Interview #1 - Mega Tank
Interview #2 - Stryphos
Interview #3 - Krunch
Interview #4 - SuperJimtendo
Interview #5 - Gloves
Interview #6 - skinnygrinny
Interview #7 - Richardhead
Interview #8 - bearcatdoug
Interview #9 - arnpoly
Interview #10 - Bea_Iank
Interview #11 - JamesRuhbut
Interview #12 - barrelsandrivets

Originally posted by Commander Santa:


UPDATE SPECIAL REPORT: CHIEF REPORTER BROCK LANDERS' INTERVIEW WITH CONTESTANT MEGA TANK!!!
Get the lowdown on the Lord of the Pennies!

Brock Landers was able to catch up with contestant Mega Tank earlier this week.
Listen in on their epic conversation!
 
AMAZING, entertaining and informative interview!
Thanks for Brock for doing a great job and thanks to Mega Tank for the in-depth answers.
Will you be the next person to be contacted for a Brock interview?
Keep an eye on your inboxes!

**********************************************************************************
That's it for this week's late update!

- Will someone in Colorado get their hands on a Bedazzler?
- How does Moist Towelette know so much about roofing?
 - Will anyone ever get a full set of Monsters of the Gridiron cards?

Keep tuning into the contests to find out!

Originally posted by Commander Santa:

BROCK LANDERS INTERVIEW #2: FEATURING STRYPHOS!
Get to know Stryphos in this Update exclusive interview


What's the story behind your name?
"I wish there was an amazing backstory on this one but there really isn't honestly.  I was wanting an online profile that no one else had and that was unique.  I used the "phos" portion as wordplay from the Martian moon of "Phobos" and just added Stry in front of it.  I liked it and have used it for the last 15+ years."

Your avatar is the arch-vile from Doom II.  Any significance there?
"At college I met a buddy who really introduced me into the Doom franchise and got me interested in it.  Doom is really the only PC game I've put considerable time into.  I've played the Xbox Live Arcade releases of both Doom and Doom II and even got in the Top 250 on the Leaderboards for Ultimate Doom.  The arch-vile I always considered to be a cool character and an absolute pain in the butt when going up against it.  It's fairly formidable both in close and ranged combat (with those flame pillars) and can resurrect dead allies which turns quickly into chaos."

Yamato Man?
"I really am big into the Mega Man series and always thought that the Mega Man Robot Naming Committee (paying homage here to Seanbaby, for those of you who remember his hilarious EGM reviews) and that Yamato (which is ancient Japanese for "Japan") was one of the funnier iterations of that.  They couldn't have chosen Samurai Man.  No no, they chose Yamato."

Dream contest line-up, one per genre
"I don't know how feasible these would be for the contest but here she goes ..."

Action/Platformer: Mega Man 2
Arcade: Spy vs. Spy
Beat 'Em Up: Double Dragon 2
Puzzle: Fire 'n Ice
Shooter/Shoot 'Em Up: 1943: The Battle of Midway
Sports: Little League Baseball Championship Series

10 favorite games of all time, any system
1) Final Fantasy III (SNES)
2) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX)
3) Ultimate Doom (PC)
4) Legend of Zelda, The: A Link to the Past (SNES)
5) Mega Man 2 (NES)
6) Gradius Gaiden (PSX)
7) Top Gear 3000 (SNES)
8) Metroid Prime (GCN)
9) Double Dragon II (NES)
10) X-Men Legends 2 (XBOX)

Your top 4 are all in my (and probably many people's) top 25. Did you play A Link Between Worlds?
"I have not played A Link Between Worlds.  I just this past Christmas got a 3DS and currently the only game I have for it is Mario Kart 7.  I have heard great things about A Link Between Worlds though and do really want to give it a try."

Also interesting that X-Men Legends 2 is one of your favorite games. You actually sent me the guide to the game in a mystery box.  Duplicate?  Not much of a guide collector?
"At the risk of sounding pretentious, I don't know how much a guide could help me at this point.  I've put well over 100+ hours into the game and have really studied the mechanics and combined power ratings for each team and can very handedly storm (no pun intended) through the game on hard mode, even being able to one-hit some end of stage bosses.  Regarding guide collecting, I actually do like guides but have come to really only get into guides from the NES, SNES and GB era.  Basically things pre-1997."

Recall what the very first guide you ever owned was?
"I do and remember buying it at a neighboring towns Meijer store.  It was August or September of 1990 and it was the Nintendo Power Ninja Gaiden II strategy guide (#15).  I remember reading every page of it and being excited to play it even though I didn't even own the game yet."

Did you play the new Doom? Reviews seemed... tepid
"I did play the new Doom (Doom 4 for arguments sake) and really enjoyed it.  I have to admit that I was quite apprehensive about it as I was very underwhelmed by Doom 3.  Doom 4's gameplay is very fast paced.  I don't usually play fast paced FPS's, like Unreal, Quake or even Call of Duty.  That said, after some time and gettinYou also have more levels in Hell than in Doom 3 which really helped the atmosphere and tone of the game throughout.  There is a lot of carnage.  A LOT.  The finishers and berserk mode are not for the faint of heart.  The scale of the enemies and even bosses was very well done.  I feel that anyone that enjoyed the original Doom games should give this 3D interpretation a try."

What is your preferred Final Fantasy III party makeup?
"If I'm going for straight up butt-kicking, I'd use Terra, Gogo, Sabin, Cyan.

I'm I'm going for fun, then Locke, Relm, Strago, Mog."

Least favorite Final Fantasy?
"To be fair, I've only played through 5 final fantasy games from beginning to end.  II (IV), III (VI), VII, VIII, IX.  Out of the ones I've played, definitely VIII is the least favorite.  The GF system and load times were painful (especially if you hadn't used them in awhile), the card game I found to be equally terrible as I didn't understand why some rule mechanics would spread to different areas of the game like a virus.  I'd go to play against somebody and think I've got 'em smoked and then on their last card they'd end up turning them all into their favor and I'd get blanked.  It felt very much inferior to IX's Tetra Master card game.  Also, vocals during the cut scene?!?  That was probably more unexpected than anything but I still didn't care for it.  It was about on the level of "I am the wind" from the Symphony of the Night soundtrack, which is to say that it really didn't fit."

Yeah I remember being befuddled my some of mechanics of the FF VIII card game, despite having the guide on hand. What's the best card game you've ever played?
"Really the only card games I've played were Final Fantasy VIII's and IX's.  Outside of that, I've played some Magic the Gathering but that's really about it."

Ever play the Might and Magic VII card game? I think it was called Arco-Mage and got a separate release
"No I haven't.  I haven't played any of the Might and Magic games for more than 5-10 minutes.  I played the SNES one for all of 5-10 minutes and said ok, moving on.  Although that one may be one if I spent more time on it that I could get into."

What's your favorite first-person shooter besides the Doom series and Metroid Prime?
"Halo 2, hands down.  They took an already solid game in the original Halo and improved upon it in Halo 2.  Duel wielding, able to use the sword, fuel-rod cannon, locking rockets, driving wraith tanks, sweet looking cutscenes, putting a whoopin' to those brutes ... good stuff."

Worst shooter you've ever played?
"One of the first ones that comes to mind is Damnation.  My buddy and I (in one of our very infrequent meet up and stay up late and play videogame nights) decided to rent it thinking that it would be pretty cool.  I mean c'mon, the premise is a steampunk FPS where you've got vampire-esque abilities and you (through co-op gameplay) get to topple a potential totalitarian dictatorship.  The result?  A very flat, clunky, underwhelming experience."

Absolute worst game you've ever played?
"While I could say E.T. for the Atari 2600 or Superman 64 for the N64, I actually haven't played those so ...

I would choose Baseball for the NES.  My first time playing it (which is kind of surprising as I love the sport of Baseball) was in the contests here last year and wow, that game is awful.  I have a very solid understanding of Baseball and really had no clue what was happening.  It was a very frustrating and aggravating experience that I hope I don't have to relive for contests for the next several years ..."

I was floundering too until Gutsman pointed out to me that you can alter the ball's trajectory in mid-air after pitching it. Changed my opinion of Baseball from abysmal to slightly below average. What did you think of black box Golf?
"I haven't spent much time with black box Golf and when I did it was when I was a lot younger and had little to no concept of how Golf works.  I could pop it in and let you know before the next weekend if you'd like."

What's the hardest game you've ever beaten?
"Hmm, blanking out on this at the moment.  Maybe a 1CC of Ikaruga?"

Good answer, as that would be one of my choices too. How good at chaining are you? I think I could carry one to the third level where it becomes chaos.
"Depends on the difficulty I'm playing at.  I can probably max chain only on level one.  Outside of that it gets a little too crazy if I'm trying to stay alive too  "

Ever play Radiant Silvergun, Silhouette Mirage, or Outland?
"I've not played the other two but I have played (and own) Radiant Silvergun.  I haven't put nearly the time into it as I have Ikaruga but it is an excellent shmup.  Treasure often does such a stellar job of pushing out top-tier shmups."

See any potential wins in the remainder of the 2017 schedule?
"It doesn't look too hopeful.  The only two games I've really put any time into are R.C. Pro-Am and Contra.  I'd have to practice a LOT to come close on those ones and just don't know if I'll have the time.  Those'll be fun weeks though!"

Any games you plan on getting participation and then washing your hands of them?
"I don't think so.  A lot of it honestly has to do with how much time do I have in any given week to devote towards practicing that weeks game.  If Battletoads and Double Dragon is even close to being as difficult as Battletoads is, then I'll most likely just go for participation.  Outside of that, I think the Baseball game last year was the only game that I played once and was like forget this."

Did you play Lunar Pool or Ironsword? If so you're a stronger man than I; I gave up on both immediately.
"No I didn't.  I believe those were both during a busier time for me where I wasn't as active on the forums and hadn't participated in a couple months in the contests."

What was your favorite week of the contest, and/or favorite memory?
"The 1943 competition was a ton of fun but killed my thumbs.  The banter back and forth and sheer chaos of some of the later levels in that one made it very memorable.  Also, the Rad Racer week (which was a terrible follow up to the 1943 week as both are thumb killers) where all kinds of scores were coming in right down to the wire and my very last run was my best one where I made to within sight of the finish line for Stage 7.  That and Lincoln's comment that he made when describing it after Stage 4 Athens which earlier in the week I was having trouble with.  Let me see if I can find what he said ...
 
"I feel like the difficulty is pretty well done in this game. There's a steady progression from other cars being dumb obstacles to active antagonists. Track 5 is where I really notice that the other guys go into full on asshole mode."

... and he wasn't wrong.  Those CPU cars were infuriating!  Still, a very memorable two weeks there back to back. 

I also know that Rad Racer in particular left a sour taste in your mouth as you were in the last few minutes of that week bumped down to 9th.  "

To be fair I'm terrible at racers and didn't give it much, if any, effort after that run I posted.
I'm also guessing you're not a fan of putting the controller down and using your pointer finger to fire like Bert and I do?
"I've never really tried laying the controller down and using that method.  I think towards the end of the week though I was up for trying whatever would save my thumb    "

Did you know if you upgrade your special a few times in 1943, it gives you a weapon that can be rapid fired while (mostly) just holding the button down?  That saved my forearm big time
"I knew there were other special weapons but stuff got so chaotic that hitting that weapon X amount of times to get that special amidst everything going on onscreen just seemed like an accident waiting to happen.  That's good to know though that there is at least one "automatic" weapon.  That would've helped a lot with the fatigue."

Any rivals, on or offline?
"I have a buddy who lives in the same town and we compete against each other.  Nothing crazy but always friendly competitions.  I have another buddy from Wisconsin that I compete against when we meet up in Doom and Gradius games.  Outside of that, the Miles and Pegboy Super Mario Kart competitions have been the closest thing to rivalry, although both are better at the game than I am so not so much competition from me on that front  "

What do you do for a living?
"I am a teacher.  I teach Digital Media to 11th and 12th grade students from our local schools.  Digital Media is Animation, Networking, Programming, 2D/3D design, Videogame Design and Web Design.  I also am the webmaster for six of our local school districts."

Video game design? I wish my school had offered that.
"Yeah I wish mine had as well.  I feel very fortunate that I can implement that into my curriculum.  Our business unit has evolved into running a videogame production company, complete with student managers, gantt charts and weekly managerial meetings.  They get a real insight into what running a business would be like and the pressures of completing tasks on time to meet the company's demands."

That sounds like the greatest class ever.  What's the best game one of your students has made?
"My students don't work on their own game, they work collectively together as one company to make an MMORPG with a base engine.  Some years the talent level is higher than others which results in a more refined finished product.  The art department heavily influences this as aesthetics sell."

So, one group works on sound, one on sprites/polygons, play control, etc?
"Yes.  There are four departments:  Art (self-explanatory), Sound (again, self-explanatory), Story/Marketing/Mapping (create storyboards for project/loan approval, place assets from art into engine, push product out via social media and/or website), backend development (manipulate base engine to suit the needs of the other three departments (programming language in either Visual Basic or C#, also input art/sound assets into engine to offset burden from story/marketing/mapping department.)"

Do you know if any of them are working in the industry
"I don't have any actively working in the videogame industry, yet.  I have some that are currently in college that I can definitely see working in industry.  They have both the talent and work ethic to make the cut and in a couple of years I look forward to hearing their continued success stories  "

Do you get summers off from work?
"I do, at least from my full-time teaching position.  The past several summers I've been extending my second job as a web manager for six local school districts and have done CMS site migrations which made me full time over the summer.  This summer looks to be closer to 15 hours a week so a much lighter schedule."

Married? Kids? I know you have at least one daughter
"I am divorced but have a beautiful 7 year old daughter from that marriage.  She's an amazing and vibrant bundle of joy that has added so much blessing to my life."

What's your daughter's favorite game? What does she think of your collection?
"I'd say currently it's Rayman Origins.  It's a very colorful, zany platformer and the sound effects really make the game the fun experience that it is.  She also enjoys playing some zoo and pet-based games on her DSI."

Ever think about having more kids?
"Absolutely.  I love kids and am amazed at how much joy my daughter brings me.  I don't know if it's in the cards but I'd seriously consider having more."

Favorite hobbies outside of gaming?
"I like weightlifting, playing in summer softball leagues, coaching wrestling, disc golf, ultimate frisbee and just laughing.  Life is always so serious that if I can find humor in something then I'm likely going to go for it."

Our work has a disc golf course.  I hit a hole-in-one once.  Think you could beat me?
"Ha ha I'm honestly not sure.  I'm definitely an amateur player.  I play every hole as a par 3, even if it's marked as a par 4 or 5.  I hit a couple eagles and tons of birdies.  It could be a good match!"

Co-ed or men's softball?
"Both actually.  I've played co-ed for the last two late Summer / early Fall seasons.  Men's league I've been playing in for the past 16 years.  I enjoy going to tournaments on a weekend or two as well when the schedule and time allow for it."

How many home runs do you jack each game?
"Ha!  I think the most I've hit in a game before is 3.  However, there are definitely games where I don't hit homeruns.  In fact, there's many times where I intentionally do not try to hit homeruns.  I typically bat in the 3 slot so I try to get on base so our 4 slot can hit the big bombs."

Think you could beat me around the bases?
"Yes"

Think you could beat my throw home from center?
"Provided you're not catching it in shallow center, Yes"

Well then how about this; I've never pitched in softball, but I have in kickball and I have 3 career K's.  Think I could get you to whiff?
"I don't think so.  However, if you were able to get me to whiff, I'd probably pull myself out of the game  "

How's living in Michigan?
"I really like living in Michigan.  The Great Lakes are beautiful and we don't get any significant natural disasters like other areas do.  We definitely have 4 distinct seasons and I enjoy each of them.  It always feels like winter lasts longer than the other seasons but I have aspects of every season that I cherish."

Ever meet up with bimmy, jerbilly, or any other NA'ers?
"I haven't personally met bimmy or jerbilly yet (which I hope to correct this Summer/Fall with the annual cookout) but I have met several NA'ers over the course of time.  BilltownSparty, Sjp5412, doner24, Everharm, Benhoffer, 1337bcc1991, captmorgandrinker, B.A., K3VBOT and others that I apologize for not mentioning.  There's some awesome people here on this site."

Is it true there is a statue of RoboCop in Detroit?
"I really don't know.  I very rarely am in Detroit.  It would be cool if there were one though."

Ever play any of the Robocop games?
"Actually I haven't.  Which is ludicrous because I own several haha.  I just got Robocop vs Terminator on gameboy this past weekend and was considering playing that soon."

You should play Robocop 3. It's absolutely horrible. Bea loves it of course...
"Why does that not surprise me?"
...and did you ever watch Robocop 3? Michigan pride sort of demands it.
"I'm pretty sure I have, once.  Although Robocop (if memory serves me correctly) got progressively worse after the first one.  Now a Robocop vs Terminator movie would've been cool though!"

If I told people I owned Robocop 3 for SNES, and Robocop 3 Collectors Edition on blu-ray,  which would be more construed as a sign of mental illness?
"Robocop 3 Collectors Edition.  The fact that you'd want to have that much extra information about that movie is as sure a sign as any."

Wolverines or Spartans?
"Without hesitation, Wolverines"

Is Billtown(Sparty) as big a shit-talker in real life as Doug is on here?
"Ben is a pretty jovial guy.  Amazingly we didn't talk about it but next time we meet up I will make a point to start that epic showdown  "

You know the real UM vs MSU is Montana Montana State right?
"I may consider agreeing with you if I was even aware of either University before you just mentioned them  "

Yeah I wouldn't of heard of Montana State either. If bertsampson is Robocop, and Bea is the Terminator, who does that make you?
"Universal Soldier or Major Dutch (Predator)"

If you had to describe Montana in 4 words or less...?
"Remote Laramie Mammatus Bozeman"

College football or NFL?
"Wolverines, then NFL."

What do you think of Harbaugh?
"I think he's actually a good thing for the program.  Yes, I believe he's a headliner that brings in money and endorsements for them but on the whole I'm happy with his being selected as head coach."

As a Niners fan I was pissed with what went down in his last season. UM's in good hands and will be back into a BCS bowl or the playoffs within the next 3 seasons.
"I don't blame you.  Also, as a Niners fan, what's your view on Kapernick?"

Reverse interview, I like it.
I think he's a mediocre talent who's very specific skillset was best utilized by Harbaugh's dominating teams. I also think he's a moron, judging by the really stupid shit he has said and tweeted throughout the years. I also have absolutely zero problems with him kneeling during the anthems. This is America, you get to do whatever you want. But saying that is the reason he hasn't gotten signed by anyone is stupid. It's the Not For Long league because a thousand players wash out every year. He was lucky to survive this long after the last couple seasons.
"I agree with that almost entirely.  I think his gameplay is the defining characteristic of why he's in limbo.  That said, I think the social media pieces combined with his pioneering the kneeling during the anthems equates to negative publicity which some (many) teams don't like."

Did you attend the infamous Appalachian State game?
One of the best games I've ever seen was against them.
"I didn't but it would've been a fun one  "

Guess who the Wolverines play on 9/9/17 for the first time ever
"Team Bearcat is going down."

Ever seen The Breakfast Club?
"Yes I have seen it a few times.  I've seen a couple of the brat pack movies.  In all honesty they're not my favorite movies.  Some fun moments but there are definitely movies from that era that I much prefer over them."

If you were any character from any Brat Pack movie, who would you be?
"Probably Emilio Estevez."

He's the jockey, right?
"Say what?"

When you were playing Ice Hockey, did you ever fantasize you were at the head of the V, about to score the game winner against the Godless Icelanders and do Emilio proud?
"Not while playing Ice Hockey but when on the Ice when I was younger, I did think about being one of the Mighty Ducks.  Loved that movie." 

Emilio Estevez or Charlie Sheen?
"Emilio Estevez"

Martin Sheen or Joe Estevez?
"Martin Sheen"

Joe Esposito or Joe Piscipo?
"Joe Esposito, long live "The King"  "

When Joe was singing You're the Best was he referring to champion Daniel-san, or 2nd/3rd place losers Cobrai Kai?
"While I'd like to hope it was actually for Miyagi, it was likely more for Daniel-san.  Not the smelly Cobra Kai  "

I know you're a huge SNES collector like myself, what kicked off that drive for a full set?
"Well I started off going for CIB and then realized that I'd rather sell off a lot of my CIBs (a decent amount but not all) and put that towards purchasing loose carts.  My desire (like that for NES) was to own the carts more than the boxes.  It became apparent to me that if I went for CIB I'd be at this for a long time and that part way in the prices would get too cost prohibitive to move forward which I knew would drive me crazy.  I knew that interest in the SNES was beginning to heat up and decided to pursue it before it got bonkers like it is today.  While I'm not finished, I'm really close and am glad that I'm where I'm at and made the decision to depart from CIB collecting instead of just starting out."

Title that was hardest to acquire?
"Incantation.  I tried for a LONG time to get this one and never saw one in a store.  Very few times over the last couple of years people would offer a copy up on here and I'd miss out.  I finally did manage to snag one within the last year or two and was excited to finally pick it up."

Most you paid for a title?
"I believe it was $200 for Harvest Moon.  It was another one that eluded me for sometime and it popped up on here in mint condition.  I always had a hard cap set of no more than that for a single SNES cart and I was able to work out the deal for exactly that."

Best score?
"I've had a couple nice snags but getting a loose cart of Super Turrican 2 in a hole in the wall little shop for $25 was probably my best snag."

Biggest surprise/hidden gem?
"Biggest surprise: It wasn't until the last year or two that I played ActRaiser all the way through.  I had picked it up and quickly dismissed it years back and then decided to revisit it and was glad I did.  I really enjoyed the simple blending of side scrolling action and simulation aspects.  I wish the second one had continued on with that formula and wasn't so God-blessed difficult. 

Hidden gem: While definitely not a "rare" game according to carts made, Top Gear 3000 is a fantastic game that doesn't seem to be talked about a lot.  It took the base of the original Top Gear, added a much expanded track set, futuristic setting, improved visuals, upgradable options and even a 4-player racing mode.  To this day I still enjoy playing it as much as I did all those years ago."

What contest game would you most like to see for SNES?
"I'd love to see a Top Gear contest.  I don't know how it'd work other than time and completion but that would be fun.  I loved the original Top Gear and Top Gear 3000.  Such great memories and I still enjoy playing them."

I actually had Top Gear in this year's January slot before replacing it late with Super Mario Kart. Figured it was a crowd pleaser.
Star Trek or Star Wars?
"If I were asked this question a year or two ago I would've without hesitation said Star Wars.  Since that time, I've made it almost all the way through 5 of the 7 seasons of "The Next Generation" series, as well as all Star Trek movies up through First Contact.  While I think I still prefer the Star Wars series, Star Trek went from something I wholly dismissed to something I very much enjoy.  I think Next Gen is an excellent series."

Nerd. What was your favorite episode?
"Nerd huh?  haha  Favorite episode, hmm ... I'd say the first encounter with the borg.  That was pretty intense."

Deanna Troi or Whoopi Goldberg?
"Deanna Troi, although I really like Whoopi Goldberg's character in Next Gen."

If you were any character on Star Trek you would be...?
"Original series or Next Gen or Voyager or Deep Space Nine or ..." 

Follow your heart
"My favorite character on the show is Data (Brent Spiner did a fantastic job as him in the series) but if I had to be anyone from the series I'd probably be either Captain Kirk or Commander Riker.  Both are way different from my own personality so it'd be interested to have so much bravado."

Did you want to punch Wesley in the face or was that just me?
"I wanted to punch Wil Wheaton in the face way more from his role in Big Bang Theory than I did from his younger role as Wesley Crusher in Next Gen."

Ever watch the Doom movie?
"Unfortunately yes, I saw it in theatres.  Ugh.  Might be the worst movie I've ever seen Dwayne Johnson in.  Had high hopes ... and was let down.  I've never tried to watch it again."

I think my vote there would have to be The Mummy Returns.  Saw that in the theater and I recall thinking "I now understand why people hate sequels so much"
"Not everything fits that bill though.  While I like the 2nd mummy movie (as a fun movie, not because it's solid) I think it's much better than Doom.  Doom was so bad  "

Did you know the main, uh, guy is Bones McCoy?
"I did actually.  I knew him formerly from his role as Eomer in the last 2 Lord of the Rings movies, Vaako from Chronicles of Riddick as well as the Russian Agent from his role in the Bourne Supremacy."

Hah!  Yes, Karl Urban.  I see you have an eye for actors.  I'm used to my wife who watches Dr. Strange and Sherlock in back-to-back weekends and doesn't make the connection.
What do you think of the return of Mystery Science Theater 3000?
"I'm indifferent to it honestly.  Never took the time to get into it.  I may very well like it but like I said I just haven't sat down and made it happen."

How could Toxie, James and bimmy be wrong?
My wife and I are binging Netflix since our kids were born. What do you recommend?
"Recommendations for you guys as a couple or for your kids?"

Us. Our kids are all under 2
"Well of course it depends on what you're into.  We enjoy watching Walking Dead, Gotham, most of the Netflix Marvel characters (their production value is top-notch), Star Trek Next Gen, Blacklist and then a bunch of the myriad of movies it has.  Heck, we even watched the original mortal kombat movie together within the last week.  Annihilation, however, will not be next on the list.  She's gotten into fuller house (I was kinda meh about Full House growing up so into didn't really do anything for me).  We tried Frontier but that didn't stick after the first episode (at least not for her, I was ok with it but unsure if I wanted to continue on with the series).  I've made it through the first season and few into the 2nd season of Marco Polo.  I thought the Voltron reboot was fantastic (that is if she'd be into that sort of thing).  I've not seen much if any of the following but she's really gotten into: Once Upon a Time, Vampire Diaries, Bones and some others.  I didn't watch Buffy growing up and we're trying to watch that together (she's seen the whole series before).  The first season has been pretty rough so far but I'm told it gets better as time goes on."

I finished Buffy a couple years ago and I'm most of the way through Angel. They're not the greatest shows of all time like some proclaim, but I'm glad I watched them. We will check out Gotham and Blacklist. She isn't much for anything horror-ish
"I also liked the first season or two of Arrow.  By the time they got to season 3 it started going downhill some and then by season 4 I've just lost interest."

I'm gonna name a poster, and you say the first word that comes to mind:
mbd39
"Persistent"

skinnygrinny
"Grinder"

doug
"Cincinnati"

egaskrad
"awkward_name"

He's been popping in for years, posts a score, and then vanishes into the night for another week.  And he has that mysterious avatar.  And name.  I don't know where I'm going with this...theories as to what his... deal is?
"No idea honestly.  Maybe he in and of himself is an enigma.  Maybe he's a monk that every great once in a while leaves the sanctity of Tibet and posts on here from an Internet cafe."

Richard
"Larry"

Jim
"Moe"

James
"Curly"

Why is James such a quitter?
"Because Richard won last year?  Because Jim is better at designs?"

tablew/chairs
"impressive"

bert
"top_score"

Arnpoly
"puzzles"

Bea
"Brazilian_cyborg_drinker"

Brock
"empirical"

That's kind of a big word.  For skinny's sake, we'll say that means "wicked awesome"
Guillavoie
"legacy"

What do you think guillavoie's first name is?  Something cool and French?
"Man I certainly hope so.  If not however, his username is pretty cool."

Ever watch Gloves and Toxie stream?  Which one sounds more Canadian?
"I haven't seen either of their gameplay videos before."

It was a trick question.  They're both so Canadian it hurts.
After reading his interview, sum up Mega Tank in 4 words or less
" ... how legends are made."

Do you like NASCAR like some of these rednecks?
"Umm no."

What about wrestling?
"I used to like it but stopped watching it when I was like 9 or 10 I think."

Have you ever thrown boulders around your yard?
"I can't say I have ..."

Does skinny play on his daughter's TV, in her room, sitting in her little princess chair, with a glittery name tag because he secretly wishes he was a little girl, or because he's hiding from his wife?
"Likely more hiding from the wife.  Although I think part of it is the extra slap in the face being bragadocious.  Like when he got quite far in the Turtles in Time contest on the princess TV using Raphael.  Good times."

So you would say that Kawaii owns the pants in that relationship?
"Who knows what actually goes down in the Skinny household but that princess TV doesn't help his cause too much  "

Life Cinnamon Cereal or Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
"Life Cinnamon Cereal"

Do you drink the sugar milk at the end?
"Absolutely, one of the main reasons to choose that cereal in the first place."

Do you lift the bowl up when you drink it, or use the spoon?
"Lift the bowl up."

(Redacted)
(Redacted)


Luckily that is as tasteless as this interview will get
*shakes head while laughing*

...
...

...hypothetical.  If I felt like this interview was floundering a little bit because I had no chance to prepare and just have to shoot these off the top of my head, what would be a good question to ask you?  Hypothetically of course.
"If I'd like to be part of the "mod" squad or how could I help give back to the NA community?  

Well if the collective community thought I'd be a good fit then yes, I'd be willing to become a mod.  Secondly, I try to help give back by helping/running scoreboards for the contests and also I've offered to help Dain a couple times with regard to web design and other website front-end management items to help take things off his plate but I understand if he's reluctant to hand over a level of control to someone he's never met before.  Like many others on here, I very much enjoy this community and enjoy helping in whatever ways my skillset allows for that."

You'd have my vote
"Well gee golly, thanks  "

Would you accept favors and/or bribes to torment skinny?
"I absolutely would not accept favors or bribes to torment skinny or anyone else.  I do have to admit though that skinny does put himself out there for torment so easily though  "

Beer, wine, or liquor?
"Milkshakes?  Not a big fan of alcohol to be honest.  If I had to choose between one of those three, I'd go with wine (white)."

Do games age?
"I certainly believe that they do.  Systems like Atari 2600-7800, NES, N64 have already shown that their graphics age.  I feel that the SNES sprite-based graphics have aged but aged very well and still are enjoyable to look at."

Shaq Fu or Pit Fighter?
"Yuck.  Probably Shaq Fu.  Pit Fighter is so awful."

Double Dragon or Double Dragon II?
"Double Dragon II.  I like Double Dragon but feel they refined it more with the second release."

Double Dragon III or Super Double Dragon?
"Super Double Dragon.  More fun for co-op mode  "

Battletoads or Double Dragon?
"Double Dragon"

Think you'll ever beat Battletoads?
"Very unlikely.  That is a really long game and the speeder and rat race levels are enough to make me not play it again for quite sometime."

GI Joe or Transformers?
"Growing up I would've said GI Joe, now I'll go more Transformers"

Canada or Brazil?
"Canada, gotta love Maple Syrup."

Zobber's beard or Odin's beard?
"Odins beard.  Hard to beat the demigod of Norse Mythology's facial hair."

MULE or CHUD?
"I have to admit, I had to look up CHUD.  Interesting ... I'd probably go with MULE."

It has Daniel Stern AND John Heard... just like Home Alone now that I think about it.  How could you improve upon that?
"I've never watched it to be honest which is why I chose MULE instead."

MULE or MASH?
"MASH"

Bangers 'n mash or MASH?
"MASH"

MULE or a game of HORSE?
"HORSE"

HORSE the Band or Band of Horses?
"Band of Horses"

Man from UNCLE or Uncle Buck?
"Uncle Buck"

Rick Santorum or Rick Pitino or Rick Springfield?
"Rick Pitino"

Total Carnage or Super Smash TV?
"Haven't much time on either but I'm leaning towards Total Carnage."

Smash TV on NES or SNES?
"I don't know if I've played a game where (when applicable) I didn't like the SNES port better."

Richard, James or Jimbo?
"Probably Jimbo for his hilarious sketches."

Partial credit
Soup or salad?
"Salad, unless it's paired with a sandwich and then soup."

What's the best sandwich?
"Like one that I would get from a restaurant?  Or one that I would make myself?"

All of the above
"I always really liked the originals at Schlotzsky's if I'm buying at a sandwich shop.

Making my own, it'd be some mesquite/cajun ham/turkey w/onion and sweet peppers toasted w/bacon, tomato, green leaf lettuce and some avacado with a light dressing."

Philly or gyro?
"Philly"

What is the best Philly you've ever had?
"Honestly it was probably one I made at home.  I'd love to have one at some greasy spoon somewhere that would get the right blending of cheesesteak, peppers, onions and grease.  Yummmmmmmm!"

We played several rounds of Werewolf together. Which player made you want to choke the life out of them the most?
"NESfanatic probably.  Not because he was a jerk or anything but rather he was a really good player and on top of that got absurdly overpowered roles.  Just when I thought the FF6 role he had was overpowered, then came Deadpool in the Marvel one which was over the top.  After reading what all powers Deadpool had, I'm still not confident he could've been killed.  Rigged man, rigged!   "

NesKing80 is approximately 12 years old. How does he even know what a Nintendo tape is?
"Probably because he watched Youtube videos that featured peoples recordings of their recorded VHS tapes.  It's archaic video-ception."

Did you buy a Switch?
"I did not.  System looks cool.  May be a down the road $150 or less / holiday pick up for me.  Gamecube was the last nintendo system I got within the first year or so of its release.  I just got my first Nintendo Wii a summer or two ago.  Still don't have a Wii U.  There are some fun games on it.  I've heard nothing but praise regarding the new Zelda on it."

I stopped at GameCube, which I mostly bought for Ikaruga and Skies of Arcadia. What game would push you to get either a WiiU or Switch?
"I don't know if there is a single game that would push me to pick up either system, maybe a "well done" 3D remaster of Final Fantasy VI???  Or some new Top Gear games that followed the SNES formula?  I am intrigued by how the PS4 has been getting some of the HD remakes/re-envisionings of older titles, like Wild Guns Reloaded for example.  
Furthermore, I've never played Skies of Arcadia. Not on the dreamcast nor on the gamecube. Looks like a cool premise though.
When I saw "air pirates" I immediately thought of Talespin."

Yeah I don't have a PS4 yet but I have 4 games including Wild Guns and Shadow Complex Remasters.  I'd kill for a remake of FF VI on 3DS. Square Enix has done plenty of them recently so hopefully it's on the horizon somewhere
"Yeah the Wild Guns one I got a chance to play at the game convention I went to last weekend, I died pretty quickly but it was fun.
Final Fantasy III... One can hope ..."

What other remake/remasters would you most want?
"I'd love to see HD remakes of some gradius games, like Gradius III and Gaiden specifically.  I'd also love a HD compilation of the Giga Wing and Solider Blade series.  I'd love to see a re-envisioning of Symphony of the night w/new enemies, bosses, items, spells, familiars, soundtrack, etc.  I'd also like to see some gameboy games remastered, like Kid Dracula and all 3 Castlevania gameboy games.  I'd also like ports of final doom (both TNT and Plutonia) onto XBLA so I could start working my way through that game in co-op as that's a fun way to play doom campaign.  I'd also love to see Tecmo Super Bowl featuring the best team years representing each team (85 bears, 72 dolphins, etc.)  So much more to list ..."

That would be amazing.  Did you ever play the follow-up Metroidvanias?  (the GBA and DS ones) Or... what's-its-face.  The online co-op one.  Harmony of Dawn or something, I can't keep all the damn sub-titles straight.
"Yeah I have played through all 3 GBA and all 3 DS ones and own all 6.  I've also put a considerable amount of time into the online co-op one, which is called Harmony of Despair.  I definitely am a fan of the Castlevania series."

What was your favorite of those 7 titles?
"My favorite out of them would be Aria of Sorrow for the GBA.  Fantastic game!"

Did you play any of the Lord of Shadows games?
"I own Lords of Shadow for the 360 and have put minimal time into it.  Just one of the titles that I haven't sat down to work on more yet."

There's also a really cool book about the series put out by HardCoreGaming101. You should check it out. I was gonna give one to Andy last year as a first place prize, but I couldn't figure out a reasonably way to get one to Canadia
"My buddy (who is a much bigger Castlevania fan than I am) introduced to the HardCoreGaming101 stuff recently.  I have not checked out the Castlevania book though.  Will look into that."

As to the custom Tecmo Bowl... I crushed Guts and Mega Tank in fantasy football to earn a fancy Tecmo Super Bowl 2016 cart.  That's... maybe as close as I'll get to one of those.  Jealous?
"Kinda, that sounds pretty cool.  I do some programming but I wish I understood enough to make the proposed changes I was talking about."

I'm the same way. Putting more time into game programming is one of those backlog activities like playing my guitar. Somehow they always end up behind my video game queue for free time priorities
"I understand a decent amount about the process but the NES uses such a low-level language for coding that I don't think it'd be something I'd be up for getting into (without help I suppose).  Even GBA uses C++ so that a higher level than what NES and SNES utilize."

See any wins on the 2017 slate? Did I ask you that already?
"You did ask that question already and I basically said that likely no, it seems unlikely unless I really put the time in during a given week."

Paperboy 2 predictions?
"I think Bea will take this one in convincing fashion.  It's a game she's put time into and even though the Paperboy series is well known I don't believe it's a super popular title.  I don't anticipate any earth shattering scores, outside of hers, of course.  I hope someone proves me wrong here to make this more entertaining  

Hypothetical. You can win Paperboy 2, but you have to play the game for 6 straight hours while enduring Moist Towellete whispering sweet nothings in your ear. Do you do it?
"Nope.  I'd like a win someday but not at that price  

Who did the best newspaper art this week?
"Lovin' the Paperboy memes.  Guts has been knockin' those out of the park."

What's the game next week?  If it's Bayou jerBilly then I'm amazed Michael is tearing it up. Think he'll get his first gold?  Pegboy won BB in the past. Think he'll make an appearance?
"I don't think (no offense Michael) that he'll get his first gold, especially if Pegboy jumps back into the fray."

You any good at it?
"I've never played Bayou [Jer]Billy so I have no clue if I'm any good at it  

First career gold; mbd or Krunch?
(Krunch's existing one barely counts)
"mbd.  Every week it seems he tries so hard.  I'd like to see him get a gold for all the effort he's put in."

Hypothetical. You get to win Bayou jerBilly, but only by sucking the gaming mojo out of zobber's beard for 20 minutes. Medium-level sucking. Do you do it?
"Absolutely not.  G-R-O-S-S."

%@#*, marry, kill:
Bayou jerBilly, Bimmy Lee, Kick Master
Fancypants - Kick Master
Marry - Bayou Billy Annabelle
Kills (it with poetry) - Bimmy Lee

Clever.  I have a tendency to do all-male FMK lineups.  What does that say about me?
"You: Dudes > Dudettes?"

I can live with that.
2017 champ prediction?
"As long as he stays with it, I really do think that tablew/chairs has a legitimate shot at being the victor.  He's a solid competitor and is known for putting up some very impressive scores.  Unless something changes, I believe he's the man to beat."

Unofficially, there has been some talk about doing a bracket-style tournament at the end of the year. Which format do you think would be more fun? Who would you want to avoid like the plague in a bracket? Cue bimmy smacking me upside the head for being so presumptious about what's going on.
"I think the tournament bracket would add a fun element to it.  It would give people motivation to be at the lower end of the upper bracket. In a 16 person tournament, the 16th seed is going to go up against the #1 seed.  That could be interesting, especially to see upsets  

I think who I'd want to avoid would depend on the title and genre.  Arnpoly and puzzles.  Bea and anything she actually claims to like.  tablew/chairs always puts up a strong showing across multiple genres.  There are other strong competitors but those three in particular would be rough to go up against."

Who would you most like to see interviewed?
"I'd like to see you get interviewed.  I wouldn't even mind doing it."

You'd think it would be funny and exciting, like that movie... Spaceballs.  But instead it would be painful and disturbing, like that movie Police Academy
"Mmmmmmm, dooooooonuts."

I'm a blood-relative to a famous (give-or-take) Michigan musician.  I'll answer three yes-or-no questions to help give you a clue as to his or her identity.  Go.
"Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?"

No
"Hmm, is the musician still alive?"

Yes, mostly
"Is it George Winston?"

No.  Good guess but this will have to be solved by our next interviewee(s)
"Interesting.  Curiousity is piqued."

If the Denver crew and the Michigan crew had a West Side Story-style rumble, who would win?
"Michigan of course  

Which member of the Michigan crew would be the best dancer/fighter/singer though?
dancer: tablew/chairs.  If his dance moves are half as good as his game playing skills, he should consider moving up from the amateur dancing circuit.
fighter: zombi.  Anyone that fends off that many different craigslist crazies each month must be one tough dude.
singer: bimmy_lee.  Anyone that well versed into poetry/lyrics has to be a closet singer and so he probably sings everyday  

Final words?
"I, like I would imagine many other people, wish I would've become a part of this community many years before I actually did.  I was unaware of its existence and never really thought about there being an area online with such fantastic and helpful members.  I'm flattered, sincerely, to be chosen for this interview considering all the other potential candidates out there.  I look forward to hopefully meeting many more of our members in person and welcome any PMs regarding questions members may have about any of the interview questions or would like to talk about any of the games that I've listed that they also really enjoy.  It'd also be cool to have those that met me in person to chime in and share their thoughts about what I'm like, if anything that they read in the interview surprised them, if I'm different at all in person than my NA forum presence, etc.

I can't believe it's been almost 4 years ago that I joined.  I still remember my first transaction on here (which I believe was acidjaguar) and I sent him videogame stuff via Media Mail and learned very quickly how that was a bad idea.  One of the items I sent was a mint Conkers Bad Fur Day and well ... I didn't package as well as I should've and shouldn't have used media mail to begin with.  Lesson learned.  Fast forward to the present and here I am at 250+ transactions.  Crazy how fast time goes.  

I'd also like to thank you, Brock, for taking the time to interview me and come up with the myriad of questions that you have.  I know with all the chaos (good stuff but still chaos) in your personal life, this was quite the undertaking.  I very much enjoyed it, thank you for the opportunity.   

He lives down the street from me (more-or-less).  I'm sure he stole the games to feed his $2000/day skee ball habit

Thank you Stryphos

Santa is MIA still so...

Interview with Mr. Brunch.  I mean Krunch.

Okay, first off... your avatar.  It appears to be the pig-faced ghoul from Soccer Kid/Adventures of Kid Kleats.  What's the attraction?
Heh, well I once landed a mint boxed copy of the game at a sketchy pawn shop so I always had an attachment to the box art. I have a love for oddball characters and got a kick out of... whatever this thing is. It then became a bit of a game among my Edmonton NA friends to see who could guess the box art first, solid avatar so far.

Nice score, I've only ever come across one copy of that game.  Doesn't play that bad either, especially for an Ocean game
It was probably the best find I ever had at that pawn shop, the guy is notoriously difficult to deal with, like sometimes he'll just flat out refuse to give you a price on games he has on display. I no longer own the game as I was able to fetch a good price on the box, so I might replace it with the more cost-effective Soccer Kid for GBA because as far as I can tell it's an exact port.

Do you know what the next question will be?
I honestly have no idea what to expect for the next question 

What is the origin of your name?
(I'm very imaginative)
My name's origin is equally unimaginative - Krunch is the Kremling character from Diddy Kong Racing. He was my avatar in my earlier NA years:



​He has the worst acceleration in the game but the highest top speed. Beating the game 100% using Krunch is virtually Hard Mode, some maps just don't have much room for errors when your acceleration is already hampered.

I just recently started that game for the first time ever on my DS. Some of those bosses can really suck a d
Did you ever play that port? It has some just amazing gimmicks like forcing you to take your hand off the gas (or d-pad for lefties) at the start of the race so you can stroke a wheel, or has you blowing into the mic to power your hovercraft. More games should require you to drop your stylus as you scramble to hit the gas, or leave you cross-eyed and wheezing.
I've actually never tried that port and never knew it quite that different in gameplay, all I knew was that they took out some characters due to licensing, and they Americanized Taj's voice. It's on my radar but generally DS collecting is a lower priority for me.

I should of made it more apparent I was being facetious about the changes. I don't know what they were thinking with that shit.  Still, fun game
Did you ever play those other Rare oddball titles like Banjo Pilot?
Hahaha you got me there, I was thinking those sound like strange changes, totally didn't clue in though. I've never played Banjo Pilot, again it's on my radar, so many games to play! I would have loved to see Donkey Kong Racing (working title) actually get fully developed and released for GameCube. It looks great from what exists of it, and would have been the true sequel.

What do you think about me giving you a new name? Possibly via you giving me your login information
Heh, well I'm open to suggestions on a name change, but someone's probably gonna have to win a bet to get me to actually do it. Wouldn't it be funny, though, if I were to just reveal my login info and then it got published? Totally absurd idea

So close.
Ok, what if I not only didn't publish that information, but I promised to take a dive in a future contest game of your choice in return? I'm not sure how that could possibly help you anytime soon with my abysmal scores, but you never know what the future holds
​Hmm I might have taken that offer last year when you were on fire every week, it stung pretty bad when you bumped me to second place two times last year (Rollergames and Palamedes). It reminds me of the 2013 season, except worse because in 2013 I was taking second place against Tom Votava (Yoshi and ....Palamedes), and really, going head-to-head against Tom is almost always gonna be a loss.

Dream contest lineup, two per genre
My dream lineup would mostly be based on which games I think I could win, which are also games I naturally enjoy. Some of these are dream picks because I've never had the chance to play them in the contest.

​Action/Platformer: Spelunker, Mighty Bombjack
Arcade: Snow Brothers, Thunder & Lightning
Beat 'Em Up: Rollergames, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Puzzle: Yoshi, Palamedes
Shoot 'Em Up: Abadox, Gun Smoke
​Sports: Nintendo World Cup, Baseball Stars

Soccer and baseball?  What sort of Canadian are you?
​Dude baseball's awesome! Where I live I estimate it's the 2nd most cared about sport. As for soccer well, Nintendo World Cup is a good game and it's Technos developed, but if I can be real here, it's also pretty broken. The special shot is way way OP.

What, aren't you guys in CFL central?  Do Canadians care about the CFL?  I only know Dave Dickenson and Travis Lulay.
​Nah fuck CFL man. Idk from what I can see it's fallen out of vogue a bit. I'd say here the Blue Jays are a more popular team than the Eskimos. Again this is just where I'm from. I can't speak for Calgary or other parts of AB/Western Canada.

Do Canadians have Super Bowl parties just to have an excuse to have mock-Holidays?
Yes pretty much. Just an excuse to get together.  But NFL is cared about here. I find Super Bowl parties to be tedious, personally.

Do you want to know how I beat you at Palamedes?
Yeah I would be curious how you acheived the score you did. But as a quick disclaimer I will say I didn't bring my A+ game on the levels where you have to go for dice combos. I've always been more practiced at acheiving perfects, and it got to the point where I just thought, there's no point in grinding Palamedes out, I need all the practice I can get for Adventure Island. But if you have a secret tip we all want to hear it.

