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Closed Orchid's Mysterious Garden

The Front Door
Joined
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Messages
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Pronouns
  1. He/Him
edit: This blog is officially closed and now serves as an archive (Feb 2022 - Dec 2023).
For my current blog, visit here: Oki's Laboratory

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Waii~! Man, all these people making blogs kinda makes me want to as well.....better make a name first...

But that's awesome! I am glad that you're doing this! Learning more about my friends is always fun!
You should go for it! I'll be honest, I had the idea for this in my head for months, but seeing everyone else start up a personal blog of their own recently was what finally convinced me to just do it. Chain reaction I guess :wynaut:

But hey thanks! Hopefully it'll be at least somewhat interesting c:
Now to actually start posting...
 
2/4/2022 - The Beginning (of February)
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I've been up to a lot lately, so for my first post on this new blog I'm going to break it down into a handy bulleted list...
  • I might start up a new Platinum playthrough soon and document it here. I'm still waiting on BDSP to update their dang online stuff, so that might be a good way to pass the time, eh?
    • Speaking of, Legends Arceus came out last week and I'm still figuring out whether I want to play it or not. On the one hand, I've heard nothing but how amazing it is - but on the other hand, action-based games are just so not for me. Call me old-fashioned but I like the core formula the way it is!!
    • I also need to finish playing my Blue "glitch run" on 3DS VC but meh, that can wait.

  • Right now, I'm mostly working on my fangame/hack/personal project/whatever. I'm the only one who's ever gonna see it, mind you, but hex editing and scripting is ridiculously fun to me on its own so that doesn't matter too much.
    • The other thing I've been working on is tirelessly caring for my Tamagotchi (one of the vintage P1 replicas to be exact). I had a V3 Connection when I was a kid so tending to these little pixel creatures is second nature to me.
      My first one on this model was Ginjirotchi, who lived to be 14yrs (entirely my fault since I kept giving him snacks lol), and my second one was Maskutchi, who evolved into Bill and lived to be 34yrs. I haven't hatched a new one yet just because I want to go for Mametchi, and I'm so drained from how long that last one lived, I want a brief moment of peace without loud beeping. :confused:

  • My birthday was last month, back on January 14th (I'm 19 now, ouch). My gift to myself that day was... the Pokemon Journeys/PM2019 manga by Machito Gomi, since I've really wanted to read it ever since it started.
    When I have the time, I'm going to transcribe Volume 4 into text and then slowly work my way through translating it... When it comes to the Japanese language I'm more used to listening/speaking than I am to reading/writing, so this would be good practice I think.

  • My first Bulbaversary is coming up! Technically.
    I made my account in June 2019, but when I actually started to use the site was on February 25, 2021, right after BDSP and Legends got announced. Feels weird that I've been active here almost a whole year already, but that's life.
That was a bit more than I expected it to write. Future posts will certainly be shorter... I hope. =p
 
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2/5/2022
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I hatched a new Tama yesterday evening, whom I've dubbed "Junior" (I'm very creative with names). He's doing fine so far - he's currently at the Marutchi stage, with 50% discipline and no care mistakes yet. His age should be 2yrs, but it's 3yrs right now since I woke him up trying to set the clock last night. Hopefully that won't mess too much with the evolution times like it did for my Maskutchi :bulbaFacepalm:

I think once I'm done working on stuff for the day, I'll finally start planning out that Platinum run. I want to use Pokemon that I haven't used much in other Sinnoh playthroughs, so my team might look something like this:
  • Infernape
  • Staraptor
  • Mr. Mime
  • Tangrowth
  • Quagsire
  • Porygon-Z
This could all still change of course. I have a pretty good idea of what I want their movesets to be like, but Sinnoh can be weirdly unpredictable for me at times so I might rotate somebody out eventually. (I foresee myself tossing a Jolteon somewhere in there, even though I just used one in HGSS. >_>)
 
  • Speaking of, Legends Arceus came out last week and I'm still figuring out whether I want to play it or not. On the one hand, I've heard nothing but how amazing it is - but on the other hand, action-based games are just so not for me. Call me old-fashioned but I like the core formula the way it is!!

Legends isn't actually as action oriented as it sounds, after you learn which Pokemon are the most dangerous ones you can avoid them easily, and the Nobles have many anti frustration features to help you. I've read a lot of reviews and most of them (including myself) agree that the classical main series formula wasn't as great as we thought it was.
 
