T-Pac

Bosconian [Jakks Pacific Plug - N - Play - 1981/2003] I visited my parents for the holidays and busted out my favorite childhood plug-n-play. A bit of a diversion for my "T-Pac Arcade" series, but I wanted to shine some light on this one while I had it in-hand. [T-Pac]

This wasn't a Secret Santa, but I wanted to say thanks to @fcgamer for the neat postcard he sent me over the holidays. I can't believe you live so close to such a scenic wetlands area - I imagine it must be pretty cool biking / walking around there! [T-Pac]

Forgot the hyphen, my dude... Yes. It is all clear now. This is the only way. [T-Pac]

Haha I used to work with a guy who called me "T-Pain" every day. And a girl on my track team in high school used to call me "Tyga". Everyone gets a kick out of rapper nicknames for nerdy guys, but I've learned to live with it lol. "Tupac" is a new one, though, but I guess I walked into that... [T-Pac / T-Pain / Tupac / Tyga / X-Pac]

Can I please request a "CREATE - Homebrew: Graphic Artist" badge? Not entirely sure it these count, but @BortLicensePlate and I made the Box Art for Manganga Team's "Diamond Thieves" homebrew ... https://megacatstudios.com/products/diamond-thieves?_pos=1&_sid=c84970d77&_ss=r&variant=42419845562625 ... and I helped reskin a base-sprite into "the Sage" for Broke Studio's "Super Tilt Bros." https://super-tilt-bro.com/play.html [T-Pac]

Finished reading Blink (2005) by Malcolm Gladwell. [T-Pac]

Zanac [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1987] My last entry in the T-Pac Arcade series for 2023! I've already made my backlog list for next year, so the goal is to make 40 new videos in 2024 (or at least try haha). Does anyone know if Zanac is generally considered part of the "Aleste" series? [T-Pac]

I thought you specifically asked for a Super A'Can badge at one point, so I made sure to draw one in case you wanted to claim it. I was just trying to be accommodating... I can't guarantee I'll cover all the systems, but I try keep things in mind when stuff gets suggested. And the idea was to keep the charms small and limit how many are on display at one time so it isn't so cluttered and distracting. But we worked hard on these and I'd be bummed-out if people didn't at least give them a chance before dismissing the whole thing. [T-Pac]

Sick - I might stand a chance for the shoot-em-up badge after all haha. And as far as leaderboards - if you mean an in-game leaderboard, Atari games don't typically have those. Some games (like Activision titles) had badge incentives for certain scores, but 90% of the titles are pretty nebulous. @G-type - any thoughts on this? How would you suggest we qualify "beating" a high-score game? [T-Pac]

What should the criteria be for "beating" a score-based game like Asteroids or Space Invaders? A specific point-total / clearing a full round / rolling the score? I'm looking to earn the PLAY badge for Atari 2600, but I don't how to classify how many games I've "beaten". Also, for games with difficulty selection, do we have to beat it on "standard / normal" for credit, or is "easy" mode acceptable? And what about using stuff like the Konami code / turbo controllers? [T-Pac]

GLOVES: Done. Can I please get Leaderboard Participation badges for ... Atari 2600 Leaderboard Shoot-Em-Ups Leaderboard Thanks in advance! [T-Pac]

This pretty much sums up my thoughts, too. When people are put-off by the difficulty of many NES games, I think a lot of it stems from a discrepancy of expectation. If all you've ever played is casual, open-world stuff - that's what your expectation of a "video game" is, and you'll approach anything labeled "video game" with that frame of reference. So something like a challenging, linear 8-bit title will be jarring. Not because it's bad, and not because you can't learn to like it - but because you were primed for something completely different. [T-Pac]

I absolutely love the graphics and sound of Berzerk [Atari 2600], but I'm pretty lukewarm on the gameplay. It definitely isn't bad - just not on par with how cool it looks. For the reverse, I grew up playing a skateboarding game called Skate It [Nintendo DS] which was a ton of fun but kind-of hard to look it. Low-poly 3D games don't bother me too much, but when they're covered with really bad textures it tends to drag the visuals down into "ew" territory pretty fast. [T-Pac]

Dude - this sounds like the perfect strategy for me haha. Cheesing the game, but still getting to experience all the content and a bit of the class-system. I copied this into my notes for future reference. Thanks! [T-Pac]

@Gloves - great point! I'm definitely not gonna tackle Final Fantasy this year, but whenever I do I'll be sure to bug you and the rest of VGS (@CMR already here with the strats haha) to help me along and make it an interactive thing. [T-Pac]

Well ... I just remembered why I don't do RPGs... [T-Pac]

Whoa - I've been trying forever to make a definitive list of "these are ALL the games I want", but I always find stuff that wasn't on my radar. Does that happen to you, or are you legit "locked-in" on that final 71? If so - that's amazing and I'm jealous that you have such a defined finish line haha. [T-Pac]

What are some games that look and sound great on the surface, but are really painful to play? And what about games that are great to play, but you find really unappealing as far as audio / visuals go?

I've tried playing Final Fantasy a couple of times, but always got bored or frustrated pretty early-on. That being said - is there a party-lineup that I could use to steamroll my way through the game? Or are all the combinations pretty similarly balanced? I want to finish this one someday just for its significance in "classic gaming" (even though I don't like actually playing RPGs haha). [T-Pac]

Lode Runner [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1987] This is definitely my kind of game. I love late-80s Hudson Soft titles, but I can't decide if I like Lode Runner or Bomberman better. [T-Pac]

Yeah, not truly "arcade" as in coin-ops. My collection is all console games (which are sorted alphabetically, by the way - no correlation to the controllers above). The arcade cabinet is actually just a shell (I ordered a kit to build it) housing a TV and a mini computer (which the control panel plugs into via USB). That way, I can rip all of my cartridges to the computer with ROM dumpers and play them on RetroArch. All the perks of emulation, but without sacrificing the "arcade" feel that I love so much. And for the games that I can't dump for whatever reason (Konami VRC games like Gradius II, for example), I can play them on the consoles to the side (which are plugged into the TV housed in the cabinet). I can even plug the arcade control panel into my Retro Freak console by running it's USB cable out through that round hole in the front of the cabinet. But the consoles are mostly there for playing Atari paddle games and my TurboGrafx-16 mini (which is hiding behind the control pads under the Retro Freak). I also like putting whatever game I'm currently playing into the console slots even if I'm running it in RetroArch. Just for show. It might all sound a bit convoluted, but it's nearly the ideal setup for how I like to play and display my games haha. [T-Pac]

True. I have a love-hate relationship with annotated books. I like the additional context and information, but I hate interrupting the passages to reference the annotations. Having them available is definitely a net positive, though. [T-Pac]

Haha lots of nods to the hand-made envelopes, but the truth is I only do that cuz I'm too cheap to buy them! Anyway - thanks for the kind words, everybody. I'm always surprised by how much people care about these little doodles, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. [T-Pac]

I think "the 8-bit Guy" is from Texas, but he doesn't match that description, so that's probably not very helpful haha. I thought I had a pretty good cursory knowledge of retro gaming YouTube channels, but I'm stumped on this one. [T-Pac]