Game Pile - #8 - Pokémon Box (Gamecube)

#8 - Pokémon Box (Gamecube)

I searched for this a lot before I ever got my hands on a copy. In fact, I think I had a saved search on eBay for Box for 4-5+ years! I originally started looking for it when it was still going for relatively cheap but couldn't find one in good condition for a good enough deal. Luckily, this copy came in to Disc Replay around the same time as Steel Battalion and Panzer Dragoon Saga (boy, that was an expensive period of time lol) so I finally got my hands on it. I still hate that I don't have the memory card or outer box but I won't complain. I remember when this was on sale through the old Pokemon Center website (along with the Pokemon Mini games) but I was in 7th grade with no money or reliable way to buy things off the Internet like I do now. I really take online shopping for granted now -- it used to take an act of Congress to get my mom or grandma to let me use their credit card online (although I sent many, many, many money orders for small eBay and forum purchases when I was a pre-teen). This is one of those games that I've been really tempted to sell when I needed some quick $$$ but I associate memories with it and I think it's a cool relic to have as a Pokemon fan. It's pretty cool to think that I've got Pokemon from the Ruby and Sapphire games on my 3DS -- that's one of the things that has really made Pokemon worth it for me long-term.

Memorable Track: Hall of Fame

---

Last Time: #7 - Fox Hunt (Playstation)

Pokemon Go and Exploring Town in the Summer

Diana and I have been playing a lot of Pokemon Go lately. I've always been a huge fan of Pokemon but I had never played the mobile game until maybe three or four weeks ago -- some friends here on campus had been playing so I went ahead and took the plunge. Funnily enough, Diana had actually started playing way back when the game first came out (I didn't because of my 2GB data allotment from Verizon). Living in Lexington at the time, I was amazed at how many people were playing -- huge groups of people were going back and forth across town and UK's campus. We noticed quite a few people playing in Muroran too, but my cheapo SIM card had similar data restrictions so I've always watched from the sidelines until now.

Speaking of Japan, Diana and I have a nice inside joke relating to the game. At our Japanese wedding reception, the principals of our schools gave short speeches and my kocho-sensei (who had just started at Shimizugaoka the month before) said his first memory of me was when he surprised me while I was playing Pokemon Go at work. I definitely did my share of slacking off at work (the couch in the English office was a perfect spot for a quick nap) but I was low key offended because I didn't even play Pokemon Go! In all actuality, he probably saw me playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links (because I was playing that a LOT at the time). Now that I think about it, I did have the go board (the board game with stones) set up in the office, so maybe he was talking about that? I wonder...

Us and the Hokkaido BOE crew

Anyways, it seems as if Pokemon Go has had a little resurgence in Wise lately. Or maybe it never died down at all? I'm not really sure but I remember someone might have told me that there were new PokeStops and Gyms in the area -- either way, we've actually connected with quite a few people since we've started playing. Other staff on campus, current students, and even some friends from back in high school have all crossed our path in the game!

I'm definitely interested in the actual gameplay aspect of Go but I think the social element has really gotten me thinking. I spent literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours in the older Pokemon games, especially the Gameboy Advance generation, breeding and trying to build a strong team with EV training -- only to rarely have the opportunity to play with anyone in person! I still remember walking through West Town Mall in Knoxville with my GBA Wireless Adapter hooked up, hoping that someone there would be trying to play but I never had any luck. I'm very thankful for high school friends like April who did play with me back then, but most of those Pokemon ended up unused until the newer games came out (fun fact: those EV trained Advanced Generation Pokemon are currently chilling on my Ultra Sun 3DS cart -- oh, the wonders of technology!). Pokemon Go, in a sense, has helped me relive the social experience of Pokemon that I haven't really had since Red/Blue were in their heyday. All in all, it's been a great opportunity for me and Diana to go out walking. Whether it's in town or on campus, we've had a lot of fun exploring Wise on some awesome summer nights.

View this post on Instagram

"I think we'll have good memories of summer in Wise"

A post shared by Collin Skeen (@zeskeenmachine) on Jul 7, 2019 at 7:46pm PDT

Game Pile - #7 - Fox Hunt (Playstation)

#7 - Fox Hunt (Playstation)

Spencer and I played through a little bit of this one night and it was absolutely bonkers. I was never really exposed to FMV games when I was younger so I haven't played much in this genre -- but they're really interesting to look back on nowadays. As I was typing this, I literally thought, "haven't I written about this before?" It felt so familiar somehow. So I just googled around and realized that I wrote a blog entry for Monsters of Geek about Fox Hunt back in 2015. I had legitimately forgotten about it. Just went back and reread it. I mentioned the game was relatively cheap considering its rarity -- funny because it's $100+ nowadays. Anyways, it's crazy how you can come across something you wrote/sang/thought (what feels like) ages ago and immediately revisit the moment (or at least the general time). I'm happy looking back on my 2015, 25-year-old self. Maybe I subconsciously picked this game at random from my collection to post because my younger self wanted my current self to revisit that article and era of my past. Regardless, it's a cool feeling and I'm happy that I ended up picking Fox Hunt up from Half.com (RIP) which was like an eBay-operated Amazon Marketplace. I got some good deals there, like this one for about $20, but it was nice just having variety in places to online shop. I'll pour one out for you.

