#I’ve only ever had a DS and a Wii

[chilchucks-timbs]

What do you think of the sequel of twewy then? You talk a lot about the original but I'm interested in your opinion of the second part because I saw a few fans disappointed :o

OKAY. Omg.

So first of all? Soundtrack? SLAPS. We won. We won with the sequel soundtrack. I actually prefer some of the new remixes to the original!

The artwork? Stuck to the original style. Can’t complain at all. The new designs? PEAK. They’re so cool. There’s new shopkeepers- who look AWESOME- who have LORE. We can access NPC LORE. I read about one who is married to one of the players? Catch me eating popcorn at that story.

Shout out to the sprites you get when you’re feeding your party members? They’re so cute. In original TWEWY we just had a voice telling us if they liked it after I’ve fed them. NOW we get to know via their face going 🤢 or 🥺 BEFORE they eat so I can give them something they definelty like! and I think that’s fun and funky fresh.

Gameplay? Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. - the original game had a switch port and honestly? I really think they should’ve done better with the controls. What worked and was beautiful for the ds- felt very clunky on the switch. Especially when playing console? I mean what in the Wii controller buLLSHIT. I need my attacks ACCURATE and on tv that’s very very hard. My friend managed it but? Maybe I just need to get good LSLGFSPALDL. But NEO twewy? beautiful. Perfect. Great for the switch. no complaints on the new battle system.

The story:

edit: THE HUMOUR IS THERE. I FORGOR. I forgot how fucking funny it is. The amount of screenshots I have? Hilarious. Not any like quotable moments like there is in the original game. But there’s so much silly billy shit going on. Bunch of CLOWNS I swear.

Its messaging is not driven home as much as the original twewy is. Like my friend had to explain to me what they were doing because it’s very very subtle. The characters are changing but only just a little. -unlike the first game which, like? At the end of the game? These guys are CLEARLY not the same people who entered the game!! These are Zuko ATLA level transformations!!!: whereas Neo twewy game says? Hey. Your actions are kinda sucky bro. Ever thought about changing up your style? Like it’s THERE. But it’s clearly not the CORE of the game like the first one. And that’s where it falls flat FOR ME. I LOVE and ADORE character development and it’s just not the focus of NEO twewy. But that doesn’t mean I hated the game. I just don’t prefer it over the original.

What NEO twewy DOES focus on is world building which. I think they’ve made some super cool and interesting choices. Even if I, and many Joshua kiryu fans don’t agree with them. 💛 we just straight up ignore the new lore because we don’t like it- the one around Joshua anyway. They bring in some new reapers and some new plot line surrounding shinjuku. That’s fine. That’s fun. But. Joshua? MY MAN? No square enix, you don’t know my blorbo of 10 years better than me :))

So. In conclusion. I was not DISAPPOINTED. I just think they lost the core of what twewy meant to people for the sake of focusing on the new details theyve added. I think rindo and fret and nagi deserved better development.

ALSO IDK HOW I FEEL ABOUT TEAMS? I MISS PARTNERS. LIKE TEAMS IS FINE I GUESS BUT. PARTNER WAS SPECIAL.

Okokok real conclusion is that I was not disappointed. I had fun. I loved a lot about this game. But the original hit home so hard, and the sequel was just a good game.

[i-sailorstar-i]

OMG OMG OMG PEACH FANS WE ARE GETTING SO SPOILED TODAY!!! 💖💖💖

⭐️ Super Mario RPG is game I’ve only played once in my life, and that was on the Wii virtual console. But it’s a fantastic game, and now it looks even better! Princess Peach looks adorable in the chibi artstyle, and is just as beautiful! I kinda wish they kept her classic dress, but I like it nonetheless :)

🎀 I 100% did not think this would ever happen! A new solo Princess Peach game, and way overdue if I may add. I played the hell out of Super Princess Peach on the DS when it first came out and I loved every bit of it, and now my wish has finally come true! And it looks like it has a magical girl thing going on and, as a massive Sailor Moon fan, I’m on cloud nine! Look at her! Peach looks so serene and graceful when transforming! But into what?! And where’s her crown?? Nintendo is dirty for teasing us with so little of it and it’s left me begging for more! How do they expect me to wait until 2024??? ;-;

🌼 I, like many others, have heard the rumors of a new 2D Mario game being announced on this direct, and it was true! I’m a little…iffy about it, tbh, but any game with playable Peach is an instant buy for me! It looks like it may be a tad overstimulating, with the way the world twists and turns, and with the bright colors, but I think I’ll be okay. The artstyle looks great, reminds me of the recent Sonic games with the way Mario moves and expresses. And Daisy’s playable? That’s awesome! She was overdue to be in one of these! The elephant power up is cute, but I’m a bit worried about Peach and Daisy wearing it… looking at you, DeviantArt… :/

There hasn’t been a Direct that’s had me this hyped in a long time, and I think this one’s the best yet! I need all the Peach content there is, and I’m looking forward to each game’s release! 💖👑⭐️

[remimibanana]

AVCon Day 1 2023 Report

I had the opportunity to go to AVCon this year, a convention in Adelaide that made its return this year! It was my first ever anime convention, and it was a whole load of fun!

I went with Pie @piedivide, a good friend of mine! He cosplayed 9S, you’ll see him throughout the report hehe ^^

The report is under the cut!

Since I was going to a convention, I thought I should cosplay! When else would I have the chance to after all?

There were so many characters I wanted to cosplay, but at the end I chose…..

Bocchi-Chan from Bocchi The Rock!

Here is my beautiful pose I did because I couldn’t think of any other pose lol

Her wig was an absolute nightmare though, it was always so tangled even when I brushed it out, I’m definitely going for a character with shorter hair next time.

Exhibit A:

See that mess lol

But regardless, let’s actually get into it!

Pre-Con

I got my butt up at 6am in order to get ready, since I wanted to get to the convention around 10am (spoiler alert I did not manage to get there by 10am).

I tied my hair back here because I was worried about sitting on the wig and pulling it off, but honestly I probably didn’t need to lol

Since the convention is in the city, I had to catch the train.

In full cosplay.

It didn’t help I forgot the timetables change on the weekends so I had to wait like 30 minutes at the station for the train to come with my mum lol

People were staring which was understandable, I was Bocchi after all with her bright pink hair and colourful costume lol

Lucky for me, there was a Yuyuka cosplayer and a few others also in cosplay so I felt less embarrassed.

The Yuyuka cosplayer actually sat behind me on the train!

Once I got to the station, I went straight to the bathroom to brush out my wig because it was a hot mess.

Still was a hot mess here actually lol

Con Time!

I met with Pie after my attempts of fixing the wig and we headed to the convention! So we got there like after 11am!

There was a okay line and we waited, and of course me being me, instantly started freaking out about all the cosplayers and pointing out who was who lol

Like right when we got to the line, I saw a Kagamine Rin cosplayer and I freaked out lol

There was a very pretty Mona too and I freaked out again lol

I did a lot of freaking out okay. That’s just how I am. You can’t expect me to stay calm at an anime convention! That’s like…impossible.

We were holding our phones with the QR code for our tickets and it was hard to believe we were here.

Pie and I sort of spontaneously decided to go like 8 months ago and I never thought the day would finally come. As we got closer and closer, it became more and more real.

Once we got in, we got our passes and we headed straight into the food hall (only because we had no idea where was what and we couldn’t be bothered getting out the map so it was a fun adventure lol).

I'm so glad we got passes! I thought we would get the paper tag but no! Real passes! Felt so cool!

Continuing straight, we arrived into the Video Games Hall, which had a giant stage and a lot of laptops! And right on the side was….handhelds?!

Whole bunch of games and consoles for sale, ranging from the N64 to the Wii! PlayStation 1! 3DS! DS! I was surprised, I didn’t think that I’d see any Wii games at the convention.

My hard drive I use with my Wii actually stopped working so I’ve been buying physicals of the games I really like ;;

And lo and behold, they had Mario Kart Wii. The one game I’ve been looking for since like….2021? Now I can play CTGP and mods!!

Instantly bought it along with Wii Sports Resort because I love Wii Sports Resort. Been wanting to play it.

And it was right there and I couldn’t resist okay

Already managed to spend money and I just got there lmao

It is what it is.

Anyway, we continued through the hall, admiring all the games. It was just all so cool! I saw Street Fighter 6 and went :O

There was also a giant Game and Watch System!

I was mostly in awe the whole time. I also continued my freaking out lol

Then we exited to the Artist Alley. The holy grail of art. There were over 90 artists there.

Hoo boy I dropped money here lmao

We beelined to Kamaniki’s booth (I freaked when I saw their name on the map lol), but also taking the time to walk and see all the art! Everyone is so talented, it’s incredible!

We found Kamaniki’s booth and we each bought two prints. I got Pyra and a Bocchi the Rock one!

Pie and I decided that we had to buy a print with our respective characters on it, and we did! Pie got a Nier Automata one that had 9S on it.

We then continued our trek, and then I bought more prints because I couldn't resist lol

We then went to the Exhibition Hall which was full of anime merch! There were stalls everywhere.

We saw Callie and Marie plushies and guess what we did….

We bought them instantly lol

I got Callie and Pie got Marie!

Then we walked around some more and oh my god they had Hololive gacha. Volume 4 and 5. I made this screech and Pie laughed his head off lmao

I love Hololive okay

I thought we needed coins for it (which I did not have) but we had to buy tokens (which I could with the power of my card). I bought two rolls and did each Hololive gacha!

I tried to predict who I would get but I was very wrong haha, but I didn’t mind who I got. I like everyone in Hololive!

I got Lui and Marine! Love them so much.

