It's Been a Minute

You may have noticed, I haven't been streaming. There have been several (good) things going on. I'm setting up a new office area, and we traveled! Hopefully the office will get finished in the next two weeks.

I think when I get back, I'm going to do a 'New Office' tour and a bulk Pickup Checkup. I've been getting a few things here and there, but haven't posted any of it. (Some I haven't even opened.) I've beaten Super Mario Odyssey, at least Bowser. I'm working on 100%ing it. I've got Mario 3D All Stars waiting to come out and play, and we have Hyrule Warriors on the horizon, plus some new consoles to plug in and play!

Finally beat Adventure Island

Last Night
Adventure Island is one of those games I've picked up and put down more times than I can remember. Starting around 30 years ago, I remember renting this game, falling in love with it, and then quickly getting frustrated. Then a few weeks or months later, renting it again, loving the music, then realizing I wasn't going to beat it in a weekend.

Over the years, I've played it, even as I started to stream. But still... never got around to beating it.

Well, that all ended last night! I finally beat the boss! Sure, I used saves, but no other cheats. 8-3 was a slog. The end of 8-3 has this series of platforms that drop as soon as you land on them with some bats flying at you. Took me an hour or so to get past that.

To see what it looks like to slay the final boss, check this out: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/646491735

A little anti-climactic, but well, it's done.

What's Next?
This means we get to move on to the next game, which I also started last night. Video is up for now on my Twitch site. Super Mario Odyssey. I'm already really enjoying it, and think it should be a good adventure for the stream.

Coming up, I'm thinking of putting CrossCode in the lineup. Maybe making it my first All-Day, First-Day play through of a game on the stream.

Off the schedule but still around!

If you've been following our Twitch Channel, you'll see that Eugene and I have been plugging along with Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. And we're almost there. I think we only have one more crystal and/or Zelda to save.  So, I'm planning to do a Play it Till We Beat It stream. I'm not sure when that will be.
I may be switching the stream to Monday nights, starting at 8. That may enable us to do some longer streams. I've had Mario Odyssey sitting next to me on the desk waiting to be played, so I'd like to get that in. I've also been doing some Cities Skylines and Factorio that could be fun to stream. I'd also like to go back and finally be Adventure Island... but that will have to be after MrRKnight finishes his Blind Run of it! (If you haven't checked him out, go do it!)
I've upgraded my camera a bit. A little sharper of an image. I may be looking at a mic in the near future. But with the new hardware the stream seems to be more stable.

Stream Status and future schedule

Hey folks. Just an update. With this Covid-19 things, I've actually been busier than before. But I've cleared a few projects off my plate at home, which should open the way for some more streams.

We did try streaming last Tuesday (3/24/2020) but had some issues. I updated OBS and it doesn't seem to play well with my Elgato now. I need to figure that out.

Still hoping to finish our play through of A Link to the Past.

Still need to finish the rebuild of the Nintendo DS! I may need some new gear for that one for it to look nice.

I'd like to do some Cities Skylines play through... especially since I downloaded the Sunset Harbor DLC! :D

So, stay tuned!

Breath of the Wild Fan Fic... by Me! - Link and Beedle

I initially posted this story here: https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?176719-Link-and-Beedle-BoTW-Fan-fic

Warning... possible spoilers below.

Chest heaving, Link made it across the bridge to the stable. Tabantha stable. Had he known it was here he would have stopped in and stocked up before making his way to the tower. The trek south from the Tabantha tower had worn him out and he'd busted 3 of his best weapons, barely making it past the Guardians. But he'd made it. He was at the stable, warm fire, soft beds, and maybe some useful supplies.

Just then he spotted Beedle. 'Hey Beedle!', he called out.

'Are you stalking me?', replied a startled Beedle.

Link was a little surprised by the response. 'No, I was just surprised to see you all the way out here. How'd you find this place.'

'Uh, just, ah, wandering around.'

He had a funny, nervous look. Suddenly, Link had a thought.

'Beedle, did you know this stable was here?'

'What? No! Of course not, I'm just wandering around, like you.'