I'll tell you my secret, for a price.  Wanna guess what it is?
​Honestly, I really don't know. It has to be some alternate scoring mechanism, because looking at the scores now I got outpaced by 100K and I'm pretty sure I had one perfect stage up on you. I'm thinking if anything, it must be some mechanism where you take less points early in order to get more later? Genuinely baffled actually.

I meant, do you want to guess what the price is?    
All right, I'll take a guess - you want me to change my avatar in exchange for your Palamedes tip? I know you won't rest until you change everybody's avatar at least once.

Hah!  Oh no, much more devious.  I want to change your NAME.  Just for a month or so.  And it would probably be PG.
...and by that I mean Poltergeist or Temple of Doom-levels of PG in that it might still scare young children
​Ahhh.... I don't think I can do it, man. I want to be a good sport and say I'll do it, but... I swore I'd never change my username. Is this is a standing offer that can be cashed in at a later date, if I change my mind?  

We'll see.  Speaking of avatars, skinny and I are now tied 1-1.  Who would you put money on?
​I'm gonna put my money on you. My reasoning is that we're playing some of the more... unpopular beat 'em ups, and I think you have a greater patience for "unpopular" games.

Interesting.  We'll see what happens but a 2-1 lead for him is likely
Do you recall what characters you used in your Rollergames run?
I used Hot Flash for my entire run, not the ideal choice for certain levels but it broke my concentration to learn the slightly different play controls of each character.

Yeah I used her for much of the game too, especially the last level where her speed lets you skip over some of the conveyor belts.  For the jungle level I switched to the medium-speed guy so I could stay under control for the platforming.  Those roller-skating bastards are squirrely.  Did you end up beating the game?
​I never beat the game. It wasn't needed for the contest run, so I guess I figured why bother. I still don't know how to beat the end boss although I recall you mentioning it was a trivial fight anyways.

Yeah he kicked my ass the first few times, but since there is unlimited continues you eventually figure out his pattern and beating him becomes a joke.  Still, I'm a guy that needs closure so it really bugs me when I don't finish something.  Like the fact that I spent all that time grinding the earlier levels of Adventure Island and never really gave worlds 7 or 8 a shot eats at me

Ten favorite games of all time, any system
Ten favorite games is a very hard list to pare down, so a quickfire answer can't really be definitive. I'm gonna make this easier by not listing NES games, there's just too many and once you start listing NES games you're tempted to just make the whole list NES.

Super Smash Bros. - Nintendo 64
Mario Party 3 - Nintendo 64
​Mario Golf - Nintendo 64
Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64
Banjo-Tooie - Nintendo 64
​Pokemon Snap - Nintendo 64
​The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - WiiU
​Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble - SNES
​Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - SNES
Lost Vikings 2 - SNES

I think I've played through all of those aside from Pokemon Snap.  I'm guessing you played through all of these when you were 10-15?
For most of these I would have been even younger, born in '91, and then some like DKC3 and Lost Vikings 2 I never played until I started collecting. Top 10 is such a narrow window, a lot of these I added to my list because the multiplayer factor elevates them to a level you can't reach playing by yourself.

Did you play Yooka Laylie?
​I didn't. But I want to. I checked out some reviews, lukewarm at best on average, but I don't really care. I want to try it anyway if not just for the atmosphere. On my pickups list.

Is Breath of the Wild truly the greast Zelda ever, or is everyone still just living in the hype?
​I actually kinda think it is. Or thought it was, I haven't been playing it recently, but that's more of a testament to my gaming behaviour than anything. It's a huge game. There's a lot to do and many different paths to do it. You can also paint your armor. All the essentials for a classic.

Not only did Mario Party destroy my controllers, it actually tore my palm apart one night while I was drunkenly doing the circular motion.  What's the most damage a game has ever done to you?
​Ice Hockey for any extended period of time just destroys me. My fingers get indented and I get bad carpal tunnel. I actually love multiplayer Ice Hockey but when it comes up on the contest roster I basically ignore it. I can't grind it for that long.

What is the absolutely worst game you've ever played?
This one is a tie for me. My old answer would have been Days of Thunder for NES, it's just so boring and drab in every way. But recently I played Babar for GBA and it's bad, like really bad, horribly boring. I honestly tried to like it but it just had no redeeming qualties. Shockingly the previous owner had a 100% save file, and based on what you need to get for 100%, it appears pretty time-consuming to do. That person had patience.

Pray tell us what would compel one to play Babar on GBA?
​A while back I was game hunting with my friend Alex (alekx on NA), we both collect GBA CIB's, and found in the bargain bin two nice CIB's for $7 apiece: Babar and Garfield. They looked like they came from the same owner and are published by the same obscure company. He grabbed Garfield and I picked up Babar. Garfield seemed like it wasn't that bad but as I said Babar bored me out my skull. It's cool though, alekx bought my Babar, it's out of sight now.

Would you say Babar is considered a great source of national pride for your country, and you were playing out of a sense of patriotism?
​I'm going on record to say Babar does not represent our country at all, despite our British heritage. Babar is widely known as garbage, and was always the cartoon to avoid in the cartoon lineups in the old days.

I haven't seen it since I was probably 5, but some part of me is nostalgic for it.  Of course I'm also very nostalgic for The Care Bears Movie II, so what do kids know?
What's the absolutely best and worst kid's games youve ever played?  Besides Babar.
I'm gonna say my favorite kid's game is Color A Dinosaur. I played it competitively at a local event, with about 6 other people in realtime on multiple TV's. We were all given a specific color configuration and raced to solve it. I failed miserably but had a good time. Probably outside of that contest it wouldn't be so fun, though.

​Honorable mention goes to Cars for Gamecube. All the original voices are in the game, including George Carlin as the hippie van. Also, it's actually a good game.

​Least favorite is Finding Nemo (GBA), I didn't play it myself but I watched this girl play it and Jesus it looked boring. I set her up with Ocarina of Time shortly after so I don't think she'll go back to Nemo now.

Reminds me of when my brother was playing ET on GBA.  I went out and bought him a Mario game that day.  Now he sits around playing on Steam for 20 hours a day so I like to think I successfully ruined his life.

(Krunch apologizes for leaving for a long work absence)
No problem.  We still have another week (or two if necessary), so no rush.
Speaking of though, what do you do for a living?
​I work at the family business, which is a trucking outfit in Nisku, AB. Oilfield transportation and all that jazz. I mostly just do bookkeeping in the office, it's a nice slack job and I'm free to shuffle my hours around however I need to. And then on the side I sell games (well, manuals and boxes, really) just like lots of people on NA. Reselling at least funds my collecting and gives me some left over.

Do you earn more selling games or working at the trucking office?
​It depends on the month, generally I earn more per month at my day job but it only takes 1 or 2 big, near-effortless sales in a month to tilt it the other way.

What's it like being a Canadian?
I don't know. I was born here and don't know anything different. As a collector it's hard right now because our dollar is weak and shipping costs to Canada are exorbitant. The weather at least where I live hasn't been great either. But then on the other hand we don't have an angry clown troll as our elected leader, there's always an upside.

You and Killer Kobra seem to be good friends.  Did you guys meet on NA?
​Yeah I'm still good friends with killerkobra. We met over Kijiji, which is basically Canada's Craigslist for those who aren't aware, and then I guess kind of through NA. I always forget the details so he'll probably correct me on whatever I say here, I think he e-mailed me about some games I had for sale and then over the course of a few e-mails brought me to NA. And he also made some remark about how if I try to sell on NA the guys there will lower all my prices for me, which never happened. We did a deal not long after and bullshitted for like 3 hours when we met up. So this was late 2010, crazy that it's almost 7 years ago now. In the past few years we've worked together to grow the Edmonton collector scene, every few months we rent a hall and host a meetup for people on NA, just a spot for everyone to get together and trade/game/hang out. The meetups are always a guaranteed good time.

I believe Alex(Electric) went to one of those.  Or at least I think he told me something like that.  What was that like?
​Hahah yeah AlexElectric came to the 5th meetup I believe. By this time he was already posting like a madman on NA, but this was pre-ban. In real life he honestly just seemed like a normal chill dude. He was really enthusiastic about SNES. I had the honor of toking with him, in fact we smoked some shatter in his car and it was mighty fine. Maybe I'm the only NA member to toke with AlexElectric? I got no weird vibes at all and then the AlexElectric April 2nd saga happened. I didn't know what to think. In my mind he was still welcome to join us for meetups. But then it seems that bridge got burned, so I haven't seen him since that day. RIP AlexElectric

Some people just turn their persona up to 11 when they get online.  Something about a keyboard frees you from inhibitions or something. 
He actually contacted me several times about apologizing to the admins/mods over that fiasco, but then went MIA during negotiations to re-instate him.  Candle in the wind and all that...
​Yes, I believe the official term is "Keyboard Cowboy". And since he's the type to search his own name and might be reading this, once again, RIP AlexElectric you fallen soldier.

Well if that is the case, Alex you have bad hair and your copy of Aero Fighters looks like shit.  Maybe that will bait him.
I stalked Killer Kobra a bit for the purposes of researching for this interview.  He seemed to be pretty metal in the past.  Is he still metal, or just an old fart?
Well, I think once you're metal you're always gonna be kinda metal. Killerkobra is still metal. I know he sold a fair bit of his old band merch and guitars and things like that but the items don't matter, the love is still there. If anyone wants to convert him away from metal, he is currently taking soundtrack suggestions in this thread:

Are you metal?  What music are you into?
​I'm not metal. I'll listen to metal, if I'm in the right mood, but not metal. Of course I like the pioneer metal I guess you'd call it, think Deep Purple or Sabbath. 
​I can get on to a wide variety of genres, like pretty much anything as long as it's not horribly composed or an earworm. But 60's/Early 70's rock was where I cut my teeth and what I'm most interested in historically and collectably. Currently one of my projects is hanging my favorite LP's from my collection on the wall, the ones with the most alluring artwork and condition. It's a checkerboard pattern where the LP's are right up next to each other as to completely engulf the wall, it is turning out great so far. I'll spare the name-dropping of what artists I'm featuring but it's nearly eyegasm worthy.

Favorite Band?  Favorite album?  Best concert you've been to?
My favorite band would be Steely Dan, which would be in the running for favorite concert as well. Album, now that's a tough one. I'll let the checkerboard determine it:


Without googling it, do you know where the name Steely Dan comes from?
Yeah it's the name of a dildo in the book Naked Lunch, which I've never read.

You should.  It is definitely... a book...
​I'm also good friends with alekx and Nesmaster on here, but apparently our forum banter is less obnoxious. They are both local, solid dudes. Nesmaster and I are bonded for life ever since we got in a car accident together, but don't tell my insurance company.

Who was driving?  We'll keep this on the DL (do kids still say that?)
​I was driving... yeah I was totally driving. The roads in Edmonton and area were really icy this winter for like a month. Going down a back road, I just couldn't stop with my all-season tires, I was slipping everywhere.  It was either blow through a stop sign to cruise across a busier road, or hike into the ditch to blow the stop sign right off with my car. I had to take the ditch. My passenger door panel is still rolled up like a tuna can from hitting that post. Luckily Nesmaster wasn't hurt, and miraculously, we were able to get the car out of the ditch without calling a tow truck. I had to drive later that night and I've never been so shaky behind the wheel. Here's a picture commemorating the event:

​[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[INSERT PICTURE HERE, I WILL EDIT IT IN LATER, JUST NEED TO GET THE IMG URL FROM ONE OF THE GUYS]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

What other hobbies or interests do you have?
Gaming, music and partying are basically the holy trifecta. I guess I'm into board games too.

Are you the guy at the party that gets fall-down drunk and has to be carried out, the guy who keeps who's normally super quiet but loses all his inhibitions and starts talking up a storm, the guy who starts telling all of his friends how much he loves them, or all of the above?
​I've been all those types of drunk. But usually I hold my liquor well, and I'm naturally talkative anyway, so if I get ranting, it's not much of a change.

Domestics or microbrews?  I'm assuming domestic up there is like Kokanee or Molsons
Domestic Canadian beer is pretty much terrible, I can't even drink pig-swill Kokanee.

Wine, beer, or liquor?
Honestly I'm not much of a beer guy, generally I go for mixed drinks, scotch, or shots.  Wine is good but it only really works at a small gathering, not something I ever drink on a night out.

Wife?  Children?  Boy and/or girlfriend?
​I am single and minglin', and probably will be for a while. The fringe benefits have been great so far.

What fringe benefits?  Besides the gains in time, money, personal space, energy, freedom, oxygen, life force, sanity, not having to watch 13 seasons of Grey's Anatomy, or attend Bunco and/or pot luck gatherings.
Mrs. Landers if you pick up my phone and read this I am totally kidding!  Plus the fouton is cold and pointy so have mercy
Yeah you pretty much nailed all the fringe benefits, the only one you're missing is variety.

You're still young.  Think kids will ever be in the plans?  You could put them to work packing, shipping, and listing your games for pennies on the dollar!
​I just go with the flow of life. If it happens it happens. I could go on and on about my own backstory and my views on the whole thing but I'll spare everyone, and just sum it up by saying that it's not really in my plans.

Palamedes or Rollergames?
​Palamedes all the way, no contest. I haven't even touched Rollergames since the contest. Palamedes, I still pop in time to time. Plus, Rollergames is not officially endorsed by Jerbilly.

What do you make of the cult of hot dog?
The hot dog cult is real and I 100% endorse it, as well as any other Lunchmeat Incorporated-sponsored cults and affiliates.

The 2016 schedule or the 2017 schedule?
Tough question. It's hard to say because I haven't actually played through 2017 yet, in fact many of these 2017 games I have never played. I'll give this one to 2016 because it introduced me to games such as Mighty Bombjack, Rollergames and Lunar Pool. And also, because it had Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat, which is the official NES game of the NintendoAge Edmonton crew.

Bimmy or guillavoie?
​I love both of these guys. They are both good organizers and in their day were solid competitors. But since no one likes a politician's answer, I'll just say guillavoie, since he has been gracious enough to tolerate all my possibly-annoying late-night PM's over the years.

skinny or doug?
​This one's easier - skinny all the way - sorry, Doug. Skinny's posts are always hilarious plus he isn't in retirement. Doug's been making a lot of claims lately, but I want to see him put his money where his mouth is against 2017's field which is waaaaay more competitive than earlier years (with the exception of Tom Votava).

United States or England?
USA, because their politics are much more entertaining, even though they are also more likely to start World War III/nuclear apocalypse/robot apocalypse.

Crunch bar or Crackle bar?
WTF is a Crackle bar? I had to look that shit up, I don't think we have them in Canada. I'll go with Crunch, even though Crunch bars are scraping the bottom of the candy barrel as it is. Their biggest mistake was spelling it with a C.

AlexElectric or alekx?
​The only way to compare the two are by the quality of their Super Nintendo collections. On the one hand, alekx has a large quantity of uncommon CIB's in mint or near mint shape, most of which are 100% complete, and are supplemented by his VGA games, rare accessories, and all the similar condition games from other systems. But then on the other hand, AlexElectric has a loose Aero Fighters, and he found Peace Keepers for like 30 dollars. Tough call.

If his name is Alex, what the hell is alekx about?
Alex just knows that K is the magic letter that makes any username instantly cooler.

What do you think AlexE and AlekX are doing right now?
​Well, it's 2 am on a weekday as I type this, so AlexElectric is probably not picking up babes right now. Maybe he's at the 24 hour gym? And alekx is either sleeping, or he's pretending to sleep but actually browsing deals online. Hard to guess since I didn't really talk to alekx today, and I also haven't received any postcards from AlexElectric since he got banned.

What do you think bertsampson is doing right now?
​Bert's almost definitely sleeping. I'd put money on it. I don't remember Bert ever posting scores late. Then again I usually just glance at his posts since they remind me of how comparatively bad I am at video games.

I talked a lot of football with Stryphos last week.  Should I assume you're a hockey guy?  Or perhaps curling or the luge?
​"Curling" and "The Luge" sound more like sex positions than real sports, but I like hockey. I'd love to bring an Orange Zapper to the bar next game to shoot the Ducks on the TV screen, but something tells me the establishment won't like it. Typical Hockey Illuminati.

I had to look that up, to be reminded the Mighty Ducks are a real thing.  When you watched D2 were you rooting for the Americans or the Trinidadians?  Perhaps this was before your time.
The Mighty Ducks movies were definitely big in our house. I was pretty young though, and don't remember too many details. I'm gonna go ahead and assume I was rooting for the protagonist Americans, but really we were all just rooting for a good performance from Emilio Estevez. Also I want to add that the Oilers' loss to the Ducks tonight was brutal, I mean it was just really disheartening. I won't say which loss it was but just a sad one really. Screw the Ducks is basically the thesis here.

Have you noticed I have a mini-obsession with Canada?
You're obsessed, surely, but I'm just glad Canada's getting some dap. It's a great place to live, I mean the population per capita is just so tiny.

It's a Montana thing.  We're the Canada of the United States, and that really sticks in our craw.  Do you have that expression in Canada?
Sticks in our craw... yeah I may have heard it, maybe not from the mouth of a Canadian though.

Michigan crew or Denver crew?
Is Michigan crew just bimmy and Jerbs? I'm not sure who else they know, there's gotta be more right? Is doner24 Michigan, I know he used to go to the Midwest meetups? I love all the crews though. Any NA crew is a good crew to me. I'm always interested to know who knows who IRL.

I consider anyone and everyone from Michigan to be a loosely associated crew.
Did you buy a Switch?
​I didn't get a Switch.  I will eventually, but I already had a WiiU to play BotW. I'm hoping the third-party support actually holds up, I want there to be a ripe library by the time I get one.

What's your favorite contest memory?
​Aww man, honestly... so many. Too hard to pick just one. Any week where I placed top 3 had memorable moments, I mean when you're actually in the competitive fray it's always more fun. If I could just quickly namedrop a few of my favorite contests, some examples would be Bubble Bobble 2011, Ninja Gaiden III 2011, Burgertime 2012, Yoshi 2013, Palamedes 2013, TMNT2 2013, Mighty Bombjack/Rollergames/Lunar Pool 2016, Tournament 2016, Marble Madness 2017. And VPD...

What got you into game collecting?
My older brother started buying N64 games again, and we set out to reclaim some of the original carts that we lent out/lost over the years. He got me into Kijiji dealing and eventually I had a shoebox of dupes so I started selling as well, which led me to have more purchasing power. This was 2010 so finds were still ripe, yet you could still resell. I was very active, doing at least one deal a day for a decent stretch there. CIB collecting came naturally after I started acquiring boxes and liked the way they look - my whole colelction is CIB with some missing manuals I suppose.

Kraft dinner or poutine?
Easily poutine. Had poutine last night, it was a McPoutine. 4/5 would eat again

No words
Trump or Trudeau?
​I'm not really sure what to feel about Trudeau now. I would have to pay more attention to really have an opinion.  Trump is a clownweasel but maybe he's just what we all need to realize what a farce our system actually is.

Do you speak French?
​No, I can't speak French. I can kind of understand it when I listen to the local French radio station since I was in French in my early school days, but it has to be a real conversation where I can pick up the voice inflections.

Did you watch the movie Miracle?
Never even heard of it.

It's a hockey movie.  Yankees versus Commies.
Well shit, I'll have to look that one up.

If NA Survivor Season 1 had actually been completed, who would of won?
That's a question I won't answer right now. I've joined up for Season 2 so I'm still in the game basically, and I just don't think it's fair to answer. This season is being run by Goldeneyegamer and it's going 1000x smoother, Season 1 was just a stepping stone. I do think, however, that you and I would have both made it to the merge, we were really beasting through those challenges.

Sounds fun, wish I could of played again.
MULE or The Guardian Legend?
Easy pick for MULE, one of my all-time favs, and I still haven't touched Guardian Legend despite its contest almost being over.

Goldeneye Gamer or Inspector Callahan (NESKing80)
​I think it's cool they're both taking an interest in the old, and are actually positively contributing to NA.

Ever watch Dirty Harry?
Never seen it. Not much of a movie guy. There's a ton of classics I haven't seen. I never played the NES game either.

Ever watch the nth sequel with pony-tailed Liam Neeson and a young idiot Jim Carrey?
That honestly sounds like it'd be way more fun to watch.

Battletoads or Double Dragon?
​I like Battletoads more. Just has more variability/theme/nostalgia for me. I haven't played every game in both series, plus Battlemaniacs is weak, so it's a hard call.

SNES or Genesis?
​I'm just gonna say SNES here because experience but I'm actually enjoying collecting Genesis which is new to me. I gotta commit to trying everything I have but so far so good. The games do have more of a bootleg quality though.

Vita or 3DS?
​3DS! But it's a blind pick since I've never played either one!

Maple syrup or Canadian Bacon?
Syrup or ham*
​Syrup all the way, ham is for hams.

Wait, you guys just call it ham?  Are Americans racists?
Yeah just ham. Canadian bacon is... bacon.

I aplogize for America.  If you were an ethnic people the SJWs would of done that for me long ago
Strange Brew or Kids in the Hall or Trailer Park Boys?
​I don't know Strange Brew, but I think Trailer Park Boys was more groundbreaking than Kids in the Hall. KitH always felt kind of forced to me.

Lahey or Randy?
There is no Lahey or Randy. Each are spiritually dichotomized, and to be missing one is to be missing the other.

*Keanu whoa gif*

Shit-nado or shit-icane?
​I guess a shit-nado would pick up the shit and launch it, whereas a shit-icane would sort of just mesh it onto everything. Shit-nado.

Toxie or Gloves?
​I'd put good money on Gloves outranking Toxie this year... Toxie you were such a force in your early contest years. What happened.

Drunk happens.  Or in this case, lazy asshole happens.
See any wins in the rest of the 2017 slate?
(this was asked several weeks ago, pre-VPD)
The only game I think I can win this year is Yoshi. I can play that game for days straight and not notice the time. Last time I played I got second to Tom Votava, and I was one measly combo away from 1st. I've played since and beat my previous score. With this year's field I don't think this game will be anyone's strongest suit. It's not a grindable, solvable game which seem to be the type of games the field is excelling at this year. It's a game of randomness and tenacity. But with all that said there are a few to be wary of during Yoshi week, namely gutsman and some possible others.

What if Bea tells us she is terrible at Yoshi but that she plans on drinking some rum and tackling it.  How confident at that point will you be that you can beat her?
​I would still be confident. It would probably make me enjoy the week more, actually, to have some really heavy-hitting competition. If you're using Bea as an example, I know she can get good at Yoshi if she tried, but from what I've observed she excels at the grindier games. Yoshi just isn't a grinder.

Knock on wood
​For me, chasing wins is unrealistic because my skill level isn't quite high enough. I'm mainly just looking to discover some new games. Other than maybe the first block, this season has such a "B-Side" quality to it, there's a lot of games here that not many people have sunk their teeth into. The contests give you a solid reason to play games you would otherwise pass over in favor of something else.

I'm actualy hoping that happens as the season grinds on, and I (hopefully) have time to play something.  Lot easier to get a win in something no-one cares about rather than Life Force or Double Dragon II
​Yeah, I like how bimmy and guillavoie set up the roster this year. It contains some fan favorites, but there are so many obscure games mixed in especially the later the season gets. At first when I saw the roster I was skeptical, but now that I'm actually playing the games I think this roster appeals to the hardcore players which is what we needed this year, and like you said, it gives anyone a chance to score a win. I'm still baffled about how we're going to play Startropics competitively though.

I've never played it, but its a Zelda-like action adventure/RPG right?  I was actually toying around with doing A Link to the Past in a future year of my contest, but that tracks how many deaths you racked up.  Perhaps ST has something similar.  Actually they only thing I really know about that game is the star is named Mike Jones (thank you Survivor)
​Yeah, it seem Zelda-esque. I played it once early in my collecting, wasn't into it, and never touched it again. It'll be a strange contest week when it comes on the rotation.

Ever play the sequel?  I'd never even heard of it until I started collecting NES a few years ago
​I never played Zoda's Revenge, but I've heard on NA that it doesn't even hold a candle to the first one. Well, maybe it's just arch_angel who says that, but man, he really believes it, so I'm inclined to believe him.

He is a rather convincing fellow.  If he told me that A Link to the Past was a terrible game I'd almost want to believe him
Yeah, and it's always fun when arch_angel joins in on the weekly contest. If he gets into it, he'll post really detailed analysis of the game. It's been a while since he played... maybe he's due for a comeback?

Guts is getting pretty... steamed over losing all these games.  Think he'll get another win this season?
​Guts needs more victories, he deserves them. Guts and I are very similar competitors in that we each get the short end of the stick sometimes, except Guts is better. Sometimes there's an element of chance and circumstance at play that can easily rob a deserved win, like for example if a game you're good at blows up in popularity and now all of a sudden you have big competition. And I know Guts has had those types of losses and therefore not enough wins. I'm not looking at stats right now but I've played with him for a few years and it goes to show you can't just look at total wins as a barometer of skill.

The thing is, right now the wins might actually be harder to come by than they ever have before (aside from than the brief period where Tom and Guill were both going full bore).  Not only do you one of the greatest players of all-time, arnpoly, to beat out.  But you have table, arguably the biggest rising star, and Bea, who is almost like a Tom-junior savant with this stuff.  She's just unstoppable when she dedicates herself.  In my SNES thread she beat Out to Lunch in just over an hour after popping it in.  I've owned that game nearly 25 years and still have never been close to beating it.
And then there's another dozen players who are giving it their all every week.  A single win this season is going to something to be proud of.
Yeah, those are all good points you made. Hence why I'm only claiming a Yoshi win, and nothing more. The competition just baffles me, like I did worse than 10th place in Kickle Cubicle and I scored over 4 Million! Everyone is just so naturally talented and they're all bringing the heat. This contest used to be so much more casual.

Yeah I noticed that when I was archiving the scores.  I played the game for all of 3 minutes and got the same number of points.  Life can be a cruel mistress.  I think that's the phrase.
What is the hardest you've competed in a game?
​I'm not worried about it or anything, whenever I try really hard in any contest it's because I enjoy the game. I don't feel it was time wasted. I might only get participation my first time playing/enjoying/grinding a game, but next time the game comes up, I'll have a huge headstart on anyone who's never played it.

​The hardest I ever competed was TMNT II in the 2013 Summer Tournament. I was in the top tier and way outclassed. IIRC the rules were 1-life, farthest progression, lowest score. I only needed 7th or maybe 8th place out of 10 to proceed but I just couldn't beat Krang without dying, and didn't advance. Playing TMNT II was all I did that week, every last waking hour was put into learning the game, to no avail. I'm no stranger to disappointment when it comes to the weekly contests.

Brutal.  I've only played it a few times and never made anywhere.  I feel your pain though; I spent what seems like every waking hour on Adventure Island, and still put up a score that pales in comparison to what Bea did.  Some people just have that god-given talent.  How many hours do you think you spent on AI?
​I spent a lot of time on Adventure Island so I know the pain. I started playing in Week 1, so I want to say I put maybe 40-50 hours in? And yet, I think the farthest I made it was 6-3, I'm not sure I even made it to World 7. Still, making it that far on one life in such a cruel game is no small accomplishment, especially when you're also focusing on points. Some of the scores really do make you feel like an amateur sometimes.

What was worse, the falling platforms, the frogs, the coyotes, the boulders, or the flying fish?
​Boulders were easiest for sure. The falling platforms were tricky and required intense memorization, but could be mastered. The coyotes are secretly your friends and knowing how to score coyotes is, to me, maybe one of the most intriuging parts about the game. The frogs are dinks but they are actually quite stupid and easy to outsmart. So I'm gonna give this one to the flying fish, because dying via flying fish is a devasating way to die, and in the later worlds the levels that feature them are some of the most tedious ones in the game.

Predictions for Guardian Legend?
​I'm the wrong guy to ask. I have barely been following the thread at all. I'm just not that interested in this game, and I've already put in some intensive weeks lately on games I'm not good at... I'm happy to just phone it in this week. Coach Guill won't approve but there it is.

Predictions for Vice Project Doom?
My prediction is that I'm gonna win. I've been grinding it steadily and keeping quiet about it, and also, I probably won't win, but if I play to win I might actually win.

Oooooh, intriguing.  I was already anticipating a close finish between the Beas and Richards of the world.  Hopefully Santa doesn't post this until Sunday.  Assuming he's not dead.  Actually that's not funny, Santa I hope you're doing well wherever you are.
​I think Rich is gonna fall apart on actually putting together his best run, and he'll cut corners. And with the way Bea is talking, she just wants a top 5 finish or something like that, but then again, we've heard that story before. I think there is going to be a small variance in the top scores.

Interesting.  This might now be the most excited I've ever been to see how things finish (that I'm not a part of)
Really butchered the English language with that one.
Prediction for 2017 champ?
​It depends. It's almost like there's more than one way of winning - main leaderboard, three-tiered tournament, genre leaderboards. If we're talking overall and I had to pick one contestant, I'm thinking Bea_Iank. She's finally applying guillavoie's old credo of "participate every week" except the improvement is magnified since she actually places top 8 consistently.

In a contest tournament bracket, who would you most want to avoid being matched up with?
Ehhh it depends on the genre/game but first person to come to mind in general is Bea. If it's a puzzle game my answer would be arnpoly.

Who would you like to see get interviewed?
​There's a long list here, including some who don't participate frequently or ever anymore: mdb, Bea_Iank, skinny or the 42 foot tapewom, Brock Landers (but who conducts the interview?), Commander Santa, Toxie, Miss Clawful, anyone from the Colorado crew, zobber, tables, barrels, eritzio, Clayb1rd, smick, Gloves, Seppatoni, sunsetflip, Stryphos, ninjistar, Andy, Randy, or Mog. I'm sure I'm missing tons, the interviews are great.

I would totally approach Miss Clawful, but she has not logged on for years.  And I would love to do Andy, but he's already jumped ship from participating it seems.  I recognize sunset from my archive work, but don't know when he last joined in either.
Yeah, I'm aware that Miss Clawful is gone. Almost zero chance you'd even get a PM back let alone an interview. She was one of the best competitors in NA history. She was a quick learner and thorough, and meticulous at note-taking. It was fun to read her detailed notes or to get advice from her. Megan if you're reading this, NA misses you and we all hope you're doing well.

If anyone has a way of contacting her, I would if nothing else love to show her the archives so she could walk down memory lane.
​Andy though, I think you could get an interview. He's just too busy to play consistently. That would be a great read. Sunsetflip was an on-and-off competitor from the oldish days so I'm not sure if he'd be interested in coming back into the fold or not.

Yeah I think everyone would like to see that.  That goofy bastard would give a great interview.  If he jumps back in or stops working 120 hours a week I'll try to make it happen

No one wants to play FMK.  Think you're up for it?
Fuck Marry Kill? I'm always up for that game.

Wayne Gretsky, William Shatner, Jim Carrey
Well the easy choice for marry is Wayne Gretzky, no doubt about that. For the other it depends on whether it's modern Shatner/Carrey or any-era rules, but either way I think I'd kill Carrey.

Celine Dion.. umm (*researchs Canadian women*) Alanis Morissette, Kim Cattrell
If those are all before your time feel free to google
​This one's laughably easy. Obviously kill Celine, fuck Cattrall, and marry Alanis. (And by the way, I did have to google Cattrall).

Hypothetical.  I persuade Tom to be your personal coach for the 2017 tournament, and he leads you to a 1st place victory with logic-defying scores that will stand for eternity.  But as payment I get to choose your username(s) in perpetuity.  Nothing X-Rated... though possibly NC-17.  Do we have a deal?
No dice homeslice. Not even in interview format am I gonna throw out that offer. How do I know you're not just Tom in disguise, anyway?

What if I changed your name to Brunch?  And Tom is waaay prettier than I am, so I'm flattered
Heh I like Brunch. If I could change it back to Krunch exactly after a month I might consider it.

Do they have The Breakfast Club in Canada?
Like, the movie? We have the movie. But I guess we have all the movies. What else does Breakfast Club even refer to?

I'm just being a moron.  If you were any character, who would you be?
Probably the Brain or geek or whatever his official monkier is.  The bad boy character was too obvious and forthcoming in his bad deeds.

You just dropped your Project Doom bomb.  How confident in the win are?
...and how the shit did you do it?  I didn't play the game enough, but if anyone can destroy Bea (updates pending) by that margin, it raises my eyebrow
​I'm fairly confident in the win since everyone's still trying to figure out how I did it, but not confident enough that I'm going to let my score sit.  Since this won't be published until after the contest, my guess for the wide berth is that people aren't soaking up the many available points on 11-2.  You don't score for the boss timer (just a flat 15K for beating the first form boss) so you might as well farm, and farming the two frogmen + water bottle is probably the most profitable farming opportunity in the entire game at 1,300 per rep.

​Also, I'm very very good at farming the red ninja that drops a water bottle on 5-1.  And the conveyor belt level resets the timer twice so it's just a point orgy.  Maybe people need to use their special weapons more? These are all just theories at this point, but it adds up.

Do you think Richard is crying in his beer right now?
​I'm nervous honestly, he hasn't posted since I did... either he's busy for Mother's Day or he's staying silent and prepping a great score.  Which is why I'm gonna get another run going and see if I can beat 700K.

Final thoughts?
​I really enjoy playing in the weekly contests, they are so well-organized, friendly, funny, and they keep my passion for NES gaming alive. In fact, almost all of my single player NES gaming is contest-related - playing in this context makes the games that much better, to the point where casually playing can't really hold a candle.  I want to do anything I can to keep the interest for these contests alive.

Friday surprise.  I am too busy when I'm at home, and I'm reasonably confident there will be no Santa update this weekend, so here is the interview a few days early:


Interview #4 Super Jim Tendo

BL: Ok, first off, the question that everyone is (probably) dying to know;  how did you, Richard, and James meet?  Bullying small children at a Pokemon Card Game tournament?
SJT: About 10 years ago Rich and James were both working at a local record shop, I worked for another store in the company that was being shut down. I got brought over to their store. I thought they were brothers maybe even twins. I wasnt sure. We talked about wrestling on occasion but i never really hung out with them outside of work. We'd hang out during an occasional wrestling pay per view once in a while but it wasn't for a good 6 years later maybe that I started hanging It with them regularly. They have been buddies long before I entered the fray. I'm like the outsider third wheel. James and I had started playing card games (mtg) after work and when that all fell apart because too many people joined in our fun I started going over to rich's place where we took turns playing battle kid for a few hours before starting up Monday night raw. James was the first to quit that job. I quit and moved away for a while then went back and hated it so I quit again. Rich finally saw the light and quit. Meanwhile I got hired on at rich's other job just to torment him more really.

BL: Dream contest lineup, 2 per genre
SJT:
Action platformer: super mario bros. 3(maybe not after this year holy hell) flying warriors (or is that a beat em up?)
Arcade: donkey kong jr and bomberman
Beat 'Em Up: bad dudes and teenage mutant ninja turtles 2 the arcade game
Puzzle: I enjoyed puzznic this year and probably Tetris
Shooter/Shoot 'Em Up: my worst category, galaga and galaxian
Sports: world champ and wwf steel cage challenge

BL: Flying Warriors is one of those Culture Brains games right?  The only one I've played is Ultimate Fighter and that game is beyond classification
SJT: It is culture brain and its part platform part fighter part rpg and I've never beat it. Do you remember a series of trading cards featuring characters and art from various games in the early 90s? I had a a set of the characters from flying warriors and loved the art and characters and concept. The game is very difficult and I'd love to see the tournament Elite give it a go.

BL: I do not.  Then again, I did not remember the Halloween NFL cards until you posted them
SJT: Took me forever to google them


BL: Any idea what your personal best score in Donkey Kong Jr is?
SJT:I never played for high scores before the contests. My nephew and I used to see how many loops we could do. But I couldn't tell you a definite number.

BL: Top 10 games of all time?
SJT:
Zombies ate my neighbors (snes/genesis)
Super Mario RPG(snes)
Life is Strange (ps4/xbone/pc)
Roller coaster tycoon 2 (pc)
Viva Pinata (360/pc)
Super Mario World (snes)
Food fight (Atari 7800)
WCW vs nWo revenge (n64)
Pokemon red/blue (gb)
Portal (ps3/360)

BL: That is a very eclectic mix.  Do you mind expanding upon each selection?
SJT:
Zombies ate my neighbors is hands down my favorite game of all time. So much fun. I don't think anything else even comes close.
Super Mario RPG: so much content in a tight little package. I've lost track of the hours pumped into this.
Life is Strange. Absolutely a hidden gem.
Roller coaster tycoon 2 : endless hours of brain dead gaming. Building, managing, randomly killing park goers. Lots of fun.
Viva Pinata: another fun time wasting game. Just a brain dead veg session. I enjoy not having to think while playing Games.
Super Mario World classic fun
Food fight this game was very innovative at the time. First game I remember having an instant replay feature and its just stupid fun
WCW vs nWo revenge this is the epitome of what a wrestling game should be. Its absolutely perfect in every way. I'd love a modern game built with this engine more than just about anything.
Pokemon red/blue: they might not have aged too well compared to the newer versions but I will always love Pokemon.
Portal - great for when you have a spare hour too kill.

BL: Ever beat Zombies?  I got to the final spider once, but I got smoked
SJT: I've beat it legit maybe once. Handful of times with game genie codes. I like putting infinite weapons on and playing it weed whacker only

BL: Did you ever manage to do 100 consecutive jumps in Super Mario RPG?
SJT: No I can't say I ever did I don't think I broke 40

BL: It was also the first game I ever bought myself.  Recall what yours was?
SJT: I remember Saving up money and begging to buy star fox.  I had a Nintendo power subscription from the begining and the hype was real.

BL: Live up to the hype, or was it a massive letdown?
SJT: I fully enjoyed it but have never been good at it

BL: Ever beat it?  I got to Andross once
SJT: Nope I never got the hang of it. Shmups are definitely a weakness even 3d ones.

BL: Star Fox or Star Fox 64?  Or one of those other dumb ones if you really feel like choosing them...
SJT: The original.

BL: What is Life Is Strange?
SJT: Life is Strange is a point and click story game from square Enix. It came out last year I think and I fell in love with it. It centers around a young photography student ego discoversv she can control time and has to solve a murder mystery in a small town. Super rad. Super depressing. I was pretty messed up after my first play through.

BL: Interesting, that sounds very up my alley.  Which system did you play it on?
SJT: Played it on steam first then bought it for ps4. And my god does it look gorgeous on there.

BL: If you could have a true sequel to any of those titles, which would it be?
SJT: If square Enix and Nintendo could work out a deal I'd want another mario rpg. The first couple paper mario games are great as are the mario & Luigi rpgs but they just don't have that same magic. He'll even if they only gave us a game about the other characters from that game like geno and mallow I'd be happy.

BL: Have you tried to play any of those with your son?  He appears pretty young, but I figure something like Viva Pinata or Food Fight might be pretty simple
SJT: We haven't played any of those yet but he loves smb 2. He plays super Mario 3d world on the wii-u more than anything and he's getting quite good at it

BL: What's your favorite genre of game?
SJT: Point and click adventure Games. Tell tale makes some amazing ones. If tell tale or don't nod made a firefly p&c game I'd be in heaven

BL: Ever play Grim Fandango?  I think that's my favorite.  Only Tell Tale one I've got to so far is Walking Dead Season 1
SJT: I did not play grim fandango but I hear its good. The back to the future one was good. Batman was solid. Tell tale did things the right way but they can't touch the classics like monkey island or full throttle or the leisure suit Larry games. Point and clicks are mostly a forgotten art form.

BL: Worst game you've ever played?
SJT: Recently super bomberman R for the switch. What a let down. Sloppy controls bad camera angles. They aren't too much money getting Goku to voice the red bomber. Before that I dunno probably state of emergency. Another game I was really excited for and it just didn't do a thing for me.

BL: How do you f up Bomberman?  Take a 25 year old game, add some new layers of paint, polish, and features, and release.  Right?
SJT: It feels so clumsy and the collision detection is awful. Even after the recent patch. 

BL: Hobbies outside of video games?  I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess drawing is one of them
SJT: I've been drawing for as long as I remember for sure. I graduated from the art instructing schools although its not accredited, Charles Schultz is a graduate and that's alright by me. My biggest hobby is toy collecting and general collecting. I have a Ghostbusters collection valued at a few grand, I lost track. I love to read and play disc golf although I haven't had much time for either of those recently.

BL: Have far can you launch a driver?
SJT: I can't drive very far at all. Mallybe 250ft if I'm lucky

BL: I pizza toss any shot within 50 feet.  How much of a weirdo does that make me?
SJT: Hey if you can control it that well why the he'll not. I got a buddy that tries and fails pizza shots quite often but the fucker can throw rollers a good 500ft so he usually still pars.

BL: What's your absolute favorite piece in your toy collection?
SJT:


BL: I'm not sure what I'm looking at, and I consider myself pretty embedded into nerd culture
SJT: Its a Japanese comedian named egashira 2:50, figma figure. I saw it at an anime convention and had to have it. Its so wonderfully goofy. I really want this hentai Kaman figure to go with him.:


BL: I probably should stop conducting this interview at work!  ...but I also have no time at the house (seriously, you should of seen how pissed the wife was when I abandoned her for 10 minutes to consolidate Krunch's interview!)...
Guess I'll just keep your answers open in really, really small windows
SJT: I can't promise that there won't be more questionable pictures.

BL: Married?  Boyfriend/girlfriend?  (Besides Richard).  Planning on any more demon spawn?
SJT: Its surprising I don't have any kids from my previous marriage honestly. Live with baby mama. We're alright most of the time. I do not want any more kids. I never wanted any in the first place but he changed me as cheesy as that sounds. I spend every spare minute I have trying too keep up with that gremlin.

BL: You and James have kids.  When is Trixy gonna start puting the pressure on Richard?
SJT: She's a violin teacher, last thing she wants is more bratty privileged kids running around.

BL: Is that how they met; Richard was undergoing some private tutelage?
SJT: They secretly lived in the same complex without knowing it. Or maybe they did but rich was married. It would be a better story had they crashed into each other on a bike trail and chivalrous as rickyface is he'd walk her bike home for her. Where they discovered they were neighbors and got little heart sparkles in their eyes.

BL: Is there anything he won't run into with his bike?
SJT: Talent

BL: Are people sick of dumb Breakfast Club questions?
SJT: Judd Nelson was the shit as Hotrod/Rodimus Prime

BL: He had the touch alright
Which members of the Brat Pack would you, James, and Richard be?
SJT: I would be ally sheedy so I could grow up, move to Montana. And chill with Steve Gutenberg and Johnny 5. Rich would be the guy that sees ghosts because he doesn't believe in them. And that leaves James as Molly Ringwald (the touch, like you sing in your movie!)

BL: Who would be the faux-Indian Fisher Stevens character?
SJT: He would be played simultaneously by the superANDBrothers barrels and ladders

BL: Hmm, barrels does appear to be pretty white.  Jury still out on ladders.  I think you scared him off.
SJT: I did call them out on posting together and with similar scores.... Weird.

BL: Which NA'er would be Long Duk Dong?
SJT: Capt'n Morgan drinker he can be a knob when he wants (is that going to get me banned?)

BL: Probably
SJT: He's why the rum is always go

BL: Who would James/Molly Ringwald take to the prom?
SJT: Whichever most eligible bachelor has the coolest motorcycle.

BL: Walk me through a day's work at the liquor store.  And what is the absolute worst customer you've ever dealt with?
SJT: I mostly just ring people up while the other chuckleheads put stuff in the coolers. We have a huge craft beer selection and We have the largest selection of kosher wine this side of Chicago so that can sometimes be difficult. But by far my least favorite customer is an older lady who wants mini bottles of a certain champagne who demands help but gets offended if you try to take stuff out of her cart. She throws a fit and causes a scene. Our boss employs off duty police officers so we don't have much riff raff. None of the liquor store customers are anything compared too the customers of the record store though. Those Were some grade a assholes.

BL: Beer, wine, or liquor?
SJT: Water mostly.

BL: Even though you're in a micro-brew heaven?
SJT: I'm not a big drinker. Occasionally I'll have a blue moon or a rum and coke but usually 2 beers a week and that's pushing it.

BL: What were the worst sort in the record store?  Metal heads?  Punks?  King Crimson/Yes fans?
SJT: One occasion we had a presale for phish tickets and one guy purposely soiled himself because we wouldn't let him use the restroom.

It wasn't so much the people buying stuff but the ones selling used stuff to the store over privilaged, thinking their copy of like mike 2 DVD should be worth more than $1. We had seen some stuff. From tubs of dvds covered in mysterious white powder to DVD cases filled with live baby cockroaches. Personal favorite was the clearly meth addicted chick putting her used panties in a bag of dvds and winking and licking her lips towards our buy back clerk hoping he'd give her more. She was given zero dollars and told never to return.

BL: ...and none of your crew stayed working there?  Sounds like a dream job.
SJT: It was awful but occasionally we got crazy deals like when a lady brought a huge game lot in and sold them too the store for $1 a piece and rich bought them all at $5

BL: Recall what he got?  If not, I'll ask him when I interview him...
Joking.  I'll never interview that SOB
SJT: That's a Shame. It would be an epic shit talk fest. An internet fight for the ages.
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=10&th...

BL: Ever have to tackle a shoplifter?
SJT: No, we'd have been fired for that.

BL: Armed robbery?  If that triggers PTSD or something we'll cut it from the interview
SJT: I was involved in ann incident at a best buy where a guy opened fire on a cop. That was fun. You'll have to ask rich about the day the record store got robbed at gunpoint though. I was visiting the store that day to say hi to everyone and left about 10 minutes prior.

BL: Sounds like you guys live/work in the nicer part of Denver...
SJT: How else would I learn my sweet lock picking skills to break into his place

BL: Describe an average work day for Rich and Jim (note - yes, I forgot I had literally just asked this)
SJT: An average night for rich and i Its Tuesday. 130 pm we both cone in at the same time. I stay up at the register putting away cigarettes. Pints and half pints of liquor and ring out customers. Rich is MIA for roughly 3 hours with his best friend Greg. They claim they are putting away wine and liquor but we all know what that funny smell in the back room really is. When he finally reappears he's usually elbow deep in a bag of pork rinds. Meanwhile I've already rung out 500 customers by myself. There some unintelligible ramblings about how much I suck at video games. After 6 pm we have an off duty police officer come in and stand guard. Our Tuesday night cop is a giant of a man but he's quite entertaining and breaks up the monotony. Rich counts the drawers before we leave because believe it or not he's fairly good with money. Maybe some sort of rain man action. We lock up and he walks home. Somewhere in the middle of all that rich makes his special display look pretty.


