2020 Recap and Plans for 2021

Happy New Years!  As is customary for me, every year I go back through my Youtube progress and calculate how productive my year was on Youtube, calculating my livestreams and published videos and logging how many and when.  And when looking back at 2020, I had a very unproductive year at first glance.  But 2020 was a very behind the scenes year and after examining all of the behind the scenes stuff, it was very productive.

For starters, I released a video about COPPA, which took effect in early 2020.  This unfortunately made all of my videos (except a scant few) fall under "for kids", meaning limited searching and no comments.  Thankfully, the response to that video was very productive.

However, that video was an offshoot of a huge project that my best friend and I spent a lot of valuable time and resources on.  Starting in late December 2019, we recorded 8 or 9 podcasts with the intent to edit them for clarity and release them to the public.  The project was called Don and Jerry with a goal on creating a podcast and videos on a separate channel.  With his help, we created a successful discord, edit roughly four of those podcasts together, create a discord exclusive preview and publish three video game playthroughs for our brand new Youtube Channel.  Don and I worked hard planning, recording, editing and creating for three months to get this done but unfortunately life got in the way.

A tragedy happened in February which you can read partially about on my new poem: A Girl Named Frank.  At the same time, I was diagnosed with tinnitus, which halted my ability to listen to the podcast and edit.  Around this time, I did record a couple of new videos (Mega Man X2, Lion King, GTA Liberty City Stories) but though I finished the first two, I never got my editor to work.  I chalked it up to lack of memory and put them to the side.

Fast forward a month and my tinnitus is starting to get better.  I started a Resident Evil Challenge on Mixer (as my computer stopped letting me livestream due to memory issues) and managed to beat RE0-4 as well as CVX and most of 5 before getting severely burnt out.  I also streamed most of Gears of War but I wanted something different.

I chose Super Mario Galaxy.  I started it up on my Wii U and started recording the walkthrough and to my surprise, it worked.  I managed to record all 242 stars over the course of the month and began editing them.  Unfortunately for me, my video editor still didn't want to work.

That's when it happened.  My computer's hard drive started failing.  Thankfully, I got a great new one which allows me to livestream, record and edit again.  And throughout October, November and December, I edited the 250+ videos into manageable parts, timestamped everything and created custom titles, editing them down into 70 separate videos.  This was by FAR my biggest project ever for the channel and the most time consuming, taking me nearly six months to finish.  While I am sad that I didn't get it out before September when Super Mario Galaxy was announced for rerelease, it's still done and I'm very proud of the result.  I may start SMG2 soon but I want to do a few other videos first, such as editing the numerous unedited videos on my hard drive.

I did manage to livestream quite a few more times though, streaming Story of Seasons FOMT remake and Portal but unfortunately I didn't get a lot of edited walkthroughs up (though I did manage to get a few that had been unlisted for a while).  And though I finally got my 1000 subscribers last year, I wasn't able to celebrate it much.

That's why this year, I'm cracking down.  It's gonna start with making sure the timestamps on my videos are correct and there.  You may have already noticed I've been doing this throughout today, fixing a lot of the timestamps and adding them as necessary.  This is due to Youtube's new Chapter feature, which really helps with my longform walkthroughs.  By making sure these timestamps are correct and on there, I can facilitate your viewing and make it easy to play along no matter which platform you're on.

I also plan to record a bunch of new walkthroughs starting with Phoenix Wright.  I recorded it a total of three times so far but each time video corruption reared it's head (or I wasn't a fan of the final output).  However, no more.  I got the game on Steam and I can run it smoothly, which will allow me to record it perfectly as I intend to.  I also want to finish more Zelda games as well as the remaining classic Castlevania games.  I also want to re-edit Dragon Quest 1's walkthrough to remove the random encounters and finish DQ3's walkthrough as well as a few Final Fantasies.  I really hope to follow through with this and make 2021 a much better year.

Super Mario Galaxy Walkthrough

 As I mentioned before, I started recording for a Super Mario Galaxy walkthrough on June 5th this year and finally completed all 242 stars on June 24th.  However, due to computer problems editing, I had yet to publish this walkthrough.  Of course, it would have been wonderful to publish this walkthrough in August right before the big reveal that it would be ported to Switch but it was not meant to be.  However, I'm writing this to announce that after many many hours editing, the walkthrough is finally fully edited (70 parts).  At the moment, I'm uploading them one by one to Youtube, making sure I didn't make any mistakes (already caught a few that I have to correct) and making custom thumbnails (also getting timestamps) but all things considered, I should hopefully have the walkthrough published in a few days (barring any unforeseen circumstances such as internet outages or hard drive failures).

I hope this walkthrough will help you beat this amazing game.  It was a blast to create but a beast to record and edit.  The finished files take up around 110gb so it may take a while for them to upload though.  As soon as everything is in the clear and everything checks out, I'll make everything public and publish it (then start SMBG2!)

What happened to the channel?

What happened to the channel and why have there been no new videos since March?  Short answer: my computer.  My computer was going on 8 years old this year and when I would try to record things, it would lag and freeze.  This was a huge reason my Resident Evil marathon was exclusive to Mixer at the time because my computer would freeze every time I tried to stream.  It was especially bad trying to edit the videos, as the editor would crash after just a couple edits or moves.  I managed to somehow get Super Mario Galaxy to record, probably due to the settings being at 480p but even then it would still lag horribly at times, forcing me to rerecord videos.  I finished recording it in June and my full intention was to get it out by August, however, my video editor actively worked against me, freezing every time I tried to render or edit a video and corrupting a ton of videos as it attempted to render my videos.

Unfortunately, this came to a head a week or two ago when my computer started clicking when I was operating it.  The hard drive was going out and all my stuff was in danger of being lost (20+ years of stories and pictures, several raw walkthroughs that needed to be recorded, etc).  Thankfully, due to my Youtube channel, I have a 5TB external hard drive so I threw everything I could on that and went computer shopping.

I managed to pick up a beast of a computer too.  It's been a long time since I could run computer games without lagging and now I'm running a lot of them at ultra 120fps.  That means I can finally record PC walkthroughs again, something I haven't done since Scribblenauts (in 2014).

Of course, transferring everything over, my videos wouldn't edit in either of my video editors that I used.  I tried reinstalling codecs and various other things but the only viable solution was to either get a new editor or convert 250+ videos to another format.  Thankfully, I found OpenShot editor and I'm enjoying it a lot.  It's been working fabulously for my editing and I've been very productive with it.  In the last week, I've managed to edit together most of my Super Mario Galaxy walkthrough and it should be ready in the next week or two (I still have to make custom thumbnails and grab the timestamps for everything).  In fact, just a progress update on editing:

MARIO: 100% done and edited

LUIGI: Currently editing Kitchen Dome galaxies.

