never want to be stuck in after dark.
    So Michigan it is.  They’ve got good dank and cheap.  Detroit is also my go to nobody’s tour comes to Cleveland anymore city.  
    Are the people of Cleveland also obsessed with Skyline Chili, Zippos,and all that shit?
    Hell no.  We look down on Cincinnati and their stuff.  As it should be.  We just eat our chili regular and don’t add weird shit to in it in a desperate attempt to be quirky.   The appropriate noodle for Chili is elbow macaroni.  Period.  Joe Burrow is aight though.  
    Bengals, Ravens, or Steelers?
    Bengals.  If one of them has to do well I’m going the Cincy incest route.
    Best thing about Ohio? Worst thing?
    Best thing?  Umm Dave Chappelle?  Ooh I know, I’m actually a really big fan of our State (and local) Parks System.  It’s pretty extensive and enjoyable.  Spending a week next month in one of the cabins too.  Very chill.  Now that the kids are getting bigger I’d like to branch out into the hiking aspect more rather than spending all of my time at the pool.
    Worst?  The other people that live here.  It’s gone really obnoxiously red the past decade or so.  I’m so fucking tired of arguing with locals about how they think we shouldn’t fund the schools because one time in 1972 they bought pianos and gave teachers raises.  These MFers were full on ready to go black people hunting when George Floyd happened.  
    What does your wife think of your collection?
    Oh she totally thinks it stupid and we always kind of had like a don’t ask don’t tell policy on it.  I’d get packages in the mail and they would get spirited away into my basement lair.  She never really pushed me to sell anything very much but let’s just say when I started selling a bunch post covid she got the emotional rollercoaster of super excited I was selling some stuff to really disappointed that I used that money to buy different games and finally settled on annoyed that I had all my shit spread all out on the dining room table.
    (Hammer has to take his kids to tae kwon do) Can your kids kick your ass?
    Heh not yet.  Though I have a healthy fear of knife hand to the balls.
    First thing that comes to mind:
    Nintendo
    That big beautiful gray box.  Was really the only generation where Nintendo was undisputed king for me.  
    Sega
    Seg-do what Nintendo-don’t.  Got the Genesis for Christmas one year and I remember it taking my dad like an hour to hook it up to the shitty little TV in the full on wood paneled back room of my childhood home.  
    1990s
    Fresh Prince.  Did you know DJ Jazzy Jeff is touring with New Kids on the Block? Man, when I was a kid there was this magazine called Dinosaurs or something like that that I used to walk down the street to the local Convenient store near me to get.  Each one came with some plastic pieces to make a dinosaur skeleton.  Loved that shit.
    1980s
    NES.  There was still a Woolworths at the mall.  My dad used to pick up his paychecks from this creepy ass stone building at the edge of the steel mill.  One time a kid fell off his bike and cracked his head open on the sidewalk near our house.  This may have been the early 90s.
    2000s
    Liver Damage.  These were my college years.  A lot of interesting life experiences but also a lot of terrible decision making.  I tried to ford the river to get home on my 21st birthday.  
    Metal
    Ronnie James Dio.  He is the most metal dude of all time.  Ugly weird little dude who’s really into dragons?  Hell yeah.  
    Pizza
    Giovanni’s Pizza in South Lorain.  Gotta go to less savory areas if you want the good stuff.
    Beer

    Cincinnati
    Jerry Springer.  Seriously, I just really don’t think about them.  It’s basically just Kentucky. I went there once for a bachelor party.  Meh.  
    Canada
    When Ren and Stimpy visited the vast wiener fields of Canada.  I like your song better than I like our song.  I mean they’re just across the lake so I look forward to standing arm in arm with them one day to protect our water. 
    Children
    Interesting mix of Pride, Joy, and Irritation.  I have a giant head.  My son also has a giant head.  I once saw a vagina explode.  I think the boy might be a genius and the girl will most likely become the dictator of a small country.
    40s
    Anxiety.  I turn 40 this year.  Jeez, when did we get so friggin old?  I tweaked my back riding the tea cups this past summer.  
    Are you going to give your kids your collection, have it buried with you in your casket, or gonna come home one day to find out it was sold via garage sale?
    To the kids would be the current plan.  The value is more a novelty to mean that is pretty nice to think about having if there were some emergency that required it.  As it stands now the kids have almost full access to my loose NES, SNES and Genesis collection.  The boxed stuff is packed away.  I encourage them to explore through different stuff and to try to keep them in alphabetical order.  They are not in alphabetical order.
    Gaming holy Grail?
    I don’t  have one.  I’m not a fan of the term.   If I could complete any  one thing it would probably be my black box set.  Though that’s more a matter of $$.  If I had a significant amount of cash to blow I’d probably go for some sort of arcade set up first.  The one thing I’ve been hunting for years and there’s just very little traces of are the older rarer Lightspan titles.  I’ve all but given up.  A guy can only look through so many blurry box pictures of the same handful of series for so many years.  Still look every once in a while.
    Big plans for 2024?
    Not really.  It’s a developmental year in a lot of ways so we’re just marching forward.  Bunch of concerts lined up already.  Lot of tours getting announced this time of year so we’ve been in that mode of snagging tickets to interesting shows and hoping it fits in the schedule later.  The Ocean coming up soon.
    Walk us through a day in the life of Hammerfestus
    Well, I’m currently a stay-at-home parent so my day usually revolves around the kids days.  I’m guaranteed to be woken up between 5:30 and 6:15.  At this point I can usually fend them off for a half hour or so with a cartoon.  Off to school with ye.  After I drop the kids off I will usually puff one and then knock out some cleaning and whatever things need done around the house.  This is when you guys are seeing me most active with my werewolf.
     Pick up the little one in the afternoon and it’s usually art projects and activities and stuff.  I spend a lot of time at the library or park.  Then I pick up the big one and after that it’s making dinner and then whatever evening sports and stuff.  This is my first year with snow days.  Wtf snow days suck now.  I mean it really didn’t help that most of them have been because of the brutal cold. The snow was really fluffy too so that was kind of weak.  Couldn’t make snowballs or anything fun.
    After I get the kids to bed usually I’m pretty beat.  I normally just chill out with some tv or some games or something for a few hours.  I really need to get back to squeezing a workout in after they go down.  Lol I’m such a fat piece of shit these days.   
    Who should I interview next?
    @JamesRobot. I want to hear the story of liquor store bro to CFO of a multinational conglomerate.  
    Unfortunately I already did James once upon a time.  And everyone else from Colorado...
    I guess this got bumped out another month because of the interview logjam.  What should we talk about for another 30 days?
    Huh.  I thought I went back and checked before I suggested him.  How about @docile tapeworm?  There’s got to be some quality Florida man stories in there.
    There was something I was thinking about that we should have talked about but I can’t recall off the top of my head.  I’ll bring it up when I think of it.  
    Ooh here’s a fun fact.  My semi-non-platonic life partner and I joined the Ohio chapter of the Satanic Temple last year and this is still the centerpiece on our mantle lol
    Xmas at our house this year everybody!  

    We were just talking about this the other night: after initially attending a lot of their Zoom meetings and such we learned that in fact they are a bunch of weird cliquey nerds and I do not want to hang out with them, however, they sure do good work and I fully support them dragging around their statue of Baphomet to whatever courthouse lawn currently needs it.
    I've also interviewed skinny.  You don't recall these because they happened on NA 😄
    There may or may not have been video of him taking a shotgun to Tetris.
    Lol.  Well damn.  I’d like to see that.  What about Graded Japanese Dragon Quest guy? Fenrir or whatever he’s calling himself these days.  That should be fun.
    I think he left.  Again...
    As far as your framed trophy... nice.  I wore one of my Behemoth shirts while working out today at the office.  I'm still waiting to be reported to HR.
    What does your partner think of your music choices?
    Lol.  I’ve definitely gotten bitched at at home for taking the kids out for errands in my “Burn Your Local Church” t-shirt before.  
    My partner has a lot of appreciation for and roots in metal.  One of my earliest bonding experiences with her involved how for some high school class she played the Dragonforce song “Valley of the Damned” and claimed it was a song about Malaysian freedom.  We still rock a lot of stuff together and she is my main concert-going comrade.  She was pretty irritated that she didn’t get to go to The Ocean recently.  There’s still a lot of Zeal & Ardor listening happening in our house these days.  All that being said though, she is way more into American Folk and Hipster music than I can usually stomach.  One of my favorite quotes from her on my music tastes anymore is that I’m into “weird jazz shit and black metal and nothing in between.”
    Do you rock black metal or any other extreme metal in the car with the kids?  My boys have been requesting a lot of "Axes" (The Axe by Gojira) recently 
    Oh for sure.  I very rarely censor the music I expose them to.  Electric Callboy was a pretty big hit for awhile (we did always skip Fuckboi though lol).   😆
    The big one always requests Hurrikan.  Atta Boy.
    Also the 4 year old thinks this song is about drawing in the driveway and it’s a little weird hearing her sing along behind me:
     My listening actually isn’t usually overly brutal so there’s way more weedly deedly dee than chugga chugga choo choo.  There’s also some element of democracy in the car so I spend more time than anyone should have to listening to Sea Shanties.
    I've actually had to impose a partial ban on Electric Callboy (or as my boys call them, the "silly guys").  Too many lines or images that I'm afraid will be mentioned or repeated.
    Lol they are silly guys.  
    You know, in the beginning I had these grand ideas about introducing them to all of this classic stuff across the whole rainbow of music almost systematically.  It became obvious very quickly that that’s not the way at all.  Now I’m just hoping not to intelligibly encounter the word jism.  There are some topics I am in no hurry to have to actually answer.
  7. Reed Rothchild

    Featured Member October 2023: DefaultGen

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    What originally brought you to NA/VGS?
    I became a collector the day Nintendo announced the Wii Virtual Console and said old Nintendo games were going to be $5. Since the average unwanted physical Nintendo tape at the time was like $2, this was an outrage. This was before even Oblivion Horse Armor. The world placed zero value on digital goods. Shortly after I was bouncing between GameTZ and DigitPress hoarding up Nintendo games, and eventually NintendoAge. Every game I bought for less than $5 felt like I was sticking it to Nintendo.
    I spent a huge portion of 2006-2009  just constantly circularly refreshing DP, NA, GTZ, AtariAge, and Ebay new listings. There was so much forum chatter about old video games and wheeling and dealing that I couldn't even keep up with how many posts there were. It was really the golden age of forums. Facebook and Discord servers can't compare.
    I came to VGS once NA implemented banner ads.
    Where do you hail from?
    The southern US. Don't live here. It's hot, humid, and miserable. I need to move to New England or Colorado or something. Gimme some cold mountains.
    What do you do for a living?
    I collect and talk about vintage video games. But to make money by selling my labor I do software support, which has left me jaded with technology watching already-working things get needlessly worse, needlessly more complex, and needlessly more invasive. It makes me want to cuddle up with some simple NES games and talk to guys on one of those old timey internet forums.
    Spouse?  Kids?  Exotic and disgusting pets?
    Lil chihuahua named Ponyo. He's the cutest dog on VGS, although I do love fox's pom pom.

