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randomstranger.bsky.social
Random Stranger
@randomstranger.bsky.social
I like obscure old video games and make a lot of videos about them. I've documented all of the Nintendo Famicom library and I'm currently working on the PC Engine.
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Hello, new followers!

My magnum opus is Famidaily, a complete catalog of the Famicom library across 1065 episodes. Every cartridge is broken down with information putting it in context, how to play it, and what kind of response it got.

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Famidaily: All of It - YouTube
All of the Famidaily videos in order.
www.youtube.com
Who needs AI generated assets? Cheapass companies used to be able to make off-model artwork all on their own!
December 1, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Here's all of the PC games that were sitting beside my computer. I need to get b-roll from a couple of these for my Christmas video...
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM
[Goes outside and sees 10 snowflakes/cm².]

"Oh it snowed hard last night! Are they going to have to close the schools?"
December 1, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Random Stranger
Footage of several other PC Engine games by Tengen that were canceled can be found on the account of the director Jun Amanai. Marble Madness, Off the Wall, Peter Pack Rat & Popils. They were for sale, I'm not sure what happened with that.

youtube.com/@junamanai69...
Jun Amanai
youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Lately I feel like the early mid-00s are back as I keep coming across videos of people getting performatively angry about mid-tier, blandly mediocre games.

You know the people who are true gaming dumpster fire appreciators by their weary sigh.
November 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Klax was released on the PC Engine in 1990 which was the perfect time for it. Atari's puzzle game was the only game that Tengen released for the platform...

youtu.be/SjdwyiXAzkQ
Klax (クラックス) - PC Engine Power 167
YouTube video by RndStranger
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
As the only recorded completer of Slitherlink for the DS, I am going to say that time counts as a world record speedrun.
November 30, 2025 at 4:35 AM
She's got a ticket to ride...
November 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
For Random Game Saturday I've got a weird one that I've wanted to do a video on because I think it is so misunderstood: Tactics Formula. It's an F1 board game in the style of Formula De and I think a lot of people who encounter it lack the strategy game background to understand what it's doing.
November 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I got this Only Connect sequence clue at three points and I cannot stop laughing.

If you're not familiar with the show, the second round reveals three clues which are a sequence and the team has to fill in the fourth, though they can ring in ahead of revealing the third.

See if you can get it.
November 29, 2025 at 2:33 AM
I recorded four hours of footage of a game for my Christmas video going, "Why am I not encountering any of the notorious problems?" Turns out I have the extra rare fixed version of the game that's still bad, it just won't brick your console if you don't unplug the system...
November 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM
The PC Engine's first shogi game was Shogi Shodan Ichhokusen and it sure was a shogi game. It did have a story mode, though!

I learned to play shogi myself decades ago and I'm disastrously bad at it...

youtu.be/c5j7prkeLs0
Shogi Shodan Icchokusen/Shogi: Path to First Dan (将棋 初段一直線) - PC Engine Power 166
YouTube video by RndStranger
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 6:28 PM
In the episode I'm working on, I had to include an explainer of why it finding street addresses in Japan was considered to be so challenging that an entire video game could be made about it. I'm not sure I explained it in a way that makes sense, which is accurate to how Japanese addresses work.
November 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
"[Game that was extremely popular and had tens of millions of players] is the best game that you've never played!"

You know, I think I might actually have played that one.
November 26, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Namco's biggest game on the PC Engine has to be Valkyrie no Densetsu, a magnificent port of an arcade game that's one of the best action games you can play on the PCE.

youtu.be/7Sjsf7WQcnk
Valkyrie no Densetsu/The Legend of Valkyrie (ワルキューレの伝説) - PC Engine Power 165
YouTube video by RndStranger
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Weird Monday morning thought: are any games allowed to become "retro" anymore?

Very few games become unavailable. Design sensibilities have become stabilized.

I was trying to think of the most recent game that would feel out of place if it was released today, and I have to go back to the PS2...
November 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM
As an engineer, I totally get the desire to first make the crazy idea work and then scale it to be practical. But maybe those Disney Imagineers should have kept the scope of their project in mind before having an elephant sized autonomous mech smash through a wall and come at a crowd of executives.
November 24, 2025 at 1:12 AM
With bird day coming up, I'll share my secret to perfect turkey: thermodynamics. Roast the bird at a bacteria killing, protein changing, but not water boiling temperature of about 175F. Once the temperature is consistent through the whole thing, go to 450 to crisp the fatty skin and it's perfect.
November 23, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Taito's Jigoku Meguri on the PC Engine offered players a tour of hell. I didn't care for it much, but based on the comments on the video the game has a lot of fans...

youtu.be/DlqwWURDmiI
Jigoku Meguri/Bonze Adventure (地獄めぐり) - PC Engine Power 164
YouTube video by RndStranger
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I've decided I'm flipping the order of my Christmas video and my five year anniversary video. Christmas was going to be a monster catalog video but that feels like a better match for the anniversary so instead Christmas will be about a single game...
November 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
For Random Game Saturday, I have Major Dream Major Wii Perfect Closer. "Huh,a baseball game?" you say. But this is the single worst baseball game ever made. A game so bug riddled that it makes the original Moero Pro Yakyuu look well-polished.
November 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM
World Beach Volley on the PC Engine is a truly impressive volleyball game: impressive that they managed to do so many things wrong!

youtu.be/4SjP1hwJwLA
World Beach Volley/Sonic Spike (ワールドビーチバレー) - PC Engine Power 163
YouTube video by RndStranger
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 6:40 PM
I'm not an adherent to the Berlin Interpretation, but can we please stop calling any game with any kind of randomness in it a "roguelike"?
November 21, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I think this game is getting the shortest script I have made for any PC Engine Power video. It's just that bland and generic.
November 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Share a TV series you've watched beginning to end more than once.

Okay, it's short but that helps me rewatch it every once and a while!
November 20, 2025 at 1:36 PM