iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 3m

One of those bad neuroatypical nights when external communication gets so warped it seems impossible to try to convey information to others, so here's my favorite unintentionally funny ending to a thriller, involving Klaus Kinski and a rubber snake youtu.be/MAufo25cBVA

youtu.be

Klaus Kinski, death scene (Venom, 1981)

YouTube video by obliqueparallax

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Recent Wizardry discussion is making me think of Will McLean's original manual illustrations. Look at this Moebius lookin' dude

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Still recovering from the constant hospital stay emergencies for my folks over the last month. The pressure from the storm isn't helping much. Stay safe out there, chronic illness/neuropathy folks - the air feels like a press.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Found by Jumpman at Gaming Alexandria after multiple people including myself have looked for it - The long lost American Xevious arcade commercial! Found in a Phillies vs Mets game, of all things.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

While researching Kadokawa Media Mix strategy, I and @katewillaert.bsky.social saw an ad from Gangu Shōhō Jan '52 (discovered by author Marc Steinberg in his book Anime Media Mix) that had the best worst licensed toy of all time and am curious if folks know more about it. Behold the Bambi rifle.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Taking a break from editing and nine kinds of chaos for this simple thing.

9 games that shaped you meme. Consists of Ultima IV, Metal Gear 2 MSX, xenogears, Sid Meier's Covert Action, King's Quest III, Secret of Monkey Island, Pitfall, Trinity, and Chrono Trigger.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Finally had a chance to catch up on some work. The script for the bonus video on Masaki Iwasaki is almost done, I just need to cover his modern work. Should be a small one of 15-20mins. I'll try to finish it by the end of the week, and then start asking for Q&A questions from Patrons.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Multiple family emergencies, unfortunately. Be on later when things are calmer.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Finally got medicine to calm down the facial nerve, but it's taking a bit to adjust to it. Trigeminal Neuralgia & complex facial pain are tricky to calm down once they get going. Also the 'catching a bug at the doctor's office' strikes again. Work continues on patreon bonus, it's just a bit slow.

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Reposted by F_T_B

reggie 🔜 BLFC @hoppits.gay · 25/08/2026

its him. soft office thinking rabbit

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Not related to Japanese computer games in any way, but I'm a guest on this podcast along with many other GA folks.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Facial pain been seriously messing me this weekend. Neurologist on Monday. X.X

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Oh no, 5 seconds in and already I can tell the arcade flight si. bug has been caught lol. <- former arcade sim addict Welcome to the HOTAS California, you can check out any time you want but you can never, ever leave youtu.be/5Cr0p0SmDxU

youtu.be

I Am Turning Myself Into a Video Game Plane

YouTube video by Jacob Geller

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Family health issues have slowed research for the supplemental video but hopefully making meaningful progress this weekend. It's tricky to make a biography of someone who prefers to let their work speak for themselves @_@.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Thanks to folks for letting me know bout this, apparently Google results AI are spitting out this bit of wrong. I'm not him, he's a waaaay better writer than me lol. You want @felipepepe.bsky.social If you're here looking for him go read his (uniformly excellent) essays felipepepe.medium.com

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

These things are coming out faster than I can keep up with lol. This one always looked interesting.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Honestly said "holy hell" when reading this. I haven't tested the patch yet but the recent Otogirsou patch by the same group was *great* so very much looking forward to this.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

New video is up! It's a massively expanded and revised version of the first video i ever did, talking about the rival clubs of University of Tokyo Microcomputer Club and The Theoretical Science Group and how that informed games like Heiankyo Alien and the AX series. youtu.be/ZlHZoXpp0k0

youtu.be

Rival Clubs: How University Computer Groups influenced early 80s Japanese Arcade & Computer Gaming

YouTube video by F_T_B

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Okay, YouTube's doing it's thing. Doing another render while subtitles are generated from my script so i can edit them to accuracy. As soon as that's all finished, it'll be up. Should be going live tomorrow.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Extremely interesting article in which @katewillaert.bsky.social, a friend and fellow Gaming Alexandria denizen, breaks down her design process.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The downside to making longer videos (this one's about 70min) is exporting longer videos..... Final checks and such.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Came home to flood damage (carpeting). Figuring it out before mold spores grow x.x

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Ok, that's the next video done. Usual testing and upload when I get back barring Albany flood damage, or if i'm *very* lucky - in the morning before checkout as my train is a little later. May we all have a safe trip home.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Okay, that's the audio down. Next video will feature a look at both the UTMC (AX series) and TSG clubs (Heiankyo Alien) and a lot of other history. It'll have the citations from the first video I did explained and corrected, plus a lot more. It'll be a long one.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Wildfire smoke burning my lungs up like nothing else today. Not sure why 2023 didn't hit me this bad but I've had to hook up every air cleaner I have to even stand. Stay safe out there.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Final version of script almost done and video on track for end of month. All of AX covered, now need to cover AY, AZ, SX and other fringe releases, and then go over the legal fates of Heian-kyo alien, then wrap it up. Video should be about an hour long. Sorry for the wait - shipping took *forever*