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Legends isn't actually as action oriented as it sounds, after you learn which Pokemon are the most dangerous ones you can avoid them easily, and the Nobles have many anti frustration features to help you. I've read a lot of reviews and most of them (including myself) agree that the classical main series formula wasn't as great as we thought it was.
Good to know! Yeah, I've heard as much — particularly that the window you have to dodge attacks isn't as strict as it seems, which is nice.
I'm a little bit of a stickler for the plain old core series gameplay, but I've been reading reviews and watching some videos this past week, and they all seem to agree that the changes made are really really good. I might just finally give in and play it when I have the time. :Р
 
2/7/2022
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Today I begin my new Platinum run. I woke up not too long ago and I have some other stuff to do, but I'm excited to plan out some ideal natures and movesets so I can get started later tonight. Platinum is getting to be one of those games I know like the back of my hand...

While I'm doing that, I think I'm going to SR for some shiny fossil Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond on the side. I have really, really terrible luck when it comes to shinies, so if nothing ever comes from it, that's okay. I've just had a huge pile of assorted fossils sitting in my bag, and I figured I should at least do something with them.

In other news... I think my poor Tamagotchi accrued a care mistake or two yesterday. At about 8:50 I looked down, saw it had gone to sleep, checked its needs and its happiness was empty. Turns out the sound had been off this whole time. :cry: I hope it only called for me once — that way I'd technically still be in the clear — but I honestly have no way of knowing. I'll try my best to stay on track to Mametchi, and if I end up with Ginjirotchi again at least I'll know where I went wrong. Moral of the story here is... I need to stop accidentally forgetting to unmute it after playing Left or Right. Bad things have happened one too many dang times.

Also — I looked out my window last night before going to bed, and saw that it was snowing outside. It's been snowing pretty often lately (as is the usual for this time of year up here), but there was almost no wind at all, so it looked really nice lit up by the streetlights. I wish I could have gone out and stood in it, but it was the middle of the night so I obviously couldn't. I don't know, it just made me happy so I want to remember that I guess.
 
2/8/2022 - Pre-Direct Jitters
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I lied and did NOT end up starting Platinum yesterday. :bulbaFacepalm: I just completely blanked on it. But... tonight for sure... for real. I mean it. Maybe.



There's a Nintendo Direct tomorrow! The first one since September - that wasn't exactly too long ago, but does it ever feel like it. It's going to be about 40 minutes long, as per usual, and will start at 5:00PM in my time zone.

So, in general, I try not to believe in baseless video game rumors on the internet. I think about 90% of the time, they end up being baloney (looking at you, NSO Game Boy VC)unless there's actually something real to back them up. Like a patent, a registered trademark, or a website name or something.
...That said, I don't think we have any concrete proof for Mario Kart 9 A.K.A. "Crossroads" being a thing... but my god do I ever want it to be real LOL. I've heard nothing but people talking about it lately and I'm starting to get a little too hopeful.

Mario Kart is one of my all-time favorite series, and I've been a competitive player of it for a while. So... being stuck on MK8 for almost a decade now is officially starting to drive me up the wall (pun intended).
Don't get me wrong, I do really like 8 Deluxe, but... man, this game is old. I want to see new tracks, and hear new music, and use new karts, and play as new racers. MK8 on Wii U released when I was 11, and I'm literally an adult now still playing the same dang game. That ain't right. We need a new Mario Kart this Direct. ;_;

Here are my final vague predictions/wishes, ranked by probability, so I can come back tomorrow at 5:40PM to laugh at my naivety:
  • Totally: News on Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and Splatoon 3.
  • Seems Likely: News on Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Advance Wars 1+2, and something regarding the NSO services. One last thing about Triangle Strategy since that's coming out next month.
  • It's Possible: News on Bayonetta 3 or Breath of the Wild 2. Mario Kart announcement. Something about a BDSP and HOME update.
  • Ha Yeah Right: Actual news on Metroid Prime 4. Tomodachi Life Switch announcement. I'm legally obligated to say Mother 3 just in case.
  • Please, Just, Don't: 1, 2 Switch sequel announcement.
I'm holding off on saying anything too big that's Pokémon-related, because it's February and Pokémon Day is just on the horizon. They usually like to keep those things for their Pokémon Presents streams.

In true Nintendo fashion, I also predict a random announcement for something none of us ever saw coming. Whether that's a good or a bad thing, only time will tell.
 
