Lurker > KCF0107

Players of the Week
Offense - Lions QB Cam Newton (31-44, 320 yards, 4 TDs, 53 rushing yards)
Defense - Bills OLB Chris Phillips (4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 FR for TD)

Wild Card Round
Jaguars at Raiders
Orcas at Lions
Broncos at Dolphins
Rams at Eagles

Try

I may be a homer, but F-Zero X has an excellent case. I also want to give a shout-out to Rocket: Robot on Wheels, which probably had the best physics out of any game on that system.

Ori
*abstain

So

To Do:
- Regular Season Stat Leaders
- Playoff Power Rankings
- Update Spreadsheet
- Send out stat/injury PMs
- Award ballots
- Archive more stuff

Right now, I'm leaning toward the award ceremony and playoff sim to take place somewhere on the weekend of the 26th-28th of this month.

I post this every season the playoffs roll around, but I'm here to tell you who the SB contenders are this postseason based on historical data. I don't tell people ad nauseum that the best path to success is defense and the running game for nothing. I think we can also add turnover differential now that offenses are on the decline and defenses on the rise, but I never collected seasonal data for that.

Of the previous 36 teams to make the SB, 33/36 have finished in the top half of the league in running offense while 31/36 have finished in the Top 10 on defense. The exceptions were the inaugural season Dolphins (19th on D), S13's Pioneers (11th on D), S14's Pioneers (18th in rushing), S15's Vikings (11th on D), S16's Rams (24th in rushing), S18's Browns (25th on D) and S18's Vikings (25th in rushing, 13th on D).

Your SB contenders this season are...
Columbus Pioneers (7th in rushing, 1st on defense)
Denver Broncos (10th in rushing, 2nd on defense)
Oakland Raiders (T-15th in rushing, 3rd on defense)
Philadelphia Eagles (5th in rushing, 6th on defense)
St. Louis Rams (T-15th in rushing, 4th on defense)

The remaining are problematic (some very much so) in one or both areas
Atlanta Falcons (4th in rushing, 19th on defense)
Davenport Browns (17th in rushing, 17th on defense)
Detroit Lions (18th in rushing, 25th on defense)
Jacksonville Jaguars (14th in rushing, 24th on defense)
Miami Dolphins (31st in rushing, 7th on defense)
San Juan Orcas (27th in rushing, 16th on defense)
Seattle Seahawks (28th in rushing, 10th on defense)

It should be noted that the Dolphins, Orcas, and Seahawks have each suffered numerous injuries in the backfield and each have 3+ players record a start at HB. The Dolphins and Seahawks will each have their starting HB return for their first playoff game.

Your B8NFLL Season 19 NFC Playoff Teams

1. Atlanta Falcons
2. Seattle Seahawks
3. Detroit Lions
4. Philadelphia Eagles
5. St. Louis Rams
6. San Juan Orcas

This is the second consecutive NFC South crown for the Falcons and first playoff bye since S7

This is the second playoff appearance in the past three seasons for the Seahawks and first playoff bye since S11

This is the first playoff appearance for the Lions since S16 and first division title since S8

This is the second NFC East crown in the past three seasons for the Eagles

This is the 11th straight playoff appearance for the Rams

This is the fourth playoff appearance in the past five seasons for the Orcas

Your B8NFLL Season 19 AFC Playoff Teams

1. Columbus Pioneers
2. Davenport Browns
3. Oakland Raiders
4. Miami Dolphins
5. Denver Broncos
6. Jacksonville Jaguars

This is the second consecutive #1 seed for the Pioneers

This is the third consecutive AFC North crown for the Browns

This is the second playoff appearance in the past three seasons for the Raiders

This is the 17th playoff appearance for the Dolphins

This is the first playoff appearance for the Broncos since S15

This is the first playoff appearance for the Jaguars since S12

ESPN Men's: 20th out of 21
Yahoo Men's: 12th out of 12
ESPN Coinflip: 18th out of 23 (though potentially better if things didn't go awry with some people joining the league with their main bracket)

This is definitely my worst collective performance

If the field is reduced to 128 with the amount of users involved, then people like me don't really have much incentive to nominate anything unless we live for pain. It would still be lame, but the only recourse in that event would be ensure that every nominator got a nomination in.

As I say every year when nomination rule changes are suggested, I am fully in the camp of making sure the rules do not further disenfranchise the outliers like me. If it was brought to a vote, I would have voted no for increasing the lock limit as people like me need a lower threshold to get nominations in. I was fortunate last year in getting roughly the mean (3-4) of songs/nominators through both locking and not. I would have liked to see those rules repeat to see if that could have held true again.

West of here

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is what came to mind.

Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Donkey Kong Country
Star Fox

DKC has technical achievement and acclaim while Star Fox is more the former than the latter. I could swap that one out for an Earthbound or Super Metroid or something

Our

KamikazePotato posted...

