12/25/23 - Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I'm still wrapping gifts and watching christmas specials, over half of which have made me cry so far. I guess this time of year just has me super sentimental. Have you ever seen 1982's The Snowman? That one had me bawling both times I put it on this month. Phew! Anyway, at this rate, I'll barely have time to rest before Christmas brunch, but that won't stop me from trying!
12/16/23 - Forgive the lack of updates so far this month; it's been pretty hectic. Finally figured out how to do something I've been meaning to do for a while. Check out any of my game reviews, and you will see that I finally fixed a graphical quirk that only appeared whenever I change the sidebar colors, like for the holidays. The break-in images always had a teal Z icon behind them, no matter what, but it's fixed now! Yay! Anyway, I'm hosting a Die Hard watch party in the SorryPoniko Discord server later today, so I'd better get some sleep!
12/1/23 - Happy December! Do you like the new site colors? Remember, ctrl+F5 if you can't see them. I've been at my new job all day. It's a part time gig, but the pay is pretty good! The trade-off is that I've been exhausted since like, noon, and I'm going to be out past midnight. At least I got enough of a break to run home and post this update. Phew!
11/29/23 - I have israelistyping playing through EarthBound, and he's getting close to the end. Things are heating up as he heads towards the Fire Spring! On another note, I made myself a demo reel! I really hope it gets some attention, as I'm really hurting for an income right now. Did I ever even post about being unemployed on the site? It may have slipped my mind... but it's been about a month and a half, and my savings never recovered after all my car troubles earlier this year, so please, if you know anyone who needs a video editor, voice actor or musician, tell 'em about ol'G-Zone!
11/23/23 - Happy Thanksgiving, Zoners! That's what I'm calling G-Zone fans now. Hope you all had good food and good times. Sorry for the lack of posts this month, but I have a new video for those of you who haven't seen it. Check the video tab for it! It's a soda review with TruKuu, but even if you're not interested in the subject matter, you should definitely at least watch the intro—I guarantee you'll enjoy it!
11/5/23 - Koozbane's birthday party was yesterday, the day after his birthday. The whole gang gathered at his place and had a good time and, in my case, too much food. His girlfriend (Koozbabe, who else?) surprised him with a Spider-Man theme, complete with a piñata vaguely in the shape of The Lizard, which he ripped apart with his bare hands. I'm home now after spending the night at his and the day at israelistyping's and I'm ready to get my snooze on!
10/31/23 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Hope it's a spooky good time for everyone reading! I just watched the Blair Witch Project with israelistyping and it was pretty spooky. We're gonna watch either Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween tonight, too. Enjoy the last of the Halloween logo images and songs before we're back to normal tomorrow!
10/28/23 - I'm about to head to TruKuu's Halloween bash. I have quite the bodacious costume, and israelistyping's has shivers crawling on my back! I also bought way too much candy for it. Oops.
10/22/23 - We're really in the thick of it now! A few hours ago, I attended a local haunted house where israelistyping was performing as a spooky vampire! It was a lot of fun. We've gotten in two spooky movies together; The Exorcist and It's Grinch Night. Both firsts for me! I also watched The Nightmare Before Christmas by myself and was scolded for watching it too early. Oh, well.
10/15/23 - Week 3 of October! I'm excited. Are you excited? I gotta get a pumpkin ASAP before the well runs dry!
10/8/23 - I decided to make a new logo image for every week of October leading up to Halloween Last one was Castlevania, and now it's Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. I bet you can guess what it'll be next. Either way, check back next Sunday to see for yourself! Oh, and PS, there's a new surprise when you click the new logo, and you can check the Midi page to download or listen to last week's. Things are getting spooky around here!
10/2/23 - Can't see the site makeover yet? Press Ctrl and F5 simultaneously to hard refresh. Then, once you've done that, try clicking the logo for a surprise! It even works on mobile! Earlier today, I finally got the best ending in Castlevania Dracula X for Super Nintendo, and I forgot to say that I beat Arrange Mode in Chronicles a few days ago, too. We're in the thick of it now! There's no stopping the Halloween train!
10/1/23 - It's October! The spookiest month of the year! I'm so excited, as you can see! Let's all make the most of this month as we kick off the last stretch of this year with a ghoulish bang!
9/22/23 - I'm like 95% over my illness now, which means it's back to work. Then, after work, time for more Castlevania. I've really been hitting it hard! I played through IV already and I'm working on Rondo of Blood and Chronicles. I also have Luigi's Mansion and Resident Evil which I've been wanting to play. It's about that time...
9/18/23 - Been sick with covid for a few days. This is somewhere between my second and fourth time having it, and it's a little weird this time. I'll have different symptoms every day. The first day, it was the soreness, tiredness and the headaches. The next day, I was over those, but then came all the cold symptoms, like a runny nose and sore throat. Now, my throat feels better, but a killer stomach ache has had me locked in the bathroom all day and my sense of smell is gone. I guess it picked a good day to do so...? In lighter news, I finished my first Castlevania game of the season (IV) and my copy of Chronicles should be here any day now. Yay!
9/17/23 - Tis the season—I updated my favorite video game music list with a few Castlevania titles. Oh yeah, that's the good stuff.
9/15/23 - Check out my new review of Kirby Squeak Squad, a childhood favorite of mine! How does it hold up, though? Click through to find out! Oh, by the way, I'm working on The G-Zone's first ever video game review video! I have a feeling it'll be a good while before that's ready, but now you know it's in the oven. Look forward to it! It will hopefully feel a lot like the site does, if that makes sense.
9/7/23 - I got a bunch of Atari 2600 games while out with israelistyping for our anniversary. Some of them are awesome, especially the two Imagic games from the lot, Cosmic Ark and Dragonfire. I finally scratched Yar's Revenge off my wanted list, too, and that game is pretty cool. Some of the others that I got, not so much, though I was aware of Pac-Man and Night Driver's reputations when I bought them. Sadly, the copy of Circus Atari I got is busted. I'll look into fixing it later on. israelistyping and I had some pretty heated games of Video Olympics last night as well. If you ever think Atari 2600 looks too old to be fun, you've got another thing coming. By the way, I've reviewed an Atari 2600 game on the site before. Can't find it? Look a little harder...
