Weekly Update #26: No Gaming, Only Emulation Cataloging!

June 22-28, 2025

No gaming again. Maybe I picked a bad time to catalog a bunch of old games instead of actually playing something? I did make good progress on cataloging though! More on that in the conclusion again. I may get some gaming time next week, I’ve already got a friend hangout penciled in. Isn’t adult life great?

Game Acquisitions

So, this is a bit of an odd one. My emulation research has caused me to stumble upon some older delisted PC games. I couldn’t really add them to my emulation library since they’re native PC games, so I decided to go ahead and add them to my regular acquisitions. Prince of Persia 2 is technically being emulated through MS-DOS which is an old Microsoft operating system, but I didn’t see a separate platform entry for it on HLTB, so PC it is! The first Prince of Persia will be played through SNES emulation which is why I haven’t listed it here, but I do plan on playing them in order. The other games were giveaways as usual.

# of Games: 8

Total Money Spent: $0

Price/Game: $0

TV/Movie Recaps

Here is everything I watched this week:

·       Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 Episodes 8-9 (all caught up, show ongoing)

·       Tales from the Loop Season 1 Episodes 1-3 (still watching, show ended)

·       Ghost in the Shell (finally!)

Daredevil and Tales from the Loop are very good shows. Daredevil really does feel like Season 4 of the original show, I love it. I’m curious to see the army Daredevil recruits. I’m only about halfway through Tales from the Loop but it is very compelling so far. I like that there’s a different sci-fi mystery that’s solved in each episode, as well as the overall mystery of what “the Loop” actually is. It’s also cool that a minor character from the previous episode becomes the main character of the next. It’s like the cast changes but all the characters stay the same. I don’t think I’ve seen that done before. I can’t wait to see how it all ties together. And finally, I have watched the original Ghost in the Shell anime film. The atmosphere and animation were top notch as I expected. The action scenes were really cool too. There was a lot of exposition though, and some environmental shots felt like they dragged on a little long. The ending was left pretty ambiguous too. In other words, it felt like the first movie in a franchise. I’m curious to see if they build on this movie in future installments or if each piece of media is its own thing. Overall, definitely worth watching.

Conclusion/Upcoming

On the emulation front, I mentioned last time that I was going to look into Game Boy Color and Advance games, then Xbox and Sega as well as a couple of niche platforms. I managed to get through with cataloging both Game Boys, original Xbox, Xbox 360, and the short-lived Sega 32X. I actually managed to get a couple of games out of that one. The Xbox 360 emulator is highly experimental, so most games aren’t fully playable. Hopefully it will be in a better state by the time I get around to playing them. I also went down a rabbit hole with a forgotten Korean RPG series known as Magna Carta. Magna Carta 2 is an Xbox 360 exclusive which is how I came across it, but it’s actually the third game in the series. The original game never released outside South Korea and was pulled from sale shortly after release for being a buggy mess. Someone managed to get a copy and fully translate it into English. I tried to play it during testing, but the gameplay systems were too complex and never explained and I quickly dropped it. The second game released on PS2 but didn’t have good reviews either, so I guess I’m only playing the Xbox game. Oh well! There’s my fun emulation fact for the week.

For the upcoming week, I plan on watching the second Ghost in the Shell film and finishing up Tales from the Loop. I suspect I’ll get through it before Ghost in the Shell, so I’ll need a small holdover before I dive into the Ghost in the Shell anime series’. I’ll either knock out Star Wars Tales of the Underworld which is basically just two episodes or Raised by Wolves. Then it’s headfirst into everything Ghost in the Shell has to offer! My friend is coming over so hopefully we’ll get more Tales of Phantasia in. Other than that, the emulation cataloging continues. The next platforms on my list are the Sega Saturn, original Game Boy, the NES, and the 3DO. I have no idea what to expect from those. The Saturn might have some hidden gems, but I don’t have faith in the others. My next post will be the monthly for June, and there will be some fun Q2 graphs to go along with that. Thanks as always for reading! I’ll be back in a couple days.

