Should you bother?

• Atari
• 2600 - Sure, why not
• 5200 - Nah
• 7800 - Only for Ninja Golf
• Lynx - Awful physical experience; emulate it if you must
• Jaguar - Not worth the money; emulate it for some interesting stuff though
• Jaguar CD - See Jaguar
• Nintendo
• NES - Nostalgia and speedrunning
• GB - However you do it, just make sure you get the display right
• SNES - 100% original, 100% awesome
• VB - Must be experienced; nothing else like it
• N64 - Original, FPGA, or emulator; all good
• GBC - Meh
• GBA - Yup
• GC - Meh; get a Wii
• DS - Yup
• Wii - Original hardware or Wii U for everything except Metroid Prime 3
• 3DS - Must be experienced; nothing else like it
• Wii U - Missed potential; leave it be
• Switch - Stellar platform
• Switch 2 - Waiting for a better display
• SEGA
• SG1000 - What
• Master System - Meh
• Genesis - Generally better on emulators
• Game Gear - Awful physical experience; emulate it for some interesting stuff
• SEGA CD - Seriously underrated
• 32X - Missed potential; leave it be
• Saturn - 100% original, 100% awesome
• Dreamcast - 100% original, 100% awesome; punched way above its weight
• Sony
• PS1 - Get a PS2
• PS2 - Yup
• PSP - Sure, why not
• PS3 - Yup
• Vita - Sure, why not
• PS4 - Yeah, but get a PS5 with a disc drive
• PS5 - Yup, see PS4
• Microsoft
• XBOX - Yup
• 360 - Yup
• XBOne - Kinect only
• Series - Sure, why not
• Misc.
• Intellivision/ColecoVision/Odyssey - Meh
• Vectrex - Must be experienced; nothing else like it
• 8- and 16-bit computers - You're a special kind of nerd, and that's alright
• Neo Geo - Totally fine on emulators, but original hardware is so cool
• 3DO - Pretty good, but most of it's also on PC and better there

Interesting that the vast majority of these classic platforms really only have 20 or so exclusive games worth playing; everything else has a comparable port elsewhere or a PC version. Most people just wanna experience cool art though, and that's never been easier than it is right now - almost all of this stuff can be fully enjoyed on a $20 thrift store computer. I hope collectors have fun and enjoy the hunt though, and speculators can get bent. 

Anyway...

I'd forgotten about this bit of nostalgic wish fulfillment.

DOOM: The Dark Ages going eldritch horror is rad, and way better than whatever that floating mancave in Eternal was supposed to be. Finished the game and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finally started Jedi Survivor, and yeah, I'd missed this.

Prime Hunters is kinda meh, though still impressive for the DS.

Picked-up Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider for too much money (but less than the going rate), Game Builder Garage and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom (360) for a reason able amount of money, and then decided to finally dig further into Fable II because it's supposedly works well enough on Xbox One, and... It hasn't aged as well as I'd hoped. I really enjoyed the first game on PC - small and flawed, but overall fun and well-built - but II just kinda feels like a slog of navigating eggshells and busywork at the cost of some pretty janky system implementations. It's still fun and interesting, and sports great performances; but then the menus are just infuriatingly unpolished, the moral choices lack nuance, and the writing is questionable - and none of that is a 2008 thing like the bloom, or the motion blur, or the combat system, or the animations, or the dialogue timing, or the checkpoints...  Really though, I just wish it ran smoother.