9/5/23 - Today was my one year anniversary with my awesome boyfriend, israelistyping. I'm laying here with him as he's doing a few last side quests before finishing out Final Fantasy VII for the first time. He's been enjoying the hell out of it and it's been awesome to be here for it. Today was great, as was the rest of this last year with him. Happy anniversary, Iz, I love you! ♥
8/29/23 - Trukuu is planning a shindig for Labor Day, and the day after that is my 1 year anniversary with israelistyping, so I'm gonna be having lots of fun real soon! In other news, being broke sucks, but being broke right before a paycheck comes in isn't too bad.
8/27/23 - I updated the Articles page to include different categories, those being stories, listicles and then just plain lists. I've been wanting to do that for a while so I finally did it. It only took like a minute, so I'm not sure what the holdup was. Also, I've been plugging away at my bit for Gimmiko, but in the middle of editing something, I got a warning that my PC is running SUPER low on disk space, because another thing I've been putting off is getting another hard drive. Oops.
8/20/23 - Feels like the only game I've played this month has been the Gimmiko demo, which inspired me to make a page containing some tips, tricks and secrets which might help newcomers get into the game. Download the demo and check it out! It's cool, hilarious and a lot of fun!
8/3/23 - These are not G-Zone's finest hours. I've sunk around a thousand bucks into my car and it's still not running reliably. Maybe we're nearing the time to part ways... This is the first car I've ever had, and it was given to me for free by my mom. Well, I guess I'm finally paying for it, but if I can't even get the thing running again, then it'll all be for nothing. Here's hoping for the best.
7/30/23 - Here's an incomplete full game guide for Mega Man 7 I started a while ago. I'm hoping that actually linking to it will motivate me to finish it. Up next is Shade Man's stage and the Wily stages. I'm also working on a few other things you'll hopefully see real soon. Stay tuned!
7/27/23 - Went to the eye doctor today. I was long overdue, but my prescription wasn't increased by all that much. Not that it matters a ton right now, since I couldn't actually afford the glasses today anyway. The place did give israelistyping and I vouchers for free milkshakes at the place next door though, so that was cool! Anyway, have you played Gimmiko yet? You totally should! Get the link over on my Projects page, which is now accompanied by a pic made by new friend of the site, Porkyspal. Ch-ch-check it out!
7/19/23 - Now for the thrilling followup to my last post: I did end up getting that cake. Just one of those tiny ones from the grocery store. I got some ice cream, too, so you know what that means... If you're reading this, you're invited to my ice cream party! First two through the door get the last two slices of cake! Form orderly lines, now!
7/17/23 - Happy 2nd birthday to The G-Zone! To celebrate, I made a new animated logo and repainted the site for today. If you're not seeing the new color scheme, you might have to reload the site's cache... or something like that. It'll be back to normal tomorrow, so enjoy it while you can! Additionally, I finally finished my review of Demon's Crest, so check that out! Maybe I'll go get some cake or something to celebrate. It's been a cool two years, and there's still more to come, so keep checking back for more reviews, guides and stuff! Viva G-Zone, baby!
7/14/23 - I've been playing a lot of the Gimmiko demo. There's a lot to see and do in it, especially for a free demo containing just one world! The full game is gonna be insane, I just know it. In other news, we're just 3 days away from The G-Zone's 2nd birthday! Can ya believe it? Don't forget to check in on the 17th for a celebratory site makeover, and maybe more!
7/9/23 - Added a guide containing some moves for Bushido Blade 2, which I couldn't find detailed comprehensively like this anywhere else. I may go back and add more details about the characters, but for now it's just info on sub-weapons and Karami-waza moves.
7/7/23 - I spent some time with TruKuu again yesterday, which was fun as always. We haven't been hanging out as much lately, which is odd considering he lives right around the corner from me. After I got home, I realized that we had coincidentally hung out on the two year anniversary of the time we were at his place and I laughed harder than I ever had before—click here for that story Good times! I wonder if I have even bigger laughs in my future...
7/4/23 - Happy 4th! Party at TruKuu's tonight. I wanted to bring israelistyping along, but he just left the country for a family vacation. He and TruKuu still haven't met each other, which is pretty odd, but totally unintentional. I should probably rectify that before much longer.
7/3/23 - This morning, a demo for the game Gimmiko released. What's Gimmiko, and why am I telling you about it? You can check out the Steam page for it for a better sales pitch than I could give, and download the free demo while you're there. As for why I'm going on about it, I did some voices for it! The characters of Merci, Lenam and especially Jerrod Sorelli are all voiced by the one and only G-Zone, so be on your best behavior when you meet them! I'm supposed to do at least one song for the full version as well, but I don't know how far off that is. In other exciting news, we're coming up on the site's second birthday. Can you believe it? Check back on the 17th for at least a new logo image! Until then, I'll keep chipping away at the two or three pages I have in the works.
6/24/23 - I ended up not really playing all that much Zelda. Well, I guess 80 hours is a lot, but I fell out of it kind of hard and I haven't played it at all in more than a week. I don't hate it or anything, it's just a little too similar to the last one, which I was very burnt out on. Now I just want to play more Final Fantasy, but a friend reminded me of Chrono Cross, which I'd like to play more of, too. I think Koozbane said I could borrow his copy since mine is too scratched to play. I'm also guiding my boyfriend through Final Fantasy VII, which has been fun. Oh yeah, and I've been slowly writing a game review, which I'm just now rememebering about. I should finish that. The G-Zone games on!
6/9/23 - Had the car towed this morning. A few days ago, TruKuu guessed what the problem was, and said it would probably cost around $200 to get fixed. Well, the shop called me and said that TruKuu's guess was right, but they're charging me $500! What a load! It's not like I have much of a choice, since it won't start, and I'd have to pay another $85 to get it towed somewhere else for a second opinion. Ugh, I hate adult problems. Let me go back to deciding how I want my mom to cut my PB&J...