Favorite Track: "Elvis Slept Here"

---

Last Time: #6 - Fighters Megamix (Saturn)

Game Pile - #6 - Fighters Megamix (Saturn)

#6 - Fighters Megamix (Saturn)

Fighters Megamix was actually the first Saturn game I ever bought. Whether I was working at G2K in Wise or Disc Replay in Lexington, I never saw too many Saturn games come into the store. Maybe it's a regional thing, but none of my friends had a Saturn growing up -- and one of them had a Virtual Boy! It's always been a little curious for me too because I spent a lot of time online when I was a kid and getting into video games. I spent so much time on GameFAQs that you'd figure I'd have a better understanding of what was out there. Then again, I could tell you all about the Wonderswan Crystal at the time, so maybe it's just a question of taste. ^^;; Anyways, between the two stores I ended up getting at least a few of the big Saturn games so I guess it's a question of quality over quantity. I've not put much time at all into Fighters Megamix but I hope that changes now that I've got the Saturn hooked up to a TV in the game room. I've always loved the idea of fighting with the Daytona car! I recently sold off a few games to pay for a Japan visit and this one was on the chopping block for a moment but I figured I'd like to play it when people come over sometime. I used to be pretty anal about removing the stickers from my games but over time they became a kind of badge of honor -- especially when something I bought for cheap gets expensive later on down the road.

Memorable Track: Ending F ~ Young Guys

---

Last Time: #5 - Pocket Monsters: Green (Game Boy)

Monster Raising: The Summer of Digital Monster X

I've been a little bummed out lately and I'm still not 100% sure what it's from. Maybe it's because I work on a college campus and it's currently Summer Break -- meaning that I'm, on a daily basis, reminded that professors and students are enjoying free time and summer vacations while I'm working my 8-5 job, looking forward to the upcoming four day July 4th weekend more than anything. I've gotten pretty productive when it comes to utilizing my free time, but I still find myself getting home from work, staying charged for a few hours, then ultimately falling asleep and wishing I had more free time. This means I really romanticize my weekends -- but I probably don't use them as efficiently as I could.

If I stop and replace weekends in that last sentence with summers, I think it's a fair analysis of the numerous summer vacations I had as a student or while unemployed. That makes me think my problem is a little more structural than circumstantial. Now, I think I took advantage of my youthful summers pretty well -- whether they were spent with friends, video games, music, or running -- but now that I understand what it's like to have a job where you don't get 2-3+ months of relatively uninterrupted free time, I think I'd try to squeeze even more from those summers of old. Still, I don't like to cry over spilled milk and there's no time like the present, so I've been trying to push myself to find little ways of increasing the density of my current, limited time. 

Even with that sense of initiative, summer brings back so many sense memories of glorious days spent lazing around, surfing the web, playing games, and just moving at my own pace. Being back in Wise, especially on campus, brings me back to when I lived here for Summer School one semester. It was pretty cool -- I was taking one class each session (Spanish 201/202) while working at G2K Games part time. I had just landed the job a few months before so it was my first summer spent away from home while getting paid! I had freedom and money. I played a lot of the original Nier, sang karaoke with my dormmates, and got into Digimon collecting hardcore.

Digital Monster X White

Hello, my name is Collin and I was addicted to Yahoo! Auctions Japan. Well, maybe not addicted but I got really into browsing through auctions and getting my hands on some Japan-exclusive Digivices and virtual pets that I had always wanted (and it happened again when we were living in Japan years later). I had grown up collecting the American Digimon electronics as they were coming out, but I was always aware of the much cooler and more functional Digimon toys being released in Japan. I managed to import one or two as Christmas/birthday gifts when I was a kid, but I never had a real opportunity to get any -- until that summer in Wise. I used an intermediary called Celga to import a few and I spent a lot of my summer playing around with them. I walked around with the pedometer devices and brought my virtual pets with me to work and class. They were like add-ons to activities in my every day life. Wanting to make progress on my D-3, for example, encouraged me to go running and walking more. Occasionally checking in on my Digimon and cleaning up its poop was a great way to destress and refocus during breaks at G2K or from our 2+ hour long Spanish class. In my pre-smartphone world of 2010, these side quests of sorts added new contexts to my daily activities and, looking back, I think I appreciate and remember more of that summer because of them. 

Bandai, the company that makes the Digimon toys, announced their newest iteration of the Digimon pet recently: the Digital Monster X Version 2. A new Digimon device comes out in Japan maybe once or twice a year, so I've gotten into the habit of picking them up as they come out. Considering the fact I don't buy much nowadays aside from manga, I don't feel too bad about pre-ordering them. Sometimes, when demand is really high, Bandai will split their release into waves, staggering the release by a month or two. After reading news saying this would be happening to the DMX2, I got the urge to bring my original Digital Monster X with me to work. The Digimon virtual pets are relatively low-maintenance so it's easy to keep one powerful and evolving without much time put into it -- perfect for an office environment where short mental breaks are much appreciated. 

My Instagram story from 2019.3.29

I've had a good bit of fun with the Digital Monster X since it came out back in March. Both versions are essentially the same with the biggest difference being which Digimon are available on each device. My favorites tend to be split across the two of them, so I always find a few to aim for regardless of which version I'm playing. Of course, I wouldn't really have any idea about specific evolution requirements or battle percentages or anything like that without the awesome guides and information collected by people on the net. I've been a longtime member of With the Will (my current account dates back to 2007) and that website along with the forum community have been invaluable resources for fans of the Digimon electronics. I doubt I'd appreciate the virtual pet experience as much without the multitude of information available nowadays, especially considering most of the enthusiast info is in Japanese. I never had the Pendulum X back in the day so the DMX is my first real experience with X-Antibody Digimon in v-pet form, but Diana and I watched through Digital Monster: X-Evolution, a fully CGI movie from 2005 that focuses on the X-Antibody storyline, so I've got at least a bit of an introduction from that. X-Antibody Digimon are a cool concept and it's awesome to see that they're still supporting the subset. Maybe we'll get a third version next year? I'd be excited for it! Compared to the days of wondering if Digimon, as a franchise, even had a future...we're living in some pretty good times.