Hey Lizardcube, could you do Comix Zone next? Thanks.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is fine, regardless of how you play it - but it's also visually drab and poorly written. I'm not sure if I like its cliches less than Echoes', but neither lives-up to the first one. Beyond isn't exactly a breath of fresh air so much as it's just oxygen - a huge jump in production values, especially for secondary characters; Vi-O-La is more engaging than the cockpit in Corruption, and conveys a sense of scale much more effectively; the handholding is a little more obnoxious, but nothing new. I've finished the game and thoroughly enjoyed it - up there with Zero Mission, II, Fusion, and Dread; not quite Prime or Super. The scene when VUE-995 apologises to Samus and she just shrugs? Perfection. The ending though... Trash. I don't mean that the final fight or the conclusion of the story are bad, but the overwrought combat patterns and inconsistent conventions were maddening - i.e. Don't read too much into things; just dodge and shoot... Until you do need to literally read into them, and then risk repeating a significant amount of gameplay for no real reason. It's absolutely boneheaded design marring an otherwise brilliant game. Oh, and the secret ending? No spoilers, but that might be the stupidest origin story I've ever seen. Beyond is still an overall win, but talk about tripping over the finish line.

I've finished Other M as well, and it's mostly really good. The game doesn't play quite like anything else; Sakamoto clearly wanted to try something new in the wake of the original Prime trilogy, and he almost pulled it off. The heinously bad script needs a re-write, and that means those awful performances would need to be re-recorded. While the myriad hackneyed metaphors should be toned way down, I don't think they have to go entirely away - there's an interesting story here that explores concepts like creation and responsibility in terms of motherhood; independence and cooperation in terms of choosing to respect a particular chain of command; all of that in the context of AI, genetic engineering, and military applications thereof. This one's due a proper re-working - existing fan projects look solid, but I'd like to see Nintendo fix this mistake themselves - same story and setting, new script, edited cutscenes, and no more motion controls. Oh, and the epilogue is great right up until the end; it's like they realised what they had done, gave us what we actually wanted, and then pulled the rug out from beneath us at the last moment... I honestly laughed out loud. Anyway, Prime Hunters next.

Finally getting around to trying the Oasis Driver for Windows Mixed Reality on Windows 11 25H2, and  it's pretty rad and I'm pretty grateful.

Found a Ducky One 2 60% Mini RGB (DKON2061ST) with TTC Gold Pink switches for $6 at a thrift store - missing three keycaps, pretty dirty, and not responding to every key-press. Figured worth cleaning-up and maybe getting a new set of caps if it's serviceable. A quick clean yielded some improvement, but input's still spotty and I'm not super-interested in soldering anything. Maybe some compressed air into each switch as a last resort.

Also found a NETGEAR EAX12 AX1600 Wi-Fi Range Extender/AP/Adapter for $6 - no point in replacing the AC1200 TP-Link I picked-up the other week since it's currently only extending an AC router, but I couldn't pass-up a $94-savings.

ALSO found a D-Link DCS-8010LH for $5 - which was particularly refreshing after recently fighting with a set of Blink cameras for someone else, trying to get them to work without a subscription. Pro Tip: The full local storage option is only available on Blink if you don't have any kind of plan active, including the initial free trial 🙄

I quit my job and bought a keytar.

Quickly:

• The parry mechanic in DOOM: The Dark Ages is less obtrusive than I feared.
• Isles of Sea and Sky gets kinda frustrating toward the end; I seem to be missing a few upgrades though, so maybe that's on me.
• SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance is stellar (Lizardcube hasn't missed yet) and more Metroid than I expected.
• Animal Well is up there too, but I'm not sure sure how I feel about the roguelike elements.
• Inmost gets a little silly toward the end and loses some of its impact, but still really good.

Bloodily:

• Played through the original six episodes of Blood; can't remember if I ever did that back in the day. Still nothing quite like it. Marrow impresses immediately, but I'll get back to it. I feel like I should've waited for Cheello to update Coagulated for Refreshed Supply, but oh well...

Metroidly:

• Metroid II - EJRTQ Colorization is really well-done, and the core game holds-up nearly 35 years later; a little short, but still huge - especially for an original Game Boy game.
• Trying PrimeHack after a few hours of Corruption on original hardware is a revelation.
• Other M at 1440p with a DualSense feels almost contemporary.

