To me, the event islands in the game always had a sense of allure and charm to them, being remote islands that housed rare and ancient legendary pokemon such as Latios, Latias, Mew, etc.

To point out a specific example, I always felt a sense of wonder and intrigue when reading the signposts on Southern Island.

Who left them there? How did this individual arrive at the island to begin with? Was it all just sheer happenstance, perhaps?

My headcanon was that there was a mysterious caregiver or guardian trainer of sorts who used to care for Latios and Latias on the island every now and then, and who would travel to the island by boat to check in on them as part of their guardian trainer duties.

They left those messages on the island as their 'calling card' of sorts for any other trainers who happened to chance upon the island in their quest to capture Latios or Latias.

Either way, it's interesting to speculate about and just a random thought that popped in my head lately.

Who do you all think could be behind the cryptic messages left on Southern Island?

I remember the games installed on the iMac computers in the early 2000s were pretty interactive edutainment titles, like Sammy's Science House, Kid Pix, Jump Start, etc.

Did any of y'all enjoy the computer lab as a kid? I know I sure as hell did, as it gave me an excuse to sneak in the chance to play some games every now and then lol

Mine was either Tropical Punch or Orange. Strawberry Kiwi was a close second or third. Depending on my mood that day.

Also, feel free to mention other pouched drink brands for those who didn't like it and/or didn't grow up with Kool-Aid.

E.g., Capri Sun, Minute Maid Coolers, etc.

Greetings and good day, Flash gaming enthusiasts.

Back at it again with another Flash Flashback.

This time around, I wanted to pay homage to a favourite Flash game series of mine as a kid.

Telepath RPG (by Sinister Design)

The entire Telepath franchise was incredibly memorable. From the engaging turn-based strategy battles to the surprisingly deep characters, world-building, music, and more - there was just a lot to love about the entire series.

I grew up mainly playing the first two entries - Telepath RPG 1 and 2- but Sinister Design have gone on to create more games in the Telepath RPG franchise, such as Telepath RPG: Servants of God, Telepath Tactics, and most recently last year, Together in Battle.

It's quite amazing to see just how far Sinister Design has come over the years in developing their craft with the Telepath RPG series. Personally, I'm a big tactics and strategy RPG fan, so playing isometric-style RPGs was always a fun pastime of mine.

Does anyone have memories of the Telepath RPG franchise that you would like to share? If so, feel free to leave any in the comments section below on this thread.

Cheers, and keep on fighting the good Flash fight, my friends.

What are some of the most memorable, random, and/or unusual NPC dialogues you remember from Pokemon Emerald?

Doesn't have to be just from Emerald, but it can also be from Ruby/Sapphire as well.

For me, it's a lot of the Battle Frontier dialogue with random trainers, plus some of the dialogue and banter you have with random NPCs on the road.

In chapter 3 when Fran was exploring the Second Reality (AKA Ithersta), I always found the tree-like characters and insectoids that inhabited the land very charming and comforting to be around.

Just the whole realm of Ithersta felt like another home away from home for me. All of its seasons looked so beautiful and a lot of great landmarks to explore.

I also loved reading about the lore of the denizens of Ithersta and immersing myself in their culture and way of living.

What did you all like the most about exploring the realm of Ithersta?

It's a shame that this game was cancelled.

Seemed like it was very promising and would have been a blast to play through.

I am a fan of Sci-Fi movies and literature, so I would have liked to have played through this to see what the gameplay was like.

For 1999 standards, the full motion animations and proof of concept for how the walk animations and eye movements were emulated at the time were really quite astounding to see during its active game development phase.

Although far from perfect and refinement was needed, it was still pretty good for its time.

I wonder what the game would have looked like if remade using more advanced CGI models in today's era of gaming? Fascinating to speculate about.

Honestly, I just came across this recently and it dawned on me then that I never truly noticed this during my replays of VTMB. At least I'm happy to have found out by now, if anything.

