tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12456968365967893942024-02-29T20:38:28.851-08:00Super Justin: The BlogThe official homepage of Justin De LuciaJustin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.comBlogger471125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-61765088631557167382024-02-29T20:36:00.000-08:002024-02-29T20:37:55.743-08:00The Tale of a Graffiti Artist Sticker<p>Since I haven't given myself the chance to talk about my personal life outside of content creation and convention trips in a long while, I thought I'd expand out a bit and try writing about something that I found in a town that's just south of my home, and well, something that spans several years of mystery.</p><p>Years ago, along a road close to my home in the middle of a big expansion, there was an old, condemned building with white paint that was a popular target for graffiti artists to express themselves. At one point, a particular piece of graffiti would decorate the front of this small building: a bust of cartoon character in a flashy suit with large eyes and an afro. It would be soon painted over and before you know it, the building would be demolished. Even with the building gone, I would proceed to see the graffiti one, maybe two other time(s) in the local area, all before it would seemingly vanish from my eyes for the next few years.</p><p>That was, until that same graffiti popped up once more, this time as a two-tone black and yellow sticker on the back of a sign on the sidewalk. The graffiti I had seen all these years ago was now joined by a figure in a suit of some kind, sporting a smooth, clean-cut black afro reclining on a chair with a yellow suit of sorts. Unable to resist the urge, I snapped the sticker with a camera to replicate the exact definitions of the original image, though as someone that prefers to keep something of a low profile when it comes to public sightings and occurrences like these, I do not wish to post the sticker on this blog nor investigate it (and the graffiti itself) further, especially in the chance the image spreads out even further than the scopes of this blog.<br /></p><p></p><div>So with that said, you may be wondering, what drove me to make this blog post in the first place? Well, as an artist, I've always had some form of appreciation towards graffiti, even if I would never stoop to doing it as a form of vandalization. Plus, I've always been pretty big into Jet Set Radio (along with its spiritual successor Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, despite not having purchased it yet as of this writing) for its artstyle, attitude, and the creative gameplay and spectacle featured within, and similarly latched onto The World Ends with You dualogy, which also heavily freatures graffiti. It's just, no other piece of graffiti has ever captured my attention to such an extent by featuring an recurring character of sorts, and then attaching said character to an otherwise unknown person. It's something I'd love to research and find more detail on, but again, I want to keep myself and everyone else safe, especially as someone that enjoys graffiti as an art form and a sign of expressing one's creativity, but not as an act of vandalism.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that 's all I got for now, I wanted to get this out before the month ends as it's the first time this blog has received an article on Leap Day... To think these only happen every four years, and I'll admit, I was caught off guard earlier this morning when the day first came to be. As for what will be next for the blog, things should slowly begin to get more productive around here, now that March is here and I spent too much time this Winter R&R'ing instead of furthering my own projects. Who knows, maybe I'll follow my own promises and goals from last year and go create something?</div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-41938115711388665362024-02-03T20:03:00.000-08:002024-02-03T20:03:59.677-08:00Naughty Ones (Commodore Amiga) Soundtrack<p>Well I couldn't figure out something to post last month so to kick off February I'm posting another game soundtrack that, to my knowledge, has not received a modern rip: A little-known Commodore Amiga game that goes by the name "Naughty Ones".</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhcyQmFDOrxL3qr-4oC24UHaUC_acu-1wIfBt8zGwrHj7qI6cX7owv9ZOo1C7Vas9eiydm4MnbFwbppqoI5nnPfOdip4uLdkYKvUdQXsbtqoCsDCI9p8WM4m9cr7J-zUiBXDevoQWDK4hmIKJDAXzDKWwYGvmR9MPE5ZtbmkkOPXnxIGbUlQtRNXCNK01o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="296" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhcyQmFDOrxL3qr-4oC24UHaUC_acu-1wIfBt8zGwrHj7qI6cX7owv9ZOo1C7Vas9eiydm4MnbFwbppqoI5nnPfOdip4uLdkYKvUdQXsbtqoCsDCI9p8WM4m9cr7J-zUiBXDevoQWDK4hmIKJDAXzDKWwYGvmR9MPE5ZtbmkkOPXnxIGbUlQtRNXCNK01o" width="212" /></a></div><br />Released on both the Amiga and it's console counterpart, the Amiga CD32, Naughty Ones is what happens when a group of people decide to make an elimination platformer that bucks some of the trends of the subgenre birthed by the runaway success of Taito's Bubble Bobble. You move John (and Jim in two player mode) from room to room, chucking destructive rubber balls at whatever enemies came up in the minds of the developers in order to escape the surreal reality the heroes have been trapped in.<p></p><p>(...Can conform, rubber balls are really destructive)</p><p>You all probably recognize the game from the Angry Video Game Nerd's episode on the Amiga CD32, which was how I myself came across the title years ago. It drove me to break out the Amiga emulator and try the game for myself. It manages to dodge the "europlatformer" trope common in Amiga games where they pad out the gameplay with collectathon elements since the worst it gets is having to find a single key to reach the end instead of dropping you inside a huge maze and tasking you with grabbing every single last thing in the level.</p><p>While based on existing soundtrack rips, said rips either combine all the songs into one video (i.e. Youtube uploads) or are simply the raw audio files extracted from the game, including the level intros in the same audio files as their parent level. This rip takes the audio files, separates the intros into their own audio tracks, and converts everything into more universal mp3 files. For the audio tracks that were already separate, they were simply copied over and converted with no further alterations. Thus, I cannot claim full credit for this rip, just the part of making it easier to listen to individual tracks in the soundtrack. </p><p>You can download the full set of songs <a href="https://mega.nz/file/AqYixY4B#bLZ9ADPmQNYZxQCDSQxNeGPqBmOU-vPCM9wILf79QtA">here</a>. I am uncertain on if and when I'll decide to create another soundtrack rip, but the next one that gets posted here will (hopefully) have more effort put behind it on my part aside from just "throw into foobar2000 and press convert". As for what else is in store, that is on my terms to figure out.</p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-26670211705429464622023-12-29T20:39:00.000-08:002023-12-29T20:40:30.155-08:00The (hopefully not) belated “Welcome 2024” post.<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBZRvhkROQMRAJa840VbnlYyyXTkkrQSlM9pWwMDlxV53LX8Ip8YVEYqeTaI4MadZYbWGDJgppkKrFxbLMHSPlRfkOGJUplf9yK-C9PX2Wol78u0goFoiE1vh0tebJ9iFv-FozhyzUdDmRGUrPA_N372yyu7WInxYj9cY5cDKvnaPZgQ0gAbUXSi93wub3" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBZRvhkROQMRAJa840VbnlYyyXTkkrQSlM9pWwMDlxV53LX8Ip8YVEYqeTaI4MadZYbWGDJgppkKrFxbLMHSPlRfkOGJUplf9yK-C9PX2Wol78u0goFoiE1vh0tebJ9iFv-FozhyzUdDmRGUrPA_N372yyu7WInxYj9cY5cDKvnaPZgQ0gAbUXSi93wub3" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Greetings everyone. With the holiday season pretty much over aside from New Year's and having already dedicated all of <a href="https://superjustintheblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/conventions-of-2023-animenyc-yearly.html">my last blog entry</a> to conventions, I thought I’d make this the big post to help ring in the new year and give some insight on what I have plotted.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For one, 2023 was still a rather slow year productivity-wise. In spite of attempts to break back into drawing art, various complications including my hardware setups not exactly working out pushed back a lot of plans- from the out-of-nowhere overheating of my drawing tablet (that somehow doesn’t have any form of venting) to the sudden failure of my refurbished Mac’s hard drive (…again) and the laptop I received for productivity (namely, game development) not exactly working as such for anything except for the smallest and most minor of projects. With all of these inconveniences piling up, a lot of my interior drive and motivation stalled or stopped completely as summer dragged on, summer became autumn, and before you know it I was time to prep for two big conventions that season. And while I still managed to get by with smaller projects and even finish a few, most of the bigger things I had planned (sketches, illustrations, fanart, etc) just didn’t happen. Doubly so when my mother would end up hospitalized again in June due to a fracture in her foot, which was mis-diagnosed and mis-treated as an infection at first, and she wouldn’t fully recover from the fracture until the tail end of November, directly before the holiday season would truly begin.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With my inner morale still not being at its greatest, I spent 2023 treading along with smaller, less stressful projects and plotting ahead for the future, taking notes and writing documents on the current state of my Aozora’s Adventure project of original characters and the many character and game concepts I’ve written for it over the years. Reaching the point where I likely have enough characters and game concepts to create a full series, I’ve been more selective and picky on what gets into the project lately, especially with the character roster’s sixth and final arc still in active development and some holes from earlier arcs that began in the 2010's being slowly patched up. As for the games, well, that’s still up in the air, as none of them have begun any form of active development apart from the concepts and I feel stingy on doing them out of order for reasons too lengthy to list here. While I still would like to give Aozora and his friends their own series of video games, the state of my morale puts me in no position to go learn gamedev at this time, and a part of me wants to grind out fleshing out and/or finishing up the concepts so when the time does indeed come, I’ll have a much better understanding on what I plan on doing, where to cut back, and etc.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For most of 2023, my source of online entertainment came in the form of video game streams on Twitch, and as the year came to a close I began to brainstorm picking up a headset and getting into live-streaming games on a set schedule. It’d be a way I could share the kind of games I enjoy the most, bringing to the limelight obscure, forgotten titles, while still exposing myself to newer games and getting a chance to meet and interact with a wide audience. Of course, the schedule would change over time as I get more comfortable with streaming and the audience grows. I do want to try out some test streams later into the year to try out the streaming equipment I’ve been gathering since 2022 (no joke) and I’ll be sure to keep everyone in the loop on when they’ll happen. As for other social medias, I’ve still been using the same lot of sites despite intends to break away from social media late last year under fears of it being too distracting for my work force. After much thought, I stopped considering it at the root of my problems, since it’s more everything else that’s been stopping me in my tracks (though I’d argue watching Twitch streams all the time is just as guilty of bring a distraction for me as social media is).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The future venture into game streaming will likely get its own blogpost in the next few months as I wanted to keep this particular blog entry focused on multiple subjects and there’s still quite a but if research and asking around I need to do on the side. And speaking of game streaming, I had also considered, quite numerous times in fact, getting into creating Youtube videos featuring me talking about particular subjects in the video gaming space that I feel could use a second opinion, or in cases when a game stream wouldn’t do it justice to show off or talk about a game, category, or franchise and needs a more focused, in-depth look. Quite a few topic ideas came about during these periods of brainstorming, including comparisons between two games and unbiased thoughts on each of them, as well as overviews of a set of games in a particular series or themed collection. Whenever these will actually happen is still up in the air, and there may still be some pieces of video equipment I may need to acquire and/or familiarize myself with, especially in regards to voice work and gathering footage of the topics I want to cover.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another big focus for 2024 I want to lean on is not so much for productivity but more-so for my own personal gain. While I put it on the wayside for a bit due to the poor weather conditions in December (and I mean really poor, just count all the days rain or thick fog enveloped the northeast this month) and the holidays being just around the corner, I want to return to improving my own physical health in my times away from the computer. Go on walks, touch grass, tour some shopping malls, and work </span>towards<span style="font-family: inherit;"> strengthening my legs for another big and eventful year of conventions. And hey, some classic arcades opened last year, so I want more of an excuse to take these trips and be able to survive standing up for lengthy amounts of time... or sitting in comically small stools.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With that all said, there are still a few small leftover projects hanging loose, some from the 2022 season that I originally carried over into 2023. Thankfully there aren’t many, but it’ll likely be a bit of time before I get to deciding to work on these projects again— I got sick with a sinus infection the week before Christmas this year and ended up quite run down that weekend, but thankfully I recovered enough to enjoy Christmas and seeing the extended family once more. I’ll likely give myself a few weeks into 2024 to warm back up, as the Christmas burnout is well, not a figment of your imagination, especially when you’re still recovering from the aftermath of being very sick and not being able to do much aside from prep for the holidays.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So how will 2024 fare? Will it be the big comeback year I’ve been aiming for since the start of the 2020’s? Will I finally get comfortable with drawing art again? What about the impending streaming career? Or even the future of this very blog? Well, we’ll see.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-37774450131067565572023-12-01T22:39:00.000-08:002023-12-01T22:39:54.213-08:00Conventions of 2023: AnimeNYC + Yearly Convention Wrap-Up<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_3TJ5OhAxUR6UyttSHD3uC8sPXluXA833x101EVomRvwEu0TvXhR9GbDVHAZTjg5bWghe_OKwj-u1ymLpD3nlhjNePwpWNS8KfKBpkbmrw8Wrs7ISkB7ZfC50YXkGCzBODpOhl5345K7Gmg7hI5iDIMhngCXkyKjC5alv3Z5aF-OmkEu5xUS1RHOD6swm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_3TJ5OhAxUR6UyttSHD3uC8sPXluXA833x101EVomRvwEu0TvXhR9GbDVHAZTjg5bWghe_OKwj-u1ymLpD3nlhjNePwpWNS8KfKBpkbmrw8Wrs7ISkB7ZfC50YXkGCzBODpOhl5345K7Gmg7hI5iDIMhngCXkyKjC5alv3Z5aF-OmkEu5xUS1RHOD6swm=w640-h570" width="640" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aka “Superjustinbros Goes to New York City: Part 2”.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After only five weeks since the conclusion of New York Comic Con, the Javits Center in Manhattan would once again fill up with crowds of people as the sixth ever AnimeNYC would commence for the entire weekend, from Friday to Sunday. It was an event that I was highly anticipating since around the end of AnimeNext five months prior, and when the time came to attend it, it was an event that satisfied me with a great selection of artists, cosplays, and panels to check out, but at the same time it also left me with conflicting thoughts, and now that I’ve had the time to recover from the event I think I’m in a good place to discuss how AnimeNYC 2023 went as a whole and how it compares to both prior iterations of the event, as well as other conventions I’ve attended this year.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before the first day of the event, AnimeNYC’s social media accounts announced some big changes that would go into the event effective the next year: The event would be ditching its mid-November timeslot that it’s held onto since 2017 in favor of moving the event to August, allowing it to use the entirety of the event space like New York Conic Con does. As an event that has only grown and become bigger over time, I’d say it needs the increased amount of space, and one look at my thoughts of this year’s event may clue you in as to why. That said, while I am confident that the shift in schedule will result in bigger and better things for AnimeNYC, this means the event lands in the middle of an already packed month (or perhaps, an already packed season) when it comes to conventions, including Otakon and the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, compared to its former home of November where it could stand out on its own as one of the last conventions of the fall season in a time where not many of them occur with the approaching holidays and such.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, the event.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3febZ3UgyBBCRbnn3jH7md59dAYZsjnvnUhGJT_qSH_r4qLN4aSgNE8VW54a3MupCBKn5tmjkaG7VueorPdPi0eDl8GgKwFGnbzn0_ysCKksYYeLvA8Oh00qXhCWkqzfr-k6jK6Laow1Ky7MMD2cHKPMLZHYOis1fjgIXuF85GQ-Bt2kIVnkGEP8mQM6P" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3febZ3UgyBBCRbnn3jH7md59dAYZsjnvnUhGJT_qSH_r4qLN4aSgNE8VW54a3MupCBKn5tmjkaG7VueorPdPi0eDl8GgKwFGnbzn0_ysCKksYYeLvA8Oh00qXhCWkqzfr-k6jK6Laow1Ky7MMD2cHKPMLZHYOis1fjgIXuF85GQ-Bt2kIVnkGEP8mQM6P" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3y5NkdXbEgwXgIwV4T3pD1_AVTW8PndkKjtBoeOJiyXMar-1KxQQJJ5SPmXWBQrL-kSh7EEpG4_psQ90lVVWE0cqh3K0g_RB-RO4qKONZw8TNDNEWfeNFVySaD0YU8S0ZX2ZFmUcy3Uauyn59OZBJW6xDQYdLN8kggua7J77EJmqQA3z1PFyD3Ogrsl5c" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3y5NkdXbEgwXgIwV4T3pD1_AVTW8PndkKjtBoeOJiyXMar-1KxQQJJ5SPmXWBQrL-kSh7EEpG4_psQ90lVVWE0cqh3K0g_RB-RO4qKONZw8TNDNEWfeNFVySaD0YU8S0ZX2ZFmUcy3Uauyn59OZBJW6xDQYdLN8kggua7J77EJmqQA3z1PFyD3Ogrsl5c" width="320" /></a></span></div></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you’ve attended AnimeNYC in 2022, then the layout should be very familiar: The vendors and artists all combined into one exhibition hall, panel rooms down in the lowest floors, and hangout/dining areas all in the central lobby. The weather was rather cloudy at first as a rainstorm had passed through very early in the morning, but as the con went on, the sun would slowly emerge before finally setting in the afternoon. After 10am, the lobby was filled with attendees and cosplayers flooding in from a waiting queue outside, and the place was filled very quickly. The resulting crowds were thankfully manageable and I could walk around without worry of bumping into too many people, but the Artist’s Alley ended up with a few big crowds during the time I spent in there. Thankfully, it never got to the level of NYCC 2022 unbearable, but it still made trying to navigate through the artist’s alley to find artists a hassle, and by the end I spent more time in there than I was willing to admit from having to brave crowds, chat with artists, and acquire some swag from their booths. By the point 6:00 pm rolled around, right as the big crowds through Artist’s Alley faded, I was finished with the section, said my goodbyes, and left, without even bothering to hold further chats with certain artists I had known for years since my first foray into attending conventions. Still, I had a great time meeting and supporting everyone in the Artist’s Alley and I exited the event with a nice haul of commissions, even if some had to be saved till after the event as they couldn’t be done on time.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Vendors’ Hall was, in direct contrast, another story. Unlike last year, there weren’t really much in the way of giant set pieces save for a few booths in the front, with most of them instead at NYCC the past month to grace that event’s vendors. No big inflatable Goku or Luffy, no giant set of Bandai Namco shops, no IntI Creates store, and no dedicated space for Gundam. Instead we got… a booth for the US military(?)… and GFuel…(???) …Yeah, I’ll kindly decline. Even miHoYo, which had a booth for Genshin Impact last year and currently has their IP’s all over artist alleys thanks to their loving fan base didn’t return this year with a booth to promote Honkai: Star Rail. Then again I’m not one to gush over gacha games, and thus the Fate and NIKKI booths, which were featured pretty prominently in announcements, completely passed me by. The former was doing their annual live shows in front of the entrance gate and the latter had a shootout attraction with plastic replica guns. Viz Media and a few streaming services had booths to advertise and sell their products and I did manage to get some… rather silly pics at the Jojo World booth and a photo-op for Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun a floor higher. Other than that, there’s not much else to say about the vendors; it’s realistically as good as a vendor’s hall could get at an anime convention without going overboard on the budget like at New York Comic Con, but when you compare it to other anime conventions, it’s probably one of, if not the best vendor’s hall of the anime conventions I attend each year (although that feels unfair for Castle Point Anime Convention, given its limited event space in comparison).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Panels and cosplays, a trademark of every good convention, were also a big part of this event. You’ll have to take the words of others on how good the panels were, as I got too preoccupied with touring the event space (especially the artist’s alley) to go and attend one. I did eye up the Gurren Lagann + Kill la Kill Anniversary Event, especially the news that Gurren Lagann would be coming to theaters in the US early next year for a limited time. There was also a very big Undead Unluck panel, but it was one of the year’s panels that required a reservation to attend so I didn’t exactly consider it. And then there was the cosplays. Just… wow; the cosplayers here COOKED with their cosplays of choice and I couldn’t have been any happier. Seeing the likes of Jet Set Radio and Guilty Gear in the sea of miHoYo cosplays and the continued popularity of One Piece and Jojo characters being represented in cosplay form was a pleasant delight. It was perhaps the best part of the event next to the artist’s alley and what made me end up pulling off a 17k walking marathon through the Javits center. I’m glad I was able to snap so many and that the artist’s alley didn’t have AnimeNext’s super-strict policies against photos in the artist’s alley, but I think going forward for future anime cons there won’t be as large of a gallery of cosplay photos as there ended up being this time, considering that by the closure of the vendors and artists I was just snapping away at whatever cosplays I could. I wouldn’t call it my number 1 focus of the event, but I guess after my last set of cosplay photos from five months ago, I was hungry to see more, especially in an area as large as New York City.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, the trends:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>I didn’t seem to notice as many Genshin Impact cosplays as I did in 2022, with most of the franchise’s representation being in Artist Alley. It still had a strong showing in representation in cosplays, but I think with so many conventions with it as the “top dog” across last year and earlier this year, I noticed a small drop-off in Genshin cosplayers. The franchise still had an iron grip on the Artist’s Alley</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Bleach continued to rise steadily in cosplay representation, certainly thanks to the return of the anime to finally adapt the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>The rest of the big names in cosplay came from other Shonen Jump properties, with One Piece and My Hero Academia still being very prominent amongst the cosplays. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was also everywhere— I saw several DIO on the show floor and a few Jolene’s</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Speaking of Shonen Jump, Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, and Jujutsu Kaisen were not too far off, and even Naruto got a few solid cosplays out on the show floor. Even One Punch Man got a couple.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>I of course mentioned the group of Jet Set Radio cosplayers in the previous paragraph, but there were also some Guilty Gear cosplayers I ran into in the Artist’s Alley. Being able to see fighting games in an environment where they once weren’t commonplace, especially when one of them was a Potemkin cosplay. It’s not so much of a trend as it is an honorable mention. There were even a few artist booths dedicated to, or otherwise mostly featuring, fighting games.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Another honorable mention was Fairy Tail, with a few Natsus and Erzas. Of course pink hair is very hard to pull off so the cosplayers stuck with magenta/burgundy hair.