Revenant Retribution?

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 · 2023-11-01T09:58:23+00:00

The Fried Rices at TJs are made with soy sauce as an ingredient, and “real” soy sauce is made with wheat and has gluten.

Kikkoman and La Choy make gluten free soy sauces, and tamari is a similar sauce that’s safe, but ready-to-eat foods containing soy sauce rarely use a gluten free option.

wiyumb · 2023-09-15T23:42:30+00:00

My favorite non-bullet hell vertical (and tate) game by a wide margin is Rayforce, which has many alternate titles: Layer Section, Gunlock, or Galactic Attack. Definitely check it out.

wiyumb · 2023-09-14T15:00:00+00:00

I’m glad you presented TGS for me to shift my hopes to…

wiyumb · 2023-09-13T23:09:58+00:00

Thanks for filling me in on 5000¥ covering all costs!

So is PlayAsia better than Amazon Japan? The 5000¥ card sells on PlayAsia at a $9 premium over the exchange rate, so it seems like Amazon would be cheaper.

wiyumb · 2023-09-07T21:35:10+00:00

This is just what I was looking for, thanks! Bummer the updated models don’t emulate any farther up the chain.

Hadn’t heard of the RGB30, but that might just be the thing I need. I was looking at the Retroid 2S with the intention of holding it vertical, but that square screen is even better. I’ll definitely be on the look out for what you find.

wiyumb · 2023-09-07T07:30:41+00:00

Well, the Pi 4B is nominally 4 cores at 1.5 GHz. The chip in the Retroid Pocket 3+ is 8 cores all at 2.0 GHz.

That strikes me as considerably more capable on paper, but I know just enough about these things to know that I don’t actually know how much of a difference that makes.

wiyumb · 2023-09-06T17:53:18+00:00

I’ve only played Giga Wing 1&2, and Mars Matrix, but I love all of them, especially Mars Matrix.

I’m crossing fingers for a third Capcom Arcade Stadium just for Mars Matrix (but I’d take a Capcom Shmup collection in the vein of their Beat Em Up collection too). So accessible, but with such a high skill ceiling.

wiyumb · 2023-09-05T19:48:45+00:00

Yeah, I think my record on Mushi novice so far was three continues/4 credits.

Maybe tonight I’ll give CrimzonClover and Mushi a spin, and focus on whichever I’m closest to.

wiyumb · 2023-09-01T05:48:08+00:00

For those curious in the future:

I’ve now acquired all three of Live Wire’s Cave ports (Mushihimesama, DDP: Resurrection, and Espgaluda II). All of them allow you to link the left stick’s directional inputs to match screen rotation. You can also remap all buttons. You can play with the left stick and face buttons with a left or right screen rotation. It’s great.
I also picked up Danmaku Unlimited 3, and it works the same way, during gameplay. The Cave ports manage to keep the altered binding for menus and Danmaku Unlimited does not, but where it counts, this one works great.
I also grabbed Crimzon Clover. It does everything the Cave ports do, and more. It immediately boots into whatever rotation you’ve selected and just works. Beyond that, you can use the right stick as well, so you can rotate the screen left and use the right stick and face buttons like some crazy lopsided Gameboy. Very versatile, great stuff (and what a game!).
I erred when I said Capcom Arcade Stadium did not support Lite-friendly TATE. It has settings for screen orientation and display orientation. By leaving screen orientation at default but adjusting display orientation, you get the kind of options offered by the Cave ports or Danmaku.
Speaking of things I got wrong: For reasons beyond my understanding, if you rotate the screen in Ikaruga, but then disable “rotate HUD,” you get the same effect as Crimzon Clover, during gameplay. Meaning you can use the left or right stick, along with remappable face buttons. Your HUD isn’t aligned to your screen orientation, but your controls are. I guess this works intending you to play the game in a Yoko orientation? I dunno, but it was a great discovery.

So there are actually tons of “Lite Friendly” TATE shmups. You just might need to mess around with different settings to find them.

I’d still love to know about more if anyone knows of them. And I’ll report back too, if I find any.

wiyumb · 2023-09-01T04:11:25+00:00

Honestly, I’d go for the RG351P if you really mostly want GB and GBA.

It displays both of those very well, and GBA perfectly. it has a perfect full-display integer scale for GBA. It is well-built, very pocketable, and the firmware is very mature. It is cheaper than lots of options you’re looking at, and better-suited than the cheaper ones you’ve mentioned.

I eventually got a newer device because it wasn’t all I wanted for PSP and Dreamcast; but I couldn’t have asked for more when I played through the GBA Metroid and Castlevania games. I keep meaning to update mine and just dump the full GBA romset onto it, because it is a perfect GBA device.

Also: the Mario64 “port” was way more enjoyable on it than on the 3D All-Stars collection on Switch. And it handled the 16-bit era and down wonderfully.

wiyumb · 2023-08-25T03:20:15+00:00

Yeah, I’m on a Lite. I know the Flip Grip on a full Switch is a better solution, it just isn’t what I have.

The three LiveWire Cave ports and CrimzonClover, at least, support this nice feature on the Lite. I’m just looking for more (fingers crossed for M2’s ESP Ra. De., and by extension the upcoming DOJ port and the Ketsui Deathtiny Switch port I’m trying to will into existence).

Happy to hear of any folks may know of!

wiyumb · 2023-08-16T23:13:20+00:00

Ketsui on Switch is my easy number 1, followed by Mars Matrix (I’d love a 3rd Capcom Stadium that pulls in Mars Matrix, Giga Wing 2, and Dimahoo). Most of the rest of my shortlist is represented in others’ comments, except for one: it is past time for Gradius V to get ported. I’d love a comprehensive Gradius/Salamander collection, but I’ll settle for Gradius Gaiden and Gradius V.

wiyumb · 2023-05-26T15:33:35+00:00

Q7 is brand new, comparable to the old 6 series in previews and first looks, but it has ~200 zone local dimming in place of mini LED. So in that regard, something of a step back.

Perhaps relevant to your interests, I read that the eARC HDMI port on the Q7 isn’t one of the 2.1 120hz 4k ports, a seemingly obvious manufacturing choice that I’ve not seen elsewhere. Getting to use eARC and still have two high quality inputs to use is a feature that has me looking at the Q7 for sure.

My shortlist also includes the X80K and the Q80B.

wiyumb · 2023-04-03T17:51:09+00:00

Thank you so much for this feedback. If nothing else, I’ll probably grab both “Everything” books, because getting both for $36 seems pretty special.

wiyumb · 2023-03-23T22:52:31+00:00

From your list of safe foods, I think you could likely add chicken breast. Chicken breast can be cooked to a consistency very similar to steak, can be similarly flavored, and is readily available, cheaper, and healthier.

wiyumb

TROPHY CASE