Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️‍⚧️

Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️‍⚧️

@sharkabytes.bsky.social

Freelance Writer│Magazine Editor│VG & Anime Historian│🦈 fur │UK│Trans woman she/her│AuDHD │❤️ : @kitnibbles.bsky.social │Business Enq: curicuricreations@protonmail.com More info in pinned ❤️ : https://ko-fi.com/retrobytes ❤️ : patreon.com/SashasRetroBytes

24,601 Followers 4,466 Following 30,984 Posts Joined Jul 2023
1 hour ago

Summoning the Old One beneath the Nexus is one of my favorite Fromsoft moments.

Encountering colossal nature deities in barren, alien landscapes dotted by cyclopean ruins is one of my favorite things to do!

Opportunities do not arise as often as one would like. 😔

#crt #demon'ssouls #gaming

41 12 1 0
52 minutes ago

Aww, yeah! It def gives you the feeling of an alien ecology to explore. Love that aspect too.

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1 hour ago

Aww, wonderful <3 I have a clear pocketstation like that one, but not any of the other bits and pieces.

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1 hour ago

Toro Inoue brings me joy.
Chocobo World, 1999, Square for Sony PocketStation
I used to play the Windows version of Chocobo World in the background for years. I finally was able to find a PocketStation and let my little Choco buddy grind for hours.
The PocketStation is really fun.
#RandomGameSaturday

32 4 1 0
1 hour ago

The port of this game on the PSP kept me alive in my late teens and early 20s. I would play it on the bus all the time until I finally learned to drive. Lots of cold Reno nights in an empty apartment, vibing, eating water and air for dinner, and playing this to fill my soul.

33 4 1 0
2 hours ago
A magazine ad for Gitaroo Man with a render of the protag U-1 in splashes of vibrant colour and light, guitaring away, with screenies of the game below.

📖 Bytes of Game Ads 📺

Music Tames the Savage Beast… Gitaroo Maaaan. 🎶

One of the games I wish I was a lot better at to see more of the game, 'cause it's such a cool one.

107 29 4 3
2 hours ago

Absolutely! Unreal is one of those big wow moments with environmental worldbuilding for me too.

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4 hours ago

#RandomGameSaturday I'm very proud of this repro that I did of Dinosaur Planet (with the fantastic Dinomod). The cart is a Summercart64 set to autoboot the ROM, that way I can update the game with new patches. I love how my box art and label came out on this especially with the clear blue shell!

64 21 5 1
4 hours ago

Oh wow, that is a gooorgeous repro!

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4 hours ago

I know from personal experience with a close friend that it's not even remotely an easy thing to start and then continue being, so well done for being still.

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4 hours ago

Aww, I played EQ during Scars, and yeah, I know what you mean. Guild Wars 2 is the only MMORPG I've played that has a real sense of exploration to its zones, and it's one of the things that hooked me into it.

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4 hours ago

Aww, yeah, I adore the starting town of Grandia. It really does have a feeling of all the things you mentioned.

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4 hours ago

That's how I felt about Myst & Riven too. I had the PS1 version and was so excited to play it after a few years of hearing about it and not having a PC/Mac. I was sooo enraptured by Myst island and the mix of technology. The star chamber/observatory and its music are particularly special to me.

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4 hours ago
A snap of the world map of this fantasy RPG with a coastal region of forests and mountains. A snap of the first person party based gameplay, with a city of square buildings and blue water.

The big early one for me was Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (1992). This CRPG gave you a big swath of the world of this German TTRPG, with the freedom to explore its towns and adventure around the coast as you pleased.

I loved spending time in it exploring and as my party of characters.

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4 hours ago
Preview
a person in a video game standing in front of a house ALT: a person in a video game standing in front of a house

What game worlds are your faves to spend time in, exploring, learning about, peeps? And perhaps has a personal meaning to you?

And can you remember what the first game you played that felt like it had one?

I'll include a bunch of your stories/memories in an issue of my zine, Scanlines.

86 11 42 4
5 hours ago

It was! I doubt I'd even heard of gigabytes then. xD

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5 hours ago
A snap of a computer text ad for EXEC-PC in Wisconsin, the Nation's Biggest BBS for 1990. It has text about the stats of the BBS, what computers you can use, and the logo in big red serif text.