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>While I pointed it out when I covered AnimeNext, the biggest surprise of the event’s cosplays was Trigun rising out from the ashes. There were multiple cosplays of Vash the Stampede plus some of its other major characters; and in the Artist’s Alley there were enough artists with merchandise of the series that they had a Trigun stamp rally.</span></li></ul><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After getting home and going through my gallery of cosplay snaps, followed by signaling out all the duplicates I took in order to pick the best choices, the final tally was <b>199 cosplay photos</b>. The number caught me by surprise since it was the same exact number of photos I had accumulated at last year’s AnimeNYC. Will the number ever be topped? Honestly I’m not sure—as much as I love cosplays at anime conventions I’d rather not let them consume my entire trip there, since I attend anime conventions for the artist’s alleys, the social experiences, and (occasionally) the panels, alongside the cosplays. Plus, the anime conventions have always given me the kinds of cosplay selections I enjoy since I started snapping cosplay pics at AnimeNext 2016, so it’s hard to ignore them.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aside from the quintessential convention features; there was also an arcade in the back left corner of the vendors. Being an anime convention, it was loaded with the common selections of rhythm arcade games you expect at other anime-themed events, but thanks to the support of Psychic Drive, there were a healthy selection of non-rhythm games housed in candy cabinets to pick from as well, with fighting games and head-to-head puzzle games serving as their lineup. And incase you’re curious; there were no console games present, and much like AnimeNext, the game room closed along.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After nine hours, the vendors and artists closed, and after sticking around for an extra hour and a half to grab some last minute cosplays, I returned to my car and left, pondering about how the journey went and reflecting on the past several months of conventions since all the way back in Spring as I drove home. There was a lot that came on the mind but I’ll start with my final versify of AnimeNYC. In short, while I still think AnimeNYC 2019 and 2022 were my favorite years of the event (in spite of 2019 also having severe congestion in the artist’s alley, possibly mores than this year), this came very close to how 2022 went, with my only real regret for the event being the inability to tour the entire artist’s alley at a quicker pace while still finding time for other things at the event. Aside from that, it was a fun time, and I look forward to seeing how the event changes next year now that it’ll have access to more of the Javits Center to fit in everything in a convention that steadily gets bigger and bigger each year.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that concludes my coverage on AnimeNYC, and by extension, the 2023 season of conventions. The convention commissions for AnimeNYC will be a bit late, but you can check out the cosplay gallery I’ve assembled <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6651095504938135">at this link</a>. And since this is the last event for a good while, I wanted to spend some extra time and chat about how the year went as an attendee for various conventions of different categories. To keep a long story short, this was honestly a very strong year and all the events have had their share of strengths and weaknesses. Of course, not all of them were big winners in the enjoyment factor but I came out of every event I attended this year with something to appreciate. Unfortunately, the fourth and final side event I had planned to attend, the Festival of Games, was dropped by the organizers for this year, though I heard there are plans to have a smaller swap meet until they try to have the event again in full for December 2024.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And for this year, I thought it’d be fun to rank each of the events I made a presence at, both on how I feel each event was handled given their scale and what I feel they could improve on, and how much I enjoyed them on a personal level. And so, without further hesitation, here’s where I stand on the con rankings of the main lineup based on their quality relative to the scale and budget they were given to work, and what they had to offer for that scale:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><ol class="ol1"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">New York Comic Con 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">AnimeNYC 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Long Island Retro Gaming Expo 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Castle Point Anime Convention 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">EternalCon 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">AnimeNext 2023</span></li></ol><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And here is where I would rate each event based on my own enjoyment factor and how much they kept me wanting for more:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><ol class="ol1"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Long Island Retro Gaming Expo 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">AnimeNYC 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Castle Point Anime Convention 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">New York Comic Con 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">AnimeNext 2023</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">EternalCon 2023</span></li></ol><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I should point out that all of the entires on this list are very close to one another in terms of quality/enjoyment; and you may be surprised at how AnimeNext made the bottom of the list for the con rankings. While most of the conventions have had smaller issues and accidents, the move to a new venue really did a toll on AnimeNext and the decision to split the event into two separate venues only interconnected through a shuttle bus did not do it any favors. And while I loved going to EternalCon and it perhaps had the least hectic artist’s alley of all the main events, it suffered the most from having no seating opportunities unless you went out of your way and it’s something I want to see make stronger use of the venue it’s given, especially with the vendors’ hall. When it came to the side events, CradleCon, having access to a bigger venue, was the essential side event of the three that were able to take place in my home turf of Long Island. That’s not to say that EMCon and LITropicCon weren’t enjoyable; EMCon was still the perfect warmup event before Castle Point Anime Convention, and LITropicCon was a great way to socialize and catch up with several artists in the Artist’s Alley as there would be no other notable events on Long Island to attend due to the cancelation of Festival of Games.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So where do we go from here? Well, there’s a honest chance that 2024 will be more of the same, but with the schedule shift AnimeNYC will be going through starting next year, I may introduce some new events into my schedule, provided they can fit in and I’m able to withstand being on my feet for a few hours that day.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first and most obvious choice is DerpyCon. I attended the event once in 2016 to a rather mixed result, and since then I’ve contemplated attending the event again but found it difficult to do so with two big mammoth conventions (NYCC and AnimeNYC) sandwiching it. Now with AnimeNYC moved up to August, it would be much easier to slot in Derpy Con as a new side event for the convention journey before the holidays start. On that merit, Cradle Con would likely get promoted to main event, since it had as much to do for a comic and art fan as LI Retro did for retro game fans, combined with its size and scale and how many commissions I were able to haul up from that event, with a total tally very close to the other, bigger comic and anime conventions I attend.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In terms of other comic and general pop culture events, Thy Geekdom Con and Brooklyn Comic Con come to mind, as I tried attending the former in 2022 following the cancelation of that year’s AnimeNext only to wind up not opting into the event at all, and since then it’s been on the mind whenever the beginning of the year drops. The latter only entered my mind after a friend of mine that I saw for the first time in years at AnimeNYC this year in the Artist’s Alley mentioned they were applying to be part of that event’s alley. However, both of them are very close to other events I already attend— Thy Geekdom is the week after Cradle Con, and Brooklyn Comic Con will likely end up the week before AnimeNext, if the dates of previous AnimeNext’s is any indication. There’s also Wintercon, though its stronger adult theming (including being set in a casino) and being much further disconnected from anime than NYCC draws me further away from possibly attending the event. If either of these events become a possibility, I would likely not stay for the full duration of a single day at each event since I do want to be able to rest and take a breather (and give my wallet a chance to recover).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ll wait till early next year before I come up with a concrete schedule on what I plan to attend (spoilers, it’ll mostly be a repeat of this year’s events). In the meantime, I’ll get up and on outta here since this blogpost has gone long enough. Thank you all for sticking with the convention coverages this year—the one convention per post format has really let me go all out on describing the events that bring me immense joy each year. I have a lot of things in the planning for 2024, since this year did not work out with all the leftover projects still hanging. Understandably, many of them will bleed into 2024, and once I’m all reeled back from the holiday prep, my goal will be to power through most of these leftover projects and venture out of the comfort zone for a change of scenery. While I’ve dropped hints of my plans in the past and on social media, I think I’ll leave it mostly up in the air from here on out.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ll likely have one more blogpost to close out the year, but until then, See You, Space Cowboys.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-81604979732519969102023-10-31T17:30:00.002-07:002023-11-01T22:30:17.088-07:00Conventions of 2023: New York Comic Con<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="569" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjj0dweEnt_8ZDEXaTCVvV_tX7GX63BVA1qac-QRP9WGxTLr_w8oU5l8RHThkdPRF4VupMgyyH1VPQjonya_fH82XPPdWBuPs5v4PAaS9jzv2PUYv6RgSv5PJ2S_nFrzYnVW5zjMSsFTZ11YCjHeKql8E6DpX7SWei_UEjzg3khrhhhqooHYTtJXLKbOHz8=w640-h569" width="640" /></span></div><p></p><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aka “Superjustinbros Goes to New York City: Part 1”.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Following a very eventful Summer season filled to the peak with events to attend (two big conventions, one smaller convention, a friend’s birthday party, and several different online events), I was finally able to scale back<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>my agenda as the season drew to a close. And then, in mid October, right as spooky season kicked off, New York Comic Con roared its head back into the limelight with guns blazing, continuing to stand as the largest pop culture event in the East Coast especially thanks to its long history and its hosting location of none other than the Javits Center in Manhattan. I attended the first day of the convention and stayed till closing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Traditionally, NYCC was either the last, or second to last, traditional pop culture event that I attended, and while I will say I do enjoy them, it’s for entirely different reasons than most of the other events I attend. When you tally up all the events I make sure to attend each year, there’s two main events and three side events that all qualify under this moniker, regardless of how big they are. EMCon was something of a warm-up to the bigger events that followed later in the year, Cradle Con and EternalCon were both larger events that managed to carry the energy of NYCC but on a smaller scale, and Long Island Tropic Con was more lax with a venue that also wasn’t very large. And yet, it was the perfect type of event to end the season with after just how huge Long Island Retro Gaming Expo was. But of course, NYCC would be arriving soon, and I needed to prep.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEju5X_Y-yvuwjRpD6ijnGZTH9XG3QwaFzb8RPzkdV9tU30g89HtJt6AEtEy90n4uUF5q4avZHkPOHU8GlIEwDciT0msSks5UFvwXmF192W1c6IZQgX3DuCnUOYDD8qrMhNbM2gVOvY3yJMfdVS2PrX1kmAby8hYLnSyWQlQqAVxGFlzTlbWdowaNXVjAlWt" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEju5X_Y-yvuwjRpD6ijnGZTH9XG3QwaFzb8RPzkdV9tU30g89HtJt6AEtEy90n4uUF5q4avZHkPOHU8GlIEwDciT0msSks5UFvwXmF192W1c6IZQgX3DuCnUOYDD8qrMhNbM2gVOvY3yJMfdVS2PrX1kmAby8hYLnSyWQlQqAVxGFlzTlbWdowaNXVjAlWt" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkRN6n45aVfo2UwvnIndHac0dq5CFsyY25TjXlBFIdkdvcHy4Kkwo-Dj3OO68YIYpJO_Xf_VYveZXFP5hbVNHPsRw4TGoZ2LjpOn3PnIpIPjOjTdP4hsp2K1OfhsdosGds3NQ136NKSE2gvNr1wrTfBqo4-pHgFLD31-Lf3FCU-jr9vYzPDCnFk2FhCk3-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkRN6n45aVfo2UwvnIndHac0dq5CFsyY25TjXlBFIdkdvcHy4Kkwo-Dj3OO68YIYpJO_Xf_VYveZXFP5hbVNHPsRw4TGoZ2LjpOn3PnIpIPjOjTdP4hsp2K1OfhsdosGds3NQ136NKSE2gvNr1wrTfBqo4-pHgFLD31-Lf3FCU-jr9vYzPDCnFk2FhCk3-" width="320" /></a></span></div></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You’ll recall last year that I came out of NYCC 2022 with a few regrets, namely, not getting to see all of the Artist’s Alley from just how clogged up it was with attendees that year. It seems the staff working at NYCC noticed this and, in response, slightly reduced the number of artist tables at the event to free up some of the congestion that plagued the artist’s alley all day. And thanks to that, it was much easier to maneuver around the main body of the artist’s alley without repeatedly bumping into or being slowed by the crowds. There were still professional artists hired to join the artist’s alley by their parent groups joining the selection of artists that had to pay to get into the event out of their own pockets, and it made the smaller artists that I usually look for in artist alleys a bit harder to spot. Nonetheless I still was able to get more out of the artist alley this year by virtue of planning it as my first destination and then saving the re-visit later in the day for before the main venue would close down for the night. There was indeed a commission haul but I decided to delay it since two of the commissions I ordered ended up getting delayed to post-convention dates, and since I don’t have a solid lead on when they’ll be done and delivered as of this post, I may end up doing the commission post on my other blog early next month without them since I’ll eventually need to post the AnimeNYC haul as well.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After the typical convention Artist Alley run, I made my way up to the vendors for the next few hours. On top of running into some familiar faces from the year prior selling their goods in the massive vendor’s hall, there were plenty of sights to observe and tons of collectibles to buy within the many booths of the event. And each year, I am once again surprised at just how much of a presence Japanese companies and their respective media franchises had at this event. Bandai brought many of their name brands to the show in some capacity and Shonen Jump titans Dragon Ball and One Piece ruled the north side of the vendors with giant blowup figures. And if that wasn’t enough to show how massive One Piece has become in the West, they even had a demo model for what would become a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon float of Luffy himself. Now that’s quite an honor, considering the series had a much harder time trying to break into America pop culture compared to its many contemporaries like Dragon Ball and Naruto.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Going back on track, there was a surprising number of fast food and diner-themed booths in the vendors—including one dedicated entirely to Good Burger 2, a movie that I never thought would happen considering the original was very much stuck in the 90’s and the most I recalled of it in my youth was the “Grape Nose Boy” skit early in the film. I didn’t go in the booth, but from what I could observe there was a silly little mini game you could play on your phone- it had the depth of a 2000’s mobile game so I didn’t bother (combined with the typical packed convention lines just to get into some of these booths). Across from that was the booth of clothing brand Hypland, who partnered with Sega to produce a line of Sonic clothing, and in the back end of the booth was a whole demo station for a game that was very much real: Sonic Superstars. Since the game would be releasing soon, I didn’t bother trying it out for myself at the show, though in hindsight it would have been neat to feel the PS5 DualSense controller in my own hands for the first time. The Boondocks store was also at the event, but since the funds I brought to the event all went to commissions (and food… and parking) and I didn’t have any way of carrying around bigger pieces of cargo, I decided to pass on purchasing much else on-site. And that included a special 2023 Convention reprint of the original-generation Tamagotchi, which had two pretty neat custom shells but was still the original model from the 90’s that I was never really a fan of at the end of the day.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As typical of many comic events, the gaming section tucked away on the lowest floor of the event felt almost like an an afterthought, if not partially an afterthought. For console games, there were a bunch of 2D fighting games and racing games on hardware from the early 2000’s and onwards, with several setups dedicated entirely to Street Fighter 6. The selection of tabletop games was much more stacked, with a greater number of setups and shops to purchase or rent them, but well, I kind of fell out of them as the years went by, despite someone in the artist alley (I think) suggesting I try my hand at creating an Aozora’s Adventure board or card game since it’d be easier than trying to learn programing. I’d never say never, but I think I first need to escape this artist block and poor habits before I even consider trying to make a full-fledged Aozora board game. I heard there was a Pac-Man themed event somewhere nearby complete with demos of Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle Chomp Champs, but it wasn’t part of NYCC and was a separate event close by (and was only open on Friday and Saturday). At least Pac-Man was still at NYCC… as a recycling bin for the Gashapon booth in the main lobby.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a few hours, the event’s vendors closed at 7, followed by the Artist’s Alley at 8. I promptly said my goodbyes to the dealers and what artists remained, took a few last-minute photos of the Javits Center, and drove off. After weeks of preparation and improving my cardio, I got a lot more mileage out of this year’s event compared to 2022’s. Is there anything I forgot to mention…? Oh right, seating. While the number of available seating was still next to nonexistent, my legs were not as sore on the way out of the event as well as on the following day, compared to last year where my legs were in even worse shape. It may have been because the vendors were carpeted (aside from stepping on the wiring hidden underneath) and I planned a better route through the convention, but that still not a valid excuse for an event that isn’t focused on gaming to skip out on installing seats around the venue.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that was New York Comic Con 2023. A definite improvement over last year and probably in the running for one of my favorite events of the year, next to Castle Point Anime Convention and Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. That said, I still have one more big event this year, and it's a return to the Javits Center </span>approximately<span style="font-family: inherit;"> one month later for AnimeNYC. Until then, catch you later, and Happy Halloween if you manage to catch this the day this post goes out.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-56007396518754646142023-09-24T23:39:00.003-07:002023-09-27T15:37:22.337-07:00The state of Super Mario Bros. Special in 2023<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">While I’ve had a great ordeal of interests over the years, some of which have come and gone, one video-gaming interest I’ve always had strong opinions of is the 2D side-scrolling platformer. And since I’ve been looking for more content to fill this blog up during my quest for productivity, I decided to revisit <a href="https://superjustintheblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/super-mario-bros-special-restoration.html">an entry</a> I made *checks notes* 12 years ago?!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8KwZ_h3U3ES59aFR18v097JJhWb-nXCTWwxKfhgFUw-Z_3JKJ7bAnrAOMOdSEIefr8KO6TkMH2es7tyILrCV8jYnRzeWxTJFTzo7pwbwGlhoNE-ugCa3FbWoZ6bLgWFXu-4-h9oGF7AntYtYsTwgpt-g1vcgFQD9X2t_4dEAeCPHKiVedYMY-RAomckyz" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="357" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8KwZ_h3U3ES59aFR18v097JJhWb-nXCTWwxKfhgFUw-Z_3JKJ7bAnrAOMOdSEIefr8KO6TkMH2es7tyILrCV8jYnRzeWxTJFTzo7pwbwGlhoNE-ugCa3FbWoZ6bLgWFXu-4-h9oGF7AntYtYsTwgpt-g1vcgFQD9X2t_4dEAeCPHKiVedYMY-RAomckyz" width="239" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah, we’re talking about this little number again. Released only in Japan by Hudson Soft for two home computers of the early 80’s, the NEC PC-88 and the Sharp X1, Super Mario Bros. Special was one of two offshoots of the original Super Mario Bros and was published only a short time after what would be called The Lost Levels outside Japan. And unlike Lost Levels, which would be exported outside of Japan in various formats and became the “Game B (Hard Mode)” of the Game and Watch Super Mario Bros unit created to celebrate Mario’s 35th Anniversary, Special remained pretty much entirely unknown to the rest of the world and was stunk in legal limbo due to the awkward circumstances of its release (being on two obscure Japanese-only computers and Nintendo only licensing the game instead of taking part in its creation).</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Special was first discovered and gained traction in the regions that originally didn’t get the game towards the back half of the 2000’s thanks to the internet, it would gather a very divided opinion, a fate that also fell over the Lost Levels but for different reasons. The PC-88 version was lambasted on first impressions for its very garish and limited color palette, leaning heavily on red and orange tiles against a harsh blue backdrop for outdoor and castle levels. The Sharp X1 version, by contrast, was able to make use of a greater range of color and had something of a warmer reception but it still felt like a step down from the NES original even with some enemies using more colors than they could on the NES. Both versions would also gain criticism for their poor controls and physics, inconsistent speeds, and the lack of proper scrolling. Whenever these color choices, in particular those of the the PC-88 version, were done for compatibility or performance, they were a far cry from the original color scheme of Super Mario Bros.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Players that were willing to hop in and brave the less than desirable aesthetics came across a very unique experience unlike SMB1 or The Lost Levels. With more creative uses of SMB1’s assets, new secret items to discover, and a few more surprises in the level designs, Hudson Soft would create a very unique and often overlooked take on Nintendo's flagship title of 1985. That said, many design choices and limitations would drag down the overall experience, especially compared to the timeless status of the original game it was based on, implying the game may have been rushed to some extent:</span></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Despite the “Bros” moniker, there is no option to play as Luigi, either through two player mode or a character select.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>As noted above, the PC-88 version only uses 4 colors total, half of the 8 colors the system can display at a time (not including dithering effects) and looks too garish for its own good, even if I do un-ironically prefer it to the more colorful Sharp X1 version. It relies too heavily on reds and oranges, even if the sprites and tiles would be capable of using olive, a color much closer to the many greens and browns in SMB1’s palette.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>The Japanese computers the game released on were not capable of the same kind of smooth scrolling you could get on the Famicom or NES. A form of scrolling is possible on both machines, but it’s a very choppy tile by tile scrolling. Maybe it would have been preferable to the screen flip-scrolling but it would still not be the ideal and smooth scroll type you would want in a side scrolling platformer (at least one designed with the NES in mind).</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Some of the levels in the later half of the game look or play too close to levels from vanilla SMB1 and don’t go as crazy with the reduced limitations of the layouts and set pieces of the format as they could have. 5-4 is a loose translation of SMB1 2-4 and 5-4, 6-1 is mostly copied from SMB1’s version of the same level, as is 6-2, and 7-1 hits similar beats as SMB1’s version aside from the unique bonus rooms and the end-level staircase. Compare this to the likes of the first two castles which have bonus rooms set underground and in the overworld, 3-1 featuring underwater tiles in an overworld level, and 4-2 having two entrances to its underground section and an Easter egg if one jumps the flagpole.