Pie did a Spy X Family one and a Hololive one too. He actually nearly did the wrong gacha until I yelled at him not to lol (you’re welcome Pie lol).

I saw a stall that was operated by my Uni (they’re a sponsor) and it made me think about the fact I had Uni the next week ;;

Then we walked around some more! It was so cool seeing so much merch in one place! Had to resist buying stuff, I already spent quite a bit at this point aha

After we decided to go get some food because we were hungry.

We wanted to try Takoyaki but they ran out, all they had left was Karaage Chicken. It was really good!

We had to wait for like…20 minutes for it which was fun. I was 47th and they only announced like...30…..

Us waiting lol

Someone actually came up to me asking for a photo during that time and I was really happy!

Never thought I’d get asked for any photos honestly. It made me so happy! Pie got asked for photos too, it was so cool!

Actually someone came up to Pie and said “Hey I really like your 2B costume!” which was really hilarious lmao

Of course Pie was kind and stuff and said thank you but still lol

And Pie also asked for photos as well!

Love the poses here hehe

I had the bright idea to torture myself by using chopsticks. I know how to use them, but I’m absolutely crap at using them.

I also had a fork so I could give up at any time. Like halfway through, I decided to just use my fork. I reached out to grab it, thinking I would be saving myself all the struggle.

But tragedy struck.

I DROPPED THE FORK ON THE GROUND 😭

I was forced to use the chopsticks the whole time and Pie just watched me suffer

I’m a chopsticks failure……

After I finally finished, we went to get some photos together! For this occasion, I bought a tripod! It came in handy!

We took a lot of photos!

Some of the ones I like (I would put them all but no space sadly, Tumblr limit ;;)

My eyes also decided to kill themselves half way through and I had to retreat to the bathroom. I looked like I was crying when I wasn’t ;;

My eyes like to do this thing where if something irritates it, it starts tearing up immediately. It’s very fun (T_T)

I think it was after this, I saw a Mizuki from Arknights cosplayer. Didn’t expect to see Mizuki here but I freaked out of course lol

I love Mizuki.

And I really wanted a photo. But I was too shy to ask.

So Pie did for me (thank you Pieeeee)

ME AND MIZUKI AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa

Namie-mama I did it!! They were so kind!

Then we just walked around for the rest of the con pretty much, though all the halls. Bought some more prints and simply enjoyed our time!

When it was nearly the end of the con, we decided to buy each other one print that the other would like. We split off, and I went bounding down the left side of the Artist Alley.

I didn't even go that far when I saw the perfect print. It was a beautiful BOTW print with Link riding a horse. It screamed Pie so I bought it immediately.

The artist even offered another print for another $10 but I declined because we were only meant to get one print for each other.

So I sat and waited at the area we agreed to meet at since I already found the perfect print quicker than I anticipated.

Picture I took while waiting.

More people asked me for photos actually to my surprise, there was this little kid who wanted a photo with me and it was so adorable. Made my heart warm hehe ( ◠‿◠ )

Like so! I heard "Bocchi" from behind me and I'm like "Huh??" “That’s me!”

I honestly wished I got more pictures with cosplayers, I was too shy to ask like anyone lol, next time I really want to ask people! Got to be more confident!

But I did admire them from afar! Staring a bit creepily but that’s definitely what Bocchi would do lol

There were these Genshin cosplayers that looked amazing, especially this Yaoyao and this Arlecchino and Columbina!!

And I saw Mew Ichigo too!! Apparently they made their cosplay themselves which is sick.

I didn’t take that many pictures of the convention itself, since I was mostly just experiencing everything, taking it all in. Next time I want to take more!

And make a vlog too!

Definitely want to go to another convention again! And spend way too much money (I refuse to look at my bank account, I don't want to know how much I spent lol).

Thanks for reading my report! ^^

Bocchi is having a crisis

[greetings-inferiors]

I haven’t started a kingdom hearts game ranking either, so here you go

Kingdom hearts: S-tier. Easy. C’mon. It’s so good. It still holds up so well. The atmosphere and vibes are second to none in the whole series. The exploration is only outdone by kh3, a game that came out SEVENTEEN YEARS LATER. The story is self contained which lets it be just as, if not more, narratively satisfying than every other numbered title. It’s absolutely phenomenal.

Chain of memories: I want to love this game so badly, I swear. The combat is genuinely great against bosses and on the last three floors, and the story is so good and the darkest in any kingdom hearts game (and it’s not even close tbh). But the first like TWENTY HOURS are so rough. Before you settle into a good deck the combat is… not awful, but not good. The Disney worlds are a slog. I could only get through them because I was skipping the cutscenes. They’re just the kh1 stories but rushed, and without NEARLY as much charm. B-tier. A great game hidden under a polarising combat system and god awful filler.

358/2 days: AGGRESSIVE CRYING. But no seriously A-tier. Phenomenal game held back by being on a ds. But when a game’s only flaw is “hardware limitations”, you know it’s a great game. But even then, the only other console I’d have it on is the ds. Days has some of the best uses of the dual screens I’ve ever seen, best of which is Roxas’ memories of Sora. When Roxas experiences events similar to Sora’s adventure and you see Sora’s memory on the bottom screen playing out in real time - there’s nothing like it. And there’s no real way to experience it other than on the ds (or 3DS (or wii u I GUESS)). The combat isn’t GREAT, but it’s still good! The story might just be the best in the franchise, the characters are some of my favourites, the panel system makes inventory management so damn fun, seeing the organisation operate is so cool, the Disney worlds are actually pretty good, GOD this game is so good. But I can’t give it an S because it is very clearly a ds game. I can’t put it into words but there’s clearly restrictions that do hamper the game like each weapon only having two combos (maybe a second route if you’re lucky). I WANT it to be S-tier but I had so much more fun with kh1 and am having so much more fun with kh2. It sadly just doesn’t compare. It deserved a full remake for the hd1.5 collection so it could reach its glory.

anyway 2 is probably going to be S-tier. The combat is SO FUCKING GOOD. Probably the lowest or second lowest in S-tier, due to the Disney worlds, but still. Absolutely phenomenal so far.

[totallynotthecrystalskull]

(Kinda Late) Nintendo Direct thoughts (2/8/23)

Teensy bit late on this one due to being at work all day, but I wanted to capture my thoughts on the latest nintendo direct (since we hadn’t had one in months and who knows when the next one is). Go over the highlights, the cool, the meh, and everything that I thought was interesting. Not gonna cover absolutely EVERYTHING, just the things that caught my attention (sorry Samba de Amigo and Fashion Dreamer, I’m sure you’re fun games and all, I just have other things I wanna talk about)Pikmin 4: Looks neat, that’s kinda all I’ve got on it. Visually it’s beautiful for a Switch game, but it’s not a franchise I’ve really cared about, so I’m pretty indifferent on it. Pretty happy for the Pikmin fans though, I know you guys have REAAAALLY been waiting on this one, so good to see it’s finally getting shown off. The dog thing Oatchi feels a little... weird though. Kinda like Pikmin’s version of Poochy or some other example of added dog-like companion getting added to a series, they always feel a little funky when added in my opinion. I dunno though, maybe it fits right in with the rest of Pikmin, I’m not exactly super knowledgeable on the series anyways. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC: That’s neat for Xenoblade fans. I only ever played X on the Wii U, so I don’t have much of a connection to the series, but hope fans of the game are hyped (also, was that Shulk and an older Rex? That was kind of a surprise to see). Who knows though, maybe I’ll try the series out again sometime in the future (probs not though, they seem too big for me) Dead Cells DLC: Ok, with every update this game seems to get, the more tempted I am to get into the game. Actually, why haven’t I gotten it yet?! It looks fun as hell, and it’s got a ton of fun crossovers with Shovel Knight, Katana Zero, Castlevania, and so so so many more games. I Really gotta give it a go at this point. Ghost Trick port: oh HELL yeah, I’ve been wanting to play this one for ages now! The Ace Attorney Trilogy has been a fun way for me to get into those original DS games, and I’m hoping this Ghost Trick port will accomplish the same thing! Bayonetta Origins: It looks ok. That’s about all I’ve got for it. It’s style is pretty different from the other Bayo games which I really like, but this one’s just not really speaking to me as much. Splatoon 3 DLC: Ok, first we’re gonna get Inkopolis as a DLC... Hub? Ok, that’s a bit odd in my opinion. Like, it’ll be nice to revisit Inkopolis after ALL these years, but at the same time it’s like... it’s just a hub... DLC just for an different hub area? Feels kinda... underwhelming I guess? I dunno, just feels like a weird thing to add. As for the Side Order DLC, now THAT ONE’S catching my eyes! More Pearl and Marina, and Splat 2′s hub being completely white and covered in Coral is so mysterious, I love this!! Fire Emblem Engage DLC: I don’t care who you add, I’m not playing this FE Game! Omega Strikers: Honestly, I’ll probs forget about this game in a bit, but I do like the character designs. I dunno, looks fun enough, a neat take on Air Hockey. Might pick it up as a Multiplayer game when I have friends over (ya know, if that ever happens). Etrian Odyssey Collection: Oooooooo, ok, I’m down for this. Only ever played a bit of EOU2: The Fafnir Knight, but the mechanics of it’s dungeon crawling and custom map making was a lot of fun!! Might pick this collection up! Advance Wars 1+2 ReBoot Camp: Hell yeah! I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since it was announced!! It’s also a series I haven’t played before, but it looks so charming and fun, happy it finally has a release date! NSO GameBoy Advanced: Didn’t care much about the GB additions, but the GBA being added?! YEAAAAAH!!! I mean I wish it wasn’t a part of the Expansion pass, but also, YEAAAAAAH!!! I love the sprite work on so many GBA games, and plenty of them I’ve wanted to play myself, so I’m really happy they’re being added (especially both Superstar Saga and The Minish Cap, I fucking love the sprite work in those games so god damn much, AAAAAHHHHH!!!) Metroid Prime Remake: Hell yeah (again)! I’ve always wanted to try the Prime games, so this should be a fun way to get into the series! And available today too?!?! Mario Kart DLC: I’m liking the look of this new course, and getting Birdo in any Mario game is always awesome!! Hoping they’ll add more characters now too since we know that’s not off the table anymore. I’d love Fawful or Starlow to appear in a MK game, but let’s be realistic, that’s not happening Extras: Magalor mode in Kirby seems alright I guess, looks a little forgettable though. That Detective Danganronpa game looks weird. New Fantasy life is neat, first game was enjoyable enough, but I’ll probs pass on this new one. Neat that there’s gonna be a new Professor Layton game. The DecaPolice game looks like it could be fun, but at this point I’m hesitant on any game where you play as cops (though at the same time, it looks to be more Detective than Police, and it’s probs based more on the Japanese police rather than western police. Still hesitant though) And last, but ABSOLUTELY not least

