Lurker > Eddv

ThaNemesis

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

the girl who fucks the table in Code Geass

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Im number 1

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

https://youtu.be/onNEHdWX3qY

Game on. Its finally my time.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

45.) Dragon Warrior III (GBC, 2001)


I really love the old style NES/GBC style JRPGs that are just simple challenge-based games built around JRPG mechanics and around you building your party out of different mechanical parts. Dragon Warrior III does this the best and throws you a little bone by opening with this personality quiz which sets up your stat growths and sets you in a direction for your game.

The enemies are always whimsical and DWIII is legitimately pretty challenging if you don't grind that much for most of the game - most especially the damn pyramid - if you know you know.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

46.) Secret of Evermore (SNES, 1995)


Another great SNES JRPG on the docket - this one not even technically Japanese. I have always been a huge fan of this game. It provided solid ARPG action mixed with some good Secret of Mana style action all wrapped in Back to the Future style comedy super science feel.

It's fucking great and deserves more recognition so here it is.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

47.) Civilization 2 (PC, 1996)


This is still my favorite of the Civilization games and the main reason why is what I posted. These pre-taped advisors where they change their outfits based on what stage your civilization is at - but the other reason why is that its a game that just flew by. None of those long drawn out waits between turns things just happened very quickly. It also showed us the good side of the genre with city planning and army planning.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

48.) Ar Tonelico II : Melody of Metafalica (PS2, 2009)


I really enjoyed this series but this game was probably the peak for me. The highlight of these games was both the battle system which, similar to Thousand Arms had a character in the combat and one in support. I think it's pretty damn good.

But the story involves you delving into the psyche and trauma of the girls who have magic songs that do...stuff in story. Don't worry too much about it. The big thing is that these end up being some of the best character studies that I have seen in JRPGs.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

49.) Live a Live (SNES, 1994)


Live a Live is one of the best little SNES gems that has gone consistently underrated. It is essentially the Seven Soldiers of Victory in JRPG form. And since basically none of you are comic geeks I guess I need to explain more.
You are playing out a story and encounter the same basic forces of evil. Each character has a nickname like The Strongest for a wrestler (taking on a guy who just straight up is Hulk Hogan at one point). Each is also in a different time period. We have both a prehistoric cave man and a self-aware robot.

This all comes to a head in the secret 7th chapter in the medieval one where the hero learns of the existence of the others and summons them to help him defeat the Demon King. Each segment is very gimmicky and different and it's just a unique game.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

See I was just letting Cokes and Bartz catch up, yeah that's it.

50.) Virtue's Last Rewards (Vita, 2012)


So VLR is definitely a product of its time but it was the much-hyped sequel to one of the beloved point and click puzzle/adventure games and to me I think it surpassed it in much the same loop. The mystery was just the right level of japanese fuckery without dipping into full on Kingdom Hearts territory (which sadly ends up being the case for the final game of the series).

I enjoyed the puzzles and the building up of the world. The ending has nothing on 999 but it still ruled.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Jakyl25 posted...

I just dont understand your proposal of FS1 paying NBCU for temporary rights during hockey

Plus wouldnt they have College Basketball?

I'm saying there's no reason for NXT to remain on NBC at all. Theyre already paying for NXT once.

They can make Fox pay the show's first run elsewhere I bet and double dip the chip.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Jakyl25 posted...

I feel like it should just premiere on Peacock during NHL season. That makes the most sense to me.

Well as long as it makes sense to you

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

The DEATH of WWE (Network as an independent streaming service)

You called it steiner.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Get Zen on the case

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Flow Chart Ken

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Anagram posted...

Like, when a waifu sees you in bed with another girl (keeping in mind that shes not your girlfriend yet), and her reaction is to pick up a knife and stand over you creepily until you wake up and claim its your sister, shes not a keeper

Is this a common occurance for you?

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

KingButz posted...

lmao steelers

Maybe this is a pet project for Tomlin, see if he can straighten him out

Its a Futures/Reserves contract.

