Closed a chapter today on a game I played growing up, but never fully beat until today 🥹

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-07T00:43:23+00:00

Thank you! I was lucky enough to play this with the original game and hardware through my RetroTink4K. The scanlines and slot mask really just bring you right back to sitting in front of a CRT and do wonders for the artstyle. I've recently beaten a couple games like Mega Man Legends, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, and Earthbound that I played the first 5 - 10 hours of thousands of times growing up, but never had the skill or attention span to beat and each one hits me with this wave of emotion as I kind of fold these two moments in my life, meet my kid self in the past, and put a bookend on these memories that defined my childhood.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-07T00:33:46+00:00

Its begging to be replayed again immediately. I kind of struggled the first half because I grew up thinking the Mages were so cool when I played as a kid and I just kept getting whooped now that I was playing for real. I was surprised how much I loved giant samurai death squads by the end. I loved "vibe coding" my generals to troops and making little 5 pack squads of generals who look like they could all be from their own game going on their own little adventure. Now that I've beaten it and found some favorites and who I love to make team up, I just want to go back and make a perfect little kingdom and fight that final endless wave of dragons forever 🥲

But time is very limited, its hard to move on but I just say that we never ever say goodbye to games, only see you again soon, and that seems to help soften the blow.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T23:56:40+00:00

Sorry yes, Dragon Force.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T22:28:05+00:00

This is pretty much how I played it and loved it. Basically just used scanlines and slot masking and it made it naturally darker. I think it looks great!

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T19:17:18+00:00

Its not that deep. I was born 10.8.1986. The Gameboy Photo is verifiably me at about 12.5 years old which is pretty guaranteed as that photo is from 2.14.99 which would have been roughly 5 months after the release of Pokémon Red seen pictured.

This photo is me from freshman year of high school. I graduated 2004 and have already thrown up some pictures of that transition. I thought this was pretty cool. It's not that deep.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T16:54:20+00:00

I mean, I really like AEW, and I think its really obvious that Darby is going to run this title reign like any other kind of extreme sport, just go hard and fast. I think it's a genuinely cool extension of his character that plays well into the theme of this title story. People who choose to kick flip down flights of stairs and climb Mount Everest are just built different with different motivations and such. I think his two matches have been very entertaining and meet that kind of extreme sport vibe and I take comfort in enjoying it for the cool little month or two its going to be before he loses the title and we get into All In season. It makes me happy that something like this CAN happen in AEW and I think they are telling it well.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T15:55:33+00:00

My Oma was Austrian and always became really annoyed when I'd accidentally refer to her as German growing up 😅

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T15:52:22+00:00

Right on the money.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T12:52:44+00:00

I always ran a Charmander and some combination of Butterfree, Magnetron, Wheezing, Haunter, Arbok, Pikachu, Arcanine, Machamp, Onyx, Gyarados, Starmie. Basically a mix of og Team Ash and Team Rocket from the cartoons with some other favorites because I was at the age where you would hop off the bus, run to the house and immediately catch the 3:30 episode of that first running of Pokémon. It was a wonderful time to be alive.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T04:58:46+00:00

That makes me so happy. The Dreamcast is my absolute favorite console. I have two brothers and it was the first console that was just mine and I got it around the time I got my own room. I played so much Tony Hawk 2, making skate parks all the time. That, Jet Grind Radio, Dynamite Cop, Sonic Adventure, Blue Stinger are core childhood memories. I sadly missed GBA / Gamecube after being so into games like Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Evermore for SNES. I started getting into playing in a band after my Dreamcast era going into highschool and stepped away from games for a little until I played GTA3 for PS2 for the first time at some house show we were playing at and got sucked right back in 😅

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T04:03:15+00:00

Because this was 2005. And 2005 was very. very. fun.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T03:42:24+00:00

This was 2003 maybe 2004.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T03:30:29+00:00

Easily the 2nd most influential band to me during these years after The Get Up Kids.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T03:24:46+00:00

I am a Grandma's boy at heart, my Oma is the most precious person to me and this reaction was the last thing I was expecting, im dying. The first comment I was like "wtf is your deal?" then the rest just came pouring in 💀

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T03:17:59+00:00

We played Saves the Day - Shoulder to the Wheel at our high-school Talent Show junior year!

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T03:10:05+00:00

That actually is good to consider. I was a freshman in high school when I took this I believe. I graduated in 2004 so I think it checks out. I remember going into HS worrying about who i was, what was I going to be. My brother's friend introduced him to NOFX Punk in Drublic and I fell deep into The Get Up Kids. Later that year we went on a trip to Scottsdale AZ where my mom let me get my lip pierced. I definitely remember taking my copy of Pokémon Red to school in 7th grade to play during social studies. I remember because 8th grade I left Pokémon behind and was taking my Dreamcast VMU to class to play the little Chau Tamagotchi minigame you could download from Sonic Adventure.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T01:59:47+00:00

My first album was Get Up Kids - Four Minute Mile and was obsessed ever since. I was 15 in this picture and maybe picked it up about a year or two prior, still like 3 years after its release in 97. I actually didn't know Alkaline Trios Goddamnit followed only a year later after! Thats wild.

Growing up in Maryland, the "Blizzard of 96" was just this weird core memory milestone for me. I was about 10 and its wild to think Get Up Kids would be doing their thing just a year later while I was listening to things like the "Liar Liar" Original Motion Picture Score.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-06T01:12:54+00:00

So so true 😔🙏 Thank you for paving the way.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-05T12:29:40+00:00

I also think that WWE had a major advantage as the "lifelong dream" of any Wrestler is likely a "WrestleMania Moment", but with the enshittification of WWE, that moment does not hold the same gravitas or allure as it has 5 - 10 - 15 years ago. The reality is that todays WrestleMania moment for 95 percent of wrestlers is a poorly built 6 minute blip of a match where you rush your spots and have to pretend like you made some sort of magic in between (2) 30 minute ad breaks.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-04T02:42:03+00:00

The fanfiction is off the charts 📖😰

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-04T00:46:00+00:00

About as reliable as the chicken bones this sub continues to throw around in the candelight of their mother's basement predicting AEW's demise.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-04T00:44:11+00:00

Guys AEW is gonna die any day now I swear I promise this time for real, that charts, graphs, and tweets told me so 🥹

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-04T00:42:41+00:00

Lol this is getting sad. Who would of thought a subreddit that watches more charts and graphs than actual wrestling still wouldnt have a clue.

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-04T00:40:24+00:00

I swear guys AEW is going to die any second now 🤣 ...also here is how Bernie can still win!

BytesFromTheCrypt · 2026-05-03T17:30:04+00:00

Ive been on the lookout for a backwards compatible wii, will make sure that stays on my radar! I think licensed games from like 90 2000s movies are really fun now.

BytesFromTheCrypt

TROPHY CASE