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Exciting news: Sometime in the not-too-distant future I'm going to be moving Ninfora to my server in New Zealand! This server is a very significant hardware upgrade for the site with 8x as many CPU threads, 8x as much RAM, and more than 16x as much disk. Once this migration is complete, I will increase the upload cap from 512 MB to 4 GB, and it will be easier to increase this even further down the road if ever necessary. With the site upgrade, performance will ideally be roughly similar. Since the server will be NZ-based, the latency to the origin server will be higher for most of you, although this should be somewhat offset by the far beefier hardware. I will share more information about this with a site-wide announcement when I've scheduled the migration.

I am writing this because I feel I owe it to the public, as I never claim to be something I am not. After fourteen years, I hereby relinquish the title of “Ultimate,” at least in so far as it is to be taken by its literal meaning. Albeit I still could be considered “Ultimate” in some ways, I truly hope there are others who love Mario more than I do. The years have changed me, for reasons I will explain below. In middle and high school, I lived and breathed Mario constantly. For me Mario was the greatest good, the personification of joy and innocence itself. As high school became college, I began to withdraw my ostentatious display of affection and attention toward Mario, simply because I think it drew the wrong kind of company and attention (a lot of the nerdy kids wanted to hang out with me, but I am not nerdy so much as I am passionate in the scholarly sense). It was during college that my collection reached incredible levels of success on a worldwide basis: All Mario games, books and soundtracks were collected, including absolute rarities, and I even acquired promos, rare merch and one-of-a-kind materials. It finally rivaled and even put to shame renowned international collectors like Nightram and Kikai. At that point, people started paying serious attention to me, even Nintendo Co. Ltd. itself (they sent me a signed card from Miyamoto and Tezuka), and I began getting contacts from around the world. However, the more that people wanted me to share my collection with them, the more withdrawn I became. Something just didn’t seem right to me; I never collected Mario for fame or to “show off” but simply to surround myself and prove to myself how much I adored Mario. I think over the years my displays of intense admiration for Mario had come across to some as a form of self-aggrandizement, which I had never intended. My only goal was to aggrandize Mario. As the years progressed, I fell in love, had relationships, learned four languages, traveled abroad to Italy and Japan, worked for the government, starred in plays, wrote theses, published articles, debuted a comic strip, started a website, and graduated with my degrees. As I then gazed at my massive Mario collection, now towering over me, as I had owned virtually everything Mario I could possibly want (which was everything). And then I began to realize something: My collection was owning ME. An incessant labor of love, I had made major sacrifices to accrue a collection of this magnitude. I found myself in heavy credit card debt, paying rent for an apartment I didn’t want to live in, working at a job I hated. I had sacrificed almost everything for Mario, and while I was happy to do so in the past, there was something that occurred that changed all of that. At the beginning of this year, I acquired my Mario holy grail, the one item I vowed I would collect NO MATTER WHAT before I set out to complete my mammoth collection fourteen years ago. That item was a complete VHS copy of Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai-Sakusen. And after over a decade of daily searching, I had finally acquired it. TWICE. That’s right, I acquired this tape loose, and a few months later, I bought another tape sealed, the only known extant sealed copy of the 1986 Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai-sakusen in the entire world, Mario’s first film. After I accomplished this pivotal feat, something shifted within me. It dawned on me the level of responsibility I had to this franchise and to myself. I had collected so much Mario at this point that I had become a curator for a closet/room museum. I owned Mario things that no one else had in the world, and completed entire international book, film, soundtrack, and game collections. I truly had become the Ultimate. And not only that, I had become lonely; as the