iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

You thought I’d forget Dreamcast day? Tish and fipsy. Here’s something I meant to repost weeks ago and, uh, didn’t. Anyway, Border Down was the first game I ever imported myself, and I also hope it comes to modern platforms so people can own it without having to spend silly money.

My copy of the standard edition of Border Down for Dreamcast, which I ordered way back in 2003. It has gone with me as I’ve moved around, so there’s a crack in the front of the jewel case.

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Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen. Fear Factory Black Stone Cherry Babymetal FEMM Pete & Bas

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I just caught that this arcade bar is the work of Paul “Otaking” Johnson, who regularly appeared in the letters pages of Mean Machines Sega and Sega Magazine back in the 90s. Last I saw, he was doing animations with an 80s anime throwback style. Crazy stuff!

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 26/11/2025

When you see this, post an image from your gallery to describe your mental health

Timeless Toni Storm, with worn face paint and smeared lipstick, is slumped in a backstage corner after losing a wrestling match. As an off-screen interviewer holds a microphone to her face, she offers no response, staring expressionlessly into the distance.

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I’m the kind of wrestling fan who actually used to watch Velocity. It was essential if you ever wanted to see the cruiserweight wrestlers not named Mysterio.

A photograph of an LCD TV, showing a VHS recording of an episode of WWE Velocity. Akio, accompanied by Sakoda, is making his ring entrance.

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Reposted by Nick Thorpe

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

The training/socialization of men starts instantly and goes hard. Everything you might like is too gay, too feminine. You are required to hate yourself for being insufficiently masculine, to blame others for that feeling, and to hate everyone who doesn't "respect" your manliness.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 26/11/2025

Looking at more VHS recordings. Here’s WWF Vengeance 2001, the first PPV after the Invasion story concluded. This Matt vs Jeff Hardy match didn’t do much for me then or now – honestly, I don’t think they were good opponents outside of the Final Deletion. People didn’t want to see them fight, either.

A photo of an LCD TV, showing a VHS recording of WWF Vengeance 2001. Matt and Jeff Hardy stare each other down in in the ring ahead of their match, while Lita stands in the middle as the assigned special guest referee.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 26/11/2025

I took risks with my motion sickness because the Xbox 360 feature wouldn’t have been complete without screenshots of Bioshock and Halo 3. Please encourage further acts of bravery/stupidity by buying this issue of Retro Gamer.

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A special No Thanks to the postie who almost certainly lied, saying that they tried to deliver my post but found nobody in. People have been in all day and the package is a single DVD that doesn’t need to be signed for, it should fit through the door no problem. I know things are busy now but c’mon.

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I'll never forget the Gizmondo booth at Game Stars Live 2004. It had an "under construction" theme, and there was playable hardware - but for some reason, the PR people had it hidden away! You had to chat to them for a good while to play it. Even back then, it all felt weird - how little we knew…

A photo of the Gizmondo booth at Game Stars Live 2004, at London Excel. The booth has an "under construction" theme, with barricades surrounding haphazardly stacked pallets with a mock fire in the centre. Scaffolding is visible in the background, as well as a single screen showing a promotional video. No consoles can be seen in the shot.

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Huh, it’s been nearly a decade since NXT Takeover London. As someone who was there, it was a great time even though it wasn’t the most consequential of events. I feel like it’s probably worth writing something about that show – there’s definitely a legacy to discuss, both positive and negative.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 24/11/2025

Today marks 10 years since I first ate a chili dog. You’d think I would have tried one a lot sooner than 2015, being a Sonic fan and all that, but no. Also, 12 years on Retro Gamer today. Back when I started, Xbox 360 games were still coming out regularly. Now the console is on the cover. I’m old.

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In the arcade version of Border Down, birds take flight alongside your ship in stage 1. They’re missing on the Dreamcast – they were intentionally removed from Remix mode to differentiate it, but were accidentally removed from Arcade mode too. It slipped through because devs were focused on Remix.

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Got recommended this YouTube video earlier. Only British kids remember the N64? Toxic "we were the last to really live" nonsense? All from a channel called Dear Old Blighty that cranks out a video like this every day and a half? Ugh. I really can't stand this kind of nostalgia slop.

A screenshot of a YouTube video link from the channel Dear Old Blighty titled "Growing Up in 1990s BRITAIN - We Were The Last To Really LIVE". The thumbnail has the text "1990s - 18 Things only British kids remember" and an image of a child and a Nintendo 64 with Mario Kart cartridge inserted in it.

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#ScanlineSunday Super Bomberman: Panic Bomber W (Super Famicom, 1995) Wharfedale CTV1428 RGB SCART

A photograph of a CRT TV displaying Super Bomberman: Panic Bomber W, a falling block puzzle spin-off for the Super Famicom. Bomberman heads in various colours are stacked on top of blue bricks and bombs, with stars showing that a match has recently been made.

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Settling down for an afternoon sleep, but I’m pretty sure staying up for Full Gear was worth it.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 22/11/2025

I do love it when AEW does the pre-show influencer match and the kid gets attacked, because I’m a jerk.