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2/9/2022 - Nintendo Does What Nintendon't
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That was definitely a Nintendo Direct.

Here is a review of my predictions:
Totally: News on Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and Splatoon 3.
Nailed it. Kirby looks terrific as always, and Splatoon 3 certainly looks like... a Splatoon. I haven't really been into Splatoon since the first game, so all it gets from me nowadays is a shrug and a thumbs up.

Seems Likely: News on Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Advance Wars 1+2, and something regarding the NSO services. One last thing about Triangle Strategy since that's coming out next month.
No to Rabbids, yes to everything else.
NSO added EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings to their SNES/NES services, showing up right after the Direct which is nice I suppose. I'll play those again for sure. ...Hm? Huh? No, there's no third game in this series. There is no third Mother game, and there never was. What are you talking about? Are you feeling okay?

It's Possible: News on Bayonetta 3 or Breath of the Wild 2. Mario Kart announcement. Something about a BDSP and HOME update.
1. No Bayo, no Zelda, not too surprising on either front.
2. Accidentally caused the monkey's paw to curl.
3. No and also no. Maybe on Pokemon Day though.

Ha Yeah Right: Actual news on Metroid Prime 4. Tomodachi Life Switch announcement. I'm legally obligated to say Mother 3 just in case.
Yup.

Please, Just, Don't: 1, 2 Switch sequel announcement.
Phew.

In total, out of the top three categories, I got 6 out of 9 right. Hey, two thirds ain't bad!

If you're not interested in Mario Kart and/or hearing me complain about it, don't bother clicking this one:
Okay.

So... what actually happened was that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is going to be getting paid DLC, entitled the Booster Course Pass. 48 courses in total will be released over 6 waves, all of which will be added by the end of 2023.

There will be no new characters added - fine, the roster was big enough anyway. No new kart parts either, that's more than okay. If it's just courses, it's just courses. Sure. 48 is a ton! I can't be mad about that.
But... upon checking the website, it seems to be... entirely retro courses?

Wave 1 of the DLC will include the Golden Dash Cup, featuring Paris Promenade (Tour), Toad Circuit (3DS), Choco Mountain (N64), and Coconut Mall (Wii).
...and the Lucky Cat Cup, featuring Tokyo Blur (Tour), Shroom Ridge (3DS), Sky Garden (GBA), and Ninja Hideaway (Tour).
...None of these are original tracks so far. All eight of them are from other games. (And why are nearly HALF of them from freakin' TOUR?!?!)

As a reminder, the original Mario Kart 8 on Wii U included 16 new courses across both of its paid DLC passes. Of them, only 7 of them were retro courses - less than half in total. The rest were completely new tracks.
And yes, it's completely possible that there will be original courses in the Booster Courses Pass in the future, and Wave 1 just happens to not include any of them. 24 of them could be retro tracks, and 24 of them could be original. That seems completely likely, and if that's the case, I wouldn't be surprised.
But at the same time, my gut instinct tells me... if they did have shiny new original courses to show off, wouldn't they do it immediately? It wasn't mentioned in the trailer, nor anywhere on the site. Why keep something like that a secret, when you're trying to encourage preorders?? (...Are they considering the Tour courses as the "new" ones?!)

I mean, yeah. It's great, at the very least, that they're doubling the amount of tracks here. It's not the end of the world or anything, hell, it's a lot more than I would have expected from DLC.
But I just can't even really be glad about it. Because, to me at least, the whole vibe of this announcement kinda feels like one of those "alright, alright, just take this and leave us alone already!" moves that Nintendo loves to pull. Like, remember all those Mii costumes of insanely-requested characters, like Geno and Isaac, back in the Smash days? You know what I'm talking about. People ask for something too much, so they give us this and tell us to scram. It's definitely happened before.

In conclusion, it's fine, I guess. It's good that it exists, and all. It just irks me that they're doing this now, five years into Deluxe's release, rather than back in, I don't know... 2018?
Because now, we won't get a true MK9 until, at the very earliest, 2024. TEN YEARS AFTER MARIO KART 8 INITIALLY RELEASED. :bulbaFacepalm:

And some other stuff that happened:
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
I don't partake in any Fire Emblem other than Awakening, and Warriors games kinda make me snooze, so I'm going to give this a strong "okay". I'm sure people who liked Three Houses will have a good time with it, but couldn't be me.

