Tag: games

Chiptunes that Bury Deep into Your Cranium and Stay There

Never figured it out, still awesome after all these years

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who spent countless hours on weeknights and weekends in front of their televisions as a kid playing Nintendo that to this day I find myself humming bits and pieces of game soundtracks.  Despite the limited ability of the old NES music designers managed to squeeze out of it, with the help of additional soundchips in cartridges, some astonishingly catchy music. Furthermore, despite all the technological advances these old catchy tunes remain the bedrock on which new music for old franchises are built upon. That tune that plays whenever Link gets a new item in the Legend of Zelda? There from the very beginning! Mario’s theme? Yup. Vampire Killer? Check! The music might be tweaked, reworked, remixed, and molded but behind it all you still find these iconic, simple ditties.

Ditties that have been firmly lodged in my head for over 20 years at this point! Here are the ones I find myself humming in elevators most often! Not all of these are from the NES but the majority are. (Click the images to listen to the songs.)  It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of the tunes showcased here are from games that I go back to play over and over again. How else do you think they became automatic responses for me?

Wicked from Castlevania 1 Stage 3
Bubbleman's Theme from Megaman 2
Wily's Stage 1 from Megaman 2
Frog's theme from Chrono Trigger
Bloody Tears from Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse
Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. 2
Opening Theme to Shadowgate
Stage 3 theme from Metal Storm
Kraid's Lair from Metroid
Act 4, Part 2 theme from Ninja Gaiden

There are some more quite a few more (like Terra’s theme from Final Fantasy VI, or the second stage music from Shinobi 3)… This is enough to get you started though! Youtube is a great resource as are quality fan sites (think The Castlevania Dungeon) If you want even more chiptunes and don’t care if they’re from video games check out 8-bit Peoples.

So, folks what are your favorites pieces of 8-bit and 16-bit music? Please let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for great tunes as well as great games that come with them!

The Ultramarines: Courage and Honour!

Ultramarines and Warhammer 40,000 are owned by Games Workshop

I’ve talked before about my love of tabletop war games. If not, then know that I love them. When I was a wee lad my brother and I got Hero Quest for Christmas one year, and I’d spend hours flipping through the GW catalog that came inside that box. So many amazing looking miniature models, all so beautifully painted. I fell in love with the company then and there. Until I was older though and had a job that provided some discretionary income tabletop wargaming remained a dream. In 2001 or ‘o2 a hobby shop opened up in our area; I went in on my lunch as it was one of the few things, besides the mall, within walking distant of the community college I was attending. In one corner they had a selection of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,ooo products. My memories of that catalog came flooding back and I picked a few up. With the help of the internet a few became many and I found myself with an army:

I need to figure out the macro settings on this damn thing...

I have two WH40K armies. These days I might play once every month or two. I almost always run my Necron army. There isn’t a lot of good ways to run a Necron army (there is only one) so it’s easy to prep for a game. My Ultramarine army though? So many choices, so many models, too many. I don’t have that kind of time anymore. So, instead of playing with it it’s sitting in my collecting dust.

Vroomm! Vroom!
Maim! Kill! Destroy!
Tanks. Cause Super Soldiers sometimes aren't enough
I have a lot of tin soldiers...
The biggest tank of them all
Super soldiers in super army, cause, you know, you can never be too sure
Even more tin soldiers...

So, what do I do with all this stuff? Sell it, give it away, hold on to it in the hopes that someday I have more time? Anything would be better than letting it sit in my closet longer. Taking up space that something else I don’t use could be occupying!

PS – If I ever learned how to take a decent picture of tiny objects close up… Everything looks like shit.

PPS – They’d look way cooler on a gameboard with a bunch of terrain. Like I have the time for that…

PPPS – If you click on the pictures they get really big and maybe look better?

Prepare for Combat! A Necron Fleet Approaches

NECRONS!
These should be on a backdrop of stars but I suck at photoshop

Only last week I was bemoaning the fact that I had massively invested in a hobby that I seemed unable to participate in anymore. Turns out, making public my own deficiencies was exactly what I needed to get motivated and do something about it! I’ve put three of the unconstructed kits on Ebay, and have finished painting my Necron fleet for Battlefleet Gothic. That leaves me with only… Okay, still a lot going on there but it is a start.

TOMB SHIP!
Bad things "live" here

Serendipity played a role in me painting over the weekend. The same time my post last week went a friend of mine was setting up a painting party! I RSVPed and I spent four or five hours yesterday finishing up the Necron fleet, as well as painting my figurine for our D&D campaign. Now that it is complete I just need to carve out some time to make a gaming mat (black felt with white paint speckled across it) and find someone with another fleet to roll some dice against!

NECRONS!
Some Dirges, a few Jackals, a dash of Scythes and Shrouds

I Need a Plan! To Get All of this Painted

Where am I going to find the time to paint all this?

This is everything (I think) that I still have to paint for my tabletop wargaming hobby. What all is there? Let’s see a Space Marine drop-pod, marine squad, terminator squad, predator tank and random figurines; a boxed Mordheim set (includes terrain and figures); a Battlefleet Gothic Chaos fleet and Necron fleet; a pretty large Legion of Everblight squad; chaos space marines (if I can’t sell them) and noise marines (ditto with the sale); a Vampire Lord; a Dark Elf Corsair Lord; Necron Flayers;  and, a Beastman Shaggoth.

Out of the games you see here. I’ve never played Hordes, Mordheim, or Warhammer Fantasy. To be fair I don’t have a fantasy army; nor do I plan on getting one. I just have these three models that I’d like to paint up someday. I’ve only played Battlefleet Gothic once. I do have a large Space Marine army but, I don’t think it needs another tank or any more troops in it. In fact I’m thinking about selling the entire army (maybe 3000+ points?) seeing as I never use it.

This used to be a hobby that I took a great deal of enjoyment out of. Both aspects of it: the painting and the playing. Now? Now, seeing these things in my closet just makes me feel guilty. Guilty for spending so much money on it all and guilty for not doing anything with it all.

I suppose the question is what do I do now? Do I try to paint these things up? Do I try to find the time and energy? If I do paint them. Will I then have the time/energy to play them? If not do I simply sell them? I’m somewhat worried that I’m losing part of myself here if I let this all go; at the same time, is that so bad? Perhaps I’m no longer that person?

I guess I’m asking you all what am I supposed to do with all this stuff now?

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