mastodon 4.3.2+glitch.donphan.socialAuthor, 'In Search of Starlight' 💫
Producer, 'Doctor Who: Split' 🎮
Music Artist, 'DW: A Type 40 Production' 🎻
Posts on STEM, Pokémon, Nintendo, and Doctor Who.
My website: https://ronakshah.me/
My Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ronakpw/
Here's the theme of Pokémon X/Y and Pokémon Legends: Z-A in a nutshell. ‘Kiseki’, which is Japanese for ‘miracle’. The miracle of a chance encounter between two people which changes the lives of both individuals forever. “Even living in the same time and place is no guarantee.”
#PokemonLegendsZA #PokemonXY #Pokemon #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo3DS #Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom… Another game done and dusted. It's actually only the second-ever Zelda game I've completed… the first being the Link's Awakening remake. Both oddballs in the series, in their own respective ways. (Incidentally, Echoes of Wisdom also uses the exact same art-style as the Link's Awakening remake.)
I've played Tears of the Kingdom for about 55-60 hours and A Link Between Worlds for about 5-10 hours. But I've finished neither game.
I've posted about this game before. We had this game. I remember playing it as a kid. But I only learned a few years ago that it was developed by Rare.
Rare later became famous for developing the SNES game Donkey Kong Country. They had a very close relationship with Nintendo. They made many, many more games that became iconic.
This interview was nice to read. Also cool to learn that David Wise, who scored Donkey Kong Country, did the audio for this game as well.
Just battled all 16 Johto/Kanto Gym Leaders back-to-back in Pokémon HeartGold, without using any healing items, berries, etc. The second picture shows the state of my team after the final battle (Whitney).
My Pokémon team from Pokémon Crystal (Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console), now in Pokémon HOME. (I beat Red with this team, even though I was substantially underleveled.)
#PokemonCrystal #PokemonHOME #Pokemon #Nintendo3DS #Nintendo
My Pokémon team from my 2024 play-through of Pokémon Y, now in Pokémon HOME. I decided to adventure across Kalos again in order to prepare for Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
#PokemonXY #PokemonHOME #Pokemon #Nintendo3DS #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo
My Pokémon team from my most-recent play-through of Pokémon HeartGold, now in Pokémon HOME. Last night, I used this team to battle all 16 Johto/Kanto Gym Leaders back-to-back.
#PokemonHeartGold #PokemonHOME #Pokemon #NintendoDS #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo
Transferred my Pokémon HeartGold, Pokémon Black, Pokémon Black 2, and Pokémon Y 'Mons to Pokémon HOME (via Pokémon Bank).
Earlier this year, I transferred my Pokémon Crystal 'Mons to Pokémon HOME.
I've now transferred 'Mons from every Pokémon game pair or game trio to Pokémon HOME except Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen and Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.
In October, I'll probably transfer my Pokémon FireRed 'Mons to Pokémon HOME as well. This will leave only Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.
Finished the Final Fantasy Resonance demo. Took me about 6.5 hours. Along with the main story of the first chapter, I believe I managed to complete every side quest the demo features as well. I honestly wasn't expecting to have this much fun with the demo! Might just get the full game after all…
#FinalFantasyResonance #FinalFantasy #SquareEnix #NintendoSwitch2
Captain America in an Avengers comic: “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”
Captain America in an X-Men comic:
My thoughts on the Nintendo Direct… #NintendoDirect #NintendoSwitch2 #Nintendo
New MacBook wallpaper 😄
Bringing back an photo… with an electric twist! No generative AI. Simply a two-year-old selfie (which I ended up using for my book) and some quick editing in apps like Snapseed and Canva.
Here's a "lite" version of my cosplay of the Fifteenth Doctor from Joy to the World, penned by the lovely Steven Moffat. (Joy to the World is one of my Top 5 favourite Christmas Specials.) 😄
I got a stand 3D-printed for my Fifteenth Doctor Sonic Screwdriver recently. Now I can display my entire Sonic Screwdriver collection perfectly like this.
What's your favourite Sonic model, Doctor Who fans?
British actor Anthony Head has passed away.
Head only appeared in one episode of Doctor Who: School Reunion. This episode re-introduced Classic Who Companion Sarah Jane Smith. And yet, some of my absolute favourite memories of that episode are of scenes in which Head's character clashes with David Tennant's Doctor. That says a lot about Head's performance and how compelling it was!
I've also seen a few people fan-cast him as the Doctor over the years. I'm being 100% serious!
He'll be missed!
Those who know me know Death Note is my all-time favourite anime series. Now, I know it's a self-contained series and not an overly-commercialised franchise whose primary aim is to sell toys, but I've nevertheless wanted to own at least one piece of official Death Note merch. And my wish finally came true a few days ago.
Now I'm planning to play Hero of Law next. It's an Ace Attorney-inspired ROM-hack of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. (Yes! You read that correctly!)
I just hope the game runs smoothly on my Anbernic RG35XXSP.
Some Nintendo Switch 2 pictures from last year. (The Kirby-themed mouse-pad was from My Nintendo.)
My article 'Smartphones, Social Media, and Generative AI — From a Post-Truth World to a Post-Literate World' will be published in The LLP Magazine's Annual 2026 Issue, out later this summer.
