PixlBit

Went to Retro Con last Saturday with my gaming buddy MadKrammer, bought some stuff, played a few NES games, and finished Farm Together 2.

Retro Con 2025, Oaks, PA. - Here's a good short summary video of the show someone did. 

Waiting in line for the show, I played Alleyway on my GBA SP. I realized that in outdoor lighting, the screen isn't quite so unbearably dim as inside. I didn't have to strain as much. 

Exactly two minutes after entering the front doors, I spied the very thing I was looking for, an Atari 2600 Junior. I paid $10 for it with one controller but no cables. Not a problem. I borrowed an AV cable from MK's old Intellivision he's not using and a power supply is on order. I can't wait to test it. 

In the days before the show I had played the following NES games:

Arkanoid - Always great. I'm still looking for the controller it originally came with. I love the power-ups the game adds to the Breakout formula. 

Dragon Warrior - Got killed coming back from an outting in the woods. As careful as I was, I still got beat pretty early on. It's like the game is a wolf pack waiting for your spells to be used up and you heading home to pounce with encounters every few steps. I'd like to know if this is actually programming or just an illusion, but it always happens to me in this game. I still love it though and can't wait to play the remake coming real soon. 

R.B.I. Baseball - It took some serious cleaning to get this cart to finally boot, but when it did I rediscovered a very good baseball game. 

Before the show, on Friday, I made a trip to Just Press Play, a game store in Lancaster, PA. It's a good one too, a little far (an hour drive) but worth it on the only day of the week I have the time for it, Friday. I got the following:

Jackal (NES) - $12
Iron Sword: Wizards & Warriors II (NES) - $6
Robotron 64 (N64) - $25
Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One) - $16

Digitally, I got Darkest Dungeon: Ancestor's Edition on a sale for $7 on Xbox Series S. 

 This current week, after Retro Con and such, I finished Farm Together 2 and the last achievement, Farm level 200. What a grind. I spent 294 hours total. A redditer said he did it in 100 hours, so if you're just achievement hunting, you can optimize everything and do it quicker. But I like to figure out the systems myself and do a little cosmetic building. I really got into building hills as big as possible and laying railroads with bridges and lighting. It was super fun, but I'm happy to move on finally.

MK and I battled for those last farm levels to see who would get there first. I won but only by a few minutes. I had discovered the lightning boost feature right at the end and it doubled my output. I hit 200 harvesting the longest term crop, Baby Boo Pumpkins. They take 2 real time days to grow but give you a lot of XP. 

And that basically ends the summer for me. 

In addition to games, I just finished the paper book of Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic. I'm half way through the audio book version and have the made-for-TV movie ready to watch. I also started a story collection by Gene Wolfe, a scifi/fantasy writer I'm just discovering who's supposed to be a great writer. I have his Book of the New Sun series (the first two books anyway) ready in the wings. (Howl's Moving Castle is on hold at the moment but I hope to get back to it soon). 

There's also my obsession with the What Went Wrong podcast about the troubles of making movies. It's so much fun. 

Finally, I saw Spinal Tap II last night. It was good. I have to look up the drummer they used because she was great. 

And that's all I can think of at the moment.