6/4/23 - Just streamed on my Twitch for the first time in months. I needed a break from Zelda and wanted to play something a little more oldschool, so I streamed Soul Blazer, which is a lot like Actraiser, but top-down. It's fun! I'll definitely be streaming more of that before long. In other news, my car has died on me... again. I'll probably have to get it towed to the shop this time, and I hope it won't cost too much to get repaired. Only time will tell...
6/1/23 - Man, the last two or three days have felt like a week or two each. My job changed its hours so I'm having to wake up much earlier some days, then work just as late as usual other days. I'm adjusting really poorly! Things aren't going great, but I'm pushing through. I need to get back to writing my guides, but I've been super preoccupied between work, sleep and Zelda. I also want to start Final Fantast V, but I'm afraid I'd end up ditching Zelda for it, then I'd get everything spoiled. Sigh! Feels like I can't even get a break when deciding what to do with my free time!
5/25/23 - So TruKuu, Koozbane and israelistyping have left town for various trips, and I'm just left here by my lonesome. I'll be fine, I mean I have the new Zelda to play, and not one but two game guides in the works right now. Both are unfinished at the moment, so I won't post them until they're done or getting close. The AC has been out at work, but they finally fixed it today, so at least I have that going for me.
5/15/23 - It's almost 4:30am as I write this, but I can't sleep so I'll post a quick update. TruKuu's party was a lot of fun. I ate way too much, but that's the G-Zone way. What's a party without getting so full you could pop? I actually ended up losing my voice from shouting my lungs out while playing Crash Team Racing, Halo, WWF Smackdown and Worms World Party with the boys. I forgot how fun Halo can be when you set the rules to a bunch of crazy crap. Ah, rocket launchers only... the great equalizer.
5/12/23 - First things first, happy birthday to TruKuu! I don't know where I'd be without him, and I can't wait for his birthday bash tomorrow. In other news, check the bottom of the page to see that I finally added a hit counter! I started at the number of views Neocities says I have, which is probably for every page combined, so maybe I look like more of a hot shot than I really am. Oh well, I'll take it. I also finally finished Final Fantasy VI, which means I'll have plenty of time to play Zelda when my copy comes Monday. Please, PLEASE no shipping delays!
5/11/23 - Just added play and stop buttons to each track on the midi page so that you can preview tracks before downloading them. I learned how to implement this feature from the other G-Zone I talked about in the previous blog post. It's the gift that just keeps on giving. Oh yeah, and I added two new Final Fantasy tracks, too.
5/9/23 - This update comes probably only an hour or two after the last one, because I just discovered something amazing—another G-Zone. Honestly, I'm kinda jealous. I mean, it has everything. Spinning heads, Doom fonts, a Daft Punk midi, and... I mean, that's about it, but what more do you need? I should clarify that I, nor any of my friends (to my knowledge) have anything to do with that site, but I went ahead and added it to the "Other cool sites" section of the directory, because it's certainly a cool site. Whoever runs this other G-Zone, if you ever happen to read this, please reach out. Join me, and together, we can rule this galaxy as father and son.
5/9/23 - Very close to the end of Final Fantasy VI. I just have to train up the characters I've neglected thusfar, since apparently you have to go into the last dungeon in 3 seperate parties. Unfortunately, I don't have three Sabins, or it would be no problem. I guess I'll grind for more economizers and get Strago to learn some new moves, then I'll be good to go.
5/8/23 - I just changed the color for un-visited links from orange to cyan. The link colors used to look like some sort of Portal homage, but now I guess they have more of a Mega Man thing going on. In other news, TruKuu's birthday is coming up, and right after that, my copy of the new Zelda should be getting delivered. Exciting days ahead...
5/4/23 - I've been going back and cleaning up the formatting on some of my older pages, such as all of my guides. Also, thanks to all the neocities users who have followed me recently! I'm glad you like The G-Zone. Rest assured that The G-Zone likes you, too.
4/27/23 - Update no. 2 for the day, because I just changed the logo! The characters in the old version didn't look as good as they did when the logo was double the size on the original site, so I changed their orientation and added in some new faces, too! I also updated the splash page to refelct the new logo design, heavily simplifying it in the process. The huge gif I was using previously might have been too much for some connections. The way I see it, this is better all around. I hope you feel the same way!
4/27/23 - I added a page for my Nintendo Power magazine collection yesterday. There are four issues marked "pending" because I just bought them off a guy online and they haven't gotten here yet. My next goal is to fill out issues 50-80, and I especially want issue 70, because I think that contains the first look we got at EarthBound, and once I get that, I think I'll have every issue from that era that talks about the game.
4/24/23 - Still daydreaming about my own bachelor pad. It'll be so sick. I'm gonna have to find just the right couch, and I'll definitely need a reclining chair, comfy enough to game in all day and sleep in all night. Sigh... That's the dream! Too bad all the rent here is like, double what it should be. It's almost impossible to live alone unless you're loaded.
4/22/23 - Some musician I've never heard of is playing in our town, and I've never heard of him, but apparently he's HUGE. Our little town isn't equipped to handle traffic of this magnitude, and it's totally miserable. It's practically impossible to get anywhere. As if that wasn't bad enough, he's playing tomorrow night, too! Sheesh!
4/20/23 - I added not just one new secret page, but a whole secret section to the site. As for how to get there, well, I'll just say that you're more likely to find it if you make a lot of typos... or sometimes, even if I do. Anyway, I just got done cleaning out my car, which I should have done years ago. There was so much random crap in the back seat, such as a bowling pin, a necktie which had disintegrated, some glassware I bought in like Fall of last year, like a dozen various hats, including several novelty ones, and maybe 150 plastic shopping bags. Additionally, there were two partially filled garbage bags from previous attempts to clean it out. Well, in any case, it's done at last. I just have to make sure it never gets that bad again.
4/17/23 - Two updates today. First, I made a gallery for pictures my cat Tango. Second, I added a new feature to the Reviews page. Click the Reviews button on the left sidebar, then click it again once you're on the page. The reviews will now be listed from newest to oldest. You can click it again to switch back to sorting by console. As for how I'm doing, I'm still playing through Final Fantasy VI and I'm still enjoying it. Maybe one day, I'll start a Final Fantasy game and play it all the way through on my first attempt without any year-long breaks. Hasn't happened yet...