This is the guy who is slinging the ball during OTAs.

He may be the replacement for Duck Hodges

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

George Washington

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Always

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

TheKnightOfNee posted...

I want to play Crusader Kings 2 more, maybe that could make my list with more time, or try this Victoria II or put time into Europa Universalis. The ideal play would be to take a week off work and just sit in front of one of these games the entire time to see more of what they have to offer.

Each of their games has a different set of strengths.

If you just want to conquer things, EU is the way to go. If you want to do in depth economic planning and macro politics Victoria II, if you like personal politics, managing a lineage and personal intrigue Crusader Kings 3 is honestly a better game than CK2 and I loved CK2. If you really like managing tank formations and building up your air force piece by piece, Hearts of Iron is the way to go.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Anagram posted...

To her credit, she only talks about eating your brains, and wont actually do it, but I consider doesnt eat your brains to be an assumed quality of a waifu instead of an active benefit.

Anagram with the high standards all of a sudden

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Welcome back to our not even close to weekly, weekly wrestling match series where myself, @NBIceman and @Bidoof recommend matches to each other and give our best pitch for them.

Last week we reviewed some classic Match of the Year Candidates.

This week we have no theme - Just Good Matches.

This week I break from my pattern and recommend some puro!

Satoshi Kojima vs Kazuchika Okada (c) at NJPW Destruction 2013 (9-29-2013)
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV17J41137dy

The story of this match is one Gedo likes to tell - Kojima beat Okada in the G1 and now is getting his title shot against the champ for having done so. What made this one special is the way Kojima did it - he used his own short arm lariat, a version of the very same move Okada had been using the fly to the top of New Japan. So this match the champ was not only trying to defend his title - but the supremacy of the rainmaker over Kojima's own lariat.

It fucking rules hearing a crowd going nuts for Kojima. He's my favorite of the New Japan dads and before he was the Bread Club guy he was one of the best ass-kickers in Japan. The match features a lot of "body part" wrestling as both men try to deprive each other of their lariat and then slowly builds and builds to a fever pitch leading to one of my favorite New Japan match endings. Just a starmaking performance by Okada - it was here that I knew he was truly special and not just the beneficiary of having worked with Tanahashi.

Also as a note - don't be intimidated by the run time there - it includes the pre-match promo, the match, the post-match afters and the press conference after.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

51.) Mischief Makers (N64, 1997)


One of the great underrated platformer gems from the early N64 era, back before "N64 platformer" meant endless boring ass collectathon that is just a shitty version of Mario 64. This game had so much personality. Developed by the same team as Dynamite Headdy - the gimmick this time is that you play a robot named Marina who needs to go rescue her creator. This time the gimmick was that you could grab and throw just about anything, while shouting "Shake, Shake" which is definitely central to the game's charm.

The backgrounds were very inventive as were the boss fights, which required you to try to discover what the particular boss's weak point was. In general the level design though was very clever and also deeply disconcerting as nearly every block had glowing red eyes and sad face.

In the end, it's not endlessly replayable or anything but it is incredible for the time it demands of you.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

52.) Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2, 2003)


Can't beat the original. Nick hit the biggest things - this is the sort of game that takes the RPG players desire to optimize and gives them an actual toolbox to do so with. Some people have MMOs. I had Disgaea. I spent countless hours plumbing Item World, leveling up items to become more powerful. Reincarnating units to make their stat growths better. Rinse. Repeat. Level into the thousands.

And oh yeah aside from that you had a narrative - appropriately tongue in cheek. Laharl, Etna, Mid-Boss and Flonne form the basis of a great comedy troupe and it just works.

While I recognize that, objectively, Disgaea 4 and 5 are mechanically superior, I don't have the same attachment to them. Fortunately, many of those improvements made their way into Disgaea 1 Complete so you don't have to choose at all!