Consumerly:

• Finally found a copy of RUSH: A Disney • PIXAR Adventure for Xbox One in the wild (and it has a "Microsoft Company Store" sticker on it), as well as Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings for PSP, and a sealed copy of Destruction Allstars on PS5.
• Boox Go 7 seems to be the sweet spot that balances portability, display, performance, and public-library support - so I got one for my partner.

Privately:

• EndeavourOS + Waterfox + Startpage? Waterfox's AUR package doesn't seem to be maintained all that well and I'm not really interested in Flatpak, so I opted for a manual installation. Still running Windows 11 + Edge + Bing in most places, and Android for mobile; Gemini's getting annoying on the latter though, so... Graphene? Lineage? Calyx?

Thriftily:

• ASUS RT-AX57 for $10
• Wi-Fi 6 is way faster than I need - seeing 2401Mbps negotiated, but I'm on a 100Mbps Internet connection and the router only has Gigabit Ethernet.
• TP-Link RE305 V3 AC1200 Wi-Fi Range Extender/AP/Adapter for $7
• Should be useful; reminds me of the DWL-G730AP I used on my 360 from 2006 into 2011
• Antennas Direct ClearStream 2V TV Antenna for $14
• Was actually looking for one.
• An HP power adapter for a buddy's old laptop for $5
• I told them I'd find one :)
• An HP power adapter for that $12 EliteDesk for $4
• Might need it to replace the $10 official universal travel one - down to $20 total ;)
• Rock Band 3 Xbox 360 Wireless Keyboard for $8
• It's also a MIDI keytar!

Really gotta move the old routers... Keeping these though:

• ASUS RT-AX57 (AX3000, Gigabit, 2x2 MU-MIMO)
• Linksys EA8500 (AC2600, Gigabit, 4x4 MU-MIMO, USB3.0, eSATA)
• TP-Link Archer A8 (AC1900, Gigabit, 3x3 MU-MIMO)

$11.24

Some especially decent offerings in a recent Steam sale, so I bought Sonic Frontiers - aggressive pop-in, absolutely horrible menus clearly designed by inhuman monsters, ugly cutscenes, some truly baffling asset-placement and annoying instant-death situations, very strange music... But genuinely great traversal and satisfying boss battles, and it all lands somewhere between modern Mario and Zelda. Weird as hell, and it works, and I kinda love it - especially for $16.

Also finally pulled the trigger on Ys X, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, DEVIL BLADE REBOOT, Isles of Sea and Sky (needs a CRT filter), and Rollerdrome (neat); also found Super Mario Maker 2 new for $40.

Back to Destiny - I can't put my finger on it, but Destiny 1 on PS5 feels better than Destiny 2 on PC. Also, The Taken King and Rise of Iron both went on-sale for $3.12 each, so I wrapped all of that up before diving into DOOM and Ys.

So far, I much prefer gameplay in The Dark Ages over Eternal. Performance-wise, on my 3070, I'm seeing ~90FPS@1080p and ~65FPS@1440p

• V-Sync Off
• VRS Off
• DLSS Quality
• Path Tracing Off
• HDR On
• Ultra Preset

Then I got distracted by Voxel Duke Nukem 3D and Blood: Refreshed Supply - both really good.

And then I got distracted again by the Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch preorders opening, so now I have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, and it's better than I expected - the NES, Genesis, Game Boy, and SNES offerings are pretty great; the N64 selection is good but I'd like to see a CRT filter; GBA on there is solid, but relatively weak.

...Aaannnd then I got distracted by Metroid Prime 3 in anticipation of 4... Loved Prime, didn't really like 2, and never got very far into 3; I'm still not a fan of the controls, or the dialogue, or... I'll finish it, regardless.

Got a watch repair kit, and I think I enjoy watch repair about as much as I enjoy soldering - which is to say, not much at all.

Oh, and I finally tried Astral Chain, and it's really good; I've been all over the place on PlatinumGames' output, but this one's got a hold on me for now.

