March 2023 Entry:
March has come and gone. As of typing this (04.14), I don't recall if it was a long month or not.
MISC=========================
- Got my copy of the Contra Anniversary Collection (03.04). Played through the whole collection October 2021. Contra still is fun after all these years.
- Cheers to older amiibo getting a re-release. The Donkey Kong (Super Mario series) amiibo was number 206 (03.05). This one is a little bittersweet as I saw an old acquaintance there. I didn't make eye contact and I don't think he saw me. Last time I saw him was when I went to pick up a game he borrowed after he and another acquaintance broke up. There he was with who I assume is his wife or girlfriend and their two kids. I remember him always being good with kids, but seeing him with his own family really hit me hard. There he was picking up groceries and his children while I was picking up an amiibo.
- After watching icetokki do a stream of eating bugs, I thought it was time to try them after so many years. I went for the one she liked the most; crickets. It had been about a decade since I last ate them. Got the Chile-Lime Crickets with Pumpkin Seeds (03.08). Strong taste, but still good.
- For Kai's birthday, a few of us got together for a picnic and Cidercade (03.11). I did have to miss out on going to the grocery store with them before it all as I had to book a session with my stylist and there wasn't much in terms of times and days. It was a nice day out for a picnic. The wind felt nice. Then it was on to the Bishop Cidercade. We were there for a good 3-4 hours playing the games that were there. There were a couple of new music games I had never played before that I enjoyed as well as trying some older ones or watching the others play ones I didn't. That was also probably my first time being in a public area that wasn't a medical facility or restaurant that had so many people.
- I started rewatching all of the YongSeo couple's episodes of We Got Married in February and finished in March (03.12). I forgot how many episodes they had and that they were actually a couple for such a long time. Still very cute.
- Bought some popcorn where the profits went to a friend's StuCo (03.16). She messaged me in thanks and that was the first time in years we spoke. They eventually reached their goal and I think she raised either the most or second most. And the popcorn itself was really good. Definitely would recommend and even go back for more as there were a few other flavors to choose from.
- As suggested by my stylist because they recently saw the sequel, I watched Avatar (03.17). Cheers to having access to Disney+. I didn't know the movie was as long as it was. And I didn't realize there was going to be as much action in it either. I thought it was going to be a nice story with great visuals. Visually stunning for sure. In my tweet, I gave it a thumbs up. But as I'm typing this (04.14), I think I'd bump it down to a thumbs sideways. Not horrible, but I don't think I was into it. I'll check out the sequel though when that shows up on Disney+.
- Got my copy of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (03.17). Currently scheduled for streams in June. If it does get pushed back, July.
- I'm not a pin guy, but I got some new pins (03.22). Initially I only wanted the Metroid Prime Remastered ones, but I figured to get the My Nintendo coins as well.
- Rakuen: Deluxe Edition is out (03.22). Congratulations to supershigi and the Switch release. Guaranteed to be streamed in the future.
- Got to see Wakanda Forever (03.31). I liked it a lot. Wonderful tribute to Chadwick Boseman. My only negative is a big one and that is not liking Namor as the villain. The portrayal wasn't bad, I just didn't buy him as a big threat. Not every big bad needs to destroy the universe, but I was kind of hoping for more out of Namor.
- Ordered my copy of Batman: Doom that came to Gotham (03.31). Didn't watch it until mid-ish April. Kind of disappointed in it. I liked what they did with the characters for the most part, but I couldn't get into it. And I realized this some time ago, but anytime there's an episode or movie with Etrigan in it, I'm not big on it. The magic and cthulhu related content isn't bad, but it's something about Etrigan that doesn't grasp my attention.
- The WWE Hall of Fame was good (03.31). I normally enjoy them and sometimes go back and watch older inductions. However, Konnan had the best induction speech ever. If for some reason you don't want to watch all of the 2023 Hall of Fame, watch Konnan's speech. I may rewatch it after I'm done typing this, ha.
GAMES=========================
- Continuing the Deponia Collection with Chaos on Deponia (03.01-03.02). I think I liked this more than the first. I've accepted that Rufus is indeed a doofus and that may have helped with expectations. 2 down, 2 to go.
- In Crush Crush news, I got the reset bonus to 500+ (03.04). Not only that, but I used 500 gold coins in my MyNintendo account to get 55 diamonds. All my hobbies are now boosted and I still have not spent actual money on the game.