I really love the designs of both DMX options -- the white/blue gives me total University of Kentucky vibes while the black/red really pops and is probably my favorite looking one in person. Considering their eye-catching design, it's cool bringing them to work occasionally and seeing if people notice them or have something to say. I was sometimes super nervous about being seen with them when I was younger -- mainly because Digimon was a relic of the early Pokemon days for most people. Nowadays, Digimon, Tamagotchi, and the whole monster raising genre has both nostalgia and freshness going for it. I came with one of my friends to a Friday Night Magic event at Cavalier Comics and one of the guys there started up a conversation because he saw my Digimon. It was a great time and it turned out we like a lot of the same stuff. Those are the types of interactions that I wished so badly to have when I was a kid so I'm very thankful to be able to experience them years later.

Celga's FB account used to leave really nice comments on my profile, too.

Right now I've got a Tokomon X and I'm hoping it makes it from V-mon X all the way to Dukemon X. If anything, it'll just take time and patience. I really do think keeping up with a Digimon increases my sense of responsibility. There are many times where I'll pass out (from drinking or the like) and wake up only to realize that I didn't feed my Digimon or put it to bed -- sometimes meaning that I just missed out on the evolution path I really wanted to get. Even though it's just a virtual pet, the sense of disappointment I felt after realizing my mistake -- especially considering my carelessness -- was very real. Thinking about the big picture of my life, I'd much rather make these kinds of careless mistakes while raising a Digimon -- but I think the lessons learned can carry over to my real life, too. In its own little way, I think my monster raising in Digimon is training me to be a better person, too. I should get my hands on the DMX2 in November or December, but hopefully I can make some memories and accomplishments on some of my older devices before then. There's actually a US release of the 20th Anniversary Version of the original pet coming out in August, and it's only selling for $20 -- making me hope that maybe Digimon will see a small resurgence of popularity in the West. If that can happen, I'd love to start playing Digimon with more people locally. That's the one part of my childhood Digimon fantasies that hasn't come true -- yet. 

EDIT: I knew Celga had commented on some pictures so I dug through my Facebook history. 

I was legitimately flattered at the age of 21. Still FB friends even now!

Game Pile - #5 - Pocket Monsters: Green (Game Boy)

#5 - Pocket Monsters: Green (Game Boy)

I actually just played through this one! It was a long time coming, too. I picked up this copy of the game back in 2010-2011 off eBay. I had started collecting the boxed versions of the American Pokemon games around this time because of course I had kept the cartridges from when I was a kid, but gotten rid of all the boxes (or I had kept them and they got bent/crushed). Since Green was one of the original Pokemon games and one of the few without an American release, I thought it might be cool to pick it up. Luckily, most of the GB Pocket Monsters games were pretty cheap on eBay at the time and you could get copies with their boxes, dust cases, and the cool, elaborate manual + map for about $10-15 if you waited it out. That was the beginning and I ultimately picked up everything through Crystal before I stopped -- Pokemon's addictive in many ways, lol. Anyways, this is a great game and it's a really interesting piece of cultural history. Pokemon's been around for a long time and it was cool going back and playing through the game being able to notice a lot about the game's design in hindsight. I played through it in Japanese and it ended up being pretty good practice for basic hiragana/katakana (luckily playing through the English versions dozens -- hundreds -- of times has imprinted most of the game into my heart eternally). One thing, I was amazed at how small the game world was compared to my memory. Seafoam Island and Unknown Dungeon (Green has a different dungeon layout in UD irrc) were so short, straightforward, and easy! At least compared to when I was a kid. Maybe it's like the real world, our understanding of distance and time shift as we get older and explore more...

Memorable Track: Pokemon Gym

---

Last Time: #4 - Star Wars Battlefront II (Playstation 2)

Polaroid Stash - 4

"Ogi-sensei helped build my initial impression of Kaisei Gakuin High School before I ever knew there was even a possibility of my teaching there. One of the first things I did upon arrival in Japan was attend a speech contest at the school that Collin was judging. I fell in love with the character and atmosphere of the school immediately -- and a lot of that was thanks to Ogiya-sensei who laughed with us, showed -- and attempted to teach -- us his powerful horse stance, and gave me my first glimmer at the true meaning of 'kakoi.' As I got to know Ogi-sensei better, I saw new facets of his personality and being come to light -- regardless of, or perhaps helped along by, the language barrier. Ogiya-sensei is a strong warrior, dedicated teacher, and compassionate person. I am happy to know him." -- Diana

Last Time: Darsh AKA Dark Schneider

Game Pile - #4 - Star Wars: Battlefront II (Playstation 2)

#4 - Star Wars: Battlefront II (Playstation 2)

I had no experience with any Star Wars games aside from maybe one or two of the old 90s Game Boy platformers until Battlefront II. I had a general interest in the series since I grew up while the prequels were coming out and my dad was a big fan of the original films. One of my favorite childhood memories is when my dad checked me out of school early so we could see the re-release of A New Hope at our movie theater in Middlesboro. Haley, my first college girlfriend, introduced me to this game during our first semester at Wise in 2007 and it took me by storm! At first, we played a ton of the Galactic Conquest mode -- between the strategy elements, space battles, and the fun of playing as shooters and Jedi/Sith heroes, we put a ton of time into playing together. My feelings for the game intensified as soon as I tried out the online mode -- technically my first online experience with a shooter -- which left me hooked. I spent so much of my first year of college playing Battlefront II online! CoD4 had just come out and all of the guys on my hall were playing the crap out of their 360s while I was trucking away on my PS2. Growing up with 28k/56k modem speeds, my dorm's broadband internet was a godsend that opened me up to a whole new world. I still look extremely fondly on those days and I continued playing the online mode off and on over the next few years, even working out how to play on proxy and fan-run servers once GameSpy support finally ended. It was just a perfect storm and I still find myself jonesing for a good game of SWBFII. One of my co-workers, Antonio, and I got to talking about the game a while back and it was really great just getting to talk about good memories. I still haven't played either of the reboot games, which will probably change at some point in the future, but I'll always have a soft spot for this one.