Stuff

Virtual Boy Stuff:

Virtual League Baseball 2 was found and released. Compared to the first game, we've got:

• Brighter graphics
• A dynamic fielding camera
• Functionally different ballparks
• "Full Swing"
• The ability to reposition fielders while pitching
• Optional "Semi Auto" fielding
• Multiplayer
• Save support
• Arguably better music

...2's been much more fun and engaging to play in the time I've spent with it so far, though I do kinda miss the SD players in the Japanese original.

Finished Insmouse no Yakata in Japanese 'cause it really doesn't need to be translated; good game, doesn't do much with the 3D effect though. Wrapping-up the last few bits of Jack Bros. too; better game, better use of 3D. Neither is worth the asking price though, so I'm glad to see them in the Nintendo Classics collection.

Also, Capitán Sevilla 3D and Fishbone both look really good; more slick sprite-based games, please. 

Deathchase is pretty neat, Dragon Chopper could turn into something fun, Hunter is an interesting curiosity, VB Racing is pretty great, and Zpace Racers is a really cool glimpse into what could've been.

Other Stuff:

Hi-Fi RUSH, Sifu, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, MediEvil... Nothing was grabbing me, so I finally committed to Gravity Rush 2, and I'm hooked. Really liked the first one, and the sequel feels great.

Bubsy 4D demo isn't great though; Yooka-Replaylee demo is better but I hope they added more sound effects for the final release 'cause that attack sound gets old fast. Went back and played Yooka-Laylee, and it's much better than I'd heard - the quizzes are inane, the Kartos levels are broken, and the final boss is kind of annoying... But it's still really good overall. Tried The Impossible Lair too, and it didn't feel particularly special; nothing wrong with it, but it feels sluggish compared to Donkey Kong Country.

Finished Echoes of Wisdom and thoroughly enjoyed it. Things did start to drag a little toward the end, but there were enough secrets and some particularly entertaining writing to keep it interesting.

Getting back to Age of Calamity; still just fine. Might even buy Age of Imprisonment one day.

Played some spooky games for Hallowe'en: The Ten Bells is absolutely worth your time, and FAITH is genuinely chilling despite it's intentional limitations.

Picked-up a $5, French, not-for-resale copy of Destiny for PS4 - playing solo through story missions and patrols without a PlayStation Plus account is decent; might even buy The Taken King if it goes on-sale for $3 again... Rise of Iron for $30 is a big nope though, and sealed copies of The Collection don't seem to be readily-available for cheap. Reading-up on the DCV for Destiny 2 is kinda disappointing, but I guess there's always YouTube. Still prefer Anthem, by the way :(

Thrift store stuff:

• Tactile MX Mechanical Mini for $10 - that's $210-off!
• Clean Logitech G633 headset also for $10 - they were close to $300 new!
• Pioneer DM-C820, which happens to go with the LaserActive PAC-K1 - Neat :)
• CIB Casio SF-3000 GD for $5; works great, but awful to use.
• Linksys EA8500 AC2600 4x4 MU-MIMO router for $9 - was ~$300 new!
• Samsung SyncMaster 193p Plus for $15
• 15" LG Flatron TV + remote w/VGA+audio, component, s-video, etc... for $20
• Xbox One Kinect sensor for $10 (just to have a spare)

...Also found and left:

• Clean Razer BlackShark headset for $14
• TRS-80 Cassette Interface for $4
• Oculus DK2 for $20
• HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 for $25

128Mb, huh?

Test Chamber was released for Virtual Boy and it's a 4Mb game, so that's five titles now. Looks like MrCART is the best value going forward, but I'm not in any rush.

...And then they announced Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics! It's missing eight games, there's no word on mutliplayer support, and the image quality doesn't look very good (please make filters) but I'm buying one anyway.

Started Hi-Fi RUSH; looks incredible, deep and rewarding combat, and I'm getting kinda bored between cutscenes. Will finish it.

