ROM hacks I'm playing this week

Remember when the internet was still new, and you could spend hours digging through random websites, stumbling on weird little corners full of esoteric info you couldn’t find anywhere else?

Lately, that’s what RomHacking.net has felt like for me. There are tons of mods and hacks that breathe new life into classic console games we’ve all played a million times. I’ve been on an absolute rampage—patching ROMs and loading them onto my Anbernic SP clone nonstop these past few weeks. Here are a few standouts I’ve been hooked on lately.

Really good interview with Kevin Rose on the Digg revamp and making the web more human. Honestly I feel some social web vibes here… Like it’s not really indie I guess but anything to humanize the web is a win for me.

Most of us are here because we’re sick of what social media has turned into over the last couple of decades. A lot of us only ended up on Reddit because Digg went away.

With AI slop taking over more of the web every day, it’s good to know some of the big names in tech are working to preserve a little bit of that old school community vibe from back in the day.

Skip some of the upgrades

If you read this blog, you know I’m going through an obsession with retro gaming right now. If you’re on the indie web, you’re probably a fan of old tech like RSS. There are plenty of algorithm-driven, much newer, much more high tech alternatives, but RSS is so simple and yet powerful.

Pico 8 demakes you can play in your browser

I’m still on my Pico 8 kick. It kills me how many hilarious demakes there are for this little fantasy console. You can play all of these right in your browser – you even get touchscreen controls if you’re on a phone or tablet but certain ones like Linecraft and Pico Zombie Garden aren’t really playable without a mouse.

Arachnophobia warning: pink toe tarantula smacks a couple of crickets

This is a video of my pink toe tarantula, Alucard, going after two crickets. At first I thought he came in too hot and just missed both of them, gave up and went back to his web to sulk.

Then I came back a few minutes later and one of the crickets made its way to the ceiling of the enclosure and started twisting and contorting for a while until he ended up all sprawled out and paralyzed. It was pretty gnarly! 😱

He finally came back out to eat after a bit. I never get sick of watching this furry little guy!

The secret to actually enjoying Castlevania III

Once I finished Blasphemous 2 on the Switch, it was clear that I was smack in the middle of a brand new addiction. An addiction with no real side effects, aside from blind rage when things seem impossible. And the only withdrawal symptoms are intense cravings when I’m busy with meaningless, repetitive every day tasks like holding down a job.

New handheld console, why I love emulators

Ever since I picked up my R36S handheld a few months ago, I’ve been obsessed with these Chinese emulator consoles. They’re tiny Linux computers that can run anything from the Atari 2600 up to Nintendo DS and even ports of more modern PC games like Stardew Valley.

PICO-8 - The tiny fantasy console that runs on .PNGs

Screenshot of the PICO-8 fantasy console on the developer’s website - lexaloffle.com

Retro games are my jam. Anything with at least 8 bits, a sword, and a dungeon to escape can usually keep me occupied for hours days. Lately, I’ve been going through a Metroidvania kick on the Switch, but yesterday I started playing with my R36S handheld for the first time in a few weeks when I discovered something I never saw coming…

Blogging for the future

I was surfing different streaming apps last night when I realized Peacock has the entire backlog of Saturday Night Live available to watch. My favorites were always the 90’s stuff, so I started with one that Tom Hanks hosted back in 1992, just a few weeks after the Rodney King riots.

George H-Dubya was still president but Ross Perot and Bill Clinton were campaigning hard right before the elections that November. Watching the Weekend Update with Kevin Nealon for the next few episodes was like stepping into a time capsule.

You can just open your laptop, go back in time and get a taste of what was happening around the world any given Saturday for the last five decades. I think that’s pretty neat.

It got me thinking about blogging. I’ve heard a few people on the indie web say something to this effect, but the longer you maintain your own little website, the further back your personal time machine goes.

Blog for your future self, if no one else <3

I'm a n00b

As someone who is obsessed with super punishing Metroidvanias, I have an embarrassing confession to make.

Digg.com Groundbreakers!

Finally just got invited to the new Digg.com “Groundbreakers” group!

I was so stoked when Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht did the reunion show for Diggnation last year. That was wild enough for me; I never thought I’d see the day. They joked about buying back Digg.com and making it an actual social network again but I never thought anything would come of it.

Have you tried Quiche?

I haven’t had a whole lot of luck finding browsers I like on iPhone. It feels like every single third party browser is just a custom built version of Safari with a new skin and a few new features duct taped on.