My intention at this time is to finally edit several walkthroughs I have finished after I finish Super Mario Galaxy (it's kind of a monster walkthrough with nearly 70 videos, each roughly 15-45 minutes long).  I have Leisure Suit Larry fully recorded, as well as Final Fantasy Adventure and Resident Evil 1 with Jill (still need to record Chris's walkthrough), as well as Lion King SNES, DKC2, Spyro GBA and Phoenix Wright.  I plan to also record Super Mario Galaxy 2 soon and possibly other ones like Portal or Yakuza.

I am truly sorry for my hardware issues stunting the growth of my channel but I hope you look forward to the projects that are coming out soon.

Zelda Quest 1: Twilight Princess

After thoroughly enjoying both Link's Awakening and Breath of the Wild, my thirst for Zelda was not quenched at this point in time.  One game I really wanted to fire up was Twilight Princess HD, a game that I had yet to finish on Wii U and hadn't beaten since it released in 2006 (and even then, I was racing my buddy to see who could complete the game first).  So it quickly became a prime target for my next Zelda adventure.  At this point, my wife took a keen interest and the official Zelda Quest was birthed.

One thing that was so cool about this game is the duality between the twilight realm and the normal realm.  Playing as wolf link seemed much less cumbersome this time around and I loved the dark, gritty tones of this game (though I think Majora nails it better).  And I can honestly see why fans think this is a top tier Zelda game.  Then again, it's got a ton of OoT references and has the realistic and dark undertones so naturally a lot of people will enjoy it.  Plus you could finally unfreeze Zora's Domain (though not in the way people wanted).

Let me start by saying that this game has some amazing dungeons.  I love the Snowpeak Ruins.  It feels so awesome exploring a snow covered mansion and it's such a fresh take on a dungeon.  Even City in the Sky is so much fun with the double Clawshots, even though there are some annoyances with it.  Plus there are some unique and fun items in this iteration.  I like the spinner and the ball & chain is really cool (but essentially a Megaton Hammer on a chain) but reinventing the iron boots to work on magnetized tracks was awesome and made me think of them in a new light.  There's a lot of good stuff here!

I loved the fact that you could challenge the Hero of Time to learn new moves as well and there were so many OoT callbacks in this while still maintaining its own identity.  Seeing how the events of OoT played out after the credits was awesome too.  In fact, the storyline with Midna and Zelda as well as the Twilight Realm vs the Normal realm while still numerous side plots like Ilia or King Bulblin was great.  Plus the final boss was EPIC.  This was definitely a great Zelda to play for both the gameplay and the story.

However, the collectables and minigames were kind of weird.  I wasn't a fan of having 5 Heart Pieces to a container and catching golden bugs was alright.  Sumo wrestling with Gorons was hilarious though even if you have to cheat with Iron Boots.  The Cave of Ordeals and the new Wolf version were also more boring than anything and the fact that you have to do the wolf version four times sucks.  Plus the world map being segmented the way it was is kind of annoying, especially with how open and free form Wind Waker was.

All in all, Twilight Princess was a blast and a lot more fun than I remember it being.  It has an interesting story and I love the soundtrack to it too (Midna's Lament is definitely one for the Youtube playlist).  The wife loved the duality between light and darkness, the storyline and wolf link and easily put this near the top of her list (though I predict nothing will dethrone BotW).

At the end of it, I had completed the game 100%.  All 45 Heart Pieces, all 10 Bugs, every upgrade, both caves of ordeal done, etc.

OVERALL RANKINGS:

1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2. Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

2/ Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)

WIFE'S RANKING:

1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2. Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Pre Zelda Quest 2: Breath of the Wild

I'll be completely honest.  My thoughts on Breath of the Wild are like a roller coaster.  When I first got it for Wii U, I was absolutely captivated by the beauty and freedom and this feeling persisted when I picked up the game for Switch.  However, this copy was soon absconded by the wife who proceeded to play it for 450+ hours, searching all the nooks and crannies and even starting a separate file just to re-experience it.  However, when I rebought it a third time (after getting my own non shared Switch), I began to grow frustrated with the game.  I loved the exploration aspect but felt the game punished you hard for it.  It seemed like exploration was purposefully obtuse and whenever I would get anywhere decent, I would run into a powerful enemy who handed my butt to me, forcing me to trek back.  To be honest, it was offputting and for the better part of two years, I put off playing the game because of it.

However, after enjoying Link's Awakening, I decided it was time.  And boy, am I glad I did.  The game is incredibly flexible and despite the unforgiving beginning, once you start completing a few shrines or unlock new powers from the Divine Beasts, the game really starts to open up and become a blast.  I loved exploring the world, learning about the war against Calamity Ganon, doing side quests for people and unlocking all of the Shrines.  The atmosphere is awesome and while I hated the fact that weapons and shields broke at first, once I got used to it I was having a blast and enjoying the system.  Solving shrines is so fun because of the freedom the game gives you.  If you can imagine a unique puzzle solution, chances are if you can pull it off it will work.

Not only that but a lot of the side quests are unique and fun.  Finding a questionable statue with a background of double edged dealing or helping create a new town is so fun and awesome.  While I stand by how annoying the game is at the start, please put some time in and enjoy the game.

One thing I do NOT recommend though is collecting all the Korok seeds.  Yes, I ACTUALLY managed to collect all 900 Korok seeds in my playthrough of this game.  You only need about half to get all the max pack upgrades.  Finding the remaining 450 is a huge waste of time and only rewards you with a golden pile of poop that makes Hetsu dance.  That's it.

I managed to get 100% on the map completion but I have a few side quests left to do (4 if my count is accurate) and I still have to do the master trials to unlock the powered up Master Sword.  However, I have completed all 120 shrines, all named locations, all DLC shrines and sidequests (aside from the above mentioned Master Sword quest) and all korok seeds.  I even picked up all the amiibo armor but I have yet to upgrade everything and likely I don't plan to do so due to the overwhelming time it would take to do so.

HIGHLY recommended game.  I don't think it's as good as the hype leads you to believe but it's still fantastic.  Definitely play this one.  As far as how it compares to LA, there's hardly a comparison here.  LA is a fantastic game but short and sweet while BotW is long and will keep you occupied with tons of content and freedom unlike many other games out there.  For me, it's definitely better but LA is still fantastic.  As far as my wife's feelings go, it's one of her all time favorite games and one that she has spent three weeks of her life enjoying.  There's no question that it will top her list unless by some miracle she truly enjoys one of the other games in the series.

OVERALL RANKINGS:

1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2/ Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)

WIFE'S RANKING:

1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Pre Zelda Quest 1: Link's Awakening Switch

Link's Awakening remains one of my favorite childhood Zelda games.  I used to love playing the game on my old chunky Game Boy on recess, discussing tips with my friends or showing off our progress and naturally, I was extremely intrigued with the Switch remake and bought it on release.

