#I like physical games

[goombasa]

Little Samson: Good, But Not $2,000 Good

Y'all ever played Little Samson before?

It was an NES game developed by a tiny developer called Takeru. The didn't have a chance to do much before going under, and Little Samson, despite being published by a semi-well known name like Taito, was released two years after the launch of the SNES, so despite a pretty big install base, the lack of proper marketing led to the game not doing very well at all in the states.

It's a shame because, as a platformer, it is an incredibly fun, polished experience that has some impressive mechanics for an NES game, the biggest being its character switching mechanic. While there were other games that had you switching characters now and then, like Bucky O'Hare for example, it was more like switching weapons in a Megaman game, or each character having one niche, unique ability to them. In Little Samson, every character feels completely unique from everyon else.

You have Samson himself, who is a fairly good all rounder with a dependable attack, good jump and speed, and can cling to walls and ceilings. You have the dragon Kikira who can shoot charged up fireballs and fly for brief periods of time. There's Gamm the golem, who is incredibly slow and can't jump as high as other characters, but has a powerful punch attack that can be launched in four different directions, and is completely immune to spikes. And then there's K.O. the mouse, making him a small target, and he can not only travel along walls and ceilings like Samson, but also attacks by planting bombs, making him a more trap oriented character. Every character also has their own individual health bar, with some of them starting with less health than others, and their health can even be permanently upgraded by grabbing heart containers scattered around all the stages.

It's a fun, balanced, and interesting game that never got a proper chance to shine in its day and was only really appreciated once emulators became a big thing, allowing others to really explore a game console's vast library and discover hidden gems like this one.

Which is good, because getting a physical copy of this game is near impossible without taking out a small loan. At the time I write this, physical copies of Little Samson routinely sell for around $2,000 loose. It has nothing to do with the game's quality of course, the game is so expensive because the print run of this game was absolutely tiny. There are not a lot of copies of this game out in the wild and it's widely recognizes as THE rarest commercially released NES game.

And look, I say this as someone who loves video games, who grew up alongside the medium, and who was a retro game collector for a long while, before basically being priced out of the hobby: NO GAME regardless of quality or rarity, is worth that much. The people who are regularly spending this sort of money on a game like this aren't really the sort of people who are interested in the game for its historical value or because it's fun to play (I dare say most expensive games on the NES are terrible) but because it's rare and it's seen as an investment.

Little Samson, I feel like, is the perfect game to point at for the importance of preservation and emulation. I hate the idea of a world where only those who could afford to casually drop thousands of dollars on a thirty year old computer board encased in a plastic shell could play and experience this game on their own. There's also basically no real chance of it ever getting rereleased. The developer has long since been closed down, the developers scattered to the wind. Taito still exists, so chances are good they do own the IP, but like most one-off games from so long ago, it's probably buried so deep in the bowels of the company that I doubt even Taito knows they own it (if they actually do, that's just me speculating right now).

Is the game worth playing? Hell yes. Is it worth investing in a legit copy for an authentic experience? Hell no. Little Samson is an extreme example of how easy it is for something to just disappear into the ether and become inaccessible as physical media. While Digital Only is far from perfect, and we're already seeing the issues with that when large corporations control the platforms, but physical only isn't much better when there are so few physical copies that are only available to those who can afford a massive payout. For proper preservation, there should be at least a few physical copies that are preserved, with the digital versions of older media being easily accessible outside of a closed garden, something that open source emulation thankfully gives to us.

get yourself an emulator, folks. Grab those games. Experience something new. Look at the widest breadth possible. Play games from other countries. Play titles you've never heard of. Play licensed games that were actually fun and interesting. No one should have to pay out the nose to play a game from so long ago. Hell, no one should have to pay out so much to play a game from a console generation ago. Companies love to tout that they remake, rerelease, and remaster games all the time, but they'll only do that with games that there's demand for, or that they know will sell well, even if it is just for a joke or a meme (hi there, Bubsy).