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>The new powerups are very well-hidden with almost no hints to their locations and are very seldom-used with only one or two appearances per powerup. Except for the hammer and clock, they are not placed in spots where they would be useful.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>For years, the PC-88 version was plagued with being run on a “bad dump” that blanked out the screen as it loads in the next part of the current level, making it harder to anticipate oncoming terrain. This bad dump also resulted in the infamous “IPL Switch” that locked you out of the final level.</span></li><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>The fourth world in particular was victim to some oversights that would result in soft locks: 4-2 had a nonfunctional Warp Zone, and 4-3 had platforms mandatory to progress that would not load in due to the game being overloaded on platforms on the current screen and— perhaps even more infamously, a bonus room with a broken exit.</span></li></ul><div><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the years since I made my initial post on Super Mario Bros. Special, more people would discover the game and expose it to an even wider audience, though it pretty much remained relevant only to bigger Mario/SMB1 fans, emulation communities, and collectors and enthusiasts of rarer consoles and home computers. With the circumstances around its release preventing Nintendo from bringing it back on current-generation hardware, it remained an oddity that those outside of Japan would only get to experience through emulation. It wouldn’t be until 2022, 12 years after I first heard of and played Special, that I had the experience of playing the game on one of the two computers it originally released for.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS0kf86R7ZT4bSdg4ovwfCMbm75ppZ_I_bpG72v1tMSoM6oY0v-bWMrnKfFyRC7DqVRleF-VF-Ky4tCz3tubH45gB35ZZRGMwCghaeNPqQUaW2iKaLupe3ZTz_VFdLaBXVB_SQZNyNu-TQKeHf06MTSZr7B1oprzcaTKL-jtFjL6aMsTPtHNDmUXB43REZ" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS0kf86R7ZT4bSdg4ovwfCMbm75ppZ_I_bpG72v1tMSoM6oY0v-bWMrnKfFyRC7DqVRleF-VF-Ky4tCz3tubH45gB35ZZRGMwCghaeNPqQUaW2iKaLupe3ZTz_VFdLaBXVB_SQZNyNu-TQKeHf06MTSZr7B1oprzcaTKL-jtFjL6aMsTPtHNDmUXB43REZ" width="180" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yup, your eyes do not deceive you; what you see in front of your very eyes is in fact a real, working Sharp X1 at last year’s Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. And the game was still as sluggish to play on real hardware as it is on emulators. The overly blurry CRT monitor does miraculously make the graphics and colors look nicer overall, but it didn’t make me want to rush out and buy a whole Sharp X1 computer and a copy of the game when I can get a similar experience on emulators without having to invest a stupidly huge amount of money. Especially when the game and its associated machine were never released in the US to begin with. When the setup returned a year later at LIRetro 2023, the monitor had to be swapped out, resulting in a darker and muddier screen than before (with the only positive being that it completely masks any dithering on screen, almost). Ironically, a homebrew port of SMB1 on the Commodore 64 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jIrR9Iqq4Q">(video here)</a>, which was also being demoed at the same event on real hardware, was capable of fully replicating the feel and speed of the original NES game with only minimal slowdown and none of the chop-style scrolling that plagued both the PC-88 and Sharp X1 versions of Special.</span></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhljA3MCGOsE1pgXsaRWIplVaXW8NzuMjGJzGZagT6xUWEU8R43RdQg3emuifOrA42o3wPVttwXLHBdrM5tV9aRDDADfDHzsx9Qi8GSixc_tLirlUXTZpsrfA9Mwjh_mFkHHCJIAB3K5tujLp8ErvGkEz8-OWT5sZPVoh99xenDdkgGVEyXC4tRb8oUprAx" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhljA3MCGOsE1pgXsaRWIplVaXW8NzuMjGJzGZagT6xUWEU8R43RdQg3emuifOrA42o3wPVttwXLHBdrM5tV9aRDDADfDHzsx9Qi8GSixc_tLirlUXTZpsrfA9Mwjh_mFkHHCJIAB3K5tujLp8ErvGkEz8-OWT5sZPVoh99xenDdkgGVEyXC4tRb8oUprAx" width="135" /></span></a></div><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since discovering Super Mario Bros. Special for the first time in around 2010 or so, I randomly decided to remake the entire thing in Mario Builder, a very old Super Mario Maker precursor of sorts, in order to make the levels of Special playable in a better engine. Unfortunately, Mario Builder was filled with minor and major glitches and a large plethora of nonexistent QoL features to make making levels and full games easier, causing me to abandon the “Restoration Project” after only one level, World 1-1, was made. It was probably not worth it anyways in the long run since Mario Builder's physics were kind of messy and it was not possible to change the game's assets to resemble NES SMB1, meaning had the project gotten made, there would be an extreme artstyle clash with 16-bit SMB3 graphics in 8-Bit SMB1 levels, and the Bowser encounters would have just been the Koopalings on the Bowser Bridge in the first seven worlds followed by Bowser himself destroying himself by smashing the bridge.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before my original </span>decision<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to remake Special in the Restoration Project, and part of what inspired me to start it in the first place, was a <a href="https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/527/">level hack</a> of the original Super Mario Bros. in 2008 that converts the levels to match Special’s layouts, leading to what would start a trend of modern remakes or remasters across the 2010’s and even into the 2020’s, as we’ll see later. The 2008 NES mod, by Frantik and Levi “Karatorian” Aho, was stock SMB1 programing and level design limitations, leading to many of the unique attributes of Special’s levels that wouldn’t be possible on the NES/FDS being excluded and the broken warps in World 4 being kept intact</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">, but it would be the first time the levels would be playable outside their original platforms, even if they weren’t presented in the same way.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2012, Stabyourself’s Mari0, the SMB1 fan game that gives you a portal gun, was released, and one of the earliest map pack projects following up from a port of Lost Levels was <a href="https://forum.stabyourself.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1364">a full conversion of Special</a>. It was a collaborative effort, with eight users chosen to convert one of the eight worlds each and send them in to be checked for authenticity and accuracy, with yours truly being one of the project’s leaders. The final result was a very close remake of the levels of SMB Special, but with some small changes to take into account the heavier gravity of jumps, lack of Special’s enemies/items, and other limitations of Mari0’s level design formats. Unlike most of the projects that would aim to recreate Special, the Mari0 conversion allowed one to experience both the PC-88 and Sharp X1 versions, compared to most of these recreations that would take the X1 version’s graphics and visuals over the PC-88 version thanks to its better-utilized and versatile color palette.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following year, all of Super Mario Bros. Special would be added to Exploding Rabbit’s Super Mario Bros. Crossover starting from Version 3.0, alongside the Lost Levels. This version was based on the Sharp X1 version and included matching Sharp X1 skins for every featured character, including Luigi, finally letting one play as Mario’s brother with his Lost Levels physics in the Super Mario Bros. Special levels proper. As part of the new difficulty system, Easy and Hard versions of Super Mario Bros. Special’s levels were created, featuring new and imaginative takes on Special’s levels to ease up on some difficult aspects of the original or provided a “What If” if Hudson Soft decided to make Special as hard as many people describe The Lost Levels.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By 2015, Nintendo would launch its own Mario level editor with Super Mario Maker, and in no time flat, Special’s levels would be recreated for it by a dedicated user named Forteblast. While it’s not without its own inaccuracies to the source material given the whole point of the editor is to be accessible to anyone interested in designing Mario levels, it does a pretty good job, even if it has to get creative with replicating the new enemies, like placing a Spiny on a Koopa Paratroopa to mimic the Fighter Fly, or placing a Spiny upside-down in a tiny alcove in the ceiling to replicate the icicles. When Super Mario Maker 2 launched, it too got a few Special ports, although from my understanding and from what I’ve seen online they don’t match the first game’s ports and weren’t created by Forteblast.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhB9_AkJCkUpAb00Gu46_DBeXPOQKGg7o0sDvbVpUjLh2IZnUtJWnNIkiex9DH7zWFhTeGJ-1XkzsojQQEEsgfUJT9ZJWpLTsy-nUvFBqEsDFxu3dMgMOxV9GRid4RsdyWsO62jrhjaqHRgoGfbTPi-uvIbxxfrz3kzEfvtWAqXlI3yI1m-bGLvWzZPlVgA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhB9_AkJCkUpAb00Gu46_DBeXPOQKGg7o0sDvbVpUjLh2IZnUtJWnNIkiex9DH7zWFhTeGJ-1XkzsojQQEEsgfUJT9ZJWpLTsy-nUvFBqEsDFxu3dMgMOxV9GRid4RsdyWsO62jrhjaqHRgoGfbTPi-uvIbxxfrz3kzEfvtWAqXlI3yI1m-bGLvWzZPlVgA" width="256" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">To my absolute shock, Frantik, one of the creators behind the NES port from 2008, would return to give the NES port a full overhaul in 2021. Dubbed the “<a href="https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6067/">35th Anniversary Edition</a>”, this version set out to give the NES a truer-to-the-text conversion of the Sharp X1 version, resulting in a more accurate port with all the original Special-exclusive enemies and items intact, (almost) all of the unique level design elements not seen in the original game or Lost Levels preserved, and the ability to switch the game’s palette between a custom recreation of the Sharp X1’s color palette (which is what you see on the left) and the original NES color palette. The full credit scroll ending of Special is even included, now completely proofread and error-free with accurate translations of the Japanese enemy names. The only feature I would consider missing from this new version of Special on NES would be Luigi, either as a second player option or an alternate choice with different physics. Sure it’s accurate to the original not to feature him, but it would have been appreciated to have him featured in some form as a neat extra, especially since you could play as Luigi in SMB’s Crossover’s conversion of Special, as well as in Lost Levels, the true sequel to SMB1 (at least in Japan).</span><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that’s where SMB Special stands today. Despite the best efforts of the team at Hudson to create a SMB1-like experience for home computers (a trait that would continue well into the 90’s on MS-DOS computers), Special never really took off and mostly remained a curiosity at best, killing Hudson’s brief partnership with Nintendo to bring their NES and arcade hits to Japanese computers. The PC-88 and Sharp X1 continued on without any presence of Nintendo, getting successors in the form of the PC-98 and Sharp X68000 respectively. Hudson would jump ship to home consoles once the PC Engine launched in Japan, leaving the PC scene behind aside from a few odd releases until they would get bought out and absorbed into Konami at the beginning of the 2010’s. Nowadays, and with no word or possibility of an official re-release, people would keep Special alive through gameplay footage on Youtube and by porting the game’s levels into games/engines that are more adept at handling the fast-paced platforming of Nintendo’s original Super Mario Bros, allowing those new to discovering Special and its history to experience the definitive version of Hudson Soft’s take on the Super Mario Bros. formula.<br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you want to see a more in-depth look at Super Mario Bros. Special, I strongly recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a1FsbS9GBQ">this Basement Dwellers video</a>, since it encouraged me to go and finish up this blogpost and provided a lot of interesting and useful information regarding the game and why many of its design choices were made.</span></p></div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-69677781735821884592023-08-23T11:42:00.002-07:002023-08-24T20:05:54.810-07:00Conventions of 2023: Long Island Retro Gaming Expo 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhT7GKfdLO6l1wrjKfuXYLfS81QBz89xTqdw8EP3oH8cJu5H8OgNlk9ZbtErrNRoLgG8uManpTQUHVck9_EzVgXq6rEGyw6OF8Ti9XKgyVkBoijqe8QYgMhzHTvMiPcrRrDZe0gUHRzxDNKBbnmux3ReMZ-Fu_kzzzaz1QaNI331Z2TSSbapFV-cEWRT4L6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="569" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhT7GKfdLO6l1wrjKfuXYLfS81QBz89xTqdw8EP3oH8cJu5H8OgNlk9ZbtErrNRoLgG8uManpTQUHVck9_EzVgXq6rEGyw6OF8Ti9XKgyVkBoijqe8QYgMhzHTvMiPcrRrDZe0gUHRzxDNKBbnmux3ReMZ-Fu_kzzzaz1QaNI331Z2TSSbapFV-cEWRT4L6=w640-h569" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />For the length of... one year, retro game fans across the area have been waiting patiently for the triumphant return of the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo at the Cradle of Aviation. As it is currently the only game convention among the lineup of main events I attend yearly, I was quite eagerly excited myself, so much so that I decided to attend not one, but two days worth of the event. While traditionally a two-day event in the 2010’s, a third day was added for the expo’s return in 2022, featuring shorter hours and a limited number of activities on Friday. For 2023, Friday was expanded into a full proper Day 1 for the event, albeit only with afternoon hours from 4 to 10 PM.</span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjp-fKLWOz5Q5lJFvqrfyEHwgsKR3LuuniiAA4nbPKTZXmjkAHpE37qaKB9U8rdCpYmtze5Fh2Em-ddK_ijTv433A6AC0y0ZDk8hrkgGdjAeq27jllvIIq945_tRwMqKwuqcsHauY9EPiOasmvzSyQ4hpxOGH--MByX3LneQjkgQtoRIXeqJ4m2EVMf-O9Z" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjp-fKLWOz5Q5lJFvqrfyEHwgsKR3LuuniiAA4nbPKTZXmjkAHpE37qaKB9U8rdCpYmtze5Fh2Em-ddK_ijTv433A6AC0y0ZDk8hrkgGdjAeq27jllvIIq945_tRwMqKwuqcsHauY9EPiOasmvzSyQ4hpxOGH--MByX3LneQjkgQtoRIXeqJ4m2EVMf-O9Z" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYQuSTLqD9yJv_UG3FlXTp_XgTWlFQR53jNN0p1zP2RpJKqGNu2CgW986tzFHSt8lk2FD42GcW4iINazqWR2Pgj2nZKqNVhZEh1Wlt_jQ3xFsonK6yFfN7Z1gVBSh90UTNxjfbReQVcL1IRPhDknUQ9MmkitfwNW2q5nlFtgVzRgi3W3VL8URlky0-6rkU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYQuSTLqD9yJv_UG3FlXTp_XgTWlFQR53jNN0p1zP2RpJKqGNu2CgW986tzFHSt8lk2FD42GcW4iINazqWR2Pgj2nZKqNVhZEh1Wlt_jQ3xFsonK6yFfN7Z1gVBSh90UTNxjfbReQVcL1IRPhDknUQ9MmkitfwNW2q5nlFtgVzRgi3W3VL8URlky0-6rkU" width="180" /></a></span></div></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The event kept the same presentation with a few small additions, changes, and expansions taking place across the expo’s three floors. Entering the convention, attendees are placed in the middle of the vendor’s area, which expands out into the back next to the cafeteria. Here, one can purchase game consoles and their associated games, along with gaming-themed merchandise of both official and homemade varieties. There were a few artists present, but as the event has historically favored vendors over artists, the amount of the latter can be counted on a single hand. As much as I like artist alleys and cute the lack of one as one of LIRetro’s missteps, the venue clearly isn’t big enough to have all the vendors it wants to have alongside a full, feature-rich artist alley. That, and Long Island has no shortage of events with healthy and thriving artist alleys, considering the likes of CradleCon and EternalCon. The vendors were open from the start of each day till 7, and everything would be covered in tarp and closed up.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The various consoles, arcade games, and computer games all returned, and were available for all of each day until closing time. The console timeline exhibit on the second floor got a few new machines, most notably the Wii U at the very end as the only machine of the 2010’s. I’m certain the 3DS would have joined it if they could secure a good unit to demo live, and by next year the base PS4 and original Xbox One will be 10 years old, giving them a fair shot at becoming the tail end the timeline as well. The selection of console games to play outside of the timeline exhibit was pretty strong, bigger than last year’s even, and this time the games were put into themed categories (i.e. platformer games, fighting games, racing games, and… art games) complete with standees describing each game and its history. Even a few Game Boys with Game Boy Cameras/Printers set up, letting attendees take selfies in 4-color greyscale monochrome and print them out on the accompanying printers. The arcade machines were, once again, spread into two different arcades on two different floors. The first floor arcade was mostly 90’s and some 2000’s titles set up into candy cabinets, mainly one-on-one fighting games and SHMUPs, though there were also a small collection of modern rhythm games set up and a few pinball machines were lined up for people to play (sadly only six, but what can you do when they’re kind of hard to transport and take up a lot of space). The second floor’s arcade didn’t change much from last year and featured the same focus towards earlier arcade titles, including the legendary Computer Space, but still had a very solid lineup of machines. Not all of the arcade games in this part of the venue were in the best condition—some of the monitors didn’t look all that great for example, but they were all CRT’s and modified to support free play through a button placed somewhere on the machine. And finally, all the way up on the third floor was a whole area dedicated to the history of Tetris, with many variants that were released over the 80’s and 90’s being open for all to experience.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For the rest of the free play areas, the classic PC gaming section returned, once again including some of the most notable PC and DOS titles of the 90’s and early 2000’s for people to play on. There was a free-play PC set up to house a collection of Windows games, letting one experience the look of a Windows 98 desktop and play games that weren’t able to get their own stations in the section. And for those that wanted to experience multiplayer games over good-old LAN, attendees could play nine-player Quake III Arena or OG Unreal Tournament all at the same time. It was a great lineup, perfect for anyone that grew up with consoles to see what people were experiencing on computers, considering retro gaming these days is usually more closely routed with consoles than computers. There was even a PC set up and decorated with Barbie Fashion Designer; obviously a tie in with the Barbie film that recently hit theaters a few weeks prior but it was a great look into one of the most significant and memorable pieces of software released for computers. Opposite of the PC freeplay section was the return of the Museum, a section housing rare and “exotic” consoles and computers. This year, many more machines joined the Museum, some with a rotating selection of games (like the Sharp X68k and the Commodore Amiga, which both swapped out games every half-hour). Many through not all of the machines also included their own standees going into the background history of all these different machines not commonly seen in the current era, or in the USA for that matter. One of the new rooms the Museum expanded into was sort of empty, but when you only have so many computers available to demo in a public space, you’ll understandably run out machines. As someone that always likes seeing the odd and obscure of the video game landscape, the Museum was a treat, and I’m looking forward to see it get bigger and better in the next few years.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So now that I gave you all a run down of the layout and some of the things you can experience at the event, let’s discuss the various activities of Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. Like any good convention, there were panels and guests all over the conventions, spread out into two panel rooms and some booths in the vendors respectively. I was only able to attend one, and the other panel I wanted to attend was sadly timed out in a way that I would miss something I singed up for—more on that later. Music performances once again occurred on the second floor next to the timeline exhibit, and thankfully they never accumulated any large oversized crowds of spectators clogging the area, even towards Saturday night when most of the rest of the event was closed up for the night and the third and final music guest performed at 8PM. It was still kind of loud, but the audio wasn’t blasting across the main area of the expo as it did in years prior. The indie gaming section returned, offering up free demos of indie titles as well as boxed copies of both modern and retro consoles. The NES Maker booth also returned, and new to the convention was Opcode, a group dedicated to keeping Coleco’s ColecoVision console alive through new hardware that expands its memory and lets it play new aftermarket games and arcade ports. I would have purchased one, but my ColecoVision is currently on standby for various reasons. Back down near the museum, there was the “Pokélab” (Pocket Lab), where if you brought an old-generation Pokémon title to the Expo, you could acquire various old and long-gone event Pokémon from past distributions up to the end of Generation V. It wasn’t every event distribution up to that point, and I didn’t feel like digging out my old carts, but if you have an old Pokemon game and missed these event distributions back then, this would be a good opportunity to acquire them again. That said the only thing that felt like it was missing from the Pokélab was a Celebi distribution for the Generation II games. With most of the other games covered, I’m surprised that was left out, but maybe there was no time to get one prepped and ready for the event?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now where was I? Oh right, competitions. Like last year, many classic games were part of tournaments or other competitions. A slew of classic and modern fighting game brackets were held on the same grounds as the main first-floor freeplay area, along with a few other competitive multiplayer games that weren’t all head-to-head brawlers. Racing games, sports games, and even some puzzle and rhythm games had full tournaments ran. And to ensure even the younger attendees could get in on the competitive fun, various “Kid’s Tournaments” were held. Numerous High Score challenges were held for various other classic games that did not feature direct head-to-head gameplay; players were free to enter as they wish and try to go for the best score or time on a particular retro title, taking turns with other contestants to grind out for the best score possible. For me, one of the standout attractions for the competitive-minded was the EON Gaming section, including full 16-player LAN lobbies for Halo 2 and Mario Kart: Double Dash. While the PC LAN games in the PC game section let players drop in and out freely, players were required to sign up on a list for these, and were then assigned stations and put into teams if they didn’t have a squad lined up. Since I wanted to try my hand at 16-player Mario Kart, I signed up and got accepted into the very last shift of the day at 6:30 PM. With me as the driver and my teammate as the one throwing items and assisting with drifting, I channeled forth my skills at kart racing and led us to victory, scoring the most points out of every participant and getting to pose with the gold trophy. I didn’t get to keep the trophy, but it was nice to win at another competition at LIRetro, even if I didn’t necessarily aim to win, just place good overall and enjoy the experience since I won’t have another chance to play a massive 16-player session of Double Dash until next year.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And with that, that’s pretty much how Long Island Retro Gaming Expo 2023 went. I met lots of new people, played and learned about some new games to check out in my free time, and came home with a big smile on my face and a huge desire to come back the following year. LIRetro 2023 sits comfortably aside Castle Point Anime Expo as part of my top 2 favorite events of the year, and after the following week’s Long Island Tropic Con, it’s safe to say that I can finally take a well-deserved rest until October and enjoy all of what’s left of the summer season. In terms of what could be improved, there isn’t really much I’d say needs improving besides what comes up first in my mind: More games in the arcade and freeplay areas (mainly to fill in some empty spots in the venue, especially in the PC Freeplay and Museum sections), more vendors with maybe a small artist’s alley somewhere in the building if enough artists were to sign up, and maybe for Saturday, an evening panel or two for those attending the convention towards the end of the day. These are all very minor points and even if the game section only changed a small bit, I would still come back the following year for the premiere retro-gaming event of the <br /> area.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And it looks like I’ve finally ran out of stuff to say about LIRetro 2023. Sorry that activity outside of these event coverages has been light and dry around social media and such; on top of wanting to enjoy the summer until it becomes too cold out, I’ve been going through some rough times and an internal re-structuring of sorts and figuring out what projects to make a priority, along with finishing up what I already started and steadily develop the world (and theoretical video games) of Aozora’s Adventure and the big cast of characters that inhabit it. I’ll likely make a follow up post sometime soon in September or October going into greater detail for my plans for the rest of 2023 and going into 2024. Until then, I’ll be taking a well-deserved hero’s rest until I re-awaken for New York Comic Con this October.