#night-time-dsi

[lesserknownhusbands]

[skeletalheartattack]

I FEEL YOU ON THE TORNADO FEAR THO I USED TO BE SO SCARED OF THEM AS A KID THAT THE FAINTEST GUST OF WIND WOULD MAKE ME CRY LMAO 💀💀💀

YEAH LEGIT IT SUCKED SO BAD!!!!!! legit honestly i think it's so funny now cause like, where i live none of that shit happens here or even comes close to reaching us. and even then my ass was still scared to tears

[radicalrobotz]

how i look with he/him in my flipnote

[tk-tastic]

Here it is! A compilation of every single Turbo flipnote I made, starting in 2014. Some of the art is rough to look at, but there's a little improvement over time, lol

Video length: 3:16

Sappy, sentimental stuff below...

As a child, my mother banned me from making and posting flipnotes to Sudomemo (and Hatena, which was the original place to upload them). She was extremely strict about when I could use electronics, and how I had access to the internet. She was strict about a lot of things. I wanted to be an animator so badly, I wanted to make art, I LOVED making art; so I would get on late at night, often forfeiting four hours of sleep in favor of making animations on my DSi. And it was the best time of my life. I don't think I will ever be as happy as I was when I was hiding under the blankets with a stylus carefully tracing over every frame of an AMV, I'll never get the same adrenaline rush as when I would hit "upload" on a finished piece.

I was so frustrated in 2014 that I was two years late to the fandom, lol. Wreck It Ralph had run it's course online and people had moved on, I'd missed all the good Turbo art as it was uploaded. But there were stragglers like me on Sudomemo who were still fixated on it. If I ever meet xNightx again I think I'll cry. I hope they're doing alright.

So yes these animations are a bit cringey, and yes they're not my best work, but I was happy when I made them and they're an important part of my art journey, so I'm happy to share them.

I can't believe my first special interest has been revived so severely, lol

[sluttyhollow]

I don’t write for UA students but Bakugo and me are the same person and we’d be best friends if I was at UA 😂. I was listening to Bakugo by KVMIL and it just had me thinking about Bakugo x black american bestfriend reader (this has been sitting in my drafts forever lol might as well let it go)

No warnings, just two foreign besties with bad attitudes and terrible language (purely platonic)

Katsuki definitely speaks English, he’s a rich kid, and his parents traveled to the states a lot for work and they used to takes him in the summer. He just refuses to speak English because he thinks it sounds stupid.

The back and forth trips are how he ended up meeting you in the first place the summer between first and second grade. Your parents were working on a collaborative design line focusing on mixing Japanese and African American street fashion styles

Neither of you liked each other. He was loud and you thought his red eyes were creepy. He thought you were a loser and hated the noise your hair made when you walked (it was the beads, he thinks they look “cool or whatever” now though) you guys actually ended up fighting, Mitsuki thought it was funny because Katsuki lost (he started it) she bought you ice cream for winning.

After that day you guys came to an agreement to not speak to each other but by day 3 of vacation you were sharing games and sending each other colored screens on your DSIs. You guys did argue everyday of that summer though, and every day of every summer you spent together until middle school when he started staying in Japan to train.

Fast forward to high school and you still text each other. He’s at UA and you’re at a well known hero school in the states. Both of you are loud mouths with quirks worthy of helping saving lives (yours a quirk reversal/theft quirk that allowed you to reverse a persons quirk or utilize their abilities for a certain amount of time, like toga and all for one mixed).

Let’s just say your school has a sports festival similar to UAs that’s also televised and streamed nationally and internationally which prompts Miruko to want you intern abroad with her. Of course you accept and your school works with UA to get you into a transfer program thus starting your 1 year stent at UA. Now for fun’s sake you didn’t tell Katsuki you were coming to UA so imagine his surprise when all the rest of 1A is talking about some American transfer student and he walks into the common room and sees you sitting there.

“What. What the fuck are you doing here you fucking loser” the rest of 1A is shook, they know he’s an ass but they didn’t think he’d just be mean to new student. Just when they get ready to intervene you respond to him with a “you know you’re happy to see me fucker it’s been like 3 years” and the rest of the class is just like wtf is going on here. Y’all of course explain that you knew each other and that you’re besties. Deku being the only one not surprised considering you’d met him once before.

From then on you too go back into your old ways from childhood but with added addition of training. When you’re not busy with Miruko and him with Jeanist y’all go back to the Bakugo house and eat dinner with Mitsuki and Masaru.

You make him apologize to deku (long before canon) when he tells you what happened during middle school and how the first half of the semester had been. You beat his ass and told him to get over himself (he knew you were right).

