Retropolis Zone Video Reviews

What's up, Sega-16?

I have started a YouTube channel in March of this year where I upload video reviews of games, titled ''Retropolis Zone''. As the name implies, I will mostly focus on older games, to give them attention and to see if they have aged well, but I will also talk about modern games just as easily if I want to or am requested. My goal is to make a review as objective as I possibly can with some personal opinion and preference thrown into the mix at times, and also to entice people to try out games by examining them very in-depth. For that reason, the runtime on these videos is quite long, indeed. Grab a snack or drink if you want. ;)

So far I have five reviews under my belt, which you can all check out down below. The views have been decent, and the Sonic reviews have managed to sneak into the top YouTube search results, though I certainly want to get much bigger than I am right now. There's only one way to achieve that: keep producing fantastic content at a steady pace and promote the hell out of it all as much as I can. Sega-16 is one of those sites where I feel there is an audience to be found that is interested in what I do. I put a ton of effort and time into the entire process and the quality level is very high as a result.

Hopefully some of you enjoy the videos, and if so, I would very much appreciate your support and feedback!
Thanks for reading! :D


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEHkjy4rzVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCUky0hn2Wo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sfA6VBNS6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6EYbRqqGvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQgxXxzMpW4

I really enjoyed your Sonic Adventure review. I remember when I picked up my Dreamcast on launch day with Sonic Adventure and House of the Dead 2 and was blown away with SA1. Your review reminded me of that. My Pro's and Con's with SA1 are as follows:

Pro's

• The game's graphics are vibrant and colorful and even better using the VGA box. I know some people say the game's graphics are "dated", but for a game released in 1998 I think they hold up fine. Though the characters constantly moving even while still can be funny at times. I'm also glad that you mentioned the character's mouths were synced to the Japanese dialog but not the English dialog. Too many people just say that they don't match at all when in fact they do. I guess Sonic Team had no interest in spending the extra time syncing the English dialog. Oh well, to me it's part of the game's charm.
• The music is great! I prefer Sonic Adventure's soundtrack over Sonic Adventure 2's any day. This mainly has to do with the music having variety. As much as I like Rock, SA2 had too much IMO. SA1 had Rock, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Pop-like music and others. Sega did a fantastic job and I still enjoy its soundtrack to this day.
• It may just be me, but I think Sonic Adventure was less linear than SA2. In Sonic's stages specifically there were more shortcuts, hidden item boxes and multiple paths. I feel with SA2 the exploration part was toned down and it became more of a Point A to Point B design with little off-path design included. While there are automated paths in SA1, I feel that SA2 has much more.
• Knuckles' stages are much better in SA1 than SA2. I still haven't figured out why in SA2 your Emerald radar locating one Emerald at a time would be a good idea. It seems like they wanted to make those stages longer by giving you a predetermined path to take by which Emerald you collect next. In SA1 you could do it your way. Much better in my opinion.
• The Mini Games! Sky Chase Act 1 and 2, Ice Cap snowboarding, Sand Hill and Twinkle Circuit. I enjoyed all of these. Amy's Hedgehog Hammer mini game not so much. I find that I play Twinkle Circuit the most out of all of them. It's fun and the BGM is great.
• Small, contained hub worlds. Big enough to explore, small enough not to get lost. That's what I like. Though I am a fan of just going Zone to Zone, for Sonic's first official foray in 3D I think the hub worlds let the player get used to the game's controls before you dive in the main game/stages.

Con's

• Oh boy, Big the Cat. This is where I have a love hate relationship here. I can see what Sonic Team was trying to achieve with him but the execution; meh. I know he was supposed to be a character that lets you catch your breath/do something different. Catching your breath by FISHING! In any other game it could've worked, but in a Sonic game, not so much. Though when I am bored and want to play a game without much challenge, I will play Big's stages. At least the music in his stages are enjoyable. So I guess it does have a place in a sense. A mode in SA1 where you can literally just goof off and fish. It's hard for me to explain. Though I think with the points I've made some people will get it.
• The cut-scenes. When I first played and completed SA1 I felt some lasted too long. But on my second run the length of some cut scenes really came to light. If they were condensed more I feel it would have been better.
• Same boss fight, different character. Self explanatory. Do I really need to fight the same boss two to three times? No.
• The camera. I don't think I need to explain this. The camera is relatively fine when you stick to the main paths. But as you said in your video, when you attempt to take a shortcut the camera can be your worst enemy. But for a 3D platformer from 1998 it's not that bad. Annoying at times, yes.
• Amy. I just didn't have that much fun in her stages. Thankfully, her story is short. I enjoyed Gamma's stages/story much more than Amy's. Now that I think of it, my favorite character story/stages are as follows: Sonic>Tails>Knuckles>Gamma>Amy>Big.