Immediately upon firing the game up, I was enamored with the art style, beautiful music renditions and hit with a huge nostalgia wave.  This game oozes charm and dspite being a weird one off style game with platforming elements, Goombas and a SimCity reference, this game was just awesome and I was severely disappointed when I 100% the game after a short 15 hours.

I love the atmosphere and updated graphics this game brought.  The setting being on an island outside of Hyrule and trying to collect instruments to wake up the Dream Fish is a unique and interesting plot, though due to the limited Game Boy hardware there's not a whole lot here.  Despite that, I loved Wind Fish Island and it's unique geography.

The dungeons were a lot easier than I remember them being however.  None of them proved a real challenge, even the Eagle's Tower (which I was thoroughly dreading).  However, they were quite fun, despite being more simple than I remembered and the tools you got from them were awesome.  I love blazing things with the fire rod or nabbing an upgraded tunic that increases my attack and it felt like there was a real sense of progression while playing this.

A lot more collectibles were introduced in this one but despite this, I found most of them easy to find, especially after getting the seashell tuner.  Still, I love that they fleshed it out more and increased your max health.  Plus the new Mario collectibles were fantastic and fun to go for.

However, the new Dungeon Maker was a huge disappointment.  Like many others, I was excited to have a "Zelda Maker" only to be vastly disappointed when I learned it was mainly just rearranging existing dungeon rooms together into one large one.  You couldn't even place treasure chests or customize the rooms!  This could have been an incredible feature and selling point but instead it's a novelty that wears off quickly.

All in all, this game is a fantastic remake, a bit shallow but kept me interested all the way.  Great remake but barely scratches the Zelda itch.  If you can pick it up for cheap, do so you'll love it.  Because the wife wasn't involved, her opinion won't be included yet.

OVERALL RANKINGS:

1. Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)

WIFE'S RANKING:

N/A

Zelda Quest: A Personal Undertaking to complete all Zelda games

Back in September of 2019, Link's Awakening would receive a full remake and be released on Switch.  Naturally, being a huge Zelda fan, I decided to pick it up and fell in love with it.  However, because of its short length, I decided to continue on with the series and beat Breath of the Wild, which at that time I had yet to do.  This sparked a huge interest in the series and I decided to start a personal quest I entitled my "Zelda Quest", which is to beat all Zelda games as close to 100% as possible.  I managed to start up Twilight Princess HD, a game that I had on the backburner, which sparked the interest of my wife.  After discussing it with her, who has spent 450 hours in BotW but yet to experience the other games, she joined me and asked that we play the games in "timeline order".  Despite my warning that timeline order is subjective, we decided to use an official timeline from the encyclopedia and start the quest officially with Skyward Sword once Twilight Princess is over.  However, both LA and BotW were retroactively added to the quest, despite my wife being somewhat absent for them.

During this quest, we will be actively going over what we liked and didn't like and ranking the games in order.  Of course, we will be excluding obvious titles like Link's Crossbow Training, the CDi games, etc.  However, other than that, nothing will be left out!  I hope you enjoy our journey and our thoughts!

New review is up!

After several years away, I managed to write out a new review and post it to GameFAQs.  The interface has changed quite a bit since the last time I wrote a review and now allows pictures and formatting but I had already finished it before realizing this.  Irregardless, if you're curious how RPG Maker MV plays on PS4, feel free to check out my new review on GameFAQs!  I'm not sure if this is a return to form but it's definitely been a while!

Q&A June 5, 2020

Hey guys, I came in to update my progress on the multiple projects I have behind the scenes going on and where I've been only to realize it's been a year to the day since my previous Q&A post.  So, without further ado, here's another one that should hopefully answer your questions about what's going on!

YOUTUBE/LIVESTREAM CHANNEL QUESTIONS

Q: What's going on with your channel?

A: It's been a crazy year so far (and that's without all the craziness of the world included!).  At first, I posted a video updating about how COPPA would affect my channel.  In that time, I was able to record and upload a new walkthrough as well as unhide several other previously recorded walkthroughs.  My best friend and I created the Don and Jerry Show and worked exclusively on that from December of 2019 to February of 2020 with the hopes of launching on February 28th but lots of things happened that prevented that.  In mid February, my 8 month old kitten was killed by an animal in our back yard which took the wind out of my sails for a while.  I was scheduled for a 2 week vacation in March but it was cancelled with the Coronavirus and I was diagnosed with Tinnitus which prevented me from doing any editing.  That finally cleared up in late May and while I did record a few new walkthroughs (Mega Man X2 and Leisure Suit Larry for example), I couldn't edit them until recently due to the ringing in my ears making using headphones very difficult.  Now that things are calming down, my intention is to record, edit and upload several new walkthroughs, one of which is Super Mario Galaxy.  I also hope to finish editing our previously recorded 7 podcasts and get that live as well.

I do apologize for the lack of content but I hope you understand why.

Q: Have you been livestreaming lately?

A: Yes!  I started a Resident Evil challenge in April but due to my computer deciding that it isn't powerful enough to stream with the Elgato anymore, I have been streaming exclusively on Mixer for the time being (I hope to rectify this very shortly once I can go computer shopping again).

Q: What's the RE challenge and where did it go?

A: The RE challenge was my intention to play through all 8 numbered RE games on stream and beat them, with 4, 5 and 6 being blind runs.  Unfortunately, 5 burnt me out severely on the series.  This is coupled with 50+ playthroughs between March and May leading to my burnout.  I will return to it once the burnout goes away.  In it's place I hope to stream Duke 3D, Forever, Doom/II/II/2016 and FFX.

Q: When are your next Mega Man/Mario walkthroughs coming out?  Are you gonna play any new series?

A: To be frank, I never know when my videos come out because I record these walkthroughs for fun mainly, not for notoriety or any other reason.  Because of that, the walkthroughs come out when I manage to finish them.  However, as of June 5, I have started Mario Galaxy with the intent to record all 252 stars.  Mega Man 11 will likely not be out until I can get my Elgato to record smoothly again in anything above 720P.

As far as new content goes, yes, I have Leisure Suit Larry recorded as well as Mega Man X2.  I also intend to record Phoenix Wright for the 8th time (every previous attempt was marred by technical limitations or corruption).  I also started recording Super Mario Advance 2, Super Mario Bros 3 SNES and the last few Sonic games on Genesis so hopefully I can get some content out soon!

DON & JERRY SHOW

Q: What is the Don and Jerry show?

A: Basically, my best friend of multiple decades and I got together after getting new microphones and decided we wanted to make our voices heard.  We enjoy talking about things and wanted a platform to essentially hang out and discuss new topics as well as answer Q&As.  We enjoy recording it but I hope you enjoy listening to it too.

Q: When is it coming out?

