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.
