Late realizations

[Stevens]

All the spaceships and lasers in that one thread are DICKS?!

[Lord Satori]

I've recently realized that "POTUS" is short for "President Of The United States", and isn't some weird organization I haven't heard of.

I feel like an idiot.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Don't feel bad. People love to casually throw out acronyms and initialisms without explaining them in the first instance - no longer is it restricted to business bullshit speak. It's incredibly frustrating and you shouldn't feel like an idiot because others use language poorly.

[M.Knight]

It also took me a while to realize what POTUS meant and that it wasn't an organization, especially given how it seemed to have popped out of nowhere during the last presidential elections. It could be due to me not following US news that much, but I don't think I ever saw that acronym before, so having it be everywhere all of a sudden without any explanation was quite confusing.

[Sumez]

Just popping in here to say ditto.

[kitten]

so, comic books often use this yellow text box to indicate inner thought or notes from the narrator, right? you'll frequently see these used to advertise upcoming issues of the comic to you, where they'll tease something really interesting, and then they'll follow it up "- 'nuff said." it took me many years to understand that it was an abbreviation for "enough said," and that there was not some ubiquitous comic book god named "nuff" who for some reason knew everything that was going to happen. i think i saw these reading the sonic the hedgehog comics in the grocery store, and i always wondered who he was.

i also used to think that coat-hanger was "cohanger" and that windshield was "winshield" and didn't realize they were compound words that formed their practical purpose until i was a teenager.

[Specineff]

I thought the same about "Nuff" when I was a teenager trying to improve my English by reading comic books and game magazines. I figured he was some sort of Mr. Plinkett-like character (from Red Letter Media), or a distant relative of the Addams. Or the Noid's brother, too.

[ED-057]

I just found out that Barkley 2 is (was? going to be?) a thing.

[WelshMegalodon]

You can tiptoe through trap doors in Prince of Persia.

Always wondered how people beat the slowdown-ridden Apple ][ version...

[BIL]

You can tiptoe through trap doors in Prince of Persia.

Do you mean spike traps? That definitely works. As for pressure plates and falling panels, I've only played the IBM PC and SFC versions, but AFAIK in both if you tiptoe onto them you'll suffer the consequences. I could be wrong though, not the most hardcore player of either (let alone the million other ports/revisions). Interestingly, both will buffet you back if you try tiptoeing onto a falling plate, but if you persist they'll let you through to whatever awaits.

I recently learned from zinger that the SFC version was by the devs of the PC98 one, which was a straight port. As cool as the SFC game's new content is, a straight conversion of the shorter DOS game in that engine does sound good.

For my part, I had no idea as a kid that you could save on DOS. POP was pre-installed on our family PC, no disks or manuals and I was too young to comprehend such things as readme.txt (and afraid of messing about with all the scary function keys and fucking something up). Never did see the end, got pretty close though! Later, long after the PC bit the dust (I was a shit young DOS user, never thought to back up POP), I saw a writer exasperatedly comment "it'd be like trying to finish Prince of Persia in a single sitting" and went WUUT.

All that replaying of earlier stages is probably how I figured out the safe spike trap thing.

[Sumez]

I'm assuming he means the body-cleaving snapping metal doors? Cause I'm pretty sure you can't even beat the game without walking through at least one spike trap.
In fact, you don't even need to tip-toe through the spike traps - as long as it has already popped, you are allowed to run through it at full speed. Game is realistic, yo!

Damn, I love Prince of Persia so much. It feels like a game that should be far outside of my comfort zone, but it's so brilliantly designed you'd be a madman not to adore it.

I also didn't realise you could save in the DOS version until long after I had completed it. I feel like the game is designed entirely around single sitting sessions due to the overarching time limit. I would play it through over and over until I'd learned the fastest route through every stage - once you do that, it's actually an extremely fast game, and the one hour is pretty generous.
In the SFC version you can keep playing after the time runs out, for the practice, but you won't get to face the final boss. I don't remember if the DOS version does something similar, but I think it just ends.

