one of these days there's gonna be a Turtle's Beat 'em Up collection and I'm gonna play Hyper Stone Heist... but today is not that day.

Lilith, when you get an opportunity, play Pulseman. You're not, gonna, believe how amazing it is!

I actually believe that Hyperstone Heist is better than Super NES Turtles in Time. For real.

Glad things are looking to get better, at least.

Yeah, if I can find a PS5 anywhere, I'll get it and play Tales of Arise immediately. In the meantime, I'm playing through some games I've wanted to for a while (Disgaea 3, Bravely Default II, Xenoblade Chronicles on Switch, Valkyria Chronicles, Shovel Knight) and some that weren't on my radar but fell into my lap (Sakuna, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon) while waiting for new releases (Pokémon Legends Arceus, Triangle Strategy). I've been thinking about trying Suikoden again, but... eh, we'll see.

I'm also itching for RotN 2. I still need to play CotM 2 as well, but that'll come in October.

Very good! Yes, Lufia II does have its share of glitches and typos, so it only makes sense that you would get a fan patch that fixes some of those, especially that infamous glitched room that was fixed in the EU version.

... hybrid randomizer? Does this mean that Samus and Link are going to merge worlds together? Will Ganon and Mother Brain fight alongside each other? Will Link need to learn how to wall jump? Is Hyrule going to be overcome with missile pickups?

That sounds awesome! I think I'll have to check those out at some point!

Yakuza Black Panther 2 PSP is in English!
With the original to be released later this year (?)

[Link]

Oh, that's pretty cool, I hadn't heard about the unreleased translation for the PS2 Goemon game. I've been meaning to play it, and having english plus some improvements would certainly help.

Wait the fuck: did I see that right? Are there really Sailor Moon hacks for Ocarina of Time!?

Thanks!

Been doing well. Settling into family life, getting my stepson hooked on Zelda (he's already into Pokémon).

How are you?

Ahh yes, of course. I used it during my recent playthrough of the Pixel Remaster.

Thankfully it didn't change her Speed stat.

I don't know if you're talking about the mod that gives Rosa extra abilities, or THAT Rosa mod for the Pixel Remaster.

It's a shame that so much isn't available anymore and will likely be lost to time. Even so, it's really cool seeing what's still available. The whole site has its charm and I love how they list music, screenshots, artwork, bugs, and refer to Majora's Mask as "The Oddity of Hyrule." Really makes sense considering how weird, yet unique the game probably was at the time. The Zelda 64 Gaiden page also gets me thinking about Ura Zelda again and how the only man with solid info on it sadly passed away a while back. At the very least, I look forward to seeing the restoration project be completed. Shame to hear that the majority of The Rare Witch Project pages are gone too. Did you often use other forums or only Gamefaqs back in the day?

I never truly got into WoW, but I heard that the community was the main reason why it was so addicting and huge at the time. It's great to hear that you were able to step away after being addicted to that extent too. I feel like that addicting nature of games is still around with MOBAs and multiplayer gacha games, but I still wouldn't want to get into them myself. I really enjoy playing multiple games and finding new experiences rather than sticking with only a handful, or even just one.

That makes a lot more sense and I can see it as a really smart decision now. The more I play REmake the more I appreciate its little changes too. I'm glad that's a real mod so we can always have the iconic "Jill sandwich" line. I didn't even know it was decided by a rate and not your HP. Seems like it could've been influenced if it happened that often though. I'd be interested in seeing it and all the differences from my REmake playthrough. Do you only have the one Saturn? If so, that's really a shame to hear and scummy that they just bailed with your money. RE8's camera speed and action doesn't seem to be that fast so it makes sense. Sounds like a plan too.

Sounds like it's for the best. Less frustration and time wasted in the end. Good to hear you still have alternatives to play them all though.

Interesting to hear that it only works on an older Windows OS. I'm not super knowledgeable about why that's so, but I'd guess that updates changed things and compatibility mode isn't something that works with hardware. I've only played a bit of Grandia, but that's a super charming game I'd love to get back to. Do you often burn games for preservation and in case something happens to your original discs? In the end, I'm all for game preservation though. We luckily have the internet for ROMs and emulators to play them, but original hardware is something that gets harder and harder to preserve and play on.