Mario Strikers: Battle League
It looks fun. I never played any of the Strikers games (more of a Mario Party guy, myself) but I'm glad that they're back to making new Mario sports titles other than just Tennis. It does look kind of... crispy graphically though? Like, it just kind of gave me Wii U vibes in certain spots. I'll just sweep that under the "pre-release footage" rug, it's okay.

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
That's just... shocking. I dunno, I have no more to say. I feel like I just saw a ghost or something.

Nintendo Switch Sports
Dammit, I want to be happy about this, I really really do. I love Wii Sports to death, but for some reason I just feel nothing about this game. It just doesn't even remind me of Wii Sports. ALSO NO FREAKIN' BASEBALL SO WHAT'S THE POINT.

Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival
Yay! I only just got Drum 'n Fun last year so I'll hold off on getting this one for now, but I'm glad it's here.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3
I still don't know what the heck a Xenoblade is, but man, wasn't this series super neglected for a while there? That's what I heard, anyway. It feels like they just keep making these games now.

And that's about it.

I'd say it was overall a good Direct. There was some other stuff I didn't cover, but all in all it was pretty solid, especially for the first one of the year. Obviously I thought it was terrible immediately after watching it (lol) but after thinking about it, it was much better than the last one back in September. Still, not like... great, though. Just... good.

I give it a 7/10 for the Taiko trailer playing Megalovania.
 
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I got 6 out of 9 right.
nice

Didn't watch it live, so all of my info is coming from secondhand sources. I'll probably get the Mario Kart DLC if for nothing else than Coconut Mall (I love malls and mall aesthetics), but shoot I did not know Mario Kart 8 came out so long ago.

Also Carby.

Glad you got a lot of your predictions right!
 
2/9/2022 - Alas, Poor Junior! I Knew Him!
So...

My dear sweet Tamagotchi, Junior, passed away unexpectedly last night at approximately 7:40 PM. I left my room to go get an orange, and from across the house, I heard him give his final beeps. :cry:

Something freakin' weird must have happened with this poor little guy and I'm still trying to piece together what it could have been.

For one thing, Junior died at only 6 years old. That's basically the earliest that a Tamagotchi can die, and it usually comes from neglect, like feeding too many snacks or not tending to a sickness. Secondly: Junior also died in the Marutchi/Child stage.

For those unfamiliar, Tamagotchi go through a few stages of evolution over the course of their life (this particular device goes through the stages Baby, Child, Teen, then finally Adult). Tamagotchi are born in the Baby stage, and on this iteration, they evolve into a Child about one hour after hatching. They evolve into a Teen at about 3 years old (2 real-time days) and into an Adult by 6 years old (5 real-time days). Junior stayed in the Child stage up until he died. He didn't evolve once after his first day of life, when by all means he should have been an Adult, or at the very least a Teen.

Tamagotchi also don't generally die before the Adult stage at all unless you take utterly miserable care of them. And I didn't! I kept him constantly happy and fed, to the point he didn't even need to call my attention once. He got sick a few times, I think - but I always cured him as soon as possible. He even died with both of his meters completely full!

The only two things I did to this guy that I think could have caused any of these things to happen were...

1. When it was in the Bebitchi stage, I fed it snacks to fill its happiness. Snacks, in this release, permanently decrease a Tamagotchi's lifespan when eaten. But I've never heard anyone say that you can't feed Bebitchi snacks. I was 100% sure that it's only when they reach the Marutchi stage that your choices actually begin to matter. I fed snacks to my last Tama when it was a baby, and it lived to be 34, which is nearly ten whole years more than its typical maximum age.

2. I used the pause trick whenever I went to bed. If you go into the clock menu and hit the SET buttons, it's essentially completely paused until you exit - ingame time does not pass, and happiness/hunger does not deplete. But again... this is usually completely okay, from what I've heard. I paused it at night, so I wouldn't make any care mistakes before I woke up. Maybe I just didn't have it unpaused for enough hours during the day, so it was still aging up from sleeping, but didn't have the necessary time to evolve? Maybe that's what killed it??

I really can't figure it out, not for the life of me. Maybe it was an odd bug, or a whole lot of bad luck in a row. Maybe he just didn't like the name Junior.

Well, anyhow, I hatched a new one. His name is Howie. He seems nice. I pressed the hard reset button on the back of the case, so hopefully that will clear out any glitches and he'll live a normal life.
(Oh, and I started Platinum. I'm gonna soft reset for a good nature on my Chimchar though, so more on that soon.)
 