4/13/23 - Last night, I finally restarted Final Fantasy VI. I'm gonna try my best to see it through this time. This is either my 3rd or my 4th attempt. I've found that talking about the story with Iz has made me more engaged in these games as a whole. It worked really well with FFIV, so I'm keeping it up for FFVI. For those of you on the edge of your seats waiting to hear which version I went with, I'm playing the SNES version—the one I had all along. What can I say, you just can't keep me away from my Super Nintendo...
4/12/23 - Got freaked out last night in bed when I heard a cat (or cats) yowling outside my window. I had checked the whole house for our cat Tango, and he definitely wasn't inside. I opened the door and called for him, but he didn't come. A little while later, I heard a lot more yowling and again flung myself out of bed. When we opened the door this time, Tango came flying in. He seemed alright, but he definitely spooked us. If you want to read about another recent animal encounter of mine, click through to read about The Great Crayfish Rescue!
4/9/23 - I finally finished the article about my trip to Ohio. It was a fun trip, even if I spent like double what I should have. I'm still in debt to both TruKuu and Koozbane, even! Well, not by much. I'll get those tabs settled up soon. Also, my phone's clock was still an hour ahead for like 2 days after I got back, which led to some confusing moments. Waking up to an alarm ringing an hour early is not fun.
4/5/23 - Just saw the Super Mario Bros Movie! It was good, but I'm gonna have to see it again for a proper consensus. Good thing I already have plans to, this Saturday. Hopefully next time, I won't trip going up the stairs and bash my face against a hand rail, spilling my popcorn everywhere. I have a big bump right over my right eye. Ouch! Also, I'm working on an article about the trip I mentioned in my last post. There's 3 action-packed days to cover, so stay tuned!
3/28/23 - In a few days, I'm leaving with TruKuu, Koozbane and the gang to a game tournament event in Cincinnati. I probably won't play anything, but it'll be nice to get away with the guys. It'll also be nice to have the time off work, (5 whole days) but I'm dreading going back after that.
3/22/23 - Just after midnight yesterday, I finished Final Fantasy IV. I enjoyed it, and now I have my sights set back on VI. I'll start that after I figure out which version to play. After I finished IV, I slept a ton. When I woke up in the evening, I went to TruKuu's and we played GameCube all night. I even recorded some of it, so maybe I'll edit that into something. I probably should, since I got like 3 hours of footage. There has to be something funny in there... Oh, also I just made a page of video games I want. I'll keep it updated, but it will probably get way longer before it gets any shorter.
3/17/23 - I'm finally almost done with Final Fantasy IV. I've been really enjoying it! The story is all over the place and interesting, even though the dialog is kind of stiff (I'm playing the original US release). When I'm done with it, maybe I'll go back to VI and finally finish it. Everyone tells me it's one of the best ones, and I made it really far on my first attempt almost a decade ago. Alternatively, I could start IX, which I picked up recently. Decisions, decisions...
3/12/23 - For Mario Day (MAR10), I went the whole day without playing any Mario since I was busy playing Final Fantasy IV, until I looked at the clock at 11:45pm and did a playthrough of Super Mario Bros. 1 on NES with warps with the goal of beating it before midnight. I finished with two minutes to spare. I died a few times or else it might have taken less than 10 minutes. Also, I tried some of that Peeps flavored Pepsi earlier tonight. Too sweet for me, but that just leaves more for TruKuu, who seems to love the stuff.
3/9/23 - do you like the new font? I couldn't figure out how to do the other thing I wanted to do, so I just went ahead and changed the font. For the record, what I was wanting to do was store my sidebars in an external file so I can edit them quickly if ever I need to. I couldn't find a way to do that without javascript though, so I'll pass for now. I think the current layout is fine anyway.
3/7/23 - I'm enjoying a Shamrock Shake from McDonald's right now. It's pretty good! I think it might taste better than the last time I had one. I've also been playing through Final Fantasy II, or rather IV, and I've hit a grind point. Luckily it's not too hard to grind where I am now so it won't be too much longer until I'm ready for the next dungeon. I'll get back to it tonight or tomorrow. Also, I might be making some small visual changes to the site soon, but I want to figure out how to make a different change first so I can just do it all at once.
3/4/23 - Last night, Iz (israelistyping) and I went to a local dairy farm. It's local, but it's like 15 minutes out in the sticks. We also got lost on the way, because our GPS lead us down a nearby dirt road instead. Halfway down, Iz said "Texas Chainsaw Massacre!" I responded, "But we're not in Texas... and I'm not wearing mascara!" Once we turned around and found the actual place literally 5 seconds further down the road, we got some ice cream and chocolate milk, which were both AMAZING. We're definitely going back there again before long. When I was in middle and high school, I had a friend whose family got their milk from there, and the taste took me back to those days of hanging out with him and his little siblings. Good times...
2/28/23 - My birthday celebrations have concluded, and I'm back at work. Last night I saw my mom for dinner, and she gave me a rice cooker. It's the same kind I had at my last two apartments, so it feels like I've been reunited. It was a pretty good birthday overall.
2/26/23 - It's my birthday! Spent some time with family last night, now in about an hour I'm heading to party it up with friends, food and video games. It should be a good time! Of course I made another special lopgo image for my birthday. Do you like it?
2/23/23 - Updated the directory again, adding my Twitch (why wasn't that already there?) and also an email address! If you want to contact me, that's the best way to do it. Birthday plans are solidifying, and I have plans for Friday and Saturday. Plans with TruKuu, Koozbane and the bunch for Sunday night, but no set time yet. I'm excited, but for now, my stomach is killing me. Was it all the junk food I ate yesterday? Not likely...
2/22/23 - Hoping my internet issues are finally completely resolved. We had guys from our ISP come out like 3 times in the last 7 days. What a pain. Anyway, I just added two new sites to the directory, and two new MIDIs to the MIDI collection, both of which I got from the first of the two sites I added to the directory, a site called FantasyAnime. Definitely check that out, prefferably while listening to those MIDIs!
