-GAME LOG-

PiCTOBiTS: The Bizhawk Rematch ft. Cheevos and Dark Stage 1

October 30th, 2024

I have some more in-depth thoughts and explanation in the video description, but long story short, for being the FIRST hidden stage you can buy for cheap, it is a bastard and a half. 11 attempts just to beat it [no POW blocks used] and barely - I was at the edge of everything stacking into disaster again but the last second moves I had to clear the colors I needed happened to be enough to bail me before I had to call it a dead run again.

Oh, and started trying it out again because I figured out how to get cheevos in the game [BizHawk does support cheevos unlike RetroArch for some reason] and wanted to give it a shot again knowing that my first run missed out on the cheevos. And also GO Series: 10 Second Run, but that will be a bit to talk about here whenever I keep going at it again.

PiCTOBiTS for the Nintendo DSi played in melonDS has been defeated

October 22th, 2024

At least in its first half - because I tried Dark Stage 1 after completing Stage 15 and was flabbergasted to see how they IMMEDIATELY start jumping you even though you could unlock that stage with 20 coins at the start...but anyways, was neat to revisit this after more than a decade later ever since I lost my DSi [and oddly enough, don't have memory of installing it on my modded 3DS while it still had a functional battery - I remember installing Flipnote Studio...but not this??]

Anyways, here's the playlist for you to watch the [currently] three parts of that ordeal - the second part taking as long as it did ONLY BECAUSE I TRIED USING RETROARCH WHICH FEELS MORE FINICKY TO USE THE TOUCHSCREEN MOUSE WITH AND WAS FOR NOTHING WHEN I CHECKED THAT THE GAME WAS NOT BEING PROPERLY READ AS COMPATIBLE WITH RETROACHIEVEMENTS AUGH so I went back to melonDS in part 3...and even then, Stage 14 was DESTROYING me for over 25 minutes until I got it.

An overdue update on the MMX completion quest

October 13th, 2024

So I've already actually played like...three more MMX games and even the first Mega Man between the last time I updated this log...oops. The MM1 up to MMX4 runs [which also includes playing X3 Zero Project AFTER Vanilla X3] are avaiable in the replay channel as well as how they are also logged with some text for each in my Backlogged account, but yeah. Dates for those are in each video/entry but I indeed did that much under a week to the point that now I think that I might retire off the MMX marathoning either after whenever I feel like picking up X8 16-bit as I still haven't tried it, or going for an X4 full completion run with X since my first completion recently was a MINIMALIST run as X of all things.

Mega Man X completed in one sitting, huh

October 2nd, 2024

Buster only for the first eight bosses [cheevos challenge], then went for all upgrades, then Zero died [not], then I went for Hadoken after that, and then I went through the rest of the Sigma gauntlet until Sigma himself. Hadoken and then Rolling Shield. It was more convoluted than that, but...yeah, MMX completed in less than three hours yippie

Was satisfying to otherwise go through the entire game again and get everything without online searches beyond Bospider's weakness lol

Dying hard in Die Hard Arcade

October 1st, 2024

The montage below really sums it up, but a few days before that, I had played like...seven or eight runs of Die Hard Arcade- the first four or so having no clue of the extra moves until I caved in and looked up on GameFAQs. On the second to last try, I found out about Deep Scan gifting you credits, so I stocked up 10 and went in again...only to die to the final boss. So I grinded more credits [like 27] and that time I could eventually make it through the entire thing after 17 credits. It's aight Austin, but I'd still take SOR2 or even Spikeout...although it is technically faster to beat than Spikeout because DHA/Dynamite Deka is WAYYY shorter than Spikeout no matter what.

PISANDO HUEVOS - GOING HARD DURO IN SRB2KART WITH CON 5 DUROS

September 27th, 2024

Oh yeah I also casually spent a few hours playing in the Con 5 Duros stream of SRB2Kart 32 players that was programmed for today...while at first I was having issues to even stay connected, I eventually was able to stay well and keep often okay positions if not Top Three, and even getting at least 6 first place finishes in a humongous lobby that had at least 6 or 7 players always ready to hound me on sight at the final stretch. Really fun races, really good competitors and I also got compliments from them which was nice considering I could name two or three that always had me deathly afraid of getting orbi'd or outrunned by them.