Artifacts of the pre-Web: The BBS host with the most in 1990: 150 Phone lines and 6.2 GB on-line and 5000 callers per day.

50 7 1 0
5 hours ago

Yeah, it wasn't a great time for Square-Enix and being a watchword of success, at least for their overseas stuff. Felt like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Tomb Raider were their only successes, both from Crystal Dynamics.

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6 hours ago
Post image I like the spacey, planetary theme they have going on. Inside the manual, we have the characters. Let's give a shout out to Joan Valencia. He looks like a menace, wearing what's looks to be a bloody hockey jersey. Also Bettina? How YOU doin? Bonus pic of (part of) the wall at Book Off that tried to kidnap me. There is just so much to go through, especially when you aren't familiar with any of it.
Also there was a Nanashi No Game in the display case. The SquareEnix haunted game for the DS. I wanted it, but I'd much rather just play the English ROM, so I left it for someone who will hopefully play that copy instead of just putting it on the shelf forever.

I'm back from Japan and let me tell you, I had to brave walls of illegible titles at Book Off to provide a genuinely random title for #RandomGameSaturday.

Zeus: Carnage Heart Second is the first sequel in a line of strategy RPG mech games, made by our friends at Artdink. All but EXA are Japan only.

31 7 1 0
6 hours ago
Minna To Kimi No Piramekino! (みんなとキミの ピラメキーノ!), for the Nintendo DS

#RandomGameSaturday

This Japan-only title is a minigame collection, based upon a live action TV show for kids called "Piramekino". It's pretty fun, even if some minigames require heavy Japanese knowledge

It's also got a super robust character creator in it, so I put a bunch of my OCs in the game 🐼

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6 hours ago

I'd completely forgotten about Mindjack, jeez. I've only ever seen it in action in an old Angry Joe vid.

Cool idea, woeful execution.

37 1 3 0
6 hours ago

Ironically jet set radio future goes for like $80 on eBay but the version that's bundled with Sega GT is like $30 #RandomGameSaturday

38 7 1 1
1 day ago
Post image

Mia from .Hack!! Speedpaint is up on ptrn! <3
www.patreon.com/posts/hack-m...

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1 day ago
Video thumbnail

A low-key ad in comparison to some Final Fantasy commercials, but one that gives us a wonderful glimpse of the game in development, Square's dev offices, and the computers they used to make Final Fantasy II for Famicom.

#VideoBytes

131 47 5 2
7 hours ago

xD Same here. Especially the bits with Archimedes. Pinfeathers and poppycock!

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7 hours ago

xD I think it likely was for me too. And yep, same here.

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1 day ago
Results screen of my first every track played in Polaris Chord: イガク at Level 7, resulting in a AAA-rank (97.98%) score. Not bad, but we can do better! The aforementioned Shaking Sensory System, a platform that the player stands on during gameplay. It pulses quite powerfully to the beat of whatever music is playing, which includes the menu BGM! I think the strength level is perfect, and honestly not distracting at all.

At the arcade tonight with a Konami rhythm game!

I'm skipping the usual Friday night drinks to try out one of those shiny Polaris Chord cabs.

My favorite part? The "SHAKING SENSORY SYSTEM" that rumbles beneath your feet to the beat of your music.

A novelty with utility. It's pretty neat!
#ポラリスコード

23 1 1 0
7 hours ago

Aha, I love waaait a minute moments like these xD

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8 hours ago
World map for the game Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity, with upward as the north direction. It isn't especially recognizable as anything like this. World map for the game Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity, flipped upside-down, with north facing downward. It is visibly shaped like the continent, North America, including some of its various islands.

I was looking at the world map for an old RPG I've liked for some 20 years, Arcturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity.

I got a strange feeling and decided to flip it.

...It was North America. It's been North America all along.

121 29 6 0
2 months ago
A Windows 98 screenie with Moonsol opened, where all the cards are all Sailor Moon themed.

Tucked away in a Polish anime CD from 1997: Windows 3.x/95 Solitaire infused with the Power of the Moon!

Also known as Moonsol and Solitaire: Sailor Moon Edition.

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