poignant saying goes, it’s lonely being at the top. No fans could understand me, and I didn’t understand other Mario fans, who were either casuals, DeviantArt perverts, or obsessed with trivia/game mechanics, showing no admiration for the actual plumber himself. I then asked myself why I collected Mario in the first place, since I had completed virtually all that I had set out to do. The accomplishment, while impressive, felt hollow. I have always loved Mario because of who he is and what he represents, not because of what he can do for me. Mario would continue to exist regardless and I could glorify him without owning countless swathes of his merchandise. Owning the Dai-Sakusen VHS tape made me realize how much MORE I appreciate parts of my collection than others, and the sheer extent that my collection was weighing me down. So I then made an excruciatingly painful decision, which I never would have even remotely considered a few years ago: I decided to sell off most of my collection. (This is only about a third of it) Selling Mario felt like selling pieces of myself. I began with the big box items and caringly moved through piles, packaging merchandise as I had simply acquired too much and it took up too much space. Yes, it felt good to display the collection to myself and others, but at this point I was less impressed in what I wasn’t doing than I was impressed in what I had done. I had to make a sacrifice, because sacrifices will happen whether we like it or not. I aimed to pare my collection down by 2/3 of what it was, and will try to see if I can get it down to 1/4 total. The rarest and most irreplaceable items I will still keep, as well as all the movies and games and soundtracks (and most of the books), but I could no longer keep all this Mario to myself as it was weighing me down physically, spiritually, financially, emotionally. It wasn’t even so much Mario either, it was just owning so much of one thing. I began going through all my things and selling them, Mario included. What helped me was to consider that we are stewards of what we own; nothing can we own forever. I had bought my Mario items and had no regrets, deriving enjoyment out of owning them, but it was time to bring them to someone else who would appreciate them hopefully more than I presently am able. Selling objects dear to me felt weird, but I look at it not as getting rid of them, but as transferring them with great care to other homes, sharing what I have collected with others. Overall, this has been quite a painful process. But it has also been very rewarding. I am a very ambitious person and the collector mentality, regardless of what the collection is, no longer coincides with my life goals. I collected everything Mario and have over 2000 video games to boot. I am proud of what I have accomplished. I am also proud of what I have been able to let go. But the process has also been humbling, as it’s made me realize that maybe I wasn’t as right as I thought I was, that maybe I should have realized that those massive collectors aren’t acting out of common sense, at least as far as I can understand it. While I feel incredibly strongly about Mario and video game preservation, there is only so much you can amass before it starts to cling to your feet. By owning gigantic collections, one creates more and more ties and potential losses, more worries, more liabilities. This has been an amazing learning process and I don’t rue the countless thousands of hours I have spent collecting, contemplating, and engaging with Mario. They comprise very fond memories of my life. And showing the community my love for Mario, proving how deep my enamor goes and how much he deserves to be enamored, has been fulfilling and fulfilled, even though there was never any need for it. I will remain an extremely selective Mario collector of the ultimate rarities and will bury his games with me in my casket, but I no longer will be purchasing other Mario items that I have no overt immediate use for. Why do I write this? Because I believe in coming clean, in not professing to be something I am not, which I have not done up to this point. But if the “Ultimate” is gauged by how much of something one owns, then I hang my hat and am “Ultimate” no longer. Mario lives on in my heart and soul. Forthwith there will be far less of him living in my home. It’s time I get back in touch with what made me love Mario in the first place, rather than prove to myself and others what has always been the case regardless, and that is that I love Mario more than anything else there is. Mario for life. Thank you so much for to playing my game! @(:o}D