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: This section’s probably going to get pretty long since I am a huge Zelda fan, but first, let me just say, HOLY SHIT WAS THAT MATTHEW MERCER IN ZELDA!?!?!! FUUUCK YEAAAAH!!! Ok, all of my hype aside though, I am actually a little mixed on him being in it. Not cause there’s anything wrong with Matt’s performance (dude always kills it in his roles!), but because now when I’m playing the game, I’ll just hearing him as Matthew Mercer instead of whoever he’s playing (though, that’s not bad either. Hearing Mercer playing any role is always a very enjoyable experience, dude’s got a magic voice and I love every bit of it). And better yet, was he playing mother-fuckin’ GANONDORF?!?! I mean, he’s not immediately who I would’ve imagined for Ganondorf’s voice, but god damn am I always down for some more wonderful Matthew Mercer villain dialogue, especially for my favorite Villain!! But that said though... there’s also the possibility that the trailer mislead us and he’s NOT going to be Ganondorf, but instead playing the role of a new hidden villain instead (another Zant, Ghirahim, Astor, ect., an evil minion type character). I thought it was a little odd that there weren’t any shots of Ganondorf actually speaking, and Mercer’s voice feels a little mismatched for the (currently) dried up and mummified corpse of the Gerudo King, so that makes me wonder if we’re actually hearing dialogue from an unrevealed new villain (though alternatively it could just be dialogue from a... *ahem*,Rehydrated Ganondorf, but we don’t know if that’s going to actually happen or not). I’m not entirely sold on this theory myself (as I could very easily just be looking too far into some small details), but it is a theory I did want to bring up. The Dialogue and framing certainly point to him possibly being the King of all Evil, but those little things... it just feels... a little suspicious is all. As for everything else in the trailer though, OH MY GOD AM I HYPED!!! More Zonai stuff, plenty more enemy varieties, it looks like we’re getting both some sky islands AND underground stuff, there looks to be a ton of interesting changes to hyrule itself, and I CAN’T TELL IF THAT WAS A REDEAD OR A STALFOS BUT OH MY GOD AM I HAPPY THEY’RE BACK!! Looks like we’re getting some new Shiekah stuff, lots of new Zonai stuff, and Link’s new arm looks so interesting!! God am I hyped for this SO GOD DAMN MUCH!!! May can’t come soon enough!!

[shadowredfeline]

Two in One Post

For my A-Pal’s on this day Post.

I had so much memories of Rayman! Back as a kid, the first Rayman game I ever own is Rayman 3 on my Xbox, Original Xbox. But since it didn’t work with my 360, thankfully I did ordered the HD version on the 360. But I do enjoy other Rayman games too. Like I do own the 1st one on PlayStation 1, and the best part is that if I don’t have a memory card, I can use a Password and remember it later if I want to continue the game. But kinda hard to get used to back then. Because video games that require a password to continue the game is really hard to get used to. But back in the DS was released, I was so glad they stopped doing that. Back onto the Rayman subject. Not only I own the first one, but I also owned Rayman Origins on my Wii, but doesn’t do online stuff, so I had to get used to having friends playing local Co-op with me. Same for Rayman Legends since I have it on my Switch. But it was cool Rayman also go other themes too. Especially with Uno since Ubisoft had to publish that title besides the Game shows that had to feature some of Ubisoft’s own style of Hosts since they didn’t want to Copy of what hosts look like in the show. And the last time I did something Rayman related, I drew Lisa’s two characters D.W. (Dora Wagster) and Joey discussing that Rayman wasn’t here to Date her. And I even drew Lisa doing a Rayman 1 pose back in 2018. But I’m sure Riya or Raygal will be pleased to tag along with Lisa. Even since Rayman came back to tag along with Mario during the Rabbids taking over his World. Which it was bizarre to see the Rabbids giving Rayman a rest and having to tackle Mario’s world instead. But I’ve seen Mario crossover with other franchises before like Sonic when they both played in the Olympic Games, and Dragon Quest when they want to do a board game called Fortune Street, and even had Pac-Man and Tamagotchi race with him in his Arcade games of Mario Kart which I missed the most.

And for my P-Pal’s new character

Looks really cool he made his new OC, Aace. Which it was nice for Miya to have another cousin besides the Speedsters. But if he discusses family differences, it might be like how I have cousins from a different family. Like with my mom who has her brother and sisters when they had kids. And they’re now all grown up and starting their own family. But with Aace, his outfits look just like what Jason and Mikie wore. Especially his pajamas and Autumn/winter clothes looks new. But I’m sure he might get use with the Ramcats. Even for Lisa, Tory and the Kids.

Shadow R 😺🗡️: Hello there, Aace. I’m Shadow Ramcat and this my sister, Tory, my brother Caleb, this my Wife, Lisa, and these are our kids, Lighting, Speedy, Zack and Penny.

Tory 😺🩰: And this is my Daughter, Julie.

Kids: Nice to meet you, Aace. 😊

[dragontamer05]

Whenever I hear anything about people either wanting a new console release or whatever in regards to the Switch I just hnng, I mean I’m glad you’ve got the money to want and be able to purchase anytime new one is popped out but I’m happy with what I got.

Now I get it, new console means likely updated/upgraded hardware which means increased performance and all that so I’m not saying its bad for a new one to be a released or that Nintendo shouldn’t eventually have something new but my main concern- as is often what happens with new consoles are released is

- Will the old Switch games work on it / could I still run any new games released after on my old console even if it means having a slightly lowered performance rate?

Because lets be real consoles are expensive, not to mention the fact that they’ve now merged the home and hand held console to one which brings its own problems personally. Now for the switch they did eventually release the Switch Lite - which the fact that they chose to release it and people bought it (I’ve got one and so does my sister) and I think it did pretty well I think kinda proves that while people love having a plugged in console to play on their T.V

there are people who either can’t afford or simply don’t want that and just want and enjoy the portability of hand held gaming.

Look I’ve got a Wii have enjoyed playing games on the T.V. but I also like my DS and having gaming I take on the go and personally anyway if I had a Home console type version of the Switch the hooks up to the T.V I can’t imagine ever daring to take that with me on travel (especially cause doesn’t it need to be docked to charge where as even if its not the best choice I can technically charge my Switch lite with my phone charger)

The only thing I’d want from the new switch is let me idk some how Copy? share? my Switch profile with another while still keeping it on my original device. or at the very least idk share game file data.

Look I don’t know how that would or even if it could be programmed to work like that only that right now you can which is kinda a downer because lets say I did want and could by a Switch right now or maybe let’s say I got the special Pokemon SV one or I got really lucky someone gifted me one or won a contest whatever

With everything saved to the Switches memory now all my games now that I have sure I can still play them but it would be all fresh new saves, I wouldn’t be able to carry over my old saves without like removing them off my current switch- I have no idea if like saving stuff to a memory card and just swapping out would work though I assume not.

If such a thing could be programmed I’m not even saying you have to be able to do it an infinite amount of times. I’m just saying keep they already available transfer option of data off one device to another but also what if even if it was just like a one time deal or idk I’d imagine there’d be some other condition attached to it or something instead of transferring everything off it would copy whatever current data you have on there and basically paste on to the new one.

Maybe you can only do it once or because its copying your already existing data it won’t necessarily automatically update with any new changes you’ve made-in terms of downloads n stuff (on what’s basically viewed as your main console where it copied from) so to keep up to date you just have to synch up the two consoles now and then like regular save data might be fine but if say a game had some kind of patch /update to it or you bought and downloaded some new dlc on the main console if you want to share it to your profile on the secondary you gotta sync it up.

Basically how you sync an old phone up to a new one if you want to keep the stuff that was saved there. But like it doesn’t like wipe the old phone clean of that data either (unless you choose to like factory reset afterwards)

At minimum being able to do that would mean being able to back all your saves and things up on another console and not just SD cards or the cloud- which not all games use anyway.

--

Tbh the only other thing I’d want out of a new console change the controllers I can’t even say specifically in what way but I look at them and all I can wonder is exactly how user friendly are they for left handed people? Now the switch light for the most part I’ve never had too much trouble with so maybe it wouldn’t be to bad or I’ve just been lucky with the games I’ve played so uh hey any other Left handers out there that’s got a plain ol regular switch or a pro I guess- you know not a Switch Lite pls share your experiences would love to here.

(in the tags, reply or just reblog and comment whatever floats your boat)

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[dracolunae]

I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT SONIC lay it on me. sits head in hands attenative mode

I’ll just give you a general ramble of whatever I can think of but if you wanna know anything specific like lore or the different comic runs or stuff about the music lmk!!

