PixlBit

Missing most in pandemic: I just feel bad about the people that aren't handling it well.

Book you can't live without: A Christmas Carol.

What got you into video games: Video games.  Also, some of my earliest memories are from the Nintendo my older sibling had or the Atari computer my crazy uncle gave them since he worked in Silicon Valley for a bit.

Favorite album: Since I Left You by The Avalanches, one of those great front-to-back albums.

Transformers name: I'd be Screamscream, and I'd transform into a megaphone.  Wait, does that exist already?

Shoes: Uh... never?  I can't remember the last time I got shoes that weren't a gift.  And now that I think about it they were probably gifts because they couldn't stand looking at my ratty shoes.  Reminds me of the saying, if somebody offers you gum, take it.

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH:
I can't give official odds on this, it's in the little book they give you when you become an official video game bookie.  Section 1.3, Forbidden Video Game Matchmaking, right after Super Mario Bros 3 versus Super Mario World.  Nobody good-hearted would ever inflict that match on others!

But as a private citizen, I say... Final Fantasy VI has many great things, but does it have triple techs?  No.  No it does not.  There's one where like the scientist lights the swordman's sword on fire and then the robot grabs the swordsman and swings him around repeatedly in a circle or something?  Good stuff.  Even the double techs are great, there's one where like the frog calls a giant frog god to drop from the sky and then the scientist... lights it on fire.  A lot of fire in this game apparently.  Even though mechanically all those are really useless it's all about that style in the ring.  Also, fire.

Angelo might not be me... but is my computer???? ???

Also, this was one for the "best of" lists.  I'm always weary about going too long and oddball unless I notice that responses are low and feel I have a hook but I'm so happy when things come together like this!

STAGE SELECT:
I have to say, video games are pretty boring if the thing we judge dogs in games on is if you can pet a dog or not.  What base level garbage.  Does canned actor play canned animation?  YAY!  So I'm going to tell you about a good dog.  A very good dog.  And it won't be a Final Fantasy game because Rob Ottone doesn't like Final Fantasy or something?  I don't know, I was too busy playing *interesting* games to pay much attention to his segment, but I think that's canon.

Secret of Evermore is an Mana-like action-RPG for the Super Nintendo where you play as a boy... and his dog.  Transported from Podunk, USA to a futuristic spaceship, it's not long until our hero and his trusty terrier find themselves crash landing onto a world crafted out of an Archaelogy 101 textbook.  Dusting yourself off you find yourself in the buzzing jungles of Prehistoria, basically Jurassic Park in a swamp attached to a volcano, and you are immediately attacked by a jungle beast!  But that's no ordinary jungle beast, it's just your trusty terrier who seems to be a little... phasey from the transporter accident.  And just to prove it's your dog you throw him a stick... but he immediately returns with a femur.  Jesus Christ.  C...close enough?  Welp, at least now you have your very first weapon to bludgeon dinosaurs with!

And it's not just the first area, every area has your dog transmogrify into a brand new beast.  Antiqua, which is like all the ancient civilizations rolled into one: Egypt slash Mesopotamia slash Rome meets the ocean (with pirates!), trades your dog's bulkiness in exchange for speed and a god-like image (literally, your dog is revered as the Sacred Dog, complete with town statue and fawning peons).  Gothica, medieval fantasy land, has your dog transform into a terrifying, um, pink poodle, but at least you can crawl through vents and don a disguise in a way that would make Solid Snake jealous (it also has the biggest area where you and your pup split up which makes it feel pretty unique).  Finally, Omnitopia, the futuristic space station from the beginning of the game, has your dog transform into a bullet-barking 50s-esque toaster robot.  Just like something from one of our hero's favorite movies!  And most of the dogs *do* feel different in motion, from the hulking wolf-beast of the beginning to the futuristic (but energy-wasting) zooming of the cyberpup.  Good dog!

...Wait.  Hold on.  Oh.  Secret of Evermore had that Final Fantasy IV tie-in.  SHIT.

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH:
Computer!  Give me the odds on Final Fantasy X vs Persona 5!

(high-pitched voice)
Why, certainly Master Booky!  Persona 5 trounces Final Fantasy X at an almost 2 to 1 ratio!  And, my, you're certainly looking handsome today!
(/high pitched voice)

Why, thank you computer!  Everything is right and good in the world!

...

Okay, I'll be honest with you guys: that wasn't really my computer.  I know, unbelievable.  In fact, I missed last week's episode because my third computer, count them, the *third* one, just died on me.  I mean, this was the first one that is actually *dead* dead, but I feel more cursed than Julian and his Switch at this point!  So I'm going to add failure to failure: give my vote to the losing side.  It's just appropriate.

STAGE SELECT: Gotta be a Super Mario World ghost house.  It just throws you for a loop and introduces special enemies and mechanics that you'll never even see again.  The eerie music, the throwing out of the rules, the schoolyard-esque secrets that they are filled with?  Great stuff.

