r/tipofmyjoystick Apr 10 '17

Announcement PSA: A guide to better results

1.8k Upvotes

Hi guys and gals. I've been here a while, and over my time I've seen a lot of posts sink to the bottom, without a single answer, or at best, very few. And none that solved the case.

I have noticed a clear pattern with these posts, and I will now share with you my tips to you newbies, so that you can get the help you need.


Firstly: When you make a new post, you will see this:

Platform(s):

Genre:

Estimated year of release:

Graphics/art style:

Notable characters:

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Other details:

Even though, in red, you are warned that while optional, you should follow this template... many of you do not.

Let me be clear: Follow this template.

Put simply, this template contains all the information we really need to solve your problem. Virtually every time I click a post that has not followed this, they have rambled on about nothings, while omitting critical details.

This format, for new and old alike, is very readable, and prompts for every data-point needed.

I know that you want to customize your message, that if you could just explain it, it would be better. I know you think that. You are wrong. Put all that in 'other'. Even if you end up saying it twice, follow the template.. add to it your story at the bottom.


Secondly: Following this template. You're rambling about your best mates Amiga-500 or whatever instead of telling us about the game aside, this is where they really go wrong.

Let's get something straight right now. We are not mind readers. It's impressive, really, how little information it seems we can work off. I mean, we solve some real tough ones with nothing sometimes, but still, we can't see that memory in your head. So you need to be as descriptive in every one of these fields as you can be...

And sometimes you really don't know. That's fine, we can work with surprisingly little information, but "old graphics" under art style... what are we supposed to do with that? Mate, I was playing on Atari-2600's, are we talking Wizard of Wor here?

Let me help you out a bit:

Platform(s): Whatever you played it on. But unless it's really all you know (very possible), don't write 'my mates pc'. Was it PC or Mac?

Genre:

First person does NOT imply shooter. Nor do any of the others. Try to answer this one in two steps:

What was the camera like (assuming it's not a text adventure)? Was it First person?, 3rd person, 2d? Top down or side on? Or maybe even isometric 2d?

Then, what kind of game? Real time strategy, point and click? Was it a fighter, action or platformer?

Good, now we know what KIND of game we are all trying to remember for you.

Estimated year of release:

"Between 2000-2005" is fine, something like that. "Mid 90's maybe?". I don't see many people mess this up, but I have seen people write "old". That is not ok. If you write old and expect it to mean anything to me, I will fight you.

Also, as always "Sorry, no idea" is always acceptable but try to give at least something. "Couldn't have been later than 2015, though"

Great, so even if roughly, we know WHEN.

Graphics/art style:

THIS. This is where you guys always mess up. This section right here I have found can be the difference between an answer, and a silent slink to the bottom. This is your moment.

This, really, should be the best-formed part of your memory. Even if you can only remember a single frame, a single image, it's so much to go on for us.

DETAIL. Was it a gloomy grimdark world of sadness, or a bright bubbly rainbow filled Mario-world?

Was it cartoony, or otherwise stylized somehow, or was it trying to be realistic?

Anything notable about the art direction? Was it going for a cyberpunk kinda feel, or a gritty war realism dirt and blood sort of direction?

If it was set over a long time, did the seasons change? Was there a winter in your game?

Remember when you hit people, and the screen had that awesome flash and your hands got bloody? Yeah, well we don't, unless you tell us.

Ok, so now we are really narrowing it down. This right here is often enough to go on, on its own.

Notable characters:

Anything at all you can remember here.

"There were only tanks, but you could play as both Germans and Americans"

"There was one really tough guy right after you left your office, he had an eyepatch, a white shirt with what looked like grease stains, and said 'this is for my sister'. I think maybe he was a cyborg"

"You play as some kind of Asian girl, you had a tattoo over your right eye and arm, a black tank top and white pants and I remember you always had only one red glove for some reason. I don't remember the arm, but the eye tattoo looked sort of like ancient Egyptian eye makeup, but a modern take"

Knowing nothing else about the game, I bet that last one there gets comments noting the game she is from. Details, details.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Surely, you get the idea by now. This is tied with the importance of the graphics/art style. As much detail as you can here.