Memorable Track: Yub Nub

---

Yesterday's Game: #3 - Chrono Trigger (Super Nintendo)

Remember Your Original Intention -- Dance Dance Revolution (Part 2)

Back when I was in Japan, one of the English teachers at Shimizugaoka would occasionally teach me kotowaza -- Japanese proverbs. It's funny, the first one I really learned about was 袖振り合うも他生の縁 (sode furiau mo tashou no en) which essentially means "a chance encounter is preordained." The image is of sleeves brushing as two people pass by each other on a street -- this kotowaza argues that even the smallest interaction is the result of karma and connections from previous lives. I found this one in Murakami Haruki's Kafka on the Shore and Hiraga-sensei taught me more and more as the year went on. One of the phrases he taught me that's come up a lot recently is 初心忘るべからず (shoshin wasuru bekarazu) or "remember your original intention."

The soccer manga Whistle! thinks this kotowaza's important, too.

It became even more relevant as, last minute, I decided to bring my old PS1 copy of Dance Dance Revolution Konamix to our DDR session last night. DDR Konamix was my first home mix and my first true introduction to the game. While I got to play an occasional game at the arcade, Konamix was my first chance to really practice. I still remember when I first got the game: we were visiting my dad in Lexington and he took me out to the mall to try to find the game and a dance pad. We eventually came across a bundle with the game and a MadCatz Beat Pad. It certainly wasn't the best pad out there but it was a game changer for me, especially since I was starting out on the easiest difficulty. I immediately went back to his (second-floor) apartment and officially became hooked on the game and it ended up being my primary way to play until we got MAX2 on the PS2 a little while later. 

Understandably, playing Konamix for the first half of our session last night brought back a lot of buried memories. There were so many songs and stepcharts that I had played 15+ years ago but haven't really played since. Each iteration of DDR tends to have different tracklists so certain old, licensed, or unpopular songs get cycled out over time. However, the whole experience was even more memorable simply because Konamix is freaking hard! Seriously, there were songs that both of us could AA on a mix like Extreme but we were scoring consistent C/Ds for the same songs on Konamix! We were a little hesitant about the mix going into it, not because of the songlist or the older Playstation graphics, but because of one thing in particular: the lack of speed mods.

Speed Mods (image courtesy of Rhythmic Footsteps)

If you're not too familiar with rhythm games, the image above is a great visualization of what speed mods do. It doesn't necessarily change the actual steps or BPM of a song, it simply changes the scrolling speed for the arrows. This can be really beneficial if you're playing a song where many of the steps are placed close together because it can help you see the patterns and arrow progression. However, speed mods in DDR have historically been a point of contention as they didn't even exist in the game until DDRMAX came out in October 2001 (in Japanese arcades). That means the first 3 years (and 5 core mixes + expansions) were all played at the equivalent of x1 in the above gif. Once DDRMAX came out, all of the older songs available could be played with a number of speed mods. 

Some players argued that using speed mods was essentially a form of cheating. If you look at the difference between a song like Bag when played at x1 compared to it at x8 it's clear that there's a big difference in seeing and processing the arrows. Since the game was originally built and played for 3+ years without them, couldn't you argue that x1 is the way DDR is supposed to be played? When a song is purposefully designed with slow, dense arrows, is bumping up to x1.5 or x2 missing the point? Considering the topic, I decided to browse through some old DDR forums to see the general opinion from the time period.

Where I play, you won't get any respect if you use speed mods. You could AAA So Deep with 2x, but if someone AAs it on 1x they'll get more props(although, where I play, a AAA is nothing special anymore).
I'm pretty anti-them myself, but I've been playing since the old days of DDR where there was no such thing as speed mods. I think it's kind of cheating because the whole point of DDR is to know the beat of the songs, if you know the beat that the arrows go to then being able to read the arrows is not an issue. Just play the songs more and be better at them. Also, there's no way in hell you'll be able to play an oni course if you can't read 1x.
Using speed mods on Bag makes it substantially easier, I personally feel that the game should have made it impossible to speed that song. I don't care too much about it, but if you start talking to me and saying you can AA the song on 3x, I'll just shake my head at you. -- original_z, ddr.livejournal.com post comment on 12/27/04

One player living in Japan brought up the fact that Konami themselves allowed mods and that the tournament scene there happily welcomed them. The mention of the "bar" is referring to another much-disputed element of the game: the practice of holding the bar while playing, usually to increase balance and footspeed. Sometimes referred to as "bar raping," using the bar (which is built into the DDR arcade platform) was also seen as cheating by some DDR purists.

If they (speed mods) were "cheating", then why were speed mods allowed on *all* the general IR courses (not the oni courses) on the Max2 Internet Rankings? Konami doesn't seem to care, and neither do I. However, I still respect your opinion and will leave you to play however you want to play, and I will play how I want. Perhaps it is the environement in which I live. Speed mods/the bar are always allowed at all of the tournaments; noone cares *at all* if you use speed mods, I have only had 1 guy comment when I used the bar, but that was when he saw me :AAA Love Again Tonight (Heavy), and he kind of lost his care whether or not I used the bar on some songs or not; we sometimes play DDR together in Kamiooka (The Earth; the crappiest arcade in Kanagawa, but DDR is 100 yen...so it's not bad...it's no Muthos, though). -- seishinbyou, DDRFreak.com forum post on 6/14/03

However, as I was Googling around I happened to come across a post that was weirdly relevant to my Konamix experience from yesterday.

