Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Originally, I was going to discuss whether gamers today are becoming "video game spectators" by watching other people play video games instead of playing them. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the truth is much more complicated. The real story is that gaming media has changed dramatically and has become as robust as the actual video games are. So in this video, I'll be discussing these changes I've seen in gaming in my lifetime and why we should be concerned about kids growing up with gaming today.
00:00 Intro
01:33 Being A Gamer Before Social Media
08:49 The Digital Age Changed Gaming Media
12:22 My Concerns For Generation Alpha
Sources/Further Reading:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/new-report-claims-gamers-spend-more-time-watching-videos-about-gaming-than-playing-games
forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-system-how-a-gaming-journalist-lost-his-job-over-a-negative-review
twitchtracker.com/statistics/watch-time
health.clevelandclinic.org/too-much-screen-time-harmful-for-kids-development-especially-those-under-age-5
medium.com/@jakgab/hooked-on-scrolling-the-science-behind-tiktoks-addictive-design-e743adf6b6f1
forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2024/06/16/why-the-social-and-verbal-skills-of-some-gen-z-workers-have-declined
Music Used:
Virtual Dream Plaza - 破片
Originally, I was going to discuss whether gamers today are becoming "video game spectators" by watching other people play video games instead of playing them. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the truth is much more complicated. The real story is that gaming media has changed dramatically and has become as robust as the actual video games are. So in this video, I'll be discussing these changes I've seen in gaming in my lifetime and why we should be concerned about kids growing up with gaming today.
00:00 Intro
01:33 Being A Gamer Before Social Media
08:49 The Digital Age Changed Gaming Media
12:22 My Concerns For Generation Alpha
Sources/Further Reading:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/new-report-claims-gamers-spend-more-time-watching-videos-about-gaming-than-playing-games
forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/gaming-the-system-how-a-gaming-journalist-lost-his-job-over-a-negative-review
twitchtracker.com/statistics/watch-time
health.clevelandclinic.org/too-much-screen-time-harmful-for-kids-development-especially-those-under-age-5
medium.com/@jakgab/hooked-on-scrolling-the-science-behind-tiktoks-addictive-design-e743adf6b6f1
forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2024/06/16/why-the-social-and-verbal-skills-of-some-gen-z-workers-have-declined
Music Used:
Virtual Dream Plaza - 破片
![Super Mario Bros 2 [NES] - 1CC Playthrough (Two Warp Strategy)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DSCw6As5bMU/mqdefault.jpg "Super Mario Bros 2 [NES] - 1CC Playthrough (Two Warp Strategy)
Super Mario Bros 2 is the odd one out of the Super Mario Bros games, mainly because it wasnt originally a Mario game. I hardly played it as a kid even when my brother still had Super Mario All Stars on SNES, but I decided to give it another shot back in 2023 with the original NES version and at the end of that year, I did this playthrough. I like using the 2 Warp strategy because it skips some of the weakest sections of the game IMO and makes getting to the end of the game within a single sitting much more feasible.
This run is almost all Mario and Peach, with Luigi only used to get to the big warp in World 5. I dont like Toad lol. Also, the controls are quite slippery, even with a slower character like Peach, contributing to quite a few mistakes of mine. I find the movement to be worse than something like Alex Kidd In Miracle World on the Master System, but it was the 80s before developers truly perfected controls for 2D games. I never felt 100% comfortable whether I was playing this game on a controller, my main fightstick with the Golden Lever in it, or even my mixbox setup which oddly enough felt worse for this game than the other two options.
The run went really well until the final world as I avoided deaths until 7-1, but thats when the run got sloppier. That being said, I still finished with plenty of lives.
Its a good game but definitely the weakest of the three Super Mario Bros games on NES in my opinion.
00:00 Intro
00:17 World 1-1
02:10 World 1-2
04:54 World 1-3
05:42 World 4-1
07:34 World 4-2
09:48 World 4-3
14:14 World 5-1
17:19 World 5-2
20:08 World 5-3
20:39 World 7-1
26:14 World 7-2
33:13 Final Boss (Success)
35:40 Ending")
![Alex Kidd In Shinobi World [Sega Master System] - 1CC (Full Game Playthrough)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ed3xYmij0gY/mqdefault.jpg "Alex Kidd In Shinobi World [Sega Master System] - 1CC (Full Game Playthrough)
It came down to my last life and my last piece of health, but I got the job done. Its not a hard game, but there are a few challenging points where the slightly janky controls just dont help.
The key is to get extends early so you can coast through the second half of the game. I got pretty sloppy starting with the second boss battle, but the extends I got earlier kept me going until the end.")
![Post Void [PC] - Complete Playthrough (All 11 Stages, Full Run)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G500oO2inFQ/mqdefault.jpg "Post Void [PC] - Complete Playthrough (All 11 Stages, Full Run)
Post Void is a first-person shooter developed and released by YCJY Games for PC in 2020 on Steam. It is known for its extremely fast paced gameplay and roguelike elements such as randomized stage layouts and random powerups. It is also known for having an arcade-style scoring system.
Ive had this game for years, but I finally decided to focus on clearing it just recently and got the clear! The pace is just insane. Every stage feels like an adrenaline rush. You have to keep killing enemies to keep your idol filled up to stay alive. It kind of reminds me of an arena shooter like Quake 3 in terms of how fast it is, though the gameplay is quite different in many ways. Another comparison point would have to be Hotline Miami. It shares a similar aesthetic and penchant for fast but deadly gun-play, but the perspective here is first-person instead of top-down.
As mentioned earlier, there are roguelike elements to this game. One, the stage layouts do vary slightly from run to run for each stage. They dont vary dramatically and the types of enemies that are used in each level stay the same, but you still cant memorize every part of each stage in order to beat it. Youre better off learning how to deal with each type of enemy you encounter.