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-75666325745476318862023-08-03T22:30:00.000-07:002023-08-03T22:30:32.075-07:00Super MAYhem 17: Super Mario Doom Patch<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoHCOpZRUNPN1GE9z8bzePirmJ8Lz4HEeAgYuKsUWl9_C4BbDc8cKKmc68xZxrEXz0BfXwm-LXCUeyAlW2I3KIz_R-G8q-i0Z-HuFrODOgtaz4hRoc2uVjKkXxDfzaMchDNpG4ez_XeOVeqKO2Pb1k17SDYDpw0KOiaV4OqnA0b6gFDCMV2xGrIAGwJVVU" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1520" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoHCOpZRUNPN1GE9z8bzePirmJ8Lz4HEeAgYuKsUWl9_C4BbDc8cKKmc68xZxrEXz0BfXwm-LXCUeyAlW2I3KIz_R-G8q-i0Z-HuFrODOgtaz4hRoc2uVjKkXxDfzaMchDNpG4ez_XeOVeqKO2Pb1k17SDYDpw0KOiaV4OqnA0b6gFDCMV2xGrIAGwJVVU=w400-h217" width="400" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heads up, this game is kinda on the violent side, being a mod of Doom and all, so please keep that in mind before you continue reading.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also I promise Doom will not become a super-recurring topic of this blog, it's just hard to put down for long because of the infinite replay value the dozens and dozens of mods provide.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, now that I have your attention, what do I have in store for everyone today? Well, if you’ve been following me for quite some time on various sites over the years, you might have clued in that I’ve always been a pretty big Mario fan (especially in the 2000’s and early 2010’s) considering the name of this very blog. However, I cannot say the same for id’s legendary Doom franchise, which I got into somewhat late, in 2015 to be exact, from a combination of a friend in the Mega Man 8-bit Deathmatch<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>gifting me a copy out of the blue and… a custom mod from late 2012 that replaced all the characters and enemies with Mario equivalents, fittingly titled “Super Mario Doom”. Doomguy of course became the famous man in red with an arsenal of Mario and Nintendo-themed weaponry, the Zombiemen became different ranks of Koopa Troops, Demons became Chain Chomps, and the mighty Bowser himself would replace the dreaded Cyberdemon. Five years later, another Mario-themed mod would surface, doing the opposite of Super Mario Doom: place Doomguy and pals (as in, the demons you) into Mario’s world to turn the Mushroom Kingdom into a literal hell-hole. This mod was known as <a href="https://www.doomworld.com/files/file/19027-super-mayhem-17-v10/">Super MAYhem 2017</a>, and it included 28 new Mario-themed maps to shoot through.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But what if you were to mix the two mods together to make it a complete Mario experience from head to bottom, with some modifications to make it work in older versions and source ports of Doom? Well, in 2020, modder Doomkid would <a href="https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/116454-mariodoompk3-vanilla-edition-unofficial-patch/">port Super Mario Doom</a> into the Vanilla Doom format with the original Doom color palette, allowing it to be used on a greater range of source ports from old to new. It was from there that I, out of sheer curiosity, decided to test the vanilla edition of Super Mario Doom with Super MAYhem 2017. It worked great, but I did notice that some of the converted assets didn’t look their best when thrown directly into Super MAYhem 2017 since it used a slightly different palette and a custom final boss with its own set of sprites. And thus, during a brief break that I was taking in November/December, I recreated the Vanilla Edition of Super Mario Doom using sprites from the original Super Mario Doom mod but converted to Super MAYhem 2017’s palette and with some small touches and cleanups here and there.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><img alt="screenshot_GZDoom_MARIOMAY_lakitu.png.299705f287b610b9b1b578dc3133a3d6.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" data-fileid="233853" height="174" src="https://static.doomworld.com/monthly_2023_05/screenshot_GZDoom_MARIOMAY_lakitu.png.299705f287b610b9b1b578dc3133a3d6.png" style="height: auto; width: 640px;" width="320" /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><img alt="screenshot_GZDoom_MARIOMAY_bowser.png.831fbe8e32608b0d920d810615fd7ab0.png" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" data-fileid="233854" height="174" src="https://static.doomworld.com/monthly_2023_05/screenshot_GZDoom_MARIOMAY_bowser.png.831fbe8e32608b0d920d810615fd7ab0.png" style="height: auto; width: 640px;" width="320" /></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The result is what you see here: a custom version of Vanilla Super Mario Doom made specifically (and only for) Super MAYhem 2017. At the moment, it’s mostly just color changes and restorations while maintaining vanilla Doom compatibility. I do have plans to make further changes, but for now I have my hands full in too many pies to be finding room to slot this project in, especially when I'm still mostly alien to Doom modding.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, you can grab the download for the initial version <a href="https://mega.nz/file/BuxXFTyK#X8DfrKB6ECLFrTwtLxLR4FbLwa9JoVrEQHc4rzaE-ok">here</a>. All relevant information is tucked away in the attached readme file, including the links and associated credits mentioned above.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-55130267663529207712023-07-22T17:17:00.002-07:002023-07-22T17:17:38.482-07:00Conventions of 2023: EternalCon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGDaI8ygRK-5kbQDlHmu2tRvy5JGujUdywqWVT0Y-rATHnTNODh0KZnX6DX2W82Iu21ZNghTj4BfGdmVT4U0ybYz_Kty9aUy4Z01m2zF2ddAHYhRLuFeguN49djZrbrNONWUSQxtQlaQAq7aAnevs1ZiBiPRzJQwg-sAWRitz3gKw8iY5QW7YsxLhVPI-T" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGDaI8ygRK-5kbQDlHmu2tRvy5JGujUdywqWVT0Y-rATHnTNODh0KZnX6DX2W82Iu21ZNghTj4BfGdmVT4U0ybYz_Kty9aUy4Z01m2zF2ddAHYhRLuFeguN49djZrbrNONWUSQxtQlaQAq7aAnevs1ZiBiPRzJQwg-sAWRitz3gKw8iY5QW7YsxLhVPI-T=w640-h570" width="640" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After only a few weeks after AnimeNEXT, another event has come and gone, and here I am to give another summary. I promise that this overview will not be as long and overly written as AnimeNEXT’s, but I still want to give EternalCon the overview that I think it deserves before I end up forgetting about it. Once again, the event would take place at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex for its second year in a row, celebrating general pop culture with a very strong focus towards American comics, cartoons, TV series, and films. I enjoyed the event, but didn’t really go all out on the convention activities as I did with CPAC and AnimeNEXT, finishing the event and leaving hours before closure. I would have gone back the day after to explore a bit more of the event and converse more with friends and vendors, but with the weather turning to absolute garbage (pouring rain) on Day 2 and me having already walked several thousand steps and standing for much longer on hard concrete floors, I took my losses and only stuck to attending the first day of the event. In addition, several complications forced me to attend the convention alone, leaving me without one of the crucial tools I had used to endure these conventions longer (a camping chair… more on that in a bit).</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Historically, I was never really a comics person. As a kid, I did not grow up with mainstream comics and superheroes, mostly from having never owned any comics in my youth and my lack of understanding for the genre beyond a casual, surface-level analogy. Many other popular media franchises that hit it big in the Americas, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the various early incarnations of Power Rangers also escaped me, as they were all at their peaks before my late childhood (with the former, and the Turtlemania craze it spawned, on its way out by the time I was born) and I wasn’t really able to understand them as I was too young. While I was certainly aware of the plentiful number of mainstream comics, blockbuster films, and the biggest shows of the eras thanks to various YouTubers and them spreading awareness of these franchises through word of mouth (one of the biggest examples for me being the Angry Video Game Nerd and the Nostalgia Critic), I never labeled myself as a close and avid follower of these in spite of any kind of admiration I would develop, whenever it be brief or longstanding, in adulthood. Regardless, I did become more interested in the art styles of American comics as I started to meet and interact more with both indie and professional comic artists at EternalCon’s prior events, New York Comic Con, and a few other, smaller-scale local events in the area. Interacting with webcomic artists in the late 2010’s and the bonds I would develop with various artists in the local convention scene here on Long Island helped with that interest, but at the end of the day, American media was still not my biggest interest or my central focus.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmy_InS4cmYRSQBVXNbEypdj5CzuGq8VEqkRIHf_62ylU19GJQTEZmd-JNn4ECnuxzsyjFI9D9ar1f9h15Jwf00Q0W-Hh51NBuFOrjc62CuuZPw8XbI57LINAW4quAd90g89GPXaNV_kGBwQD9jKyp7oup07qoxDguzpoacS-UDRVpFUlrBoI_237v5a8f" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmy_InS4cmYRSQBVXNbEypdj5CzuGq8VEqkRIHf_62ylU19GJQTEZmd-JNn4ECnuxzsyjFI9D9ar1f9h15Jwf00Q0W-Hh51NBuFOrjc62CuuZPw8XbI57LINAW4quAd90g89GPXaNV_kGBwQD9jKyp7oup07qoxDguzpoacS-UDRVpFUlrBoI_237v5a8f" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3N5UCl0ao8bdow2Y29DGag0LC7c6JFWvLErXzY4FTc_r893Q4JS5hQ5g_TJMsN6BTV1xRmJZX9B2MfVC2C5Ub0oEgYmNPwKoLqUNDhtgH-B8baKeuNloBUASQih02K1Kuu1H0pIFjML0nzk9rRKaiZ9BDiOQZYUDOSFEogkFRtajJsf009K7G24HqshD_" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3N5UCl0ao8bdow2Y29DGag0LC7c6JFWvLErXzY4FTc_r893Q4JS5hQ5g_TJMsN6BTV1xRmJZX9B2MfVC2C5Ub0oEgYmNPwKoLqUNDhtgH-B8baKeuNloBUASQih02K1Kuu1H0pIFjML0nzk9rRKaiZ9BDiOQZYUDOSFEogkFRtajJsf009K7G24HqshD_" width="320" /></a></span></div></div><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With that explanation out of the way, it’s time for EternalCon. In terms of layout, the event was laid out identically to last year. The Artist’s Alley felt much less empty this time around with the addition of some extra booths and people selling hand-crafted goods similar to craft fair. Below that was the vendors’ area, which was nice and carpeted and had a wide selection of things to buy— unfortunately I would only pay one visit down to the vendors and never got the motivation to return, and the one person down there that I was looking to converse with, one of the guys behind the professional wrestling deck-builder Supershow the Game, who’s I had met at EternalCon 2022, was occupied. They did have various famous cars from pop culture for photo ops, but seeing as I am neither into Batman nor Ghostbusters, I paid no mind to those and simply returned upstairs back into the artist alley, only to be too sore towards the end of my visit to the convention to give the vendors one more look before ultimately departing. This was, in essence, a reverse of my experience with NYCC 2022: At that convention, the vendors stole the show from the artists, but at EternalCon, the artists did. And while vendors typically don’t grab my attention as I’m not at conventions to go shopping (even at anime conventions), paying very little attention to EternalCon’s and not bothering to snap any photos down there was probably my biggest regret of the entire event, and I do not like leaving conventions feeling like my visit there was either rushed, half-assed, or otherwise incomplete.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps my biggest issue with the event was the lack of available free seating. I’ve brought up multiple times in the past and across the years that convention centers and other venues that host big pop culture events like these should strive to fill their event spaces with readily available seating in just enough of a quantity that people aren’t fighting or otherwise continuously waiting for available seats. With the exception of panels and game rooms (of which this event didn’t have any, to my understanding), most events or the venues hosting them have done very little to address this problem, especially if an attendee has weak legs that are not able to last hours standing upright on hard floors with no breaks. The lack of seating is bad enough to where I would bring a camping chair to each event in order to sit down and take occasional breaks, but various circumstances have led to me forgetting to bring the chair to EternalCon, and for that I ended up strained in pain for most of the event towards the late afternoon, running a marathon through the artist’s alley with no breaks. The only event that I attend regularly that manages to circumvent this issue unless you deliberately seek out lots of panels is Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, since it needs so many seats for all the gaming options available (but with so many games and activities you’re not really encouraged to stay put in one seat for too long).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other than that, the convention was good, on par with the local pop culture cons I attend across Long Island each year. The event had a really strong artist’s alley, and as someone that doesn’t really surround himself in many of the biggest American media franchises, that was probably the biggest incentive I had to attending EternalCon. Maybe next year if I’m able to come to EternalCon with better preparations (and stronger legs), I will immerse myself deep in the convention’s activities, vendors, and showcases the same way I do at New York Comic Con. Until then, I have a whole year to go through and several more events to attend, so there’s a good chance you’ll see me give those events’ vendors more attention to make up for the lack of attention I gave to EternalCon’s. Unfortunately I do not have any cosplay photos to show from this event, as the cosplay showing was not enough to my liking and I typically skip cosplay showcases at EternalCon and the other local comic and pop culture events anyways. I do have some commissioned arts to share, so I’ll <a href="http://aozorasadventure.blogspot.com/2023/07/eternalcon-2023-commission-scans.html">go and plug those</a>.<br /><br />Anyways that’s all I have for today. I will return next month for a synopsis of Long Island Retro Gaming Expo 2023, and it’s shaping up to be a big event from what I’ve seen of it online.</span></p></div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-69636063342935781622023-07-02T23:15:00.003-07:002023-07-03T09:58:50.396-07:00The Twitter Alternatives<p>This is going to be a shorter blog post than you're likely used to, but I thought I'd update you all on a few more sites I joined in the wake of many controversial changes made to Twitter in the past few months. These are currently light on content and I will be treating these as a mix of my <a href="https://twitter.com/Superjustinbros">normal</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Aozorajustin">art/creative</a> focused Twitter accounts (the latter of which has not seen much activity as I am currently occupied with both my personal health and finishing some leftover WIP's). Two of these sites are Twitter-styled social media sites and the third is a site that I did not see myself ever joining until recently.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/@Superjustinbros">Mastodon</a></p><p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/superjustinbros.bsky.social">Bluesky</a> (currently in beta, future-proofing for when the site opens or for those with access)</p><p><a href="https://www.tumblr.com/superjustinbros">Tumblr</a></p><p>If Twitter becomes completely uninhabitable due to all of these changes, I will likely migrate most of my social posting online to across these three sites. Until then, I'm keeping my focus to Twitter, even if the site's algorithm has been detrimental to my account and the many, many interests I have.</p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-37300570766382516712023-06-22T23:27:00.003-07:002023-06-22T23:27:52.727-07:00Conventions of 2023: AnimeNEXT<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhH1MRgZZp6xKCjhNG_KbUrMxhvpdI8IYO9fztjIsaWH0Up7C-pcwyHkbVX2qA8cLLPNIF9cWU0M-RuYpB0RVph5HGdeHMqUNKdx0eZt7OEpWqPxF7DxDZBRTkOqYW_az3RAII9k6fIWUDBhmUOXGx1Na3GlGJl5PYwTi1DTscYhM4NYZQuGfo--NKOwxgk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="569" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhH1MRgZZp6xKCjhNG_KbUrMxhvpdI8IYO9fztjIsaWH0Up7C-pcwyHkbVX2qA8cLLPNIF9cWU0M-RuYpB0RVph5HGdeHMqUNKdx0eZt7OEpWqPxF7DxDZBRTkOqYW_az3RAII9k6fIWUDBhmUOXGx1Na3GlGJl5PYwTi1DTscYhM4NYZQuGfo--NKOwxgk=w640-h569" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I elaborated on in my Castle Point Anime Convention 2023 blog entry, I decided this year to give each convention I attended its own dedicated post so I could voice my full opinions while the conventions were still fresh on the mind. And this time, AnimeNEXT was back from a three-year-long hiatus to bring together anime fans in the tristate area and beyond. However, this year would mark a major change for the event, and it’s not exactly one that was entirely welcomed by attendees based on comments that I’ve seen online and live on-site. Due to various circumstances including rising costs for the venue and not being able to enforce rules about masking up and being vaccinated (since 2022 was still swamped by waves of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time), AnimeNEXT abandoned their previous home at the Atlantic City Convention Center and instead set up shop at a different, but smaller and less expensive location, once again intending to have masks as a requirement before suddenly removing it before the convention started.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOU8YS6RzfxcSyuNGH2VXHYxd3bhz8bvDOE7UWkcLyOovN8wbsvqXNLIC_QRWEEkdSjA3ZwcAK7_O3y-r0uutgE8npUybczGtnEZzeSMaugJpkVXgTlM0V-25kdSMOgsIfkZLyuAILfru1roFdNNaSTOicEClO4UOJgCYEo8I0hssUKGgZpk2oOCFkqfI2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4ZgtUB6enxIF7H731ceMRB4gKxDIUVP02q69I6pjnaF5KK4uz5FGwchVvZMYdTn01lsnaeT7Vccg6PdvABgkMyPKJGnDjDFGJb1HNrMe5Dv5o3L8nIaA0646nV4hisaQRtqS9Geef-oFEZq0eA_4NZgkhTY12GnyKUTxbhP6HEUTuocy6CIbp_aeLdb7M" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4ZgtUB6enxIF7H731ceMRB4gKxDIUVP02q69I6pjnaF5KK4uz5FGwchVvZMYdTn01lsnaeT7Vccg6PdvABgkMyPKJGnDjDFGJb1HNrMe5Dv5o3L8nIaA0646nV4hisaQRtqS9Geef-oFEZq0eA_4NZgkhTY12GnyKUTxbhP6HEUTuocy6CIbp_aeLdb7M" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOU8YS6RzfxcSyuNGH2VXHYxd3bhz8bvDOE7UWkcLyOovN8wbsvqXNLIC_QRWEEkdSjA3ZwcAK7_O3y-r0uutgE8npUybczGtnEZzeSMaugJpkVXgTlM0V-25kdSMOgsIfkZLyuAILfru1roFdNNaSTOicEClO4UOJgCYEo8I0hssUKGgZpk2oOCFkqfI2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOU8YS6RzfxcSyuNGH2VXHYxd3bhz8bvDOE7UWkcLyOovN8wbsvqXNLIC_QRWEEkdSjA3ZwcAK7_O3y-r0uutgE8npUybczGtnEZzeSMaugJpkVXgTlM0V-25kdSMOgsIfkZLyuAILfru1roFdNNaSTOicEClO4UOJgCYEo8I0hssUKGgZpk2oOCFkqfI2" width="320" /></div></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The event would find a new home at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center, and while it has a decent layout, it would serve as the root for the main issues with the 2023 incarnation of the convention as a whole. First and foremost, the quality of the convention center was leagues behind that of the Atlantic City Convention Center and it did not have the pleasant and inviting atmosphere of its former home, feeling less clean and more like most other older convention centers I’ve been to in the past few years, mostly Castle Point’s current venue since 2018 and Eternal Con’s former venue before the 2020’s. It also was just not big enough to have the grand scope of a convention its hosts wanted it to have especially coming of the heels of the Atlantic City Convention Center. The new location ultimately forced the con’s hosts to split the experience between two different buildings: the aforementioned convention center, and a hotel (with paid parking!) that’s 20+ minutes away. To try and alleviate this and make transfer between the two places seamless, you could grab one of three shuttle buses and travel there, but even with that aspect you still need to wait for a shuttle bus, then wait 20+ minutes for the bus to get there, and when you’re done at the hotel with a panel or a console/board game, you have to wait again and then travel for another 20+ minutes just to make it back to the convention center. Not to mention the convention center was located in the middle of nowhere and it’s quite the drive if you want to get food outside the convention’s cafeteria or return to your hotel room.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if you’re wondering what the shift to two separate venues feels like to someone that went there, I’ll give you a brief snippet of how it was laid out: At the convention center, you had the vendors and artists, the main stage for live performances, the car show, the arcade games, the charity auctions, the card games, and several different cosplay-themed activities and events. Then at the hotel, you had all the convention’s panels, video and tabletop games, tournaments, karaoke, AMV’s, the manga library, and cosplay repair. You can tell that they tried to give each venue equal importance but in reality it makes it even more time consuming if you want to see a panel, play some console games, or, if you’re a cosplayer, repair your cosplay. Add on that this information about the convention being split between two different locations not being made clear to attendees until literally the week of the event, and you can see why people were understandably critical to the decision to divide the convention. And sure, Castle Point Anime Convention would also divide its features between two different buildings, but at least they’re within walking distance of each other and they still managed to fit the bulk of the event’s panels inside the main building and kept all the main activities in said main building.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So as you probably would have expected, I stayed under the roof of the convention center the entire time, never once considering the idea of driving or taking a shuttle bus to the hotel to see a panel and play some console games. The artist’s alley continued to get the bulk of my attention as it does in most other conventions as I met several new artists and encountered others that I have not seen since the end of the 2010’s and the start of the pandemic. It was honestly an exciting artist alley filled with great talent, and it helped alleviate some of the poor design choices in regards to the convention’s layout. The vendor’s hall, or the dealer’s room as this event calls it, was pretty much the same as ever, though their policy on “no photos in the dealer’s room and artist’s alley” was very inconsistent. I was able to snap pictures of cosplays all over these oh-so called “no photo zones” (ironically, there was literally even a photo booth at one of the booths in the vendors area) and pretty much nothing consequential happened, aside from one staff member saying they would have to remove people from the event. In comparison, whenever or not the rule exists at other events I’ve been at over the years, the staff in those venues aren’t as strict or blunt with reminding people to be careful where they point their cameras in the artist’s alley. As for me, I avoid snapping cleanly-visible art at people’s tables and the artwork of said tables when I take snapshots of commissions and pose with artists for selfies out of respect for the people that make them.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The rest of the main venue was the food court, cosplay wrestling, the arcade, and the car show. The cosplay wrestling was thankfully not as loud and obnoxious as the concert stage at CPAC (in fact, AnimeNEXT saved their music performances for after the vendors and artists’ areas closed for the night) and it was fun getting to see people get in character as various different Nintendo properties, though it got too clustered around the ring that I wasn’t able to watch up close except from a distance. The arcade was reasonably small, especially since the console games were in a whole different venue, but it had some proper candy cabs of both the retro CRT and modern flatscreen variety, the latter mostly for fighting games, alongside the expected rhythm game cabinets that populate every anime con and the not-so-expected pinball machines. One game sadly spent most of Saturday being repaired while one of the pinballs broke down in the middle of the day, and a lone Ms. Pac-Man machine pretty much spent the entire event unable to be played. I was actually surprised when it was announced that the arcade would be closing at the same time as the dealer’s room and artist’s alley, considering at most events I’ve been to, the gaming areas usually close much later into the day (for reference, CPAC’s arcade and console games could be played on until the day ended, and the same was true for Long Island Retro Gaming Expo last year).