Anywho, for those interested in knowing more, in certain areas of the game (e.g., Santa Monica Beach house or the Ground Zero Net Cafe), there is a video game console hooked up to a screen which shows a paused game menu screen that showcases an earlier build of VTMB.

The alpha build game menu even has a work-in-progress visualization of the menu's user interface elements, which was obviously drastically changed in the final version of the game.

Also, one notable example of the alpha build UI was that the blood meter was apparently centred at the top of the screen, whereas in the final release of the game the blood meter was viewable in a sidebar-like fashion on the right side of the UI instead.

That said, on another note, I believe even the alpha build version of the Tzimisce creation looks a tad bit different compared to the final enemy design.

Either way, it's cool how we are uncovering new things about the game even decades following its original release. I was certainly intrigued by this revelation when I uncovered it recently.

Troika really did love putting neat little Easter Eggs into VTMB ❤️ Love it

Does anyone else remember that one Episode in Arthur where the Glenbrook Academy students came to Lakewood Elementary School as part of Elwood City's Medieval fair?

Glenbrook was viewed as a very prestigious academy (IIRC, Mr. Ratburn went there as a kid and his former teacher, Mr. Pryce Jones, was also featured in the episode), and I noticed as a kid that the Glenbrook students looked and behaved so posh and formal.

Their personalities were conflicting opposites to those of Lakewood Elementary's school kids, and I thought they seemed very pretentious as a kid lol

Just had a sudden thought about the episode and figured I'd share my recollection of them to this subreddit.

What did you guys think of the episode by the way?

I'm sure many Canadian kids growing up in the early-mid 2000s can relate.

Tipi Tales (in my opinion) was an entertaining and informative show for learning about indigenous people's culture and customs.

Yes, I know the physical puppetry was viewed as uncanny for some kids, but it never bothered me as a kid.

In fact, I thought the puppetry was really cool! ❤️‍🔥

What do you all remember about the show the most?

Any episodes or characters that stood out to you?

Does anyone else recall in the early 2000s when McDonald's actually had N64 gaming kiosks installed at their local play centers?

I believe it was a partnership between McDonald's and Nintendo to install these gaming kiosk's right inside of their play place areas which included a whole roster of games like Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart Double Dash, Donkey Kong 64, Pokemon Stadium, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, etc.

Then once the GameCube came around, they started to install more of the GameCube specific kiosk's instead.

I distinctly remember Banjo-Kazooie being one of the games that was installed at my local McDonald's gaming kiosk (which sadly is no longer around since the McDonald's that I frequented sometimes as a kid had been replaced by some other random store instead).

Great memories either way though and I'm sure some of you may recall there being one too many of us kids with greasy and ketchup-stained hands playing on the controllers all the time.

On this week's Flash Flashback series, I wanted to share a memorable Flash game that I played during the early-mid 2000s

It was called Exile the Game

A roguelike fantasy dungeon-explorer-themed game where you get to pick your initial starting class (i.e., Bowman, Warrior, etc) and traverse through various dungeon levels as part of the campaign.

I found the game to be very engaging, from the combat to the mini dungeon map layouts, as well as the music and overall visuals as well.

Does anyone else have memories of Exile? Honestly, medieval fantasy-inspired Flash games were one of my favourite genres to play (still are to this day). My early gaming exposure to Flash games really helped inspire and nurture my love towards RPG-themed medieval fantasy games throughout my childhood, teenage/adoloescent years, and going on into adulthood as well.

Seeing this at the local convenience store sure did bring back some memories.

Hotwheels in the 2000s were a whole other level of fun times.

For me personally, I'll take my chances with SpongeBob, The Flying Dutchman, and Sandy

Why, you ask?

I dunno, just the three that popped into my head the first time around

;)

There is certainly an irresistible and memorable charm to the 2000s-era visual DVD menu design that can't be forgotten.

I used to spend hours on these menu screens, just poring through all of the different options and trying to uncover new secrets about the movies and media that I was interacting with.

Bonus material, soundtracks, sneak peeks, little mini-games, etc.