A: Don and I have been extremely busy and unable to work on the podcast lately.  I hope to finish editing our first seven podcasts relatively soon and release them so we can have more timely releases every two weeks like planned.  Stay tuned to @DonandJerryshow on twitter for announcements.

Q: Can I get involved or ask questions?

A: Sure!  Send us a question on Twitter using #DNJQNA or join our discord and ask us there!  discord.gg/88pn3kF 

GAMEFAQS QUESTIONS

Q: Are you planning on returning to contributing?

A: The toxic attitude has been getting slightly better over time so I may return to writing reviews but at the moment, with all my projects, no.

Several Previously Recorded Videos Now Available!

I apologize for the lack of updates regarding my channel.  I have been working with my best bud on a podcast for several months and it's been a lot of work recording, editing, setting up structures and plans for it and I'm nearing release!  It's called the "Don and Jerry Show" and it will be live on https://donandjerryshow.podbean.com hopefully soon.  We've been working steadily on it since December 2018 but it really only came to fruition around September of last year, when we put our nose to the grindstone to get everything ready, recorded and edited.  We'll be updating people @DonandJerryShow on twitter with news on that project so I hope you'll enjoy.

I know my last posted video, COPPA, was a bit of a downer.  But as I went through my recorded videos, I was surprised to see that several had not been made public despite being uploaded for years.  The first of these was Castlevania 3, which I had to reupload several parts due to Youtube being stingy and not letting me save it as public.  I had recorded that one at the end of 2018 and it took quite a bit of work to do as C3 is insanely tough and I recorded six different walkthroughs, one for each character on normal and hard and split all paths up between them.

The second was Softporn Adventure, which is the first title in the Leisure Suit Larry series and not actually pornographic (it's text based only).  I uploaded it in mid 2018 but wasn't sure if I wanted to have a video entitled "Softporn" and whether it would actually get taken down.  But as there is no porn in it, I decided to publish it.

The last was Super Mario Bros Deluxe, which I uploaded October of 2019.  It was all ready to go but I still hadn't made custom thumbnails for it so I decided to do that and publish them.

There's also one more I recorded the other day for Mystery House, the first ever Sierra Online title and the first ever adventure game with graphics.  It's an oldie but I love it and you can play along with it too if you like as it's freeware.

I hope to have more projects finished soon after I finish up the remaining D&J podcasts.  Don and I also recorded TMNT 1989 for our separate Youtube channel, Don and Jerry Show, and that will be live soon after I write an intro song for it.

Hope to see you guys soon!

Finally finished editing and uploading

Finally, after two months, the Super Mario Sunshine walkthrough is completely edited and ready for publication.  As I type this, they are being uploaded to Youtube and should be live within a few days!  I just have to edit together some thumbnails and timestamps which shouldn't take very long at all (though I shouldn't jinx myself).

I apologize for the long wait but I've had many health issues since July that have kept me down.  Food poisoning, several teeth having to get pulled, severe allergic reactions, etc.  Not only that, my video editing software was crashing a lot for some reason whenever I'd edit together the blue coin videos.  Hopefully I'm over the worst of my health problems but thankfully, the long promised SMS walkthrough should be live soon.  Hopefully I can wrap up editing my RE1 walkthrough soon (Jill walkthrough was finished in April) but I may need to practice again so I can wrap up a Chris run before I consider uploading it.

However, I do have some classics I would love to record and edit soon so hopefully I'm over the lack of uploads recently.  I really hope you guys enjoy the SMS walkthrough as it took me several months to create, edit and prepare for!

Timestamps galore!

So I've been really sick the last couple of days.  I slept pretty much the entirety of those days but today, in an attempt to get up and stop myself from getting bed sores, I decided to do something I've been meaning to do for years: timestamp my old videos.  It started with a request for Dragon Warrior but as I lack the energy or mental awareness to really play or create new videos, I managed to timestamp quite a few of my old videos.  So if you were put off by the lack of them, check to see if your favorite video has received them!  My goal is to retroactively go back and add time stamps to all my videos as well as custom thumbnails so hopefully this will be accomplished soon!  I'm also still editing Sunshine so keep an eye out for that walkthrough hopefully coming within the next two weeks!

Super Mario Sunshine is Complete!

All 120 shines, all 240 blue coins.  Finally, after procrastinating for several years, Super Mario Sunshine is fully recorded and ready for editing!  My goal is to whittle them into 25 separate videos.  Each course (minus Corona Mountain, which will be one entire video) will have three separate videos: one for the main shines, one for 100 coins and one for blue coins.  I've already got one done and another edited and I'm currently recording commentary for a separate "With Commentary" version of the walkthrough so you get the typical walkthrough and one with audio explanations.  I've only really done that with Sonic the Hedgehog so it will be fun and hopefully really useful for people who prefer commentated videos.

Expect to see them hopefully really soon!

CURRENT EDIT PROGRESS:

Delfino Airstrip: Blue coin added to Delfino Plaza video.  Shine not edited.
Delfino Plaza: All 3 videos edited and complete
Bianco Hills: All 3 videos edited and complete
Ricco Harbor: All 3 videos edited and complete.
Gelato Beach: All 3 videos edited and complete
Pinna Park: All 3 videos edited and complete
Sirena Beach: All 3 videos edited and complete
Noki Bay: All 3 videos edited and complete
Pianta Village: All 3 videos edited and complete
Corona Mountain: All 3 videos edited and complete

Super Mario Sunshine & Channel Status

So I'm playing through Super Mario Sunshine at the moment, which is the next Mario game in the main series I have yet to cover (the others being the Galaxy games, 3D Land/World and Odyssey, as well as the four NSMB games) and I'm really enjoying it.  Despite the annoyance of the blue coins and some of the FLUDD-less challenges, I forgot how much I enjoyed this title.  It's also great to be using my capture card again, as I've only really recorded two walkthroughs using it.  I'm currently about halfway through the game (I'm recording separate videos for each blue coin/shine and will edit them together into course videos later) but I'll likely wrap this up in the next couple of weeks.  I would love to get this done before the 4th but that's a major pipe dream and I'm eager to revisit Galaxy next.

During my time revisiting Sunshine, I've realized just how hard some of it can really be.  You really do get used to FLUDD being there to correct any platforming mistakes you make and when you have to do pure platforming levels, it can be be quite challenging at times.  I am truly having a blast replaying this game though and I hope the video walkthrough will help people get through the game.  By far though, finding all the blue coins is quite the challenge and honestly, there are times when getting the 30 coins in a course takes longer than getting all 11 shines combined (though several stages are ridiculously short on coins for the 100 coins shine, I'm looking at you Gelato Beach).  Still, it's a truly underrated game in the series.