'Beedle, you sell all over, you made it here all the way from Lurelin village in less than a day. You must have known this was here.'

'No, no, of course not. I just found it. Wanna buy some arrows.'

Link started to get frustrated. 'What other stables do you know about Beedle?'

'I, uh, I don't know, just the ones you found I guess?', Beedle started backing up.

'Just the ones I found?! Wait, are you following me?!', Link started to close the gap.

'What? No! That's absurd, why would I follow you? I have so many customers.'

'Yeah, and every time I 'bump' into you, I run into...', Link thought a moment. 'Beedle, are you working for somebody?'

'No, I work for myself, honest!'

'Beedle. Who are you following me for?'

'Nnn... nobody!', backing up some more.

'Beeedle?!'

'They made me! They made me do it!'

As he backed up Beedle stumbled over a tree branch lying on the ground. A couple of stamina elixirs tumbled from his pocket.

'Ah-hah!', Link shouted. 'No wonder you can keep up with me with that huge pack on your back. How come you never offer any of these for sale?'

'I need them, I need them to keep up with business!'

'While I'm thinking of it, what DO you carry around in your pack? You barely ever have anything to sell.'

Link took a quick slice at Beedle's pack with his Traveler's Sword, the last one he had after his voyage from the tower. The bundle burst open with rupees and...

'MIGHTY BANANAS!!!', Link yelled. 'Are you spying on me for the Yiga?!?!'

'They, they made me!', Beedle stammerd. 'They said they'd feed me to a Molduga! Link, you have to believe me! Link... you're, you're turning Dark!'

Link was indeed turning dark... he could feel the rage building. He tried to temper it, and then, another thought.

With a glint in his eye, Link slowly brought his sword toward Beedles chin, as he knelt down, leaning in close to his face.

'Beedle, I see you have several Mighty Bananas available. And I'm sure you have some particular... 'friends' who are waiting for them. I just happen to have a pile of Hinox Toenails. I'll tell you what we're going to do...'

No stream this Tuesday, but new content coming!!!

This Tuesday (3/10/2020) I won't be able to stream. But don't worry, we're still on our quest to complete A Link to the Past.
In other news, I'm getting setup to stream some tech work. I have a couple consoles to work on and I've almost got things setup to stream the work while I discuss it. So look forward to more excitement!

Mario Kart... contender!!!

Here at work, we get pretty excited about games. It's not our business, but many of our staff, especially IT, are into games. So, it was no surprise when they announced a Mario Kart Tournament. Mario Kart Wii specifically.
Out of 20 guys here in the office, I came in 2nd!!! Maybe I should get into Pro Mario Kart racing?!

Stream announcement - Eugene

So, last night was the reveal of Eugene, our stream mascot. He is a Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor) from Southern Australia.

On a trip to the US Eugene discovered his love for all things Nintendo and decided to stay. Sometimes he offers me tips and advice while he watches. Usually he just tells me how bad I play.

Special Reveal Tonight! Feb 11th, 8:30 PM EST

Tonight starting at 8:30 PM (EST) I'm planning on a special reveal of my new mascot! I will also be continuing my current first play through of Link to the Past. Come join us!
https://www.twitch.tv/maruko_tenada

It's working!

Wow! Two posts in one week! Grand!

Well, I think I sorted out my sound issues last night. Still a little iffy, but it seemed to work. So, I'll try to stream Monday nights, 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM.

For more detail... it seemed that my Logitech camera (a little older) was interfering a bit with the mic. I also had to tweak how Spotify output (to Steam stream audio? details later). That way I didn't need to stream the desktop audio... which gave some feedback.

However, on that point, I think I was getting feedback because I had the mic set to monitor. I bet if I didn't have the mic set to monitor, I could just use the desktop sound.

Welcome and all that jazz!

I wanted to start to log the progress I'm making as I get into streaming. I may put show notes here, ask questions of the viewers, that sort of thing.

For now, you can see what I've started:
<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/maruko_tenada">https://www.twitch.tv/maruko_tenada</a>

I'm planning to stream most Mondays, from 8:30 - 9:30. Let's see how that goes. :D