[Xyga]

With all the things MAME emulates that aren't arcade systems it'd be more accurate now and not even a joke by any means to call it MEME.

Multiple Electronic Machine Emulator

It's so right you don't even need to think about it. Also memedev.org, memeworld.info

[Stevens]

Er.....uh.....always thought Hyper Duel was Saturn only and that I would probably never be able to play it.

Discovered last night that it was in fact released in the arcades.

30 seconds later it was in my Mame folder.

[BIL]

The port's Saturn Mode is definitely worth trying if you like the AC version. Graphically polished up, makes some small but valuable tweaks (the st3 boss's bullets are no longer destructible, so you can't just smother him in return fire), and most notably of all you can lock the mech's aim for Shock Troopers-style strafing. Plays much more aggressively as a result, get all up in their grill and let the fuck rip with your greyhound-sized assault rifle.

Probably not worth acquiring a Saturn disc for alone, but there are other methods.

[Stevens]

but there are other methods.

Which would be an option - except I am fucking retarded when it comes to setting up CD based emulators. Does HD emulate well enough that it will be worth the trouble?

The little bit of research I did on Saturn EMU last night convinced me to not bother, but if it runs well then I'll give it a shot.

[BIL]

I'm pretty clueless on even the most garden-variety emulation, unfortunately - more involved stuff like Saturn is way over my head. Last I heard Mednafen was looking promising, but the last time I emulated Saturn was a good five years back via SSF (specifically 011 Alpha R5, according to my dusty old SS emu folder). Other than my ancient potato wired to a bathtub of V8 juice setup struggling to keep up, it ran goodies like HD and Taromaru pretty nicely.

I'd hit up WelshMegalodon, he's into the whole emu thing IIRC. Once bugged me to update my creaky old setup but I can't be arsed.

Outside of emulation, there's also modchipping + backups, or the recent Rhea Saturn thing that lets you run images off SD card. I'm getting one of those at some point myself, optical drives are way too much of a liability in the long-term. Obviously more of an investment but they kill emu woes dead.

[Stevens]

I'll give your EMU set up a shot since it works:D Rhea isn't an option - I sold my Saturn and Mega Drive a few years back. Don't regret it mind you - space here is at a premium.

Thanks as always.

[WelshMegalodon]

Which would be an option - except I am fucking retarded when it comes to setting up CD based emulators. Does HD emulate well enough that it will be worth the trouble?

Saturn emulation is easy! If your machine can handle Mednafen, all you'll need are the relevant BIOS dumps and warez. Initial setup takes maybe five minutes:

1. Put the BIOS files in the 'firmware' folder.
2. Drag the .cue file of the disc image onto the executable (or run it via command line, whatever).
3. Press Alt + Shift + 1 to configure your controller.
4. That's it, you're in!

You can also dig around in the .cfg file for things like fine-tuning the aspect ratio and tweaking the simple CRT shader, but there aren't any plugins and nothing you change in there is likely to mess up your game. All the options are documented on their website, too.

Mednafen's Saturn emulation is still a work-in-progress, so there might still be the occasional audio or video bug, but it usually won't be your fault unless you have a bad dump.

[Stevens]

Thanks WM. I spent 90 minutes trying to get SSF running yesterday before giving up. I got as far as the Saturn menu but nothing would load.

I'll give this a shot a report back. Either way thanks!

EDIT - Aww..a little research has shown me there ain't no way my laptop is running this. Thanks again.

[BIL]

Decided to look up "Miracle Mineral Solution," as it's been hovering around various news sites lately. And holy fuck - I thought this was gonna be some relatively harmless, binaural beats-esque quackery. Turns out, it's depressing and horrific! rofl! TLDR: desperate parents are giving their autistic kids bleach enemas to "flush out the parasites causing autism." PROTIP: a bleach enema will make you shit out your sloughed-off intestinal lining. Because it's fucking bleach. Trust me I'm a plumber. The scammers refer to these as "rope worms," and soon enough a vicious cycle is established. This is some scientology-grade industrialised hucksterism.

