Speedrun Tower

Speedrun Tower is a Sega Genesis demo specifically designed for speedrunning. It's set in a building with pseudorandom floor connections. Your goal is to reach the top floor in the fewest steps possible.

My Loser Phase

Reflections on Video Game Retail from 1992-1997

A look back at the 16 and 32 bit wars from the perspective of a lowly retail clerk. Relive all the highs and lows of the era - from the Sega CD launch to the rise of the Sony PlayStation and everything in-between.

Retail Clerk '89

Retail Clerk '89 started as a personal exercise to learn Sega Genesis programming. It's now a complete, albeit short, game demo.

Finding duplicate lines in two files (in Java)

November 23, 2024
This is a coding tutorial, but it's also about the trade-offs in writing code. When should code be generic vs highly focused on a single problem? The generic problem is finding duplicate lines in two files, which sounds super simple until you start asking questions.

Game Boy Advance Compilations

November 16, 2024
The Game Boy Advance helped get me back into gaming after an extended break to finish college. Despite being very nostalgic for the system I haven't written about it much. It's time to change that. This article reviews some, but not quite all, compilations of retro games on the Game Boy Advance.

Dreamcast Survivor's Guide

November 9, 2024
A brief magazine insert to help Dreamcast fans cope with the cancellation of their favorite system.

Halloween Havoc Continuity

October 12, 2024
Have I really never posted a Halloween feature before? It's past time that I did. This is a tribute to the WCW Halloween Havoc series. It traces the rise and fall in match position for every wrestler to appear in one over the years. It ends with some commentary about who a hypothetical Halloween Havoc game needs to include.

Electronics Recycling Gallery

September 7, 2024
This is a gallery of garbage. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, literal garbage. There's a public electronics recycling center in my general area. I drop off junk a couple times a year and am usually amused at what I see piled up there. I figure others may also be amused, although others may find it infuriating, and most won't care at all.

Working with .ips files in Java

July 27, 2024
Example Java code for creating .ips files, reading .ips files, and patching ROM files.

How bad Google search has become in just two examples

July 27, 2024
In this article I look back on the early days of search engines and wonder how Google regressed so badly. It only took two searches to illustrate what the problem is. I offer no solutions, just venting on the current situation.

Retail Clerk '90 - Version 1.0

June 9, 2024
I'm feeling pretty done with this demo. It works and I implemented some new engine features along the way. I'm happy with that. The game isn't especially fun or interesting. This demo was always about building the engine & code generation tools though. With those goals accomplished it's time to move on.

Midwest Gaming Classic 2024

April 13, 2024
Alright, so 20 years of the Midwest Gaming Classic for me. I mean sort of since there weren't shows in 2005 or 2020. Like most of the previous 20 years here are some bad photos and light commentary from my trip.

Hacking Cosmic Fantasy 2 save RAM out of spite

January 20, 2024
Cosmic Fantasy 2 is a game with an excessive number of random battles. It's probably the worst I played in that regard. Let's see if we can make it just a tiny bit more bearable by boosting levels & statistics at the start.

Electronics Boutique December 1994 Catalog

December 2, 2023
December 1994 was the twilight of the 16-bit era. The Saturn, PlayStation, and Windows 95 were just months away. The 16-bit to 32-bit shift seemed to happen over just one week in 1995. These are the last days of the 16-bit era and we didn't even know it. This is it, the last xmas of the great 16-bit console war.

Electronics Boutique November 2003 Catalog

November 24, 2023
Exactly 20 years ago three consoles were battling it out to win the holiday season. Meanwhile the last survivor of the previous generation was somehow still kicking and the Game Boy Advance was hitting its stride.