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

53.) Arcade America (PC, 1996)



This is a game that i spent far too much time with as a kid and is just so fucking goofy and funny. The concept here is you play as Joey, a member of the band "Joey and the Monsters" who slept in. His bandmates tried to wake him up but couldn't. So in a fit of cartoon logic, they blow up his house to wake him up, but inadvertently blow themselves all over the country. Joey now has to hurry across the country to make it to Woodstock in time. Along the way he needs to collect his band members all of whom have gotten themselves into one kind of pickle or another. All in all there are two basic gameplay segments - there are driving segments as you need to try to avoid dying while driving up and down the windy interstate and there are platforming segments which are an appropriate combination of goofy and challenging.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

54.) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance


A.K.A the last good Fire Emblem*. Like many I was drawn to this after how awesome Ike was in Brawl. And Ike did not disappoint. Path of Radiance is a bit different in terms of setup than most Fire Emblems in that Ike is not a Prince or the heir of a nation on the brink of destruction. Instead, he is simply the leader of a mercenary band. And thus his arc does not revolve around many of the same tropes that the rest of the series does.

This game has new units which don't revolve around the typical rock paper scissors and are instead subject to a rock paper scissors of their own with the differences between these beastly units. The overall effect is a deeper and more interesting level of tactics. It also introduces the notion of EXP assignment for non-rostered units, which I used to shepherd Mist up enough levels for her unique combination of attacks and heals could be used effectively.

And it introduced bonding scenes that you didn't need to grind for in stupid ways - but before they went full stupid and used these to turn Fire Emblem into a eugenics simulator.

*excluding remakes and possibly Three Houses

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

55.) Victoria II (PC, 2010)


I love 4x strategy games and while Paradox has a better title than this one, I vastly prefer Victoria II to Europa Universalis. I think the main reason why is that Victoria games put a huge emphasis on international diplomatic politics that defined the world post Napoleon. Each nation has its circle of influence and you can devote your resources to trying to turn nations into satellites or allies in your game of diplomatic chess against the other great nations of the world.

There is also an internal political game - you begin in most nations playing as the conservative party and conservatism/monarchy gives you more control over your economy and as you might expect the more you can control and plan, the better in this sort of game. You can give certain progressive reforms of your own free will to calm down your liberal or socialist factions within your nation to prevent yourself from losing one of the periodic elections to the liberal parties. If you do end up with a liberalized economy (or if you play the USA and start with one), you have to use different tactics to try to lure the capitalists into doing what you want to do, which is harder. Of course, hold on to power too tightly and you face revolution. I had an Argentinian monarchy which had managed to conquer the entire Brazilian coastline and turned into a fishing and food canning empire, but which then succumbed to a anarcho-capitalist revolt that overthrew me and took control of the country from me for 20 years and I had to watch as they disassembled my empire's military and lower my taxes to nothing. The bastards.

And this sort of thing is what makes these games endlessly replayable. Grab a different starting point, and watch things play out totally differently.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

56.) Beyond Oasis (Genesis, 1995)


Eat your heart out Zelda - this was always my preferred action-adventure title. You play Prince Ali in this game wielding your treasure - the golden gauntlet - which allows you to channel magic and speak with Djinn. You travel the world and make friends with various magical creatures which the gauntlet allows you to summon. Each uses a different kind of mana. See a torch - channel some fire to summon Efreet who channels fire at your foes. See some water - channel some and summon Dyotto the water fairy who heals you as you go.

Overall the dungeons feature interesting puzzles and the combat system is surprisingly in depth for a three button system. This leads to the boss fights being pretty interesting as well.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

57.) LA Noire (PS3, 2011)

The other title at the center of Rockstar's strong 2010s - this game was fucking amazing when I first touched it. The RTE mechanics and such worked very well for the crime scene investigation. It is probably the most linear game that Rockstar has done with its emphasis on narrative and told an amazing one. Your transformation from cop to rookie detective rising the ranks to then losing it all when you face corruption in the ranks.

