This is going to be a follow-up of sorts to my previous entry. Writing that post was quite cathartic, and putting into words feelings which I had trouble identifying over the past year or so. A month later I realize how down I really was about my fleeting passion for gaming and I knew I would need to bounce back, or my interest would fade further. I was hoping that hosting The Secret of Mana for the community playthrough and playing it on original hardware would light that spark, but to put it simply, it didn't happen that way. Instead, a combination of a few things happened concurrently. I soft-modded a secondhand Nintendo Wii and loaded it with emulators. I did the same thing to my phone. I started playing games wherever I could in an effort to add games to my post in the "Games Beaten" thread to get my count up in January for a big start to the year. So far I've played a lot of handheld games (because they are shorter), and I'll tell you a little about them in a bit. First I want to mention the other project I'm working on that has fired me up a bit when it comes to gaming.



I have had a personal Instagram account for quite a while. I mostly use it to post pictures of my cats, but I noticed that every time I post something video game related, it usually gets a lot of love, and quickly. Last week I decided to open a new account on Instagram dedicated exclusively to video gaming. So far I have been having a lot of fun with it. The emulator I use on my phone fortuitously saves a screenshot with every save state, and for most retro games they fit perfectly in Instagram's default square picture format. If you're interested, follow me at @grayghostgames. I am currently posting two screenshots and two cover art photos (which I take myself) on most days.

I've played though a handful of games in the past few weeks, including some old favorites of mine as well as titles that were completely new to me. I played through Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge on the Game Boy, which was one of my favorite games growing up. I played a slightly sped up hacked version and it was very enjoyable. The original game however, is actually pretty bad. I was surprised by this because I remember both games as being good. I couldn't bring myself to finish The Castlevania Adventure even with save states. The pixel perfection required in some of the platforming segments borders on infuriating. I am currently playing Konami's Castlevania parody, Kid Dracula, and it is fantastic. This games has quite good reputation, so suffice it to say the gameplay is solid, the sprites are adorable, and the game is simply a lot of fun.


Over on the SEGA side of things I plowed through Panzer Dragoon Mini on the Game Gear and Alisia Dragoon on the Genesis (these games have nothing to do with each other). Panzer Dragoon Mini is not bad, but if you're looking for a handheld version of the console titles, you won't find it here. It's a very short and easy game, but should be reserved for Panzer Dragoon fanatics only. Alisia Dragoon on the other hand, is anything but easy, but should be played by everyone. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the second level without cheats turned on, but I really wanted to see the entire game because the graphics and music are phenomenal.

I'm very grateful to have used the platform I have here to open up personally and explore my thoughts and feelings about something that was bumming me out. The feedback I got from everyone was great, and letting it all out motivated me to change. Thank you for reading my posts. 

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