Also, have some Castlevania lore: Block 4A in Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse is called "The Haunted Ship of Fools", which would take first place in names if Block 4 wasn't called the "Murky Marsh of Morbid Morons".  It's canon!

CAGE MATCH: Let me see what my computer says since that's totally fixed now, yeah.  Hmmm... wow!  Seemed to actually work!  It says odds are 7.5 for Left 4 Dead to State of Decay's 30!  Wait, that doesn't make sense... oh, crud, that's just the install size.  Well, I hate a large install size so give it to Left 4 Dead.  That's just science.

Oh, yes, I should probably mention what happened to me and why I was gone so long in case it might apply to someone else!  I had devastating computer issues (PSU, hard drive although thankfully no data loss just a long time for repair) and unfortunately I stupidly only kept a backup of my passwords for the more sensitive websites.  And for whatever reason no part of the Pixlbit support worked: I never got an email for password resets despite doing it multiple times through the months, I never got a response from using the contact form, and I even sent a manual email to an address I found scouring old posts through the internet (nothing, not even a bounce).  I *do* have an unusual email provider (vivaldi.net) so maybe that's part of it?  Anybody check the password/support system recently?

STAGE SELECT: Me, Booky?  I'm like a cross between the Wall Street Kid and that guy in Zelda that takes all your money as soon as you step into *my* house.  Boom.

CAGE MATCH:
I took the risk and came up with a little less than 5:3 odds that Fallout 4 has a longer half-life than The Outer Worlds.  Now excuse me a moment, I need to take my next dose of RadAway.

Personally though, I say give it to The Outer Worlds.  I've only seen a handful of hours of each but I heard Fallout 4 was a staggering step back as far as role-playing and character building.  And I can't believe how bad that quote-unquote twist is.

The Outer Worlds had big problems but... here, I'll put it this way: Give Bethesda Game Studios more money than is good for them and we get Fallout 76.  During Obsidian's recent post-big successes if I remember correctly they tried the interesting Tyranny (an isometric CRPG where you are tasked with instituting the law of an evil overlord) and while I won't argue Avowed looks unique yet as so little is known I do have a soft spot for fantasy first-person RPGs especially if they are a bit "sandboxy".  I'm of the opinion that the later Fallouts get worse but it's untested how well a The Outer Worlds sequel would be, Pillars of Eternity II fixed a lot of problems so maybe The Outer Worlds 2 would be similar.  And best case imo eventually we get Alpha Protocol 2 so I want to keep them around.  Rough edges aside I still haven't met a game that has nearly as much narrative branching and subtle complexity as that one.  The first run is great but you'll still find new stuff and better understand character motivations even on your third and fourth playthroughs!

It was quite the riff.

STAGE SELECT: Hey, have I mentioned I like Deus Ex yet?  Deus Ex, Deus Ex, Deus Ex!  Seriously, though, a new remix CD of Deus Ex was just released by the original composers so to celebrate that I'm going to submit the PS2 orchestral version of the Deus Ex theme.  It's epic:

For my second pick, since my last one was futuristic I challenged myself by going retro.  I'm going to submit an unused song by the best Famicom game to never reach the United States: Gimmick!'s Strange Memories of Death.  It was the only game to use the SUNSOFT 5B sound chip.  Just bask in those three extra sound channels:

I also have an extra if you need it and also because: Final Fantasy.  One of my first posts here ever was about the Final Fantasy V Four Job Fiesta fan event (which recently wrapped up for the year) and unfortunately I didn't get to bring it up at the time despite planning on it because of devastating computer problems.  But at least I can throw in a link here for Final Fantasy V's fan favorite Battle at the Big Bridge:

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH: Still having computer issues but I'm going to find out if I can get some odds on it here.  Let's see... 100 to 1 odds that Mister Doctor Man wins.  Wait!  That wouldn't have had even been useful last week!  Stupid thing.  While I continue to work on this just put my vote to Cyberpunk.  I mean, with my stage select picks these last two podcasts that should be obvious.  Actually, the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided team worked on The Avengers I'll shut up now give it to Cyberpunk.

I gotta make a real post sometime here (next week?) but let's go ahead and get at it!

STAGE SELECT:
I can think of three mods that I'd like to exist.

Number 1: I've mentioned I like Deus Ex before, and I've also mentioned that I like remakes the most when they fix or at least improve a broken game.  So I'd like to see a mod that fixes up the maligned Deus Ex: Invisible War.  It's not the best game of course but there's a lot there, some interesting story beats, a weird if ugly in that mid-2000s way aesthetic, and the occasional decent level.  But, man, is that game broken.  There's a rumor that the engine designer left midway in the project and they had to hack the game together to ship, which is one of the reason it has such tiny levels and map loading that pretty much unloads and reloads everything (which is apparently why the PC version minimizes the application between levels).  Of course, it could also use a heavy coat of paint for the graphics and better voice work, and of course the stealth system is a mess.  In fact, if there's ever another Deus Ex I know people are clamoring for the original to be remade but why mess with perfection (and that already has a lot of good mods).

