Sean Akizuki's Personal Blog

Hummer Team was that low-tier pirating team that created unofficial NES games. Yes, that also included that HORRID Super Mario World bootleg that was too good to be true. However, the news that Sony is riding the hype for discless gaming caused me to have a strange dream. Hummer Team returned out of the blue! The Hummer Team that gave the HORRID Mortal Kombat demakes suddenly pirated MK9 intact and became an archivist. This mod of the now probably "abandoned"  Mortal Kombat (2011) game seems to partly mimic the bloated Mortal Kombat Trilogy . In my dream, Hummer actually placed the classic tunes or even well, absurdly, the Hummer themes in the options menu. It made me laugh as one could even hear the Hummer themes if you set them in the options. My dream was strange because the game played in its PS3 glory while also letting you experience the "Hummer tunes". It's really something when absurd dreams happen! 

It sucks when the gaming community starts to move towards greedy vs. sustainable profit. Here's Angry Joe of the Angry Joe Show -- the very person who I avoided the mediocre Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and chose Mortal Kombat (2011) instead in the 2000s. I'm no doubt I enjoyed the PlayStation saga. I had played across the PS1-PS4 saga. Right now, having been devoted to other hobbies (like BLOGGING is just a HOBBY), I haven't played PS5 games yet. However, reading the news that Sony plans to end physical discs by 2028 has me worried as a casual gamer. I was thinking the hybrid model worked better. I thought about PlayStation Store downloads for old games. However, I would've preferred the collection discs like the Mega Man X Legacy Collection or the Mega Man Legacy Collection . It's a real bummer (actually) when I think about Angry Joe's rant here. It's sad, really, but it's the reality. Sony probably got intoxicated with its past successes, like: I was told to s...

I could remember the 1990s when the Internet was barely there. The digital age was barely kicking. I remember having a Famicom (which was the Japanese OG NES). There were the multicarts. I had no idea they were actually BOOTLEG. Yeah, bootlegging is a common problem in low-tier countries like the Philippines. In my case, I had the Super 190-in-1 (which was just a series of hacks for most of them) and many games were wrongly labeled. Mario Bros. was labeled as Mr. Mary . This cartridge also included the infamous Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels -- which was called Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan. An AI response (take it with a grain of salt) says this: Smaller Games: Bootleggers would prioritize older, smaller games to fit more onto a single cartridge. The size of the game is measured in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB).  Smaller older games that would come from the 1980s to 1990s. Some of the smaller older games would be the arcade games like Dig Dug , Pac-Man , Warp Man , and Leg...

Fighting games tend to brag the SNK Boss Syndrome. Is it me or are some sub-bosses deliberately HARDER than the final boss? Be it the stats, the unfair AI, or just about anything. There are some fighting game sub-bosses that are considerably more difficult than EVEN THE FINAL BOSS! The Mortal Kombat franchise made some sub-bosses harder Mortal Kombat has some big bad final bosses that were a challenge. However, there were some sub-bosses that had unfair AI or stats. Some sub-bosses were actually harder than the final boss. One may remember how Goro was actually harder than Shang Tsung.  Why is the sub-boss harder than the final boss? The sub-boss apparently serves as some bodyguard to the final boss. Perhaps,  person with greater physical strength but not much on the brain. Kintaro didn't have much brain compared to Goro. Motaro in Mortal Kombat III was invulnerable to projectiles and could volley people with repeated fireballs. Kintaro and Motaro served as Shao Kahn's chief e...

Buying Marvel vs. Capcom: Fighting Collection brought me back memories. Yes, memories of the arcade. Earlier on, I wrote an entry about  why the pandemic never made me miss going to the arcade . Playing Marvel vs. Capcom: Fighting Collection made me think of a lot of stuff. It reminds me of the time I bought Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and did the Smoke Missions to unlock the Mortal Kombat II classic game for the PS2 -- the seventh console generation era. I was also able to buy Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Super Heroes for the PS2. All the while, I wonder why Capcom never made Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes remake for the PS2 while they did for the Dreamcast -- a system that died too soon! The arcade is a huge token eater. I made a list of arcade games that I wasted money on . The games can be infamous for their button reading, broken AI (where characters can do what the player can't do), and the difficulty that goes up and up. I believe I remember seeing someone gett...

