Even with Let’s Plays losing ground to livestreams in recent years, there’s something about the former that we just prefer here at Gaming Reinvented.
It might be because they’re less obnoxious and overacted, with creators that don’t feel like they’re trying to appeal to kids with the attention span of a goldfish. It might be because the community is less obnoxious, since there’s no flood of idiots trying to spam the chat with memes or throwing thousands of dollars on pointless donation messages.
Or it might just because the format and game choice in general is more up our alley. Because we prefer to be able to see an edited product rather than a stream of consciousness, and skip the most tedious parts at our leisure.
Either way, a good LPer is always a treat to come across on the platform, and we always want to support them because of that.
And that’s where today’s interviewee comes in too. Because SoulsMidknight is exactly what we wanted in a YouTube LPer.
They play the sorts of games we enjoy, with a focus on ROM hacks for retro games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time rather than whatever’s going viral on TikTok at the moment. Their manner is on the calmer side, with their excitement for the games they play not coming across like a bad act from a low-budget B-movie.
Plus, their community has been a joy to be around too, with people calmly discussing the games in questions rather than pressuring them to play things over and over again, or treating everything like a complete joke.
They’ve become a common part of our YouTube experience, and the channel we go to when looking for games like Super Mario 64: Power Star Madness and Zelda 64: Ultimate Trial.
So, it’s time to interview them and learn all about their experiences with YouTube, ROM hacking and gaming as a whole. Let’s go!
The Interview
Starting with some background info. Who are you exactly?
I am SoulsMidknight, or “Soul” for short.
And uh, where did your username come from?
Originally, I was “SoulsMidnight” without the K. Soul’s Midnight is a reference from the 1983
movie Something Wicked This Way Comes, which is based on the 1962 novel by RayBradbury. I thought it sounded cool and rolled with it. Later on, I discovered Soul’s Midnight
is also a B-movie from 2006 as well haha, so I tweaked it a little to be more original.
How did you get into gaming? What was your first game?
I was born in 1996, and have been gaming since I was old enough to hold a controller. My
dad is a huge gamer, so we’ve always had video games in the house. My first game was
Super Mario 64.
Super Mario 64 was Soul’s first game
What are you playing now?
Lately I’ve been playing a ton of Terraria and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Given many of the games you play are hacks of N64 games, was that console a big
part of your childhood?
Yes! As I mentioned above, I was born into the peak of the N64 era. My parents always
said I basically learned how to read from Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time!
How about the Zelda series as a whole?
The Zelda series was definitely a huge part of my childhood throughout the years, and to this
day!
What made you decide to start a YouTube channel?
In 2022, I was out of work for a few months. While searching for a new job, I decided to try
my hand at making gaming videos.
Did any other creators inspire you there?
Yes! I was super into watching the GrayStillPlays at the time, who did hilarious modded GTA5 and Sims videos. I thought to myself “wow I’d love to do that, but with the games I
like!”. Also heavily inspired by Markiplier.
Prior to covering ROM hacks, you seem to have played a bunch of commercial games
as well. What made you decide to switch up the types of games you’d cover on the
channel?
Honestly, for the first year of making videos, I was just kind of playing whatever and seeing
what might stick. I didn’t have much success until I happened upon the OOT Sealed Palace
hack one day.
And uh, how did you discover the Zelda ROM hacking scene?
At the time, I knew about ROM hacks a little bit but never really dove into them too much. I
played The Missing Link when it came out, and a little bit of Master of Time, but that was
about it. Then in 2023 I came across a post someone made on Facebook, of the title screen
for Sealed Palace, a brand-new ROM hack that had just dropped! I thought it looked super cool and decided what the heck, I’ll make a vid on it.
This mod got Soul into Ocarina of Time ROM hacking
Have you ever worked on a mod or hack yourself?
No. I would love to learn how to make a mod/hack someday, however between work and
making videos, I don’t have a lot of time to sink into learning that right now.
Regardless, it’s clear the ROM hack let’s plays resonated a lot more than the ‘normal’
game ones. Did you expect that?
I did not expect it at all, but I had a quick realization as to why it did. It piques interest seeing
things from your childhood become something completely new you never thought was
possible.
Outside of Zelda, you also seem to play games for other games on occasion too, like
Super Mario 64. What games do you want to play mods for in general?
In general, I mostly want Mario and Zelda mods. I’d love to see some Metroid Prime hacks
or something.
And uh, are there any games or genres you’re just not interested in? Like hacks of 2D
games or first-person shooters or something like that?
Can’t really think of any genres I wouldn’t be interested in tbh.
Do you ever play mods or hacks for more modern games like Super Mario Odyssey or
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? I know you made some videos about the
latter at some point…
For the channel? No. I’m a little wary of modding and making vids of modern Nintendo
games because, well…. Nintendo 😛 (I have messed around with some Breath of the Wild
and Tears of the Kingdom mods on my own time though)
Given Nintendo took down PointCrow’s video on the BotW multiplayer mod, we’re not surprised Souls is uninterested in Switch mods
What are some of the games and mods you enjoyed playing the most?
Always the Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 stuff lol.
Any that just didn’t work out as a series? Perhaps because you didn’t end up enjoying
the game enough to stick with it?
That’s happened a few times. I either didn’t enjoy the game much or people just weren’t
really interested so there was no point in making 20 parts for a series that just wasn’t worth
it.
Speaking of game choices, how do you find stuff to play for your channel?
Mostly just hanging around modding servers and word of mouth!
Do you ever get messages from mod creators asking you to cover their games?
Sometimes! Usually, it’s more them just letting me know they’ve got a cool hack coming out
that I should probably check out 😀
Regardless, your channel’s done well recently, with a cool 17.5K subs and videos with
tens or even hundreds of thousands of views. Did you expect this?
DEFINITELY did not expect it. I still try to wrap my head around it to this day lol.
Is the channel your full-time job?
No… however I hope to get to that point someday!
Are there any other video types you’re interested in making?
Possibly tier-list style videos for hacks and such. Requires a lot more time committed to one
video though, so maybe someday.
How about other creators you want to collaborate with?
Hands down I’d love to collab with MajinPhil or ZFG, do a randomizer co-op/race or
something!
Finally, what advice would you give someone looking to start a YouTube channel and
why?
Be yourself, and try to be unique. YouTube is a tough game, and I honestly sometimes think
I just got lucky lol. I’ve learned it’s a fine balance of just doing what you know works, and
trying new things here and there.
Yeah, that makes sense to us. You’re not going to enjoy working on your YouTube channel if you don’t make videos you personally care about and your channel is probably not gonna catch on if your content is the same as everyone else’s.
But of course, as you say, luck plays a big role here too. There are thousands of amazing creators and channels going under the radar on this platform, as a quick look at our underrated gaming channel articles shows all too well. As the old Captain Jean-Luc Picard quote from Star Trek says:
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.
Hence you can’t really control it beyond a certain point. Life is unpredictable, and your success on YouTube is equally so.
Regardless, thanks for the interview Soul! We found it really interesting to learn about your life and channel here, and we’re excited to see what other games you cover going forward. There are all kinds of amazing Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time hacks in the pipeline after all.
Still, what are your thoughts on SoulsMidknight and their YouTube channel? Are there any questions you wish we’d asked here?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!