You and Deku going feral when he gets hurt, LOV attacks and the three of you have to be put on house arrest by Iida cause y’all get too emotional over one another

Forcing him to class 1A gatherings. Neither of you wanna go but Mina saw you two getting ready to disappear after dinner and dragged y’all to movie night

Katsuki likes American food. Spice levels are just a little higher, flavors are a little more intense than typical Japanese food. You can cook a little bit and help him make American style dinners for everybody sometimes

People think you guys are partners cause of how relaxed you two are around each other but he’s like your brother and you would kiss m*neta before Katsuki

Yeah just two foreign besties (your American friends thought you were lying about your best friend living in Japan all through middle school, they didn’t realize you were serious until you moved and FaceTimed them with Katsuki in the camera)

[sometipsygnostalgic]

I modded my hot new dsi (even though i had already modded my 3ds) so now i have access to a bunch of games.

I now have TetrisDS which is the best version of Tetris. I don't like tetris. I like this game. I'm bad at it.

I was also able to create a ROM. I've never done that before. I made a copy of Episode 3 DS which is what I tested the console with on Saturday.

I learnt my DSi is called "Test", which makes sense, but my DS Lite is called "Sun" which must be what the original owner called it before they passed it to Cex.

Played some of Kirby Power Paintbrush which is actually a fantastic game. It reminds me of Epic Yarn XL on the 3ds but it's in a proper resolution and art style for the screen instead of being a downscaled Wii U game. You bounce Kirby around like a pinball and draw paths for them to travel while avoiding deadly enemies. I got lost last night and had to give up mid level.

Anyway good times. Today I'm going to play some Lego Star Wars II on DS which is one of the worst games of all time, but it's another from my childhood. I was able to get bounty hunter mode working on download play too.

[thatonefatgumsimp]

OK so idk if I posted it here before, but I had an idea for an mha animatic for Work This Body by WALK THE MOON for Izuku Midoriya (BC idk, that song just screams "Deku" to me-)

Anyways I'm gonna post it here now cuz I hope to draw the frames soon (I have no idea how to animate whatsoever- does that mean I'm gonna give up tho? No. I'll animate it on freaking flipnote on my old DSi if I have to, I will make this animatic so help me-)

So yeah, scroll past if you don't rlly care/aren't interested, but if you are I'm gonna put my ideas for the frame-by-frame (sort of) under the cut:

OK SO! *claps hands* these blorbo thoughts have been marinating in my brain for so long, bro (/gn), you have no idea...

OK so beginning context:

In my au, Uraraka is pan, Izuku is bi, the "Toshi" mentioned in the animatic notes is one of their future kids who eventually inherits OFA. With the context out of the way, IDEA FOR THE ANIMATIC!!!

Piano at the beginning: a couple scenes of the beginning of MHA just as, like a refresher (like maybe a short flash of baby Deku and a look at the sludge monster incident briefly) and title screen

"It was a strange place and a tender age": Izuku standing in front of All Might after the sludge monster incident, All Might offers to help make Izuku a hero.

"I was just a babe in school": shows Izuku happy at All Might's offer and crying, he's still in his middle school uniform.

"Saw them roll their eyes at me": shows Bakugo walking by, glaring in disgust at Deku as he passes.

"Every time that I thought that I was cool": Izuku taking notes.

"Well uh God knows I was no chosen one": Izuku looking at the littered beach.

"That just wasn't my prime": Izuku struggling to move the fridge on the beach.

"Yeah it's just a matter of time, honey, it's just a matter of time": Izuku standing on a clean beach as All Might hands him his hair.

"And I will work this body": Izuku during the entrance exam.

"I will burn this flame": Izuku talking to Shoto at the sports festival.

"Oh in the dead of night and in the pouring rain": Izuku training outside at night in the rain, practicing his kicks.

"Yeah I'm a workaholic": Deku doing Sit ups.

"And I swear I swear": Deku punching and kicking the punching bag.

"Yeah, one day I will beat you fair and square": Deku pausing, sweating, to look at a picture of Bakugo for motivation.

"Show me what you got!": Deku training with All Might.

"Work this body on the floor": Izuku during one of the training exercises, swinging through the air on Black Whip.

"Who do you think you are?": Bakugo watching the same training exercise knowing the form is the same as when he uses his Howitzer.

"C'mon, meet me on the court!": Izuku and Bakugo fighting at night.

"Que ferais-tu? Putain, je ne sais pas!": Izuku and Bakugo working together to save Katsuma and Mahoro from Nine.

"It ain't a matter of 'if', honey": Bakugo being stabbed through the stomach by Shigaraki with that weird tentacle thing.

"It's just a matter of when": a picture of a goodbye note on Deku's hospital bed saying he's running away and he can't risk everyone else getting hurt since the LOV is only after One for All.

"On some Sunday": runaway Vigilante Izuku arc dirty, dusty-ass lookin costume.

