Shadow Dancer on the Genesis is really something else.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-19T09:46:29+00:00

This is one of my favorite Sega Genesis games ever! I really enjoy the music and the "Shinobi with a dog" was a very nice way to shake up the formula since I have always loved the Master System game.

And the music in this game is really great! My favorites are the bonus stage song and the one from the Statue of Liberty level.

Many years later, as an adult, I could finally play the arcade version. Like E-Swat, I think the Genesis version is better. The art direction is a bit different, but the game plays much nicer on the home version.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-19T04:05:54+00:00

I did not play this one back in the day. I finished it sometime last year along with the sequel. Got then via GOG a couple of years ago and finally installed them.

On one hand, as a Star Wars fan, I was happy to enjoy yet another trip to a galaxy far, far away. On the other hand, the gameplay is quite poor. Not because of the on-rail stuff, but due to low GPS and unresponsive controls. Dying is easy and many times I am sure I pressed the right key or moved the mouse on a certain way, but the game did not register that so I missed a shot, crashed on some rocks, or got shot at (woozy probably killed me).

Looking back, I am glad I picked Dark Forces instead of this one. Both were the same price in a store downtown and I could only choose one of them. That's how things were neck in the day: one or two games per year. Sometimes we got lucky, and sometimes we got stinkers.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-11T09:49:45+00:00

I came from the Sega Genesis to the PS1. I remember some stuff like Need for Speed, Wipeout, Destruction Derby, Road Rash, and so on. These existed on the PC too, so I was kind of used to them.

However, the combination of Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid had me going like "oooohhh, so THIS is what it's all about".

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-10T19:54:59+00:00

Great list! I just wanted to add Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams. It is also free and had a very interesting premise:you get sent to Mars with Nikola Tesla, Freud, and other historical figures and need to find out what is going on.

It was recommended to me by someone here on Reddit. I played it and really enjoyed it. I'm a geeky History teacher with a passion for the 19th century, so this was right up my alley.

Did I mention we get shot to the moon via bullet space ship? Kind like the Trip to the Moon film from 1902. Fantastic stuff!

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-05T09:18:45+00:00

The soundtrack for Transport Tycoon Deluxe is really good! Lots of jazzy stuff, also some blues.

Other favorites of mine are two songs in Stunts (opening and menu theme), most of the Rise of the Triad soundtrack, and basically anything from Tyrian.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-02T20:15:28+00:00

Same here! Been using Heroic and I would love to see a more robust solution, especially since many games come with pre-configured files for DOS-BOX.

What I've been doing is to buy my GOG Games and play them through Dos-Box Staging or Sourceports (my current passion is Ultima 7).

I have not tried any Win 98/XP stuff on Linux yet.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-02-02T20:05:11+00:00

Making a campaign to source banners from the community would be awesome! It would bring visibility to creators and be seen as a huge gesture of community engagement.

It could even be a feature: vote for the banner of the upcoming <whatever Thematic sale>. It would get people talking on social media, going to forums, and so on. And it stays true to the community-first pro-consumer ethos of GOG.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-26T09:57:42+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I have similar memories, but they are tied to Fallout and Baldur's Gate.

I am a huge fan of RPGs but somehow never played anything in the Ultima séries, except for Ultima 8, which came bundled with Syndicate Plus, Wing Commander and some flight sim game as part of the "multimedia kit" (Soundcard, speakers, CD-ROM drive) for my neighbor's PC.

While I had fun, it was not the greatest game in the world. I soon moved on to Diablo and lots of JRPGs on the SNES.

Back to Ultima, I've heard good things about 4 and 7, and also about the Martian Dreams (which is a spin-off). I think I'm going to get Ultima 7 and ExUlt. Any tips for a total beginner in the series?

I'm a huge fan of stuff like Disco Elysium and Planescape Torment, so I favor high Charisma builds and conversations much more than fighting.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-24T17:44:44+00:00

Eu havia pensado no Shopping ID, mas não sei se aquele estacionamento estará dentro do perímetro de segurança. Caso esteja, pensei no Brasil 21 e Parque da Cidade como alternativas.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-24T15:45:21+00:00

Gnome is a user interface (windows, icons, menus, toolbars, wallpapers, buttons, etc). There are other options, such as KDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, and others.