Trial of the Sword in Master Mode is one of the most stressful video game experiences I've had in recent memory, but I'm glad I beat it.

No problem at all, guys. More than happy to help out in whatever way I can.

No problem! And thanks for visiting, everyone!

I just spent the past month replaying HeartGold, finishing around 80 hours. It's kind of insane how good DS-era Pokemon is. 3DS-era Pokemon is "good", if only for it improving some meta features and only adding more Pokemon insteading of taking them away.

i think an arena shooter type game would be much nicer for the fact that overwatch like FPS are everywhere now and a revival of an old IP would be nice for a revival of old multiplayer styles as well

Got this last night 🥰

Final fossil and the fossil area is complete!

Golden Watering Cans I can make for others if they provide the material (AKA the golden nugget) for it.

Will the thread name survive this time? Or shall Sarah's reign of terror know no end? Find out on the next episode of Ninfora. dot. COM.

The code is 9PLLK I am only giving the code out to those I'm familiar with, so I shouldn't get too many trying to get in at once. I'm not charging anything for access to the island, but if you would like to leave something nice then by all means, go ahead~

Alright guys, the moment you all have been waiting for. My afternoon prices for today are... Gonna sell my turnips first and then will open my gate. Dodo Code will come soon.

How I missed this? Welcome to the World of Xenoblade Chronicles! Less than 2 days away!

You know what, I'm just gonna accept this game as a modest visual fidelity overall. After watching a bunch of videos similar like this before this one, I have come to the conclusion that outside the gameplay being excellent there are still positives in the visual with its previous iterations. That and I think ppl who are just bandwagoning had too much expectations on the visuals of this game and I fell into that trap a bit. I'll admit it, I know the value this game offers and that is not lost on me but I made this visualgate blur my vision in what's really important the game itself. Come at me Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, I was lost but I now I really see you for what are a game and gameplay first.

Been a good two weeks again for my PoGo activity. I completed the Hoenn and Sinnoh Throwback challenges and got a couple more shinies. I also caught Genesect in this time.

I finally own a TV! \(^o^)/ I wouldn't even have this if the HHA didn't randomly send me it yesterday (they must have known I need a TV), because I've checked the shop every day since launch and nothing (still don't have the apple TV DIY recipe).

From left to right: Weavel, Spire, Noxus, Samus, Sylux, Kanden, Trace Ah yes, good ol' Metroid Prime Hunters. One of the early standouts of the Nintendo WiFi Connection and a pretty fun little shooter to boot. Even though the game had its shifts away from that traditional Metroid experience it still kept enough of it to stand out as an interesting experiment all its own. Each of the other six hunters came with their own signature weapons and, not to be outdone by Samus, had their own morph ball-like equivalents called alt forms. Hunters wasn't the first attempt at a multiplayer Metroid but it was definitely the most developed one. The previous attempt being a rather low key addition to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes where the only character was Samus and alternative Samus palette swaps for the other players. It was a nice tease of what could be, but little more than that. So, let's suppose 14 years after the original DS release they made a new Metroid Prime Hunters. What more would you like to see from it? What ideas might you have for new characters, match types or anything else? Hunter Adam Malkovich (Federation Soldier) Spoiler alert; Adam is dead. Though you probably already know that if you've played Metroid Fusion and/or Metroid Other M. But in terms of chronology he is now a digitized intelligence having had his mind uploaded into a computer. Having a cybernetic body that his mind can reside in and still reflect look of a Galactic Federation soldier (or even his Platoon 7 getup from Other M) this is one way they could have a GF character in the game and still design an alt form for them in order to maintain similar functionality as the other Hunters. Or they could just throw continuity out the window, have Adam back in full glory, and simply have the practice of maybe some characters not having alt forms but balancing out that drawback with another function exclusive to those type of characters. Match Type Players work together to eradicate all of the Metroids on a given map. It basically takes the premise of Metroid II and makes a cooperative match type out of it. Players can be "downed" by Metroids that attack and feed on too much of their energy requiring another player to assist them. If all players are downed or are killed, they lose. Different maps represent different difficulties which may introduce more advanced stages of the Metroid biology.

our grocery store has arrows and such on the floor to make it so people kinda travel in one line through the store in order to keep distance from people as much as possible and while its hard to adhere to entirely, this bitch really dragged her 2 kids through every single aisle backwards, giving everyone the stinkeye as if we're in HER way and had it not been for the laws of this land, i would have slaughtered her

Caught a shiny gmax eevee and has Adaptabilty!

Kinda late into the week, but my PM turnip price for today is 359 per turnip. edit: Should have said anyone’s welcome to come sell on my island if you want to. Just let me know.

