Currently Playing: Eiyuden Chronicles

Absolutely beautiful game, visually and audibly. Enjoying this immensely.

May 3rd Edit: Beaten

After almost 30 years

I finally beat Golden Axe 2 on Normal. Even my best runs as a kid only got me as far as the fortress after the volcano, usually dying betore or during the boss there. 

Currently Watching: The Hateful Eight

The End of my Steam Deck Era

 

As of this past week, I have sold off my Steam Deck. The brief, three year stint with a handheld other than a Nintendo console coming to an end.

I bought the Steam Deck in early 2023 shortly before I left my first job, craving something with a bit more oomph than the current Switch at the time. Shortly after it arrived, and after I completed my Pokedex in Pokemon Scarlet Version, I simply stopped using my Switch 1. Not because the Deck was infinitely more capable or whatever, but because I am not really capable of focusing on two platforms.

And that was confirmed, not at the Switch 2's launch, but months before it was even revealed.

 

When rumors of the Switch 2 were coming out in full force around September of last year, it rekindled in something in me that had been lost when I got the Steam Deck. The magic I felt around Nintendo releases, the hype of their Directs and the discussions post-reveals. With all the hype going on at the time, I dug out my Switch 1 and bought a new game for the first time in years.

And while I was playing Tears of the Kingdom, that joy snowballed into my buying multiple games I missed in the years after I got the Deck. And while I was using the Switch 1, I found I couldn't even think about wanting to play anything on the Steam Deck.

Fast forward to June 2025. The Switch 2 is out and I've all but completely stopped using the Deck. It eventually found itself tucked away in its protective case. Fast forward even further and I am once again between jobs. The aftermarket price on Steam Decks has gone up dramatically as Valve is finding difficulties in securing the components to produce them.

Selling the Deck, along with a controller and many accessories, I've sent the Deck out of my life and to some place in Georgia, and in doing so I've definitely realized one thing: I am incapable of supporting more than one console at a time. It happened going from Switch 1 into Deck and Deck into Switch 2. 

One thing I am certain of this time, it's just gonna be me and my Switch 2 buddy right up until the next Nintendo console. No more stop gaps. 

Saturday Morning

Starting off this Saturday morning, not with writing and music, but a Godzilla movie, Tomodachi Life and some Chai.

The movie is All Monsters Attack, which is probably the most disliked film in the entire series, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for it. 

The last piece of Sonic media is now in my possession

It's not official by any means, but I'll take a fan made version until Sega can get the licensing worked out. 

Nintenget: Red Dead Redemption

Finally picked this up, the day after selling my Steam Deck. I will dive in to it after Final Fantasy VI. 

Nintenget: Tomodachi Life Living the Dream

 

CrossActs #1

 

 “So, Mr. Wolf, if that is your real name. I need a little of your backstory to ensure you’re not a threat to the Mobius.“
Sitting across from the interrogator. Dressed in only a pair of sneakers and fingerless gloves was a wolf who looked as if he’d been run through the ringer and back again—several times. Heavy bags sagged under his otherwise youthful red eyes. His fur was ragged, matted and even missing in big splotches.
“Of course it’s my real name.” A youthful but exhausted voice replied, hesitation threading itself amongst the syllables. “Actually, on second thought, that’s a good question.”
The sheep conducting the interview cocked an eyebrow as she stopped writing. Leaning back in her cushioned chair  — an odd piece of furniture for a quote on-quote interrogation room. Aren’t they usually kept in cold, minimal spaces? 
“And why is it a good question, wolf?” She asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the only piece of furniture that separated the two strangers.
“I’m an orphan in the purest sense of the word,” The male wolf’s ear twitched. The room was chilly, almost too damp despite how well furnished it was. Red curtains across boarded-up windows that blocked out any and all sunlight. Can’t be giving any poor Mobian that finds their way in here shreds of hope, the wolf supposed.
“Care to elaborate?” The sheep was a real cutie. Clearly very strong based on the toned appearance of her biceps and how easily she had tossed him away after he’d fallen on top of her.
“Sure. I was found as a baby near the southern reaches of the Azure Lake Zone. Old couple there found me, took me home, and kind of raised me for a bit, hoping my actual family would come searching for me.”
“What do you mean by ‘kind of raised’ you?” She raised a brow at the grey-brown wolf, dropping the pen once again and leaning forward. The sheep’s plastic emotions were hard to get a read on.
He hoped it was just for the sake of the interrogation because seeing her smile would make his day right now.

