What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
August 10th, 2026
I'm giving my old Switch a second life as a portable arcade, which has been easy with the sorts of games I buy. Last night, though, faced with beautiful games from throughout history, I dove into Super Breakout. I'm more used to the 2600 and Game Boy versions of this, so the arcade version's paddle felt really tiny! As basic as this is, though, it's super fun. I'm awful at it, but I want to do better.
I also got back into Money Puzzle Exchanger, which currently feels like a frantic, prehistoric merge game to me. I only ever play solo mode in this, but like it quite a lot! It's high concept and maybe a bit much, but very addictive.
August 9th, 2026
I made minimal progress on model kits last night, and as far as games go, only played a run of Double Dragon II. I was playing this on a Game Boy shaped Evercade, which killed my hands, but I like the progression in this game. It's good stage planning to have a rural section between the city and the boss's castle, and the developers also understood that you don't mess with farm equipment. I don't love how much the bosses repeat, though.
August 8th, 2026
Last night, as I mentioned, I built a plamo of a very summery and cheerful Haro, that was in a set with some other Gunpla. It was small and easy, but cute, and it gave me an okay sense of accomplishment. It is pictured here with a Gundam Base Haro I built last weekend. I need to at least temporarily fight the instinct to get more of these little guys.
More relevantly, I'm in an arcade game mood lately, so I was messing with Capcom Arcade Stadium last night. I hadn't played Final Fight before, so I did a run through of that. My skill level was pretty dire, but I had a great time. It would be really mind boggling to go outside and see some guy with a sword fighting off a bunch of identically dressed girls doing jump kicks at him, but I guess that could happen any time.
I also did a really awful runthrough of Progear, but I'm trying to be nice to myself because I was sleepy. I had to use a Continue in level 1, though! It felt inexcusable. Still, I'll do better next time!
August 7th, 2026
I went to bed right after posting last night, and played a few puzzles in Puzzle Challenge: Crosswords and More for the PSP. This doesn't control particularly well, and it's weird that they just stretched out the PS2 version of this. An app like this would be full of ads, though, so I'm okay with that. It was nice to do a couple cryptograms and word searches without getting innudated with somewhat distressing mobile game ads! I think this will return for many more posts.
I will have some updates on my model building quest tomorrow. I am saying that now so I don't wuss out of posting the Haropla I just built.
August 6th, 2026
I'm really tired tonight. I have the vague feeling that I'd like to take a crack at building my stack of Gunpla and other mechs, but I've approached that tonight by laying flat on my back and thinking about building those model kits. I don't really want to customize them much, because I have a hand shake that makes painting and panel lining miserable. Intellectually, I know that's okay, especially since the kits look so nice even with small tweaks only! I give myself a headache thinking about how lazy I am and what a waste that is, though, then end up not building them. Still, it's fine to just take pleasure in building, so I'm going to do my best to get rid of those bad thoughts and enjoy myself.
Anyway, last night I played a bit of Monster Survivors, an ultra budget wave based Survivors-like on Switch that I honestly kind of like. I just wanted to get myself to sleep without messing up my Vampire Survivors save file, but I'd forgotten that this can build up a decent chaos level. The mobile game rubbish glued onto this game can be annoying, but it's fine.
August 5th, 2026
I have no internet tonight, but one of my coworkers gave me some really lovely zucchini bread with pecans and pistachios today. Internet outages suck, but baked goods are such a positive that this has remained a good day.
I am disappointed that I can't share any of the screenshots from the bizarre Chinese Famicom version of Pokemon Red I was playing, though! It was like playing a game in a foggy dream, where you know the details are off. I fought a Lass with two level 6 Nidokings in the Viridian Forest. It's fantastic!
I also tried some of the new color features in the Switch Online Virtual Boy app, too! They were nice, but I got really into Jack Bros, a maze game/shooter hybrid. I'd type more about this tonight, but I'm very sure I'll play it again soon.
August 4th, 2026
I was still not really vibing with games yesterday, but I started the extremely strange and cute Petz Catz 2. This is a Japanese adventure game for PS2 that Ubisoft localized as a Petz game, despite not being a virtual pet at all. It's very proto-cozy game-ish so far, but I think my cat and their cat friend are about to unleash some first-village-in-a-JRPG destruction on their cute little cat town. It's very interesting!
I also played Mario Kart 64 with one of my work friends, doing pretty spectacularly badly! My friend very kindly suggested that I might have been doing badly due to the Switch Online lag, but I honestly do think I'm just not so good at Mario Kart 64. That is 100% fine.
August 3rd, 2026
My heart was not in gaming yesterday, so I played a lot of stuff for five minutes each. I played a stage in Hyper Echelon and got frustrated by having to level up my ship and having a super big hitbox.
I played a couple of extremely bad rounds of Nubby's Number Factory, too, feeling like I was dying every stage after I got a neat upgrade.
I also tried Cyber West: Hidden Object, which was very strange, offputting, and interesting. I just fell asleep instead of quitting this one out of frustration or boredom.
Memories Off Pure went all right, too. A few screens of progress a day is still progress!
August 2nd, 2026
Yesterday, I kept up my quest to play through the games on my Legion Go to shuffle in some new ones. I finished up Out of Sight, which ended up taking over two hours! For a free hidden object game, I felt like that was pretty impressive, and a lot of the objects were genuinely tricky to find. It was nice.
100 Asian Cats was also free, but way less impressive. The cats weren't really hidden, and I felt like the art wasn't great, either. Even for a hidden cats game, I didn't like this so well.
I kept trying Nubby's Number Factory, too, which isn't really clicking with me. The aesthetic is really fun, and I love a mindless roguelike, but I don't feel like I have a path to succeed yet. It's satisfying enough that I'll keep trying, though.
I also kept plugging away at Memories Off Pure, and am still in the first scene. I got to make a choice, though, and picked the "bad" one because it was funny. I suspect this is going to kick me back to the start of the game when it all plays out.
August 1st, 2026
I crashed hard after work last night, so I spent a lot of time playing hidden object games on Steam. 100 Aztec Cats was totally middling for a hidden cats game, as only a couple of cats were actually hidden. It's not off my desktop, though, which is great.
I also played some of the rather nice Out of Sight, which is more of a spin-the-diorama style of hidden object thing. It's very chill and charming, but for some reason, it absolutely kills my Legion Go's battery. The back of the machine got so hot, but it's such a sedate game that I have no idea why! Anyway, I think I'm close to the end.
Once I had mouse controls on a controller figured out through Steam, I tried Nubby's Number Factory, too, which is a number hitting roguelike, I guess. That sounds negative, but I did have a good time playing it! I'd just seen it compared to pachinko, and think that's only kind of superficially true. That is totally fine!
I did not give up on Memories Off Pure, but since I didn't get the image on screen to change, I did not take a screenshot.
July 31st, 2026
I'm finishing off July with another repeat day, and I didn't even accomplish anything in Vampire Survivors! I didn't get a screenshot, either, but if you have been here before, you know what a Vampire Survivors screenshot looks like. It's busy.
I did get a character to pop up on screen in Memories Off Pure, though! I can understand enough to have a pleasant time here, even though I'm still looking stuff up. Language learning is not a big strength of mine, but mind-numbing persistence is scooting me forward.