The main attraction was the interrogation scenes where the realistic facials of the characters allowed you to try and read the person being interrogated and allowing you to choose a strategy for dealing with what you were observing which was unheard of at the time and not seen much since.

Every step along the way feels great to unfold and I am glad the game saw a real renaissance in appreciation after its release on the switch.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

58.) Shining in the Darkness (Genesis, 1991)



One of my favorite of this 3D dungeon crawler genre, Shining in the Darkness sets the stage for Shining Force games and just has such a unique edge to it. You are the hero and you keep delving the dungeon lair by lair. The monsters are all lovably goofy like a Dragon Quest game. Learning to gauge your abilities vs what the dungeon is going to throw at you is key. You have your dwarven cleric friend Milo and the strong-willed elven wizard Pyra helping you along all so you can save the kingdom.

It's a fairly standard fantasy tale. But done very well and is enjoyable all the way through.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

59.) Shadowrun: Dragonfall (PC, 2014)


I grew up a huge fan of Shadowrun - the earlier video games, the tabletop game, the entire package.

So naturally, when Shadowrun Returns came about I backed at the level necessary to get my name into the credits for all three games. I have my very own DocWagon Gold card. I have all three games and I think Dragonfall is the crown jewel of the bunch. Why? Fucking dragons for one thing.

For another the aesthetics and the party for this game were the best of the three. For another, the overall story is best (no longer rehashing like Shadowrun Returns are) and the mechanics are refined.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the general gameplay stylings of XCOM and Divinity but wants it in a great cyberpunk package.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

60.) Red Dead Redemption (PS3, 2010)

This game felt revolutionary at the time - applying the same high level of detail that Rockstar usually applies to their sandboxes to a much bigger wild west world. It felt awesome. John Marston felt like he handled like an old grizzled gunhand.

But where this games blows GTA into the dust was its sense of cinema - the music that plays as you ride into a new area for the first time. The weight of the horseshoe when you play. The framing of all the big gun fights.

It's just an incredible experience all around.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Mac Arrowny posted...

Incidentally the lesbians are a metaphor for homophobes and the bears are a metaphor for lesbians.

Wait what

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

KCF0107 posted...

HM: Coffee Talk (XB1, 2020)


Coffee Talk was unquestionably inspired by VA-11 Hall-A, but it firmly stands on its own two feet and depending on the day, I would say it is even the better game!

Coffee Talk takes place in a version of Seattle where common mythological creatures like werewolves and mermaids are anthropmorphized and live amongst the humans. No matter the species, they love to visit your late-night coffee shop. Making beverages is a little involving in this game as you have to pick out the ingredients, and in a specific order. They do provide you with an index of all the drinks once you properly make a particular one for the first time, so if that part of the game isn't your thing, things should go smoother as the game goes along. If you do enjoy making drinks, they even have a challenge mode where they test you on your knowledge in a race against the clock.

Like VA-11 Hall-A, Coffee Talk tells a slice-of-life tale, but there is an overarching aspect. They keep the cast small, but because of that, they allow all of the characters to have the spotlight at times and by having them interact with each other, the character arcs become intertwined. It is rare for me to get so hooked in a narrative game that I can't put it down, but with the quality of writing, brisk pace, and dreamy soundtrack, time just flew by. I finished the six or so hour game in less than two days.

I really enjoyed this one

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Wrestler of the Year 2020

And finishing out AEW's sweep of our year end awards here goes the big one, Wrestler of the Year!

3.) Cody Rhodes
Cody, long since shaking his 3 star ring general nickname given to him by some fans, had a hell of a year in ring. He took the TNT title and used it as a way to introduce and get over young and new talent. The gimmick let them bring in Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks both of whom have been huge for AEW. He had good showcases with Sonny Kiss and Jungle Boy. He even just had some regular good matches with Hager, Darby and Scorpio Sky. But the crown jewel for him was the way he put over Brodie Lee and then everything leading into the return match with the Dog Collar. Just perfection.

