T-Pac

Well I vaguely recall the heckler on the castle wall, a knight in a forest who kept losing limbs, and some kind of volcano place at the end of the movie? (But maybe I'm confusing it with something else). That's pretty much it. Granted, I've only seen it once and that was at least 5 years ago, so ... I'd say that qualifies as "not very memorable" to me at least. [T-Pac]

That's fair - I can certainly appreciate the historical significance, but I don't think I'll ever understand why people value it so highly, especially relative to other competition and prize games. I've gotta practice what I preach, though - and just let people enjoy stuff without trying to say they're wrong for valuing things differently than I do haha. [T-Pac]

This is a bit of an ironic viewpoint on a forum full of people who compulsively try to fill arbitrary checklists by collecting games from an era where they were primarily designed and marketed for kids haha. I respect your take, though - even if I don't think you need to be a kid to enjoy Pokemon. It's personal preference, after all. [T-Pac]

@Reed Rothchild @wongojack @RH @Sumez Great point about the age thing with regard to Pokemon. I forget that I'm 10+ years younger than most of you, so you might easily see Pokemon the way I see Fortnite haha. And that definitely skews the "must-play" status of Pokemon in my head - since among my own demographic, having never played a Pokemon game would be like having never eaten a peanutbutter-and-jelly sandwich. [T-Pac]

Yeah - there's a middleground for me, too. Recca might make my list because it has gameplay value AND collectable value to me. But it could just as easily be ousted by a dirt-common game that I want - because with only a limited number of slots to fill, "collectability" doesn't hold as much weight. And I guess it makes more of a difference for me personally because, since I don't pirate games, if I don't own a title I'll likely never get to play it. [T-Pac] "Cool for a purpose" is the operative phrase that I 100% agree with, but get confused about how it applies to certain high-end stuff like NWC. Sure, plenty of people genuinely think it's cool, but just as many only see it as the "must have" game because other people have convinced them to think that way (when they wouldn't have otherwise). I mean, if you actually participated in the competition back in 1990, an NWC cart would be the best thing ever. But otherwise it's basically some 90s kid's video-game equivalent of a little-league participation trophy... I'll admit to some hypocrisy on that point, though. I'd love to have a genuine prototype in my collection, even though I have no involvement in the game's development. But I would only want a proto of a game that I love (hence the personal value over hype value argument), and I don't see a proto making my "only 5" list when there are so many games I'd rather own AND play. [T-Pac]

For sure. I don't really enjoy playing Pokemon, either - but it's interesting to hear that there are avid video game fans who've never even touched it before. Although - maybe I'm misinterpreting the question... In my mind, if you've so much as pressed a single input on a game, you've "played" it. But I think some people are only considering games they've spent a significant amount of time with, "played". And that really changes the dynamic of the question and introduces taste over exposure. [T-Pac]

I watched this for the first time when I was in college - not because I was genuinely interested, but because I wanted to understand all the references people constantly make to this film. It wasn't very memorable, but it wasn't bad either. I'm glad I watched it in any case. [T-Pac]

Why is that a cop-out? Maybe I'm weird, but I could think of 1000 games I'd want in my collection more than an NWC gold. I'm honestly surprised how many people are just listing rare and expensive stuff if they only had 5 spaces left to fill. Like - wouldn't you want to fill those slots with something you care about and want to play, instead of a hype game? One of the titles on my own list was Star Parodier since it's my favorite cute-em-up and I've never had a physical copy - not crazy expensive and not crazy rare, but I couldn't imagine feeling like my collection was "complete" without it. (So I bought it when I posted this topic haha.) [T-Pac]

These are the two most surprising responses to me so far! Pokemon and Super Mario Bros 3 seem like games most people stumble into playing for at least a few minutes once in their life haha! [T-Pac]

Wow - I can't imagine even getting past the river stage without saves haha! [T-Pac] Well that was certainly my experience. Who would think to just go stand in front of random trees when you've got all these ninja swarming you? [T-Pac]

21/40 - The Ninja [Sega Master System - 1986] Finished: 2024/04/20 Caveats: Used save-states and an online guide to find the secret scrolls. [T-Pac]

The Ninja [Sega Master System - 1986] I have a soft-spot for Ninja games, and this is a good one. [T-Pac]

20/40 - Rockman 1 [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1987] Finished: 2024/04/15 Caveats: Used the pause-trick on the Yellow Devil boss. [T-Pac]

Rockman 1 [Nintendo Famicom - 1987] Finally played the first Mega Man game, and I liked it way more than I thought I would. Hoping to tackle the full 8-bit series over the next few years. [T-Pac]

Aw man, I love Star Soldier! I think the most important criteria for enjoying it, though, is recognizing that it isn't really the same category of shoot-em-up as Gradius or Salamander. It's almost more like Galaga in some ways. That being said, I've never made it very far in the game, either. And I ALWAYS play with turbo haha. Does your Analogue Pocket support auto-fire? [T-Pac]

If it came out after 1995 and isn't Wii Sports ... I probably haven't played it. [T-Pac]

Heck yeah! This is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to hear about - and I'd agree that sounds like a pretty perfect day, too. [T-Pac]

Whoa - I wouldn't be surprised if you're the only person on this entire forum who hasn't ever played Super Mario World! On one hand, I'd say it's worth trying even if the NES Mario games aren't your thing. But on the other hand, it's impressive that you've held off for so long, and that's kinda neat haha. [T-Pac]

Aesthetically-pleasing AND functional? This is the way... [T-Pac]

What a great way to display consoles! Do you keep them hooked-up like that, too? Or do you have a different method for playing? [T-Pac]

That's pretty funny to hear, considering my YouTube experience has been the complete opposite! I got into early-2000s YouTube through sketch-comedy and indie animation videos, which were always just a few minutes each. But now my recommendations feed is full of hour-long documentaries and retrospectives and stuff, so it feels like all the short-form content is gone (except for "YouTube Shorts", which I actively avoid because I hate the format - but I'll save that rant for some other time haha). [T-Pac]

That's the plan - but I know I can't keep this pace forever, so we'll see... And to be fair - my backlog isn't filled with thousand-hour games and I'm a dirty cheater anyway, so that helps. (Unless you consider that it can take, like, 6+ hours to make a T-Pac Arcade episode AFTER I've already finished a game - so I guess it evens out haha). [T-Pac]

Looks like a prime opportunity to swap "oral book reports" for "oral game reports". [T-Pac]

A family man through and through - I would've guessed as much! [T-Pac]

Bad taste makes for good company, I guess. My people are here on VGS haha. [T-Pac]