    Top 10 favorite games
    Super Mario 64 Zelda: Ocarina of Time Doom Metroid Prime Ninja Gaiden III Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Mario World (Not great if you compare it to SMB3) Cruelty Squad Zelda: A Link to the Past Metal Gear Solid 4 Those are mostly obvious Nintendo picks. I am not a clever man. Yes Metroid Prime is better than Super Metroid, I don't know how they did it, it just is.
    Ninja Gaiden III is secretly the easiest NG game because you get a huge ass sword and enemies are dumb AF. That game is just flow city once you know it.
    Cruelty Squad is the antithesis of everything I hate about modern games. It's short, it isn't constrained by imitating reality, and it doesn't treat you like you've never played a video game before. It rips off the best aspects of a dozen games but is unlike any other single game as a whole. It's the most fun I've ever had with an FPS and it was made by a weird gen z artist following an FPS tutorial, not some seasoned game dev. It is the greatest piece of outsider art video games have ever been graced with.
    Cruelty Squad feels like one of those games where I've heard the name, but couldn't for the life of me tell you anything about it.
    ...er, wait, is that the game you just completed a short time ago and were raving about?  Because I immediately researched it after hearing all of your superlatives, and it sounds like an absolute trip.
    Yes it's the game I was very recently raving about, ha. I always feel like modern games are a bloated march to the credits. After a 20 hour campaign or huge open world, I don't really care about any individual part of the game. I'm probably going to beat it and never play it again. Cruelty Squad is, I dunno, 2-5 hours long if you're blazing through it but it's full of fun new ways to play the game, new ways to challenge yourself, lower times to get, secrets to find, meaningless crap to explore. It reminds me more of a Goldeneye or SM64 than anything, where I care about and want to find every nook and cranny of every level. It also does this thing where it tries so hard to make it seem like no effort was put into graphics, level design, etc. when obviously every little thing was obsessed over.
    Favorite book
    The Hobbit is one of the only books I've read more than once. The older I get, the more I appreciate something concise, as epic as LOTR or Stormlight Archive is.
    I'm reading (listening to) Stormlight Archive 1 as we speak.  Rank the series, go.
    I dunno on Stormlight Archive. I love Brandon Sanderson but I feel like I'm getting lose in the obscene scale of the universe after 5000 pages and we're not even halfway through. I've got to re-read them. I'd probably rank my enjoyment as 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 because I feel like I need to take notes. I would've probably called TWOK my favorite book before I got lost in the scope of this series like a dummy.
    Ever read The Silmarillion?  Mistborn? Other nerd crap?
    I've read basically everything by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, and about half of RA Salvatore. I burned out hard on Wheel of Time because it's soooooooooo boring. Been waiting on George RR Martin to see if he ever finishes his thing. Patrick Rothfuss is a frustrating author who wrote one amazing book and completely failed to follow up on it. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a better series than I expected since I don't usually like stupid comedy, the audiobook has a kind of love it or hate it narrator and I love it. I didn't get far into Malazan, similar to Stormlight I feel like I have to get into hardcore pay attention mode when I'm listing to it.
    I can relate.  I'm in Malazan 6 right now and it's the most confusing shit in the world, even if you do stay on top of it.  Gave up the first time with Wheel of Time after 5 books too.
    Which one will get released first: the next George RR Martin book or the Rothfuss book?
    GRRM won't finish ASOIAF. I don't even know if Rothfuss wants to write book 3. I didn't like book 2 so I'm calling him a one hit wonder until proven otherwise, no matter how amazing the way he writes is.
    Favorite movie
    There Will Be Blood, the modern day Citizen Kane. What a film bro answer. Primer is my other hipster answer.
    I asked @JamesRobot this same question: how many times did you have to watch Primer to get it?
    I've seen Primer many times but I never could've figured it out on my own. I only fully "got" it while watching with a huge like 11-timeline chart in my hand, and even then I love that even though tons of the movie fits into place, it still leaves things unanswered (Why/how did Mr. Granger time travel?). Tenet is pretty sweet if you just watch it as a direct sequel to Primer too.
    Favorite musician, song, album
    Iron Maiden? Excellent! 🎸🎶 King Crimson - Starless. A song so perfected it was delayed off the eponymous album. Songs under 8-10 minutes long are garbage. I came to listen to a song, not the trailer for a song. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls. A maiden album with THREE songs over 10 minutes long. YES. Rank all the Maiden albums.  Go.
    Book of Souls
    Brave New World
    Dance of Death
    Powerslave
    Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
    I dunno I like a few songs on all the other albums but don't feel as strongly.
    Ever play that Maiden game?  It was a FPS or mobile game, or some fuckin' thing.
    No I never played that Iron Maiden game, lmao. I remember when it came out though. But like all mobile games it looked awful.
    Future game you're looking forward to the most?
    The only game I am really looking forward to is Super Mario Wonder. I dunno, it's probably going to be the best game of all time. But I just like Mario games, even and especially the "new" style ones. I haven't even finished TOTK yet. I don't need new games.
    When is Metroid Prime 4 coming out?
    Hopefully MP4 gets delayed to be one of those "Bad version on the old Nintendo console, good version on the new Nintendo console" games cause I don't like Switch. Am I calling Gamecube Twilight Princess bad. Maybe.
    Collect anything besides games?
    I've never stuck with anything like video games, so I deliberately try to not get involved in collecting hobbies so I don't have to go through the hassle of selling everything off when I lose interest. I used to collect Magic and comic books and I have a decent sized pinball collection.
    What's the worst game you've ever played?
    Marky Mark Make My Video is a strong contender because the gameplay is barely more than watching a couple music videos while controlling awful effects. But it's probably the somehow even more boring Color a Dinosaur, a game with the word color in its name but of course you only really have 2-3 colors most of the time. Color a Dinosaur is especially egregious because it's somehow strictly worse than its already awful predecessor Videomation.
    What are you playing right now?
    Diablo 4. It's kind of waste of time but I paid like $70 for it and I like Diablo in theory so I'm at least going to beat the story.
    Price piece in your collection?
    I don't even know what a price piece is. But from context probably this 1/100 prize Famicom disk given to winners of Nintendo's first contest. It's Famicom Golf with a unique, very difficult course and is or is very close to the rarest Nintendo game. I've got the 35th place winner's prize.
    Favorite Werewolf memory?
    Puppy and Gloves claiming Dr. Toad and Dr. Toadette and both being coroners so town voted them both off. I was a wolf that game so I was just watching that chaos. Jeeves is a game design genius.
    SNES or Genesis?
    SNES, but maybe just because I didn't have one as a kid. All my Genesis games were single-session games and I was always jealous of all my friends lengthy RPGs and such with save batteries.
    PS1 or Saturn or N64?
    PS1 is probably the best system ever made and I'm not even a super big PS1 fan.
    DS or PSP?
    DS. Longer/3D games are bad on handhelds. The ability to snap shut immediately is the also best.
    PS2 or Cube or Xbox?
    PS2 is probably the best console ever made. I already said PS is the best console ever made, but PS2 plays all the PS games so let's change my answer.
    GC is the "most Nintendo" console ever, with a ridiculous number of sequels and new franchises. It is hard not to like it.
    And Xbox was there too. I have an Xbox set by the way. I think I made the wrong choice here.
    360 or PS3 or Wii?
    Meh, none of them really but Wii had Mario Galaxy so I'm going Wii.
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    Star Trek, easy. The standalone nature of each episode/movie lets the brightest stories shine on their own. The majority of Star Wars is cramming new stories onto and around the beloved original trilogy, and the whole of the story is forever of weighed down by that stupid bullshit like midichlorians, Jar Jar, Palpatine's million star destroyers, etc.
    Next Generation or the original series?
    I used to watch TOS on repeat while playing Lord of the Rings Online (i.e. wasting 100s of hours of my life) so TOS.
    The original movies or the TNG movies or the JJ Abrams movies?
    The original movies, and forget "even good, odd bad". They're all pretty amazing. You've never seen a movie like Star Wars: The Motion Picture. You're in space. Things are slow, methodical, and philosophical. I was bewildered the first time I saw it but now I absolutely love it.
    What member of the Breakfast Club are you?
    I'm home playing Nintendo games. How much of a screw up do you have to be to get all-day Saturday detention. That doesn't even sound legal.
    Yogurt or greek yogurt?
    Greek I guess, but idk have you seen the prices of yogurt lately. It went from $2 for the fancy brand to $2 for any brand.
    Sell me on your podcast in exactly... let's say, 13 words.
    A biweekly reminder to collect with intention but tempts you with random obscurities.
    Wine, liquor, or beer?
    None? Wine? I like a couple wines and beers but the vast majority of alcohol isn't very delicious. Like all those IPA people are just drinking garbage seltzer and pretending right?
    What's the worst beer you've ever had?
    I have no idea. Once beer people start saying beer words like "stout" and "sour" I know I'm in for a bad time.
    Coffee or tea?
    Oh shit, coffee. I forgot that I can't dunk on people who like garbage beer because I like garbage bitter black coffee. Turns out your brain makes anything taste good if it has drugs.
    Favorite meal?
    A big old sushi sashimi boat
    Favorite restaurant?
    I like those restaurants that serve you raw steak and a hot volcanic rock to cook it on. Every bite is the perfect doneness and temperature.
    Hobbies outside of gaming and hoarding?
    I like backpacking, competitive pinball, podcasting, and Youtubing but I'm somewhat less extreme at all of them.
    What's your biggest "pinball competition" moment?
    Qualifying to play it the top division at Pinburgh, the biggest pinball tournament in the world. I got demolished but got to play in the finals with the pros you see on TV. You guys watch live streaming pinball right? If you go to any big events you frequently rub shoulders with the best players on earth, which is pretty neat.
    Favorite table?
    Twilight Zone, which is a little like saying Super Mario Bros. 3 is your favorite Nintendo game. After the success of Addams Family they gave the designer a blank check to make the most tricked out game ever, and he used every cent of it.
    A more interesting answer is Flash Gordon. I want something very challenging, hard to control, and with the most distinct shots. Easier and newer games can take too long to play, especially on a good game. It's more fun to be able to lose at any moment.
    Do you own any pinball tables?
    I have around 10. I'm trying to downsize a bit because they're taking up multiple places of prime collection real estate. I topped out around 13 including 3 in my kitchen before my wife moved in because, you know what they say, "Your wife doesn't want 3 pinball machines instead of a kitchen table 🙄".
    Is she a gamer?  What was her reaction to first seeing the kitchen?
    She gets super deep into very specific games. She won't touch Minecraft, but will drop 1000 hours into Animal Crossing and Pokemon Go and many more into Wasteland 3, Divinity Original Sin 2, Diablo, and Stardew Valley. She doesn't like old games so we're not going to chill out and play Donpachi or Ninja Gaiden together. Her favorite game of all time is Wasteland 3, maybe she's unique in the entire gaming world for that opinion. It's a great game, but like, the BEST? Man. And I cleaned up the kitchen before she moved in, I'm not a madman. I'm already a collector with too much crap, I can only make her put up with so much.
    That's pretty cool.  If I tried to get my wife to play Divinity she'd probably annul our marriage that day.
    She likes running around picking things up and Divinity is kind of the ultimate game for that.
    Favorite coop game to play with the wife?  Did you guys play It Takes Two?
    Probably Divinity OS2 because it has such well integrated co-op but it's totally fine to just go off and do your own thing for a while too. She likes picking up every last item in ARPGs and I like blazing through maps for high level stuff, so we pull each other in opposite directions in a lot of games. We beat It Takes Two but it was a little nauseating.
    She mostly likes games with isometric or top down perspectives we have played basically every single co-op campaign in a game like that, especially ARPGs. There are a bunch of genres that don't really have great isometric co-op games.  I like creative crafting games, but all of the great ones are 2D or 3D. Project Zomboid is the only game in the entire genre we played for a long time, but how many random indie co-op survival crafting games have come out every week since Minecraft? It's crazy that seemingly no brainer ideas like "Isometric co-op Minecraft or Dwarf Fortress for people with motion sickness" isn't really a thing beyond some indie games like Necesse and Gnormoia that don't have that 1000 hours of unlimited playtime in them.
    If any indie game devs are out there, more isometric non-ARPG co-op campaigns please.
    [It Takes Two] Care to elaborate?...
    She just doesn't like full 3D games. She doesn't like camera control in general.
    Walk us through a day in the life of DefaultGen
    Roll out of bed 5 minutes before work. Send emails for 9 hours. Then spend the rest of the with a cloud of existential dread pondering if I should play some games, organize my collection, work on publishing some cool knowledge resource, work on podcast ideas, work on Youtube ideas, or connect with friends. Idk how I ever had time to waste on social media or Reddit before I quit. There's too much stuff to actually do.
    It's October.  Are you going to watch any scary movies?  Play scary games?  Read Goosebumps?
    I've been playing Realms of the Haunting, which is like an alternate reality Resident Evil. Rather than a third person adventure game with absurd controls, clunky combat, and funny voice acting and FMV, it's a first person adventure game with absurd controls, clunky combat, and funny voice acting and FMV. It reminds me so much of Resident Evil in spirit, I'm surprised it's not a more celebrated cult classic, but it's solidly from that era of 1994-1997 PC games where everything had completely unusable controls before developers figured out how to use mice with 3D video games.
    I primarily watch horror movies, so I don't do anything special for Halloween. It's always October at my house. Good ones, bad ones, derivative ones, give it all to me. If a Ouija board movie or people trapped in a single set movie or kids find a Monkey Paw box movie with 1.8/10 on IMDB shows up on my feed, I'm throwing that crap on ASAP.
    Quick, top ten horror films of all time.
    The Thing
    The Lighthouse
    The Shining
    The Descent
    Funny Games
    Funny Games Remake (yes, both)
    Saw
    Alien
    Dawn of the Dead Remake (I'm sorry a Zack Snyder film made this list)
    Tetsuo: The Iron Man
    Summarize Funny Games (either one) in 10 words.
    Home invaders torture family with games worse than Night Trap
    Worst horror movie you've ever seen?
    The worst horror movie I've ever seen is the worst movie I've ever seen: The Human Centipede 3. I think the first one is kind of meh, I like how excessive the second one is, and this one seems like it was perhaps trying to intentionally be the worst movie ever made, and I think it succeeds. And it doesn't have any The Room so-bad-its-good appeal or anything, it's just the worst thing ever put to film.
    What's the last great one you saw?
    Possessor by Brandon Cronenberg is so, so good. I need that weirdo to make more dark vibey movies. Maybe it's more sci-fi with its anime-feeling corporate cyber assassin thing going on. For more a pure horror-y one, I absolutely love the recent Blumhouse Invisible Man movie. I just need these studios to keep crapping out low budget horror movies as quickly as possible because every once in a while we get a really great one.
    Spoiler alert, Invisible Man may or may not have made my top 100.
    Man it doesn't linger on the [redacted] either or try to explain it. It's just like "[redacted] for the plot, deal with it". I love that movie.
    Favorite Halloween candy?
    I just like Resse's cups, I am not an interesting man. Whatever novelty Reese's Big Ass Huge Boy 99.9% peanut butter, 0.1% chocolate coating cup they have is fine with me.
    Who should I interview next?
    @Richardhead
    I already interviewed him long ago.  I don't know if the world is ready for the sequel.  Also he'd probably tell you about the drunken bro hugs I was handing out or the beer I almost knocked in my own face with a basketball.
    Oh god oh jeez oh man. @ZeldaFreak?
  8. Reed Rothchild
    Pet Sematary (1989)

    After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
    King superfan, remember?
    To be clear, I think there's room for improvement with cinematic Pet Sematary adaptations.  This movie is pretty damn good, but it can't hold a candle to the novel, arguably one of King's best novels (if not singular best), which is commonly cited as one of the scariest books ever written.  That's a tough assignment, but I hope someone can eventually crack it.
    Still, the movie is super creepy.  The child who plays Gage does a hell of a job, the final parts are all sorts of scary, and that highway scene?  Jesus!
    And those scenes with Zelda?  Yeah, an entire generation was traumatized.
    Nowadays I don't find it as engaging as I did 30 years ago, but it still gets the job done.
    Tales from the Darkside (1990)

    To stall a witch plotting to eat him, a boy reads her horror tales dealing with a collegian's resurrection of a mummy, a murderous cat, and an artist's pact with a gargoyle.
    Another anthology, again featuring the work of George Romero and Stephen King.  They may as well have titled this Creepshow 3.
    The cat segment is a particular favorite of mine, an adaptation of one of King's better short stories (which wasn't actually published in a book until decades later, strangely enough).  Cat lovers will not appreciate this vignette 😏
    The mummy segment is also fun, featuring a prime Christian Slater, and early appearances by both Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore.
    Then there's the gargoyle segment which is maybe the best of the bunch, adapting the best segment from the old Japanese horror film Kwaidan.  The original makes a lot more logical sense, but the remake is probably the more entertaining watch.
    Finally, the wraparound segment involves Deborah Harry trying to serve a child for dinner.
    What's not to love?
    Jacob's Ladder (1990)

    Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
    Hey, the second movie in a single batch about losing children.  That's no coincidence, as that subject matter always hits me especially hard.  This one in particular is pretty devastating, with Tim Robbins doing an amazing job in the role of Jacob Singer, whose entire existence and sense of reality unravels over the course of the movie.
    Despite watching this movie at least a dozen times, I still don't know what some of the scenes are supposed to be telling us.  I never look it up either, because I want to keep coming back so I can learn a little bit more each time.
  9. Reed Rothchild
    Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

    In a small American town, a diabolical circus and its demonic proprietor prey on the townsfolk.
    The scariest Disney kids movie ever made?  Maybe.  It's this or Return to Oz, and that's some damn good company to keep.  Where else would the house of the mouse dare to show the main kid lead seeing visions of his own bloody decapitated head?  Nowhere, that's where...
    Also, it has Jason Robards AND Jonathon Pryce, at their best.  Can't beat that.
    And there is one ridiculous scene where the kid actors are very clearly much older.  Like, they specifically came back and shot that one scene for no real reason.  Bizarre.
    Anyway, I love Ray Bradbury, and this is my favorite adaptation of his work.  It's pretty hard to get ahold of nowadays, so do what you must to try and get it watched.
    Also, I love that artwork.  For decades I've been holding out hope of running across the movie tie-in version of the book in the wild.
    The Thing (1982)

    A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
    The greatest John Carpenter movie of all time.  The greatest Kurt Russell movie of all time.  The greatest horror movie of all time.  Bar none.
    My dad rented three older horror movies when I was a kid.  Three classics that he felt I had to watch.  Those movies were Alien, Jaws, and The Thing.  And I specifically remember him talking this one up.  Talked about how scary it was, how digusting the monsters were, and how great the reveals were.  He was 100% correct on all fronts.
    Decades later, the movie has only continued to grow in stature, if anything.  Everyone loves it, and celebrates it for the classic it is.  
    And for the record, he also made sure to rent Big Trouble In Little China, and Escape From New York.  He's awesome like that.
    Body Double (1984)

    A young actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.
    Also known as the movie Patrick Bateman is obsessed with in the book version of American Psycho.
    This is the third and final selection from Brian De Palma, and represents him taking several of his favorite things - Hitchcock and gratuitous violence - and combining them to great effect!  Think Rear Window meets... well, something very bloody.
    Seriously, this movie is so much fun, and so... I don't want to say "depraved."  But it ain't exactly highbrow.  I mean that in the best way possible.
    Also, some major scenes take place in Troy McClure's house.  How awesome is that?
  10. Reed Rothchild
    Sisters (1972)

    A small-time reporter tries to convince the police she saw a murder in the apartment across from hers.
    Mr. De Palma's first appearance on this list, with one of my favorite films of his.  One thing that will trend more and more as I get into the 1980s and 1990s, are certain beloved filmmakers showing up multiple times here.  You can probably guess what some of those films will be.
    This is a movie that I spent ten plus years waiting for an HD release.  It (and one other movie, Don't Look Now, that I will write about just below this one) were at the top of my wishlist for an eternity.  At the time, I would make due by using the Netflix disc service to watch it every 2-3 years to get my fix while I waited.  Until one day, when it was marked as no longer available.  As if the one copy in circulation had finally been lost, stolen, or damaged.
    Thank God Criterion finally came through a few years ago.
    Brian wears his Hitchcock influences on his sleeve with this one.  I mean, he always does.  But he especially does with Sisters.  Which is a good thing.  Someone had to carry on his legacy, and Brian was the perfect candidate to do it.
    It also features many of his other trademarks, like the split screen shot, where you watch two different events unfolding at the same time.  Fun stuff.
    But those are just details.  What matters the most is an engaging plot that never gets old.  I've watched this movie almost ten times at this point, and I never get tired of it.  It's basically a ritual at this point. 
    Margot Kidder is also perfect as the lead, for reasons that seems a bit ironic when you see what happened to her later in life, though I don't want to mention too much in order to avoid spoilers.  
    The Wicker Man (1973)

    A puritan Police Sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the Pagan locals claim never existed.
    Of the 16 films I've covered so far, this is my favorite of the bunch.  It might even be in my top 10 of all time when it comes to horror.  Maybe top 5. Maybe top 3!  Probably because it is such a weird movie.  Like, how does one even explain what sort of genre this falls under?  Folk musical mystery thriller, with phallic imagery and lots of fruit?  Lots of singing.  Lots of bizarre sex and nudity.  Lots of strange sights.  It's a very unique film, even to this day.
    I don't want to spoil anything about the plot either, because the film intentionally tries to befuddle the viewer throughout most of the runtime, much like the lone police Sergeant who must figure out just what the hell is going on in this strange island.
    And it goes without saying that the infamous Nicholas Cage remake is not nearly as good.  I mean, it's good in unintentionally hilarious ways, but can't hold a candle to this one.
    Oh, this is also Christopher Lee's first appearance on this list.  It might just be his finest work.  And yes, that includes The Lord of the Rings.
    Don't Look Now (1973)

    A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
    This is the other film I waited an eternity to get my hands on.  Another film where I would constantly check out the disc in Netflix because I had no other way to watch it.  Because I had to constantly watch it.  It was a compulsion.
    It's also yet another film where I implore the reader to not read anything about it as to not spoil the plot.  I also don't want to say too much here.  It's best to just go in blind.
    It's also not a film that's going to be for everyone.  It's incredibly rich in symbolism and dreamlike sequences, and tries hard to constantly disorient the viewer.  Many people are not going to be down with that.  
    But for those who do stick with it, you can find an incredibly unique and interesting film that sticks with you.
    Also, I have a massive crush on Julie Christie
    The Exorcist (1974)

    When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
    Speaking of genre heavies, I of course had to include what many consider to be the form's mangum opus.
    Ask any person over the age of 40 what the scariest movie of all time is, and there's like an 80% chance they're going to say The Exorcist.  Ask a Catholic, and it's like a 150% chance.
    There's a reason for that.
    We've all seen the movie, we all know about the famous pea soup and head spinning scenes.  But what truly gets me is
    It's probably the most fucked up thing in the history of horror.  The fact it was part of a major studio release back in the 70s is just mindblowing.  It's any wonder that people were fainting in the theater.  I'm surprised William Friedkin wasn't assassinated by some crazy on the street.
    Also, you know how every year there's a new movie that comes out that's called the  "The Exorcism of ____."  Every.  Single.  Year.  Because people are still chasing this thing, 50 years later.  And it's pointless.  The formula was already perfected long ago.  There was nowhere else to take it. 
  11. Reed Rothchild

    Featured Member June 2023: Sumez

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    (this interview took place over 6+ months)



    What brought you to VGS/NA
    I don't remember the exact context, but I was looking for Discord servers with other NES and SNES homebrewers. I joined the NA one at the same time as the dedicated actual NES Homebrew one, and ended up spending more time in NA's Brewery channel than I did the more focused discord. The latter has way more activity, and is incredibly good when you are actually working actively on a project and need people to share your thoughts with - but the Brewery is just much more casual, and felt like a place to just hang out with people with similar interests, moreso than, well, a support channel. It doesn't see much activity, but I like the mood there.
    I'd been participating in the actual NA forum in the past and without going into too much details, I'll just say I wasn't fond of the general attitude there, so I stuck to the Brewery Discord chat, ignoring everything else. Then, when NA went belly-up and the almighty Gloves started a new forum, the NA discord just got converted into a VGS discord. I wasn't following NA at all, so I honestly had absolutely no idea all of this was going on. But Gloves somehow managed to goad me into giving the forum a chance, and so far I haven't been able to find my way out yet!
    To be honest, I think he's doing a great job at making everything about this place constantly better, and in 2022 when almost every other internet forum has been reduced to ghost towns and dusty relics of the past, that is honestly quite impressive!
    What's the story behind your username?
    Story you say? It all began back in 1999 when I was playing this weird Korean MMORPG which had a very strong focus on community and actual roleplay, and I needed to think of a name for my character that sounded like something a fantasy character would be called, while being unique enough that no one else would have used it.
    The internet username I'd normally been using up to that point was inspired by my affection for the Monkey Island series, but I was barely a teenager when I first came up with it, and not too proficient in English, so I had no idea that "monkey" in certain contexts is slang for beating your meat, which made that name come acr...
    Actually nevermind, it's just a Final Fantasy character spelled backwards.
    Story behind your avatar?
    If I haven't already made it clear over my past 3000 posts that I'm a massive fan of Rainbow Islands, I'll consider my presence here a massive failure. 😄
    The picture I'm using is actually from an unused animation of Bub standing on the slanted edge of a rainbow. I think it's cute and shows my dedication to the game. There is also another really interesting unused animation in the game, but it's probably not family friendly enough to share here.
    Wife? Husband? Kids? Pet goats?
    I live with my girlfriend of 13 years, and we don't...  currently have any kids, but eh, by the time this will be posted, we will have a son actually. Now that you know this, everyone who reads it will need to congratulate me to avoid coming across like heartless bastards. 😆
    I don't have any husband yet, but we do have a pet dog, Bowie, who is incredibly adorable. Easily best pup in the world.

    Well, congratulations!  As the proud father of three little boys, let me tell you, when you're being constantly peed, pooped, and thrown up on, just remind yourself it will all be worth it later when you have your own homegrown labor force and/or co-op video game buddy/buddies.

    What do you do for a living?
    What do loser nerds like me usually do? I'm a programmer of course. 😆
    Top ten games of all time and why?
    Gaming is such a diverse platform with so many potential qualities, I've long given up on picking absolute "favourites".
    I'll happily list ten unordered titles that I feel represent my taste the best, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other games that might be just as good or better. As well as ten others that I just forgot.
    Final Fantasy VI - Dark Souls - Rainbow Islands - Tetris: The Grand Master 2 - Super Mario Galaxy - Ghouls 'n Ghosts - The Ninja Warriors Again - Zelda 3 - Super Metroid - Dracula X: Rondo of Blood


    Favorite franchise?
    I honestly don't really feel attachment to any franchises as a whole. There are ones with many games I love, but I'll always approach each game individually, whether we're talking Mario, Contra, Castlevania, Souls, Bubble Bobble, and so on.
    Even if I do pick an absolute favourite out of obligation, I don't think it'll mean a whole lot - But I guess I'll take the opportunity to shout out Dragon Quest, which is a series that I think more than almost any other franchise actually benefits strongly from never failing to rely on all the same familiar components, even within the spinoffs. Playing any Dragon Quest game always feels like "coming back home" in a way that few other video game series have ever managed to replicate.
    Favorite console?
    The NES, SNES, and PC Engine kinda form a trifecta to me, all 10/10 systems.
    SNES for its massively solid library of timeless games, NES for being the best representative of my most favourite era in video games, and the PC Engine for its strong representation of the style of games that I appreciate the most.
    Though if I had to pick one that feels like the most "personal" choice, I'd probably have to go with the NES, even though it's probably also the least interesting answer, at least in the context of this forum. 🙂
    Own any arcade machines?
    I have just a single Astro City cabinet, but nearly a couple hundred original arcade games to go into it. I also have a pinball table (Whitewater), I guess that counts as an arcade machine, too.
    You put together some kind of Tetris event, correct?
    Yeah! I haven't been involved for a few years for Covid and now newborn baby reasons, but I think the last one I was in charge of turned out extremely succesful. The Stream has been saved here.
    This was also right before the "rolling" technique changed the playing field forever, and of course before we sadly lost Jonas Neubauer. 😞
    Rank every FromSoftware game, go.
    Goes without saying Cookie & Cream is on top.
    The rest (indisputably, of course) go like this:
    Metal Wolf Chaos, Dark Souls, the soundtrack to Evergrace, Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 2, King's Field 2, Shadow Tower, King's Field 4, Sekiro, Shadow Tower Abyss, Enchanted Arms, Kuon, King's Field 3, Lost Kingdoms, Lost Kingdoms 2, Eternal Ring, King's Field, Deracine, Echo Night, Echo Night Beyond, Ninja Blade, Otogi 2, Echo Night 2, Shadow Assault: Tenchu, Chromehounds, Murakumo, Frame Gride, Monster Hunter Diary, Otogi, Steel Battalion Heavy Armor, Yoshitsune Eiyuden, Gundam Unicorn, Another Century's Episode 1/2/3, the rest of Evergrace, Spriggan, Forever Kingdom, Thousand Land
    Let's just put all the Armored Core games at the bottom, because can't be bothered sorting through them, and who really likes big badass robot fights anyway?
    Okay, are you trolling me with Metal Wolf Chaos?  You must be... but now I'm (more) intrigued, dammit.
    Well, kinda. It's a pretty fun game, but it's pretty much what you'd expect. 😛
    PS1 or Saturn or N64
    Not a big fan of that generation in general. PS1 is the obvious choice for me based on the game library, but I always found the console itself awkward, and I really don't like the loading times.
    Saturn had a lot of great arcade ports for its time, but few of those really have any relevance nowadays, when better ways of playing the same games have become available.
    Cube or PS2 or Xbox?
    PS2 ended up with the better library due to being much more commercially succesful, but I think that's obvious to anyone. I don't have nearly as many GC games, but the console itself is the cutest, so we'll call it a tie.
    360 or Wii or PS3?
    Xbox 360 by a mile. Lots of fantastic exclusives, and always fared well with any multiplatform title. One of the most comfortable controllers of all time (despite the garbage D-pad). And a surprisingly amazing library of arcade shooters. It was the generation where Microsoft somehow managed to have it all.
    Vita or 3DS?
    The Vita is nice, but doesn't have too much to offer outside of horny anime games. While that's a strong pull of course, I'll have to go with the 3DS on this one. It has twice as many screens, and 1.5 times as many dimensions.
    DS or PSP?
    DS, absolutely. Disc-based media on a handheld, what the hell Sony?
    XBONE or PS4 or Switch?
    While I have many more games on PS4, the Switch is the first video game platform in several generations that I actually felt like I really enjoy for reasons outside of just the game library itself. 
    Being able to play games handheld makes it so much easier for me to pop in a few sessions every now and then and during commutes, and having a physical media that's not mechanical is a big advantage over the others. Of course it's not as powerful, but I think actually focusing on a library that's not centered around wowing you with technical advancements is really just another plus in my book. I usually don't have much patience for big AAA stuff.
    As for the Xbone, I've never actually seen one in real life. Did anyone buy one?
    Stupidest question your client/help desk/project manager/boss/whoever has ever asked you?
    One that comes to mind was one time I was trying to find the the reason why a coworker couldn't save a design template she was working on in a system I helped develop.
    She had no idea what could be going wrong so I had to come up and see her go through the process on her computer, telling her to go slowly through each step - Yet three times in a row she managed to completely instinctively dismiss a warning popup that came up every time, telling her exactly what was going wrong.
    I'll admit it's not a particularly funny story, but I think it's a very interesting example in regard to UI design, and one I always think back on whenever a client requests that we add a warning message to prevent people from accidentally performing certain actions wrong. People just never read popups, and that's something developers need to accept 😆

    How's the new life as a busy and stressed father?
    Do you want to see a picture? Of course you want to see a picture!

