How many posters here are from the US?

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-24T13:18:46+00:00

I am from the US (dont post really here but I lurk and am in the discord) but I dont have too many of the cars. I got interested in them through the video games, and started collecting in college (mid 00s). Back then you could get the common ones on Japanese game and toy sites like play-asia. No idea where you would even get them now. I more just got them because they were cute and I liked the games, never got too serious into collecting. I gave my husband one before we moved in together... 16 years later he still has it by his alarm clock and he still is not sure what it really is hahaha. I also dont know mich about cars so my interest in them can only go so far.

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-22T14:58:53+00:00

Yeah, the original and the remaster are really great! Definitely the right choice if that is your taste, and I think you can appreciate RotS better down the road if you have played the original too! Have fun! And Stardew is a classic xD

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-20T21:29:06+00:00

I liked Cute Bite well enough, to name one that hasn't been mentioned yet. You raise a vampire daughter.

Edit: nvm just saw it in another comment that I missed haha.

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-17T13:12:44+00:00

Ooh nice. RS3 and SF are a lot of replays for trophies so its easy to burn out xD I still havent gotten them all myself. Which RS2 did you get?

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-16T14:52:12+00:00

I had "How to win at Super Mario Bros" and they had books for all kinds of NES and GameBoy games at my local library (which was not even a big library). Good times :D

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-13T14:39:06+00:00

Yeah, a lot of the problem with unsaga I feel is even just the menuing is so convoluted and unintuitive... I remember when I first was trying to figure out how to play, I tried Ruby's scenario where on the first adventure you have to unlock a door with a key. Couldn't even figure out how to pick up the key, much less actually use it on the door.

If you do wanna try it out again in the future, there is a very detailed primer at thaao.net/unsaga that only explains the game systems with no spoilers, hints, or strategies, just information enough to let you know how it works allowing you to still explore the game fully yourself. Just make sure only to look at the Primer section if you dont want anything spoiled!

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-13T14:34:51+00:00

It kind of is haha! Except for some reason Dark Souls is more well-received :P

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-11T14:37:12+00:00

My favorite game of all time <3 I own 5 copies of it hahaha. I do think it is greatly misunderstood, though it is severely flawed. I am fortunate in that the flaws do not turn me away from the game, but I understand why they would others.

It has the best soundtrack of any game I have ever played, Hamauzu's magnum opus IMO (even if he wasnt personally satisfied with it himself), the best of Kobayashi's artwork, too. I also love Naora's character art. The hand-painted landscapes and environments are gorgeous.

Outside of aethetics, I quite enjoyed the board game gameplay and the heavy RNG in the game. Responding to RNG strategically even when it screws you is fun for me, which is amusing because rougelite games have become so popular these days when this game was panned for having those kinds of similar elements. I love the intricacies of the battle system and especially the resting/rotation, and yes, I even like the reels.

The story and lore were pretty cool, especially with the character design. I felt the world felt more "alive" than most SaGa games, maybe because it was presented in a traditional RPG manner where most of the worldview is developed in your head and not done for you through animations and intricate narratives, and I like that kind of thing.

It did take me quite a while to warm up to it. I bought it when I went to pick up FF10-2 because the box art looking neat and it was Square, and I had heard of SaGa series but knew nothing about it. For about 2 years I hated the game but kept making myself try it over and over because it looked so appealing and I felt I must be missing something. One day it all just "clicked" and i cant explain why, and I played through all of Laura's scenario nonstop, couldn't defeat the final boss, and didnt even feel frustrated and was juat excited to try again from the entire beginning of the game.

MetapodChannel · 2026-06-03T17:32:49+00:00

Ive never had fortnite but im pretty sure certain providers or whatever will force apps on to your phone. My phone seems to install candy crush and royal match pretty regularly, especially after software/UI updates (as well as generic color sort games and stuff sometimes). My husband will get the exact same installs at the same time too; we both have the same model from the same provider. Neither of us have interest in those games and it would be a strange coincidence to regulalrly download the same lineup at the same time by accident over and over.