July 30th, 2026
Today's games are just a repeat of yesterday's. I got to the main character getting out of bed in Memories Off Pure, which felt like a small accomplishment. I'm gonna see if I can get an actual character on screen tonight!
I also got a few unlocks cleared in Vampire Survivors, which I feel good about! It was fun, too.
July 29th, 2026
I'm really set on improving my Japanese reading right now, so I started Memories Off Pure, a Neo Geo Pocket Color visual novel last night. So far in it, a character has woken up, so I'm moving at a pretty excellent speed. Save states and I will get through this together!
I'm also very determined to finish all the unlocks in Vampire Survivors before the next DLC comes out. However, I cleared one unlock in the Emerald Diorama DLC and was given 8 more to finish, so this may be a more uphill battle than I expected.
July 28th, 2026
Things got back to normal for me yesterday, other than an internet loss that cost me today's screenshots. That is ok, though!
I played a few more stages of Splatoon Raiders, which is still a good time. I need to switch up and level up some alternate weapon loadouts, though! The game encourages experimentation by having different treasures in some areas depend on which weapons you hop in with, but I need to do a bit of levelling up first.
I also went back to playing Hypnosis Mic: Alternative Rap Battle: 1st Period on the Switch, which is a port of a Japanese mobile rhythm game. I want to be able to read the text easily, as that's a big part of this, but for last night, I was just playing the rhythm game side of things.
July 27th, 2026
I finished up my Chicago trip yesterday with a morning craft supply, stationery, and snack run at Daiso, then I drove back and spent most of the day at home. I still didn't really play a lot of games, though. Before bed, I did end up playing a few more stages of Splatoon Raiders. I'm still really enjoying this! I'm not very good at it, but levelling up and trying again makes it feel like I'm able to make big progress.
July 26th, 2026
Yesterday was the second day of my weekend trip, so I was busy again. I rode around the suburbs with my sister, getting kebabs, browsing a K-pop shop, and, thrillingly, stopping at a Meijer for Pokemon cards. It was nice! Once I was on my own, though, I ventured out to the Fashion Outlets of Chicago to go to the Gundam Base USA! It was a super nice store, so I picked up a few exclusive kits, and also had to have staff fix a gachapon machine full of mini Witch From Mercury Gunpla because one of my pulls taped itself to the inside of the machine. It's not cheap to go to a Gunpla store in general, so I don't think this'll be a regular big city weekend stop for me, but I'm glad I went! It was fun.
Games-wise, though, I just played a few games of Solitaire FunPak for the Game Gear before bed. It wasn't very smooth, at least not compared to more modern solitaire games, but it was fine. The take on Pyramids in this is brutal, though!
July 25th, 2026
I was on the road most of yesterday to go to a concert, seeing Metric and Broken Social Scene tour together. It was really great, and put me in a lovely mood! I saw Metric maybe about 20 years ago now, when they were touring for Live It Out, and was so happy to see them totally on point, sounding great, and in a better place myself! However, I was going 13 hours straight of travel, the show, and getting back, so my only gaming yesterday was three horrendous rounds of Columns. This is sometimes just how it goes.
July 24th, 2026
I'm getting ready for a busy couple of days here, so this will be another quick post! I picked up Splatoon Raiders, though, since my lack of competitiveness is what got in the way of the earlier games for me. So far, it's really fun, and the composite cables my character wears in her hair (?) are really cute! I plan on putting some more time into it over the next few days, so I will have more to say about this as I go.
July 23rd, 2026
I still wasn't super well organized or sorted last night, so I ended up just playing a few rounds of Q-Up before going to sleep. A light game to help with sleeping is wonderful to have.
July 22nd, 2026
Last night I got caught up visiting family, cleaning, and sorting an order of Pokemon cards, so I just played three rounds of Luck Be A Landlord last night. I fell asleep during the third round, so I felt that this was immensely successful.
July 21st, 2026
I messed up at productivity tonight, so here's a quick post on yesterday! First, I played N64 Mario Golf with a friend!
Then, I tried Miraness Fitness, a Mickey Mouse Fitness Boxing game.
Last, I played some Virtua Fighter R.E.V.O. World Stage! Kicking is fun!
July 20th, 2026
I was still set on finishing games yesterday, so I kept chipping away at the stuff downloaded onto my Legion Go. I'd had a visual novel called South Scrimshaw Part 1 on there almost since I bought it and finally tackled it yesterday. It ended up maybe being my favorite visual novel. It's a fictional nature documentary about interplanetary marine biology, and it's very lovely! It's only an hour or so long, but I really got locked into it. I'm excited for the eventual next part!
I also finished Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic, which is a very easy PG-13 anime girls version of Qix. It was fine, because I like Qix, but I wish modern Qix games were better.
I kept playing Luck Be A Landlord, too, but made absolutely no progress. It was still fun!
July 19th, 2026
I am having a particular kind of anxiety that has me driven to finish games, so I finished off the Warhammer Survivors demo yesterday. It was a really nice time, and as extensive as 5.8 hours seemed for a demo, the Steam page said there was going to be a second demo, too! I will gladly play that, too, but I still feel accomplished having this demo done.
I also did a second play through of Quest Arrest on Evercade, since it was bothering me that I hadn't seen the bad cop bits of the game. I shot every criminal instead of arresting them, which made me feel way worse than I expected, but did unlock some new story bits. In a couple spots, though, my behavior was so atrocious that however the game read morality rolled over to saying I was behaving well, including at the very end. It was still satisfying to feel like I saw more of the game, though.
More mysteriously, I also tried the Game Boy Color version of Cubix: Robots For Everyone: Race 'N Robots. I saw a video about how bad the PS1 version was and was like "oh, I bet the Game Boy version is even worse." It was cute, and the second track had some really neat chiptune, but the handling was so bad I took video of myself playing and sent it to a friend to more effectively complain about it.
Finally, I played some runs in Luck Be A Landlord, but didn't get a screenshot because it was super late. It was fun, though! I forgot how much I love this game.
July 18th, 2026
I crashed almost instantly after posting last night, so I fell asleep chipping away at the demo of Warhammer Survivors. I got really close to the end of it, so I was left with high hopes for the future.
July 17th, 2026
I am sorry I was so dramatic here yesterday. This was not really the space to have an ongoing panic, but everything worked out in the end! I am ready to have a rest-heavy weekend.
I was playing stuff to try to chill yesterday! I spent the most time in Cardboard Towns, a roguelites, deck-based city builder that satisfied both my fondness for incremental improvement in rougelites and my desire to build a cute little town and then see it catch fire. This game might become a tool in my anti-anxiety arsenal.
Much later, I played some Crazy Strike Bowling because it seemed mindless. I unlocked a new set of lanes and then the game crashed, though, so I, being sophisticated and mature, got mad and quit. Luckily, when I checked, the new area was still there post-crash, but I was not in a mood to put up with that rubbish.
I got close to the end of the demo of Warhammer Survivors, too, with only a few weapon levelling and evolution missions left. 46 missions feels like a lot for a demo, but it is a lot of fun!