    I'm spending my life in a continuous loop between going to work, walking the dog, entertaining the baby, eating dinner, and sleeping!
    What little time I have for video games is squeezed into my daily commute, or the occasional hour in the night before I go to bed.
    How much sleep are you averaging a night?
    Starting a few months ago, our kid started sleeping through nearly every night. I'd say we're pretty fortunate, but the downside is that he sleeps very little outside that 😩
    He usually falls asleep somewhere between 22 and midnight, and sleeps until 6 or 7 in the morning. Naps during the day usually last around 3 minutes, with only the rare and occasional lucky 30 minute break 🥴.
    This makes the days extremely exhausting, and we tend to take turns to let each other gets naps while the little one refuses to, so while I do feel like I'm super tired all the time, I also manage to catch nearly 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep most nights.
    Beer, wine, or liquor?
    I'll drink anything, but I especially love a really good beer, usually something strong, light, and bitter, like a Belgian triple.
    As for liquor, I prefer something good and interesting on the rocks, rather than a cocktail. Maybe a good whiskey, or even a high-end vodka. though those are hard to come by around here. If I do go for a cocktail, it would ideally be something not too sweet. Like maybe a basic gin&tonic or dark and stormy?
    I'll drink wine as well, but I don't pretend to have much of a preference. I try to remember the label when I taste a great red wine, but I'm never able to.
    Coffee or tea?
    Coffee all the way. I'm not even much of an aficionado, it's more of a passive addition, and I'll take a cappuccino with sugar, thanks. Tea just seems pointless to me.
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    At this point I don't care. Like most people of my generation I have a special relationship to the original trilogy, but literally anything based on the franchise released since then has only helped dragging it down into Hollywood mediocrity. Except maybe some of the games? I loved Jedi Knight and Rogue Squadron.
    I could never get into Star Trek, as a kid I always thought it looked goofy, and the low budget was quite apparent. But I have a lot of respect for the original vision of the first few series, and I like to "enjoy" the best aspects of the show vicariously through actual fans - as long as I don't have to watch an episode myself. TNG alone has seven seasons of 26 episodes, 45 minutes each. No way I'll ever get through it 😔
    Favorite book?
    Oh shit you got me there. I'm a dork and I don't read much because I'm terrible at maintaining focus on just one thing for a prolonged time. Throughout my life I'd still say I have read a lot of good books, but I've never felt as attached to any of them as I have to my favourite pieces of other media. I think House of Leaves ranks pretty high due to what a crazy unique experience reading it was, but we both know I'm just namedropping it to sound hip. Honestly, I'm pretty fond of Lord of the Rings too.
    If we wanna go into comic books, I've been shaped throughout all my childhood by Carl Barks' duck comics. Pretty much all of his stories are incredibly dear to my heart, and even re-reading them as an adult it's crazy to me how well both the storytelling and humor still holds up, and the guy managed to churn out nearly a thousand of them! What an insane storyteller!
    I actually have a copy of House of Leaves waiting for me.  My boss gave it to me because his wife hated it so much she didn't want it in the house anymore.  Which makes it more intriguing to me, if anything.
    What made it sound intriguing to me was a friend telling me that if I read it I need to get my own copy so I could make notes in it as I went along.
    I ended up making no notes at all, so I'm sure that means a ton of stuff just went completely over my head 😅
    Did you read The Silmarillion?
    Did anyone?
    Favorite musician/album/song?
    Guess what? I can't pick one. I love music, but I also love many artists for wildly different reasons, and what I listen to varies by my mood.
    Usually I'd say my favourite albums are a threeway tie between Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Ultravox's Vienna, and Einstürzende Neubauten's Halber Mensch, but that's something I settled on so long ago it's hard to remember exactly what makes them stand above all the rest. Other good suggestions would be Honky Dory by David Bowie, or Fear of Music by Talking Heads.
    Favorite movie?
    Just like with the other subjects, it's hard to really pick one movie. I really want to say Mulholland Drive, because it's a movie that just really feels like it was designed entirely for me and me alone. I love David Lynch, and Mulholland Drive is the most Lynch thing ever, I guess second only to the more recent, but equally brilliant season 3 of Twin Peaks.
    Buuuut Brickman already picked that one, so potential runners-up would be Terry Gilliam's Brazil and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Both are movies where I feel like I can just delve into tiny details of each individual scene, and enjoy every single moment of it!


    So, being a Lynch guy, what are your thoughts on the Deadly Premonition games?
    I love them. I guess my love for the second game is more of an act of pity and/or devotion, but I consider the first one genuinely brilliant. I was already hooked back when it was first announced as "Red Seeds Profile" and was even more of a Twin Peaks knockoff than what we eventually got. I still would love to try that version, but I think it was kinda funny how the game disappeared only to resurface later with the Twin Peaks vibes toned down from "blatantly stealing" to "smeared all over with influence".
    If my memory is still working (big assumption), I recall you hailing from Denmark.  Quick, give us five fast facts about your homeland.
    Taking my bike on a train will get me most places faster than a car possibly could Any kind of social gathering will always involve drinking large amounts of beer, there is no way around it If you ever approach and talk to any stranger for any possible reason here, people will think you're a weirdo and probably a psychopath as well Lego! It's probably not interesting enough to warrant five actually interesting facts 😥 The first Danish media that comes to mind is the Pusher trilogy.  Ever seen it?  Maybe that's a stupid question.
    So it's not Barbie Girl? That's good. I'm surprised you're familiar with Pusher, actually. I guess it makes sense with Winding Refn's more recent Hollywood success, but those movies have such an inherently "Danish" tone to them, I can imagine it being harder to enjoy them if you aren't familiar with the culture here.
    I actually wasn't too interested in the first movie back in the days, but when the first sequel came out (nearly a decade later!) I was pretty hooked. Refn has been a great "ambassador" for the Danish style of cinema, but you can't ignore geniuses like Lars Von Trier or Thomas Vinterberg either. ❤️
    Yes, I'd say Refn's raised profile in America probably has something to do with it.  I first discovered the trilogy as part of the New Cult Canon, which unfortunately appears pretty difficult to navigate nowadays.
    https://letterboxd.com/wilkins/list/the-new-cult-canon/
    Lot of really great stuff on that list! 😮

    Favorite films he's done?
    Actually I think my favourite Refn film is probably Pusher 2. It's funny I only watched Drive very recently. It's eluded me for years, and I had really high expectations of it due to the incredibly praise it's received. And it's really good, don't get me wrong, but after finally watching it I realised it's really just a Hollywood version of the Pusher films 😄
    While we're at it, favorite Lars Von Trier film?
    My favourite work by Lars Von Trier is his TV series "Riget" (listed as "The Kingdom" in the canon you linked). It's kinda unique in how it's really much less high brow than most of the films he's more famous for internationally, but I love how absolutely groundbreaking it was when it came out.
    I was only 11 when the first season aired, and I was equally spellbound and terrified by it. It's basically a horror comedy, but the most memorable parts of it are probably its satirical parodies of the hospital system and its comically exaggerated feud between Denmark and Sweden. It's filmed entirely in a super saturated handheld camera view, and the acting basically feels like it's not acting at all, with characters just lazily delivering their lines in a way that makes them come across more like authentic home recordings (like a found footage film).
    That style influenced Danish movies for years after, and it's very evident in the Pusher movies as well, and the Dogma 95 series of movies which I also highly recommend checking out if any of this interests you.
    You recently took a vacation to Sweden for a summer festival.  Can I just assume your experience mirrored the plot of Midsommar?
    I think that movie paints a very fitting portrait of the Swedish people - they have a great sense of community, and are always willing to sacrifice themselves for eachother.
    How many Mulholland Drive viewings did it take for you to catch everything?
    Three I think, to be honest. 🤣 First time it made no sense to me at all, but I think Lynch is great at catching you with all the subliminal stuff, building on impressions and emotions to a much bigger degree than anything resembling a narrative structure.
    So even though I felt completely unable to connect any dots in my head, you still feel that the connection is there. Honestly, looking at the movie now, I'm kind of surprised how much of it can be reasonably explained with logical sense and purpose. I feel like I have a pretty good idea about what everything that happens represents - but I'm sure David Lynch would be the first person to dismiss the idea that there is one true conclusion.
    Rank the Lynch films.
    Oh wow, there's actually too many I haven't even watched. Can't tell you why I didn't see Eraserhead or Wild at Heart yet (at least in full), I guess I'm just saving them for a moment where I can really savour the experience?
    Mulholland Drive Twin Peaks The Return - It's basically one big movie, and the only season directed entirely by him Lost Highway The Elephant Man Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Blue Velvet Inland Empire Dune New Dune or Lynch Dune?  Or Jodorowsky Dune.
    As much as I'd die to see Jodorowsky's Dune being an actual thing, I think it's hard to top Villeneuve's admittedly much more conventional take. I'm pretty thankful for Denis Villeneuve being a thing in modern Hollywood, as I can't think of any other current directors working on such high profile big budget titles who still manages to retain some sense of integrity and vision. All of his movies range somewhere between "fine" and "amazing", and so far his take on Dune has easily exceeded anything I dared expect from it.
    While Lynch's Dune is an amazing trainwreck to behold, you could never argue it's a good movie. I think working with it managed to serve as an important lesson for its director, though. 🙂
    Favorite restaurant?
    I can't really afford to eat out regularly enough to have any opinion on this 🙂
    Favorite vacation spot?
    Kinda the same. Whenever I get the rare chance to actually go on a vacation anywhere, that place is my favourite. ☺️
    Upcoming game you're looking forward to the most?
    Honestly not really anything in the pipeline that really tickles my fancy. What I'm most excited for is probably whatever Tengo Project has in the oven, but nearly nothing has been revealed yet. I'm expecting it's probably gonna be a sequel-slash-remake of Shatterhand, but based on their previous output I'll gladly eat up anything they serve for me.
    Other projects on the way that I'm expecting to enjoy are Shinobi Non Grata, Gravity Circuit, Mina the Hollower, Freedom Planet 2, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and, based on the demo, Sea of Stars seems cool. I'm also being cautiously optimistic about FF7 Rebirth.
    Okay, then what is your favorite food?
    Depending on my mood it's either Labscouse (sailor's stew), specifically the Danish variant I guess, because a Google Image search gives me some questionable results. Otherwise Lasagna. Everyone loves lasagna, unless you're the villain of a live action Garfield movie or something.
    Are you familiar with The Breakfast Club?  It might be a more American-centric thing.
    I think it's popular here, not really sure. I'm familiar with the film and I've watched at least half of it I think. 😅
    What member of The Breakfast Club Are you?  What character from Twin Peaks are you?

