#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.

Pretty terrific interview Arnpoly.  
And yes, we do want a MDB interview! Get into it, Michael.  

I'm a very private person and my real life is kind of depressing and uninspiring. The contests are supposed to be fun and I don't want to be a downer. Maybe one of these days I'll do an interview.

 

Great interview arn. Although I only skimmed the sports stuff. As for feeling the wrath from me? Yes you will but only because you said hardly anyone listens to FIF come on man they are from Denver! Although I've never seen them live I used to rock their cds on the overhead at the record store us 3 jabroni's worked at quite frequently. The end is here is one of my favorite albums.

12645

Why am I not surprised? XD

Kickle got a taste of his own medicine in the end.
 

In his frosty snow covered end
 

The Kickle menace still runs free.  
But at least it is leaving the hat lady alone for now!

Alas, I am the right amount of drunk to try to figure out how the sack race truly works.

Wow, I sure sat up that double entendre for you. LOL.
 

Great interview Arn! Definitely need to get on reading Different Seasons. It also contains a story called "The Body" which was made into the classic movie Stand By Me.

 

updated

 

Great picture Brock!

Yeah!  Very cool!  I thought you might be familiar with them but I wasn't sure.  Not many people in southern IL know much about them at least.   
 

Small update, just under 17K. I think I've had enough of this game. I seem to have lost my ability to do quick runs on Overboard and throw the boot consistently.

I know that feeling.
I am only going to give this another try this weekend because I want to figure out how to launch the boot to a 45 distance.

It seems participation will be quite low this week.  

Instead of playing Snoopy, I just tried to see how much I could loop Contra without a game over. I made it to the final boss in the fourth loop. By the fourth loop I was inundated with cheap hits or I was just having bad rng. When you have lots of enemies running at you from both directions as well as bullets flying around, there isn't much you can do.

Hey guys, Im interviewing Bea over the next x weeks, and am welcoming "community" questions again. Please PM them to me, and they will again be anonymous

I have skin so thick that if it was any thicker it would be scales, so go for blood with your questions if you so desire.  

Take a break and answer a few interview questions instead?  

 

How about you answer a few questions! Like, is your name Murray or is it Marcus ? 
 

Go ahead and ask me another question!




 

How did you stumble upon NA? Was it like accidentally stumbling upon a dead body at a park?
 

More like buying a ticket to the Colorado Ballet!


 

FMK: James, Richard, Jimbo
 

F: Richard because he is a known dude foot fetishist (see Spy Hunter thread)
M: Jimbo for the sake of Kickle's bloodline.  
K: James because of that Beiber tee (also see Spy Hunter thread)