Future CrossActs Universe Projects

 

If you thought this multiverse party stopped at daily new chapters and character profiles, you're wrong because I've got even more announcements that will expand the overall CrossActs universe, as well as give readers something new to partake in in this bizarre take on the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

 First up is something I have toyed around with for literal decades. Almost my entire life I'd say. And that is called 'Godzilla Versus'. As a kid, whenever I'd roleplay or use my Trendmasters Godzilla figures, I never limited him to just fighting other Godzilla monsters, oh no. Many a time did Godzilla Vs. ALIEN, Godzilla Vs. Rawhead Rex and even Godzilla Vs. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers become things.

 A few years back, I took these old ideas and attempted to put together a series called, you guessed it, "Godzilla Versus", which was going to be a bunch of one-offs focused on pitting Godzilla against giant-sized versions of numerous other characters with little to no explanation as to why or how.

But now, with the advent of an official GODZILLA X SONIC THE HEDGEHOG comic series and the realized universe of CrossActs, I can effectively pull something off like this now with explanations as to how and why Godzilla is suddenly on Mobius, traveling through phantom portals and fighting 50 meter-tall Xenomorphs... sorta.

 

Following the nearly universe-ending events of CrossActs 1, the planet Mobius finds itself at peace once again, albeit with a few very noticeable differences. The biggest of which being the massive creature that suddenly appeared at the center of Azure Lake Zone! Standing 50 meters in height, the monster looms over this new world with a visible look of confusion across his massive face. Villagers flee and the world is sent into chaos once more. Who or what is this monster and why is he here? It's up to the Diamond Cutters, joined by Athena the Otter her Wisp companion Caspian, to figure it out.

Release Date: Summer 2026

My own rendition of Godzilla will be at the focal point of this series, told from the perspective of Mobians viewing their new larger than life resident as he attempts to make heads and tails of this new world he's found himself in--and keeps finding himself in regardless of how many attempts he makes!

 And the next project, which is going to be something quite a bit more low stakes and homely, is 'Adventures of Laik the Wolf'.

Art by Lazlo

 In 'The Adventures of Laik the Wolf', readers will find themselves back in the small town of Memoria, located in the mountainous Brick Hedge Zone. Laik always wanted to live alone, influenced by the popular video game 'Harvest Moon'. He talked to his caretakers, the village elder and his wife, about building a house of his own, growing crops and catching and cooking fish. An idea that clawed at the wolf pup day in and day out.

Imagine the wolf's surprise when he's presented with the opportunity to make it on his own. Granted with a temporary deed to a small plot of land and the small ramshackle hut within, Laik is tasked with proving his mettle in this Stardew Valley meets Sonic the Hedgehog slice-of-life tale of hardships, the changing of the seasons and what it takes to grow up in a world under constant threat of being turned into a robot.

Release Date: May 2026 

While AoLtW will take place far away from much of the happenings of Mobius, regular cameos from Sonic and his friends will be present, along with Classic era versions of Laik's own ragtag group of friends. Adventures of Laik the Wolf is set in the CrossActs universe, but bares no weight upon the ongoing or canon plotline. 

Instead, this series will serve as a vehicle in which I give my little OC the chance to live the sort of life I personally wanted to live upon discovering the Harvest Moon series way back when. Bugging my parents for vegetable seeds, offering to build a chicken coop myself if they would buy me a chicken. A lot of these ideas were implemented into Secret of Memoria, but there was a much bigger story at play in that project that sidelined the more peaceful slice of life aspects that I also wanted to write. So now, this series specifically is going to give me that opportunity.

On top of that, Classic Laik will experience a lot of my own childhood memories, with this story serving as a vehicle for chronicling the nostalgic aspects, ideas and adventures from my childhood (from like, 1989 to 2000/early 2001).

Also while I'm at it: Sega, if you will... I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this: A cozy farming life sim set in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe with the player avatar as the protagonist would sell gangbusters.

Anyway. Thanks for reading, and happy CrossActs day!