    Did you read The Silmarillion?
    Did anyone?
    Here's my backlog for the year:
    Which game in my list do I need to play yesterday and why?
    I think you already did the most important ones, but I'll give a shoutout to Prey 2014 then.
    It's basically the true sequel to System Shock 2 which Bioshock never managed to live up to. I think it does what a lot of other modern AAA games do where you can pick various specialized paths and then use completely different skills to bypass obstacles - Think the new Deus Ex games if you played those, where you always have the option to pick hacking, action, or stealth for each passage. But what Prey does so much better is that rather just giving you that option (where most players would probably pick the same every time), the usage of those skills feels much more organically implemented into the game's world, and many approaches aren't really immediately obvious until you start asserting the situation - and they are often utilized in very different ways, which means you'll probably switch up your approach much more naturally. At best it feels almost Metroid'ish.
    It's a pretty popular game I guess, but given how much praise Bioshock Infinite (unfairly) got, I think it's a crime that it hasn't been more celebrated.
    Other fantastic games yet in your backlog:
    Nioh, RE2 Remake, Doom Eternal
    What was the first game you ever played?
    I wish I remember. It might have been Leisure Suit Larry or something to that extent.?
    First game you ever owned?
    Super Mario Bros. Pretty classic, huh? From the first moment I tried the game I just knew I had to have it. It was obvious to me even as a tiny kid that the game was special. Eventually got an NES with the game bundled at a January clearance sale. It was some weird event where you'd show up outside a department store and people would just claim tickets for the items they were getting rid of.
    I went with my mom specifically to hopefully secure an NES. They had only three of them, and the only reason we got one was because of a nice lady standing in front of us, helping out getting attention.
    Collect anything besides games?
    Don't really consider myself much of a collector, but I do have a lot of records, CD and vinyl. I never buy CDs anymore though, so I just buy the occasional vinyl album when I find something I really need to own.
    Favorite piece in your collection(s)?
    I can't really pinpoint a single favourite, but I guess my Tetris the Grand Master 2 PCB is pretty high up. I was lucky to pick it up while I could before the price exploded.
    I have a bunch of games I'm considering for my 2024 backlog.  Which of these should I select and why:
    The Witness The Talos Principle Dear Esther Firewatch Into the Breach Inscryption Black Flag Witcher III Moonrider Curse of the Moon 2 Final Fantasy XV Dragon Quest XI Brave Fencer Musashi Xenogears The Red Star Way of the Samurai Crazy Taxi Tales of Symphonia Man, looking at that list I think we really have a very similar taste in games. Let's split these up, because I actually haven't played most of them 😔 But there's three of these I'd absolutely consider must-plays that need to go on your list:
    The Witness, like Braid before it, is a puzzle game that is kinda unlike anything before it, and makes you use your brain in ways you've never done in a video game before, and that alone makes it remarkable IMO.
    The way it takes a basic puzzle concept, and expands it through its own made-up "language" of symbols and other indicators is remarkable, especially in the way it elegantly teaches you the meaning of them organically, allowing you to return to puzzles that made no sense to you previously, suddenly with the skills to solve them.
    It's like acquiring new tools in a Zelda game, except the tools is knowledge in your head. How cool is that?
    Curse of the Moon 2. I really don't like most Inti Creates games, I don't even like their Mega Man games. I think the BMZ games are cool (mostly the second one), but aside from those, the two Curse of the Moon games are the big exception. They are just a ton of fun, and really challenge your knowledge of stages by making you replay them over and over with fewer skills, or just different skillsets entirely.
    COTM2 is a much tougher game than the first one for better or worse. Stages that at first feel like they are designed specifically so only one specific character can get through them, really open up once you start cracking them open without that character. It's kinda hard to explain, but go into this game knowing that one "playthrough" isn't enough to really experience it. You need to unlock and try all the subsequent modes, which also opens up a bunch of new stages.
    Dragon Quest XI, I'm not lying when I say this is the JRPG I've enjoyed the most since Chrono Trigger, which is massive. To be fair, I'm not big on most modern "JRPGs" in general, but this one just really captures that classic charm.
    What really tipped me over however, is the combat system, which is simultaneously the most traditional basic turn based RPG combat you've ever seen, and also the most tactically engaging and satisfying I've tried possibly ever. You really do need every single skill at your disposal to make the correct decisions at every moment during super challenging boss fights. Right down to switching out active party members, status effects, items etc. Making the best of every single character action you have is essential as you try to turn the tables and get a foot ahead of the fights, rather than just trying to survive.
    As I've said to everyone else playing DQXI, when you start the game (during name entry), you need to go into the "Draconian Quest Settings" and enable "Monsters are super strong", otherwise the game will be a tedious cakewalk. This setting can be disabled at any point during the game, but never enabled once the game has started, so don't sleep on it. It makes the difference between at 7/10 game and a 9/10 one.
    Also, if you can, play the PS4 version instead of the Switch "S" version, but don't go out of your way to double dip if you already have the latter.
    Some other games I have played but have a hard time recommending:
    The Witcher III: This is a pretty good game, but it's also just like so many other open world AAA games out there. I wouldn't bother unless you really really just want to try it. The Witcher 2 did a more lot more to forge its own unique identity.
    Xenogears: I used to really love this game, but it's super hard to recommend. It's like 100 hours, but feels like it should have been 300 hours. It has a lot of very good ideas, but they never work really well, mechanically. The story is super fascinating at first, but gets a lot more muddy the further into it you get. On the second disc, the game completely falls apart, and the devs basically glued a few completely disconnected scenes together with pure exposition dialogue. It's not that the game "feels" unfinished, it literally is unfinished, and it's not trying to hide it.
    Final Fantasy XV: Speaking of unfinished games, boy is this one a mess. It's almost fascinating to see just how bad they are trying to make this resemble anything with a vision. There are very few moments in the game where you get to try what a real dungeon or boss fight should feel like, and it's enjoyable for those really short bursts. But most of the rest of the time you're just stuck following exposition through a story that's clearly missing 80% or more at least, anyway. It can be a fun game, but it's a trainwreck regardless.
    Also these are games I've owned and had in my backlog for anything from ten or over twenty years at this point. Most if not all have even been listed in my backlog challenge several times, and I also want to get through them:
    Brave Fencer Musashi, The Red Star, Tales of Symphonia, Black Flag
    Hard to say if I'd recommend them, but I imagine I would 🤣
    Same goes for these games which are all games I've ordered physical copies of, and are awaiting those before I get to play them:
    The Talos Principle, Inscryption, Moonrider
    First word that comes to mind:
    Denmark Health care USA Guns UK Brexit Japan Video games Russia Vodka Germany Lidl Nintendo Switch Sony PlayStation Sega MegaDrive Microsoft SQL Who would you like to see be interviewed?
    I'd love to see @peg given his time in the spotsearchlights. 
  12. Reed Rothchild

    February 2023 Featured Member: G-Type

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    What originally brought you to NA/VGS?
    I didn't own a NES as a kid, but I always wanted one. Emulators started become popular when I was in college, so I was finally able to replay all the games I had experienced at my friend's houses growing up, along with many unfamiliar ones. I would often think about which games I would have wanted to own, if I'd had a console back in the day.  In 2014, I had just read Console Wars by Blake Harris and my interest in retro gaming was at an all time peak, so I decided to start collecting. I went and bought a NES and a Genesis, and while searching online for information, I found and joined NintendoAge. Then I followed along when everyone transitioned over here.
    Story behind your username?
    My username is from R-type, but with my first initial, G. Strangely, I have only played R-type a couple times and don't have any strong feelings about it either way. I just wanted a videogame related user name that I could modify with my name or initials, and this was one of the first games to pop into my head.
    Where do you hail from?
    I live in Northern Virginia. About 30 minutes south of Washington DC.
    Spouse?  Kids?  Pets?
    I'm married and have 4 boys ages 7-15. I also have 2 dogs, 2 birds, 4 cats, and 7 kittens (that we'll be rehoming as soon as they're big enough)
    Can the old man still keep up with his boys?  Can you still wrestle all four at once?
    Definitely not if they all gang up on me at once. When they were younger, they would grab onto one of my legs and I'd try to walk around. Now that they're bigger, that'd be impossible.
    What do you do for a living?  Favorite non-gaming hobbies?
    For my day job, I am a training coordinator for the VDOE. I provide support and training to teachers in k-12 special education in the areas of literacy instruction, assistive technology, and alternative assessment. 
    For my side job, I am a magician. (I just did a "video game magic show" at Magfest) and I've invented several magic tricks that have been published and sold on the magic market.
    I am also a comic creator. I wrote and drew a YA graphic novel called The Scientists (that's like a Sci-fi Goonies) and an action-adventure comic called Bug Hunt (featuring a Bruce Campbell inspired space-exterminator fighting robot spiders). I have an upcoming anthology coming called Stupid Kids: True Tales of Reckless Youth, based on autobiographical childhood mishaps. I also enjoy reading comics and have been collecting since the 90s (mostly indie stuff).
    Another hobby of mine is game design. I have a card game and a board game that I am hoping to publish in the next year or so, and I also dabble in coding games in Scratch and MakeCode.
    I enjoy playing music, even if don't get to do it much these days. I sing, play keyboard. I'm learning to play Ukulele. I was in a band when I was younger.
    How would you describe your card and board game?
    my card game, Flip Freaks, involves players laying down cards on the table like tiles, creating sequences of fighting moves, competing for control over who wins each sequence reversi/othello-style. At the end, all the sequences are gathered together to create an animated flipbook that shows the complete fight.
    my board game, Aréna: The Arcane Sands, is a checkers-style game on a hex-board, played in real-time, using 15 and 20-second sandtimers as your pawns and they also dictate when the piece is free to make another move.
    How long does it take to write a draw a comic?  The amount of work to me feels almost overwhelming.
    I have ADHD, so its hard to sit down and work for a long period of time. Sometimes, I can push myself to go fast. I recently drew and colored a 6-page short story in 2 weeks this past December. But my 200 page graphic novel took about 15 years from script to finished book, (working in small bursts).
    Who's your favorite magician?
    My favorite magician growing up was David Copperfield. His tv specials set the standard.  I'm a fan of lots of magicians: Jeff McBride, Andrew Mayne, Jeki Yoo, Shin Lim, Rudy Coby, Penn & Teller, Tom Stone, Lance Burton, Rune Klan, Dani DaOrtiz, Asi Wind, Shoot Ogawa, Michael Ammar...
    Best reaction you've ever gotten from a crowd?
    I once invented a trick and David Blaine called me and asked if he could use it on his TV special. He said thought it "looks the way real magic would look". 
    I've had lots of great audience reactions. For the show at Magfest this past weekend, the room was filled to capacity and the crowd was pretty hyped. 
    Can you tell us anything about the trick?
    I can show you: 
    The idea was to write with ink on your finger and cause that writing to transform or vanish.
    The Prestige or The Illusionist?
    I'm partial to the Incredible Burt Wonderstone. The Prestige and the illusionist are both pretty good. I think the Prestige is probably a little more entertaining. One funny thing about that movie is that the terminology they claim are the 3 parts of every magic trick "The Pledge, The Turn, The Prestige", were terms the writers invented.
    What's next for your career as an artist and writer?
    I have a couple more projects that I'd really love to do. Especially my 90s-era cyberpunk body horror story: "Brainhackers.txt" But I don't know if I would call it a career. I do a lot of things moderately well, but I've never been able to focus on any one of them long enough to reach that next level. "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none" is what it will say on my tombstone.
    10 favorite games of all time and why?
    1. ZZT (PC/Dos) Around this time this came out (1992), I was really into the BBS ANSI art scene as well as video game design. This game perfectly scratched both those itches. Plus its just really well made. Even the pack-in sample game, Town of ZZT, was brilliant. And the community of home grown ZZT worlds is amazing. 
    2. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) There was a time whenever the topic "are games art?" was brought up, this game would be mentioned. It is hauntingly beautiful. But also a lot of fun with its perfect mix of puzzle solving, platforming, and exploration.
    3. Might and Magic Clash of Heroes (DS) Lots of games have tried to put some unique twist on the "match 3" puzzle game genre, but this one is the best. It's a little lacking in replayability, but its still amazing.
    4. Legacy of the Wizard (NES) When I started collecting, this was one of the first games I got. It was thrown in with a few other games that I was looking for.  I had never heard of it before, so when looking for some information about it, I discovered a video of it being played on Game Center CX and I was very intrigued. This game really hooked me in hard! Even moreso, because it felt like something I had discovered on my own. I made this Nintendo Power guide for it.
    5. Yar's Revenge (Atari 2600) In Howard Scott Warshaw's attempt to find a way to port Star Castle, he managed to create something even greater.  The most successful non-licensed game on the Atari 2600. Pure arcade action with fantastic sound design (they used the sounds in the movie Airplane. Only thing the game is lacking is a little more variety. It has cool backstory explained in the included comic book. I recommend game mode 6: "Ultimate Yars"
    6. Space Quest 3 (PC) This was my first adventure game that I played and beat. Sierra games are a whole vibe that I just dig. I was stuck on that damn garbage freighter for SO long, when that I finally managed to figure out how to escape and make my way to Monolith Burger, it was very exciting.
    7. Food Fight (Atari 7800) The best game on the 7800, by far. I can't believe this was an original game and not an arcade port. It really feels like an arcade classic. 
    8. Battletoads (NES) My one and only "gamer cred" claim is that I've beaten Battletoads. It makes me feel better when I get completely crushed in every other video game contest I compete in. (Although I did get 3rd place in a Warlords tournament at Magfest this past weekend!) Once you understand how to beat turbo tunnel. The rest of the game is just matter of memorization and determination. Great music and graphics, and so much variety to the levels and gameplay! I also really enjoy some of the weird humor, like when the space invaders try to steal squares off your life bar. Too bad they didn't make it more 2-player friendly.
    9. Tron (Arcade) a great collection of minigames, and really fun control scheme combining the flight stick with a spinner! Too bad that discs of Tron wasn't included on the same machine, because that one is probably the best of them all.
    10. Eyetoy Play (PS2) I was at Best Buy in 2003, trying to decide whether I should get an Xbox or a PS2. They were both the same price, so it came down to the games. A little further down the shelf, I saw, Eyetoy and was really intrigued by it. It turned out be really fun. Sometimes, when I would host parties, I would just have it on with one of the cool video effects filters. (this was before instagram, so these filters were still pretty novel at the time) 
    Favorite piece in your collection(s)?
    My favorite piece that I've acquired, is my boxed Odyssey2, purely for the aesthetics of the graphic design. I love the colors. It reminds me of a 1970s black light poster.
    My favorite piece that I retained from my childhood is my Tomy Pocket Arcade: Knight's Mission. I am fascinated by mechanical and electromechanical games. I remember when first I got it, I was kind of disappointed because I'd been hoping for an LCD game. But I think this mechanical game ended up being a lot cooler in the long term. 
    Is Super Mario Bros. 2 ever gonna be conquered?
    I made it as far as Wart's castle. I was able to see the ending using save states and called it a day. I've moved on. This is isn't the first time I've fallen just short of beating a game. I made it up to the Joker in Batman, and I made it to the final dungeon in Legend of Zelda.
    I actually gave up on the Joker last year as well.  At some point there's an opportunity cost.  I either spend 5+ hours grinding away at the last 1% of a game, or I go experience 100% of something else instead.
    I tend to favor gaming in short bursts and playing for a score, which is why Atari/arcade action games appeal to me. The last time I beat an NES game, was Lolo during the Survivor contest. 
    What do the boys think of your retro games?
    They think they're ok, and will give them a try if I ask, but its never something they would choose for themselves. They have their own tastes. They're into games like Roblox, Clash of Kings, Fortnight, Overcooked, Smash Bros, Dragonball fighters, and VR.
    Favorite movie of all time?
    This was also my pick for the movie debate poll: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? One of the few perfect movies. I've watched this movie countless times, and owned it on VHS as a kid. Great characters, great performances, great story. The technical mastery here still hasn’t been surpassed when it comes to toon/human interaction. All credit goes to Bob Hoskins who's mime work and acting to an invisible co-star are ON POINT. Recent movies that have tried to follow in it's footsteps, like Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers, just don't have the same vibe. Roger Rabbit captured lightning in a bottle.
    Did you watch the new Chip & Dale movie?
    I thought Chip and Dale was decent, but not great. I never watched the cartoon, so I have zero nostalgia for it, which is a problem for this type of movie, where so much of it is built around "Hey, remember this thing?" It had a couple good jokes like treating CGI as plastic surgery, or bringing back ugly sonic. I liked the Roger Rabbit-esque merging of human and cartoon worlds... but I felt the world-building was a little lacking (compared to Roger Rabbit).
    Book?
    Ender's Game. I know this this author has turned out to be kind of problematic and some of the other books in this series are downright bad, but this first book will always be very special to me. I especially love all the battle room scenes and how Ender keeps coming up with new strategies to the counter all the challenges thrown at him.
    I've only read Enders Game, but I do own the 8 "main" books.  How would you rank the ones you've read?
    My ranking of the Ender's Game books:
    1.Ender's Game is #1 of course.
    2.Ender's Shadow was almost as good as Ender's Game. Interesting to get a retelling of the first book's story from another character's perspective
    3. Speaker for the Dead: Don't remember it well. I think it had a few scenes I enjoyed, nothing I'm eager to read again.
    4. Ender in Exile: OSC decided to use this as a platform for his famously conservative religious views. It could have been neat to read a direct narrative sequel to Ender's Game but its almost impossible to read his character's pontifications on the importance of marriage, monogamy, and gender roles to the stability of civilization without rolling my eyes.
    5. Xenocide: Don't remember it at all, but don't remember liking it.
    Comic book?
    Larry Marder's Beanworld. It is the comic I've reread the most. Even my kids have read it multiple times. It centers around a tribe of sentient beans who live on a 2.5 dimensional island, as they try to decode the mysteries of their environment, build a society, create art and science, and problem solve the various new developments and intrusions that threaten to upset the balance of their ecosystem. It's drawn in a unique style, heavily influenced by Native American mythology, with lots of geometric shapes and patterns.
    The other comic that was super important to me as a teen was Rob Schrab's Scud the Disposable Assassin.
    Musician? Song? Album?
    Hard to pick just one. I'll go: Nirvana/Nevermind/Smells like teen spirit. I have kind of a raspy voice... but its not because I was a smoker... I think it's because I used to scream along to Nirvana songs when I was teenager.
    Star Trek or Star Wars?
    I am more of a Star Wars fan, specifically the original trilogy, are some of my all-time favorite movies. I couldn't wait to get more Star Wars when the prequels were announced. My friends and I went to see Enemy of the State with Will Smith, just to catch a glimpse of the Phantom Menace trailer. We collected the Taco Bell cups and bought the soundtrack in anticipation. We waited in line for it opening day and couldn't possibly be any more excited. After it was over, the first words I said when the lights came back up: "Well, that sucked." Everything after that has required me to reframe my expectations. Ever since the disneyfication, I've become less and less interested. I did have fun watching the Force Awakens trilogy, and Rogue One... but now I kind of view it like I do the MCU... everything is very middle of the road and they just pumped out too much, that it got diluted and lost its specialness.
    Which member of The Breakfast Club are you?
    Wasn't the message of that movie that we can't be defined by the those narrow roles that people try to put us into? "Each one of us is a brain, an athlete,  basketcase, a princess, and a criminal."
    ...You're the first person in 25+ interviews to ever pick up on that...
    I could probably relate most to being the nerd, and the weirdo. I'm not much of a Breakfast Club fan (I think its one of the more overrated 80s movies) but I did get a laugh from Emilio Estevez's gigantic lunch.
    How chaotic is a house full of 4 boys and a dozen+ animals?
    It's non-stop action. I take my dog on long walks just to get a break sometimes.
    Favorite console of all time?
    Gotta go with the Atari 2600. I think it's so cool how they were able to take a machine that was only designed to play Pong and Combat, and push it to recreate or approximate nearly every popular arcade game of it's era.
    Beer, liquor, or wine?
    I only drink occasionally, and usually it's to pair with food. Beer with spicy food, Wine with Italian or fish. I don't care for liquor.
    Coffee or tea?
    I drink 1 or 2 cups of coffee every day (although I occasionally drink tea too). I especially like Vietnamese coffee or Milk tea with boba.
    Favorite restaurant?
    I love Thai food, sushi, pizza, But my favorite, if I'm being honest, is McDonald's. Definitely the place I've eaten at the most.
    Favorite McD's item?
    I think the simpler, "1,2,3 dollar menu" items tend to be the best. The McDouble is a perfectly balanced burger. Small fries are plenty, and as long as you eat them while they're hot, they're the best in the game. A McDonalds fountain diet coke just hits different.. better than any other canned or bottled incarnation. I know they have premium chicken sandwiches, trying to compete with some of the other brands, but I'll take the basic McChicken over those. I'll sometimes go for an apple pie or a vanilla cone if I want something sweet.
    Wendy's or Burger King?
    I’m not a fan of either, but Burger King is worse. My alternate fast food picks would be Taco Bell or Chick fil A.
    Favorite sushi roll?
    I like the dragon roll because it looks so pretty and I love avocado.
    Favorite sushi restaurant?
    I don’t have any chains. Just our local restaurants. We go to one called Jangko.
    After Super Mario Bros. 2, what would be your next white whale in gaming?
    Super Metroid has been my list for a while. Maybe I should declare that for the backlog challenge.
    What games do your kids like to play?
    My kids keep telling me I should play Hollow Knight. Maybe I will someday. My son who is into VR really likes the game Gorilla Tag.
    Gorilla Tag?
    Yea, I don’t play it either. I just know it involves lots of arm movement to get around and he works up a pretty good sweat.
    Which of your jobs is your favorite?
    I go through phases. I went pretty hard on the comic creation for the past 5 years… but now I feel like the pendulum has swung back towards the magic. I have been creating a lot of new material based on my new “retro magician” concept which is very creatively rewarding. Building a career in any one of these fields is pretty hard, but trying to do them all at the same time is nearly impossible. There’s just not enough hours in the day. Especially when you are easily distracted and have a hard time making yourself get started.
    If you could visit one country...
    For a country never been to before: I’d love to visit Japan. More likely that I’ll return to my wife’s country (Thailand) first, since it’s been a long time since she’s gone home.
    If you could meet one person, alive or dead
    I’ve met Dan Harmon before, but I do believe there’s another version of me out there in the multiverse who moved out to LA and became buddies with him and rode his coattails into a career in film and television.
    Where do you see yourselves in 10 years?
    Crazy to think about but my youngest will be a senior in high school by then. I’ll be on the verge of becoming an empty nester. I hope in 10 years, I’ll have achieved some level of success in my side hustles that I can do it full time.
    Who would you like to see me interview?
    I’d be interested to hear from fellow Atari fan and artist extraordinaire, @CasualCart
  13. Reed Rothchild