Number 2: Speaking of stealth, I've always wanted a good procedurally generated stealth game.  Dishonored with a good, slow, randomized balance sounds wonderful to me.  I don't think for me it even needs to be like generated maps or anything, a mixed room "block" system a la Spelunky with some dynamicness to it (maybe power-ups in areas or bonuses you get if you complete objectives would be neat, and a little bit of randomized enemy placement to keep things fresh) would be a lot of fun.  I know Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had an arcadey mode that was a tiny bit like that, but apparently it suffered not least of all because of all the IAP they tired to attach to it.

Number 3: Give Mario a fucking gun.  So long, King Bowser!

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH:
I'm not just rusty on the odds, this damn machine must be broken.  3:2 odds in favor of Mr. Do?  I mean, I can guess what a "Dig Dug" is but I have no idea if I want to know what a Mister Do-s.  Mr Does?  I have no idea.

Give my vote to Dig Dug.  Here's how I see it: Dig Dug gets into some late trouble, just too many pitfalls.  While Mr. Do is doing it up the ring, just a big empty showboat type, all distracted and playing to the crowd, BAM!  Mr. Driller to the back of the head.  In the Arcade leagues there's little chance of taking down the Dig Dug/Mr. Driller father/son dynasty.  And don't even get me started on Baraduke!  What a family.

Boy, do I have OPINIONS about Streets of Rage 4. But, I want to stress, these are just the negative criticisms I have b/c I think it's more interesting, as a whole I did like SoR4 and hope they keep going with it. Also, before that, Cherry is generally the one that people recommend although I played Blaze because she also has an amazing combo game.

I think the major negative of bosses (for me) was that they had wayyyyy too much super armor and adds. Every boss, infinite adds and tons of super armor (often chaining super armor moves), rinse and repeat. Like, the boss rush mode is incredibly aggravating and samey because of this. Also, the back attack is useless on them and although the game says that the jump grab has invincibility I don't think I got it to work once (despite trying, especially during bosses which you think would make sense).

Some good things, the game does reward positioning/pacing. Everyone wants characters to be fast but (besides the criticisms above) the game does reward it a ton. Also, Yuzo Koshiro is amazing (and I generally dislike Genesis music) but his work here is iffy and seldom. Actually I think the best work was the composer trying to ape him (probably the elevator level on top, I'd have to go back and see).

Also, going to check out Starstruck.

STAGE SELECT: I've always been fascinated by the "operator"-type role in video games. They're not the action hero (though often they're a specialist in something), they're always giving much needed advice over a radio (attack the glowing thing!) or hacking systems or dealing with the black market to fund the hero's expeditions. For instance, Mega Man Legends has Roll as part archaeologist, part inventor/shop, part ship captain, and a billion games have that hacker sidekick. I'm not sure exactly how a game would work, but I imagine it involving a lot of simulation stuff (rather than handwavey systems the hero calls in) or situations which involve branching choice and tradeoff. Now that I think about it, I've heard of a recent game where you play as a radio commander giving audio orders to platoons during the Vietnam War, and it looks like they're working on a couple hacking games, so it seems like I'm not the only one who has had this idea!

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH: I looked into my crystal ball and it gave me 20 to 1 odds in favor of Crystalis. I think it might be biased though?

Let's see, I've enjoyed both these games. Journey to Silius (Sunsoft, so kicking music) is a just decent run and gun, kinda like Contra mixed with a tiny bit of Ninja Gaiden or Mega Man, or something. Crystalis (early SNK... well, the world map soundtrack is a bit of an odd earworm at least, there's a couple of promising songs) is like a not-Zelda with older action-RPG influences (like Super Hydlide or Ys or something). Funny enough, BOTH of these games when I played them last I stepped away from them, only to return later and enjoy them quite a bit. I'll personally give the edge to Crystalis, there's just something about the cataclysmic fall of civilization/return-to-past and eco-jank that I find appealing. The story also has a few twists and oddities and overall I think it mixes a futuristic and fantasy setting well. Plus, you can ride a dolphin, and, come on, that's gotta be a powerful ally in the ring.

Stage Select: I think one of my greatest gaming regrets would have to be buying Pokemon Snap brand new.  I actually like the game a fair bit but in 2 hours (aka that afternoon) I had beaten everything and then about an hour after that the next morning I 100%ed it.  At what I believe was full MSRP that hurt poor, young Booky a lot.  I'm not sure if that was the only game I got that year but it very well could have been.  Ouch.

Cage Match: Did... did you two summon a new XCOM game with your podcast?  I'm not messing with whatever witchcraft you guys called forth, go with that.