Heres a thought, if your good on 3x, then you jump to 1x and you do way horrible than when your on 3x, what would you do? play on 3x forever? or master 1x? for example, if your going to play Oni (challenge) you can only play on 1x and if you choose a course with mods then thats a different story.. but yeah, Oni requires 1x skills, it also makes your 1x skill better. once your good with 1x, then when you go back to 3x, it'll be no problem, you can play 1x 2x or 3x... for me, i challenge myself by playing something i havent mastered, like 1x. playing 3x is to easy, so thats why i switch from 1x and 3x... it makes it fun. -- NSX, PNWBemani.net forum post on 5/14/07

Playing the Konamix songs on x1 wasn't just frustrating because the arrows were moving slower -- it was frustrating because it shone light on one of my biggest DDR weaknesses. During the first few songs, it was clear that our morale was dropping -- especially considering that we were struggling to even finish songs! It makes sense, too, as I think I hadn't played a single song on x1 in the entire 4 months we've been playing (aside from Max 300 or similar songs that are super fast to begin with). Furthermore, I don't think I've actively gone out of my way to play a song on x1 exclusively since I moved from Konamix to the MAX series and beyond! Thinking back to my teenage days in Middlesboro, I faced the same problem. I was getting pretty good at playing DDR at the mall on their MAX2 machine, but as soon as I went across the street to Papa John's and tried to play Lupin the 3rd on their 4th Mix Plus cab, I'd struggle to pass. This weakness has been a fundamental part of my DDR playing from the very beginning and, in that sense, I can understand how speed mods have been sort of a crutch for me. It would be one thing if, like the above post points out, I could pass a song with and without speed mods, but when I can only do it one way...it's a problem -- or at least a sign of what I need to improve!

That said, as we kept playing, I found myself getting more and more motivated. We made it through some sets, unlocked some songs, and ultimately switched out to In the Groove which, by design, sees mods as a more integral part of the experience. Still, going from Konamix at x1 which forced me to flail, sweat, and struggle (mentally and physically) to songs at x2.5 on ITG felt like a good training regimen. I felt like I really exercised something, whether it was my eyes, legs, or whatever, I'm not really sure -- but I felt like I really worked. In order to be truly strong, I think you need to be able to confidently face anything that comes your way and yesterday really showed me how I'd been running away from x1 and thus pre-DDRMAX mixes from the very beginning. I had been so interested in improving and showing off my skills on difficult songs that I missed out on one of the foundational elements of the game. 

Our weapons of choice for yesterday's session.

I doubt that I'll move back to pre-MAX DDR exclusively or anything like that, but I'm going to push myself to play more of the older mixes as we continue our sessions. I've got copies of the original PS1 Dance Dance Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix that I've never really played and one or two of the Japanese PS1 mixes that I've never tried out with a dance pad. I feel like this is a great opportunity to dig those out and give them a shot. Actually, I guess I don't even need to devote myself solely to the old games -- I'll try out x1 speed on the newer mixes, too! What's really important, I think, is getting back to that beginner's mindset. There's always a chance to improve and it's just a matter of finding those moments and opportunities. It's okay to face failure because it just shows that there's room to grow. Even though playing DDR Konamix felt like a kick in the stomach, I think it's pointing me in the right direction.

Regardless, I feel like I have a new goal... and hopefully that'll keep me motivated and working hard to get better and better, just like the old days.

Game Pile - #3 - Chrono Trigger (Super Nintendo)

#3 - Chrono Trigger (Super Nintendo)

This is one of the few valuable games I own that I just can't manage to sell! I think I bought it back when I was working at Disc Replay in Lexington -- it was either $150 or $250. It might have been in the same trade as my copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga and Pokemon Box. Either way, our employee discount made it into a really great deal so I just couldn't stop from picking up a CIB Chrono Trigger. Seriously, I didn't even have a Super Nintendo growing up but I cut my teeth on ROMs and emulation with this game. It was one of the first RPGs past Pokemon that I really put time into and finished. Lots of memories playing this in my grandma's living room on her old Dell desktop... Anyways, I have a certain level of emotional attachment to this game so I doubt I'll let it go unless we just really need the cash or we decide to sell everything and move to Japan lol. I've probably spent more time with Chrono Cross if I consider the length of the games and how much time I spent on them as a kid, but Trigger was so good that I played through the PS1 version without complaining. I remember reading around GameFAQs and seeing people complain about the 3-5 second long load times before battles and I don't think I even noticed it until then -- even though I had played through the SNES version by then! Maybe the game's just that good...

Memorable Track: The Brink of Time

---

Yesterday's Game: #2 - Initial D: Extreme Stage (Playstation 3)

Polaroid Stash - 3

We met Darsh at an English Conversation Night that our neighbor facilitated once a week called Should Be Cool. Most of the members had nicknames that they went by and I'll never forget Darsh explaining that his came from the old anime/manga series Bastard. That already gave him a bunch of cool points in my book but his frequent trips overseas and interest in boxing just gave him more and more. Oh, and his love of drinking! I can't ever forget our occasional Should Be Cool nomikai and how I'd always look at Darsh and just smile because we were both in the zone and having a lot of fun. I still haven't watched or read Bastard. I have one volume of the manga but it's a pretty expensive series and the anime has been in my head ever since I saw previews (literal text previews) on the old Pioneer anime DVDs (I'm thinking it was on my Tenchi in Tokyo or Sailor Moon R: Promise of the Rose discs. Regardless, this Darsh is the one I'll always think of when it gets brought up. We didn't get to see him a lot the in the summer leading up to us leaving, but I really hope our paths cross again. He had mentioned something about either currently operating or wanting to start some type of prison inmate communication/book delivery business...