July 16th, 2026
I'm doing the most fun sort of posting anyone can, which is posting while waiting for a telehealth appointment! I've been so run down and upset lately, and felt that I did not want to mess around with the cold symptoms I've been having the last few days. As such, my gaming last night was extremely low key. I played Zodiacats on Switch for a few minutes, intending to finish it but instead doing two puzzles and remembering I think the game is boring.
I also tried a game I had stashed called A Cat In Dungeons, which is a small puzzle game about getting a cat out of progressively complicated rooms. I almost finished it, but fell asleep at level 44 of 50. I needed the sleep, so that was fine.
July 15th, 2026
My heart was not in it last night, so I played the demo of Warhammer Survivors for about 20 minutes and went to sleep.
July 14th, 2026
I sat down to start tonight's post and heard an explosion outside, which I am really baffled by. I'm assuming someone just set off a firework too close to my building, but it was still pretty startling! I'm off my game now.
As far as games go, I am feeling weirdly overwhelmed by them right now, but that will be okay. I did an arcade run in Soul Calibur II because it seemed fun, and it was fun.
I tackled the load of games I've got on my Legion Go with a story mode run in Battle Fantasia, too. I had this on XBox 360 back when it was new, and it didn't click with me then. When I saw it on Steam, though, I decided to give it another chance and am so glad I did! It's a very charming RPG flavored fighter, but I think back when it came out I didn't like that it was slower than Blazblue. Now, though, I'm looking forward to playing it a bit more!
I also played some more of the Warhammer Survivors demo, finishing up the 40K side of things. I don't know anything about Warhammer, so the significance of the split between worlds is lost on me, but I still have half of the demo to play! It will be fun.
July 13th, 2026
This is a fake post written on the 15th because I accidentally deleted this at some point. It took me forever and going through backups to realize what I did, but here is my stunning Mario Paint art. I absolutely do not remember what else I played this day's yesterday and would rather go to bed than try to remember.
July 12th, 2026
Yesterday I just played Pokemon Blue for a while, which I hadn't done for a while. I might keep this run going, but I haven't decided yet! It certainly won't be a fast playthrough, but that would be fine. I'll see what I decide to do, though.
July 11th, 2026
It was so hard to get myself to post today, but I played quite a lot of stuff yesterday! I was taking a small break from turn based games.
Lately, I've been fixated on PSP, so I ended up playing an hour or so of Zendoku: Sudoku Battle Action. This is a game where you play sudoku while Warioware style minigames are thrown in your way, which is surprisingly intense. I made it almost through an "arcade ladder," since it's set up like a fighting game, and unlocked a few characters on the way. The final boss was very stressful, so I ended up quitting to take care of dinner. I'm going to defeat them eventually, though!
I wanted to get a second course unlocked in N64 Mario Golf, too, so I did that. I unlocked Luigi while I was at it, too, which was nice! It looks like it'll take quite a lot longer to get the third course, but it will be worth it.
Very late at night, I tried Spongebob Squarepants: The Patrick Star Game on GamePass, too. I'd heard it was like Goat Simulator, but to me, it felt a lot more toylike. I don't know if I'll keep going in this or not, but it was really nice! You could go to a theme park and try all the rides, go draw pictures, and all sorts of little activities. It was pleasant, and I think if games could have done this much when I was a little kid, I would have gone crazy for it. As an adult, however, I do not want to do missions to help Plankton because I have a sophisticated and reasonable moral code. This usually doesn't affect my real life, but it's a big problem as far as this game goes.
July 10th, 2026
I didn't want to play games that much yesterday, but I saw the second ending in An NPC's Odyssey, finally granting me closure in my journey with this game. It's a simple, totally ok little RPG, with some typos, a save bug, and a very good joke about pallet swaps, but it bothered me that I wasn't truly finished with it! I am now satisfied enough to delete this game from my Switch.
July 9th, 2026
Yesterday, I was feeling really down and a little sick, too, so I ended up curling up with my Switch and bouncing between games. I tried Arietta of Spirits, which I got for a couple dollars in a sale a while back. It's a really nice 2D action RPG so far! I will go back to this.
I want to get the second ending I never saw in An NPC's Odyssey, so I tested to see if the save files were broken overall, or just broken at the ending choice. The save system mostly works, so I will move forward with this.
From there, I played Pokemon Sword before going to sleep. I hit some story stuff and didn't want to do the next route after that, so it was a short lived session.
July 8th, 2026
I was not successful last night. I got home from work and played a Backrooms-themed browser game on itch.io, intuitively titled The Backrooms for a couple hours. If you're curious and would also like to zone out to this, you can play it here! It's a very simple, endlessly looping game with some neat pixel art tricks up its sleeve, and I played it way longer than I meant to, realized what I'd done, and ended up running to a convenience store to buy dinner.
That kind of threw me off for the rest of the night, so I didn't have time to play Pokemon Sword. I'm wanting to clean up some of the RPGs I have going, though, so I picked up Sephirothic Stories and ran through a couple of sidequests to remember where I am here. From the times given on How Long to Beat, I think I'm about halfway through this, if not more, so it should pop up here again soon. It's a powerfully okay game.
July 7th, 2026
I feel so panic-y tonight, which is very unpleasant! I can still pull this post off, though! I played the N64 version of Mario Golf online last night and had a great time. I always host for Switch online, so I need to unlock some more courses.
I got set on adding ten Pokemon to my Pokedex while I levelled up in Pokemon Sword last night, too, and managed that by wandering around the Wild Zone. I feel like this is kind of a messy part of the game, but it's an interesting spot to level grind.
July 6th, 2026
I'm kicking off this week really unexcited to be awake, but I took Thursday and Friday off work. I only have to make it through three days before I can veg out, and one is already over!
I took out the third gym in Pokemon Sword yesterday, which was a nice time! The mission beforehand being to catch and fight Pokemon felt a little anticlimactic because that's just what you do in this game, but it was fun to make a big turtle spit at several animals that were on fire and cool with it.
I went back to Forbidden Solitaire, too, which is such a goofy little horror game and also a very solid version of Tripeaks. It's fun to be picking cards for a nice, casual round of solitaire and be like "ew, no, not a maggot card!" It's a really interesting genre and gameplay combo, and kind of reminds me of jamming random genres together in Game Dev Story.
July 5th, 2026
I'm really hooked on Pokemon Sword, so I played it while my siblings and I were sitting around indoors yesterday. We were all playing games, so it wasn't as antisocial as it sounds, and it is a breezy enough game to chat through. Not paying much attention whatsoever did make the switch puzzle in the second gym harder than it needed to be, but I got through it and extensively wandered to face the game's next challenge! Usually, going through caves in these games is kind of boring and dull, but the mines in this have enough sparkles and color tossed in that they're not so bad.
While I did chores in the morning, I bounced in and out of an XBox incremental game called Legend of Fireball. I really didn't like it much, since the aim controls for the fireballs were really touchy and unfun, but I got all of the achievements out of spite and shut it off. It's a fun idea, but I just wasn't having a nice time with it.
July 4th, 2026
Today is July 4th and I am currently declining to make a salad because I don't wanna do it. I am using this blog to procrastinate! Unfortunately, I just played more of Pokemon Sword last night, so there's not too much to say. I fought the first gym and got two lovely Meowths, both of which were great, and I'll probably try to fight the second gym today. It's very exciting stuff!