Back in the news again, now in Britfordshire. 3;

[FinalBaton]

Holy fuck... how dumb can you be to willingly inject bleach in your kid

[emphatic]

Holy fuck... how dumb can you be to willingly inject bleach in your kid

Maybe they're not dumb, but suffer from Münchhausen by proxy?

[BIL]

Seems like classic scammers preying on the desperate, at a glance. I was genuinely shocked when I looked it up, I was expecting some homeopathic dilution bollocks. This is untrammeled medieval brutality.

And there's these other nutjobs who drink friggin turpentine, as in paint stripper.

[KennyMan666]

Thanks WM. I spent 90 minutes trying to get SSF running yesterday before giving up. I got as far as the Saturn menu but nothing would load.

I'll give this a shot a report back. Either way thanks!

EDIT - Aww..a little research has shown me there ain't no way my laptop is running this. Thanks again.

BizHawk has good Saturn emulation these days, using a Mednafen core, and is much easier to use than SSF, so maybe give that a try.

[trap15]

Realized not only have I been applying deodorant slightly wrong (out to in, instead of up to down), but up to down application is literally designed to be the easiest shit ever.

[WelshMegalodon]

BizHawk has good Saturn emulation these days, using a Mednafen core, and is much easier to use than SSF, so maybe give that a try.

His computer isn't powerful enough to run Mednafen.

EDIT: TIL...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-xfy-0RPMw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-DZQ80vEVI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xRr_7o ... e=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HWQVSV ... e=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LDsQqP ... e=youtu.be
https://youtu.be/pL_2JVjWh9k?t=1h8m10s

And I think we all know this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tELmpYc ... e=youtu.be

[Mischief Maker]

The music playing over the Logan trailer is Johnny Cash covering a Nine Inch Nails song.

It's kind of jarring how well the lyrics fit his style. Nothing's shocking forever.

[Sumez]

The use of that cover in the trailer is the most cringeworthy cliche choice next to using Gary Jules' cover of Mad World for anything. However, as much as I was cringing over the choice when the trailer came out, it did give off a comfortable idea of a movie that wanted to be a little more than just a superhero movie.

Also, if you have never heard the Johnny Cash cover of Hurt before that, I take my hat off to you. Good job, that's probably harder than avoiding "Last Christmas" during christmas time.

That said, it's of course a great cover, and the best track out of the album of cover versions it was recorded for. I was at a funeral for a friend, around 10-15 years ago where someone played and sang that particular version on an accoustic guitar, it was a very touching moment.

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

The music playing over the Logan trailer is Johnny Cash covering a Nine Inch Nails song.

It's kind of jarring how well the lyrics fit his style. Nothing's shocking forever.

My friend flat-out refused to believe that song was Johnny Cash covering NIN, he was convinced NIN's version must have been covering Cash – even when presented with evidence. That's how well it fits his style.

[BIL]

Even having been mad for NIN in my wild and crazy middle school days - "FUCK YOU DAD" 凸(;｀ω´;) - I chop the sissy-ass NIN ver off TDS now, so it ends with the title track for MAXIMUM IMPACT

PROBLEMS DO HAVE SOLUTIONS, YOU KNOW (oh ye liek what, killin urself lmao?! )
A LIFETIME OF FUCKING THINGS UP FIXED IN ONE DETERMINED FLASH (OH HELL NAWWW, HE RLY KILL HESELF )

OTOH the outro is genuinely pretty satisfying still. Bwaaaaow. edit: And that one dude choking up in the audience @ AATCHB Live DVD is pretty real too! I wonder what his deal was. More than one "FYD" said in anger there too I'd guess.