Last Time: Chiaki's J. Konaka's First Take

Game Pile - #2 - Initial D: Extreme Stage (Playstation 3)

#2 - Initial D: Extreme Stage (Playstation 3)

When the PS3 first came out, I was so interested in the possibilities of a region-free gaming console. I had some import Game Boy games but I never had the opportunity to try out modern, Japanese games as they were coming out -- until I started experimenting with the PS3! I bought the Asian version of a few games (Demon's Souls and Siren: New Translation come to mind) because they had English subs and translations, but I ultimately chose the more expensive Japanese version when it came to Initial D: Extreme Stage. While cheaper, the Asian version of Extreme Stage didn't have an online mode so I figured I'd go for the more complete version. The joke's on me because I never ended up playing the online mode anyways, lol. I played a lot of the arcade game back in my DDR days but never checked out the anime until maybe 2018, so the series occupied a certain part of my mind where I had an interest but most of what I knew about it was still rooted in my imagination. It's a pretty cool place to be. I still occasionally pop this one in and play, but I've never given it the time it really deserves. I think part of that's because I really suck at the game. ^^;;

Memorable Track: Raising Hell

---

Yesterday's Game: #1 - Digimon World (Playstation)

Polaroid Stash - 2

This is one of the first polaroids we took of Chiaki J. Konaka during our last meeting, right before we left Tokyo in August 2017. One of our ALT friends from Hokkaido came down and we all had a nice dinner together, spending lots of time talking about anime and cats. We bought him a copy of Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Laserdisc as a gift. The picture's pretty dark but he was wearing a Miles Davis shirt. I can't wait until the final picture we took pops up, the one we got him to sign. He looks so cute! The fact that we had run out of normal film and only had the cute film a friend had given us was pretty entertaining. We met up with him in front of Kinokuniya Books in Shinjuku and we walked back from the restaurant together. It's one of my coolest memories from Japan. It had been a really long, but fulfilling year. I couldn't believe that it had been an entire year since I had first arrived in Japan, walking around sort of drunk with my D-Ark in Shinjuku. It was like living out a fantasy, honestly. On the other hand, I was really thankful to get to end that year with cool experiences like this. We tried to fit a lot into our last few days in Tokyo and I think it was all worth it. 

Last Time: Yuto at Live Cafe Soliste

Game Pile - #1 - Digimon World (Playstation)

#1 - Digimon World (Playstation)

This copy is one from my childhood. I had gotten to rent it from the local Food City a few times before I convinced my grandpa to buy me my own copy at Walmart one morning. It's definitely a rugged copy. I've put a lot of time into this game but still haven't beaten it! I've progressed maybe 75% of the way through but didn't even get a legitimately trained Ultimate in the game until I tried emulating it while we were in Japan -- that was the first and only time I managed to raise a MetalGreymon. I have some vivid memories playing through Mechanical Town and a few other areas on an old black and white TV at my grandma's house in Wisconsin. I think this is really innovative and the city building mechanic is a really cool way to build a game. I felt so much magic getting to play this as a kid. The translation is really charming in a early-00s kind of way. ^^

Memorable Track: File City (Night)

Made In Japan - Sailor Moon: Another Story

I started this blog way, way back when I was still an undergrad student. I wrote a few posts, drafted one or two more, but drifted away pretty quickly. I regularly kept up a LiveJournal while I was in high school, but I just couldn't seem to get into a habit of writing (outside of social media like Facebook) while I was in college. In recent years, I've been interested in writing more, so I've dug around to see what I had left behind during my original attempt at starting this blog. Last night (6/17/19), I came across a practically finished draft from 2010: a write-up of Sailor Moon: Another Story for the SNES. After reading over what I had, I thought it might be cool to rework the post a little bit -- tidying it up while interweaving some of my personal memories about both the game and the Sailor Moon franchise as a whole. Today, as I Googled to find more information about the translation change that came along with Kodansha's re-release of the Sailor Moon manga (translating senshi as Guardian compared to the older translation of Soldier), I came across a weirdly relevant piece of news. Almost two weeks ago, a new, updated fan translation of Sailor Moon: Another Story was released. This new patch relocalizes the entire script, corrects translation errors, and fixes game breaking bugs -- it takes the original fan localization provided by Bishoujo Senshi Translations back in 1999 and resituates it for a new era. 運命です。

I obviously haven't tried out the new localization patch, but news of the release makes me more motivated than ever to finally push this blog post out into the world. Sailor Moon: Another Story was a very foundational RPG experience for me and playing through it is one of my cherished childhood memories. As I get older, I realize that the only reason I ever got to play it in English is because of the hard work, dedication, and passion of those Sailor Moon fans who wanted to open the game up to a wider, non-Japanese speaking audience. In a time where work and time are increasingly commodified, their labor of love means so much to me. Growing up with access to the Internet at such an early age is a true blessing in my eyes. With many niche or subcultural interests in the pre-Internet age, you had to be lucky enough to have someone get you in the door, to introduce you to something beyond the mainstream. With that in mind, I'd like to dedicate this post to all of those people who have tried to hold the door open for others over the years (and still do).

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon: Another Story, or Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon: Another Story for us Westerners, is a Japanese turn-based RPG for the Super Famicom console (the Japanese equivalent of the Super Nintendo), released way back in 1995 by a small, now-defunct (?) developer called Angel. Of course, considering that the game never saw a release in the States, it isn't hard to see why the game has remained relatively unknown by most SNES enthusiasts in the West. America occasionally got stuff like Golgo 13: Top Secret Mission or M.U.S.C.L.E. (a localization of Kinnikuman) on the NES or Ultraman and the Ranma 1/2 fighter for the Super Nintendo, but many anime-based games from the 90s never made it across the Pacific. This is especially true when one considers the multitude of text-heavy JRPGs that were released on the Super Famicom, including the Tenchi Muyo! RPG, the Slayers RPG, and the Magic Knight Rayearth RPG.

However, many of these games eventually found an audience online in the form of fan translated ROMs. Kotaku ran a great article a few years back about the legacy and impact of RPGe's release of Final Fantasy V, which ended up being one of the most influential fan translations of its time -- it also paved the way for a multitude of Japan-only titles to be experienced by English-speaking audiences for the first time. Suddenly, it wasn't up to game companies or market trends to determine who got to play a game, but fans and enthusiasts had a chance to take the work into their own hands. Many of them met on IRC channels and collaborated to create fan translations and patches that you can still find all over the Internet today. In an interview with Esoteric Gaming, Lina`Chan (who worked on the translation for Another Story along with many other SNES games) explained the motivation for her work:

In a way, Lina’s motivation also came from her sense of responsibility belonging to the gaming community. Lina said that although she could have simply learned Japanese and played the games in their original form, that would have been incredibly selfish. She mentioned that she knew she wanted to play these games and that she knew that there were people who, like herself, wanted to play these games. However, she also knew that many of those individuals did not have the capacity to learn a foreign language from scratch as easily as she could, let alone master the ability of ROM hacking. She thus decided to translate games not just for herself, but for the gaming community as a whole.