Sonic is a franchise that I’ve found so fucking fascinating for a long time because it combines just so many fun things: a mostly non-human cast, intricate world building a continuity between games, interesting abilities, and a protagonist that is not only cool and fast and heroic but also a wildly fascinating personality!

My start into Sonic was, ironically, not any of the actual mainline games or anything because my ass was a DS kid with no consoles. It wasn’t even one of the mainline DS games! My start was Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the DS.No clue of any lore, all I knew was that this franchise had really interesting character designs and was really cool because YO IS THAT A ROBOT??? (I was also. Very into the transformers movies at the time so robots were fucking awesome).

Anyway, from there my brother and I shared a copy of Sonic Colours for the DS! Sonic Colours for the Wii is often regarded as one the better if not one of the best modern Sonic Games with unfortunately really bad writing but fear not! That’s where the DS version comes in! Entirely different gameplay wise since in that sense it’s a continuation of the earlier Rush games but the story is nearly identical to the Wii version except there’s more of it and the characters are significantly better written!

It’s pretty common to make jokes about people who play games for the plot but honestly the plot is really one of the main draws of Sonic for me! The Adventure era (Sonic Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog and kind of Sonic 06) had overarching story elements and would legitimately flash back to what happened in previous games, which at the time (1998-2006) was huge!

There’s also several runs of comics and manga as well as several tv shows that accompanied the franchise, most of which are entirely non-canon to the games but still add so much to the characters and in some ways the world.

The original 2 shows and Comic runs were Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (more commonly known as Sonic SatAM), the Sonic Archie comics and Sonic the Comic, published by Fleetway. The shows were both made simultaneously by the same people and a lot of elements from both (though mainly SatAM, the grittier of the 2) were adapted into the Archie Comics. Sonic the Comic (more often referred to as Fleetway) was the British run of Sonic Comics and while Archie went kinda wild with a lot of stuff, Fleetway did so in a way that was less insane and more just incredibly contradictory to the games, such as changing the way that Super Sonic worked (it splits Sonic into 2 different beings instead of just being like a Dragonball Super Saiyan inspired power up) and also entirely changing the design and origins of Chaos, the additional antagonist of Sonic Adventure.

Both Fleetway and Archie have been canceled, Fleetway quite a while ago and Archie in 2017, which has brought a new Comic into the scene, published by IDW! The staff is comprised almost entirely of former Archie Sonic staff, who were pulled over by head writer Ian Flynn, who took over this position for Archie in 2006 and was hired by IDW pretty immediately once they got the comic license for Sonic. These comics directly tie into what was at the time the most recent Sonic game, Sonic Forces, and are confirmed to be canon, unlike literally every other piece of extended media we’ve ever gotten!

The American Sonic comics are very dear to me because I used to read them a lot (in what is possibly the most annoying way one could possibly read them, YouTube videos panning through incredibly slow pans of each individual page or panel). And the staff post Ian Flynn takeover is fascinating to me because a decent chunk of it consists of Sonic fans that started out as fancomic artists, got recognised for their talent and then hired to work on the real deal! What kind of Dream job is that???? The amount of passion the current staff has for the world of Sonic is palpable and so refreshing. Ian Flynn also got to write the story for the most recent Sonic game, Sonic Frontiers and holy shit I love the way he respects the previous world building done by older games. It might come off a little awkward to some but I’m just glad they’re acknowledging their past

With all my love for the comics tho I gotta say the Archie comics are a wild fucking trip, especially when Ken Penders had free reign of the plot. I’m rereading the Archie comics and I skipped over the first 60 or so issues the first time I read them as a kid and wtf???? Why did I just read about a bee dying of an LSD overdose???? (Yes. This is a real plot point. It is relevant for one 3 issues side arc and never again)

[bellmo15-blog]

The ONLY Time I've Gotten To Play A Real Gamecube

The Nintendo Gamecube. Weather you love it or… oh who am I kidding yall love this thing like it’s the son you never had, it’s hard to deny that it wasn’t exactly the most successful console in the 2000’s. Especially when it was competing with the Motion Dew powered alien box that has Halo on it and what might as well be Genghis Khan if he was a video game console with how much of the world the Playstation 2 conquered. Crazy to think the original model that sold the most units wasn’t even its final form!

And yet despite it being arguably one of the worst selling consoles of that era if you ask anyone nowadays, especially the die-hard Nintendo fans who grew up in this era, they will say it was one of Nintendo’s best systems ever and that it had some of the best games ever! And yet, I never owned growing up. Which is kind of ironic when you really think about it considering the amount of franchises I really love that happen to be Nintendo franchises or in cases like the Shantae series, started life on a Nintendo series. Crazy to think that almost wasn’t the case when you remember the first game was originally planned for the PS1. In fact, there’s only ever been one time in my entire life where I’ve ever been able to play on a real life, authentic Gamecube. And the circumstances for how I ended up playing it are, well they were not the best circumstances. Sit down, let me tell you the story of the ONE and ONLY time I’ve ever gotten a chance to play on the purple lunchbox that is the Gamecube.

So a little bit of background. I like to think I was largely a PlayStation child growing up in the 2000’s and I’m pretty sure I might have even mentioned this in the past. Well, that’s only half true. Growing up I had an equal amount of both PlayStation and Nintendo system. I had a PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and a PlayStation 3 on the Sony side of things while on the Nintendo side I had a Gameboy Advanced, DS and Wii with practically nothing from Microsoft’s side in my possession. In fact, I wouldn’t even own an Xbox system until after I had grown up and got the Xbox One in 2015 when I was 18 years old. So why did I not have a Gamecube growing up? Well, several reasons.

1. … What’s a Gamecube? Yeah, I didn’t even know the Gamecube was a thing back when it was new! In fact, I wouldn’t even properly know of its existence until around like 2005. Now I don’t know how it was exactly that I found out it was a thing, but I do remember it was because I was just randomly browsing the internet one day since we had just gotten internet set up in our house. All this time I thought there was only PlayStation 2 and Xbox meanwhile this tiny box that shared the same colour as Grimace was also a thing.

It was around this time though that I remembered something. A few years prior I was with my Dad and we were visiting a friend of his and he had a son. A son who turned on his TV to play a video game console with a startup screen different to what I was use to. Yeah, do I even need to say it? I actually HAD seen a Gamecube in real life this whole time and I just didn’t know it. I didn’t get to play it though because we were only there for like five minuets and Dad had some important stuff to do.

2. Do you really think my parents would get me a second home console when I already had a PlayStation 2? And many of the third-party games that were released on the Gamecube were also on the PlayStation 2? My parents were not super strict, I mean my mother got me a Nintendo Wii AND PlayStation 3 in the later half of the decade for Palutena’s sake, but there was no way BellmoTheChild was getting his hands on another home console anytime soon.

Do you wanna know a hilarious part about that second point though? One of the multiplatform games I did own was the Futurama video game and on that game, you could actually watch a trailer for it and at the end it advertised all the systems it was available and one of them was the Gamecube. That version never ended up getting released so… sorry Gamecube owners who were also Futurama fans!

Now I knew that Nintendo was a thing for a while now at that point. In fact, some of my earliest gaming memories was actually playing Mario Kart 64 at a friend’s place who sadly moved away to another state in 2010 but did have a Nintendo 64 with them. So did my uncle who let me play Super Mario 64 which I stupidly thought was referencing the year it came out in. Why did I use to think that? Am I stupid? The sad thing about the time I properly found out the Gamecube was a thing is that by the time I did, the Nintendo Wii was only about like a year from being released. And by that point I pretty much just stopped caring about the thing. I had no reason to care about it.

That was, until 2006. Not long ago my parents had divorced and I was at my father’s waiting for my mother to pick me up. So, to kill time I played outside. Just minding my own business running around when suddenly, I feel over and landed on my elbow and broke my humerus! Yeah it, it was quite painful. And yes, before you ask, that IS an actual bone in the human body. Look it up if you don’t believe me. And I was in a lot of pain two, so I had to be rushed to the hospital and stay the night.

The next morning, I wasn’t able to leave yet as we had to wait for some results or something so to keep me occupied the doctors rolled in a TV to play with. And I think you can tell what was plugged into that TV. A Nintendo Gamecube!

There it was! The system I had only just recently heard of and thought I’d never get to play was sitting right there in front of me. Waiting to be played. And of course, I played it. Because what the Hell else was I meant to do while stuck in a hospital bed? I don’t remember every game they had to play there but there are two in particular I do remember. Luigi’s Mansion and SpongeBob SquarePants Lights Camera Pants. And guess which one I spent the most time playing that morning? Lui… Yup it was SpongeBob SquarePants! Because why the hell would the kid who loves SpongeBob pass up this opportunity?

Okay but in all seriousness, I DID also try Luigi’s Mansion as well but it was on a save file that was already in progress, I had no idea what I was even meant to do and just got frustrated and swapped to SpongeBob. I would go on to play the Gamecube for the rest of the morning until we were able to leave. But leave more so because we got told that the doctors would have to preform a surgery on me to heal my arm which my mom was agents because she thought it’d be scary for me and eventually my arm just healed on its own.

And that’s it! That is the only time I’ve ever gotten to play a real-life Nintendo Gamecube. I wasn’t kidding when I said earlier that the circumstances for me playing it were not the best. A year after that I got my Nintendo Wii for Christmas which WAS compatible with Gamecube games but was never able to find any games for sale since most game stores I went to were no longer selling them. As I got older though I started to learn a lot more about the Nintendo Gamecube and its library games and all it had to offer.

