I only just saw the list! Thank you so much Denster!!
What a leg end. Honestly this came at a time of year with a lot of personal misfortune with my landlord selling up amongst other things, and so the generosity is certainly appreciated. I received a handful of presents this year with the most thoughtful being from my girlfriend and her parents, and so it is nice to be spoilt, just a bit! This will take pride in my collection most probably forever - it is indeed a complete in box copy of Banjo-Tooie in excellent condition. If you do a search for my username and "banjo tooie" you will find
I have lamented the loss of my copy on at least 13 separate occasions over the past few years.
However this was not the only treat, not even close! I was gratefully treated by Santa Denster to a sweet rucksack - or knapsack, which may or may not be a reference to
this post -packed with delights. All neatly wrapped, although I did take note that apparently Denster ran out of sellotape at some point and - Denster working in the medical profession after all - proceeded to wrap almost every gift with micropore bandaging tape, that I imagine is readily available. Very resourceful. This came in handy as, the ultra razor sharp Hallmark card envelope managed to slice right between my fingers a good few millimetres, only adding to the excitement. Of course, I opened the card first (I was taught to not do this is extremely rude).
Funnily enough, it seems the Elf card is a popular one, as my gf's parents got the very same one. I sometimes get confused glancing at it on the mantel and reading, "Love from Mum + Dad". But those magic words, I am not Denster's son but his mate. You heard it here first, BFFs for forever until RIP in peace.
I didn't open the items in this order, as I went for the smallest in size first and most unsuspecting, but for dramatic effect, let's start with the bag and it's special compartment for the hefty hardback book (which explained the the weight of the big brown box as I first received it).
Along with its smooth minimalist looks and tasteful vintage/canvas effect outer, the bag wraps itself shut to obscure the zips for superior water defences. It is packed to the teeth with little compartments for carrying around games and stuff and even features a USB extension socket to power your device while you hunt Pokemon in broad daylight or the dead of night, whichever is least suspicious in your local community. Along with my back problems that have required spinal and neck adjustments no less than 5 times in the past month or so, I shall be officially retiring my florescent green Japanese satchel in favour of less decrepit muscles and joints, courtesy of this supremely utilitarian and well padded "knapsack", or whatever.
And you can see it is perfect for carrying around the next epic gift, demonstrated below:
Yes, it's the Breath of the Wild Complete Official Guide - Collector's Edition! I've only ever had one strategy guide (Abe's Exodus by Prima when I was about 10), and I could probably wipe my arse with that having seen this. This is a beautiful thing, I just love dat coverart. Denster may have had to be careful here as I already own Hyrule Hysteria and Art & Artefacts books, however I have publicly stated I cannot be bothered to find all the Koroks through sheer plodding about. Now I can! As well as complete all the side quests. I absolutely loved this game to bits and I'm very excited to explore every single thing it has to offer - as well as being beautifully presented, the book features illustrations and concept art from the game that is missing from the other books, and a giant map of the overworld that I will be framing in my living room for quick reference. A really lovely item and one I will prize for many years.
The detailed concept art for my favourite monster in the game
One example of the many, MANY maps in this 400+ page bible for a ridiculously huge game.
Next in the world of booky goodness is one that I suspect is quite popular around these parts at this time of year:
Yes!! It's Die Hard Christmas, the "illustrated holiday classic". Apart from putting the stupid debate as to whether Die Hard is a Christmas film to bed (it is), by virtue of someone having written and illustrated a strawberry floating book about it, the illustrations are brilliant and the poetic captions had me (and my brother) laughing out loud on X-mas day. Thoroughly enjoyable, and probably a quicker read than the Zelda guide, the latter which probably contains more (factual) information than the Bible. Thanks Denster!
And now for the gift that had me literally walking around in circles shouting to myself in disbelief, like a madman home alone on Xmas morning with nothing but the Spirit of Christmas - I may have caught a misty eyed, silvery incantation of Denster in my kitchen - to keep me in check. Yes, after well over a decade of regret, face-palming and unexcercised nostalgia - not to mention wasted Francs that I pinched out of my mother's jacket and then begged a Frenchman to accept in return for my long lost PAL copy, in the throngs of the N64's last breath where it was virtually impossible to find a copy on shelves even at that time - Banjo-Tooie has returned to me, complete in box with manual, better than I had left it (I had the box and manual but my step mother threw that away in an unrelated incident, so I didn't even have that left). I am aware this could not have come cheap, and although I'm pretty squirmy when it comes to expenditure on things due largely to myself being poor and not being able to afford much in the way of gifts myself, I could not understate the sheer generosity on display here. Especially in this condition. Check it out:
Sat proudly on my shelf once more, easily the best boxed condition retro game I have ever been lucky enough to have:
Gently-Hung Holly Wreath wrote:You took it out of the box?
Indeed brah, it isn't a sealed copy! With my miniscule artist/machinist's hands, I was able to carefully prise out the gooey centre and proceed to experience this many-eyed world once more.
Back where it belongs in my original green N64 where I last played it (it was in fact the last N64 game I ever bought):
In all it's low resolution, brightly coloured glory, Klungo failing miserably to free Gruntilda from her rocky grave:
And would you believe it - something I never even noticed before (probably because I played on 14" Phillips CRT) - this is an N64 game with a
widescreen mode. Yes, you read that right, 16:9 presentation on a console that can barely render textures onto polygons convincingly, especially impressive given that even the GameCube following it failed to provide this about 90% of the time. Now I can play it at almost 3 times the size, with even bigger effective pixels! I must invest in an RGB SCART cable to appreciate this, honestly, extremely impressive game for the ageing hardware. A few frame plunges aside, it holds up extremely well, with large levels, a sprawling overworld and, thankfully, much less focus on collecting
strawberry floating billions of things and more on character, setting and a general feeling of worldliness - something I had not really appreciated gives the game a more modern feel today, complete with various fast travel options.
In my final pic, I just about manage to retain my eyeballs within their sockets and hide my monstrous canines behind my grimacing smirk (not really) and leave readers and my dear Santa Denster with a massive
THANK YOU for making this year even more special than the last. Merry Xmas and a happy new year everyone!
See you next mission! Who will my victim be?