Stream is linked below but you probably have to skip ahead a few races until you can find me after I could stay stable in the server and constantly running fights over the road.

ALL DR. ROBOTNIK'S RING RACERS MASTER MODE CUPS COMPLETED

September 27th, 2024

I HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT MANY HAVE FEARED: EVERY SINGLE CUP IN MASTER MODE COMPLETED. There's only four of them not cleared as Vectorman as they were the first ones with Sonic [sans the first which I revisited], but otherwise I did everything with Vectorman, with today ending with Skate Cup once and for all.

victorian child tries Evil West for the first time

September 23th, 2024

send message

Hydro Thunder on PC SLAPS - full game completed

September 11th, 2024

That's right baby. I even got a playlist with all of my runs done on the Replay Warehouse channel.

Hey Hydro Thunder Hurricane, I'm back with the milk

September 8th, 2024

Another long session- finally unlocked the Expert boats and did a handful of events with them, mainly the new tracks I was unlocking [up to Atlantis], Gauntlets, and any Ring Master Expert challenges I unlocked as those always demand you to use those boats. I did at the end of my session a Professional Championship instead of an Expert one just to save time and knowing that the Expert races can give a tight fight [even if not as hard as OG HT/H2O], and I managed to run back my iffy performance at the first event by crushing the three after it.

A video of this long session should be available below as a video whenever it's done processing in Handbrake [the original recording is a whopping 20GB] and then finished uploading to Youtube on my Replay Warehouse channel.

Virtua RAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHcing Deluxe

Written September 8th, 2024- Played September 2nd, 2024

This took me approximately 45 minutes to one hour to do between getting my grips with the controls and just learning how to tackle the track with how the bots often leave you no room to come back if you make a mistake. In Easy. There's a longer explanation/backstory on the description at the moment but yeah, I played this game around a week ago and spent like two hours grinding this track both in Easy and Normal- giving up that night when the best I could do after a run without big mistakes was third place.

H2Overdrive but I finally uploaded gameplay of it

September 7th, 2024

Read the descriptions of these, already poured my kilometers of text in those about my thoughts. Still fun and cool although the road to getting a first place is pretty damn tough if you don't get everything done just right. Probably gonna go add these runs from the Replay Warehouse into the Record Attack for Arcade Racers page.

H2Overdrive is like Hydro Thunder but on crackaine

September 4th, 2024

that's the whole entry for tonight- I'll probably have something more elaborate when I do something with the footage I recorded.

hydro thunder

September 4th, 2024

inhales

...

HYDROOOOO THUNDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I played the N64 version for RetroAchievements, and got five tracks completed out of...12? I got the first three down kinda fast, and while Lake Powell took me several tries to get down the shortcuts and optimal driving well, I could get a completion [2nd Place] in The Far East in my very first try. And that was AFTER several attempts before that being of Greek Isles. I eventually got Greek Isles down after a lot of attempts, and my first visit at Ship Graveyard resulted in my second Super Start + Boost ever, the first one being in a Greek Isles attempt that somehow went into disaster faster than the rest despite the luck I had there.

I didn't beat Ship Graveyard though, but I mentioned that anyways because while it can be kiiinda easy to get a Super Start overall, getting the bonus Boost with it is a different story, as the timing is especially strict and I feel like getting it for me was lowkey luck with how RetroArch had a bit of input lag for me while playing...throwing a wrench in that precise timing for the special rocket start.

Ol' fellas meet-up again one last time

September 3rd, 2024

At first I was going to make this a part of a ReJournal page, but since that needs a fair amount of work, I'll instead carry over the very little that I had started to describe with it...since the first thing I started talking about was SUPER MONKEY BALL.

monke target - I mean Monkey Target, one of the first things I played with the first friend that arrived was Super Monkey Ball on the Wii because the PC was taking its dear time to go running- first some stupid hijinks playing by turns in Normal mode's Advanced levels, and then going at it in Monkey Target for like three rounds until another friend arrived with another Gamecube controller and we could start going HAM with Monkey Fight.

Monkey Fight was REALLY funny when considering the wacky powerups and the last second steals that are possible as, if you are playing one versus one, whoever's losing will always get 20 points as that's what you get for KOing the leader in any condition. So taking back a lead is much faster than the amount of time a leader can usually hold a lead.