And once I started to gain this much knowledge of it and went into my teenage years and then later my adult years where I noticed more people online were singing it’s praises as well as how more people in general were willing to say that the Gamecube was a good console… I honestly didn’t care that I didn’t own one. And no, it wasn’t because I had a Wii which was backwards compatible with Gamecube games. Again, I never brought any Gamecube games for it due to not actively looking for them. I don’t even use my Wii anymore after I got my Wii U which is compatible with original Wii games. Hell, it wasn’t even because I had no interest in collecting old gaming systems or anything. In fact, around the time of me writing this my PlayStation Vita I brought with my birthday money came in since it was the only PlayStation system I didn’t own yet and I am absolutely loving it so far.

No, the real reason I didn’t have any actual interest in owning a Gamecube is because of several factors.

1. Many of the more well-known games that were originally released on it ended up getting re-releases later on and they were all on systems I actually DID have! From Zelda Twilight Princess having a duel release on both the Gamecube and the Wii to the first two Pikmin games getting re-released on the Wii, Metroid Prime getting versions for both the Wii AND Switch, Zelda Wind Waker getting a HD port on Wii U which also added in the Swift Sali to make traveling across the Great Sea much less tedious, Luigi’s Mansion which got a 3DS remake to the remake of Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door coming out on the Switch soon. Yeah, not everything that was on the Gamecube would get this lucky but pretty much most of the well-known ones did or are.

2. Have you seen how expensive Gamecube games cost second hand? Alright, let’s just rip this bandage off right now. If you have any interest in buying a Nintendo Gamecube now you are, for lack of a better term, fucked! Not just because of the system itself but also because of the games! The actual games themselves go for way, WAY too much second hand! These games can cost upwards of close to or even over $100 on sites like ebay. In fact, I went to a convention a few years ago after COVID restrictions started to be eased and one of the stalls there was selling some old Nintendo games and you wanna know how much Super Smash Bros Melee cost? $120! Fucking… why!? And then you got stuff like Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes which on ebay costs $230. Let me just remind you that The Twin Snakes is widely considered to be the weaker version of Metal Gear Solid 1 yet somehow it costs 2x more than a copy of the original PS1 version! Then you got the original version of Metroid Prime which costs just as much used as the newer remastered version on Switch does!

This is something that has always bothered me about older first party Nintendo games. People who sell them second hand always, ALWAYS charge WAY too much for them! Not just Gamecube games either but also stuff like old Nintendo 64 games as well which can also go for over $100 used. I went into my local Cash Converters a few months ago and they had on display a copy of Mario Party 2 for $195, Pokemon Stadium for $295 and Metroid for $430!!! And yeah, I can understand why some games can be harder to get your hands on nowadays compared to others as there can be several factors that play into it such as how available they were on release or how many copies were made as well as if that game has ever gotten a re-release on modern systems or not but my fucking God good luck getting older Nintendo games for a reasonable price if you don’t feel like spending $60 a year on Nintendo Switch Online plus the expansion for whatever reason. Points like this are why I am such a defender of emulation. Which actually brings me to the last reason I have no real interest in getting a real Gamecube now.

3. Gamecube emulation is super easy to set up and do! You probably knew I was going to bring this up eventually. Playing Gamecube games on an emulator is pretty much the only way I’ve been able to play some of the exclusive games I’ve been able to that don’t involve having to starve myself. I used to play these primarily on Dolphin but ever since I hacked my Wii U I’ve been playing these games on Nintendont which is a Gamecube emulator for Wii U since it’s the closest I may ever get to playing an actual Gamecube again because of how the Wii U is built of off the Wii which itself was already built of off the Gamecube.

And in response to the comments I’m bound to get saying “eMuLaTiOn Is PiRaCy! YoU sHoUlD bE pLaYiNg On AcTuAl HaRdWaRe!” Number 1; shut up! Please! You people give me the same tired reaction I get when I see Helluva Boss haters complain that the show “only has one joke and it’s swearing” and coming off as if they have never actually watched the show they are criticising and are just saying that for the sake of that un funny meme. Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong about that one! Number 2; Many of the games I and a lot of others do emulate are ones that aren’t officially sold anymore and even if you do have the money to spend on a $230 used copy of Wario World NONE of the money you spend would be going to the people who made the game anyway! And let me tell you, I am NOT spending that much on a game I otherwise love for that reason alone!

Also, this isn’t actually related to my reason for not being interested in getting a real Gamecube but I wanna bring it up because I don’t know when I’ll get a better chance two, the controller. I’m… I’m sorry, I’m not the biggest fan of this thing but it’s purely because of how it looks. I’ve used the special Super Smash Bros Ultimate Gamecube controller that was released along side the game back in 2018 and it honestly feels great to use. Not even just with Smash but with other select games on the Switch. No, my reason for not loving the controller is purely it’s design! It’s not as bad as the Nintendo 64 controller, nothing is gonna top THAT thing in how ugly it is, but it’s still not the most pleasant thing to me.

-It only has three shoulder buttons compared to the four on the PS2 controller and despite the L and R buttons feeling like they should be pressure sensitive a whole generation before the PS3 and Xbox 360 they aren’t. -There’s no Select button and you only got the Start button. -While the left analogue stick is actually really good and I’d argue one of the best ones Nintendo has ever made the C stick on the other hand? Oh boy. It has NO REASON to be as stubby as it is especially when you consider that most games use it primarily for camera control anyway. -Oh and can someone explain to me what in Hade’s name they were thinking when it came to the face buttons? Why is the A button so big and in the centre while the B button is so small with the X and Y buttons being so awkwardly shaped on the top?

Again, actually using the controller isn’t that bad and it feels fine. But if someone told me that this was there least favourite controller ever because of its design I can’t say I would blame them. AND THAT’S THE THING THAT SUPRISES ME! People say this is one of the BEST controller ever! And I have to ask, why? I mean it’s great that people love using it but I think I’m going to stick to my special gold Wii classic controller that came with my copy of the Wii remake of Goldeneye thanks. It doesn’t look like a miss mash of buttons and it works just as fine when I use it with Nintendont.

And… that’s pretty much it! That is my Gamecube story. How I learnt about it, how I even got to play it and why that will probably be the only time I ever get to play a real one because fuck selling those games at a reasonable prince am I right?! This… went on for longer than I admit I anticipated… I can’t think of a good way to end this……… Hey did you know that despite his hatred for it being a big part of his character now Batman back in some of his really early comics never actually had a problem with guns and even used them regularly?

[owlixx]

Looking forward as to what excites me for each CoD game:

CoD3: Treyarch’s first real game! And the final missing link before CoD4, which feels like the real first “modern” Call of Duty in more ways than one. Fingers crossed for sprinting to be in this game, and maybe the knife melee. I know that last one isn’t intrinsic to the CoD formula anymore but it’s been sorely missed in these early CoDs with their wimpy gun butt melees. Will anyone still be playing the multiplayer on 360? Does the MP just have “pick a weapon” like 2 or does it have a prototype version of class creation? Or just classes at all?

RoV: I mean, the idea of PSP CoD is just funny to me. Could be unplayable. Will try to beat this before 4 though.

CoD 4: I’m super excited to have the remaster and to finally get to see the proper introduction of Soap and Price, who have been omnipresent despite me never playing this game. Of course excited to see the nuke and All Ghillied Up and finally have a context for MW2 like when I relatively recently finally beat Halo 2.

The DS games: recently played the first of these in local multiplayer but using a faulty L button so I can’t wait to see how I do instead on my DSi XL with working buttons. I’ll have to play one of the later ones on Wii U or PC just to mix it up.

WaW: it’s been so long since I’ve played this game and even longer since I’ve done the campaign. It’ll be a good warmup for checking out the classic zombies maps too. I’ll have to play at least a match of multiplayer too. This was my first CoD so it has a special place for me. I may want to speedrun it on recruit on ps3 so I can comfortably do the coop later.

WaW FF: uhhh I mean it’s funny that this exists

MW2: Again, this one was so huge to me as a kid. I’d love to finally hit max level and max out a gun or two. Can’t wait to see the original boost, the big snowy cliff level, kill shepherd, no Russian, underwater infiltration mission, burger town, all of it. I loved WaW to death and I was a zombies fanboy then and maybe even now, but the modern weapons and setting were so much more appealing to me as a kid and MW2 just felt like the epitome of “cool” even more than WaW and even Black Ops 1 with their historical settings to the point where I remember being mad at the MP40 in BO1 zombies and the M14/Olympia in TranZit and such.

BO1: I barely can remember any of the campaign besides Reznov being in it and an awesome prison break. Other than that…very little comes to mind. I remember loving this campaign so I’m really in for a treat there. And this is one I’ll absolutely have to dig back into the multiplayer for to dig up old memories. I’ve even still got the first dlc from back in the day! And I owe it to myself to play Five and Ascension at least a time each. Oh, and my cousin had COTD.

MW3: now this one I played much much later in my mind, but looking it up, I actually beat it just a year later on 2012, so that’s funny. I beat it just a month before Black Ops 2 came out in fact, and I know I played that game day one. I had totally forgotten that part of the story. That means it’s been over ten years since I’ve touched this campaign. In retrospect, all I remember remotely is the juggernaut ending and the New York opening. I didn’t even recall who makarov was while playing the new MW3. Oh, I do remember the Paris gas mission of course. So this is going to be super fresh for me actually. I think I always wanted to like Survival mode since it’s a little like zombies and I always liked the idea of it being an option on every map. What’s funny is that I think I can only recall ever doing it on the one map. I need to try it on terminal if that’s an option. Maybe I can try it splitscreen on PS3 if that’s an option. I’ll also have to pop my head into the multiplayer here even if I don’t have as much nostalgia for this game.