I do believe in paying for games that are new. But I believe in paying a fair price for them, and if a game is not, and most likely never going to be made officially available to me, then there is no reason to feel bad about not paying for a used copy of an old game.

Thank you for indulging in this long-winded rant to say that emulators and game backups are important. Go play Little Samson. It's good. And it's free if you download a copy of Retroarch or Mesen or FCEUX or Nestopia.

Have fun!

[dryya-doesnt]

Hi again waxwitch enjoyers (population: me)

[lazylittledragon]

y'know every time i feel guilty about bothering someone by singing along when i'm listening to music, i just remember that i have to tolerate my dirtbag brother screaming at his ps5 for hours every day so listening to muffled off-key fall out boy is probably preferable

[ineed-to-sleep]

Blacked out in front of my tablet and woke up with sketches of my Touchstarved mc + Kuras my beloved. woops

[shegoesbyjoy]

the quiet show of support from kim despite his own nerves... the playful ribbing between the two of them... the image of kim lending a crying harry his handkerchief, doing what he can to dry this broken man's tears....... these moments are really making me feel some type of way alright

[galasgamingcorner]

But can Elgar'nan find us here?

[catastrophic-crisis]

Today, August 2nd, game magazine Game Informer was revealed to be ending, suddenly. All who worked there appear to have been laid off in the middle of working on their next issue of the magazine. Their website is now just a landing page announcing the end of the magazine, eliminating access to the years of online content, some exclusive to the website.

There are various online efforts to preserve both the digital and physical work done by the many talented people who have been laid off.

Fuck Game Stop, who owns the company.

Blake Hester 🧵:

The Life And Career Of John Johanas (director of Evil Within 2) | Three Days With Bokeh Game Studio (Slitterhead) | Exploring Caves With The Creator Of Spelunky (hosted on Game Informer YouTube) | The Bully 2 You'll Never Play | Life and death With Ikumi Nakamura (formerly Tango Gameworks, now Unseen) | Exploring Shibuya with Tango Gameworks | The Making of Humanity, 2023's Best Puzzle Game (hosted on Game Informer YouTube)

[moonsnqil]

Kevin watching Jean ask Jeremy if he's okay, watching Jean offer to hold Laila's bag so she can fix her shoe, watching Jean hand Cat a granola bar before a game because she looked a little unsteady. He's not jealous, he had his time by Jean's side. Maybe it's grief. Grief for something that was never so innocent, never so untouched by cruel hands, something that could've been better if they were anyone else. Grief for something that's long passed and can never be fixed to be made better than before. He had his time at the receiving end of Jean's concerned glances. Maybe he's just a little sad that when he's at an away game, he no longer buys post cards for a friend. Maybe he just misses this person who used to always be by his side but they both knows it's better this way. Jean is happy, it's not with Kevin, and that's okay.

[julijbee]

girlbossing too close to the sun.

[retourpresdetoi]

hey mouthwashing analysts, do we maybe want to think a bit before comparing a full grown man, who is just heavily disabled, to a baby? like a literal infant? especially when there's a stronger metaphorical/psychological/symbolic avatar for the baby and pregnancy already present within the narrative? (multiple even!)

[baddingtonbitch]

while i agree wholeheartedly with the general anti-subscription sentiment, the way people talk as if CDs, DVDs, blurays and physical video games just don't exist anymore makes me feel insane. make an ebay account. congratulations you now have more access to buying physical copies of media than the average person ever had in whatever time period you're pining for, at prices they could have only dreamed of. recent or vintage, pre-owned or brand new, it's literally all out there. it's not as instantaneous as streaming and it's not as free as piracy but physical media never was. and if you can't have it mailed or even remailed to your current location for whatever reason, it's not like that was easier in previous decades. my childhood blockbuster rat self couldn't have imagined the access, variety and affordability of physical media right now. it's surreal to feel like i'm witnessing a movie geek golden age and still hearing people sigh like physical media has been outlawed.