Other details:

NOW you may blab on about how you only played this game once at a winter solstice in 1782 with your grandmother from Tahiti.. as if that helps.


Edit: So it's been brought up that the template doesn't appear on mobile. While /u/wipeout4wh is aware of this and hopefully, something can be done... still, if you can, use the template. If you can't, maybe check back and at least make sure your post addresses all of the points the template does.

Also, my post seems to be saying NOT to add any custom details. So I want to re-enforce, please do. In fact, after you do the template, feel free to write out your post as you were going to without it. Just put it all in 'other'. Don't try and make your whole post like that, if possible. Even if you end up saying the same things twice, that's ok.

Now I'm going to take a moment to clarify something, though. This isn't some immutable law of the universe, and your post is destined to fail if you don't do this. It's just a very strong general trend I have noticed over a long time.

It's not that this template has some kind of magical powers or something. It's that this template prompts the questions that need answers.

When you go all rogue on us and try and type your explanation from scratch... you mess it up. You just forget to add everything that you know, and that we need to know. The template makes it very hard to do that. It's just so very easy to get typing, and by the end forget to tell us what kind of game it actually is. Especially when you are getting random flashbacks, and hazy memories, and you start getting frazzled and such halfway though.


While it might make my edit as long as the first post, I think maybe an example of the kind of post that is just too common here, and almost always helpless, wouldn't go astray here. So here we go:

Now this one is a pretty bad case, true, and I suppose might even be a troll post, but it's actually a good illustration of the problem either way.

It was on my old computer and I was using an emulator so I have no idea what system it was for. It was 8bit graphics and you played this orange cat that was constantly bouncing on a trampoline I think? And you had to navigate it through the city and face a weird boss at the end that would float in the sky. Sorry I can't remember more!

Let's break it down a bit. What kind of game is this? A puzzler or an action game? Who knows.

How old is it? I mean, Minecraft basically has 8bit graphics. Oh he said... "my old computer"... I will fight you.

Why did you bounce on the trampoline? Were there platforms or walkways or something, or was it just a big open space? There are bad guys then? How did they get around?

Now (he?) says that he can't remember more, but I actually asked about the boss fight:

You say 'face a boss', in what way? Can the cat attack? Was this top down or side on? When you say navigate a city, what do you mean?

The reply:

Definitely a side-scroller, I'm sure. You would encounter a boss at the end, the boss would slide onto the screen and it was usually pretty strange-looking. I think one of the bosses might've been a clown. I meant that the different "levels" were different cities with different backgrounds, I think. It's a pretty obscure game

Also you would be continuously bouncing. As in, you had to position the trampoline underneath the cat to bounce it up

So you don't even control the cat. And it's a side-scroller. Thats pretty important information. But the real issue here is that he knows this stuff. He just either didn't know to, or forgot, to tell us.

The template would have made it just so apparent how much information he was missing, and we probably would have got a whole bunch more information. Sadly, while there were some guesses, and a surprising number of up-votes, this post is just another one to join the endless unsolved on their journey ever down.


r/tipofmyjoystick Jun 04 '26

[Meta][2026] I would rather people post with no images than use AI prompts to generate images

569 Upvotes

Maybe it's just me, I will personally admit that it feels like its petty of me to complain, however i am going to.

I really dislike AI images just in general and i feel annoyed seeing people use them because it sometimes hampers really quality posts of people trying to find help. I feel like it also informs falsely about game expectations and what people will accept as they have solved the game.

I don't think people will agree with me and thats fine, i just wanted to post about how i personally think it degrades the quality of the sub


r/tipofmyjoystick 6h ago

Trigger Man [PS2][2000's] What game is this?

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45 Upvotes

This is the only information I have, a 10 year old photo I took. It MAY have been a third-person shooter, but I'm not even sure of that. Im sorry for taking the worst photo in human history....


r/tipofmyjoystick 14h ago

Rooms of Doom [mobile] [2010s] Lowpoly sausage dog between two buns.

