Refueling the Passion

(Updated 10/10/19: Hello again, dear readers. I'm back again with more rewrites.

First up is Super Mario Bros. 2. The original version was, as expected, pretty terrible. Events were over-summarized to the point of absurdity, and the piece was largely devoid of real meaning. But now that it's been expanded upon and given structure, it should be readable.

And then there's Mega Man, which suffered from the same over-summarization issue. Also, it contained an incorrect date: I got my copies of Mega Man and Mega Man 2 in November, not in September. As usual, I regret the error and hope that there aren't many more like it. This piece has been expanded upon, and it now does a better job of explaining why I adore the game.

If you're interested in reading either of them, scroll on down to the "Updated Memory Bank Pieces" portion of this post and click the appropriate link.

Oh, and if you're new here, I recommend treating Memory Bank pieces 20-40 as though they were rough drafts. It might even be better to avoid them until they've been updated, lest you might come to the conclusion that you're reading the work of a confused 8-year-old. 

Anyway: This is the last update this post will see. Soon (hopefully before the end of October) it'll be displaced by something new. Let me reiterate that future rewrites will instead be mentioned on my Twitter account. That can be found at twitter.com/MrPofVania.

Please be excited. Or, at least, mildly aroused.

Thanks!

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Hey there, hep cats. This is just me checkin' in with a quick update.

As you've likely observed, it's been a long while since my last post. You've probably also noticed that lately the gaps between entries have been growing larger and larger. Well, there's a reason for that: Basically I've been overcome by feelinga of apathy. This is 100% the result of my spending way too many hours playing video games. My math tells me that I spent the first four months of this year exploring the libraries of the MSX, the Atari ST, DOS, the Amstrad CPC and various other platforms. And overindulging in that manner has afflicted me with a major case of burnout. It's so pervasive that I've barely played or written about any games since later May, nor have I felt the motivation or desire to.

You know how it is when you enter one of those phases in which you feel obligated to play games--especially all of the new ones that are coming out--but your brain keeps telling you, "I just don't feel like playing games anymore."

Well, that's where I am currently.

About all I've done is mess around with Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 for the Nintendo Switch. I had great interest in it because I was eager to regain access to Mega Mans 9 and 10, which I didn't care to replay during the Wii days due to my distaste for the all of the console's the available controllers, what with their weird, uncomfortable ergonomics and clicky buttons. It's great to have them in this much-more-palatable form. I was also keen on the idea of owning a more-accessible version of Mega Man 8--which, if you remember, is a desire I expressed in my Mega Man 8 Memory Bank piece. I wanted to give it a second chance. And now that I have, I'm glad I did. I've really been digging it; I've played through it at least four times since the day of purchase. I'm now entirely convinced that it is, indeed, a worthy series entry.

But the fact remains that my passion for discovering and writing about video games has taken a dip. Really, I don't know when it'll return, so until then I'll just have to wait. Who knows--maybe I'll find a spark after I return from my annual August trip to upstate New York, where I hope to enjoy a stress-fee birthday celebration (I'm turnin' 40, yo)! We'll see what happens then--see how I feel.

I haven't been completely unproductive, though. I did get the sudden itch to go back and fix up some of my earliest Memory Bank pieces. I've started with Super Mario Bros., whose entry has been expanded upon and streamlined. I'm not going to be revising these works--changing their context--but instead improving their formatting, structuring and readability. 'Cause I gotta tell you, man: What a disaster these pieces are. They're truly awful. Rereading them has only served to make me sad. I'm both disappointed with and ashamed of the content I produced in 2014. I mean, really--this stuff is grammar-school-quality at best.

This situation must be remedied. So I intend to spend a lot of my blogging time improving these works and bringing them up to an acceptable standard.

What I've decided to do is leave this post open and report such updates here. Below is a list of the reconstructed pieces and dates in which they were updated. If you're interested in getting a clearer sense of what I think about these games and how I remember them, keep checking back here.

Updated Memory Bank Pieces

• Mission Statement (8/13/18)
• Super Mario Bros. (8/13/18)
• The Legend of Zelda (9/2/18)
• Metroid (10/4/18)
• Mega Man 2 (10/23/18)
• Trojan (3/21/19)
• Renegade (9/8/19)
• Rygar (9/19/19)
• Adventure (9/19/19)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (10/10/19)
• Mega Man (10/10/19)

It may just work out that my revisiting these past entries ignites something within me--reminds me of what was so fun about this.

So how 'bout Castlevania finding some representation in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? It's long been expected to happen, yeah, yet seeing it come to pass still feels somewhat inconceivable. I mean, Mario and Richter Belmont are in the same game? How in the hell?

Thinking about all of the potential combinations makes my head spin: Simon Belmont versus Ryu. Simon and Richter versus Ganondorf and Ridley. Dark Samus versus Dracula, with Zero running around in the background, Z-Sabering everyone. Link, Pac-Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ryu, Solid Snake, Cloud Strife, Mega Man and Bayonetta fighting it out in Castlevania's castle keep. Talk about surreal.

Truthfully, I'm not much of a Smash Bros. player anymore (the games have become too defense-oriented for my liking), but I still find it exciting to follow the series and think about the possibilities. Ultimate has made many of them a reality; it's total wish-fulfillment.

That's all I got right now. I'm not sure when I'll be back or what game I'll be covering next, but kindly stay tuned. There's a lot more to come in the future. My to-do list is a mile long.

You might want to follow me on Twitter, doing which will save you those curiosity clicks and prevent empty trips.

So hang loose, stay positive, and enjoy the rest of your summer.

Hopefully I'll be seein' you soon.