Hiii hi hello!

2024 was pretty eventful for me, and it came with a lot of Big Changes - you know, like the rabbit... However, I'm pleased to announce I actually did crawl out of my comfort zone quite regularly this year, and I ended up trying a whole bunch of new things I'd been meaning to get to.

SO . . . to start this website off with a bang, I've compiled a list of all those games, movies and books I remember munching on throughout the year, along with a brief summary of my thoughts on each.

Without further ado, the list, in reverse chronological order! Please enjoy!

December:

• Anthology of the Killer: Lifechanging. Incredible start to finish. I want to live in it. Anything by Steven Gillmurphy always changes my perspective on life, art, and everything I care about.
• Mushihimesama: Really pretty and satisfying shmup.
• Blue Revolver: Pretty good. Love the pixel art. Felt a bit flat/papery at times, but maybe I just need more time with it.
• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: It was very funny in an infuriating sort of way. I spent most of the movie wanting to punch Jim Carrey in the head. Embarrassing transphobia ending.
• A Charlie Brown Christmas: I cried the whole way through. I am very happy I watched this. I love that it's voiced by actual children.
• Thunder Force IV: Cool old shmup, with surprisingly great music for a Mega Drive game. Some levels are really dry though.
• Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan: Badass, although I wish I'd watched the Pantera soundtrack version.
• Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge: Goofy but terrific start to finish. Metal soundtrack tops it all off. I believe this is what kids call "Aura"...
• Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler: Boring. No metal soundtrack. Flimsy plot. Snooze ahoy!
• Courage the Cowardly Dog - The Mask: I haven't seen much Courage, so this was a really cool introduction. So dark! How did THIS get past the censors, guys?!

November:

• Straftat: Snappy and fun, although I wish it didn't have quite so many bugs.
• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne: Took me well over a year to finish, but definitely worth it. I think this was my first long non-Pokémon JRPG that I've completed. It's a huge influence on my work now.
• Shin Megami Tensei IV: It's quite fun, and I'm grateful to it for getting me through jury duty. Overall not as strong as SMTIII, but still super slick. Takes quite a while to get going!
• The Colour Out Of Space: Probably the first Lovecraft story that actually scared me.

October:

• Webfishing: Cute and homely social game. I'd like to go back to it someday.
• PsiloSybil: Challenging homage to PSX Crash. Sound design and animation is lacking in parts, but overall very good.

September:

• My Neighbor Totoro: My God, that was cute...
• Parkour Civilization: Made being horrifically sick just a bit more bearable. Was kind of amazed at how good this was for a Minecraft machinima, even if it was kinda just slop.
• Pokémon Black Version: Played it on stream for a bit. Gen V is still the best...

August:

• DoDonPachi: When the only other shooting game you've played is Touhou, seeing fighter jets fire off 20 zillion bullets and lasers per second is mind-blowingly cool in a way that's difficult to put into words. The ships in this game feel like those fucked up weirdo dog breeds that don't survive in the wild... except AWESOME
• Disgaea PC: This one hardly counts. I spent most of my time getting pissed off at the horrible texture filtering. I'll play it again on an emulator someday.
• Bloons TD 6: Not much going on, but fun nonetheless.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: My first 2D Zelda! Fun, if at times very tedious and frustrating. The music is amazing.
• Ape Escape: Really striking art direction. I loved it. Games were so creative before we decided on standard ways to use a controller...
• Pokémon Emerald Version: All-timer. Playing it made me realize how Pokémon has always had kinda crummy graphics for the time... but it was still super fun at the end of the day.
• Dark Souls: Didn't get very far but played it pretty intensely for a couple days and really enjoyed it. Didn't have the time and interest to get past the next boss, though.
• Metal Slug X: Silly fun. Art direction blew my mind for a while.

July:

• Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes: It has rollback! Pretty much everything I could've wanted from an Under Night sequel. I really should give it another look.
• Dark Souls III: It's all right. I don't think I'm much of a Soulshead, and that's okay.
• I Saw The TV Glow: One of the last movies I saw with my ex after deciding to break up. I cried like a baby for the whole thing. Made me realize some long-overdue things about myself.
• Blade: Blade is cool bc he has sword's and gun's

May:

• Fallout: Never really managed to get into it. I don't think I'm missing much. Felt boring.

April:

• Quake: Overall a step down from Doom - strategically shallow with unsatisfying combat. Levels and movement are fun though.
• Content Warning: I've never played Lethal Company, which this apparently draws quite heavily from. It was alright. Most of the fun came from my friends being themselves.
• Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers: Probably one of my favourite SEGA games ever, and it wasn't even made by them.
• The Matrix: I had been missing out ghod thamn!!!
• The Blair Witch Project: Fine for what it was. I wish it was a bit more substantial though.

March:

• Touhou 12.3: Hisoutensoku: My gateway drug to the series. Played it online with friends... it was a real hassle to set up, but very much worth it. I have my issues with it (opening up blockers is so hard!) but it's super cute.
• Touhou 7: Perfect Cherry Blossom: I pick this up every couple weeks... It's so hard but so so comfy and inviting. I love the cute characters and music. I love Touhou. I love Touhou. I love Touhou.
• A Goofy Movie: It was annoying and a bit pathetic. I liked getting to see Pete and Goofy though. Most of the fun came from my friend and I saying "GAWRSH MAXIE I'M GAY".
• Mother 3: I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again. Gameplay wasn't perfect, but my time with it was amazing all the same.
• Doom II: Hell on Earth: Lot of stinkers, but ultimately a lot more interesting than the first Doom.

February:

• Minecraft Beta 1.7.3: Totally different experience to the modern game. Much simpler, with less prescribed goals. I'd take this any day over the bloated mess that is current Minecraft.
• Banshees of Inisherin: Nice to see some good Irish stuff. Some of the accents sounded a bit phony but the rest were great.
• Killing of a Sacred Deer: Same guy as Banshees. When he's trying to sound American he sounds Irish and when he's trying to sound Irish he sounds American. It was fine, I suppose.
• Donnie Darko: I probably watched it this year, but I can't really remember. I liked it a lot.
• Age of Empires II: I need more time with this one. I liked what I did experience of it, though.
• Pseudoregalia: I've never played a game that makes me feel wonder in the same way that Spyro did when I was a baby.
• Crash Bandicoot: It's really good! Except when it isn't.

January:

• LISA: The Painful: Seedy but interesting. I'm glad I played it, and I think it's a really special game despite its overwhelming unpleasantness. Reminded me of why I don't want to be a man.
• LISA: The Joyful: Very unwanted sequel. I was unimpressed. Ruined the ambiguity and mystery of the first game's ending.
• EarthBound: This game took me years to complete. I'm glad I put in the work for the final stretch. I loved it.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists Of The Roses: Completely shite game design but also amazing presentation-wise. All-timer for me no matter how bad it actually is.

Thank you for reading!

In future, I may end up making a post or two discussing some of these in more detail. After all, the whole purpose of starting this blog was to encourage me to move AWAY from the short, shallow opinions I'm so used to firing off on "TWITER" and "BLUES KY"

I'm always scared of turning into a little fungus that does nothing but play Street Fighter all day, but looking at this list helped me remember that Yes... I do "consume media"... and it's Beautiful.

Goodbye, and I hope to see you again soon!