- Demo Showcase 107 was cursed (03.05). The first take was okay until my cousin came in. He's been there before, but actually mentioned news about the death of a family member that I didn't know about. I did mention how I'd rather not talk about that stuff and explained that I have to now process that while I'm on stream playing games. He did apologize, but a few minutes later mention the passing of another relative that happened many years ago that I did know about. He kind of understood not to talk about that stuff anymore, but that's when I decided to end the stream and restart it. We were about an hour in and only started the second demo so I felt okay to restart. Got a little farther in with the second demo when the internet went out. Take 3 had its issues too. The internet cut off briefly enough for OBS to restart on the last demo, but I continued and ended up uploading the full video instead of having two separate parts. The last one was only 30 minutes or less if I recall correctly. Anyways, if you watch the Twitch VOD and notice there are no chapters or chat for it, that's why.
- Finally played Zero Wing (03.06). I only knew of it because of the "all your base are belong to us" line. Didn't even know it was a horizontal shooter. Not a bad one either. Too bad all 30+ endings didn't get translated for the English release. Although some wouldn't make sense to a western audience anyways.
- Zorya: The Celestial Sisters was our free-to-play game of the month (03.08). I could have played this with someone else and had someone lined up. But the free-to-play version is no longer available. I was only able to redownload it because I had access to it. So I ended up going solo for this cooperative game, which was done pretty well. It was short as there were only 5 levels, but I did make sure to find the collectible item in each.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass Wave 4 (03.09). A good reason to come back occasionally to this game. My favorite tracks in this batch were Yoshi's Island (they did it so well) from the Fruit Cup and Singapore Speedway from the Boomerang Cup. Yay for Birdo being added. Can't wait for the rest of the tracks and characters that will be brought in.
- In Crush Crush news, I have now played the game for 1 whole month (03.09). And as of writing this (04.14), I still have not reached my limit for the 7 days of offline progress.
- Steel Assault was fantastic (03.10). Good platforming, great action. Played through a few times on different difficulties to see the differences. Did everything except the 1CC, which I can't do for most games anyways. I did end up ordering a physical copy of it from LRG. Definitely recommend it.
- Finally played CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION (03.13-03.15). There is so much to do in that game. Heavy on extra content, light on the story. But seeing the story play out after so many years was great. I absolutely understand why a lot of people like it and Zack.
- In Crush Crush news, finally unlocked the Love Doctor job (03.14). Not only that, but the speed boost is now at x800.
- In Crush Crush news, the speed boost is now at 1001 (03.16).
- Metroid Fusion was our first GBA NSO game of the month (03.18). It was originally going to be Kuru Kuru Kururin, but once they announced Metroid Fusion, I knew I had to put that on the schedule. And with that and other schedule changes, Kuru Kuru Kururin will not be played on stream. Fusion is still awesome. Went a little longer than I wished and I didn't get as much in terms of item collection, but still plays really well.
- GOD EATER 3 was a favorite from Demo Showcase 20 stream 144 back in 2019 (03.20-03.24). Got a physical copy for about 40% off in 2022. And in 2023, I did not beat this game after 4 streams. I was enjoying it and even said a few times that I don't think I'm utilizing all the mechanics to my advantage. That might have culminated for the final boss. I gave it 2-3 tries, but each time I reached the point of the boss one-shotting each character about halfway through the battle. Could I have learned the mechanics better, yes. Could I have spent an extra half hour per stream to get more experience, yes. But the fact that I was able to make it to the very end without needing to do anything extra made it hurt more that I couldn't get the job done. I have yet to come back to the game off-stream to attempt to level up and beat it. Not sure if I will because that did leave a bad taste in my mouth.
- In Crush Crush news, I it the Karma Sutra wall (03.24). Apparently that's a term well known in that game, ha. But they were the latest characters that I was able to unlock and their base wants were so high. It really is a gut check. Keep going or stop? I am still going, but just not as hard as I used to. I haven't done a reset since hitting x1001 (currently can add 143.14 as of 04.14). Majority of jobs and hobbies take days to level up now. And a lot of wants from different girls costs trillions of dollars. The next major goal I have is to get 100 diamonds to get an extra x8 speed boost so I can have a total of x10, but getting diamonds doesn't come by as quickly anymore. Thank goodness for the limited time events as you almost always get one extra diamond a day as well as unlocking more LTE girls after a week of collecting tokens.