A few weeks ago, I also announced that the Annual 2026 Issue will also feature my short story 'The Caretaker'.
I hope you will look forward to reading both my short story as well as my article. Not too long now until the Annual 2026 Issue is out. 😄
Oh, and I just wrote a new poem. (It's been a hot minute.) It alludes to integral calculus, Dark Matter, and Olbers' Paradox -- all together! I definitely wouldn't call it my best work, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a tiny bit pleased with what I've managed to accomplish.
I fired up my Pokémon Sword save file for the first time yesterday (my birthday) after transferring my save data from my Nintendo Switch to my Nintendo Switch 2. The transfer must've caused the game to think I've been messing with the system clock. Whenever a Pokémon game thinks you've been messing with the clock, it takes two days for time-based events to start to trigger again, if I understand correctly. Which is why I guess the game didn't wish me yesterday. 😅
I'm also happy there's finally a web version of Nintendo Music. 😄
Finished the Resident Evil demo a few moments ago. (Played the first half a few days ago.) The Leon section was definitely more engaging because it more action-heavy. The Grace section was more atmospheric; it was trying to create a sense of unease in a slow manner. In any case, the way the demo ends got me to wishlist the game… Boy, they sure do know how to get you! Haha.
Also! I just finished playing Stray. It was slightly different from what I expected… but a very, very good game nonetheless. (The game wasn't depressing as I thought it would be, for better or worse.)
One thing I can say about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie… I don't think it's really re-watchable. As much as I enjoyed my first time watching the movie back in April, the plot has such little coherence, it feels like a bunch of random, almost-unrelated scenes stitched together. (To be clear, I don't mean this in the "visual continuity" kind of way. Or the way it is edited. Animation-wise, it's gorgeous and really, really, really well-put-together.)
I cleared the tenth and final biome in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. Rolled the credits again and everything. And now there are two more areas? 😳
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the Nintendo Switch 2. How time flies! 😳
STEM topics and concepts I've alluded to, or directly written about, in my poems include black holes, the Solar System, the Big Bang, the heat death of the universe, quantum tunneling (haha, yes!), fragmentation of modern computer technology (once again, yes!), even anthropology! And now integral calculus, Dark Matter, Olbers' Paradox, etc. I've also deliberately used expressions like "asymptotic" and "the roots of unity" in my poems. I can only hope to reach the heights of James Clerk Maxwell.
There are some games in the Toy Story: Retro Roundup collection that I played as a kid. I think I'll probably get this release at some point. 👀
Something strange has happened after updating my Nintendo Switch 2 to the latest firmware. My play-time tracker numbers have been restored to their actual values for SOME games.
Here, you can see my Top 5 most-played Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2 games, which are all Pokémon games. I'm so glad these numbers have been restored to their real values.
You can also see my play-time numbers for games like Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Pokémon FireRed, Pokémon Pokopia, etc. in the second screenshot.
My Pokémon team from Pokémon Black, now in Pokémon HOME. I finished the main story of Pokémon Black five years ago. Returned to the game recently to tie up several post-game loose ends.
#PokemonBlack #PokemonHOME #Pokemon #NintendoDS #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo
I have yet to catch up with the announcements from the newest State of Play. 😅
Played the Yooka-Replaylee demo too. Something I thought I'd never do… the game does look beautiful, but there's a bit of pop-in. Certain environmental 3D models render more details only when you're close. (It's not like the whole model pops into or out of existence, just certain bits of it. To some, it may feel like a visual glitch or something.) The game does have a bit of charm, not gonna lie. But I'm not sure I'll be getting the full game anytime soon.
My Pokémon team that I transferred from Pokémon HeartGold to Pokémon Black 2 because I needed a functional team in the game again. Now they've been transferred to Pokémon HOME.
#PokemonBlack2 #PokemonHOME #Pokemon #NintendoDS #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo
OH YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! 😳
After 30-35 hours, here are my 'Yoshi and the Mysterious Book' numbers. (Discoveries first, Smileys later.) I didn't use a single guide, and I only asked for in-game hints by spending tokens 3 times or so. How did I do? 🤓
#YoshiAndTheMysteriousBook #Yoshi #Mario #Mario40th #NintendoSwitch2 #Nintendo
One thing I wish we were taught in high-school in science class is that the map is not the territory. As Werner Heisenberg once said, “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.”
Is this my most-liked Instagram comment or what?!
Just watched the science documentary 'The Secret Life of Chaos' by Professor @jimalkhalili@mastodon.social, and after seeing the phenomenon of self-organisation emerging from simple mechanisms via feedback, I couldn't help but think of modern generative AI models which feature “recursive self-improvement” processes. I wonder what Professor Al-Khalili's thoughts are on the matter.
I'm 30-35 hours into Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. I have one final biome left to explore.
One year ago today, I was in Blackpool. Received my Nintendo Switch 2 order from GAME sometime around noon, if I remember correctly. (A lot of people who ordered from GAME had their orders cancelled… but thankfully mine wasn't cancelled.) The Nintendo Switch 2 remains the only console which I've pre-ordered (and actually received on the day of the launch itself).
Can't wait to see my Ninteneod Switch 2 Year-in-Review at the end of the year.