Honestly, you're probably right, but we at B8 just don't care about racing games.

It is lonely being on the island of racing-is-my-favorite-VG-genre

NFC Playoff Picture

Playoff Teams
1. Atlanta Falcons 12-3 (won NFC South)
2. Seattle Seahawks 12-3 (won NFC West)
3. Detroit Lions 8-7 (won NFC North)
4. Philadelphia Eagles 8-7 (NFC East leaders)
5. St. Louis Rams 10-5 (clinched Wild Card)
6. San Juan Orcas 9-6 (Wild Card)

Playoff Contenders
7. Las Vegas Pumpkins 9-6
8. Dallas Cowboys 7-7-1
9. Washington Commanders 7-7-1

Eliminated from Playoff Contention
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-8
11. New York Giants 6-9
12. Carolina Panthers 5-10
13. San Francisco 49ers 5-10
14. Green Bay Packers 5-10
15. Minnesota Vikings 5-10
16. Chicago Bears 3-12

Falcons evidently have the tiebreaker over the Seahawks, so they get the #1 seed with a win or Seahawks loss, Seahawks get it with a win and Falcons loss/tie

NFC East is a little wacky with the tie and their H2H records (Eagles > Cowboys, Cowboys > Commander, Commanders > Eagles). Eagles win the NFC East with a win or losses/ties by both the Cowboys and Commanders. An Eagles loss + Commanders and/or Cowboys win would leave one of the others to win the East. Eagles loss, Cowboys win, and Commanders loss gives it to the Dallas. Eagles loss, Cowboys loss/tie, and Commanders win would give it to Washington. For pure chaos, you want Eagles tie, Cowboys win, and Commanders win.

Orcas own tiebreakers over Pumpkins, so Orcas get in with a win or Pumpkins loss. Pumpkins need a win and Orcas loss/tie.

Bears have secured the #1 overall pick, which is owned by the Raiders

AFC Playoff Picture

Playoff Teams
1. Columbus Pioneers 11-4 (won AFC South)
2. Denver Broncos 10-5 (AFC West leaders, clinched playoff spot)
3. Davenport Browns 10-5 (won AFC North)
4. Miami Dolphins 7-8 (AFC East leaders)
5. Oakland Raiders 10-5 (Wild Card, clinched playoff spot)
6. Jacksonville Jaguars 9-6 (won Wild Card)

Eliminated from Playoff Contention
7. Cincinnati Bengals 8-7
8. Baltimore Ravens 8-7

Playoff Contenders
9. New England Patriots 7-8
10. Buffalo Bills 7-8

Eliminated from Playoff Contention Pt. 2
11. Kansas City Chiefs 7-8
12. Indianapolis Colts 6-9
13. Tennessee Titans 6-9
14. New York Jets 5-10
15. Pittsburgh Steelers 5-10
16. Portland Express 5-10

Only the Pioneers and (theoretically) Broncos can get the #1 seed, but it is also possible that the Pioneers have it locked up.

The Jaguars have the head-to-head tiebreaker over both the Bengals and Ravens, so that is why even though the game doesn't list it, they have clinched a playoff spot.

Broncos win AFC West with a win or Raiders loss, Raiders win AFC West with a win and Broncos loss/tie.

The AFC East tiebreakers are set in stone with it being Dolphins > Patriots > Bills, so you can work out the various scenarios that give each one the division.

Players of the Week
Offense - Falcons HB Kenyan Drake (45 carries for 193 yards, 2 TDs)
Defense - Ravens SS Kamontae Kazee (3 tackles, 1 INT for TD)

Game of the Week
Seahawks at Pumpkins

Week 17 will be simmed on Tuesday, April 9th

I never owned a PS1, so I'm just going out on a limb here with what I think it's Rushmore would look like

Metal Gear Solid
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy VII

Yes

Royale

John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)
Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)
Ori (Ori and the Blind Forest)
Trevor Philips (Grand Theft Auto V)
Wheatley (Portal 2)

Super Mario 64
Goldeneye 007
Super Smash Bros.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Am I correct in thinking that this means that as of right now, the person reading this has lived half the life that they will live?

Seeing as I would be in my 60s, I would probably not be cool with it as of right now

Well that ringing endorsement and comparison to a franchise that exudes quality makes my purchase decision easy.

The Bulge

God of War
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto III
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

Quad Gs

Players of the Week
Offense - Giants HB Isaiah Pead (217 total yards, 2 TDs)
Defense - Pumpkins OLB Avery Williamson (17 tackles, 2 INTs)

Game of the Week
Rams at Orcas

Week 16 will be simmed on Sunday, April 7th

Band

KCF0107 posted...