[naturecalls111]

Vampire / Monster Hunter AU from @billdenbrough that I'm obsessed and in love with...

[dykedvonte]

Curly not immediately punishing Jimmy for assaulting Anya is something I don’t think a lot of people are viewing in the complex context for Curly as the superior to both of them and closest confidante they had.

Like I am in no way saying he didn’t under react or fail Anya by not being harsh or direct with Jimmy but it really is the case that he really couldn’t. Imagine being stuck in such a confined space with very little areas to genuinely hold someone if they commit a crime. It’s not like this was an event that occurred before they departed or that they have easy communication with The Pony Express to ask for how to proceed when something like this arises. Not to mention, Jimmy’s relative power in relation to Anya as the co-pilot and second in command, he has the knowledge and access to do something to her had Curly directly punished him in this setting.

They were also Curly’s friends. It’s not just the case of him mediating something between his subordinates but people he is personally invested in don’t want to see spiral further in Anya’s case while also not wanting believe his friend go that bad in Jimmy’s actions. They were both suicidal and Curly putting Jimmy’s stability first is both out of bias but also the fact he’s aware at some level Jimmy is a danger to himself and others if not constantly placated. Combined with the fact he was in denial or just not piecing together what Anya said it’s hard to say what he buying time for and what he had treat as urgent. This isn’t even saying he doesn’t care about Anya but he’s not going jump to the worst conclusions about his friends even if part of him acknowledges the evidence saying so. It’s a complicated thing but he’s still human and needed to process it on top of trying to keep a ship that already took on a lot of water from further sinking, metaphorically.

I just personally think that while Curly failed Anya, it was a scenario where there wasn’t much he could do to the best thing by her safely and like Jimmy, we are underestimating what a good leader would do in a very fragile and tense situation like he was in. By the time he may have been ready and had a plan, things were much too late.

[tapeworrmart]

Have art block and been playing gta iv so. Niko.

[homeofhousechickens]

Chickens likely domesticated themselves the same way wolves did which is basically by hanging around our settlements and eating our refuse.

Living with chickens in this sort of way was likely happening way before the estimated times of 8,000- 10,000 years ago. The relationship was likely already long established it was just during that time some chickens started developing smaller/weaker adrenal glands which caused them to become much easier to raise and handle which eventually lead to the domesticated chicken we know of today (and how that happened so suddenly is a completely different but very interesting topic)

Also due to this you could argue that there isn't any true wild red jungle fowl left untouched and uninfluenced by humans anymore. Not only due to constant cross breeding with domestic chickens but because red jungle fowl are still doing what their ancestors did in their current range, if there is a town or village nearby the bravest junglefowl will still choose to intermingle with the village and eat the refuse, agricultural byproducts, and waste. People will still catch and care for these "wild" birds like their ancestors did. This isn't to say we shouldn't try our best to preserve the wild red jungle fowls wild genetics, their should be populations left to be in their natural environment but it's likely they are not truly same wild birds they once were thousands of years ago and honestly that's OK because thats how its been for thousands of years.

[kingprinceleo]

just kinda a thing i wanted to say since ik i have younger artists following me (its applicable to everyone really, but very important to form care habits as early as possible) i read about others artists experiencing pain from overworking and i always thought to myself, i wouldnt let that happen to me, im real young, i still have time before i have to worry about really damaging my body

but your body really doesnt care, if you push yourself, if you ignore the pain, its going to fuck you up. maybe for the rest of your life please god take care of yourself when you draw, write, game, literally anything. stretch your wrists, fingers, dont keep your elbow in a locked a position for too long, especially dont lean on your elbows. get up around every 45 minutes, drink water, eat food, use the bathroom, stretch your whole body and your hands again. walk outside and let your eyes readjust your body is trying to communicate with you for a reason when you start hurting, please listen to it, be kind to yourself, you deserve it