Tilswall Soldering Station 65W used to be $40 and the best deal in irons, it's now $75 and I would still argue the best iron for the money. Consistent temps, quick heating, comes with decent tips and has solid support for other tips. I've used this on countless keyboards, consoles, prototype boards, etc.

I've been playing tons of Blue Wish Desire to hold myself over until Eden's Eclipse. Also been grinding a bit on the Touhou Makuka Sai games and the doujin classic EX -Extra-. I did just pick up Crimson Clover World EXplosion though so that will almost certainly dominate my game time moving forward.

Good luck on your 1cc! That route is no joke

It doesn't. The page says they've built new molds to recreate the original microswtch setup.

I've never been more excited for new video game hardware since I was a kid, been begging for this for more than a decade. The superior directional input lives again!

Retro-Bit Saturn pad, just feels right for most 2D games. Soon I will be using an 8bitdo Neo Geo CD pad though.

Deemo is also really nice! Always forget about that one. Different feel to the music than the average rhythm game too without hurting the chart variety

Trying not to overhype myself for this but the recent confirmation that the physics are ported directly from Christian Whitehead's engine has me gassed, seems like the best of both worlds

The CE PDAs are rad! I picked one up at a garage sale in the mid 2000s and could never get it running but I kept it around for a long time just to admire the design and feel of it. The Unihertz stuff is sort of getting there but not quite yet. Also their proprietary obsession is questionable. I'd love a truly pocketable PDA style x86 machine though!

The Steam Deck seems like an insane value. I've been eyeing it for productivity (mostly programming) and gaming. If you don't mind my asking, how do you find the dpad? I mostly play 2d games and that's the one bit that's put me off the Deck until now, seems like it's secondary to the sticks

I had a GPD Pocket at launch and used it for a long time - it went everywhere with me. Traded it a couple years ago and I still regret it.

Presently I've got a Sony VAIO VGN-UX72 that I've been hunting a working battery for. Installed XP on it, as it's 1gig isn't very Vista-friendly, and got all the original XP VAIO software and drivers working perfectly. What a little bundle of joy, I wish I could send it back in time to my younger self who was salivating over the UX and OQO devices. Kinda surprised at just how much performance can be squeezed out of it. Playing Typing of the Dead on a thumb keyboard is a special experience.

I've also got a Sony VGN-U50 with dock and keyboard that I've gotten to power on twice for short periods, the stock battery seems to charge and the aftermarket battery I bought does not. Can't figure out why it boots sometimes and other times not. Mostly it just flashes it's backlights at my when I try to boot it. If anyone has experience debugging with one of these I'd love some tips.

Presently I'm still hunting down more Sony and VAIO pieces and waiting for something as compelling as the GPD Pocket to release with more power. I'd love if a gaming handheld style UMPC like most modern GPD offerings or the Steam Deck would have a nice dpad and a sliding display with a thumb keyboard. GPD Win 3 came close by copping the UX design but it just seems like the build quality isn't there.

Great list!

Some additions:

Phigros on iOS and Android definitely, probably the best mobile exclusive rhythm game. It's also completely free and has a large library.

VOEZ is another class game, great on Switch or iOS, Android.

Groove Coaster isn't my favorite but has a lot of songs and works great on all platforms, quite a big community of players as well.

Cytus and Lanota are also quite nice

Can't talk about PC rhythm games without shouting out StepMania either, the OG DDR/ITG clone

Absolutely a steal

Muse Dash is one of my favorites, you're in for a banger

I fell off from practicing most of my games for a while but I started playing Phigros a month ago and it's really captivated me. I haven't had too many memorable "wow" moments with many other games for quite some time, but it's happening regularly now that I am playing IN and AT Phigros charts. Muse Dash is the other game that did this for me in the last few years (and still my favorite) but Phigros is on another level with the chart design.

Kinda want to get back on the Clone Hero grind as well but both my guitars are having some issues and I can't be bothered to open them up right now.

Perpetually craving DJ MAX but salty that I bought everything on PS4

~15 years is the arbitrary cutoff that feels right to me, despite how old it is continuing to make me feel

Sin & Punishment is one of my favorite games ever, the N64 stays hooked up

This was it for me too. This model of UX and the OQO model 02 were the coolest things I'd ever seen at the time (and kinda still to this day).