Soon enough we started playing PMEX Remix on PC instead, although as there was only one controller and the keyboard, I watched my two friends duke it out at first while I had lunch, and then I took over for one of them to fight against the Maniack...and I picked Vectorman. Vectorman can be REALLY funny in PMEX Remix due to how aside from having some neat stuff for a Smash character, his Down B lets you turn his normal attacks, which are his default weapon and is like very long ranged jabs but can be escaped from, into powered up shots that will basically force your opponent to eat dirt if you can get one of those in and then continue shooting them with it, as those powered shots have more hitstun and thus combo longer.

I was beating his Blaziken many times with funny shit, even though he took one win from me, that he went nuclear...and picked Vectorman as well. I also got a handful of wins until he eventually got one where he was the faster one at power-shooting me to oblivion.

I think the rest of the day was a lot of talking in between those PMEX matches and outside of it, which was neat considering one of these friends that arrived had visited three days straight because he was going to leave the city for good- meaning that we would now know about him only through internet or if we happened to travel to the city he's going to live now for the meantime. But at least it was a good sendoff overall.

Old fellas met again, trying some old and trying some new

September 2nd, 2024

Playing Naruto Revolution 3 is TECHNICALLY possible with a phone acting as a controller through DSUController emulating a Classic Controller over Dolphin [while my friend played with a keyboard], but...uhh...anyways, still had some fun matches and hilarious moments. Also got to introduce another friend to Ring Racers, although I don't know if he still got all of the things I had to explain verbally or if he'll be interested in checking it out again, but oh well, at least a reason to try the game again.

SRB2KART OVERTIME

September 2nd, 2024

Well, look at that...I actually delivered a montage with those Kart races I mentioned before :]

Hydro Thunder...HURRICAAAAAANE

September 1st, 2024

I finally revisited it after many years. Has been fun so far, and I got six race tracks unlocked :]

SRB2Kart night at Arcade Racing Association was awesome

August 31th, 2024

Got enough races to get clips for a new montage. I'll probably let y'all know when I do, but in the meantime, I may slap here a screenshot or clip or something...later.

the bliggy game

August 30th, 2024

go play hayaunderscore's plant brawl 47

Haunted Castle Revisited KICKS ASS

August 28th, 2024

Spent around one hour to complete the whole thing in one sitting, but it was as great as I hoped it would be with how it is basically a sequel/sucessor to The Adventure ReBirth, made by the same team as well.

A very welcome surprise to have a brand new Classivania that reimagines an old infamous piece of fleaman game into something that has been, so far, universally liked- and deservedly so with the amount of care the devs gave to make a very playable, satisfying while still challenging new Castlevania game.

Collapse Super Collapse 3 Sliding Relapse Strategy Collapse Puzzle Edition [collapse]

August 27th, 2024

SO MUCH COLLAPSE [2009] AND SUPER COLLAPSE 3 TODAY- I VIRTUALLY WENT THROUGH ALMOST THE ENTIRE SC3 GAME IN PC IN TWO HOURS.

Only stopped shy of the final levels [I assume] because I needed a break of so much Super Collapse 3, but didn't realize it was much more fun on the PC than emulating the DS version on the phone until today. Then at night, I finally locked in and knocked out the last few levels remaining from the game, ending with the aptly titled Terminal Velocity that throws you almost everything at a breakneck pace, which you'll want to have a stack of items prepared for. But yeah, Super Collapse 3 has been defeated in one day. Of course didn't go for ALL stages, but so far I'm content enough.

my brain is fried from writing this the day after

August 25th, 2024

Written on 26th because I forgot to do it before.

Basically, uhh, this day I played in a small but fun Bloody Roar 2 tournament. I somehow won.

long day long wait [SF3 / RR]

August 18th, 2024

Had been here and there these days and also kinda low in mood to write back these, but yesterday specifically I got hit with a fever and only today I've recovered [although I still got a running nose]. But hey, back to updating with misadventures, and there's two things I got to do today.

Summoned ol' fella John Silver to play with me again after weeks since the last time we met, and while I still couldn't get him to get with Ring Racers, we ended up playing a fair amount of PMEX Remix, and then went for the real fighting at Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. I didn't record the fight live, but I did record the inputs to be able to replay and record them later- maybe might do a video with that.