2.) Kenny Omega
I guess it's too bad Kenny Omega ruined all of his credibility early in the year selling for Alan Angels and teaming with Michael Nakazawa or he might have actually won this category. Kenny was incredible all year both in tagging with Hangman and his singles run that followed, culminating in his "Golden Screwjob" victory over Moxley that has set into motion one of the hottest angles in wrestling. In between he only had our match of the year plus another couple contenders, including the best Lucha of the year with Laredo Kid.

I guess in short, Kenny's just okay.

1.) Jon Moxley

This was Moxley's year. And I do to some extent feel bad that of all years to be HIS year, it had to be 2020 but fuck it. He made the most of it. He worked hard and stuff. He gave some of the best wrestling promos we've ever seen. he had hard hitting main events with Brodie Lee, Lance Archer, Juice Robinson, Lance Archer again, Brian Cage, Eddie Kingston, and teased a feud with KENTA that's gonna fucking rule. He went to Japan and was great. He stayed here and was great. Everything he did felt special. He was the fucking man this year and deserves the title of Wrestler of the Year.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Sorry the writeups about this stuff just are not flowing at this point so I am just going to reveal the results and discuss them as a whole.

Match of the Year 2020

3.) Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito at WK Night 2 1/5/2020

2.) The Best Friends vs Proud and Powerful in a Parking Lot Brawl on Dynamite (9/16)

1.) Hangman Page and Kenny Omega vs The Young Bucks (2/29)

Given the general attitude around the board, it's not really a huge surprise to me that two of the three matches here came when we still had crowds and the third was done as a semi-cinematic streetfight with an audience of wrestlers present oohing and aahing giving it more of a crowd than this sort of match usually has. Crowds are important to wrestling. Atmosphere is important to wrestling. And while every company has tried to get that under the covid circumstances, it's been super hard and the quality of all of the wrestling since has suffered.

The WK match was awesome. Okada and Naito (when properly motivated) can absolutely fucking go. The crowd was super fucking hot for Naito to finally fulfill his Destino and he DID.

The Parking lot Brawl look - it was a lot of fun. Some people really like this kind of plunder and chuck taylor absolutely delivered it. Hey Dave Meltzer went the full 5, so why not some of us too.

Bucks vs Hangman and Kenny is one of the few properly built face vs face allies imploding angles that I can think of, as Hangman had a legit grip and the Bucks came off as assholes and the whole thing built to an even bigger moment that never came to pass, but Hangman and Kenny carried their weight too. These were four great wrestlers having a great tag match, like we were back in mid 90s all japan and it ruled.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

61.) Mutant League Football (Genesis, 1993)


Like Nick, I like my football nice and hyperviolent. Unlike Nick, I see no reason why it needs to involved things like actual humans or to stop at popping testicles.

For these reasons, I prefer Mutant League Football. What is essentially just an ambitious mod of Madden '93 and featuring teams like the Screaming Evils (big green ork parodies of the eagles) or the Turbo Techies (who are literally Cyborgs).

These games were loving 90s horror knock off of the NFL complete with the ability to kill every last member of the opposing team if you were losing by too much to make a legitimate comeback. This could include some particularly brutal tackles or just lining the ball with razor wire and throwing an "accidental" interception that kills their star linebacker.

Some of the fields had mines in them and others if you went out of bounds you simply drifted off into space.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

62.) Yakuza 4 (2010, PS3)


So my issue with Yakuza as a series is that for the most part, I don't find the playing of a Yakuza to be all that interesting to me and I especially don't really find the main character, Kazama Kiryu, to be all that great. I mean he's fine and all but he's just kinda the Gary Stu of everything that's going on and it gets pretty old.