That said, I tried to include as many as I could remember from childhood

What were some 2000s era DVD menu screens that stood out to you the most that you can remember?

As a kid, when my dad bought The Mummy: Ultimate Edition DVD (around 2001, if I'm remembering correctly), it had a bunch of really cool interactive content.

Things like Egyptology 101, where you could learn all about ancient Egyptian artifacts and gods, learn the basics of hieroglyphics, etc. There were also deleted scenes, special features, the lore surrounding information around the various locations in Egypt, etc.

In addition, there was a whole host of other bonus material content, such as the respective background of the film's characters like Brendan, Rachel, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, and others.

Honestly, it was such a treasure trove of knowledge in my humble opinion.

Moreover, I also remember that The Mummy Returns had a really cool interactive DVD walkthrough menu as well, where you would walk through the underground tombs until you reached a door that would list the various options to proceed with on the menu itself. All the while, you would hear Imhotep's mummy voice narrating in the background.

I was both fascinated and creeped out by those old vintage DVD walkthrough menus as a kid haha

Were any of y'all fans of The Mummy's interactive DVD menu content? My dad is and always was a huge movie buff, so he would collect a huge amount of DVDs over the years as a kid and still has his collection to this day.

A great memory, I must say.

Summary of article: https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/himalayan-pangolin-emerges-as-distinct-species-189-years-after-first-described/

• A new genomic and morphological study has revalidated Manis aurita, a pangolin species first described in Nepal in 1836 and then forgotten for nearly 190 years. Manis aurita, the Indo-Burmese pangolin, is a pangolin in the family Manidae native to India, Myanmar, Nepal, and possibly Bhutan.
• Chinese researchers led by Jiang-Yong Hu were sequencing DNA from pangolin scales seized from smugglers at the China-Myanmar border. They expected to confirm the scales belonged to Chinese pangolins, the sole species believed to occur in the region. Instead, the samples split into two distinct genetic groups. One matched the known Chinese pangolin. The other, labelled MPB, didn’t match any profile on record.
• Taxonomic Revision: DNA extracted from old specimens showed that M. indoburmanica (proposed in recent years via scale and genetic analysis) takes the older valid name Manis aurita based on priority rules from 1836 descriptions (source).

Conservation efforts:

>The species is likely already considered to be critically endangered due to continued exploitation of the species for traditional medicines, for consumption of their meat, and for the ornamental use of their scales means that pangolins continue to be pushed towards extinction (source).

Additional reading materials:

• [Mammalogy, 2026] Revalidation of Manis aurita based on integrative genomic and morphological evidence.
• Wangmo, Lenrik Konchok; Ghosh, Avijit; Dolker, Stanzin; Joshi, Bheem Dutt; Sharma, Lalit Kumar; Thakur, Mukesh (2025-01-07). "Indo-Burmese pangolin (Manis indoburmanica): a novel phylogenetic species of pangolin evolved in Asia". Mammalian Biology. 105 (5): 691–698. doi:10.1007/s42991-024-00475-7. ISSN 1616-5047.
• Zijlstra, Jelle S. (2025-04-25). "Manis aurita Hodgson 1837 as a valid species of pangolin: a comment to Wangmo et al. (2025)". Mammalian Biology. 105 (5): 699–701. doi:10.1007/s42991-025-00495-x. ISSN 1616-5047.

The year is 2004.

You only have $20 to your name to pick up some stuff at the local Red Spot Convenience Store.

You are allowed 3 items. What would all you kindred pick and why?

Kine are off the menu (at least for now ;)

I would personally pick up a hot dog, cleaning supplies, and cereal.

What? I NEED my Count Chocula's...Don't judge me

I remember in 2001, when watching cartoons on YTV (a Canadian entertainment broadcasting channel) there used to be these little glowing green CGI bugs that would randomly appear on the screen during the show that you were currently watching.

A lot of kids were freaked out by it, but I personally didn't mind them, as I liked bugs as a kid.

Saw this reel and just had to share

Source: horror4kids Instagram page