What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

September 19th, 2025

Last night, I just played another hour of Mermaids of Atlantis. Sometimes I just get fixated on a mediocre to bad puzzle game and that is what is going on here. I did clear a few stages last night, which felt productive, but I think a big part of that was just getting lucky combos of pieces. Certainly, I don't feel like I'm improving at the game at all.

September 18th, 2025

I haven't done a morning post for ages, but it feels good to know I'll have this out of the way early today! I don't have a ton to write about, though. I got locked into Mermaids of Atlantis last night, and despite playing over an hour, I didn't clear a single level. It's a janky unlicensed game, and I could still relax in the face of my countless losses, so this was completely fine. It was not a setback that robbed me of my determination to someday clear this game.

September 17th, 2025

When I came home tonight, I looked at the puzzle I was working on and got really set on finishing it. It has some big "empty" spaces, so it's been dragging on for a bit and I want to show it off! I like cutesy Halloween stuff, and since this is a plastic puzzle, I can pretty much use it as decor right away. Even though this is a bad photo, behold my accomplishment!

I'm still set on finishing games I've already started, and last night I landed on the PSP version of SSX On Tour. This didn't click with me the best the first time I tried it, years ago now, but I had a blast last night! Even towards the start of the game, it's got good speed, the tricks are crazy, and it feels great to get big air. The soundtrack was too good to play before bed, though! I got too hyped from LCD Soundsystem and Bloc Party and became too peppy to sleep. I might wait until the weekend to come back to this.

I tried to get myself chilled out enough to go to bed with a few rounds of Candivity, but it didn't work so well. Oh, well! I'll get better sleep tonight.

September 16th, 2025

I'm not very focused tonight. Outside of games, I'm trying to read all of the manga by CLAMP, an artist team that was really popular when I was in high school and college. I don't mean to be dismissive of them now by saying that, it just seems like they were really at their height for US fans then! Some of their stuff has never made it to ebooks or current printings here, so I've been picking up what I can on Thriftbooks and eBay. It's really fun to see the lists of manga available in the US in the backs of these books, or the goofy taglines on the ads in the back of Tokyopop manga in particular.

Besides just the used book nostalgia, though, I have to pick up my Japanese learning! I got an eBook of HIGH & LOW: G-Sword, a manga CLAMP worked on based on a big multimedia project that I barely comprehend. I can read Japanese, slowly, and with a dictionary, but I want to up my skill level and speed. Maybe I'll do some more gaming in Japanese soon. Practice is tedious and it sucks right now, but I'm never going to get better without putting any effort in.

Anyway, I mostly just chugged away at games I've got going yesterday. I did a couple runs in Cat Survivors, still chasing my final Steam achievement for getting all upgrades. Since this game gets easier the more upgrades I score, it also gets more boring the more I grind. I'm still determined to clear it, though!

My item merging grind dragged on, too, with several rounds of Candivity. This might be a game that's better played in short bursts, but unlocking everything in the base game seems super doable.

On the other side of that coin, I'm not sure getting to the final merged item in Bomb Cat is even possible, but repeatedly failing is kind of fun. Blasting pieces sky high seemed like an irritating gimmick to me at first, but it's enjoyable with smart play and pretty funny when I'm sleepy. This is a decent little merge game.

September 15th, 2025

This week, I want to try to chip away at some of the games I have going instead of starting new ones. I didn't get off to a very effective start. I played Vampire Survivors a little, messing with some of the unlocks in the Contra DLC for no particular reason.

I got back to grinding away at Sonic Wings Reunion, too. I was doing a pretty horrendous job last night, but got another character ending and found out that once I get my one credit clear in easy mode, normal isn't going to be too bad of a step up.

I tackled some of my Switch Suika Game knockoffs, too. Candivity is going to be the easier one to finish, just because it's more of a grind than anything to get all the characters and accessories unlocked. I saw the biggest item you could merge to in this last night, which was satisfying, but remain a little put off by how magnet-y the physics in this are.

Bomb Cat plays a little better, but the permanent risk of blasting pieces out of the playfield and losing the game on a dime makes me suspect this'll be the tougher of the two to finish. My end goal here is just to see the biggest cat you can merge to, since there's no unlockables.

September 14th, 2025

I went to Taco Bell instead of eating an acceptable dinner last night, but I did manage to play some shmups. The first of the two I tackled was Sol-Deace, a Sega Genesis game that felt rather challenging. It was not unfair, though. It took half an hour or so to get through the first level, as I am more determined than talented in this genre. It feels like memorizing where to put my ship and when is key here, and that's fine! It felt good to make progress here, so I'll probably try it again.

I also tried Macross: Shooting Insight, which I've had parked on my PS4 for a while. It is a sparkling train wreck in a way that I found kind of appealing. I was often not sure what I was looking at, losing to a boss kicks you back to the start of the multi-part level, idol songs suddenly get cut off by cutscenes full of character art in mismatched styles, and it just kind of feels crummy to play. Despite that, I had a decent time playing around with this! I have little to no interest in getting good at it, but the story is goofy enough that I'll probably keep going.

Before bed, I played a little of I Love Finding Cats to relax. While I do, in fact, love finding cats, the thought of playing Baking Time again made me want to scream, hence the sleepy game switch-up. It was completely fine.

September 13th, 2025

There was some noisy car rubbish going on outside last night, so I'm super sleepy today! I was originally going to have an intense crafting day, but my goals for the evening have shifted to zoning out with some shmups and eating a halfway acceptable dinner. I just dozed for an hour, so this feels very doable from here!

Last night, I indulged in some fighting game tourism, which is when I put fighting games on easy and zip through arcade mode a bunch of times. It's very silly and casual, but a lot of fun! I was playing Garou: Mark of the Wolves last night, which is a delight to just have on my Switch. The animation in this game is so beautiful, and it feels so excellent to play! I'm planning on buzzing through this as every character, so I started off last night with Terry. I got a little hung up fighting Kain at the end, even with the continue services to make my retries easier, but it was fun! I'm much better at pulling off specials than I used to be, which is satisfying, and I like this design for Terry. His coat looks comfy.

I ran through as Jae Hoon, too, a character that I'm less familiar with. He was okay, though! I had a lot less trouble with Kain, just from getting back in my groove with the game overall, and pulled off some satisfying kicks. I used to just use the same characters in this over and over, so it's fun to branch out a little.

I played Baking Time some from there, too, but it wasn't very interesting. It helped get me back to sleep after a particularly noisy patch of the night, though, and I'm glad for that.