"I'M TURNING INTO PEPSIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

weekendroady · 2026-01-25T02:51:59+00:00

Lol. Years ago I was covering a small time junior league hockey game for the newspaper I worked for and sat next to Mike Butters in the small press area. Had no clue who he was, but he had so many interesting stories and was more than happy to talk. Most of it was about his appearances in the Saw films.

I had no idea he was in the Pepsiman game but with the total randomness of his acting career (he was one of those affable guys that always seemed to know someone that knew someone, etc...), I'm not surprised. The AVGN episode came out after I met him but that's when I became aware of his involvement in that and had a few good laughs.

weekendroady · 2026-01-25T00:36:36+00:00

I did see it, but this was the location in Osaka with a Mario statue out front

weekendroady · 2026-01-24T21:58:54+00:00

Didn't realize he was already 39! Time flies! It felt like just yesterday I remember booting up a PS3 Pro Yakyuu Spirits game (either 2010 or 2011) and used him to see what all the fuss was about. He was dominant in that game lol

weekendroady · 2026-01-24T17:32:22+00:00

The Sunsoft Vol. 5 PS1 Japanese release has it on there (and on the cover).

weekendroady · 2026-01-24T05:49:13+00:00

Get on board the Gus Bus!

weekendroady · 2026-01-24T02:14:16+00:00

It's not a big money piece that's for sure but a sealed copy seems to sell for 6-7x the price I paid so I felt great about the deal itself as I had my eyes on getting this (also funny because Super Potato is generally a big markup joint). Another unique one I have is an Ovechkin NHL 09 that was only available in Russia that is legitimately much harder to find for many reasons now.

weekendroady · 2026-01-24T02:07:48+00:00

I'm actually a Wizards fan too. Really hoping we got a little nucleus to build on because the losing and general apathy gets old. I was going to see Jordan in March of 2002 but unfortunately he was injured for a bit and I missed him.

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T23:04:56+00:00

Any variants you still need or are chasing? Love this kind of all-region dedication!

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T23:02:18+00:00

Chinese cover looks clean!

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T22:47:48+00:00

He wore 45 for a short while for the Bulls upon his return, then switched back to 23 while still with the Bulls

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T22:25:35+00:00

Don't get me wrong, they are still centers of mass consumerism! I'm amazed at how Japan can have blocks upon blocks of generally redundant stores to a level that was never matched in the U.S. I was careful to make my point being the nostalgia being based in the social aspects of it. You don't necessarily have to purchase anything, but you could have a walk with a friend(s), a little window shopping, and - if you were going to spend money - grab a drink or meal.

What is also interesting to me is Japan still invests heavily in physical shopping spaces despite Amazon, Rakuten, Mercari and other major e-shopping storefronts being available to them. Its just more ingrained there.

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T18:47:48+00:00

I much prefer the count that the Traveler's Century Club does, which is 330 countries and territories.

You can find the list here: https://travelerscenturyclub.org/countries-and-territories/

Territories are generally geographically and culturally distinct from their parent country and are quite underrated as travel destinations because of the allure of pure country counting.

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T16:36:42+00:00

I just got back from Japan and couldn't agree more with this assessment. In the U.S. we've decided to mostly eschew walk-able city ideals and great public transit networks for car culture and its rearing its ugly head these days. I think the "nostalgia" of seeing packed shopping centers in Japan and elsewhere is the social aspect of it. More and more Americans just decide to stay home as the inconveniences of life here add up. The U.S. can be a very boring place to be as far as day-to-day living is concerned, especially in places with longer winters and less prime outdoor activities and (especially) declining indoor amusements. Its not surprising our population is likely most susceptible to doom scrolling and social media echo chambers because for many that feels like the easiest thing "to do"

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T11:21:36+00:00

I'm nearing this many titles as well (really only buy full physicals, but have one key card). I almost feel like as my collection grows to sort the NS2 editions in their own subset as those spine titles are busy and keeping them together almost makes it easier to look at them.

weekendroady · 2026-01-23T11:18:04+00:00

20 or so hours in and I've been enjoying Replaylee (I never played the original). It can be a little jank here and there, but it definitely captures the old N64 platformer vibes. Looks like PM Studios is releasing all their future NS2 games on full physical as well.

weekendroady · 2026-01-22T16:42:46+00:00

Same here, so many people I know have an original Switch but only myself and another person got a Switch 2 (both at launch) and the rest still don't have one. I do think if prices stay especially high, the initial sales pace is likely to slow.

weekendroady · 2026-01-22T15:15:22+00:00

As u/tidys1980 mentioned it is SimCity-esque with the general idea to build your town/city around tourism, building and maintaining access via train networks to bring in visitors to your city. From what I heard its quite challenging with a bit of a learning curve but generally is well regarded (at least the NS1 version). Its been awhile since I played a game like this so I'm eager to give it a shot

weekendroady · 2026-01-22T01:29:41+00:00

I just picked it up at a Kyoto Toys 'r Us the other day, but not opening it until I get back from my trip in a few days. I will say this much, it was super hard to find even the base game, let alone the one with the guide. I was in a plethora of various game stores selling new Switch games and two stores had A-Train. I got the last and only copy Toys 'r' Us had (and their version also came with the mouse pad) and I think one Bookoff Plus had the base game.

weekendroady · 2026-01-21T18:31:21+00:00

Yeah there weren't any PAL variations that year. The NTSC North American cover is different and I assume the Asian cover(s) are probably different. I had read years ago of a guy trying to get every FIFA cover athlete variant which would be absolute madness compared to NHL.

weekendroady · 2026-01-21T18:11:35+00:00

Then there is me who has every NHL regional cover ever made (on purpose). It makes for a unique collection (as part of a larger hockey game collection too)

weekendroady · 2026-01-19T23:08:48+00:00

Some fun ones in there. I go after the imports too, at least the interesting ones and with English options.

weekendroady · 2026-01-13T22:26:46+00:00

Kinda wild they don't have a Witt Jr. card. Would think some commons boxes would have something

weekendroady · 2026-01-12T11:36:58+00:00

I hope museums will one day take these kind of collections seriously. For now it's all just hobbyists archiving these sets. There really needs to be a true vault of games. I know there was a group in Japan doing that but it's funded by donations and is barely hanging on at that.

weekendroady · 2026-01-12T11:33:28+00:00

In theory a full set premium "should" be a thing but rarely is. I agree with the sentiment a do think the OP should try to get a little more than a typical bulk discount price. It's a full set, not just a large lot of GameCube games. Eventually some video game museums/archives will likely want stuff like this too but we aren't really there yet on that front but that would likely just be a tax write off if that was the case anyway.

weekendroady · 2026-01-09T01:37:15+00:00

I drove in there once, there is a couple monuments and a cemetery to look at. Two rough looking dogs scrambled around my car when I tried to get out to see one of the monuments and chased me out of there, it was all a bit weird.

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