"When it's my face in the newspaper again": the news outlets on TV covering the 'new vigilante on the scene' (the very dirty broccoli boi who thinks he can do everything himself smh /lh /aff).

"All the rag magazines": 1A bringing him back.

"Black limousines": Uraraka on the rooftop with a megaphone.

"They'll be gettin in line": Deku training for the big fight.

"Yeah it's just a matter of time, honey, it's just a matter of time.": Deku kicking Shigaraki's ass.

"And I will work this body": second year Deku and Bakugo sparring.

"I will burn this flame!": Izuku playing Uno with his friends and classmates.

"Oh in the dead of night and in the pouring rain": Izuku lightly splashes Bakugo with ocean water and he splashes him back hard.

"Yeah I'm a workaholic": Izuku studying.

"And I swear I swear": Izuku and his friends graduating.

"Yeah!": they throw their caps.

"One day I will beat you fair and square!": Deku talking to Bakugo out on patrol.

"Show me what you got!": Izuku saving civilians trapped in a building.

"Work this body on the floor": adult Izuku and Bakugo sparring.

"Who do you think you are?": Deku on the news.

"C'mon meet me on the court!": Izuku getting interviewed.

"Que ferais-tu? Putain, je ne sais pas!": Bakugo predicting Deku's gonna win the hero rankings #1 and giving him a noogie.

"Ne vien pas plurer": The announcement for the new hero rankings.

"Ver moi….": Izuku is named the new number 1.

Instrumental interlude: Izuku doing great things as the Symbol of Hope and new number 1 hero and past class A celebrating for their friend.

The piano flourish at the end of the instrumental: a pause, seeing Izuku hold his oldest son for the first time with Ochako handing baby Toshi (their firstborn) to him.

"And I will work this body": Izuku showing Toshi (10, quirkless) how to defend himself.

"I will burn this flame": Izuku coaching his son (still 10) as he struggles with push ups push ups.

"Oh in the dead of night and in the pouring rain": Toshi, 14, going for a run at night in the pouring rain

"Yeah I'm a workaholic": Izuku cheering on his son as he does one handed push ups.

"And I swear I swear": Izuku handing Toshi a piece of his hair like 'you are ready'.

"Yeah, one day I will beat you fair and square": Izuku ruffling Toshi's hair as he sends him off to his first day at UA.

"And I will work this body": Toshi training his ass off.

"I will burn this flame": Toshi talking to the vestiges, mainly second, about what they did that helped.

"Oh in the dead of night": Toshi taking notes and strategizing how to be better.

"And in the pouring rain": Toshi running up a hill with weights in the snow.

"Yeah I'm a workaholic and I swear I swear": Toshi beating the crap out of a punching bag while training.

"Yeah, one day I will beat you fair and square": Toshi beating his dad (Izuku) at sparring.

" YEAH!": Toshi at, like, 24, in his hero suit with one arm up.

[djeterg19]

I'm back and reading chapter 9 of the Sign book. Much more focus on the investigation this chapter.

We start with Tharn making breakfast. Same as the show but he's alone eating a fried egg, hotdog, and toast. He is not a very good cook so he sticks with simple foods. He gets a text from P'Mhor which is the doctor(I'm far too proud that I realized Prem was using this for Ten in Cooking Crush today) asking to meet for lunch but Tharn tells him he'll probably be busy with the case. Chalotorn insists on taking him out to celebrate if he does have time later. This makes Tharn smile because he likes free food.

The DSI dress code is a black or dark suit with white shirt and...yeah I wish we got that in the show. Billy and Babe would look so good in suits. Or that may just me having a thing for men in suits. Tharn thinks he's 5 minutes early but everyone is already there when he gets to the meeting room and the captain tells him he's late.

There are a bunch of different forensic officers in the room being introduced. The head of forensic medicine went to high school with the captain. They have several different teams but they are missing toxicology as they won't be joining for several days. After all the intros, Tharn noticed a forensic scientist standing by himself so Tharn introduced himself. The man says his name is Vito and they are called back to their separate teams.

As Tharn heads back, he suddenly feels an icy cold sensation at the base of his neck causing his hair to stand on end and makes him feel like he's being touched. Phaya notices and tries to get him to move back to the conference room but Tharn can hear something. A whisper or buzzing that he shouldn't be able to hear but does. Something no one should be able to hear but somehow Tharn is able to.

Tharn is finally snapped out of his daze by the captain who is very unhappy with him. He goes to sit but she makes him come over to her instead. She smacks him with a folder and says he embarrassed her and that he's acting like he's not ready to work. He apologizes and she tells him to go back to his seat. Phaya asks if he's ok and he nods.

