I’ve been so busy with my holidays that several things had to fall to the side. Christmas is one of my most busiest times and when I am asked by lots of people to make things or take photographs. At Christmas it’s extra hard to explain to people that I can’t physically do it or take on too many projects because all my personal ones will fall apart. Since I don’t own a cable package, streams are pretty much how I relax and take time to get away from the all the clatter in my life and take time to do something that I enjoy- like painting :3
I always try to make time for my painting as I always want to improve and get better. Painting is a lot like playing a video game or a sport where if you want to get better you just need to focus and put energy into it. One of the biggest risks you can take is sharing your work, so if I can do anything with others it’s to encourage them to start painting and making the most of their downtime so that casual time is at least going somewhere. When I was smaller I used to sit by the TV with paper and just draw what was on the news or characters from the show or make up funny sketchy comics of what was playing out.
Big Dank Stuff
I have been working on several larger Dank Arts in my streams and I have 5 in total to share! Twinkle Stars & Cotton have already sold, so if you were hoping to scoop them up someone else already beat you to the punch. If you are ever interested in buying my work or want to inquire about commissions, the best way is to email me ann.kornuta@gmail.com or send me a DM over Twitter: AgentAnnK
In other exciting news I have been working on more commissions and trying to make improvements to my streams. If you want a commission I usually try to work on them during one of my streams but if it is a gift do let me know so I don’t ruin a surprise. I’m starting to work on more larger Dank Art pieces as I have been asked to take part in a few charity events for the holidays. If you are interested in seeing my process then you can tune in for one of my creative streams where I’ll paint for 45-60 minutes before firing up some classic retro games.
A Week of Dank Art
It’s hard to even think that two weeks ago it was American Thanksgiving week as I have been so busy with everything in my life. I was hoping that more people would be streaming with all the extra time off this week but as I know a lot of people are just like me and are facing a lot of extra work at the moment. Hopefully we’ll all get some time off over the holidays to get more time in for fun.
Besides the usual BBH Roulette stream, Macaw wasn’t committed to anything turkey related that week being an Australian so there were lots of amusing dank DOS games which are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. If you play DOS games and stream them please let me know so I can check out your streams!
I made some special Dank Art for my American friends & also when I was watching Murphagator play games on that day. Enjoy these cute & funny Holiday Dank Arts :3
Adventures in Streaming: Turbo Graphic 16 Mayhem
The first time I saw a TG16 was when I was a small child following around my dad on his many sound adventures in my local mall at the Radio Shack. I never saw this system demoed anywhere else but in Radio Shack. It was set up next to the Genesis demo in the shop and its where I would pass the time when my dad was there buying audio stuff for his rig at home.
It was a beautiful system and I actually favoured it over the Genesis. It had big, colourful chunky sprites that really helped to make it stand out and the games seemed weird and overall came off as very Japanese despite all the games being in english. I can remember they always had a Bonk game for demo which was very enjoyable but they also had Devils Crush, this guts pinball game that was also ported on a bunch of other systems, including the Genesis.
I’ve always wanted my own TG16 though I know collecting for the system has gotten just as elusive and expensive over the years particularly because the system failed when it launched here in North America. In Japan, the PC Engine was hugely popular and there were tones of games you could collect for it. One of the main reasons why my dad never went with a TG16 was because we only saw the system at Radio Shack. He could never find anywhere else that was demoing the system or had a good collection of games for sale.
There was an amazing christmas sale on the system but my dad said he got me the Gamegear over a TG16 because Radio Shack was the only place where he could find games and if there was no competition then he wasn’t sold. Back before price matching was a thing my dad would drive a hard bargain and if there was only one store that was selling a specially item he thought that was a conspiracy. Also it spoke volumes to my dad that the system wouldn’t be around for very long because if the product didn’t have the support in stores then it would go the way of Beta.
As I got older and started collecting games more and more, the TG16 started to turn into one of the most attractive things to me. I would always spy the garage sales and second hand shops looking for one but with no luck. In my early 20’s I even dated someone based off this rumour that he owned one (ended up only working some of the time which is a great way to describe that relationship). However now that I am at the peek of my collecting and the market is flooded with systems and games I still keep passing on buying one simply because it’s terribly expensive to collect for being such an odd ball system and dangerously unpopular when it came out.
This is where emulation comes into play and I advise people when you are looking for a new system to collect please emulate before you invest. Collecting video games is crazy expensive these days. Prices are subjective and theres the dangers of counterfeit games out there. For most of my life the TG16 eluded me and was my White Stag system to find but in the last year I’ve seen nothing but 100% full collections traded in and more systems for resale then I have ever seen. In saying that I still haven’t bought one and now that I know I probably won’t buy a TG16 anytime soon.
I’d rather get my hands on the PC Engine then the TG16 so I can get access to all the games instead of just the select small handful of titles that came out here in North America. Plus when all the titles I want (Magical Chase and almost every cute Shmup on the system) start at the $300 mark theres no way I have the budget to collect. Emulation is the way for me to discover before I buy what I want so I know it’s something to work for. Also it exposes me to a lot of the trash titles that sometimes fetch a handsome price only because they are rare and trash. Collecting is weird when all you want to do is play the actual games :p
Over the next few weeks I will be going into all the games for the PC Engine (possibly the CD as well) and rate them for my own personal guide for the system. I’m going alphabetically and I’m trying to be fair when I do it, but if the game is very JRPG and I can’t get thru the wall of text because I have no Japanese language skills I’ll sadly need to skip it after trying to play it as far as I can. As long as I put effort into it and keep it entertaining I hope you’ll watch!