IIRC cartridge shape is the only thing that stops you from playing US games in a JP N64.

Salazar: We’re all going to hell, man.

Right now it’s Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

Still a lot better than my Crazy Bitch phase…

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

That plot is batshit wild, and I think it hinges on a bootstrap paradox. But that’s the point. It’s Bill and Ted, they just deal with it as Bill and Ted do. From robot clones, to Death, to death, to Hell, to Heaven, to Smokey and the Bandit III, it’s a perfect film.

Yeah, it’s a movie that starts when it needs to and concludes well. Not that it’s Superman’s only leg up on the competition, but it’s a shame that’s the kind of thing that sets movies apart nowadays.

Also, Gunn has said he’s not doing a Superman or Batman origin story, because we already know those. So I hope that his Batman is good enough to end up on your list, too!

I’ve gotta be talking to Bill Rizer’s alt account right now.

You’re making me want to break out Contra and get as practiced as you.

Absolutely. Contra may be the easiest on this list. But Contra with just 3 lives…

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is one of the greatest games ever. It’s a boxing game that relies heavily on reflex and rhythm, and it plays so smoothly you’ll be surprised it’s an NES game.

Mega Man 2 is a classic. Most people claim this or Mega Man 3 (1990) as their favorite. Just some great action platforming, if you like to jump and shoot.

Speaking of jumping and shooting, Contra is another insanely fluid game. I really think its gameplay holds up well compared to even SNES-era games, and its vibrant, high-contrast colors are seared into my brain.

Most great NES games are some type of platformer, honestly. Castlevania is no exception. With a gothic horror aesthetic and a killer soundtrack, it’s honestly one of my favorites to just kick back and play with a drink.

I would also recommend the original Super Mario Bros., if you really haven’t played it. It’s pretty good for an early outing.

Oh and, as a rule, NES games are hard. Arcades made you pay quarters for lives, and since games were $50+ they wanted you to get your money’s worth in restarts. You would do well to learn the Konami code.

Crazy how the only thing to cause the son of God to fly into a violent rage was unfettered capitalism

I second CachyOS. That shit just works on every machine I slap it on.

This may not be a cure-all, but it’s pretty comprehensive.

Yeah, you’re a bit SOL for CAD and drawing. I mean, Krita is great, but if you use Adobe you’re fucked.

I hear so many complaints about FreeCAD… Maybe we’ll be there someday.

Yeah, Kubuntu has some issues. If you didn’t have any trouble with Manjaro, CachyOS is similar, but without the BS, super fast and gaming focused. I’m using it now, and I was fully expecting to break it but it just keeps trucking.

Also, you can run both of those games on Linux. Steam’s Proton tool is magic. ProtonDB users have Rocket League working on the Steam Deck. You probably just need the Heroic Games Launcher to get it from Epic. I don’t have any personal experience with Rocket League, but Civ IV definitely runs through Steam with Proton, and it’s not hard to mod games on there. (Not hard meaning: the same as Windows, just with slightly different file paths and maybe 2 extra steps done with a GUI)

Mmm yeah, Mint is like the only one of those designed for compatibility and ease of use first. Manjaro as your 2nd distro is an especially wild step. That was my 2nd distro as well, and it was miserable and I broke my machine lol. Then, come to find out, the company that makes it suxx with a capital XX.

You know, now that I think back on my early days, I actually did try Kubuntu for a little bit and I had a few hiccups there. Never failed to boot on me, but it did have times where it felt like it was trying. 😭

If you ever feel like giving it a go again, Pop!_OS is pretooled to have all the drivers you need. I didn’t have a single problem with Pop! my whole time using it. If that doesn’t suit your visual style, then PikaOS has a great KDE Plasma spin that feels just like Windows!

My point being: I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but also understand that there are options that are drag ‘n’ drop easy at this point.

I’ll go fuck myself now, I guess…

Oh, by the way, what are those two games?

Ehhh it could happen, but if you use something like Linux Mint or Pop!_OS, your experience is not going to be too different from Windows.

What kind of projects are you creating?

I will say, Linux really is not all the way there for people who use Adobe products. I get the hesitation. But, I haven’t had issues with games since like 2022 - and that was because I was trying to mod anyway.

That said, I have to inquire what distribution you’re using on your laptop? Not that they’re perfect, but something a little more preconfigured for your needs like Pop!_OS or CachyOS may be the ticket to a smoother experience.

I’m curious to know exactly what distribution you tried. Every type of Linux I have tried have never given me issues with programs, booting, or running games.

In fact, the only games that have flat out not worked for me are the ones that require a Windows system for their anticheat.

I don’t blame you for hating the system; I would too, given the circumstances. I’m just curious as to how your system got to such a state of unusability.

People were calling George Dubya a Nazi. Reagan’s entire economic plan was “make the rich richer because they’ll give poor people money.”

The fact of the matter is, most Americans have been propagandized into thinking communism is the greatest threat they face. Fascism isn’t even on their radar. That’s why they get more upset about people calling others fascists than they do about fascists - they don’t have any concept of the legitimate threat, and quite a few think that authoritative power is the only thing that can fix society.

I told my mom in 2021 that I thought the next major threat the US will face is from right wing groups, because I was seeing a sharp rise in alt-right ideology and meme pages on Instagram. She just looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Really?”

It also took me way too long to wake up. I didn’t start calling it fascism until last year, and I certainly didn’t see the warning signs in the first Trump term - I just thought he was an asshole.

But it’s been going on for a while. Since Reagan at least. “Give your people bread and circuses, and they will never revolt.” Except now we have ultrabread delivered to your home and megacircuses in every living room. 70s-90s America, especially, were kind of a paradise for the middle class. Even in the 80s, when people were upset at having to work corporate jobs, consumer products were being cranked out nonstop and affordable to boot, and you could own a house. We’ve just had it too good for too long, and we didn’t notice the structure of it all eroding until the floor fell out from under us.

If you can emulate PSP games with ease, check out GTA Chinatown Wars. I just wanted to see how the game played one evening, and I ended up beating it in a couple days.

It has a drug dealing mechanic, and you have to crash cop cars to lose stars. Extremely unique and fun GTA.

I haven’t read into RetroDECK, is it an emulator frontend?