That stripper thinks you're a real catch...

The thing that kills me about middle and lower middle class MAGA people is that it’s literally no different than thinking they’re the one guy who the stripper really fell head over heels for while they were throwing handfuls of $5’s at her.

My latest Metroidvania obsession

I really need to start paying attention to the devs behind the games I play.

I started Sea of Stars, from Sabotage Studio, a while back and it’s one of the best classic style RPGs I’ve ever played.

Then I got kinda sidetracked and found a new obsession with Metroidvanias like Blasphemous and Aggelos for a while.

I kept thinking man, Sea of Stars has such great artwork and mechanics, I wish these guys would make a Metroidvania. I bet it would be fucking gnarly.

Well, turns out they did! Way before Sea of Stars, back in 2018 they made a game called The Messenger and holy shit is it good!

When I beat Aggelos, it kinda left a void in my soul for the more simplistic, 16 bit side scrollers with snappy controls and sick pixel art. Blasphemous was close, but it was a little more technical and modern in a lot of ways. Still a dope game but I need a break before I get more into Blasphemous 2, so The Messenger is my latest obsession.

So many good Metroidvanias out there if you know where to look! Still haven’t finished Sea of Stars yet with all this side scrolling action though.

A post about nicotine

I started smoking cigarettes when I was about 16 years old. My dad started when he was eight. His dad probably came out of the womb with an unfiltered Pall Mall hanging out of his mouth.

Picked up a R36S handheld emu

I’m holding a R36S emulator console. It’s transparent black with a d-pad on the left, two analog sticks, three buttons in the center and your standard A/B X/Y buttons to the right. On-screen is Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets for SNES.

Picked up a R36S emulator console at a local video game place while my Switch was getting serviced last week.

I’ve been disconnecting and playing a lot of retro indie games lately.

Faves so far have been:

Annnd looking at Deltarune: Chapters 1 & 2 after I finish Sea of Stars. I think there’s a new chapter coming out sometime this year?

Definitely lots of good 90s style games coming out in the last few years!

Sea of Stars is like a mix between Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG but it’s definitely not a ripoff of anything. Super cool story line and beautiful pixel art.

Aggelos is a Metroidvania that reminds me of Zelda 2: Link’s Adventure and shares sidescroller RPG elements from two underrated classics - Dragon View and Actraiser. My absolute favorite thing about it is that your character actually changes appearance when you unlock each new sword and armor. The super technical maneuvers and combos you need to use are fucking infuriating at times but it’s becoming one of my all time favorites.

Dusk is reminiscent of all the classic shooters like Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem/Shadow Warrior, Rise of the Triad, etc. Definitely brings a lot of its own mechanics and style to the table but it feels super nostalgic if you used to play old school shooters.

I’m always looking for modern retro stuff that looks good on the OLED Switch! Let me know if you have any suggestions 😋

Spider update

I haven’t posted a whole heck of a lot about my pinktoe tarantula since I got it.

I’ve been working six days a week for what feels like an eternity, but I finally got a couple days off and I was able to hang out with the little guy for a bit.

I mist the enclosure with a spray bottle every couple of days and he cant resist drinking water off of the screen. He comes running every time he hears me.

edit: video quality is kinda janky, here’s a better upload on bsky

Auto-generated description: A spider is seen on a mesh surface near a glowing light, with some greenery nearby.

Generic post about wanderlust

I regret that I haven’t traveled much so far. I’ve never been outside the United States. Hell, I’ve never even been to a blue state before. That didn’t even dawn on me until I started thinking about it just now.

There is so much awesome culture around the world but for most Americans, we act like this is the only place you ever need to be. Rootin' tootin', cowboy hat wearin', gun shootin', in god we trust ‘Merica. It’s the only place in the world that blue eyed, blonde haired, white baby Jesus really cares about.

I want to go to Europe, and China, and South America. Even just Canada would be a nice little trip. It’s like the USA if the USA didn’t have a parasitic brain worm.

I hope I can get my shit together enough to see more of the world before I get too old.

Faith in karma

I’m not religious, but I have to believe some kind of karma exists out there. Even if it’s just the consequences of a few billionaires' shitty actions.

Even the most gullible, brainwashed conservatives will eventually have to realize how bad they’re being fucked by their daddy in chief. You can only suck up to a bully so much before you realize it’s not benefiting you in any way anymore.

Or maybe they’re all just masochists, I don’t know.