January 2021 Update (Patreon)

You ever wonder what every Famicom game released in 1985 looks like? Well, now you know. (Almost. Robot Gyro and Robot Block were a little too chunky to fit into this box.)

Anyway. Hello! I think a monthly (or whatever) update is in order this morning, to give you a sense of Patreon plans for the near future. Above, you can see a portion of the content plan for most of 2021; the other facet, of course, is Sega SG-1000. My original intention was to summarize Famicom 1984/85 releases as we make our way through SG-1000, but the longer I thought about it the more I began to feel that giving SG-1000 and Famicom equal time (as it were) would be a more interesting and meaningful approach. And here were are, with the makings of a proper prequel in-hand.

This year's programming is basically going to be NES Works Year Zero, as it were: "The Road to NES." Beginning this coming week, Segaiden kicks off in earnest with a look at the SG-1000 hardware and then its library in as close to chronological order as I can manage (given the fact that Sega doesn't officially publish actual release dates for its 8-bit lineup). As we hit SG-1000 milestones, we'll be looking at contemporary Famicom releases... meaning this sidebar will initially be Sega-heavy but will become predominantly focused on Famicom in 1985. And then it's on to play catch-up with Master System in 2022 to bring things even with NES Works, which will be sloooowly advancing through 1988 in the background of all of this...

Of course, there will still be some diversions in there as well. I have several patron requests lined up for this spring (Nazo No Murasame-jou, NES-on-a-chip devices, etc.)... and of course there are some events that demand tie-in episodes, such as the anniversaries of the Famicom Disk System (35!) and the Super NES (30!?!?!?). And what would Halloween be without some Castlevania...?

So, that's the broad overview of what's in store. I'll finally get (have) to make a video about Ikki. Yay?

The other order of business to touch on: The Patreon tier revamp I had mentioned. I have been a little swamped trying to catch up with everything I fell behind on while my wife was sick (and then when I was sick) late last year, so that has been delayed slightly so I'm in a better position to follow through consistently month to month. I will be kicking that off in February rather than this month, but I will be adding a new component to the premium tier. 

If you follow me on Twitter (or, less likely, Instagram), you've seen the daily photo series I've been publishing of SG-1000 and Famicom box art in chronological order. Now, in addition to the monthly podcast, I'll also be compiling those photos into monthly digital  PDFs to be given out exclusively here. At the end of the year, my goal is to compile all of them into a self-published coffee table style book, which I'd like to distribute to print supporters as a bonus. This is going to depend on the logistics of it all, of course... I need to look into this. The economics of a 365-page full-color 10x10" book may not entirely make sense for self-publishing, but I do want to find some way to express thanks to everyone who continues to support this project and makes it possible for me to take on projects that would otherwise be impossible... like, say, rounding up the SG-1000 and Famicom 1985 libraries to cover and photograph for videos and books. 

Right—books. I have signed off on final press proofs of Virtual Boy Works; Super NES Works 1991 is undergoing copy edits at the moment; and NES Works 1987 is in the queue to be laid out and expanded once those are complete. And then next year, all that SG-1000 and Famicom 1983-85 material will simply be begging to be archived in print. Please, as they say, look forward to it.

Thank you as always for making these projects possible!