They divvy up the work of who is going to interview all of the victims of the murdered men. They have a tablet thing with all of the relevant info for each victim. They call them Kinds because they are like modified Kindles. Everyone leaves and Tharn thinks Yai follows to check that he's ok but no he lectures him about being late and tells Phaya to take care of him.

Tharn hears the voice again but this time he can make out what's being said: help him. Please help him. And Phaya is thinking of his dream the night before.

They get to their victims house and she is less than cooperative. She doesn't want to answer their questions as it brings up too many bad memories of the past. She has a daughter from the assault. They ask to speak with the daughter but she starts yelling at them and slams the door in their faces. So they go visit the daughter at school instead. She also doesn't want to talk but something about her makes Tharn suspicious that she's hiding something. Phaya agrees but they don't have enough to do more now.

They get back to the office and report everything to Singh and Thongthai. Yai brought in one of the victims he talked to because they were acting suspicious. As they are all discussing things, the captain brings in a woman draped in a red dress. It's a woman from one of the photos in Phaya's wallet. Phaya is not thrilled to see her and asks for Tharn's help.

They go into the visitor room and the woman bumps Tharn out of the way to get to Phaya. She wants to have lunch with Phaya but Phaya puts his arm around Tharn's shoulder and winks at him. The woman starts whining and begging. Phaya insists he can't go to lunch with her and that she promised she would stop bothering him after they broke up. Some grossness about how they had sex when he was drugged and of course he couldn't resist a woman that served herself up when under the influence.

Phaya and Tharn go out to lunch and Tharn calls Phaya daddy again. Anyways Tharn can't undo his seatbelt so Phaya has to help him. Phaya realizes how much Tharn looks like Vanvisa close up. He puts his hands on Tharn's cheeks and then under his chin saying. Tharn asks what the hell he's doing and Phaya says that he looks so much like her. Tharn asks like who but they are of course interrupted by Chalotorn. He asks if they are ok because they stayed in the car for so long. They say no they were just talking. Chalotorn takes Tharn's hand and Phaya watches as they walk into the restaurant. Phaya wonders why the doctor doesn't like him.

[petsdale]

To-Do (out of order, to be updated)

Make font

Finish character sprites (SG: Sprout, Dandi, PP: Lynn, Quinn, Thomas, HG: Maud, Dr. Veal, CC: Tori, Bauble, LB: Allen, QWERTY)

Buy/find Toy Camera (pre 2008)

Finish banner

Finish closing screen

Buy fake Queen of the Night for PFP

Buy bracelet for PFP

Take/change PFP

Finish story outline

Finish environments (Spring Gazebo, Pet Plaza, Hallowed Grounds, Cozy Cottage, Lunar Base)

Finish map

Finish UI

Finish character talk sprites (SG: Sprout (0/2), Dandi (0/2), PP: Lynn (1/2), Quinn (0/2), Thomas (2/2), HG: Maud (0/2), Dr. Veal (2/2), CC: Tori (0/2), Bauble (0/2), LB: Allen (0/2), QWERTY (0/2))

Finish story artwork (0/??)

Finish story writing

Finish character dialogue (1/??)

Finish Carrd

Find/buy a DSI

Buying from my Etsy/Redbubble allows me to spend more time/money on @petsdale!

[lumiolivier]

Tied Up at the Office

Day 15 of 31 of Kinktober

Prompt: Bondage

Word Count: 839

Mello's such a tease. But not as big of a tease as Matt. Let's remedy that situation with a little...correction, shall we?

“Matt!” Mello called out into the warehouse.  Everyone who worked under him froze at their boss’s shrill screech.  It didn’t matter if it was for them or not.  The effect still hit the same. 

However, Matt remained unmoved.  His headphones were firmly affixed to his head and his cigarette hung out of his mouth.  All while a mix of late nineties and early 2000s techno blared through his head.  All while he played an RPG on his jailbroken Nintendo DSi.  No one dared to disturb him.  Matt wasn’t exactly a pleasant creature to deal with when someone interrupted his breaks.  Even though he hardly did anything all day that wasn’t experience farming.  But there was a quiet between songs.  At least for a second.

“MATT!”

“Yeah?” Matt jumped a bit, taking his headphones off.

“GET YOUR ASS IN MY OFFICE!”

Matt could feel a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck.  Oh, shit…I’m fucked, aren’t I?  Slowly, but surely, Matt made his walk of shame to Mello’s office.  He knew that if he looked at any of the guys in the warehouse, they’d all look away.  And yet, he could still feel all their eyes on him, unaware if this would be the last time they’d ever see him.  But Matt knew better.  It’s Mello.  Sure, I didn’t hear him the first time he yelled for me, but…Come on.  I’m me.  What’s the worst Mello could want? 

“You call for me, Mels?” Matt stuck his head in Mello’s office.