I also have several video walkthroughs waiting to be edited together and uploaded.  King's Quest was a game I'd done hundreds of runs for but screwed them up each time and I finally uploaded a video I was happy with recently.  I am currently doing the same thing for Leisure Suit Larry, which I've finished two separate runs for and will edit into a video.  I've also still got the Resident Evil Remake video walkthrough I did back in April that's very nearly completely edited but I have to actually get it done.  And of course, I've finished Final Fantasy Adventure almost five years ago and I've yet to edit it down.  So look forward to those walkthroughs soon.

I really hope to have SMS online soon and get the Galaxy games done too.  Stay tuned to the channel!

Q&A - June 5, 2019

It's that time again!  Time for another Q&A!

YOUTUBE/LIVESTREAM CHANNEL QUESTIONS

Q: What's going on with your livestream channel?

A: Truth be told, I've been so strapped for time and I really haven't had much time to livestream or create videos for my main channel.  But I have livestreamed a few things recently, such as King's Quest or Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn.

Q: Are you livestreaming solely on your Youtube?  Or are you using other channels?

A: Actually, I've been using Restream to be able to simultaneously stream to Youtube, Twitch and Mixer!

Q: Where's the N64 Livestream?  Didn't you start it back up?

A: Yes I did!  As I mentioned previously, I don't want to feel beholden to it so I've been playing very sparingly in the past few months.  It's something that will likely not be updated often to be honest as I have other videos and games to play first.  It's definitely not abandoned just not prioritized.

Q: You sound a lot clearer now.  What happened?

A: I upgraded my microphone last year to a Blue Yeti.  While I've only used it in a couple video walkthroughs (mainly on my livestreams), it's an incredible upgrade from my old rock band mic.

Q: Are you gonna do Super Mario Sunshine/Mega Man 11/Mega Man X series?

A: Absolutely.  I was primarily waiting for my Wii to HD converter to come (and work properly) before I created a Sunshine walkthrough but primarily, it's now about finding the blue coins.  Mega Man 11 is planned but I haven't beaten the game for myself yet so I can't cover it properly yet.  Mega Man X2 is undoubtedly coming soon though!

EDIT: As of September 18, all Super Mario Sunshine videos are edited and being uploaded to Youtube.  Keep an eye out for them!

Q: How are you streaming/recording your 3DS?

A: I've got a hard modded 2DS that I can wire into my PC.  The sound is plugged into my mic port through an aux cable so unfortunately it's not the best sounding but it's the only real way I can get it to work.

Q: Why do you not finish the games on your livestreams?

A: It's definitely not intentional though most of the games I stream are simply games I want to play at the time.  I do intend while playing most of my games live to finish them but most of the time, I'll run out of free time or forget where I was when I return.  Sometimes, in the case of Jak & Daxter, I continue to play offline simply because I want to play it but I'm not in a state where I can stream (loud environment, late at night with the wife sleeping, etc).  Sometimes I'll play it and start a second save file to play offline and burn myself out (or in the case of Spyro, three additional save files for playing offline, practicing for recording and recording on Youtube).  But it's never my intent to abandon a livestream.

Q: What happened to Jackbox streams?

A: I really enjoy Jackbox but after playing more interactive games like That's You, It's Quiz Time and Hidden Agenda, none of which can be streamed, it made coming back to Jackbox a little less fun.  Not only that but our family kind of burnt out on Jackbox and the streams weren't as receptive as I hoped.  However, if there's enough interest, I will do a Jackbox stream again.

Q: Is there a game you'd love to cover but haven't/can't?

A: Plenty!  Check out my "ultimate list of planned work" on this blog.  As far as "can't", I'd love to cover FFXI but there's WAY too much content and I don't have enough time to really explore like I would want to, especially with the monthly fees.

Q: Any more memorable recordings since the last Q&A?

A: Sure!  While recording Leisure Suit Larry (which will be out after I edit it), I kept noticing my recording would cut out on me at a certain spot.  I laughed when I realized that I had accidentally set my OBS to stop recording when I pressed "5", which I had to enter to put phone numbers in.


GAMEFAQS QUESTIONS

Q: Where's your Real Myst walkthrough?

A: It was taken down for some unknown reason by GameFAQs.  I have no idea what happened to it.

EDIT: As of July 1, it has reappeared on the site unaltered.  It must have been a site glitch.

Q: Are you planning on returning to contributing?

A: Not for the foreseeable future (outside of game credits).  With the mystery of my walkthrough being removed and the toxic attitude on the site causing all of my submissions to dip below 50%, it's not worth my time and effort.


STORIES QUESTIONS

Q: Are you ever going to return to your stories and complete them?

A: Why yes!  If you've been to my profile lately, you'll see that I completed my Timely Change story and I'm writing more poetry for the 50 poetry challenge.  I'm also in the process of writing outlines for additional stories.  However, I am still strapped for writing time so please understand if I can't put out frequent updates.

Q: What about A Beary Jerry Story/SVPVM2?  Are those going to be completed any time soon?

A: No.  Beary Jerry was a one off as a joke to my ex and due to our break up, I have no interest in revisiting it.  Village Monster 2 was also started this way and while I do have an outline, it will likely be reworked before I continue it.

Q: What about Way of the Samurai: Kenji's Tale or Through Ash's Wake?

A: Kenji's Tale is a story I wrote up after playing through Way of the Samurai for the umpteenth time.  My plan was to write concurrently with a video walkthrough of the game for Youtube but at the time, my capture card died and I eventually lost interest.  I do really want to go back and eventually update it but I'd have to replay the game several times.  Ash's Wake actually has a semi-complete third chapter on my hard drive and an outline but I simply haven't had time to finish it.  Hopefully soon.

Q: Do you have any additional stories planned?

A: Yes, but unfortunately I have very little free time to write lately so they'll likely be far off into the future.  I will say that one is a sequel to my most popular fic and the other is a spin off of a recently completed fic.

New videos and new microphone

Hello everyone.  As you've probably noticed, I've taken a slight hiatus from the channel recently.  This is predominately due to me chasing trophies on PS4 and my microphone acting up making both livestreaming and dubbing very difficult.  However, like usual, I haven't abandoned the channel and recently, I've been working on several projects that will likely be released in the coming months.  The most immediate of which is Dragon Warrior 2, the super difficult sequel to the original and one I've been working off and on for a couple years.  I've finished about 75% of the walkthrough and the video should be released within the next two weeks.  In the time I've been away, I've also recorded parts of OoT, OoT 3D, Phoenix Wright, DKC2 and several other games but didn't finish either editing or recording them so there's definitely a lot going on behind the scenes that I can hopefully finish up and release soon.

In much more exciting news though, I managed to pick up a brand new microphone: a blue yeti.  I've come a long way from recording with a knockoff 3rd party Xbox 360 microphone, ha ha!  This one will definitely help with a lot of recording and livestreams as I can finally set it up to record a group (likely DoubleD, my wife and I) or do a halfway decent narration for once.  Because of this, I'll likely be going back and dubbing a lot of walkthroughs and resuming my commentary versions.  However, this time it will definitely be a lot better quality and without the amateur nature of my previous efforts.