I kinda wanna get a Tamagotchi now...maybe I'll find a Switch or Vita or 3DS version. I think there was a Gameboy one too?

Sounds fun. And scary. Like having a pet.
I don't think there's currently any way to emulate a Tamagotchi? If there is, it's probably a massive pain to set up because of the unique hardware they're all on and whatnot.
I think that the actual LCD devices would likely be the most ~authentic~ experience anyway. Something about that little egg on a keychain just makes it feel like there's a real living thing in there lol.

The GB one I've heard is alright! I've personally yet to try it, and supposedly it can be confusing without a guide - but it seems pretty similar to the vintage devices, just with more stuff and no real-time clock. It'd probably be a nice way to try things out, if you don't want all the randomness and responsibility of tending to it every few hours. (There's even speedruns of it, which I just think is funny.)
There were some DS games as well IIRC but those are completely different.

It's a lot like a pet. It's loud, it's unpredictable, it bothers you for no reason - but you worry about it when it's quiet, and you'd hate to ever see it unhappy.
 
Wait Tamagotchi can die??????
They sure can!
On the newer releases, they'll stay alive for as long as you take care of them. But on the older ones, which is what I'm currently running, it's unfortunately inevitable that they'll eventually die.

on another note: I just discovered that the Tama mascot Mametchi was a playable character in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, which seems oddly fitting given the topics here today. What are the odds of that? :confused:
 
2/10/2022 - These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things
Right now, I'm doing a lot of waiting. I'm waiting for my Tama to make its last discipline call, and for RNG to be kind enough to give me my Adamant/Jolly Chimchar. So I figured I may as well do something else in the meantime...

Here you can find some of the media-related things that I enjoy, or at least as many as I can think of at the time of writing. If I think of any more, I'll add them later.

This is half for my fellow forum users, so they can get to know yours truly a little better - and half for myself as a reference, so I can actually remember this stuff when I'm asked.

My favorite Pokémon stuff:
Favorite Pokémon:
Eevee, Porygon/2/-Z, Wooper, Lileep, Cradily, Pikachu, Jolteon, Espeon, Umbreon, Shellos, Gastrodon, Electivire, Baltoy, Claydol, Blastoise, Torterra, Simipour, Skitty, Delcatty, Shieldon, Bastiodon, Spiritomb, Gliscor, Metagross, Tangela, Tangrowth, Muk, Ferrothorn, and more...

Favorite starter lines:
I: Squirtle
II: Cyndaquil
III: Torchic or Mudkip
IV: Turtwig or Piplup
V: Snivy
VI: Froakie (but not Greninja >_>)
VII: Litten
VIII: Scorbunny

Favorite legendaries: Regirock/Regice/Registeel ( :bulbaLove: ), Regigigas, Dialga, Deoxys, Genesect, Mewtwo, Raikou
Favorite Mythicals: Mew, Jirachi, Victini

---

Core series games: Platinum, Emerald, LeafGreen, White, Sun, Yellow
Spinoff games: Puzzle League, Snap, Colosseum/XD, Channel, Stadium 2, Battle Revolution, Ranger
Gens: III and IV
Game characters: Leaf, Blue, Red, Barry, Silver, Gladion, Hau, Lillie, and Sabrina

Types: Steel, Ground, Psychic, Electric
Abilities: Magic Bounce, Storm Drain, Moxie, Contrary, Liquid Ooze, Levitate, Magic Guard, Speed Boost, Effect Spore
Moves: Infestation, Confuse Ray, Stealth Rock, Trick, Earthquake, Night Slash, Fake Out, Nuzzle, Metronome, Torment, Tri Attack, Skull Bash, Amnesia, Spore, Fling, Roar
Held items: Quick Claw, Leftovers/Black Sludge, Rocky Helmet, Red Card, Eviolite, Razor Fang, Light Ball, type-enhancing items, Amulet Coin, Lucky Egg

Stats: Defense, Special Defense, and Special Attack
Beneficial Natures: Modest (+SpA -Atk) or Relaxed (+Def -Spe)
Neutral Natures: Serious or Quirky
Characteristics: "Somewhat stubborn", "Hates to lose", or "Somewhat of a clown". I think they're funny.