“I called for you twice,” Mello pointed out, “What the hell?”

“Sorry about that,” Matt bit his lip, “Darude gets to me.”

“Of course, it does,” Mello rolled his eyes, “And to think, tonight was going to be the night.”

“What night?” Matt perked up, “Did you have something in mind?”

“Well, I did…” Mello sat on the edge of his desk, “But now, I don’t know.”

“Come on, Mello,” Matt whined, “Nobody likes a tease.”

“And there’s only room in our relationship for one whiny bitch,” Mello argued, pulling Matt a little closer, “And that’s me.  Isn’t it?”

“That’s very true,” Matt scooped Mello up into his arms, “Seriously, Mello…What were you thinking?”

“How would you feel about getting a little hot and bothered in my office?” Mello suggested, “Give the guys something to talk about around the watercooler?”

“Mello,” Matt gasped, clutching his nonexistent pearls, “I am a good little boy.  And you were going to take advantage of me?”

“Oh, I was going to do much more than merely take advantage of you,” Mello smirked, spinning a pair of handcuffs around his finger, “But if Darude was getting to you…You would’ve known that sooner.”

“Don’t do that to me, Mello,” Matt pouted, “Don’t tease me like that.”

“You know…” Mello tossed the handcuffs aside, “I don’t want to.  Not in my office.  It’s so unprofessional.”

“Mello!” Matt was nearly in tears at this point, “Come on.  I’m sorry.  I’ll keep my headphones down when I’m in the warehouse from now on.  I promise.”

“I said we weren’t doing anything in my office,” Mello settled him, “I didn’t say anything about our bedroom.  Get in the car.”

“Yes!” Matt ran out of Mello’s office, knowing the kind of fun that awaited him when they got home. 

And when they got home, Matt made a beeline for their bedroom.  As Mello walked in, Matt’s pants were already on the floor.  It shouldn’t have made Mello giggle, but it made Mello giggle, “So eager for me.  You can’t tell me you’re that horny already.”

“You have no idea…”

“Well then,” Mello shoved Matt down to their bed and pinned his hands over his head, “We can’t have you playing with what’s already mine, can we?”

“Um…”

“And because I know damn well you can’t be trusted,” Mello took a silk scarf out of the nightstand and kept Matt’s hands in place.  The knot rubbed just under Matt’s thumb, “Look at you…all tied up just for me…”

“Uh-huh…” Matt nodded.  It wasn’t the first time he and Mello had ever gotten kinky, but it was something Matt could never get used to. 

“Let’s see…” Mello looked him over, “You’re missing something.”

“What’s that?” Matt wondered.  You already have my hands tied up, Mello.  What more could you want?

“How about…” Mello went into the chest they kept at the foot of the bed and dug around for one more fun surprise.  He pulled out a silver rod with a couple of cuffs attached to it, “This?”

“The…” Matt could hardly breathe, “You…You want to bring out…the, uh…”

“Go on, Matt,” Mello coaxed him along, already strapping him in, “Use your words.”

“You want to bring in the spreader bar…?”

“Well…Yeah,” Mello shrugged him off, “You have a horrible habit of closing your legs when I’m between them.  We can’t have that, now can we?”

“No?” Matt squeaked.

“That’s right,” Mello pulled the belts tight and cradled Matt’s cheek in his palm, “Now, are you ready, sweetheart?”

“Yes, please…”

[cattyanon]

LETS GOOOOOO I just caught Raikou in Pokemon HeartGold in the most amazing way possible: In a Friend Ball.

That's right baby, not in a Dusk Ball (the time on my DSi is off so it's night rn in-game which I haven't bothered fixing cause I'm lazy but also I've realized this has benefits) or a Ultra Ball but a freaking Friend Ball!!!

AND something pretty amazing that happened with Raikou is that while using a Haunter to whittle away at their HP (obviously saving beforehand in case of an accidental defeat) I got a crit on Dream Eater and for a moment I thought "oh no this is about to KO, isn't it? I didn't think Dream Eater did that much..." <- (just learned Dream Eater) but instead of that happening Raikou actually lived on a sliver of HP! So just to find out how much I left 2 spots in my party empty and you wanna know how much HP this guy had left?

3.

This Raikou did me the favor of tanking a Dream Eater crit and lived on three HP.

Like I've got Entei in the red but any more damage and he'll die plus I can't switch out of Haunter to do a small amount of damage due to how Mean Look works. So for me to have Raikou just barely live that crit was truly a blessing. <3

[nightlighton]

My step-brother stopped coming to our house when I was in the first grade. As a child this never quite affected me, however as a seventeen-year-old I find myself longing for a conversation between us. I miss him in ways that I cannot describe. Hearing how my Oma talks about him feels like knives tearing into my throat.

