HDN

Isn't that interesting how that happens? Same thing happens to me, for different games and systems. Thanksgiving and Christmas always puts me in the mood for Cybermorph and F-ZERO. Spring Break makes me crave summertime with California Games on Atari Lynx, especially the Surfing and BMX games. Summer Vacation makes me want to pull out the Sega Master System. I think these times of year correlates to memories of these games, which makes us pull them out and play them every year at that time, which after a while becomes a tradition.

Alright, here's my calendar too, @Justin!

In the early months of the year, I get pretty nostalgic for Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I got it for my 10th birthday in January 2015, and played it constantly. I lost my original copy in Chicago, but have since got another copy. I also get pretty nostalgic for some early NES games, like Donkey Kong and its sequels. That one's recent, but I still look back on it fondly. I remember hearing the story of a mysterious illness in China that had already killed 21 people. And Kobe's passing was the big story!

Later, in March, I get nostalgic for the Atari 2600. This is another recent one. It's funny how I find myself reminiscing so fondly on things that didn't happen that long ago.

I had recently got my new system, one I had wanted to get for years and years. I remember waking up each morning before everyone else, going downstairs in the darkness, and the only source of light was 2600 Donkey Kong's glow from my little CRT, temporarily (now moved and permanently) in our game room. Everything was going so well for me back then. My grades were up, my friends and I were goofing off all the time and having fun, and everything was going alright. And then, in the middle of the month, it all came crashing down. I also think of Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, and 3 during this time, all during different time periods.

During March, I also get nostalgic for Super Metroid, and play it a lot. I remember the first time playing this game so fondly. Not sure if that was in March 2010 or not, but I always get nostalgic for the thing around that time.

April is a fun one. Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color! I remember when I was in 4th grade, and everyone in the class was big into Pokemon. This was the first Pokemon game I ever got, on the 3DS eShop. I later got Red and Gold, and young, pre-middle school me saved up for months to get Pokemon Moon at launch, first time I ever got a game on the day of release. I don't really care for the mainseries Pokemon RPG's anymore, but I can still enjoy the TCG on GBC.

May is all about the album Beatles for Sale. I remember going on vacation for a few days once in May, and I listened to this one constantly. I still think Beatles for Sale is probably the best album that the Beatles released in their first couple years.

I also get nostalgic for Vs. Super Mario Brothers (first video game I ever played) and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters.

June reminds me of Game and Watch and other LCD games. July is all about Super Mario 64 DS.

August reminds me of one of our annual vacations, Blue Harbor. Near this place was the only retro video game store I knew of until late last year. There, I got a few of my games. Buying a retro game was an event back then, as it only happened once a year. I had to pick very wisely. During this time, I get nostalgic for Startropics and Kirby's Pinball Land.

September reminds me of Super Mario Land and Link's Awakening. 

October, shocker, Luigi's Mansion. November, Tunnel Runner, 2600 Pac-Man, and more Luigi's Mansion.

And December... Metroid. However, strangely not so much my beloved Super Metroid. More like Fusion, Zero Mission, Metroid, Metroid II, and Samus Returns. I sadly could never get in to Prime. It's just not my thing. Other M is just trash.

@RickR blinded me with SCIENCE!!!

It actually does look like me.  Plus I do love science.  Well-played. 

You two are the worst

Sweet!  You have fun with that thing. 

I was playing some Princess Rescue yesterday. I love when I get to play new Mario games since I’ve beaten all the 2D ones I have. It’s crazy that they got it to work with two buttons on the Genesis pad. Worlds 3 and 4 were super hard!

Nice lot! What is your 2600 cartridge count now?

@socrates63 I believe 108.

👏 You got the Mario game! I know you’ve been looking for a while. Nice!

I’ve been trying to get it since day one, in fact! 
Wait a minute... today’s day one! I need to make a status update or something! 

Hibernating is normal for this time of year.

You're doing great 👌

Lesson 1:  Learn and master the universal gesture for drivers.

I told this same thing to the people on the Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast Discord server. One of the responses I got was "Better than Dodge 'em, I suppose".

All are awesome. Enjoy. 

👏👏🕹️ great haul, Harry. Enjoy!

Your assignment is to write an essay comparing CV Donkey Kong vs. 5200 Super Breakout as pack-in games. 

I'm kidding!  No assignments!  Enjoy your time off. 

Well, you can’t break bricks in Donkey Kong! And I don’t recall a cavity variant.

What fun! I loved baking Christmas cookies with my Grandma as a kid and my daughter when she was younger. 

I see Mario, Pac-Man, Blinky, the Super Star, and what I think is a Samus Aran. 

That is correct!

I'm not an artist, and some of the better-decorated cookies were my sister's. These are pre-cut cookies, so I think if I had some better ways of applying frosting (like one of those frosting bag things) I think they could look better. 

So yes, that's Gingerbread Man Samus and Mario. I used a tableknife to carve the metroid, Pac-Man, and Blinky. I think next year I will cut the cookies BEFORE they are baked. But I still think they look nice. Christmas cookies needn't be fancy. They're all going to the same place!

Try "Miner 2049er" next.  If you've never played it, I think you'll love it.  The 2600 version is surprisingly good.  

I’m not the biggest fan of 2049er. I’ll stick with Quick Edward for now.

I tells ya who needs revenge...the label on my cartridge.  Something rubbed it the wrong way!

Here's my high score for today.

It's available for the 3DS. I'll have to take a look in the e-shop.

I figure the 'gator doesn't like being caught and locked up. So that's where the revenge factor comes in 🙂 

That's exactly what we came up with 2-Player Battle for. Check it out:

https://forums.atari.io/forum/72-2-player-battle/

I was going to suggest what @Justin did.  It works!

Thanks so much!  And a happy birthday to Lee.

It has been an interesting year, but I'm thankful for all the friends here on the Atari.io forums.  

A belated thanks, @HDN and @RickR.

It was pretty uneventful, but I did get some gift cards, so I have a mini shopping spree in my future.

You, too!

And there's an added bonus to the night this year -- we gain an hour. Don't forget to "fall back."

By the way, how do you do Status Update? Where do you go to do that?

@socrates63 -- to do a "status", I use the "create" link on the upper-right of the browser window for Atari.io.  "Create" then click "status". 

Mega Man = too difficult for me.  

The only Mega Man I love is 2 on the NES.  Everything about that game just worked and the music is still with me today.  Castlevania?  Yep...all three on the NES were fantastic but I never could beat the first one.  I could play the second one over and over again.  I haven't played any after those three.

Good.  Keep up the good work.

That's great news, Harry!

Why?

@Justin You used to be able to buy a loose cart for $10 a few years ago. But now with people harvesting the internals for the POKEY, the price has nearly tripled. Let's preserve history for future generations and save Ballblazer!

COVID-19 has been a truly horrible thing. 

You created a contact for a package tracking number? That might be a brilliant lifehack.

I've got to repair our gas fireplace this evening.  Brrrr...it's getting cold.  But if that goes smoothly, I'll be happy to join in.

Nice! I'm still on a 6S Plus. I had the battery replaced a couple of years ago.

You can buy an adapter that plugs into the lightning port and give you a headphone jack and lightning port. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Headphone-MOYAGOA-Headphones-Compatible. There's also the adapter with only the headphone jack if you want something slimmer.

No promises, but I will try.  Maybe around 7pm PT. 

🕹️ 🕹️  🕹️  back in the day, I remember playing Activision games at my friend's house. He had a Polaroid camera so we were playing there and taking photos to submit to Activison.