Twin boys. Toddler daughter. Hospital Tech Support. Writer. Runner. Gamer. Creating in public again.*

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Video Games

Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase (August 7th, 2025)

I enjoy following live events and documenting what was shown. Today was Nintendo’s latest Indie World Showcase. Here’s what was announced:

  1. Mina the Hollower - Oct. 31
  2. Well Dweller - 2026
  3. Neverway - 2026
  4. Herdling - August 21st
  5. Is this seat taken - Today
  6. Little Kitty, Big City Update - This year
  7. Content Warning - 2026
  8. BALL x PIT - This Fall
  9. Ultimate Sheep Raccoon - Winter 2025
  10. Glaciered - This Holiday
  11. Winter Burrow - Winter 2025
  12. Undusted - October
  13. Tiny Bookshop - Today
  14. Caves of Qud - Winter 2025
  15. Strange Antiques - Sept. 17
  16. OPUS - Fall 2025
  17. Go-Go Town! - Spring 2026
  18. UFO 50 - Today

Diablo IV

For gaming this month, I’ll be focusing completely on Diablo IV. It matches the mood of October. What is Diablo? An action role-playing dungeon crawler. Create a character, explore, fight, collect loot (weapons and gear), and level up as you progress through the world. I’m learning why Diablo is so popular. The gameplay loop, customization, and progression feels like it’ll never end. My favorite part is that whether I play on the PlayStation 5 or the Steam Deck, my character and progress is carried over. This allows me to play on the go or on the big screen.

A New Mascot

To put it simple, Astro Bot is the Playstation 5’s Super Mario. This feels like a love letter to gaming. The combination of eye-popping graphics and immersive controls will charm anyone that gets their hands on this little game. My family gathered around the living room, taking turns playing and collecting bots all weekend.

You land on a variety of planets with a list of what’s needed to be found. A handful of your friends are scattered and need your help. Your job is to find them and bring them back to the crash site. The concept is simple, but the process will hook you in until all three hundred bots are collected.

Sony has a new mascot and system-seller. It doesn’t get more refreshing than Astro Bot. I expect to start seeing this little guy everywhere going forward.

Feed the Deep

One of my favorite type of games are the ones created by a single person. The latest one I’ve been playing is Feed the Deep (before that was Animal Well). Luke Muscat, the designer behind Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, just delivered an atmospheric deep sea adventure where each cave is procedurally generated. As you explore these underwater caves, you have to manage your resources to survive, either from the creatures around every corner, or worst, not having enough oxygen to make it back up for air. What starts as a calming exploration can quickly become scary if you lose track of time or get lost.

Cartoons On The Go

This is a story about the little Gameboy that isn’t setup to play games. It’s been six months since I gave Rose her own “Gameboy”, and I’m fascinated with how well it’s been working for her.

At two years old (almost three!), I can hand her the Gameboy knowing that she doesn’t need help getting started. As soon as she presses the power button, dozens of videos are waiting for her, even without an internet connection.

The Retroid Pocket 2S is the name of this device, and there’s only two apps needed to make this cartoon process work: YouTube Kids and AnyHome.

  • YouTube Kids continues to learn the type of videos she likes (and doesn’t like), while downloading recommended ones in the background when back online.

  • AnyHome’s only job is to treat the app of your choice as the home screen, basically locking the Gameboy into a single app. This allows her videos to show up right when pressing the wake button.

If you have kids, I highly recommend this setup. It’s cheaper and much cooler than any phone or a tablet you can give them.

Gameboy Micro

The RG28XX (I’ll be calling it the Gameboy Micro) is exactly what I was looking for in a handheld device. It’s smaller than both the iPhone and Field Notes, at 2.83-inches, making it very pocketable. It’s tiny (fits in the palm of your hands), runs MinUI (a must have custom OS for retro handhelds), plays landscape instead of vertical, and run every console from the original Nintendo to first PlayStation. This is replacing the Miyoo Mini Plus for me, leaving my gaming devices as RG28XX, Steam Deck OLED, and the PlayStation 5.

A Home Arcade

What was supposed to be a weekend project…“Hey dad, I have simple project for us.” Instead, turned out taking exactly a month to finish everything up. Now that the finished product is here, that month was worth the wait. The level of quality and attention to detail is something we’re very proud of.

Software

If there was a starting point for this project, it’s when I learned the power of Batocera. I had a Raspberry Pi 400 not being used, but it finally found its purpose with Batocera. The setup was fairly easy, and after adding hundreds of games to the SD Card, the software side of this project was complete. That’s when I presented the idea to my dad. I knew that going forward, once the construction was done, I’d just have to plug everything in and start playing.

Hardware

There was only a handful of items needed for this project. Starting out with the main puzzle piece, 8Bitdo’s Arcade Stick. I quickly realized that I can build an entire arcade cabinet around it. The other two key pieces sitting around at home: an old computer monitor I had in the attic, and a Raspberry Pi 400 that was sitting in a drawer. From there, I purchased a cheap speaker from Amazon, a Nintendo logo from Etsy, and a three outlet extension cord from Target. All the electronic hardware was now ready as well.

Construction

My dad did the construction, and I gave the feedback along the way. We had scrap 3/4 plywood and luan around the house from remodeling, so all that was needed for the construction was the T-molding and paint. I found a good example online of someone who also used the 8BitDo Arcade Stick to build a cabinet, so we used that design as a reference. My dad sketched out a similar build on paper, and then the process started.

For the paint, we took the arcade stick to Lowe’s for them to color match the exact gray we needed. For tools and supplies, we used a Skil saw, miter saw, router table, drill, chisel, punch, utility knife, spackle, spackle knife, hammer, vibrating sander, wood glue, and a nail gun.

Final Thoughts

We started the project on March 26th. That’s when I setup the software and told my dad about the idea. April 28th is when the arcade cabinet was complete and sitting on our countertop. It took a month to complete this project. We chipped away at it every few days, tinkering with the design, cutting pieces here, and fitting pieces there.

As progress was being made, we’d work together, seeing what was left to be done. A very slow and methodical way of building an arcade cabinet, but now that it’s complete, and knowing how well this arcade cabinet was put together, this should be an item we use as a family for many years to come.

Tracking Game Progress

Whether you’re using Apple Notes, Things, or Craft (the three I’ve used with this workflow), here’s a four step process to track your game progress:

  • Google game walkthrough
  • Copy chapters
  • Paste into new note
  • Turn list into checkboxes

I’ve never had time to finish a game’s story in a short amount of time. I’m a very casual gamer, that loves the stories in some of these games. The problem is it usually takes me months to a year to complete a game. Especially since I play more than one at a time. Tracking the story progress, and checking off a chapter as I move forward, helps me understand how much I have left before completion.

Miyoo Mini: A Tiny Gameboy

I’ve been looking for something to play old school games on for a while now. I tried adding them to my phone, but I didn’t like the experience (plus I don’t need one more thing to use my phone for). Then I then thought about buying the original Gameboy, but knew that I’d have to buy all the old cartridges for each game too.

What I settled on, after tons of research, is the Miyoo Mini. All my favorite retro games, from Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, and Sega Genesis, are saved onto an SD card and now with me everywhere I go.

The Miyoo is as small as a deck of playing cards, much smaller than I expected, and easily fits in my pocket.