I didn't include the Chao aspect because honestly, I didn't spend that much time with it. It is entertaining but it's not really my cup of tea. Though I have read some people prefer Chao Adventure more than the main game itself. To each their own, I guess. All in all I think that Sonic Adventure was a great way to introduce Sonic in his first fully 3D game (I know about Sonic R and Sonic World, but I'm talking about the main games). It's a game I still enjoy to this day and will in the future.

Thanks for watching and replying here, I am glad to hear you enjoyed the Sonic Adventure video because I heavily dislike my bored tone in it. Haha. Narration has improved dramatically as the videos go on.

I would reply to a lot of what you've said, but I think that would only be redundant if you've seen the video. It does give a great feeling that the review took you back, though. :)

I would rank the characters as such: Sonic > Knuckles > Tails/Gamma > Amy > Big. I swear, beating Big's 3rd objectives of catching 2000g fish is HELL. I hated it so much, it was all luck based and it kept on going and going.
See, Sonic's fantastic, Knuckles is good, Tails and Gamma are average and Amy and Big just fall flat on their faces to me. Now yes, Sonic's story is the longest and you can decide to only play his story if you want, but when such a large portion of the game just isn't that great, in conjunction with an aged camera and such, I can't help but feel to say it's not worth playing nowadays for non-Sonic fans or those who don't have nostalgia with it.

I literally could not care less about Sonic Adventure, and sitting through 30 minutes of Sonic 06 is 30 minutes too many, but I really enjoyed your reviews of Pulseman and Gunstar Heroes. Pretty much agreed on every point.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

I literally could not care less about Sonic Adventure, and sitting through 30 minutes of Sonic 06 is 30 minutes too many, but I really enjoyed your reviews of Pulseman and Gunstar Heroes. Pretty much agreed on every point.

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To each their own. It's great to read you really enjoyed the reviews of Pulseman and Gunstar Heroes, though. I guess length isn't as much of an issue as I originally thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMp_qc51Uvg

New video. This time it's Gunstar Super Heroes for the Game Boy Advance. Do most people even know this game exists? :|

I always liked the game. I bought it the day it came out, possibly one of the few people on the planet who was super-psyched for its release. Most fans of the original tend to brush it off which is sad because it's a really great run 'n gun and certainly the best one on the GBA, or at least I can't think of a better one.

The weapons combining gimmick and lack of multi-player are sad losses and probably the most often cited reasons people don't give this game a fair shake. As far as the weapons go though, I do think the weapons are more balanced as a result and appreciate that you're never running into a situation with the wrong gun.

Yeah, it's sad to see how nostalgia-blinded or biased people can be. Gunstar Super Heroes is a very worthwhile game if you can look past its short length (though the original was short, too), nuded weapon system and lack of co-op. On the flip side, it has more variety in terms of gameplay and the presentation is definitely better thanks to the dialog and stronger hardware of the Game Boy Advance.

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Originally Posted by Retropolis Zone

Yeah, it's sad to see how nostalgia-blinded or biased people can be. Gunstar Super Heroes is a very worthwhile game if you can look past its short length (though the original was short, too), nuded weapon system and lack of co-op. On the flip side, it has more variety in terms of gameplay and the presentation is definitely better thanks to the dialog and stronger hardware of the Game Boy Advance.

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That helicopter level though.... :mad:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

That helicopter level though.... :mad:

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Right, that really sucked. I felt the need to rant about it for over a minute. The boss in that section is so poorly designed and feels totally out of place with the rest of the game. Fortunately, it's only one section.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Retropolis Zone

Right, that really sucked. I felt the need to rant about it for over a minute. The boss in that section is so poorly designed and feels totally out of place with the rest of the game. Fortunately, it's only one section.

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Yes, I really like the game. It suffers a bit from Super Turrican 2 syndrome (a little too many different "game modes" in it, and too much mode-7), but otherwise a pretty darn good followup to the original. Graphics are gorgeous. On the forest stage it has a whooping 4 independent layers of parallax scrolling. Then all the sprite scaling and rotation (specially that huge yellow robot boss) with the crazy flaming background. Easily one of the best looking 2D games ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7D2bYgA5IA

The series with an absolutely confusing naming scheme, but one that also spawned some classics that have generally stood the test of time. If only Wonder Boy wasn't so forgotten, especially Wonder Boy in Monster World...