BL: Describe an average day in the life of Super Jim Tendo.  I'm assuming that's your real name.
SJT: A day in my life? That's not very exciting. I work 8 hours a day 6 days a week. On my days off I'm doing all I can with the gremlin though. Parks, museums, zoos.  any kind of out of the house mischief I can get into game on. Before parenthood I was in culinary school

BL: That sounds familiar
You didn't mention cooking as a passion before.  Ever thought about going back?
SJT: I enjoy cooking and wouldn't mind a food cart of my own selling sandwiches of some sort. I dunno if I'll continue or not. I probably should finish it off as I walked away with a 4.0gpa and only 2 semesters left. :/ I did learn That while I enjoy cooking a lot that art is my true passion and that the restaurant life is not for me.

BL: Food truck/carts seem to be popular anymore.  Low overhead, low staff, mobile (obviously).  Ever seriously considered it?
SJT: I was living in a town called Pueblo and a guy was selling a hot dog cart for $500 I wanted it so bad but the baby was on the way so money needed saved.

BL: Yeah I know Pueblo because of the DII team (I'm a college football guy). 
SJT: CU Pueblo they are the rival college to the one I went to. Given there's only the 2 schools down there.

BL: What about freelance art design for restaurants?  Menus.  Websites.  Ads.  etc
SJT: Menu planning was one class I still need to take. I did dabble with food photography which was fun. Also a dish called Chorizo flamedas which was just fried chorizo and queso heated over an open flame then set ablaze with tequila and served on a tortilla.... Amazing!

SJT: I've had a handful of freelance art stuff. Mostly t-shirt and logo design.

BL: I bet a line of humorous NES shirts would sell.  Granted they wouldn't exactly be licensed, but who is tracking the Kickle Cubicle IP on etsy?
SJT: It can't be that expensive too buy the kickle ip as is anyway. Maybe we can get together as a community. Buy the rights to kickle. Have some of our developers and homebrew experts make a mature kickle game similar to conker and retire off the merchandising alone.

BL: It's a HAL game I think (note - it's not, I'm an idiot).  I'm assuming they are under the Nintendo umbrella unfortunately.
SJT: Those hal Bastards!
Speaking of molester kickle. Bad street brawler gives him a run for his money in stage 2. What exactly is he doing to those poor dogs and midgets?

BL: Haven't had a chance to play it, but I'm sure it will be a topic of discussion in that thread
SJT: Its goofy. I dunno what they wanted to accomplish with that game. Its an oddball but pretty fun

BL: What made you move to Denver?
SJT: I was born and raised in Denver. Briefly lived in Colorado springs during my first marriage. Moved to Pueblo a few years ago to get away from the city for a whilel. Its expensive here but its my home. Also its snowing in may!

BL: What' the best restaurant in Denver? I was down there a few years ago for a Bronco game, but the details are hazy as to where we ended up eating. Probably a series of brew pubs
SJT: Bull & Bush brew pub had great beers and great food. Domo is my favorite sushi joint. It doubles as an aikido dojo and all the chefs are sensei's and scream at you as you walk in.

What did you think of invesco field? I much preferred the old mile high stadium

BL: Our seats were nearly at the top of the stadium, and I spent half the game trying to figure out how dead you would be if you took a spill going down the steps, and the other half trying to figure out which ant was Brady Quinn being decapitated
SJT: Did you come in through DIA? its haunted and satanic did you know that? Bluecifer the guardian of dia that big blue horse

BL:What is DIA?  I'm pretty sure we walked there from downtown
Ah, I see, the airport.  I'm reminded of DQ's poll about such a thing.  No, we drove down from Montana.  Because nothing says vacation like 10 hours of driving.
SJT: Yeah the airport has all kinds of conspiracy theories surrounding it. Fun stuff.

Someone died falling off the Ramps earlier this year. I think there's been a handful of deaths there.

We drove to North Dakota that took us like 15 hours. We used to drive too Utah twice a year via Wyoming 8-9 hours each time. Talk about exciting vacations.

BL: What was in Utah?  Let me guess, you were making a holy pilgrimage
SJT: My grandparents lived there. Trixys family is also mormo based.

BL: Are you a religious man yourself?  Pastafarian still counts.
SJT:

I am not religious. Not even pastafarian or robojew. I was raised Roman Catholic but that's a big commitment.

What is there to do around Montana? Short circuit location tours?

BL: We mostly just ride horses, shoot wolves, mail tiny explosives inside packages, and yes; hang out with Ally Sheedy and the Gute
SJT: Where else have you traveled too? I'm partial too Chicago, that place was awesome. Boystown Chicago during Halloween was off the hook!

BL: Chicago, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh for my family, Atlanta and Houston for the wife's, and many other places for concerts or sporting events.  On one of the Chicago trips Bo Jackson was shooting a commercial at Nike Town.  On the way out he practically got mobbed.  My grandmother actually shoved me in his direction to try and get a desperate picture.  I'll have to dig that up someday, it's quite pathetic
SJT: I'm going to new Orleans and Pensacola Florida in a couple months for nothing more than family vacationing.

BL: I'd love to go to New Orleans for the food if nothing else.  How much do you plan on stuffing your face 24/7?
SJT: I found out there's a culinary history tour that includes food. I'll probably take that tour 3 times daily

BL: Pensacola eh, I don't think that's too far from skinny's neck of the woods.  I'd tell you to go visit him, but you might get shot in those areas.
SJT: I need to message him and find out. I will certainly sick out like a sore thumb amongst those hill folk

BL: They might be swamp folk.  I'm not sure.  Someone from the South could explain it.
SJT: All I know is we need to drive through mobile Alabama to get there and that whole idea scares the hell out of me!

BL: For years I thought The Who song was about Mobile Alabama.  Maybe it is.  I like it better that way.
And I think some of the Alabama NA folk might get offended by your answer.  Not that anyone on NA with Alabama as a location is actually from Alabama...
SJT: You know who loves The Who? Rich does! Those folk from Alabama will understand. I'm a city boy and a Yankee.

BL: What's the best meal you've ever had in your life?
SJT: Cauliflower pizza crust of course!

BL: I've made cauliflower rice twice.
Let me re-phrase that;  my wife had me make cauliflower rice, twice.  It was alright. 
Toppings on the pizza, or no?
SJT: Pepperoni and cheese. Keep it simple.
For real though the best meal I ever had was a nice pan seared salmon with summer vegetables and strawberries but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the restaurant

BL: In Denver?
SJT: The restaurant was in Denver. It's called Rioja's

BL: Seeing as how you game on the Vita and joined NA to torment James, I'm guessing you're not much of a collector?
...and then I immediately see you have a link to a collection in your sig
SJT: I had a nice collection as a kid and I can't find it. Drives me nuts. I recently found my consoles but the games weren't there. But no I'm not really in it for a collection. I'm good playing on the powerpack if need be. My psp is my go-to because most of my quiet time is during morning rituals.

BL: Sounds horrible.  The only thing I've misplaced is my Super Mario RPG guide, and that alone kills me
SJT: I know I have (had?) some sought after games like bomberman 1 and 2. Felix the cat. Dragon warrior 1 2 and 3. Its brutal not knowing for sure.

BL: James probably hocked it to buy pogs
SJT: I'd believe it. Oddly enough I got most of my old collection from a video rental store that was a large pog dealership too back in the day. Your Nostradumbass powers are showing.

BL: Hah.  Pog dealership.  What are your other favorite '90s relics?
SJT: Monster in my pockets, M.U.S.C.L.E. men, and battle beasts.... Those are probably all 80s....

BL: Think you can remember your entire childhood SNES collection?
SJT: No way. I really enjoyed tetris attack and the wrestling Games for it. I didn't have some of the standards though like earthbound, zelda or chrono trigger.

BL: Looking at your NES collection, it's still pretty small, but what was the best score you've had so far?
SJT: I got startropics for $2 at a hole in the wall comic shop. But now that I have my autographed John elway's quarterback compete again that's probably my favorite item and it didn't cost much to compete it.

BL: You also have The Mutant Virus.  Manage to beat that one?
SJT: I only paid $5 for that Mutant Virus and I picked it up during the week that rich was going off about it non-stop so that might be my favorite score since he doesn't have one. I have yet to beat it though.

BL: I don't have that one either, so I'm officially jealous.  And I was joking about beating it; it's supposedly the hardest game on the system.  Even Bea says so.
SJT: It is hard and I think that comes down to the tediousness of it. I can't beat stage 2. every time I think I'm making headway it just gets stronger

BL: I know you've said you prefer SNES to NES.  Do you collect that too, or anything else?
SJT: I don't collect snes. I probably should start. At least get my favorites back.

BL: Do you recall any more of the titles you did have?
I've been working on getting back all of my PS1/PS2/Cube games, and it's been slow and painful knowing what I orginally paid for most of them, but it's been very cathartic overall
SJT: We had a lot of snes titles. Mario paint was always a fun one. The Mario games of course everyone had those. Just off the top of my head in remember having zoop, killer instinct, street fighters, star fox, Mega man x and x2 . wwf games. Zamn. Some mortal combats. Sunset riders (which is my favorite arcade game but the snes port is meh)

BL: That sucks, especially Sunset Riders and MMX2.  Hopefully they are buried in your parents' attic or something.  My dad threw away a ton of my shit when I went to college and I still wake up in a cold sweat over it
SJT: There's a storage room they maybe in and I'm hoping that's true but that room flooded a few years Back so let's hope they are elevated. I'll be going through that mess soon.That sucks about your collection. I often think my nephew sold some of my n64 games.

BL: Do games age?
SJT: I don't think games age but our memories of them can be better than replaying. Sometimes with newer mechanics the older games can feel slow and clunky. Pokemon for example. Red and blue are much slower than the ruby and sapphire counter parts. My dad and I used too play Atari bowling a lot when I was a kid, would I enjoy playing it now? Maybe not but that doesn't mean the game aged poorly.

BL: I agree that sometimes the past is best left alone
We're making good time here. Any questions or topics of discussion we haven't hit on that you think we should?
SJT: I think we've covered just about everything other than the fact I have my little pony tattoos. Which doesn't have much of a story too it but people do find it funny or wonder if I'm gay because of it. But I'm A brony and though I no longer follow that fandom I do not regret them at all.

Been all over the place with this. Maybe some paranormal stuff?

BL: So if I'm understanding you correctly, you are or were a Brony, including tats, but have distanced yourself from that movement?
SJT: Correct, somehow a fandom based around "the magic of friendship" which at first started a whole movement of unity has become filled more bullies and hateful people than I can stand too deal with.I lost interest in the show that spawned it all but I still love the original core values. I maybe an asshole but I'm a good asshole haha

BL: As for paranormal; ghosts, aliens, Planet Nibiru, all of the above?
SJT: Ghosts mostly but yes. I'm a Jack of all trades. Art. Cooking. Wrestling. Retail. And yes even my own paranormal investigation company. Although we've disbanded we had a good run. I loved getting calls from people saying they thought they had a ghost, because they got home smoked a bowl and started hearing noises.if you haven't noticed by now Ghostbusters has a huge influence on my life haha maybe obsessed. I love that shit though. I would love to do some solid alien or Bigfoot stuff. Maybe track down a chupacabra. I really want to investigate ghosts of other cultures. Every culture has ghost stories but all the ghost hunter shows just handle the generic American ghost story. Where the investigators going into the Japanese death forest or looking for ghost dogs and cats?. That's a billion dollar scam right there forget dead relatives. I'll claim to talk too deceased pets. Old ladies will pay me a fortune!

BL: Interesting. Care to elaborate more? Did you have business cards, a website, shirts/uniforms, a retro-fitted hearse, etc?
SJT:

Parody, get it?
We/ I still have the Facebook page up and running and take questions from time to time. We did have business cards and tshirts. I had a unique situation where a guy got in contact with me said his parents house was definitely haunted. However his parents are Jehovah witnesses and dip not believe in the paranormal. But dude was convinced they were secretly in a cult and doing done bad demon stuff. The guy was desperate but without hone owners consent to investigate the property I couldn't help. I wanted to check it out pretty badlyn though he was genuinely terrified. He said they had a secret crawl space that they invited friends over for secret meetings in there. Man i wanted to break in. But best not to get sued or busted for trespassing.

BL: That image seems very familiar.... is that swiped from somewhere or a reference to something?
SJT: Yeah its a stock photo. I didn't know what else to do for the logo.

BL: Ever thought about making that into web series or something? God knows there's probably already a ton of them on youtube, but with the right production values and ability to resemble human beings in front of a camera, you could have a hit on your hands
SJT: We were going to do a web series but the tech guy we were going ton use too film it and edit it decided to get creepy with myself and one of our female members. Shame too because we even got to join a celebrity ghost hunt at the Stanley hotel with the ghost adventures guys but all that exists is a couple photos of nothing.

BL: What is the creepiest experience Para-D ever ecountered?
SJT: There was some sort of growl in an old Victorian house that came through on video and audio recordings.

BL: If someone was to recreate the Adventures of Para-D as a NES homebrew, what game would it resemble?
SJT: It would probably resemble spy vs spy because more often than not we'd end up sabotaging the other investigators

BL: I haven't played it.  I was hoping you'd say Kick Master based on the time you had to kick a (possibly undead) octopus in the face
Richie, James or Trixy ever join your investigative crew?
SJT: Rich doesn't believe in ghosts. Trix is scared of them. I dunno James' opinion actually. Nope. None of them. There is group called the Denver Ghostbusters and they have a dodge magnum tricked out too look like the ecto-1. They mostly do parties and car shows. I really want to beat them up and steal it.

BL: What about creepiest DIA experience?
SJT: Last time I rolled through DIA I was wearing spray painted gold shoes, hot pink argyle knee socks. And a hot pink trillby hat with a pink care bear suitcase. I'm sure that terrified plenty of people

BL: Yeah, you're definitely gonna get shot in Mobile.
Did you ever receive your Aquarius prize?
SJT: I did! I received prize packs from 2 different people actually. Babywuchki sent me 6 black box (slalom, hogan alley, golf, pinball, gyromite, baseball) games plus those sweet mario3 signs. (banana for scale just for trixy) And AllYourBass hooked it up with a bunch of nes controller skins (including some nintendo age logo ones) and a holyhandful of steam games like 50 or so.


BL: Do you take drawing requests?
SJT: I used to take a lot of free requests but had to put a kibosh on that after people would request insanely intricate stuff and demand I do them in a hurry. I'll still gladly do freebies but I'm more selective before I agree. I'm currently working on a couple of paid commissions which is always good. Most the time I just draw. The last few weeks have been entertaining and inspiring. I used to do a thing on Facebook where I'd say x amount of commenters win sketches and precede to draw far more than I said I would.

BL: What If I was to request a quick sketch of skinny being emasculated by his wife?
SJT:

The way she emasculated him is an art form in itself

BL: Wow, the likeness is uncanny
Battletoads or Double Dragon?
SJT: I like the concept of battletoads more but the double dragon games better. Battletoads had a better cartoon though. But double dragon has that sweet ass movie. I'm going with the Lee's

BL: Michigan crew or Ontario crew?
SJT: Hmmm Ontario for no real reason

BL: James is the one that joined the contests first.  How did he end up lugging you knuckleheads into the mix?
SJT: Rich wanted to join when he found out about it. They both basically bullied me into it. I'm not as big an nes guy as they are. I guess James had been lurking for a while and talking rich into it. I just happened to be there while practicing for smb last year and thought it could be fun.

BL: Wrestling or NASCAR?
SJT: Wrestling. Never seen a single race. Wrestling is my life.

BL: Explain the passion to somehow who has literally never watched a match in his life.  Aside from the high school meet where my brother threw someone on their head
SJT: I grew up watching it and love every aspect of it. You get the wonderfully artistic showmanship. High drama. Fast paced action. It goes back to that turn your brain off good time. You get to watch a weekly show that has more story than an average movie. Goofy characters. And a hell of a lot of impressive athleticism. Where else you gonna see a 300lb dude do a backup

BL: Ever been piledrivered like Andy?
SJT: I have. I've been in a fair amount of compromising positions and dished out some as well. My signature hold is the Texas cloverleaf.

BL: Sound dirty.  When I played football we had to wrestle a bit.  The coach mentioned several times the desperation move of "checking the oil".  Ever do that?
SJT: Hahaha Not in a wrestling match. That's pure bedroom stuff.

BL: Doug is the one guy he's always going on about, Twarwick is the fat man, skinny is some protege character I forget.  Who are you?
SJT: Doug says that he's Shawn Michaels and that skinny is the protege which I pointed out would technically make skinny THE Brian Kendrick. Who was tag team partners with a guy named Paul London who I have trained under in real life a couple of times. I also trained under a man named Pat Tanaka who was a big deal tag team wrestler in the 80s and early 90s. I know you're completely lost on that one. But to answer the question I am definitely the representation of Jerry the king Lawler. The guy that gave Andy Kaufman the pile driver. He's quite the artist actually. I love his drawings.

BL: You're a stocky guy.  Think you could out-shot put Guts with a boulder?
SJT: The boulder would be conflicted. Would guts be in gutzdozer form?

BL: I'll say no since he would have no arms.
SJT: Then I don't stand a chance. That dude is yoked

BL: Would you rather take an (attempted) piledriver from Andy, have Guts toss a boulder at you, or have Bea go "apeshit" on you in a dark alley?
SJT: Andy was a joker but he took the business seriously outside the show so I bet I'd be perfectly safe. No way in Hell I'd want to run into bea in a dark alley. I've already got an ass kicking coming when she sees what secret stuff I put into the package I'm sending her with the kickle hat drawing. She's probably going to put out a hit on me, and it'll be guts with a boulder to do me in!

BL: Hah, I meant Megamanfan, where you would be anything BUT safe
SJT: Man I thought you were talking about Andy Kaufman this whole time....

BL: An honest mistake, I mix them up too
You obviously love Pokemon too (avatar, tattoo, etc.).  Explain the passion to someone who once again has zero familiarity with the subject
SJT: Take all the elements of classic rpg gameplay(leveling. Healing. Strategy.) . Add in a collecting aspect.(gotta catch em All) Tons of cute characters. And you get to train hard and level up so you can assert your dominance over the weaker players

BL: Every play a MegaTen?  You get to collect, heal, level, strategy, groom and pet pocket monsters, except they're Satan, Beezelbub  God, and Jack Frost.  Also, penis monsters.
SJT: I have not but you sold me with penis monsters.

BL: Red or Blue?
SJT: Blue. With the exception of my eevee, water Pokemon are my jam.

BL: James or Richard?
SJT: Tough one. James doesn't hang out much anymore but he did get me a complete in box copy of Ghostbusters nes. Rich I see almost every day. Aww who am I kidding. They are both little bitches!

BL: Who's handsomer, Richard or James?
SJT: That's like comparing shrek to donkey. So obviously donkey. I guess that means rich. Now that James seems to be competing again maybe that'll change. We need more good trash talk. Your hatred for rich only gets us so far. What is it that you dislike most about him?

BL: I'd say its that stupid taunting floating face.  Haunting my dreams and desires.  I mean just dreams.
SJT: Seems legit

BL: Don't think I didn't catch the Stupid Sexy Richard reference you mocked up earlier this season though.  No animation of a shaking ass though?
SJT: I thought about it but that would have been a lot of editing. But there's always your own special gif.


BL: ...well, this is Richard after that Krunch bomb





SJT: Hahaha amazing

BL: BastardSnow or TadsNads or Moist T?
SJT: Moist all day. I spent a week in North Dakota with him last summer.

BL: Which part?  I've been once.  Seemed flat and depressing.
SJT: Mostly in a town called Dickenson. (of course she'd live in a place with dick in the name!) We visited Bismarck and a small frontier town called medora that had a dude dressed like teddy Roosevelt handing out free lemonade. It was weird but awesome.

BL: Ever been to the real South Park?
SJT: I've driven through it but never stopped.

BL: Have any re-occuring nightmares?
SJT: I have this one where Richard became Nintendo age contest champion.... Wait that's your nightmare 😜

BL: Speaking of penis monsters, what do you make of the cult of hot dog?
SJT: I must have missed that one.

BL: Canada or Brazil?
SJT: Its cheaper to ship to Canada

BL: Star Trek or Star Wars?
SJT: Captain Picard is my all time favorite sexy starship captain.

BL: Go... Broncos?
SJT: Go 2002 buccaneers! I don't watch football but the NFL blitz games were fun

BL: I think you just like the fact they had a player named Tiki (note - I'm an idiot again, it was Ronde)
SJT: That's probably true.

BL: What's your favorite movie?
SJT: Ghostbusters 2

BL: I don't think I've ever gotten that response to that question.  Who does it for you more, Vigo or Janosz?
SJT: The comedy is much better in the second than the first. Vigo is a Badass.

BL: FMK - Egon, Peter, Ray, Winston.  You get to double up one of the options.  Literally, if you choose to do it with the "F"
SJT: Marry ray cause he's the heart. Fuck Egon and Winston because you know they can get down better. Kill peter because bill Murray held up the 3rd movie too long.

BL: When you answered that, were you picturing '80s Harold Ramis (Egon), or current day?
SJT: Considering he's dead? Stripes Ramis

BL:  Dammit, I had a good line ready for that one.
SJT: I'm sure he would appreciate a good joke

BL: What's your favorite band?
SJT: Reel Big Fish

BL: I think I know them.  They did that one song
SJT: Sell out with me oh yeah sell out with me tonight. Record companys gonna give me lots of money and everythings gonna be alright *horn hook* they are also the home team band of the Milwaukee Beers BASKetball team

BL: I haven't seen that in a decade or more.  I'll have to re-visit.
SJT: One of my absolute favorites.

BL: Baseketball or Orgazmo or Team America?
SJT: BASEketball easily, followed by cannibal the musical.

BL: What's your favorite TV show?
SJT: Firefly(second best sexy star ship captain of all time)

BL: I'm gonna name a poster, and you say the first word that comes to mind:
Richard
SJT: helmet

BL: table
SJT: ladders

BL: ladders
SJT: chairs

BL: barrels
SJT: donkey kong

BL: Toxie
SJT: nozone

BL: Gloves
SJT: Michael Jackson

BL: skinny
SJT: tapewom

BL: Brock
SJT: Sampson

BL: Krunch
SJT: berries

BL: Bea
SJT: beast

BL: James
SJT: blowbot

BL: Bimmy
SJT: abobobobobo

BL: Gui
SJT: en francais

BL: Tom
SJT: Jerry

BL: doug
SJT: showstoppah

BL: empire
SJT: records

BL: Hypothetical.  A WWE uh, guy, offers you an eight-figure contract on the show, and enough steroids, cocaine, and training needed to make you a star.
...but only if you make out with Rich every day, for at least 20 minutes, for the the rest of your life.  And you have to give and receive 100 sensual massages with James...
And they're both into it.

Do you do it?
SJT: Do I get to choose my character? Jimmy the Unicorn needs to be on tv. If that's the price to show the magic of candy mountain then I guess I must.

BL: Would he look something like this?


SJT: No, more this


BL: How tired of Rich and James questions are you?
SJT: More questions about the chuckleheads.  The world wants to know

BL: Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Jr or Donkey Kong 3?
SJT: Chunior

BL: NES Donkey Kongs or SNES Donkey Kongs?
SJT: Snes

BL: Zobber's beard or Odin's beard?
SJT: grabthars hammer!

BL: Severus Snape or Hans Gruber?
SJT: Hans

BL: Who do you think will win the bet between skinny and I?  Keeping in mind I play each game approximately 1 time each
SJT: Does skinny still even play? That's a tough one. He's had more wins overall but when you've applied yourself you usually have a decent margin. I'm going too give it to you.

BL: Who's gonna get their first gold; mbd or Richard?
SJT: If mbd can keep a cool head he's got this. However rich no longer has distractions and got his game room again so he might get his groove back

BL: Do you think Bea believes her own BS about gaming skills?
SJT: Oh man she sucks at these games. *has some rum* they make no sense *has more rum* then she figures them out while completely hammered *gets undressed* them she puts up more wins so far than last year. So silly. I'll never figure that one out. Ever. I can barely press the right button after a single beer. Maybe its a persona to lure us all in.

BL: Yeah I'm with you there.  As soon as I let the liquor do the thinking, my performance tanks off a cliff.  What about other performance enhancers?  I'd think the Colorado crew is quite experienced with those
SJT: Never touched the stuff myself. Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong.

BL: Mind blown.  What do the twins think of that?  Ever peer pressure you?
SJT: Once or twice. But they knew too back down. They aint want none dis.

BL: Does the baby mama play video games?  What does she think of the collection?  Or the MPL and Pokemon tattoos?
SJT: She doesn't play much. She gave up trying to understand me and my oddities a long time ago.

BL: Is there any game(s) she will play with you?  My wife is partial to Bomberman and Tetris Attack
SJT: She enjoys the persona games but she hasn't touched persona 5 since we bought it.
We used to play older bomberman games together. Bomberman 94 is a favorite.

BL: Are you a Persona guy?
SJT: I have never played a persona game. They seem very very very slow

BL: So she's not much of a gamer, but she plays Persona?  That's a pretty hardcore series in many ways...
SJT: Yeah. Makes no sense. Maybe one day I'll give it a go

BL: See any opportunities for a win in 2017?  Richard's title aside, no-one in the crew really has a win yet.  Could be some serious bragging rights on the line.
SJT: There's one game in particular that I suggested for a contest game that made the cut. I played it a metric fuck ton as a kid and I'm excited. Its not overly difficult though so it should be a rough contest. I don't have the time to fiddle my joystick like rich does but I don't think there's anything left that he's confident about. When the lust was announced I decided to pick 2-3 to really practice and get good at. And it seems James is back in the mix maybe he could be a wild card. If certainly like another top finish like I had in adventure island 2 last year but I am not too good at anything this year.

BL: Predictions for Donkey Kong 3?
SJT: Me in last place if I even make participation! And moist towlette to post her first score!

BL: Moist Towellete is a woman?  As much as Bea like to harp on men for being such strange creatures, I almost want to say the women in this community are much stranger.  Per capita.
SJT: Most towlette is like gozer. It can be whatever it wants to be.

BL: If she's Gozer, which one of you is the Gatekeeper and which one is the Keymaster?
SJT: Sometimes he's they keymaster sometimes I'm the keymaster sometimes we're both the girl. A lot of the time shes betty white. Its hot.

BL: So, in conclusion, she is a fan of squirting monkeys in the face?
SJT: Your Nostradumbass powers just predicted this weeks kickle drawing!

BL: How intriguing and frightening
Where does Tads Nads fit into the picture?
SJT: Tadsnads is the loinspawn of my employers.

BL: What do you think guillavoie is doing at this very moment?
SJT: Napping and having dreams about tables relaxing on a beach somewhere

BL: I was gonna say he's at the head of some large board room table, yelling at people, but I like your answer
What is your favorite contest memory so far?
SJT: Coming in second on adventure island 2 was pretty special but I think the stop motion animation I made last year was my crowning achievement. Anytime I get mentioned by Santa I get all kinds of twixt in the netherds

BL: What game have you competed in the hardest?
SJT: Probably adventure island 2 last year. This year I haven't made that big of an effort.

BL: I was so pissed at myself about that AI2 finish too, because I died over and over again on the final volcano level, which I had no real practice with, and the final level turned out to be good for point pressing.
SJT: I don't remember who was first but I got second and rich got third there was a small point difference between us. He'll say he let me beat him though. I found a really good point pressing spot and abused the Hell out of it.

BL: Mind sharing?  I recall doing something with an invinciblity bee earlier in the game, getting down to my second-to-last life I think.  And the last level for obvious reasons
SJT: I don't remember where it was but I can Probably find it again. It involved an exploitable loop with a bonus section.

BL: 2017 champion predictions?
SJT: Tablew seems to be bringing his A+ game this year

BL: I've had one person decline an interview so far (can't imagine why).  Who do you think it was?
SJT: I was wondering that. Why. Its so much fun answering questions. If it was James he's going for his master's so he's far too busy for us common people.

BL: No, not James.  Quitters don't get interviews.
SJT: Haha. Loser! Blowbot sucks

BL: Who would you like to see interviewed?
SJT: I know moisty would give you a train wreck of a shit show that I would find hilarious. Let's see what makes the new guy tick. Gloves came outta nowhere and has been solid.

BL: I think that could be arranged.  I just have to figure out how to keep the Canadian interviews fresh.  You can only ask so many questions about maple syrup
SJT: Poutine and venison flavored slurpees

BL: Would you eat a McPoutine?  Wash it down with a bag
SJT: I like poutine but Colorado is all about green Chile on fries. Way better than gravy.

BL: Krunch wouldn't let me re-Christen him.  Are you game?
SJT: Lay it on me.

BL: Jiminy Christmas or Reed Rothchild?  I'm an endless bastion of unfunny if you want some more.
SJT: As long as you change my avatar to that hentai Kaman guy you can call me whatever you like big boy!

BL: I'm an idiot, as I already forgot about my own self-trivia.  So...
Michigan musician, blood relative of mine
#1 - Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?
Answer - No
#2 - Hmm, is the musician still alive?
Answer - Yes, mostly
#3 - Is it George Winston?
Answer - No

You get three questions
SJT: Kid rock? Alice Cooper? Stevie wonder?

No, no, and no
SJT: Damn. I have an estranged cousin who was the saxophone player for billy Joel

Final question. 
The car that hit Rich. That was you right?
SJT:








(Nice job on the image hosting Jim)

Interview #5
The New Guy



BL: ...

BL: ......

BL: ..........

BL: ..................

BL:  Hello?

BL: ...............................

BL: ..........................................

BL: .................................................

(a million years later)

GO: Sorry man I was sent to the ER last night, and am at the doctors still. I should be back on a computer this evening, and better able to format answers then. Sorry bout the delay.

BL: Yikes, we should work that into the interview if you're comfortable with it
Mind sharing what's going on? Hopefully nothing too serious
GO: I dunno tbh. Frankly I overwork myself, and it's likely to do with that. My whole life has been a bit of a roller-coaster; I grew up with an abusive father early on, an abusive stop father later, a mother who stood by and condoned their actions, and then when I finally got away, Ive been plagued with mental and physical health issues, some stemming from the earlier years of physical abuse.

I've actually been approached in the past about legit writing a book, but I just try to keep myself occupied with other things, and not focus too much on the past. Of course it keeps coming back and biting me in the ass.

I've watched people die in a situation that should never be the case, I've reported my best friends father to the police for child pornography, been beaten and stabbed, hidden in an attic... Lots of fun stuff lol.
(this discussion is continued near the end of the interview)

BL: Jesus
Well, we can keep the interview to the more fun stuff like video games. Or can also dwell into this stuff too if you wish and are comfortable with it
GO: I am happy to answer any questions you ask, no worries about comfort. What's happened has happened. Whatever you think will make for an interesting read is fine with me.  

BL:  Alright, we'll start with the lighter stuff and ease into it
What brought you to NA?
GO: For the last 15-20 or so years, I was more of a die-hard Playstation gamer, especially since the PS1, and carrying forward into the PS2. When trophies became a thing, I was instantly hooked and got addicted. To the point that if I played anything else, I considered it a waste of time. The only other thing that I really did game-wise was shmups, as that is by far my favorite genre, and ever since I was a kid I always wanted to become good at them. At the beginning of this year I decided it was time for a change; I had been wasting my time with shitty games for no good reason just to get trophies, and I had also decided to go all-digital with the PS4, as I thought the world might be ready for it. I was wrong and a half. The PS4 turned out to be not quite the machine I was hoping for, and it just put a damper on my game time. I was always frustrated or just bored.

I decided it was time for a change.

A dream of mine had always been to have a game room in a basement or something - somewhere I could display my "retro" game collection and play the games I grew up with. Unfortunately years ago I had many games stolen from my storage locker where I used to live, so my collection had become rather small. I figured why wait, now is the time to change, and get a start on that hella cool collection. I love Nintendo and decided I wanted a place to share that love. Having been a member (and staff on) a Playstation forum for many years, I was familiar with what made a forum good and bad, and so I took that knowledge and searched for an appropriately fun, laid back community. I landed at NA as it looked like there were contests and stuff I could participate in, and you all seemed like collectors that would share my passion.

BL: How many trophies do you have?  My XBL Gamerscore is somewhere over 100,000; how comparable is that?
GO: For reference, here's my PSN trophy profile: psnprofiles.com/The__Noid

I have a total of 16,274 trophies, with 177 platinums, and 379 games completed 100% out of the 937 games I've played that have trophies. I am 34th in Canada, and 764th in the world.

For reference, 100,000 Gamerscore is roughly 4000-5000 achievements; if I were an xbox gamer I'd have around 400-500,000 GS.

BL: Top 10 games of all time?
GO: I'll keep this to one game per series, lest I fill the whole top 10 with just three series of games. Also I want to point out that across all consoles this is an incredibly difficult question and I am sickeningly torn between multiple games.

• Final Fantasy (NES)
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (PS1)
• Diablo 2 (PC)
• Banjo Kazooie (N64)
• Baldur's Gate (PC)
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
• Demon's Souls (PS3)
• Resident Evil 2 (PS1)

BL: Based on the era of most of those I'm gonna guess we're about the same age.  Most people seem particularly drawn towards games they played during a certain time while growing up
GO: I will be 29 this July, if that helps.  

The PS1 and N64 were right about where I really started playing lots of games. I grew up on the NES and SNES, and some of my favorite games are on there for sure, but due to my self-imposed one game per franchise rule, I was a bit extra picky with my choices. 

BL: Baldur's Gate over Baldur's Gate II?  I say that as a huge BG fan, who played through the original more than a few times, and even read the dumb novelizations
GO: I'm a bit embarrassed to say so, but I've played the hell out of BG, but never played the sequel. I realize that this sad truth means I should really be burned on a stake.

BL: Ever kill Drizzt?
GO: I have, yes. I was pretty cheap about it though, as you almost have to be.  

BL: Ever play the Dark Alliance games?
GO: I played one on the PS2, long ago.

BL: I think I slightly preferred Dark Souls over Demon's Souls, though I never did the multiplayer in either, and it's been a good number of years since I've played Demon's.  Probably due for a re-visit.  Maybe it will get one of those loathed remasters on PS4
GO: Much of my Demon's Souls preference was due to the situation around it; it was the most excited I had ever been to pick up a game out of completely nowhere, and it started my journey into the amazing collection of games in the Soulsborne series. I was at college, and sitting in class looking at the games that had released that day (a Tuesday), and saw Demon's Souls online. I had not heard of it previously, and when I saw the gameplay video I got up and left class, hopped on a bus, got to my nearest EB Games, and picked up the Collector's Edition. 

Dark Souls is undoubtedly the more polished game, and the first is easily my favorite of the series, but Demon's Souls was the one I put the most time and love into. I have gotten the platinum trophy on all 3 versions of it - North American, European, and Japanese.

BL: The original Final Fantasy is a bit of an outlier, release-date wise.  Better than Chrono Trigger, any of the sequels, and all the other beloved JRPGs?
GO: Another one where nostalgia plays a big part for me. As far as gameplay and story and everything are concerned, FF6 is the superior game, and certainly Chrono Trigger gets a huge shout out from me. But FF1 was the first game I ever obtained for myself, and the first RPG I ever played. It holds an extremely special place in my heart, and I blame it solely for my playing video games to this day. I've played every iteration of the original FF to death, and have easily clocked over 2000 hours into this really simple and not very difficult at all game. I've played with just about every party imaginable, including the dreaded solo white mage on the NES version. I will never turn down an excuse to play this game.

BL: Did you ever shoot The End when he's sleeping on the dock, or wait for him to die of old age?  What were your other favorite MGS3 Easter eggs?
GO: Oh yeah, I've played the hell out of this game. I remember on my first playthrough I shot The End's bird, not thinking it'd DO anything. His reaction though was priceless, and the whole experience was amazing. Revolver Ocelot is both my wife's and my favorite character and his portrayal in this game, and all of the truths revealed through multiple playthroughs of his backstory are just phenomenal. 

My favorite thing to do in the game is to activate the Time Paradox by killing characters that shouldn't be killed. There are a few instances where this is possible and the reaction of the characters in-game is once again, great.

BL: Resident Evil - Which moment in the franchise made you shit your pants the most?
GO: In RE2 there is this spot early on where you're going through a hall and some crows crash through a window. RE2 was the first RE I played, and this was probably my first jump scare in a game. Got me good lol.

BL: If you could have a true sequel to any of your top 10 titles, what would it be?  ...and since every single one of those has five million sequels (aside from Banjo), I mean an additional installment shaped by your vision
GO: Oh god Final Fantasy 100%. I'd kill for a game that goes back to the roots in theme and gameplay.

BL: Worst game you've ever played?
GO: Tom Clancy's Endwar.

BL: I got that from Gamestop for $1.  Are you telling me to purge it from the collection?
GO: I'll pay you $5 to film yourself destroying it.

BL: I've been known to rage quit a time or ten, so that could probably be arranged.
Dream contest lineup, 2 per genre
GO: I think I'll skip this and the SNES contest question, simply because I've only really played like 30-40 NES and around the same amount of SNES games, and not across all genres. I've no clue how to build these competitive lists of games and I applaud your ability to do so.

BL: Good answer.  I'm the same with NES so anything I provided would be from a sample size barely bigger than my selections
For SNES, I only had to play and learn, and become something of a foremost expert on, the entire library.... and I still botched some of the selections (like Killer Instinct)
GO: Eh we can't all be perfect eh?

BL: Explain the origins of your username, besides just being a play on your last name
GO: I've always wanted to have a small business of some sort and call it "Gloves Off", and I'm really super sorry, but it's really just cuz it's a play on my last name lol. I started with my youtube channel (http://youtube.com/c/gloves_off_g...) and went from there. I used to "brand" myself as "The Noid" (on other forums, Playstation Network, Twitch, everything). I used the Noid because I love the old commercials from the 80s of The Noid from Domino's Pizza and other commercials like it - the 80s was a commercial goldmine. I decided to move away from that character because it's incredibly difficult to sell something with an IP you don't own, and I couldn't use my last name "Glover" simply because then everyone would always be all like "Hey I bet you LOVE THIS GAME EH AHAHAHAHAH!". They still do that, but whatevs.

BL: I know you have a wife.  Plans for kids?
GO: At this time, no. We've discussed it though, and we're more likely to adopt than to "start from scratch". There are tons of kids out there with nobody to give them a proper home and really love them; I'd rather provide for someone who needs it, give them a chance to be great.

BL: Yeah I told my wife the same thing.  If she wants a girl we're adopting.  There's more than enough kids out there that need the home.  Also I may literally die if I have to raise another baby
GO: Also there's the whole "skip the crazy pooping stage" thing that adoption has going for it.  

BL: I don't care about poop, I just want to sleep.  In fact right now I'm slouching so bad in my office chair that I'm nearly lying down. Sweet, sweet sleep...
What do you do for a living?
GO: I am a web developer. I say that as generically as possible, as I sort of dabble in both the front and back end of things. I work at an advertising agency, BBDO; we're one of the biggest and most recognized ad agencies in the world, with a number of globally recognized clients, such as Pepsi, Frito Lay, Visa, Mercedes-Benz, etc.. 

I also do freelance web dev and graphic design. Since joining here on NA I've started working closely with Hogie at GVN on that site, which has been a blast. 

BL: How's Canada?  Many years ago a girl told me she was from Ontario.  When I asked her if that was a territory every single person there made sure to deeply shame me.  I'm still traumatized.
GO: Canada's great! My office is on the 31st floor of a very tall building right downtown Toronto, and I have a beautiful window view looking North. I tell you, knowing I live in such a busy city, and being able to look out a window to such an amazingly green view... it's phenomenal. I can see mountains off in the distance, and if I look South, I can see Lake Ontario. This is one of the best places in the world to live and I can't imagine being anywhere else.

As for whether Ontario is a territory... Lol. There are only two "territories" in Canada - Northwest Territories, and the Yukon Territories. Everywhere else is a plain ol' Province.  

BL: Yeah, pretty much a standard ugly American moment.  How many (of our) states can you name?
GO: Oh, practically none. I can't even name all of the provinces off the top of my head. I am no good at geography, at all.

BL: Most exciting thing to ever happen at your office?
GO: Unfortunately my office life is rather dull. We do a lot of partying and really good work, but nothing overly dramatic goes on.

BL: Ever vacation down to Detroit?
GO: Nope! I don't really vacation, not since... the incident.

BL: Let me guess.  You went to Baltimore or Chicago?
GO: ...Delaware.

BL:


...like a coastal casino town?  That is the only possible reason I can think of for going there, other than driving through to Philly or NYC
GO: This comes down to a simple "My parents are dumb". My mother made some online friends on a gaming site - Pogo.com. I was in high school at the time. They decided it'd be a grand idea to go and meet these people in person, and so off we went for a 3 day trip to Delaware. This has been the one and only time I've left Ontario in my entire life, and it was an entirely horrible experience. These people we met were hicks and a half, and incredibly racist. We went to an Amish flea market, my brother and I slept outside in the rain, and for some reason we went to the man's workplace as a mini-trip (this was a man and wife by the way, and a bunch of their family lived with them - the couple was really old, like in their 70s).

I had absolutely nothing entertaining to do the entire time, and the whole trip was really rough. It put a serious damper on my opinion of the States in general, which I'm sure is entirely unfair to the rest of you.

BL: That is nightmarish.  Somewhere in my young teens I learned to forcefully opt out of any visits to my mother's relatives so I could instead stay home and play computer games for 12 hours a day.  Hopefully you owned a GBA or something
Wine, liquor, or beer?
GO: Liquor, then wine. Never beer.

BL: When is the last time you had a beer, and what did it taste like to you?
GO: Last time I had beer I was in college. Tasted like yeast. I've taken small sips of beers since, but there's always that yeast taste and I can't enjoy it.

BL: Red wine, white wine, or Rich's special rose wine?
GO: Red wine, nice and smoky. Alternatively, sweet delicious Ice Wine.

BL: Do games age?
GO: Of course they do, everything does.  

BL: What game has aged horribly, and what game is 100% timeless?
GO: Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. I always enjoyed it as a kid but by god this is terrible. Timeless? I'd have to go with Donkey Kong Country 2. There is no platformer I'd rather play.

BL: How fast do you think you could speedrun 102% in DKC2?
GO: If a single session I couldn't say; probably 6-7 hours at a guess, it's been a while. Gimme a month and the time to do it, and I'll perfect every level and win the contest. Sadly with DKC this year I didn't have time to finish my run, but I was on par to land at around 50-55 minutes. It's really easy to perfect one level at a time, and with the overworld not counting time, nor funky's flights or candy's save barrel, it's easy enough to beat a level, save, repeat.

BL: Hobbies outside of video games and beards?
GO: Nope! I tend to dedicate myself to one thing, all the way. Unless you count web development I suppose... I really love my work.

BL: Best piece in your collection?
GO: If we're talking value, it's probably my CIB Earthbound that I recently obtained. It's not perfect condition, but it's still the single-most expensive game I own.

Outside of value, I am incredibly fond of my PSP Ys collection. I have all of the Ys games' Limited Edition collector sets in pristine condition. I love love love the series on the whole, ever since I first played Wanderers from Ys on the SNES back in the day.

And outside of games, I'd have to say my Majora's Mask poster that I picked up recently. You may have seen the thread on here where we were all discussing it, and many of us ordered it. It's just an amazing piece of history.

BL: Yeah, I had all of those Ys games too.  Not the deluxe versions, but the 5 games.  Sold most of my PSP collection a couple years ago though, and I've been debating on getting them back.
GO: They're pretty varied in their gameplay from the first to the last, but for me Oath in Felghana wasthe perfect mix of old and new style (plus it's a remake of Ys III, so it has that going for it).

BL: Ys III was one of the first SNES games I ever bought.  Unfortunately for it, that was right after I played through Chrono Trigger, FF VI, Earthbound, and Super Mario RPG, so I was... less than thrilled with it at the time
GO: Hah! Yeah compared to those it might seem a bit underwhelming.  

BL: The new one (or, a newer one in any case) is coming out through LRG.  Should I get it?
GO: Oh yes absolutely, if you mean Lacrimosa of Dana; it's absolutely stunning in every respect. I've played it in Japanese and it's beautiful, and incredibly fun.

BL: Most wanted NES game?
GO: It has to be a tie between two - Snow Bros and Zombie Nation. I used to own both, but almost all of my original NES and SNES collection was stolen years ago just before moving, and I've not been able to recover these two since. If anyone has either or both of these CIB, I am looking to buy/trade.

BL: Best score you've ever had?  Best find in the wild?
GO: The SNES score I posted a little while back. It tallied up to around $4000 in average value, and I paid... less than that; that was from a coworker friend. In the wild I'd probably say the EVO I picked up for $20. I don't really find much in the wild as I don't travel to yard sales or anything.

BL: Do they know what they gave up?  You should probably get them a drink or ten.
GO: I don't rip people off; I told him what it was worth, and we made a deal.  

BL: Where'd you find the EVO?  I hunt all the time and that is better than any find I've ever had.  Also my friend found an EVO at some podunk video store, and he used to lord it over me while keeping it in a loose box of shit in his living room, getting dinged up.  What an asshole.
GO: A game store in Toronto, believe it or not. Though this was years ago.

BL: What are you gonna do with that second Earthbound?
GO: It has been sold.

BL: I need Sonic Blast Man 2.  Can I have yours?
GO: Sold, I'm afraid. That particular lot I primarily picked up because I wanted one of the smaller SNES consoles, and for what I paid for the lot I ended up selling Sonic Blast Man 2 and keeping the rest as "free".

BL: Did you buy a Switch?
GO: Nope. I'm holding off for good games and good deals.

BL: What's going on in your avatar?  Gloves Off?
GO: Yup. Gloves Off.

BL: How did you come up the "the new guy"?
GO: I think it's because I showed up out of basically nowhere all gung-ho about the contests here on NA lol.

BL: Walk me through a typical day in the life of Doug
GO: Alarm goes off at 7:30am; I have a cool little wakeup light alarm, where it slowly wakes me by turning on a light like a little sun by my head. I then proceed to hit "snooze" for around 2 hours.

9:00am or so rolls around and I decide it's time to empty my bladder as it's getting increasingly painful holding it in.

Read my phone on the toilet for an hour or so. If I am responding to you early in the morning, rest assured that my pants are definitely down.

Play games from 10-11am, neglecting my worldly responsibilities.

At 11 or so I usually go "ah fuck I forgot to take my medicine!" and take it. This means I can't eat for another hour, so I've effectively deprived myself of breakfast yet again.

11:30 or so I start packing up my books (manga) and other stuff to head out to work. I walk to work while reading a book/manga, and this takes about a half hour. 

Get to work for noon or so, proceed to read NA and watch videos on Youtube. I am incredibly well paid all things considered.

