Why, hello there, all you hep cats. Mind if I check in with some random thoughts? Don't worry--I won't take up too much of your time.
First I should spotlight some of the semi-recent blog entries: In the past week I've added my lengthy appraisal of Axiom Verge, which wound up measuring in at two-parts. Its entry is the first of what I'm calling "Modern Wonders," a category under which I'm going to be sharing my experiences with more-contemporary games. The final paragraphs of the Axiom Verge piece should be enough of an indicator as to why I felt now was the right time to start covering new releases. Be advised that the dates atop the posts don't necessarily reflect the time-periods in which they were actually published; sometimes these pieces are written weeks or even months in advance. I'll likely be adding one more category of games to the Treasure Trove section, but that'll be sometime that happens down the line.
Other posts you might have missed: (1) Unearthed Treasures: Doki Doki Penguin Land, in which I continue to express my fascination with the SG-1000 and a game that I feel exemplifies the console's offerings. (2) Rediscovered Classics: Zillion, where I grapple with the question "Was Sega's Master System library hiding its own Metroid?" And (3) Unearthed Treasures: Solomon's Club, which chronicles my first play-through of a Game Boy game whose company I should have made 25 years ago. Oh, the foolishness of my youth.
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So this is what I'm going to be doing for a while: Discovering games both old and new and sharing my experiences here. That is, at least until the start of next year, at which point I'm to commence writing up my "Memory Bank" pieces. This time, of course, I'm going spread them out a bit--avoid rushing them in fear of suffering burnout again--and try to get another year-or-two's-worth of content out of that particular project.
After that, I'll have more time to focus on neglected site sections like "Video Game Ramblings" and "The Playroom," named for the linoleum-tiled playroom my father's contractor buddies built for my brother and I back when we were growing up in that house in Brooklyn. I'll be using the latter to provide pictures (if I can find them) of my old house, the old neighborhood, old friends, and anything else I can relate to my history with video games. If I'd known that I was going to get such an early jump-start on this site, I'd have kept some of those old picture-filled boxes (I've never valued pictures as much as I should).
See--my original plan was to wait until I was 40 before starting up this blog. I figured by then that I'd be married--that maybe I'd have settled down--and ideally I'd be provided a wonderful opportunity to spend a few Sundays writing about my history with games. You know--when the wife was out with friends and it was my turn to watch the baby. But suddenly, on a random day in 2014 (March 21st, the same day my mission-statement post went up), I just couldn't hold it in any longer; I got the itch, and I couldn't wait to start pouring out my memories. At the time, I was listening to longtime Youtuber NintendoCapriSun, who, as he's apt to do, was sharing memories about his personal history with games. Something about the mental images his stories were conjuring lit a spark within me and thus "From the Memory Bank" promptly came into being.
So things didn't work out quite like as I originally planned them. And, really, I'm glad they didn't. I mean, I do, after all, hold to the belief that chasing ideals is silly--that doing so often causes you to lose sight of the opportunities you have in the present--so it made sense to ask myself, "Why pin your hopes on an uncertain future when you're capable of launching your project right now?" (This question goes for life in general.)
So thanks for that, Mr. Sun. Because of you, I'm more than two years ahead of schedule! In fact, I'm going to head on out of here and start working on my next few entries before I lose the pace!
Oh, but before I go, I should mention that I've made a slight cosmetic change to the sidebar: The Rygar hermit positioned at its top now sports a crude new animation in which he makes known his displeasure with your prodding-cursor shenanigans, so I'd stop ruffling his feathers if I were you.
Now be aware that I haven't done this to suggest that the hermit will actually reprimand you in-game if you, say, glitch out his pants by jumping and wildly flailing your Diskarmor. I'm not sayin' that.
Or maybe I am. Who's to say, really?
Also, I'm thinking of whipping up a few more of those sprite-collages, but I've run into a bit of a roadblock. That is, I can't think of any famous 8-bit video-game settings that exhibit the platform density I'm looking for. At the same time, I can't think of any characters with whom I could decorate them--at least none whose sprites would logistically fit into the frame. So I need your help, dear reader: If you can, please provide me with ideas or suggestions for characters (preferably 8-bit and with dimensions similar to those depicted in the collages on the right) and settings (NES or otherwise). You can do that here, on Twitter, or through any of those points of contact on the Credits & Links page.
And that's it. This will likely be the last long-form update I'll be making for a long time. Until the next one comes along, my checking in will be limited to either quick thoughts or disposable notifications.
All that remains is to thank everyone for your continued reading. I never imagined that I'd get hundreds of people to come over here and actually read this stuff! It's been a fulfilling experience, and I appreciate that you've all taken the time to read my work. Hopefully you'll continue to enjoy this site's content.
Many thanks to all of you enthuse-a-maniacs out there. Keep on rockin'.
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