I remember getting gamer rage A LOT. Yes, we had that Family Computer and many games were ridiculously difficult. Video games were a form of escapism. I treated every lost turn like I failed an exam. I always found some form of escapism in video games. As I try to play some old games -- some old games may NO LONGER be worth playing in the present! By the time I got the PS2 in the 2000s -- I remember getting Mega Man Anniversary Collection . I ended up using Easy Mode. The reason was because the first six games can be monstrously difficult. Mega Man gave me a lot of gamer rage. The first three  Mega Man X games are also that hard. Fortunately, there was the Password Cheats to make it a little easier. I'd always use all items minus weapons passwords in the first three games. Even the infamously difficult Mega Man X6 was more tolerable than next two Mega Man X games. It really showed what was really wrong! As I watched the video, I can agree that poor programming, artificially increas...

I'd like to relive some moments in the 1990s. Those were games where the keyboard was used. It was like, "How the f*** do I do this and that?" During the Windows 3.2 or Windows 95 days - we would go back to MS-DOS mode to play the games efficiently. It was because pressing Alt + Space Bar would interrupt the game. Oh, those were the days and I remember having Shareware only. I was just a student having some form of escapism. High school really sucks and video games were a source of escapism.  One of the MS-DOS games I played was the Commander Keen series. Yes, I was fascinated by that game. I could remember my grades suffered because I was addicted to this series. I can remember there were a total of six Commander Keen games. There was also the spin-off called Keen Dreams . Those were the times of simpler gaming.  There were other games too. I can't really remember them all. I only played most of them via Shareware so I never got the official ending of the games. Othe...

The 1990s can be full of fun and frustrating memories. Be it when Toei became responsible for the rise of Power Rangers  or the time Saban released X-Men: The Animated Series . There's also the arcade and I want to reminisce on some games that made me waste my allowance. I had a spanking coming because  I often wasted my allowance in the arcade.  I'll present them in NO PARTICULAR ORDER and according to my blurred memory... Captain America and the Avengers by Data East Before the rise of the MUCH BETTER X-Men arcade game - there was this love-it-or-hate-it game by Data East. Data East was the company that made that D*MN AWFUL F*CKER of a game called Conan on the NES. Now, I'd like to say that I had a guilty pleasure in playing this game. I didn't care if people said it was awful. For me, it was fun and I was able to play this game again on Retrogames. I usually used either Captain America or Iron Man. It was also that time I watched the 1960s Captain America cartoon an...

  I remembered writing an article talking about how the Legacy Virus pandemic never made me miss the arcade , After learning just recently that Tekken 8 wouldn't have an arcade release - I'm really more than convinced that the Legacy Virus did perform a deadly fatality on the arcades too. Sure, the Legacy Virus vaccine was created but the consequences are still there. There's nothing Cable could do to time-travel and prevent the decline of the arcade market. The EXPUTER revealed how Japan's arcades are dying . There are many factors and the Legacy Virus probably played the biggest impact: While gaming arcades have been on a downward trend ever since PC and console gaming became much more dominant, gaming arcades in Japan face a much bigger challenge than just competition; COVID-19. Social interaction has always been the most important aspect of arcade gaming. It’s what set it apart from multiplayer video games; you go to a gaming arcade and socialise with others that s...

If there's one thing I wish would magically disappear from ads - it's those ANNOYING bad players in the fake ads. Yes, I'm referring to ads that are found in games such as Gardenscapes and Homescapes . The players are showing signs of unusual stupidity. It's obvious common sense but the player in the ads is making A LOT OF WRONG CHOICES. There's the caption, "HARDER THAN YOU THINK." or "I'M SURE YOU CAN'T SAVE THE BOY!" type of captions. I think this is where it works. The ads are meant to frustrate viewers. The more I view the ads, the more I say, "Can't the player do better than this?" I think it's all about what Sun Tzu says about feigning stupidity. The players get irritated and said, "I'd show these players I could do better." The next thing is that the player DOWNLOADS the game and finds out its NOTHING LIKE IT. Though, Gardenscapes and Homescapes did put the puzzles in eventually. Still, the damage h...