2/20/23 - I woke up early today to meet up with a local guy selling most if not all of the game collection he's been been building his whole life. We talked about how good Final Fantasy VII is and he told me to definitely try Crisis Core sometime. I wanted to buy one of his copies of that but I didn't bring enough cash. He also showed me his childhood NES, which was missing the dust cover but otherwise looked alright at a glance. He told me his family had built a go-kart, and they traded it for the NES and some games way back when. I do love hearing about that kind of thing. I get what could only be called secondhand nostalgia. Anyway, that was my second time meeting up with him to buy some of his stuff, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
2/19/23 - Just picked up some old TVs with israelistyping, and the man we met was a huge help. He was an older guy, but he had a dolly and helped us load the trailer we rented. Best of all, we met his dogs, my favorite being the only one whose name I caught, Mr. Weenie. He was a weiner dog. It was great. Day's not done yet though, we have to get the TVs into storage, return the trailer, then get some lunch, then head into work. I'm half expecting to fall asleep on the clock.
2/18/23 - Just posted a review of Mr. Nutz for SNES. Check it out! I'm getting excited for my birthday, which is just over a week from today, but I haven't made any concrete plans for it yet. I guess I'll be doing that before much longer. I'll probably do the usual routine; get breakfast or lunch with family, then party all night with my friends. I'm looking forward to it!
2/17/23 - I retroactively added publishing dates to my reviews. Seems like something that would be handy to have properly dated, since perspectives change over time. Plus, did you ever notice that I began to rate "writing" instead of specifically "story"? Now you can tell which review I first did that for (hint: it's this one). By the way, Cadbury mini eggs rock. I got a huge sack of them like 2 days ago and I'm finishing it off now. So good, and I love how the candy shell feels exactly like the texture of an egg shell. Egg shells have a nice crunch, it's just a shame they're, y'know, egg shells. I'm a sucker for seasonal snacks, so I'll probably end up with a few more sacks before they're back off the shelves for the year.
2/15/23 - Back to the regular logo. I'm probably gonna make a logo variant for a bunch of different holidays. Anyway, last night I was playing the Mario All-Stars version of SMB1 and noticed some weird things about it. I always thought they built it from the ground up since the physics feel a little iffy, but I did two seperate glitches that I assumed only worked in the NES version. Now I know that they did port over the source code for all the games in the collection, which begs the question, why does the All-Stars version feel so different? Is it just because breaking blocks feels a little different? How did that get messed up if they ported the source code, anyway? I think I'll have to do a little research on this one.
2/14/23 - Happy Valentine's Day! Check the new logo image! I couldn't find sprites of the princess online, so I had to finish the game in an emulator myself and take screenshots. Of course, I used the level select code for that, since I've beaten that game legit once already, and I don't feel the need to do it again. Anyway, I just put up a new article on my favorite video game soundtracks, so check that out if you'd like. I also added a sprite of Ari DeLune to the Slime Knight page, so every character detailed there finally has one.
2/12/23 - Working on two new articles. I was also planning an expansion for the site, but I'm not entirely sure what to do with it anymore... I made a logo that looks awesome, so I should make an extension worthy of such an awesome logo. More news on that eventually, and I'll keep working on the articles, which should probably be done pretty soon.
2/6/23 - Here I am again at 5am, (edit: 6am once all was said and done!) but the update is complete. Pretty slick, eh? As I said, not that much has changed, but I did some organizing and changed a few things up just a smidge. I moved some stuff around, and though I'm sure I was thorough, please forgive any broken links or images for the time being. I'd like to beef up that Gallery tab soon. There's been one set of images in there since its inception... I'll find something new to put in there sooner or later. Anyways, enjoy the site and its new slightly different coat of paint!
2/5/23 - Making lots of progress on the site updates. Adding alt text to most images on the site, renaming some pages, the works. It's 5am now though, so I'm about to crash HARD. Site update dropping within a week most likely. Again, not a major rework, and the site will still look mostly the same. You can just call this some out-of-season spring cleaning.
2/2/23 - Still working on those under-the-hood changes. Some may be noticeable, some shouldn't be. Expect word on those in the coming days. Unrelated, but last night, it was raining real bad outside so I brought my umbrella to work. I had it closed and propped up against the wall behind me, and out of nowhere, something inside it just gave out and it made a loud BANG and the button on it fired off like a bullet and ricocheted off a counter and into a metal bin which made a super loud pinging noise. Scared the pants offa me.
1/31/23 - Off work early tonight thanks to some winter weather freezing over the roads. I personally really like snow, but that's probably because we don't get much of it here. I get how it could be annoying if you live somewhere that gets like, a bazillion feet of it every winter. It's funny though, since we're so not used to it, the whole town shuts down at the sight of a single snowflake. That works for me though, it just means I get to stay home with all my video games.
1/29/23 - Now that Goldeneye is on Switch, I'm having flashbacks to being in middle school, just waiting to go home and play more Goldeneye. Now, I'm at work, wanting to go home and play more Goldeneye. I saw a guide to get the controls to feel more modern and natural on the Switch, and I've been enjoying it. In other news, the dinosaur I drive is having problems again. I just spent nearly $200 on a new battery but after just a few days it's already back to not starting reliably. So annoying. Guess I have to take it to the shop. In other-other news, I've been making a bunch of offline sites on the computers at work and even on TruKuu's desktop. Ask him about Vegeto's nipples.
1/22/23 - Just made another button for the site. Am I allowed to have two? Well, either way, here's the HTML to put it on your site:
<a href=https://g-zone.neocities.org><img src="https://g-zone.neocities.org/images/button2.gif" alt="The G-Zone!!"></a>
Both buttons and html strings are also at the bottom of the page (or the home page, if you're reading this from the blog archive). I'm also thinking about some under-the-hood changes for the site, but nothing much would change functionally if I get it working how I'm thinking.
1/19/23 - It's early in the morning and I'm about to go to sleep. I was up late making a button for the site! Check it out! You can use it to link to the G-Zone on your own site with the following html:
<a href=https://g-zone.neocities.org><img src="https://g-zone.neocities.org/images/button.gif" alt="The G-Zone!!"></a>
I'm also wondering if I can/should add any deeper interactivity to the site, such as some kind of forum or chat or comment threads on some pages. I'm not sure how I'd go about doing any of that though. I did manage to embed my Twitch stream into my videos page, so that's something. I'm going to bed now, goodnight!
