The Great Reset

2026 Personal Update

The more things change, the more things won’t stop changing.

We’ve all been through seasons in our lives where we get a little too set in ways we think or in our actions, to the point where they become detrimental to our personal growth. I’m not sure what’s going on in 2026, but I’ve been pummeled (in a good way) by a series of significant changes that I don’t think I asked for, but maybe I did? Changes that specifically affect the way I view life and why I do what I do.

Some of these changes relate to gaming and to this Substack as a whole. As such, I’d like to share with you a handful of shifts that have happened or are happening to me or to this Substack.

Let’s start with a fun one first…

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#1 - SUBSCRIBERS

Never noticed that Wario is essentially a dragon.

My subscriber count was in the doldrums for most of 2025, and frankly, I was used to it. I don’t want to say I didn’t care, but I was enjoying writing, and that’s really what it’s all about, right? That’s what we writers say, anyway.

Well, out of nowhere, my subscriber count soared in March, April and May, eventually tripling what it was at the beginning of the year. I have no idea why this happened. Bots? Humans? Ethereal spirit beings? Come one, come all, I guess.

Things have slowed down since May, but that springtime boost was most unexpected and welcome.

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#2 – SELL ‘EM ALL

Not my collection, thankfully.

While my subscriber base was going up like the Dow, my perspective on my retro gaming collection completely changed. Essentially, I realized that I don’t want the majority of these consoles and games anymore. It’s been years since I’ve played most of them or thought about them. They sit in boxes or on shelves, unused and unloved. What’s strange is, my position on my collection changed more or less overnight.

One day, I couldn’t imagine parting with my SNES collection. The next day, I’m selling it to my cousin for a few hundred bucks. Very, very surreal.

Since March, I’ve been slowly selling my goods on eBay/craigslist or taking stuff into my local used goods store, Bookmans, and getting trade credit for them. And yet, for as much as I’ve offloaded, I still have so much left to sell. I’m still not sure what precipitated this change, but it feels like the more I get rid of, the more room I make - not just in my house, but within myself. Like these old games and consoles were keeping me from moving forward, somehow.

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#3 – STREAMLINING

2014, y’all.

In addition to my physical clutter, I also have a “web presence” clutter - a bunch of sites and junk online that I don’t update or use anymore.

Specifically, two websites (Questicle and Sega Does, for the old heads) and two other Substacks, the Sonoran Videogame Society and The Kingdom Age. I wouldn’t call any of these defunct, per say, but I don’t use them anymore and, unfortunately for me, they still occupy space in my brain. The Substacks thankfully cost nothing to keep around, but I will likely just shut them both down. I do pay for hosting and email for the websites, though, and like most folks, I don’t like paying for things I don’t use.

My plan is to slowly consolidate all the work I want to keep from my websites onto Substack. Sega Does will receive its own separate Substack sometime later this year. If I decide to keep Questicle content, I’ll move it into its own section on “Nintendo is Great” somewhere. But I dunno. That work is really old and embarrassing. Perhaps it’s time to let it go.

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#4 – HOW I VIEW “NINTENDO IS GREAT”

The bee’s knees.*

I still love writing for “Nintendo is Great.” That said, I feel the need to readjust a little. Or perhaps give myself permission to readjust.

As most of you know, “Nintendo is Great” is a Substack dedicated to reviewing every game ever released for a Nintendo console and handheld in chronological order. For the bulk of the Substack’s life, this has meant primarily NES reviews, starting back in October 1985 with the test launch of the NES in America. Only recently have I jumped out of the chronological timeline to introduce Game Boy, Virtual Boy, and Game Boy Advance games.

But friends, I gotta be honest. I really haven’t enjoyed going out of chronological order. I did it mostly to provide some variety to longtime readers and hopefully bring in some additional subscribers. Perhaps it’s accomplished those things, but for whatever reason – OCD, probably – introducing these systems early feels like I’m not being true to myself and this Substack’s original purpose.

So after this post, I’m going back to my original timeline, back to November 1988. No more Game Boy games until I hit 1990. No more Virtual Boy games until I hit 1995. No more GBA games until 2001. Such is life.

I want people to read my work and enjoy it, but if I’m not fully loving what I’m doing, how I’m feeling will show up in the final product.

(If I’m being honest, I’m not sure people care about the chronological progression as much as I do. That’s fine, but… I really do care).

As a slight caveat to all this, I do still plan to feature intermittent articles outside the chronological timeline. Ranked lists, Nintendo Direct articles, and some other stuff I don’t want to share just yet.

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THE GREAT RESET

This year is only halfway done, and I know more changes are on the horizon. All of this is more than enough for now, though.

If you’ve made it this far and you’re still subscribed, thanks so much for reading!

I’m curious… How has your year been so far? Any big changes on the horizon? If you feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

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*image from PCMagUK