4pm rolls around and I figure I should make an attempt at earning my keep. It is now that I realize I don't really WANT to do any work, pack up my things and head home. Another day with nothing productive done. I am a shitty human being.

Walk home, read more. The way home is harder since it's all uphill.

Almost home, realize I still haven't eaten anything. Grab something from one of the restaurants on the way home. Stop at the post office to see if I have any mail.

Get home, it's probably time to be responsible and do some actual work. Play video games instead.

7pm or so, ask my wife what she wants for dinner. This goes back and forth for an hour or so as we're both really indecisive. Order a pizza.

9pm we have pizza and watch Star Trek or South Park. Hopefully not Kimmy Schmidt, I'm not a fan.

I should REALLY do some work. Play more games instead.

11pm rolls around and my wife wants to go to bed. "Sorry I have to stay up late tonight, I have a lot of work to do". 

She goes to bed and I play Call of Duty (4). 

Midnight rolls around and for real this time, I do some work. I'm incredibly good at my job (captain brags over here), so I get it done in like an hour or two. Nobody is the wiser.

2am... should probably go to bed. Right after one or two more rounds of games.

BL: Yeah I don't know if I'm gonna give Kimmy a go past season 1.  I usually find flamboyantly gay characters hilarious, but whats-his-name is incredibly annoying
Ever have cauliflower crust on one of those pizzas?
GO: I have not, no. Sounds gross.

BL: What's the best restaurant in Toronto?
GO: I'd probably go with Holy Chuck cuz I'm a sucker for gross burgers, but I admit I am no food connosseur.

BL: What's the best restaurant on your walk home from work?
GO: Holy Chuck!

BL: Do they serve a burger with bacon, ham, and a fried egg on top?  Those are the best/grossest
GO: Every goddamn burger place in the world does these days I swear to god.

BL: What member of the Breakfast Club would you be?
GO: The chick lying down in the front of the photo.

BL: That's Molly Ringwald.  Do you say that because you're a ginger or... ?
GO: I've always been the type of guy who when given the chance will lie down in front for group photos.

BL: Jon Cryer or James Spader?
GO: James Spader for sure.

BL: You met with bert recently, how was that?  Did he look more like Bert or Ernie?
GO: It was a brief enough encounter, but I'd say he's a Bert based on my interactions with him. ;P

BL: Ever meet any NA'ers besides bert?
GO: I did, but I am ashamed to say I forget who it was. It was early on in my tenure here, and was only very brief, for a quick game sale. I've yet to have anyone over to hang out and play games or anything like that, alas.

BL: Who would win in a fight; Bea, or the combined powers of every Canadian in the contest?
GO: Oh the Canadians for certain. We'd be apologetic about it for sure, but she'd have no chance in hell.

BL: Ever have a McPoutine?
GO: Yup. Pretty underwhelming as far as poutine is concerned. 

BL: Best movie set in Toronto?
GO: Short Circuit 2. Worst would have to be The Love Guru. Ugh.

BL: Steve Guttenbourg or Fisher Stevens?
GO: Fisher Stevens.

BL: Strange Brew, Kids in the Hall, or Trailer Park Boys?
GO: Strange Brew all the way, ya hoser.

BL: TheToxieRules or bert?
GO: I've had more interaction with Bert, so I'll go w/ him. 

BL: Hockey or the luge?
GO: Luge for sure.

BL: Kraft Dinner or canadian bacon (ham)?
GO: Canadian bacon. I am one of the few Canadians who can't stand Kraft Dinner. I enjoy Mac & Cheese, but Kraft Dinner specifically I cannot enjoy, as it's literally all my step-father fed us for about 6 months when I was a kid.

BL: Sounds healthy.  I went to a daycare in about 1st grade that would serve us uncooked hot dogs.  And by daycare I mean a large unpleasant woman's house where she sequestered us in the dank basement to watch hours of TV while she watched her stories.  I got the last laugh though.  I stole all of the GI Joes.  Even Serpentor.
GO: If she's still alive I'm sure she's searching to this day.  

BL: Word association.  First word that comes to mind:
Richard
Head.

table
Chairs.

bert
Not in Toronto

Toxie
Avenger

Bea
Yank

Doug
Me.

Skinny
Craycray

Mega Tank
Man.

Stryphos
Pchew!

JimTendo
Kickle.

(Goes through PSN profile, old to new)
BL: You are a crazy MF'er.  I feel like I dedicated a LOT of time to get that 100,000 gamerscore.  If I had gotten into it sooner, and stuck with it to this day I would maybe be at 200,000.  I didn't play shit games for score to pad it though.
GO: A lot of my padding was due to competitions and contests. There was a competition each year that I participated in, and one year I went for first place, where the goal was to simply get as many trophies as possible in two months. I landed at 2427 trophies in those two months.

BL: Endwar is literally, dead last in your list.  2 trophies.  Poor guy.
GO: That fuckin' game, man.

BL: Bioshock or Bioshock 2 or Bioshock Infinite?
GO: Bioshock for sure. It was the closest to System Shock 2 which I liked a lot, and the theme hadn't worn itself dry just yet. Infinite was quite good for at least one playthrough. BS 2 I never bothered to finish, it felt like it wanted to just cash in on the popularity of the first, also the multiplayer was shit.

BL: How bad did you jump at the end of Dead Space when your dead girlfriend is up in your business?
GO: Dead Space is a goddamn masterpiece. The ending most definitely made me jump like a little bitch.

BL: Looks like you gave up on Red Alert 3 pretty quickly.  I got through 2 1/2 campaigns before the achievments stopped popping on me.  So goddamn frustrating.
GO: I actually really love RE3, but I played it on PC. I started up the PS3 version and the controls and everything were just incredibly inferior, so I stopped playing.

BL: Dragon Age - Absolutely love this game, and consider it the spiritual sequel to Baldur's Gate II.  You didn't ever end up playing Awakening?
GO: I played on PC. Absolutely love the first game and it's expansions, even the silly one with the rock chick.

BL: 3D Dot Game Heroes has a C rank!  That's probably as shitty as my trophy count in that game, and I have like 40 trophies total!
GO: Yeah I never really got into the game to be honest. I think I got lost early on and just gave up. 

BL: I see Earthworm Jim HD has a trophy for beating the game without dying.  Unless they changed it up from the original, that seems insane.  Try hard to get that one?
GO: I did not try very hard. I actually got right to the VERY end, and was insta-killed by one of the things that pop out of the walls. Stopped playing after that. 

BL: Looks like you gave up on Nier.  I haven't played it, but I read an article about it that made it seem very, very fascinating.  I'll have to try and find it.
(edit - Haven't found it yet, but here is a taste of the crazy:
Return in New Game+ to unlock the backstories of the enemies you fight throughout the game, putting a whole new perspective on events, and complete four different playthroughs in order to unlock the ultimate ending, which deletes your save file and bans you from ever using the character’s name again. What do you expect from a Drakengard spin off?)
GO: It's a decent enough game overall, but really pretty slow, and especially if you want trophies it can be quite dull. So I just stopped playing.

BL: You gave up on Beyond Good and Evil.  You should re-visit, it really was one of the best games of that generation, and it isn't too long
GO: Not my style I'm afraid.

BL: Ni no Kuni didn't grab you?  I haven't played it yet, but I do love Level 5 and Studio Ghibli and keep meaning to grab it some day.
GO: Hated it lol.

BL: The new Tomb Raiders, or Uncharted?
GO: Uncharted. And really only the first 3. 4 Sucked.

BL: Buy any of the LRG releases, or are you totally out of the PS scene completely right now?
GO: I still buy PS games, but I've made a point of not caring about trophies. I like to play games, and the trophy addiction got seriously in the way of that enjoyment.

As for LRG, I have One Way Heroics (great game), and Thomas Was Alone. I hate Thomas Was Alone, so will probably get rid of it at some point. It's still sealed I don't know why I bought it lol. I was going to get Astebreed and Darius, but decided against it in the end. I already own both games 4 times over digitally, they have enough of my money.

BL: What did you think Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon?  The song that plays when the credits roll was a very unexpected and pleasant easer egg for cult film buffs...
GO: It's the only Far Cry I really enjoyed lol. Awesome little game.

BL: I gotta admit, many of these digital-only titles I do not recognize.  Are many of them indy games? 
GO: Many of them are indy games, yes.

BL: Metal Gear Solid or Metal Gear Solid 2?
GO: MGS, every time.

BL: Metal Gear Solid 4 or Metal Gear Solid V
GO: MGS4. V had easily the best gameplay in the entire series, but to me it was never about the gameplay near as much as about the story, and V had barely any at all. I have my gripes with the MGS4 story, but it still stands up overall above all of the other games in the series, save for 3.

BL: Favorite easter eggs in each installment (aside from 3)
GO:
MGS1 - The James Bond outfit. I'm a huge fan of James Bond, so getting to play dressed in the tux was awesome. I didn't even KNOW it was a thing going into it, I just kept playing the game and sure enough on my third playthrough, BAM, tuxedo.

MGS2 - Being able to hear Johnny's diarrhea through the directional mic. 

MGS4 - The semi-hidden conversations you can have with Otacon over Codec.

Peace Walker - Doing it with Paz under the box, followed closely by the Monster Hunter missions.

Those are the ones I'd consider must plays, though I've played all of the games.

BL: Peace Walker is the only one I haven't played through, I must know more.  Or google it.  Either way.
GO: Peace Walker was mission based, for anyone not in the know, and features hidden missions where you face off against monsters from the Monster Hunter series. As for Paz, there's a mission where you talk to her for story, and you can approach her in a box, and she'll get in and the box will start to bounce around. It's kinda gross considering the age difference between her and Snake (Naked Snake, AKA Big Boss), but in the context of the series it's... kinda funny I guess? For reference, Snake is 15 years her senior.

(continues going through profile)
BL:  Hannah Montana: The Movie?  Very nice. 
GO: I made a point of making that my 100th platinum trophy as a joke. Terrible game, but not the worst I've played. 

BL: Did you know she is considered a folk hero in our state, and that we have two different holidays celebrating her life?  It's kind of a big deal.
GO: That's really silly lol.

BL: I loved old LucasArts adventures, so I'm curious as to what these Monkey Island and Sam & Max Series are about.  Which would you recommend more?
GO: I'm a bit biased - I looooove Sam & Max. Monkey island is a treasure (hah!), but the whole thing revolves around one character. Sam & Max I find that every single character is incredibly memorable and they're an absolute joy to play.

BL: Which Telltale series is the best?
GO: The Wolf Among Us, by far. Game of Thrones is the worst, again... by far.

BL: What's with the massive stretch of undated games with zero trophies?
GO: I added a bunch of games to my trophy list in order to help me track what I have available to play. Then I never played them. I have a few hundred games I own but never touched.

BL: Absolute best indy game on Vita, PS3, and PS4?
GO: Oh man, absolute best... these are the hard-hitting questions right here. It's probably at  the top of many such lists, but I honestly have to give it to Journey. Far and away the best experience on the PS3 and 4 as far as indies go, and it also surpasses many AAA devs' titles as well. It's an absolute masterpiece, and a must-play.

BL: Interesting, that's one that goe a physical release bundled with another game right?  It's always been somewhere on my to-get list
GO: Yeah they made a collection of the three games that the dev agreed to make Sony exclusive. Fantastic collection, with Journey easily taking the cake.

BL: Top 10 (or 5, or whatever you can remember) hardest trophies you got?
GO: To be honest I've not really found any trophies to be overly difficult. Maybe the Jamestown platinum trophy, but that was really more memorizing the hardest difficult, which isn't too tough for me since I love shmups. The aforementioned "You had one... Life!" was pretty tough. Lunatic on Outlast was kinda hard, though the XBOne version was much harder.

Honestly most of the actually difficult things to do in games don't even get trophies, I find. They tend to be freebies, or for doing stupid shit like "Get 10,000 kills in multiplayer". Stupid grindy shit, wasting away years of my life.

BL: What are the rarest trophies you have?
GO: The rarest are not to be mistaken for the hardest, as some are really quite easy, but a case of many people playing the game and simply not completing it.

These are my top 10 rarest trophies:
 

1. Capcom Arcade Cabinet: Retro Obsessive - Clock in 50 hours of playing time.
2. Sword Coast Legends: Master of Dungeons - Complete twenty five Dungeon Crawls as a Dungeon Master.
3. Sine Mora: Inter Caecos Regnat Strabo - Promoted to Captain
4. Sine Mora: Repetitio Est Mater Memoriae - Promoted to First Lieutenant
5. Don't Starve: The SIlent - Unlock Wes
6. Project Root: General - Hard game complete
7. Sword Coast Legends: Dominator - Possess five hundred creatures as a Dungeon Master.
8. Sword Coast Legends: Summoner - Summon one thousand creatures as a Dungeon Master.
9. Capcom Arcade Cabinet: Arcade Legend - Clear a game without using any Continues.
10. Sine Mora: Salva Veritate - Promoted to Lieutenant

One of the harder trophies I've gotten was for a very little known game called She Wants Me Dead. The trophy is You hade one... Life!, and required that you complete all ten levels without dying once. This was enough of a task that I made a video guide on how to complete it. To this day only 4 people in the entire world have earned this trophy and I am one of them. Here's the video I made if you're curious:





BL: Do you agree with Jimbo that Life is Strange is a masterpiece?
GO: Absolutely not, no.

BL: Ever play anything in this series?  The praise in this article has me super curious
GO: I'm something of a visual novel connoiseur, and I have played the Steins;Gate series, yes. First in Japanese and then again in English. To answer the inevitable next question pre-emptively, no, I am not totally fluent in Japanese. I know enough of the Kanji though to be able to stumble my way through most video games. As for this series, yeah it's pretty great! You do need to bear in mind though that as a visual novel it is just that, and really only that - you read a story, make some decisions, and see how it plays out.

Another visual novel I'm always telling people they should play is Hatoful Boyfriend. I even wrote a comprehensive guide for all of the paths on it and it's sequel!

BL: Hatoful Boyfriend?  Eh...... I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to everything, but that title is not making a great first impression.  Sell me on it.
The world has been taken over by birds. Not space birds or anything crazy, just... birds. Pigeons and such. You play as humanity's last hope, a high school girl, as you go to an all-bird school, attempting to redeem mankind in the eyes of the birds, lest they genocide all of humanity. You must make friends and fall in love to survive. Every bird is a potential love interest, and if that's not enough to hook you then I'd just say... trust me... it gets... crazy. I don't want to spoil it

BL: Sounds pretty cool.  Will definitely keep it mentally queue'd up.
Did you play through the Zero Escape trilogy?
GO: I have, yes. They're more escape rooms than visual novel, but the story elements are certain done through a VN style, so makes sense. I'm not actually big on puzzles, but I made an exception for these games, and Danganronpa.

BL: There is a visual novel on 3DS... and Vita I think, about wooing samurais.  I cannot recall what it is called, nor would I ever have the nerve to bring it up to a store counter.  You familiar with that game/series, and is it any good?  I'm asking for a friend...
GO: Hakuouki? Shit game, do not suggest.

BL: I'm gonna get a PS4 somewhere near Black Friday this year.  What 5 (physical release) games should I get?
GO:
 

1. Persona 5
2. Bloodborne
3. Caladrius Blaze (Asian release, but it's in English)
4. Dark Souls III
5. Outlast Collection

BL:Ever try to talk to your wife about trophies, NA, or video games in general?
GO: We talk about and play games all the time. There's no getting around that games are a huge part of my life, and while less so for her, I was straight up with her early on about that they would always be very important to me. She's really in to Final Fantasy XIV (the MMORPG) and has even been really enjoying the new Friday the 13th game. 

BL: Here are the inevitable silly and gross questions:
Would you rather lose your entire PSN profile, or let skinny dry hump you for 5 minutes?
GO: I'd sooner let my PSN account go. It's more of a burden than a blessing at this point. FYI, that means I'd happily lose access to about $10k worth of games and other content, and 9 years of my life, before letting Skinny anywhere near me.

BL: Would you rather lose your entire PSN profile, or your entire collection?
GO: PSN, see above.

BL: Would you let skinny dry hump you for 10 minutes, with release, for an entire NES set?
GO: Yeah, sure. My priorities are all fucked up these days.

BL: Battletoads or Double Dragon?
GO: Preferably neither, but in a pinch I suppose Battletoads.

BL: Life Force or Gradius?
GO: Gradius.

BL: Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun?
GO: I have to be captain lame-o here and go with Ikaruga. It was the first shmup that gave me a serious challenge when I decided I wanted to git gud at them, and will hold a special place for me forever, as I'm sure it does for many others.

BL: Can you chain the entire game on hard?
GO: Nah, I mostly just do my best to 1LC shmups on the hardest difficulty, so that's what I did. 

BL: R-Type series or Gradius series?
GO: Gradius.

BL: Einhander or G. Darius?
GO: G Darius.

BL: G. Darius or Darius Gaiden or Dariusburst?
GO: I'll go with Dariusburst.

BL: Super Nova or Darius Twin?
GO: Darius Twin.

BL: Twin Cobra or Darius Twin?
GO: Darius Twin. I prefer fantastical shooters over helicopter and jet fighter stuff.

BL: MUSHA or Space Megaforce?
GO: Space Megaforce. I was never big on Sega.

BL: Star Force or Star Soldier?
GO: I never liked Star Force much, so will go with Soldier. 

BL: Think you could defeat pegboy in a shmup challenge?
GO: I'm confident I can beat just about anyone in a shmup challenge. I'm not familiar with this pegboy person, but I'm happy to take a shmup challenge any time. I might have to get some practice in if it's an older shmup as I mostly play Japanese bullet hells which play differently with path memorization versus what is mostly twitch reactions on the NES and SNES, but I'm up for whatever, really.

BL: He didn't participate in Gradius III (probably because of my rules), but perhaps he'll be lured out with the next shmup.  Did I schedule another one of those this year?  I can't remember.  Next year is EDF though.
GO: Sadly no more shmups this year for the SNES contest.  

BL: Lindsey Buckingham, Lindsey Lohan or Lindsey Graham?
GO: I have no idea who any of those are and so cannot provide an apt response.

BL: You've mentioned CoD 4 a number of times now.  What keeps you coming back?
GO: It's a really fun game with a dedicated and serious community. I'm an admin in a clan on there, and I play pretty regularly.

BL: Favorite band/album?
GO: System of a Down - System of a Down

BL: Ever listen to Dog Fashion Disco?  That is the closest equivalent I can think of.  Actually they're more like Mr. Bungle.  SOAD is probably more like later Faith No More.
GO: I have not listened to any of those. I'm one of those crazy people who can sit and listen to a single album on repeat over and over for like a year straight. I also really like Blind Guardian.  

BL: Favorite BG song and album?
GO: Honestly I have to go with the remixes in At the Edge of Time and Memories of a Time to Come for favorite albums. They took basically all of my favorite songs and made them better.

Favorite song... gosh there's so much good here... Curse My Name is definitely up there, Ride Into Obsession... Honestly the entire two albums I named above. Bard's Song... Fuck, all of it. xD

BL: Ever listen to Demons & Wizards?
GO: I have, yes.

BL: Ever listen to Iced Earth
GO: Can't say I have, at least that I recall.

BL: They're the other half of Demons & Wizards.  Starting changing their sounds in the late '90s to be more epic and Blind Guardian-y after their paths crossed
GO: I'll have to check them out!

BL: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Stephen Curry?
GO: I don't follow basketball (or sports in general), so I'll say Kevin Durant, solely because his last name reminds me of the stage select code for the ant boss on Boogerman - "Deodor-Ant" (if memory serves).

BL: Favorite movie?
GO: South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

BL: Best song in South Park BL&U?
GO: I'll go with Up There. I love that song so much.

BL: I keep trying to remember that song in my head, and it keeps mentally playing Somewhere Out There from American Tale
Best song in Team America?
GO: Freedom Isn't Free.

BL: Agreed.  My wife likes country so I play it for her and tell her it is the one song like that I'll actually listen to
GO: I always liked Matt & Trey's over the top country parodies. "Where were you, when they built a laaaadder to heeeeaven?"

BL: Favorite book?
GO: Hyperion.

BL: Without cheating and googling it, I'm gonna say that's the sci-fi/fantasy book with the spikey/thorny knight-like figure on the front, right?  I picked that up once and considered it, but my book backlog nearly rivals my game backlog.  Sell me on it
GO: That's exactly it! I'm afraid I've tried and failed to sell people on the book before, and I blame myself. I am utterly terrible at describing it without giving anything away. Suffice it to say I 100% believe it to be a must-read, at least the first two books (there are 4 total, but there is a huge divide between the second and 3rd). There are twists and turns, and the whole thing is just so poetic (fitting, considering one of the characters is a poet). It's just... it's an incredibly well thought out universe. The first book consists primarily of all of the characters going on a pilgrimage telling their stories of WHY they are going on the pilgrimage - they had all been in some way connected in the past with the Shrike (spikey dude). I'd be lying if I didn't admit to shedding a tear or two at the story of the Jew; I'm not a father, but if you have an empathetic bone in your body, his story can turn you to mush.

BL: I'm a book neophyte (relative to things like movies and video games anyways) and have only read super well-known stuff like Ender's Game and Slaughterhouse Five.  What other books would you recommend to a nerd like me?
GO: The Mistborn series is amazing, I absolutely loved them. If you've read through Wheel of Time (Lol like 13 books who has time for that these days?), then you'll have had a taste of Brandon Sanderson's work, and the Mistborn series really ramps is up as he comes into his own.

BL: I read the first five WoT books.  I believe I can remember them as "they travel across the continent and grab a magic thingy, and then they travel across the continent and grab a magical thingy, and then they travel across the continent and grab a magical thingy, and then they travel across the continent and grab a magical thingy, and then they travel across the continent and grab a magical thingy".  Then I stopped and inertia got me.  Some day I would like to finish them up though
Favorite TV show?
GO: South Park.

BL: Favorite episode and character?
GO: Oh god so much to choose from. I think for character I have to go with Cartman; he's just such a bastard. As for episodes, there's just so many to choose from now that they're in the 20 season range. I'm actually watching through them all again (I've watched every single episode in order at least once a year since the beginning of time) and am currently on season 4, so those first 4 are pretty fresh in my mind right now.

My LEAST favorite episode has to be Good Times with Weapons. It's a brilliant episode, but I cringe seeing poor Butters get hurt. I consider myself a pretty empathetic person, and just thinking about this grade 4 kid having a ninja star literally IN HIS EYE makes my toes curl and my face cringe. That was certainly an interesting start to the 8th season.

I don't think I can honestly say I have a favorite. I love the show too much, and analyzing it down to a single episode is really difficult. There's an episode for just about everything, really.

BL: That may actually be my favorite episode.  Let's fighting love
GO: You're a monster.
I DO suggest though, if you ever get the chance, that you go and see The Book of Mormon. I got the chance to see it here in Toronto and it's the only real live theatre performance I've ever seen, and I'd happily see it again. Matt and Trey were really meant to be on Broadway.

BL: I would love that.  But I'm about a million miles away from anywhere resembling Broadway.  We're probably the US equivalent of the Yukon... my knowledge of the Yukon coming strictly from Calvin and Hobbes.
Butters or Mr. Garrison?
GO: Butters, natch.

BL: Randy or Jimmy?
GO: Randy all the way, man. Of the cripples I like the Nathan and Mimsy duo.

BL: Crispin Glover or Danny Glover?
GO: Crispin Glover is one of my favorite actors. :3

BL: Friday the 13th Part IV Crispin Glover, or George McFly Crispin Glover?
GO: Friday the 13th for life. That dance.

BL: Julian Glover or Donald Glover?
GO: Julian Glover. Not a fan of Donald.

BL: Doug E Doug or Doug Stanhope?
GO: Doug E Doug lol.

BL: Doug the cartoon or Glover the video game?
GO: Glover the game. I enjoyed both though. 

BL: Doug MacKenzie or Doug Flutie?
GO: Flutie, purely for the funnier last name.

BL: Doug E Doug or Doug E Fresh?
GO: Doug E Doug. You can never have enough Doug.

BL: Daniel-San or Cobrai Kai?
GO: Daniel-San for sure. What even is a Cobrai Kai? Sounds like some sort of butt stuff thing.

BL: Favorite week of the contest so far?
GO: Life Force, for sure.

BL: Worst week of the contest so far?
GO: Of those I've participated in I'd have to say Bayou Billy. I am no good at that game, at all.

BL: I gave up after an hour of trying to beat the one boss in Guardian Legend that threw out the long lines of toxic seaweed (or whatever) in rapid fashion.  What was the secret to that mf'er?
GO: Git gud.  

BL:


GO: It was mostly just recognizing where his beams were going to land; this is predictable based on where the last one landed. You can use this to your advantage to position yourself in basically safe spots as the fight progresses.

BL: Predictions for 2017 champ?
GO: This is a tough one. Life happens, and with continued hospital visits and my incredibly busy lifestyle, I refrain from saying myself, egotistical though I may be. Tablew/Chairs is captain show up outta nowhere with a ridiculously high score, so I'm prone to say Table may take it. Bea is nutso levels of good across the board and skinny is just nuts. Gutsman gets a shoutout for the shmup skills for sure!

BL: RC Pro AM predictions?
GO: Alas I've not been following along this week due to health complications, but I'll go with Table popping in again and posting some ludicrous nigh-impossible score out of the blue.

BL: Yoshi predictions?
GO: I really hope they move along from the yarn theme and give us a game in the style of Yoshi's Island, I always loved... wait, you mean the user? Quiet and/or new people are always hard to gauge as I'm sure you know, but newly high levels of activity always make me happy. I like seeing new faces and interacting, making new friends, so I wish Yoshi the best of luck!

BL: Love it
Think you've got the shmup crown all but in the bag?  Red probably won't return
GO: Yup.

BL: Who would you like to see get interviewed?
GO: Skinnygrinny; that should be interesting lol.

BL: I'm not gonna lie, I really want to do that one.  But is the world ready for that many typos and gibberish?
GO: It takes all sorts lol. I don't know if the world is ready, but hey, crazy is as crazy does!

BL: Now that you probably realize Yoshi is a video game, predictions?
GO: Haha I do now realize that it's a game.  

Still not sure what kind of game, primarily for lack of paying attention. I feel like that Yoshi user is gonna wanna put up a good fight in this game for obvious reasons, lest they have to give up their username.

BL: Defender II predictions?
GO: I'm confident I will put up a winning score on Defender II. I've played the hell out of it in the past. I expect the usuals to put up a good fight though, Skinny, Bea, Guts, and possibly some others.

BL: You're pretty confident.  Who would win at video games, you or Bearcat Doug?
GO: I imagine it'd depend on the type of game. ;P

BL: I knew you'd say that.  Other Doug would of instantly thrown the smack/arrogance gauntlet down!
GO: Lol I try to be as modest as I can where possible. If anyone would like to play a game though and have a competition of it, I am down.  

BL: Trudeau or Trump or... I dunno, Merkel I guess
GO: I'm not really big on politics, though I've been following the Trump thing for a bit. Trudeau seems fine, though to my knowledge aside from pushing for marijuana legalization I'm not sure he's really DONE anything apart from being devilishly handsome. *swoon*

BL: What do you think about the US pulling out of the Paris Accords?
GO: I saw it coming a mile away, Trump wasn't going to let that get in the way of his economics. It really shows how short-sighted the man is though, as really a more energy-efficient world is actually more economically sound as well. The thing is, it isn't so for his close friends, and that's his driving motivation in all things. You guys really need to impeach this man asap, or whatever it is you can do to say "this guy is incompetent, we made a mistake".

BL: Won't happen with the Repubs controlling all of congress, but the voter turnout in 2020 may be dramatically different this go around...
GO: We can only hope to make it that far at this rate.

BL: This is the point where I ask you what you want to talk about, or what questions you think should be asked
Or we can travel down the rabbit hole of stupid and absurd ones
GO: I'd not mind if you'd like to delve into the more personal stuff. Otherwise I'm down for whatever.

BL: Well you're out of the hospital now.  What went down?
GO: I'll pre-empt this with that that I would like to see more people in the future not being ashamed to go to the doctor for the more... personal concerns. Talking to those around you about your junk shouldn't be so taboo that you feel afraid to go to the doctor and drop trou. I have known people who have become incredibly sick because they didn't go to see the doctor right away when an issue popped up, and I am even guilty of this myself. There are people who are too ashamed to go to the doctor and have their privates examined, and literally DIE because they had colorectal cancer and didn't get it checked out soon enough to curb it; people who could have been cured have died because they felt too embarassed to see a medical professional.

That all said and in that respect, I'll be totally straight up with you here - I've had a few cancer scares in my life, down round the meat and two veg. Cancer has been a concern in my family for a few generations, so whenever anything even looks remotely close to maybe being that, I basically run to the doctor.

Happily thus far I'm clear, but better safe than sorry eh? Unfortunately this time around my "you're not gonna die" news came with a caveat - I have what is called a Varicocele. I'll give you another more google-safe term: Varicose vein. Basically if you've ever seen a grandmother's legs, they are pretty prone to these; big blue veins that bulge out of the leg, they are kinda sorta blocked, almost like a blood clot. The braver of you may search for Varicocele to see exactly what I have and will be presented with medical images of a man's balls, if that's what you're into. Varicocele is found in approximately 15% of the general population according to the Googles, so odds are some of you out there have one, and may not even know it! They often don't have any real negative effects, outside of one in a decage becoming inflamed and being uncomfortable.

As for me, I am the 1%. Not in the making far more money than the rest of you sense, but in that my darling little varicocele hurts like a bitch. This is new, as of the last week or so (time has been a bit of a bubble in this hellish world I find myself in currently) and at the best of times I have felt constantly uncomfortable, with a pulsing pain, like something is squeezing where I don't wanna be squeezed.

Happily today and yesterday I've been feeling more or less ok, and am hopeful that this is a case of "it fixed itself". I have an appointment with a urologist coming up regardless, but I'm hopeful for the future.

Seriously, guys and gals, take your health seriously. You have one life. One meat. Two veg. 

BL: Yes, I'm overdue for some... checkups, myself
Be honest though, your wife is the one who discovered those special varicose veins, right?  
I did google it by the way. And I won't be sleeping tonight.
GO: Haha no, I woke up one day wondering why someone had punched me right in the nuts. She was on vacation at the time, out of the country. I was all alone and in horrible pain for seemingly no reason.

BL: I had that happen once.  It was after I took on the Taco John's Six Pack and a Pound challenge.  Never again.
Who approached you about writing a book?
GO: I have a few author friends, and one of them is particularly familiar with the goings-on of my life. He apparently told his friend who works for a publishing firm about me, and they got in touch. 

BL: You also mentioning people dying.  Care to elaborate?  I've been in some bad situations myself, but nothing like that
GO: I used to work night security in a bad area of a bad city. One particular instance was actually before I was even on the clock! I was approaching the building with the office in it (I secured a group of apartment buildings) when all of a sudden I hear something hit a balcony above me. I looked up, and there was a man rolling down towards me (rolling as in hitting other balconies on his way down from the 8th or so floor). He landed head-first and popped like a watermelon (his head anyway). He made a huge imprint in the cement patio where he landed, and the noise was loud enough to get the attention of the woman who lived in the first floor apartment where he had landed. She comes out and there I am splashed with blood and brains and skull and whatever else, and she starts screaming. Naturally this woke everyone ELSE up (it was around 10pm), so I had a bunch of people now clamoring about it. I called the police, they came with an ambulance and the fire department (who were tasked with spraying away the blood, etc.). I had to give them an account of what happened, and help them investigate the apartment where the fell from. Afterwards I called my boss to tell him what happened and he asked me what time it occurred. I told him it happened at 9:55 or so (it did), and he told me that it happened while I was off-shift, so I was to not write anything I saw down; I was to simply write that it happened, someone called the cops, and they came so I met with them. He also informed me that there was nobody else available to take my shift (we only had two guards in the entire city and I was one of them, we were severely understaffed and turnaround was incredibly high), so I had to finish it out. Those next 8 hours went by really slow lol.

BL: That's pretty fucked up.  Murder?  Accident?  Suicide?
GO: I believe in the end it was ruled as suicide. Far as we could tell he lived alone.

BL: You appear to be a rather successful guy.  Ever throw that in the step father or father's faces?  Or are they completely cut out?
GO: My entire family save for my brother have been cut out of my life. I have no interest in what they think of me.

BL: Good for you.  My wife never knew her father, and I always tell her that he's given up on the priviledge of being in her life.  His, and their, loss.
GO: Exactly; I control my life now. I always say that "family" doesn't equal a free pass. If you're a shitty person, I want nothing to do with you, doesn't matter who you are.

BL: Yeah, surround yourself with good people.  One of my uncles once told me he'd "slap the shit out of me."  Fast forward to today and his kids are complete fuck ups and his wife fled to the east coast
Speaking of good people though, how'd you meet your wife?
GO: We met in high school, and have been together for 12 years now. We were just in a group of friends, and after hanging out a while, it sorta happened.

BL: What's she do for a living?
GO: She is an office administrator. Basically plans and makes sure everything is in order and happening across the office where she works. She works at "BAO", the Bereavement Authority of Ontario; they make sure consumers aren't being mislead or ripped off by funeral homes, and make sure the funeral homes are paying their fees and stuff like that.

BL: Most exciting story out of the BAO?
GO: My wife is relatively new at her office; she started on contract a few months ago, and is now hired on full-time as of... well last week lol.

BL: You mentioned claustraphobia in a post.  Does that prevent you from riding in cars, elevators, planes, or trains?
GO: All of those things, yeah. Travel is very difficult in general for me, I walk everywhere when I can help it.

BL: What about biking or dog sledding?  Seems faster than walking.  Is the claustrophia related to the attic incident?
GO: I do bike, though my front tire needs repaired right now.  
The claustrophobia is related to a number of things actually. Just an overall shitty upbringing. Having nowhere to feel safe can really fuck you up.

BL: Also, ever seen The Descent?  That'll make anyone claustrophobic
GO: I have, and yeah, it will.  

BL: Are you and the best friend still in contact?
GO: We are not, no. He doesn't know I did what I did, but we drifted apart over the years.

BL: Hopefully his dad was convicted and is still serving.  Or at least living in a dirty apartment with all of his neighbors knowing who he is.
GO: My friend's dad was convicted and definitely served time. I'm not sure his current status, but I always hoped it'd be a "for life" kind of thing. He had two daughters just a few years younger than me (let's say 10-12 or so at the time), and I can't say anything with any certainty, but I can tell you this man was the biggest asshole I've ever met. Honestly of all of the things in my life, having SEEN child pornography was probably one of the most scarring.

BL: As to being stabbed... well you and Bea (and whoever else) have that in common.  What happened?
GO: A girl had a crush on me and decided it would be appropriate to show her adoration by stabbing me in the side with a large screw that she found at a park.

BL: Right.  And where is she now?  Prison or the psych ward?
GO: Honestly no clue lol. Much of my childhood has become something of a blank, and is remembered like a dream at this point. Answering your questions actually reminded me of a few people I totally forgot existed at all. I don't remember her name, her face, nothing at all really. Just being stabbed because some girl from my class thought I was cute or something. 

BL: Did it impress the other ladies in class?
GO: Nothing I could do ever impressed any ladies save for the crazy ones, it seems.

BL: I have no comparable stories.  Other then the time my girlfriend in college hit me point blank in the face with a folf disc despite the fact I was standing besides and slightly behind her.  Ever play?  Perhaps some sort of urban version.  George Constanza calls it frolf
GO: I can't say I have lol.

BL: If you did write the book, what would be the first sentence of chapter 1?  Or maybe mock us up an entire paragraph or page?  I bet it would be good
GO: If I do write it, I think it'd be semi-autobiographical, and the title would be something along the lines of "The life of a 30 or so nobody". As for the first paragraph (or so), it'd probably go something like this:

The earliest memory I have is a literally hazy one; for some reason this day was unearthly bright, the room was yellow and my mother was vacuuming. I think I knew what she was doing as it relates to the world around me, but I have no clue with no prior memories why I knew that she was in fact "vacuuming", nor do I know why the memory is hazed - a literal fog hangs around the edges of this memory like some dramatic scene in a soap opera in the 90s. 

This book is intended more for me than for you dear reader, payer of my bills and reader of my story, I have no qualms in being truthful about that fact. A great many things have happened throughout my life and many of them have been dull and entirely relatable; I went to public school, I switched high schools after the first year when my parents decided they wanted to move, I worked for a year before college, and I became an office-sitting web developer. On the other side of the coin, I've been stabbed a few times, witnessed multiple deaths, and testified against my best friends father in a child pornography case. My home life was never pleasant and I've been abused to the point of breaking. But this is, as I say, more for me than for you; I don't remember much of this at the time of writing. Many of my life stories, interesting though they may be, or otherwise dull, have been very much repressed, but I wish to remember. I can't run away from the past anymore and so here I am, remembering. As I go through this exercise in rememberance, I am going to write it all down and share it with you. I don't know if it will be a good story, or relatable, or how it will review if indeed anyone reads it at all; I also don't know if it will help my claustrophobia, my night terrors, or insomnia. 

But hey, you bought the book (or stole it one way or another), and you're reading this sentence, so clearly I am a great writer and we're going to carry on through this together for better or worse.

BL: Dammit, now you have to write the book so I can finish reading it.  Strangely enough my own first memory is riding my bike through some leaves in the alley and noticing that just one of them was yellow.  And that memory also has a weird hazy or sepia tone to it.

I think my own book would be titled How to Win Friends and Influence People From Florida So They Can Be Manipulated For Personal Gain.  It would be similar, but with more stories about being a massive jerk in intramural sports and plotting Richard's downfall.
GO: Yeah it's so weird, it's a very bright memory; either it was a sunny day and all I remember is that "awakening", or there's something to memory that hazes these things out and makes them seem like a dream. Looking back I've found so many memories of people I totally forgot existed. There was this guy in my elementary school, he could "spit" from under his tongue (probably ejecting a salivary gland) in a straight line quite far; when we graduated in grade 8 I recall he did a very douchey spin when he went to shake the principal's hand. I remember wanting him to trip and fall, but alas this wasn't a funny gif online, it was real life, so the suave douche did his spin and everyone laughed and cheered and loved him for being a show-off.

BL: Well, thank you for opening up and sharing all of that.  Let's close with some less serious stufff...

Michigan musician, blood relative of mine
#1 - Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?
Answer - No
#2 - Hmm, is the musician still alive?
Answer - Yes, mostly
#3 - Is it George Winston?
Answer - No
#4 - Kid Rock?
Answer - No
#5 - Alice Cooper?
Answer - No
#6 - Stevie Wonder?
Answer - No

You get three questions.  Go.
GO: I have no idea what is going on here lol
BL: I'm sorry, you'll have to word that in the form of a question
Hair color?
Black and/or grey
Facial hair or no?
Both
Hawt or not?
So much hawt

The quiz will be continued with the next interview.

BL: Predictions for Defender II next week?
GO: Captain ego over here, I am confident I will do very well personally. Gutsman has told me he doesn't like the game, which leaves Skinny and Bea to try to take the crown from me. As if. ;P

BL: Final thoughts?
GO: Honestly I was surprised to have been asked for an interview, if only so soon after you've started doing them! I really appreciate the overwhelmingly positive welcome that greeted me in joining up on NA, and am happy to have made so many friends in so short a time. I'm not on other forums related to the hobby nor any Facebook groups so I don't see any of the apparent negativity that hangs around in those places, but at least in my short time here none of it rings true. Perhaps NA was once a place of elitism or whatever, but the NA of today is very welcoming and not aggressive at all, but rather quite fun and welcoming. So thanks to you Brock for all of your hard work, and to the others running contests and the like, as well as to the community at large for being a great place to hang around. You all rock!  
 

Interview #6 - skinnygrinny aka Cobra Kai aka The Grinder™ aka Third Place Prince aka Miguel Sanchez aka Clint aka tapewom

Warning:  Due to the wishes of skinny the interview has been left unedited.  Read at your own peril

BL: What brought you to NA?
SG: i was starting to build a collection of nintendo stuff, again, and was having trouble with a super nintendo i picked up. it was freezing at the title screen. i prob google searched "froozen title screen super nintendo" and thats how i found na.

BL: I already know the answers here, but explain the origins of your various aliases
SG: ive always had nicknames ever since i was a lil one. my dad handed them out most of the time. "slobber jaws" (this one still sticks btw) was one of my first. my dad and friends have always called me clifford/clifford luganzi (my real name is clint).


skinnygrinny
was created for facebook. i didnt want my real life stats on there because goverment conspirousies, ya know. anf if my real identety was revealed id prob go to prison for not paying my cable bill. im skinny and always acting a fool. luaghing, joking, class clown, never take anything serious.... "skinnygrinny"  


the grinder
commander santa crescent me with this alias. i had been playing in the contest for a couple months and was putting up some top 8 scores. back then i would post my progress. i always start a game with a pretty low score. i just grind and grind until i get better. through the week i would post my progress always grinding a few more spots up the leader board. by the end of the week, lil by lil, i had gone from the bottom rung to the top 8. its really no different than how i play now, i just dont post my progress anymore. ive never been the type who can pick up a game and be good at it within a few attempts. i use memorization and i have pretty good hand eye coordination. i have to study a game in order to get good at it. if i can figure out , this will do that, or if i do this i can make this happen, i really have to figure out the game patterns just by pure grinding/dumping in hours, thats how i put up decent scores and thats how santa dub'd me "THE grinder". the amount of grinding i was doing to get a top 8 spot was not healthy lol.


42 foot tapewom
i got temp banned last december. i was forced to go tgrough a transformation. i learned how to take things more seriously and not everyone enjoys knucklehead humor. it changed me. i was physically evolved. once i was allowed back i slowly began to regain some of my old form. lil by lil i was able to shed most of the worm but i csn never get rid of it completely. there will always be a piece of the worm attatched to skinny.

a knucklehead drinking buddy/roomate friend of mine, he was a mtpo die hard. and he was good at marble madness ans really good at arkanoid, he name was "A". he always used "tapeworm" as a game tag for high scores. so it pays homage to my old buddy too


third place prince
well ive got my fair share of golds but when it counts i seem to come up short. when i try tge most seems i get a couople players better than me just to twist the knife when i really want tgat gold.


kobra kai
is actually only one half of the complete nickname. the other half being sandafloor. they are one in the same. one can only survive if the other still lives. they can be mentioned separately but are always connected.

unbeknown to skinnygrinny, because his powers had not been triggered yet, he was actually an nes demigod. only the challenge from a mortal nes combatant could trigger his transformation to demi god status.

introducing brock landers. wanabee dank collector, less then average gamer. he got to level 7-2 in smb once before and beat that easy game on very easy difficulty setting. brock had dreams of being a great nes player and decided to play in the weekly contest. he started out slow but his effort was never less than %115.5. he was getting better but there was one player that caught his attention from the very first week of the competition. a player with great skill and intelligence. that player was skinnygrinny. brock had dreams of being able to compete at the skill level of his hero skinnygrinny. one night while dreaming of the lindas in dd, the nes gods blessed brock with a beat um up upgrade in his stats.

the week of the dd contest had arrived. while skinnygrinny had been banking victories all year brock was on the frey of the top players. lil did both of them know this would be a week of legend that would join them forever.

skinnygrinny started out the week like he always did right at the top. brock landed somewhere middle of the pack. some time around the second day brock noticed he was good at dd, really good! he had a score that he knew was good. he decided that he didnt just want to compete with skinnygrinny he wanted to take him down!

he fired shots at skinnygrinny saying he was going to take down skinnygrinny like sandafloor did kobra kai. this is what triggered the demi god status in skinnygrinny. from that point skinnygrinny felt stronger, smarter and faster. he knew he had to defeat this challenge from the mortal brock.

the nes gods came to skinny and told him of his demigod powers. but his powers would only be truly granted if he beat the mortal in dd. the gods had tricked skinny. they made no mention of the beat um up stat boost they had gifted brock. they also told skinny he would have to let brock place better than him in the overall leader boards for his powers to be forever. skinny agreed.

it was a fierce battle between the two. back and forth they traded blows. in the end skinny would get the final blow that would prove victorious. the gods blessed both players with there gifts but at the cost of being tied together as kobra kai and sandafloor.

sincerely- an idiot rotfl!

BL: Mother of god...

Kratos taught me how to deal with demigods



BL: Top 10 games of all time?
SG:
1.smb3
2.chrono trigger
3.mm3
4.mm6 (thanks mom!)
5.tloz (thanks grandpa!)
6.super mario kart
7.dkc
8.oot
9.uniracers
10.metal gear solid

BL: Mind going a little more in-depth about each selection?
SG: i got smb3 as a kid , prob 6-7 years old. it blew my mind. i instantly fell in love with that game. i spent more time on that game than any other. its just a great game, holds a special place in my heart and will always be my #1.

now that i think of it im pretty sure i played smb3 before smb2 usa. and since i loved smb3 so much i think thats prob why i hate smb2 usa so much

mm3 was one i rented all the time as a kid. i would ride my bike a couple miles to the rental store "keys video". i always thought it was a cool game.

i got mm6 as a christmas present and stayed up all that night. i remember seeing the sun rise. i got to mr. x castle that first day. i dont think ive beat mm6 tho. lol.

BL: Did you ever play Chrono Cross?
SG: i did play chrono cross, for about 20 min. the excitement i had to play that game was only matched by the dissapointment from playing it. its not a bad game, its just not chrono trigger.

BL: I have Uniracers but have yet to actually try it out.  What makes it so great?
SG: uniracers is a game i have great memories of playing with my sister. its a simple game but the lil tricks you can do are so much fun. the racing feels so fast too. you should def give it a try. i use to fuck around with the name you racer thing alot. if you try sonething like "crackhead" it says "not cool enough" and wont let you use it. lol.....
the music in uniracers is pretty fun too.

BL: Favorite moment in MGS?
SG: my fav part of mgs is paycho mantis. couldnt he read the mem card saves too? and isnt tgere a part where you need a dog to pee on you?

BL: That definitely sounds familiar.  Gloves can probably chime in.
SG: the dog had to pee on the cardboard box i think. in order to get passed the wolfs.

i remember getting a demo of that game from, i wanna say pizza hut?, and playing it a lot. it would end once you crawled into the air duct in the first area but i would just play it over and over. that was kind of like a smb3 moment for me too, i had never played anything like that before.

BL: Yeah I had that disc too.  I think it also had Medieval and.... Crash or Spyro?  Man, that was almost 20 years ago.
How long did it take you to beat LoZ as a kid?
SG: i still have yet to completely beat TLOZ.

