T-Pac

I feel like there was a discussion about expanding the VGS T-Shirt offerings a long time ago, but it never panned out. Maybe someday, but I'm probably not the right guy to ask. I do the doodles, not the sales haha. [T-Pac]

Got some shoes at Walmart. They weren't on Black Friday sale, but they were only $20 a pair anyway so I can't complain... [T-Pac]

I was about to come in here and say I wished these interviews were longer, though!** @guitarzombie I wanna hear more about zombie conventions and guitar tutorials and how your favorite NES games are all the obscure ones that nobody else ever mentions! **even for @ZeldaFreak - it might take a few days to finish reading your answers, but it would be worth it lol. [T-Pac]

Silly @G-type - spreading misinformation is one of the most important parts of making YouTube videos. Now SUBSCRIBE TO THAT LIKE BUTTON AND HIT THE PATREON TO BELL NOTIFICATION! [T-Pac]

-2024 BACKLOG- Goal: Finish 40 games (10% of my physical library), and make a "T-Pac Arcade" video for each one. Criteria: Finishing the game by any means necessary. Save-states, turbo / slow-motion controllers, guides / walkthroughs, and any built-in exploits are fair game. (The only exception is no external cheat codes like Game Genie inputs). For high-score games, I'll just play until I've got a solid, holistic impression of the game - no need to roll the score or get to a kill-screen or anything. Game Selection: Mostly titles from my collection that I've spent little to no time playing before, with an emphasis on historically important / well-regarded games. 1. Adventure Island [NES] 2. Axelay [SFC] 3. Berzerk [Atari 2600] 4. Blaster Master [NES] 5. Boulder Dash [NES] 6. Centipede [Atari 2600] 7. Darius Force [SFC] 8. DownLoad [PCE] 9. Gaiares [GEN] 10. Gradius [NES] 11. Gradius II [FC] 12. Gyruss [NES] 13. Incredible Crash Dummies [NES] 14. Kung Fu [NES] 15. Metroid [NES] 16. Milon's Secret Castle [NES] 17. Moonsweeper [Atari 2600] 18. Mountain King [Atari 2600] 19. Musha Aleste [MD] 20. Mystery Quest [NES] 21. The Ninja [SMS] 22. Nuts & Milk [FC] 23. Ordyne [PCE] 24. Phalanx [SNES] 25. Pitfall [Atari 2600] 26. Rockman [FC] 27. SDF [FC] 28. Section Z [NES] 29. Sonic the Hedgehog [GEN] 30. StarFox [SNES] 31. Strider [NES] 32. Super Aleste [SFC] 33. Super Bomberman [SFC] 34. Super Star Soldier [PCE] 35. Terra Cresta [NES] 36. Twinbee [FC] 37. Twinbee 3 [FC] 38. Werewolf [NES] 39. Wizard of Wor [Atari 2600] 40. Xevious [NES] PROGRESS: 23/40 [T-Pac]

Mighty Bomb Jack [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1987] This game is cool, but absolutely brutal. Thank goodness for online walkthroughs and save-states... [T-Pac]

Pre-2020, I didn't really care for graded games. But I would still occasionally look in this subforum at people's slabbed pieces since they're still pretty neat even if it's not my thing. During the Wata / Heritage explosion, I got sucked into the drama of it all and my interest peaked in the "graded games scene". Not as a participant, but as a confounded bystander who couldn't look away. Now, I'm sort-of over the whole scandal and I'm back to just popping over here occasionally to look at a new post, say "neat", and move on. [T-Pac]

And don't forget the best part about Mario Kart Wii - the WIIIIIII WHEEEEEEEEL! [T-Pac]

Great writeup! I've always been curious about this game since it seems like everyone who decides to start collecting Japanese imports immediately buys Kid Dracula and King Kong 2. After reading your review, I'm glad I didn't do that, since getting lost in an open-world video game is like my worst nightmare haha. I liked reading your thoughts on Totally Rad, too. I agree that it feels kinda like a Sunsoft NES game, or even a modern homebrew in some ways. [T-Pac]

Worm War I [Atari 2600 - 1982] I think I just found a new entry in my "Top 10 Favorite Video Games" list... [T-Pac]

Whip Rush [Sega Genesis - 1990] I didn't like this one as much as Arrow Flash, but it's still a solid Renovation shooter that doesn't seem to get mentioned much. [T-Pac]

Wow - I would've expected more games packed into console anthologies like that considering Atari Flashback consoles regularly have 100+ built-in titles. But i guess those releases are pretty old by now haha. [T-Pac] I've heard about it, but never checked it out. I don't actually own or play modern platforms - my question about modern compilations of classic games was just to get a hypothetical answer to @RH's prompt. It's cool to see Atari getting a positive reception to that anniversary release, though. [T-Pac]