With all that said, are these games any good? You could argue that many of the games left behind in Japan weren't translated because they just weren't good games. I hesitated while writing that last sentence because I've gotten to the point where I try to find something valuable in anything, but most anime games do operate under a certain assumption: that the player has seen the anime the game's based on! There are many games, such as Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask and Digimon World: Data Squad (both for the PS2), that I've legitimately enjoyed (and put many, many hours into) but, if I'm honest, it's more about my appreciation of the anime's characters and story rather than the game itself.

Many anime games act as companion pieces and, as such, they can be hard to appreciate without the context of the source material. This rings especially true when one considers the magnificent RPGs found within the SNES library. Compared to gems from Squaresoft and Enix which defined the Japanese RPG for a generation of console gamers, some anime-based RPGs were lacking. Sure, the Tenchi Muyo! RPG was fun, but I probably wouldn't recommend it over Final Fantasy VI, Dragon Quest V, or Secret of Mana unless I knew they were a fan of the series.

However, Sailor Moon: Another Story, is a little different. While I can't in good faith say that the game reaches the same heights of games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, or Super Mario RPG, I think it's pretty good. Much like other anime games, if you come into the game with previous knowledge of Sailor Moon, you'll find a lot to like. You've got numerous references to the show, as villains and friends from the first three series are all present from Queen Beryl to Black Lady and Dr. Tomoe. All ten of the Sailor Senshi are playable in the game, even Sailor Saturn (who made a very limited appearance in the anime). Characters from the movies appear, such as Kaguya and Fiore, making it clear that Angel wanted to cater to the fans of the series. Another Story is a pretty faithful addition to the Sailor Moon universe and it's filled with a lot of little details that fans will appreciate. You pretty much get to play through all the big moments from the series! There's even minor voice acting for the Sailor Senshi's attacks! In a 16-bit JRPG! 

The completed puzzle on my SNES repro cart's save file. ^_^

Anyways, I'm really thankful that I grew up in the timeline where so many badass fans and "normal people" came together to make experiences like Sailor Moon: Another Story possible for me. We're in a time where access is easier and more streamlined than ever before and I think we often take that accessibility for granted -- especially compared to the old days. So I want to utilize it as best I can! I just finished a playthrough of Pokemon Green -- in Japanese! We watched the first episode of Evangelion with the new English dub and we liked it! I might have just started Boku no Natsuyasumi and Rockman Dash, the original version of Mega Man Legends (but we'll see if those actually go anywhere). It's cool living in a time where I can choose to check out the original or a localization -- or both! I don't know if I'll ever actually go back and play through Another Story again with the new patch, especially since my repro cart (purchased back in 2010) has the '99 localization, but I love knowing I can. Maybe one day I'll be able to play it Japanese -- I think that's what I'd really like. That way, I think I'd really be able to appreciate the work put into fan translations. I'll keep working to get there...

Polaroid Stash - 1

This picture of Yuto is from one of my last nights in Muroran. Diana stayed home or did something else while I went to watch Yuto's band play at Live Cafe Soliste. That's actually where I had first met Yuto, way back in August right after I first arrived in town. Thomas and Shanti had magically run across this band rehearsing for a show a few days before, so we all went to Live Cafe Soliste to check them out -- it was my first time going out and doing something social on the weekend and it was pertty fun! As soon as Matt and I walk in, we find ourselves talking with people and introducing ourselves. That's when I met Yuto. We connected because he had just graduated from Shimizugaoka. Finally, nearly a year later, I got to watch his band perform and they were awesome. It was a legit screamo/post-hardcore show. I crowdsurfed! He was having so much fun and it was cool to think about our connection with Soliste. I think I was pretty drunk that night. ^^;

A Theory of Improvement -- Dance Dance Revolution (Part 1)

Looking back on the nearly three decades I've spent on this planet, I'm happy that I've carried Dance Dance Revolution close to my heart for over half that time. The game's importance in my life has surged and receded over the years, but I've come to find that it's a foundational part of my personal narrative --  the next chance for its re-emergence always seemingly around the corner.

I still remember the first time I got to play the game -- it was February 23, 2002 at an arcade in Sevierville, TN. I played around on a Pump It Up machine at a Gattitown during a school trip to the area before but, being the Japanophile I was, I craved getting to play an actual game of four-panel, Japanese DDR. I had seen it on the Internet, on Tech TV's Extended Play, and then finally, on that fateful night, in person: (ironically) a Korean 3rd Mix, if I remember correctly. ...but it was DDR! I played either bumble bee or Butterfly and failed horribly. That night was only possible because my mother, sister, and I drove down and stayed at a hotel for an impromptu one-night vacation -- now that I think about it, there were some other notable firsts on that trip: I bought my first Sega Genesis and I got to watch the premiere of Adult Swim Action, experiencing the full, Japanese gloriousness of Outlaw Star's OP, "Through the Night," on American cable TV for the first time (we didn't get Cartoon Network locally -- I'd often have my dad or grandmother tape Toonami or Cowboy Bebop for me -- so it was a big deal).

When I was a teenager, Japanese stuff was still pretty niche (especially in Southwest Virginia). Seeing DDR on King of the Hill felt like a glorious affirmation of my interests.

Dance Dance Revolution has always been a sort of catalyst for me. It seemed to consolidate many of my interests and desires into a single vehicle that influenced my progress and experience in different areas of my life: social interaction (both online and irl), Japan, athleticism, music, philosophy, and, of course, dancing.

