A Bit of Action: River City Ransom

River City Ransom, in my mind, crossed genres as both a fighting game and an RPG. While following the line of a traditional beat-em-up, it is also set in an open world which the player is encouraged to explore while moving onwards in the game. The graphics, while being pretty basic, were good at the time of the game's release in 1989, and the longevity of the game is demonstrated by its having been released for multiple other platforms since the original for NES.

A Bit of Ball: Base Wars

Short for Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars, Base Wars was a futuristic game that came out for NES in 1991. While any one who reads this blog with any frequency knows that I'm not REALLY a sports game fan, this game deserves a place in the annals because basically everybody else I know loved it.

A Bit of Crates: Crash Bandicoot

I feel like Crash Bandicoot is one of those awesome games that has just gotten forgotten with the passage of time. I spent hours playing this game, yet when someone asks me which games are my favorite, I've never thought of it, which is a shame. This platformer, released for Playstation in 1996, has both an engaging story, beautiful-looking design, as well as being acclaimed globally by critics and players alike.

A Bit of Skeletons: Grim Fandango

I am pretty disappointed in myself that it has taken me this long to write about this amazing game. Considering my love affair with all other LukasArts games, it should come as no surprise to you that I also love Grim Fandango. The game is a neo-noir adventure game (point and click style, like it's sibling Secret of Monkey Island), which did not necessarily do as well as it commercially could have, but is still recognized as one of the foundational (and last) games of this specific genre. It also put an end to LukasArts' creation of these types of games, which makes it pretty impossible to find on the internet. The likelihood of re release has been unfortunately thwarted as the individuals responsible for recreating and re releasing some of these games, like Secret of Monkey Island, do not have the rights to it. Sad faces all around.

A Bit of Health: Fitocracy

Over the past few years I have lost around 70 pounds--I've gained some weight, and lost more weight, but the amount that it has all fluctuated is around 70, give or take. This time last year, in an effort to try to lose more weight, or find something that kept me interested and compelled me towards weight loss, I downloaded an app called Fitocracy. Unlike other fitness applications that pit your against your friends, or offer you money for each workout (I heard that app totally bombed), Fitocracy allows you to gain points, achievements, and level up with each workout. If you pay for the application, which I have not yet done, it gives you the opportunity to "challenge" other members in a battle to see who can do the most push ups, crunches, run the most miles or whatever in a set amount of time. It's all about them 'chievos, baby.

A Bit of Ballin': NBA Street

Alright. There is a first time for everything, and I think that this is probably the first (and last) time that anyone will hear me saying this about a sports game. NBA Street was one of the most enjoyable and addicting game to me when it first came out in 2002 for PlayStation 2--more so than any other thing that I had at my fingertips. My cousin and I would fight FOR HOURS against each other and trash talk while controlling our custom players on the hard scrabble street courts presented in the game, and there was nothing you could do to stop us. Sports games, in general, seem pretty boring to me--probably a combination of my lack of interest in the content as well as not really understanding what the rules were in real life. I enjoy being able to play as a character that I have some kind of emotional resonance or connection with, and in sports games where half of the characters are already a reality, I just don't find that. NBA Street was different.

Struggles With Streaming

Alright, so, I think that most of you that read this probably follow me elsewhere--Twitter, Facebook, etc.--and if that's the case, you probably already know most of this. That being said, as it pertains to my goals of becoming a female streamed gamer (preferably ranked), I think that some sort of post about my struggles with streaming (and the computer that I am streaming it from) belongs here.

A Bit of Science: The Lost Mind of Doctor Brain

Apparently, unbeknownst to me, there are other games exactly like this one out there--in fact this is apparently the third in the series. That being said, in my world as a young kid playing PC games, The Lost Mind of Doctor Brain was the only one in existence. And I loved it. This kind of follows the same trend as my post about Zoombinis, so if you didn't like that game, don't like this one, or don't like logic/puzzle games you should probably just kick rocks before you get too frustrated.

A Bit of Weird: Super Dodge Ball

Super Dodge Ball is to the NES what NBA Street was to Playstation. Both games seemed intensely awesome while I was playing them, but looking back both are pretty limited in their scope. Also, it bears noting that Super Dodge Ball is vaguely racist, based on the different fields that it is played. Despite that fact, I loved this game back in the day and think that it deserves mentioning.