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, AnimeNEXT 2023 was a fun, albeit flawed convention. I’d say I preferred the artist’s alley of this event over that of Castle Point Anime Convention’s and this event had the benefit of not taking place during very bleak and miserable weather, but CPAC did everything this event did and did it better, using the limited space of its location much more wisely to offer up everything one would expect from an anime convention. The convention definitely has a chance to improve and/or find a better venue more suitable for housing everything the event wants to do and so much more, but the location it ended up with feels more like a temporary bandaid from losing the ability to host the event at the Atlantic City Convention Expo than the exciting new home of a great convention that everyone likely wanted it to be. If they wanted to stay where they are now, maybe if the main attractions that people associate with anime conventions (like the panels and video games) were at the convention center while the more niche activities that don’t have large audiences were at the hotel, and if the shuttle busses were quicker in bringing guests between venues, it would lead to less frustration to those repeatedly trying to move between the two.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well… that ended up being a far longer summary of the event than I would have liked. I promise that I won’t have this much to burp out about EternalCon next month, but after hearing “you have to be willing to critique the things you like if you want them to improve” from another source, I figured maybe a long post like this would be necessary. And that leads us to the cosplay photos and the art commissions. This time there wasn’t really any consistent theme or trend among the cosplayers and artist’s alley, but what I was most surprised to see was a sudden influx of Trigun cosplay thanks to the new Trigun Stampede anime that aired earlier this year. The traditional Shonen shows like Demon Slayer, Jojo, and One Piece still had strong showings, plus the continued surge of Genshin Impact. The final count for cosplay photos totaled to 104. Not as many as CPAC due to the strict policies regarding the use of cameras in most of the venue but still a respectable amount at the end of the day.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyways, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6112130078834683">here</a> is where you will find the gallery of cosplays I snapped at the event, and <a href="http://aozorasadventure.blogspot.com/2023/06/animenext-2023-commission-scans.html">here</a> is where you can find the round-up of convention commissions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> I am still looking to get some new blog posts up that aren't event-related but we'll see where this year goes from here. Until then, I will return sometime next month for an in-depth summary of EternalCon 2023, or as much as I can squeeze out.</span></span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-42755693607484175282023-05-12T21:42:00.008-07:002023-05-14T18:18:18.562-07:00Offline Singleplayer modes in Fighting Games, an Honest Thought<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCO0Vjdm3_AArEEezjoxcbfrJw-fuiNxBKqHpVqSl555veNaQoQ2Fe_MBEYu5_QKaxvQl6ORJAVHwcdgz7BhlIEhY7KvGs86mHUCZALHd5IwC60UFENZKa-CrLwkyKbcgnKcPptZAuXggplu3U_q_8cBZlgGk2nDM1tfm9jF6ttjqKQQTWZPLE4i5u6g" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="976" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCO0Vjdm3_AArEEezjoxcbfrJw-fuiNxBKqHpVqSl555veNaQoQ2Fe_MBEYu5_QKaxvQl6ORJAVHwcdgz7BhlIEhY7KvGs86mHUCZALHd5IwC60UFENZKa-CrLwkyKbcgnKcPptZAuXggplu3U_q_8cBZlgGk2nDM1tfm9jF6ttjqKQQTWZPLE4i5u6g" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2022, I got into watching tournaments for fighting games broadcast live on Twitch, mostly as means of watching cool characters with crisp, detailed, and diverse designs (aka, those that inspire my own works) duke it out in a slugfest until one of them gets knocked out. It inspired me to attempt to write down concepts for a fighting game of my own design.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But there’s a problem. I don’t really play modern fighting games all that much, if ever. Sure I’ve dabbled in the occasional emulated fighter and a few towards the end of the 2000’s and the beginning of the 2010’s (in fact my first true fighter was… Sonic the Fighters) and I played plenty of Guilty Gear Xrd when it was new and made too many memes to count thanks to the Playstation 4’s sharing features. However, when it comes to the latest and greatest button bashers currently headlining tournaments across the globe, even those that I physically own, I’ve pretty much never laid a finger on them. And for the past few months, I was asking myself, why?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Growing up, I always leaned more towards games that revolved around offline, single-player experiences, and unlike with platformers, action games, racing games, and a few shooters, I didn’t really grow up with many traditional fighting games, with the ones I was most familiar with being the aforementioned Sonic the Fighters as well as Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I quickly learned of other fighting games as the years went on thanks to the internet, most notably Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken (in fact, there was a Tekken 5 cabinet in a local redemption arcade at one point), but never really came to play them myself until the 2010’s, some with my cousin in tow as a local VS. opponent in Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6, and Soulcalibur V.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the push for more online modes began to take off in the late 2010’s and especially after the pandemic, I noticed that the fighters I was eyeing up and spectating tournaments of, aside from Smash Bros and Tekken, were not really giving those that didn’t like or were driven away from playing online much to offer when it came to game modes. Street Fighter V of course had a story mode, but it was kind of forgettable and linear and I never bothered to play it due to me not using my PS4 all that much and having never played SFV. Guilty Gear and King of Fighters are both kind of in the same boat—Xrd onwards dropped the interactive story mode that had been present in Guilty Gear for years and turned it into a 3D anime movie, and King of Fighters never really had a proper story mode (at least in the mainline entries; I think some of the spinoffs had something akin to a story mode but I can’t really be bothered to check right now). For a good example on how I always liked seeing variety offered in offline modes, most late 90’s and 2000’s fighters on 5th and 6th-generation consoles included an extra mode or two aside form the story/arcade modes to sink into—Time Attack, Survival modes, a mission mode, modes with RPG elements, or even modes where you would train or program an AI. And if you wanted to go further, even a mode that breaks away from the core fighting gameplay altogether would be an interesting experience. As for the story mode, I always thought Blazblue’s approach was a good example, as was, bizarrely enough, the two Bleach fighting games on the Nintendo DS developed by Treasure. And with the release of Street Fighter 6 and its World Tour mode, that'll be another fighting game with a good singleplayer story mode.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore, I also noticed that the latest entries in these long-running fighting games would launch with a starting roster in the mid-to-high teens and then use a rollout of DLC to bring in extra fighters (amongst other content). I get why, considering this is the age of DLC and all, but some games don’t always seem to get that kind of support right away to bring back fan favorites or get enough characters to surpass the roster count of the game’s predecesor until years later. I guess I had my brain tainted by fighters that give large rosters at the start like later Smash games and nearly every Tekken and KOF title from a certain point onwards. Heck, Smash outright spoils you with so many fan favorites and the roster only got bigger in each entry. For Guilty Gear Strive, it felt like there were lots of gaping holes in the starting roster and even the current DLC characters with certain notable omissions from the XX and Xrd eras not returning. And for Street Fighter 6, despite the starting roster having less “gaping holes” than Strive’s and a very solid collection of newcomers (including a much-improved Luke), I feel there should have been some Street Fighter III representation alongside the new faces and the entire roster of World Warriors from II in the characters available at launch and the first season of DLC. I’m not asking for a fighting game to have a gigantic roster, especially at launch, but I would love for fighting games developed by bigger studios, if they can afford it and if it doesn’t affect how the project turns out, to pack a slightly higher number of starter characters especially when DLC schedules/releases are at risk at becoming inconsistent during a season.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For the longest time, fighting games have always had this lingering issue of being tough to get into, and some fighting games have since been attempting to rectify the issue in one way or another. Though some have resorted to making fighters simpler by scaling back and removing mechanics or offering easier controls that are more accessible but nerf your damage and/or HP, I found this to be the wrong direction to try and attract new blood since it can alienate seasoned competitive players by taking away entire features people have been used to and took for granted or make people want to forego the easier control schemes in favor of playing with the standard controls to avoid the nerfs. And by this point, long-running fighting game franchises aside from platform fighters are pretty much stuck with these more complex control layouts created in the early days of the genre, meaning only new fighting games would be able to work with a completely new control scheme designed to be easy to learn and figure out, yet still give enough options for controlling a fighter to lead to highly fluid and diverse movement pro players can achieve</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Personally, I always saw the lack of replay value aside from playing the arcade modes for each character’s ending and, while a minor point in comparison, the smaller character rosters before DLC as bigger contributions to me not wanting to pick up most modern fighters, though the controls being on the complex side and command/super inputs not always being the most easy thing in the world to figure out and memorize and pull off consistently is certainly a contributing factor. Of course there are also online modes to fix the limited replay value, but what drive me away from fighting random players online via matchmaking or ranked systems was that most fighters with online modes track win/loss records, and, depending on the game, lets other players view them if they see you in a lobby. If these stats weren’t a thing, I would probably be less reluctant to jump into online games, since the way Guilty Gear Xrd and even KOF XV presented their menus made me think that people would end up peeking at my versus records after matches or if I were to accidentally reveal them in a theoretical game stream.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well that took me a little longer than I would have liked, but that should probably give an idea on what drives me away from modern fighters and what I would like to see in both new fighters and new entries in long-standing fighting game franchises. Hopefully I wasn’t too negative with expressing my thoughts that have been building up for a few months and I may revise this slightly later on should any part feel mean-spirited or wrongly written. And well, don’t get me started on the concept of free to play, live service fighting games…</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-63178678707576859492023-05-08T23:13:00.000-07:002023-05-08T23:13:29.023-07:00Conventions of 2023: Castle Point Anime Convention<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdQlhkRXIhrYCAmQfadTyAIoEdrr3eMnAjX5LshAzCpHfl4c6Mqjtan5O6HupnM5iCTsidKjPkpNkmrUpPX6udqfyiiFdP5p0F8nzGktuwDM4BzzC5qyPZX-p4kBFZ1HXmIN3X7Nh9HXKur9sf3I8V3MPsfLZwMKNAAziyjqJigzQRupV6SoAATeuWcg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdQlhkRXIhrYCAmQfadTyAIoEdrr3eMnAjX5LshAzCpHfl4c6Mqjtan5O6HupnM5iCTsidKjPkpNkmrUpPX6udqfyiiFdP5p0F8nzGktuwDM4BzzC5qyPZX-p4kBFZ1HXmIN3X7Nh9HXKur9sf3I8V3MPsfLZwMKNAAziyjqJigzQRupV6SoAATeuWcg=w640-h570" width="640" /></span></a></div></div><p></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The year is 2023. It’s April, and you’re in the mood for a good anime convention. After about five months on break from AnimeNYC 2022, the latest Castle Point Anime Convention arrived to gather anime fans across New Jersey for another event celebrating Japanese animation and beyond. Normally in the past, I waited until after two larger events before writing up a big summary of the spring (CPAC and AnimeNext), summer (EternalCon and LIRetro), and fall (NYCC and ANYC) conventions. However, this time, I wanted to see if I had enough to say about Castle Point Anime Convention to give it and the rest of the bigger conventions one giant breakdown post while they’re still on the mind. It might not happen for EternalCon but for now that’s the goal I’m setting so I can at least keep life on this blog as healthy as I can make it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvdQuEeOLfVWJtFHSVdRPQCjYPjjxLKNLV2AzUvg4hUpNT3bKBg7TzUBkq0wpWH70YZ5PgwsKFwdhkZq7yuEFo6VIw60lw9HwQFw_myAVhtPZFgTHDP8ARv1ieMBKlxkacApJu-X9XaPngQnzpsX6UYJ7ldUdrgZGmpX4J2B0romjsOeF_nY8uizgdcQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvdQuEeOLfVWJtFHSVdRPQCjYPjjxLKNLV2AzUvg4hUpNT3bKBg7TzUBkq0wpWH70YZ5PgwsKFwdhkZq7yuEFo6VIw60lw9HwQFw_myAVhtPZFgTHDP8ARv1ieMBKlxkacApJu-X9XaPngQnzpsX6UYJ7ldUdrgZGmpX4J2B0romjsOeF_nY8uizgdcQ" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAWqQkdNVczm1LbaZfZNnFCzKd2K5HfVopfNSuwR8cj3MnH6g6D-hP4VoUnaes35RVN3Ugru6MUUn1913xM6B7FxMLkFtJ_JMgRWbDFrQcq9EbU5ntaHOPvGyVxwxWRAhx19ipdDpJF6WBpq-O3MnPL36bDHIFcbVt7wehGptRvfW3aTVHnr4t9yTMrA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiAWqQkdNVczm1LbaZfZNnFCzKd2K5HfVopfNSuwR8cj3MnH6g6D-hP4VoUnaes35RVN3Ugru6MUUn1913xM6B7FxMLkFtJ_JMgRWbDFrQcq9EbU5ntaHOPvGyVxwxWRAhx19ipdDpJF6WBpq-O3MnPL36bDHIFcbVt7wehGptRvfW3aTVHnr4t9yTMrA" width="180" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So anyways, Castle Point. As you all know, April was somewhat of a busier month than usual, with me continuing to work on some leftover projects from Winter and resolve some recent tech issues I was running into with my computers. The month also brought some very unusual weather patterns, including early Summer weather for one week after Easter weekend before the temperatures suddenly dropped afterwards. Then, the weather conditions got gloomier towards the end of the month, with large amounts of clouds and rain in the skies for most days of the week... and then it rained, rained, and rained. Pretty much the entire convention took place under a heavy storm that ran through both the 29th and the 30th, forcing everyone to stay indoors and deriving attendees the chance of enjoying the sunshine and being able to wander the exterior of the complex. Thankfully, with the move to the Meadowlands Expo Center that occurred in 2018, attendees were able to stay under one roof where the convention’s main attractions and almost all the panels and live performances resided, with cosplay meetups, some panels, and the “Maid Cafe” being in the Harmony Suites building right next door.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The layout was identical to Castle Point Anime Convention 2022. Walking into the main building, you had four distinct regions: The Gaming Area on the southwest corner, the Artist’s Alley on the southeast corner, the Dealer’s Room (Vendor’s Hall) on the northeast corner, and finally the photo booths and live stage on the northwest corner. The first thing the jumped out when looking at the schedule was that the artist alley was set to close an hour later than usual: 8PM instead of the usual 7PM. While it did give attendees the chance to finish up their vendor and artist shopping without being rushed, some of the artists were exhausted by the final hour and a few would close up anyways up to 30 minutes earlier. The Gaming Area was pretty much the same as well, just with a few shakeups in the arcade and console game lineup (some of which were genuine surprises while others, like the rhythm games, were mostly expected). Unlike last year where I was able to play a few of the games following the closure of the Artist’s Alley, this yeah I didn’t bother because I would leave not that long after the closure of the vendors’ and artists’ respective areas.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because of the size of the venue compared to, say, the home of NYCC and AnimeNYC at the Javits Center, transitioning between each area was short and seamless. You could go between the gaming room and artist’s alley in no time flat, access all the panel rooms (sans the one located in the Harmony Suites next door) whenever, and if you needed to get some food, the dining area in the back end was easily accessible, even if most of the attendees didn’t want to travel out in the rain to access the food trucks. However, everything being located in a large, open room meant that whatever performances were at the live stage drowned out most of the audio throughout the event, making it harder to chat with people. A similar issue occurred at CPAC 2022 as well, and I’m wondering if it’s even possible that the audio could be turned down slightly so other parts of the convention aren’t as affected by the loud music blasting everywhere. At least they saved their loudest performance for the very end of the day right when half the con was closed up and the only things still open were the gaming area and the live stage.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now let’s talk about convention cosplay shoots, because boy do I have quite a collection. Owing to the smaller venue size and me going into two panels throughout the day, one for 30 minutes and another for a hour, I didn’t make cosplay photos a priority (especially with exterior shots not being remotely possible due to the rain). After going all out at AnimeNYC 2022, I felt like it was a necessary procedure so I wasn’t overexerting myself looking for more things to photograph. In the end, I wound up with a total of 124 different cosplay photos, each representing different popular series in the anime scene when also taking the artist’s alley into account:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Genshin Impact still has the strongest showing of all, with most of the artists in Artist’s Alley carrying one or several pieces of merchandise for it and there being quite a few Genshin cosplayers roaming the venue. I couldn’t tell if it got more or less cosplayers this time around, considering the complexity of the outfits and how much other anime franchises got support this year.</span></li><li class="li3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>One Piece got a very strong showing, especially amongst the cosplayers— so much so that several medium and large crowd shoots occurred with a bunch of One Piece cosplayers out in the main hallways.</span></li><li class="li3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Pokemon was also a favorite amongst the cosplayers and the artists in Artist’s Alley, some of it having to do with the “Castle Point Pokemon League” where you could collect badges from certain Pokemon cosplayers and challenge a Champion attending the convention in a real Pokemon battle in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet.</span></li><li class="li3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was almost right behind Genshin Impact, having a fair number of cosplayers and a healthy dose of artists supporting it to boot. Parts 3, 5, and 6 received the most rep.</span></li><li class="li3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Demon Slayer had a good presence at the convention, although not as much as I remember it having when it was at its peak back 2019.</span></li><li class="li3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>One franchise I was surprised to see make a resurgence this year was Naruto, which is impressive considering the series’ heyday has long passed by now, yet it still remains relevant in anime culture and I wouldn’t be shocked if more Naruto cosplayers appear at AnimeNext and AnimeNYC.</span></li></ul><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, the event delivered, though a part of me feels like I enjoyed 2022’s event a bit more in comparison. Probably because of the hype of it being the first main convention I attended since the start of the pandemic and not being stuck in poor weather. With the review concluded, here’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.5961979120516447">a direct link to this event’s cosplay photo gallery</a> on my Facebook as well as this convention's round of <a href="http://aozorasadventure.blogspot.com/2023/05/castle-point-anime-convention-2023.html">commission scans</a>. As for where I'll be next? Well, none other than AnimeNext next month.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-61830263290135515442023-04-18T22:50:00.006-07:002023-05-22T08:57:47.909-07:00Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Anniversary Bash 25: The Recap<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOZnIrY8FS60nVZHFfbSW4y82hpBWOwtmEuEJjrzgtxVe-iV_XDWFHKHwPuQv_3iYcASorRE9oFXaSSDIUVoEGi8dYvcYEyeuHP2vBxtfTVksQPHaqGXoj9NDzzyksLwXoawJt7IiBREwTa7802_qswdfHCdo0OWwVNko0XO78AyJRuOHcKVLzuSVnPQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOZnIrY8FS60nVZHFfbSW4y82hpBWOwtmEuEJjrzgtxVe-iV_XDWFHKHwPuQv_3iYcASorRE9oFXaSSDIUVoEGi8dYvcYEyeuHP2vBxtfTVksQPHaqGXoj9NDzzyksLwXoawJt7IiBREwTa7802_qswdfHCdo0OWwVNko0XO78AyJRuOHcKVLzuSVnPQ=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last year, I wrote a small blog entry on the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Anniversary Bash, an annual community event for Epic Games’ long-forgotten late 90’s run-and-gun. I took part in the 24th iteration of the Bash due to being in the right place at the right time, having just bought the game through GOG (including its expansion pack, The Secret Files, for free). And this year, the community was returning with another four-day weekend of rabbit roasting on Easter weekend. This time, it was a milestone event, celebrating 25 years since the launch of the original Jazz Jackrabbit 2 in 1998.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The game’s small but dedicated community hopped online to experience the Anniversary Bash early Friday afternoon (in US EST at least). The format was similar to the year prior: Day 1 was pure (Death)Match, Day 2 was Capture the Flag, Day 3 was various alternate rulesets with a focus on Free-for-All (Last Rabbit Standing, Zombies, Randomizer, and Spaceships), and Day 4 was a variety of team-based objectives (Deathflag, Multi-Flag CTF, Ruler vs. Ruler, and Team Spaceships) that would end with one final surprise: the free-for-all survival game mode Ground Force, where players must destroy structures and platforms to ring-out opponents without falling off themselves. It was part of the third day of last year’s Anniversary Bash but was initially not set to return for this year until player feedback caused it to serve as the event’s finale until the server would empty out (or what actually happened: everyone getting kicked due to the server crashing at the last minute).</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMN0_j85RjsGoQsQQAet9tTBmIbb3xCgmq4Hy70LQ8dQ2gDFKrPqi6ZcLaJGtkOqfWqq0uI5WMIwbv2CuoF2w4iyGOq2ao80OlhL2rkasJoHHENHt7C0r5pU7ToL_j_lDlXdFA7kRWbItFi93vLZIsz-mglWuXIeJGQx6Lby802eQn32KwBOOKE1CVJQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMN0_j85RjsGoQsQQAet9tTBmIbb3xCgmq4Hy70LQ8dQ2gDFKrPqi6ZcLaJGtkOqfWqq0uI5WMIwbv2CuoF2w4iyGOq2ao80OlhL2rkasJoHHENHt7C0r5pU7ToL_j_lDlXdFA7kRWbItFi93vLZIsz-mglWuXIeJGQx6Lby802eQn32KwBOOKE1CVJQ" width="320" /></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_dXNE-1UFOQpeoBSQJ96WNa36907YBtILHiZgcfs-kkmXFi55N_HWNTObPsRmptzXHruyxNP_AnNUb2D6wYztx9rqJ8pTCodgB2FX4WWma8G3WKNl2mpPGpw-12sR7GFTius74-sBb7fhmGwVwRAsnYm8f5eyocLMCbhnKDxnStHUlTXOTtemarEsIQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_dXNE-1UFOQpeoBSQJ96WNa36907YBtILHiZgcfs-kkmXFi55N_HWNTObPsRmptzXHruyxNP_AnNUb2D6wYztx9rqJ8pTCodgB2FX4WWma8G3WKNl2mpPGpw-12sR7GFTius74-sBb7fhmGwVwRAsnYm8f5eyocLMCbhnKDxnStHUlTXOTtemarEsIQ" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTTrl7zD7v2JtKN0IWH0M9LhsF1bZ1foIyMl_cTkKBkIHY-CUQ_z4BTxskDQJObmSET38OeVVBlDxJumLTPsIMGTvjgKkTjRttlveyFyaGxzyqcv9jJqmyVb2dDbVFk8p_pMR94giScCfL2-FpINl4CWM9gSIGconx-KHDU14C_8-1g827dKyDE7w7_Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTTrl7zD7v2JtKN0IWH0M9LhsF1bZ1foIyMl_cTkKBkIHY-CUQ_z4BTxskDQJObmSET38OeVVBlDxJumLTPsIMGTvjgKkTjRttlveyFyaGxzyqcv9jJqmyVb2dDbVFk8p_pMR94giScCfL2-FpINl4CWM9gSIGconx-KHDU14C_8-1g827dKyDE7w7_Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTTrl7zD7v2JtKN0IWH0M9LhsF1bZ1foIyMl_cTkKBkIHY-CUQ_z4BTxskDQJObmSET38OeVVBlDxJumLTPsIMGTvjgKkTjRttlveyFyaGxzyqcv9jJqmyVb2dDbVFk8p_pMR94giScCfL2-FpINl4CWM9gSIGconx-KHDU14C_8-1g827dKyDE7w7_Q" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyYGCoFBppiyQz156_plQD8zpsS77VEj0TjVybfrISLQS9iQmI4Nrz-GlR8RxRDsibttz8fwl9F2-guUVl1xWol-wXy5-V6DE2qosIFE9GzPqCgjdi9fFwUtbpXt1eXYuFHvDJHS0q7iCXxyFhyz4TXfshlt2yfYgwSN8uROen6VFU7wzX95FFjPHNww" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyYGCoFBppiyQz156_plQD8zpsS77VEj0TjVybfrISLQS9iQmI4Nrz-GlR8RxRDsibttz8fwl9F2-guUVl1xWol-wXy5-V6DE2qosIFE9GzPqCgjdi9fFwUtbpXt1eXYuFHvDJHS0q7iCXxyFhyz4TXfshlt2yfYgwSN8uROen6VFU7wzX95FFjPHNww" width="320" /><br /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoOHQlbs3m7RXH_gB5pkLydtXE7yq35KMcrxKNTciA8KOkiL46RfUzoFfntVjqjg4jvInEv8i09SJjrvPmNS_vMl2dT3os3ASVuz3PPoNGkVq8aGYDDgpMmx_OjMpf9YsxQkokZiuoz4FT42gRjyV7_I14zwAFVpHWj1HpJ0iCW86GUcNQl2E-5XXliw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoOHQlbs3m7RXH_gB5pkLydtXE7yq35KMcrxKNTciA8KOkiL46RfUzoFfntVjqjg4jvInEv8i09SJjrvPmNS_vMl2dT3os3ASVuz3PPoNGkVq8aGYDDgpMmx_OjMpf9YsxQkokZiuoz4FT42gRjyV7_I14zwAFVpHWj1HpJ0iCW86GUcNQl2E-5XXliw" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhdWhOi31DAsVg8sHibBRW6-H-ufG1X0RflEzOjSpw-32TKW-Oc9pZkWopsd23tb-rnOhTrEuOT2HHet_aMFwTyShQzNwhSbuGbtmEZ6bBkfwcj63Trb50iObRMFpbJ0Uq-mjTAvQYwxCmQtcLr9YZ83UYQy-PPFDfnpNkbJkvIw59YKuC9mbBtIrOhQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhdWhOi31DAsVg8sHibBRW6-H-ufG1X0RflEzOjSpw-32TKW-Oc9pZkWopsd23tb-rnOhTrEuOT2HHet_aMFwTyShQzNwhSbuGbtmEZ6bBkfwcj63Trb50iObRMFpbJ0Uq-mjTAvQYwxCmQtcLr9YZ83UYQy-PPFDfnpNkbJkvIw59YKuC9mbBtIrOhQ" width="320" /></a></div></div></div></div></div></span><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The map set featured in the Bash contained a mix of new and returning maps, some being instantly recognizable from Anniversary Bash 24. When it comes to the maps themselves, there weren’t really any that I’d say I disliked playing on, though there was a few maps with pretty strong chokepoints, especially in the Capture the Flag map set. Other maps contained the rare setpiece that seemed to be designed with Spaz Jackrabbit in mind thanks to being far and away the most popular Jackrabbit of the trio of playable characters. That doesn’t mean the other Jackrabbits are completely unviable picks; I played as Jazz and managed to score a few wins and high placements, and a few other players were able to bring similar results with Lori.