Yakuza 4 completely fixes this problem with its first protagonist that you play as being unexpectedly kind loan shark, Akiyama and this completely captured me because he is far more compelling and fun from my perspective. I enjoyed doing all of the typical Yakuza things with no vigor since they were happening with him. The Yakuza mini-games are all really compelling and major part of what makes the games so much fun.

The other protagonists you play as all have completely different fighting styles and personalities and things, making the game keep some level of novelty the whole way through as you switch perspectives several times leading up to the big finish.

Hey if nothing else, this gamei s a great shogi and mahjong simulator.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

63.) Castlevania Order of Ecclesia DS


I love this game for taking the Castlevania playstyle and kinda shattering the mold, opening up a whole new way of handling weapons and subweapons as you play through a crisis where Dracula has returned but the Belmonts have not.

You play as Shanoa and you use the secrets of your order and their glyph tattoos in order to find novel power combinations that can help you challenge dracula's castle. This moddability provides ways to keep things fresh as a player the whole way through. The only annoyance is often you'd need to grind certain enemies to get new glyphs which was always annoying.

The various endings were cool too, as was the option to play as evil gun boy once you beat the game once.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

64.) Warcraft 2 (1996, PC)


i have had a rocky relationship with Warcraft over the years. But I was super intensely into Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, even as simple as it was and so this was my first hype game release I can remember really getting up for and it didn't disappoint. Warcraft 2 ran like a silky smooth, more in depth version of Warcraft and the opening up of its world and lore was at the time something that really blew me away.

As time went on and WoW happening I have grown less enamored with Warcraft as a whole, but this game still mostly holds up, even if most people seem to prefer its sequel.

Warcraft classic style release when?

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

65.) Fallout 3 (PS3, 2008)


Fallout 3 was really the first Western Style RPG that I had gotten into that was in this style. And it got its hooks into me good. The whole aesthetic with the cold war music and propaganda mixed with the silver age comics style super science and the corporate pleasantness was all very much in my groove at that time.

The gameplay was fun (though shooting manually was a folly, VATS was actually pretty cool and i'm not much of a shooter person anyway), the story had some incredible beats like well, everything at Megaton and the happenings at the rich hoighty toighty apartment homes on down to the visceral reaction I have as a person who loves DC when I see it in its post apocalyptic state.

And then of course...Liberty Prime. Fuck yeah.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

66.) Pokemon Stadium 2 (N64, 2001)


Pokemon Stadium 2 was fucking great. The ability to port in your pokemon from RBY/GSC to do battles on the big screen was something that felt revolutionary at the time but more for me personally after RBY I grew to resent the "campaigns" in Pokemon, preferring the surprising depth that exists in the battling to it by quite a lot, so the ability to get to go in depth with the 2nd gen of pokemon without having to do with GSC what I did with my copy of Red was a real gamechanger for me and I actually didn't bother finishing Pokemon Gold until I replayed it as HeartGold much later.

But the real prize here was the minigames to me - they were really fun like Mario Party level mini games but with pokemon! All in all one of the N64 party night true double threats AND a great way to play the only good part of pokemon. Really sucks they haven't put out a new one in so long.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

67) Snowboard Kids 2 (N64, 1999)


So you would think on the surface of it - that a game about snowboarding that is really just a super specific clone of Mario Kart wouldn't actually be better than Mario Kart but you would be wrong. This game was so damn fun - everyone has their n64 party games they look back on with far too much fondness - Goldeneye for some, maybe Smash or Mario Kart for other - but for me this game was the peak of those days and I have no idea why. I don't even snowboard!


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

68.) Deja Vu (NES, 1990)


A classic text based adventure game and one of my favorites. It came to my attention via slowbeef way back in the day but I ended up stopping my watch through of him playing it, went to ebay, bought the cart and tried the game for myself and to my surprise - while the text has a real edge to it that it makes it easy to make fun of and be amused by the actual central mystery to this game is worthwhile and good!