BL: Did you beat Ocarina of Time?
SG: i was able to finish oot. thats another game my sister enjoyed. she would hang out and help solve the puzzles. we beat oot together   she is currently addicted to breath of the wild, she got a switch and takes it to work in order to play during lunch.

BL: What other games did you and your sister play through together?  I know I helped my sister do Super Mario RPG and Earthbound
SG: chrono trigger is another game me and my sister played through together. also lttp. she isnt a hardcore gamer but she does enjoy a good video game.

BL: How fast do you think you could complete DKC 101% in?
SG: idk if ive ever beat dkc %101. i know it took me months to beat that game when i first got it. i havent played it much since then.

BL: Dream contest lineup, 2 per genre
SG:
platform: smb3 / shatterhand

sports: rad racer / excitebike

arcade: dk jr / mrs pac tengen

shoot em up: 1943 / twin cobra

beat um up: dd2 / battletoads

puzzle: FUCK / THAT fucking hate puzzle games. palamedes isnt terrible.

BL: What game would you most want to see in the SNES contest?
SG: i dont know much about the super nintendo library to give a very good answer.

i think stunt race fx would be fun.

BL: Worst game you've ever played?
SG: kings knight. what a shit fest.

BL: Favorite piece in your collection?
SG: my trophy cart.

that thing is awesome.

red and bertwaaaaampson wiped the floor with the rest of us. i beat that guy who is always talking about how great he is... whats that guys name? hes really old and cant play anymore... meer??? MEERCATDUG! thats it. i beat him and guts to sneak on the podium. to be fair tho guts couldnt play that week. something about a dirty diaper left on for days???? i cant really remember  

BL: Meerkat.  Love it.  I gotta admit I was a little sad the trophy carts were discontinued right before I would of earned one, but after seeing how much trouble Jeff (Quest) had getting one together for me, I don't blame them
SG: ya i was really lucky to get one. im sure glad i did. 

BL: Best find/score you've ever had?
SG: i hate to answer like a panty waste but it really is a toss up between 5-screw bayou (5$) and turok rage grey ($8).

BL: Collect anything besides NES?
SG: i collect a small bit of n64 because i dont know how to emulate it and/or find good roms.

i was collecting super nintendo but when i decide to go for a near complete licensed ntsc nes set, i said to hell with super and sold most of it. momma kai is big on super nintendo so we kept a lil collection of tge games she likes and had as a kid  

BL: Last 10 NES games you acquired for the collection?
SG: i just reached 500 loose licensed ntsc nes (501). pickups are kinda few and far between anymorebut ill try to remember the last ten.

super spike/nintendo world cup. combo cart
tecmo world wrestle
crash n boys
north n south
toki
joe n mac
back to the future II & III
flying warrioir
muppets adventure
mc kids

BL: Speaking of Crash, ever watch or read Scott Pilgrim?
SG: is scott pilgrim the movie with the juno guy? and he has to battle some boyfriends?

BL: Yes, he was in Hipster the Movi- I mean Juno.  Crash & the Boys is one of several NES games referenced in SP
SG: i only watched pilgrim once, i dont remember much of it.

BL: ...and I actually only have Joe & Mac, BttF II/III and SSVB/NWC from that group.  Never even seen most of those in person
SG: tecmo wrestke has been tough. i finally found one fir $5 so i oicked it up. ive seen it twice before but was in the $7-$10 range. ya im that cheap.

crash and n&s i had a chance to pick uo at trade night in fort walton at "rad junk" but passed. bought them here on na from "ace____ " something. i did pick up toki that trade night" joe n mac i picked up from a place in tally.

BL: Hobbies/interest outside of video games?
SG: i use to be really athleteic. one of the better high school basketball players in my area (que "glory days") but i tore up my knee real bad in a pickup game a couple years back and havent played since.

i use to fish and was getting into spear fishing but now im up here in the panhandle middle of damn no where. so i play nintendo with a bunch of looseres on nintendoage.

BL: Guard, forward, or center?
SG: i played foward/center. 6'4" 175 lbs. so i got pushed around alot on the boards but they said "he can jump out of the gym". first time i dunked a 10' rim i was 15 years old. in the open court i could boom shaka laka! i could two hand reverse. the 360 was so-so, could never windmill. but i could catch lobs. actually cuaght one off the glass in a high school game playing for key west high. just messing around i could throw them off the glass to myself. i could touch the top of the lil square, above the rim, on the backboard.

pretty soft touch too. good shooter. good passer. could drive to the rim pretty good. NO DEFENSE aaaaayyyyeee. id get my 2-3 blocks but i would grab more offensive boards than defensive ones lol.

BL: Ever been attacked by an alligator or other Florida wildlife?
SG: ive been attacked by key deer more than once! those fuckers will eat your weed plants! alligators are pretty mello really. you would have to go to the waters edge around feeding time or go into momma gators territory to be in real danger.

BL: Alabama, Mississippi, or Georgia?
SG: all i see is college football when i hear these options so i go with mississippi.

alabama sucks. the only good thing there is talladega speedway. which is second best only to daytona. oh and sadies flea market is ok. im going tmrw.

BL: Gators or Seminoles or Hurricanes?
SG: its all about the U.

im surrounded by seminole and bama fans up here. its torture. the noles fan you can always get tgem with the wide right. the bama fans, my god, they just go to "we got 16 national titles wwooooowwwwweeeeee...!!!".

BL: Favorite stadium/speedway?
SG: my favorite speedway is daytona. favorite stadium is joe robbie.

BL: Best college football game you've ever been to?
ive never been to a college football game aaaaayyyyeeee!!!

BL: Plans for any more Baby Kais?
SG: one baby kai is enough for now. i wouldnt mind if she had a lil brother tho.

BL: Favorite movie?
SG: has to go to "dumb n dumber" i find it hilarious. i think i know every word in the movie. jim carrey and jeff daniels are brilliant in that movie. they play off each other pretty good. i feel like alot of that was not on the script.

BL: Best line?
SG: man this is tough there so many great ones.

"you sold my dead bird to a blind kid?!!!"

BL: Favorite book?
SG: whats a book? like nintendo power?

they made me read one in school... i liked 1943.
ive never read a book on my own accord.

BL: That's the one where Big Brother made firemen bomb all the books so you destroy his battleships, right?
SG: lmao! 1943 is the book where the japanese make you believe 2+2=5 and have thot police. good lord i couldnt even get the book name right. ok lets go with to kill a mockingbird i like syrup on my whole breakfast plate too.

BL: Favorite album?
SG: this is a tough one.

jimi hendrix axis:bold as love

BL: Favorite TV show?
SG: i have never been into tv shows. if i have to name something other than a cartoon ill go with "the office" dwight is hilarious. otherwise ren and stimpy.
workaholics is pretty good to landers

BL: What do you do for a living?
SG: i run a small forklift in a distribution center. i use to run real heavy stuff, a 60 ton forklift and a 120 ton travelift, used for pulling boats out of the water.

BL: Worst workplace forklift incident?  I'm picturing Michael Scott knocking over the contents of the entire warehouse.
SG: great now i gotta go knock on wood.

when i was moving boats running the 60 ton lift i hit a guys mustang. i barely touched it but thats all it takes. it was a hatchback and i hit it right by the lil back quarter window near the roof. it really wasnt too bad but the dude had to do some bondo work and paint to fix it. guy was cool tho i had always burned with him so he wasnt that upset.

you have to be aware of everything when your running heavy equipment. ypu can easily hurt somebody bad and/or yourself not just tear stuff up.

that lil forklift in the office is similar to the one i run now its pretty easy. i just move pallets all day. that said its a HUGE warehouse. one side of one aisle can hold 1600 pallets. there are 82 aisles. if i run into one of those aisles it could be 1000x worse than the office scene.

BL: What's your wife do for a living?
SG: momma kai is a bank teller  

BL: Walk me through a day in the life of skinny
SG: a day in the life of skinny is pretty boring really.

wake up when baby kai gets up (between 7-9 a.m.). momma kai goes to work at 8 am. get a warm bottle and make scrambled eggs. feed the lil rascal. go play outside for a while. feed figaro (the new kitten. plucked him out of a tree about a week ago.). check the mail. take a lil walk, baby kai has a lil tykes car i push her in. lunch tine. nap time. 2pm momma kai gets home. i go in at 3. get home 11:30 midnight. eat something. play some nes weekly contest if i have any focus left.

weekends is family time most of the day, shared with chores. sunday i sometimes get some time to grind. so thats why i picked a few games to play this year. that time on sunday always goes to whatever upcoming game im interested in.

BL: What does Kawaii think of your collection?
SG: kawaii...... she doesnt hate my collection  

she got me about ten of them so far. and we beat jaws together. jaws isnt a bad game imo. ive always enjoyed it. anyway, she always supports my nes collecting as long as the funds are straight.

she has said and i quote "ill kill you if you start collecting any other consoles".

if you dont mind lets substitute jaws in for mario kart on my top ten for momma kai  

its a game she got for me for christmas and we beat it together. it needs to be in the top ten  

BL: Battletoads or Double Dragon?
SG: im better at dd but i enjoy battletoads more.

BL: Lebron James or Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry?
SG: im not a fan of any of them. even as a heat fan i never cared for lebron. i felt tge same way about shaq. i dont like when teams pay big $$$ to get a free agent. i also dont like when the players switch teams chasing big $$ or rings. so under those rules curry wins by defualt... but i cant stand watching lil guys take over games. well a.i was good but he was going hard to the paint, every time. id like to see steph curry go up against a 90's pat riley knicks squad. they have him scared to shoot. i always liked dell i just dont care for steph.

steph curry by defualt

BL: Was Bloodline an accurate depiction of the Florida Keys?
SG: ive never seen bloodline :/ ill have to get back to you on that one.

BL: Scarface or Carlito's Way?
SG: scarface is 70's-80's south florida/miami!! its awesome. that scene on the strip with the chainsaw, cant beat that. also the room where he confronts frank, its got the sunset scene on the wall with the palm trees, i grew up with stuff like that. but to be fair ive never seen carlitos way.

BL: Beer, wine, or liquor?
SG: i use to drink a lot of vodka straight. anymore tho im a beer guy. Heineken choice.

BL: Favorite local Florida beer?
SG: idk about local (fancy) craft beer. ill go with hogs breath bear because its "better than no beer at all"

BL: Favorite restaurant?
SG: i eat a lot of fast food, pizza and frozen dinners. i dont have a real fancy palette. food/taste is not something i care about. i mean as long as it doesnt taste like cat shit, ya ive accidentally tasted cat sgit. im pretty good to go. i do like to grill tho. steaks, pork chops, chiken. in tgat order. then burgers. hot dogs cone in last place.

i just ate a leftover pork chop straight outta tge fridge.

fave resturaubt:

i like five guys in my mouth. rotfl!! that gets a lot dirtier  

BL: How many times a week do you think you eat Five Guys? Does Kawaii join in or is it more of a secret shame?
SG: lol! nice move sanda! but theres only four guys around here. i try to go as often as i can. im kinda addicted, so i have to hide it. but momma kai can always smell it on me.

BL: What do you guys have planned for Father's Day?
SG: plan for fathers day is clean the house. lol. momma kai cooked an amazing breakfast! fried green tomatoes, fried eggs and bacon. wwwwwwooooooowwwwweeeeeee...!!!!!

BL: Fried Green Tomatoes the movie, the book, or the food?
SG: i saw the green tomatoe movie once when i was a kid. i couldnt tell you what its about. ive already told you all the books ive ever read in my life.

winner: the food. i love fried green tomatoes but dont fuck them up with that corn startch bull shit. batter all the way.

happy fathers day to you sanda. what did you do?

BL: Well I got the house to myself for a bit so I played some StarTropics and prepped some items for eBay including some OOP blu-rays I'll never watch that are going for crazy amounts.  Tonight the lady is taking me to sushi.
SG: oh man i love sushi!!! tuna baby! blackfin or yellowfin. ill eat it till im sick lol.

BL: ...then we went and got a movie. My first choice was Get Out, but she won't do horror. Next choice was Logan, but her mom was throwing a fit about that one earlier so I didn't even want to deal. So we got Blood Father. I didn't check its credentials so I have no idea what I'm in for
SG: what kind of sushi do you like?

BL: We like to mix it up but generally do various specialty rolls.  Last night we did the John Wayne, Popper, and Christmas Showers
http://www.daves-sushi.com/
Best sushi place in Florida?
SG: there are a few good sushi places in the keys. two in key west. "ambrosia" is super fancy waterfall in the front and all that. "orgami" is more casual, sit on the patio, but both are really good. one in marathon, well its actually a bar/grill but the sushi is legit. "castaways". oh one more in marathon "takara" its like uh how do i say like the chinese take out people decided to open up a sushi place. but i have to say it is good to and i use to eat there a lot. but all these opinions are coming from a cheap guy with no pallette.

BL: Grits or fried green tomatoes?
SG: oh man, grits are nasty. i try them with cheese, butter or jelly/jam. nothing can help grits. i like cream of wheat tho which is basically the same thing, i think.

fried green tomatoes are delicious.

BL: Biscuits and gravy or chicken and waffles?
SG: biscuits and gravy. by default. i dont think ive ever had chicken and waffles. they use to serve it at a local dinner so i might have but i dont remember.

BL: Cajun food or Cuban food?
SG: i like cuban food. the cuban press/mix/sandwich is a staple. i like piccodella idk how to spell it. fried plantains. i miss the cuban bread. right megatank?! i cant get it up here  

BL: Best movie set in Florida?
SG: best movie set in florida is ace ventura

BL: So I gather at this point that you are a Jim Carrey fan. Worst Jim Carrey movie?
SG: i havent seen all jim carreys movies. i am a fan of his early stuff. oh wait. the mask. not a big fan of that one.

the venturas and liar liar. me myself irene was ok. i stopped paying attention to his stuff around tgat time.

i really miss the tom green show. that shit was great!!!

BL: Are Jimbo's fears of Mobile warranted?
SG: ive never been to mobile but alabama is nothing to be afraid of. its scary in a wtf way. if jimbo gets in to any trouble he just has to say hes a wrestler and name sone old wrestler from alabama.....

BL: What's with the MGMT quote?
SG: the mgmt quote is just so fitting for video games. i use to play a ton of gran turismo 5 online. when i woukd win it would post a "winning message" for everyone to see, that was my winning quote.

BL: What in the shit is a dollar dew?
SG: yes! phynn lives on through dolla dews!!!!!

dolla dews ARE the shit. its a mnt. dew for a dolla. pick one up today! youll love it.

BL: Richardhead or Bearcatdoug
SG: man your not going easy on me!

meercat is my boy! hes always been talking trash with me. and always welcomed me into the contest even as a rookie. but hes not been around since he moved into the old folks home. 

peckerhead is my nascar, 24oz miller high life in a can brother! we traded power ranger doll, legendary wings. i sent him a nes/super nintendo rom set for his flash cart. i hope he shared with superjimtendo.

ill have to go with an actual tournament champ.

winner: peckerhead!

lol sorru dougie boy! thats gotta sting! i mean meercats resume is amazing. hes been league champ but just couldnt get a tourney win  

marty jennette the revenge   actually if it wasnt for meercat showing me the ropes i wouldnt be what i am now. 

winner: meercat! 

BL: Bimmy or guillavoie
SG: how can you pick between bimmy and guil?!!!

bimmy sent me a random prize and hasnt kicked me out of his contest yet. i sing songs and substitute his name with tge actual lyrics.
but he always has to go pee and its kinda embarrasing going out anywhere with him.

guil is great. i often ask his opinion. he has to listen to me cry about rule sets all the time. he has a really cool accent. plus he has a teally cool sounding name "gull-of-oil"

winner: guil

BL: Michael or Toxie
SG: this is an easy one.

mbd. not only is michael not lame but he is better looking. and better at video games.

toxie is just so lame. plus i tried to be his friend but he just dosnt like me. i think he got offended when i made fun of his ironsword poster that had a hole ripped in it with a piece of bologna and some pube hairs scotch taped around the hole. and he thinks just because hes a toronto'an no one else can enjoy maple syrup as much as he can.

winner: michael

BL: Guts or arnpoly
SG: guts has always welcomed me to the contest just like meercat. hes always taken time to talk about games and anything else life brings up. he likes mm prob more than i do. he even likes the m.buster?! yuk.

arnpoly is my nes cart dealer lol. seriously im always trying to work out a deal with this guy. class act. and he is really good at smb3, my favorite game.

hall of fame and tourney champ.
winner: arnpoly

BL: Bea or Redneck RN?
SG: ill have to go with the one who isnt terrible at video games.

winner: redneck

BL: Gloves or Krunch?
SG: krunch my man! my brother from another mother country baby!!! wwwwooooo...!!!

winner: krunch

BL: ladders or other ladders?
SG: i do love a nice 24' aluminum extention ladder. reminds me of my roofing days.

buuuut i do love a bite of cake every full moon.

winner: cake

BL: Murray or the tall guy?
SG: the tall guy is a ni e polite fella.
but murray bought the monster in my pocket.

winner: muarry

BL: "Meerkat" or Sandafloor?
SG: oh this one is easy i think everyone knows i love sandafloor. even tho sometimes he doesnt return my phone calls, its ok, i know he's just real busy  

BL: First word that comes to mind
Stryphos
doom

James
who?

Jimbo
rainbow

Bea
kickle

zobber
dk jr.

egaskrad
egg-grass-kid

barrels
rivets

ladders
cakes

Tall Guy
polite

Seppatoni
swiss

ninjistar
missing

Krunch
drawings

Gloves
compruter

table
overated

Red
lucky

BL: FMK
Guts, bearcat, Richard
SG: hahaa i been waiting for the fmk!!! yess!!
meercat is getting so old, might as well kill him. guts was banging me out in the never ending story, so its my turn to be the pitcher now! that leaves me and peckerhead. tall boy high lifes till death do us part.

BL: FMK
Mega Man, Kickle, Bimmy Lee
SG: dr. wily can bang a robot anytime he wants so lets kill that bitch ass megaman. ill fuck kickle, jimbo's version (you know thats a good time!). bimmy lee such a sucker lets marry that fool.

BL: Who's your absolute BFF on NA?
SG: i dont know if i have a bff on na. im not sure anyone would even want to be associated with that title. lol! whos the poor soul who skinny thinks is his bff? lol! hmmmm. i talk alot with megatank he is a south floridian and we are both phins fans. i like his sence of humor. ill go megatank.

i like everybody that can put up with me tho. all you guys and gals who listen to me bull shit every week and especially outside the contest threads, i thank you. everybody in the contest threads are great and i really do appretiate everybody that plays. its cool to be able to share, enjoy and challenge other people who love nintendo. around here im one of the only people i know who actually like playing old nes games. some people say "oh man i love nintendo! cool mm shirt, i love that game!" but when you ask them if they can 1cc dd or score a million points in smb3 on one life they kinda give you that look like "wtf are you talking about. who cares if you can do that?" rotfl!

BL: Would you allow Meerkat to spoon with you for a night for a copy of Little Samson?
SG: do i get to be the big spoon for a while? i would do it but only if he does the golden dairy queen. or the slurpy straw/spoon the red ones with the lil spoon on the end so you can get in all the nooks.

BL: Oh please clarify what you are saying.  The readers must make sense of this graphic imagery
SG: lol. its funny you mention spooning because me and a guy at work go pretty far making fun of each other talking about spooning the boss. 

well, the golden dairy queen spoon is extra long so you can reach all the good stuff at the bottom. and gold is better than red, so... 

and the slurpy straw/spoon is good for slurping up anything you might have missed, like the peanuts   rotfl!!!

BL: I didn't think it would be possible to have a more homoerotic interview than Jimbo's, but I like where this is going
SG: ya well i lived 30 years of my life 30 min from key west soooo.

jimbo is nothing compared to the pink side of duval street.

BL: If you had to spoon with 3 people on NA, who would you pick?
SG: i would think dain is a good spooner. you think if i go over his housecwith my silk undies and feed him chocolate pudding while we spoon and watch days of thunder, he would let me be a mod?
ive always wondered what its like to hang out in the teachers lounge with mr. wonderful, capt. morgan, mattb, vextrex. bullshiting and luaghing about what threads we locked/members we banned just to make quota  

i still get two more spoonies ?
 
and finally my dream spoon date night. would be with toxie. he asked me on a spooning date night once before but i was afraid. ive never spooned with a quebecian before. but i was being ignorant. im sure the maple syrup would flow like wine while we golden dairy queened, watching the flames light up the ice. we could share slap shots into the back of the net because our defenses would be down. then we would make a line change during the action in perfect sycronization staying connected during the spinning spoon manuver.

BL: Would you give up your copy of Gun NAC in order to be friends with Toxie?
SG: i cant give up my gun nac ill never find another one for $45. id let go of my ectra copy of ice hockey tho. people from vancuver like hockey right?

BL: Well he's actually from East Detroit, but Canada is all the same so I'll let it pass.
...and you're hoarding copies of Ice Hockey too?  You have a damn problem! (note - see skinny's hoarding thread)
SG: i know i have doubles of tetris too and i hate that game. 

BL: Have you ever gotten the "Tetris effect" where you play too many video games and then the mechanics are seared into your brain. Named after seeing falling blocks when you close your eyes.
SG: ive def experienced tetris effect. the week we played breakthru. once i turned off the tv i could literally still see the game scrolling horizontally. it happened with another game too, but i cant recall right now.

BL: Would you let Bea do unspeakable things to you for an NA Contest crown?
SG: nope. i already have a crown  

BL: Yes I remember.  I showed it to my wife. She was frightened.
SG: that crown pic is awesome!!! i might bring that back when i win star force/twin kobra

BL: Which quiet person is more suspicious, Red or table?
SG: table. thats just a really weird name to me and the avatar is like creepy rich guy or something. eeeehhhh *gets the piss quivers*

BL: Who do we never talk about... ninjistar? What's his deal?
SG: ninjistar was a rookie the same year as me , i think. he beat me once and it was influential to me tying bert in the shoot em up genre at the end of the year. he posted a late score for breakthru that knocked me down a spot.

oh shit there i go talking a out myself again when the question was clearly about ninjistar. smh.

ninjistar is a mysterious gamer. he appears only after a 24hour mcdonalds closes.

BL: Hill people or swamp people?  Or... Keys people?
SG: keys people hands down. everyone in the keys is a character all there own amd has a story to tell. its one big laid back party all day everyday down there, no lie. you have to go to work but once that clock hits its beer thirty. hell i use to go to work stoned and drinking at 10 in the morning. everybody did. the old people are sone of the coolest pull up to the bar next to done old codger, ypu never know what youll hear. i was actually on an island named big pine key. thats where i was raised. "nothing finer than i piner" thats what we always said. oh and a big pine ten is a lady with 4 teeth and a six pack  

BL: Have you met up with Mega Tank yet?
SG: i havent been able to meet up with mega tank yet. i dont get down to south florida that much. its like a 10-12 hour drive. we will prob fly next time. it was tough for baby kai. even spliting the drive. we stopped in orlando at my sisters house. i dint like having her sit in the car seat that long  

BL: Strange Brew, Kids in the Hall, or Trailer Park Boys?
SG: ive never seen strange brew. kids in the hall is pretty good but i like trailer park boys before the movies. oh shit the juno chick is leyhes duaghter.

BL: Haha, I totally forgot about that.  Guess it has been a long time since I watched season 1
Favorite Trailer Park Boys character?
SG: ricky is my favorite trailer park boy. hes awesome. thats a knucklehead buddy.

BL: FMK:
The Bayou Billy girl, the Double Dragon girl, the Dark Queen
SG:
fuck: dark queen
marry: annebelle
kill:marian

BL: FMK:
Chad Pennington, Jay Fiedler, Ryan Tannehill
SG:
fuck:fiedler
marry: pennington
KILL KILL KILL!!! phanyhill!!!

BL: Which RB, WR, and QB would you take first in fantasy this year?
SG: oh man im not very good at ff! id like to play in one of the na leagues this upcoming season. ill start saving for my league fee now.

rb: bell
wr: a.brown
qb: rodgers

i just picked like a ranking whore.
what about your rb wr qb piks for ff?

BL:
WR - Brown
QB - Rodgers
RB - Elliot
How creative eh?  I've never actually had Rodgers before (I never go early on QB), so he gets the nod over 39 year old Brady
SG: ya your a rankings slave too. zeeks a bust. he got lucky last year. his qb is one and done so with no passing game he wont be able to run like he did last year. plus he is to small and defenses have his number now.

you suck quest!  

BL: Karate Kid with Ralph Machio or the one with Hillary Swank or the one with Jaden(?) Smith?
SG: the original karate kid is the best. with ralph.

BL: Karate Kid II or Karate Kid III?
SG: i havent seen 2 or 3 in a long time but i think i remeber i like 3 better.

BL: Elizabeth Shue or Hillary Swank?
SG: idk who shoe is so hillary swank.

BL: Star Trek or Star Wars?
SG: i guess star wars. i dont care for either of them to be honest. star trek is boring as hell, am i right? star wars is lame. so idk. at least star wars has some action.

BL: SNES or Genesis?
SG: super nintendo. not even close. i never could get use to that damn three button controller. i recently picked up a six button cntrlr and one of those cheap "at games" emulator flashback kinda thing. i got tge stuff dirt cheap so i said what the hell give this sega shit a try. i never had one growing up. two buddies of mine in grade/middle school had genesis and i would play at there house but never liked it. momma kai likes genesis she had onecas a kid so i have a small collection. like 3 games. comix zone, jp and micky donald world of illusion. comix zine is on the emulator thing so ill be selling that.

but i hear genesis is the console for shoot em ups so...

super nintendo is just awesome.

BL: Yeah, I have a number of them (Gaiares, Bio Hazard Battle, Thunder Force II & III, Arrow Flash, Fire Shark, etc) but haven't busted the console out for years. It's hard to have 1000+ games and actually play them all
SG: i think ive heard good things about thunder force... its IV tho? is there a 4?
holy shit you have 1000+ games? whoa. 

BL: Yes, it's called Lightening Force.  And I have 1000 SNES and NES alone
SG: how many nes do you have? how many super nintendo do you have? 

BL: 347 and 657, counting homebrews and imports and such
SG: dang does that mean you have all the licensed super nintendo? 

BL: No, I have 70+ left.  I have a thread about it
http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&thr...

SG: i got a question for you. whats so bizzare about riddick bowe boxing? i played tge shit out of that game its like a real deal holyfield clone

BL: Um.... what?
SG: *crickets*

BL: Anyways, make that 658 SNES. I just bought beloved classic Barkley Shut Up and Jam. No word yet on whether there is an elbow button
(note - make that 659 SNES, skinny sold me Top Gear 3000)
Did you buy a Switch?
SG: im not spending $500 on a damn switch when i still need panic restaurant! what the hells wrong with you sanda?! idlbruno has one hear on na. i need to sell some more shit to try and get it. ive dealt with him recently (great guy i mean just a really great guy. top notch. you guys should buy some stuff from him. not panic). he had a bb2 that i was about to pull the trigger on buy life stuff dipped into the hobbie fund.

my sister has a switch. its cool.

BL: Defender II predictions?
SG: bea wins def 2

BL: 2017 champ predictions?
SG: peckerhead wins back to back titles, adding another win to his resume  

BL: That is my nightmare
Favorite contest memory?
SG: when commader santa dub'd me "the grinder" that was special.

the contest week of alpha mission. i had to win that week , which meant beat bertwaaampson, in order to win the shoot em up genre. i had a one point lead going into that final shoot em up game for the year. alpha mission is now one of my favorite games. anyway, it was a battle. wampson ended up beating me by 1xxx points. which translates to he shot down maybe 10 more enemies than me. ooooooohhhhhh it still stings. it ended up we tied for first in the shoot em up genre, but we all know thats not a win....

kobra kai vs. sandafloor. its always been fun.

BL: Worst contest week ever?
SG: oh man, i gotta go with life force earlier this year. i put in a good amount of practice into that one. i was able to grind for a day or two that week. i just couldnt get a clean run. i jad known about the scoring glitch weeks before. i even discussed it with that birdbrain guy. the only thing he said was he never noticed it before. i wasnt sure how it worked and i didnt think to try it on the boss battles. i was on course for a 1,050,000 run but blew it at the end of the 5th(?) stage right before the pharrow head boss. i was right at the end of that stupid ass part where you have to weave through those damn walls. i had one more move to make before the clear and just slipped up, turned off my concentration for a second, feeling i was through and bang, touched the damn wall. man that sucked, had to just survive through the boss battle and the last stage watching all those points fly by. nothing i could do. just make it to mother brain and get what i could. not placing higher didnt hurt as bad as not fulfilling my potential in that game.

BL: I played Bad Street Brawler for about 5 minutes the other night.  It was torture.  If I was to forfeit our challenge right now, would you take it easy on me avatar-wise?
SG: i think your bullshiting trying to pull a kobra kai. if your serious though then the bet is off i dont want an empty victory.

BL: No, I'll honor the bet, it stays on.  Just expect some more Bayou Billy type of scores from me.  Maybe by the time Battletoads Double Dragon rolls around I won't be with crying babies from 9pm-1am every. single. night.
...and we never did terms for our bet.  Two months?  Until the next contest?  Forever?
SG: im pretty sure we decided on until the next contest begins. but im pretty sure you forfieted

BL: So, next contest it is. I don't want to deny you the opportunity to show off whatever you have planned for me
By the way, that's a pretty sharp leaderboard you made for Bimmy this week. Where do you get the inspiration?
SG: who the fuck you talking to sanda?! you cheating on me you lil whore. trying to play hide the noodle in two bowls of soup at the same time?! fuck this im outta here.
(note - I can only assume skinny is high at this point)

BL: Let's say I was.  What type of soup would you be?
SG: lentil

BL: ...because you're rich in fiber and beloved by Indians?
SG: becuase ive always been jealus of my cusin split pea.

BL: What type of soup is Toxie?
SG: toxie is egg drop cause hes pregnant with your love child.

BL: What about Meerkat and Mr. Pecker?
SG: meercat is hippopotimus soup because he so old.
and peckerhead is miso because he has asian eyes.

BL: What about me?
SG: you are bad bull soup of course.

BL: If you had to face me in a tournament playoff, what 3 games would we play?
SG:
rollergames
mighty bomb jack
battletoads

BL: Who gets the next gold first; Michael, guts, Richard, you, or me?
SG: the grinder has the best chance at getting the next gold. out of that goup its not even close.

i mean c'mon guts will never get another win. he has been mentality defeated already and has given up. mbd is a good player and deserves a win but lifes not fair is it. peckerhead has one fucking win! for christ sake how did a guy get so lucky?!! i blame you sanda me a d bert literaly gift wrap you tge championship im talking ribbon and all even the lil card to: sanda from skinny and bert. and you blow it! jeez man! you never get another win until ai 1 comes back around or fucking q-bert. man you suck at nes games smh.

BL: No, I'll win Rollergames.  Not that we'll ever play that again.  Fucking boulder...
Ever play StarTropics?  I think it's Zelda-ish
SG: ive played startropics for prob 20 in my life, thats more than one attempt, lol. ive given it prob 3 trys, because its always talked about as a good game. i just couldnt get into it. it is zelda like as far as the catacombs in tloz. tge overworld is different. its got a lot of dialogue, something only chrino trigger has ever kept me interested in enough to continue playing the game. or maybe the gameplay and story of chrono trigger is just that good.

BL: Think you'll try to finish off StarTropics this week?
SG: i wont have time for star tropics. ill get participation and play star force with any other free time. i might not get participation for star tropics, if i have to read 30 min worth of dialogue ill prob skip it.

BL: StarTropics predictions?
SG: star tropics is kinda a toss up. like running on a muddy field. maurry might be a mudder.

BL: Did Doug tell you my Double Dragon score last year? I confided in him because I thought I had that win for sure until you sniped it. I still don't know how you did it
SG: nah, meercat never said anything to me.   your secret was safe. 

the grinder and the emergence of kobra kai, that you helped create, beat you that week sanda. i wanted it bad, rspecially since i knew you were really going for it too. i like seeing people lose more than i like winning. i worked hard that week every day for tgat win. i was aiming for a sub 20k run. 

BL: I wonder who put in more hours last year... outside of a few games I earned every one of those finishes through some long nights.
Who should be be inducted as a member of the 2017 hall of fame class?
SG: skinnygrinny should get into the hall of fame but even if he gets a nomination he will get snubbed.

BL: What is going on in your avatar? Not sure how that wasn't question #1...
SG: dr wily? you never beat mm2?

BL: I honestly cannot remember. What does my backloggery say? I think I finished all of the NES games (aside from the original, I couldn't beat the Yellow Devil) on the Anniversary collection, but I don't specifically recall the ending for any of them. He's an alien or...?
SG: dr wily transforms into an alien at the end of mm2. bubble gun hurts him pretty good. lmao you couldnt beat mm1! smh. oh man sanda....

BL: It's all about incentive.  Why did I beat Battletoads, instead of giving up?  So I could beat you.  Why did I play Mario Bros. for hours sitting on the damn floor of my bedroom with a CRT angled between my legs?  So I could live to beat you the next week.  And definitely not for other reasons too.
SG: ya ya, you kobra kai me on palamedes. i thot you were done for. i knew my score wasnt very good but i wss hoping you and richard would be worse

BL: I learned from the master of deception.  I had that score on Tuesday or Wednesday
My first impression of Palamedes on Sunday was sincere though...


...it wasn't until at least the next day that I figured out how to break the game.
Really though I spent most of that week trying to engineer Richard's destruction, because he was scaring me with his bragging about Adventure Island.  But who knew that bert would basically give up and allow Richard to live?  That was the ultimate shocker
SG: i dont think bert gave up. i think he had no time. havent seen him since that pakamedes week. plus berts a competitive player. hes not going to smack his lil peenie around for participation like you and me are doing this year. if he cant put in the time to win hes not going to play.

dude you had me fooled all the way during palamedes. on sunday i was like, that lil fucker...

BL: Who would you like to see get interviewed?
SG: i think peckerhead should get an interview.

BL: If you could have one person return to the contests, who would it be?
SG: i miss bertwaaaaampson. i would love to see him return. for some reason it didnt sting so bad losing to him.
compared to the new guy, fuck i hate losing to that guy! damn rookie comes in says he gonna win the shoot em up gets completly lucky and whatta ya know. smh.

BL: Which member of The Breakfast Club are you?
SG: i have not watched the breakfast club enough to know so ill just say cyndi luaper.

BL: Michigan musician, blood relative of mine
#1 - Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?
Answer - No
#2 - Hmm, is the musician still alive?
Answer - Yes, mostly
#3 - Is it George Winston?
Answer - No
#4 - Kid Rock?
Answer - No
#5 - Alice Cooper?
Answer - No
#6 - Stevie Wonder?
Answer - No
#7 Hair color?
Black and/or grey
#8 Facial hair or no?
Both
#9 Hawt or not?
So much hawt

BL: Three questions skinny.  They do not have to all be asked at once
SG: what kind of music?
#1 - R&B
SG: what instrument?
#2 - Various
SG: male or female
you jewed me with the instruments answer.
#3 - Both
Did I say musician?  I meant musicians  

We'll continue the trivia with the next interview subject


BL: When we're done here, do you want me to spellcheck and edit your answers?  Or do you want them posted as is, to help keep the flavor of skinny intact.  I mean that in the most 5 Guys way possible
SG: leave it just like it is sanda

whats with this @ this or @ that? (note - this is how I reference previous questions in our interview thread) you even jefi mind tricked me into using it a few post back. i felt used and real lame afterwards. like toxie feels everyday. like when you wake up from a bad/wtf/weird dream and you feel kinda depressed all day. thats toxies life.

BL: That's only happened to me with really good dreams.  You wake up and immediately pray to go back to sleep and get back to it.  And then you are sad all day because it slipped through your fingers.
SG: dude... you dont try to go back to sleep. you go to the bathroom and finish the dream there... you can even come up   with your own ending.

BL: What question should I ask you?
SG: you ever heard of a "clapper"

its a fart or queef so wet it makes a clapping noise that would turn your lights on/off
BL: No...
SG: rotfl!!!!
whats your fav nes game of all time, sanda?

BL: Well, as you know I didn't grow up with a NES, so the only games that have got extensive play from me are what we've played in the contest, in addition to select other classics (the Marios, Zelda, Metroid, the Mega Mans, and a few others)

So I'd say the most influential game is Super Mario Bros.; I was obsessed with the game as a small child.  I could only hope to be able to go to other children's homes and see the game in action.  I've convinced this helped foster my extreme interest in video games

Right now though, the game I have the highest opinion of is Battletoads.  I always preferred Super Mario World over SMB3, Mega Man X over Mega Man 2, Contra III over Contra (which I've just now been playing), I haven't played Castlevania III, or any of the Ninja Gaidens really.  So that could change as I get more familiarity with the top titles on the system, but Battletoads is it for now. 

Dragon Quest IV is also up there.
SG: nice chioce. i hadnt given it much time before the week of the contest last year. i havent beat it yet. but what a good game.

BL: What is your favorite NES beat em up, outside of what you may of had in your top 10 games?
SG: i really like river city ransom. i never played it back in the day. the first time i ever played it was on the gba. ive never beat it tho. i could never figure out how to progress very far. i couldnt figure out where to go.

BL: Hardest game you've ever beaten?
SG: the hardest game i ever beat was rush n attack. but that was a one life low score, so idk if that counts. nothing ive beat comes close to that yet. its one hit death and it was like a passive run trying not to kill any enemies.

just playing a game regularly?.... idk...i guess mm1.

i recently made it thro the first loop of contra legit. i never liked contra as a kid. during the offseason of the contest i got inspired to finally sit down and finish the game. what a pain in the ass. that game isnt even fun. what an overated game. i guess it gets harder until the third loop. i said fuck that. i might try to master it some day just to tell people how much i hate it.

BL: I'm starting to consolidate the interview. If I think of any more questions I will ask them, otherwise use these last opportunities to get any jabs or barbs while you can
SG: ok, thanks for all the time and effort you put into theese things. its a lot of fun and makes us feel special. your a good dude sanda.

and wtf is miguel sanchez?

BL:





SG: you know, ive never really liked tge simpsons. i do like when bart gets his lil neck rung tho. i can relate  

BL: That explains why you didn't get my perfectly cromulent reference
SG: ya i had to google it lol. 
 

Interview #7
Richley Cyrus

  I was married for a bit, that ended miserably. I do have a wonderful girlfriend right now. She's pretty fucking awesome and deals with my Nintendo addiction! As for kids..... fuck that noise! They are a waste of time, space, air and money!

Beer, wine, or liquor?
Beer all day long.

Best Colorado beer?
Best Colorado beer is from Eddy Line Brewing out of Buena Vista, they have a fucking Double IPA that will have you seeing stars after just 2, but it's a tasty fucking beer!

Best Denver beer?
Best Denver beer is Bull and Bush brewing. They do a lot of amazing craft beers that are really affordable. My favorite though is one called 4.0 GPA. It's a low alchohol grapefruit pale ale that is really tasty. Too bad it's only available throuout the summer.

Best restaurant in Denver?
The best restaurant in Denver is a toss up, There are so many great places to eat in this town. I love food, I love eating it and I love making it. If I had to choose though I'd say Bull and Bush would win this one. I go there often and they do have the best damn brunch in town!

Jimbo mentioned how you and Trixie met (something about crashing your bike into her students).  Anything more to it?  She seems to like video games and wrestling enough, so I'd say you hit the lottery on that one.
Miss Trixy is great! She does like wrestling and she is starting to like some games. She's an amazing violinist and is obsessed with cycling. Actually
Right now she is down at my place complaining about having to do 2 hours of teaching up at her place while stretching on a foam roller 😂
We met because she lives in a condo across from me. I asked her on the 4th of July if she wanted to climb on the roof of the liquor store and watch fireworks. It's been amazing ever since.

What's the longest bike ride you've done?
The longest ride I do is 62 miles

Do you wear the special biker outfits?  Skin tight hopefully
I do wear special cycling gear (tights) during my rides. The material is made to withstand road burn and the shorts are padded.
That's probably very accurate! I do love me some Calvin and Hobbs!


Spoil it for me, who were "Those Who Trespass?" Besides his dick
I won't spoil that book. It was actually a pretty decent read. It's not political at all. IMO!

Favorite book?
Atlus Shrugged

Favorite TV show?
Gilligans Island

Favorite movie?
Strange Brew

Favorite band/album?
Macabre/Sinister Slaughter

Which member of the Breakfast Club are you, Trixie, Jimbo, and James?
I am Judd Nelson ( Judd Nelson is fucking harsh)
James is Anthony Michael Hall
Jimbo is Ally Sheedy
Miss Trixy is Molly Ringwald
Skinny is Emilio Estevez ( I can see him taping someone's butt together)

Who's the biggest asshole, you, James, or Jimbo?
Biggest asshole is me. James and Jimbo have kids and have lost some of the asshole they used to have.

Who's jimbo meeting here in a few days?
He's actually going to meet up with Skinny. His wife has some seminar or some shit like that to do in Louisiana or Florida or both. It seems every time he mentions it, it changes. I can say for certain that he and Skinny have some weird relationship and are meeting up for "lunch"!
not sure if Skinny's wife knows yet though.

Jimbo said you don't believe in ghosts.  Is that from a logical standpoint, or from an antagonize Jimbo standpoint?
Ha! I just like to antagonize Jimbo. I also hate Firefly, Michael Jackson, Reel Big Fish and lots of other things just to fuck with him. It's a fucking art form!

Best liquor store story?
Jimbo has all the liquor store stories. I pretty much just hang out in the coolers and stay away from the register as much as possible.

Best record store story?
The best story at the record store was one day a guy walked in and was acting all kinds of crazy, he was going around opening all the Bluetooth speakers. When me and another manager approached him to tell him he needed to leave , he pulled a fucking gun out and put it right in my face. Told me I needed to get the fuck out of the store. It was Mother's Day and there were lots of customers and employees in the store so I went around telling people we all needed to get out of the store because there was a guy with a gun. More than a few people actually asked me if we had certain things in stock and when they'd be able to return ! Blew my fucking mind!
Anyways as I was going to the stock room to get the store manager out, the guy with the gun saw me and pointed that fucking gun at me again and started yelling at me to get the fuck out or he was gonna kill me. By the time I got outside there were cops everywhere. Not long after that there was swat and snipers on a roof across the street. Me and two coworkers got stuck in a shitty little gas station for hours while the standoff was going down. There was no heat in the station which wouldn't have been a problem had it not been fucking snowing in the middle of May !
They finally let us all leave and go home after about 5 hours. When all was said and done thee maniac had destroyed our stock room and the swat team fucked up even more shit. That was a butch of a mess to clean.

So at least two people in the contests have had guns in their faces, and 2 people have been stabbed. We should start a gang.
Well, maybe not! As it turned out, the gun that was pointed in my face that day was fake. I'll tell you it looked very fucking real though! 

How did Richard meet James?
James and I met almost 20 years ago at that record store. He was some sort of backroom manager and I started as a PT cashier. He left and came back a few times and I got "promoted" to second assistant. We would hang out in the morning before work and drink beer and smoke pot. Then smoke all day at work, go home and get drunk, play video games and watch wrasslin!

How did you guys meet Jimbo?
Jimbo entered the fray long after all the good ol' days.
He worked for a sister store in the Cherry Creek mall that went under and they moved his ass over to our store. I've gotta tell you, that guy is a fucking weirdo but he seems to fit in just fine.

Have you met all the other tertiary characters like Tad Moist and Snow?
Tad is the owner of the liquor stores son, so Jimbo and I work with him. Snow was a really good friend of mine, I don't think he even logs onto NA anymore. I know of moist, but don't know him. He's one of Jimbo's friends from like north or South Dakota, which makes sense he's friends with Jimbo because as far as I can tell he's just as big a fucking freakazoid as Jimbo!

Sorry for my delayed responses. Unlike Jimbo , when I'm at work I mostly have to do work 🤣

Jimbo mentioned the one lot of CIB NES games you scored at that place.  Any other great finds? 
That score was epic. I've collected games for a long time and used to garage sale every weekend. About 10 years ago I went to a seemingly shitty garage sale, there was a bunch of clothes and shoes. I asked the young kid running it if he had any other stuff and he walked me to the backyard where he kept more valuable stuff so people wouldn't walk off with it. I scored a Coleco vision and 2 intellivisions with 30ish games for $20. I unfortunately have had to sell off most of my collection. All I kept was some of my NES stuff.

Best/favorite piece in your collection?
My favorite piece in my collection is Maniac Mansion CIB and Star Tropics near CIB.

Best interview so far?
Oh man, the best interview is a toss up between Jimbo and Skinny. Those guys are some grade A weirdos !

Favorite week of the contest?
My favorite week so far was ice hockey! That was the first time I really started talking to Guts. We've become pretty good NA friends since then. He has for sure helped me become a better gamer.

Least favorite week?
So far, the least favorite week is Vice: Project Doom. Having Arn beat me that week was really discouraging for sure. Buy Klax will be my least favorite overall! That game can go fuck itself. I've been debating not even playing that week but I will anyways.

Ever go to the real South Park?
So the real South Park is a tiny little town off of highway 285 called FairPlay. I've been through it many times but never stopped because there isn't shit there. It is however on the way to a really cool town with really good beer, Buena Vista.

Is the Colfax Point in the show indicative of the real one in Denver?
It used to be. Things have changed here so much in the last 5 years. The city has cleaned up these areas that were know to be shitty and have relocated the crime and homelessness to other areas. One of the areas is where we ride our bikes . So that's kinda nice😳

So, it's like Sopa Soda? Crack dens turned bistros?
Yep! Shitypa Town.

Best movie set in Denver?
Not really any movies I can think of that are entirely set in Denver, but I love American Flyers. They travel to Colorado for some bike race and it's pretty nice scenery!

Yeah I saw that I think. William Hurt's in it or something
Wait, I'm thinking of John Heard in Radio Flyers
American Flyers was Kevin Costner. He and his brother are professional cyclists. Pretty epic movie. Check it out if you get a chance.

I've seen it, just got the casts mixed up in my head
What about Things To Do In Denver While You're Dead?
I forgot about Things to do in Denver when you're dead. I haven't seen it in probably 15 years though.

Buffs, Rams, Bears, or don't care?
I'll take the DU pioneers thank you very much!

Broncos, Nuggets, Avs, or Rockies?
Broncos can suck it, the Nuggets annoy me and the Avs employee a woman beater, so fuck them also!
I don't hate the Rockies, they are having a pretty good season so far. I just want them to make the WS again so I can rub it in to all those fucking bandwagon fans that pop up out of nowhere when they get fucking swept again!

So would you say your primary interest in sports is spite?  I can relate; my teams are all terrible
Most of what I say about anything is out of spite! Just ask SuperJimTenTurd!

