To your point in part 4 - humor in games seems under-utilized. Games like Psychonauts, Untitled Goose Game, and Thank Goodness You're Here live rent free in my head, but either I am missing most of the attempts or very few devs go this route. It's hard to get right, to be fair!

Got a nice boxed copy of it for 968yen on my 2023 trip. The box art is gorgeous. I guess it just wasn't that popular in Japan...?

Jeebus, yeah. I was going to try to at least make it over to BEEP to window shop for games, but ran out of time.

I'll have to go back...

There's a tweet that I am reminded of whenever I see this show:

The Nintendo Museum didn't have anything bigger than medium for the Zelda shirts when I was there in March... going up to XL at least is an improvement!

Always down for some Coco Ichiban!

Since I have never made a full loop and keep returning to my origin point after major trips west or east, I assume that I am usually near zero. Currently at something like -0.6, but will revert to a low positive fraction on my return home.

Descent and Ultima Underworld say: what are we, chopped liver?

OK, so probably a decade and a half later I finally learned what that flower is thanks to you. (First saw it at Longwood Gardens in PA long, long ago...)

And guess who worked on this game? Kotaro Uchikoshi (who you might know for the Zero Escape series, various famous VNs, etc.)

So it seems likely that even if it got a release, its reputation would be much as it is today - a lost gem of the NES/Famicom.

What I know of the gaming media of that era says that they would have largely dismissed it, since better graphics/tech could be had on the newer systems.

How did very late NES releases sell? I always heard that it didn't make it over because the SNES had already launched and they thought it wouldn't impress when compared to 16-bit titles.

Doubt it was true then either. A lot of early programmers were women. Ever watched Hidden Figures? Some transitioned from being part of a calculator / secretary pool to programming; they would have been right there for early games.

No time like the present to dig into @spiderwebsoftware.bsky.social 's ouvre. My personal favorite is Avernum 2, but basically all of their games are 80+ hour single-player RPGs.

(But also, when you feel like that, it's good to be around people, even when that is hard to do.)

Check out CrossCode (and soon, Alabaster Dawn). The former is very much a modern interpretation of 2D Zelda.

Minishoot' Adventures is also a good one that combines 2D Zelda with twinstick shooter mechanics.

The first few are a bit rough around the edges - more parody than satire. If you bounce off, give it another go with "Mort" or "Guards! Guards!" or "Small Gods" - all are good spots to start. The Tiffany Aching books you have read are in the later half of what he wrote.

I live near a pond which has its name spelled out in wooden boards set in the ground at the entrance. Early in COVID, someone spread mulch over the boards so that instead of the name it read "FIGHT ON!"

I spent a lot of time walking around that pond to get out of the house at that time.

If they committed that any expanded edition would have an upgrade path, it would solve this problem for me. If you want to sell it as a $30-40 expansion pack DLC, fine! Sometimes the changes are big enough to justify that. But not $70+.

OK but can they get Dragon Quarter up there too plz

(I got that one from a Gamestop bargain bin for $7 and I still say it's the best thing I ever bought for $7)