That sounds like an amazing experience haha. I have some fond memories like that with these games too.

I think in my case, the narrative isn’t the main thing I enjoy about metroidvanias - rewarding exploration is what I really love. Though I didn’t play a true metroidvania until I was into my teens, some of my favorite games before that were exploration-focused platformers and (simple) RPGs.

I probably would have been frustrated and given up with my favorite metroidvanias if I had played any too young, but 8-12ish would have hit that nostalgia + enjoyment sweet spot. But hey, even without any early nostalgia I can still love them :)

That’s awesome! I’ve only ever heard of Crystalis in the context of games that flew under the radar, I don’t think many people can say they actually owned it. Too bad the GBC port isn’t great.

Ooh, great question! Super Metroid is one for me too. I love metroidvanias now, and really enjoyed the nonlinear / exploration elements of Super Mario World, but I didn’t play a proper metroidvania until my teens. I think I’d take CV:SotN over Super Metroid, but I bet I’d have been more than happy with either.

I wish I grew up with some OG gameboy RPGs. Final Fantasy Legend, Dragon Warrior Monsters, Crystalis. They were just a bit too far before my time for me to get much exposure when I would have liked them best, so I don’t have any real nostalgia, but in revisiting old games I’ve always been drawn to those.

I timed my DSi; it varies a lot by game but the largest I tried (Pokemon Black 2) loaded in around 25 seconds on the first run, then loads in under 10 seconds on subsequent runs.

I recently started messing with my DSi again after a few years away from it, and you’re definitely not alone in being confused by it all - I really have no idea what exactly I did to it. To refresh everything I ended up just wiping the SD card, then putting Twilightmenu on it. I can still boot into unlaunch so I must have modified the firmware / internal storage before, but I don’t know if hiyaCFW is something that lives on there on the SD card.

Speaking of which, that’s the same setup as my SD card, which is a 32gb Transcend. I can’t seem to find my SD card reader to double check but I’m pretty sure of using 32k cluster size.

Might be worth mentioning, I have another DSi with a wildly different system boot time for no apparent reason. I set it up the exact same, but it takes 15+ seconds to boot vs the <5 of my main DSi, even when I swap SD cards. The only difference between them is that the one that takes a long time to boot is Japanese. Games take about the same time to boot so it doesn’t seem directly related to your issue but who knows.

The first time booting a rom takes a while, but after that it’s only a few seconds for me. Maybe something to do with SD card formatting/specs?

I like your distinction between ‘retro gaming’ and ‘a retro game’. Makes sense, well put.

Never heard of this one, but it looks like a lot of fun! I’ll be playing it soon, thanks for the tip.

Yep.

I’ve found yandex to work even better. But yeah bing is way better than Google.

I’ve been reliant on social programs and found them severely lacking. They’re bureaucracy at their worst, and I’m lucky to be able to navigate through it - it seems those who need the help the most are the least able to receive it. They’re wasteful too, I would rather the funds go directly to people who need it rather than feeding the middleman.

I don’t know if he’s running for president, but in case you’re unaware he founded a new political party, the Forward Party. It’s the first time I’ve really believed in anything political; it might not resonate with you but it’s worth looking into if you haven’t.

I’ve recently started using Rats Search, basically a p2p torrent indexer. I don’t want to bother with private trackers so this is pretty much perfect.