Great video about a great game.

Thanks a lot, good sir. :cool:

Some new ones online. Monster World IV for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Ape Escape for the PS1 and PSP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g5s6qDah4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xiTSemsjmU

Damn dude, I think you got a knack for this. Good editing, good script, your reviews are pretty comparable to legendary reviewers like SomecallmeJohnny.

And I like how you mention stuff like dynamic shadows and lighting, draw distance. Keep making your videos with the same formula(intro -> gameplay -> graphics etc.)

But the generic video titles may be preventing you from getting more reviews. Should think of something quirky, like "Review - Ape Escape (RPzone)"

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Originally Posted by azonicrider

Damn dude, I think you got a knack for this. Good editing, good script, your reviews are pretty comparable to legendary reviewers like SomecallmeJohnny.

And I like how you mention stuff like dynamic shadows and lighting, draw distance. Keep making your videos with the same formula(intro -> gameplay -> graphics etc.)

But the generic video titles may be preventing you from getting more reviews. Should think of something quirky, like "Review - Ape Escape (RPzone)"

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Thanks for the positivity. Always very nice to read and the feedback is much appreciated. To read my reviews are comparable to Johnny's, who is my main inspiration, is really cool.

I definitely will keep on using the same formula. It's something I've developed and have become very familiar with and I think it's quite unique with regards to the music showcases like that.

If this channel takes off I'd love to earn money from it and then be able to produce more consistently. As it is now, many other responsibilities eat up time and energy.

More videos. Haven't updated here in a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmZ4X0Pr8xM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmpvkbniYzc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgz8594Hovs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV3IY8zS-Eg

Someone actually likes Sonic Heroes? Hahaha. Well, most of your points about it were quite fair really. It would actually be a good game if not for the borked physics, glitches and the pointless padding (including enemy HP, the XP stuff and requiring 4 playthroughs for the real ending).

How to fix sonic heroes:
- Fix the problems above.
- Forget the team mechanic, the levels don't take advantage of it anyway.
- Remove every character besides sonic, at best leave tails (but make him shut up).
- Make the bosses interesting.

There, a good sonic game.

Not a big fan.

IMO review videos and let's play are a dime a dozen. There is nothing original about the content and for the most part better indepth reviews with higher production value videos are out there.

You have to do them out of the hobby and passion for gaming. Saying you want to make money from them well so does the other 20 million US residents between 18-35 years old who plays games, has a camera and editing software.

Checking out the MMX video now out of curiosity... first, skipped over the story you seemed to borough from other sources I've yet to get into (and if I never played MMX, I would of skipped it from the get go since I prefer zero spoilers and what you did was reveal the entire story)

Then I eventually tired of you talking about gameplay forever since I know all about the gameplay, and I'm sure just about every other gamer from that era does know about Mega Man & X. And even if not. I think you're focus needs to be elsewhere instead of so much on this. It sounded very trivial and going on forever.

And wrong. That approach of the Mavericks being tough the very first time without their weakness did work back then. It just does not work now. So it's not a flaw considering when the game was made and when gamers only had challenge as replay value instead many, many hours of FMV, cutscenes, story, mindless fetch quests and what not to keep them going forever for one playthrough to get some of their money's worth - even if beating it on your first try with zero challenge and with zero replay value. ... So yeah, times have changed. So it's good to remember this for future episodes. ... And... the game can be beaten with just X-Buster, so... how can that be a flaw? Just means the game isn't broken and requires some learning. So not bad design. Good design. ... As well as the design of figuring out by trial and error what's the best path through the game, is what Mega Man is also about.

And who says you need to get 100% on your first playthrough? As in, who says replay value is wrong?


Why is it when players talk about level design, they right away say one or two things about it then blast into talking about the graphics instead? Was looking forward to this meaty part. As this is were I would of allowed you to talk about it forever. Instead you talk more about graphics which is more different strokes for different folks kind of thing, thus more of you opinion/preference thing - so I don't care as much as everything else even if I totally disagree with you.



Anyway. This is just what popped in my head as I watched that vid (PS - I skipped the PSP one because I own it and have yet to play it), so please don't let it upset you if I sound to critical. So still up to you & your vids/vision if you agree or not.

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Originally Posted by needler420

Not a big fan.

IMO review videos and let's play are a dime a dozen. There is nothing original about the content and for the most part better indepth reviews with higher production value videos are out there.

You have to do them out of the hobby and passion for gaming. Saying you want to make money from them well so does the other 20 million US residents between 18-35 years old who plays games, has a camera and editing software.