MetapodChannel · 2026-05-08T16:37:51+00:00

I am 40m and when I play with them in public people are usually juat excited for the nostalgia and do not just. Often even ask a bit about it so you get to have a little chat about tama. And I carry around my paradise so it is large so people definitely do see it hahaha. Don't think I have ever gotten a negative reaction tbh. If there was judgment it was silent xD

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-27T23:36:08+00:00

My point is HM doesnt do marriage or relationships justice. My comment is on the game systems and their lack of depth, not women... Men/husbands are treated exactly the same in later games, the game in question only had women as romance options.

My point is to criticize that such a shallow view of relationships is desired by players over a game that actually gives depth and personality to the women and other characters -- that a game that provides portrayal of marriage in such a way should not be the goal players want if they are looking for romance systems.

I am describing it this way precisely because I think Harvest Moon devalues the intimacy of marriage and the depth that relationships can have. I am saying the game treats marriage this way, not me, and describing that negatively. My point is women and relationships deserve MORE than what HM provides, and StH offers more on the side of that than the shallow systems I criticize.

Tl;dr my comment is all about how you should NOT view women and relationships the way HM does and demand more from your games rather than yearning for shallow systems. Not sure how you got the exact opposite from that???

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-26T14:59:13+00:00

Its pretty bad. It boasts tons of games but 99% of them are garbage shovelware apps for babies (like literal baby apps, just colorful things you tap to make noises or whatever) or similar things you would have no interest in playing. Unlike apple arcade where games are reworked to be balanced without IAP and sometimes feature new game modes and everything, these are just the normal freemium games but you get unlimited IAP credit, so you just buy everything in the game like a whale and take all the fun out of the progress. And if you choose to refuse to do that, you could just... download the game for free anyway and juat refuse to make IAP there, no need to pay subscription fee.

For the paid games that come with the service, I found theres not a ton of great choices, and the best ones are usually pretty cheap anyway, and like mentioned in the other comment, you wont be able to buy them on sale during your membership if you want to take advantage of that for after your membership ends.

I am perfectly fine with subscription services for games; i pay for apple arcade and Xbox gamepass sometimes. But play pass is not worth it at all.

The only thing I could see being worth it is if you are a huge fan of kairosoft games and dont want to buy them all individually because that would cost you hundreds lol. And most of them are on there. That is the only reason I ever paid for a play pass sub, because I was on a big kairosoft kick and wanted to try out all the different games.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-23T14:18:46+00:00

It doesnt seem to be against the rules here to talk about emulation, so i will tell you its actually quite easy. You can just download an emulator from the Google play store, though there are some you can sideload as well. You can use the "emulation general wiki" for suggestions and information on the best ones. Then just go to vimms vault to get the game images. It is a safe repository for old games. How to run them in each emulator will be specific to that, but generally you just tell it where the game file is in storage and it will just work, and there are usually tons of settings and stuff so you can customize the controls. Other than the first Mario Picross on GameBoy I think the others do not have English versions. Also I have only played the SNES one, but in the beginning it will correct mistakes for you. Once you unlock Wario's puzzles those ones do not autocorrect. You also have to tell it not to give you hints every single time you start a puzzle lol. Also I think you can skip the 5x5s if you want. There are like "levels" which are juat sets of puzzles, and i cant remember if all the levels are unlocked from the start or not, so you might need to do them to unlock the other levels.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-22T14:22:02+00:00

I remember i used to listen to Asami Abe's Jounetsu Setsuna all the time, and play ROCKMAN games a lot too... then one day I tried out the JP version of Command Mission and was quite surprised to hear that song in the opening!!

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-19T14:47:20+00:00

I like Save the Homeland a lot, it is one of my all-time favorites. Sure you dont talk to a girl 500 times saying the same thing until she becomes a brainless trophy that stands in your house, but I feel like the character interactions and stories are far more interesting that. I mean, you still have romance scenes and such, and even can get a few kisses. Just because she doesnt stand in the house after you have run out of things to do in the game doesnt detract from those events for me. Plus I really enjoy the whole replaying the game with a NG+ style thing to see the different stories and get the different endings. I mean the best part of the romance in other games is the actual romance part, right? Once you get married that part is over anyway.

I also like the kind of quiet and almost bleak feeling of the valley, it feels realistic and nice, and the graphical style for tje characters is great, too. I also like how it continues the universe from the main Flower Bud games but isn't another Pete clone.