July 3rd, 2026
I played another hour or so of Pokemon Sword last night and am really loving this so far. It is still a very linear, laid back feeling game, but the Pokemon battling as a sport theming gives such a good sense of how Pokemon affect this world's pop culture. I've played a lot of Pokemon over the years, but this is maybe the first game where I've felt like the world building so quickly showed how everyday people relate to Pokemon. This might just be due to sports culture making for an easy sort of shorthand, but it's cool! I'm excited to play more of this.
July 2nd, 2026
Last night I tried my copy of Pokemon Sword because I'd heard it was bad, but instead, I found the first 90 minutes or so to be very charming! I was surprised how linear it is, but liked it enough to start that I think I'll play through the story.
July 1st, 2026
It is the first day of July, and it's a little less intensely hot than yesterday. Last night, I finished off The Cat of Monte Cristo, which I only had a few minutes left in. It was a very small, goofy RPG, and it made me glad that people have the tools to make the games that spring from their hearts.
I gave Revelations: The Demon Slayer a try, too, which got off to a good start. I can't get any monsters to join my party yet, but I imagine I'll figure out how to steer the conversations in time. It's a nice thing to find while I'm in RPG mode!
June 30th, 2026
It's been really hot, so I've been struggling to stay awake, even at work or during craft time. I was zoned out last night, but did play a game of NES Open Tournament Golf online, really badly. My friend won with +95, and I was at a smooth +126. Golf games seem to have gotten easier since this.
I went to bed really soon after that and pressed forward in The Cat of Monte Cristo, feeling like I was getting close to the end. It did not help me get to sleep, but I don't think anything would have.
June 29th, 2026
I finished Metro Quester last night! It was an interesting experience, as I simultaneously felt freed of a curse and extremely fond of the game overall. I did really enjoy this, and am planning to play the sequel soon. Yesterday, though, I got way too into it, feeling like I couldn't do anything else until I finished it off. I think I need quite a break before I get into the next one!
With Metro Quester done, I played a little bit of Pokemon Violet, just to run around in 3D for a few minutes. I spent most of my Pokemon playtime totally lost, and that is fine.
June 28th, 2026
I was totally wiped out yesterday, so I don't have any screenshots here. I tried Hydilide for the NES in the morning just because I could, and it was fine! Even with a few guides open, I managed to get a bit lost, but I respect that save scumming is baked into this very early RPG.
Other than that, I played some more rounds of Namco Legendary Mountains, and really badly at that.
I played some Namco Legendary Mountains in the afternoon, but it was totally unremarkable. I do have a screenshot from this, but I don't want the game to start getting a big ego so I'm not using it.
Right before bed, I tried to force myself to sleep with a couple of rounds of Vampire Survivors. It worked, so that was nice, but I didn't get any unlocks.
June 27th, 2026
I'm starting today's post with the game I haven't been playing non-stop, just to mix things up a bit. I was messing with one of my little fake game boys and found Disney Princess: Royal Adventure, which seems to be kind of a non-violent RPG aimed at little kids. I like the concept, and the sprite work is soft and nostalgic. Kids-game-wise, though, I feel like there's a mismatch between the amount of reading it expects the player to do and the color/shape based minigames it tosses around in lieu of battles. I haven't taught for a while, but I feel like a kid who would be ok with the reading might be bored by the minigames. As an adult who is weirdly fascinated by old licensed games for girls, my biggest problem is that the player character, Lily, walks so slowly! I'll probably keep going with this just because it can't be long enough to be too much bother, but the walk speed was driving me crazy last night.
Other than that, I played some more rounds of Namco Legendary Mountains, and really badly at that.
I also kept on with Metro Quester, finding myself a little stuck at a couple of bosses. It was really late, so I'm guessing that's a bigger issue than the actual game difficulty.
June 26th, 2026
Yesterday was kind of just a repeat of the day before's gaming. I played a lot of Namco Legendary Mountains, loving the Namco game specific stages. Stuff unlocks like crazy in this, too, which is very effective in keeping me playing round after round. I was able to merge up to the biggest item once yesterday, but I feel like there's a lot more I can unlock here!
It turns out I lied yesterday about taking a break on Metro Quester. I am not as close to the end as I thought I was, so there's still exploration to be done. I am pleased by this.
June 25th, 2026
Last night, I picked up Namco Legendary Mountains, a 3D Suika-type-game, because it looked cute and very fun. I, in fact, did feel that it was cute and very fun, so please look forward to the specter of voxels haunting this blog for a bit.
I also grinded away at Metro Quester, which I might start pacing myself on for a bit. Item collection isn't the most exciting thing in the world here, and it would be fun to find a tiny weekend RPG to focus on.
June 24rd, 2026
I played Metro Quester pretty briefly last night, and was pleasantly shocked to see the last bit of the game in sight! I don't have much to say this post, since I was mostly just squirreling away materials yesterday, but I am feeling good about this run.
June 23rd, 2026
I'm kicking off this week mega sleepy, so I just kept on with Metro Quester last night. I finally found a party member with good stats to level up a bit, but I need to get better weapons to fight a boss I'm stuck at. I'm still pretty tired, despite a good night's sleep, but I'll probably work on that tonight.
June 22nd, 2026
Yesterday sucked, but I quit doing everything early and played Metro Quester for a while. I made it over to the second half of the game already, and think I'm doing better with damage per turn than I have been in past runs. Of course I'm overthinking this, but it's still enjoyable. The vibes of this game are just perfect.
I wanted to play Pokemon Trading Card Game, too, so I did. It's not much of a story.
June 21st, 2026
Yesterday I finished off the second map in Dragon Ruins, which was enjoyable! My party the second round wasn't as tough as the one I picked the first time, but the map layout was a lot more fun. It balanced out, and I added the sequel to some wishlists so I could grab it when it went on sale. RPG time has been fun lately!
However, just because everything has been so much fun, an Android update has left most of my apps unable to open on wifi. My XBox sends screenshots to a tablet that can't use data, so I have no screenshot of my latest victory. Oh, well!
I pushed forward with my latest playthrough of Metro Quester, but my luck's been pretty terrible as far as getting new party members with okay stats goes. I think I can plausibly take out the final boss with my starter party, if I can find and upgrade the right equipment. I don't want to start a fourth run, so I'll figure this out regardless!
June 20th, 2026
The guidebook for Metro Quester, a game which has tormented me, got posted for sale on the developer's itch.io page. It's not translated, but I can push through Japanese enough for that not to be a big issue. Plus, now that I have the potential party members' stats in hand, I have the false confidence to make a third run at the game! I got started on that last night, but didn't get very far.
Unfortunately, Metro Quester does not make me sleepy at all, so I played a stage in Vampire Survivors to get myself to sleep. I knocked out a few unlock achievements, which was nice, and slept decently.
June 19th, 2026
I had craft night last night, but still wanted to keep going with RPGs last night. I ended up playing half on hour of Cat of Monte Cristo, a very strange RPG Maker game I got on Steam. I got past catboy Edmund Dantes's escape from prison last night, and then got together a party to go fight a kraken. Even though I know this is a short game, I ended up stopping before a boss and grinding a little. The random encounters were taking a little longer than I was comfortable with, knowing a giant monster was ahead, so it seemed good to boost my party a bit. I'll go fight the kraken next time I play this.
June 18th, 2026
Last night, I finished off Kabuto Park, then stretched my game time by getting all of the achievements. This game made me so happy to play! It's low stakes, pleasant, and all the characters seem to be having a good time. Plus, I was surprised how in depth the battles got with just a little over 40 bugs and some shiny variants to play with. It was short, but that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to have a focused experience instead of a sprawling adventure, and I'm glad I took the time to play this.
Before bed, I also turned on Wordtris, which I hadn't played in ages! This is a falling blocks puzzle game where letters fall and you have to make words. My family had it on SNES, and I liked it because when you get a wild card, a voice goes, "huh?" My dad would then imitate that little voice clip and as a grade schooler, that was the height of comedy. It also lets you spell "ass," and donkey or not, that felt really scandalous to little kid me.
It's hard to spell much with random letters dropping, and the game's dictionary is frustratingly limited, but I still enjoy it. I will probably come back to this from time to time.
June 17th, 2026
I got woken up by tornado sirens today, so I'm kind of crashing. Last night, though, I tried Kabuto Park on Game Pass and found it extremly sweet and charming! It feels like a small game, but has so much cheer and cuteness that I was really taken by it. The bug collection and battles are really fun, too! I'm very enthused by this game.
I chipped away at the second map of Dragon Ruins, too, only stopped by my own exhaustion. I'd like to clear this game soon, but sleep is probably more important.
June 16th, 2026
Today was a weird day, but I managed to rally and get things back in order after a bad morning. Last night, I did end up playing Sea of Thieves with one of my work friends. I felt so in over my head, but it was very enjoyable. It seems like doing the hunting and fishing character path might be fun here, so I'm considering playing some of that during the week.
I have remained dedicated to making a little bit of RPG progress every day, which I didn't actually achieve. I wandered around the school in Pokemon Violet, which I hadn't really done yet. It was charming.
June 15th, 2026
I finished off Fortuna Magus yesterday, which was a very adequate little RPG. The extremely high encounter rate was the worst part of it by far, but the story was ok, the battle system was ok, and it was a nice way to pass the weekend. Focusing on a small game like this stopped me from worrying too much about the week ahead, so I felt refreshed and ready to go this morning. It was a good feeling!
I also played the tutorial in Sea of Thieves so I could play it online tonight. It was so vibrant and bright that I didn't mind being totally turned around by the first person perspective too much. Being able to go underwater was so lovely, too! It left me looking forward to playing a bit more.
June 14th, 2026
Yesterday was a dreary, slow day, so I put a Kemco RPG, Fortuna Magus, on my tablet and tried to finish it in one day. I did not manage that, but it's a completely okay little RPG. The encounter rate is completely out of hand, I think because the game wants me to pay to get rid of random battles. I don't actually mind that, though. Dispatching monster after monster kind of enhanced the sleepy, chill vibe I was after. I'm hoping to finish this off today.
June 13th, 2026
Yesterday was a bit too busy to do much gaming, but what I did play was interesting. I booted up Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for Game Boy Color before bed, thinking it would rip my thumbs apart and destroy me like SNES Disney games did. It was, instead, a very easy mix of 2D item collecting platforming and minigames for little kids, with some hideously blobby digitized screenshots from the movie. I did like the character sprites, though, and ended up running through the game in its entirety to put myself to sleep. I was not the target audience for this, but it got me past feeling jittery and put me right to sleep.
I played just enough of Dragon Ruins to level up each of my party members once, too. Small progress in an RPG is still progress!
June 12th, 2026
Last night I pushed forward in my quest to actually finish an RPG by going back about 6 months to keep going in Faery: Legends of Avalon. I don't know what to make of this at all. I don't hate it, but it feels like I'm flying around and doing fetch quest after fetch quest. It's kind of charming, though.
I also did one of my remaining "Defeat 100,000 enemies in one run" unlocks in Vampire Survivors. It was ok! I still have some of these in the DLC achievement lists, and that's completely fine.
June 11th, 2026
I tried another Survivors-like on Game Pass last night, Beatdown City Survivors. This one was pretty good, too! The gimmick here is destroying the environment to turn the arena into a death trap, which lets you electrify flooded sidewalks and explode cars, all while rushing to bust up a fire hydrant and wash off some toxic waste. It's a fun setup, and even though I can see its potential, so far, I am only using it to kill myself. After putting so many hours into this genre, though, it's nice to have a learning curve again! I'm looking forward to putting lots of hours into this and Deep Rock Galactic Survivor.
I wandered around Pokemon Violet, too, testing the game's willingness to let me jump into a river on Miradon. I succeeded briefly, and long enough to do at least one battle, but for the most part, the game did not respect my dreams.
June 10th, 2026
Last night I wanted to try some new games, so I downloaded a bunch of games off of Game Pass and then proceeded to only try one of them. It was pretty fantastic, though! Barndoors, who not only does some of the best stream-of-conciousness blogging I've read, but also has a radio station and a page where you can watch Gunpla hypnotically spin, recommended Deep Rock Galactic Survivor in a post comment. So did one of my co-workers, but I can't remember which of them it was and, as such, don't have so much to say on that front.
Survivors games are one of the very few things that help me sleep, good or not, so I am always glad to try a new one. Deep Rock Galactic Survivor stands on its own really well so far. You play as a miner, so while you are surviving all the little guys who want to kill you, you also have some degree of control over your surroundings. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet, but I'm sure I can use this to route so many who wish me harm straight to their doom. I'm looking forward to it!
I also tried Defenders of Oasis, which seems like it'll be a pretty basic JRPG. It's a Game Gear game, so that's fair enough! Having this in a fantasy Middle Eastern setting rather than a fantasy European setting makes a lot of difference, though! It's nice for a game to have a vibe that's not so common.
June 9th, 2026
I bought an R36S as a cheap emulation device I could throw in my purse without worrying about it. However, I love it and I will worry about it if I throw it in my purse. I did order a carrying case for it, but I'm also set on seeing how many gameplay hours I can get out of it before it dies. Hopefully it holds out until the carrying case shows up.
Anyway, I'm right on top of things, so on a whim, I clicked to play the GBC version of Portal Runner. This is now the only Army Men game I've ever played, and I love how I could make the toy girl ride a lion and kick a wizard to death. It's clumsy to play, but dumb in a way I was really enjoying.
As far as normal games go, I continued my Pokemon Violet journey, taking on my first Team Star base. I almost died to the leader's Pokemon powered Mad Max truck, but it was so cool I wouldn't have been mad. It's fun when video games are silly.
June 8th, 2026
I hit a general burnout point yesterday, not for any apparent reason, but it won't really affect anything here. It does mean that I forgot to get a screenshot while I played Vampire Survivors, but it is not like I was going to have anything unique to show off there.
I put some time into the alternate maze of Dragon Ruins, too. I went with different classes for my party this time, and so far, I feel like they're a little weaker than my first squad was. That's no problem, and it just means I'll need to go a little over level 20 to face the titular dragon. I like this "Remix" map a bit better than the original map to balance things out, just because I think the twisting hallways and sharp turns are neat.