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Higher production values? dude theres people on Youtube who record their games by putting a camera in front of their TV. Take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jS8xKwme5E

I really think like 25% of retro gaming videos on Youtube are done that way.

This kid is definitely in the upper end of production values within Youtube Gaming.


P.S. I can't tell if you got a Puerto Rican accent. Sounds somewhere in the Caribbean or Central America

Quote:

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Originally Posted by azonicrider

P.S. I can't tell if you got a Puerto Rican accent. Sounds somewhere in the Caribbean or Central America

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Retropolis Zone's accent??? That doesn't sound like a Spanish or Latin based language accent. His R's and L's sound more eastern European slavic like (more nassl-y at times).. mixed with upper-east coast US accent. Flows fine, though. Kind of a radio style voice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by needler420

Not a big fan.

IMO review videos and let's play are a dime a dozen. There is nothing original about the content and for the most part better indepth reviews with higher production value videos are out there.

You have to do them out of the hobby and passion for gaming. Saying you want to make money from them well so does the other 20 million US residents between 18-35 years old who plays games, has a camera and editing software.

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Welp, sorry. Can't please everybody and I respect that, but I do wonder who makes such original content these days on YouTube? Virtually everything has been done before in some way or another, whether it's games, music, films or YouTube content. One of the most original YouTube channels I can think of is A+Start with Son of a Glitch, but when I think about it, for how long have glitch montages been around? And luckily I started and am continuing out of a hobby and passion. Money from it one day would be great, yes, but it's a good thing I'm not building my future around these videos. Also, it's not uncommon for people to underestimate how much time and effort goes into making videos like this. It's certain not 20 million would keep it going if they realized that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Thief

Checking out the MMX video now out of curiosity... first, skipped over the story you seemed to borough from other sources I've yet to get into (and if I never played MMX, I would of skipped it from the get go since I prefer zero spoilers and what you did was reveal the entire story)

Then I eventually tired of you talking about gameplay forever since I know all about the gameplay, and I'm sure just about every other gamer from that era does know about Mega Man & X. And even if not. I think you're focus needs to be elsewhere instead of so much on this. It sounded very trivial and going on forever.

And wrong. That approach of the Mavericks being tough the very first time without their weakness did work back then. It just does not work now. So it's not a flaw considering when the game was made and when gamers only had challenge as replay value instead many, many hours of FMV, cutscenes, story, mindless fetch quests and what not to keep them going forever for one playthrough to get some of their money's worth - even if beating it on your first try with zero challenge and with zero replay value. ... So yeah, times have changed. So it's good to remember this for future episodes. ... And... the game can be beaten with just X-Buster, so... how can that be a flaw? Just means the game isn't broken and requires some learning. So not bad design. Good design. ... As well as the design of figuring out by trial and error what's the best path through the game, is what Mega Man is also about.

And who says you need to get 100% on your first playthrough? As in, who says replay value is wrong?


Why is it when players talk about level design, they right away say one or two things about it then blast into talking about the graphics instead? Was looking forward to this meaty part. As this is were I would of allowed you to talk about it forever. Instead you talk more about graphics which is more different strokes for different folks kind of thing, thus more of you opinion/preference thing - so I don't care as much as everything else even if I totally disagree with you.



Anyway. This is just what popped in my head as I watched that vid (PS - I skipped the PSP one because I own it and have yet to play it), so please don't let it upset you if I sound to critical. So still up to you & your vids/vision if you agree or not.

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I appreciate the feedback. I'll consider the points you've given me, but the reason I explain how the gameplay works and what it's all about, is because I feel I can't dive into my thoughts and opinions if I haven't explained what the game is in the first place. What makes good game design can be subjective, though. I explained my take on the Maverick system and you explained the other end of it, but that doesn't mean that I can't think this set-up doesn't work anymore and that it seems kind of arbitrary to begin with. It feels like padding to me.

I didn't say much about the level design because I didn't have much to say about it. It's flat and easy and nothing to write home about. If you want me to talk in great lengths about level design, then the Sonic Heroes video is better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by azonicrider

P.S. I can't tell if you got a Puerto Rican accent. Sounds somewhere in the Caribbean or Central America

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I'm actually from the Netherlands, haha. Funny that you say this, though. :D

Well I feel the same about the level design of X1. Why I was hoping for chit chat on that matter.

The Mega Man X level design is laid out to take advantage of X's new mobility. The dashing and wall-climbing. It's what gives the X series a distinctly different feel.