Started Sifu... It's fine; not really getting into the flow though.

Finally started Bloodborne in earnest - five hours in, and I want to like it more but it's just kind of exhausting. I get it; it scratches all sorts of itches really effectively, but it just wastes so much time. I'll keep at it, but spread-out over time.

Finished Horizon Zero Dawn and The Frozen Wilds (not Remastered), and while it was never quite a chore, I think I just like the setting and not much else - the presentation is a little rough around the edges, the combat is still fine and plenty deep, the story is uneven... It's a very good game, but I'm mostly only interested in Forbidden West for the graphics, am absolutely not shelling-out for a PS VR2 for Call of the Mountain, and I'm so far removed from the Lego games in general.

Grabbed Heretic + Hexen, played through Faith Renewed as well as Vestiges of Grandeur, and they're both great.

Pretty much done Super Mario Wonder - green checkmarks all around except for Special World; working on The Final-Final Test Badge Marathon. Game is a masterpiece, maybe a little easy, incredibly charming, and vaguely reminiscent Virtual Boy Wario Land with the multi-layer playfield, eye-tracking, exploration, etc...

Pleasantly surprised by Echoes of Wisdom, albeit repetitive. Wetlands writing is particularly hilarious; maybe halfway through, and excited for more.

Totally missed GBADoom - very impressive, and looks like the best way to play on Analogue Pocket. The new SNES DOOM, while also seriously impressive (and still tempting), just isn't the same as GBADoom, DOOM 32X Resurrection (3.3a!), DOOM CD32X Fusion, or the Saturn Doom fix patch - those were achieved using contemporary hardware, whereas the new SNES DOOM was not. The FX3 is neat, but it just didn't exist back then.

Found a sealed TrickleStar AV Advanced PowerStrip+ for $5, and what a silly device.

An Experience

Add Outer Wilds to the list with Pacific Drive and No Man's Sky... Finally got around to playing it, and while it's really clever with some truly stunning moments, and while I appreciate its smaller scale, it's just enough of a Roguelike to feel like a chore sometimes. I finished it, and I enjoyed it, and never got stuck for long; but the repetitive elements felt more like they were in service of the narrative rather than the gameplay. I'll count this one along with Majora's Mask 3D as an achievement in the genre nonetheless; worth checking-out.

Been catching-up on all the Paprium happenings and I don't get it. The game looks fine, but Streets of Rage 2 and Bare Knuckle 3 are still the best examples of the genre on that platform.

Speaking of sorta-released games, I finally got to play Bound High! on an actual Virtual Boy and I have never experienced my stomach drop while playing a video game - it honestly felt like I was on a roller coaster. Incredible use of the platform. Otherwise, finally got to try:

• Elevated Speed (16Mb)- Great graphics, questionable design.
• Faceball - Impressive! Awkward controls.
• Hyper Fighting (Demo) - Looks great, plays poorly.
• Insmouse No Yakata - Way better than expected; need more time with it.
  
• SD Gundam Dimension War - Actually about as bad as I'd heard.
• Space Invaders Virtual Collection - Slightly better than expected, but nothing special.
• Space Squash - Decent so far; need more time with it.
• Virtual Bowling - Overrated so far, but I'll reserve judgement until I've played more.
• Virtual Lab - Worse than expected!
• Waterworld - Better than expected!

Still interested in the new SNES DOOM, but $100 US and not shipping 'til 2026? I think I'm alright.

Found a copy of Ballistic for Nuon at a thrift store - so I had to check every DVD player there, just in case. No dice though.

Grabbed a loose Wolf Link amiibo from a local guy, just to go with my Wii U copy of Breath of the Wild; very cool, and I wish I'd done it sooner.

Re: Windows 11 on my X1 Carbon 2nd Gen - I needed to install a bunch of specific drivers manually, but I got the Adaptive Row working! Had been picky about drivers in the past.