Glad to hear it! I'll have to keep Windows Sound Mixer in mind myself if I ever start to record anything with dual audio in the future too.

I'd say it depends on who you ask. I've only seen positivity towards Dread, even by Metroid fans that weren't fans of Samus Returns. It's up to you in the end, but I'd say it's worth a shot since just beating the game shouldn't be too long and it could be an interesting experience. I actually just finished SMT V a few days ago and I had a great time with it. No spoilers from me, but I'd say you'd also enjoy it if you're looking for great SMT gameplay. I still need to finish IV and Nocturne myself though. SMT V is the first SMT game I've finished. Having Nocturne on Steam is also great since you can mod it to have uncompressed music and more additions for future replays. There's a lot of games I eventually have to get to myself. Tons to play and not a lot of time to do so.

I'd say that's the most likely reason why then too. Sega makes great games, but they can be stubborn and weird with their decisions. Only taking down that one fan project and nothing else seems very in-line for them.

Ah, I see then. VR motion sickness is another reason why I don't think I'd be interested in VR for a good while. It seems to be too much of a hassle to buy, set up, and get out of the experience. Seems like there's a healthy amount of Beat Em Ups to choose from at the very least. Best of luck on deciding.

It's extremely cool how they're even able to boost performance for older games through updates. I heard about the Unleashed FPS boost a while back, but I didn't know that Generations was included too. Unleashed is definitely a big one with all of its technical hiccups. Good to hear that there's more games you're interested in being supported too. Surprised to hear that considering how heavily supported the PS4 is. I suppose the console has nothing when it comes to backwards compatibility though.

Jeez...I honestly thought that every major and minor hiccup in Colors Ultimate would've been fixed by now. It really sucks to see another Sonic game with this many performance issues. I hope that revisiting Colors has been kind to you when it comes to gameplay and structure though. Not a big fan of Sonic 4 too. Episode 1 is just terrible and should've stayed a mobile release. I do think that Episode 2 is better, but it still isn't amazing and barely has any consequences for poor platforming thanks to Tails. I actually noticed that you're still playing ORC atm. Hopefully that's been a more fun game to revisit.

Thanks, Lilith

Same 2 U, Lilith.

Oh, I'm so in love with my new Trinitron. I wonder if it's light gun compatible? Not that it matters, I don't play those kinda games often and I don't have stuff like House of the Dead or any other wonderful light gun game from the 5th (or even 6th) generation. If anything it'd be five minutes of Duck Hunt.

I'm amazed at how much Nintendo is dropping the ball on N64 Online. Input lag? Multiplayer online stuttering? Paper Mario crashing and wiping save because you hit a tree? They're so prideful they can't get another company like M2 or Digital Eclipse (or similar) to help out with the N64 emulation? They're really going to have to buckle down in the coming year if they wanna keep people's interest in it.

Homemade US Saturn jewel cases for your translated foreign games? That's great! I bet they look lovely right down to the smallest detail.

Oh, hey, thank you! Can't believe I've been here for 8 years and haven't done any significative progress in my backlog lol.

Thanks for adding me too! Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas!

Yes indeed, Lil. Lufia is one of the most underappreciated RPG series out there, and sadly one that is neglected nowadays. Yes, they did put the GBC game on Virtual Console and yes, they did a reimagining of II on DS (your mileage may vary), but Taito's Lufia is one of the most under appreciated RPG series around. The GBA game is okay, but annoying mechanics such as getting ambushed (try to keep yourself from getting attacked from behind) and battle animations that bog down battle scenes make it the worst of the franchise.

I like Lufia better than Breath of Fire. That may be blasphemous to some, but it's true.

I never got to experience Grandia II on the Dreamcast which sucks, but oh well.

A Sonic costume is seen in Jingle All The Way (1996)

Ah, I did sorta get the sense that Thousand Year Door was one of "those" games. I remember it coming out when I first became aware there was a Mario fandom online, and since I didn't really have a Gamecube at the time (or any money) I couldn't be a part of all that. Oh well, I'm in no hurry to play it, if I ever actually do.

I do have Bug Fables to play as well. From what I understand, it does a good job capturing the Paper Mario spirit. Whether that's the original Paper Mario spirit or the sequel, I'm unsure, but I'm looking forward to playing it sometime.