Also fun: magazine covers for canceled games.

At least you can’t accuse her of judging a book by its cover. ‘Cause it has an objectively great cover.

I mean…you can’t really say Vikor wasn’t unlicensed Conan to begin with, so… 😀

The only way I could be sure is to have the money for a car wash or something.

(If it’s not obvious, that whole response was phone suggested. Thankfully, I have enough money for a car wash. At least for now.)

I still regret never actually visiting the wonders of Kentia. I know I missed out.

That press demo I remember was actually an onsite visit to Oak Brook for EGM, OPM, and Expert Gamer. (Pretty sure John had recently moved to Japan at that point.)

And I remember Enix framing that three hours as a selling point when they demoed it for a preview. (And us kinda actually eating it up.)

See? It’s not even good at being a Throw Momma From the Train figure.

I love the idea of this existing, but the design has me hearing it shout out “HERMAN!!!”

Fun bonus: You can also make out our first cable box -- totally dial-based -- which was on the floor for some reason. We had probably had cable for a handful of months at that point.

Finally, I spy Chutes & Ladders, the Donkey Kong board game, a Lite-Brite, and...some action figure set I don't recognize at all. Probably generic toys of some sort. Anyone recognize?

You can also make out the box for Mr. Mouth there, too. youtu.be/UIp1DvxEfvc?...

Something kind of stunning I'd learn years later: I always thought he was meant to capitalize on Pac-Man -- but the toy debuted in Japan in 1976...where it was called PAC-MAN!!!

The centerpiece there is Kid Kong (open box to the right), which I tweeted about back when Godzilla vs. Kong debuted on HBO Max.

Not sure how I found the commercial buried in this YouTube video, but I'm glad I did: youtu.be/QUZz7cB-now?...

Wow, haven’t thought of that show in ages! Loved it, though.

And yes, my Spider-Man-video-making era was full of Fudgebudger source credits.