I’ve been visiting The Retroist a lot lately, and they have a whole assortment of retro video game wallpapers available for download. I liked the idea, but they didn’t really have anything which called to me. Inspired, I decided to make my own and share it with those of you who are interested.

The resolution used here is 1024 x 768, but with a black outline, adjusting the size should not be difficult. Here is the one I have set up on mine, taken from the start-up screen of the game which came with my first NES, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt:

Hit the cut for the downloads.

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By now, I think just about everyone is familiar with the Chuck Norris meme, which is largely a series of “facts” about the man which just get bigger and bigger than life itself, turning the actor into a sort of tall tale figure. Sort of a modern Paul Bunyan, only funnier.

I never really knew what started it, assuming that someone just decided to pick someone who was big in the 80’s (similar to Mr. T’s resurgence) and run with it. But according to the description for the following video, it was a segment performed by a certain dethroned late-night talk show host that started it all. Check it out:

Funnier than the actual Walker: Texas Ranger footage are the surrounding bits with Conan. Just the almost crazed look of utter excitement displayed before he pulls the lever… and the utter disbelief with which he tries to register what he just saw.

I’m guessing that this is one such segment that we can count on never seeing again, at least not quite like this. At least we have the internet to keep the legend alive.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

“Have a Coke and a smile,” the old slogan used to say. But this vending machine takes it to new heights:

I wish the places around here had one like this.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Does anyone out there remember this commercial?

And of course, there was this variant, from when they introduced barbecue flavored Tato Skins as well.

I remember the chips rather fondly, as they were favorites of mine growing up. However, I noticed over the years that they had become increasingly scarce. In fact, Tato Skins seem downright non-existent.

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“Let’s Play” videos are fun, as it’s a good way to see someone experience a game for the first time and offer their thoughts and feelings as they deal with the frustration, weirdness, or other sensations associated with a first-encounter with a game. Or, sometimes, just guys showing off what they can do.

Unfortunately, since appearing on the website Something Awful, there has been something of an explosion of Let’s Plays, making it more difficult to find a simple gameplay video from a game that doesn’t have cursing and other comments drowning out the background music and sound effects.

“Let’s Quickly Play” seems to offer a remedy of sorts, as you will see in the following video. Instead of vocal commentary, there are captions, which allow the music and regular gameplay to shine through.

In this video, we get to see the story mode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition for the Super NES, which has some extra video and music from the show added in to make it feel a little more like a part of the series.

All in all, it works pretty well, which is sort of ironic, given I was just talking about the music not being able to be heard. Still, it’s the same song, just from the show instead, and the sound effects come through nicely.

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Oy, I should be doing better at updates than this. Hopefully I’ll get two more up tonight.

A friend of a friend of mine found the following commercial that I don’t recall ever seeing before of Super Mario Collection:

For those who didn’t know, “Super Mario Collection” was the simple title given to Super Mario All-Stars in Japan. One has to admit, it’s more straight and to the point; when I first heard of Super Mario All-Stars, I thought it was going to be a Mario baseball game. Imagine how silly I felt when I learned the (preferred) truth.

Ironic, then, what the future would bring in that regard.

Anyway, hey, check it out! It’s Wart! Bowser has some cool shades, too. And Princess? All I have to say is daaaaaang.

All the animated bits like this they use in Japan for commercials like these leaves me disappointed that Mario never had more of an animated presence there, two OVAs aside (which really should be localized, in my humble opinion).

Finally, am I the only one who loves those neon versions of the different logos?

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Okay, I don’t know what the hell that was about, but I just finished a harrowing, brutal session of Donkey Kong ‘94. I did not know that Super NES games were capable of developing spiteful mean streaks, but here we are.

It’s crazy; I’ve beaten the game before with no problem whatsoever, but I swear, this time it was like the final boss was just out to GET me. Did I just do too good before that point? It’s crazy. The last time I had this much trouble was when I played it the first time some 15 years ago. Controller-breaking fury, that was.

I’d love to see them make another game more like this (Mario vs. Donkey Kong doesn’t quite count, much as I wish it did), or even remake this one (WiiWare, anyone?), but I would hope that they make the controls a little less finicky and some things– the final boss, specifically– a little less random and enraging.

On a separate but related note, once that was done, had some troubles with the Super Game Boy. Weird, I thought Nintendo’s stuff was made to last. I had trouble with it when I tried to get Donkey Kong to work, and after working just fine for about the last week or so, it took forever to get it to work for Mega Man 5.

Red suspected it might just need to cool down, and after stopping for a bit, it did work. But strangely, as noted, it did the same thing when we tried to start DK, and I had to dig out and re-hook the cables to the Super NES for that, so that couldn’t be it… at least, not both times.

Wondering if I should look into a new Super Game Boy, just in case. I’d just use the Game Boy Player on the Cube, except that doesn’t give me the borders and specially-designed color schemes, so that’s a no-go unless absolutely necessary.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Hopefully this will make for my last Power Rangers post for a while; I don’t like to stick to one subject too much, disregarding things like “video games” or “comic books” or “toys” as a single subject.

Anyway, I don’t know how long it took CollegeHumor to put this together– they did have plenty of notice, I suppose– but they’ve assembled a rather topical Power Rangers parody based on the notion that the producers of the original show were racist. This notion itself arose when someone noticed that the Black Ranger was African American, the Yellow Ranger was Asian, the Pink Ranger was female, and the Red Ranger was one of those “red blooded all-American male” types.

Admittedly, I’ve heard back and forth on the subject, whether it was deliberate or not– I don’t really know. However, I do know that when Tommy Oliver, who was originally the Green Ranger and then the White Ranger before becoming the Red Zeo and Turbo Rangers, was only written as a Native American after becoming the latter? That certainly couldn’t have helped matters at all.

And no, I have no idea where the heck the Blue Ranger is supposed to fit into this whole grand scheme.

Courtesy of Topless Robot

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

Given the length of my thoughts and reactions to the first episodes of the new “re-envisioned” Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I thought it might be best to give this its own space.

Apparently, the Supervising Producer of these new “re-envisionings” has his own Twitter account, from which he apparently likes to answer questions, joke about some of the series’ admittedly more ridiculous aspects, and of course, say things to cheese off fans who have a tendency to overreact to everything anyway.

What follows is a sampling of some of the things he’s said, which offers a little insight into what has happened and what we can expect:

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On Saturday, January 2nd, the new “reversioned” Mighty Morphin Power Rangers took to the airwaves.

Didn’t get to see it? Not terribly surprising; it seems that the skittlebrains at ABC air it at insanely different times in different markets, be it 11am or noon to as early as 6am, 5am, and I think I’ve even heard 4am. And that’s if they even opt to air it at all.

Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. Well, “fortunately” is a rather blanket term for the rather diverse opinions the first two episodes have received thus far. Actually, “diverse” may not even be appropriate, as the consensus usually falls either on “love it” or “hate it,” with little gray area.

But if you didn’t get to see it, you can start by checking out the intro:

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