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I won the Dreamcast Internet Guide from GamesMaster magazine, from which I learned HTML. English gaming publications ignored the DC games coming from Japan after the console was discontinued, so I made a website to review them myself. I was a bad writer back then, but I have improved slightly since.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 22/11/2025

Hey, it’s random game Saturday! Here is NieR: Automata, which I’ve clearly never played before as it’s still sealed in the photo. I have a bad habit of calling it NieR: Automato. I’ve now opened it and the game is currently installing, so I’ll soon get to see if it’s my sort of thing.

A PS4 copy of NieR: Automata Game of the YoRHa Edition. It is still sealed.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 22/11/2025

I moved back to my home town five years ago, and I have less friends locally now than I did as a bullied teenager, which is quite funny in a way. I need to organise some kind of gaming meet thing. Get some use out of stuff like my Taiko no Tatsujin drums, or get a Mario Kart Double Dash LAN set up.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 21/11/2025

A text back? Texts were 10p a go, we got on MSN Messenger (well, Trillian if you were like me and needed to combine AIM, MSN and maybe more)

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On Retro Gamer, we generally start to cover games or consoles when they’re 15 years or two generations old. I just saw someone suggest the Xbox 360 cover was premature, asking “what happened to 15 years after death?” Can you imagine if we did that? We’d still be waiting to cover the PS2…

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Bad headache has subsided and it’s new issue day, so I’m treating myself to a favourite album as I work this afternoon.

A screenshot of the Volumio control app on an iPhone. The current song is Self Bias Resistor from Fear Factory’s album Demanufacture.

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Hello again. It’s Retro Gamer issue 279. This time I wrote about the Xbox 360, which was still a very relevant console when I started this job 12 years ago (oh no). I also talked to the people behind the excellent @blippo.plus. As always, I hope you enjoy the magazine if you choose to pick it up.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 18/11/2025

Hmm. Nasty headache on the left side of my head, complete with what feels like pain in the eye. Not the ideal start to the morning.

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The Master System is to blame for, well, me in general. You shouldn't hold that against it, as it has plenty of cool games. Seriously, it kept me going until other kids had PlayStations.

A living room filled with discarded wrapping paper from birthday presents. A young ginger boy in loose-fitting blue and green pyjamas is opening a plain box, which contains a Sega Master System II with Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in. GamesMaster can be seen on the TV in the background.

A living room filled with discarded wrapping paper from birthday presents. A young ginger boy in blue and green pyjamas (green hidden, hole visible in knee) is proudly holding a Sega Master System II with Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 17/11/2025

Terribly sad news, thoughts go out to Rebecca's friends and loved ones. I'm sure many of you will be familiar with her work, but if not, do go check out that Wikipedia page - there's every chance that you've played something she worked on.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 17/11/2025

Game awards, you say? Uh, okay. Let’s see. Evil Egg is a video game that looks like a video game (complimentary) and it’s totally free, go play it. Blippo+ got that real good FMV going on. Virtua Fighter 5 REVO because when is VF5 ever bad? Erm idk probably Singou Breaka too.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 16/11/2025

I gotta know what’s on these.

Unlabelled VHS tapes are stacked up in a cupboard, surrounded by boxes for video game stuff including a PS2, a PSP, a Game Boy Micro, and the Sakura Wars Complete Box for Dreamcast.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 16/11/2025

#ScanlineSunday Time Crisis (Namco System 22 arcade, 1995) Unknown monitor RGB via JAMMA

A close-up photo of a Time Crisis arcade cabinet's CRT monitor. The game's attract mode is introducing Rachel Macpherson, who looks worried - probably because she's been taken hostage.

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Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org · 16/11/2025

Yet another day of wanting to watch this week’s AEW Dynamite and not getting to do it 😃😃😃👍👍👍

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A lot of times, something would happen and I’d think “huh, that was weird – let’s never think about that again.” And I just didn’t until 2024, and now I’m trying to find a level of self-acceptance After that, not buying Panzer Dragoon Saga for £50 and missing AJ Styles vs Jody Fleisch in Broxbourne

An anonymous question via NGL: “Biggest regret from your younger years? Top 3?”

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If I’m drinking, I may as well take some questions ngl.link/hkt3030

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Anonymous messages!

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Goal for the night: drown my thoughts in beer

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Para @paranoart.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Mum put on a film from the media server over breakfast, and it's always nice to see our little private streaming service being used. A lot of effort went into setting it up and populating it with hit films, forgotten anime OVAs and late-era WCW nonsense, after all.

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Reposted by Nick Thorpe

Discounts and links! I'll repost this tomorrow when the sales start proper, but for now I'm celebrating my birthday by going to bed and playing Star Ocean The Second Story R lolgoodnightalskjdaskl www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Para... paranoart.myshopify.com

A quick doodle of my mascot wearing a party hat. Text reads: BIRTHDAY SALE November 15th is my birthday! To celebrate, I'm running an early Black Friday sale! 20 - 50% off everything in store!

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