You are Ace Harding - or so says your ID - and you wake up with no memory in a bathroom with a dead body in the next room and an enormous woman in the trunk of your car. So the early part of the game is trying to figure out who you are, what even in the broadest sense happened and who the dead guy is and then work from there to try and find who did this to you.

As a result of the amnesia at play the clues all take on a different meaning once your character gets his memory back leading seeming dead ends to open up with new avenues to explore.

All in all, this is a really fun game, especially for how early it came and it mostly holds up even today (aside from the random ways you can die)

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Blitz the league the game...2

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Anagram is trying to glean anime girl personalities from freaking wiki articles of course hes coming to off conclusions.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Next topic is gonna go up in a few days - NO THEME this time.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

Bidoof posted...

Bidoof's Match of the Week Recommendation

Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada (c)
UWF-i Pro Wrestling World Tournament Finals - 8/18/1994
Match Link: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7g9ir

Confession time - I'm disappointed in you, Board 8. I saw the rankings for Steiner's Top 100 Wrestlers project. I even did some of the write-ups for it. Where you guys put Big Van Vader, one of wrestling's greatest monsters and in my opinion wrestling's greatest hoss, was shameful. You people had him below Kevin Nash, dammit. So, it's time. It's ****in' Vader time.

Let's begin with a quick introduction to UWF-i. This is actually the third iteration of Japan's shoot style promotion that aimed to present people a more realistic, hard-hitting style than what they were getting from the larger promotions. The matches may have still been predetermined, but they all felt like and were treated as fights. Last topic, I presented a wild brawl. This time, I'm giving you a more scientific bout between a man and a monster.

Takada at the time of this match had been the UWF-i champion for 696 days. He fought against all manner of opponents in that time, from other disciplined shooters like Kiyoshi Tamura (man, I should find stuff from him for this) to big collegiate wrestler types like Gary Albright. He even had fought Vader the year prior and came very close to losing it then. You can see in his face from the start of the match how worried he is about having to face this beast of a man again and especially how he's unsure about trading strikes with the guy. While Takada has Vader beat in sheer technical skill, Vader's power is terrifying. Takada needs multiple hard shots just to get Vader stumbling but Vader only needs one blow to make him crumple.

Vader, of course, plays the perfect monster. His blows are hard (then again, I don't think anyone has ever accused Vader of being a light worker), he's fast for a guy his size, and his selling is wonderful. He gives Takada enough to make him look like a badass and he seems to bump at exactly the right time to really get the crowd fired up. I especially love the subtle heel work he gets in like nailing Takada with a closed fist to get out of a hold. There's maybe two spots like that in this match but, like with his selling for Takada, it's just enough to let the people know who the "hero" is here. Vader even gets to show off some mat work of his own, not as polished as Takada's but it doesn't need to be. Unlike Takada, he's not looking for a submission - he's looking for a knockout blow.

The last couple minutes of this match are just incredible, especially as you listen to the crowd explode when Vader starts looking to powerbomb Takada. I think you guys will enjoy this and I believe you'll see why I love Vader so much from this. Happy holidays!

I was taken aback by just how quickly this one becames a grapplefest. Grappling always looks so intimate. Matwork this feels so foreign at this point - like for as much as we praise it when ZSJ and Bryan do it - its a novelty. Its not the bulk of the work of the match. So this was an interesting throwback in that way.

Vader gasses out repeatedly in this match too, which I would say is the main thing that holds it back but Takada is a fucking master of this craft. There's one point though where Takada basically puts HIMSELF in a headscissor which I sort of laughed at.

I have to comment though that SURROUNDED by high quality mat work like this, a spot like the Powerbomb just JUMPS off the page. Perhaps it was simply on the mind after this weeks Dynamite where cage did like 10 or 11 powerbombs to Darby Allin but really sometimes less is more with this stuff.

Takada trying like hell to take the advantage and repeatedly getting mauled by the bear that was Vader made for a great match story - even as the crowd came life eating up every single hope spot.

