Jeremy Parish

Game Boy World #065: The "Amazing" Spider-Man

Alas, I didn't quite make my self-imposed February deadline for this one, but uh... welcome to March!? I'm sorry the month had to begin like this. Anyway, it's time to reorient my brain and start writing about NES games. Should be fun, I hope.

And I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who continues to back these video projects — I really appreciate the support, and I hope my work lives up to your expectations... even if games like Amazing Spider-Man don't.

February 2016 patron supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!

Game Boy World #064: Volleyfire*

Hello! I made a video! I also made an error in the video that I didn't notice until after it was on YouTube, so I need to re-render and re-upload it! That'll take a few hours, so I'm sharing the one with the screwy subtitles with you now. Hope that's cool.

I just might nail this self-imposed deadline to get Game Boy World 1990 Vol. I videos finished by the end of February after all! Lucky for me there's a leap year, eh?

By the way, I don't know if you're playing games along with ...

Aaaand another script

Yes, the final video script for Game Boy World 1990 Vol. I. Wow! I'm so cool!

This game is not cool, however. Not at all.

Expect a video... tomorrow? Monday? Sometime! 

Game Boy World #064 script

Hey everyone, we're closing in on the end of the month and the end of Game Boy World 1990 Vol. 1. I don't think I'm quite going to get the final video produced by the end of February, but it's going to be close! By cracky.

I'm sorry to say that these two final games are not very good, and by "not very good" I mean "awful." Wow. We're talking some hot messes here.

Once I wrap these last two videos, I'll be working on prepping text and images for the next GBW book, which will proba...

I wasn't kidding! It's GBW episode 63

A much more enjoyable episode to create all around: More straightforward production, more entertaining software. I'd somehow never played Burai Fighter before this, but it's good! Until the final gauntlet of memorization b.s. in the run-up to the final boss, but oh well. Hopefully you'll enjoy watching this episode as much as I enjoyed creating it.

I don't think I'll be able to complete those final two episodes before the end of the month, but the calendar gave me an extra day this ...

Finally! Game Boy World #062

Whew... I expected to have this done days ago, but this episode turned out to be far more complex than I had anticipated before I began production. It's the most involved and detailed GBW episode yet, which is maybe kind of ironic given that it focuses on the somewhat apathetic sequel to Boxxle. But hey.

Also, Dexterity is quite good! I highly recommend it.

Alright, that's it for me. Please enjoy this video, and I promise to have Episode 063 to you MUCH more quickly...

Game Boy World #063 script

Well, this was educational. I've always meant to play Burai Fighter, and now I've finally had the chance. It is... pretty good! 

Just two more scripts to go for Game Boy World 1990 Vol. I....

Game Boy World #062 script

Whew, this script took a lot longer to write than I had anticipated. That's partly because of family obligations for Tết — we had to drive up to Baltimore last weekend to pray at an altar to my wife's ancestors, which is a tradition I like but am still getting used to — and partly because this episode spiraled wildly out of control. It was originally going to be a compare-and-contrast between Dexterity and Boxxle II, but somehow it grew into a Game Boy World puzzle game recap... which, as ...

Game Boy World #060: Cosmo Tank

So much for having this video up on Wednesday. Episode 60 turned out a lot larger than I expected, and YouTube took forever processing it... but it's here! I hope everyone is able to see it. 

I almost really like this game. I wish I knew the first thing about hacking software, because a few little tweaks would make it far more playable. I envy everyone who played this back in the day as a kid with lots of patience and free time, because you could afford to give this the persist...

Supporter tier change reminder!

Hello friendos, 

This is your official reminder that this game history campaign's tiers have changed as of this week. This morning I posted a Game Boy World script visible to everyone who pledges $2 and up — if you didn't receive a notification of that post, that means you'll need to revise your pledge going forward. I know there are a bunch of people who had pledged at reward tiers who are now listed as "no reward"; you folk will need to change over to a different tier in order to ...

Game Boy World #060 (Cosmo Tank) script

Good morning! Here is the next script for Game Boy World. I spent more time with Cosmo Tank over the weekend and... I almost really like it. I can see why this game has fans, because it would have been pretty rad in 1990! I'm afraid its BS quotient is just a bit too high to work these days, though. So close, and yet so far.

January 2016 patron supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!

Game Boy World #061 is here, and change is in the air

Wow, this video took surprisingly little time to create. Wish they all could go that quickly, but I always overcomplicate things. Card Game is a fairly unexciting way to wrap up January, but there's some interesting stuff in the pipeline for February, during which I hope to wrap up Game Boy World 1990 Pt. 1 (Jan.-June 1990). After that... mystery abounds! As well as a book.

As a reminder, beginning Monday, early video access will be moved to the $2 support tier, while most other tie...

Game Boy World script #061

I'm going out of sequence here, gasp! I need a little more time with episode #060's game (Cosmo Tank) to give it a fair analysis. But this game — the utterly prosaic Card Game — does not require much in the way of effort to write about. It is as basic as its title would suggest! Look for this completed episode before the end of the month. Aww, you're excited, you know it.

Game Boy World #059: Catrap

Here is a video about a good game! What a relief! 