We are seven years apart. He was born in 1998 while I was born in 2005. He held my hand while my older brother went for surgery on his ears. He let me play his DS games and stole my fries on movie nights. He watched movies with me and let me hang out with him in his room. He never once let me feel like an outcast.

I miss him at seventeen.

All I can think about is if I ever mattered to him as a person.

I hold onto the memory of him like he is a ghost, because in my life he is. When I see him now it feels like he is a stranger who enters my life once every three years. I need to know if I mattered to him as much as he did to me. Does he hate me as an extension of my parents?

When he left I was six years old. He was thirteen. The most fond memory I have is one of the last times I saw him. I got my very own DSi for my birthday that year and we took pictures on that dreary afternoon. His hair was long and one of my front pieces was braided. When he was thirteen he wore his toque and I wore my peach striped sweater. The photos were terrible; they were blue and dark with the only light coming from my own DSi. I never deleted them, and I have no intent on doing that now. For years I would look at them to remember his face and even though the photos were grainy I could still make out the excitement in my smile.

Now he is 24. I am told by my grandparents that he always makes time to visit them. I am told that he isn’t ready for long visits at my house because of my parents. I am told about his appearance and his life…I wonder if he cares to ask about mine.

I tried contacting him over social media but I couldn't find him.

I miss my older brother. The one who would steal my fries. The one who agreed with me when I was the minority. The one who let me steal his DS games. The one who let me into his room at stupid o'clock to take photos on my shitty DSi.

To me he is important in my life, but he will forever hold the candle for someone who was never there for it.

[crmsnmth-journal]

9/3/2024 10:24 PM

I somehow managed to fanagle the night off and actually got some stuff done at home. My room isn't a complete disaster. My laundry is almost all done. It's kind of nice to be in a somwhat clean room. It's always going to look cluttered in here, but that's because the room itself is pretty snall. I don't have all that much, but even the bare bones looks fat in this room. Other than that though, I didn't do much. Played Castlevania and ended up picking up Cult of the Lamb for a pretty good price on sale. A friend introduced me to the game and I fell in love instanlty. Lately, my Switch has gotten quite the resurgance. I've been playing it alot. More than PC or one of the other consoles. I think it's the portable aspect, even if I'm not going anywhee. I've always been a sucker for handheld stuff. The 3DS and the DSi are easily in my top five gaming consoles. I'll probably play a little of Cult (It should be downloaded by now. My internet speed is pretty damn slow. Took four hours to download.) and write and then go to bed.

I lost track of how many days I went withorut one off, and technically I can't consider today a day off. I had therapy at eleven, and then it was right up to the alley to make lunch for a ladie's leauge. I don't mind them at all. Easy stuff. The Alley's fully open again and leagues all start this week. My schedule, already hectic, is about to get a lot more insane. My hours will double at the alley. At least until it's time to throw in the towel there.

Albums for today:

Milo Goes To College - The Descendents Everything is Fine - Amigo the Devil Nimrod - Green Day The Mark, Tom, And Travis Show - Blink 182 Decemberunderground - AFI

[bb-drayster]

Delivery from castle anon!

700 bars of platinum, 80 suits of titanium armor, 30 masterballs, 500 bars of gold, a king sized thick and fluffy soft blanket, a DS, a DSi, a 3DS, a 2DS, a box of the best chocolate money can buy, 40 iron swords, 10 very large diamonds, the most anime looking shield you have ever seen in real life made of iron with a gold border, 300 pearl necklaces, and a pillow so large it may as well be a bed for 10 people.

Your humble servant stayed up all night watching anime and I feared that you would be at least a little annoyed if these gifts were all sent individually. You were getting your beauty sleep after all. So every time I finished an episode, I would grab something from my own castle's treasury and put it beside me, with the goal to give you all these gifts when you rise- or at least awaken. I sincerely hope that you enjoy these gifts, my king. If this amount is insufficient, I will bring extra after I finish the next episode. Watching anime is nice, but bringing you gifts in between is the highlight of my day

oh? if i didn’t know any better, i’d say you were after the king’s heart. heh

-🐉

[glassmarcus]

Neon White and the art of the S rank

*Played and Written in December 2022

Something I've learned about myself over the years is that I will never master a game without incentive. I am not really concerned with getting the personal best time or highest score for something. I enjoy the process, but I need a concrete goal and 'better than the last time' doesn't cut it. Without milestones, I will fall off, only doing the bare minimum. Which is why I’ve always appreciated grading systems in games. Even if it’s just a gold star with no reward, as long as there’s a point where I can be certified as ‘objectively good at the game’ I’ll take it.