    Featured Member August 2023: fox

    By Reed Rothchild,


    Featured Members
    What brought you to VGS/NA?
    My buddy, Kid Chris from NA, would hit up garage sales, swap meets looking for old school games, records, movies, or whatever funky stuff we could get a deal on. What was your best old school game haul? So we would usually hit up the flea market over by Cut and Shoot (Yes.) And on the way we would always see this antique store that was never opened. We pull up and it was pretty sketchy, looked like they modified a barn. We find like a shoebox of various games and ask the crazy old guy who worked or maybe lived there disappear and comes back with boxes and boxes of about 10 consoles and 50 games. We start asking how much for this or that and he is like "$100 for everything" and we don't think twice. We each toss in $50 with most stupid grins on our faces and we agree to divide it up later. This was easily $300-$400 worth of stuff back then, probally worth two or three times that nowadays. We load it up and it takes up my entire trunk.

    Sounds like you got some great hauls, do you still collect?
    Not as much nowadays, then again I have most of the games I would want to own.  So I'm more focused on keeping up with modern games, with some throwback indie titles and retro games in the mix for variety.

    You seem pretty active playing games on the backlog challenge, how is that going?
    Slow but steady.  I treat it more like a roadmap, plotting out the course of my gaming over the year and in that way it keeps me focused and motivated.

    I didn't make it easy on myself putting a few big chonkers on there.  I mean I aim to finish Zelda but don't know how long that will take, even though I beat two temples, it feels like I am just scratching the surface.  

    What's the story behind your username and avatar?
    Finally someone asking about my fur-sona! J/K Foxes are my spirit animal.

    My cousin and I were really close growing up, despite the fact we lived so far apart and only got together like twice a year, so we kept in touch with email/messenger. He used some form of wolf in his username, so I picked fox to keep in theme. It worked well because it was 3 letters, so perfect for high scores. So it has kind of stuck as an online handle, even if I try others, seems to be the one I always go back to.

    You seem big into foxes, every thought of owning one as a pet?
    No because they mark their territory on everything.  Big yikes! I do have a 12 year old fox faced black and tan Pomeranian, who everyone thinks is still a puppy even though she is an old lady.  
    What are your top 10 consoles and a fav game from each?
    NES – Power Blade. When you feel like Mega Man don’t want to play Mega Man for the 100th time. Funny enough I always forget the name of this game.

    SNES - Legend of the Mystical Ninja. One part Zelda, one part Castlevania, one anime weirdness. Toss in tons of mini games and a fun two player mode and this is one game I always come back to.

    Genesis - Gunstar Heroes. Treasure manages to get one up on Contra.

    PSX - Synphony of the Night. A massive big with beautiful sprites and tons of secrets to uncover. The soundtrack is my go to background music for Halloween.

    Saturn - Saturn Bomberman. Nothing like trash talking your friends only to trap yourself with your own bombs soon as the match starts.

    N64 - Ocarina of Time. An epic adventure. Exploring it’s big 3D world is pure joy.

    Dreamcast - NFL Blitz. The sports game for those who don’t care about sports.

    PS2 - Devil May Cry 3. Some of the most fun and stylish combat in any title.

    360 - Gears of War 2. Army dudes shooting monsters. The horde mode is just endlessly replayable.

    PS4 – Bloodborne. Such a cool gothic setting with sick monster design and even sicker trick weapons to fight them with.

    PS5 - God of War Ragnarok. A great storytelling event, bringing together father and son.

    Switch - Hollow Knight. The final evolution of the metroidvania sub genre.

    But what is your overall favorite console?
    SNES. While the NES brought out a lot of unique titles, it feels like SNES is where they were perfected.   What upcoming game are you looking forward to the most?
    I played the demo for FF16 and  really enjoyed it.  Hope to knock out Zelda out of my backlog first. You've retired a number of backlog games this year. Which one was the most disappointing?
    Calisto Protocal.  I was a big fan of the Dead Space games and expected something special from the original creators but ended up being a total slog fighting conga lines of the same enemies with a melee system which is trying be punch out or something.
    Favorite book?
    The Dark Tower series – A trippy fantasy horror western.   Did you watch the Dark Tower movie?
    Yes taken on it's own, it is ok, Elba and McConaughey are fine.  But as an adaptation it leaves a lot to be desired.  Trying mash up the entire series into a single movie and be a sequel as well was just the wrong approach.

    I'll see if Mike Flanagan (who seems to be a fan, given all the shout out in Doctor Sleep) can do better.

    Favorite musician?
    Judas Priest. Listening to their discography and seen them live so many times. Still gets me pumped.  Even managed to catch a drum stick! Rank the Priest albums.  Go.
    S tier
    Sad Wings of Destiny
    Screaming for Vengence
    Painkiller
    Angel of Retribution
    A tier
    Sin After Sin
    British Steel
    Defenders of the Faith
    B tier
    Stained Class
    Hell Bent For Leather
    Turbo
    Ram it Down
    C tier
    Rocka Rolla
    Point of Entry
    Redeemer of Souls
    Firepower
    D tier
    Jugulator
    Demolition
    Nostradamus
    Favorite movie?
    The Thing/Escape From New York/Big Trouble in Little China. Depends on my mood, but any of the Carpenter and Russel joints really hits the spot. Rank every Carpenter movie. Go.
    S tier
    The Thing
    Escape From New York
    Big Trouble in Little China
    Halloween
    They Live
    A tier
    Christine
    In The Mouth of Madness
    Assault on Precinct 13
    Prince of Darkness
    Escape From LA
    B tier
    The Fog
    Starman
    Village of the Damned
    Cigerette Burns
    C tier
    Vampires
    Body Bags
    Dark Star
    D tier
    The Ward
    Pro Life
    Ghosts of Mars
    N/A
    Eyes of Laura Mars
    Memoirs of an Invisible Man
    Somebody's Watching Me
    Elvis
    How did you meet FireHazard and Spoonman and company?
    I was admin of the Screwattack website (home of the Angry Video Game Nerd.)  Unlike most of the internet, the g1s were actually cool to each other.  We did a lot to promote community interaction and engagement.  People were writing blogs, making art, hosting forum games, it always felt like something cool was going and people put a lot into making it a great place. 

    Things started to fall off when the site was sold, focus was shifted, old staff and members left.  Kept up with some of them but everyone is fractured and spread out.  A few of  the g1s joined up on VGS, kind of the closest thing we have to the old site.