Beat em ups or shooters?
Beat em ups all day. I really do like shooters though, I'm just no good at them.

Sports or racers?
That's a tough one. I really like both genres.
If I had to take one though I suppose racers. No wait sports!

Puzzles or platformers?
I fucking hate puzzle games. HATE HATE HATE!

Mexican or Italian?
Food or women ?

Both
For food I prefer Mexican. I mean they figured out that you can put almost anything on a tortilla and call it a taco. Tacos are my #1 go to food. They are easy to make and imo less is more for tacos.
As far as women, I'm not a fan of Italian or Mexican women. I prefer blondes,and both Mexican and Italian women tend to have dark hair.

Smartly played.  Who's the tallest; James, Jimbo, or you?
James and I are both 6ft. Jimbo is a short round little fella!

Ever catch the guy who ran you over?
I never even filed a police report because any witnesses that might have seen it happen also didn't stop. Everyone must have been fucking late to work and to busy to stop and see if the unconscious guy in the middle of the street was okay. I'm still pissed about that one!

How much Adventure Island did you play during the tournament?
As for AI, I've been playing that game since I was really little. I would go to my cousins house (trailer) and that's all I would play for hours on end, since that's the only game he had. During the tournament I played it almost everyday for at least a few hours. I neglected quiet a bit that week.

Living in a trailer with only Adventure Island to play.  Pretty sure that is a literal definition of hell.
So yeah, my cousin only had AI on the NES so I played it pretty often, as my mom always hung out with my aunt. It was great for me because I didn't have any games at home then.
I don't think my cousin cared too much because he was much older and interested in girls and drugs.

Which is the worst, the damn frogs, the damn coyotes, the damn platforms, the damn boulders, the damn fish, or the damn eggplants?
The platforms are what fuck me over the most.

Yeah I hear that. I had to write down every damn dropping platform, and consult my notes at the beginning of every level. And I still fucked it up like 20 times
I'm still pissed at myself for AI. On the better runs I would degrade myself by studying 10 second clips of youtube, play through that part, then repeat. This was on top of the stage notes I took. Apparently I couldn't remember a fucking boulder for 13 seconds. But after 32 weeks of marathon gaming I guess I was starting to lose it mentally.
I'm starting to get burned out now, but I plan on playing every fucking game this year.

How much longer do you think you can keep it up?  Are you up for 25 hours of Klax?  How are you at Contra?  Because placing that week is gonna require some dedication I bet.  Did you get burned out last year?
I'll play every game this year, unless I die. I hate Klax, and won't be competitive that week. I also suck it at Contra, although I think I will finally give it a proper go when we play it. I've never put much time into it .

I haven't played Klax or Spy Hunter yet. Are they worth the effort?
Klax is a pain in the ass. There will most likely be a handful of people that are good at it though.so I wouldn't put much more than participation effort there.
Spy hunter is a crap shoot though. It gets very little love on the NES but I've always enjoyed it. I think it's worth putting a little more effort into it. I'm hoping for a low turnout.

Can you beat Contra? Think you'll place?
I've never beat Contra but that week I will beat it. I've just never liked it all that much so I've never really tried. I for sure will NOT place that week either.

So, I may or may not be doing an interview with Doug on the side, and he may or may not be egging me on for more "personal" questions, so I may or may not of asked him a FMK that involves certain NA ladies.  If Miss Trixy was to find that in bad taste or creepy, should we cut that from the published interview?
Miss Trixy is not very easily creeped out. Fire away!

He declined answering it. I guess I have found doug's limits
Dougs a pussy!

What should we talk about? Games, your personal life, politics, or silly absurd things?
My personal life if pretty boring these days, politics kinda piss me off, I love games. So I'd say either my personal life of politics.

You want to talk about the boring and pissed off shit? Ok
Trump or Trudeau?
I'd have to say Trump, at least I get a good laugh from time to time from him.

Absolutely worst type(s) of Facebook user?
The worst kind of Facebook user is the people that post shit non-stop about politics and cops killing people. Instead of getting out and doing something about the things they think are unjust, they get on their keyboard and incite hatred from the comfort of their own home. Then when someone disagrees with them, they just fucking blow up and say the same shit over and over instead of having an actual conversation. I'd rather see pictures of shit than read that shit they post!

Who's more annoying, the triggered SJW, or the angry White Christian?
SJW fucks are by far more annoying. At least with the angry white Christians I can go to wherever the fuck they are protesting and yell fucked up shit to them. Those fucking keyboard warriors tend to stay anonymous and hide some place comfortable, like either in there parents basement or the back of a Volkswagen !

What is a snapchat or instragram?
Snapchat is for teenage girls to send pictures of whatever the fuck it is they take pictures of these days and Instagram is for women in their 30s to share pictures of whatever the fuck it is they take pictures of these days. Lucky for me, Trixie doesn't use instagram. At least that I know of.

Gorsuch is from your neck of the woods. What's the sentiment around there?
Gorsuch is a fucking scumbag just like every judge in the Supreme Court, he should fit in nicely! Denver is pretty liberal and I don't hear people praising him. He pushes for religious freedom to a scary cult level. I'm all about religious freedom as I am for gay rights and whatnot, but for fuck sake, it needs to stay out of the fucking government! Those asshats are supposed to be un-fucking-biased when makeing rulings. It's the sad state of this country though!

Trump or Cruz?
Cruz over Trump for no other reason than Cruz has better hair.

Comey or Sessions?
Sessions over Comey because Sessions is a way cooler name. Again, all these people are fucking scumbag criminals that we let run out fucking lives!

Jimbo said Trixie doesn't want kids. Is this true?
Trixie and myself feel the same way about kids. They are a waste of time, money, space and air. We both like to be able to up and do what we want, when we want. I can't ever see either of us not being able to do that. I'd say I feel bad for people like Jimbo and April, I mean both of them complain about not being able to go out and do stuff because of kids but in the same breath say " they are the best thing that ever happened to me". I guess I'll never get it.

I'm surprised there have been no questions about Mr. Pickles.😂

Mr. Pickles, named after Mr. Whiskers? Or a love of Pickles?
Mr. Pickles is named for a friend. He's a Denver cop and years ago he was saying that I needed to get a cat and name him Mr. Pickles! Fast forward to when I actually got this little fucker. Another cop friend of mine calls me on day asking me if I wanted a cat. I was hesitant and asked my friend if he'd take him. My friend said he needed to see what his demeanor was. Well, the only option was to either take him or he goes to a high kill shelter. So I made the decision to go ahead and take this "free" cat.
My friend brought him over an hour later and he was super terrified. He hung out in my closet all night hiding. The next day my friend came over and took him to a vet.
Apparently my friend had cat napped him from an abusive owner and told the vet that. Long story short, what was supposed to be a small fee for getting him fixed turned into a $700 bill! Because of stupid laws here the vet was required to notify the owner that they had his cat and he had 3 days to come get him, pay the fine for not having a cat fixed and pay the boarding fees.
The guy never called so after 3 days Mr. Pickles was mine. I had him chipped, fixed, got all his shots and dewormed. I also had to pay the fucking boarding fees! None the less, I love that little fucking monster ! Him and Trixie are the best things to ever happen in my life. Well, other than JamesRobot!

I think James loves you too. A couple times I've laid down some Richard smack, and he came to your defense like a knight in shining armor
Who does Mr. Pickles hate more, Jimbo or James?
Mr. Pickles hates nobody. James however hates cats and Mr. Pickles loves him so I suppose Mr. Pickles senses that and bugs the shit out of him for pets while he's here.

Are you and James twins?
James and I aren't twins but we may as well be. We've been mistaken for each other on many occasions, especially working at the same place for years.

Did you meet Murray? I can't remember who was involved there
Murray did come over to watch Money in the Bank. He's a cool dude, a lot older than I expected though. Might be ther oldest guy on NA! I cooked up some food and we got a bunch of beers. It was Jimbo, Trixie, Jimbo's old lady, Jimbo's spawn, Murray, Mr. Pickles and myself. We had a pretty good time watching wrasslin, drinking and shooting the shit.
We will have to see if Murray ever wants to come back though!

Money in the Bank? What's that? I'm guessing not wrestling or NASCAR
Money in the Bank is actually a WWE PPV event. It's usually one of the better PPVs. Wrestlers compete to climb a ladder and get a championship match contract at anytime they choose.

You guys all seem to love wrestling. What got you into that?
I watched wrestling as a kid and sort of always followed it loosely. When james and I started hanging out I basically forced him into watching it. It wasn't long before we were hanging out, drinking , smoking, playing games and watching wrasslin'! Then Jimbo entered the fray and we've been doing this for a while now. It doesn't happen every week due to adult life and whatnot. We make the most of the nights we do get together though. Good food, beer, friends and wrasslin'! You really can't beat that!

Michigan musician, blood relative of mine
#1 - Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?
Answer - No
#2 - Hmm, is the musician still alive?
Answer - Yes, mostly
#3 - Is it George Winston?
Answer - No
#4 - Kid Rock?
Answer - No
#5 - Alice Cooper?
Answer - No
#6 - Stevie Wonder?
Answer - No
#7 Hair color?
Black and/or grey
#8 Facial hair or no?
Both
#9 Hawt or not?
So much hawt
#10 what kind of music?
R&B
#11 what instrument?
Various
#12 male or female
you jewed me with the instruments answer.
Both
Did I say musician?  I meant musicians  

Three questions Richard, go

Is it member/members from Rare Earth?
No
Is the person/persons white?
Sortof
Is it Celine Dion?
No
Dammit! Got fucking nowhere!

You see the thread about the guy selling his name on eBay?  What name would you give him?
That thread is great!
I'd name him Brad.
If I was gonna do that though, I'd bid on it myself and name
myself Mr. Pickles ! 
I am however disappointed that only 25% goes to charity! I'd do 100% and pay for the name change! Then I'd change my own name to Mr. Pickles !😳

You let James and Jimbo beat you in Target Renegade? That's disgraceful, especially from someone who can beat Battletoads. That was probably the easiest brawler I've played on NES
Ugh! Yeah I'm pretty disappointed in myself about my target renegade score. I had a better score earlier in the week but didn't take a picture because I was certain I was gonna beat the fucking game. Shit happened and I didn't have the time to play as much as I wanted.

Plans for the 4th?
I work on the 4th but went to to a theme park/water park today with Trixie and another friend. Had a fucking blast too!

Best 4th story?
A bunch of friends got together back in Colorado Springs about 2 or 3 years of me moving away to Denver. One of my friends who regularly drove to Wyoming to buy fireworks got us all to pitch $200 for the cause(there were 15 or so of us).
My friend kinda ran a slum in the shittiest part of Colorado Springs so we had the perfect place to throw a party and blow shit up.
So here we are just having a fucking blow shit up fest when the cops show. We were really surprised they showed up, since they never even bother with anything other than gun shots in that neighbor hood. Well, all they did was tell us to hook up a hose and have it ready just in case. While they were there we got a hose ready to go. They moved on and the fun continued.
About an hour later a bottle rocket goes through the window of one of his "tenants" "apartments " and the place went up in flames real fast. Never seen anything like it.
The fire department showed and put the fire out pretty quickly but the place was destroyed. As it turned out the fucking guy living there was a bigger pyro than any of us were and had all kinds of homemade fireworks all over his "apartment "!
Nobody died and the only person out was this weird cross dressing pyro that lived in an "apartment " in my friends slum.
After all was said and done it was almost 2am and we had a ton of fireworks to blow up. We did just that until 6am.
Oh man! Those were the good ol days! I was young and didn't give a fuck about almost anything.
Happy 4th all!


Or happy Canada d'eh! If That's your thing!
On a side note.... I'm pretty disappointed that The Who's drunk thread wasn't on the first page of latest posts all day on Canada D'eh!
And to think I respected your Canadian drinking habits!
Such a letdown!

What is Mr. Pickles doing right now?
Mr. Pickles is sleeping next to me while I play BOTW and wait to go to work.


Funny, you just got into volleyball right? I played on the 4th and actually had a lot of fun and I had always hated volleyball. Something about stuffing other middle aged men at the net is just very satisfying
So I was sitting at the park with a group of friends and while they were talking I was watching a group of probably about 20 people (mostly middle aged men actually) playing volleyball. I've never played it before but I was watching these people having a good time and being actually kind of serious about it even though most of them weren't very good. After about an hour of sitting there watching I mostly figured out the rules and how to play the game. I immediately went out and bought a volleyball at Target. I also bought a frisbee and told my fat/out of shape friend that he was gonna start going to the park a few blocks away from where we live and start doing some stuff to get his lazy ass active. It was weird, but he agreed and we went out that evening with Trixie of course, and tried our hand at some volleyball and threw the frisbee around for about an hour.
It was the most moving around I've seen him ever do. I'd call it a success.
Now, I've convinced 8 people to go out in Sunday's and Mondays to play as well. I'll see where it goes and if all of them follow through but it should be a blast. 

Should I make a Top Gun volleyball joke, or is that totally played out?
I've watched Top Gun twice this week because of my new obsession with volleyball, so fuck yes I wanna hear a Top Gun volleyball joke.

The gay thing has been done so we'll just go with this





And I'm probably gonna watch it again tonight 😂

Wait, have we not done FMK?  What is wrong with me
FMK
Sandafloor, Grinder, an unholy freak mix of the two
Can we rename this DMK (dick, marry, kill)?

Answer however you want, or refuse. Previous people did both
Marry Sandafloor, Dick Grinder (who wouldn't dick that?)
Kill The Unholy freak because that would be the equivalent of Satan !

FMK
James, Jimbo, Toxie
Dick James, kill Jimbo and marry Toxie ( I've always wanted to be Canadian !

FMK
The Octopus from Kick Master, Ethnic Abobo, Robo Manus
Dick The octopus, marry Ethnic Abobo, kill Robo Manus

FMK
A Power Glove, an NES advantage, a Super Scope
Fuck Power Glove, marry NES advantage, kill super scope!

FMK
The woman who tried to sell her panties to the record store, AlexElectric, this guy
Fuck Brock, marry Alex (also Canadian) kill that chick trying to sell panties!

Should I interview James at some point and complete the circle?
A James interview would be great. However my guess is if you asked him he'd say some shit about being too busy. He's a flake 50% of the time!
On another note, nobody knows I'm doing this interview. 🤣

Then do you have anything you want to say to Jimbo and James?
I do actually !
next time pull out,  you fucking twig ticklers! 

Who would win in a fight, Mr. Pickles or James?
James is more of a pussy than Mr. Pickles so Mr. Pickles all the way.

Who's the best dancer out of you, James, and Jimbo
None of us are any good at dancing but I'm gonna say that I have the edge and am better than either of those cock wallets! I'm thinner, more agile, more active and have more rhythm. There is video proof out there somewhere. I'll have to see if Trixie has said video on her phone. 

For the love of God she better come through
Heres a teaser! She will try and find the video tomorrow !


Interview extended





This is probably the best of the three videos that were recorded that night. It was during Summer Slam a few years ago I'm on the left and james is on the right . Be careful though, this might REKT Nintendo Age😂
Jimbo took this particular video by the way!

You two are clearly soulmates. How many beers in were you?
It's hard to say. We bought a 30 pack for the PPV. I'd say maybe 7-8 a piece and possibly some vodka. I don't remember much about that day other than the lipsynching and dancing. 

I had to google that song to see who performs it by the way. You two seemed to have it down by heart
Ha. We both like shitty pop music and we probably had the music video on repeat for two hours or so. Before we actually did the lipsynching.

Well the bar had been raised. Was Trixie the cheerleader?
Trixie is always my cheerleader !

Where's the Jimbo and Trixie lip-syncing video?
That video has been buried, never to see the light of day. I'll talk to James about a duet. We are always competing against each other. we've got each other's back in a fight though. I've tried to get him to do another lipsynching contest, but he's having no part of that.

Spy Hunter predictions?
Mbd and myself will battle it out for 8th place. That's going to be the show to watch this week.

Final thoughts?
Last years contest was amazing. I wish I was able to compete the whole season. This year has also been fun but I sense a little more hostility between competitors. Its definitely not as tounge and cheek as last year.
I would really like to retain the championship but I do t think that's gonna happen with how good some of these people are. I almost want to just get participation the rest of the year and drop a tier so I have a chance. But I can't bring myself to not compete.
I also would have liked for you, James, Skinny and Guts to play more. Maybe next year.

You can post or ask more questions. I'm cool with whatever. Thanks again for the things you do here. If you ever need help with anything let me know. I'll help however I possibly can.

The only thing I need help with right now is the incentive to try Spy Hunter
It really is a fun game. Just slow down after you get the 10k for the extra life. Gotta do it before the 999 timer runs out though. After that you get an extra life at 30k, 60k and 90k. 
 

Interview #8 - Doug aka The Meerkat


What brought you to NA?
I found the site from a Google search when I was trying to find information about the NWC carts since Cincinnati was one of the host cities.

Do you have a NWC cart or were you just curious?
I owned a gray cart (#311). There's threads about it since it was the first VGA graded copy and the first to get an 85+ gold grade. I wish I still had it, but I had to sell it for financial reasons.

So were you the original owner/winner?
I wish, the cart would've been a lot cheaper! I think when the NWC was in Cincinnati, it was at the Cincinnati Gardens, but I couldn't get anyone to take me to compete. I doubt I would've won since I had no idea that the best strategy for SMB was to intentionally die at the 10 coin block and I wasn't that good at Tetris back then.

What brought you into the contest fold?
It was kind of random. I'm pretty sure the first contest I played in was the 2012 Bubble Bobble contest. It was a game I owned and enjoyed, so that's how I got involved.

I gather from your user name you're a Bearcat fan.  Probably named Doug too...  anything more to it?
Not really. I'm a Cincinnati Bearcats fan and my name is Doug. It was basically just a carryover from my ebay username.

Favorite Bearkat sport; football or basketball?
I've used my Bearcats 2009 undefeated season football in my contest screenshots before, but they lost in the Sugar Bowl that season to Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. The basketball team has two NCAA Championships, so it's a tough call. If I have to pick one, I'd go with football.

Did you go to UC(CU?)?
I played high school baseball and hoped for a scholarship, but I had torn up both of my knees by my senior year so I ended up going to a small commuter college instead. I actually went on to train in MMA for a few years afterwards, but that's another story.

What do you think of Brian Kelly?
I don't think much of any coach that walks out on an undefeated team on their way to the Sugar Bowl at the team banquet after the regular season.

Big East or American Conference?
I'm guessing you mean the old Big East when the Bearcats were in it and not the current basketball only conference, so I'll say the Big East. When they still had football and the champion had an automatic bid to a (then) BCS game, it was much better. Unfortunately the Bearcats didn't get into a "Power 5" conference when all of the realignment was going on, so they're stuck in the AAC for now.

Yeah my dad's family is from Pittsburgh and a number of them are Pitt alumni so I always root for them. The ACC is nice but I rather liked the body bag games (especially against Huggin's Bearcats) of the old Big East
Browns or Bengals?
To paraphrase former Bengals coach Sam Wyche, I'm from Cincinnati, not Cleveland! The Bengals haven't been the most successful franchise, but they're still my hometown team. I was alive for both of their Super Bowl losses to the 49ers, so I just hope I get to see a Super Bowl win in my lifetime.

Columbus or Ann Arbor?
Ann Arbor since Bearcats and Wolverines fans both hate Ohio State.

Predictions for Bearcats @ Wolverines?
Hopefully a Bearcats win.

Travis Kelce or Brent Celek?
Both were great players for the Bearcats, but I'll give the edge to Brent Celek

Best Bearcat game you've ever been to?
I don't get to go to that many games in person, but I used to try to go to the Cincinnati/Louisville "Keg of Nails" rivalry game. I wish they would have kept that series going after Louisville moved to the ACC. They were a lot of fun.

I'm an A's fan. Do you remember the '90 World Series?
Sure, the Reds went wire to wire and swept the A's in the World Series. Other than a few scattered playoff appearances, the Reds haven't done much since then.

Same for the A's. 25+ years and all they have to show for it is a Brad Pitt movie and a clip of Jeremy Giambi being thrown out by Jeter
Pete Rose or Johnny Bench?
Wow, that's a tough one. Pete Rose is the all time hits leader and he's from Cincinnati, so I'd have to go with Pete.

Joey Votto or Adam Dunn?
Joey Votto, not even close.

Who gets their shit together first, the Bengals or the Browns? And by that I mean, actually competes for a championship in any real sense
Probably the Bengals. Until last year they had made the playoffs five seasons in a row even though they lost in the first round each year. The Browns just seem like they are in nonstop rebuilding mode.

Carson Palmer or... what's-his-face. The ginger from TCU
Carson Palmer was the better QB, but Andy Dalton has won more games although I'd say it has more to do with having a better overall team around him.

Married? Kids?
Nope. I'm not married and don't have any kids.

I'm guessing Ms. bearkitty is the gf?
For as long as she's willing to put up with me!

What do you do for a living?
I was a supervisor at an assisted living facility that was part of a nursing home, but it closed down, so I'm out of work at the moment.

So wait, are all the comments skinny makes about retirement homes just a coincidence?
Yep. As far as I know his comments are related to me being retired from the contests. I don't think he knew that I actually worked at a retirement home for 16 years.

Was Happy Gillmore an accurate depiction of retirement homes?
Luckily not the one I worked at, but I'm sure some of them can get pretty crazy.

Best retirement home stories?
I never worked out on the floor, so I didn't really see anything too crazy. I'm sure the nurses and nurses aides probably have some wild stories though.

Any of the seniors ever make a run for it?
A few would wander off, but they usually got caught about the time they went out the door. The worst one was a guy that would actually hitch hike uptown to the bar.

Where'd you work before the nursing home?
I started there when I was 16, so that was actually my first job.

How's your dad doing nowadays?
My dad is fine, but my step dad had a fall a little over a week ago. He cut up his arm pretty bad and tore his quadriceps tendon, which isn't good since he'll be turning 80 next month. He got out of the hospital already and he's currently in a Care Center for physical therapy. He seems to be doing fairly well with it so hopefully he'll bounce back. He's in good shape and very active for his age.

I can relate. My mother-in-law fell and broke her wrist right before she came out here to help with babies. So now I have a one-armed senior citizen trying to juggle twins and/or a toddler. I keep waiting for some sort of horrible phone call about someone falling/being dropped down the stairs
Sorry to hear that, I know the feeling. Hopefully things get better on your end soon.

How are things going overall?
A little rough given the situation with my step dad and that my mom is currently home alone trying to take care of everything on that end, but still needs help from time to time. Ms. Bearkitty has a lot going on personally and healthwise, so it's tough to catch a break. It seems like some kind of issue is popping up almost daily, but hopefully it will calm down sooner than later.

I'm not a religious man, but I will "wish" the Ms. the best. Nothing too serious I hope
I'm not the religious type either, so wishes are much appreciated. I don't think there's anything life threatening, but there will probably be some kind of surgeries in the future.

Seems like a lot of regulars are having to deal with that stupid thing called life. I know it's keeping Santa away too.
Yeah, it does. I can't speak for what Santa has going on, but it does seem like life issues are hitting a few regulars all around the same time. Hopefully they all pull through just fine.

I wanted an interview after reading what Other Doug (gloves) had to say. I seriously will go with this as long as you want. I've lived in a run down duplex and scrubbing toilets for a living. I've slept in the truck I had at the time making minimum wage. I had a time where I was making good money and didn't want for anything to going back so scraping by due to hard times. I've been at the top of several hobbies, to where I was using spare change to be able to buy a six pack of beer while becoming a Hall of Fame NES player in the mean time. Ms. Bearkitty is fairly private, but I was really impressed with how open other Doug was with his interview and I'm hoping that I can share enough to touch someone with the highs and lows that I've been through. That's why I said when we started that I've been on NA since 2011 and most people just know me as the weekly contests version of Shawn Michaels and don't realize that they really don't know me at all. You've done a great job with these interviews. It's easy to think you know a member from years of posts, but you really don't know the true person behind the username.

I think we can all relate to the lows.  Were you ever actually living in the truck?
Like I mentioned, I worked at the nursing home for 16 years so I started out as a housekeeper making minumum wage and working my way up to eventually being the assisted living supervisor making decent money before getting laid off due to it closing down

What about nowadays? You've obviously got a lot going on with the stepfather, and health issues, and the job closing down. What do you do for fun, or is there even time for that?
Free time is pretty hard to come by for sure. Since it's baseball season, I usually just try to relax on the couch for a few hours and watch the Reds games in the evenings. I wish they were having a better year, but as a baseball fan, I still enjoy watching the games.

What happened with your baseball career? Gradual injuries, or was there a specific incident where you got hurt? Play any other sports back in the day?
Basically it turned out that I had bad knees and they just couldn't take the running. I did some MMA training for a few years, but I had to give that up due to the wear and tear.

Ever do any actual fights?
Not professionally. Our sparring sessions were basically real fights though. Between those and about four hours of training six days a week it was pretty rough. Between my knee issues, my back started acting up and I had to give it up right about the time I would've been ready for actual competition.

What position were you?
I was a right fielder when I played baseball. We had a Cleveland Indians scout come out and he compared me to Manny Ramirez. Basically he was saying I could hit the ball a mile, but my fielding and throwing weren't exactly suited for playing the field.

Ever try to slide and field a ball, but your cleat plants and flips you over your head? That was always my favorite Many being Manny moment
I don't remember ever sliding to field a ball. With my luck, I probably would've ended up with a broken leg if that happened.

I think they'd call that Dougy being Dougy
Did you have awesome dreads too?
I've always had fairly short hair. I don't think I could pull off dreads even if my hair was long enough.

Are you a QB, RB, WR, or O-line?
If I was a football player, I'd most likely be a linebacker even though that wasn't one of the choices. I got recruited to play high school football by the next town over to be a linebacker because my school didn't have a team and I was already the size of a NFL linebacker back then.

Dream job?
My dream job would be anything that let's me work at my own pace and pays well. I always wanted to be a professional baseball player, so that would be my dream job.

Have any re-occurring nightmares?
I don't get a lot of sleep due to insomnia, since obviously I've got a lot of stress going on. Luckily, in the rare times that I do get sleep I don't normally have dreams or nightmares.

Beer, wine, or liquor?
I like beer. Cincinnati has a lot of good local craft breweries. I don't drink wine often, but I'll have a glass of red wine or champagne once in a while. I don't care much for liquor. If anybody watches Archer, I can handle Bloody Marys, but I can't drink the stuff straight.

Best restaurant in Cincy?
It's tough to mention Cincinnati without thinking of Skyline Chili, so that's the obvious choice. Cincinnati has a lot of great restaurants though.

Best Ohio beer?
You can't go wrong with anything from Rhinegeist or Christian Moerlein, but I'll give the edge to Moerlein.

Best Cincy beer?
Both of the breweries from the last question are from Cincinnati, but if I have to pick one specific beer I'd say Moerlein OTR.

Wrestling is obviously a huge passion for you. Where does that come from?
Growing up in the early '80s, the old WWF was as big as Saturday morning cartoons. It was a lot more fun back then before dirt sheets and the internet that basically exposed the business. When I was watching it as a kid I could basically just enjoy it at face value as opposed to watching it as an adult and having a fairly decent knowledge of what's going on before it plays out on TV.

Top ten wrestlers of all time?
In no particular order, I'll just go with the first ten that come to mind.
1. Shawn Michaels
2. Randy Savage
3. Ric Flair
4. CM Punk
5. Hulk Hogan
6. AJ Styles
7. Ted DiBiase
8. Mr. Perfect
9. Rowdy Roddy Piper
10. Kurt Angle

Ever seen Hell Comes to Frogtown?
Nope. I had to look it up to see what it was about. It looks like Roddy Piper played the main character, but I don't watch a lot of movies.

If you were a wrestler yourself, what would your name be?
Whatever Vince McMahon tells me since he signs the paychecks. I think if you're lucky, the writers will give you a list of names to pick from based on whatever gimmick they come up with.

Ever think about pursuing the dream like Andy (Megamanfan) or Jimbo?
There was a developmental promotion called the Heartland Wrestling Association based in Cincinnati that sent several wrestlers to WCW and the WWF/E. I started having knee issues in high school when I played baseball and I did some MMA training for a few years after that, but by then I was in my mid 20s and it probably would've been too late to start with no real experience and have a legitimate shot of making the WWF/E.

Hobbies outside of games and wrestling?
I'm just a sports fan in general. My main focus is the Cincinnati teams (Bearcats, Reds, Bengals), but I watch everything from soccer to hockey to UFC.

Favorite movie?
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I like the entire Indiana Jones franchise, but Sean Connery was great as Indy's dad, so it narrowly edges out Raiders of the Lost Ark as my favorite

I saw that at the drive-in with my dad. I would of been 4 or 5. No word on whether Julian Glover rotting to pieces caused me to wet my pants.
After already seeing the ending scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark when the ark is opened and most of the stuff from Temple of Doom, I thought that was fairly tame by comparision.

Best movie set in Ohio?
If I recall correctly, the beginning of Rain Man was set in Cincinnati and it was a pretty good movie.

Have you seen Gummo?
Nope. I had to look that one up too. It doesn't really sound like my type of movie so I guess I didn't miss much.

...it isn't really a movie for anyone
I hadn't even heard of that movie before. I had to look it up to see what it was even about.

Favorite show?
This is a tough one since I don't really watch that many TV shows regularly. House M.D. was my favorite show when it was still on even though I didn't really like the series finale.

Favorite band/album?
Wow, another tough question since I listen to all types of music, literally anything ranging from Britney Spears to Metallica. I usually lean more towards rock, so I'll say Metallica for the band and Master of Puppets for the album.

Best song on Master of Puppets?
Master of Puppets, but Battery is a close second.

Favorite book?
The last book I read was a biography of Mickey Mantle called "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the end of America's Childhood". Being a baseball fan, I also enjoy learning about the history of the sport and the older players, so that was probably my favorite book that I've read.

Dream contest line-up, 2 per genre
Wow, this will be tough. I Guess I have to keep it to games that have already been played so here it goes:

Action/Platformer: Super Mario Bros./Mega Man
Arcade: Donkey Kong/Pac-Man
Beat Em Up: Double Dragon 2/Batman Returns
Puzzle: Tetris/Klax
Shooter: 1943/Guerrilla War
Sports: Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!/Excitebike

What SNES contest game would you like to see?
SimCity. I've actually been able to get the "ending" screen for building a city with a 600k+ population. I think my personal best was around 615k. I was pretty excited to be able to achieve that.

10 favorite games of all time
Another tough one. I'll probably just go with the first ten I can think of in no particular order.
1. Super Mario Bros
2. Mega Man 2
3. Punch Out!!
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. Castlevania
6. Super C
7. Mortal Kombat II
8. Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo
9. Daytona USA
10. Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run

Those were literally the first ten games I thought of. I probably could come up with a completely different top 10 tomorrow.

Mind expanding on what made you pick those ten games?
They were literally the first ten games that came to mind. If you asked me tomorrow I'd probably come up with ten different ones.

Worst game you've ever played
This is another tough one. The first game that comes to mind is Dragster for the Atari 2600. I know I'm old, but that game sucked even back then.

I see you have awards for participating in the DKC and Star Fox competitions. What were those like?
They were just held at local Blockbuster video stores, so I don't remember them being all that special. I was pretty good at DKC, but terrible at Star Fox.

I vaguely recall taking part in a contest at the fairgrounds playing HyperZone
I've never played it. If they had a contest for it around here, I didn't know anything about it.

2017 contest champion predictions?
Tables w/ Chairs seems to have a solid lead, but if I had the time to play a full schedule, I'd like to think I'd be in the hunt.

Target Renegade prediction?
Gutsman004 had a solid effort the last time we played and he is due for a win.

Looks like you got 2nd last time in Target Renegade with 24,000ish to guillavoie's 31,000 and change. Not a fan though?
It was one of the many games that I rented as a kid. It's a decent game, but there are a lot of better beat em ups on the NES.

It looks like a Double Dragon. Too bad it doesn't play like one
It does look similar to the first Double Dragon, but it's not even close to being as good.

Spy Hunter prediction?
Man, this is just a guess, but I'll go with Gloves.

Klax prediction?
Red, if he plays. I finished a distant second to him last time.

Contra prediction?
Me if it's high score and I get time to play. I've maxed out the score under TG rules.

Star Force prediction?
Another wild guess, but I'll go with skinny since he does really well at shooters.

Who would you like to see get interviewed?
Tom (rdrunner). He was my arch rival back during the 2013 season and he seems like a pretty reserved guy, so I think he would be a good interview.

Who would you most like to see return to the contests?
I'll have to go with Tom again. He's as good as it gets and motivates everyone he plays against to elevate their game.

Favorite contest week?
It's probably a toss up between Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! and Double Dragon 2. I think I've pretty much hit my peak when it comes to both games, but I'll go with MTPO since a fraction of a second can make a big difference when the rules call for the quickest time.

Worst contest week?
Even though I won the contest, Gauntlet II has to be one of the most boring games that I've ever played. I thought I'd pick a puzzle game, but that was tedious.

What happened to our friend Shane anyways?
I believe he still posts on the site, but he hasn't played in the contests in a while. I'm sure he's sitting in his game room playing Ninja Gaiden while listening to the Ultimate Warrior's entrance theme on a loop.

Word association, first one that comes to mind

skinny
Shooter specialist

Bimmy
Dedicated

guillavoie
Champion

rdrunner
The best

Shane
Trash talker

JimTendo
Artistic

Bea
Tough

bertsampson
Competitor

Dennis Fleaman
Banned

Do you know the details of what went down with Mr. Fleaman? I pieced together some of it when I was archiving, and some more through talking to Bimmy and Gui
It's probably not my place to comment, but I'm guessing you were probably able to piece together enough to figure it out so I'll just leave it at that.

Mog
Contest original

TooLegit
Solid player

T Warwick
Snoopy

Red
Skilled

Guts
Intense

arnpoly
Natural

Was there a paddling involved with the Hall of Fame initiation?
Thankfully no.

Will there be paddling for the HoF initiation now that you're on the committee?
I'm guessing that would have to be put up to a vote, but if someone has put in the time into the contests to build a Hall of Fame resume, they've probably taken enough abuse over the years, so I'd give them a pass.

Does the HoF have a super fancy members-only inner circle thread like the one those other jerk-asses are always going on about?
There's a HOF committee thread for members, but I'm not in the inner circle so I don't really know what goes on there.

SNES or Genesis?
SNES

Battletoads or Double Dragon?
Double Dragon easily. I never cared much for Battletoads. I beat it once several years ago and haven't had any desire to play it again since.

Major League or Bull Durham?
Major League. I haven't seen it in years, but it's a really funny movie.

Count Chocula or Franken Berry?
Count Chocula

GI Joe or Transformers
G1 Transformers all the way. I thought the first and second series (1984-85) were amazing in how detailed they were.

Trump or Trudeau?
I'm really not into politics, so I'll just go with Trump since I have to pick one.

Canada or Mexico?
Mexico has warmer weather and good food, so I'll go with Mexico. Nothing against Canada, but I don't like cold weather or those gravy covered french fries.

Brian Kelly or Chip Kelly or Jim Kelly or Kelly's Heroes?
Jim Kelly is a Hall of Fame QB and we have the same birthday, so he's the clear winner there.

How about if skinny wins the championship this year, you change your name to meetkatdoug. If he doesn't I'll give you gaming skills props in my sig for a week?
Even though I'd feel pretty safe taking that bet, I don't think I'd want to risk it since I'm not an active competitor and don't have any direct involvement in the challenge.

Mbd linked some surprisingly lucid posts from skinny's past? Is his current posting style a persona he's adopted, or have the Natty Ices started to go to his head?
I'd go with the Natty Ice. That stuff can seriously kill some brain cells.

Crap beer of choice?
Busch or Keystone. When you get that low it doesn't really matter what you get.

What's the Hooters story? Stories?
It's basically been my watering hole of choice for the past 15 years. There used to be one maybe two minutes up the street in Beechmont, but it closed a few years ago. There's still three within 20 minutes of me in Newport, Florence and Springdale. The one in Newport is right on the river, so it's pretty awesome since it's literally across the river from Great American Ballpark and Paul Brown Stadium and they even have a free shuttle to the games. As far as stories go, the one up the street from me basically got shut down because of what was allowed to go on there. I mean it was literally Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas level stuff since you keep bringing up obscure movies.   I could go into more detail, but I've probably seen enough that it could be its own interview.

Like, hallucinating a giant lizard sitting at the bar?
I'm pretty sure he was supposed to be on LSD or something during that scene. Beer is about as extreme as I get and I don't think I've ever drank enough to hallucinate anything.

Well you can't leave us hanging. Top 3 Hooters incidents?
I can honestly say that I had no part in them, but the activities allowed to go on weren't exactly legal. I'm guessing that anyone reading can come up with a decent guess regarding what they let slide since I don't think there was anything that they wouldn't let go on after hours.

When I was maybe 10 I saw a billboard for Hooters in St. Louis. It said something about a shrimp (or clam...) special and I really, really wanted to go. My grandmother refused...
I doubt that your grandmother would enjoy Hooters.

...my dad explained it to me later
I'm sure he wouldn't have minded stopping there!

What would it take to get you out of retirement?
Basically enough free time to play a full schedule where I could give a 100% effort each week. I had a pretty good run and a Hall of Fame career already, so I'm content staying retired for now at least.

What is the last game you actually sat down and beat? Double Dragon II?
It's probably been over a month since I've played anything. I think I just played a quick game of Ninja Gaiden on the NES Classic the last time.

Why is Bea so terrible at video games?
There seems to be some kind of running thing about her struggles with Mega Man 2 that I don't know how legit they are when she can run through games like Ghosts N Goblins and Ikari Warriors. Even if she seriously can't beat Mega Man 2, she's not terrible at video games.

Ever have any wardrobe accidents?
I'm always wearing t-shirts and jeans so that's never been an issue.

Think you could beat up Bea? Think you could beat her at video games?
I guess anything is possible, but even if I could beat her up, I'm guessing that I'd walk away in pretty rough shape too. As far as video games go, my answer is pretty much the same as the last question. I'm sure she could beat me at certain games like Ghosts N Goblins or Ikari Warriors, but still feel like I'd be able to win more times than I'd lose.

No puzzle award though? Seems the resume is a bit incomplete...
Puzzle was always my least favorite genre. It seems like the players that are good at puzzle games really excel at them and I just don't have the patience. I still like to think I'm above average, but I just can't get to that top tier.

Who do you think will win the bet between skinny and I?
I have a tough time imagining that skinny would make a bet if he wasn't confident that he could win, so I'll go with skinny (sorry man!).

If I told you I was sitting on a 35,000+ Target Renegade score, and Battletoads Double Dragon was the first game I ever owned, would you change your prediction of our bet?
No leaking that info to him either!
Yeah, I'd say having that info would change my mind. I still don't see him taking a bet that he doesn't think he can win, but it sounds like you have an advantage there.

Hardest game you've ever beaten?
Battletoads is the first game that comes to mind. I remember being so frustrated trying to beat that game that when I finally did, I literally took the cart out of the NES, went down to the local game store and traded it in because I never wanted to play it again.

I've never done that, but that closest I got was with Space Football
Actually I think I did throw Double Dragon II this year after it f'd me over in the contest
It seems like it only took me about two weeks to beat it, but Battletoads is a really frustrating game, so once I finished it I had absolutely no desire to play it again.

It's definitely a game that has to be learned by trial and error for better or worse. At least it controls like a dream; I just finished off the NES version of Battletoads Double Dragon and that version handles like shit. Half the time I try to dash into an enemy and he saunters over instead and takes a beating
I played through Battletoads and Double Dragon a year or so ago and I didn't really care for it either. It seemed to be easier than Battletoads, but the controls did seem to be off. I'll just stick to Double Dragon and Double Dragon 2.

Best piece in your collection? Assuming you even have a collection anymore. Otherwise, what was your best non-NWC piece?
I got out of the collecting side of the hobby a few years back. As far as value goes, the best non-NWC piece I had was a Stadium Events cart that I sold to K.Thrower, which I believe he still owns. Probably the coolest item (in my opinion) was a basically unused CIB test market NES Deluxe Set with all of the original serial number matching paperwork.

Last game you bought?
Does the NES Classic Edition count? I had to sell off my carts about a year ago to cover some expenses and I was lucky enough to get a NES Classic Edition at retail so I just play my games on it.

So your entire collection is gone? I know you had sold your SNES games awhile back
Yeah, financial issues and such. I had planned on getting a PowerPak or an Everdrive, but I ended up with a NES Classic Edition.

How many games were in your collection before it was purged? I know you had the competition carts as well
I never had a large collection compared to a lot of members. The most games I had at one time was roughly about 100 NES, 50 SNES and around 30 Game Boy. I had about 200 games total. Since you mentioned the competition carts, I did have a few rare SNES games including both the DKC and Star Fox competition carts.

200 games, including Stadium Events, NWC, and the two competition carts? That is crazy.
Yeah it was. Short of a gold NWC, a SNES Powerfest '94 or the Campus Challenge carts, I basically had everything I could've wanted as far as a NES/SNES collection since going for full sets was never anything I had an intention of doing. I tried to focus on quality over quantity. That was basically something I carried over from my years collecting vintage baseball cards. I would focus on trying to get the key/HOF player cards from a specific set as opposed to trying to put together complete sets.

Most valuable baseball card you had?
A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. I was lucky enough to own seven of them over my years in the hobby. I collected vintage toys and golden/silver age comic books before that so I've had the opportunity to own a lot of amazing items over multiple hobbies.

Okay, I know you touched upon selling your valuable games because you needed the funds, but amount of money this stuff is worth is crazy.  Did those Mickey Mantle cards buy you a house or what?
If I still owned the stuff I did back then now, I have no doubt I could've paid for a house in cash, probably two. I got in early on a lot of these items before the prices took off. In the late '90s myself and a guy from Miami had the two largest known collections of sealed G1 Transformers. He actually had a complete 1984-87 sealed G1 set. I had everything from the 1984-85 series along with a few rarer sealed figures from the 1986 and 1987 series. Everything I had was in case fresh mint condition. This was in the early days of eBay and I came across a guy in San Diego that I got most of my figures from. I sold my collection to the guy in Miami for $7500 in either 1997 or 1998 because a lot of mine were upgrades over what he had, so now that there's AFA grading and gold level figures go for thousands each, I probably would've had a six figure collection of Transformers alone. I had a sealed GI Joe collection that was fairly impressive as well. Back then the most expensive figures might cost a couple hundred dollars, so I probably could've made a fortune if I still had them. I really don't dwell on it. When I got my Stadium Events cart I think I paid a then record $3500 or something. Now they go for around three times that. I try to focus on the positive side that I owned a lot of awesome collectibles over the years that I couldn't even dream of affording now. When I collected comic books I found a More Fun Comics #52 in the wild at a small comic shop in Florence, KY. Besides being a key golden age comic, it's literally as rare as a gold NWC since there are only about two dozen known copies. Being able to tell stories like that and just having the opportunity to own some of the top items from multiple hobbies mostly due to lucky breaks means more to me personally than whatever all of it would be worth today.

Tell us some interesting collecting stories.  How'd you get the Mickeys, or the Stadium Events?
Probably the most interesting collecting story I've got was the one I already mentioned about finding the More Fun Comics #52 in the wild at a small local comic shop given that there are only around 20 known copies. I got all of the '52 Topps Mantle cards off ebay and I won the Stadium Events in a NA auction so there's not much of a story behind those. I was able to find a lot of my sealed G1 Transformers by networking with what was a fairly small group of collectors on ebay back in the late 90s. Usually if someone had one or two sealed items listed, it was worth sending them a quick PM to see if they had any others, because it seemed like they did more often than not.

Weren't those Mantle cards worth a ton even back in the 90s? I had tons of Beckets and recall a pretty good 5 figure amount...
They've gone up about 10 times what they were in the '90s. I'm not sure what the exact Beckett price for a NM condition card was back then, but I think it was about what a low grade card sells for currently.

How'd you front the money for this stuff? Live off ramen and Cheerios fo 5 years?
I only had one hobby at a time, so once I cashed out, I basically just rolled the funds into the next one. I was making fairly decent money for several years and the ramen comment isn't much of a stretch. I've always had a fairly inexpensive lifestyle and managed to stay debt free, so I was able to pay the bills and have quite a bit left over.

Biggest profit margin on an item?
Since I sold my Transformers collection all at once. I guess that would count since I sold them for about 4-5 times what I had invested in them individually. As far as a single item goes, I made roughly a $2000 profit on one of the '52 Topps Mantles.

Did all that money go to strip clubs, blow, or Hooters?
I wish! Since times have been rougher in the last couple years, it basically all went to cover bills and unexpected expenses.

Think you'll get back into collecting anything?
Probably not unless I win the lottery or somehow come into a lot of money. I honestly don't miss any of that stuff. It was cool owning things like a NWC cart or a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, but the "new" feeling wears off fast. If I got to a point where I could start collecting again and money wasn't an issue, I might get back into something.

Did you buy a Switch?
Nope. The last current gen system I owned was a PS3. I don't have a lot of free time, so I don't get much gaming in at all anymore.

Gonna buy a Switch?
I doubt it. Funds are pretty tight at the moment and I just don't have the free time right now to justify buying one.

If I was to invite the other interviewee, Richard, into this interview at some point for some sort of guest spot, who would be the better subject?
I guess it would depend on the topic or the questions. I'm sure he's an interesting guy.

Who do you see more of yourself in, Richard, Jimbo, or skinny?
I'd have to say skinny, although he probably takes the trash talking even farther than I did.

Who will get their first gold first; James, Jimbo, Richard (he gets an asterisk on his existing one), Michael, ninjistar, or Stryphos?
Probably Michael. He seems like the most likely to really hit on a game one week and get a win.

Is guts gone for good this time?
I doubt it. It looks like he took the last two weeks off, but I'm sure he will be back at it.

Ever play video games drunk? Is there a progression of improvement and then rapid decline, or are you a shitshow from the beginning?
Yeah, but not often. I wouldn't say that there's any improvement at all. I pretty much start out at my regular skill level and slowly go downhill from there.

If you were to make your own NES homebrew, what game would it be?
My first choice would be a college football version of Tecmo Super Bowl, but I think that's already been done. It's just as well since I'm awful at math and there's no way I'd be able to code a NES game even if I could come up with a better idea.

All-time favorite NA thread?
I don't really have a single favorite thread. I'll go with the easy answer and say the Weekly Contest threads in general since they are my favorite part of the site.