I also have to comment that the ten count thing was done right and done well here - I like it a lot because it produces a winner that actually wins the match. No banana peels here.

Anyway this was pretty awesome.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

NBIceman posted...

Along with my match here, I want to remind everybody that I'm keeping a running archive of all the matches in this topic in case anyone ever wants to go back to watch missed ones or something.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXMwXb2uwSjPwWNR0BUhh9xNa68amq8dMeXwS_sY5h4/edit?usp=sharing

And with that...

Iceman's Match of the Week

Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries
Ring of Honor
Rising Above - December 29, 2007
Match Link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av28429779/

Oh, how quickly the tides can turn in pro wrestling. Nigel McGuinness, the conquering hero who got an absolutely huge pop and a big-time celebration when he finally put Takeshi Morishima down to win the World Title, was already beginning to fall out of favor with some ROH fans just a couple months into his reign, which in this match sets up what is very often a huge strength of old-school Ring of Honor matches: atmosphere. The crowd is split and hot from the very beginning, and it gives this title challenge that oft-touted big fight feel right off the bat.

But the really cool part is that its also the impetus for the spot that makes this match pretty singularly infamous. Nigel almost immediately gets into a recurring shouting battle with some front-row fans, which Aries takes offense to first in the form of a bitch slap and then, shortly thereafter, a high-speed dive that sends his unfocused opponents forehead straight into the barricade. Its ugly; the champion is legitimately knocked loopy here, and he very clearly has no idea where he is for a decent part of this match.

Youd think thatd be a recipe for disaster but, at least match-quality-wise, thats not the case. This is the best defense of one of my all-time favorite title reigns. Ariess predilection for focusing on the heads of his opponents jives pretty well as a story component with the shoot injury (especially since hes actually pretty careful with his head shots for most of the match when you look close). Its very much a car-crash-you-cant-look-away-from kind of thing thats just the right amount of uncomfortable and unpredictable.

Look, I know we all hate Aries, and he comes by that honestly, but there werent many years in the 2000s where you couldnt make a compelling argument that he was a strong contender for the title of best wrestler in the world. And his performance is awesome here. He takes two absolutely wicked bumps to the outside floor, not to mention the one on Nigels last lariat that all but decapitates him.

Nigels performance is obviously the impressive one, though. Its gutsy and stupid in equal measure, and really, is there a better combination of words to define pro wrestling?

I have to admit it took me a while to get into this one - I've never been a Nigel guy and Austin is Austin. Was really weird seeing aries with long hair again actually.

But there that really vicious looking Tope here that busted open Nigel let me know we weren't dealing with the standard stuff here. Just vicious stuff.

Here McGuiness being knocked legitimately loopy causes him to work selling his head the whole time, which plays into the psychology of Aries moveset.

The ending sequence was very hot and Aries ultimately was a big enough piece of shit here to get the crowd on Nigels side just in time for the crowd to still pop huge for Nigel at the end.

I do have to disagree with you somewhat - the crowd doesn't feel split so much as like - they don't like anyone here and it felt to me a bit like they were heckling both guys the entire match which is such a weird feel for a big fight.


---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy

69.) Thousand Arms (PSX, 1999)



So before Ar Tonelico and the like there was this weird ass game. Its a combination Dating Sim/JRPG with the cheesy 90s style anime tropes on full display in a way that honestly is sort of refreshing. You play as a spirit blacksmith who can use your spirit to imbue your weapons with certain spells and powers.

And how do you acquire these powers? By going on Dates with babes of course! After you go on the date, you harness the intimacy you felt with that woman to literally increase the power of your blade. There is of course a main girl, who is very jealous of all the babes you have to date to be a better blacksmith, but that's the cost of art baby.

The dates are goofy and not always super logical and that's really half the fun. The battle system is pretty interesting too. Rather than your typical RPG where you have a part of three who are all acting - you have a party of three where one person is doing all the fighting for each side, with the other two are providing support and you can shift who is in the lead in each game.

---

Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy