OBEY

Yes. This is a 150 cm tall cardboard standee of 0ur master Segata Sanshiro. Please do not ask what I had to pay for it, because it was quite much. But money is nothing when it comes to Segata Sanshiro. If he calls, I'll pay. No matter how much.

I have nothing more to say.

A long Time Coming

Wow, the posts certainly have dried up this week, every one must be glued to their TV's playing RE5 or something.....I know I am.

Anyways, a little while ago I said that I would write a short article about my history with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Well, I finally decided to stop procrastinating......

I'm a huge Street Fighter fan, I've probably spent enough money in the arcades over the years playing SFII to actually buy a SFII arcade cabinet...I'm talking about a shit load of quarters. After playing the World Warrior, Championship, Hyper, and Super versions of SFII, the transition to the Alpha series was a little it weird. At first I thought the anime style graphics were too different, and being able to counter, air-block, pull of multiple super moves, etc. was all just a bit too much for me....at first anyways. I picked up "Warriors Dreams" in '96 for the Saturn and played it..a lot. By 1997 I was into other Saturn Games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, and basically stopped following the SF series.

In 1998 I started university, and lucky for me, there was a half-decent arcade on campus. There were some pretty good games like Tekken 3, Virtual On, Virtua Striker, King of Fighters '97, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. I had seen X-Men vs. Street Fighter in arcades a year or so earlier, and never really thought much of it. I would say that I am a purist when it comes to a number of different things, and this was no different for the Street Fighter series. So to see non-SF characters fighting in a SF game.....well, you get the idea. After passing by the machine a few times I decided to give it a try. "Welcome to the adventure" the voice said. I have to say it took me a while to get used to the play mechanics of the game; tag team style play, super jump, fire balls in the air, cross-over combos etc., etc. After a few weeks of play I had become accustom to the new style and found it very entertaining. Like....holy fuck...70 hit combos...hell yeah. I love to see Spiderman take a fireball up the ass from Ryu & Akuma at the same time. Anyways, I really started to enjoy the play mechanics and overall feel of the game. My fondness grew, and grew, and grew......."damn I totally love this game".

It was a long walk up a very long hill from the dorm rooms to the arcade, but sometimes I found myself, alone , in the arcade at 1:00am (since the arcade was on campus, it was accessible 24h/day)....in my pajamas none the less. I would consistently make the night-trek to the arcade, in all types of weather just to have a few plays. There was something very serene about being in the lone, quite arcade, all by myself rocking fireballs and shoyou-reppa uppercuts. My friends would ask me where I was going, and thought that it was a bit weird that I would want to play this game when every one else was sleeping, but maybe that's what made it special.

After a while, I decided that I had to have this game at home. Lucky for me, it was available as an import for the Saturn, but the cost (I was a starving student at the time remember), was too much, and I was unable to procure the precious game. Knowing that it was out there, but I couldn't have it just added to the pain!

Time passed, and eventually the game was removed from the arcade, and eventually the arcade left as well. I had sold my Saturn, but I would never forget about the time I spent with MSH vs. SF. I purchased Marvel vs. Capcom for DC, but the game just didn't have the same 'feel', and I was still left longing for MSH vs. SF. Basically every other 2D fighting game I played since that time I compared to this game....and all left me feeling kind of empty inside.

Present day: I decide to rebuild my Saturn collection and finally get a copy of MSH vs. SF........HELL FUCKIN" YEAH. 12 years old, and this game still kicks major ass. The first time I popped it in and watched the start up screen I had a huge smile on my face, and felt so giddy...all of those good old memories rushing back. It still amazes me that the Saturn can rock such an awesome 2D game. It was a long wait, but well worth it! On a side note, I did pick up X-Men vs. SF as well, and that is a truly awesome game too (see my earlier post about that title). I'm a huge fan of SFII, the Alpha series, SFIII, and Capcom vs. SNK, but MSH vs. SF will always hold a very special place in my game library. I think I'm going to play a few matches right now.

GLRC- Daytona

A gift from the heavens

There I was, coming back home after a hard day at college (ok, I only had a two hour class, English, but it was still a pain to get up early and drive all the way to Aveiro and back...), when I notice something in front of my door. Nothing less than a big-ass package with my address written all over it (literally, it was written with a marker in giant letters). This could only be one thing: a package from our own dear Simon Early, known in teh interwebs as Father Krishna! Oh boy, was I excited about opening it up! :D


I didn't really know what to expect, although I always thought it would be only one thing. Was I in for a surprise... there was not just one thing inside, nor two, but four!!! Four gifts for me!!! :O



There was a black Dreamcast VMU, which may be something ordinary for most Dreamcast fans, but for me it's a life saver, since I (laugh all you want) only had one! Imagine my pain everytime I had to delete a saved game to make space for another... Now that wont happen again so soon!

Also for the Dreamcast there was a game, but not just any game. We're talking about the revolutionary Seaman! Oddly enough there was no actual game in there, don't know it that was the point or not, but anyway, the game I can easily download and burn. The case and manual on the other hand are more difficult to come up with.

Now, for the Saturn, there were two Japanese treats in there. One was that little hidden gem called Burning Rangers, which I've never played before, despite J saying such good things about it. There final, and most awesome of gifts, was...

*suspense*

*no suspense, since the video above already spoiled it...*

A sealed Japanese copy of Christmas NiGHTS!!! OMFG!!! O_O That's, like, the dream of every Saturn fan to have something like that! OMG! I don't know what to say, Father, thank you so much for everything! You're the man! :D

Swap, Shock & Rock

What a wonderful Saturnalia! I had such a good time reading every one's posts.....so much good stuff....and here's the first post of March.......

I'm not a big fan of downloading back-ups of games, but when certain titles are very hard to come by, sell for exorbitant prices, or if you just know they will suck, and you're going to toss the disc after a single play, then I don't feel too bad. If I have the option to purchase a real game I will do so. As many of you know I've been rebuilding my Saturn collection as of late, and even though I don't have all of the original titles that I once did, I now think I have a better overall library of games. I've been wanting to pick up some of the more sought after Saturn games (i.e. Radiant Silvergun, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Guardian Heroes), but man are they expensive. No doubt I will one day buy them, but right now I just have to wait for that day. I've never actually played any of these games, although I do have Panzer I & II, and Ikaruga for Dreamcast (basically Radiant Silvergun pt. 2), and I'm a huge fan of 2D Beat 'em Ups....so I know that I would enjoy Guardian Heroes just from the videos I've seen, and reviews that I've read.

SWAP:
So anyways, back in the day I got pretty involved in the Dreamcast backup scene....again, to supplement my DC library with the games that I just couldn't find or couldn't afford to buy. But I've never played around with backups for the SS. Neither of my SS are moded. I do have the Action Replay to play imports, but that's it. A while ago I tried the swap trick but didn't have too much luck there either. I really wanted to play Guardian Heroes, and after a few visited web pages I was able to find a working copy (or so it claimed). Thanks to my knowledge with the DC back-ups, burning a working Saturn disc wasn't too difficult. I then decided to give the swap trick another try........and what do you know.............success!

SHOCK:
You have to open up your Saturn in order for the swap trick to work. A little bit of tape needs to be applied to the button that tells the Saturn that the disc cover is closed. Now, I haven't done too much work with electric devices, but the one thing I know is that you should unplug electric things before you take them apart. And yes, you know what happend next......of course I didn't unplug the system and my hand fully grazed the back of the mother board while it was not only plugged in, but turned on as well...damn I'm a loser. We'll I'm just glad that I didn't ruin anything, at least that I know of. I did get a pretty nasty shock, and the back of the circuits pocked my hand too.....not fun.

ROCK:
After all was said and done, I have been rocking Guardian Heroes.......hard. It's truly amazing that a game like this was around more than 10 years ago. I'm already tracking some legit copies on eBay, and I can't wait until I actually get my hand on one. The graphics and gameplay (for a 2D fighting game) are better than anything I have seen on recent consoles, with the only exception being Princess Crown & Odin Sphere. I'll definitely be spending some quality time with this gem.

Again, let me emphasize that I don't really condone back-ups...but I suppose that I'm a hypocrite for doing so anyways. But if it's the only way to play some of these hard to find games, then so be it. But until I can acquire the legit copies, I'm going to have to feel just a little bit dirty every time I put a CD-R in my Saturn.

Games of my life - Part 2

Now that Saturnalia is coming to an end (wow, what a month...), I finally decided to write the second part of this...post...article...thingy... Anyway, while in the first part I focused on the games (and demos) I loved back when I was a kid and got my first Saturn, now I'm going to talk about the second coming. Of the Saturn, that is. More specifically the games I discovered, and played to death, when I got my second Saturn some years ago and seriously got into it. So, let's go:

Panzer Dragoon


OMFG, this game is GOD! O_O
Seriously, although I used to play the Zwei demo when i was a kid, I only really got into these games recently, when I beat the first one, got halfway through Zwei and beat Orta on the Xbox. This series is so surreal, there's nothing like it ou there. Sega knew their shit, and this proves it. Techically and gameplay-wise this game rocks, but for me what really sets it apart is really that, the ambience, the mood it puts you in. A mandatory experience for any gamer.



Alien Trilogy/Exhumed




I decided to put these two together to keep the post shorter. Definitely my favourite FPSs on the Saturn, they both excell at what they do. They're easy do play (but somewhat difficult to master), addictive and engaging. Oh, and they got nice graphics too, and don't give you headaches like most old-school FPSs do when played nowadays. To sum it up, they're what a good 32-bit FPS should be. Individual kudos to Alien, for being fucking scary at times, and to Exhumed, for making an excellent use of the egyptian theme (and for ripping off the name of Iron Maiden's album in the US release).




Keio Flying Squadron 2


Best. Saturn. 2D platformer. Forget about Rayman. Yeah, that one's cute, but this is the real deal. You take control of a cute girl dressed like a playmate (no shit) and beat up racoons with a hammer (again, I shit you not!). This game is awesome! No, not just because of those features, they're just bonuses. What matters is that the gameplay is spot-on, the control is tight, the graphics make full use of the Saturn's awesome 2D capabilities and there's even some variety to the gameplay, with horizontal shmup stages that resemble the first game. If you like platformers you absolutely got to play this game.



Loaded


Mindless, brutal fun. An overhead action game where you control some pretty bizarre characters and just shoot everything that moves. It's pretty gory, but in the Mortal Mombat kind of violence, in that it doesn't take itself too seriously, which just adds to the fun. Perfect for those moments when you just wanna kill everything in sight without thinking too much. Also, the music's pretty good too.


(watch the intro, it's pretty cool)

Firestorm Thunderhawk 2


I played this one not too long ago, and it was a damn good surprise, because I didn't really knew what to expect and it turned out as a pretty good action game. Yes, you control a helicopter, but this is no simulation, just pure action. The chopper's really easy to control, the gameplay is strangely addictive, the graphics are rather nice for a game that has to show a lot of things on screeen at the same time, and there's a lot of variety to the missions, both when it comes to scenery and objectives. Overall a pretty good game that should appeal to every action game fan. Not to mention not every game out there let's you unleash a firestorm on your enemies from above.

3D Experience

So, since right now Manx TT is the only SS game in my library that fully uses the Saturn 3D pad capabilities, I haven't really used the 3D pad that I bought last year from the local pawn shop very much. The pad is in really nice shape, and all the buttons, work very well, and the analog stick and analog triggers have very smooth action in them...(i.e. there isn't any wobble/play in them). After I was done a my Manx TT session last night I decided to have a go on Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei. I found that the 3D analog pad controls the aiming reticule quite nicely in Panzer, but I was curious why my dragon rider would only change directions to the right....then it hit me.....my 3D pas is broken.

I guess I didn't notice this in Manx TT since the bikes don't show a brake light, and I never really brake all the much when I play anyways. Well, I now know that I don't ever brake in that game. Anyways, I was just planning on salvaging the working digital functions of the controller as a regular back up, but I was really sad because I now don't have a fully functional 3D pad....and I've got a copy of Nights and Christmas Nights coming from Ebay. Being the curious, tinkering type of person that I am, I decided to open up the controller to see if I could find out what was wrong with it. There were no rattling pieces inside, and as I mentioned earlier, the movement action of the broken trigger felt absolutely fine. I spent some time on Google, but wasn't able to find anything about fixing a broken Saturn 3D pad. I have opened up some Dreamcast pads in the past, but ended up doing more harm than good I think.

It took me a little while to narrow down the problem, but I finally noticed that there was a magnet stuck to the outside of the right (working) trigger. After some more inspection I realized that the magnet had actually fallen out of the left trigger and made it's way through the body of the unit, and attached itself to the magnet inside of the right trigger. After a few attempts I was able to get the magnet back inside the left trigger, and after some trial and error (turning the saturn on and off) was able to get the magnet facing the proper side, and actually had the left trigger working again! I've never really read about how analog controllers work, but after this little session I'm kind of thinking that it has to do with the proximity of the magnet to a conductor or something like that ..i.e. the further the magnet is away from the source the less the trigger is actually being pressed.

In the end I'm very happy since I don't have to buy a new 3D pad. And I managed to snap a few pictures of the event....just in case any one wanted to see the inside of a 3D pad.

Ooh, Michael!

Michael Jackson, self-proclaimed king of pop and alleged king of illicit affairs with young boys, is selling off his extensive collection of arcade games and video game systems to pay mounting legal expenses and other debts. One of the items on the auction block is this Sega Saturn kiosk, priced at a fairly reasonable $100-$150. Granted, you could probably get a Saturn without the stand and picture of Sinaed O'Conner for at least a third of the price, but it's not about the cost... it's about owning a little piece of rock history. Just be sure you take some bleach to this kiosk, so you don't get the little pieces of rock history you don't want.

Aren't you glad I took a several month hiatus from The Saturn Junkyard, only to come back and post something incredibly tacky and tasteless like this?

MANX TT Review

Well, as I said last week, I was hoping that I would have time this weekend to play through Manx TT...and well, I did. SO here's the review:

My experience with motorcycle racers really isn't that deep. Let's see, Excite Bike, Super Hang On, Road Rash, and Manx TT are really the only motorcycle racing games that I have played...I think. I have a few good memories of ripping it up on the full size Manx TT arcade cabinet back in the day. So since I'm in the middle of rebuilding my SS collection, I figured that this game definitely needed to be acquired. I have never owned the home version, so I was pretty excited to get my hands on it. So far I'm having a good time and enjoying the game. It's one of those titles that has pretty good lasting appeal, since you can just pick it up, and play for a few minutes when ever ever you want. It's definitely not a deep game, but definitely one of the classic arcade racers that any fan of the genre should have in their game library.

Graphics:
I would say on par with the other Model 2 racing ports. Very similar look to both Sega Rally and Daytona USA. The tracks looks really good in some places, and other places, very forgetable. I think Sega always did a reasonably good job porting all of their Model 2 titles to the SS. Obviously none of them ever stood up next to their arcade counterpart, but they graphics were always decent none the less. There are some nice graphical effects like tree shadow on the track, and my favorite, the contrast change after you come out of the tunnel on the Laxey Coast track....something that I never really saw until Gran Tourismo 5 Prologue (2007). Pop-up on the straightaways is pretty brutal. What's interesting is that this game came out after Sega Rally, yet the pop-up is a lot more obvious on Manx TT. When the course stays curvy, pop-up really isn't that noticeable. The bike models lok pretty decent, but the actual rider designs are a bit odd looking....they kind of have the Die Hard Arcade look to them........like, very pointy or something like that. 7.0/10.0

Sound:
I'm glad to see that all of the Sega Model 2 arcade racers have at least a few unforgetable sounds. Daytona has the "do do do do do do do do do doooo...Daaaaaaaaaaayyyytooooona", Sega Rally had the awesome "Game over Yeeeeah". Manx TT has the weirdest voice I think I have ever heard in a video game. I suppose the voice is supposed to sound British or Irish or what ever the main accent is on the Isle of Man? But to me the voice sounds South African or something of that nature....and the best line in the game is the "passing the checkpoint" that you hear multiple time through out the race. I suppose sega wanted to voice to sound intense as if it was coming from a sports announcer doing live commentary on the race...but it just sounds really bad, in a funny way though. The music is not nearly as good as other Sega racing titles...let's just leave it at that. And the sound effects are fine....similar to other racing titles of the mid to late 90's. 6.5/10.0

Gameplay:
The bikes control quite well using the 3D pad. The digital pad can be used fine as well, but it gives the game a very unrealistic feel as the rider tips over 5 - 10 times in a single turn. The 3D pad is certianly the way to go. The arcade mode bike doesn't really have much "weight" and tensd to steer too easy. The Saturn mode takes care of this a bit. I found that I actually liked the bikes with the poorer handling rating much better. The bike itsef has what I call the Ridge Racer Effect, where it seems as if the bike is always pointing forward, and it's the track that moves below you...I'm not a huge fan of this. So what happens is the bike is travelling in a direction that is physically impossible. Once you get used to the handling of the bikes, and the ridge racer effect though, the game becomes much more fun to play.
Only having two tracks is a bummer, but seriously Daytona USA has 3 tracks, and Sega Rally has 4 tracks, so it's not like it's horrible. I'm a much bigger fan of the Laxey Coast track that the TT track since it lets you really open up the throttle, and feels much more like a true arcade racer than the TT track. Having the Saturn mode gives the game a bit more flavor as well. I beleive there is a version of this game that has netlink...which would be a lot of fun to play. Sadly, I'll be playing this version by myself or split screen with a friend. 7.5/10.0


Overall:
Obviously the game is very repetetive due to the lack of tracks and race modes, but the 2 tracks that are available are really nice, and I know it's only a matter of time before I memorize them and start to try and continually set new fastest laps. The game itself is really fun to play. I don't think that this is a title I will ever sit down and play for hours on end like I have done with Sega Rally and Daytona, but I know that I will be playing it quite often, even if it's only for 20-30 minutes at a time. The graphics are pretty decent (for a SS title), and I'm very glad to finally have Manx TT in my Saturn game library. I think this game is still at the local arcade, so I'm definitely going to have to take a few laps on that one (and definitely bring some hand sanitizer), and compare the two versions. 7.5/10

The New Lot

So here's a quick pic of the new lot that arrived yesterday:


Manx TT, Bomberman Fight, and Fighting Vipers are all still new un-opened. There's nothing quite like opening a 12 year old game for the first time. I'm going to open one at a time as I play through them. First up is Manx TT. I'll try and get a review on here for that game over the weekend. Oh yeah, and decided to pick this up at a local store:

Wont be having to buy new batteries for my Saturns or Dreamcast VMU's for a while now. $2.00 CDN a pop....not a bead deal I recon.

More Merchandise!

Four hours remaining on this auction: 

Sega Saturn Trophy!

Sega Saturn Merchandise Weirdness!

Holy fucking cow. I was finally able to buy the Segata Sanshiro action figure for a decent price. It's approximately 30 cm in height (That's 11.8110236 inch for the americans!) and looks really great. His wig is incredibly detailed, very well styled and he's wearing an actual judo suit. I didn't want to open the very cool box, though, so I was not able to pose some fighting stances or place him against a Godzilla doll.


But that's not all. This Segata Sanshiro action figure actually came with an inflatable bop bag! The ones that stand up again everytime you punch them. Why anyone would want to hit Segata Sanshiro is beyond me, but other than that, this bop bag is to the point: Segata would always stand up again!


Since I only need to eat once a day and avoid buying birthday presents for friends, I can save that money up and spend it on things like... this incredible Body Special 264 Puzzle, which I bought as well. It's some sort of a can with a very nice Sega Saturn print (and cutesy japanese girls) on it and it comes with 108 pieces. I am bit worried about that "Panel No. 1" note on the can, because I assume, that there are even more of those puzzles out there? Fuck! I want them all. :(

Two New Arrivals

Just a quick one really to boast about two new arrivals that have appeared here at Krishna Towers.
The first is Marvel Super Heroes (Japanese version), which I picked up for £8.50 (Inc. P+P) - I reckon I got myself a bargain there - a quick scan of eBay shows most copies for over £20...


The second is Super Puzzle Fighter II (PAL) which I picked up for £7.50 (Inc. P+P) - perhaps not so much of a bargain - but a title I've been after for some time. Haven't had much time to test them out yet, I'll get to that pleasure in the next couple of days...



Only Last Bronx to come now... £5.49 (Inc. P+P) - I'm a tad worried about this one... No manual and scratches on the disc... Makes no claim that it works properly... I'll let you know!

Waiting

I've got a few new games coming in the next couple of days (hopefully!):

Fighting Vipers: Played quite a bit of FV2 on the DC, and played FV1 in the arcades. Never actually played it on the SS though. My favorite is how you can bitch slap some one so hard their armor falls off. I'm not sure if you can do that in part one...but what ever, I'm psyched non the less. One of Sega's greatest games.

Saturn Bomberman Fight: I've been playing Bomberman Online for the DC, and don't own any Bomberman titles for the SS....I'm very excited to get my hands on this one. The videos I've seen of it on You Tube look really cool.

Manxx TT Superbike: Another great Model 2 racer from Sega. Again, didn't play this one on the SS, but have played it in the arcade quite a bit. Funny enough, my local arcade actually has this game in there right now. Graphics look to be on par with Sega Rally and Daytona

Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei: I used to own the first Panzer Dragoon...a great shooting game. Sadly it was one of the games that got sold with my original Saturn. I've always wanted to play part 2, but never had the chance. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on this game.

Weekend Review

Ok, so another weekend has passed, and I had a chance to do a bit of gaming. The latest session on the SS consisted of Sega Rally Championship, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, NBA Jam TE, and Akumajo Dracula X (Symphony of the Night). Here's the recap of each game:

Sega Rally Championship: Still my favorite racer on the SS, with Daytona USA and Sega Touring Car Championship coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. So, holy crap do the graphics on some of the stages look bad. I remember the first time I played that game how awesome the graphics seemed, but after many hours spent on newer racing titles like GRID, and NFS Most Wanted, it's hard not to notice. Some portions of each stage look pretty good, but the car models themselves look like ass. Even the legit arcade game running on Model 2 hardware looks horribly dated these days. The physics system however is still one of the best out there. This is one of the only games where you can actually feel the weight of the car shifting around, which makes for awesome feathering of the gas and brake to hit those perfect drifts. Sega did an incredible job of making the digital control feel almost anologue in this respect. (I do have a 3D pad, but it's a bit too touchy for this game IMO). The music is pretty awesome too...even to this day. My favorite track is for the Mountain Stage, and the theme song to the credits.....such good Japanese Pop. I really haven't played this game hard in quite a few years, but I can't beleive that I still remember every corner of every track...that's either really sad, or really cool.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo: I played so much Super Street Fighter II (not thr Turbo Edition) on my Genesis console I completely forgot how much that game got raped on its port from the arcade. Don't get me wrong, it's still one of the best Genesis games out there, but after playing the Saturn version, I realized just how much of the character animations where cut, and how the sprites really suffered when it was ported to the Genesis. Anayways, this is a great game, but after playing so much Alpha/Zero, I hate not being able to air-block. Also, you can basically KO any one in three or four moves in this game...all of the characters are a bit too strong. It's amazing that in the arcades this was the same hardware that ran all of the SF games all the way up to Alpha 3 & Marvel Vs. Capcom. The game looks great and plays great as well. I love the funy sound the game makes when you pull of a Super Combo...it's like a squirting lazer or something.

X-Men vs. Street Fighter: See my earlier post about this one. Definitely one of the best games on the SS...enough said.

NBA Jam TE: I played a lot of this game on the Genesis/SNES, and it wasn't until playing it on the SS that I realized how bad the arcade ports really were for those systems. The game is pretty fun to play, and it was released around the same time that I was really into basketball, so I recognize all of the players. The controls are pretty bad, and I'm not a huge fan of games where the point scoring (i.e. making a basket) is essentially done by chance. This game came with one of the used SSs that I bought, so I would say that it's not worth buying for more than $5.00. The game session with NBA jam only lasted about 15 minutes. Random fact: The most interesting thing abot this game is that it was published by Aklaim/Iguana, the same group that went on to Publish the Turok sereies.

Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoko: This game is fucking rad. The only problem is deciphering the Japanese Menus (does any one have a game guide for the Japanese version that explains what each of the items are?). Anyways, rad game design, animation, music, gameplay etc. I'm glad to own at least one of the most sought after SS games. I'll post a full review on this bad boy after I wrap it. If I can't figure out the Japanese text, I might just have to play through the version that is avaialble on XBOX live arcade...yes I know that is blaphemy, but what am I going to do....seriously.

Anyways, it was a really fun weekend with the SS, and I'm already looking forward to next weekend so we can spend some quality time again.