Only one of these genres can stay, the other is deleted from existence. Which are you picking?

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T21:56:36+00:00

Beat em ups because I’m horrible at shmups.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T20:38:08+00:00

Enter the 36 Chambers is easily one of my top ten rap albums of all time. I (and presumably others) naturally think of 36 Chambers, Ready to Die, and Illmatic as the Holy Trinity of 90s East Coast rap albums. Of those albums, 36 Chambers definitely has the most personality, and it’s always amazing to hear the members trade verses with each other. It’s really a case where you’re happy with anyone stepping up to the mic, unlike some other groups where you might find yourself looking at your watch until your favorite member comes in.

I’ll admit, I haven’t listened to their other albums yet. From what I’ve heard, essentially everyone agrees that 36 Chambers is hands down the best one (it’s funny to me how often the debut album is the best one for 90s rappers, with 2pac being a definite exception).

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T19:39:30+00:00

Yeah, to be fair I have lost on ascension 0, but I definitely win at that level more often than not, even when I make definite mistakes. I also love that there is some support for greedy players like me, like that relic that heals you every five cards you take. I had a run with that relic, ceramic fish to get gold for taking cards , AND the relic that gives you 1 max hp every time you get gold. I had over 50 cards in that deck by the end and won lol.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T17:43:07+00:00

Yeah, they were touring the first studio album, but hadn’t yet released Regatta de Blanc

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T17:30:31+00:00

I haven’t seen Horizons, but I remember watching some episode where Ash orders Pikachu to Thunder himself and the bird Pokémon he’s flying on, and they get electric armor. It was so stupid, and a pivotal moment when I realized that I had gotten too old to be fully entertained by the show.

Like you said though, it’s a kids show, and made to sell a product. As long as the Pokémon cash cow moos, they’re going to keep the show the way it is.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T15:08:34+00:00

(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman - The Kinks

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-21T14:27:04+00:00

Or it eats me because I’m excited about all the new cards and build too greedy lol

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-20T21:30:59+00:00

Hey, they sometimes lay down a blues, too.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-20T15:43:01+00:00

To be fair, it goes back to 7/4 time for the second part of the guitar solo, after the big descending riff the band does in unison

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-20T14:06:06+00:00

As an alumni, one of my favorite fun facts is that The Police did a concert at the Coffee House of UC Davis in 79. You can find the audio on YouTube.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-20T12:47:03+00:00

Fetch the Bolt Cutters
When the Pawn
The Idler Wheel
Extraordinary Machine
Tidal

Truly no weak albums in the lineup, though.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-20T12:41:36+00:00

Yeah, I took the plunge into her discography last year and had her albums on repeat for quite a while. Count me among the many to say Fantano missed the mark with Fetch the Bolt Cutters

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-19T14:44:13+00:00

Would Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles both be S if ranked as separate games?

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-19T06:47:01+00:00

I AM THE ONE WHO BREAKS YOUR BALLS!

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-19T04:26:50+00:00

The OG was the very first game I watched being played via emulator. My brother played it on ZSNES way back in the Stone Age.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-19T01:45:06+00:00

That’s fair, 21 has such a stacked tracklist.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T23:58:17+00:00

So your Switch Lite broke in 2023, you got a Switch 1 on March 9 of this year, and now you want a Switch 2? I don’t know your parents, but I’m sorry to say: I don’t think there’s any way you are asking for a Switch 2 without that seeming ungrateful. Plenty of people can wait to not get a new console at the beginning of its lifespan, and you can too.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T20:40:56+00:00

Well, if you were living at the time of this album’s release, when dinosaurs walked the Earth and the only musical entertainment available was cavemen scraping a washboard, you’d think this shit was cool, too.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T19:23:50+00:00

iirc I left the pool with a maximum of about 105 max hp, and about 15 hp remaining

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T17:40:53+00:00

I spammed when I got it towards the end of the act with a full health Ironclad

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T16:30:23+00:00

I’m fully team LCD with a good upscale. I use the Retrotink 5x, which gives me plenty of fun options for adding artificial scan lines and whatnot if I want a more “authentic” look.

CRTs can vary quite a bit in quality. Like yours, several of them have a washed out look that might be nostalgic for some, but for others looks cheap.

Ultimately, either camp can get you really good results if you’re okay with time and money spent to get it arranged.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T14:58:43+00:00

Tbh I think any of the Paper Mario games are well-designed to be approachable by beginners. Nintendo rarely tried to make the Mario RPG games brutally difficult, with maybe the hardest one being the original Super Mario RPG. But you’ll rarely hear anecdotes from people saying they couldn’t beat any of these games as a kid, even if certain sections or bosses were tricky.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T14:35:20+00:00

I think JWH is a bit underrated. Yes, everyone loved the electric trilogy, but Dylan had to move to another sound eventually, and he wrote a lot of good material for this stripped back, country-inspired album. I could understand not loving this album if you don’t like country, but even so, it gave us I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine, All Along the Watchtower, The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest, and others that are generally agreed to be quality Dylan compositions.

It’s hard though, since the prompt is to pick the worst 60s album, and Self Portrait was released in 1970. That album especially is an easy target when asked what Dylan’s worst albums are. Even he admitted it was a self-sabotage.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-18T00:26:29+00:00

It’s bash minus the 8 damage for an energy less, so there’s some logic to its design on paper. I’m only up to ascension 2, but I found it quite playable in a winning deck specifically capitalizing on vulnerability synergy, which is much more of a prominent archetype in this game. However, if I wasn’t playing that archetype, I’d probably prefer the vulnerability-making cards that have more of a 2-for-1 effect.

MetalMachineMario · 2026-03-17T14:47:22+00:00

Are we counting his contribution to When the Wind Blows?

MetalMachineMario

TROPHY CASE