I'm also experimenting behind the scenes with doing new types of content, namely reviews (which I have tons of on GameFAQs that I could restructure for Youtube) and podcast like episodes, probably with DoubleD or my wife.  These podcast like episodes would probably be minature commentary about various practices in the gaming industry or discussing deeper philosophical questions (another passion of mine that isn't well known).

Hopefully I'll have you guys along for the ride.

Nintendo 64 Livestreams: Current Progress

NOTE: For the most up to date and organized version, go to http://tiny.cc/n64challenge

ADDITIONAL NOTE: As of January 2019, I have gotten my stock N64 to work and look good enough to continue the challenge!  Keep an eye on http://tiny.cc/n64challenge for my progress!

This is a list of progress on my Nintendo 64 completionist livestream challenge:

Currently In Progress (12.6% Done):

For most up to date progress and list of games, go to http://tiny.cc/n64challenge

Save File Downloads:

All save files are unfortunately deleted due to expiring.  Sorry about that!  Because of this and lack of interest, there will no longer be any more save file downloads.

Games Left To Complete:

007 - GoldenEye 
007 - The World Is Not Enough 
1080 Snowboarding
AeroFighters Assault 
AeroGauge 
Aidyn Chronicles - The First Mage 
All Star Tennis '99 
Armorines - Project S.W.A.R.M. 
Army Men - Air Combat 
Army Men - Sarge's Heroes 
Army Men - Sarge's Heroes 2 
Asteroids Hyper 64 
Automobili Lamborghini 
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie 
Bassmasters 2000 
Batman Beyond - Return of the Joker 
BattleTanx 
BattleTanx - Global Assault 
Battlezone - Rise of the Black Dogs 
Beetle Adventure Racing!
Big Mountain 2000 
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. 
Blast Corps
Blues Brothers 2000 
Body Harvest 
Bomberman 64 
Bomberman 64 - The Second Attack! 
Bomberman Hero 
Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 
Buck Bumble 
Bug's Life, A 
Bust-A-Move '99 
Bust-A-Move 2 - Arcade Edition 
California Speed 
Carmageddon 64 
Castlevania
Castlevania - Legacy of Darkness 
Chameleon Twist 
Chameleon Twist 2 
Charlie Blast's Territory 
Chopper Attack 
Command & Conquer 
Cruis'n Exotica 
Cruis'n USA
Cruis'n World 
CyberTiger 
Dark Rift 
Deadly Arts 
Destruction Derby 64 
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong 64 
Doom 64
Dr. Mario 64 
Dual Heroes 
Duck Dodgers Starring Daffy Duck
Duke Nukem - Zero Hour 
Duke Nukem 64 
Earthworm Jim 3D 
ECW Hardcore Revolution 
Excitebike 64 
Extreme-G 
Extreme-G XG2 
F-1 World Grand Prix 
F-Zero X 
F1 Pole Position 64
FIFA - Road to World Cup 98
FIFA 99
FIFA Soccer 64
Fighter Destiny 2 
Fighters Destiny 
Fighting Force 64 
Flying Dragon 
Forsaken 64 
Gauntlet Legends 
Gex 3 - Deep Cover Gecko 
Gex 64 - Enter the Gecko 
Glover 
Goemon's Great Adventure 
GT64 - Championship Edition 
Harvest Moon 64 
Hercules - The Legendary Journeys 
Hexen 
Hey You, Pikachu! 
Hot Wheels - Turbo Racing 
Hybrid Heaven 
Hydro Thunder 
Iggy's Reckin' Balls 
In-Fisherman - Bass Hunter 64 
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine 
Indy Racing 2000 
International Superstar Soccer '98 
International Superstar Soccer 2000
International Superstar Soccer 64 
International Track & Field 2000 
Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 
Jet Force Gemini 
John Romero's Daikatana 
Killer Instinct Gold
Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards 
Knife Edge - Nose Gunner 
Knockout Kings 2000
Legend of Zelda, The - Majora's Mask 
Legend of Zelda, The - Ocarina of Time
LEGO Racers  (M10)
Lode Runner 3-D 
Mace - The Dark Age 
Madden Football 64 
Madden NFL 2000 
Madden NFL 2001 
Madden NFL 2002 
Madden NFL 99 
Magical Tetris Challenge 
Mario Golf 
Mario Kart 64 
Mario Party 
Mario Party 2 
Mario Party 3 
Mario Tennis 
Mega Man 64 
Mia Hamm Soccer 64
Mickey's Speedway USA 
Micro Machines 64 Turbo 
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Vol. 1 
Milo's Astro Lanes 
Mischief Makers 
Mission Impossible 
Monaco Grand Prix 
Monster Truck Madness 64 
Mortal Kombat 4 
Mortal Kombat Mythologies - Sub-Zero 
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
MRC - Multi Racing Championship 
Ms. Pac-Man - Maze Madness 
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon 
Nagano Winter Olympics '98 
Namco Museum 64 
NASCAR 2000 
NASCAR 99 
NBA Showtime - NBA on NBC 
New Tetris, The 
NFL Blitz 
NFL Blitz - Special Edition 
NFL Blitz 2000 
NFL Blitz 2001 
NFL Quarterback Club 2000 
NFL Quarterback Club 2001 
NFL Quarterback Club 98 
NFL Quarterback Club 99 
NHL 99 
NHL Blades of Steel '99 
NHL Breakaway 98 
NHL Breakaway 99 
Nightmare Creatures 
Nuclear Strike 64 
Off Road Challenge 
Ogre Battle 64 - Person of Lordly Caliber 
Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 
Paper Mario 
Paperboy 
Penny Racers 
Perfect Dark
PGA European Tour 
Pilotwings 64 
Pokemon Puzzle League 
Pokemon Snap 
Pokemon Stadium
Pokemon Stadium 2 
Polaris SnoCross 
Power Rangers - Lightspeed Rescue 
Powerpuff Girls, The - Chemical X-Traction 
Quake 64 
Quake II 
Quest 64 
Rally Challenge 2000 
Rampage - World Tour 
Rampage 2 - Universal Tour 
Rat Attack!
Rayman 2 - The Great Escape
Razor Freestyle Scooter 
Re-Volt 
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing 
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - Round 2 
Resident Evil 2
Road Rash 64 
Roadsters Trophy
Robotron 64 
Rocket - Robot on Wheels 
RR64 - Ridge Racer 64 
Rugrats - Scavenger Hunt 
Rugrats in Paris - The Movie 
Rush 2 - Extreme Racing USA 
S.C.A.R.S. 
San Francisco Rush - Extreme Racing
San Francisco Rush 2049 
Scooby-Doo! - Classic Creep Capers 
Shadow Man 
Shadowgate 64 - Trials of the Four Towers
Snowboard Kids 
Snowboard Kids 2 
South Park 
South Park Rally 
Space Invaders 
SpaceStation Silicon Valley 
Spider-Man 
Star Fox 64
Star Soldier - Vanishing Earth 
Star Wars - Rogue Squadron 
Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire
Star Wars Episode I - Battle for Naboo 
Star Wars Episode I - Racer 
StarCraft 64 
Starshot - Space Circus Fever
Stunt Racer 64 
Super Bowling 
Super Smash Bros. 
Supercross 2000 
Superman
Tarzan 
Tetrisphere 
Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry 
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 
Tonic Trouble
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 
Top Gear Hyper-Bike 
Top Gear Overdrive 
Top Gear Rally 
Top Gear Rally 2 
Toy Story 2 
Transformers - Beast Wars Transmetals 
Turok - Dinosaur Hunter
Turok - Rage Wars 
Turok 2 - Seeds of Evil 
Turok 3 - Shadow of Oblivion 
Twisted Edge - Extreme Snowboarding 
V-Rally Edition 99 
Vigilante 8 
Vigilante 8 - 2nd Offense 
Virtual Chess 64
War Gods 
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98 
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
WCW Backstage Assault 
WCW Mayhem 
WCW Nitro 
WCW vs. nWo - World Tour
WCW-nWo Revenge 
Wetrix
WinBack - Covert Operations 
Wipeout 64 
World Cup 98
World Driver Championship 
Worms Armageddon
WWF Attitude 
WWF No Mercy 
WWF War Zone 
WWF WrestleMania 2000 
Xena - Warrior Princess - The Talisman of Fate 
Yoshi's Story