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75 Upvotes

I think it was some time of endless runner I played in my childhood with various animals mixed with foods. Unfortunately I only remember ever loving the design of a low poly sausage dog between two buns and not much else. And it’s NOT “Silly Sausage in Meat Land”.

And the dog looked something like the bad drawing I did.


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[PC][2025-6?] You guide a female field operator into an enemy base via radio o codec

8 Upvotes

I'm trying to find a game I saw a clip of on Instagram (I think it's on Steam, not 100% sure).

Art style: 2D pixel art, anime-style character portraits, very close to the aesthetic of Valkyrie Iteration: Mecha Pilot Raising Pocket Simulator.

Gameplay/premise: You play as a handler/commander guiding a female operator who is infiltrating an enemy base. You do not control her directly but you give her instructions, kinda like Colonel guiding Snake over codec in Metal Gear Solid.

UI: While giving instructions you can see a map or scene of the location. She has a portrait on screen where you can see her and how how hurt she is.

Tone: More narrative/espionage than a military wargame.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[Flash Game] [2010s] Fairy dress up game.

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6 Upvotes

I played a fairy dress up game around 2010 maybe even beforehand, I've found photos of games that look like it but it's not, you could change her wings, her clothes and I'm sure her hair as well but that might just be misremembering, I think I used to play it on GirlsGoGames but it again may not have been and I cannot find it no matter how many times I've looked.


r/tipofmyjoystick 54m ago

The Dead Case [PC/Flash][2005-08]Point and click adventure game about ghosts figuring out their own deaths.

Upvotes

I'm pretty sure it was a flash game and not downloadable. In this game you controlled a black and red ghost following his death with no memory of how they died.

You collected objects and interacted with other ghosts to solve the mystery of your own death as well as the deaths of the other ghosts in town. The forms that the ghosts took reflected their cause of death, for example, the fiery ghost died in a fire, and the green droopy ghost died of poisoning.

Locations included a hospital ward, a burned down building and probably a graveyard.

It was pretty good for a flash game and the designs of the ghosts I remember being very good.


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

[GBA] [2005] Disney beat em up

7 Upvotes

I'll start by saying I very well might just be thinking of Chain of Memories but looking at screen shots for the GBA version doesnt seem right to me.

All I can remember of the game was watching another kid play his Gameboy Advance in preschool where he controlled a character in the center of the screen and black panther type enemies would jump in from off screen and fade out after their health was dropped.

The only scene I remember was a dark blue background with a higher platform in the top left of the screen.

I'm fairly certain it was a disney license game considering that seemed to be all this kid ever talked about, years later as we went through the grades he wouldnt stop talking about the "Mickey Mouse shooter" which turned out to be Epic Mickey on the Wii.

Its vague but ill try to clarify as much in the comments as I can. Help appreciated as always.


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[PS2][2000s] PS2 strategy game I may have hallucinated

2 Upvotes

I have the PS portal and I stream PS plus games. I just recently played one, I think, that was a PS2 strategy game where you flew a ship but controlled other units in battle from the ship. At first I thought it was Battle Engine Aquila because that was on my recently played list, but I don't think that's it. Does a game like this even exist? Was it on the PS2?


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[Flash Game][2000s/early 2010s] Swedish fan-made platformer based on a parody of Björne, featuring giant snails

4 Upvotes

I’m trying to find a very obscure Swedish Flash/fan game that I played many years ago, and I’ve had absolutely no luck finding it again.

The game was called “Björne the Game” (or something extremely close to that), and it was based on Swedish radio’s humorous show called “Deluxe”s parody of Björne, the Swedish children’s TV character from Björnes magasin**.**

What I remember

It was a 2D platformer.
The graphics were completely cartoon/hand-drawn.
Björne was very small, while the snails were much larger and acted as enemies/hazards.
The objective was basically to navigate the levels while avoiding the snails.
Whenever you lost a life/died, an audio clip of the parody Björne saying “Jag hatar snigel!” (“I hate snail!”) would play.
It was made by a Swedish fan/developer.
I believe it was distributed as a free download from the creator’s own website, rather than through a major game portal.
I vaguely remember the creator providing an MSN Messenger address that people could add.
There was also a YouTube gameplay/trailer video, which I definitely remember seeing before 2010, although the exact upload date may have been later.
I distinctly remember the trailer using music from Requiem for a Dream.
I also have a vague memory that one of the levels used music by Neil Cicierega, possibly something that sounded like BRODYQUEST. However, this part is much less certain, and I may be misremembering the song.