June 7th, 2026
I was lazy yesterday, and as such, did a pretty good amount of gaming. I'm really excited for the new DLC pack for Vampire Survivors, so I was grinding away at the pre-existing achievements. I finally finished the original base game set, and played some of the bonus levels while chatting away totally incoherently at one of my friends. The new pool level granted me the ability to throw a big fish, and 2 am was not the correct time to try and express my joy at such an event.
I finished one playthrough on Dragon Ruins, too, but am not quite done with it yet! I liked my first run, which took about 3 hours, enough that I'm switching up my party and playing through again on the remix map. It's a pretty simple dungeon crawl, but quick and enjoyable, too.
My last game for the day was Pokemon Violet, where I mostly just wandered around catching new Pokemon. It was laid back and enjoyable stuff.
June 6th, 2026
Last night I crashed really badly, so instead of working on my RPGs, I just played a round of Vampire Survivors. An update had just gone through, which was exciting, but I was too worn out to mess with the new stage or characters. Instead, I just picked up my last achievement in the Among Us DLC. I still have to finish the adventure mode from this, but I felt somewhat accomplished getting all the achievements.
June 5th, 2026
I'm really glad Neocities didn't go down permanently today. I have site backups, but setting up elsewhere sounded like a hassle, and I would have missed all the sites I follow, too! Plus, I'd probably be late with my post tonight, which would drive me crazy for days.
Anyway, I wanted to buzz through a small RPG and started a first person dungeon crawl called Dragon Ruins last night. It's stylish and easy to play, even if I'm following everything on the map rather than trying to solve the maze on the larger play screen. I'm excited to see if I can hunt down the dragon tonight!
I went back and fought the "first" gym leader in Pokemon Violet, too, which was too easy at this point. It was still nice, though, and I might go pester Team Star next.
June 4th, 2026
Yesterday, I did my first gym battle in Pokemon Violet. The game feels like it has such a big scope that I was really surprised to be overlevelled for it, especially since I was doing this gym a bit out of order! The town was so cute, though, with a lovely hedge maze and cheery flowers everywhere. The difficulty was off, but I was so charmed by it all.
My solitaire journey kept going, too, but it was a bit halfhearted. I worked on the daily event until I got sick of it, then just played a few rounds of Pyramids. I'd never played Pyramids before, but it's a decent card game. Free Cell is the only one I haven't liked so well so far.
June 3rd, 2026
I'm having a mid-week crash, but luckily didn't do much yesterday. I was overthinking my Pokemon Violet party composition last night, but didn't actually make any progress.
I kept on my quest to get all the achievements in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, too! It was super pleasant.
June 2nd, 2026
Yesterday was a no RPG night, as I played N64 shooters with after work. Goldeneye was the main one, and didn't give me any motion sickness! I'd had to ditch co-op in Halo with the same friend a while back due to my guts rebelling against me, and I still feel crummy about it. If Goldeneye worked, and Turok 2 wasn't bad, either, there has to be more I can play out there. Perfect Dark took me out in less than one round, though.
I got it in my head that I'm going to get every achievement in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, too. This seems a bit daunting, but it's solitaire, so it'll be fun and relaxed.
June 1st, 2026
Today is the start of June, and I have two goals for this month related to this site. First, I want to at least get my month pages and navigation back in order, as I have been a lazy mess and made this site messy, too. Second, I want to finish an RPG. I think I can do both, along with some craft, work, and pen and paper game goals I've got, too, but from the start of the month, everything feels so daunting!
Yesterday was a bit busy, so I just did some basic levelling up in my current RPGs. I spoke too soon about the weapon and armor prices being reasonable in the first Final Fantasy, as I have quite a grind ahead to get all the magic I'd like to buy in the elf town. It's not totally unwelcome, though. This is pleasant to play.
I'm fighting the temptation to build an all flying type team in Pokemon Violet. I love how many cool little birds are in this game, and even though I'd get destroyed in electric battles, it would be so fun! I might do five birds and giant bugs, with one rock type for balance. It's great to have a gimmick in Pokemon games.
May 31st, 2026
It's the last day of May, and I am in a shockingly low mood! I'm trying to fight it off with crafts and project planning, but it's not working great. That's ok, though! Tomorrow is another day.
I'm feeling pretty good about having an RPG rotation, so I played more of Final Fantasy yesterday. This game moves really fast, and at least in this first part, I don't feel like the prices to upgrade my equipment are too brutal. Plus, I like that floating eyeballs are a big problem at sea. It must make cargo shipping in this world just a nightmare.
Over in Pokemon Violet, I fought and defeated my first Titan. The sense of scale in this game, whether it's my character up against a kaiju sized Pokemon, or just standing on a cliff and looking out of the world, is really nice. I'm a big fan of 2D games, but even the biggest overworld sprites never conveyed scale in the way this is managing. It's really cool!
I played Sunseed Island for a little bit before bed, too, which was a decent way to get to sleep! Since I've exclusively been playing this game while dead tired, I didn't realize until last night that I could refill my stamina with food. It makes sense, so I do feel dumb, but it'll make the rest of this easier.
Over in mobile games, I ran past my dailies in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, feeling slightly frustrated. I'm having some trouble levelling up in a decent amount of time, which is not good when the game itself is "a bullet heaven, but slower and with minimal upgrade options." It's not terrible, but it does mean I might not do all that much reward chasing in this after I have event stories cleared.
May 30th, 2026
I feel very suddenly zoomed in on RPGs, because I have great focus and of course this is going to be productive for me. I acted on this by starting Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, which seems like a convenient, but not beautiful way to play the first Final Fantasy. I used the name randomizer to great effect, ending up with a party led by a monk named Yubert, and am enjoying how straightforward everything is. My XBox isn't saving my screenshots, though, perhaps because it knows I disrespect its all caps rebranding, so I have no postcards from yesterday's journey.
I played Pokemon Violet for a while, too, heading over to the first Titan's area. I just didn't care about the gym last night and wanted to see some new scenery.
May 29th, 2026
I'm very sleepy today, but in a positive way. I took the day off work and went to make a little beaded potted plant at a local arts center, and I've been doodling and gluing little sparkly gems to stuff otherwise. I'm trying to do a little craft, or at least something creative daily, and even though it's not helping with my sleep whatsoever, like I'd hoped, it is a nice feeling.
In an effort to help with my sleep, I played Vampire Survivors for a while last night. I got to sleep soon after playing, but woke up super early. That's not the game's fault, though. One of the Balatro DLC characters just lets you equip up to 100 passive weapons from the standard level up menu, and I want to use this to somehow cause problems for the game.
I did some extra play past my dailies in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow again, too. I hit a point where I need to level grind a bit to clear a stage, so I might work on that some this weekend. I have a ticket to go beat up some metal slimes, so it won't be too bad.
May 28th, 2026
I needed to regain some HP last night, so I just played mobile games, with a special focus on Dragon Quest Smash/Grow. There's some new missions to chase for the series' 40th anniversary, which is fun. I also forgot this for a week or so mid-event and am catching up a bit. I enjoyed this for a pretty reasonable amount of time, then got some decent sleep.