Nintendo 64 Livestream: Questions and Answers

In 2017 I announced on stream my intention to play through all 296 Nintendo 64 games on real hardware live.  So in order to answer some of the most common questions, I've created this Q&A!

Q: What happened to the challenge?  Why are you resuming it?

A: Originally, I began the challenge in January of 2018 and stayed pretty active on it until April, when my RGB modded Nintendo 64 began to go on the fritz, constantly resetting itself to the point where I couldn't play any N64 game for more than 10 minutes.  After trying everything to get it to work again (new Expansion Pak, new power supply, etc) I still couldn't get it to work.  Unfortunately, my stock Nintendo 64 looked horrible on the TV and worse on the capture card and I couldn't afford another RGB modded N64 (or better yet, an HDMI modded one).  I also began to get anxiety about constantly focusing on the challenge and not being able to do other stuff, like play other games or create walkthroughs so I quit the challenge.  However, after reviewing my 2018 progress, I noticed that 75% of my coverage was the N64 challenge and I regretted not completing the game.  I ended up pulling out my stock N64 to play and getting new cables for it and really enjoying it.  Not only that, the games looked pretty great on my new TV and I ended up getting an AV to HDMI converter which worked awesome so I figured "why not restart the N64 challenge?".

Q: What's different this time?  Are you gonna abandon it again?

A: This time, it's going to be a fun side project instead of my main focus.  I'm playing it mainly because I love the N64 and I enjoy it's library and want to get more acquainted with it.  But I realize that if I focus on it primarily, I'm going to burn myself out again.  So this time, I'm going to play the games when I want to or when I have time (which I have less and less of compared to last year).  That way, I don't feel obligated or guilty if I play a PS4 game or cover a different game on my channel and can just focus on what made this challenge fun: playing N64!  While that means I may complete games at a much slower pace, it will be much healthier for me to do it that way.  I'm also not making the save files available for download anymore, simply due to lack of interest.

Q: Why are you doing this project?

A: The Nintendo 64 was the system I remember investing in the most growing up and after playing through a few games recently on it, I decided I wanted to try them all, especially since the library is small enough that this is obtainable.  After purchasing roughly a quarter of the library and an Everdrive, I realized this challenge is actually feasible.

Q: Are you emulating or are you playing this on real hardware?

A: I'm playing all 296 games on an official North American Nintendo 64.  My original streams were on an RGB modded N64 but it shortly fizzled out after only 36 games.  Starting with my 2019 streams, I'm using a stock N64 with AV cables and an AV to HDMI converter.  I started with a stock N64 controller modded with a GCN style control stick but now I've switched to my Retro Fighters modern N64 controller.

Q: Are you running it on composite?  RF Cable?

A: I'm using standard AV cables with an HDMI modifier.  Please be aware that due to the age of the N64 and the resolution it processes at (240i), the games naturally look blurry and jagged.  It's just the nature of the game!

Q: How many games are you going to complete?

A: All 296 North American released games.  Each game will have a list of completion requirements underneath.  I may do a few bonus episodes where I 100% complete a game or play modes not required to complete the game (or even Japanese games) but for now, the goal is the entire US library.

Q: Will these be with the real carts or Everdrive?

A: A mix of both.

Q: What do you consider completed?

A: Depends on the game but for the most part, beating it on any difficulty or getting a credits screen will constitute beating the game.  For sports games, I consider beating season mode (any # of games length) completion.  Harvest Moon 64 will likely be playing until you get rated in Year 3.  Prior to broadcast, I will list the completion goal on the bottom of the screen for clarity.  There may be some games I play past completion for fun (such as Mario 64) but I'm not going for 100% (or even higher difficulty).

Q: Are you setting a time limit for yourself?

A: No.  I want this to be a fun, nostalgic trip so I am able to play through and enjoy these games without rushing myself.

Q: Where are you streaming this?

A: On my main Youtube channel: Jerry Martin Gaming.  I decided to switch from my livestreams channel as I already have a retro fanbase on my main channel.

Q: Are you gonna play these solo?

A: I will be beating them solo but I will also have my wife and best friend DoubleD join me while playing a lot of these games, such as Mario Party or Perfect Dark.

Q: Can I download the save files for the games you're streaming?

A: Unfortunately, due to lack of interest and a good place to host these files, I will no longer be hosting the save files.  If you'd like them, please DM me on Youtube or Twitter.

Q: Why did you start Conker (Game 4) on File 3 but end on File 1?

A: I started the stream on the real cartridge but after accidentally skipping a cutscene off stream (and wanting to facilitate the sharing of my save files), I restarted up to the point I had reached on stream using my Everdrive.

Q: On Waialae, you considered it beaten by winning the tournament but didn't.  Why?  (Where's the Waialae save file?)

A: Originally, I was under the impression that you had to beat the tournament to see the credits.  Instead, you just have to place.  I may come back to this game later.  Also, for some reason my profile did not save to the memory card, as seen in the beginning of the stream (which was the second stream) so I was not able to upload the save.

Happy New Years! Looking back and future plans!

Hello everyone and happy New Years!  I hope you guys had a great time last night and the rest of the year goes great!