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Server latency was still very much an issue in Jazz Jackrabbit 2, causing actions to not exactly match up with how the the server was seeing and displaying the action. Understandable considering I was playing on a server from across the Atlantic Ocean and without serious rewrites to the game’s net code there’s pretty much no chance that we’ll see something that works better for players playing from long distances. That said, I believe my new, more powerful computer was able to mitigate the latency issues to an extent and I was able to use this to my advantage in a few games to score some surprise hits/frags and escape the bottom half of the rankings every now and then.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, the event was fun and it was nice being able to experience a game I don’t end up playing that often nowadays with a community I’m mostly new to, especially when it comes by only once a year. Maybe in 2024 there will be more shakeups and fun surprises on Anniversary Bash 26? Only time will tell. </span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-27802350488431202792023-03-30T23:02:00.004-07:002023-03-31T08:33:02.992-07:00Soundtrack Double Feature: Christmas in Springtime in Hell<p>This post came a little later than I'd like- my Mac had a sudden hardware failure and I had to rush it to the Apple store at the mall for repairs... thankfully unlike what happened three years ago I had a backup at the ready so nothing was lost in the long run. It still put me out of being able to work on my stuff until today, and before I was forced to bring my computer in for repairs, I had ripped two new soundtracks (or at least put them into a format one can easily put them in their music player of choice). But of course, I like to offer a little background on each respective soundtrack. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN4Ly3oXOUBvuWxDe17Az3_48mrOnPFfoMDGdOs4Ccn1mCiKGNlysrjEeSgQzL97qwElxo3G9uTCWd_x4QKCDxzi5M0TjEHWEwnyw8ENxmfusm7HvAc945qUaWFvX7PUBgfvEYYsgMlOeKzoyoiE5TkXH9mIFCRGHK8D7EIhtvudixuXkOJXVnhU400w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN4Ly3oXOUBvuWxDe17Az3_48mrOnPFfoMDGdOs4Ccn1mCiKGNlysrjEeSgQzL97qwElxo3G9uTCWd_x4QKCDxzi5M0TjEHWEwnyw8ENxmfusm7HvAc945qUaWFvX7PUBgfvEYYsgMlOeKzoyoiE5TkXH9mIFCRGHK8D7EIhtvudixuXkOJXVnhU400w" width="256" /></a></div>Since 2009, <a href="https://www.retrousb.com/">retroUSB</a> has created special NES cartridges themed around the holidays to sell on their website. While I never had a personal interest in purchasing these cartridges, they are pretty neat novelties--including a (sometimes interactive) Christmas visual with 8-bit renditions of holiday songs you can leave on in the background during a Christmas gathering and a Christmas themed game or mod. The cartridges also aren't your standard grey plastic: these come in clear white and shine internal LED's like a Christmas tree when plugged into an NES and powered on. Several of the 8-bit Xmas cartridges, including 2015 and 2016's, were showcased at the Festival of Games, a retro gaming-themed holiday event from the same hosts that brought you Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. One of these special cartridges was even used to command a literal quartet of ROB's to dance to Christmas songs.<br /><p></p><p>Of course, you can also get the ROMs to plug into your favorite emulator, and that leads me to 8-bit Xmas 2021, an extensive mod of Excitebike that swaps the bikers with ducks on snowmobiles, adds four player support, and widens the track to six lanes over the original four. It only runs four (music) tracks long: the three songs that play on the title screen, and the theme of the game itself, Exciteduck, which shifts in speed depending on the speed of the ducks. The latter steals the whole show and I would recommend giving the OST a listen if only to hear the Exciteduck theme alone, though that's not to say the title screen tunes aren't worth it if you're in the mood for something a bit more relaxed and fitting for the season... in nine months from now anyways.</p><p>Grab the soundtrack for 8-bit Xmas 2021 <a href="https://mega.nz/file/lugCQICI#vsGr7xcJttGt4oNThDExTgYBjfo6ktl1ZRUgd-DzOwA">here</a>. Of course, this isn't the only game soundtrack I have prepped for today, as I have one more treat for everyone.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe0XtWsG-uHgEJBalnDGI8Ap6kxHB7oALvxM4TBw2kMjNoQEv1OWJtCzjIB5KkHxemGc25ZOxxquv671XEl-g0Z3X1yOmuY2kmg6Qn4d4SnwVS0WiEFkim392q3Y07EeleJJIl04kYCQnBEJT1s2xNkEm7SyAyd1NS4mjUMtkwZdkjyKqrmwrTtoqjWg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="315" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe0XtWsG-uHgEJBalnDGI8Ap6kxHB7oALvxM4TBw2kMjNoQEv1OWJtCzjIB5KkHxemGc25ZOxxquv671XEl-g0Z3X1yOmuY2kmg6Qn4d4SnwVS0WiEFkim392q3Y07EeleJJIl04kYCQnBEJT1s2xNkEm7SyAyd1NS4mjUMtkwZdkjyKqrmwrTtoqjWg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Some of you may be familiar with Doom, the legendary FPS from the 90's that spawned a million different mods providing new levels, gameplay tweaks, and soundtracks composed in midi instruments. During the end of the front half of 2022, I ended up in a sudden classic Doom phase, playing dozens and dozens of mods throughout the year and even into 2023, and one of the mods I played was the <a href="https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/63561-plutonia-midi-pack-project-idgames-link-available/">Plutonia MIDI Pack</a>, a music mod that replaces the stock Doom/Doom II soundtrack with new compositions designed for use with The Plutonia Experiment, one half of the commercial mod compilation Final Doom, which initially lacked music created specifically for it.<div><br /></div><div>The soundtrack quickly grew on me throughout 2022, and while the raw midi files were included as extras in the mod download, not many music players support midi format music. This music rip converts them to the more universal mp3 with all the appropriate tags so you can easily listen to them at your own leisure. Of course, I always encourage you to give the MIDI pack a try if you like the songs and want to see how they transform and complement the atmosphere of the Plutonia Experiment.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Plutonia MIDI Pack's soundtrack can be found <a href="https://mega.nz/file/kzoj0KyC#QQ-aNvNwxXNCre0zpXwV7od79_wSnMfReUmweXfLcAA">here</a>. The MIDI version of the soundtrack (as well as the mod itself) can be directly downloaded from <a href="https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/music/plutmidi">here</a>.<br /><br /><p></p></div><div>And that's all I have for today- Next month should be pretty packed, with prepping for Easter and the first big convention of the year, and I still have some blog posts I'd like to write to fill the void while I grind out projects in the back. That said, I bid you farewell for now.</div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-29451173743053192762023-03-23T23:15:00.002-07:002023-03-26T11:37:09.684-07:00The Conventions of 2023<p>It's that time of the year again. With March now almost over I figured now is a good time for a new convention schedule to set up the next few seasons of the year.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj54Sz0F51yHjgdBahynViEuSRm1uW2kEHxq6HdiZ3nv-VUkswOINLq0qnn_cj02pAmepJsVpArBXhcuaaYinwlk8sXhYL8Ptu_bYNiyJZNcgwI0S2OKubRYEKGK4n-KyhM-2JtF9SNPc5gC4Aw2GEQ1L2683wW9RZBajmI71HHn5QLY4DCcx02AQYiUg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2188" height="569" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj54Sz0F51yHjgdBahynViEuSRm1uW2kEHxq6HdiZ3nv-VUkswOINLq0qnn_cj02pAmepJsVpArBXhcuaaYinwlk8sXhYL8Ptu_bYNiyJZNcgwI0S2OKubRYEKGK4n-KyhM-2JtF9SNPc5gC4Aw2GEQ1L2683wW9RZBajmI71HHn5QLY4DCcx02AQYiUg=w640-h569" width="640" /></a></div>Since I still don't really feel like venturing outside my general area just yet, I'll be keeping the lineup of conventions to what I've attended per year since 2018 (disregarding the two years I skipped due to the pandemic). Most notable is the grand return of AnimeNext, which was skipped in 2022 due to ongoing issues with the Atlantic City Convention Center. Thus, the event was moved to a new home--the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center, which thankfully is much, much closer to my home than the previous location was by a whole two hours. That said, I will miss the aesthetics and atmosphere of Atlantic City- watching the sun set through the windows of the convention center and the beauty of the main lobby area lit by tons of lighting (and the stampede of Jojo cosplayers descending down the escalator at AnimeNext 2019) will forever be a local memory of mine.<p></p><div>For this year, I also decided to mark a few of the "side events" taking place on Long Island that I will be attending. EMcon is a smaller, warmup event the weekend before Castle Point Anime Convention with a few local artists and crafters and an all-ages approach with its presentation, Cradle Con and Long Island Tropic Con are two comic and general fandom events towards the end of Spring and Summer respectively, and Festival of Games is a holiday-themed offshoot of the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo themed around holiday shopping and Christmas-themed games and events. This isn't all of the side events that take place but these are the ones that I figured have enough importance to me (especially after Anime NYC left me too sore to attend one particular side event that was occurring the very same weekend).</div><div><br /></div><div>For main events on the other hand, there are certainly some I would be interested in attending in the future; however, they would be currently too long of a drive or are too close to other events that they would not likely go onto the schedule without cutting out others. Events like PAX East, Thy Geekdom Con, Anime Boston, and Otakon have been on the radar as events I could realistically attend, but with my physical conditions not being at their best and me only having so much money to spend at big conventions like these, I cannot possibly attend everything even if it would give me more excuses to get out and socialize with more artists and content creators. For now, expect the six events pictured above to make the cut each year for the foreseeable future until I feel adventurous enough to add some new events.</div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-66270055615516405902023-02-22T22:28:00.006-08:002023-02-22T22:30:23.662-08:00The Super Ultra Big Bad Fighting Game Tournament Turbo, a Concept<p> Hello everyone. Before I jump into what I decided to write up today, my plans to get back into doing art got sidelined due to this Winter being a bit more of a mess than I would have liked. Plus I got a bunch of WIP's still on the fence that I wanted to knock out some more progress on before adding on more to my agenda.</p><p>Anyways, here's what I decided to write up, and it's something you likely wouldn't expect from this blog at the end of the day. Last year I made a post on Combo Breaker, a yearly fighting game event that, alongside Frosty Faustings and CEO, excelled in showing a large variety of modern and retro fighters with thriving communities of various sizes--all as main tournaments. And well, after witnessing one of the tournaments offered in both Combo Breaker 2022 and Frosty Faustings 2023, the "Mystery Tournament", a Warioware-style mashup of random head-to-head games that sometimes broke away from the grounds of a fighting game, I suddenly began to brainstorm something which combined the strange and often forgotten (sometimes for good reasons) fighters featured in the Mystery Tournament with the absurdity and... some of the "badness" of Games Done Quick's Awful Games and Silly Games blocks.</p><p>And after some experimentation and further thought, I landed on the idea of a fighting game event that centered around two types of competitive brawlers: One would be for the main roster, featuring "kusoge" fighters that have obvious mechanical flaws, poor balancing, and overall lots of "jank" but still feature enough redeeming qualities and amusing aspects underneath to make for a thrilling and enjoyable player and spectator e-sport that can excite crowds and provide a serious competitive match in spite of the issues surrounding the game. Comedy fighters designed to be silly by their nature, and weaker installments in otherwise well known fighting game franchises would make up the remainder of the main list.</p><p>The other, more interesting category of fighters would be for the "Awful" roster: fighting games that suffer from even more design flaws compared to the main selection and are infamous among the FGC for how bad they are but can still result in good, dumb fun with players, commentators, and audiences coming together to hype them up like a serious competition in spite of their sheer lack of quality. However, anything that is so broken and reviled that nothing good can possibly come out of it would not be featured, and I did make a small blacklist of games that would have no shot of appearing, either for just not plain working in a competitive environment (<i>Rise of the Robots</i>) or not offering a two player option (<i>Human Killing Machine</i>).</p><p>While certainly not a finalized list, these were some examples for the main roster of games:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Breaker's Revenge (Arcade)</li><li>Castlevania Judgement (Wii)</li><li>Cho Aniki: Bakuretsu Ranto Hen (SNES)</li><li>Da Kyanta 2 (PC)</li><li>Dive Kick (PC)</li><li>Dong Dong Never Die (PC)</li><li>Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring (PS1)</li><li>Guilty Gear: the Missing Link (PS1)</li><li>Hokuto no Ken (PS2)</li><li>Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire (Arcade)</li><li>Mortal Kombat 4 (PS1/N64)</li><li>Bishojo Senshi Salior Moon S (SNES)</li><li>Shrek Super Slam (Gamecube)</li><li>Sonic the Fighters/Sonic Championship (Xbox 360)</li><li>Street Fighter the Movie: the Game (Arcade)</li><li>Street Fighter I (PC, via a recent compilation)</li><li>Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)</li><li>Tekken 4 (PS2)</li><li>Warpath: Jurassic Park (PS1)</li></ul><div>And then for the Awful Fighting Game roster:</div><div></div><p></p><ul><li>Balls 3D/Scultor's Cut (SNES/3DO)</li><li>Brutal: Paws of Fury/Above the Claw (Genesis/32X)</li><li>Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (SNES)</li><li>Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu (GBA, use Link Cable)</li><li>Kart Fighter (NES) (Super Kart Fighter mod)</li><li>Kasumi Ninja (Jaguar)</li><li>Mortal Kombat Advance (GBA, use Link Cable)</li><li>Pit Fighter (SNES)</li><li>Rise of the Robots 2: Resurrection (PS1)</li><li>Shaq Fu (Genesis)</li><li>The Simpsons Wrestling (PS1)</li><li>Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi (PS1)</li><li>Ultra Vortek (Jaguar)</li><li>Way of the Warrior (3DO)</li></ul><div>Of course neither of these lists are final, as I don't have enough experience with every game from this list to form a completely fleshed-out and polished game roster since I'm going off of others' coverages and retrospectives for the most part.</div><div><br /></div><div>With that said, and now that you have an idea of what kind of event I'd be interested in organizing, how exactly would a tournament like this even work? As much as I would love to see it done live, I think the most realistic outcome would be a online event, if only because an event like this wouldn't be able to achieve the playerbase or audience of a real fighting game community event in a strictly local environment because it doesn't have any of the big-name fighters currently on the market as part of the tournament lineup. And to be fair, they would have easily overshadowed the main games of the event if they were hosted and stick out like a sore thumb.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I was closer to the FGC and knew more about tournament organizing, I would be a lot more interested in possibly getting an event like this going as a yearly tradition celebrating the weird and janky fighters of an era long-passed. Until then, this wound up as yet another addition to the ideas pile and with nowhere else to put it, I decided to post it here. Who knows, maybe one year if I ever get into streaming, I might do a grand showcase of these fighters on my Twitch channel, but a full-blown tournament may be simply too much to ask just one person to organize and manage on their own.</div>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-38153298102749192062023-01-04T22:42:00.006-08:002023-04-04T10:03:33.514-07:00The belated "Welcome 2023" post<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDRqOCw8lgdfnHNI6ZNIZ0JBIx-R74rd8nEdiMlkLEX5Bd1yA4ToilBu-my78w-blS5gz89t3lNgNMQvRce4xO1c0HMHAxcGVrceGFfLP1nBJGykgRpKhXshHUJf73OfQBG8YawT3mY020Kmz4Jb1y2hn27tMyFGDX4_Rs2KOJNTMGzHjrqz5Ay3FGeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="284" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDRqOCw8lgdfnHNI6ZNIZ0JBIx-R74rd8nEdiMlkLEX5Bd1yA4ToilBu-my78w-blS5gz89t3lNgNMQvRce4xO1c0HMHAxcGVrceGFfLP1nBJGykgRpKhXshHUJf73OfQBG8YawT3mY020Kmz4Jb1y2hn27tMyFGDX4_Rs2KOJNTMGzHjrqz5Ay3FGeg" width="216" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Holy crud, I am so sorry this took me longer than I would have liked to write up and post. Considering I spent New Year’s setting up a brand new gaming/productivity PC, I was quite occupied with my time over the weekend downloading a bunch of games and software and I neglected most of my other pastimes as a result.<br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For those that didn’t catch the last major blogpost I wrote, I had announced that I’m beginning 2023 in a brief hiatus period, hopefully one of the final breaks from major productivity I will take, to focus on the holidays, my own health and, perhaps most importantly, changing my setup up to better benefit the various ventures I wish to take later in the year. Now with the holidays ending and the days getting longer, my plans are to slowly climb back into a productive state over the next few weeks/months. This includes resuming or getting back to grips with some hobbies of mine that I fell out of as the years went on for one reason or another, but one of those is of greater importance to me than the rest: Good ol taking a pencil and paper out and drawing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah it’s safe to say that I become a lot slower at drawing since 2018 or so and even my latest art from last year took me a whopping six months to complete. Using a mouse to make art may be good for precise strokes or lines and I have made it work in the past, but to make my art feel more organic and less time-consuming, I had to explore other options to bring myself up to speed and get some of these ideas I’ve had for art out the door. Of course I may still make some art the way I once did, mouse and all, but in a much faster process that doesn’t leave me zoned out and looking for frequent breaks and distractions, and I want to start making an attempt to break away from these old, bad habits of mine so I can feel more accomplished with my content and not feel like I have to rely on posting the same old art many times over the years or commission artists to fill the gaps. At the same time, breaking away from just drawing my original characters, a trait that ended up being bolted to my brain by an artist I follow back in 2012 or so, is another objective of mine, if only to give me more subjects to draw and represent a combination of well known and obscure fandoms and try my hand at adapting characters I never thought I would ever make fan art of into my style.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While art is not the only thing I want to get back into, it is by far the biggest thing I want to be the most known for aside from programing video games and maybe becoming a video game live-streamed, and being an artist is the one hobby that I feel like I can do decently with my current skillset and with all this equipment I have lying around and plan on setting up, I should be in a better position to experiment with returning to art, traditionally and digitally. I also would like to make a return to creating sprites and forming full sprite sheets using new techniques and tricks that I learned in the past few years and from observing game assets over the 2010’s and early 2020’s now that I’ve been figuring out Aseprite, a program that is much more strongly fit for creating custom sprites than recent versions of Photoshop (though I still do use Photoshop for a fair bit of sprite-making).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the holidays, I thought really hard about what was stopping me in my tracks and preventing me from committing to finishing projects in a short time for so many years. While there are certainly other factors, I think social media and the many distractions it has provided may or may not be the one defining contribution to my continued boredom and unwillingness to draw art and finish projects. In fact, last June, I made a new artist Twitter with the intent of using it in the off-chance I regained the confidence to draw more regularly, especially after my main account, Superjustinbros, became flooded in retweets and the occasional meme as time went on. And with twitter’s busted algorithm and other recent changes from the past year, it does not feel the same and I wouldn’t mind scaling back on using social media when I'm at home and could be getting creative in my free time.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking of Twitter, even if I do want to limit my interactions on social media to improve my mental health and drive myself to be more productive, I do intend to make my main account, Superjustinbros, art-focused as well to an extent. That said, AozoraJustin (as well as my currently neglected DeviantArt account) will be the prime stop for anything I create, as the name would strongly fit as a professional alias if I ever expand my horizons into new ventures (and I may open a new YouTube account under that name for bigger projects while rebooting SuperJustinChannel into a channel for smaller, more personal projects).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I did create a Discord server as a form of future-proofing but it is currently not ready nor intended to be opened to the public at this time. As for my other sites and social medias, I began to use the Aozora blog as a showcase of convention commissions as I don’t exactly have any other use for it for the time being and if I wanted a blog focused on Aozora, I would prefer to make a website focused on Aozora and my other game concepts from scratch rather than use Blogspot. Of course Super Justin the Blog is a more casual space to give updates on personal life, events, and miscellaneous content I create that doesn’t really have a place on these other sites, and while I do plan to give this blog small updates (especially a new banner with updated render) the current state of Super Justin the Blog will likely be carried over into the future and beyond (and because I really miss 2000’s era websites in this day and age).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh look at the time. It’s late and I got a speed running marathon to check out next week. I’ll be back with more content when the time comes to do more writing.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-27281892909378761592022-12-22T16:32:00.004-08:002022-12-22T16:34:45.928-08:00Happy Holidays from Superjustinbros<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLkZ-qRKRWxawAxqDNO-qEHpzy9KHLNeV95aOhFuzDwyiIw-JVUH33DOkDhsIUl_VdkRKz9Zya9JCdCeN5OtOHNwLxVLwo5-hfvl8O7OIVU2NNrKuKTD31IPreGKj9A1Ir1V3px3GmaS_8UszCYVwHar-wlbq0KUNaJoEmlofbWJmN3_G_waFrJ4MIhg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLkZ-qRKRWxawAxqDNO-qEHpzy9KHLNeV95aOhFuzDwyiIw-JVUH33DOkDhsIUl_VdkRKz9Zya9JCdCeN5OtOHNwLxVLwo5-hfvl8O7OIVU2NNrKuKTD31IPreGKj9A1Ir1V3px3GmaS_8UszCYVwHar-wlbq0KUNaJoEmlofbWJmN3_G_waFrJ4MIhg" width="257" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Hey everyone. With Christmas rapidly approaching and Hanukah coming up a few days later, I wanted to make a small post to wish all my friends that celebrate the holidays a very jolly Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and overall a great holiday season.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'll be back in a few days with one more post to close out the year, whenever it lands at the end of the month or the first week of the month, so stay tuned!</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-11052692955504338272022-12-19T22:50:00.003-08:002022-12-19T22:50:34.948-08:00 The final hiatus… maybe.<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">With only a few days before the new year, you would expect a new year’s blogpost to be around the corner. This isn’t exactly that blog post, but it does kind of come pretty close to the end of 2022 so I wouldn’t be surprised if this was mistaken for the end of the year update I’ve done on this blog for a few years now.