I first experienced the concept of level ranking in Sonic Adventure 2. Adventure 2 was a game that gave many incentives for replay and that includes the ultimate goal of getting A ranks on all stages. I tried getting A ranks when I was younger, but I didn't really understand the criteria for doing that and could only succeed in the speed stages regularly. Ranks are still one of the reasons I know the game so well, but the rewards were so few and far in between that I couldn't stick with it to get all of them. There was a period in my life where I just ignored rankings in games because they just seemed unattainable. That period ended when I was around 12 years old.

What made me truly appreciate level grading was Mighty Flip Champs. This game came out in a time where there weren't many games to play on the Nintendo DSI. It was basically the only new game I had and once I beat it, I just wanted to play more. That's when I started replaying with the intent for getting S ranks. Mighty Flip Champs is a puzzle game, so I just took my time with it. But once I learned there were more efficient ways to clear the level, I saw a whole new side of gaming. My 3rd eye awakened. I began seeing routes which were once insurmountable, now more likely to pull off with my further tuned reflexes this time around. I felt the true euphoria of mastering a game for the first time. I was just bored and couldn't afford anymore full priced games. And after I got an S rank on every level I still couldn't. So I went back to see if I had anything I’ve beaten that I should be trying to fully complete. I didn't play many action games back then, but what I did have were Sega titles. Nights: Journey of Dreams I went back to and actually beat, but didn't get A ranks due to the god awful filler missions I’d have to replay. I got all the chaos emeralds in Sonic Heroes and beat the true final boss, but neglected to get all A ranks because I already played that games at least 4 times that that point. Rifling through my blossoming games collection, I only found one which I would dedicate myself to mastering: Sonic Unwiished.

Yes, Sonic Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii. I've never done it in the PS3 version. Both because I didn't own a PS3 at the time and those stages are simply too long. Unwiished stages are only like 2 minutes to S rank so learning the ins and outs of them is a completely manageable joy. Also you navigated through the game using simple menus with dialogue that is very easy to ignore. It made the game extremely replayable. While the Night Time stages weren't exactly...fun, they were easy enough that I only had to replay each one once or twice. The Day Time stages though, required intimacy with the level design and once everything clicked and I pulled off a near flawless run, it shifted from a middling Sonic title to one of my favorites just to due to how accessible it made mastery. I would later learn that I was going too hard on some of these levels and perfection wasn't necessary, but I'm glad I had that incorrect perception. When people say Unwiished is the superior version, they don't have much to stand on if they are referring to the meat of the game. The High Definition counterpart just has more going on. While there was a bit more bullshit at times, it felt like a complete package and was capable of more. But I'll always appreciate the Wii Version more simply because it didn't interrupt my quest to 100% the game with hub worlds, collectibles, and elongated levels.

I've gotten full rank in a lot of games since then, but very few of them gave me the same feeling as Mighty Flip Champs and Sonic Unwiished. They were either too easy to achieve or too bothersome. And now comes Neon White. A game that expects you to S rank the whole thing. And it's one of my favorites of the year.

Neon White is a speed running institute. You can play a level, finish it, and technically get a passing grade. But you can't progress safely until you get that GPA up. You need to hit a minimum average rank in order to get a new set of levels. So you go back to a level and get a gold rank and you are now proficient in playing that level. You are free to graduate. But then you go back because you are then given hints how to shave off more time and hit that Ace Rank. You are already so good at the level, it makes sense you want to get even better. So you go back to school and get your masters and then you are now eligible to start speed running this level. You have hit the bare minimum of mastery and you are ready to enter the society of speed running sickos. This happens 97 times and it worked on me nearly every time. The gameplay loop is platinum solid.

I have not played Mirrors Edge. I have not played a ton of First Person Shooters. The Golden Eye Remake and Doom 2016 are the only ones I've fully engaged with and explored to the fullest extent. And I guess the Metroid Prime games too. I'm not as genre savvy here as I am with platformers and RPGs. I don't know if this is run of the mill or not. I know Ultra kill and Doom Eternal are somewhat similar in their pace and I will play those games at a later time. I just want to plead ignorance here, because for all I know, Neon White is perfectly average in terms of game feel and mechanics. And I hope that’s the case, as I might potentially delve further into the genre.

Once you get into a flow, Its gameplay feels so natural. Each weapon has its own rules and effects. Each enemy has it’s own set behavior you can take advantage of. Each obstacle has multiple solutions. Neon White has a well structured design language. An exploding barrel means you will likely use it to propel yourself upward. A tommy gun means you will likely take down a group of enemies soon. A balloon enemy means you’re are going to be saving ammo killing these things. Everything has a clear and unclear function and restraint. Fluency is learning these functions and restraints, and stringing together sentences on the fly in these later levels make for delightful conversations.