Did you know 1943 champion JD?
Sadly, my only interaction with him was when he encouraged me to post a score during the 2012 1943 contest, but unfortunately I saw the contest late and didn't get a score in. I remembered that exchange when the 2015 contest came up and I dedicated my score to him to try and make up for it. He seemed like a great guy. I wish I had a chance to have gotten to know him better.

FMK. We're gonna tread dangerous water this time
Bea, Redneck RN, Miss Trixy
That's treading too dangerously for me!

FMK
James, Richard, Jimbo
I can't really answer this one either since I basically just think of them together as the Colorado Crew. I don't like any of them enough to want to do the first two parts and I wouldn't really want to kill one since they all seem pretty cool.

Fiiiiiine
FMK
The Dark Queen, The Lindas, the transsexual from Final Fight
Okay, this game somehow seems a little less weird with fictional characters. F-Linda, M-The Dark Queen, K-Poison and Roxy from Final Fight

FMK
Kickle, Bea, Tentacle Kickle & Bea hybrid
Seriously, you like these FMK questions! I like Jimbo's cartoons and Bea seems to help inspire them, so hopefully they all stick around.

FMK
A Mantle '52, a sealed G1 Optimus, a Stadium Events cart
And again with the FMK and they keep getting weirder... F - Stadium Events M- '52 Mantle K-the sealed G1 Prime. G1 Prime doesn't go for a lot due to the high production numbers. Finding a sealed G1 Megatron is way tougher and worth a lot more. Anyone that ever watched the cartoon knows Megaton is cooler. I saw the 1986 Transformers movie in the theater and I was the only kid that actually wanted to see Megaton beat Prime when they fought head to head.

FMK
Richard wearing that wig, skinny wearing his princess tiara, Jimbo wearing his My Little Pony getup
I'd just kill all of them before that mental picture is stuck in my head.

How we can get Bea to rue the day... got any ideas?
Bea will probably will kill me, but if Jimbo can come up with some kind of Metal Man/Kickle hybrid with tentacles, I'm pretty sure she would rue the day she saw that. Sorry Bea!

I like where you're going with that. He just needs to bring Carmen SanBea-iego into the mix and turn up the weirdness another notch and we'll be set. PM'ing him now.
I'm sure Bea will hunt me down Predator style for coming up with that idea.

Best trash talk you ever laid down?
My best trash talk would have to be everything me and Shane said to each other. If people look through your archive thread, there's some crazy stuff in there.

Who would win at video games, you, or other Doug?
It probably would depend on the game. He seems to be better at shooters than I am, but overall I think I could win, although it might not be by a large margin.

Rank the video game talents:
guillavoie, Red, Doug, Bea, table
I think we all have different talents, but I'll go for it. 1. Me 2. Guillavoie 3. Bea 4. Tables 5. Red

Opposite ranking who is the worst at games
Jimbo, James, Shane, Toxie
It's tough to say who's worst. I don't think any of them have a career win so it seems like a wash.

Rank the following video game talents
doug, bert, skinny, Brock, Richard, guts
1. Me 2.Bert 3. Guts 4. You 5. skinny 6. Richard

So then would you call Richard's championship a fluke, where he took advantage of a temporary void of talent?
Tournaments are just the luck of the draw and apparently Richard is pretty good at Adventure Island. I'd consider it fortune that his one career win was in the tournament finals. A championship is a championship.

Does it piss you off he won a tournament while the fates have conspired against you winning one?
It doesn't bother me at all. I never put much stock into the tournaments. They are fun, but they allow for someone to survive the first two rounds and possibly end up with a championship by being good at the finals game. I put more stock in the regular season championships because you're competing against everyone across all genres for an entire season instead of relying on the luck of the draw. The winners just worked within the system, so it is what it is. If I was able to stay a contest moderator, I probably would have brought this up, but in the end these are Bimmy's contests and they are highly successful so I'm probably in the minority when it comes to the tournaments.

This kind of sounds like the argument against implementing a playoffs in FBS football. Yeah, a postseason mean the best team doesn't necessarily come out on top (any given Sunday and all that), but if you bring your A-Game you certainly have a pretty good shot. Would people like March Madness as much if the regular season ACC or Big 12 champ automatically got the title?
I guess the players that make Tier 1 would be similar to conference champions. The main difference is that everyone on here plays each other all season instead of being separated into tiers from the beginning.

What about the previous finals format where everyone was head-to-head with 3 games, one of their choice each, and a game picked by bimmy? That would remove a lot of the luck-of-the-draw and almost turns it into a three game series
Granted if you got matched up with, say, arnpoly and the random game was Battletoads and he picked Puzznic you would be all sorts of fucked.  But it still seems like a good system
I'm just not a fan of a playoff system. The regular season champion proved themselves each week against every player and over every genre for a full season. If a playoff was done for fun, that would be fine, but I think the regular season champion was the best player that year because they had to be consistently on the top of their game each week.

So would you say the undefeated 2007 Patriots should be recognized as the NFL champions that year?
No. In the NFL they aren't playing every team each season. During a NA season, each player is competing against the the entire field week in and week out. If you're looking for a sports analogy, the weekly contests would be like NASCAR, which also has an unnecessary playoff system now, but NA doesn't rely on TV ratings going down if the champion has it locked up with a few weeks left.

Are you though? Red's attendance is sporadic, Bea was the same until this season, table didn't even join up until the end of last season, Gloves seems to only play the shooters and whatever else catches his fancy, bert and Swift are MIA, and guts appears to have quit again. And I can say from archiving that attendance was even more spotty the further back you go.
Now of course regular season and tournament champion are both recognized, as there are awards for both, so I think bimmy and gui must agree with you on at least some level. 
The names you dropped are making my point. In any given week you may not only be competing against the regulars, but you may get a random participant that's great at that week's game. There are awards for both now, but I still feel that the regular season champion should be rewarded for playing the entire season instead of declaring the tier 1 tournament winner champion. Richard won tier 1 last year, but Bea had a better score under the same rule set, but she was in tier 2. If a single championship is going to be recognized, I think it should go to the season champion and not who wins the tier 1 tournament. Nothing against Richard, but his single career win was in the finals and he was beaten by Bea in a lower tier under the same rules. I think bertsampson won the season title and didn't even make the finals. That just makes no sense to me when he was the best player over the entire season.

Well to be clear, nothing has actually ever been "declared." Other than the column I made in the archives. Which could always be expanded to include regular season titles.
And bert made his own bed. He could of beaten that Richard score if he wanted to
The best teams don't always win. The Niners were the best team in the NFL in 2011, 2012, and 2013 as far as I'm concerned. And they got nothing to show for it. Just the way she goes.
I think the regular season champion was to play against everyone in each genre and should be recognized as the season champion. The simple solution would be just to count the single season and tournament champions separately, but I still think those should be just for fun. Bea beat Richard under the same rule set, but Bea doesn't get recognized as a champion because she was in tier 2. The tournaments fully weighted on the final round making it luck of the draw since a player could win the first and second rounds, but finish fourth in the finals due to not being good at that game and get eliminated. It just seems like a flawed system for declaring a champion to me.

Would you say a playoff forces you to perform when it counts? One game for all the marbles, no excuses.  There's something to be said about performing under pressure
I did everything I could to give a 100% effort each week during the regular season contests, so I never felt any additional pressure personally. You definitely have to give your best effort during tournament weeks to make sure that you have a chance of moving on or winning. There's no option to post a participation score and move on to playing the next game like there is during the regular season, so there is a lot more pressure to perform at a high level.

This time, rankings, but I'm putting you with the less heralded elite players
The Mexican Runner, doug, pegboy, Andy_Bogomil, Mog
Again, I'll put myself at 1. Everyone else can be second.

So would you say Tom is the only superior talent in all the retro lands?
I don't know if he's the only one, but he's probably the best known NES player in the world so if I'm second to him, that's still pretty good.

How close do you think the margin is between Tom and you?
That's a tough one. I know back in 2013, I was able to beat him in several contests, but he still probably beat me at least 3 out of 4 times. I seemed to be better at sports games than him. We seemed to be fairly even at beat em ups. He's probably got the edge on me at platformers. I have no doubt that he's better than me at shooters and puzzle games. I guess the margin is close enough that I can compete with him, but he's probably going to win more often than not.

Would a hybrid of red, table, Bea and Shane be able to take you down? In video games or in wrestling?
The only hybrid that would scare me would be one of Tom and Chuck Norris. Nobody could beat that.

Is talent God-given?
I guess it depends on what kind of talent. Physical talent or at least athletic talent is something I believe that you're born with and can train to improve. If you mean gaming talent, I think anybody can be good if they practice enough.

As Santa once asked you, how do you stay so humble?  
I'll stick with my original answer from the question that got cut from the Hall of Fame interview. I'm not sure that being humble is something I've ever been described as since I'm fairly confident in my skills, but I do try to stay realistic at the same time.

What would you of done if you didn't make the HoF first class?
If I didn't make the first HOF class, I may have been in trouble since I had already retired and arnpoly and Bea will probably have better career stats than me after this year since I basically only played two full seasons like Tom did. I did seriously consider returning full time this season, but with everything going on I knew I couldn't give 100% each week and if I'm going to compete, I want to give my best effort.

Which member of the Breakfast Club would you be?
Probably Judd Nelson's character. It doesn't hurt that he also did the voice of Hot Rod in the 1986 Transformers movie.

Did you see the thread about the guy selling his name on eBay?  What name would you give him?
I hadn't seen it until you mentioned it. It looks like it's currently at $155 and I'd borderline be willing to let someone change my eBay username for that much money.

This is for his actual name...
Wow. I just glanced at the listing and I thought it was for his eBay username. I checked it again and it said he would keep his first name so the winner only gets to pick his middle and last name. He seems to be doing it for a cancer charity, but that's still taking it pretty far. It seems like it would be a better idea just to try collecting donations or something.

What are your plans for the 4th?
Hopefully just laying around on the couch relaxing with some Skyline cheese coneys and watching baseball, which is basically my version of a perfect day.

Burgers or brats?
Burgers.

Potato salad or baked beans?
Potato salad.

Do you enjoy NASCAR like your fellow wrestling fans?
I'll watch a race if I happen to notice one on TV, but I don't really follow it as far as the standings or in any real detail. I basically will just watch whichever race like it's a standalone event. That's basically how I am with hockey and soccer. I'll watch a game if it's on, but I don't really follow the sport.

Do you do beer league softball, or a city baseball league or anything?
I've never really looked into it. I stay fairly occupied with everything going on, so I just try to kick back and relax whenever I get some free time.

World series predictions this year?
Wow, that's a tough one. I'll say Yankees/Dodgers. Yankees win.

Who's worse right now, the A's or the Reds?
I don't think I've seen an A's game all year, but I imagine they're worse. Unless I missed something, their only All Star was Yonder Alonso, who was a former Reds first round draft pick that was blocked at first base by Joey Votto. The Reds are definitely rebuilding, but they seem to have some solid prospects. I don't think I've heard much about the A's having any high profile players in the minors.

Moneyball or Fever Pitch? Moneyball. I may hate math, but I love stats. I really like the entire concept except it seems like the big market teams started applying the same philosophy, but with a much larger budget than what those A's teams had. If Billy Beane was the GM of the Reds, I'd be all for it.

Did I ask you about kids? I cannot remember. Any plans for them with you and the Missus?
Yeah, you did. I don't have any of my own. She already has two grown kids from her previous marriage and can't have anymore, so it's kind of a ready made family. Her son is a Marine and her daughter is a genius that's going to be going to college to become a pediatric nurse at 16, so if she ever becomes Mrs. Bearkitty, I'd be proud to have them for stepkids. I'd basically be like Shawn from Boy Meets World and the situation he ended up with in Girl Meets World since I'm the same age as the cast. House barely edged out Boy Meets World for the question about my favorite TV show since I could really relate to it as a teenager in the '90s..

Can't say I ever saw that show. It had Kirk Cameron right? Man, what happened to that guy... (note - no, the buddy is played by someone  that kind of looks like Cameron)
Kirk Cameron was on Growing Pains. Ben Savage was the main character in Boy/Girl Meets World. He's the younger brother of Fred Savage from the Wonder Years or probably more well known on NA, The Wizard.

So, I guess that takes me to the next question, does that make you the oldest person in the contest? Besides Murray who was outed by the Crew to be of the older sort (note - see Murray's comments after the Richard interview)
I guess I missed how old Murray is. Greg (gutsman004) is a few years older than me and is the oldest person in the contests that I know of.

How old do you think Guillavoie is?
I actually know this, but I don't remember his exact age. I think he's in his early 30s.

What about mbd? He's very mysterious
I don't have any idea how old he is. I'd guess somewhere in the late 20s/early 30s since that seems to be the average around here.

So tell us how this whole Shawn Michaels thing started?
Well, basically it started with Shane somewhere during the 2013 season. I'm not sure what exactly got it going, but we started trash talking each other, which was kind of a new thing at the time. He apparently watched as much old WWF wrestling as I did and he would often respond with wrestling GIFs that seemed to feature Shawn Michaels more often than not. I was a fan of Shawn Michaels' character how he was supposed to be a cocky bad guy, but he actually could back up what he said. I was always fairly confident in my skills during the contests so it gave me an opportunity to kind of ramp up my real life personality a bit to try and see if I could stir up and motivate the other players. Tom was already posting amazing scores, but he was always fairly quiet and reserved, so I thought I could play up the rivalry by throwing around some friendly trash talk and motivating myself to post scores good enough to back it up. I would throw in some Shawn Michaels nicknames, calling myself the showstopper, the icon and the main event to keep things stirred up and as a bit of an inside reference for any of the competitors that happened to be wrestling fans and recognized where I was getting this stuff from. Since I was a fan of wrestling back when they still tried to blur the lines between reality and entertainment, it gave me a chance to have some fun trying to keep people guessing how much of my trash talking was real and how much of it was "in character". I'm sure there were probably some players that thought I was legitimately really cocky and arrogant about how good I was, but I think most of them realized that it was more "sports entertainment" to introduce some friendly banter to the contests. The entire "rivalry" with Shane was basically over his Glass Joe like head to head record where his single win over me was in the 2013 Ninja Gaiden contest and we really played it up when he was a contest regular. It was all in good fun and the trash talking element in the contests kind of took on a life of its own after that when more players started taking good natured shots at each other to the point where it seems like a regular part of the contest environment today.

Well it obviously inspired the creation (or birth, according to skinny) of Cobra Kai.  Ever try to trash talk Tom?
I'm pretty sure I did early on, but it's like trying to talk trash to Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. Even if you beat him, he would just congratulate you on the great score. That was part of my reason for coming up with the Shawn Michaels inspired "BCD/bearcat" personality. He was such a nice guy that he could put up a world record score and the other players would be happy about it. I was happy to be the "bad guy" in the rivalry, since I could hold my own with him and I brought more of an attitude that would make the other competitors step their game up to try and beat me. We were like the Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels of NA back in 2013. I'm probably responsible for introducing trash talking to the contests and skinny has kind of done his own thing with it. Good or bad, I guess I left my mark on the contests and it all seems to be good natured, so it's not giving Bimmy and guillavoie too much of a headache. I think I got a warning or two, but like I mentioned before, I liked trying to blur the lines between reality and being "in character". I pushed the envelope a few times, if I was going to say something that seemed to be over the edge, I'd try and clear it in advance. When me and Shane would go back and forth, I'd shoot him a PM if I had something on the edgy side and see if he was cool with it. We actually got along great behind the scenes, but the banter hopefully made for some good entertainment and drew some attention to the contests.

Michigan musician musicians, blood relative relatives of mine
#1 - Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?
Answer - No
#2 - Hmm, is the musician still alive?
Answer - Yes, mostly
#3 - Is it George Winston?
Answer - No
#4 - Kid Rock?
Answer - No
#5 - Alice Cooper?
Answer - No
#6 - Stevie Wonder?
Answer - No
#7 Hair color?
Black and/or grey
#8 Facial hair or no?
Both
#9 Hawt or not?
So much hawt
#10 what kind of music?
R&B
#11 what instrument?
Various
#12 male or female
you jewed me with the instruments answer.
Both
Did I say musician?  I meant musicians  
#13 Is it member/members from Rare Earth?
No
#14 Is the person/persons white?
Sortof
#15 Is it Celine Dion?
No
Three questions Doug
I'll just go ahead and see if I can nail it. Based on the clues that you already answered, I'm going to guess The White Stripes since that's the only guess I can think of that seems to fit based on what's already up there.
No
Well I guess I get two more guesses. The Moonlight? Hidden Agenda?
No and no
Oh well, maybe the next person will get it.

Burgers or brats?
I'm pretty sure you already asked this one. Still burgers. President Ronnie still owes me one from back when I saved him from those ninjas.

So is Shane dead, a quitter, or did you run him out of town? Would Ninja Gaiden bring him back?
I haven't talked to him in a few months, but I think he's just been busy. He came back for the 2015 Ninja Gaiden contest where I got my head to head win back from 2013, so I'm guessing that he would play for best 2 out of 3 if it comes up on the schedule again.

I have played Ninja Gaiden all of once, and I have never played the sequels. How would you rank the following series;
Ninja Gaiden trilogy or Castlevania trilogy or Contra...dualology...?
If I'm ranking the NES franchises in order I'd say Contra, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden. They're all great. It's basically like trying to rank three Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

What do you think about all this North Korea news? Specifically the escalations of 2017?
I don't really pay much attention to that stuff, but I'm not too worried about it.

Best movie of 2017?
The only movie that I've seen this year was the Fate of the Furious and I wasn't that impressed. I'm sure there have been far better movies this year, but I'm lucky if I see two or three new movies a year.

My mother-in-law loves those movies.  Whereas if I mention going to see Baby Driver she snorts in derision at me.
(redacted)
(redacted)

Play NES Spy Hunter much?
I've played it a few times, but it's been a while.

Spy Hunter predictions?
I'll got with mbd39. I think he has a good shot at getting a win this week.

What would it take to get you to permanently change your name to Meerkatdoug?
A lot of money. As in enough to buy me enough beer for life so that I wouldn't remember it. I think skinny was the one that came up with it and I don't even know what it means. At least when I call him Marty Jannetty that reference is pretty obvious to anyone that watched the WWF.

Timon from The Lion King is a meerkat. So he's basically calling you a small weasily type, who also may or may not have a voice like the eternally fabulous Nathan Lane.
A shot at your machismo in other words
Would you do it for a Bearkat NC?  How about a Bengals Super Bowl appearance?
Skinny says lots of things. I figured he had the upper hand on your bet and now it looks like you might win handily. I've told him before, if he wants to be a trash talker he needs to be able to back it up with some wins.

I don't know what I'd do if it would guarantee a Bearcats national championship. As far as the Bengals go, you just said Super Bowl appearance. They've been twice and lost both so guarantee me a championship and give me some options and then we'll talk.

Well I figure an appearance would be 20 steps in the right direction for them, and then it'd be in spaghetti monster's hands
Apparently Joe Montana is god and he hates them based on the two Super Bowls they were in, although they pretty much blew the one in '88. Watching Joe Montana drive down the field on that final drive like he was god is painful.

Take a wild guess on the 5 posters that have exchanged the most PMs with me
(no answer)

Ever talk to the Ms. about NA?
I've mentioned NA to her, but with everything going on she hasn't gotten around to joining or anything.

Best movie set in Ohio?
You already asked this. I know Rain Man was at least partially set in Cincinnati so I'll stick with that answer.

Dammit.  Again...
Best band from Ohio?
Not my type of music, but the Isley Brothers started in Cincinnati.

How can we top the lip-synching video of James and Rich?
Lip syncing doesn't seem too hard to top. I'm sure something crazier will come up with this crew.

I mean how can you and I top it it in this interview?
Put it on a NES cart, do a LE auction and split the profits?

Would you change your name to MeerkatDoug for one month for me if I win the 2017 (postseason) championship?
Nope. I've had the same username since I joined in 2011, so there's nothing that would make me want to change it now.

Did you take excessive amounts of steroids and cocaine to prepare for big contest weeks?
No, my routine was much more boring. Usually I would research each game, practice and then start playing.

Are you really retired, or just on hiatus?
I am really retired for the time being due to the lack of time to give a 100% effort, but if I get the time again, I wouldn't rule out playing again.

What odds do you give me for slipping into tier 1 and upsetting heavy favorites Bea and table for a championship?
I think you have a good chance at making Tier 1 and anything can happen in the tournament so you could pull off the upset.

What would you most like to see added to the contests?  Added to the archives?
I really can't think of any specific way to improve the contests. I think you've done a great job with the archives. The only thing I would probably change is either awarding the season championship to the regular season winner since that's how it was done in the pre tournament years or have separate categories for the tournament and overall season champions.

We'll end with (anonymous) questions from the group:
What is your favorite beer to drink in the shower?
I've never drank a beer in the shower. I don't want soapy water in my beer.

Ever done a  full brazilian wax?  Be honest.
No. I'm not sure why I would want to pay someone to do that.

Is Cincinnati pot any good?
I don't really have any knowledge on the subject. I guess I'd have to ask someone.

Favorite activity on the toilet (reading, play games, etc.)?
I'm usually one to just do my business and go on my way, so I don't really spend the time doing anything else.

Are you on Reddit?
No. I wouldn't swear that I've even been to the site.

Mooncups, tampons, or pads?
I don't even know what a mooncup is, but I'm guessing I don't need it since I have no use for the other two.

If you were still active in 2016, do you think you would have won the championship over Richard? How many genre icons and wins would you have got?
Adventure Island was the finals game and I beat it as a kid, but I don't think I've played it since. If I had a full week to spend playing it, I'd like to think that I could've had a shot at winning the championship. I don't know how many genre icons I would've actually won, but I probably would have been in contention for the sports, platformer, arcade and beat em up icons.

If you were still active in 2017, do you think you win this year's championship? How many genre icons and wins would you have got?
Assuming that I had the time to play at 100% effort, I think I'd have a shot. As far as the genre icons go, I'd probably have a shot as the same four I mentioned in the last question. I like to think I'm at least above average at puzzle and shooter games, but the guys that usually win those two genres seems to almost specialize in them.

If you were active every year would you win all of the championships?
No, because Tom already beat me in 2013 and he probably would have beaten me in 2012 as well. I'm sure guillavoie would have won a few over me in the earlier years.

Ever had a really bad ingrown toenail?
Not that I recall.

(redacted)

Are you really a Canadian?
Not unless Cincinnati becomes part of Canada.

How much fellating Santa did it take to get in the HoF?
None thank god. I'm honored that I got inducted, but that's beyond my limits.

Why is chocolate better than sex?
It's not, at least in my opinion.

What kind of watch do you wear?
I haven't worn a watch in years, I just check the time on my phone. Back when I did wear a watch it was usually just some cheap digital Timex.

Are you just a fat guy that likes sports or are you in fact athletic and active?
I guess neither one. I'm not fat, but I'm not overly athletic and active anymore due to my bad knees and back issues.

What type of make up do you wear on your daily life?
I don't wear make up at all, let alone daily.

(redacted)

You're retired because you're afraid of the crop of players, right?
No, I basically retired after the 2015 season due to combination of a championship and four out of six genre icons being a pretty good season to call it a career on since I doubt I'd ever beat that and the fact that by the time the 2016 season started, my free time was cut down to the point that I wouldn't be able to give a 100% effort on a weekly basis due to personal/life obligations.


Final thoughts?
As far as my final thoughts go, you do a great job with these interviews and I would encourage anyone that's offered the opportunity to do it.

(redacted)

(redacted) -and I'm choosing to interpret that as "abuse mod powers to remove skinny's score posts"
Thank you Doug

#9
arnpoly



What's the history behind your user name?  Last name is Poly?  Went to Cal Poly?  Married to Polly?
The first guess is the closest.  I needed to come up with a handle for a Hotmail account in the late 90's, so what I came up with is sort of a scrunched together version of my full name.  My first name is Aaron, so drop a couple of vowels and you get arn.  This is what I used for my initials on arcade games.  I've always liked it better than my actual initials.  Poly was a nickname I got when I was on the math team in high school.  I don't think they wanted to figure out how to properly say my last name, so Poly stuck.

What brought you to NA?
I answered this question in my HoF interview!  I had just gotten back into collecting for good in 2013, and we have a local monthly flea market that I visited looking for games.  I came across a "sealed" version of Tecmo Cup Soccer Game for $8.  My investigation on whether or not this was a legit seal brought me to NA.  I quickly found out it was a really cheap reseal with a photocopied manual inside, but the box and cart were both legit.

What brought you into the contest fold?
Once I joined NA, I really took my time working my way around the forum.  I'm sure I spent some time looking at Gamer's Gauntlet but I must have ignored the contest.  By the time I decided to join, it was at the tail end of the 2013 season.  I submitted a score for the final game that season, Clu Clu Land, and then had to go into waiting for over a month before the 2014 contest began.  I have seen people get interested in the contests either right at the end like I did or during a tournament, and they often don't end up sticking around for the next one to start.  Fortunately I did!

What do you do for a living?
I am an IT worker, more specifically a programmer and application support for a very small part of a large company.  I mostly do web development but my team does a lot of different things along those lines.

Wife? Kids?
Yep!  I've been married for almost five years and I have a two-year-old daughter.

Thinking about having any more kids?
My wife has wavered back and forth between wanting two or three kids, so odds are good we will have at least two.

That's what we said.  Then we had twins
This is exactly what I'm afraid of!

What's the wife do for a living?
My wife is a stay-at-home mom.  Financially we can make it work, and we think that gives us the best environment to raise our daughter.  Prior to parenthood, she worked as an x-ray technician.

Yeah, I understand that.  We're estimating our babysitting next year will run us $40,000(!!!!!!).  At some point I may as well be a stay-at-home dad
Child care is unbelieveably expensive.  My wife doesn't want to work anyway, and I'm good with working full time, so it works out perfectly for us.

Walk us through a day in the life of arnpoly
My life is pretty well structured.  I work from home most of the time so I pretty much roll out of bed and start working.  I snag breakfast and coffee after the family wakes up.  I spend a lot of my work day either on the phone, helping people with problems they have, or tinkering with code.  After work it's family time.  My nightly goal is to keep things running at home as smoothly as possible until my daughter goes to bed.  That's when my wife and I can do something together, or if she wants to go to bed I get some time to myself.  I do dishes almost nightly and that's good time to listen to podcasts and occasionally music.  If I'm not too tired after that then I get to do some gaming or writing.

Which part of Illinois are you from? My dad's family lives outside of Chicago
I'm in southern Illinois, just east of St. Louis, MO.  Most people that live in the state are in the Chicagoland area, so that's always a good guess.  I have some relatives that live outside of Chicago too.

My grandparents used to live in St. Louis.  Unfortunately I cannot remember a single thing about the city, other than a trip to see the Braves-Cardinals play.
Do you know if you went to the new Busch Stadium?  The current one opened in 2006 and is the third Busch Stadium.  I've been to games at both the second and third iterations of the ballpark.

St. Louis is nothing fancy in my opinion, but it's alright.  They have a really good, free zoo.  Six Flags is about 30 minutes away from the city.  There are the Cardinals and Blues for sports.  Forest Park is nice.

It was this specific game actually http://sabr.org/research/was-quick
Great article!  1995 was definitely old (middle?) Busch Stadium.  You're lucky, I would have liked to have seen Maddux pitch.

Ever eat at Giovanni's outside Chicago?
I have not, but I've heard of it.  I want to say they are known for deep dish pizza.  My college roommate had a Giovanni's magnet on our dorm room fridge for a couple of years.

That's my family's restaurant.  My dad's Uncle Pro and Aunt Nancy ran it
That's amazing ... does your family still own it?  I would love to check it out, but I'm not sure I will ever get to.  Not only do we rarely go to Chicago (it's a five hour drive), but my wife has a milk allergy which rules out pizza.  Unless they have a vegan option!

I just looked it up I believe it was Giordano's that my roommate got the magnet from.     But I KNOW I've heard of Giovanni's before.

I'm unsure. Nancy would have to be pretty old by now. Perhaps her children run it. I'd have to ask my dad.
Hobbies outside of games and blogging?
I'm a big baseball fan, specificially a Cubs fan.  Last year was easily the most fun I've had watching baseball!     I follow the sport pretty closely year round no matter what.  I've dabbled in making NES homebrews, but I don't really have time to do that very much.  I guess you could call reading my Twitter feed a hobby.

I use to follow baseball religiously.  I was commisioner of a sabermetric-ish fantasy league, I would closely follow the stats of every player on the A's, live and die with every win and loss, and fantasize about World Series runs.  Now I don't have the time.  Plus they're in a another long rebuild and suck.  So tired of all my teams being so terrible.
I wouldn't mind seeing the A's have a deep playoff run one of these years.  Unfortunately they are in a bad spot with the limbo surrounding their ballpark and potential move to San Jose, and I wonder if that limits what they can spend on the team.  Then when they've been good enough to make the playoffs they have run into bad luck.  That's just the nature of playoffs.

Obviously I want the Cubs to keep winning championships, but if not them then I'd like to see any team win one that hasn't had a title in the last, say 20 years.

Cubs or Royals?
I guess I already answered this one, hahaha!  The Royals are fine though.  I was happy to see them win a World Series in 2015.

Ok, let me rephrase that.  Cardinals or White Sox?
It's not a pretty choice, but I'd have to pick the Cards.  I don't care much about the White Sox as it is, but Hawk Harrelson is by far the worst broadcaster there is in baseball.  The whole Crosstown Cup thing is kinda dumb too, but it might be different for those living in Chicago.  Don't get me wrong, I don't care all that much about the Cardinals either, but at least they have a good rivalry that actually means something.

Maddux or Zambrano or Prior?
Maddux was the best.  So fun to watch work!  He was excellent for the Cubs early in his career but I wasn't watching baseball yet, so I only got to see him in his prime as a Brave.  He was good for the Cubs though with that 2003 team.  I never really minded Zambrano's antics, and I'll always remember his no-hitter in Milwaukee, but looking back I'm kinda glad that era is over.  Prior was great too but flamed out far too soon.

Sandberg or Sosa?
Gotta be Sandberg, though I only saw late career Sandberg.  Sosa was the man to watch in Chicago for many years, but now he's just this weird oddball of a guy.  I guess he's trying to get people to forget that he once corked his bat!     Also no one cares that he hit over 600 homers, which is also kinda bizarre.

DH or pitcher in the 9 spot?
I know the sport is heading in the direction of MLB-wide DH.  At least I expect that will be the case eventually.  I'll always be a fan of pitchers batting though.  Especially pitcher home runs, those are my favorite.  I try and watch the highlights any time a pitcher goes yard.

Joe Maddon has batted the pitcher 8th quite often, which I find very interesting.  There's been analysis that shows batting the pitcher 8th can be better than batting 9th in some cases.  The idea is that you get an extra "good" hitter to bat before the lineup rolls over again, which over time can lead to scoring more runs than you lose by batting the "weaker" pitcher slightly more often.

That actually would make a lot of sense.  I love when people try to advance the game after crunching the numbers.  Of course there is always pushback from the traditionalists ("you can't not steal bases", "you can't go for it on every 4th down", etc.)
Same here.  I love the advanced stats and non-traditional ways of looking at the game.  The traditionalists often say that the "stat geeks" (or whatever ad hominem they want to use that day) are ruining the game by focusing more on crunching numbers and less appreciating baseball just on what you see when you watch.  Not to mention ignoring the intangibles like heart, grit, the will to win, etc.  For me, it enhances the game much more since I get a different angle on the action that I wouldn't get, and it lets me appreciate certain players that more traditional stats aren't as high on.

I remember reading something about a high school football coach that would never punt on fourth down and always try the onside kick.  Evidently analytics showed that the potential loss of yards if the play doesn't pan out didn't outweigh the potential benefit of keeping possession of the ball.  It would really be fascinating to see an NFL or college coach go all in on that kind of mentality.

Bears or Rams?
The closest team I have to a favorite is the Raiders, only because that is my Dad's favorite team.  I don't follow them though.  I'd say I care about the Bears more than the Rams just because of the Chicago connection.

What do you think about the Rams leaving town?
It didn't really affect me.  I never followed the team and only went to one game when they were here.  I was a little surprised that they left, but then again I'm really not that surprised when it's all about the money.

Do you know who Chase Reynolds or Trumaine Johnson are?
I do not.  I just did my research though and I see why you asked.  Both are on the Rams and both played for Montana!  I don't follow football all that much.

Dream contest lineup, 2 per genre
I'm shooting from the hip a bit on these choices, and some of these would not make a good contest game.  But it's my list and I'll pick what I want!

Action/Platformer:
Mr. Gimmick
Kirby's Adventure

Arcade:
Snow Brothers
Balloon Fight

Beat 'em Up:
Battletoads
Double Dragon II

Puzzle:
Puzznic
Adventures of Lolo

Shooter:
Gun Nac
Burai Fighter

Sports:
American Gladiators
R.B.I. Baseball

Top 15(!) games of all time?
Man, I was sorta prepared for 10 games but not 15!  There are probably some games I am forgetting, and I am cheating a bit, but this will work.  In alphabetical order!

Adventures of Lolo (series)

It's pretty well known here that I love puzzle games, and the Lolo games are some of the best.  I appreciate how every single element in the game has purpose and differentiates itself in some way from every other thing.  The level design is top notch all around.  Of the NES games, I've played the first installment the most.  A friend and I in college spent an entire free day solving Lolo 2 from start to finish.  I beat Lolo 3 over several months playing it on an emulator on this old Nokia smartphone on the way to and from work.

When I got interested in Famicom games, I found out there was an Eggerland game, which is Lolo inside a top-down Zelda-style labyrinth.  I spent about four months off and on grinding through that game.  I own Eggerland on the FDS, and even though I haven't completely got my FDS working, when I do I want to play through it.  I mention this literally every time Lolo is brought up, but the two Famicom Lolo games have almost entirely new levels in them.  Suffice it to say, I may be a Lolo addict.

Battletoads

I was all in on Battletoads ever since it was released.  I played it in spurts but it took me probably 15 years before I put everything together and beat the game.  It's a tough game, and it has so much variety for an NES game that it doesn't really get stale.  Now I can beat it warpless without much trouble, so it functions as a pick-up-and-play title for me too.

Cave Story

I was also in on Cave Story in its infancy, long before it blew up in the public eye as far as indie games go.  I have a pretty good story about this one.  It all started in church on a Sunday in early 2005 just before Lent.  I really believe that God was speaking to me that day in a way that I have rarely felt before or since.  I needed to give up video games for Lent.  Now it's pretty clear about me that I am all about video games, and as soon as that thought entered my mind I immediately wanted it back out!  But I decided to be obedient and gave up playing video games.

I was living in the college dorms then, and there was a student from Japan that lived across the hall from me.  During the first week of Lent, I noticed him playing a game in his room, Cave Story.  I had no idea what it was so I dropped in and watched him play for awhile.  It didn't take long to see that this was a game practically made for me, and here I couldn't play it!  Talk about being tested!  I believe the fan translation of the original freeware game was out already too.  As soon as Lent was over that was one of the first games I played, and it lived up to all the hype and expectations.

Chrono Trigger

I really got into the SNES RPGs in the mid 90's, and Chrono Trigger remains one of my favorites.  I've beaten it quite a few times, and I've gotten all the endings.  It's still really fun to go through, and even though I don't have the time that I used to for RPGs, I will eventually play this one again a few more times.

I remember buying the game out of a Walmart bargain bin for $30 brand new.  However, the box is now warped, the maps and manuals got water damaged along with just about all my SNES manuals I kept, and I loaned the cart out and never got it back.  I got the guy to pay me back and I bought another cart in nice shape that I still own.

EarthBound

For a long time I considered EarthBound to be my favorite game of all time.  It has since slipped a bit, probably because I have played through the game so many times that it finally started to get stale.  No hyperbole, I have probably played through the entirety of EarthBound at least 15 times.

Back when it came out though, I was all about EarthBound.  That was when I was really interested in RPGs and wanted to get my hands on as many as I could.  My local rental place had a copy and you could get the guide with it too.  I know I rented it at least once but it was almost always gone when I went to rent games.  My Mom ended up buying me a copy at Best Buy for $20, but she wanted to hold on to it as a Christmas gift.  I think I spent almost every day that December looking at every ounce of EarthBound coverage in Nintendo Power I could find.  I wish I remembered more about finally getting to play through the entire game the first time.  I still have my original copy CIB, but the box has a rip on the front and the scratch and sniff cards are long gone.  The guide is really worn out too from personal use. It's not like I'm ever going to get rid of it anyway!

One more story about EarthBound.  I have a younger sister who is not all that interested in video games, but during the time I was going to a bunch of yard sales (2007/2008) she mentioned to me that she'd like to have a SNES.  I found her one with a few good games for really cheap.  She then said she would really like to have a copy of EarthBound.  So I bought her one for Christmas.  I remember paying $75 for it around 2008.  She was genuinely happy to get it!  I figured she would play it a little bit and not get much out of it.  But lo and behold, she beat the game!  EarthBound has to be the only console game my sister has ever beaten.  Needless to say I was quite proud of her!

Kirby Super Star

I've always enjoyed the Kirby games and this one is my favorite.  These games are typically quite easy but Super Star has a tad more challenge to it.  I've always liked The Great Cave Offensive and I really wish they would just make a full blown game in this style.  Actually a Metroid-like Kirby adventure would be wonderful.  (Amazing Mirror was basically this but the world was a bit too annoying to navigate.)  The easy first half of the game is alright but the last few games are the best.

My original copy of this game went belly up one day and I never knew why.  This was long before the thought of opening the game up every crossed my mind.  I wish I still had it, but I don't know what happened to it.  It was probably thrown away.     There was a used game store about 45 minutes away from our house, and I called them up to see if they had a used copy.  They did, and my wonderful mother made a special trip up there that weekend just so I could buy the replacement.  I remember it cost $25.  I still have that copy and it still works, last I checked!

La-Mulana

I already said my piece about this game.    (note - see below)

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

I am overall a bit lukewarm on the Zelda franchise in its modern incarnations.  Breath of the Wild is challenging that perception for sure!  I like the older Zelda games the best, and of them I will go with Link to the Past as my favorite.  I'm a sucker for a good Zelda dungeon, and not only does this game define the Zelda dungeon, but there are a lot of them in this game to play.  Good boss fights too!

When I played this as a rental, I could not get past the second dungeon in the game.  I messed around quite a lot there and in the overworld instead, and I even tried the third dungeon and got stuck there too.  It turns out I did not understand that you had to light the torches with the lantern to proceed.  They didn't look like torches to me so I just flat out didn't understand what to do.  Later when I owned the game I had to look up how to get through that part, and I really felt dumb once I saw what I missed.  My wife would say that I'm not very observant, and I can understand why.   

Mega Man 2

As far as the NES and SNES versions go, I really like Mega Man and I needed an installment on my list.  Mega Man 2 was the first Mega Man game I played and that's mostly why it's my favorite game.  I got this game because my cousin let me have three of his NES games one time when I went to visit.  (The other two were Donkey Kong Classics and Ironsword.)  I made a good choice!  I don't know how many times I've beaten this game.  Dozens at least!  I do know that I used to only play this on Normal difficulty and I have now switched to Difficult mode for good.  I don't spam Metal Blade either, even though that's usually the key to success in this one.

Mole Mania

I'm sure Mole Mania is the Miyamoto game that the fewest number of people are familiar with.  I wasn't that familiar with it myself until a few years ago.  It came out on 3DS Virtual Console, and at that time I didn't have a real Game Boy collection so I bought a lot of digital versions.  I bought it and started playing, and I had no idea that Mole Mania was so good!  The game reminds me a lot of Eggerland where each screen is its own self-contained puzzle and the rooms connect together in a larger map.  Then the game is actually bigger than it seems because every screen has an underside that you often need to utilize to solve the puzzle.  Plus the game has bosses that are really well designed.  What's not to love!  I knew I liked this game a lot when I got genuinely sad that the game was over.  It's a pretty lengthy game, but I wanted more!  This was one of the first games I sought out when I started collecting GB games.  I own two copies of the game in hope that I get to try out the 2-player versus mode sometime.

Pikmin 2

Pikmin is a type of real time strategy game and I don't generally like that style of game.  This one is more action oriented and that's more my cup of tea.  My neighbors had a GameCube when it launched and they really got into the original Pikmin.  Watching them play was my first taste of the game, and when I finally got a copy of my own I had so much fun with it.  The problem with the original game is its just too short of an experience.  Even the first time through I finished it in 20 days instead of the 30 they give you.

Pikmin 2 expands on the original game in all the right ways.  The best addition to the second installment are the caves.  You can't grow new Pikmin here, so the focus shifts toward combat and item collection.  Not having a time limit is great!  Plus, almost every floor in the cave system has some kind of random generation to it.  The types of enemies, number of enemies, and the treasures are the same, but everything is arranged differently every time.  There's a boss fight at the end of most caves and they are really good fights.  My favorite memory of playing Pikmin 2 was getting to the final boss for the first time.  I was in my college dorm with the door open.  I started the fight and I got completely annihilated.  As it was going down I was practically yelling "WHAT IS THIS?" and that made a few people stop by to see what was going on.

I have beaten Pikmin 3 but only once.  I loved it too of course, and I'm interested in playing it again.  It doesn't quite reach the heights of Pikmin 2 for me mostly because they axed the cave system.  It's also more story driven which is a little distracting.  I'm sure Pikmin 4 is gonna be great whenever that game comes out.

Shadow of the Colossus

If I haven't made it clear, I love a good boss fight.  So it's no surprise that Shadow of the Colossus, aka Boss Fight: The Game, is among my top games.  The game is a series of 16 bosses that you have to track down one at a time on horseback.  Then for each one you have to figure out what you must do to scale the boss and strike its weak point.  They often play out like a puzzle, and you know how much I also like puzzles.  It's super fun.  I haven't played it in many years and I'm way overdue for a replay.  I bought the PS3 remaster and haven't touched either it or Ico.  On the original PS2 version, I think I did just about everything the game has to offer.

Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 (I treat it like one giant game)

I'm cheating by putting both these games together as a single super-game, but on the one hand you kind of can't blame me and on the other hand I don't care!   

The big debate over 3D Mario games is between the sandbox style and the linear style.  Super Mario 64 is excellent and still holds up well, and even though I have some beef with Sunshine it's still a wonderful game.  On the far end of the spectrum, there are the two newest entries Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World.  Again, super fun games, but they perhaps skew a bit too far back toward being purely linear.

The Super Mario Galaxy games are more or less linear experiences, but just a touch more open.  I think that might be the sweet spot for me.  The level design in Galaxy is really inventive, weird, and fun.  It seems like a lot of people can't wrap their head around movement and gravity with the planets, and I've always thought that aspect of it was great.  The post game content in Galaxy 2 is particularly excellent.  I have high hopes for Super Mario Odyssey though, so I can't wait to see what that's like and if it will reconsider my stance on the sandbox style games.

My daughter and I are playing through Super Mario Galaxy 2 right now.  She's 2 so she doesn't do that much playing.  She can get Mario to jump and swing the remote around to make him spin, as well as make him walk around somewhat.  I think her favorite thing is to leave Mario idle so that he falls asleep.  When that happens she will turn the lights off to let him sleep for awhile.  Then when we wake him up she turns the lights back on.  We have a little kid trampoline in the basement, and she figured out she can throw the Wiimote on the trampoline and start jumping to make Mario spin.  It's super cute!     She also likes to collect stars.  I do the levels and put Mario underneath the star at the end, and she will make him jump to collect it.  There are some levels I have trouble with because she will grab the controller out of my hand before I can finish them.  She gets a kick out of letting Mario fall to his death and saying "Toooo bad!"  We are pretty far along in the game and I'm certain we will 100% the game eventually!

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

The thing that impresses me the most about Yoshi's Island is the sheer amount of content in this game.  It has 54 levels and most of them are huge, sprawling stages.  On top of that you should find the red coins and flowers, so each stage can be a real investment in time.  I love it though.  The game has so much character as well from all the different enemies, Yoshi transformations, etc.  It's really a masterpiece of a game and that's why it's on my list.

I remember getting this game for Christmas one year and I blew through it 100% in something like five days.  It's not exactly an easy game either, but I just couldn't put it down.

I mentioned that my sister beat EarthBound.  She also spent a lot of time with Yoshi's Island.  She stalled out somewhere in World 5 though and never was able to break through to the end.  Now I can see her figuring out EarthBound, but her playing on Yoshi's Island that far was more impressive to me.

Super Metroid

Last but certainly not least!  I say Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time.  I am a huge fan of Metroid styled games.  The genre has been super popular in the indie scene for a long time, and many of those games I've played are great.  It's just that nothing can hold a candle to Super Metroid.  I think it was the first game of this style to completely nail it, and I can't think of another game that does it better.  The buildup and sequence of powerups you get fit Samus perfectly.  The map is really well put together and tracking down items around the map is so fun.  The game isn't too hard to sequence break, but the design is so good that I don't think there's a place you can get completely stuck if you go somewhere you shouldn't.

I figured out a few years ago my own way to sort of speedrun the game with 100% item collection.  I am not a speedrunner and this is far from the optimal way to do it.  But I figured out my own way through the game that works for me.  I can get 100% in a little over two hours.  I used to play through the game somewhat regularly but it's been a few years now since I last tried it, which means I've probably forgotten my route.

I also attempted a low percent run of Super Metroid but I didn't finish it.  I got as far as the entrance to Ridley's lair.  It is possible to bomb jump up to the entrance in the lava pit so you don't need Space Jump.  There are a few enemies that spew fireballs that will knock you down.  The trick has to do with executing a double bomb jump so that you can ascend quicker for a little while to dodge the fireballs.  I can normal bomb jump easy enough, but I didn't get the timing for the double bomb jump and I think you have to transition between the two methods seamlessly to make it to the top.  I just didn't want to practice it enough!

La Mulana? What's that?
La-Mulana is the purest form of what an Indiana Jones video game should be.  It's an archaeological Metroidvania with a heavy emphasis on obscure puzzle solving.  You really need an actual notebook to play this game while jotting down clues and putting little tidbits of information together to solve the riddles of the ruins.  It's also tough as nails on the platforming side including some really tough battles with giant bosses.

The original game is freeware with a fan translation into English, styled like a 1980s MSX game.  I had started playing it not long after the fan translation, and there weren't comprehensive walkthroughs of the game yet.  I got stuck so bad probably dozens of time.  I pieced my way through it with what I could find online for the parts I couldn't figure out on my own.  This game gripped me like few others.  I sunk 60-70 hours on that first playthrough and had a hard time putting it down.

The game had a more modern remake several years ago on Wiiware, Steam, etc.  It's almost like a remix of the original game.  Most of the map and puzzles are the same but they changed and added various things and re-did all the boss fights.  It's more user friendly, but it's still pretty helpful to have a notebook by your side.