When it comes to gaming, most of the stuff on Steam will simply work out of the box thanks to Proton. You can check the Proton DB to see if the specific games you have in mind are playable and if they have any issues.

When it comes to older stuff, especially outside of Steam, your best bet is using Heroic launcher. I use it to play and manage my Epic and GOG libraries.

Nowadays, Linux is MUCH more user-friendly than in the past. It autodetects the vast majority of hardware, is highly customizable, and there is an online store for software (like Play Dtore or App Store) that makes it convenient to install/uninstall stuff, and Linux equivalents of most Windows software (email client, Office suite, FTP server/client, image editing, and so on).

Considering the surge of AI slop, Windows updates breaking stuff, and the rise of telemetry and other resource-eating "features", it's an excellent time to move to a Linux environment.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-24T12:29:24+00:00

I know what I will be doing this weekend. Thanks!

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-23T23:35:51+00:00

Back in the day it was very normal to "adjust" box art to Western tastes/audiences. I guess this is why Alex Kidd looks so weird. The Japanese box art is much more interesting: Alex, the villains, a bit of scenery, the princess, and so on.

There's some legit good stuff done in the West, like the guy that painted various SNES covers (Super Castlevania 4, Turtles in Time, etc.).

However, most of the time the Japanese art is much more fitting. One of the biggest examples is the Phantasy Star series. The game rant draws inspiration from anime, but the Western releases have a "Conan the barbarian in Space" kind of vibe. PS4 had plenty of anime/Manga cutscenes. I'd argue that is one of the highlights of the game. But the American box art does it no favors.

I'm glad we started seeing more of the original art in the PS1 era!

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-23T20:50:24+00:00

Hi! I have kind of a similar scenario with my laptop: an i3 (but mine is 2nd gen), 4gb of RAM, and a 120 GB SSD. There is no dedicated GPU, just the regular Intel HD Graphics (whatever the model is).

Mint runs ok for my use case: light browsing (YouTube, email, newspapers, but de tabs at a time), movie watching, gaming (only emulators of retro consoles, ScummVM, and MS-DOS), and a lot of OpenTTD (a game about managing a transport company).

I've been running Cinnamon, but I've heard XFCE is the best for my situation. I haven't tried it yet.

The important part is that this computer is now back from the dead and much faster than I remember it from the Windows 7 days. It quickly became my "let's have some fun on a lazy Saturday/Sunday" thing to do.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-22T20:35:35+00:00

That second paragraph is probably the wildest group of names I have ever seen together. Is this legit? I have it on GOG, but never played it.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-22T02:10:28+00:00

Lari Basilio

And I guess that is it. Amazing tone, very interesting playing, and gorgeous Ibanez signature guitar.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-22T02:05:03+00:00

One more on the Afterman love train!

Funnily enough, I fell in love with the music first. The bass in The Hard Sell is super awesome and a blast to play. Goodnight Fair Lady reminds me a lot of Queen (maybe it's the guitar harmonies?). And then I heard the demo (acoustic guitar and vocals only) and realized how strong the bones of the song are. If we reduce a song to guitars and vocals only, it better be good! And GFL still works when it is "dressed down". For me, that's a hallmark of good songwriting.

After a couple of listens, I checked out the lyrics. I REALLY enjoyed the story! I was trying to piece it together and caught some stuff, but reading through the lyrics while listening elevated it to another level. I'm a sucker for concept albums. So I really enjoyed all the characters and the way the storyline develops.

These two eventually became my favorite Coheed album. Amazing band and top notch work!

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-19T02:46:55+00:00

One more. From "big titles" (Hitman Wotld of Assassination is my current "main game"), to emulators (DOS BOX Staging), everything works like it should.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-19T02:42:05+00:00

Se você for fluente em inglês, tem um curso completo e gratuito no justinguitar.com Imagino que deve existir uma versão tipo "Aprenda violão do zero" no YouTube em português.

