Ape's Enrichment: September 27, 2026

27 Sep, 2026

My brain isn't working well right now. Let's bang this week's media diary out.

Active Enrichment

Contra 3 progress has slowed significantly after getting close enough to the end to taste it. I think part of my brain is telling me that in reaching the final boss and getting to its (presumably) last phase, I've already seen all I want to see out of the game? But games aren't about doing, not seeing, so I still do want to jump back in and roll those credits.
Started playing a kickass little GZDoom total conversion called Captain Wayne: Vacation Desperation. I'm in love. Somehow effectively channels the Wario-like indie microgenre (Pizza Tower, Antonblast, likely more to come) into a boomer-shooter format in such an addicting way. Charming and clever in every aspect, I'm almost tempted to write a full review.

I've failed to read again. Please admonish ape.

Went out with a few friends to see The History of Concrete having absolutely zero experience with John Wilson's work. Shockingly profound, silly, touching movie about almost everything under the sun. It flows like your stream-of-consciousness in the shower, revelations popping up like random in a deluge of unfinished thoughts. It seems I'm a John Wilson fan now. Sucks this is a limited theatrical release.

Catching up on my 1001 Albums Challenge with two nostalgic staples. Gorillaz' self-titled is about as good as I remember, if not a tiny bit better. I cannot say the same for Blood Sugar Sex Magik; I do not like Red Hot Chili Peppers anymore, not at all. That one's getting left for high-school me, I guess.

On a whim, I decided to buy a little streamer-oriented game called The Choicer Voicer to play with friends this weekend. The game works as follows: you fill the game's content folder with .wav files of funny voice clips from movies, tv, memes, etc, and you and your friends take turns trying to imitate these voicelines for a seemingly-arbitrary computer judge. It's a blast, possibly a new party staple.
Started up a second Archipelago randomizer, this time just with my partner playing one Zelda and one Mario each. I'm on Mario 64 and the original NES Zelda. Mario 64 has a "movement rando" option which locks everything but jumping and punching behind an item-grab; there's something very funny in trying to figure out a mission titled "Wall Kicks Will Work" without the ability to wall kick. Zelda 1 works fine, a little heavy on the hard progression walls, but that may just be in my settings.
Pirate GURPS was cancelled this week, we were all just in some kind of mood I guess. Our hopes are high for next week!

Farmer Gadda's System Considerations for The Donkey Kong Island Hexcrawl is a post after my heart. I love those little monkeys in my Nintendo.
Fluorite Guillotine makes a case for quest-oriented dungeons in the dungeons of final fantasy. I've always been a fan of MacGuffin quests, probably going back to my affinity for the Mario RPGs, which make great use of the tried-and-true formula. I can see myself coming back to this post for some adventure design reference.
On the video game side, I'm a big fan of this essay by Jake Steinberg, Perfectly Functional, which analyzes the video games journalism industry's tendency to review games only in terms of technical components, leaving the aesthetic object as a footnote. I'm not ready to come out swinging on this or anything, but I feel as if TTRPG reviews can fall into a similar trap; the thematic content, quality of writing, etc. are secondary to how the mechanics function, how much Gameable Content is stuffed inside the package etc.¹ There's nothing wrong with a function-forward review, but for me the best criticism is capable of synthesizing those spheres.

Wow, a double-etcetera sentence! A new world record for Ape Encounter Dogshit Writing!↩