Seriously. It is probably the Best Video Game.
I have made well over a dozen stages (and I think that most of them are good!), and have ideas upon ideas for more to come. Also, Talking Time is absolutely flush with other people who make great stages, so I don’t necessarily have to dig through the piles of crap stages to find the gold.
I want to write about it at length, so that’s all for today. Here’s a trailer.
August. What is there to say about August?
Absolutely nothing.
Mega Man 6 (NES) – Typically one of the less-appreciated Megamns. I really like it! The Rush adapters are a lot of fun, and almost make up for the lameish robot master weapons. Also it’s maybe a little on the easy side, making it a breeze to burn through in an afternoon.
Life is Strange: Episode 4 – Dark Room (PC) – I was greatly disappointed by one of the bigger story beats, but enjoyed everything else about this episode. Many times I thought something horrible was going to happen, but it never did. Because they were saving it all for the end. Yikes.
Submerged (PC) – Lovely game about boating around a city that’s half underwater and climbing up buildings. It’s like Shadow of the Colossus, but with a boat instead of a horse, and a total lack of violence. Only takes around five or six hours to complete, too.
Mega Man 4 (NES) – What? Ryan’s playing Mega Mans? WHAT A SURPRISE. …you know how I feel about Mega Man 4.
Mega Man (NES) – Ugh… this one is pretty bad. Have I mentioned that before? No unplayable, but frustrating and kind of a joke compared to the rest of the NES games.
Mega Man 2 (NES) – And then this one is so good. Not the best, but pretty darn close.
Mega Man 3 (NES) – This one is the best. I’ve even played it so many times now that I only have a little bit of trouble with the Doc Robot stages. Hooray!
Five Nights at Freddy’s (iOS) – I bought the mobile version because I thought it would be easier to handle if I could play it while in my parents’ living room with people around. Nope! The tension is still unbearable. Also it crashes like nobody’s business. So I’m stuck on Night 2 forever.
Bravely Default (3DS) – Playing over a year after everyone else got bored of it has a certain benefit: a lot of the streetpass/friend list bonuses are totally broken since my allies are all done the game, many of them having maxed out job levels and whatnot. And I’m really enjoying it! I’m already getting hyped for the sequel, though I’m only on chapter 3 of this game.
Picross e6 (3DS) – Mo’ Picross, mo’ problems. Or, not. Because Picross makes me happy.
Fallout: New Vegas (PC) – Don’t know what it is, but as much as I enjoy this game, I find it very difficult to invest time in it. Also, a maxed out Sneak stat isn’t nearly as effective as I’d like it to be.
Earthbound Beginnings (NES) – Honestly, it’s starting to feel a little tedious. If Lloyd and Ana had joined the party at a respectable level, maybe things could have been different… Whatever. I’m nearing the end. Just got to keep pressing forward. Sloooooowly.
Dark Souls (360) – Yeah I went back to this for a bit. Made some progress. Probably going to keep not writing about it though.
Papo & Yo (PC) – A puzzle platformer of sorts. Wherein the boy you play as has a robot for a backpack and a monster for a buddy. Also said monster sometimes goes on horrible, violent rampages after eating frogs. Only an hour in, it’s been enjoyable.
Chrono Trigger (DS) – Logged a couple hours in here. Chipping away at my goal of unlocking all of the endings, one baby step at a time. I currently have four of thirteen.
Secret of Mana (SNES) – Started a new run because my brother had never played it past Spikey. I don’t blame him. That’s a tough (and very cheap) boss. Might take forever to finish, because we usually play Monster Hunter or Smash Bros instead.
Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC) – Started a new run because my buddy had never played it. Might also take forever to finish. Because we have like seventeen million games on the go right now. (We are terrible at finishing games.)
And somehow there was an outpouring of contentedness that I uploaded a new Pop-Tarts review for the first time in nearly a year. I am simultaneously delighted and baffled that people enjoy this video series as much as they do. I most definitely appreciate every kind word that comes my way, and I’m happy that people are enjoying these, but… I don’t know. I think they’re pretty dumb videos.
Enjoy!
I had to complete an online exam for work. This is my result…
At least it wasn’t a math exam…
The above video is about the competitive side of Super Smash Bros. I don’t really care for said scene myself, as I am a much more casual Smasher (I play with items on sometimes. Gasp!), but I thought that this video was fascinating.
It’s certainly worth a watch regardless of who you are. It’s very accessible, and does a very good job of explaining why people are so passionate about the game, and draws excellent parallels to traditional sports that can help people who don’t give a flying fig about video games understand.
I love Smash, and I absolutely appreciate how complex and malleable it is, but I still mostly just like it because it lets me beat up Bowser as Shulk. Or because I can play as Lucina outside of a tactical strategy game. You know, stuff like that. I’ll never understand why people cling so desperately to Melee, but that doesn’t especially interest me.
So videos of me being spanked by my amiibos in Smash 4 are apparently a thing I’m doing now.
Enjoy?
The response to my Pop-Tarts inquiry was pretty much exactly what I was expecting.
Thank you for contacting us on-line. We appreciate your interest in our company.
We at Kellogg Canada and our related companies, continually conduct market research to develop new and existing products. Based on the market research results in each country, a decision is made on which product will be enjoyed by the majority of our consumers. Your feedback is appreciated and will be considered when planning future product line improvements.
Also due to international regulations, Canadian Customs policies and our inability to guarantee our quality standards during shipping, we do not ship products directly internationally.
I hope you continue to enjoy our Pop Tarts for years to come no matter where they are coming from.