---

Anime series: OS (my second favorites are JN and DP, but it's not even close)
Dub seasons: Indigo League, Master Quest, Orange Islands
Episodes: EP266, EP273, EP063, EP171, JN068, EP065, EP115, EP116, EP269, EP270, EP272... uh... is there a running theme here? (I have a thread for this, by the way...)

Anime characters: Gary (whaaat?!), Ash, and Misty - as well as Dawn, Tracey, Duplica, Todd, May... and pretty much everyone else. (I have a thread for this too.)
Pokémon in the anime: Ash's Pikachu, Muk, Gengar, and Dracovish; Gary's Blastoise, Electivire, Umbreon, and Nidoking; Dawn's Pachirisu; Misty's Psyduck and Staryu; Brock's Croagunk, James's Victreebel
CotDs: Giselle, Mikey, Temacu, Calista, Shingo, Olesia, Marina, King of Pokélantis, Ariene & Jenaro, Francesca, and Chigusa

My favorite video game stuff:
Favorite consoles: Wii, GameCube, and N64. I also like the Wii U, sorry.
Favorite handhelds: DS Lite and New 3DS XL (I might have nostalgia for the original DS and 3DS models, but it doesn't mean they were any good lol)
Favorite special editions: The Diamond and Pearl DS Lite, and the tribal edition GBA SP

Favorite genre: Falling-block and match-3 puzzle
Favorite examples: Pokémon Puzzle League (this game was practically made for me...), Panel de Pon, Puyo Puyo Tetris 1 & 2, Tetris The Grand Master 3, Puyo Pop Fever, Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, Bejeweled 3, Puzzle Bobble/Dynomite!
Second-favorite genre: Rhythm games
Favorite examples: Taiko no Tatsujin, Love Live! School Idol Festival, osu!, Project Diva and Project Mirai, Rhythm Heaven Fever, Beatmania IIDX, DDR/Stepmania

Other favorite games/series:
The Sims 3, Deltarune, Undertale, Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, EarthBound/Mother, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Kirby, WarioWare, Mega Man X, Cave Story, Mario Party, Soul Calibur II, Doki Doki Literature Club, Picross, Touhou, Super Smash Bros., Fire Emblem: Awakening, Bloons TD, and so on
(These are in order, kinda.)

Games that I take too seriously practice somewhat competitively:
Pokémon (mostly Gen 6 meta and BDSP now), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Panel de Pon
Games that I've played competitively in the past but not so much anymore:
Puyo Puyo Tetris, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Mario Kart 7, LLSIF, osu! (I can't play osu anymore because it gave me carpal tunnel in both wrists like 6 years ago and I still have it LOL)

Smash mains: Marth, Pikachu, Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., Pac-Man, Mega Man
Kart mains:
Metal Mario, Villager, sometimes Green Shy Guy if I'm bored. Every day I wish for R.O.B. to come back from DS though :cry:
Mario Party main: Mario only. I refuse to play as anyone else. ...Unless Boo is an option.
PuyoTet mains: Lemres, Arle, Witch, and Tee mostly. Schezo if I really want to annoy my friends with his ENG voice lines. (HOO-HAH! TAKE THIS! TAKE THAT! THUNDERSTORM!)

My favorite music stuff:
Favorite genres:
(these will be sorted by the odd "groups" I tend to put them in, if they don't make sense don't blame me xP)
a. Pop punk, post-hardcore, emo, alternative rock, nu-metal
b. Trance, techno, happy hardcore, eurodance/euro-NRG/hands up
c. J-core, speedcore, breakcore, extratone (yes really)
d. Prog metal, gothic/symphonic metal, power metal
misc.: Smooth jazz, classic drum & bass, 80s/90s/00s pop, progressive/classic rock

Favorite artists:

In progress - for now, see here.

Favorite albums:

In progress - for now, see here.

Favorite songs at the time of writing:
coming soon...

TV/anime stuff and other/non-media stuff is coming soon... maybe.
 
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Who are your favorite Gym Leaders/Elite Four Members/Champions/Frontier Brains/Rivals/Minor NPCs?
Oh crap, let me think about this...