1/12/23 - Another sneaky update from the work computer. They're working me to the bone over here and I've been so exhausted lately. I have tomorrow off which will be my first unrequested Friday off in forever. I'm gonna hang out with my friends, though part of me would rather just enjoy that time alone. I have some projects I'd like to work on. There's always another time, though. In other news, I may be looking for a new apartment soon but nothing is set in stone yet. Would be nice to have a space all to myself. My very own G-Zone, if you will. I still want to stream some more, I've just been too tired lately. Maybe on my next day off...
1/8/23 - For the last few days, I've been super busy with work and I've been sleeping like crap. Not a good combo! It doesn't even come with fries. I'm thinking about getting more gear for electronic repair. It's such a good skill to have, since it's a huge help for myself and a lot of people could use an "electronics guy". I've definitely had successes so far, and that's always satisfying. Anyway, I have the next two days off, and they're much needed. Also, I just wrote about the hardest I've ever laughed, so check that out if you want to see how broken my sense of humor is. Oh, and the random text pool is up to 60 now.
1/2/23 - I'm up early, meaning I barely slept. I took out the Christmas tree earlier, and it honestly made me really sad. I know it's alrady the 2nd, but I'm not ready for the holidays to end. It's always so nice to see everyone who's only ever around for that one special time of year. Well, at least all my local friends are still around, and it's not like I can't reach everyone else some way or another. Oh yeah, did you see the yellow text up there under the logo? Try refreshing the page and checking it again. I'll be adding more to the pool as time goes on, and there are 40 possible lines as of writing, with one more I'm going to add when I'm done writing this. If you have any suggestions, why not message them to me on Twitter? Maybe I'll try to squeeze in one more Christmas movie today...
1/1/23 - Happy New Year! I had a good holiday. Hopefully the coming year is more active than last year which was pretty much totally dead until December, lol. Maybe I'll try to stream more too. It's been a while... Also, bye bye to the Christmas theme, see you again next year!
12/26/22 - I'm at TruKuu's hanging out with him and Koozbane and the gang. We played some Xbox and some N64. It was pretty fun, and there was some good homemade food, too. This gathering was pretty much my last Christmas plan, barring meeting up with my friend who's in from California. We were supposed to visit tonight, but weather was rough in the surrounding area, so he couldn't get to me. Hopefully tomorrow!
12/25/22 - Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm barely making this blog in time, but today has been BUSY! Saw my brother and recorded some gameplay and commentary with him that I'm going to try to edit together into something fun. I have to turn in soon, since I'm going to be busy all day tomorrow too! I can't catch a break, but I mean that in a good way since it's the holidays. It's nice to see the family and friends visiting from out of town. Hope your day was great! Time to pass out!
12/24/22 - Merry Christmas Eve! I'm almost done sprucing up the site for the holidays, as well as making some changes under the hood to make it easier to do similar stuff in the future, as well as saving a little space. Gotta take a break now because the family is all gathered together and I can't just sit around writing code all night. We're off to see the Christmas lights now. I'll finish up the changes later tonight or tomorrow!
12/18/22 - WOW! Christmas is just a week away! Where did this year go? Plus, Happy Hannukah for all who celebrate it! As for me, I better hurry and watch more Xmas movies. Still have my fingers crossed that the last of the gifts I've ordered make it here in time, but I'm not super hopeful at this point. Either way, I'm definitely getting excited. I'm excited to be using this site again, too. I'm wanting to do more write-ups and stuff, and I still want to make a page for my figure collection. I guess I'll get to it when I get to it.
12/17/22 - I'm currently at TruKuu's, watching him practice Street Fighter Alpha 3 with his arcade stick. It's almost 9am, and we've both been awake for a while since both of our sleeping schedules are currently out of wack. Anyway, I've just finished my review of Donkey Kong Country, which turned out to be pretty long. Check it out! I hope it's not too "all over the place", but I think I was in a slightly different headspace every time I sat down to edit it. Either way, I hope you enjoy!
12/16/22 - Sneaking in a blog post at work. I slept like all of yesterday so I thought I'd be good for my shift today, but man, I'm sooooo tired! I'm finishing up a new review, so expect that soon! We're getting pretty close to Christmas. Maybe I'll deck out the site for the occasion... Well, I better get back to work now.
12/14/22 - Stayed up late again. I cleaned up a little and watched The Grinch. The original, of course! I'm really enjoying this holiday season. It's been nice to soak it all in. There's nothing worse than feeling like you missed a favorite holiday. I still feel like I should have done more for this past Halloween... Well, I digress. I'm nearly done with gift shopping, and I have plenty more Christmas classics on videotape here to watch. Speaking of videos, I just finished a little experimental video project. Not sure if I'll be sharing it anywhere, but I think it turned out pretty neat. Thats's it for tonight, I need some sleep!
12/13/22 - Did you see it? The new splash page? If not, click here! Unfortunately, while implementing that screen, I accidentally uploaded an out-of-date backup of the homepage. Thankfully, all I lost was yesterday's blog post. So to recap that, in case you missed it, I've made a page for a project I've been working on for a few years now: a game called Slime Knight! I expect to update that page with more info occasionally, and I'll be sure to post here on the front page when I do. In the meantime, head over to read up on the story and meet some of the characters!
12/10/22 - So, looks like every page is now decked out with the new look. I was hoping to figure out a way to make it easier to change if need to do so down the line, but I couldn't find any solutions that my monkey brain could grasp. Anyway! As for what's new! Well, the general look of the site. I scaled everything down and compressed it a little for some authenticity points. I've also made some changes to the Videos page, adding my Twitch account, and I implemented the Projects page. I also redid the Archive page, which used to just be a blog archive, but now I can put all sorts of articles there. Also, I've posted some secrets for Donkey Kong Country 2 and a review for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening! There's a lot more where that came from, too, so stay tuned! Oh yeah, and I hope you're having a happy holiday season!
