It's really nice that you use emulation as a vessel as a way of saying, "Hey, this game is super cool, and also super easy to get!" -- and not "Hey, this game is free if you just pirate it!"

Same! plus the og devs wouldn't get the money anyway. Sometimes the only way to get the hardware to play those games are through scalpers, and I just rather emulate it myself than to give them any money :/

True! The thinking was that I'd like for each issue to have something the reader is basically guaranteed to be able to play regardless of money or hardware, so I've made sure there's an Easy Emulation in every issue I release. Emphasis on the "Easy" part too, the NES/SNES/Mega Drive/GBA games I typically tend to cover are very easy to emulate both from a hardware perspective and being simple to set up.

Thank you kindly! I'm quite flattered.

I'm glad! After I sent that message I ended up reading your Starfaring Strangers webcomic and it was really interesting, I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Oh sick, glad to hear it! I'm figuring on getting back to working on it soon 'cause, uh, it's been at least two months since I last updated it. Oop.

Thanks!! Yeah, I just joined a week ago. So I went through a beginner tutorial to learn a little bit and changed the layout some. So I am still learning.

Unlocking brawl characters isn't hard just super hard to find. You either have to fight 500 brawls (which I'm not doing) or find doors in specific areas sometimes as a specific character which makes zero sense when nothing tells you to do that. If I need to look up a tutorial to find a basic feature in the game, that's not good game design. [...]

I feel like brawl is a very subjective game. As much as I dogged on it in my review I do genuinely think it is a great game but compared to other entries it feels a bit pathetic. Honestly I do think I was a bit too harsh for the review, lol.

*hungrybox has entered the chat*

Yeah that's fair, I'll give you that Wolf/Puff/Toon Link are a pain even if you can get the rest just through Subspace. Kinda disagree on Brawl not measuring up to other entries, Subspace's story is hardly some Shakespearean masterpiece but it is genuinely cool seeing these characters interact and watching the very nonlinear story unfold. If anything I think Smash 4 is the most "nothing" entry, it doesn't really-

-have anything that stands out about it like the others do. I do get not liking it though, even if I'm used to it by now it does control kind of strangely. Kind of confused by the 7/10 score though, seems like a high rating when you don't seem to have much of anything you personally enjoy about the game.

Yeah, I think I was a bit too harsh when criticizing Brawl. I genuinely do think it's a good game but it's not without any flaws. It was pretty hard to emphasize any positivity since almost my positive opinions of the were just "it felt fun", so the negativity is talked way more in my review -- which is my bad! I'm still learning, so I'll get better at getting my point across the more I write.

Ah, yeah that's very fair. I have the same issue sometimes, with something that doesn't work it's often easier to notice where it fails compared to successes being much harder to articulate. I'm sure you'll improve, looking forward to seeing what you write next :D

Nice, glad you like it! Any particular thoughts? I just read your recent archive thingy, I like the strange glitchy photo you took with that camera.

Well, first of all, I think this whole magazine idea is absolutely brilliant. I fell in love with it instantly. Also, instead of just talking about games in a generic way, reviewing them under different unique segments is really cool. 'The yap trap' is definitely my favorite part. The 'Guest edition' is also a great touch. I mean, even though I wasn't really old enough to experience the prime era of gaming magazines,

-I used to buy and read them every few months when I was a kid, and this perfectly captures the vibe of those times. Even though the games mentioned aren't exactly my style, I really enjoy reading the reviews because I think you're doing a killer job with the writing.

By the way, about issue 13. I haven't played Hollow Knight. (I mean, I checked it out for an hour or two, but it wasn't really my thing.) I totally agree with this final boss bullshit. I love a good challenge in games, but when that difficulty is artificial, it gets seriously frustrating. Like, why are you testing me again with something I already proved I could beat? It's a total waste of time-

-Reminds me of Ninja Gaiden, for example. The bosses are cool and fun. But every time you die, the game throws you so far back that you're already exhausted by the time you reach the boss again, plus you totally forget their pattern. Just some bullshit done purely for the sake of being hard. And from what I’ve heard, I think they completely overdid that exact same shit in siksong too.

I see, glad you enjoy! Funny that you mention Ninja Gaiden, I don't know if you've read Issue #4 or not but there's a review of it in there lmao, I'm not very fond of that game either.

Ye, I sure will check out other issues as well. For sure.