    How were you introduced to Werewolf?
    We had a pretty healthy Werewolf group going on Screwattack.  The first round I was a wolf and the second round I was third party, so I had to really learn the game fast.  By the fourth round I was hosting, and really tried to make the game a big event for the community.
    Favorite round of werewolf?
    Batman round where I subbed into the werewolf team that was already on the ropes.  My kill only had a 50/50 chance of working so I was a bit gimped.  Lasted long enough and outed myself in order to convince the third party to side with us and get a joint win.
    Has werewolf ever made you want to strangle someone?
    "Goys, we don't need to even vote.  Cop will find all of the wolves on his own and win the game for us.  EZPZ"
    Was it AVGN that initially drew you to ScrewAttack?
    Yeah.  That was pretty groundbreaking stuff as far as new media and showing old school games some hate but also love.
    Favorite AVGN episode?
    The history of Castlevania 4 parter.  That is like a yearly rewatch around Halloween.
    Prize piece in your collection?
    Panzer Dragoon Saga is prob the most expensive game I own.  It came out in the dying days of the Saturn, so it was slim pickings (only 5 games or so came out that year.)  It was a limited run of 50,000 copies in the first run (there was a second run as well.)  I enjoyed the first two so I knew this was going to be one to snag.  It is so unique in both the visuals, story, and combat, that there isn't really anything like it.

    I also have a new in box SNES from when Kee Bee had them on clearance.  How much are those going for nowadays?
    Collect anything other than video games?
    More like what didn't I collect? heh

    Have a bunch of cds and vinyl records (because they were cheap, not because it was the hipster thing to do.)  Big movie fan so tons of dvds, blu rays, and now 4k discs.  So much of that stuff is just easily available streaming, I have most of it packed away in storage.

    Like 60% of my bookshelf is graphic novels.  I liked having a full story in a single easy to handle collection.  I could never keep up with monthly books, I'd always miss one and not be able to complete the story arc.
    Top 10 graphic novels?
    All Star Superman
    Batman (new 52 run)
    Fables
    Forth World (New Gods, Forever People, Mr Miracle)
    Planetary
    Sandman
    Secret Six
    Y The Last Man
    House of X/Powers of X
    Watchmen
    I'm definitely not much of a comic nerd because I don't even recognize most of those.  Which one of those should a neophyte check out?  Aside from Watchmen.  I've read that.
    It really depends what you are into.  If you enjoyed Watchmen, then check out some of Moore's other stuff like V for Vendetta or his run on Swamp Thing.
    I'd say "Y The Last Man" is a pretty safe recommend.  I lent that to a couple different friends and they all got into easy, and aren't big comic fans even.
    Did you watch The Flash?
    Not yet, but I heard good things despite all the drama.  I'll prob catch it on HBO Max
    What's the worst game you've ever played?
    Circus Caper.  Mostly cause I never knew how to get past the first area.  Now that I do, the game doesn't really get better after.
    Worst movie you've ever seen?
    The Brotherhood III...Young Demons.  A very cheap slasher that was good to rip off after a couple drinks.
    Where do you hail from?
    Texas, it is 104.    Send popsicles
    Were you born and raised. In Texas?
    Yes
    Tell us 5 things about Texas
    -Texas had six flags fly over it: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the United States
    -Texas comes from the word tejas which means friends
    -The state flower is the Blue Bonnet, often seen off the highway, and you are not allowed to pick them
    -If you sing "The Stars at Night are Big and Bright" people will clap and say the next verse
    - Y'all is the proper way to say you in the plural form
    Favorite restaurant
    I like Indian food, I can cook butter chicken myself, but it is always better getting it out
    Wine, liquor, or beer
    Cider
    Best cider?  Is there a local cider house?
    Ace.  I heard good things about Cidercade, need to check that out sometime.
    Coffee or tea
    Coffee
    Which member of the Breakfast Club are you?
    Basketcase
    Star Wars or Star Trek?
    Dune
    SNES or Genesis?
    SNES is all time goat but Genny is very close.  16 bit era really perfected 2d gaming.
    PS1 or Saturn or N64?
    PS1 had the best games hands down.  N64 had the multiplayer and Saturn had some hidden gems
    Cube or PS2 or Xbox?
    PS2 but I wasn't playing games as much this gen
    Wii or PS3 or 360?
    First half was all about 360.  Xbox Live was a revelation.  PS3 was slow to start and kind of a mess.  But weirdly it flipped halfway thru the generation, when 360 became all about Kinect and PS3 was really putting out all their killer apps.
    DS or PSP?
    PSP.  Never cared about the second screen gimmick.
    Vita or 3DS?
    Vita.  Big console games on the go.  Tons of indies.  Sexy OLED screen.  Really seems like the prototype for the Switch.
    Predictions for your 2024 backlog?

    Who should I interview next?
    @FireHazard51
  14. Reed Rothchild
    Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

    Aliens who look like clowns come from outer space and terrorize a small town.
    When I was a kid, we had cable, but none of the premium channels.  None that is, until the occasional free trial came around.  And every time we had a free trial for HBO, this movie would be on repeat.  And I would watch it every time.
    For those who haven't seen it, it's exactly what it says it is.  Killer aliens, that look like clowns, and kill people with popcorn guns, cotton candy guns, balloon animals, and every other ridiculous carnival-themed thing you can imagine.
    Also, the bloody faces inside the cotton candy used to scare the shit out of me.  That's a big factor for inclusion on this: the ability to emotionally scar me as a child.
    Waxwork (1988)

    A wax museum owner uses his horror exhibits to unleash evil on the world.
    House of Wax meets the 1980s.  Kind of like Tourist Trap, except more fun.
    The entire plot of this movie is one giant excuse to try and pack in as many references to classic horror films as possible.  And that's totally fine by me.  I love when all hell breaks loose by the end of the film, and monsters of every ilk are running around, and the gore levels shoot through the roof.  That's my kind of movie.
    Unfortunately the sequel was not nearly as fun.  They almost never are.
    Society (1989)

    An ordinary teenage boy discovers his family is part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.
    This movie is exactly as that tagline says.  Gruesome orgy cult.  Exciting stuff.
    While I adore this film, to be fair, the first 2/3 of the runtime is a bit of a slow burn.  To put it lightly.  I like that that kind of thing, because I like movies that make you wait for their payoff.  But obviously not everyone feels that way.
    When things do unravel, it escalates quickly.  Probably one of the most batshit insane final segments you'll find in any horror film.  And I mean that in a good way.  The best possible way.
  15. Reed Rothchild
    (graphic courtesy of @CasualCart)
    Well, it was a marathon, but I finally did it.  After almost 6 months I finally crapped out wrote up 50 more games. 
    COVID-19 couldn't stop me.  Losing my home office couldn't stop me.  Buying and selling a new home couldn't stop me.  Losing some of my cartridges couldn't stop me.  Playing Survivor couldn't stop me.  Hosting Werewolf 3: The Deafening couldn't stop me.  Getting a repetitive muscle injury from too much... reading, couldn't stop me.
    Of course running out of things to say will stop me.  Or my insecurity over the need to use the words "like" "so" "anyway" and "but" like 5,000 times per page.  You'd think I'd have invested in a thesaurus by now...
    Anyway (see, there it is), no one wants to read this crap.  They want to read the crap in the link below.  So have it:
    (TRIGGER warning: popular games in unpopular spots below)
    (DOUBLE TRIGGER warning: still looks like garbage on mobile, will get to that soonish)
    http://snesrankings.com/games/300_276.html
    (ALSO, you may need to do a hard refresh to make things look less crappified)
    (things like 'search', further incorporation into the VGS main site, and other enhancements are still planned, as soon as I find the time)
    Also, an extra big "THANK YOU" to @Splain who did all of the editing this time around
  16. Reed Rothchild
    Eyes Without a Face (1960)

    A surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
    It's unbelievable that this came out all the way back in 1960.  There are certain scenes that are so far beyond the pale as far as what society would have been used to at the time, I have a very hard time imagining an American audience sitting in the theater and watching this.  At least, not without walking out.  Probably why it didn't get a wide release over here.
    But decades later, we can fully appreciate it.  And even though Psycho gets all of the attention for horror films made in 1960, I'm deeming this the superior film.  The plights of the various women in this film stick with me, long after watching it.  Even the main character has enough dimensions to make her sympathetic, despite the horrible things happening in her name.
    Black Sunday (1960)
     
    A vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant.
    [Note - I am talking about the original release here, not the censored American cut]
    Not to be confused with that movie about the blimp. 
    The first Italian film to grace the list, and an early picture from famed filmmaker Mario Bava.   Best described as a "Gothic horror film", Black Sunday takes what the Hammer films had been doing at the time, and ups the ante with additional gore and thrills.  We're talking nails being driven into eyeballs (with ensuing seeping liquids), people being burned alive, spikes driven into faces, throats being torn out.  Fun stuff.
    Not to mention the great sets and shots, the awesome score, and the great cast.  Most of the remaining Italian films that will appear on this list are of a particularly different persuasion, but this is the one of the best of the bunch, and is most heavily recommended.
    Carnival of Souls (1962)

    After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.
    Yet another early example of the horror "twist."  Again, don't read anything ahead of time so as not to spoil it, though this particular trope has been copied so many times in the decades since that you'll probably see it coming anyway.  
    But even that makes a pretty compelling argument for just how groundbreaking this film was.  It (alongside The Innocents, which did not quite make the cut for this list) basically laid the blueprints for 60+ years of horror films that followed.
    Groundbreaking elements aside, today it still stands strong as an immensely entertaining watch, with a lean runtime that keeps you immersed throughout.  And that's why it's on this list.
    Black Sabbath (1963)

    Boris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories concerning a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.
    [Note - I am talking about the original release here, not the censored American cut]
    This is the first anthology film to appear in my list, but it certainly will not be the last.  I am an absolute sucker for the stuff.  I'll watch (or read) horror anthologies or short story collections all day long.  The format is just a natural fit for trying to get under your skin, because all it takes is one disturbing image, or one horrifying scene to stick with you.  And that's especially the case here with this delightful collection of stories.  I don't want to spoil too much about any of them, but all three are super strong.  "The Telephone" involves mysterious threatening phone calls   , "The Wurdulak" is what you see in the above poster, and "The Drop of Water"... well, lets just say it has some very evocative imagery that is super effective.  I'll leave it at that.
    But again, stay away from the American version.  It changes a ton of things that mess up the rhythm and tone of the original film.
  17. Reed Rothchild
    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

    Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
    It feels a bit lazy to have a bunch of the horror heavy hitters like this on the list.  I mean, everyone and their sister likes this movie.  It's why they remake it every three or four years, while always keeping the plot exactly the same.  Driving out to the boonies and running into the rednecks from hell is just such a simple and effective outline for plotting a horror film.  Don't fix what ain't broke I guess.
    But it would have been disingenuous to not include it in this countdown.  It is easily the best installment of the franchise, and a milestone in a genre, that hasn't aged a day.  A man wearing a women's face, impaling a co-ed up on a meathook and forcing her to watch him carve up her boyfriend?  Frickin' yikes.  That's some next-gen horror imagery, and this thing came out all the way back in 1974!  It's unbelievable.
    I wouldn't put it in my top 10 or anything, but this is one of my go-to's for this specific brand of horror.
    Black Christmas (1974)

    During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
    Margot Kidder makes her second appearance on this list, and Bob Clark his first.
    I'm not going to say this is the first slasher to appear on this list (or exist in general), because it's more of a proto-slasher.  One that has a lot of giallo elements.  Kind of a transitionary film between the two genres, in a way.  Feel free to debate me on that one.
    But what's amazing is that this not only predates slashers like Halloween and Friday the 13th, but it also predates Christmas horror films like Christmas Evil and Silent Night Deadly Night, and predates sorority films like House on Sorority Row and Sorority House Massacre.  Basically, people started copying every single element of this film.  It was ahead of its time in three different ways!
    Oh, and the whole "the calls are coming from inside the house?"  Yeah, this movie created that too.  When A Stranger Calls came out years later.  So, four different ways.
    Again, groundbreaking.
    But that doesn't matter now.  All we care about is how good of a watch it is in 2023.  And the answer is "its a hell of a watch."  The villain is creepy as fuck, the setpieces are great, the way things rapidly unravel and quickly escalate is thrilling.  And the ending with the still undiscovered bodies? I love it.
    Jaws (1975)

    When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
    Another original pick, am I right?  Doesn't matter, because simply put, this is the scariest movie of all time from my perspective.  I saw it when I was a little kid, and I was afraid of the water for a decade afterwards.  Hell, I STILL think of this movie every time I get in the water.  Freshwater lake?  It skirts through my mind for at least a moment.  When I was a kid, I was so scared, I thought about sharks at the bottom of my bed under my sheets.  I thought about the bottom of the bathtub opening up into a hidden pool beneath it.  There was no refuge from the man-eating shark.
    Beyond the terror, it's a masterclass in horror filmmaking.  But I don't' need to go into that.  It, and Spielberg's reputation, speak for itself.
    Deep Red (1975)

    A jazz pianist and a wisecracking journalist are pulled into a complex web of mystery after the former witnesses the brutal murder of a psychic.
    Another giallo, and the first Dario Argento film to appear on my list.  It certainly will not be the last.
    While I think his earlier stuff like Four Flies On Grey Velvet, The Cat O'Nine Tails, and The Bird With the Crystal Plumage are all great, it was this film where he really was able to bring it all together.  A great cast, a great mystery, great setpieces, that iconic kill sequence, and that awesome 1970s jazzy soundtrack from rock band Goblin.  It all adds up to a really good time.  So good, that this is in fact the film of his I find myself returning to more than any other.  Some of the latter ones are way, way crazier (which is saying something), and highly enjoyable.  But something about this one just keeps me coming back.  Probably because there's always a few new details I discover every time I watch it.
    Again, these Italian films are not going to be for everyone.  You have to have a tolerance for certain quirks, and gratuitous amounts of gore and violence.  But if you're like me, you're totally into both of those things.
    Just make sure to watch the Italian release.  That's a running theme with these movies.
  18. Reed Rothchild