May 27th, 2026
I kept waking up over and over last night, even though my headache lessened a little. It was unpleasant and I'm hoping to rest better tonight.
Last night, I played Pokemon Masters EX after my dailies were done, trying to knock out some event tasks. It was a solidly pleasant time, and I gathered piles of new party members. I don't feel at a disadvantage as a free player in this at all yet.
Before bed, I played some Pocket Quest, too, really matching the heck out of some gems. It was not exciting, but I didn't want to play anything exciting.
May 26th, 2026
I have a really nasty nighttime headache, so this won't be my best post. I got quite a bit further in the demo for Warhammer Survivors, though. It really threw off my Memorial Day coleslaw making schedule, but I did get to see that this game has kind of a party-based mechanic connected to weapon selection, which could be interesting! I also started evolving weapons and unleashing mayhem, which was great.
I played Pokemon Champions a bit past daily quests, too, trying to scum through some of the weekly quests. They're interesting in that they're getting me to use some Pokemon I wouldn't normally try, which is neat.
May 25th, 2026
I have a really nasty nighttime headache, so this won't be my best post. I got quite a bit further in the demo for Warhammer Survivors, though. It really threw off my Memorial Day coleslaw making schedule, but I did get to see that this game has kind of a party-based mechanic connected to weapon selection, which could be interesting! I also started evolving weapons and unleashing mayhem, which was great.
I played Pokemon Champions a bit past daily quests, too, trying to scum through some of the weekly quests. They're interesting in that they're getting me to use some Pokemon I wouldn't normally try, which is neat.
May 24th, 2026
Yesterday, I finished off an incremental game I'd been playing, called MMO98. I don't find this kind of game very interesting to write about until it's done, so I haven't kept up with the clickers I'm playing here. This one only took two afternoons to polish off, though, and it was more active than I expected. The idea of it is that you're a late 90s MMO development studio, so the "numbers-go-up" stuff comes from developing game sequels, building data centers, and leeching data from the player base. It has a good aesthetic, but once I had all the upgrades, I didn't have any enthusiasm about going back to play again and get the other ending. That is ok, though! I mostly liked this, and it was a good game for clearing out my brain.
I started Bubsy 4D, too, since I'd been excited for it to come out. Movement-wise, there's a lot going on with it! It has a lot of really quick feeling aerial platforming, and I'd say my only problem with it so far is that it wants the player to learn all of the moves for that all at once. It's a small-ish game, from what I've heard, so there's maybe not the room to spread out the tutorial like there would be in a more-AAA platformer. It's a little daunting! Even not knowing what I'm doing, though, it's fun, so I'm looking forward to getting good at it!
Most neutrally, I tried Pokemon Champions, too, which is just Pokemon Stadium but online. I don't hate it, but I can see dropping it because there's just not a ton going on. I'm really fixated on Pokemon right now, though, so I'll play at least for a while. The dailies are fast, and that might help me keep it up.
May 23rd, 2026
Because I was reading last night, I didn't end up with much game time. I did plod forward a little in Pokemon Violet, though, doing a raid and making a nice little cheese sandwich. I'll probably have a better post tomorrow.
May 22nd, 2026
I didn't feel good after getting off work tonight and did the normal thing to recover, which was reading an 1890s Danish novella about trapeze artists for whom horniness was the greatest tribulation, followed by a memoir about the Titan submersible, in one sitting each. I also ate some soup. It gave me a lot to think about.
Anyway, I'm posting late tonight, but I just kept on with the setup stuff in Pokemon Violet last night. It was pleasant, and I continue to find this game very charming.
May 21st, 2026
I didn't play any games until right before bed last night, and decided to go to sleep with some rounds of Columns. I hadn't done this for a while and was as terrible at it as ever. Towards the end, though, I either got slightly better or just got more confident because I was falling asleep. Either way is fine!
May 20th, 2026
One of my friends asked me if I'd tried Bloody Roar yesterday. I hadn't, but faintly remembered picking the first one up on PS3, as a PSOne classic, so I tried it. The whole turning into giant animals that punch each other is one thing, but the real draw is that you can fight some guy named Greg and knock his hat on the ground. It was a neat game, though. Maybe it was a little more deliberately paced than I'd expected, but certainly not sluggish, and as I plodded through an easy arcade playthrough as Long, I felt like I was getting to grips with how it played pretty quickly. It's goofy and enjoyable, with nice, bright polygons, and I think I'll probably play more.
May 19th, 2026
Last night, I just played Vampire Survivors for a while. I kept on the adventure mode I was working on the night before, and it was nice! I slept well, too, so that was also good.
May 18th, 2026
I had forgotten that I picked up Toree Saturn ages ago, so it was a big delight to load it up and play it yesterday! I do like the Toree games in general, but this one is above and beyond 1 and 2. It plays like if the Sonic/Shadow levels in Sonic Adventure 2 only had running and zipping through the air parts, and it is a total delight! I played through the story mode yesterday, but I'm going to go back in for some collectibles. It's so fun that I don't want to just set it down so soon!
I also picked Hyrule Warriors back up, trying to decide how to move forward with it. I played some story mode back on Wii U, as one of the two or three games I actually played on there, so I'd been messing more with Adventure Mode. I want to go back to the story mode, though, so I might get back into that soon.
I did play some before bed Vampire Survivors, too, starting Imedla's adventure, but I guess I didn't get a screenshot. The church level it started off with was neat, though, and I'm looking forward to going further.
May 17th, 2026
I remained not super excited about games yesterday, but I did play some. I tried out Sky Force Anniversary, a shmup with upgrades and levelling, and really enjoyed the start of it! I do not mind level grinding at all when I'm zoned out, so it was nice.
Before bed, I played some Vampire Survivors to clear my brain out, too. It was the best I'd been able to sleep in days.
May 16th, 2026
I didn't want to play video games much yesterday, but I played a few minutes of Space Invaders: Infinity Gene on my lunch break. It wasn't really enough to get a decent grip on the game, but it seemed like a very stylish way to update Space Invaders in those first few levels!
May 15th, 2026
This weekend, I want to get back to fighting games and Pokemon, but yesterday, I did neither. I finished off Fashion Holic, which was frustratingly strict and limited, but an ok way to waste 90 minutes nonetheless. I cleared the last mission by wearing white to a friend's wedding and got the same feeling I imagine people having when they run over a pedestrian in a Grand Theft Auto.
I also played a little of Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, which was a lovely time driving around in circles. I am not good at this game at all, but I did feel satisfied with the couple of achievements I nabbed.
May 14th, 2026
Sleeping is still an uphill battle this week, but I had the energy to try a few new games yesterday. I spent the most time with Forbidden Solitaire, which is a faux retro horror game and also a very solid game of Tri-Peaks. I had a lot of fun and think I will end up finishing this off Saturday or Sunday.
I also tried Slipstream, which is a bright and cheery OutRun type game. I tried auto-drifting and am not sure if I liked it or not! It was a nice feature, though.