Backlog total: 3,304 (+8)

Weekly Update #25: The Emulation Cataloging Continues

June 15-21, 2025

As I predicted last week, no game time this week so the update will be shorter. I did, however, make great progress going through “Best of” lists for older consoles to add to my emulation library. I’ll get to that in the conclusion/upcoming section.

Game Acquisitions

I actually spent a little bit of money on these. Space Pilgrim Episodes II and III were given away for free a while ago but I unfortunately missed the giveaway for IV. I figured I might as well get the conclusion to the series and support the dev while I’m at it, so I bought IV. I also bought some DLC for SteamWorld Heist which is a game I got a while ago that’s not reflected here. I’m not sure how to represent DLC purchases since they’re filed under the base game and thus not really a game purchase or backlog addition. Let me know if you all have any ideas. As for the “Good Job!” game, I actually stumbled across it on itch.io during my emulation research. There’s a Switch game with the same name that I decided to add to my list but when I googled it, this little RPG Maker gem popped up! Arcadia Fallen and Nova Hearts were Steam family purchases, and the others were Epic/Prime/itch.io freebies as usual.

# of Games: 10

Total Money Spent: $1.23

Price/Game: $0.12

TV/Movie Recaps

Here is everything I watched this week:

·       Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 Episodes 2-7 (still watching, show ongoing)

·       11:14

I’m happy to announce that Disney didn’t dumb down Daredevil for release on Disney+. It was just as good and gritty as I remember the Netflix show being. Great stuff, I’m curious to see how the season ends now that the serial killer is dead. And it was cool seeing cameos from Ms. Marvel’s dad and Punisher! I’m still a sucker for connected universe stuff even though most people seem to be over it by now. 11:14 was an interesting short film about a bunch of interconnected storylines that lead up to a car crash. It’s intentionally confusing at first but slowly comes together as you see events take place from each character’s point of view. I liked it, but it was surprisingly gory so watch out for that if you’re squeamish. Also, Agent Coulson from the MCU is in it! He looks exactly the same (this movie came out in 2003).

Conclusion/Upcoming

Now, on to the emulation stuff. In my last update, I mentioned that I had finished cataloging all the games I’m interested in from DS, 3DS, GameCube, and PS1. This week, I managed to catalog everything from PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, SNES, N64, and Switch! I’ve added way more games than I expected as part of this project, I’m probably 200+ games added at this point 😅 I’m sure they’ll all be great (or at least not suck). I’m fairly sure I added more SNES games than PS2 games which surprised me. Next up will be Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance which will be the end of the original platforms I was going to look into for this project. After I get through those, I’ll peruse the Sega and Xbox libraries as well as a couple more obscure platforms like 3DO and TurboGrafx-16. There are so many classics I missed out on!

For this week, I’m going to finish up Daredevil and start Tales from the Loop. That one’s a short 8-episode sci-fi mini-series that aired back in 2020 that I thought looked interesting. It should be a quick watch. If I manage to get through that, I’ll start Ridley Scott’s Raised by Wolves series. That one’s also a pretty short sci-fi show at only 18 episodes, but I’m curious to see how the director of Alien handles a TV show. Unless my friend distracts me with more movie recommendations, I’ll finally be getting to the first Ghost in the Shell movie. As a reminder, after I watch Ghost in the Shell 2 the following week, I’m gonna deep dive into all the anime series and TV movies so I’m really looking forward to that. Once again, no single-player gaming time planned as I continue focusing on this emulation thing. If my friend and I hang out, I’m sure more Tales of Phantasia will be in order. Things are getting intense story-wise. Thanks as always for reading!