I'm really thankful that my family was, for the most part, really supportive with my hobbies. My dad lived in the city so every time we'd go visit, he'd go out of his way to take me to arcades so I could play some DDR. My sister and I spent many, many afternoons and evenings playing DDR at The Stadium, a bowling alley/laser tag/arcade/etc hybrid in Lexington. Since I only got to play when we were traveling, he helped me get a copy of DDR Konamix and a dance pad for the PS1 so I could play at home -- which I did, all the time. Bless my grandparents for their patience and love for us -- we'd be stomping and jumping so hard in the back living room that the entire house would shake!

An excerpt from my very first LJ post. A wallscroll purchased on that trip is currently hanging in my game room.

Around the beginning of 2004, my local Namco-operated arcade in Middlesboro's mall, Aladdin's Castle, got their first DDR machine: DDRMAX2. The same day my sister and I discovered the mall machine, we found out that the Papa John's across the street had a 4th Mix Plus cab. My 13-year-old self was stoked. We went back and played every chance we could -- or rather, my grandparents were awesome enough to drive us over to Middlesboro, wait around for us to play, and then drive us, tired and drenched in sweat, back home. Most of my free time not playing was spent reading through DDR Freak's forums, the local community BBS (KYDDR and TNDDR), or listening to DDR and other anime music at home. Over time, Aladdin's Castle closed and the mall turned the old space into their own game room, choosing to keep a DDR machine. That machine was eventually upgraded to a DDR Supernova cab and was finally removed in 2017, shortly after Diana and I got back from Japan. There were a lot of memories made in old arcade.

Even though I've played a lot over the years, I've often found myself struggling with progression and improvement. My teenage years were defined by one wall in particular: Max 300. This boss song, one marked by a new difficulty level of 10, represented the shift from (then) old DDR and new DDR and required a certain amount of stamina that I just didn't possess at the time. I was able to pass a number of other technically difficult or stamina draining songs, but Max 300 felt like an obstacle I just couldn't overcome. I eventually stopped playing the game as much and got more interested in running (and girls) instead. I'd still play occasionally, especially to show off when me and a group of friends would come across a machine in the wild, but I pretty much limped away with my tail between my legs, defeated...

View this post on Instagram

Speaking of masterpieces of Japanese art... #ddrextreme #konami

A post shared by Collin Skeen (@zeskeenmachine) on Sep 26, 2015 at 3:05pm PDT

...until 2015, anyways. I had just finished grad school, endured a very brutal (and ultimately life-affirming) quarter-life crisis, and happened to visit an arcade outside of Cincinnati -- Diana and I had been in the area to visit a Japanese art exhibit. This arcade had two DDR cabs, one in the X series and then one I knew like an old friend, DDR Extreme. I spent a lot of time playing that day and found that I could still pass most of my old favorites even after 9+ years of not playing on a regular basis. I still couldn't pass Max 300 (I tried) but I felt like I was in the zone. I drove back up to the arcade a few days later and spent the afternoon playing. After that, I went to Home Depot, bought some lumber, and followed an old Angelfire-hosted tutorial that helped me build my own modded soft pad (exactly what I needed to play harder songs at home on my PS2). My next visit to Cincinnati a few days later included meeting up with a guy I found on Craigslist to buy his Precision Dance Pad (a fan made hard pad) for $250. I was obsessed. DDR, once again, was all I talked about, all I read about, and all I thought about. I officially had caught the bug again and this time, I found results. Finally, at the age of 26, my 13-year-old self was vindicated as I passed Max 300 with a B.

View this post on Instagram

I've been trying to beat this since I was 13 #ddrextreme #max300 #dancedancerevolution

A post shared by Collin Skeen (@zeskeenmachine) on Oct 15, 2015 at 5:04pm PDT

In the following weeks, I managed to pass Max 300 over and over, eventually getting to the point where I could comfortably clear it 4-5 times in a row. A major obstacle had been overcome. But guess what happened next? I lost interest in the game. I went from playing for at least an hour or two a day to playing maybe once a week. By the end of the year, my pads were gathering dust while I found myself facing my next gaming obsession, Final Fantasy XI (and that's a whole different story). What happened? At the time, I saw it was another ebb and flow of my interests and hobbies -- for practically my entire life, I'd move from gaming to music to running to reading back to gaming and so on and so forth, a slave to some intrinsic desire or attachment that I couldn't quite control -- but now I think it's because I had gotten to what I had always thought of as the end of the road. I had spent most of my adolescent life wishing and wanting to beat Max 300, but was that really my ultimate goal? What did beating Max 300 really mean? I wasn't really sure so I moved on.

The fateful post.

Earlier this year, I started playing again. Lee, the former manager of Middlesboro's G2K store, threw out this post on FB seeing if there was any interest in getting together for some DDR sessions. I knew Lee was really into rhythm games (the Norton G2K had a Pump It Up machine when I first started school at Wise) so I figured I'd give it a shot. We've been playing pretty consistently, twice a week, since then and I think it's my healthiest and most fulfilling experience with DDR yet. I'm scoring well and passing Max 300 and other difficult songs pretty consistently, but I'm finding a lot of success in trying new things: new songs, new mixes, and even new games like the DDR spiritual successor, In the Groove. I've even been tempted to start playing Pump It Up if we could find some pads or a machine (this is a major shift that my 13-year-old self would never anticipate).

Beyond the fact that we get to play on his Cobalt Flux pads (essentially the holy grail of home pads -- the closest retail option you had next to playing on an actual arcade machine), I think my playing mindset itself has evolved greatly in the time since my stint in 2015. In my opinion, most of that growth came from the experience I had with Dance Dance Revolution during my year in Muroran in Japan -- an experience that changed how I saw the game and, by extension, how I saw my life. More about that next time...