    The Shining / Scanners / The Burning

    By Reed Rothchild,


    100 Favorite Horror
    The Shining (1980)

    A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
    Stephen King superfan, remember?  And even though King himself wasn't the biggest fan of this adaptation (probably because he had already entered his booze and coke phase), I think the rest of the world is in agreement that it's sublime.
    This is yet another movie that I watched way too young (that's another trend), so I've been haunted by this movie for a very long time.  Since even before I read the book (which was back in elementary school - the teachers ending up banning King in our classroom, true story), I was having nightmares over the lady in room 237.  Nevermind the twins, or Jack, or the elevator of blood.  No, it was that goddamn cackling lady that kept me up at night.
    Scanners (1981)

    A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
    David Cronenberg movie number two!
    Is this horror?  It's probably borderline, but I say it is.  Body horror, as it were.  One of my favorite types.
    Everyone knows the infamous exploding head scene.  But what really gets me is the battle between Captain Whats-His-Name and Michael Ironside at the end.  That is some shit that gets under your skin.  Like, literally.  I didn't type that up as a pun, it just kind of happened.
    The Burning (1981)

    A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.
    If you haven't seen this, or you haven't heard of it, just know that it is the world's most blatant Friday the 13th ripoff (which you should now notice did not make this list).  Everything from the setup, to the location, and the kills themselves are pages directly out of the book of Crystal Lake.
    But that's okay, because derivative or not, this movie is endlessly entertaining.  It has the superior cast, superior acting, a super fun story, and tons of blood and gore.  Everything you could want in a slasher, and more.
    There's a reason it's a pretty huge cult classic nowadays.
    If there was one complaint, it's that the supposed, uh, "hero(ish) guy", played by the actor who was Mark Ratner in Fast Times at Ridgement High, is a bit of a little slimy weasel.  Definitely not the most relatable lead.
  19. Reed Rothchild

    Re-Animator / Aliens / Night of the Creeps

    By Reed Rothchild,


    100 Favorite Horror
    Re-Animator (1985)

    After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
    Or as they put it in American Beauty... that movie where "the body is waIking around... carrying its own head, and then the head goes down on that babe."
    I mean, that's all you really need to know.  I don't even need to say anything else to justify this placement.
    Aliens (1986)

    Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
    One of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time.  One of the greatest action movies of all time.  And one of the greatest horror movies of all time.  That's a goddamn trifecta, if there ever was one!
    Oh, and it has a serious case for being the greatest sequel in the history of cinema.  No big deal.
    Seriously though, this is one of the rare movies where the sequel outclasses the original in every way.  Not to take anything away from the original Alien, but this thing cranks everything up to 11.  And I mean everything.  It has such a classic ensemble cast, with so much quotable dialogue, so many great setpieces, so many great effects, and such amazing sound design.  It's really a perfect film.  They could have forever ended the franchise here, and we all could have died happy.
    And if you're a gamer who somehow hasn't seen this, just know it may be the most influential movie in history, as far as gaming goes.  So you should probably do something about that.  Just saying.
    Night of the Creeps (1986)

    Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them. [really IMDB?  That's the worst description I've ever read on your site]
    So much fun.  Part 1950s alien creature feature, and part splatter zombie fest, this movie is all awesome.  Tom Atkins is gold, the young leads are great, the practical effects are great, the comedy is hilarious... it's another perfect 1980s horror comedy.  Maybe not as great or iconic as American Werewolf, but damn good nonetheless.
    It also heavily influenced another later movie that I love even more.  If you're a horror guy you should know exactly what I'm talking about.  It will show up in a couple weeks.
  20. Reed Rothchild
    Army of Darkness (1992)
     
    A sardonic hardware store clerk is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead so he can return home.
    I've bought this movie five times.  Initially, I got the director's cut as one of the very first DVDs I ever owned.  Then I got the edition that came bundled with the theatrical cut.  Then I bought the blu ray.  Then I bought the fancy Scream Factory version of the blu ray.  Then I bought the 4K.  If it ever gets some sort of ridiculous 8K release, I'll probably buy that too.
    What can I say?  I love this movie.  I love the silly plot, Bruce's acting, the practical effects, the humor, the ending(s), the climactic battle... it's really just the perfect medieval time-travel fantasy horror comedy... thing.  One that I never get sick of watching.  Is it as good as it's predecessor?  No, but it's very close.
    In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

    An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.
    The third and final Carpenter film to make the list.  This time he tackles some Lovecraftian things (kind of), while piling on the monsters, the jump scares, and Sam Neill losing his mind.  I love it.  I may not completely buy the plot (imagine a pulp horror writer being the most popular thing in the world), but when movies are this entertaining, who cares?
    Also, check out Carpenter's Cigarette Burns.  I won't call it a spiritual sequel, but there's a lot of similarities.
    Seven (1995)

    Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
    Another borderline horror film.  I included it mainly for "seven" particular scenes:
    Gluttony Greed Sloth Lust Pride Envy Wrath If you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  And you know I'm cheating there, a little bit.  If you haven't seen it, immediately go watch it.
  21. Reed Rothchild

    Event Horizon / Mimic / Deep Rising

    By Reed Rothchild,


    100 Favorite Horror
    Event Horizon (1997)

    A rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
    Hellraiser in space.  Did I make that up, or was that like a critic's quote used to promote the movie?  I don't remember, but it fits.
    Actually, lets call it Solaris, but stuff actually happens.
    Or how about Sunshine, before Sunshine was a thing.
    Whatever you want to call it, this is (yet another) movie I watched young (in the theaters in fact), which then got to live rent-free in my imagination for awhile.  That is always the hallmark of a good horror movie.
    Mimic (1997)

    Three years ago, entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Now, the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind.
    The first appearance from our Spanish Mexican buddy, Guillermo Del Toro.
    I actually saw this one in the theaters, and I was so creeped out that night I had trouble sleeping.  What's the only thing grosser than bugs?  Gigantic intelligent bugs, apparently.
    Re-capturing the gross, grimy New York that was so famous in movies from the 1970s and 1980s, the movie succeeds in making the viewer deeply unsettled and uncomfortable throughout.  Which is a rousing success in my book.
    Deep Rising (1998)

    A group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only...
    Here's a fun one, and another one I watched with my dad when it came out. 
    Before he was directing (decidedly uneven) summer popcorn-fare like The Mummy, Stephen Sommers gave us this B-movie classic.  Treat Williams stars as the boat captain who's hired to lead a squad of mercenaries and intercept a cruise ship.  Little do they know that everyone onboard is already dead...
    I won't say anymore, but if that teaser interests you, and you like decidedly campy gorefests, check this one out asap.
  22. Reed Rothchild
    Trick 'r Treat (2007)

    Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween.
    My favorite horror anthology film of all time.  This.  Not Black Sabbath, not the Creepshows, not Tales from the Darkside, not Cat's Eye, not Tales from the Hood, not V/H/S, not Three Extremes, not Trilogy of Terror, not Body Bags, not From a Whisper to a Scream, not The Monster Club, not Nightmares, not The ABCs of Death, not All Hallow's Eve, not Tales from the Crypt (the movie), not... well, you get the idea.
    And it's funny, because I believe this almost never saw the light of day, even after it was fully completed and finished in post-production.  There were trailers for this movie that ran for years before it ever came out, and I distinctly remember wondering what had happened to it.
    Thank God it finally did (though it was demoted to STV, even though it's clearly a full budget theatrical release), where it could gather a cult following that propelled it to success.
    I don't want to spoil anything about the various segments, just that they involve an unusually large number of.... actually I'm not gonna say.  Just watch the movie and go in blind.  It's better that way.
    Let the Right One In (2008)

    Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
    This isn't just one of my favorite horror movies of all time.  This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Period.  That puts it somewhere around the top 5 of this entire list.  Which means I like it more than virtually every other movie I've just spent the last month gushing over.
    You may have seen this.  You may have seen the American remake.  You may have read the book.  And I think I saw there was a television show or something.  But this is arguably the best of the lot.  Absolutely nothing is lost in adapting it from book to film, and, if anything, a few things were cut that actually make the story stronger.  How many films can make that claim?
    Also, this may be the first and only film in history where you will actively cheer for the deaths of a group of children.  How fucked up is that?
    The House of the Devil (2009)

    In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse.
    Ti West's first appearance on this list.  I don't remember exactly how I first heard of this movie, but it was very possibly on the AV Club's "New Cult Canon."  A great series that explored films that were slightly off the beaten path, that is sadly not only defunct, but apparently been scrubbed from the internet for some reason.  It's really a shame.
    Luckily, before that I happened, I was able to watch everything on the list, with this being one of the major winners.  It makes me very grateful I was able to somehow stumble across it.
    I don't want to spoil anything with the plot, but the film's introduction (and the title itself) make it very clear that is going to have something to do with the "Satanic panics" that gripped the United States during the 1980s.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.
    Keep an eye out for appearances by Greta Gerwig, AJ Bowen, Tom Noonan, and Mary Woronov.
  23. Reed Rothchild

    The Conjuring / The Babadook / It Follows

    By Reed Rothchild,


    100 Favorite Horror
    The Conjuring (2013)

    Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
    The first James Wan movie to appear on the list, and the first of like a thousand movies in the greater "Conjuring universe."  Most of them tend to not be very good.  But they came from a solid foundation.
    I wouldn't say this movie brings a ton of new ideas to the table.  Even for a Wan movie - Insidious predates it by a few years.  What it does do, is take 40 years worth of horror tropes, and deliver them at a high level. 
    Especially the jump scare.  This movie has a ton of them.  If I dared watch it with my wife she'd probably scream loud enough to get the police called.
    But it doesn't lean entirely on that, as the entire movie fosters a creepy atmosphere that leaves you constantly uneasy.
    Finally, shout out to a stellar cast, led by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson.
    The Babadook (2014)

    A single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.
    This is one of those movies that people seem to either love, or not care for so much.
    I don't know why people don't like it.  Maybe there's too much subtext for them.  Not that it matters, because even if you're just looking for a straightforward horror movie, it delivers.  It is creepy as all fuck, with some of the most tense scenes in the last couple decades of horror, a great monster, and, again, a great cast, with a child lead who more than holds his own.
    It Follows (2015)

    A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
    Speaking of... this is yet another movie that people either rave about, or abhor. 
    In fact, I saw it in the theaters with a group of buddies (something I usually avoid at all costs, as I find it much scarier to watch movies by yourself in the dark), and afterwards we were basically split down right down the middle.  Some of us absolutely loved it, and some of thought it was one of the worst movies they had ever seen.  Browsing the internet later, turns out those sentiments are not unusual for this movie.
    I'm obviously in the former group.  Watching this movie is a trip, and unnerves you in the simplest, yet highly effective way.  I adore it for that.
    This is also yet another movie where subtext reigns supreme.  Luckily, it works without it too.  You can take the plot entirely at face value and still have a great time.
  24. Reed Rothchild

    The Invisible Man / Malignant / Smile

    By Reed Rothchild,


    100 Favorite Horror
    The Invisible Man (2020)

    When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax.
    Originally part of Universal's failed attempt to update all of their classic horror franchises and make it some sort of connected cinematic universe.  Thank God that didn't work out, because it meant this thing landed in Leigh Whannell's lap, and he took things in a decidedly different direction.  A much, much better direction.
    If you've seen the trailer for this movie you can probably guess a significant amount of the plot.  Luckily, the execution is so tight here that it doesn't matter what you think you know.
    And Elisabeth Moss is spectacular as the lead.  Massive snub by the Academy to overlook her because it's a genre flick.
    Malignant (2021)

    Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.
    Speaking of Leigh Whannell, his partner in crime, James Wan, returned from the world of blockbusters to helm this horror comeback, something of a modern giallo.  And in doing so made his best movie.  Holy shit is this thing a good time.
    One of the things I love most about this flick is that it intentionally fucks with your preconception that this is going to be another Insidious or Conjuring.  Watch the trailer and tell me that isn't what you think that is.  Everything is crafted to set you up.  And then...
    Well, let's just say shit gets crazy in the third act.  Don't look into it, or read anything.  Just watch it.
    Smile (2022)

    After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, a psychiatrist becomes increasingly convinced she is being threatened by an uncanny entity.
    A movie completely indebted to It Follows (and The Ring).  Which isn't a bad thing; the best horror films of the last decade should be inspiring the next generation of films.  I'm all for it.
    And besides, what it lacks  in originally, it makes up in execution.  This is another film where you can are never allowed a moment to breath, because there is no easing of tension.  Not for the entire runtime.  It's a bold choice, but I think it pays off brilliantly. 
    It's not one of the very best horror films of the last decade, but it's certainly a lot of fun.
  25. Reed Rothchild
    Arachnophobia (1990)

    A new species of South American killer spider hitches a lift to a small California town in a coffin and starts to breed, leaving a trail of deaths that puzzle and terrify the young doctor newly arrived in town with his family.
    Did I mention that I had a fear of spiders growing up?  Because I still hate them.  Wouldn't touch one to save my life.  They're disgusting, they're all hair and legs and fangs, and they give me the willies.  Spiders suck.
    When I saw the trailer for this film, and it shows off spiders on the showerheads and in the toilet bowls... *shudder.*
    Nowadays, it's comfort food.  I watch it all the time.  Again, something about nostalgia for movies from the era set in California.  It's just my thing, I guess.
    The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

    A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
    I was on the fence with this one for quite awhile.  Growing up I never really considered it a horror film, for whatever reason.  The elements are all there, but my brain just didn't want to put the pieces together.
    Then, last week a certain shock-rock horror-themed band went and released a music video homage to this movie, and I realized it was a sign.  I had to include it in this list.
    And I mean... like... you know.  Hannibal Lecter is often considered the greatest villain in the history of cinema.  That doesn't happen without being truly horrifying.  And Buffalo Bill is no slouch himself.
    Dead Alive (1992)

    A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.
    Peter Jackson's infamous comedic-horror bloodbath.  If you aren't familiar with this movie, just know that the wunderkind from New Zealand was making waves in the horror community before he was filming 12 hour fantasy epics.  And none were better than this splatterfest. 
    Some say it's the bloodiest movie ever made.  They would be correct.
    Come for the madcap humor.  Stay for the crazy-as-all-fuck ending.
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