BO2: oh man, this game was everything to me when it came out. I have a ton of nostalgia for the multiplayer most of all, i think. TranZit was a huge letdown to me at the time. I have a hard time remembering much of the multiplayer though since the maps from it have been recycled so much and now my memories of hijacked, raid, express, etc. are all jumbled. I remember liking the low recoil assault rifle with the threat identification scope and generally like the pick 10 system a lot. Im super curious to see my old class load outs and combat record. I probably won’t play much TranZit but I’ll have to at least do a round on Town and Bus Stop. Maybe get the game going on PS3 just for the DLC zombie maps once each. And of course the campaign - I remember making choices, the split timeline, a sniper mission, dragon round shotgun, and the weird RTS missions. I wanna say you also got to customize your gear a bit but I might be misremembering. I think this game hit a real sweet spot with the technology level that even AW/BO3 go too far past long before even IW/BO4 and I really want to play this game and envision my ideal next near-future CoD title. Plus I remember the weird avenged sevenfold credits and I have grown to like them a lot since then. Plus this story will be more fun with the events of BO1 fresh in my mind, and possibly help tie in to BOCW, not sure yet.

Ghosts: I had this game as a kid exclusively to help train my dad for the incoming release of Destiny 1, which is what we owned a PS4 for in the first place. We played exclusively splitscreen with bots. I’m sure I played a bit online or started the campaign but I have zero recollection of those. I only even remember the unique perk point system because someone on Reddit brought it up recently. I do remember the soldier customization but not how it works exactly so I’m excited to see that. I remember this game feels very slick and polished actually so I’m super excited to give it a second shot. I also wanna say that you can level up by playing bots? This has massively been on my peripheral vision from long before this current CoD phase so I’m pretty excited to check this out. Oh, I do vaguely remember Extinction so it will be fun to briefly pop my head into that, possibly drag a coop partner in too. And having the first map pack will be a nice novelty. We had this physical and sold it so I never played this past the launch of Destiny 1 which was a long time ago now. UPDATE: yep, I checked and I have 7/100/19 hours in SP/MP/Zombies confirming that of course I remember the multiplayer way more.

AW: now this one I think I just outright owned on PS4 digitally but I just never chose to revisit it. This one was just for me, I think, but I still only got a level or two into the campaign and didn’t get super far in multiplayer. I remember struggling with the exo suit controls. I think I did a bit of offline bots with my dad here but it’s all blurry now… The added context of comparing this to WWII/Vanguard/new MW3 will be fun. It’s going to be rough seeing Kevin Spacey so much. And I’m excited to try Exo Survival and Exo Zombies a little bit. I think this was also the first game to experiment with loot crates in CoD which I want to say ended with BO4? But tracking that from game to game is a point of interest for me since I hated that so much and to really defined the “dark age of CoD” to me especially when combined with a 50 dollar season pass that has all the zombie goodness in it. I mostly just remember using the 3D printing ammo gun (will likely continue) and having some kind of weird novelty gimmick LMG. Curious to see if this game has laser beams, im pretty sure IW does. Also curious to compare the customization in this game and Ghosts before things get Operator-based in BO3/4/CW and MW1/2/3 but I can’t remember what IW/WWII are like in that regard.

BO3: actually about 1/3 through this already since it’s the main coop friendly one, so not looking forward to a ton here besides Maybe playing some more multiplayer outside of splitscreen, seeing more maps than just nuke town. I always contemplate buying the deluxe zombies edition and I likely will one day but that’s for another phase. And I’m torn between whether to get that on console for the easier splitscreen or PC for the mods. This campaign kind of sucks so far to be honest, but it’s a nice excuse to do a bunch of coop shooting galleries. I almost wish this game had opted to have a spec ops mode instead of coop campaign or otherwise simplified the coop experience. It’s impressive to have skill trees, ability wheels, and custom load outs in a splitscreen game but I’d honestly have preferred to just be given a standard loadout and no abilities when playing splitscreen, and less rambling cutscenes too. I am continuously impressed by how much content is crammed into this one game, but I scream at the screen every time I heard about the 54 immortals. In conclusion, train go boom. UPDATE: forgot to mention that I owned this on PS4 but no longer have a PS4 so that’s where I did just a little bit of everything, but then I only have the multiplayer on PC. Also briefly owned all the DLC but lost access to it, don’t ask how. So I weirdly have these brief fond memories of zombie chronicles and the dlc zombie maps. But I do hate gobblegum with a passion.

IW: I definitely played this game, yep. I think I owned and sold it on PS4? But I definitely currently own it on steam where it says I have 16 hours currently. Most of my memories of this game are the stellar Zombies in Spaceland so maybe I could get the season pass or *cough cough* find a way to play it once or twice without getting the whole thing especially since it has Elvira and Kevin Smith. I loosely remember the faction system from the multiplayer but not a ton else. I’m very excited to play a campaign that stands out from the rest though. I’m rooting for this one to end up being a hidden gem.

WWII: similar, I want this to be a hidden gem. I do remember playing this on PS4 I think, mostly bots with my dad, a bit of multiplayer by myself, and a little bit of zombies. I’m excited to see the zombies again once or twice but mostly because I never even booted up the campaign. I mostly remember the war mode from multiplayer, the HQ, the “random” class that respawns you with a new gun each life. Excited to compare this to vanguard. I think this might be the final loot crate CoD, because I know Black Ops 4 has a battle pass AND a season pass which I found egregious but I can’t recall if it also had loot crates or not.

Black Ops 4: I’m hoping for the single player missions to end up being more fun than people online give them credit for. This game is really the end of an era for CoD, even if that era is what I consider to be its dark age. I own this on battlenet, so I’ll have to check my playtime later, but I somehow also own this on Xbox so I may just play there for the purpose of splitscreen. I did enjoy the multiplayer at the time but I especially loved having 3 zombies experiences with no extra purchase required and with bots and leveling up no less. I mostly played the Ancient Rome one because it was so much faster to spin up but I really appreciated all the zombie quality of life changes here. I know literally nothing about the rest of the dlc zombie maps so that could be fun to try sometime when I have even more cash to throw around on stupid nonsense. I never did the single player much, I literally can’t remember how it worked. I know it doesn’t have story mode but just training missions but in my head that still sounds fun to me. I also want to try our “operator mods” even if just against bots. Maybe a round of “heist” as well. I remember playing the beta for this one on PC, but also being stuck playing this game on super low graphics and being jealous of how good it looked on my dad’s pc. I also remember the beta for BO3, BOCW, Vanguard, MW2, and MW3 but can’t recall if I did any others.

Skipping MW2019, it’s the only one I don’t have access to at the moment. I’ll be nostalgic for it in a few years but it’s too recent for now. Did the campaign and lots of multiplayer on the old ps4. But this game really marked a new era for my relationship with CoD. The new camo system and gunsmith system really lit me on fire and reinvigorated my love for the series. It is similar to how I loved Smash Bros Melee and Brawl and 3DS but didn’t truly get halfway decent until Ultimate. I truly loved this series as a kid but as a teen from Ghosts-BO4 it was just something I was half interested in. MW is what pulled me back in and made me a fanboy again. Since 2019, I’ve gotten even better at camo grinding and in general but this game is the reason I pre ordered MW2/3 and even Vanguard sadly. This game was so good it made me suspicious of BOCW just because it was different. And what’s funny is that I’m sure for a lot of people who feel that way, it’s because of Warzone, but I played practically zero of it unless I had to for a challenge to unlock something. I just loved the look and feel and vibe of this game and the quality of life stuff a lot. This game invented camo grinding as we know it now and that meant everything to me despite just being a checklist. I love me a checklist. But I don’t get nostalgic for the campaign despite relatively enjoying it. And I barely touched spec ops.

BOCW: own this baby on Xbox AND PC. I reckon I’ll do the campaign on Xbox since it’s more cinematic on the bigger screen. Especially after skipping MW19, this is where we get into games that are still extremely fresh in my memory. Especially since I went back to this game after Vanguard and double especially since I played this one a fair amount recently with my girlfriend so we didn’t have to do split screen on MW2. The multiplayer of this game is seared into my brain which is funny because I bought this game on PC for the zombies after a free weekend and slight discount convinced me. I ended up really liking this game but I’d wager I played at least 10 times as much multilayer as zombies. But more importantly here - I never even booted up the campaign. I’m super excited to get a follow up to the original black ops once I have that game’s story much more fresh in my mind. I’ll also have to pop my head in and play the round based zombie maps once each since I was really into those for a time before zombies outbreak became the main thing for me since it was so much easier to play with more casual players like the people I know IRL. I would like to play more of the multiplayer map zombie survival mode too though. I’m very much done with the multiplayer though.

Vanguard: I pre ordered this game and very quickly got disillusioned with it after getting just 1 or 2 guns gold. I’m actually pretty excited to revisit it though. I quit the campaign asap after it was super goofy and lighthearted but now that seems like a fun change of pace and I’m really looking forward to seeing the final evolution of all these classic WW2 guns that I’m still in the middle of using. It’ll be a super fun reunion to see the M1 garand, MP40, PPSH back again after missing them for several several games. and I never played the post-launch zombies like shi no numa so that’s actually super exiting for me to check out as an OG zombies fan. I’m not eager to revisit the multiplayer though beyond a cursory re-inspection. The weird attachment-locked camo challenges killed the camo grind for me. And I remember this game being weirdly similar to MW19 in a lot of ways. I’ll have to at least check out the Waw maps one more time maybe.

And…that’s it! I beat the new MW2/3 campaigns when they came out so there’s no need to revisit those. Vanguard is the “cherry on top” so to speak (haha). I reckon step one here is to just see if I even have the time/willpower/energy/attention span to get through the campaign of each game, especially considering I won’t be able to stop myself from dipping my toes into the multiplayer and coop modes a bit as I go along. Then I’d make another step to maybe set a little goal for each of the multiplayers that I want to revisit, like hitting max level or maxing out all the guns. After that or instead of that would be getting ahold of all the map packs whether by slowly overpaying for them over time or nefarious means.