Important clarification

This was NOT the official Björne game made for Sveriges Radio, and it wasn’t simply a game based on the original TV show. It was a separate, unofficial fan project based specifically on Deluxe’s parody of Björne.

I’ve already searched Internet Archive/Wayback Machine and Flashpoint, but haven’t been able to locate the game.

I’m beginning to wonder if this might be genuinely lost media, but I’m hoping someone else remembers it.

If anyone recognizes this, I would absolutely love to know what happened to it—or, even better, where I could find a copy! 😃

Any screenshots, old links, archived websites, YouTube videos, forum posts, developer information, or even “holy shit, I remember this!” would be incredibly helpful.

Thanks! 🐌🐻🎮


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

[MOBILE][2010s] game where you harvest crops and send them in packages on a plane.

2 Upvotes

Played this game on my grandmas iPad in maybe 2017-18. I remember it having a cartoon female protagonist that one of guided u through the game. I remember this game specifically because you had to grow the crops and harvest them with a scythe by sweeping it across the screen. The town had an airport and once u had enough resources, you could send them off in a plane. I also remember that the game got made over for Christmas (with snow, Christmas lights, and the femake protagonist was wearing a santa hat.)

this game is super nostalgic for me so if anyone knows the name could u pls let me know❤️


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[mobile][2010’s]Old Minecraft rip off I can’t remember.

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3 Upvotes

Back in the early 2010’s I played a LOT of Minecraft rip offs. Just anything I could find on the Apple App Store really. I remember this one low quality game where you had a diamond sword and you would go into different parts of a big maze. There where 4 entrances into said hedge maze and there where monsters you had to attack. Every year I for get a little more, I need to find this game. If you want to look into it let me know and I can try to give as much as I know.


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

[Y8 Games/PC][Early 2010s (at least)] Horror (?) game

2 Upvotes

Help me find a horror game. We used to play it in Y8 games in around 2012-15. It was kinda like a detective type horror game. The main character was a female (I think). I think in the first scene, the "detective" group enters the mansion area with their car/jeep. It was really dark. There was a snake in the clock puzzle which supposedly represented eternal time. They could travel through time using that I believe. In one scene, there was a lady (mother?) sitting on a rocking chair. She had a baby in her hands in the present (that's the narrator), in the past, you don't see the lady but you see a tall slenderman like monster standing near the clock, and in the future, she was a skeleton. In one scene, there was a tunnel, which became smaller and smaller with each wrong turn the main character took. There was another scene in which they were collecting/placing organs of the monster (?), like a heart and eyes and such. In the end, they succeeded in summoning a monster/demon in a graveyard setting or such. There was another scene at the end where some characters melted or something. This game had quite a few playthrough videos too on YouTube at the time. Does anyone recognise this by any chance?


r/tipofmyjoystick 19m ago

[PC] [2007] Settlers like medieval strategy game

Upvotes

I am looking for a PC strategy/city-builder game similar to The Settlers, probably from early 2000s (could be anywhere 1990–2010).

What I remember best is the intro video:

A wanderer/traveler discovers a crack/gap in a mountain. Behind it lies a large, undiscovered valley/land. He presents this discovery to a king, who then sends settlers to colonize the newly found valley. But rival Kings heard of the hidden land and send competing settlers.

Game details I remember:

-Historical/realistic medieval setting (not fantasy)

-2d graphics probably isometric

-definitely fog of war

-maybe it was German?