...Oh, and I also managed to play Ring Racers online again with a red Spy wearing a hat and his buddies. Thanks Phil! Might have a longer and funnier story to tell about this whenever I can get to do something with the replays I got from this session- aside from mentioning that I was stuck at 6-7 frames playing from Labyrinth Zone to DEATH EGG...and 765 Stadium :)

RR SPB Attack runs

August 12th, 2024

Played some more SPB attack tracks, most of which I tried Ringless for the sake of the challenge if it was possible from the get go. Robotnik Coaster, Northern District, Sonic Speedway, Lucid Pass, Storm Rig, Rumble Ridge, uhhh...also tried Carnival Night again and Sunsplashed Getaway for the first time- both to my absolute dismay until a very specific off-game event finished destroying my mood [and a sliver of self esteem] into deciding that it should be better to close the game. I can't tell if I'm gonna keep digging later today or not because of the mood I got left with, but at least I bothered to give this mini update of SPB Attack progress as Vectorman which I've been writing down in another page [which is unfinished- hence ain't liked here or anywhere yet].

Getting Ring Racers clips

August 12th, 2024

Played a fair amount of RR at the morning and late at night, while also started fetching some clips from a few days ago thanks to replays- maybe tomorrow or so I'll have enough clips to start actually editing something with them. There's a lot of stupid goofy ahh stuff that has happened on many of those replays that would be gold for a montage.

I think I'm enjoying Ring Racers a whole ton again

August 11th, 2024

Grinded a handful of tracks in SPB Attack mode while playing ringless for some quick fun [Class I's strength is that in tracks with sharp turns but wide roads, the drifting helps a lot]. Crimson Core, Gust Planet, Joypolis, Pestilence and a few more that I forgot for now [but have written down] were pretty easy even in ringless, while a few tracks gave me some more of a good fight like City Escape [I don't think you can ringless it due to the crates[, Las Vegas [mainly one or two sections because I went for Ringless], Mega Flying Battery, and the latest one so far I've done, Sky Babylon.

And also played like 10 races in Sunflower Vanilla RR because I changed the Wi-Fi Adapter placement from the back to the front and now it can actually catch the fiber Wi-Fi signal to play with good ping in US-East servers...and a decent 5 frames of delay on US-West. So yeah, a lot of Ring Racing today.

Dead Line SPB Attack with Vectorman is Dead

August 10th, 2024

Last night took me 1 hour...today took me 13 minutes. I don't know what else to say aside from starting to get a grasp on a triangle dash strat to save a Super Ring for the spring jump section in Lap 1.

...

Expect a video upload of this when possible- oh hey, its finally here, and I ended up saying a fair bit more about this run in the description.

One last breather for tonight

August 10th, 2024

Played some more OutRun 2006 online, and both The Cool Pup and Chibi Dreamweaver should be uploading sooner or later their footage of the races where I showed up- oh, here's the Dreamweaver upload.

That aside, I popped osu again as I wanted to try playing Stray Dogs's TOP, the song used for Tower of God's first opening, and lost myself between revisiting a few other maps I used to play years ago in osu and such. Improved a few old PBs, but there's definitely many more songs that I still have to come back to see if I can beat the old records. Although don't get fooled, I'm only on the level of four stars for standard.

If you are curious to check my old [and few new] scores, you can find my osu profile right here. You know, I had forgot about that I grinded that Asphyxia by co shu nie song back then [the Tokyo Ghoul :re one I think? until I saw it on the top of my best scores- it kind of makes sense because I remember that map's time signature being a MESS to figure out and stay consistent at just for me to get an A rank in the Light Insane chart.

A grind that went nowhere

August 9th, 2024

Tried to complete Dead Line in SPB Attack mode with Vectorman. One hour later, I ended up writing the following in frustration...