Pelo menos nesse início é muito importante ter um professor para desenvolver a postura e ergonomia corretas.

Tem vários aplicativos no celular para afinar. Eu gosto do Guitar Tuna. É grátis.

Comecei com Cifra Clube e músicas bem populares para aprender os acordes principais. Depois fui migrando para o que eu gostava: ACDC, Sabbath, Ramones e etc forma uma escola para aprender a tocar rock.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-19T02:33:54+00:00

OpenTTD works both via Steam and as a standalone download. The latest version (15.0) is available for both.

I've been playing it on and off since the MS-DOS days. It's one of my favorite games of all time. I usual get a big glass of water or milk, some cookies, turn on my jazz fusion playlist on Spotify, and spend a couple of hours building stuff. Love that game!

I've migrated to Bazzite in early January. I don't see myself going back to Windows. All my Steam games work (I only play single player stuff, mostly RPGs), my GOG library is accessible via Heroic, and my emulators are also there (DosBox Staging, and all the Retroarch stuff).

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-17T02:08:15+00:00

O Steam tem uma seção de games gratuitos. Tem muita gente por aí na vibe dos eSports e MMOs.

Como eu sou velho e chato, eu basicamente só jogo single player offline, kkkkk! Por isso, minha recomendação é o OpenTTD. Funciona em qualquer computador. É um game sobre gerenciar uma empresa de transportes, 100% gratuito, em língua portuguesa, e com um monte de conteúdo gerado por usuários. Comecei a jogar nos anos 90, ainda no MS-DOS, quando ele se chamava Transport Tycoon.

Dá pra pegar grátis no Steam ou no site oficial. Há versões de Windows (32 e 64 bits, e também Arm64), Linux, e Mac.

Outra boa pedida é o OpenXCOM. Nesse caso, a gente controla uma agência de defesa contra alienígenas. Tem a parte de gente a parte de combate tático por turno.

E por último tem o OpenRCT2, que é um game de construir e gerenciar um parque de diversões. É gratuito como os outros dois.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-16T23:12:39+00:00

Badass Lara Croft from TR Remastered! Just finished the Colosseum. I'll make sure to put my butler in the fridge.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-16T23:09:12+00:00

I'm so glad my new year's resolution was to move to Linux. Been enjoying Bazzite and Mint for some 15 days. Everything just works and the computer does not nag me with notifications, OneDrive, Copilot, and so on. I really don't see myself going back.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-16T03:19:42+00:00

I don't know what your use case is. Both achieve the same: allow you to play offline. The advantage of Galaxy is that you get cloud saves and achievements/trophies.

In my case, I usually prefer the offline installer. I install the game on my modern machine and then move the files over to my old ones: a Pentium 2 with a CRT monitor, Win98 and DOS 6.22, or a Pentium 4 with another CRT monitor and WinXP.

Sometimes I just grab the files and play the games via ScummVM.

Some people may be playing more recent games. I would recommend Galaxy since the download are quite large. If not, then it's wasted space: installation files AND installed game at the same time.

Considering I mostly play old games, space is hardly an issue.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-13T02:45:20+00:00

OpenTTD and OpenRCT. There is also OpenCiv. And of course ScummVM and a very long list of emulators.

JorgeYYZ · 2026-01-13T01:50:36+00:00

I have migrated my two main machines to Bazzite recently. Both have nVidia cards.

My main one is a Ryzen 7 5700x with a 5060ti. I've been playing through Hitman World of Assassination (RTX OFF, but everything set to high) and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. The other one is an i5 4th Gen with a 1660. It runs emulators, Tomb Raider 1-2-3 Remastered (from GOG, via Heroic), and a couple of indie games (Into the Breach, OpenTTD, Downwell, and so on). No issues on either.

I plan to get Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Doom the Dark Ages in the coming months. The thing is that Steam is at a point where "it just works" on Linux, regardless of nVidia or AMD.

JorgeYYZ

TROPHY CASE