PixlBit

Supposedly, it's inspired by some FFVIII card game, so it's not a totally original idea. 

"What did you see or do in 2004?" Oh ... holy shit, 2004 was possibly the most pivotal year in my life. I won't get into it but I discovered (accepted?) I had different religious and political beliefs than my family, watched the Red Sox win the World Series while Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was winning the 9 o'clock cock fight on Dallas radio station The Edge (before it was a big hit it was being pitted against other songs on that segment), Dodgeball and Mean Girls were huge movies but so was The Passion of the Christ which I saw because I went to Catholic school, Boston Legal was my favorite TV show at the time, etc. 

Anyway, as far as what you've shown here:

That NC summer is what I'm most interested in. 

I have heard of The Mighty Boosh so many times, but never really watched it. I should. It sounds good. I honestly never quite knew what it was. 

I need to give Steve Zissou another chance. I think I was too young to appreciate it at the time. 

I loved Paper Mario on N64 and people seem to hail Thousand Year Door as the height of the series so I'm sure I'd love it. I should get it for Gamecube. 

I have a couple Trekkie friends. They're good people. I never really paid attention until the Abrams movies, which I enjoyed, but I see why people prefer the more heady aspects of the TV series. Certainly a favorite among philosophy professors. 

Cloud Atlas is one I should give A chance to but I kept hearing "book great, movie hilariously bad." I mean, I do love a hilariously bad movie at times but I guess I can get the book.   

Not gonna lie, you had me in the first half with the typical RPG fare and then SPACE happened. And time machines. 

Sounds fun. 

That's a lotta shooters. 

"I was meditating by a lake at my maintenance job at a woodsy club in upstate New York."

That sounds amazing. I think I fell asleep watching episode 2 (not cause it was bad but because I was already sleeping).  

I hope the Flamingos take it all the way .. unlike my Mavs in this Game 5. It's just sad now, especially after the Luka show in Game 4. 

Anyway, I don't think there is a more clear depiction of my issues with PC gaming than the fact a major title runs better on Switch. lol 

I could never get into Bionic Commando cause I was always too tempted to jump. 

But while I probably would prefer the remake (or the 3D game that came out the same year, if I'm not mistaken) I don't think NES graphics are crappy. I think that was probably the first era of home consoles where there was a distinct style that looked pretty good. Why else would games like Celeste and Shovel Knight try emulating that style to some extent (albeit with much better hardware and fewer limitations on graphics). 

Now, Atari or Commodore 64? Those games look outdated to me, but maybe this is all just an age question. Maybe those look fine if you grew up with them, like NES games look fine to me. 

Pretty sure I rented Dark Cloud at some point back in the day. I remember liking it.

And yeah, The High Score is great so far!

STAGE SELECT:

I've joined a community called Reading Gamebow full of Pixlbit people like me and 1up/Plus10Damage expats. I've been digging the monthly game "readings" (book club but for games) and entering the hangout chats while others stream some games. 

I also jumped in a few multiplayer Gang Beasts matches that were super fun. I'm also enjoying finishing Celeste for the "reading" ... ok that's a lie, to hell with both chapter 3 and chapter 4. Still, it has a lot of fun mechanics. 

Recently received Crash Team Racing in the mail and it's a good fun brain shutting off colorful time. Now I need to learn how to do this power slide boost thing, cause the game seems to really want me to only about 3 tracks or so in. 

In closing, I've also been stuck on this Grave Hoard part of Horizon: Zero Dawn, as I have been for the last three years. 

CAGE MATCH:

Oooooohhh, this is a tough one cause I hate the newer Battlefront 1 SOOOOOO much, but I've mildly enjoyed 2. But the 2005 games sound way more fun. But I've only played the new ones. 

I'll go Battlefront 2 (2017) but feel free to make some WEIRD ref decisions in the ring. 

Woo yeah cars! Yeah. Woo. 

Your Madden scenario is pretty wild. 

Also, congrats on coming to the point of Arkham Knight where it's just fuflfilling random side quests. Hope you enjoy it as much as you can. I still like the game a lot.