Paid $5 for a TMNT frozen treat when the ice cream truck passed by my house. I wanted the classic Sonic one, but they were out, so I settled for this. Uh...I remember loving these things as a child, but they actually kinda suck? Some childhood nostalgia just doesn't hold up. 😅 #blutoid

When people join off me in VRChat: #blutoid

This Roland UA-1G portable USB audio interface from the early 2000s is surprisingly still pretty good. I'm glad I found it lying around in one of my dad's desk drawers when he asked me to search for some unrelated papers. He immediately gave it to me. More reclaimed audio tech for me! #blutoid

I've been borrowing my older brother's Famicom to play a few different games. Xevious, Murasame Castle (Disc System Version), etc. Cool little console, though I can't say I love the controllers being wired to the console. Glad that didn't become a staple. #blutoid

I already refurbished the other two VCR players my family had, which were both decent models. I decided to try fixing the last one: a cheap Chinese made Phillips Magnavox model. It instantly tried to eat my tape and crushed its outer shell. My curiosity got the better of me once again. 😅 #blutoid

Currently resisting the temptation to spend $20 on an obscure Japanese charity music CD just because I can't find its tracks in CD quality ANYWHERE on the internet. It ain't on Soulseek, and I've no hope of getting into the walled city that is JPopsuki 2.0 to check there. #blutoid

Jammin' out to janet. (Ms. Jackson if you're nasty) with some of my favorite IEMs. It's such a sprawling album, but well worth listening to from start to finish. #blutoid

Been listening to my Prince cassette collection lately. The first few cassettes were my mother's, but I've filled out the rest myself. I'm finding new appreciation for each album as I listen. Come is not nearly as forgettable as I thought it was, and Gold Experience is...an experience. #blutoid

Found some proof of my early gamer cred: a picture my mother took of me in September of 2002 playing Sonic Blast on my older brother's Sega Game Gear. A Sega Sports Blue Game Gear no less! I was probably stuck in the labyrinth that is Blue Marine Zone Act 2. 😅 #blutoid

Doing some upkeep on my WM-EX999 today. Once it's cleaned and adjusted, I know exactly which cassette I'm going to listen to: Prince's debut album For You. Prince sang and performed every instrument on this album. It's raw and unrefined compared to his later work, but it's still amazing. #blutoid

Had to buff off the anti-reflective coating on my PSVR2 headset lenses. I get why Sony put it on their fresnel lenses, but it flakes so easily. Once it does, it ruins your vision. Easy enough to just remove, but I feel bad for any owner who doesn't know you can just take it off. #blutoid

My latest project is a pretty straightforward one...probably. my older brother has complained to me for years that his Dreamcast sounds like a jet engine and struggles to read discs. So I'm gonna bust it open, give it a complete cleaning from top to bottom, and make some adjustments. #blutoid

My dad used to pirate PC games and burn them to CDs in the early 2000s. Now that I have a CD drive, I checked one of them out. It had Sega Smash Pack 2 on it. Probably not the most optimal way to experience some of these games, but it's still pretty interesting. #blutoid

Repaired and installed an old Labelflash CD drive into my desktop PC. Because of my 240mm AIO cooler, it only slots halfway into my case. But it is properly secured to the case with screws, so it just looks a little janky. This ain't a beauty contest! #blutoid

Today's project: bring my old Alienware Steam Machine back to life. Gonna repaste the CPU with MX-7, swap the 1TB HDD for a 120GB SSD, install Linux Mint, and then reconnect the HDD back to it via USB. An SSD will make the OS snappy but I'll use the HDD to retain the large storage space. #blutoid

Today, I decided to try running 96GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM on my PC for the heck of it (I upgraded from 32GB to 64GB a few years back and had the extra sticks just lying around collecting dust). To my surprise, it POST and passed my usual stability tests...at 4000 MT/s. 🤷🏽‍♂️ #blutoid

Refurbishment complete! It's reading carts better, looks amazing, and I applied some foam under the cart ejector, so it's not so loud. A little lubrication in the right places also means it's smooth to operate. Looking forward to playing it tomorrow. #blutoid

Today's project is to fully disassemble and refurnish my SNES. Thankfully, the plastic hasn't yellowed much, so retrobright won't be needed. I'll clean the plastic shell with mild dish soap and water, use Dexoit D5 to make the cartridge slot more reliable, and scrub the PCB with 91% IA. #blutoid

A much anticipated addition to my record collection has just arrived: Constant Companions (Deluxe Edition) by @jamies.page ! Really looking forward to spinning this in the near future.

Got my SEQ-50 all fixed up. Turns out the power button just needed a little Deoxit D5, as did the sliders to remove the scratchiness. This device produces a constant hiss noise (completely normal), so I opted to use a 75 Ohm impedence adapter to eliminate it. Works great and no hiss. #blutoid

Today's task is opening this bad boy up and giving it a once over: a Sony Walkman SEQ-50. It's a pretty neat portable 5 band equalizer originally made for use with cassette walkmans. Really cool to see an old analog style EQ at this size. #blutoid

Purchased a replacement remote for my CRT TV that will hopefully arrive by next week. When I finally get it, I can enter the service menu of my TV and fix most of the issues with its picture.

Alisia Dragoon is one of my favorite examples of game box art from the era when it was often radically altered during localization. Mostly because both the original Japanese and westernized covers are rad as hell.

Dark Savior has a section where you have to perform a bunch of platforming (including climbing ladders!) and fight multiple enemies while carrying a giant anthropomorphic lizard above your head the entire time. It is incredibly bizarre but fits with this game's unhinged nature. #blutoid

Started Dark Savior, a spiritual sequel of sorts to the classic Genesis game Landstalker. It shows its flaws very early on, but man, if this game doesn't just ooze character. The game scenario and writing still feel fresh almost 30 years later. It's a real looker, too. #blutoid

Wowzers, I pre-ordered this record way back in July of last year, and it's only just now shipped. I'm looking forward to listening to it, but I completely forgot I even purchased it. 😵‍💫

Opted to play some Christmas NiGHTS today since on April 1st, you unlock the ability to play as Reala. Of course, the real draw of this special sampler disc is unlocking Sonic as a playable character, but it takes quite a bit of time to do so. I'll get there eventually. #blutoid

Of course, the results of this mesh effect vary based on your TV. My 20" APEX AT2002S doesn't have the best comb filter built into it. On a composite signal (shown on the left), the mesh effect in the shadow works, but a rainbow shimmer is created. On S-Video (shown on the right) the effect is lost.

The Sega Saturn made heavy use of a pixel mesh design to create transparency. The composite video signal of your TV would blend the pixel mesh together. The left image is of Megaman X4 on Sega Saturn. The right of Megaman X4 on Playstation. Credit to Matt Greer for this awesome example! #blutoid

Experiencing retro games as authentically as I have been recently means I should take all retro factors into consideration. Shorter arcade style experiences aren't meant to be tossed aside after a single run. If I have the time to run through them multiple times, I should probably do that.