[izunias-meme-hole]

My first time watching a man go from a young man, to a cruel hearted monster, to a remorseful figure that changes himself in one final act. A lesson that people can be complicated, yet simplistic.

Not my first time seeing a “regular guy” doing what’s right, but certainly one that lingers in my mind in some capacity as the years go by.

They’re a good part of my childhood. These takes on the characters specifically not only reinvented their original dynamic, but showcased what it was in the clearest way possible. Two drastically different folks who want some change in their society, who have different ideas on how that can be done. Granted Optimus is the equivalent of an actually talented college dropout in this show, and Megatron was more of a mob boss mixed with a revolutionary, but I feel like the idea was still conveyed very well.

Ever since my introduction to him in Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros Wii when I was 5, he's kinda been a consistency in my childhood alongside a couple of other purely fun villains, but the main reason why I'm listing him is because I feel like whenever I see good ol' Bowser here, it's like seeing an old friend who pops up now and again. Guess that goes to show that some characters just happen to stick with you, even after a good amount of time.

A continuation of what I learned from Vader, complete with a redemption. Vegeta never started out as a “good guy,” in fact he was a total bastard who was only semi-sympathetic because he wanted to end a greater evil (For his own purposes but still). Yet as Z went on, I saw the changes in his character happen before my eyes, where it all eventually paid off at the end of the Cell Saga and Buu Saga. His arc felt slightly rushed due to it not being planned, but I never felt like it was unnatural.

I already knew that pride was a poison if left unrestrained, but curiosity being a spark to fuel it was something I never truly witnessed in detail so I never outright got it, until diving into Kingdom Hearts and learning about the OG KH Trilogy’s lore for Ansem back in late 2018. Hell looking back at the Ansem reports back in KH1, make me understand exactly how much of a believably dangerous combo it is because I can fully get the mindset of it now. I can relate to feeling the need to know more about certain things, so seeing that be brought to an extreme, in the form of flashiness and good writing (From 2002) had an effect on me.

I’ve seen the whole “power of friendship” shit before my dive into KH, but I feel like the approach to the concept in the first three games in the series was still handled the strongest through this kid, and I slowly appreciate him more everyday.

My love for Final Fantasy truly emerged because of this man showing up in KH and I will never not love him for that.

After playing through OoT and MM for the first time during the pandemic, I feel like there’s never been a character that’s embodied the idea of growing up too quick like this kid, and the fact that I was around 15 around that time, made his story stick to me some more. So consider me nostalgic.

The final evolution of what I learned from watching a fair share of antagonists over the years, but conveyed through a more irredeemable figure that is a best example of a simple yet complicated man. He's the same monster in all of his showings in some capacity, yet he always remains engaging as a character for a plethora of reasons that end up all accumulating to the most compelling showcase of self-destructiveness I have ever seen. A terrifying monster of a man who consistently, without fail, is often his own worst enemy.

I used to watch this show when I was a toddler through a set of old DvD's from the 90's, and its just remained a consistent part of my earliest memories of my childhood, and while it was full of adventure, I mainly remember just watching it due to how mundane it all seemed. There's honestly not much to it, I just wanted to see a bunch of trains do their jobs and go about their lives too.

There are other character's and series's that have shaped my tastes, and just who I am as a whole, but I just wanted to list a few for this small post because we'd be here for hours if I went over everything.

Merry Christmas! Consider this an Ask Meme! Reblog with your responses.

[pumpkin-stars]

Listen!!! I didn’t play anything mario until the very end of my dinosaur phase, and it was only the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games 2008 Beijing edition for the fuckin Wii. Also my go-to sonic character was Tails cause he looked kinda like my cat at the time?

I didn’t play games much growing up I still don’t understand XPs I just go for the cutest/weirdest lookin thing and hope for the best

[modmamono]

Puyo Puyo 7 is good.

So, one day, on a whim, I decided to play Puyo Puyo 7. One of the least loved Puyo Puyo games, just for the heck of it. I played the up-to-date patch on Wii by these champions of the people:

You can follow my journey playing the game in this Twitter Thread.

My thoughts on the game:

Before I decided to play this game on a whim. I've only ever watched the cutscenes of Puyo Nexus' translation when I was catching up on becoming a Puyo Puyo fan back in 2017. 

And I didn't think much of it. It might be the translation job based on this playthrough. Which didn’t make it as fun to read. (No shade at the Puyo Nexus guys.)

And what I've basically picked up over the years from other people over the years, is that this game is a disappointing redheaded-step child.

But playing it... It's the most fun I've ever had with Puyo Puyo ever.

Like people get up in arms about what cobbled up mess the final product is (and it certainly is, they had like 2 ideas they had to scrap at least and seemed to work with what they had left).

But I think the story is as good as it possibly could've been.

- Characters drop off the face of the planet?: YES. - Story has very contrived moments: YES. 

I can go on. But I think it's a fun and unique adventure for what it is. Ringo is actually a bit of an everyman reacting to all the weirdos unlike later games, there's this mystery, there's globe-trotting with the 7 wonders. There's a villain you unwittingly help, Arle frees herself to bork up Ecolo's plan for a bit. Ecolo has a mulitversal cataclysmic hissy fit, and the final match is just a victory lap? That's all pretty exciting stuff!

I think it's a good story mode comparing it to Compile’s run of Puyo games. Just lacks the heart and amazing character stuff from Fever 2 and 15th.

Like I get not caring about that when your favorite character gets to do nothing. That's fair. Not everyone can put that aside like me.

But I do think you're missing out on the fun if you're just hung up if your character just stands there and "doesn't matter".

If you're hung up about your character needs to do something important to matter... Then does that character really matter to you?

I love Hoho.

He doesn't ever do anything important. He will never do something important. He will never do anything important. He will never be important. He isn't important.

But he matters to me. I don't need the games to validate that.

Gameplay-wise, Puyo Puyo 7 was tons of fun. Sure, most of the story were Transformation Battle, which I got sick of.

But picking the random option between Mega and Mini kept it fresh! I found a new love in Mega Battle.

Sure this game's modes are 15th's table scraps, but they're good table scraps. No Underwater Mode to be found.

And out of all Puyo games (barring GBA Fever), this one controlled the best!

I assume that's not unique to 7 though. It does use 15th's engine after all.

What I totally do get though what people don’t like is the lack of content. Here's how much Data usage the Wii Puyo Puyo games have:

- Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary: 562MB  - Puyo Puyo 7: 322MB - Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary: 700MB (Give or take)

And yeah, the Megabytes do reflect the amount of modes you get. Very, very little. Like 5, and you can find 4 of them in both 15th and 20th which came out before and after Puyo Puyo 7 respectively and both dwarf Puyo Puyo 7 with their modes. There’s no debate, 15th and 20th are better, and your money is better spent on those two.

...Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...

How many actually feel ripped off? Most likely none of you bought Puyo Puyo 7. I'm willing to bet most reading this who played Puyo Puyo 7 don't own a physical copy (my Wii physical copy will arrive one day and I already own a DS copy).

You’re statistically speaking not from Japan. We never actually got the game, we need to emulate it. If you’re angry at the lack of content, then just get 15th or 20th or any other Puyo Puyo game like you downloaded Puyo Puyo 7!

You're not a Japanese kid Puyo fan who bought it in its release year who was disappointed with the lack of modes.

It's also possible a lot of you guys reading this right now never played Puyo Puyo 7 at all. And formulated your opinions on what others have to say. To which I'm not judging you. That's fair. That sounds sarcastic, but trust me, not all of us have the time, nor the want to play. That's valid. I get it.

I once read a Tweet. It was a picture of Sonic CD. And the Tweet read something along the lines of:

"I swear only Sonic Fans think this game is bad."

Which just opened my eyes with how true that is. It's a good game, but you wouldn’t know it if you talk to Sonic fans.

And I think Puyo Puyo 7 is in similar boat. Though I don’t think Puyo fans think Puyo Puyo 7 is bad.

But I'm willing to bet if Puyo Puyo 7 released in the west, when the DS was still king.

People who didn't become life long Puyo fans, might be confused by the story and character, and they'd had to overcome Puyo's infamous learning curve, but would’ve had a great time and have fond memories with the game, know what I mean?

And that thing about being confused about the characters and story... That already has happened with Puyo Puyo Tetris 1. That's a hurdle we are already over. That was never a big deal.

I hope my scatterbrained head didn't forget anything.

This is one of my favorite Puyo Puyo games now. I love it. I genuinely do. I don't tend to be hyperbolic when I use words such as "love", I fricking MEAN it!

Though obviously, it's not perfect. But I don't need something to perfect to like it. And neither do you, it’s okay to like something that has flaws. Things are more interesting when they have flaws anyways.

That's I love Dark Arle so much, she's missed potential in a cool dress.

[zeldaelmo]

Oooh! Okay! I knew some of these but I am really intrigued with fanfic reader!Link and fanfic writer!Zelda! May I request a snippet?

This story is alone @spicychestnut's fault. She had some tags about fanfiction reader!Link under a post of "All the trashy novels" and I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's just a very light-hearted little thing. No angst this time, just fluff and silliness, I promise.

The premise is that Mipha drags Link along to meet her new college friends Purah, Robbie, and Zelda. They go bowling. And Link claims he's good at bowling because...

"So, a Wii U, yes? Nobody has a Wii U."

Zelda drags her index over the bowling balls, deciding which one would suit her.

Link sighs in defeat when he admits the truth, "I have them all. I even play on my DS sometimes."