I'm pretty bad at aiming. The quick succession of actions expected of you made me think I’d be garbage at this game at first. Luckily Neon White has the chunkiest hurtboxes in the industry. It understands that its more important that you feel like a skilled gunman rather than being a skilled gunman. And making these trick shots so easy to pull off gives the game room to implement a ton of them. Neon White doesn't ask you to do a few task that are hard to do. It ask you to do many moderately difficult task in rapid succession and then ask you to do those things faster. Being a god of execution isn't something that is required, but something that is encouraged, as it is necessary for integral skips and tricks to get the fastest time. Precision comes with repetition and repetition comes naturally for Neon White.

While the menus are a little clunky and load times between levels can be long, there is no down time within the level. This game would fall apart without an instant retry button, and I don’t know if it's because I have a big boy computer now, but that retry was real instant. The second you fuck up, you can press a button and sling shot yourself back to where you were with as little filler as possible. It creates this mesmerizing flow of chipping away at an obstacle and being able to take as many swings as you want at your own pace. Pairing this with how smooth this game feels, how seamlessly this music vibes, and how unhinged these levels get, it makes for a near perfect experience. There's only one thing holding this game play back.

I did not engage with this story at all. Apparently it's good. It seemed slightly cringe to me, but sure, I'll believe the populace and assume that’s just part of its charm. But even if it is good, I think the visual novel dialogue heavy presentation of the story is just a bad fit for the style of game this is. I get the feeling these are supposed to act as bits of respite between the high octane levels. I don't want that. At least not so much that it feels like it's half the content and rewards of the game. I just want to get back in there and start shooting and platforming again. Instead I have to navigate menus mindlessly until I get to the next set of levels, not unlike Sonic Unwiished funny enough. It's a shame because I like the art and voice work, but it's just incompatible with what I want to experience with Neon White. I would have preferred a few cutscenes with even more cringe rather than a gauntlet of dialogue where the second hand embarrassment is spread out. This honestly would have made this game connect with me far more. The gameplay is great, but the story can't really elevate it to something more special just due to its inherent nature.

I wouldn't even be too bothered by it if so many of the rewards for collecting in this game weren't story dialogue. Neon White has hidden gifts in each level and those gifts can be used to build relationships with the side characters. But only 1/4 of the rewards for getting to know these characters are fun side missions. The rest is dialogue I don't really care about. The narrative doesn't get in the way too much though and you can fast forward through most of it, but when you do that you render the in-level collectibles useless. There's a huge chunk of this game that I had to ignore because all I wanted was a sick action platformer and it was really good at being that. And while I wish the story presentation was on par with it, I think that speaks volumes about how well this core gameplay functions.

All games that expect you to master them need to be like Neon White. I probably would have liked Sonic Frontiers more than this game if all the Cyber Space missions had an instant retry button and more than 1 S rank that's difficult to get. Neon White has done the research and perfected the formula. Now we just need it's methods to be adopted by the masses.

[arielluva]

ive been thinking about cds a lot more recently (probably bc i ordered 2 out of 3 utena discs online (and they should be arriving on tuesday!!)) like. i ended up looking through my cds i have, thinking about burning a cd for the first time (bc my parents always just. burnt them for me so i unfortunately have never done it, and my computer is just a surface pro 4 with a keyboard attachment and as such has no disc drive)

but anyways. thinking about them got me thinking about how i honestly listened to cds consistently until very recently. like. i listened to a cd every night to go to bed for probably like. 10 years. maybe even longer than that who knows!! and it also just got me thinking about technology more in general. cds arent really. as relevant anymore. like yeah theyre still sold but since music has been becoming more and more digital and more focused on streaming it hasnt been as much of a thing. i used to have an mp3 player (which. i have no clue what happened to it)

and like. video game consoles i was used to as a kid are. getting really old now (something i was thinking about last night). the wii will be turning 18 next year, the original nintendo ds will be turning 20. the dsi (which was my first ds) will be turning 15. even the switch being a pretty recent (and still current) console is turning 7. its sooo weird to think about the passage of time and things getting older. the ds i played with when i was 6 was already kinda outdated when i got it since it was 2012 and the 3ds existed, but now the dsi is a pretty old console. 2009 doesnt seem like that long ago to me, then i have to remind myself that was the year when i was in preschool and i am now an adult

its crazy to think about how much things have changed, i used vhs tapes when i was younger to watch schoolhouse rock, had all my dvds and cds (though unfortunately my dvds are not in good shape due to little me almost never putting them back in their cases 😔) i listened to music off of my dsi primarily and thought the 3d animation in barbie and the diamond castle was peak animation, and now things are skewing towards being mostly digital, and there are so many hyperrealistic 4k type graphics out there now......

i dont even know what im rambling on about anymore its like 2 am. i just think things are cool and they also give me a crisis when i realize some things are kinda old now but. i suppose thats just something everyone goes through at some point