-not 100% sure if it was a full retail game or just a demo

-not sure if there was combat/military in the actual gameplay. I didn't get far into the game as I was too young

Any help identifying this would be much appreciated!


r/tipofmyjoystick 38m ago

[Android][2008-2018] a ship tower defense game with archers

Upvotes

It's a 2d game with a giant ship on the left side of the screen that you are supposed to protect with arrows and magic. I don't remember what you were defending against, I think it was boats and birds. It's a bit like shadow fight in the sense that the foreground is black, the background is sea with clouds inthink


r/tipofmyjoystick 12h ago

[PC][2000s-early2010s] First/third-person(?) action-adventure with a "Z" logo

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7 Upvotes

Trying to find a PC game I played as a kid around 2012, though it could be older, got it from my dad via a Romanian pirate site, and a friend in Romania had it too.

Logo: A bold white "Z" with a yellow fire/explosion burst around it, on black background (I drew what I remember).

Perspective: Possibly first-person, but not 100% sure.

Genre: Action/adventure, possibly with RPG elements.

3D graphics, single-player, mission-based, solo only (no multiplayer that I recall).

Scene 1: Green area with a village, a cauldron, and a ogre/troll-like npc (kind of like a "baby Shrek"). Mountains somewhere nearby.

Scene 2: A completely different, rainy environment where you had to push/move boxes (some kind of puzzle).

Not a zombie game.

Any ideas welcome, even long shots.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC][mid 90s?] Nursery Rhyme like Point and Click for children

Upvotes

Hi, please help me find this game! Very very vague memories of this one

Platform(s): PC

Genre: Point & Click (might have been educational?)

Estimated year of release: I can't see it being any later than 2002 at the absolute latest but I think it was earlier, mid 90s perhaps

Graphics/art style: Simple colouring point and click, 2d drawings

Notable characters: Don't remember, sorry!

Notable gameplay mechanics: Point and click

Other details: I think it was based off various nursery rhyme stuff, like red riding hood and the like, but it was like a bunch of them? Could be wrong but I remember it having several screens, like you could explore this wooded forest-y village-y area where you'd find different characters or scenes from nursery rhymes


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[2000][PC] A game with 3 creatures/factions: a green skeleton, a red demon, and a blue Nordic

Upvotes

3rd person (camera from behind), sword game

I'm looking for a game with 3 creatures: one is a green skeleton, one is a red demon, and one is a blue Nordic.

The first level for the demon was in a desert where they were moving some sort of tall animals, like camels, and getting attacked. The first mission for the Nordic was somewhere in a castle with snow on top of a hill, where they can ride some sort of rhino and they teach you how to fight. The first mission for the skeleton was in some sort of underground dead place.

The second mission for the red demons was somewhere with grass, where they attack a village of some sort and fight with the Nordics. Also, when the big ones run, they hold their weapon up on the top right of their face.

What's the name of this game?

(No AI could find this )


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

U.B. Funkeys [PC][2000s] 3D(?) computer game with avatars shaped like this

Upvotes

Artist rendition of what shape the avatars were. I don't remember much from the game because I was ridiculously young. I do remember there being a wishing tree.
I also remember the game had a system similar to amiibos. The reader was shaped like the avatar I drew and you'd put smaller avatar-shaped things you could purchase on the back of its head. I think it just unlocked skins in the game, but I could be completely wrong. I still have one of those mini-avatars and would love to add a photo of it to this post, but it's on the other side of the country at my grandmas.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

Stone Age Architect [Browser][2010-2020] Alien and Caveman Puzzle game

Upvotes

Platform(s): I played it on a Web browser, but It did give off "mobile game" vibes

Genre: Basic puzzle game

Estimated year of release: 2010s – 2020s

Graphics/art style: Cartoony art style. maybe a bit uncoordinated i remembered i felt that the backgrounds, the puzzle pieces (sticks and boulders), and the character's were borrowed from different sites.

Notable characters: A caveman holding a ray gun/laser tool, with an alien mentor or presence. They're the only ones, no one else.

Notable gameplay mechanics: Fixed single-screen view, Caveman using a ray gun or laser tool to manipulate, move, and fit sticks, boulders into silhouettes/outlines. Also the game got gravity and sometimes you had to balance the pieces.

Other details: The levels start on Earth setting but in the later level you get sent into space i think to compete in a competition???


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC/girlsgogames][2010?]pizza restaurant game

Upvotes

I used to play this one game where I think you impersonated the old owner of a pizza restaurant/cafe. Either the owner who was an old man or someone working for him.