"Spent one hour grinding, several lap 2 runs, my fingers are feeling pretty worn out
And what have I got from it? Nothing. I got absolutely nothing. Because I was wisely advised repeatedly to stop grinding for now.
I do have a lot of love for the game, but Dead Line SPB Attack with Class I characters legitimately feels like something that might not have been playtested. It is absolutely my mood right now that's making me want to word this the way I am right now, but the absurd amount of precision that it requires while having to gamble on certain hairpins, springs, and hoping you don't get sent straight into a pulley that leaves you open to death by SPB, is just insanely baffling.
And yes I could do this easier with Ring, but its fucked up to think that I now associate Ring as [top-tier meta character for time attack fat shark ken masters] that makes me feel kinda put off into using it, while I have to see my unfortunate choice of a favorite in Vectorman [doctor mario] basically be left with a nigh-impossible uphill with that in particular."

...As you can tell, I was pretty damn pissed with losing runs over and over until my hands were worn out because of the tight track design clashing with the heavyweight of a character I insisted on playing as, so I'm absolutely dropping that for tonight, and no guarantees if this will make me even want to try again tomorrow of I will sit out on it for more than one day.

Consolation prize? Played a bit of Kart online and found two cool videos of other arcade racers. One is from an real arcade run of SEGA Rally 2 with the Stratos, and the second one is LyricalDonut's upload of an online OutRun 2006 race, which I share with y'all due to my current inability to send 9GB of raw racing footage through the straw that is CANTV and I have to use for now.

MY FIRST TGM3 WORLD RULE MASTER S5 LET'SA FUCKING GO

August 9th, 2024

Was grinding some TGM3 again and then eventually that happened...copying over the description from the upload of the run-

Last night I thought on coming back to TGM3 after one or two years of absence [Remember that the entry below this was written at 2am lol], and after having got some few S2 or worse runs here and there, and right after getting two S3 runs that managed to make it to the credit roll...
...I got this MONSTER performance for what I was expecting to get- getting a very smooth run until the 600s, getting several section COOLs along the way and triggering the second music swap at 600 instead of 700 in most of my previous runs.
I choked in the 700s, forcing me to deal with a nasty stack attempting to survive the 800s until my end, but I gasped in surprise to see that I had, for the first time, got a Grade S5 in this game. [Most I could get often were S2/S3s, and I think I did get a S4 once but only in a screenshot I don't even remember if I still have]
So yeah, big new PB for me in this game. I'd wager it could have been S6 if I had not died right before making it to 900, but still a pretty impressive performance for having started again yesterday- let alone showing this to an average person lol

Too much TGM3 at 2am

August 9th, 2024

Wanted to revisit Tetris The Grand Master 3 - World Rule because Classic Rule + TGM3 speeds are overkill for me right now. Got two or three S2 runs, got a few very crappy runs that didn't even hit the S ranks, and eventually got a S1 Promotion Exam that at first I thought I was going to kill, but I somehow started running it back hard in the 600/700s, managing to get the Fail-into-Pass fakeout animation...which meant that with that big kick I got near the end, I managed to just about get that run's grade to S1 in the last moment possible [as that animation only comes if your run grade is the same as the promotion grade- anything higher would have a faster pass animation].

Gonna see when I can put photos and such of that later. [Unless I end up getting a bigger PB than before in the afternoon and end up forgetting about this...hmm....]

Kicking ass at OutRun 2006 online again- full stop

August 8th, 2024

Around one hour or two playing earlier today OR2 with 5-6 players at a time, and was able to record 60fps footage by setting the game to 1280x720.

Surreal to see such a beloved game that had an online feature stay defunct for so many years finally spring back to life and see old and new faces join slowly but surely at the Discord because- well damn, how could you think anyone who knows OutRun 2 would deny the chance of playing the game online easier than ever before?

Some big fails, some funny moments from a certain player's car looking like its constantly spinning for some reason [it sometimes happens depending of the connection between you and a specific player or players], but the highlight for me to have a 15 Stage Continous run in OR2 stages where I was playing better than ever as I accidentally enabled Manual Transmission...and soon realized that gear shifting 5-4-5 at high speeds allowed for an instant drift start, which I ended using to take tight lines effectively.

I was playing way better than usual, and yet I was still getting the other players close behind me, which ended in a pretty climatic finale in the end of the run at Cape Way.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles during a power outage

August 8th, 2024

...Yeah that happened lmao

Basically, during one hour or two without electricity, I popped S3K on my phone...and I think that for the first time in...ever? Got FIVE emeralds in a row, as I somehow stumbled upon the special stages in Hydrocity, Marble Garden and Ice Cap, although regarding why I actually got the emeralds unlike in previous runs, I'd chalk up to me specifically deciding NOT to go for Perfect bonuses. That aside, left the game in Ice Cap so far...yeah that's it.

