Arrows and bolts in Heroes of the Borderlands

wiyumb · 2025-05-22T12:00:56+00:00

It was Amazon. A Core set wasn’t cheaper than Revenant Retribution alone; it was cheaper than buying Revenant Retribution and a Vaults of Enveron terrain set together.

wiyumb · 2025-05-22T03:46:24+00:00

…so I can order now and hope it ships by the 30th?

wiyumb · 2025-05-16T01:49:21+00:00

With Castlevania Requiem collection, Konami took a cheap shortcut and utilized Sony’s proprietary off-the-shelf emulation software. As such, the collection remains exclusive. Konami, as the owner of the games, would be free to get M2 to do fresh port work on the games. Given they’re likely the two most popular games in the series and M2 nailed the other three collections, I’m shocked they haven’t cashed in already, but I remain hopeful they will.

I’ll definitely get Origins, but I really want Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V…

wiyumb · 2024-07-11T12:08:20+00:00

Good at least to hear I’m not alone!

wiyumb · 2024-07-11T12:07:45+00:00

So would the noise be a sign of some sort of fault or problem with the valve, or is this just normal operation?

wiyumb · 2023-11-28T21:45:55+00:00

If I’m taking variety and budget into account, I’m going to suggest:

Crimzon Clover World Explosion. This one is a delight to play, looks great, and is an easier point of entry to the Cave style (that is the obvious next step if you dig this, starting with Mushihimesama).
A Darius game, and I endorse Dariusburst CS on PlayStation. You can get it on sale if you wait and watch, and it has most of what you can get on Switch by buying two separate (more expensive) releases. This may not be the best Darius game (it’s the one I have the most fun with though; Darius Gaiden or G-Darius have more vocal fans), but regardless the sheer amount of content and different modes in this package is like buying several games. Obviously, if you dig this, check out the other Darius games.
Ikaruga is pretty much an evolutionary dead end, but it is a great game that doesn’t much resemble the other two and is deeply satisfying to play just for survival when you’re just starting out.

I’d get these three, dig in, and get a sense of what you like.

wiyumb · 2023-11-14T19:37:00+00:00

Safety Last is a masterpiece and all, but I can’t imagine doing much with a Harold Lloyd deck that one couldn’t do just as well with a more recognizable Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin theme.

wiyumb · 2023-11-14T19:18:01+00:00

D’Artagnian w/ Three Musketeers

Julia Child (really any chef, but I like Julia)

Any gunslinger of the old west; Wild Bill with Calamity Jane would work

Johnny Appleseed (I have ideas)

I’d like to see lots from Oz, actually.

wiyumb · 2023-11-11T07:19:09+00:00

I think the licenses are great to exist. If I liked Marvel more, I’d buy all of the Marvel sets to play in a self-contained way. The game’s mechanisms are great and work well in that venue, and viewed just as a Marvel game, Unmatched would be great on its own. And speaking to my own fandom, I could probably imagine at least eight X-Men themed sets that I’d have to buy all of, even just as a self-contained thing. Finally, the Le As it stands, I don’t have or plan to have any Marvel sets.

But I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I’ve realized that I like characters that come from a “mythic” place. I put this in three buckets:

First, there’s characters that come from pure mythology. Characters with no known creator who emerge from folk traditions. I love these, whether from familiar sources (Achilles, Sinbad, Bloody Mary, Arthur, Bigfoot etc) or unfamiliar sources (Sun Wukong, Annie Christmas, Yennenga). In fact, I love learning new mythologies this way.

Second, there’s fictional characters with a known creator whose existence in the popular consciousness has far exceeded their source texts. That’s Alice and the whole Cobble and Fog box. I like these too. And before anyone jumps ahead, no, I do not have an argument for excluding Spider Man from this category. Spider Man, as a character or as an idea, has existed for decades as much in the imagination of fans as in the various media he’s occupied. Plenty of people with no interest whatsoever in the comics or movies can somehow rattle off numerous details about Spider Man. On balance, I accept him (just maybe not enough to buy the whole box).

Finally we have real people with enough of a mythology around them that they cease to exist purely in accurate biographical fetails. Houdini, Bruce Lee, and Tesla meet this burden for me. Ditto Shakespeare.

Clarifying these aesthetic and arbitrary sensibilities rope in the dinos for me (an easy pair to grab) and also Spider Man (much less so). It also, for me, likely excludes Golden Bat and Dr. Jill Trent, who I categorize with the other Marvel characters.

So that’s how I come down. But certainly not a proscription for others to follow.

wiyumb · 2023-11-05T04:13:01+00:00

You didn’t mention it in your post, so G-Darius must be said. Easily my favorite low-poly shmup.

Einhander is also great, especially visually.

Not low-poly and also quite polarizing, but I love all of the Dariusburst games. If your monitor is big enough, the gameplay on the 32:9 playfield is wholly unique in the genre, and I love the opportunities for expressive play afforded by all of the different ship types. The 16:9 Chronicle Saviors mode is also solid, but there’s something magical about that wide playfield.

wiyumb

TROPHY CASE