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

New scan as part of first video citation correction / massive redo and expansion - the elusive Weekly Asahi July 5 1984 Special issue with pics of ASCII dev house / Koichi Nakamura / Imabayashi and lots lots more. Some samples in thread archive.org/details/asah...

archive.org

ASAHI WEEKLY JULY 1984 SPECIAL ISSUE : Asahi Press : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Special Issue on Microcomputing for Asahi Weekly. Contains an article on successful personal computer developers, including Koichi Nakamura, Hirokyuki...

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Next, this issue of ASCII has, in its AhSki! Parody attachment (think Game Infarcer) the assembly code for Omotesando Adventure, the first Japanese adventure game. It also has a small article on adventure games in the main issue. archive.org/details/asci...

archive.org

ASCII APRIL 1982( With AhSki! supplement) : ASCII : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Japanese Computer Magazine from 1982. Includes the parody supplement AhSKI! Which in this case contains the type-in assemble for Omotesando Adventure,...

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Did some new scans of history stuff: This book was written by the University of Tokyo Microcomputer Club, which had members attached to the AX series /Manbiki Shonen / etc. It covers their history, a look at Akihabara, and other topics. Toriyama did the cover. archive.org/details/and-...

archive.org

And Thus, MicroComputer : University of Tokyo Microcomputer Club : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A book written by the University of Tokyo Microcomputer Club in October 1981 that talks about the club, the games they were working on for festivals (including...

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

This is a lovely essay on the *feel* of Portopia, something I feel like doesn't get highlighted enough.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Shower rod fell on my head and took me out this week, so i've been playing Citizen Sleeper while recovering as it's calm in its presentation. Interesting game, reminds me of Long Live the Queen a little. Endings were quite touching. I wish the tutorial mentioned i could rotate the station, though!

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Nice to finally have this all in one place. I highly recommend reading the documents, Kirby is a *terrifying* lawyer.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Relics is out on Steam today (under EGGCONSOLE Relics), so it's time to plug old things. (The next video is coming, i'm just waiting on something that was stuck in customs) youtu.be/-h_9XD3KM-I?...

youtu.be

Experimental, Supernatural, and Pioneering: A Look at the RELICS series

YouTube video by F_T_B

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

This isn't related to the japanese game stuff (and other issues may arrive) but another project i've been working on with @bblm2.bsky.social is higher quality scans of early computer magazines from physical issues since some of these were low dpi or microfiche. Scans are here: shorturl.at/KQAEA

shorturl.at

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

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Reposted by F_T_B

Brian Clark (bclarkomp) @onemillionpower.com · 15/06/2026

In honor of 40 years of Famitsu, I translated an article by old-school editor Hamamura Tsuushin reflecting back on the old days of the magazine, and what led to it going weekly! A must read for anyone interested in one of Japan's biggest game publications! www.onemillionpower.com/fami-memo-me...

onemillionpower.com

Fami Memo ~Memory of Famitsu~ – One Million Power

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Well, that's gross. So many forums shutting down these days, but this one hurts, so many great devs came from RPGMaker and its predecessors.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Anyway, some cool stuff coming in hopefully about some very early pasokon stuff. Work on next video is going (it is a redo of a very early one) but I'll need the book to ger everything right.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

A minor side note on the Doctor Who thing - the reason why folks are skeptical of the show being put to bid resulting in anything at all is it sounds strikingly similar to annoucement of its "hiatus" in the 80s. Don't cite the press release to us, we were there when it was cancelled :p

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Oddly enough, Stranglehold. It's fun to just blaze through on the hardest difficulty. Aside from that one room with the lasers. RE1-3, Dino Crisis 1 and 2, and Parasite Eve usually get annual runs.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

A very nice alternative look at the Jinguji Saburo series going more into character dynamics and behind the scenes decisions than my older one did. Worth a watch.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Q&A should be up today or tomorrow, just have to add citations and credits. After that, offline for a bit to deal with medical / dental concerns, amd then time to work on the next video.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Easy repost, great analysis

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

MixTape was a MixedBag (Australians writing Northern California causes a disconnect and i hated some of the errors, but the environments and mechanics were nice), but that "Most of All" sequence hit me like a cannon. Park was nice too. Biggest disconnect for me - people were meaner in the 90s.

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Watch this if you haven't yet, it's a remarkable essay.

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