OutRun 2006 Coast to Coast's online mode...LIVES AGAIN

August 7th, 2024

OutRun 2 Coast to Coast's online mode is now functional again thanks to OutRun2006Tweaks's author [emoose] managing to create a replacement master server and connecting to it!! You can now create and join lobbies, and the netcode works pretty swell from what I tested, even if it still seems to depend whoever's hosting on how much the other cars jitter. But it is way more functional than playing with the LAN mode over Radmin lol

Here's screenshots with the fellas I raced with- including ol' Argentinian SEGA arcade veteran nuexzz, who I hadn't raced again online with since May 2022 over some Kaillera Daytona USA.

Getting this running over a stock OR2006 PC install is as easy as dropping the latest OutRun2006Tweaks files in your game folder. Have a good ol' time now :D

Finally uploaded my first online race to Youtube- you can see how well it worked for being my first time AND with collision enabled on top of that.

SEGA Rally Championship PS2 - SWEET KEYBOARD VICTORY

August 7th, 2024

Played and written this at 3am lol

Here's screenshots of the run for now in the meantime I see how to get the video uploaded. A true son of a big bastard that is the time limit in this game- but I finally locked it in with the PS2 version of the game, having a more accurate pace to the original arcade + digital steering inputs here are more responsive than what they are in Model 2 Emu.

Really gotta get your A-game with taking the best inside lines to drift through troublesome corners while being able to straighten your car and stop losing speed as soon as possible- knowing how every single second can mean life or death in Lakeside [as you only get extra seconds from your remaining time at the end of Mountain].

Lakeside is an impressive piece of course design with how grueling it is at first glance...and overall, but the moment your brain snaps into optimizing stuff like letting go of accel right before the turn AND turning ahead of time after you go in order to catch the drift in the inside line JUST RIGHT, it's just about possible to endure the track if you don't bump more than one wall + have a few extra seconds of leniency from performing well in the three first tracks. GAME OVER YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And for good measure, my achievement is logged in the game's RetroAchievements page and time leaderboards. The cheevo marked in Hardcore means savestates disabled, so you know I did that in one big bad run.

Now the upload is up. Sorry for the lower quality- between having to run it through Handbrake to reduce filesize AND the original footage already being inconsistent in framerate/quality as I used Bandicam [OBS Studio made the game framerate tank in my humble PC while recording], but at least the run is immortalized. Turns out I actually beat my old 1'15 PB for Lakeside that I got before with a Gamecube Controller, likely because this time I was FORCED to learn how to drive Lakeside properly lol [while in that older run, I actually had a whopping five extra seconds of margin for error as I finished with a 3'25 tiome].

Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers - Return to TA grind

August 6th, 2024

...Yeah, someone in Stray Banana wanted me to give a shot to submitting times again, regardless of whether they were Platinum medals or not, so...I did.

Got myself new times for Monkey Mall, Mega Flying Battery, Advent Angel AND Advent Angel in SPB Attack mode. All with Vectorman. At least the MFB and both AA times took me around half an hour each from grinding constantly to improve my times.

Getting the MFB time was tight with how one mistake and I was gone off-course, but at least that was the one time I could actually get Platinum for with Vectorman. You can find the times that I haven't uploaded yet as videos in The Stray Banana under my runner profile or on the respective maps.

Sonic Rush - START LOG

August 4th, 2024

[August 5th, 2024 - Date of writing this]

SONIC RRRRUSH has more funny death pits instead of lower paths than I expected...as soon as Water Palace- whenever you are faced with a sudden platform precisely over floating platforms, might want to try your hardest in case it is more than likely above a death pit. That aside [and Egg Turtle boss being slow as fffffffffU], has been a mighty fun romp so far. Keeping track of my progress with RetroAchievements is neat, and grinded that night for a Egg Libra no damage run just for the cheevo.

The grind itself was rough, but it is cool to have that badge on deck now in one of the few bosses I've seen so far in this game that can actually be blitzed in less than a minute rather than waiting for attack cycles too often.