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">For those of you that didn’t tune into my posts across the year, this year was a big, stressful mess. Even after doing what would become my only big art post of the year, my attempts and plans to do more art and big creative projects beyond that one post fell by the wayside as I focused on smaller projects and documents. I attribute this to some pretty bad physical health issues I was running into since the end of January, in addition to my mother’s back to back surgeries in the summer and me still struggling to get into a healthier sleeping schedule. There’s other parts that have been stressing me out but I think you can paint a pretty good picture about how this year was to me. Thankfully the year was still good, but considering what I had to deal with and my inability to focus on my passions beyond some game concepts, it could have been a lot better.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was also the year, especially during the summer, where I noticed a lot of my current tech was either outdated or going on the verse of being labeled as such, and it also made me ponder if my current workstation, which has remained the same since about 2013 or so, is even suitable for creating the content I wish to be remembered for. Considering I’ve been struggling to get back into drawing art (and pixel art/sprites) regularly for years, even before the days of the pandemic, and now with there being no big events until next April, I thought maybe it was time to give a refresh to “the lair” so I can acquire try out some new tech that may or may not help with my creative output. I also decided to go on a small break and temporarily scale down on what I’m working on since it’s the holidays and Christmas is next weekend. I have no say on when exactly the break will end, but I’ll be spending most of it setting up the new workstation and whatever equipment I and up with.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In short, this is what I’m hoping to get into, or resume doing, in no particular order:</span></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Traditional Artwork and Concept Sketching.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Digital Artwork and Graphic/UI Design.</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Sprites and Spritework</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Live Game Streaming (slightly less priority, we’ll see when/if I feel like streaming)</span></li><li class="li2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Game design and conceptualization (with some programing on the side?)</span></li></ul><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s more, for sure, though with everything on the plate these four seem like the most realistic possibilities with my current/forthcoming tech, programs, and equipment as well as my current skill level. I promise I will not be leaving everyone hanging as much as I did this year but I will need some time to get to grips with everything and I don’t think it’s worth sharing every little thing I create anyways. Plus my last attempt to return to traditional works in 2017 did not end in a way I would have liked (the drawing desk being too big for my room and ultimately discarding it a few months later) and that made me hesitant to return to it until earlier this year. When my attempt to go back to digital, as awesome as it turned out, didn’t last as long as it did thanks to what would happen in the middle of the year.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So that’s what I plan to do for the rest of December and the first few months in 2023 before the next season of conventions begins. As I hinted at I’ll have a followup post of sorts out sometime around New Year’s since there’s quite a few days left in December, and while I’m not quite done with chatting I’d rather save the rest for one final blogpost to cap off 2022 so I’m not confining it all to one somewhat anticlimatic post for everyone to take in all at once.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-90185280829047229332022-11-26T22:33:00.000-08:002022-11-26T22:33:38.135-08:00The 2022 Convention Update: New York Conic Con and Anime NYC<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinjP2bBcrfu_PaJi_IbB9FBdD_DVU-FnHOgzLqe6FGlmGszlEXBr4ZtAJkFn71NR8rsB3rrn92F_-u52cW0aNidNZ4O9Qr3t8QZnt6Kz9N6mfeqWzl8fzBtk_DynJ3popq0WkfO8H4B0CiKPUR0HlSSS01jihqUXBB3xL9gkZVcJ1QIbTjTrOZbQQxUQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2667" data-original-width="5892" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinjP2bBcrfu_PaJi_IbB9FBdD_DVU-FnHOgzLqe6FGlmGszlEXBr4ZtAJkFn71NR8rsB3rrn92F_-u52cW0aNidNZ4O9Qr3t8QZnt6Kz9N6mfeqWzl8fzBtk_DynJ3popq0WkfO8H4B0CiKPUR0HlSSS01jihqUXBB3xL9gkZVcJ1QIbTjTrOZbQQxUQ=w640-h290" width="640" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Greetings everyone. Since the final batch of conventions have come and gone and I finally have a few months on break, I think it’s only natural that I write up a blog post on the final two events of the year, as well as some looking back on the other events I’ve attended since April this year.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With the pandemic loosening it’s grips on society, the experience you all know as “the convention” could resume after two years of being affected gravely by the virus that resulted in said pandemic. While some conventions did happen towards the tail end of 2021, I was still in hiding from the virus and didn’t become fully boosted until February of this year. And by then, all six conventions that I had attended in 2019 planned to make a grand return in 2022, to varying results.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Castle Point Anime Convention 2022 was the comeback to cons that I had long, long dreamed of. Meeting artists and seeing my buddies and several other artists for the first time in years was a welcome experience, and the convention was just big enough to where there was enough to do without feeling too large or overwhelming. The same can not be said for AnimeNext, as they were forced to bail out for another year due to schedule conflicts with a concert that was happening in the same timeframe and the venue’s total disregard for COVID-19 safety procedures. As for the local conventions that took place on my home turf, Eternal Con was a slight disappointment, as the new venue the con was forced into didn’t really bring much new in with its somewhat confusing layout and a reduction of artists in the artist alley compared to the pre-pandemic era, making it feel emptier than usual. Long Island Retro Gaming Expo gave some of its smaller components a much needed expansion, resulting in a much meatier event overall with its only downside being the lack of an artist alley somewhere in the event space.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5HDibIAPYADUw-j_BWSOx_Eppe2M0VjBRBTkXArQKg0Jrw-k0Ns8m3DQxrP_JvQ10Dh3E123pnCifRM2ab-XIFBTJ748ovBm97vAVIFmJkgOAMzSvLB0ltjL7u-0vjU4IL1N0fJVEEmK3vhevHgZslcO6pNQF5MFba9vYyw77CdDeq9kTB5E9Gj_nJw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5HDibIAPYADUw-j_BWSOx_Eppe2M0VjBRBTkXArQKg0Jrw-k0Ns8m3DQxrP_JvQ10Dh3E123pnCifRM2ab-XIFBTJ748ovBm97vAVIFmJkgOAMzSvLB0ltjL7u-0vjU4IL1N0fJVEEmK3vhevHgZslcO6pNQF5MFba9vYyw77CdDeq9kTB5E9Gj_nJw" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUciAl1W3Lb1uB5clb1MYXjWTqvC2xd3B98II-0Z5qB9ahLKo2aWD9FoJfk7XkQCfnLai3bUozEFOEAMfbReip2D7GJV8WpU0LYKdikpf5onIn6124-sTpjg2WwI2003_WhFNOAFPW7xASr_ylfMQO7a4YtJZ9p4rTnmqDMxplw7cduPcvmOPD-XcUog" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUciAl1W3Lb1uB5clb1MYXjWTqvC2xd3B98II-0Z5qB9ahLKo2aWD9FoJfk7XkQCfnLai3bUozEFOEAMfbReip2D7GJV8WpU0LYKdikpf5onIn6124-sTpjg2WwI2003_WhFNOAFPW7xASr_ylfMQO7a4YtJZ9p4rTnmqDMxplw7cduPcvmOPD-XcUog" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And after taking September off, New York Comic Con arrived guns and blazing in all its corporate, advertisement-filled glory, still being by far the largest event I attend year round. Maybe a bit too big, as I’ll elaborate later. Without a doubt this was a big event with lots to do, and like most modern incarnations of NYCC, there was a decent amount of Eastern media present front and center at the show- One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Gundam had entire booths set up, and other prominent franchises of Japanese origin had presences at the event. Of course the bread and butter of New York Comic Con was, well, comics, western TV shows, and films. I’ll admit, back in the day, I never thought I would gain an appreciation for comic conventions, but after various past NYCC’s genuinely entertained me, especially NYCC 2018, I welcomed the event into my yearly schedule with open arms. That said, this year’s NYCC felt a little too overblown for me, especially since my mother, whom I brought to the event to experience it with me, was still in the mist of recovering from the surgery that out her out of the summer conventions, so it made the event more tense and stressful for the two of us, combined with having to survive the typical crowds everyone that has attended the event (or any big show for the matter) is familiar with.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Usually in comic and anime conventions, I easily glance over the vendors hall (or dealers room as I sometimes call it) in favor of the artist’s alley, but New York Comic Con’s vendors easily steal the show year by year. Gigantic booths full of spectacle spanned the front of the vendor’s hall and had gigantic lines with unique experiences and free goodies for grabs. There were so many big booths this year that it all just blew past me and I ended up missing a good few of the larger booths, but then again I come to conventions more for the social aspect and the views, not the “experiences”. Thankfully the vendors’ hall was not as swamped with people as you would expect in a big event once you got past the booth closer to the front, but the same can not be said for the artist alley. The artist alley was just chaos at New York Comic Con and remained mostly so even into the final hour. Large industry vets with history working with the biggest names in comics were shoved in alongside indie artists and other local talent, making everything feel overwhelming and, dare I say, claustrophobic. Simply put, having all these artists in one place was too big for just one of the exhibition halls on the lowest floor and by the time I left, I had only seen half of the artists in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the artist alley.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall the experience was alright, though having to rush between the vendors hall and artist alley and make sure my mother was alright made things a bit more stressful than I would have liked, and having to divide the artist alley on a separate floor, while understandable due to the sheer number of artists, contributed to the rushed feeling I was experiencing as the sun dropped outside and the place slowly began to close in the evenings. Considering how disorganized everything was on my end, there were no cosplay photos for this event and I didn’t shoot any videos (to be fair, the place was packed and my phone doesn’t have the greatest camera, being several years old and all). I packed up my belongings, said goodbye to the people I met, and left, wishing I had an extra day to take in more of the event and the artists crammed into the lower floor.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsN1jvuYujfRg3Gh0LX6Y3EHDFL4pnu9PFMH7QjTAW_asIubOL6elQHcSgTSEuaXjHlvkwURNzKrDTOfOt2bHnbpKkEmPKOeXTlh36KlfkyMVAmXhqrmuqrdIKiYdKPvm7FS0v51x6Ndp3kE9JtZH34YsDzuZtx9r2y_tgO_J2_g-u0W7HF4-dLaDiDw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsN1jvuYujfRg3Gh0LX6Y3EHDFL4pnu9PFMH7QjTAW_asIubOL6elQHcSgTSEuaXjHlvkwURNzKrDTOfOt2bHnbpKkEmPKOeXTlh36KlfkyMVAmXhqrmuqrdIKiYdKPvm7FS0v51x6Ndp3kE9JtZH34YsDzuZtx9r2y_tgO_J2_g-u0W7HF4-dLaDiDw" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Luckily for me, Anime NYC returned in a blaze of glory the very next month. With the crowds not as dense as New York Comic Con, it was much easier to get around the lobbies and the openings into the vendors. The convention had expanded gradually over the first three years it was held—the vendors’ hall easily seeing the biggest jump in booth quantity once it re-opened in 2021. The artist’s alley, spending the first two years on the fourth floor and getting shoved behind the vendors in 2019, now has its own section off to the northern side of the venue. This easily solved the crowd problems the artist alley suffered in 2019 while still making it easy to access and walk around, compared to the severe congestions of NYCC’s artist alley. As for the vendors, I didn’t really pay much attention to them. Some of the major vendors had really neat setups, including the return of the giant blow-up Luffy from the Toei Animation booth and two giant Gundam statues for the Gundam booth, which was presented as its own expo within the convention. Most of the other vendors were typical anime convention vendors, though being a bigger venue there was at least more to offer, too bad I don’t want to lug rare anime merch around for ~10 hours…</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ticket prices went up this year compared to prior events, and access to panels and autographs were done through raffles instead of just simply being there at the right place at the right time, so there was quite a bit of controversy before the convention had even started. I wasn’t planning on attending panels this year (I only attended a single panel during this year of conventions) and I never went to conventions for the special guests anyways; plus that would have been even more crap to carry around for an entire day (and my backpack is only so big, do I need to plan for a camping trip here?). Still, a seemingly unnecessary price hike and having to use raffles for something as trivial as going to a panel seems like an attempt to combat the ever-ongoing pandemic, considering Anime NYC 2021 was one of the big spreader events towards the end of 2021. Maybe by 2023 things will go back to normal and people will be able to go to panels and see their favorite guests with no tickets required? And if people cite “the line”, every con has lines whenever you like it or not, though some are far worse than others.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the end, I enjoyed the event a great ton, it had a better artist’s alley but a downgraded vendor hall compared to New York Comic Con. I would say that it was a better time due to being less overwhelming and less packed than NYCC, but considering an explicitly anime convention would mostly only attract anime fans, it would be unfair to compare it to NYCC and the multi-genre approach it has taken in recent years. The lack of massive crowds did make it easier to take cosplay photos, and you all know where this is going…</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yup, cosplay time. Since AnimeNext didn’t happen, I ended up going overboard with the cosplay photos. Demon Slayer was still the top dog when it cane to representation, and fellow Shonen superstars Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and My Hero Academia still had a grand presence in the venue. The new flavor this time around was Chainsaw Man thanks to its very recent and hugely sucsesfull anime adaptation, and Bleach cosplays would make a surprise return in part due to the comeback of the anime. The hype of doing all these cosplay shots after resulted in a gallery of 199 photos, and considering the massive pain my legs were in, I don’t know if was worth the physical trauma or not. I doubt it’ll be a number I’ll ever top in the future especially when it only beat the previous record by 9 photos, but hey, quality over quantity they always say. That said it does make me realize that I could go for a new phone/camera for a bit of a picture quality and resolution boost sometime in the future.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can find the gallery of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/superjustinbros/posts/pfbid02fpkRK9Pvr2T8KSTvoC7x8GD2hvUprh6UYHKUbQeow48HRqrZq9PQrzCPBRC9o2Z7l">event cosplay photos here</a>.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that’s pretty much it for 2022’s season of conventions. Where do I go from here, and what are my plans for 2023? The resulting soreness from Anime NYC made me cancel a trip I had planned to a local con on my home turf that took place the same weekend as Anime NYC. Thankfully I do have two other local events besides that, including a small local comic convention and a winter-themed one-day spinoff of Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. I don’t consider them major enough to widely post them—especially when they’re both only one day long, hence why these smaller, local events have stayed off the schedule image I’ve used all year. In terms of new, bigger events, I briefly considered something to fill the void of AnimeNext’s cancelation, but nothing came of it. For potential new ventures, MAGFest, Thy Geekdom Con, and Otakon have all made an impression on me, but it would either make the schedule too over-bloated in events or take too long to drive to (especially when AnimeNext, back when it was at the Atlantic City Convention Center, was a four hour drive the way there and back). Never say never, but at the moment I’m sticking with the main six cons on my platter (with hopes that AnimeNext’s new venue choice will still deliver and EternalCon will be able to re-grow most of what it lost next year).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As for this blog, as well as myself, I think I need some time to think of what I would put into a new blogpost, especially since I still have an overall end-of-year blogpost to write up. Until then, I'll see you later.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-57354631963696791892022-10-13T23:15:00.003-07:002022-10-18T21:46:36.195-07:00Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch: A comprehensive tutorial<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL6fTk7Tw4DBc2hrsDzdkj5s8KXTGJP48d8TZKF8zqOCqCxrIPFVNy21NZ3_HRlcS8ZYUD9ze4FSBy00Vls3UxrGduPRzR6DtyzsOmIVj2ZhRXmWTdUgMfrk8E_BpnRvL1lO0TmpLHw0sOc_QHkW6idD6nlzBdYKr_-3rK5LutfqKKqmvM8NcvC1HXpw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL6fTk7Tw4DBc2hrsDzdkj5s8KXTGJP48d8TZKF8zqOCqCxrIPFVNy21NZ3_HRlcS8ZYUD9ze4FSBy00Vls3UxrGduPRzR6DtyzsOmIVj2ZhRXmWTdUgMfrk8E_BpnRvL1lO0TmpLHw0sOc_QHkW6idD6nlzBdYKr_-3rK5LutfqKKqmvM8NcvC1HXpw=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /> Hey everyone. I'm going to keep this post brief since it's something I've been wanting to get to making for some time to help introduce new people into the world of <a href="https://cutstuff.net/mm8bdm/">Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch</a> the same way I was all the way back in 2012.<p></p><p>Yup. I wrote a quick-start guide on how to install the game and several additional pieces of information I consider essential to first time players with the goal of keeping it updated over time to simplify any parts that may be too much and make any corrections. Believe me, setting up the game has gotten much, much easier compared to the old days of the 2010's when the program you had to use to go online did not come bundled with the game and had to be set up from square one, which is quite the amount of effort needed just to play multiplayer across the web.</p><p>I'm planning to make a sort of retrospective blog entry on my history with 8-Bit Deathmatch in the future, but for now I wanted to get this out the door and into people's laps so more players can check the game out now that its single-player story mode is now complete and the multiplayer component has been made much, much more accessible.</p><p>Without further ado, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JtgEF6aQWCHjOSzmK8abZQdUbA0hOgO2prxr9FKVaY0">here is the complete tutorial.</a> Feel free to give suggestions and feedback if there's something I'm missing or if there's any errors. I also made a version viewable on the <a href="https://cutstuff.net/forum/index.php?topic=11974.0">Cutstuff forums</a> for this reason.<br /></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-41752826044543853342022-09-12T21:24:00.001-07:002022-09-12T21:24:17.422-07:00A Slow Year<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Well hello everyone. It’s already September and it’s been a while since I’ve made a general update post to Super Justin: the Blog that isn’t live/remote event coverage. I would normally use Twitter to make posts like these but with how it would get buried under its busted algorithm (and who uses Facebook these days?) I instead opted to dust off the good ol blog and use it to let everyone know in greater detail just what exactly has been going on this summer, and to an extent, what I have planned for the rest of the year and into 2023.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As you can probably tell, I have not been in the mood to create as much as I once was. Even after completing a lineup of four different characters in what was supposed to be my big comeback, progress has still been agonizingly slow and any attempts to return to doing regular art or spritework have either spiraled into spending time on other, smaller projects that don’t require as much effort to get through or simply not bothering to get any work done, binging Youtube videos and enjoying some good video game beats. It’s made me feel a lot more lazy in general and it made me realize that I may need some kind of big refreshening beyond trying to expand out and learn new projects (which didn’t work out that well, if my attempt to break into learning Blender in 2021 is of any indication).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if you’re wondering about conventions, they can only really go so far in the grand scheme of things when it comes to keeping me motivated. While I love having them back in full swing for the first time since 2019 so I can go out, get exercise, and meet up with friends, they don’t really help keep my motivation at a high pace once I return home, and in July and August there was either a convention, a birthday party, or a video game night/event on every single weekend whenever it be Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday. It pretty much prevented me from getting a good, long break to rest my legs from whatever event(s) happened before the next one started up the following weekend. And this is ontop of the stress from my mother’s surgeries in late June and early July messing up the entire family routine though the following two months (and this is after already having surgery the prior Winter). Thankfully she’s recovering and will be able to walk by the end of the month even if she’ll be confined to a cast for a while longer.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In other words, consider this another small semi-hiatus. I didn’t want to pull out the hiatus card so soon after what was meant to be the return to making art but when I get so much on the mind and barely any time to take a breather among getting interests in a bunch of other, smaller projects catching my attention (like Doom mapping), I don’t think I’m in a state of mind where I can consistently make artwork or sprites and stay committed to one piece before moving onto other things. My workstation also currently doesn’t feel as tailored to drawing art (traditional especially) as I’d like, and the drawing tablet I got for my birthday takes up most of my desk and is too big to keep out at all times. Since it’s far too big of a scope for me at the moment I’m also putting game dev and 3D art through Blender a pass for now, though I do intend to pick them up when things improve. As for art, well, maybe I need to rediscover my passion for it after it slowly faded in the late 2010’s and it never really recovered since the pandemic’s beginning?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have so many questions and not enough answers, and I won’t know for sure until things start getting better around here and I have more encouragement, knowledge, and determination to dive into doing bigger things. As for this blog, I’m unsure when I’ll get around to posting new content proper, but if nothing comes then I’ll likely reserve an entire post for New York Comic Con 2022 mid-October.</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-54535700066529937982022-08-17T22:44:00.002-07:002022-08-17T23:00:40.834-07:00The 2022 Convention Update: Eternal Con and Long Island Retro Gaming Expo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS94SJ_o-3mCw3HhVZ9qOuCNd7ddnJKHaVdjhz1XbBH3iXcod-gKojzvz9NGgwXxJxTeG8vHSy7-FiCBIlLfJp0lEFpzKO3MGyjxCRU-tLWvgnEHRsM1KVW0VNQPB61a9gVIdrhlfOQQhZHFAFAcIAp3n99zz27BHUWZN2UEqNjPxF6kNKnYpa_TErsw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="2667" data-original-width="5892" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS94SJ_o-3mCw3HhVZ9qOuCNd7ddnJKHaVdjhz1XbBH3iXcod-gKojzvz9NGgwXxJxTeG8vHSy7-FiCBIlLfJp0lEFpzKO3MGyjxCRU-tLWvgnEHRsM1KVW0VNQPB61a9gVIdrhlfOQQhZHFAFAcIAp3n99zz27BHUWZN2UEqNjPxF6kNKnYpa_TErsw=w640-h290" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>Well I’m back again. I intended to have something else written up earlier this month but I didn’t really bother to go into researching for it just yet so… good thing I just finished a convention!</span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since I did the same thing last year, I’m grouping these two conventions into a single blogpost especially since my coverage for one of the cons is undoubtedly bigger than the other; and there’s several reasons for that, as dumb as it sounds. But first, I need to come out and say this summer has been a very strange and unexpected series of events and it turned out far, far more different that I had hoped. My mother went into surgery in the middle of June, was on the way to recovery, suddenly tripped and broke her ankle, and went into surgery again to the point that she needed pretty much the rest of the season, all the way to the very end of August, to heal. So I spent the summer season of conventions without her, and it casted a shadow of sorts over the first convention of the season: Eternal Con.