12/9/22 - It's nearly 5am, and I'm plugging away to implement the new graphics on every page. I think this is a nice new look for the site! It should look best on smaller monitors. Maybe I should sleep...
12/8/22 - Finally doing some housekeeping. Coding is hard, though! Stay tuned...
3/22/22 - Hey everyone! Did you miss me? I do miss this site, I just don't have much to say that I don't already say on social media. If every social media exploded suddenly, I'd be on here sooooo much! We're about due for such an event, anyway. Everyone should have their own website, in my opinion. Learn HTML or perish! Anyway, I've gotten back to repair stuff recently, helped along by the wonderful toolkit bought for me by Marl (creator of autoMP, that Marl), and I've even ordered a "for parts or repair" Super NES for fairly cheap that I can't wait to clean up, work on and perhaps mod and/or sell? Only time will tell! Aside from that, I've just been writing music and streaming games, and you should check out both of those links if you haven't! I'm hoping to get a new capture card soon, so that my streams look extra crisp. Anyways, this update is getting super long, so I'll stop here. I'll be back with another update... eventually!
2/26/22 - It's my birthday today! I'm now 25 years old. I'm hanging out with TruKuu right now, though I admit I'm starting to fall asleep. We were going to play Super Smash Bros. Infinite, but I forgot my copy of Brawl at home. D'oh! Anyway, I'm going to see Koozbane tomorrow as well. It's been a pretty good day overall. My mom took me to my favorite bakery where I had a nice brunch. I also streamed for 5 hours on my Twitch, which you should totally be following. I don't have a consistent streaming schedule, so the best way to know when I'm live is just to give me a follow. Anyway, that's it for tonight. I'm sleepy!
1/10/22 - Happy late new year, everyone! Sorry again for the inactivity. As for why I've been inactive, well, see below, more or less. Anyway, I just made myself a Twitch profile! I plan to do my streaming there rather than YouTube from now on, but only time will tell what I'll stick with in the long run. I don't plan to take streaming super-seriously or anything, so it might not matter so much in the end. In other news, remember autoMP? Well, it has a new version on the way. It adds a new GUI which makes adjusting your image settings easier than ever! Marl and I hope you'll check it out! In the words of Chop Chop Master Onion, "That's it for today", but I hope to bring some more fun stuff to this site again sometime. Maybe it needs a good cleaning under the hood, too...
11/9/21 - Oops! I kinda didn't update the site for over a month this time! Basically, my attention has been stretched all over the place for a while now. I've been trying to learn a few new programs, among other things. I'd like to take both my video editing and music creation to the next level, but from where I'm sitting, the next levels for each of those seem really high up! This Halloween, I made a video for my friend applejoople based on a mobile game that she enjoys and which I know nothing about. Check it out here. As for new music, well, the best I have to offer (that I can share) so far can be found on my midi page in the new "Original Songs" section at the bottom. Two of them are renditions of tunes from my upcoming game Slime Knight (psst, a sample of the original soundtrack is currently featured on my music page), and one of them is just for fun. In closing, I hope that in time I can get back to making updates with some manner of consistency. I used to write articles while bored at work, but I've been unemployed since July! Perhaps I'll stumble upon another way to get the ol' fingers a-typin' before too much longer, but if not, see you next year!
10/3/21 - Wow, almost a month with no updates. I've been pretty busy! I'm not dead, first off. I am however, on vacation right now. I'm in Cincinnati for a tournament TruKuu has been competing in. I've also been working on some more cool stuff that I can't really talk about yet. Shhhh! As for site news, well, there is none. I'll have to upload some custom MIDIs and maybe write a new review or two...
9/10/21 - Hi everyone! I just added some new MIDIs to the MIDI page, and I also made a new graphic to indicate the new MIDIs, and this new graphic, which is new, looks like this: 
. Pretty cool, huh? We also put out the ne--- ahem, latest version of autoMP, v1.4.0, yesterday. It includes faster drawing times as well as some helpful image processing options. It's shaping up to be a nice little tool! If you haven't already, you should totally check it out! Also, I'd never live it down if I didn't point out today's date, 9/10/21. That little kid in that classic Vine is my hero. I made a little video to honor the occasion, and yes, that's me singing.
9/6/21 - Happy Labor Day! I just finished a video which you can check out on my Videos page. It's a Mega Man X cartoon based on a voice message I sent to applejoople that she wanted to see animated. There are a few outakes or alternate cuts that are unlisted on my channel. Maybe I've left some clues somewhere, though... Speaking of YouTube, I gave my channel a bit of a facelift. It's now a bit more G-Zoney! In autoMP news, we're about to roll out some cool new features in v1.4, and I've opened a repository for custom preview borders. I hope I can make and find lots and lots to add!
9/2/21 - I've added some more jams to the MIDI page. I spent the day cleaning my seriously gross bedroom and looking through old camcorder footage. I'd really like to make videos with my friends again. It's always a fun time sitting down to edit together a stupid little movie. I have some videos from Halloweens past I plan to post here next month... If you haven't seen them, you're going to want to! They're a lot of fun and super corny. I wanna make more videos that fit that description soon.
9/1/21 - Last blog update started with a complaint about the summer. This time, I'm super excited that we're getting into the best time of the year. That's right, FALL! The best 3 holidays all lined up in a row and the weather is oh-so nice. I can't wait for the first chilly day! I'm gonna drink so much hot cocoa. Speaking of cocoa and horribly botched transitions, I made a MIDI page! Not much there yet, but you can download a few high-quality MIDIs I've found online. Y'know... in case you like MIDIs. I also have started on the figures page. All I really have to do now is take pics of all my figures... I'll get there!
8/28/21 - UGH! I hate summer. I can't help but wonder if it's more tolerable elsewhere. My car is having problems and I really should go get it looked at. But anyways, I just redid the Images tab. It's now a directory just like the Reviews and Guides tabs, and I'm giving different topics their own sub-pages to keep the main page less cluttered. Anyways, I have some stuff to get back to, like fixing this Game Boy Color and N64 controller, as well as figuring out how to do some Wii softmods all over again. I'm also still thinking about the figure collection page, mostly just the layout now. It's probably gonna happen! Keep your pants on!
