What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
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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