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_5AELGzDXiXt1uT_HqmlxFeDH-UtZYPwdoXWzR5C9-xqwLwVOADfrv2_dey43A6_iaT9_iMD1nZDpkDVgONO9owckvvw9ecWTa0dZe9l1c7ikG0NAn5uNthJAEw6siEE4MFlvSRXiEdeq_WHFtfii46kMe-yM9__9VXyG7orHL7L3OiqHbWzfj085rw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_5AELGzDXiXt1uT_HqmlxFeDH-UtZYPwdoXWzR5C9-xqwLwVOADfrv2_dey43A6_iaT9_iMD1nZDpkDVgONO9owckvvw9ecWTa0dZe9l1c7ikG0NAn5uNthJAEw6siEE4MFlvSRXiEdeq_WHFtfii46kMe-yM9__9VXyG7orHL7L3OiqHbWzfj085rw" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8ZFRE2RCCITKRkP2TeF0Qp4TIydlaET_kt_3sdqi1f0IXitEwcXxfk5SKkEapo5-SZ2dpad4d4ClB2MgyQjUZgq8Cs_3lliDPK4azQh5g3MyT7NYOTWknjoqU-UdwFJuM3iTwjyVXE-Cz9eDdenyxwaN-8nXYw3oKq5TykU344jIYNQfGRb4T0Zzd7A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8ZFRE2RCCITKRkP2TeF0Qp4TIydlaET_kt_3sdqi1f0IXitEwcXxfk5SKkEapo5-SZ2dpad4d4ClB2MgyQjUZgq8Cs_3lliDPK4azQh5g3MyT7NYOTWknjoqU-UdwFJuM3iTwjyVXE-Cz9eDdenyxwaN-8nXYw3oKq5TykU344jIYNQfGRb4T0Zzd7A" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unlike prior years, Eternal Con, usually a late June convention, rescheduled to early July and took place at an entirely new venue… that was also smaller and divided up into two floors. The main level of the venue, the upper level, was the artist’s alley, and the lower level was the dealer’s room. It reminded me of how the first two years of AnimeNYC divided their dealer’s room and artist’s alley to separate floors but with how Eternal Con’s venue was laid out the stairs felt like they were too out of the way if you wanted to shift between floors and there was no elevator either. Thus I put most of my focus on the artist’s alley and only gave the dealer’s room two brief visits during the time I was there. And in the dealer’s room I simply wandered and only interacted with one person who was creating a card game based around professional wrestling. He asked to stay in touch, but by the time I left the building, I had forgotten his name and trying to contact him through the game’s contact form left me with no response.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since the weekend Eternal Con took place on was also the very same weekend as the final day of Summer Games Done Quick 2022, I opted to go to the convention on Sunday, aka the “shorter, lesser day” typical of conventions, which was fine as Eternal Con was always a 4-5 hour convention for me as early as 2017 and didn’t have enough spectacle to make me stay for longer. Unfortunately for me, I was very disorganized from my mother’s recent injury that I forgot to pack a frozen portable water bottle to bring into the convention, and I was not one to consider using the public drinking fountains because, you know, pandemic. Another factor to my visit being more brief than usual was the absence of two artists that I had a close friendship with that I once could always count showing up from 2017 to 2019. One had moved away from New York during the pandemic after being clogged up with professional work, and the other was simply a no-show even after having already seen them at two other events this year (once in early April, and again in mid-May).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since they’re usually an integral part of these convention trips for me, you’re probably wondering if I took any photos of cosplayers at the event? And the short answer is… I did. However, because of my general dislike for how local comic conventions with low admission fees invite in cosplay that… usually leaves much to be desired, this easily became my smallest collection of cosplay photos at only 10 photos, beating out Derpycon 2016’s 15 photo count. The cosplay at Eternal Con was still pretty good, but when your con doesn’t pull in the same numbers as larger conventions do, your options for good cosplays that I enjoy can get kind of limited. And the only reason I usually dodged taking cosplay shots at New York Comic Con in October was because there were so, so many cosplays to take note of and the huge crowds made it difficult to get good cosplay shots until attendance begins to shrink in the later hours of the event.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So that was pretty much Eternal Con 2022; not as great as it was back then, but it was still a good time and I hope next year it’ll grow to work better in this new venue, especially since it’s more than just vendors and cosplay the drive conventions for me.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVo2cvnws7YFJU1M_hucahHqu40t8otpOxxXq32PhnyMCnYVHqDC-LvD8cn1leyG0jKpSnKvFEZKjKPefbBV3oEFGOCY-wEv0NogKJ3lYHT_wtzhU3OEI2QjjNzz8FHKgaUgfO3scCHE607C7zX9PL6Guzeqr5J07Bq3q56XZeUgi6ICS3XfzBnGkxTw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVo2cvnws7YFJU1M_hucahHqu40t8otpOxxXq32PhnyMCnYVHqDC-LvD8cn1leyG0jKpSnKvFEZKjKPefbBV3oEFGOCY-wEv0NogKJ3lYHT_wtzhU3OEI2QjjNzz8FHKgaUgfO3scCHE607C7zX9PL6Guzeqr5J07Bq3q56XZeUgi6ICS3XfzBnGkxTw" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVRDCPsFqR2db9cgdGVemF9ga7eobuK48JblGLUJyZZg3VScPsrrN4L1l1_zDKpzzlrveG-S3ilyjYWNq_3yAK9hU2MYigvRTkbXDjPU-YVqAiTuLNCdIU66rK7tTebgHEGiKquqHFAEuh64c3xsjwYLEFs0JhNG5R_exaDkSNcM7baXnb18rES1noRw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVRDCPsFqR2db9cgdGVemF9ga7eobuK48JblGLUJyZZg3VScPsrrN4L1l1_zDKpzzlrveG-S3ilyjYWNq_3yAK9hU2MYigvRTkbXDjPU-YVqAiTuLNCdIU66rK7tTebgHEGiKquqHFAEuh64c3xsjwYLEFs0JhNG5R_exaDkSNcM7baXnb18rES1noRw" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With that said, onto Long Island Retro Gaming Expo 2022. Right off the bat, I was much more prepared for this convention in comparison to Eternal Con, packing some actual water to bring with me into the convention and as a result the stay was a total of 8 hours. The main lobby where the vendor hall was located was much of the same and was easily the most crowded area until it was closed late into each day. Instead of large booklets, attendees were handed small pocket schedules- they worked for what they did but they lack the charm and care put into the usual convention booklets and the background information they would provide on the venue, the special guests, the panels, etc.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The east side of the venue that previously went unused in past years (at least, for gaming content) was now used to house four distinct sections, including two relocated from the second and third floors and greatly expanded. I’m of course talking about the museum and classic PC gaming sections, both of which returned with many new additions and offered a great variety of games to play. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the museum section was a fully-operational Sharp X1 with Super Mario Bros. Special. The other two sections in this area were for console free play and competitive tournaments; the former felt kind of barren despite the number of games available, and the latter had tournaments for modern games when their predecessors that received ports at some point would have fit in more closely with the convention’s retro aesthetic. The tournament area was also very, very small and not spectator-friendly, especially with the lack of any projectors or larger screens to showcase the current active tournament(s) causing dense crowds to huddle over the small monitors of each game currently being played.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course being a retro game convention, you have to have arcade machines, and just like 2019 there were two arcades: one located on the west side of the venue on the first floor, and the other on the second floor just above the freeplay area. The first of the arcades was loaded with Japanese candy cabinets featuring games with no/limited exports outside Japan and a few modern rhythm games, plus an entire small section devoted to pinballs and small is how I would describe the pinball area in general: it had only eight games total and saw very constant use through the event. At least unlike the tournament section the pinballs stayed within the “2010 or earlier” mentality. The second arcade, located on the second floor just above the free play sections and tournaments, contained more conventional and well-known games to American audiences, like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, etc. With how many times I already played these arcade games and with all the other, more unique offerings across the freeplay areas, I generally Ignored both arcades and stuck to console freeplay.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The second floor’s main attraction was the timeline exhibit, a chronological order of various consoles from 1972’s Odyssey to 2006’s Playstation 3. I played a good few of the games in the exhibit and very nearly went for another 1CC attempt at Super Mario Bros. Deluxe until I decided that the time wasn’t worth it. Besides the tournament section and some 16-player Mario Kart: Double Dash!! exhibitions on the first floor, another form of competition was the High Score Challenges, in which players entered to attempt to set the best scores on a given game during a specific two-hour period. One of the games featured was Rock-Ola’s fast-paced arcade game Nibbler, a game I’ve had some experience with before and remember being able to score decently well in when I first played the machine two or so years ago. I gave it a go since it was a fairly easy setup, and scored 63,470 points in one attempt. That one attempt, surprisingly, won the challenge and I got a small medal for my efforts, though the extra prize the win also came with (a mouse and keyboard converter for modern consoles) doesn’t seem like something I would find myself using.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the day drew to the close, the absurdly loud band I had mentioned in 2019’s review of the event took over the second floor to perform remixes of notable retro game songs while in costume. Make no mistake, it was a very loud performance (especially since all the spectators had to stand) and I only stuck around for a brief bit before taking it as my cue to leave the building after an eight-hour stay. By that point, the vendor’s hall was shut down for the day and all that remained open was the freeplay areas and some tournaments for Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 7, and King of Fighters XV (although Guilty Gear XX Ancient Core Plus, Tekken 3 or 5: Dark Resurrection, and King of Fighters ’98 or 2002 UM would have fit the convention better, as I alluded to earlier).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that was pretty much the end of the summer conventions for the year. Eternal Con has seen better days and I hope it finds a stride to improve with a bigger artist’s alley and more things to do. My wishes for Long Island Retro Gaming Expo are similar; get some more games in the freeplay areas and improve the tournament game setup with more era-appropriate titles.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That said, catch you later.</p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1245696836596789394.post-45575211813235439032022-07-09T23:05:00.005-07:002022-08-27T08:45:39.116-07:00Summer Games Done Quick 2022: Back At it<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtwMmTod-iRWSrOAv_cmVeWH9tBb_ai5vHNjWTaDVKY8TLvLVO9UPEqp0KtfHTYfIw93GSRp2DLChvMLSLHK3rigSRgl7mAybyxiK8fbTv-v_yf10WeMf4evU7q1qsyIanxOpEomW6BLw0XZpBrhzAWehkRVTarTcoyQbEN1xMBNAzWOXXPOmzylQeAA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="2210" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtwMmTod-iRWSrOAv_cmVeWH9tBb_ai5vHNjWTaDVKY8TLvLVO9UPEqp0KtfHTYfIw93GSRp2DLChvMLSLHK3rigSRgl7mAybyxiK8fbTv-v_yf10WeMf4evU7q1qsyIanxOpEomW6BLw0XZpBrhzAWehkRVTarTcoyQbEN1xMBNAzWOXXPOmzylQeAA=w640-h342" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another six months have passed, another seven days of 127 different video game runs brought to us by Games Done Quick. I took the week off to enjoy the show, and it was a solid good. And now I’m busy trying to catch up with work and get back on my typical routine.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now where were we again? Right, the event.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since the pandemic had been receding since this winter, in person gatherings have started to spring back up in full force. And this was one of those events. Yes, for the first time in two and a half years, Games Done Quick abandoned the “Online” era to make a big and epic resurgence to their in-person events that originally put them on the map, and this time they were adopting a new hybrid event format allowing a limited number of runs to be live-streamed from the comfort of the runners’ homes. As someone that loved the aspects of remote runs and the sheer accessibility they provided, especially to those that lived too far from the event to travel there and stay at a hotel, this was a model that I hugely appreciated- and the runner’s audio was combined with the Twitch crowd’s to increase the version like they were really there.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There was of course a caveat to the live crowd’s return. Since the pandemic was still very much ongoing, alongside strict safety procedures being enforced throughout the marathon, the seats were spaced out and only covered half the size it did in previous live events. This led to more moments than usual where there was nothing but dead air in the crowd and its reactions, and a lot of memes of the pre-online era being either not as prevalent as they once were (ORB!) or completely dead (HONK!, though I think that was because Untitled Goose Game was “flavor of the month” material). The decreased number of seats made it much easier to notice when people weren’t piling in to watch the streams live, and on Tuesday morning in particular the crowd camera was positioned in just a way that the feed appeared to show absolutely no one, making it look desolate.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, according to outside sources, this GDQ turned out the lowest peak viewership of any marathon in the past few years, and that's after the pandemic already cut peak viewership in half for SGDQ 2020, meaning donations lagged behind quite a bit and incentives once again struggled to be met, causing the runs before when a bonus run would occur to be showered in hosts begging for people to donate, often to excessive levels. And in spite of that, the incentives to unlock bonus runs were pretty huge for the audience it was able to pull in. It still was able to make $3 Million by the final day, thanks to some last minute pushes, but maybe the incentives to unlock bonus runs should be scaled back a bit until the marathon recovers its viewership?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With how much I sung the praises of this new onsite/online hybrid format, the onsite half clearly took the priority by a wide, wide margin— only roughly 20 of the runs featured were online, while the remaining 100 were on-site. Looking at the submission list that was available before the schedule’s release date, you can see a great deal of run submissions from all over the world, including Europe, and it makes me wonder just how different the event would be if several more remote runners were let into the marathon. Obviously the remote blocks would be bigger and/or more frequent, but the live runs would remain the main focus of the marathon. If expertly timed, these remote blocks could be used to have runs that would fill the pretty dead early morning hours of each day (since Europe is ahead by 6-8 hours and Japan/Australia by several more hours) or have their run time be used to set up for a more ambitious run that otherwise requires a lengthy setup time at the site (probably not going to happen since the rhythm game runs this marathon were remote and I have a feeling that’ll also be the case for AGDQ 2023, but still).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The layout of the stream was another thing that I thought looked a bit… <i>off.</i> While it worked as intended, the game/run infobox which showed the title, the console, and year of release of the current game plus the current category and estimated runtime of the current run stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the layout, flipping between displaying the game info and the run info at a slow pace in fields that seemed too small for the game’s release year and console instead of showing everything at once. Just look at the infobox design for SGDQ2022 and you'll see what I mean:</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibjaDV-WdEEDNyLYyo_XVT5582uXMdQm2WzGiLteUJy08j49mz7WMwQmCiEOIzK6cRe_93RCBAuEZXnHi_E-XcrO_VzsJFa5LZCSP8ovgd-jHKMQfw1sl93WV0z-0cccYBgQqCYVEAbJHm0DbEErxD2s--YKyRMul8PRykZwSdd_kP5rS-PkYg3D1ZLA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="226" data-original-width="926" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibjaDV-WdEEDNyLYyo_XVT5582uXMdQm2WzGiLteUJy08j49mz7WMwQmCiEOIzK6cRe_93RCBAuEZXnHi_E-XcrO_VzsJFa5LZCSP8ovgd-jHKMQfw1sl93WV0z-0cccYBgQqCYVEAbJHm0DbEErxD2s--YKyRMul8PRykZwSdd_kP5rS-PkYg3D1ZLA" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Compare and contrast AGDQ 2022’s version of the game/run info part of the layout, which blended with the new layout’s aesthetic better, had just the right amount of room and showed everything in one swoop:</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjy9Pc3kvj9nG0NI2OV2RQIZLsyWmk2ERH8sXztOMjqpn6f764pkLkGNr0jnJrL8FgkRyf-9PsTWZ80PF__FmgX44rlJEmq4BQKMmk3vuRqyuweqt0BySMSfUPmSIcuzY34BID5K7akh6ee1xLJ_bOpx_5-7eW3pSFdB4mj3ED3y0DPOyG_wuigYpsJRw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="938" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjy9Pc3kvj9nG0NI2OV2RQIZLsyWmk2ERH8sXztOMjqpn6f764pkLkGNr0jnJrL8FgkRyf-9PsTWZ80PF__FmgX44rlJEmq4BQKMmk3vuRqyuweqt0BySMSfUPmSIcuzY34BID5K7akh6ee1xLJ_bOpx_5-7eW3pSFdB4mj3ED3y0DPOyG_wuigYpsJRw" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The “new” layout previously made an appearance at GDQ’s Frost Fatales event in February, and I didn’t like it there either. If the reasoning for shifting to this design is to make the game info easier to read, taking the AGDQ 2022 design and increasing the overall font size would work, since you rarely come across a game with a title that’s long enough that it needs to be split into multiple rows or a console that uses more than ten characters due to using abbreviations instead of the full names. (And heck, the game info text stayed relatively the same size between the new layout and the "new" layout).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of the day both layouts work fine, though I do wonder what happened in the background after AGDQ 2022 and before Frost Fatales 2022 that made them go through with this "new" game info section after only one marathon. I did hear the layout was still in a WIP state around the time of AGDQ 2022 but I would have thought that the Frost Fatales 2022 variant was only a temporary fix until they could refine the game infobox for SGDQ 2022... Maybe by AGDQ 2023 we'll see a return to the AGDQ 2022 design?<br /><br />Anyways, enough wasting time about a small box of text, time to talk about those runs. Without talking about the runners themselves the marathon still suck to the “niche games in the early/late mornings, bigger marketable hits in the afternoon/evening” format of recent GDQ’s, which I’ve come to accept as something that would never change. It does make some afternoons feel like a slog when you’re given multi-hour runs of games back to back that have very little in the way of fast-paced energy. Take Monday afternoon’s back-to-back combo of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (2019) and ICO, for example. Two rather slow-paced games that don’t have much in the way of speed and thrill lumped together despite how well the games were played by their respective runners. Compare that to Tuesday’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon; a game that, while much longer, had enough fast action, thrills, and humor to help one endure the 4-hour run. RPG runs usually become the “background audio while I do something else to pass the time” moments during the marathon so it’s nice to see one that breaks the mold, and I heard the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 run was worth a watch but I was too sleep-deprived from the Silly Block to stay focused on it (more info on that later).</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The one thing I was the most delighted for when the schedule was initially released earlier this spring was the return of a full, meaty four-run Mega Man block on Tuesday, after spending SGDQ 2021 and AGDQ 2022 as mostly an afterthought. The Sonic block, meanwhile, had one of its runs early on Sunday before the block officially begun on Wednesday, only for Knuckles to steal the show<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and (save for one run) turn the block into the Knuckles the Echidna block thanks to winning two different character choice bid wars. The Castlevania block, usually a pretty run-rich block in other marathons, only had two games this year, and the horror block of Monday night, Tuesday morning just came and went, but I think that’s from me not being up to see the whole thing.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What I was up to watch was the Silly Block of Thursday morning, which was very much worth it, although I had to tune out of Mi Scusi and Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion cause DEEEER Simulator absolutely floored me, and I nearly feel asleep watching Incredible Crisis after barely sleeping the prior night to catch the entire block live. Heck, I pretty much spent all of Thursday desperate for sleep, which is nothing new for me while watching GDQ events but I would absolutely not recommend warping your sleep schedule just for this, unless you already wake up at 6 in the morning. Then again I appreciate this Silly Block starting at 6 AM instead of… 3AM and having a longer runtime and selection of games overall, since AGDQ 2022’s Awful Block felt way, way too short and had most of it swallowed up by Zelda's Adventure.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of the delayed start for the Silly Block can be attributed to the event’s schedule falling behind by a few hours due to setup times so to cut the schedule down so the finale wouldn’t be at 6 AM, the runs for Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and Superheat VR were canceled. Half Life Alyx was dropped prior to the start of the marathon because the runner caught Covid and Macbat 64 was skipped due to its runner supposedly sleeping through when the run would have taken place. It’s a realistic problem when you put all the games not many people are familiar with and shove them all into the early mornings even if the chance of someone oversleeping is pretty rare. And it’s where those early-morning remote blocks that go through those few hours in the United States I mentioned earlier could, theoretically, be put to effective use, especially for international audiences.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking of remote runs and runs that didn’t count, Metal Gear Rising: Revengence. I’ve always had a big love for this game, especially after the massive resurgence the game received earlier this year, and the first time in a while it got approved to show up in a GDQ, I got pumped and eagerly waited for it to slice onto the GDQ show floor Thursday night. It easily became one of the most fun and exciting runs of the event… and then the bonus Blade Wolf DLC run that followed afterwards was revealed to be pre-recorded and spliced together rather than done live, with no hints that it was a "showcase" run until it happened. It made news on a good few gaming-oriented websites and the run (and I mean all of it, not just the DLC) was axed entirely from Youtube.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I should illiterate that people don't usually come onto these speedrun events/marathons to set records, and nothing in the marathon pushes runners to go and attempt WR's in a marathon setting. Sure, they do happen, but they're so infrequent that the difference in sheer hype between someone finishing a run or even getting a PB to outright claiming a new WR is rather miniscule. AGDQ 2022 set so many because the games that did have new WR's set were either from the games being relatively new with a small number of active runners, or an obscure category.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The entire debacle also puts the concept of remote runs on shaky ground, especially after a similar dilemma occurred the prior weekend during GDQ Hotfix’s Juneteenth event (though for different reasons) and I’d be scared if Games Done Quick considers abandoning the concept of remote runs at AGDQ 2023 or phases them out of future mainline marathons because of these bad eggs and especially after two years and four marathons worth of successful remote runs.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The final two days of the event seemed to just breeze on by, with the highlights being the “Beta Showcase” for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is more accurately a full-on rom hack performed live through tool-assisted arbitrary code execution incorporating a barrage of beta, cut, and rumored content. After that was two Kaizo-level Super Mario World hacks, one of them being a sequel to the 2019 Relay Race that I ripped the OST of earlier this year, and it (along with the Mario Maker relay race the following day) made me realize how much the hype of the relay races of live marathons was huge for the last legs of the marathon.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, Summer Games Done Quick 2022 was a solid marathon, even if it didn’t come close to breaking the $3.4 million record. While I thought AGDQ 2022 had something of a stronger game lineup, it was nice to see another new marathon in the books after so long and a live one at that. Now I wonder if they’ll bring back Games Done Quick Express one of these years since TwitchCon is underway again…?</span></p>Justin De Luciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07314461141921880109noreply@blogger.com0