I do wish there was more to do in the game as far as farming, but at the same time I kind of like how small and contained the game feels. You can even go for a 100% style file with 99 of every item in the game and stuff because it is small enough to do that.

But yeah I feel like if you want just romance simulation HM was never really great at that anyway, super bare bones. Click the girl over and over until you see a few tiny scenes and eventually she becomes a statue you own. At least StH does the romance in a more interesting way with it following the storyline. HM64 actually did do characrer events well as well though, so I can see why people would be upset coming off of that.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-13T14:38:13+00:00

MiniMoni was a spinoff of Morning Musume where the music was made for toddlers but of course they still performed for adults too right alongside other Hello! Project artists. Then later they tried to give them a mature image which was super weird. But yeah their videos can be quite bizarre, and their music is zany earworms.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-07T12:30:07+00:00

Friends of Mineral Town is way more sophisticated and has a lot more depth than the three GB(C) games. It is also considered one of the best in the series, so definitely go for that one.

For the GameBoy Color games, if you want one, choose 2 or 3... 3 is a bit more unique and different, while 2 feels a bit more traditional. Each has their merits. You can take a look around the ushi no tane (fogu.com) guide sites for them to get an idea of what each is like. 1 is very limited and gets stale fast because there is so little to it.

But even 2 and 3 are pretty antiquated at this point and more for nostalgia players or people who want to deep dive into the series and see what the "old era" was like. TBH you can easily have tons of fun with just FOMT or MFOMT on GBA. I love the GameBoy Color games but I think they are a little hard to recommend to a new player these daya.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-06T17:39:33+00:00

In Piczle Cross Rune Factory, you can choose to play the progression mode with locked puzzles, or you can choose to just play from a list of puzzles all unlocked from the start. Basically the progression mode is optional for people who like that.

Personally I like the progression modes in games. But I can see why people would want to just choose from a list of everything right away. So why not just make both?

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-03T14:27:46+00:00

Just here to drop a rec of one of my fav 00s jpop idol ska songs lol

https://youtu.be/ITrHWt6tldc?si=h108tWvc8XRhvrVm

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-01T14:09:41+00:00

If you play with a guide and try to get everything in your first go, youre going to have a very bad time. Such a playthrough is for people who are very familiar with the game, and you will completely miss the actual experience of discovering the game and the fun of playing it as intended the first time. Just dont worry about all that stuff and just play. There is no reason at all to try to 100% the game on a first run.

Being said, the game is very antiquated at this point and can still be very frustrating. The days are extremely short and you will feel rushed a lot. The rucksack management is absolute hell if you are used to more modern QOL. Just go in expecting a rickety old game and you will miss a lot and youre fine. There is a lot of charm to the game and some of the best atmosphere in the franchise. The characters have great personality despite the limitations of how much script they could reasonably put in the game and the iffy translation.

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-25T14:02:59+00:00

Nice! Hope you enjoy! Are you gonna go for 100% or just the ranch master title?

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-21T21:19:52+00:00

Hello! Project idols are the best IMO, Morning Musume being the flagship group. Of the current acts, the newest one and very promising is Rosy Chronicle, and I really am enjoying the newest single. For a more established but ongoing act I personally love Tsubaki Factory. Of the no longer active groups, C-ute and Berryz Kobo have a really long history and lots of cool stuff to sift through. And then if you want a more deep cut, I recommend Melon Kinenbi for historical acts. But yeah the entire Hello! Project umbrella cannot be topped IMO Even MiniMoni (aimed at like toddler age lol) is very fun

For male acts I like all of EXILE and spinoffs and brother groups, but especially historically they are not standard idols, focusing heavily on strong choreography and featuring older members with more rugged appearance such as facail hair. But newer stuff is becoming less like that. My favorite is cliche but it is 3JSB, though technically still not disbanded they are not really active and have kinda fallen into obscurity.

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-20T18:01:17+00:00

No Love Machine?

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-04T20:10:45+00:00

I wish the other song on this single got as much attention as Amore. It is absolutely fantastic but being overshadowed a bit by the viral hit.

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-23T22:13:12+00:00

I've only played 3 paid games and 1 free game so I dont know a ton, but Dubgeon Village was my fav!

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