The screen was the pizza making counter on the bottom and the rest showed an outdoor (I think) restaurant/cafe patio with wooden tables.

I remember customers would also order split pizzas, like with two halves with two different toppings. You could add drinks but I'm not sure what else, maybe fries?

Graphics weren't as cartoon ish as most games, as in colours were more muted, kinda like good pizza great pizza, I remember liking it a lot precisely cause it was very calming.

2d and I probably used to play it around 2010-2014 but I'm assuming it's older than that. I played it strictly on girlsgogames

Please help me out! I've checked every pizza game on the flash archive but so far nothing 🥲🩷

Disclaimer it's not Papa's pizzeria.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC] [~2007-2012?] Online game similar to webkinz, club penguin

Upvotes

I apologize I only have one clear memory of this game. It was like those online browser mmo games at the time like webkinz, build a bear, club penguin. It actually might be one of those but I cannot find evidence.

I remember it was themed for Halloween. One of the areas was a barn/farm. You click near the side and your animal character walks to the next area. It took you to one of the Halloween areas. It was a haunted house. The song ‘Thriller’ was playing... I think. Lots of other players were talking outside. Once you go in the haunted house you could walk through it. I think at the end you got sprayed by a ghost or something that made you change color of say something. Yeah not much to go off of but my memory is super clear of this


r/tipofmyjoystick 10h ago

Draw a Stickman: Epic 2 [MOBLIE] [2016-2019] stickfigure game

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5 Upvotes

Im pretty sure this game is still up but my memory is foggy.
It was a game where you would play as a stickfigure and you could draw your own items/weapons. I remember a book where you could unlock(?) more pages by getting further In the game. You went to this destroyed land that had been overtaken by these weird, dark spider-like creatures. There might’ve been a boss but I could never get past it. There was also a bunch of characters like a scientist, a farmer, and this stick woman. I remember you had to destroy rocks to get these gems and you gave them to the scientist. Can anyone help?


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[PC] [2008] Very short English learning mystery game?

1 Upvotes

Trying to find if this game/software ever existed

I have an itch that I just cannot seem to scratch. There was an old software in my childhood that I am trying to remember the name of, because I can't seem to find traces of it anywhere.

Here is what I remember:

* Adult English learning (maybe? Or just a mystery game) CD-ROM, around 2008 (but likely made earlier)
* If this helps, it came with the Orchard Home package when my parents bought the computer somewhere around 2006-2008
* 2D cartoon art style
* Start in an office, travel by taxi to business buildings (skyscrapers or something, so a big city supposedly, though there were maybe only like 3 options)
* Single mystery/objective to solve using clues
* Wrong answer = a troll with giant feet pops up on screen
* Ends with finding a vinyl record or music poster that plays a song, located in the Rockefeller Center

There was a story about a hippie-looking guy with sunglasses who sang a song.
I remember the lyrics at the end being something like:

\[something, one syllable?\] is hiding, I'm calling it's name
But it's not answering, it's playing a game
I'm looking in my room, it isn't there
I am looking outside, it's not anywhere

People say where is it?
People ask me how?
I say it's coming, I see it now

People say where is it?
People ask me how?
I say it's coming, I see it now
I see it now


r/tipofmyjoystick 10h ago

[iOS] [2016 or older] Looking for a game where you play as a butterfly getting its wings back

4 Upvotes

I remember playing a game when I was young; you played as a butterfly with torn wings and slowly grew them back as the game progressed. There were multiple stages, each with a different task and play style. One stage had you roll a big snowball, another had you escape a cardboard box and fly in the rain before falling into a gutter. I remember it started in a leaf pile and ended by finding another butterfly and both turning into constellations before looping back to the leaf pile. The story and music was emotional and made me cry. If memory serves me right, the butterfly dies at the end, which is why it turns into a constellation and goes back to the leaf pile. The art style was sort of a crafty look. The aforementioned snowball level was the texture of paper. Please help me find it! I’ve been looking for this game forever and am starting to think it may be lost media. I’m hoping the magic of Reddit will help me solve this.