8/27/21 - Check out my new review of Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, The SNES entry in the legendarily difficult series. Is there more to it than just its difficulty? Click through to find out! In other news, autoMP v1.2.1 recently released, less than 24 hours after v1.2.0. TruKuu found a bug with the custom palette settings, which was then promptly reported and fixed. Speaking of TruKuu, I spent the evening at his place, helping him refurbish some N64 joysticks then putting them through rigorous Super Smash Bros. testing. He sent me home with one that kept dying randomly during gameplay. I'm probably just gonna reflow all the solder and hope that fixes it. TruKuu also got me started down the Winamp rabbithole, which I would totally get more into if I wasn't so sleepy. I'm gonna download more music and skins tomorrow, but for now it's 5am... bedtime!
8/24/21 - Operation autoMP is a go! Check out the page all about it and give the program a spin! It's a lot of fun to play with and it only keeps getting better. I'm super grateful to everyone involved and I'm elated to be a part of it, even if that part is a small one. Also, it's past mignight now, but today... or, yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the Super NES in America. Yes, my favorite console of all time! Funny enough, I didn't play a ton of SNES today, but I spent a lot of time laboring over autoMP, breathing new life into one of the console's most well-loved titles. Anyways, that's it for now. Submit your autoMP screenshots to me on Twitter!
8/22/21 - I'm currenly sitting in a call with my good friend marl who is revising an old set of scripts called Automatic Mario Paint, which can basically inject virtually any photo of your choosing into Mario Paint! The scripts were graciously provided to us by Alden, who created them back in 2008. It's a bit dated, so we're hoping to end up with something both more convenient and more compatible with modern softare. There will be a whole article about it soon, along with downloads and instructions for anyone wanting to play around with it for themselves. Stay tuned! For an example of what it's capable of, check out Alden's original gallery, or my example pic.
8/17/21 - New review is up now! This time, it's Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island for SNES. I also added new header images for the Reviews and Guides pages! My long stretch of having the house to myself is coming to an end tomorrow, and I'm kinda bummed that I got sick and didn't get to take much advantage of it. I say that as if I would have thrown a party otherwise, but honestly I think I did what I would have done anyways - I set up my games and a DVD player in the livingroom and spent more time out there than I ever had before. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted! Oh, and one more thing... happy one month anniversary! The G-Zone first went online at geocities.ws on July 17th, now here we are one month later. I hope to be updating this site for many, many months (maybe even years) to come!
8/15/21 - I'm helping TruKuu clean and repair some game consoles for the local hobby shop. I'm not getting paid, but it's good practice, plus they said they'd let me use their airbrush on a model kit, free of charge. Sweet! In other news, the power keeps going out at my place, which is super annoying. The rain from the recent storms is super relaxing, but if it's gonna keep shutting my power off, I'll gladly go without. I'm also considering making a page detailing my action figure collection. I've gotten quite a few over the past 5 years or so. I don't think I could go into detail on all of them, but I could highlight some of my favorites, with photos, of course!
8/12/21 - After being cooped up inside for just over a week, I've finally started seeing my friends again. It's so nice! As I write this, I just got back home after a little gathering at TruKuu's. There was plenty of pizza, and I brought a stack of SNES games, but we didn't get around to playing them. I also fixed Koozbane's GameCube for him. I just put in a new power board, which he provided. It wasn't getting audio, but now it is. Easy! Anyways, I'll try to update more often, if for no other reason than to prove to everyone I'm alive. P.S., a new review is in the works! What game will it be? Here's a hint: It's for my favorite console! You'll see it soon!
8/3/21 - It's been a weird past few days! I got sick and lost my job, so I've just been sitting around at home for about a week now. You'd expect more updates with that being the case, but I've been trying to sleep it off until I feel well enough to find work again. In other news, I've added a link to a friend's site in the links tab, and my guestbook is now live! Drop me a message if you so choose. I'll find a place for a permanent link around here somewhere...
7/27/21 - I've decompressed after my outing on the 24th. Where did I go? Read about it here, in a super blog post so big that it needed its own page! Now that I'm back, expect another review and some other cool stuff before much longer.
7/22/21 - Is two blog updates in one day too much? Well anyway, as you can see, the site has been reworked a bit. The navigation buttons are now on both sides, and everything leads where it's supposed to! check out my new music, video and link tabs, as well as two guides I just posted for some Mega Man SNES games! Things are starting to heat up here at the G-Zone, and I hope you'll come along with me for the ride! Here we go!
7/22/21 - I'm redoing the site a bit. Adding a few tabs, shuffling things around, the works. Plus, hello! Just like I said, the blog is now on the front page. Hello, front page! Sorry if the site is a little busted while I update. I'll try to get it back to normal ASAP!
7/21/21 - Looks like Neocities is my new home. Hopefully it will be less fiddly than geocities.ws, or at the very least I'll find out if my HTML is just bad. I wouldn't be surprised; I learned it just to make this site, so I'm not exactly a veteran. I'm thinking on my next review, and I'm alsp thinking of moving the blog to the front page and redoing the button layout. Maybe I'll also add a guestbook... Also, Space Jam was totally surreal. It felt like a total fever dream. That's about all I can say about that...
7/20/21 - Working on updating the site a bit and thought I should post a blog. TruKuu from dabargainbin and I are going to a big Mortal Kombat event in Nashville, TN on the 24th. I don't play or even really like MK, but I wanna go support TruKuu at any tournaments he may be playing in. Besides, it's being held in a big arcade, and if I can get off of work to go to an arcade with my best friend, the circumstances surrounding it don't matter too much. I also just wrote a cool song for a DOOM wad being made by my friend salamipaste. Oh yeah, and I'm gonna see the new Space Jam with TruKuu and some other friends today. I hope it sucks. Anyways, while you're here, check out my new review of Star Fox 64!
7/18/21 - The website is finally looking pretty good! I've only been up super late the past few nights to pull it off. There's a lot more content on the way and much fun to be had, coming soon to a G-Zone near you!