Please enjoy. I certainly did.

Script: Game Boy World #059

In case you're interested in a sneak peek at an episode concerning that rarest of gems: A Game Boy puzzler that didn't make me fall into a coma of boredom! Iiiiit's Catrap.

Campaign changes in effect

Hi everyone, I've made the previously mentioned changes to the Patreon campaign. No one's contribution amount has been affected (I'll leave that up to you), but aside from the base contribution change moving from $1 to $2, the reward tiers have shifted to lower the bar for getting the regular physical books and PDFs. 

I'll continue to make early video material visible for everyone who's still at the $1 level through the end of the month. Beginning Feb. 1, though, you'll have to...

Game Boy World #058: Ultraman Club/Zoids Densetsu

Heeeey ~ 

It's a double-header of mediocrity. I could have run this as two separate episodes, but it seemed to make more sense to combine them into a single treatise on poor game design. If I seem to go on a bit too long about Ultraman, that's because I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out its workings... and also because with a bit of refinement it actually could have been a decent game. Nothing quite so disappointing as a game that assembles the raw materials for competence but ...

Video perfection

Well, I've finally sorted it out, and am now able to capture flawless NES video. Hot damn.

I'm going to wrap up the last 7-8 episodes of Game Boy World 1990 Vol. I over the coming weeks, then drill down into NES games in earnest. I haven't tried R.O.B. with this setup yet, but I'm eager to play Stack-Up and Gyromite the way they were intended... and then never touch them again, because they're not actually any fun.

GBW script and a question

Hi everyone, here's the script for the next Game Boy World. It took a little longer than usual because it's (1) two games that (2) are in Japanese and (3) terrible. What have I gotten myself into with this endeavor!?

Also, a question regarding the upcoming changes to this Patreon campaign: Should I go with the existing monthly campaign format, or should I revert back to a per-item schedule (in this case it would be per-video)? I originally used a per-item format but changed it because I wa...

Another milestone

A while back I ordered a modded Atari Lynx with a video-out connection from a random German on the Internet and hoped for the best. It has arrived, and I finally gotten it set up for capture. This test run isn't perfect, but I'm just kind of stunned I was able to make it happen at all. Until a couple of months ago, the only known Lynx video-out hack had been an S-video setup done by some French dude who had vanished from the Internet. I guess now I can follow through on those Lynx retrospectives...

Good Nintentions Episode #004

Alright! At least something has gone right lately: I managed to put together the fourth episode of Good Nintentions. As usual, the length of the episode may seem incongruous in light of the simplicity of the game, but there's a lot of broader history going on here. And as usual, that meant this episode was quite complex and took a long time to assemble. But I think the effort paid off, because I sincerely feel this is a top-class retrospective... despite my unusually clumsy narration. No idea wh...

Stumbling blocks

Hello, lovable backers. I was hoping to be able to update today with the next Good Nintentions, but life is not cooperating. I spent the morning trying different audio-scrubbing app and techniques to get the buzzing out of the Wild Gunman videos, to no avail. I can't seem to remove the buzz without destroying the actual game sound. I have some shielded audio cables on order, but they won't be here for a few more days. What a hassle!

I was also planning to photograph the Japanese packaging ...

Zapper RGB video

I have slain my white whale; check out the quality of this video footage. This is what I've been after, hot damn. I'll try not to think too hard about the fact that the equipment required to record perfect 60fps 720p RGB footage of Wild Gunman adds up to about $1500, computer not included. Sheesh. All that and I still need to figure out what's going on with the audio to get rid of that humming sound...

Follow up & Good Nintentions #004 script

Thanks for the replies yesterday. It seems like everyone is cool with the changes I proposed, so I'll make those adjustments before the end of the month. I was thinking about offering an extra tier involving hand-printed silkscreened postcards, but it doesn't seem like most people want physical rewards, so nah.

In other news, my long-awaited RGB cables arrived yesterday, and I now have the ability to record direct-feed RGB footage of NES games, including Zapper and R.O.B. games. I've been ...

Wow (+ campaign shuffling)

That Ayakashi no Shiro video must be pretty terrible... about a dozen people have de-pledged since I posted it last night. Yikes.

Since people are bailing on this thing already, the dawn of the new year seems like a good time to give the Patreon campaign a much-needed overhaul. Both my life and the nature of the projects I've been working on have changed considerably since I began taking Patreon support. I really appreciate those who have stuck with it, but I'm also mindful of the fact tha...

Happy nerd year! It's Game Boy World #057

Get it, because it's a new year, and we're all nerds. 

ANYWAY, here is the first video of the year: Ayakashi no Shiro, a game I couldn't give a proper review. Alas! Hopefully the video is still an interesting watch?

Thanks for your support in 2015. Here's one last GBW video!

Hi everyone, 

As the year winds down, I wanted to offer a sincere and heartfelt thank-you for your support this past year. It's been a really difficult and challenging year for me, one where honestly sometimes I wonder how I can keep going at all. As such, it's been difficult for me to find time to work on projects like Game Boy World and Good Nintentions, which is a shame because they're honestly my favorite things I've ever created. I haven't been nearly as productive in 2015 as I n...

December 2015 patron supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!