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Tetris
Contra

Maybe chalk it up to being born during the SNES era, but I always had it in my mind that it was this version of Tetris that was immensely popular (perhaps it was Game Boy then?). Since nobody else put it on their list (yet), I must be wrong and will swap Tetris out for Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Tetris
Contra

bump

Game

KCF0107 posted...

Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Wii Sports
Mario Kart Wii

If possible I would like to replace Super Mario Galaxy 2 with Just Dance

Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Wii Sports
Mario Kart Wii

Only the top two would appear on my personal Mt. Rushmore

WarioWare Smooth Moves and Kirby's Epic Yarn replacing Wii Sports and Mario Kart

I'm still debating if I want to buy and play Penny now. I feel like I've played a bunch of platformers this year, so I'm leaning toward taking a break (no pun intended) from them for a little while.

I will nominate
Ghost of a Tale
Manifold Garden
OTXO

KCF has beaten Go Mecha Ball

Well that was an awesome game. I feel like it probably isn't a great roguelike though. The in-run currency wasn't very useful. More often than not, I ignored the pre-boss shop since the selection was almost always bad (and overpriced) and put it toward unlocking characters instead. Good roguelikes that have a ton of build options like this make it easier on the player to get what they feel most comfortable or at least have plenty of chances, but that is not the case here.

Unlocking abilities and upgrades (weapons are the exception) may lead you finding something that you love, but it permanently decreases the odds you will get it on a run rather dramatically. There are no re-rolls for when you are offered abilities and upgrades, and the pre-boss shop (meaning you will come across it just four times) often had a poor selection like I mentioned before. I had runs that I had little hope of clearing because I just kept being offered mediocre stuff, or things that were not very compatible with my character or ideal/makeshift build. The simple solution would be to use that currency to allow you to re-roll the shop and post-fight rewards, but alas that wasn't the case.

Enough about that though because when looking at it as an arena combat game, it is amazing and one of the best games that I've played this year. It's fast, frentic, flexible, and has great ground and air control. You have three major ways to approach combat: collision (rolling), guns, and abilties. You will need to use all three a lot, but characters, personal preference, and whatever the RNG allows you to build will obviously lead you to favor certain battle strategies. I don't know how many runs it took, but this is what I beat the game with (I don't remember the specific names of anything except my character):

Character: Prot0N (collision-centric)
Abilties: Spin and forward stun quake
Weapons: Longshot (that could actually be its name) and laser rifle

I was constantly rolling (I probably spent 60% or so of the run in ball form) and led with collision and used my abilities when I had a lot of enemies bunched together (spin) or to get the jump on armored/jumping/deadly enemies (quake). If there were one or a couple of the lesser enemies, I would tend to pick them off from afar with the long or laser rifle. My hyper-aggressive approach did make me more suspectible to taking damage, but I wasn't really in any danger of dying on my final run. I found that it was better for me to hit hard and fast than risk seeing my health constantly chip away by being cautious and drawing things out.

Sculpture

Grand_Kirby posted...

I quit at the Test of Strength and I do not regret it

This is the reason why I subscribed to Nintendo Power. There was an offer within the game to subscribe and get a guide for it, so I did. I don't remember what they said for that part, but it wasn't helpful. My parents gave me a turbo controller at some point, so I ended up using it once and for that specific task.

I liked this game a lot as a kid. I always say that I want to replay it, but I haven't been able to find that turbo controller, so I would hate to hit a wall again.

Yeah, I played Rain World like two years ago, and I hated the controls/how it felt to move, and bounced from the game within an hour.

I've been playing Go Mecha Ball, and it's a lot of fun! Some enemies can attack so abruptly and swiftly that I find it hard to dodge their attacks when I am relatively close though.

There isn't any tangible progression that carries from one run to the next. You can use some in-game currency to unlock more weapons/abilities/upgrades that you can potentially access in your next run, so I'm not sure if I will end up beating this since that sort of gameplay loop tires me out eventually.

Penny's Big Breakaway is on sale for roughly $20 USD on Xbox and PS5
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/pennys-big-breakaway/9phf8szz5nrh
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4581-PPSA15256_00-BIGBREAKAWAY0000

Go Mecha Ball is on Game Pass for PC and Console

Just-for-Fun Top 15 Standings
KCF - 185
gameking - 116
ArkOfTurus - 114
Mr Crispy - 106
Lolo Guru - 71
Cody - 63
Seanchan - 41
KnightOfNee - 35
ViolentAbacus - 34
MegamanX - 28
Wickle - 27
FakeAccount - 26
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23
darkx - 19
Kenri - 19

Spreadsheet with history
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X8E8oqzES42W4S82j7WTfNnzNa8c3uXdSE1rnqYG7WM/edit?usp=sharing

Additional noms this month
Crispy - 1
KCF - 1