Some time ago, I remembered writing about those fake ads becoming real . I could remember downloading that stupid fun game called Save the Girl by Lion Studios . There are now legitimate pull-the-pin hero rescue games. Though, back then such concepts were only ads in games like Hero Wars . I downloaded those games and FOUND OUT that they were NOTHING LIKE THE ADS. Then, the ads still persisted with more FAKE Gardenscapes ads. Shouldn't Playrix get investigated for fraud? Yup, I still think that these ads should be banned INDEFINITELY . How do they annoy? Well, it's really that simple if you understand click-baiting. There's the frustration factor in these ads. You can think of how the ads PURPOSELY make the "player" make wrong choices. There's the tag line going like, "Can you do better?" or "I'm sure you can't save the boy." You want to accomplish it, you download it, and guess what - the REAL GAME SUCKS! The real game is NOTHING ...

  COVID-19 (or the Legacy Virus) has caused things to slow down. Sure, vaccination rates are now going and herd immunity may be achieved any time soon. Soon people are now having limited going out. After all, Omicron may still infect the vaccinated BUT it's rather mild in contrast to the pre-vaccination days. I remembered missed eating out. One thing I just can't miss is going to the arcade. The arcade can develop some fond memories. However, these fond memories can be relived at home or some arcade games are no longer worth playing.  There are so many fun memories (or not) about the arcade. I remember going to the arcade when I was in my elementary years. I was fascinated by a lot of games. I mean A LOT. I could remember how there were so many games on Bibo, Glico's, and later Time Zone. My fascination was strong when I was a kid. I guess it's all part of being a child, right? There's been so many arcade games. But one thing was certain - them arcade games were a C...

I remembered back when I was a kid - it was when we had NO IDEA that some cartridges were hacked. In fact, there were many Super Mario hacks out there such as a hack of M.C. Kids using Mario, and an Armadillo hack using Mario, and I can't precisely name all of them. There was also the 190 in 1 cartridge, which was such a mess but I played through some games like Moai Kun and Dino Riki (erroneously titled Super Man ). There were hacked versions of Dino Riki,  which made the character stronger every time he took a hit. WTF... then there could be this one... I remembered when I got a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge on my birthday. It was later worn out so we bought another one. One of the features that this game had was the ability to SELECT ALL POWER-UPS so easily by pressing B on the world map and pressing select. It was a fun thing (at first) until I realized the joy of defeating the game WITHOUT IT in Super Mario All-Stars where Super Mario Bros. 3 had a 16-bit remake. Yes, it was t...

I simply started to run out of ideas to write here since this is just my personal space. I decided to think about why I'm not a bit insecure that I don't have a PS5. Sure, I could afford it but just because I could afford it doesn't mean that I should buy it. I was thinking about two consoles that I had before namely the Playstation 2 (PS2) and the Playstation 3. I felt those were the best systems IMHO. I remembered the first Playstation system which we had (and now no longer operational). Then, I remembered we got a PS2 which I enjoyed for some time. I just feel the dread that one day it would clunk out but not like the Family Computer system which easily broke. The PS2 was pretty much a big trip I could remember how the PS2 era was a huge leap from the PS1. I remembered how I wasn't exactly fond of Tekken (at first) until the PS2 era came. I remembered how Tekken 3 is fondly remembered though the first Tekken game may have aged rather badly. I still feel it took Tekke...

Here's a bit of a throwback post that I felt like doing. I did previously write about the Hummer Team bootleggers . I decided to end that long childhood nightmare by playing it online, using the SAVE STATES, and deciding just how horrendous it is. I did get a PS2 "SNES Station" which is nothing more than an unofficial bootleg and managed to finish Super Mario World which had an SNES emulation of the SNES game. Well, I did beat the emulation a couple of times already with quality controls.  I remembered thinking I had a legit copy of the game. It became my constant source of frustration I never had the real deal. I felt so bad that my parents never gave me a Super NES. However, we ended up having a Sony Playstation but I was in high school. Video games became my escapism during those irritating teenage years. I could remember how much I longed to play this game and a PS2 with that fanmade game managed to fix what I considered my "broken childhood". I did some res...