Backlog total: 3,296 (+6)

Weekly Update #24: Another Marathon Phantasia Session

June 8-14, 2025

Once again, just as it looked like I wouldn’t get gaming time in, my friend came to the rescue on Saturday for more Phantasia (and other stuff). My emulation cataloging is coming along very slowly but surely. I decided to expand my horizons a bit from just Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. They’ll still be the vast majority, but I wanted to see if there are any exclusive games on more obscure consoles that are worth playing. Somehow my first stop landed on the Nokia N-Gage of all things. Not a huge library, but there were a few turn-based strategy games that looked intriguing, and a 3D version of Snake! I’ve got that emulator and the games set up and ready to go.

Game Acquisitions

Only a single game this week, that’s a first 😮 I’m not even sure it’s a game I’ll be interested in as I’m not usually a fan of puzzle games, but this one is co-op focused, and everything is better with friends. And of course, free as usual.

# of Games: 1

Total Money Spent: $0

Price/Game: $0

Game Recaps

Several more hours of Phantasia were played! We’re nearly 30 hours in now and just got to the start of The Valhalla War. Along the way, we also fought some basilisks, met the Elven chief Brambald, mended a couple more pact rings, and fought our way through the Zodiac Tower to make a pact with Luna, the Spirit of the Moon. Things are really heating up now. Check out our playthrough below! These videos will be going up June 30th-July 4th as I continue my daily uploads to catch up from my Game Pass binge last month. 

 

 

 

 

TV/Movie Recaps

Here is everything I watched this week:

·       The Last of Us Season 2 Episodes 3-7 (all caught up, show ongoing)

·       Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 Episode 1 (still watching, show ongoing)

·       My Little Pony: Make Your Mark Season 2 Episode 7 (still watching, show ended)

·       The Boondock Saints

Just as I suspected, The Last of Us continues to be a depressing show (but so good!). It didn’t differ from the game as much as I thought it would, apart from expanding more on the characters. I’m wary of season 3 given how season 2 ended and how the game goes. It was cool going back to the world of Daredevil, it’s been so many years since I watched the Netflix shows. They really crammed a lot into the first episode. Even My Little Pony had some decent story development in the season 2 finale. Only two more short seasons there and then everything else are short 2D YouTube videos. It’s a shame the show got canceled the way it did. The Boondock Saints was a recent addition to my movie list, and it yet again pushed back my Ghost in the Shell deep dive. That’s OK though, it was a good movie despite a couple little nitpicks I have with the plot.

Conclusion/Upcoming

Things are getting intense in Tales of Phantasia. Luckily, I think we’re a tad overleveled at the moment so haven’t had too much difficulty. I’m curious how this next section will go. It’s gonna be weird being able to see enemies in the overworld instead of just stumbling into them. I bet it’s going to be another maze; the game seems very fond of them. On the emulation front, I’ve finished adding DS, 3DS, GameCube, and PS1 games to my list. I’m almost done with PS2 games which I think has the biggest library. My other consoles to go through after that originally included the PS3, PSP, Vita, SNES, N64, Switch, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. After some more research, I’ve decided to look into the 3DO, TurboGrafx-16, all major Sega consoles, NES, Game Boy, OG Xbox, and Xbox 360. I don’t expect to find much on the older consoles, they’re either archaic, arcadey, or have had their most noteworthy games re-released on later platforms. The Xbox and Xbox 360 are also notoriously difficult to emulate so I’m not sure I’ll find anything worth playing that will work but we’ll see. Like I said earlier, slowly but surely!

For this week, I plan on watching through all of Daredevil, then maybe some Tales from the Loop if I still have time. I also just added another movie to my list to watch next, 11:14. I know nothing about it, but my friend recommended it to me. Surely, I’ll finally be starting Ghost in the Shell next week, right? Speaking of, I found out there are three older Ghost in the Shell games released on older PlayStation consoles during my emulation research. I added them to my list, I may have to move those higher up in my upcoming games list. No gaming planned this week, but I do have Thursday off work for Juneteenth so hopefully I can make some good emulation progress. That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

Backlog total: 3,290 (+1)