Right before bed, I didn't want to get involved in Pokemon or a fighting game, so I finished off the day by starting Fashion Holic from the Samsung Instant Plays store. It's a pretty inflexible dress-up challenge game, but it seemed like an okay time-waster and has a concrete end in site. That's enough to get it tossed up here.
May 13th, 2026
I didn't sleep the night before last, so I was super zoned out yesterday. I mostly did crafts, but before bed, I tried Black Jacket on Game Pass. It's a blackjack roguelike, and so far, it seems okay. I'll probably try it again, but I'm pretty neutral on it so far.
May 12th, 2026
This week, Pokemon Go has a challenge to walk 42 kilometers, the equivalent of a marathon. I kind of think I can do it. One of my friends was really encouraging about it, too, but she has more faith in me than I do myself. I'm going to give it a shot, though. Maybe I won't make it, and I'm not sure where all I'll walk when I'm not at my office, but it will be fun to try.
Anyway, last night I played the second half of Kirby's Dream Course while Discord chatting with one of my work friends. I'm not sure what to make of this game! It's perfect for playing casually while chatting away, and it has some really neat and creative level designs. I love the look of it, too! I maybe think it's a little tedious, though. Multiplayer is totally fine, and I'd happily play through again that way, but I don't have a lot of interest in single player. It's super well made, but maybe not for me.
For my fighting game run last night, I played Akira's arcade mode in Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage. Usually, I do not enjoy playing as Akira, but I might be getting used to him. This was fine.
May 11th, 2026
I'm posting late tonight, but yesterday was really a fun games day! On GamePass, I tried Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, which I didn't expect to be any good. In fact, it is a solidly playing Smash Bros style roguelike where eventually I'll be able to play as Norb and Dag from The Angry Beavers, which is game quality I could not have possibly have forseen.
I went back to Tekken 8 while I had my XBox on, but just did Alisa's character episode again for a dumb little project. It's important to have activities at hand.
I also played some Pokemon Violet, but rather than making progress, I bought sunglasses and cute shoes. It made me want to replay Fashion Dreamer and see how it is now that the servers are offline.
May 10th, 2026
Yesterday was more of a craft day than anything, so I didn't play games so much. I did go back to Soul Calibur 2, pushing ahead in Weapon Master mode and doing another arcade run.
I also played some more Pokemon Violet, not making any real progress but feeling very charmed by how the wild Pokemon will trot right up to see what I'm up to. It's so cute! I don't really want to fight the little nosy guys, so my levelling is maybe a bit lower than it would be at this point in other Pokemon games.
May 9th, 2026
I coped with my standard Friday night burnout last night through lots of games. I picked up a 6 dollar Switch fighter called Weapon User, because it looked somewhat busted and I couldn't find any information on it. It is better than I expected, but has some choppy animation and a lot of strange jank. I kind of like it, though. It feels like someone's passion project, and it plays well enough that I'd like to go through all I can in it. My fighting game skills are so low compared to where they were at my best, though. I need to practice, just at the genre in general.
I also went through Soul Calibur 2's arcade mode as Taki because it made me feel powerful.
Right before bed, I played Pokemon Violet for a while, too, continuing to catch back up to where I was. This game is so charming that I don't mind much, but I want to get back to where I was.
May 8th, 2026
I went out to dinner with family and then did a treats run at Walmart last night, so I got home late and ultimately only played Dragon Quest: Smash/Grow. I've mostly just been doing dailies in this, which gets me far enough. Last night, though, I was able to focus in a bit more on both the main story and the first DQ game's event. It was fun, and I felt like I made good progress!
May 7th, 2026
Last night, I restarted Pokemon Violet so I can play it alongside, but likely way slower than, one of my sisters. It runs a little better on Switch 2 than it did on the first Switch, but that seems so silly to me! It should have run fine on the system it came out for. Other than that, I'm still way at the start, so I don't have a ton to say. It'll be fun to go a bit further in this!
May 6th, 2026
I wanted to take a bath, but there was no hot water, so now I am posting to kill time. Yesterday was a pretty lame day as far as games go, though. I didn't play anything until right before bed, and then I just ran through a couple levels of Nonograms: Prophecy on my old Switch. This was a free holiday giveway download, but it seems ok for that. I didn't get a screenshot because it was really late when I played, but I think I quit while going through some 8x8 puzzles. I can't say I'm hyped to play more of this, but it's nice enough that I probably will.
May 5th, 2026
Yesterday, getting a new phone set up without my dearly departed phone available to help was a big pain in the butt, so I didn't do much gaming. While I did other things, I ran Heiwa Parlor! Pro: BunDori King Special, a PS1 pachinko game. I saw all the riichi animations, or little animations the slot machine plays before you might win, within an hour and a half. In the atari (jackpot) sequences, though, the game showed me some truly wonderful little claymation weirdos. There's nothing too special about this PS1 pachinko other than the little clips of weird claymation guys, but I love them so much. They bring me great joy.
May 4th, 2026
My phone died this morning, so I lost my game photos from yesterday! I did not love this because I played Happy Match, an ultra simple memory match game, on my 666-in-1 Famiclone. Happy Match is not great even for a game for little kids. It only takes about 2 minutes to whip through and pop back to the title screen, which is way too short! The card art is easy to tell apart at a glance, though, which is nice, and it functions totally fine. It's just kind of a nothing little game. I did want to make sure I had a screenshot of something so obscure, though, so I went back and played it again tonight to get one.
I played some Tekken 3, too, but did not bother to go in and get an image for that. It's just the tiniest bit better known than Happy Match, so I felt less obligated.
I lounged around and played Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage for a while in the afternoon. I picked up the old fashioned polygonal model DLC again, since I find it charming, and'll probably use it for the rest of the game. It was very practical.
May 3rd, 2026
Yesterday I got set on the idea that I need to clear one game on each gaming device in my apartment, and started with Animal Blocks. This is a mahjong solitaire game I hunted for through a few cheap portable famiclones, finally finding it on one that looked like a PSP in red plastic. It's pretty deeply flawed, with tile designs that are a bit tough to tell apart, graphics that make it really hard to see how the tiles are stacked in bits, at least one aggressively difficult layout, and crummy music. That being said, I sat down and played it in one pretty enjoyable two hour sitting. I was in the mood for an unfair and slightly incompetent mahjong solitaire challenge, and after clearing all 10 stages, I called myself a god of tile matching in at least one text conversation. Animal Blocks is really not very good, but I had a satisfyingly frustrating time with it and'll probably play it again.
May 2nd, 2026
I was wiped out last night, so my only gaming was some material grinding in Dragon Quest: Smash/Grow. It was nice to finally get some class levels taken care of, but I just went to bed rather than playing anything else. It was the right choice.
May 1st, 2026
I got my internet back yesterday, so I was able to play the Switch 2 port of Virtua Fighter 5: REVO World Stage. It felt so good to play! Virtua Fighter 5 in general always feels so fast and graceful to me, like I'm able to make the game move in a way I can't achieve with anything else. I know that's silly, since I'm not even good at it, but it makes me so happy. I look forward to playing it for ages while my first party Switch 2 games languish in a corner.
I also played Dragon Quest: Smash/Grow for a while as I watched an 80s monster movie at my mom's house. I chipped away at the in-game event and tried to move the story forward a bit. It was very okay gaming!
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