- Pilotwings was our SNES NSO game of the month (03.26). Never played it before. I don't think I would have beaten it without save states and rewinds. The one big surprise is how the game takes a huge left turn because I never hear anyone talk about it. If it has been a protected secret, that's awesome to find out when it happens. It was also cool to see all the bonus stages.
- Stream 899 means PAC-MAN 99 (03.28). 4th time playing and this was probably my best performance overall. Almost consistently in the top 10 and got that PAC-ONE again. Heck yeah, that felt great. Part of me wishes that was stream 999 because that would have been the best way to end playing that game.
- Lost Lands: Redemption was stream 900 (04.04). The selections that Discord voted on were specifically the 5 favorites from January. I had fun. Plus it was cool to play the last game in the series after playing the first part of the series from another viewer's choice vote. However, both of those streams had low turnouts. Even some of the people that voted for those games didn't show up. Like if it's a normal stream and people don't show up, no big deal. But a game that was voted on with a few people showing up, not too great. But it also being the 900th stream on top of it being on and having a low turnout sucked. So even if another find the hidden picture game demo becomes a favorite, I won't stream it. Play it offline, sure, but it won't be part of the last few streams I do.
- Take a look at Trailer 900. One last trailer left to make.
ETC=========================
- Nicole - Mysterious (MV)
- Jang WooHyuk - FEEL IT (MV)
- TWICE - MOONLIGHT SUNRISE (Billboard Women In Music Awards 2023)
- TWICE - SET ME FREE
SET ME FREE is now my 3rd favorite TWICE song. Wonderful song, fun choreography, and a cool music video. Seeing their performances and other activities in the US reminded me of when SNSD did that for The Boys. Very proud of TWICE and all that they've worked for to make it to this point.
- Happy Birthday, Mina (03.23).
- TWICE will be coming to town for the 5th world tour. Awesome. Talked with a Kpop friend, they informed me about how purchasing tickets would go. I had heard stories, but never experienced it myself as I've never gone before. I did the sign up thing to see if I'd be randomly chosen for first dibs. As the date approahced, I also happened to talk to another Kpop friend to check in and see how she was in general and we ended up talking about tickets. I said if they were able to get tickets, I'd go visit them in their city and go. Once fans were being informed about getting their codes, I didn't get one, but she did. I did make sure I'd be able to go, but let her know I'd not go if I can get tickets for my town. So she contacted some of her Kpop friends that got codes and was able to find me a spot for one with them.
Then the day came (03.22). I wasn't streaming so I was actually free to keep track of things. And this was stressful in itself as I was pinning hopes on a stranger to get me tickets. They were able to and had at least one more available if I wanted to find someone that wanted it. So I contacted one and they already had tickets thanks to others. Then I contacted another who I had not seen in many years, but reached out once the concert was announced. They had a code, but it didn't work so I mentioned the other ticket I could get. And after some verifying to make sure I was me and not some scammer (ha), I secured his ticket as well. Those hours of talking and contacting and messaging others (multiple whom I had not seen in many years) was draining.
And then they announced a second date for multiple cities and we were one of them, ha. Those that didn't get a code for the first day would possibly get it for the second day. I messaged a friend asking if they're going to the second show, and they were unsure, but were going to help get tickets for others. I said I'd only go if they could get floor seats. The next day rolled in and I still didn't get a code so I figured "oh well, I at least have the first night secured." As I streamed that day, my friend jumped in chat saying they got floor seats and I was okay with it and I said yes. A few minutes passed by and I realized it's the same general area I'd be in for night one, except on the floor. So I asked if they could try getting it on the opposite side, but they weren't able to. I should have checked first, but they're going to try and find someone to trade with. Not only that, we made plans to meet up as the other person he secured tickets for was someone I never met and I figured we should hang out at least once instead of meeting the day of the concert.
So I'm going to both concerts. I would have been okay with going only on the first day, but with this being in town, why not go both. I'm not the only one doing that. Going to try my best to schedule things around those days so nothing major gets in the way. Trying to stay healthy to make sure I can actually attend too. June is so close, but I'll finally get to go to my first Kpop concert after being into Kpop for over 20 years.
That's a wrap on March 2023. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