Gym Leaders: Sabrina, Morty, Roark, Flannery, Tate & Liza, Jasmine, and Falkner. I think Roxanne, Lenora, Candice, Fantina, and the Striaton bros are cool too but I don't think of them as often.
E4: Phoebe, Aaron, Will, Karen, Lucian, and Lorelei.
Champions: Iris, Wallace, Cynthia, Lance, and Blue. (I can never decide whether I should count Blue as a rival or Leader or a Champion so I'm just gonna put him here. It's what he'd want anyway.)
Frontier Brains: Lucy, Thorton, and Palmer. Brandon also gets an honorable mention because I really like the Regi trio, and the running joke of his epic "NO" in the anime never stops being funny to me.

Rivals: I'd say all of them if I could. Barry and Silver are the best, but Wally, Gladion, Hau, Bianca, and N are all great too. I also think I might be the only person on earth who actually liked Trace when I was playing LGE?
Minor NPCs: Bill, Lanette, and Bebe come to mind, do they count? Also I think of Cal sometimes because they gave him a unique design in Stadium 2 for some reason and that fascinates me.

(Also I know this wasn't one of the ones you asked but I think Riley and Mira are the best Stat Trainers...)
 
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Zippy's Platinum Adventure 1 (2/11/2022)
Today, I set out from Twinleaf Town... for what must be the hundredth time by now.

I'm playing Pokémon Platinum again! I actually started (and very quickly finished) another playthrough of this game about a year ago. Not to mention I'm still poking around in Brilliant Diamond's postgame... yet, here I am. I'm likely going to be playing half of it on my DS Lite, and the other half on my N3DS XL - whichever one is charged and/or more comfortable at the time.

On a whim, I chose my name to be "Zippy". It's a reference to an extremely old alias of mine, similarly to the name I used for a different Platinum save file many years ago.
Barry's name is just Barry, because I couldn't think of anything funny to name him. Sorry, Barry.

My starter Pokémon is a very nice Chimchar named "HOWIE", named for my currently running Tamagotchi... who is doing fine today, by the way. (Yes, I will be naming all of my Pokémon in caps lock for consistency with the game - but for the sake of this blog, I'll be writing them normally from here on out. Tamagotchi Howie will also be referred to Howie-tchi now, to differentiate him from Chimchar Howie. For clarity, you know, I'm a professional.)
Howie is a male, Jolly-natured Chimchar. I've only really used Turtwig and occasionally Piplup before - Chimchar has only been my starter once a long time ago, and I don't really remember much of what that was like. So, getting to know Chimchar will be a mostly new experience to me.

Setting off on my journey, and making my way out of Sandgem Town, I made my first capture, thereby adding our very first (or would it be second?) member to the party. It was a male Starly, who is of an Adamant nature. Welcome to the team, Starly! I hope we'll get along.

Just so you know, it was a complete coincidence that both of these very beneficial Natures just happened to be what I got, on what was definitely my very first try. I would never do something like soft reset my starter or catch a whole bunch of Starly until I got the Natures I wanted... never! I'm a good Trainer, I would never, ever do something like that out of my own self-interest! [cough cough]
(jokes aside, by actual coincidence, both of their characteristics ended up being "Somewhat vain". Are you trying to tell me something, game?)

I also caught one Bidoof, whom I have named "Friend". He has a Bold nature, and often scatters things. Friend will be helping us periodically throughout this adventure, by removing small trees and boulders from our way. Thanks, Friend!

After answering some wild clowns' trivia questions in Jubilife City, and receiving a Pokétch in exchange, I made my way towards Oreburgh. And before I even set foot in the first Gym, Howie and Starly both managed to evolve, into Monferno and Staravia!

Roark's team ended up being no match for Howie and his newly-learned Mach Punch. My team did end up taking some damage from Stealth Rock, since Onix had done quite a bit of Screeching at Howie and I didn't want him to fall victim to Cranidos right away - but after he had switched back in, things went relatively smoothly.
And Friend didn't take any damage at all, because he didn't participate in this battle. Good job, Friend!

Speaking of Friend, now that I have my first Gym Badge, he was able to smash some rocks to clear the Ravaged Path for me - but not before a brief encounter with Rowan, who was roasting some Galactic Grunts' outfits; and with Looker, who earnestly told me I should get a Pal Pad. I don't want to be the one to tell him that the Nintendo WFC services shut down years ago.

I've currently stopped to smell the flowers in Floaroma Town, but my keen instinct tells me something may lie ahead at the Valley Windworks...