The usual PR run-around with a sprinkle of marketing nonsense. Whatever. I don’t suspect anyone outside of Kellogg’s marketing team will ever know the real reason why we can’t have Cinnamon Roll Pop-Tarts in Canada. It won’t make any difference, really, but I’d like to see the numbers for myself.
I think the solution here is to make up a million sock puppet e-mail accounts and bombard Kellogg Canada until they decide that there is enough demand in Canada to sell Cinnamon Roll Pop-Tarts here. I must have them!
On the other hand, they did answer the question of why I can’t have fancy American Pop-Tarts shipped directly to me. And I didn’t even ask that question!
So thanks, Kellogg Customer Affairs Lady Who Shall Remain Unnamed.
I sent an e-mail to Kellogg Canada today asking why there are so many more flavours of Pop-Tarts in the United States than there are in Canada.
We shall see what comes of this.
(I probably should have just used Twitter, but I’m old-fashioned.)
(Please enjoy the intended irony of me suggesting that e-mail is the old-fashioned way of contacting a giant corporation. I wrote this post specifically for that joke.)
I’m finding that I spend a lot less time playing video games than I did only a few months ago. Maybe I’m growing up finally? Nah. Just keeping busy with other things.
Though somehow the Now Playing list still seems to go on forever. I think the real answer must be that my ADD is progressively getting worse.
Puzzle & Dragons Z (3DS) – I rolled the credits, but really I’m only halfway through the game. It’s one of those situations where beating the “final boss” unlocks another adventure and the other half of the game world. Also the final boss was a total joke compared to the penultimate boss. That was really weird.
Mega Man Sprite Game (PC) – An RPG based on what I assume is a sprite comic. It only took an hour, but it wasn’t as funny as it wants to be. A lot of the music used in it is really good, though. It’s probably worth a look if you’re bored and enjoy absurd humour.
I’ve Got To Run! (3DS) – It was on sale for ten cents, if you can believe it. It’s an endless runner game, so I can’t really beat it, but I unlocked all the modes and characters, so good enough. Some of those extra modes are pretty fun, too, so… good buy.
3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure (3DS) – It’s Kirby’s Adventure. I play through this at least once every year. One of my favourite games of all time.
Balloon Fight (NES) – Spent a few nights with Balloon Fight to honour the memory of Iwata. Got new high scores on both modes.
Fallout: New Vegas (PC) – These (modern) Fallout games are so great. I could just wander around the wastes for hours and not get bored. Except that I can’t because there are so many things that can kill me with ease. But someday, I will have a decent gun. And then… then, I will have my revenge.
Earthbound Beginnings (WiiU) – As much as I love Earthbound, I feel totally lukewarm about Beginnings. It’s not a bad game by any stretch, but it’s hard to fully appreciate it after playing the timeless sequel. It’s still pretty interesting from a historical standpoint, though.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (3DS) – I sometimes wish the real world had a soundtrack like the one in this game. It’s just so gosh darn pretty!
Drakengard (PS2) – I’ve read the LP. I know what it is and what happens. But I just had to play it for myself. Just one of those things that are so mind-boggling that you need to experience them first-hand, you know?
Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (3DS) – I decided to go back and clean up the post-game stuff. I hate that I have seemingly outgrown Pokémon. Maybe I just spent too many hours with Pokémon Y? Because I got pretty deeply invested in that one.
Clicker Heroes (PC) – I probably shouldn’t count this any more. Even though it gets about as much attention from me as the rest of the list combined.
Bit Boy Arcade (3DS) – I can’t even describe how weird this game is. I imagine that it must be what a bad acid trip is like. Also the gameplay is middling arcadey fare, but it says “arcade” right there in the title. I guess I can’t really complain?
I am not in good shape.
As much as I have trying to be more active lately, I seem to be making very small strides. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, of course! You can’t just magically become fit overnight. It takes a lot of time and effort. Unfortunately, since I’m lazy, the more effort something takes, the less encouraged I am to do it. Path of least resistance and whatnot.
Point is, I tried rollerblading last night. It… didn’t go especially well. I lasted approximately 20 minutes before I had to pack it in because I felt like I was going to simply collapse. While I remember them hurting the most during previous rollerblading attempts, my feet seemed quite okay with it all. The pain was almost all in the shins and mah buns. Calves and thighs burned just right, though.
Funny thing is, while I hadn’t strapped on the blades in years previous, last September I managed to rollerblade all the way to my parents’ house one time. I mean, I thought I was literally going to die of heart failure, but I did it. That’s just over an hour walking, so I’d say it must have taken somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes to blade that far. I refuse to believe that I was in better shape in September than I am now. There’s simply no way.
So how did I manage that back then, but I was unable to get even a full half hour last night? Probably that I just lacked motivation to keep going. In September, rollerblading was the only way to get there on that particular day. And while I could already tell it was a terrible idea ten minutes out, turning back would just result in me feeling dead at home, instead of having a fun video game evening with my brother. Last night, I was just doing it for the exercise, and that is rarely motivation enough for me to keep going if I’m getting worn out or just not having any fun with it.
I know that exercise and being in better shape should be its own reward, but unfortunately, that’s not the case for me. Every time I really feel motivated to get my exercise on, it’s because I’ve got a girl on my mind. I don’t know if that says something about misplaced priorities or some other horrible mental failing of mine, but that’s how it is. The worst part is, I’m not really interested in any women who would only be interested in me if I had a more appealing physical figure. So it’s all moot! My life is one big ouroboros of hypocrisy!
I had typed a couple more paragraphs here going to greater detail about my fractured psyche, but that’s no fun, so I erased them. We can talk about that another time. Let’s just stick to my main point for now:
Rollerblading! It’s hard when you’re fat!