The weapon choices are not many, but there are enough to provide for some different playstyles. You always start out with the pistol, which is accurate but lacks in damage outside of headshots. You can get the shotgun, uzi, or knife later as a powerup after a stage. My personal preference was the shotgun. Its not great for your accuracy rating at the end of a run and it doesnt reload very fast, but it makes it a lot easier to kill enemies as it takes out anything in one hit with plenty of spread, headshot or not. When coupled with the explosive ammo and reload speed powerups, it becomes even deadlier. One tip is that its important to reload as soon as you shoot when using this weapon.
This game has eleven stages total and doesnt take long to finish if you can survive until the end. My run of this game was less than seven minutes officially. At the end, whether you survive or die, you get a final score based on your time, kills, headshots, and accuracy. This game has online leaderboards, which your best score is added to automatically.
Buy this game. Its only $3, even when its not on sale. One of the best bargains on Steam.
Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1285670/Post_Void/
Strategy guide that was helpful: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2230481167
00:00 Intro
00:11 Stage 1
00:40 Stage 2
01:17 Stage 3
01:54 Stage 4
02:45 Stage 5
03:39 Stage 6
04:28 Stage 7
05:26 Stage 8
06:04 Stage 9
06:42 Stage 10
07:30 Final Stage")
![Ridge Racer 64 [N64] - Screamin Eagle 1st Place Car Attack](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HWqpbBE-MHs/mqdefault.jpg "Ridge Racer 64 [N64] - Screamin Eagle 1st Place Car Attack
Ridge Racer 64 has some hard races later in the game, but the hardest one of them all is probably Screamin Eagles Car Attack race. Its not the biggest difficulty spike as Lizard Nightmare precedes it and takes that crown, but Screamin Eagle requires better execution as you cannot block Screamin Eagle as easily as Lizard Nightmare. You have to be almost perfect with your driving in this case. I only hit the barriers twice after Lap 2 and even then, Screamin Eagle was almost on my bumper as I crossed the finish line after six laps of nearly perfect execution. An absolutely insane race and one of the hardest in any N64 racing game.
Played in Simple64 using my Qanba Crystal mixbox setup.
00:00 Intro
00:23 Race
03:33 Results")
![Noiz2sa [PC] - Endless Extreme Mode 6,359,050 pts (Free Doujin Bullet Hell Shmup)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HqBbsYo0ATk/mqdefault.jpg "Noiz2sa [PC] - Endless Extreme Mode 6,359,050 pts (Free Doujin Bullet Hell Shmup)
One of the best doujin bullet hell/danmaku shmups of all time. Noiz2sa features 10 individual stages you can play separately as well as four different endless modes. It is known for its minimalist graphic style that surprisingly few games have taken inspiration from over the years, as well as being a free, open source game from Kenta Cho, who is also known for rRootage.
This is Endless Extreme mode, which is the second hardest of these modes. The only thing that distinguishes this mode from the hardest one, Endless Insane, is that this one still has some slowdown in it. Its still pretty hard to last longer than 2 minutes in this mode, as the bullet density gets higher and higher. The simplicity of this game is what makes it excellent.
Played on Linux via WINE using the 64-bit version created by IoriBranford:
https://github.com/IoriBranford/noiz2sdl2/releases/tag/0.1.1")
![Raiden [Playstation 1] - General/Hard mode First Loop 1CC 2,970,810 pts (The Raiden Project)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I68HTIrTz18/mqdefault.jpg "Raiden [Playstation 1] - General/Hard mode First Loop 1CC 2,970,810 pts (The Raiden Project)
0:00 Intro
0:12 Stage 1-1
3:12 Stage 1-2
7:11 Stage 1-3
10:53 Stage 1-4
15:05 Stage 1-5
19:12 Stage 1-6
24:10 Stage 1-7
28:19 Stage 1-8
32:12 Stage 1-8 Boss Safe Spot
35:23 Stage 2-1
The Sega Saturn may have been the shmup king of Generation 5, but one thing the Playstation had that the Saturn did not was excellent ports of the Raiden series like The Raiden Project. The Raiden Project features Raiden I and II in nearly arcade perfect ports and was also a launch title for the PS1 in the states. For each of the two games featured, there are four difficulties, including a General mode which is the highest one and harder than the arcade originals, which is the difficulty this run of Raiden was played.
The original Raiden is one of the most successful shmups of all time. While it was derivative of Toaplan in a lot of ways, its level of polish and presentation, as well as punishing difficulty, blew gamers away back in 1990 and was even a big hit in North America.
The key is playing Raiden well comes down to routing. Not only do you need to lead the fast, aimed bullets properly while avoiding the occasional static patterns, you also need to time your item pickups well at the same time. If you move around without a purpose, you will die quickly. While youre on top of the world since youre very strong youre fully powered up, one small mistake can kill an entire run because its extremely difficult to recover from getting hit in most cases, especially in later stages.
This run was not a No-Miss of the first loop, as I had a couple of dumb deaths near the end of Stage 1-4 as well as the beginning of the final boss in 1-8. However, I got lucky in Stage 4 because I had a max power up and missiles waiting for me to pick up without much resistance. The bullets get faster the further you go into the game, even faster than the original arcade game which is saying something. The scroll offset, which prevent the entire stage from being on screen at one time, is actually your biggest friend for survival because if an enemy is not on screen, it cannot fire at you.
The best main weapon is by far the wide shot in this game. While there are parts where the blue laser is decent, it is very clear that the wide shot (red powerups) is the most useful in most situations. Also, while a lot of people prefer the homing missiles, I prefer the nuclear missiles in many situations because it does a lot more damage per shot, making them incredible when point-blanking. This is ideal for speed-killing bosses.")
