10Dec02 (Monthenor): So I beat Shinobi. Beat it mid-Saturday, in time to beat the 7PM deadline at Cashwi$e Video. The game said I spent 10:30:31 playing through Normal difficulty, 1:50:36 of which was spent actually beating the boards. According to my calculator, this is about a 17% success rate, and it felt like much less. Once you get in the groove, though, it's smooth sailing up to the final boss.

It seems that the one thing that makes the game so tough is the same thing that allows it to be mastered: it demands perfection. By attaining as much perfection as possible, and factoring in luck (woowoo!), the game is designed to be fast and easy. Even the bosses are designed to die in one hit, as long as that hit is perfectly charged and timed.

Damned if I'm ever playing Hard difficulty, though.

Oh, and then, and then! *bounce bounce* Yesterday, I was playing Grand Theft Auto, and I was jumping around the airport in my motorcycle, and then it started on fire, and I did a slow-motion cinematic Unique Jump on a flaming motorcycle!! Yeah, that was cool.

10Dec02 (Monthenor): Random Bonus Update! I've always wondered (granted "always" is equivalent to "for a couple of days") why the expression is "X coursing through my veins", as if this was a positive thing. The example I saw was from...Taken? I dunno. But X := "power" in the above statement, and I gots to wondering: why would you want power coursing through your veins? Wouldn't you want it coursing through your arteries, carrying power TO your cells? I mean, if it's just your veins you'd have a powerful heart, but the rest of you would be pretty weak.

That's all. Carry on.