The classic games are more dependent on single-screen obstacle courses which works for the slower and more limited original Mega Man but would be claustrophobic for Mega Man X.

It's why I don't really like one over the other (sort of, the classic games are my favorites ultimately). There's give and take between control and level complexity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Obviously

The Mega Man X level design is laid out to take advantage of X's new mobility. The dashing and wall-climbing. It's what gives the X series a distinctly different feel.

The classic games are more dependent on single-screen obstacle courses which works for the slower and more limited original Mega Man but would be claustrophobic for Mega Man X.

It's why I don't really like one over the other (sort of, the classic games are my favorites ultimately). There's give and take between control and level complexity.

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Meh, I just find X1's level design kind of boring. It just feels simple and empty. Maybe the developers were still learning how to design levels for the new mechanics. X2's and X3's level design are generally more flashed out and challenging.

tomaitheous you were way off, the Netherlands isn't a Slavic country :p

I do actually wonder how noticeable the odd accent is to natives. All my friends and family tell me my English writing and speaking is impeccable, but they're Dutch too... Haha. Is my accent at all distracting or hard to listen to?

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Originally Posted by Retropolis Zone

I do actually wonder how noticeable the odd accent is to natives. All my friends and family tell me my English writing and speaking is impeccable, but they're Dutch too... Haha. Is my accent at all distracting or hard to listen to?

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Your accent in my opinion, for American English, is near perfect (it sounds mostly east coast, mixed with a little west or 'Chicago' area - dunno). Kinda of a Looptroop thing (unplaceable American accent). It's only the occasional R and L sound that's slightly off. I really had to listen for it. I would have assumed you were 1st born generation US citizen, at the least. It's hard to tell, because in your videos you are projecting your voice (for presentation). It's easier to tell when someone speaks more casually and naturally (among friends). Anyway, it's 98% passable as a native US accent from what I can tell from the videos. I assume that's what you were going for?

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tomaitheous you were way off, the Netherlands isn't a Slavic country :p

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Hey, there was supposed to be an "or" in there. Plus, I was much closer than Latin American Spanish :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx0HfXgTmgY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdvQgNpDJ-c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trPAIM7-Ipg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toR_3xY59vU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UedfrD5b6k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7mGTeWJ9VM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wj6mTdF_RM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQbo2xMHy4

Oh wow, somebody has actually been updating this thread with some of my newer videos. That's awesome! Thanks, Ken! I actually forgot about having a thread on here as I didn't wanna spam this forum with my stuff. Recently the channel has been growing quite well, and I got up some more juicy analysis videos since Ape Escape 2. My format has really switched to thorough analysis rather than long reviews.

Here are the latest videos I've made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJcxg2P_Jkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs46jmojwXI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL6mZwymbF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjM66q0kXxA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3wwxJD5IQ

And perhaps what people on Sega-16 would be most interested in, a video on the very original Sonic the Hedgehog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCwfDB14RqM

I apologize that Sega-16 has really been more of a dumping ground than anything else. I became a member because I love the Sega Genesis and then I shared some of my videos here, but since then I've gotten so caught up in other things that I hardly ever find myself on this forum.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Retropolis Zone

Oh wow, somebody has actually been updating this thread with some of my newer videos. That's awesome! Thanks, Ken! I actually forgot about having a thread on here as I didn't wanna spam this forum with my stuff. Recently the channel has been growing quite well, and I got up some more juicy analysis videos since Ape Escape 2. My format has really switched to thorough analysis rather than long reviews.

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Your welcome. I really enjoy your videos so I wanted to share them.

Strange that I've never noticed this topic before. Just watched my first episode, the Mickey Mania one since I gave that game a try about two months ago. And that review nailed it good.

Also seems like you really go in depth with your reviews. Something I greatly approve of. So I'll be checking out your other videos from now on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ken

Your welcome. I really enjoy your videos so I wanted to share them.

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I appreciate that a lot!

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Originally Posted by Thief

Strange that I've never noticed this topic before. Just watched my first episode, the Mickey Mania one since I gave that game a try about two months ago. And that review nailed it good.

Also seems like you really go in depth with your reviews. Something I greatly approve of. So I'll be checking out your other videos from now on.

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Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy the format of the videos. Such in-depth videos don't seem very accessible, so whenever I hear from people they like them, I become more and more convinced that the interest is there and that I am not wasting my time. :)

Also, I never really considered these thumbnails would get blown up so big on Forums and other websites. Might have to update sprite-based thumbnails, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q44pEES3_I