PixlBit

I remember the McDonald's Mac Tonight Moon Man!  In fact, when I was a kid, one year I wanted to be that for Halloween.  But the costume would've been too hard to make, so I went with a California Raisin instead since all that took was a garbage bag.  See that's how much of a hold advertising mascot characters had on us 80s kids.  I think I'm about as old as you guys are, maybe a little older.

Speaking of California Raisins, the same ad agency who made them also did The Noid.  They are still around today, but under a different name.  You know what they do now?  The modern day M&M's characters!

You know, I was in college in Austin from 1995 to 1999 and I remember going to Gamefellas stores in shopping malls all the time back then.  So if you were there during that time, we might've talked to each other and not even known it!  I also was writing for The Dallas Morning News back then, and for my reviews I needed release dates.  Since the Internet was still in its infancy, sometimes I would call stores to get release dates so you might've helped a beginner gaming journalist!  So thanks!  I also called EB Games for the same reason, but my roommate would always tease me that I just called and visited that store because I had a crush on the lady who worked there.  I denied that, but for some reason I still remember her name (Tess), so maybe I did.

I reviewed Chrono Cross for the newspaper back then.  I think it should've been it's own game rather than a Chrono Trigger sequel.  It felt like a cleverly disguised card game.  I Am Setsune feels more like a Chrono Trigger sequel than that.  Only thing that interests me about the Chrono Cross remaster is the included Radical Dreamers game.  I wish I could just buy that seperately, though.

Right now I'm playing the opposite of Elden Ring, which is Kirby and the Forgotten Land!

Tetris wins the cage match for no reason other than I said so.  I reviewed Chex Quest for the newspaper back then, too.  Would Mario Golf beat it?  Well it depends on which one.  If it's Toadstool Tour on the GameCube, then yeah.  

I hope you folks get a chance to listen to my podcast, too!  Just do a search for Pizza Pixel Podcast and you'll find it.  We just recorded another episode and I hope my brother Jeff gets to edit and post it soon.  At least before Mother's Day.  Our topic for this one is games our parents liked to play, and we even have our mom on the show as a guest!  So please pray for us that it gets posted soon!  --Cary

I started in 1997, so if you came to the Barton Creek Mall location during that time there's a high likelyhood that I helped you at some point, especially after May 1998 when I graduated, because I worked 5-6 days a week at that point.

I've heartily kept up with the NWPs but just feeling a bit sluggish and uncreative lately.  You're right in that it takes awhile to get back into things after a break!

Oh, I did also want to mention I was very interesting in the Stranger of Paradise discussion particularly!  I find its poor release really fascinating.  As someone familiar with Nioh but not particularly good at it, I found the demo very, very different from Nioh.  I can't believe somebody would play say the White Mage class and then say the Thief class and then just go, "Meh, it's just Nioh."  It's wild!  I was blown away by it really.

Opening Match:
Imagine, it's the year 2122.  Nature is all but gone, but paradoxically it is worse when it's directly, unavoidably in front of you.  Your existence is existent.  You understand the complexities of survival and nobody will look you in the eyes anymore.  After years of dubious quality, you find a dwelling, long ago a luxurious one but now hardly a windbreak.  Inside, there is a whistling gray machine with a holo-emitter still attached to it.  Your reward?  "It is me, Mario," says Chris Pratt.  It flickers, and sputters out.

Imagine, it's the year 2222.  The atmosphere is all but gone.  Existence is existence.  Once, people dreamed of owning a full environmental suit.  Now the idea astonishes precisely no one.  A bubble, a wall, containing movement and greenery for a brief hopeful moment in time, lets loose a shrill, cascading whistle.  The ambient energy display is slightly off, as it has been hacked time immemorial to display blocks instead of helpless information.  There is no other directed movement.  Tetris wins.

Closing Match:
My reasoning here is simple.  Mario Golf only just *might* be the best Mario Golf thing, but Chex Quest is *definitely* the best Chex thing.  Well, outside of like Muddy Buddies or something.  But until Muddy Buddies gets into the ring, its gotta be Chex Quest.  Also, Golf may have six irons but it doesn't have six-shooters, so: gun.  And let me stop you there, since this is a Nerd podcast I'll give you a Nerd answer.  Yes, Zorchers aren't guns, but the official comic specifically states that the weapons used against the Flemoids are *modified* Zorchers tuned to a transporter phase frequency which implies that Zorchers are energy weapons used to combat other threats.  I wouldn't want to take a modified Zorch Propulsor hit to the chest, let me tell you.  And don't get me started on the Super Bootspork.  Now, I'll reposition my glasses, adjust my pocket protector, and be on my way.