For now, my team* and their movesets are as such:
  • Monferno (Howie) - Lv. 18
    • Mach Punch, Ember, Leer, Taunt
  • Staravia - Lv. 15
    • Return, Wing Attack, Quick Attack, Double Team
*Friend not included.
I still haven't given a name to Staravia, but as soon as I get to Eterna City, I'll go check in with the Name Rater to get that changed. (So, if you guys have suggestions for what he should be called... by all means, tell me!)

And to cap things off, my current summary is:

Badges: 1
Pokédex: 24
Time: 2:29

Until next time!
 
2/11/2022
I just discovered this song/this band last night:
I haven't listened to any of their other songs yet, but it's mostly because I've found myself stuck on this one. It was one of those songs I listened to once, didn't think much of it, then was like "wait a minute, that was great" and went back to listen to it a few dozen more times lol. It's a just really nice prog rock/prog metal track, I like it.

Apparently, at least from what I can gather, this album was essentially just a demo recorded in a home studio because all of the members were in other bands/working regularly at the time. I'm no musician but even I can tell that's pretty dang impressive!



The weather's been particularly nice for the past day or two, hanging around the 55°F (~12°C) range, rather than below freezing like it's been all winter so far. It's not gonna last long though, since we're getting more snow to look forward to on Sunday. :cautious: Might as well enjoy it while I can.

Also, Howie-tchi evolved into his third stage at exactly 12:00 PM earlier today, so he's officially further along than poor Junior ever got. I think if I do manage to get Mametchi here, I'll try for Kuchipatchi next. (Kuchipatchi actually used to be my favorite Tama when I was a kid, but I think that honor goes to Ginjirotchi or Nyatchi these days.)

What else do I have to say? Uh...

I'm realizing that I haven't been drawing much lately, which kind of sucks. I've only drawn a few things this year so far. I should really get on that, I've just been preoccupied with a lot of other things creatively.
I also have kind of wanted to make an Art Gallery thread around here, but every time I try, I end up getting painfully shy about it and changing my mind. Oh well. =p

hey look, two pages!
 
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2/15/2022
Sorry for the radio silence around here these past few days. I know I don't have any obligation to update every day or anything — it's just that I honestly haven't had much to say, like... at all. Stuck in a rut and all that. Workin' on it, though, so don't worry about me.



In Tamagotchi news: Howie-tchi ended up evolving into... Ginjirotchi again. Boo.
I mean, I'm not complaining — I like Ginjirotchi way more than Mametchi — but just for completion's sake, it's a little annoying that I've gotten the same one twice. Now I'm starting to think there must be more hidden conditions to getting Mametchi that I don't know about. Maybe it's true that you can never let its meters drop more than one heart? If that's really the case, boy is that ever gonna be a pain. :confused:

Far less tama updates from here on out, though. Once they reach the adult stage they don't really do anything interesting from then on, so there's a lot less fun stuff to talk about (just like real life!). In the meantime, I think I gotta study up on my gotchis.



In random Pokémon-related thoughts... I've been thinking about this lately, but it's impossible to phrase concisely enough to put it in "This or That".

Do you prefer the effect of the move Curse when it's used by a Ghost-type Pokémon, or when it's used by a Pokémon of any other type?

I like the stat-changing effects of the latter a bit more, since it's useful for just so many different Pokémon (and I love slow bulky mons, so a boost like +Atk +Def -Spe was practically made for me). But I've always thought the actual curse it inflicts when used by a Ghost-type is interesting. It's kind of like a much stronger variation of the regular poisoned status, cutting a whole fourth out of max HP every turn.

I kind of wish there were more moves that inflicted unique statuses like that (besides the hundreds of variations of Bind/Wrap that we currently have) — like, Perish Song comes to mind as one, sort of.
I've never used the Ghost-type Curse in any kind of multiplayer setting, but I feel like it could be a fun way to throw somebody off in a serious match, if used at the right time. I mean, it's definitely not something you'd be prepared for at the drop of a hat... much like Perish Song, actually. (Come to think of it, what even are the properties of those moves? Do moves like Heal Bell cure a Curse and/or perish count? Does Magic Guard cancel out Curse damage? Do they get reflected by Magic Bounce?! I must research. For... reasons.)

Also, tangentially related, but I kinda miss when it used to be a "???-type" move. I feel like it hinted at the uniqueness of it a little better. Maybe that's just me. (And to be honest, I could probably say fifty more things about that weird type alone. I have a strange fondness for it.)

Well, anyhow, no more rambling. More on the Platinum Adventure coming soon, just you wait.
 
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