A to Z Challenge Topic Reveal 2024

 For the past few years, I usually have my A to Z topic thought of well in advance.  As the 2023 Challenge approached, I had my entries for that year done, but I hadn't really thought of anything for the next year--ie, this year now.

In 2021 I just threw something together with Star Wars Black Series figures.  So then in 2022 I did Marvel Legends figures, which were also by Hasbro.  Then for 2023 I figured since I did Marvel, why not do DC Multiverse figures?  So I did. 

But that was pretty much as far as I could go with that because there wasn't another line of action figures I collected that would be broad enough to do 26 entries.  It was time for something new!

What else could I do?  I did stuff for some of my books in at least 3 different years.  I did books turned into movies one year.  I did Transformers, Robotech, and GI Joe in three other years.  I prattled endlessly about Rifftrax/MST3K movies in the the first pandemic year.  What else could I do?

I thought of music, but I doubt anyone listens to anything I listen to.  Which maybe wouldn't matter, but it just seemed kind of pointless to talk about stuff no one will want to listen to.  For me, music is something personal; everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

And as a practical matter, it's hard to share music on here.  I mean I could write entries and put YouTube video links to stuff and by the time the entries post those videos might get taken down.  Then I'm kinda screwed.  So it just didn't seem like a great idea to me.

Then I thought of something else:  video games!  At first I thought of just doing just old Atari games.  Then I decided to open it up a little more to other games I like from NES, SNES, PS2, and PC.  By the time this posts, maybe I'll throw phone apps in there.  (Actually I know at least one I played on my phone but it's also on other platforms.)

So there you go, that's the theme.  Unlike the last couple of years where it was sort of annoying that I wrote my entries long in advance and then Hasbro/McFarlane would come out with new figures to add to my entries, this is pretty static so I can do it long in advance and not worry.  Set it and forget it!

If you want a preview, a lot of the games I'll talk about are in this entry on my old blog.

One night I found this Retro Games site that lets you play a lot of old NES, 7800, SNES, PS1, etc games in your browser.  It was pretty neat and let me play some of the older games I mention and get screenshots.

One game that didn't make the cut is Tecmo Super Bowl III.  Lots of people remember the original Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES (there were even car commercials parodying it a few years ago) but this last sequel for the SNES was my favorite.  The 49ers had won the Super Bowl the  year before so I played them a lot  to use their good defense.  Then I made my own offensive players (except the offensive line) who were pretty awesome.  And I found that in the first and fourth quarters it was really easy to do an onside kick that would usually let you keep the ball and run up the score.  I had a few go-to plays in the passing game though the running game was never quite as good as it could have been with Barry Sanders or Emmett Smith.

One night on that Retro Games site I played an exhibition between the Lions and Packers.  Barry Sanders ran for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns--including the winner in OT--while Scott Mitchell threw for 0 yards and 3 sacks.  And the Lions blew a 14-0 lead in the final 2 minutes, which included giving up a 2-point conversion.  Only a missed field goal by the Packers in OT let the Lions come back to win.  So it was pretty true to the usual Lions experience.

That's the caliber of story you can expect.  So...see you in May?