He waits for her smile to turn polite. Or for her eyes to roll, but they don't. Instead she quirks a brow and grins. "You are a nerd."

"I prefer the term gamer, but whatever." He is prepared to leave her alone, his turn is over for a while now and he doesn't want to be the creep who can't leave the pretty girl alone.

She picks up a pink ball that seams too heavy for her small fingers and looks back at him. She still grins. "Gamer is a bold word for a Nintendo-Nerd."

Effortlessly, she takes a measured step towards the lane, crouches down, and releases the bowling ball. The pins clatter. A strike, of course.

Her grin turns teasing when she catches him glancing at the score and at her. "So, Link... What do you play? Animal crossing?"

He wines inwardly. Why exactly did he tell her about his Nintendo collection? Ah, yes. Because her smile is too pretty to let him think straight. "Legend of Hilda, in case you are familiar."

"Oho, not only a nerd, but a sucker for the Princess/Knight dynamic, yes?" Her eyes twinkle with mirth and he has still no idea what to make out of this conversation. Is she mocking him? But she smiles the whole time and usually when someone catches wind of his antics, they are gone in seconds.

Time to come up with something smart. He likes the puzzles. Or, no, better, the dungeons. Legend of Hilda is famous for the tricky dungeons.

"Well, the Princess/Knight trope is a bon, but what really gets me is the soulmate thing." Link drives both hands through his hair. Something smart!

"Ah, yes, there is something about being cursed to be reborn together over and over again, I'll give you that."

Link nods absently, until his eyes widen. She's a little too well informed, isn't she? Could it be that she - no. Maybe she has watched her brother playing or something.

He guides her back to their places and quashes the urge to lay his hand on her smaller back for support. Well. He doesn't guide her. They just walk there. Maybe he really likes this knight in shining armor thing a little too much.

She sips on the straw of her coke, lips all rosy and lush, when she catches him staring again. Great goddess, she winks at him. She winks!

"What," he begins stuttering, throat dry, "what's your hobby?"

"Oh, I write."

Of course, she would have an intellectual, poetic hobby. Not smashing buttons.

It's easy to picture her, sitting cuddled in a plaid in the nook of a window, her laptop open and a tea mug hugged in her hands. She would gaze in a park-like garden and every now and then she would put down the most poetic words ever written.

"What do you write, if the question is allowed?"

"Short stories." Taking another sip, she leans forward to him so that the others can't hear her. "Well. And porn."

He has problems to keep his own beverage spraying only over his shirt and not on the table. Porn???

She clapps his back until he has mostly recovered, but doesn't give him the opportunity to pester her with questions about that.

"What about you? Are you a reader?"

"Yeah."

"Oh? What genre?" Her hand is still on his back for some reason. Unfortunately, she realizes, gives him a last tap, and withdraws.

Since she's still here, closer than ever with her knee touching his, he steels himself and goes 'all in'. "Fanfiction."

"Legend of...", she begins and he finishes for her, "... of Hilda, yes."

"Oh." That's all she gets out and Link wonders why this gets her more flustered than admitting that she writes porn.

"I know what you think. Fanfiction is only for twelve-year-olds, but there's some really good stuff out there. Look, my favorite author writes the best stories I've ever read. Better than most published writers." He grins and tips his head so that he can nearly whisper in her ear. "Including porn."

Another, "Oh." She shifts on her seat and for a moment he's worried that he has made her uncomfortable. But then she squeezes one eye close and asks, "What's their pen name?"

"Dark Knight of the soul."

She stills. The only thing that moves is the blood that raises from her neck to her face until she sports a flush.

"Zelda?" He touches her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she croakes before she points to the screen that shows the score without watching, "look, it's your turn again."

It isn't. He frowns, but stands up anyway. Where has he gone wrong?

This is a draft. Very obviously I need to include the other characters at least a little bit or it gets weird, but that's the general direction it will take.

Thanks for asking!

[kenganparadise]

what were the earliest video games you've played in your childhood/teenage years?

I played a lot of Zelda games when I was a kid! I also had a game boy that I loved. A lot of my earliest games were Nintendo, mainly Pokémon and LOZ. I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for them!!!

Also my family had a really old computer I’d play solitaire on.

one year for Christmas I got a DS I barely ever put it down. It meant a lot to me around this time, and I still have it to this day. (Yes I still it still works and yes I still play it)

When the wii came out I begged my mom to let me get twilight princess (circa 2008) that instantly became one of my favorite games of all time.

Years later this my brother got an Xbox. He’d let me play on of course. One of the games I got for it was Bayonetta 1. I was pretty young so I’d only play it when my parents weren’t home or at night. It *ahem* awakened something in me. Bayonetta remains one of my favorite franchises to this day and I can’t wait for the 3rd one!!!

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

Ten Years Ago...

I have really fragmented memories leading up to the royal wedding - I remember hating Catherine’s engagement dress, I remember a craft shop near my house doing a “cushion making” workshop during the wedding (which two of my friends went to), I remember being in school and talking about what the dress would look like in English (we were doing Romeo and Juliet). I also have fragmented memories of the months afterwards; debating whether Kate was pregnant during her tour of Canada in 2011 sticks in my mind.

But I remember every moment of April 29th 2011. My excitement was threefold. One - I’d never seen a royal wedding before and I was fascinating (ngl, I felt the same about Philip’s funeral). Two - my family were coming around for the day. And three - I had spent the last few years reading about Prince William’s girlfriend in the papers and I had decided I loved her.

Nearly every house on my road put bunting up, and it stayed up until the end of the Olympics a year later, although we didn’t have a street party (someone tried to organise one for the 2012 Jubilee but no one wanted to go!). My family decided to have a tea party, making cucumber sandwiches and fairy cakes and scones.

My family started turning up at 8am and I remember my dad and uncles in the kitchen, making bacon sandwiches for those who wanted them. I remember sitting with my cousin’s son, playing Pokemon on my sister’s pink DS Lite. I remember watching the guests arrive and listening to my family’s commentary on people I knew (“Doesn’t David Beckham look lovely? What is Victoria wearing?”) and on people I didn’t (“Of course Tara Palmer-Tompkinson is there!” “Is that Elton John?”). I remember the reporters filling the gaps with visits to Bucklebury, speaking to old ladies in a gazeebo, and to Kate’s old primary schools.

I remember the royals arriving. My family’s disgust at Andrew (early adopters of the Andrew is trash campaign), their amusement at Eugbea’s hats, and their regular-as-clockwork hatred for poor Camilla stick in my mind. Carole Middleton completely won them over and they spoke a lot about how sorry they felt for the backseat she’d had to take at her daughter’s wedding. I remember we tried to guess the colour the Queen would be in - I guessed yellow, with a blue blanket - and I remember never guessing the Queen’s wedding outfit colour right ever again.

I remember Kate appearing and me almost crawling into the TV to get a better look. I particularly remember repeating things like “Alexander McQueen! Lace! Sarah Burton!” despite not knowing what the commentators were on about. My family spoke about how Kate waved “like a commoner” and by this point there were 15 of us in my tiny front room.

The wedding ceremony is a bit of blur. My family stood up for the national anthem and I’ve never forgotten that because I’m 100% sure they’ve never done it before or since. One of my aunt’s cried at Jerusalem because it played at her wedding. One of my uncle’s decided to be creepy about Pippa. There was a lot of talk about the Queen and how proud she was and “how dare Camilla sit so close to her” and “doesn’t William look handsome” and “when are we having cake?” - I was sat cross-legged on the floor at the foot of the TV, partially because there were no seats, and partially because I was lured in.

I adored the colour scheme - I still do. The red, white, and gold was so perfect (and so me!). Catherine’s walk down the aisle to “I Was Glad” moved me to tears (but I’ve also cried watching every bride go down every aisle at every wedding I’ve ever been to). The bells pealing as they left the cathedral touched my cold little ex-Catholic heart.

Almost as soon as they left the church, my family abandoned me and the TV for the cakes. Some of them returned not long afterwards - also with cake for me - but the rest started playing some game in the dining room. I watched the carriage ride and peppered my grandparents with questions and they spoke about the Queen and the war and their own wedding (which I paid no attention to until I decided to write about it at uni six years later). The noise from the crowds stands out to me. Hearing the cheers and watching this couple - and their fancy family - travelling in London in carriages was amazing. My aunts spoke about how Kate now had a “royal wave” and how they would have to call her “Catherine” now (reader, they never mentioned her again).

Even when the carriage ride had finished, I didn’t want to move. I was scared of missing something, especially since we didn’t have a TV which could pause or record or rewind, and I was not the most technical teenager. But I did leave to get more cake and to join the game, leaving my family with strict instructions to call me back in if anything happened.

The balcony. The waving. The crowds. The flyover. The first kiss, which made everyone laugh because “it was so quick! How could they have got photos?”. The second kiss.

We played on the Wii for a while after that. The BBC reliably informed us nothing would happen for a while, so we ate and had fun, and heard people partying in the streets of not-London. When we did switch back over, it was not long before the newlyweds appeared in Charles’ car. The pure joy of that moment was clear. My uncle started talking car and everyone else ignored him and were like “Harry must have done that!” We stayed until we saw Will, Catherine, Charles and Camilla returned to Buckingham Palace (unpopular opinion but Kate’s fluffy little jacket is the only thing that makes her boring second dress remotely interesting).

My memory of that day is family. It’s love and fashion and cake and games and fun. It’s spending time together and returning to normal the next day. I have never felt anything like the atmosphere in the run up to that wedding - the closest was the London Olympics but that suffered from being over 2 weeks, not one day. That’s why I bought a copy of the wedding on DVD (I also bought the London Olympics DVD) and that’s why I’m still here. No matter what happens, April 29th will always be a special day in my heart