It's a game that is really only made for a small subset of people.  None of my friends found it interesting enough or
got stuck too early and gave up on it.  However, if you are of the right mindset and have the dedication to work through it, there's really nothing remotely close to La Mulana.

Sorry that was a lot on that, I just LOVE this game!  There's a sequel in development too that I can't wait to sink my teeth into.

What is your favorite moment/part of Earthbound?
For some reason I enjoy the first half of the game a lot more than the second half.  I can't really put my finger on why but I've always felt this way.  The exact  point is when you enter Summers for the first time.  Maybe it's the feeling of helplessness where the gang is really far away from home for the first time.  Aside from Winters (which gets a pass because Jeff is from there) you can't just walk home from Summers.  So that's when I also get a bit distant from the game.  I do like Dungeon Man, that's easily my favorite part in the second half.  Getting to wreck stuff with Dungeon Man in your party briefly is a blast.  My least favorite part in the first half of the game is the Talah Rama monkey cave.  I always have to shuffle items out of my inventory and it's such a hassle.

Ever play Mother 3?
Yes!  I played it within a year of the fan translation so it's been a long time.  I really want to give it another play one of these days.  It is SO good.  Mother 3 made me cry a LOT.  It's the most emotional video game I've ever played for sure.

What is your go-to Chrono Trigger party?
I go with Crono, Frog, and Robo.  Their triple tech attack doesn't cost much but does a ton of damage on single enemies and bosses.  I can live with not having fire magic.  I use that strategy less often in more recent playthroughs and focus on using all the characters more often.

Did you ever climb the tower at your starting point in Shadow of the Colossus?
No ... I don't think that ever occurred to me to try.  That's something to consider for the next time I play this.   

What are your best scores in the two Balloon Fight modes?
Thankfully I documented that on my blog post on Balloon Fight.  I scored 1,239,250 in the main mode as part of the 2014 contest, and in Balloon Trip mode I only reached 28,260.  I just wanted to surpass 25,000 points there to get the high score, and I bet I could do a lot better if I played it more.

Ever done a minimalist run in Link to the Past?
I have not!  I think that could be fun to do, and I'm probably good enough at the game to be able to finish it.  I'll have to see what all that entails.

Did you play Chrono Cross?
I have not.  I missed the boat on all PS1 RPGs pretty much.  I was a Nintendo guy so I was in on the N64 and GameCube and added the PS2 much later in its life span.  I was also done with RPGs at the point for the most part except for replaying the SNES ones I liked over and over again.

I do own Chrono Cross though.  My best friend was getting rid of some games and I bought his Chrono Cross for $10.  This was last year I believe.  I probably won't ever have time for it, but if I do I have it.  I know nothing at all about the game so I'd be going into it completely blind.

Did you play Kirby Super Star Ultra?
Yes I did!  I own a copy but I only played through it once.  I'm sure I got 100% but I hardly remember any of the extra stuff they added in.  Another replay is in order.  I've said that a lot haven't I?   

Worst game you've ever played?
So I have a hard time deciding if a game is objectively bad.  I tend to like just about everything I play, and if I don't it's not always because the game is bad, but that it just didn't click with me.  Also, I feel like I need to spend a lot of time with a game or even beat it before I can really come to a decision on that.

But to answer the question, the worst game I've played recently is Adventures of Gilligan's Island.  The game plays fine on a technical level, but it's just so boring and tedious.  No one likes escort missions, right?  So how about an entire game of an escort mission.  In a way, you have to give the developers credit for trying something new at that time, even though the result is not that fun to play.

What game would you like to see in the SNES contest?
The July game was Super Buster Bros and that probably would have been my pick.  It's my ultimate pick up and play game and would probably make my Top 25 or so.  Since I can't pick that, my first thought would be Super Mario World.  It would have to be one life only, no repeating beaten stages.  It's probably not the best pick because a good run could take hours, but it could be interesting since you would have to pick your route carefully later on if you can only take one exit.

How clairvoyant of you, even down to the ruleset...
Haha, is that right?  I don't remember if you had already done SMW last year under those rules.  I don't see a better way to go about it.

What all systems do you collect for?
Primarily I collect NES, and I have much more modest collections of SNES, Game Boy, and N64.  I guess you could say I collect Famicom games too.  I have a decent number of games from several other systems but I don't really consider myself a collector of those consoles.

Collect anything besides video games? Now or in the past?
Nope, just games!  Do you remember keychains that were tiny LCD games?  I had a nice little collection of those in the 90s.

Who would you like to see get interviewed?
A Bea interview would be awesome, and I believe that's on the horizon?  We need an mbd interview too, and you need one too Brock!  But who would do it?

You hear that mbd?  People want to know!
I get not wanting to participate in an interview like this.  I don't post much on social media and when I do I'm pretty choosy on what I say and how I say it.  I think here there's more anonymity so in a space like this I'm more comfortable being more open.  Specifically about mdb, man he's a really nice guy, so who wouldn't want to know more about what makes him tick?

As for me, Santa tried to get people to do some sort of group interview.  I'm guessing it failed miserably  
What makes you a good interviewer is the same thing that would make you a good interviewee.  I know I don't have the same breadth of knowledge to ask questions like you do, and I'm not sure who else here would.  I think that's the biggest issue.

Star Force predictions?
If it's true that Skinny has been practicing it, then he would be the clear favorite at this point.  I wanna see Gloves take a crack at it though.  It's a really hard game from what little I've played.  I can safely say I will be a non-factor.

Contra predictions?
Contra is hard to predict for two related reasons.  This is the kind of game that brings out people that only play one or two games a year, and the regular contestants for the most part don't seem to know Contra well.  I'll have to stick to the regulars for my guess, so I think Bea will win this week.  I'm sure tables is good at the game, and I know Contra well so I could be a dark horse candidate.

2017 contest champion predictions?
Bea is probably the best choice since I'm guessing she has the most wins recently, therefore she stands the best chance at being tops at whatever random game is chosen in the finals.  I think she has the most time available among the top candidates for grinding out a win there too.

That is definitely possible.  Though we don't know much about the lives of mbd, table, Red (assuming he has enough scores to even qualify) either.  Or at least I don't.  Could be a mad grind in the playoffs between all of them.
I think I have a decent shot at placing in the tournament.  There's no way to predict anything without knowing what the actual games are, and that's what makes it fun!

Will you be giving up your tier 1 seat again?  This may or may not affect certain people in the standings...
Nope!  I have every intention of putting some effort into the tournament this year.  I don't think I'll win but maybe I'll make it interesting.  If I make it to the finals with a game I'm decent at, I've got a decent shot at pulling an upset.

Battletoads Double Dragon or Battletoads Battlemaniacs or Battletoads the Arcade game?
It has to be Battletoads Double Dragon by default, but specifically the NES version.  I've had the game since it was new so I've played it the most.  I did play through the arcade game on MAME, but that was several years ago.  I bought Battlemaniacs last year but haven't put the time in to playing it past the second level.  I also own the SNES version of BT/DD, but again haven't played it much.  So many games, so little time!

I just beat the NES version for the first time, and I have a hard time with it compared to the SNES version I grew up with.  I had to throw away nearly 50% of the memorization due to the slight changes in play control and game mechanics
I definitely noticed this in the reverse from what little I've played of the SNES version.  That gives me something to look forward to whenever I get around to beating it on the SNES.

Battlemaniacs is a rehash of the first game;  they took about half of the levels and made them way harder (except Rat Race oddly enough), and threw away everything else.  Not sure what they were thinking.
It sounds like they were just trying to cash in on the "hype" of the original game, or ran out of development time, or something like that.  I think they nailed it with the original game anyway.

Most frustrating Battletoads experience?
All my real frustrations learning the game were so long ago I don't really remember.     One spot that still trips me up sometimes is in Karnath's Lair.  It's the third area and I believe the second snake.  There's a jump over a spike with spikes over your head that I sometimes mess up.  If I mess it up once, I'll mess it up two or three more times before getting it right.  Terra Tubes took a long time to learn, I remember that.  Rat Race still gives me trouble every once in awhile if I miss bumping the rat in the third section.  The blowing clouds on the Revolution are just the worst too.

How long do you think it will take to finish your blog?
I've had the thought that my goal is to finish all the licensed games before my two-year-old graduates high school.  It's kind of meant as a joke but it actually has validity behind it.  I'd have to beat around 40 games a year to do that and I'm already off that pace.  Part of that is because I spent six months on only two games, and I've also sunk nearly 100 hours into Breath of the Wild since March with no end in sight.  I'll be a little light this year with finishes but I should do more in 2018 to get better on track.

The odds are stacked against me, that's for sure.  The most likely outcome is I won't finish it.  I can't say for sure what life is going to bring my way.  However, I've been at it for over a year and a half already and I have full intention of sticking with it for the long haul.

Well, we'll see if I can finish the SNES library in the next decade before you  
Two things: One, I'm sure you have finished more SNES games at this point than NES games I have finished.  My current "official" count is 54 games, but I estimate I have beaten around 150 NES games lifetime.  Two, you aren't writing a 2000-word review on every SNES game you've beaten!     We both have similar levels of dedication so I think we could both meet our goals, but I assume you have the edge on me right now.

I am actually writing (shorter) reviews for every SNES game, but the project will be unveiled on NA, and due to the nature of the work is running behind because I need to play all or most of the library before I can even start to reveal it
Now THAT is awesome to hear.  I remember you are working on a huge numbered ranking of all SNES games, so I'm guessing that is also part of this project?  Mum's the word of course, but I'm really looking forward to this unveiling now!

What's the randomizer for your blog selections?
I answer this on my website in the Methodology page, but I'll give the general idea here.  I started with the base list of licensed games minus variants, combo carts, etc and did a random Excel sort on it.  I did some shuffling of games to get the final list.  I put that list together months before I actually started the project since I wanted to get my website in order first and it took a long time to figure out Wordpress and do some coding on it.  I have since dumped my list into a database on my laptop so I can query specific games.  I haven't looked at the full list in so long that I have no idea what games are where.  I enjoy being surprised!

First word sentence that comes to mind
Haven't I been wordy enough already?   

Guts
He's one of my best friends on NA and I'm ready to welcome him (and his memes) back to the contests when he's ready!

Bearcat
The showstopper, the icon, and the main event, of course!

Skinny
The grinder has been one of my best customers in my FS thread, thanks buddy!

Table
He is good at virtually every contest game, making him the modern contest version of guillavoie, just less French.

What if he turns out to be French?  Do we really know anything about him?  So many mysterious people still
If he is French, then he might well be guillavoie after all.  This is how rumors get started!

I was sworn to secrecy, but I can't hold it in anymore;  table is guillavoie's son.  Picking up where dad left off and doing him proud.  He also fled Canada.  Possibly via swimming to Michigan.
My hunch has always been the same!     I mean, tables' gaming skills is far too evident to ignore.  This scoop is bound to rock NA to its core.

Bea
A worthy competitor and rival, who despite her claims to the contrary, may only be bad at exactly one video game.

Red
His name doesn't show up on the leaderboards often, but when it does you can find it near the top.

mbd
He's one of the friendliest and honest competitors around, and he deserves a win one of these days even though I don't plan on making it easy!

ninjistar
He is just as friendly as mbd, and he gets bonus points for owning a full NES set!

There are two types of people so far.  Those who relish the FMK, and those who are well-mannered decent human beings.  Before I even bother, which camp are you in?  
I am absolutely a well-mannered, decent human being, no question.  I've never played the game before.  But I'm willing to try it.   

Okay, well you are just a pleasant enough guy I'm gonna start with the easier ones

FMK
The Dark Queen, Marian, Annabelle
This one's not too hard.  Marry Marian, Kill the Dark Queen, and F Annabelle

FMK
Princess Toadstool, Zelda, Candy Kong
Okay now we're talking.  First of all it's Candy Kong with a C.     Candy Kong is really an unnecessary character (as are just about all of the DK characters), so Kill Candy Kong.  I'll say Marry Princess Peach.  We can live in the castle and go down the secret slide all day!  That leaves me with F Zelda.

FMK
April O'Neil from the cartoon, April O'Neil from the original movie, or that April O'Neil from well, you know
First of all, Kill that fake April O'Neil!  She defiled my avatar for far too long, hahaha!  That's the easy call, but the other two it's tougher to decide.  I will say Marry the cartoon O'Neil, and F the movie O'Neil.

FMK
Joanna Dark, Cate Archer, The Boss
F Cate Archer, Kill Joanna Dark, and Marry The Boss.  In that exact order!

FMK
GlaDos, Mother Brain, Jenova
The easy call is to Marry GlaDos so we can happily eat cake together forever, as long as she doesn't let me die in a fire or something!  Now you can't F Mother Brain, because you know what that would make me!  So I would Kill Mother Brain and F Jenova.

Favorite movie?
Probably the Shawshank Redemption.  I watched it on TV a bunch of times as a teen and it always hooks me.  Great movie!

I'll give a second choice that's a bit off the board.  I saw this in the theater and I don't remember ever laughing at a movie so much as I did watching Superbad.

Yeah, that is one of those movies that whenever you flip past TNT and it was on, you'd have to watch it.  Ever read the book?  (Different Seasons by Stephen King)
Haha, I think almost all the time I've spent watching that movie was on TNT.  I didn't know there was a book!  I said I don't read much, but I might have to make an exception for that book.

Favorite book?
I'm not much of a reader so it's a small pool to pick from.  My wife is a big Harry Potter fan, and while we were dating I decided to give the series a try.  I got completely hooked and read the whole series over the course of 6-9 months, maybe even a year.  That timeframe doesn't sound like getting hooked but I really wanted to take my time with it and savor it.  Good thing for me it was all written by the time I started reading it.  I've also read the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, that was also really fun.

Funny, I finished this like 3 days ago.  Found the whole set at a thrift store
I didn't pay that much for my set when I picked it up brand new.  Not thrift store cheap, but around $15-$20 for all six books.

Favorite band/album?
My favorite band is Five Iron Frenzy, and not a lot of people know about them.  They are a Christian Ska band and they are all over the board.  They go from real thought-provoking song to just straight up silly nonsense.  It really suits me well!  I found out about them after they broke up in 2003, and after hearing a couple of songs I bought almost their entire discography and listened to them non-stop for like 6 months.  They have since gotten almost all the band back together and recorded more music, and I've gotten to see them twice live which I figured would never happen.

Their likely best known song is about Canada, and they also have a song about Colorado since that's where they are all from.









My coworker has a band called Skavacodos.  They are small-time, no records or anything
Very clever name!  I bet I would dig their music.
Favorite TV show?
Breaking Bad was sooooo good!  I started watching it live during the final split season and it completely lived up to all the hype for me.  I watched the entire series again with my wife once it was all on Netflix, and I'd really like to watch it a third time one of these days.  The spinoff Better Call Saul is just as excellent and is my favorite current show.  The wife and I are big Walking Dead fans too.  I think the show may be starting its decline, but we are still very interested in it and we are gonna stick with it all the way to the end, whenever that is.

I enjoy all of those shows too.  Breaking Bad definitely had one of the greatest ending to any TV show ever.  And I'm only caught up on what Netflix has for the other two at the moment so I still don't know who took a bat to the head via eeny-meeny-miny-mo
The ending of Breaking Bad was truly great, I agree.  I distinctly remember sitting there taking in the last scene when it aired knowing they absolutely nailed it.

I was really into HIMYM for a lot of when it aired.  Those writers got slammed up and down for how they ended that show, and I never really understood the hate.  It may have been predictable or whatever, but it was still a sensible choice in my opinion.  But I'm sure I would have liked it no matter what they did, so what do I know?   

That particular break in the Walking Dead was probably the hardest one to wait for.  We are now two months out from the Season 8 premiere so I suspect that is around when Season 7 will show on Netflix.  Kudos to you for avoiding the spoilers on that one, sheesh.  I figured that would be impossible in this day and age.

I'm actually currently watching HIMYM. Mostly for Barney. I don't care about Ted or his journey
That may be for the best! The inside jokes and stuff like that were fun too. I had just gotten lukewarm about the show toward the end and wanted to finish it just because it was almost finished.

Yeah I'd say most shows can keep it together for, at most, 5 seasons. Anything past that and the inspiration starts to run dry, or they start jumping the shark. South Park seems to be the biggest exception to that rule
I think you're dead on with five seasons of a show.  If a show is still popular after five, often the network execs don't wanna let go of a moneymaker like that even if the quality of the actual show has to suffer for it.  I'm sure there have been some good shows that managed to hold it together really well for longer than that, but I don't have any examples.

Trump or Sessions?
I'm not all that involved in politics, but I have been a lot more interested ever since Trump decided to run for President.  I guess this is a good of a spot as any to say my piece about Trump.  He is unbelieveably awful.  It's clear that he only cares about his image and his money.  I believe he only decided to run for president just to help bring him more money inflate his ego.  He has no idea what he is doing running this country.  He's such a loose cannon, firing inane stuff on Twitter that just blind sides everyone.  His handshakes and the way he talks about women are disgraceful.  He is supposed to be the face of America and he makes everyone look bad just by how he conducts himself.  He is a disgrace and an embarassment.  I look forward to the day that he is out of office.  Just put a decent person, either Republican or Democrat, into office and I can live with the fallout.

By corollary, anyone that Trump appoints is no good either.  I don't care much for Sessions either, but if I had to pick between the two I would pick him or just about any person over Trump.

(If you wanna cut that from the interview, I can live with that.  But you asked, so I answered!  I'm perfectly fine with publishing what I wrote above.)

That seems to be a theme.  People are in tuning in now more than ever.  Often just to see what ridiculous thing will happen next.  The 2018 and 2020 polls will also have record turnouts.
Hopefully this motivates people to get more involved in the process.  I wish the wake up call didn't have to come from this though, but if it's really the shot in the arm this country needs, then so be it.

Also, I think everyone in the contests is pretty open-minded and respectful to each other's differences.
Everyone is pretty friendly around here!  I don't think I will ruffle too many feathers even though I have taken a pretty hardline stance, but if I did I'm willing to discuss it in a cordial way to the best of my ability.

What do you make of this Mooch (Scaramucci) character?
I admit I haven't been following this much like I should.  Seems kind flamboyant?  Maybe not the right word.  I guess he'd fit right in on Trump's cabinet, which is to say he is also awful.

What do you think will happen with North Korea?
Right now it looks like NK is doing their testing, leading to the US and allies responding by flexing muscle right back at them.  Should one side strike first it will get real ugly real fast, and so I hope it's all for show and not leading to all out war.  I think it's not going to go that far.

Is Illinois bankrupt?
Not currently, but it might be headed that way soon.  The government here is so bad.  They just raised the state income tax, which puts me in a weird spot because I work in Missouri and I ended up owing Illinois a lot of money at tax time.  The state government getting more money probably isn't going to help change things here anyway.

Canada or Brazil?
With no disrespect to Bea, I think I'll go with Canada on this one.  There are many good NA members out of Canada, and though I haven't set foot there myself I have at least seen Canada.  Gotta keep a good relationship with your next door neighbor!

SNES or Genesis?
These questions are all gonna be answered the same way.  I am a dedicated Nintendo fanboy, so it's SNES over Genesis all the way.  A lot of my favorite games ever are SNES games, moreso than NES games really.

Genesis does have some awesome games.  I enjoy all the Sonic games, and Gunstar Heroes is excellent.  I have a copy of LandStalker I wanna dive into one of these days.  I imagine there are dozens of Genesis gems I've barely heard of.

The big debate over the consoles always has to do with the music anyway, right?  I prefer the sampled SNES music over the FM synthesis Genesis music.  I will admit that most of that preference has to do with my general preference of that console, so I'm obviously biased.  I do think average Genesis music has that farty quality to it, but when composers knew what to do with the sound chip, the songs they can get out of it are awfully good.

I'm obviously a pretty big SNES homer myself, but I keep promising myself I'll give my Genesis library the attention it deserves at some point in the future (like when my kids are 19...).  All those shmups, and various action games, the Splatterhouses, Contra Hard Corps, Crusader of Centy, etc.  I have a fortune in games gathering dust  
That's a killer collection with just those listed.  That's what backlogs are for I guess!  My Genesis collection is very slight, maybe 15-20 games and that's it.  All hidden in a tote in the basement because I never get around to playing it.  It's a shame really!

Switch or PS4?
I love my Switch, even though it is only my dedicated Zelda machine.  I'm not into online gaming so nothing else appeals to me on there until Super Mario Odyssey.  The Switch is poised to really be huge, I believe.  There's not much reason for me to go out and get a PS4, but I may get one eventually for a handful of games. 

I'm the same.  The only push for me to get one right would now be for Zelda, and I haven't even played one of those (on consoles) since Wind Waker.  Maybe some day.
Let me say a little bit about Breath of the Wild.  I have traditionally not been interested in open world style games.  I prefer organized level design and linear experiences.  Zelda games are in sort of a middle ground between the two.  I've played every game in the series except for Spirit Tracks (and the 3DO games if you count them).  So certainly I'll give Breath of the Wild a try.  And I have been hooked every since.  It's been out for almost 5 months now and I'm just getting around the 100 hour mark, which is short for most players but good enough for me considering my time restraints and interests in the contests and my blog.  Perhaps deep in my subconscious I avoided open world games because I knew I could get pulled in by their addictive qualities.  If I get away from it for a few days then I'm not really in the mood to play, but then when I pick it back up I don't want to put it down.  Wanting to play for 30 minutes turns into an hour, every time.
It's just excellent.  If I had to list a Top 20 instead of 15 I'd strongly consider adding Breath of the Wild even though I'm not particularly close to beating it yet.

N64 or PS1?
My answer is N64, but it's pretty close.  Of the ones I've played on PS1, Symphony of the Night and Metal Gear Solid are better than just about all N64 games.  The PS1 is still one of the top RPG systems too, but I don't have the time these days to devote to trying them unless I give up a lot to do it.  As a group, I like the collect-a-thon style platformers a bit better.  Super Mario 64 still holds up super well, and I enjoyed DK64 and the Banjo games.  Starfox 64 is excellent too!

3DS or Vita?
Predictable as always.  3DS!  I've gotten a lot of mileage out of mine.  I was an ambassador!  Then I upgraded to the New 3DS XL last year and the difference is night and day.  Super Mario 3D Land is my favorite game on the system.  I've probably played more Picross on there than anything.   

The Vita is really a nice device that just never really took off.  I know that's the system for portable indie games though, which should elevate its status more.  The definitive version of La-Mulana is on Vita!  I don't know if I'll ever get one even though there are good reasons for it.

Yeah I was also an ambassador.  There was a loophole where Wal-Mart offered the discounted price ahead of schedule, so I got the best of both worlds.
You got lucky.  I had to pay full price for mine on Amazon and I didn't get mine until two days after release because we didn't have Prime yet.  That's not to say I'm complaining though.  I've spent enough time playing mine that I got my money's worth.

I upgraded to the New 3DS XL last year when I stumbled into a poorly listed eBay auction for one.  It was technically used but appeared to have never been played.  I got it in box with everything for I think $110.

Picross on 3DS is a downloadable title, right?  I wish there was a physical release, I loved Picross DS and Picross 3D
Yes I believe all 3DS version of Picross are downloadable only.  I LOVE logic puzzles like Picross.  Those are what I play when I just wanna zone out for awhile and take my mind off things.  I'm on the second volume of the Picross 3DS releases out of I think six.  I've played most of the way through Pokemon Picross without spending a dime.  I balked at the $30 price tag for Picross 3D 2 but I will get around to it eventually.  I cleared all of the Picross 3D puzzles on DS years ago.

This is a really good website for free browser logic puzzles to get the idea of these kinds of games I enjoy:  http://www.puzzle-loop.com/

I wanted to get a New 3DS last year at Black Friday ($99), but not only did I have to work, my pregnant wife did not approve of me standing in line at 4 in the morning (or whatever). And I bought Xenoblade 3D from Loxx several years ago to add insult to injury
Wow they were $99 at one point?  I know they have been tough to come by since then, but I'm not sure if that's still the case.  I think I got mine prior to the holiday so it was a great price anyway.  You will get yours sooner or later!  Or you'll have to settle for the New 2DS that just came out.

Beer, wine, or liquor?
None of them!  I don't drink and I've never been interested in drinking any alcohol.  I'm a coffee drinker though, that and tea are the only brews for me.

Star Trek or Star Wars?
I like Star Wars more.  Honestly I've never been all that interested in either series.  What kind of nerd am I?     It was just a few weeks ago where I finally saw both The Force Awakens and Rogue One.  They were good!  I would have liked to have seen them both in the theater, but going out to the movies has fully gone by the wayside since my daughter was born.  Anyway now I have seen all of the main Star Wars movies.  I have seen a few of the newer Star Trek movies and I enjoyed them, but that's as far as my interest goes in that series.

If future champion Bea is terrible at video games, does that make the rest of us peons?
Bea lives in an opposite, parallel universe.  So she is bad at games, leading the rest of us to be awesome at video games.  There's no other choice!

Rank the following talents:
rdrunner, doug, bertsampson, guillavoie, arnpoly, red, table, Bea, guts
This is the hardest question yet.
I will say: rdrunner, guillavoie, Bea, bertsampson, table, doug, arnpoly, red, guts
rdrunner is the best, at worst among the best, of NES gamers there is.  So he goes first.
The next five are all around the same and are really tough to attempt to rank.
Some of my best playing was my first year and guillavoie had more points overall.
Bea is excellent at most games, and she can no death Ikari Warriors, so she's up there
bertsampson, tables, and doug have all done better than me in a season (well tables is currently doing better this season).  Really close together in my mind.
Red is so good but seems like he only hops in on games he is already great at, so I will give myself an edge for breadth of ability.
Guts should be a hall of famer like I should be, and he can bring it too.  But I think Red and I nudge him out a tiny bit.  Sorry!
All of us are better though than the next set of characters!   

Rank the following talents:
Richard, Brock, Jimbo, skinny, James, Stryphos, mbd, Krunch
Another toughie!
I will say: Krunch, Brock, skinny, mbd, Stryphos, Richard, James, Jimbo
Krunch doesn't play as much but he is really good when he does.
Brock, you have a lot of game completions under your belt and that weighs in a lot.
A dedicated Skinny is a danger in any competition he enters
mbd is way better than he will admit.  No deathing Ninja Gaiden (is that right?) is worth a lot!
Stryphos is good when he competes.  Need more scores!
Richard is sneaky good when you don't expect it, and he is awesome at Adventure Island.
James has gotta be better than I give him credit for.  I remember himin Tier 1 in 2014!
I guess that leaves Jimbo last.     Maybe he spends more time being awesome at drawing and that takes away from gaming time.
Now I'm gonna feel the wrath of the Colorado crew, aren't I?   

Favorite contest memory?
I remember answering this one in my Hall of Fame interview.  My tournament win from Winter 2014 ranks the highest for me.  First game was Dr Mario and I won that one easily.  Next was Rollerball and I just barely made it to the finals.  I think everyone in my Tier beat the Twin Galaxies record that week.  My best run was my final run on the last night and I ended up softlocking the game somehow and I was stuck with that score that was just good enough.  The final game was Double Dragon II, and at that time I really had no experience with it.  It was high score on one life.  I played 2-3 hours every day that week and ended up beating the game on one life with a score pretty close to the Twin Galaxies record and I won the tournament!  I died on my final attempt but played it through anyway and ended up topping the record with that unofficial score. 

Least favorite contest week?
To my knowledge I have only skipped one week in the last four years of competing, and that was for R.C. Pro-Am a couple of years ago.  That game is infuriating trying to play for a high score.  I failed out in the Summer 2014 tournament on this game, and I was so mad about it that I didn't bother touching the game again until this year's contest.

Explain the Mario Sunshine avatar
It was just something I found online while trying to find a good avatar.  I like the juxtaposition of the angry sun from SMB3 and the Shine sprite from Sunshine, and I'm a big fan of mainline Mario games.  It's a good fit for me.

How many tries did it take you to first get the pachinko shine in Super Mario Sunshine?
It's been so long ago I don't remember how long it took to finish that one.  Maybe 6-8 tries?  When I replayed it several years later I'm pretty sure it only took a couple attempts.

SMB or 3
I understand how important SMB is to video games as a whole.  But Super Mario 3 is such a huge leap beyond the original game.  SMB3 is definitely my choice.

One of these days I'll no death SMB3.  In the contest a few years ago we also did a 1-life contest, and my death came near the end of World 8.  I was pretty upset about that one!  I finished it anyway for a one death run.  I have done a no death run of SMB just one time as Luigi.  A friend and I decided to play 2-player mode.  He died in the first stage and then I ran the table after that.

World or Yoshi's Island
Well seeing as Yoshi's Island made my Top 15, and SMW didn't, I suppose I'll have to go with Yoshi's Island.     Yoshi's Island is pure joy for pretty much the entire game.

I definitely have a soft spot for Super Mario World though.  It's awesome.  I was really into the SMW hacking scene when I had a lot more free time on my hands.  I made quite a few really crummy levels, and just didn't have enough motivation to try and make a full game of it.  I switched focus to the coding side and learned how to program in assembly on the SNES, and I parlayed that into programming some custom bosses.  I had jotted down many ideas for potential boss battles and ended up programming three of them.  If I was ever going to make a SMW romhack, it would have been a custom boss rush hack.  It takes a crazy amount of time to program a boss fight, and so I ended up moving on to other things.

64 or Sunshine
Super Mario 64 all the way.  I've done 120 stars on SM64 a ton of times and it still really holds up.  Super Mario Sunshine is a good game but I just don't like it as much.  I think I'm just annoyed about how they implemented the blue coins.

A long time ago I had the idea to complete SM64 by collecting one star a day, every day for 120 days.  It wasn't easy getting the one star and then stopping, but I completed the whole game that way.  I've thought about bringing that idea to NA and starting up a group slow play of SM64, but I'm not sure I'd be able to participate every day without skipping.  I have too many other things on my plate anyway.

I have also attempted a CCC run of SM64.  That's a coinless, capless, and cannonless run.  SM64 tracks the maximum number of coins you collect in any given stage, and it's pretty cool to see a bunch of completed stars with a coin score of 0.  I said I attempted this run because I got 69/70 stars and just could not find a way to get one more.  I tried for a couple of weeks to find one more star and I couldn't do it.  Maybe people have figured out more by now, but when I was trying the run it was possible to get 74 stars this way.  The other five required super precise movements that were just a bit beyond my ability.  I mean, I'm sure I could have gotten at least one of them it if I just kept trying but I never did.

Galaxy or Galaxy 2
I would pick Galaxy 2 just because it has more content to offer than the first game.  It has more levels, more ideas, more challenge, and a much better post-game.  The only knock on Galaxy 2 is that it does recycle a few things directly from past games.  It's a small amount of stuff overall, but when they came up in my first playthrough I was a little disappointed that they opted for that instead of more new content.

Similar to Super Mario 64, I did a coinless run of Super Mario Galaxy.  I think this game tracks your coin score for each individual star.  You can do almost the entire game without collecting any coins.  I got 117/120 stars.  You do have to collect the purple coins, but it's allowed since they are not added to your coin score.  Of the three remaining stars, two of them have mandatory coins along a launch star path, so those are impossible.  The third one is allegedly possible but I never saw proof of it.  I am pretty sure that one is also impossible, and if it's not you would have to do like 30 pixel perfect passes near coins to do it.  I'm considering that impossible!

Galaxy 2 is not nearly as made for running coinless as the first game so I never attempted it.  I seem to remember some of the stars required a second player to drag coins out of the way with the pointer, and that seems like it defeats the purpose.  I think around a quarter of the stars in the game have mandatory coins anyway, and they also ditched the coin scores for each stage.  There's a global coin counter, but I think you can spend those coins somehow so there's no clear way to prove you did all those levels coinless.

Star Fox or Star Fox 64
I really like Star Fox when it came out.  It was actually my first SNES game!  I don't think it aged well and I don't like it as much these days.  Star Fox 64 is so much better and fun to play, so that's my favorite easily.  I think I got medals in all the stages, and many of them in the hard mode too.

Star Force is dumb. Does anyone like this game?
Of course!  I like the game.  It's relatively bare bones, but they managed to stuff a lot of enemy patterns in there.  It's pretty close to a pure, reactionary kind of shooter, and it works this way.  I admit that I will probably get sick of Star Force when it comes up on my list to beat.  It's gonna take awhile to do it.

Name 10 games you haven't really played/beaten that you really should get to
I won't pick any NES games since I'm gonna get to them eventually.     I looked through my collection for this list.  Anymore I skip on purchasing games I want to play but know I won't get around to for a long time.  I think the Wii U is the biggest culprit since there are 5-6 games I think I would like but haven't bought.

Demon's Crest
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Soul Blazer
Super Adventure Island II
Final Fantasy 7
Klonoa (Wii)
Wario Land Shake It!
DKCR Tropical Freeze
The last few Professor Layton games
The last few Mario & Luigi games

I've played most of those. Demon's Crest is great, I thought Soul Blazer was surprisingly fun, and Final Fantasy VII is a game everyone has to play through for reference
I really like Gargoyle's Quest and I like what I have played of Demon's Crest.  I tried to play through it on an emulator years ago and got really stuck fairly early on.  I've wanted the cart for a long time but never pulled the trigger which cost me.  I picked it up here for a good deal a year or two ago.  Same with Soul Blazer, only that game I played for about a minute just to make sure it worked.

I haven't played any Final Fantasy game later than 7, though I have played all the way through 1, 4, and 6.  I owned the PC version of FF7 and I somehow still have the box for it but lost the discs somewhere at my Mom's house.  I played through a good chunk of the first disc but didn't stick with it beyond that.

bertsampson or plain bert
On the one hand we have bertsampson who is an awesome competitior that has gone dark for awhile.  And on the other hand we have Bert who is a constant friendly face around the forums.  I will give the edge to bert.

First sentence that comes to mind

egasKrad
He won DuckTales in the 2014 contest with an awesome score!

zobber
A very consistent contest player who really should hop into the discussion more!

laddersAndRivets
I feel bad for both barrelsAndRivets and laddersandcakes since evidently I'm not the only one to get their names mixed up.

Redneck RN
Always hiding behing the shocker!  =O

Miss Trixy
Beloved mother of Mr. Pickles, and she puts up with Richard.

dirk12121212
Can he beat his avatar in the first round?

Murray
Nice guy, good buyer, and one of the few unfortunate souls to be molested by Kickle.

acromite
He plays games other than shooters, right?   

Who gets a win first, Stryphos, mbd, ninjistar, or James?
I really think mbd is due for a win, so he's my pick.  I like the work ethic of playing every week and getting involved like he does.

I wonder if mbd reads these interviews; he's almost strictly business in contest threads. Got anything you want to ask him just to see if he's paying attention?
Yeah!  mbd, how many NES games have you beaten?
(By the way, great use of the semicolon!)

If you were any character in The Breakfast Club The Shawshank Redemption, who would you be?
I don't know that I identify with really any character from that movie.  But my best match would be the guard that nervously asks Andy about doing his taxes.   

Michigan musician musicians, blood relative relatives of mine
#1 - Are they an actively performing musician whose music can be heard on current X (being a variable for any genre of music) radio station(s)?
I have to amend this answer.  It seems in some ways they might be, and in some ways they aren't...
#2 - Hmm, is the musician still alive?
Answer - Yes, mostly
#3 - Is it George Winston?
Answer - No
#4 - Kid Rock?
Answer - No
#5 - Alice Cooper?
Answer - No
#6 - Stevie Wonder?
Answer - No
#7 Hair color?
Black and/or grey
#8 Facial hair or no?
Both
#9 Hawt or not?
So much hawt
#10 what kind of music?
R&B
#11 what instrument?
Various
#12 male or female
you jewed me with the instruments answer.
Both
Did I say musician?  I meant musicians  
#13 Is it member/members from Rare Earth?
No
#14 Is the person/persons white?
Sortof
#15 Is it Celine Dion?
No
#16 I'll just go ahead and see if I can nail it. Based on the clues that you already answered, I'm going to guess The White Stripes since that's the only guess I can think of that seems to fit based on what's already up there.
No
#17 Well I guess I get two more guesses. The Moonlight?
No
#18 Hidden Agenda?
No

Are there three members in the band?
Exactly 3? No
Then how about four?
Exactly 4? No
Here's a hint before your final guess; There is a very, very loose Breakfast Club connection here
I'm not sure any of those hints help me.   
I did some Googling to venture a guess ... I hope that's not cheating.
Are they Ashford & Simpson?
No

Snoopy predictions?
Bea said she'd would do well at it, so she will win.  I played it for an hour or less so far and I mostly have the hang of it.  If everyone else gets into playing it, it might turn into a very competitive week.  It's a "sports" game though, so it won't be that popular.   

Final thoughts?
One thing I thought might be interesting to share would be my experience with World Series Game 7 last year.  That was quite a ride for me.  I'll write something up on that tomorrow.

Go on
Being a huge Chicago Cubs fan, this past season was the most fun I've ever had watching baseball.  The Cubs stormed their way through the regular season.  Their Game 4 comeback against the Giants and beating Kershaw in the Dodgers series to clinch the pennant are still great memories.  Just having a Cubs/Indians World Series was my personal best case scenario because at least one team would break their long drought.

The World Series was a letdown early because the Cubs couldn't put it together just right and were down 3-1.  I thought the pitching matchups favored the Cubs in Games 5 and 6, but if they could make it to Game 7 it would be a tough matchup against Kluber, who dominated the Cubs in his previous two starts.  So of course, the Cubs evened the series up just as I planned for the big winner-take-all Game 7.

My wife is not interested in baseball in the slightest, so for the whole month of October she had been putting up with me watching games almost every night and talking about it all the time.  Even though I explained things to her as clearly as I could she didn't really get it.  It honestly did not sink in with her right away that Game 7 was the absolute last game of the year and the winner wins the World Series.  When she finally got it, she gave me the green light to call up a bunch of friends that day and have an impromptu World Series party that night.

I got to experience the roller coaster Game 7 with several of my close friends.  The Cubs managed to put up some runs against Kluber and Miller and had a lead through most of the game.  Then came the 8th inning with the Rajai Davis home run to tie the game.  I had the game on both upstairs and downstairs.  I was watching downstairs but the upstairs TV was just slightly ahead of the downstairs TV.  So I heard the noise from upstairs just as I watched the ball sail into the seats.  I ... kinda lost it a bit when that happened!  I grabbed an empty folding chair next to me and slammed it into the ground.  Not my best moment.

While all this was going on, I was texting my Dad and giving him updates.  He's a big Cubs fan as well but he works second shift and had missed pretty much every playoff game to that point.  He was not happy when I wrote him about the Davis homer.  It was a very emotional time for the both of us!

I'm surprised the Cubs survived the 9th inning.  I still have no idea how Chapman got through that inning because he looked totally exhausted.  Kipnis hit a long foul ball that made my heart stop for a bit.  The game was still tied going into the 10th inning and the now famous rain delay.  I was doing a lot of pacing around the house nervously waiting for the game to start back up.  The 10th inning comeback was amazing, there's no other way to describe it.  Those two runs scored were beyond huge and they desperately needed them both.  I think my Dad got to leave work early so he was at home watching that 10th inning.  The Cubs gave up one run in the bottom of the 10th but of course held on to win their first World Series in over a century.

Everyone by then had moved downstairs to watch the game together, and my wife recorded the final out and my reaction.  I still haven't seen the video of it, but I remember it very well.  I wasn't sure how I would react and it came out as a pretty weird expression of emotion.  It was somewhere between laughing and crying.  It was one of the best feelings of my life though!  The Cubs are the only team I follow out of any major sport and so I never knew what it was like to experience victory like that.  I hope I get to see them win more because I don't think it will ever get old!

Sounds wonderful. I've experienced a lot of sports heartache in the last 20 years, and I had to start emotional detaching myself from it for my own sake. We won a I-AA championship last in 2001, but I just took it for granted at the time.
1996 - lost I-AA championship
2000 - lost I-AA championship
2001 - won I-AA championship
2004 - lost I-AA championship
2004 - lost NHL semis
2005 - lost Fiesta Bowl
2006 - lost I-AA semis
2006 - lost ALCS
2008 - lost FCS championship
2009 - lost FCS championship
2009 - lost elite eight
2010 - lost NHL semis
2011 - lost NHL semis
2011 - lost FCS semis
2012 - lost NFC championship
2013 - lost Super Bowl
2014 - lost NFC championship
2016 - lost Stanley Cup


I get to ask you some questions, right?

Sure, fire away

What's the secret to making time to play games these days?  If I recall you have three kids, and I have a hard enough time managing it with just one.

Hah.  Santa calls me the time lord.  I call it multi-tasking.  And staying up late.

After the twins were born last April, I didn't have time to do anything, hence the long string of weaksauce participation scores.  Now that they're a little older and on something resembling a schedule, I can make something happen at least

8:00 - put the 2-year old to bed
8:30 - wrap up feeding the twins and try to rock them to sleep
9:30 - hang out with the wife, or if she is tired, head upstairs to play games/watch Netflix/prepare packages/etc.  She'll probably fall asleep on me by 10:30 in any case
11:30 - feed the twins again, while they are half asleep
12:30 - play more games, until as late as 2:00am on the weekends

I'm not above using guides and youtube to make myself more efficient.  Especially if I'm trying to clear "green" SNES games and I don't have time
to flounder around.  As for contest games, things will go several ways;  either it will be a short enough game (Contra) where 2 hours a night can get you some serious reps in, or it's going to be something like Star Force where I can put in a couple hours and still place because most people gave up on it right away. 
Of course etting actual wins will require the sort of time and talent that I don't have right now.  Last year I had the ability to play games like Rollergames and QBert over and over and over and over again.  Probably doesn't bode well for my chances in the post-season.  Especially if I'm looking at going up against you, table and Bea; or Gloves if the final game is a shooter.  I'd probably finish 5th at best if that is the case.

All of the other stuff I do (maintain threads, ask you these questions) I do from my work PC

That's pretty much how I do things too, only my wife expects me to also do honey-do list stuff late at night instead of playing games. I can only do so much before I need to shut down for the night and relax with something other than housework.
Have you ever rage quit a game, or are you a calm gamer in the face of adversity?

Oh I think I know what prompted this question  

Yes I have had a history of rage quitting.  I recall throwing my discs for Gran Turismo 3 and Hot Shots Golf 3 back in the day.  And I literally destroyed a copy of Scurge for DS.  Nowadays I mostly just flip off the screen and yell curses at the developers.  I recall doing that with Double Dragon II this year after it screwed me over on the final boss (I already can't remember the specifics, but I did throw my cartridge into my gaming room (it's carpeted so it was a pretty weak showing in reality)

I also defaced Space Football after beating it.  Goddamn that game is the definition of madness.  I can only describe it as rugby mixed with pinball mixed with a 1st person shooter mixed with Tron.

Then of course earlier this year I was playing Knights of the Round and I broke a SNES 3rd party controller when I dropped it and it hit our desk.  So I decided I may as well get the satisfaction of leaving it in pieces with the follow-up.  That felt good.



There wasn't any prompting the question! I just thought it was a good one. I have been giving in a little bit too much to controller throwing lately myself so that's why I had it on my mind.
What is the best SNES game that no one talks about?

I'm also pretty windy, so here's a couple games.

Metal Marines - the best way I can describe this game is a souped-up version of rock paper scissors, but in a good way.  It's like a combination of real-time strategy and turn-based strategy where you and your enemy both have a small island where you construct a base made up of land and air defenses, resource generators, and then try to pierce their defenses with air strikes and "marine" landings.  It really is a very unique game that is unlikely anything I've ever played, and I cannot believe a sequel didn't come out during the RTS heyday of the late 90s.

The game isn't perfect - there's no story, the best strategies are trying to exploit gaps in their defenses, it could use more variety, the super unit is useless, and the pacing can drag when the enemy starts sending endless attacks your way.  But I truly think it is the best console strategy game I've ever played.  Well, unless you count one of the titles I have down below.

Super Turrican 2 - Turrican does Contra.  Seriously, this is a Turrican game in name only.  Gone are the large sprawling levels, instead replaced by linear setpiece after setpiece.  And I love it.  Maybe its because the traditional Turrican formula is super wonky (to me), whereas here everything works.  No more wandering around a maze, instead your riding on a helicopter before jumping onto the backs of flying sand worms, before jumping into the mouth of one of them, fighting giant spiders on their webs, dodging giant manta ray, having Ben Hur-style chariot fights, riding on rockets, outracing giant mechas, and on and on.  There's even an Axelay level!

I know most people are divided on this game, but I think it is second only to Contra III on the platform for this style of game.

Dragon View - sequel to Drakkhen (which I've never played), this is a Japanese RPG that combines aspects of both WRPGs and JRPGs.  The overworld is 3D and navigated via 1st person and, while not amazing, does it's job well enough.  All town and dungeon exploration is done via a more action JRPG style, and it just works.

The game is just fun to play.  There's tons of secrets to find, the quest is large, the combat is challenging but never feels cheap.  It's just a "good".  Especially since I cannot stand most of the action RPGs on the platform.

Brandish - Everyone hates this game.  Everyone but me.  Probably because of the camera (turning right or left shifts everything 90 degrees in that direction, which most people find disorienting).  If you can get over that (or if you didn't have a problem with it like me), you have the best dungeon crawler/psuedo Rogue-like on the platform.  The puzzles are fun and challenging, but never frustrating.  The difficulty curve is well balanced as you should never need to grind to progress, and the combat is strategic without ever feeling unmanagable or cheap.  If you like Brainlord, you would like this.

Ogre Battle - Everyone knows Ogre Battle right?  Or at least knows of it?  But how many people actually play it?  I'm not exactly sure how to describe the gameplay, it's like a mixture of turn-based PC games like Age of Wonders or Heroes of Might and Magic where you have leader units moving around a map, each of which has their own army, with real-time gameplay, and RPG elements including experience, alignment, classes, equipable gear, etc.  There's also a reputation element for sadists like Bea to conquer through long cold calculation.

There's a bit of a learning curve, the game can get repetitve as hell, especially with how long it is and how long the missions can take (no in-mission save), and good f'ing luck getting any sort of good ending.  But the game is just fun.  So much fun.  A more balanced, fully realized, true sequel (not Tactics Ogre, that plays completely differently) would be a top 10 or top 5 game on the system.

That's a good list! Metal Marines is exactly the kind of game I was asking about, since I haven't heard of it before. I have some vague familiarity with the others on your list. I had no idea they changed the Turrican format for Super Turrican 2, and it sounds super fun because of that! Brandish in particular sounds really interesting from how you are describing it. I can handle the camera changes just fine. It's like a first-person dungeon crawler only in top-down view.