I was thinking about what to write in my personal blog after some time. Lately, it's been a real drag at how the digital age can be a wonderful or terrible thing. The good thing about the digital age is accessing some good old shows and good new shows like never before. Though, I think some classics won't get an international subtitle soon as they're stepping back with the previous generation. Meanwhile, I think digital gaming has slowly become more and more overrated or commercialized. I think I practically wasted some pre-order with Mortal Kombat 11 because of the Aftermath package. Heck, I think Mortal Kombat X and the reboot predecessor are more fun to play with. I felt that Tekken 7 just doesn't live up to the hype of its seventh generation console predecessors. I did enjoy Dragon Quest Heroes' two entries which were pretty much fun for low budget games.  I could talk about how the PS3 (IMHO) was really the best era ever Make no mistake. I'm just a casual p...

It would be one thing to enjoy retrogaming. The 1980s to 1990s children may have remembered playing through the NES and the Super NES - though I didn't have a SNES so I ended up playing through emulators only. One thing worth noticing about those old games is the ridiculous difficulty level. Don't believe me? Well, you might want to try retrogaming and see the frustration of trying to beat those old games. I decided to relive them for inspiration and thought so many of them were SO HARD. Yup, a lot of them were that hard to the point of being ridiculous. So, I thought about a couple of games that I was only able to beat using save states. I decided to replay Tom and Jerry on the NES to finish the game. It's THAT ridiculously difficult without save states and cheats if you ask me! I remembered never being able to get past Tom in the fireplace as an 11-year-old. I could remember how Rainbow Island had those random placements of enemies - one hit and you are O-U-T and you lose...

  Tom and Jerry was one of the many shows I grew up with. Perhaps one of the most beloved NES games of all time is the game based on the show itself. The plot has Jerry trying to rescue his nephew Tuffy from Tom. Tom has locked Tuffy somewhere in the attic and it's up to Jerry to rescue him.The game in itself has a confusing layout but it's nowhere near as confusing as The Goonies NES game.  Tom is the boss that manages to repeat himself with various patterns. So far, I never got past the fireplace level as a child. I think about the fun of the level where Tom is sleeping and Jerry hits the bees to bite Tom. So, it turns out that the fights with Tom get tougher. The final level requires EXTREME patience to win since Tom will hide a lot.  The big spoiler is the ending has it Jerry frees Tuffy. What's more amazing is that the credits seem to suggest that like Super Mario Bros. 3 - you were the participant in the play. Tom is seen holding both Jerry and Tuffy. It seems like ...

  One of the games that I'd say that I tried playing on the 190 In 1 Famicom cartridge (a bootleg cartridge nonetheless) was called The Goonies . This is one game that I'd say really frustrated me. There was a confusing layout that the game had in the later levels. The first level felt it was a cakewalk but wait until you get FURTHER into the game. The game gets really tough with the layout. Plus, it required me to try and guess where the items to make the game easier are located WITHOUT a game guide. The game was a big puzzle. The aim was to rescue all the Goonies. To do so, one must fight through some enemies that convert into bombs and you needed to blow up certain skull boxes. It does add some realism in that when you do get hit by the bomb - you lose a life. However, one can get shot by one of the Fratelli brothers and still have that round at the same time. Weird logic there! So far, I couldn't get past the second level. Not surprisingly, the game isn't that long ...

One reason why computer-related courses such as computer science and information technology require a lot of math is that math is used in programming. Above is a video of Super Mario and the use of the parabola which is part of mathematics. Trigonometry and geometry are widely used though I think more of trigonometry due to all the angles. The mathematics is being used accurately though we really end up realizing one weird paradox - some basic physics is IGNORED. Floating blocks for one defy the law of gravity. Question mark boxes just can't exist.  However, the laws of physics are really ignored to a certain extent. True, Super Mario could climb up the slope slower and land down faster. Many of Mario's moves done are really deadly such as jumping from incredible heights. Do some basic trigonometry and geometry and it'll tell you that jumping from THAT HEIGHT will kill you in real life. Mario's butt slam in Super Mario 64 is bound to land him in the hospital. Also, Mari...