The first time in 3 years that I've themed as a Mario character despite this being a Mario forum lol (since Antasma in March 2021). That is if you don't count my "default" theme with the Amayzee Dayzee avatar.
The end of my 1 year streak of Ever After High themes. Which started only 2 months after I finished my 1 year streak of MLP/EqG themes
Only the 4th Mario character I've themed as, and it continues the streak that all of them have been villains: Grubba, Cackletta, Antasma, and Grape.
The very first time I'm theming as a non-RPG Mario character.
The first time I'm theming as a character from upcoming media
Birthday updates:
I went to a play yesterday which is why I wasn't around here much. It's the first time afaicr that my birthday hasn't been spent either at mandatory school/university or just chilling/gaming at home.
My family made me a great cake (Victoria Sandwich)
My presents were:
An Ever After High birthday card written in EAH lingo
Two EAH-themed mugs
Two bottles of Soju (one Peach flavour and one Mango flavour).
8bitDo Pro 2 wireless controller. Very useful for both PC and Nintendo Switch gaming. (Edit: and mobile too)
Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch) with keychain and standee
Several pieces of baking-related equipment
A baking cookbook
Minecraft annual 2024. It was decent but not as good as previous years, especially 2017. This might be the last time I request it for Xmas as I can tell they aren't as good now, plus my interest in Minecraft isn't quite as strong as it once was
A webcam and microphone for my PC
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo Switch). This is the only Zelda game I have played besides Zelda 1, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask.
A DVD of The Super Mario Bros Movie. While I had already seen the film, now I can watch it whenever I want, and can also watch it in German which is fun.
A bottle of Vodka from my brother. I enjoy a drink every so often but I'm by no means a heavy drinker so I'm still working very slowly through it.
A scarf and a multi-purpose gift voucher from my aunt
Lots of various kinds of chocolates, including a box of chocolates from my paternal grandfather which was my last of many presents from him.
I've owned TTYD for almost 5 years yet somehow today is the very first time I'm trying the arcade mini games lol (I guess I wanted to save it until I had unlocked them all, but they were locked behind specific side quests I never got round to)
Plane mini game is meh
Paper mini game is great
Tube mini game is okay
Boat mini game is okay
Overall it's decently fun and a nice inclusion and I do appreciate that unlike SPM's arcade the mini games are actually tied to the abilities that Mario gets in the main game. However I think I still prefer SPM's arcade since it has amazing music, and I adore Tilt Island and Mansion Patrol
I generally just love how many similarities there are between SPM's and TTYD's arcades
Also I think it's pretty funny that if TTYD's mini games were canon, then literally everyone in that crowd would have to get cursed by the Hooktail Castle chest demon
I just beat the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials at the earliest possible opportunity in the game (right after you get Cudge in 5-2)
Once again, very difficult and fun challenge. It's hard to say which was the hardest run overall, compared to the Flipside Pit I had Bowser, all mandatory Pixls except Dottie (I could also have gotten Barry but decided not to for extra challenge), access to Dyllis and considerably more items in general, and was more levelled up, but the enemies of the Flopside Pit do a LOT of damage. The first run of Flopside was overall harder since I was less levelled up, but the second run is where I had to face the boss. I only narrowly won both runs.
I've always been a huge lover of Shadoo, especially due to the implied lore that she's the Pixl Queen, and this fight was very difficult and fun in this challenge. I wanted to avoid using broken strategies such as spamming Fleep to stunlock the clones, but I definitely would've lost if I didn't do so, so I did use broken strategies, but even then the fight was very fun and I still was 1 hit away from dying with no items at the end lol.
I still think the cards are a stupid reward for beating the pit, since SPM is already too easy for its own good and the reward for beating the hardest gauntlet is something that makes the rest of the game twice as easy. And infinite 3D is nice, but the Flip Meter's existence is kind of annoying in the first place.
I also think it's pretty funny that Shadoo still produced a Luigi shadow clone, which is both a spoiler and a continuity error. And similarly to the Flipside pit, the backgrounds on the walls depict the locations of the Pure Hearts including Sammer's Kingdom and images of Jaydes and Grambi which at that point in the game is a spoiler.
This image is proof I beat the pit before entering 2-3 as you get Slim during 2-3 even if you clip out of bounds to hit the star block and cannot leave 2-3 with the return pipe. However I actually cleared the pit literally as soon as I unlocked Boomer, before finishing 2-1.
This is definitely the most difficult SPM challenge I've ever pulled off, and it was certainly refreshing and fun. Oh, and a pretty nice coincidence I finished with exactly 256 coins (for those not in the know, it's a running gag in SPM and one of the few classic PM gags that actually got referenced in Sticker Star).
Edit: I think it's also pretty funny how if you were to clear the pit this early on on your first playthrough, the pit contains some fairly big spoilers:
Catch Cards of all mandatory Pixls not yet unlocked at that point in the game
Tippi's card mentioned she used to be called Timpani and that Merlon made her a Pixl
The backgrounds are the Pure Hearts' locations up to and including the one in Fort Francis
Ninjoe tattle mentions Sammer Guys and King Sammer
Skellobits tattle mentions The Underwhere and foreshadows that bad people go there after death
Wracktail foreshadows the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials even though Flopside's existence isn't revealed yet as of Chapter 2