Being the start of a new year, I like to reflect back on my accomplishments from the previous year and look forward to what I will accomplish.  So without further ado, I would like to present a list of accomplishments from 2017!

The biggest accomplishment I had was marrying my lovely wife Ariel.  It was incredible and I've enjoyed every day with her.  While this did stunt a lot of progress in the first half of the year, it was more than worth it.  Next would be the creation of my second Youtube channel: Jerry Martin Livestreams.  After livestreaming Jackbox with my friends and having people join in, I decided to create a separate channel where I could livestream games and Jackbox from.  I started it up on February 7th and even consistently streamed every Friday at 5 PM for weeks, that is, until personal life and work made it impossible for me to get on every Friday and it's been sporadic ever since.  To be honest, most of my efforts went into this channel and making it work for most of the year and there are 74 full streams up to watch from last year for a plethora of different games.

Most of my early streams were centered around Jackbox and playing with my family members.  I even teamed up with DoubleD and did a dual stream on June 12th inviting everyone to play.  Unfortunately, even though we got someone our first attempt (when we were trying to have a family game), we never truly got anyone else to play with us which is why I shifted gears and started playing other stuff.

Early on in the channel's life, I would stream either PC games or PS4 games, as those were the only ways I could stream early on.  I had fun streaming Unreal Tournament 99 and completing the deathmatch mode, as well as testing the newly released Ys Origin on PS4 and Lego Worlds.  We also saw a return to Broforce as Baird and I played through a lot of the game properly without lag!  I even streamed some little known, poorly made indies known as Skylight Freerange (a MS Paint 'Mass Effect killer' released on PS4) and Zombitatos, an FMV game that could have been released on Youtube.

However, the biggest boon to the new channel was when I finally plunked down for an Elgato and received it on July 8th.  Finally able to livestream games in HD and systems other than PS4, I soon turned to Super Mario 3D World which got me a lot of followers as I trekked through the game and beat all of the worlds including World Crown.  I even invited DoubleD to join us as we played it live with my wife making her debut on the channel on July 13.  Finally, on August 7, we finished the game (though I would go back and attempt to get through the game with the rest of the characters for a while) and moved on to other Mario games, namely Paper Mario 64 and New Super Mario Bros U.  My most popular video to date on that channel would come a short while later on September 1, where I played Jak & Daxter live on PS4 and would be raided by DoubleD and his followers.

However, after a lot of people failed to turn up to my highly advertised Super Mario Odyssey premiere on launch day and things at home/work screwing with my schedule, my streaming schedule for the rest of the year petered out.  I definitely intend to rectify that this year.

My main channel saw 31 new games covered, despite most of my efforts turning to my livestream channel, and a lot of them were fun new additions.  You can also tell by my uploads that a lot of last year's uploads were based on themes.  The first upload, Final Fantasy, took a lot out of me and took weeks of time to prepare, record, edit and upload and was one of the main reasons my focus went to streaming.  However, I did attempt to record the second game but burnt myself out.

April 30th saw the return of a type of video I hadn't done in years: a commentary walkthrough for Wizard and the Princess.  Cited as the first game in the King's Quest series, my intention was to cover all the games in the series but after 50 failed takes of King's Quest 1, my focus shifted to other series.

June 14th was a very busy day for me as I knocked out a ton of games for the NES Classic Edition (as it was my intention to cover all 30 games).  However, one of my viewers commented that the arcade videos I was putting out bored him.  I just happened to be playing through one of my favorite games at the time and decided to cover my first ever Nintendo 64 game: Super Mario 64!  It was an absolute blast covering the game (though as many people pointed out, I did skip World 2 at the time) and I had so much fun I decided to re-record my previous Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros (SMA version) playthroughs to be more in line with the consistent and concise style I've adopted over the years.

Around this time, the SNES Classic Edition was announced and the game list was announced.  My intention was to have the first complete video walkthrough series for all 21 games so that when it launched in September, people could go to my playlist and find whatever game they were having trouble with.  Because of this, most of my next uploads were games from the SNES Classic and ones I had really wanted to cover in the past (though I jumped the gun early on some of them): Donkey Kong Country, Super Punch Out, Mario RPG, Castlevania IV, Super Ghouls and Ghosts, Super Metroid (which I had started recording the year prior), Super Mario Kart (also recorded the year prior), Super Mario World 2 (which completed my classic Mario playlist), Mega Man X, Contra 3, Star Fox and Kirby's Super Star.  However, pumping out all of these games in a short amount of time left me burnt out yet again and I remedied this by playing through one of my favorite beat-em-ups: Simpsons Arcade.  My wife made her debut on the channel as well and it was a blast.  We ended up recording another playthrough with Bart and Lisa.

Near the end of the year, I also debuted another new type of video which I will be working on heavily throughout the year to try and catch up the rest of my videos: commentary versions.  Along with my normal non-commentary versions, I will dub commentary over the video for extra help or interesting tidbits.  I will be going back and dubbing videos from the past in this style as well.

As far as my writing goes, because of everything that's happened this year as well as the environment not being suitable for writing, the only accomplishment I've had would be the five new reviews I wrote for Gamefaqs.  They were the four Jackbox games (which we first played early this year) and Zombitatos.  I do hope to write more but with free time being limited as is, I doubt it will happen.

Now, as for this year, I have a few objectives I'd like to complete and one of them is a doozy.  But the following is my list of goals for 2018:

• Reset a regular streaming schedule (hopefully the same Friday @ 5 PM PST)
• Apply custom thumbnails for all previous videos uploaded as well as livestream videos
• Finish adding timestamps to all previous videos.
• Finish covering Mega Man X series.
• Finish New Super Mario Bros U and Super Mario Odyssey livestreams.
• Livestream and complete all 296 US Nintendo 64 games.

The last one is a doozy but is a dream of mine especially now that I have the means to do so.  I will elaborate on it more as the time nears but essentially I want to finish all of the games on the Nintendo 64.  Most likely they will not be done to 100% and the sports games will likely be a season but they will be played on official hardware.  More on that to come!

I hope to see you within the year and we will see how this comes to pass!

New Type of Video!

Hey everyone!  Sorry I've been inactive lately.  Between injuries, a month long sickness and enjoying life, I haven't been on Youtube in a while (outside of the occasional livestream).  But while recording my newest walkthrough, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a recent comment by a subscriber popped into my head.  He wondered why I didn't have commentary in my videos.  So an idea popped in my head and from now on, I'll be uploading my walkthroughs in two version: normal, non commentary versions, and versions with commentary!  I've already begun recording my commentary for Sonic 2 and I plan to go back to my older videos and record commentary for them (though some of the older ones are out of the question).

I hope you guys enjoy!  The commentary versions may take a while longer to get out simply because of all the commentary required to record, revise and overall make work but hopefully you will enjoy it enough to make the extra work worth it!