Do it! Embrace the call of the wild! Collect all the Korok seeds!

yeah the rates at what NPCs show up when is fucked imo, tho i wouldn't agree that lief should be one of the rare ones, mostly because i'd really prefer he just had his own shop so i could see him whenever i NEED to. its extremely annoying bulk buying (just in general) but even moreso when id when he's gonna next show up i can't even tell why label shows up in the first place yet i havent seen redd in ages tho and last time he showed up w all fakes so that was real fun i've seen a lot of people complain since the rates got posted tho so maybe nintendo will actually do something for once about it, she says without a hint of hope in her voice

Considering I am sitting at almost 17 million Bells in the bank, I'm gonna take a break from the stalk market for a while. I will certainly still check prices on my island for everyone else but I'm pretty content where I am at finance-wise. Also, good news! I got a Tricera torso from the ground today and now my fossil exhibit is completed! I have 120ish extra fossils bogging up my storage so if anyone needs one I am more than willing to provide that for them.

Not even mad about that... ...but it his her legend!

then Linkle it is

Just got a preparing to ship email!

If you're keeping a running tally of your games beaten this year, consider joining us at the Video Games Finished in 2020 thread, an annual tradition where Eliwood8 beats more video games than the rest of us.

I'm not your Princess, buddy! I'm not your Mario, guy!

I have a 530 PM price, just trying to get everything taken care of IRL before I can open the island and have my full attention on it.

Well we didn't get the remastered Crash and Spyro trilogies on the Switch right away, so it could still happen next year.

Been a good week for my PoGo adventures. Completed a bunch of Special research Tasks gaining me Ho-oh from the Johto Challenge, Jirachi, and several shinies (Snubbul/Granbull, Skarmory, and Typhlosion).

This post has been sent from the tablet in Tabletop Simulator

Finally hit the big time!

i'm kinda over LED lighting i want those ugly beige cases to come back lol

C.J.s in town and finally got rid of those 3 Oarfish, so im going to be getting a model for that soon.... And paid off another loan, so i'll be getting another room soon... and expanded storage https://acpatterns.com/editor And i used this to convert an image of the Ultra Moon logo to a pattern and currently using it as my town flag... doesn't look too bad... think i'll use this for awhile until i feel like changing it Not sure if there's anyone who's interested in it or not, but here it is anyway... granted i didn't alter it in any way, so it's somewhat basic - making custom designs isn't my strong suit... i'll leave that to others

Just watched a video by Modern Vintage Gamer, and he brought up a good point on the legality of using the leaked assets for emulation. While it can be used to further the quality of emulating the leaked platforms, using what is effectively stolen assets will endanger whichever emulation group using it. Even the team behind the Dolphin Emulator tweeted a reply regarding this.

I just closed the gate for now. Will open again later on request.

The corporation that employs people? The corporation that created the content you want to play? Everybody wants stuff free till its not them getting paid for their works. Rather hypocritical IMO.

i'd learn japanese just to play obscure video games lol

i am, finally, back to normal i haven't forgotten that i said i want u to see my ac town but unfortunately its a huge mess bc im redesigning half of it so u will have to continue to be patient pls its important to me that it looks nice how are u doing lately pichi-chan

What a crowded race tonight was, I'm sure I didn't break the record for most slipped on banana peels but it was close. The highlight of the night was definitely Kezay noticing on the Animal Crossing that we has the same character and setup tonight, when if you go back to the stream on the Yoshi Circuit surge mention he was super horned by Kezay and I said no it was me and that's when I realized we were the same tonight, lol. Nice.

@Dancing Mog @Art_de_Cat @Zora von Genbu I am opening the gates now, Dodo Code is 582XM If you can make trips minimal, that would be amazing. Lots of people wanting to come and sell.

I am closed for the time being since I needed a break from hosting so many turnip sellers but I will open up once again in about an hour for those that missed the first wave.

I am going to be opening up very soon, have to get my kid some lunch before I can open it up so I'm not being bothered in the middle of this all.