Solid choices! Cuphead caught me off-guard but that seems like an excellent showcase for run 'n guns. You've got me thinking with Sokoban and Kung-Fu, though. I wonder if those might be a step too far back since they don't have certain key elements that came to be genre staples (like item collection in action puzzlers and foreground/midground/background navigation in brawlers). But that starts to beg the question of what is "standard" in these games anyway haha. Fun to think about in any case - and you're making me consider editing my own answers. [T-Pac]

I'd definitely choose a TurboGrafx-16 Mini as my "one console for eternity" since it has a killer preloaded game library. But that's probably not in the spirit of the question haha. Otherwise - anyone know if there's a console with a good Atari / classic Arcade anthology disc and a good joystick controller? Because that would probably be my "proper" choice. [T-Pac]

Just wanted to say bless you for being one of very few people who enjoys games from any era but won't fault those of us who don't branch out as much for whatever reason. I'll never stop admiring how open-minded you are on so many topics like this, dude. [T-Pac]

Haha well I'm not crazy enough to have diecut them exactly - I just cut the rectangles to fit the edge of the case. Not that you can really tell with the white-on-white unless you get pretty close. [T-Pac] Heck yeah, dude! Still one of the coolest controllers ever - how could I NOT have it on display!? [T-Pac]

M.A.D. [Atari 2600 - 1982] Better than SAD, worse than GLAD. It's ... uh ... MAD? [T-Pac]

It was a long process haha. I took a photo of the label for every game in my collection, then isolated the logos in Photoshop (sometimes I even had to recreate them if the cart-label was damaged), print them out on sticker-paper, and hand cut the stickers for the VHS cases. It took an incredibly long time, but I'm stoked on how it turned out. A unique label for each game while still fitting into the minimal look of the whole setup. This approach also let me sort my entire collection alphabetically rather than grouping the games system-by-system (since the cases are consistent across the board). A lot of collectors might cringe at the idea, but I love it. [T-Pac]

One of my all-time favorite games that I never finished is Kwirk [Game Boy]. The last few puzzles just got too tough for me, and unfortunately I'll probably never solve them since I don't want to just look up the answers and ruin it for myself. But at least I got to enjoy 80-90% of the game, and I can live with that. [T-Pac]

@Reed Rothchild I guess I'm a bit confused - is your game collection not something your kids can just peruse and play at their leisure? I'm not a parent, but I guess I just always assumed that video games in a household like yours would be more of a communal thing instead of "this one is dad's game" and "this one is mom's game" and "this one is little Billy's game", etc. If your kids seem stoked on the idea, though, I see no reason not to go with it. The only problem is if they see it as a hand-me down (like @a3quit4s said) and that kills the excitement. [T-Pac]

I get that - when I first read Sherlock Holmes, part of me was curious about how I'd have liked it in serial installments as it was originally released. And I'm not sure what translation of The Three Musketeers I read. I'm at the mercy of whatever my local library had/has. Also - at the peak of my French skills I could hardly read Le Petit Prince, so ... uh ... I don't think The Count of Monte Cristo would go over too well for me untranslated haha. [T-Pac]

Shatterhand [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1991] @JamesRobot I stole some design cues from your Shatterhand robot drawing on the artwork for this one haha. They're just too cool. This whole game is just too cool, really. [T-Pac]

Thanks! It's called the "Retro Freak" from Cybergadget. It plays carts for FC, SNES/SFC, Genesis/MD, GB/GBC/GBA, and TG-16/PCE. It supports NES, too, but I still need to get a pin converter for that. It's software emulation like the Retron 5, so a lot of purists wouldn't like it, but I love it because that allows for stuff like save-states, controller configuration, and dumping games to an internal microSD. There are some drawbacks with the UI, but it's the best, most compact solution for me when I want to plug in a cartridge and use authentic controllers (it has a controller adapter for original pads). [T-Pac]

Just wanted to share the state of my "game corner" since I've been working really hard on it all year and I'm pretty proud of how it has turned out. I still have some tinkering to do, and I want to make an in-depth "tour" someday, but here's the T-Pac Arcade Corner as of November 2023... [T-Pac]

I may have to try A Farewell to Arms on your and @avatar!'s recommendation. As I said in my post, war stories aren't really my thing (1900s war stories, at least), but I think classics like that are worth checking out anyway. Dumas is definitely more my style. I read The Three Musketeers last year - but it looks like that was before I started my reading log with writeups. I loved it, though, so The Count of Monte Cristo might make my shortlist. But next up for me is James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man if my library has it. A friend just recommended it to me and I told him I'd read it if I could find it. [T-Pac]