What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
February 2023
February 28th, 2023
I was pretty wiped out last night, so my main game for the day was just more Disney Tsum Tsum. I did really fabulously at it, though, especially for having a beginner roster of tsums, so I was happy with this.
I also gave Stencil Art another go on my Switch, as a shut-my-brain-off-before-bed-game, and it still feels more like a super simple toy than a game to me. For what it is, it's fine, but without being able to pick the spray paint colors, the interactivity feels way too low, even for a game I'm looking to have put me to sleep.
February 27th, 2023
I'm posting late tonight because I had to log into work slightly early, as I eat a lovely meal of tandoori spiced lentils over rice. I am content.
Yesterday was a fairly okay day, once I cleared another fight with my internet provider. Thinking about games I hadn't played for a bit, I ended up really playing the hell out of Disney Tsum Tsum after watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I wanted to see why the app icon had changed to the Kingdom Hearts characters, but there was nothing special connected to that going on in the game itself. I got everything back up to the level where I can gain 1000+ coins per game, though, and that felt great.
Before bed, though, I wanted to play something I'd only given one chance before, so I played a Quick Race in Supersonic Tank Cats. It felt a little janky, but it was a free game, so I can't complain much. The colors were good and the tank cat was a tank cat.
February 26th, 2023
Yesterday was not a big game day for me, but I did, as I mentioned during yesterday's post, get my eBay-ed copy of Mort the Chicken in the mail and give it a try. It runs very strangely, but from the first level, I kind of enjoyed it. Moving with one analog stick and pecking with the other felt very old fashioned PS1 experimental, and they really put a lot of effort into their chicken puns for this game. I'll write more about it as I go, since this'll definitely be a game I keep up with. I don't think it's very long, and it has weird charm, which is enough for me.
For myself, I might try not to pick up any new games for a few days and spend more time with stuff I've started. My focus has been bad lately, but I've tried a lot of really neat games I want to continue. It will serve me well to actually do so.
February 25th, 2023
Today, I wanted to relax after a very intense work week, but ended up spending my morning trying to figure out why my internet bill had shot up 20 dollars and then getting my internet shut off for a little bit, whether intentionally or not. It was a headache, but buying a tuna sandwich and getting my copy of Mort the Chicken in the mail helped some.
Game stuff was okay yesterday. I was pressed by all sides, or, if I'm to be less dramatic, was reminded in two seperate situations, to play Sonic Adventure 2 again. It's such a fun game! The controls in the PS3 port I have feel a little slippery, but who cares. It has all the good stuff- bright colors, slowly hunting down chaos emeralds, Sonic inexplicably serving up the diss that Shadow is a "fake hedgehog"- it's a fun game and I enjoy playing it. I don't know that I'll play it again today, but it'll pop up again here tomorrow.
I also played Calm Colors before bed again. One of my frustrations with it has been that its a puzzle-assembly game where every single piece is a very similar triangle, making harder levels a tedious nightmare. Last night, I figured out that it was a color-by-numbers game and I had just somehow shut off the numbers. Smart stuff, right? I felt like a genius.
February 24th, 2023
I'm super low steam today, but I'm hoping that improves once some of the stressful points pass at work. I did play Calm Colors for a few minutes last night, and finished all the origami themed images. (The screenshot is not one of them.) Nothing happened.
February 23rd, 2023
Today's post is really small. I was tired last night and decided to finish up a craft project, so I ended up just doing five or so of the easier images in Calm Colors before going to bed. The horrible little gingerbread man puzzle still haunts me, but I'll take care of him later.
February 22nd, 2023
My computer was updating this morning, and then I felt way burnt out after clocking out from work, so today's post is super late! Yesterday, though, for a work event, I got to go bowling! The bowling alley had all of the "cosmic bowling" stuff on, which was really cool in the middle of the afternoon. Certainly, bowling is not a sport I am any good at, but I had a nice time anyway.
Once I got home, I decided to go back out and see the new Ant Man movie, which was fun, so I didn't play many video games. I did do my first pass at the next set of games in Warioware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$, for Dribble. I thought the taxi themed frame story was very cute, and liked the music in this level, too, but the minigames were a bit boring, compared to the last two sets.
February 21st, 2023
I remained in craft mode yesterday, but still did some dumb gaming. A few days earlier, I'd seen a few seconds of a very cute budget PS1 golf game, Putter Golf, on Youtube, so I went over to my neighborhood used game shop to see if they had it on my way to pick up lunch. Somewhat surprisingly, they did, and for 5 dollars, so I picked it up and played 9 holes. It's a really cute mini golf game, and I'll look forward to playing it more. I think my clear goal for this will be to beat all AI opponents on all three course types.
I played a little more of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, too, using the save states on the Sega Genesis Mini to turn it into a "one level before bed" style game.
February 20th, 2023
I haven't gotten past the cramps I was typing about yesterday morning, and got caught up in a cat themed craft frenzy to boot, so yesterday was not a good games day. I did play a few stages of the Scenario Mode in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, a Puyo Puyo reskin that, sadly, is not as charming and cute as Kirby's Avalanche. I don't have Kirby's Avalanche on hand, though, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is no less fun for not having Waddle Dee at the the party. I really like this game, and it's extremely likely that I'll play it more today. When I finish Scenario Mode, I might swap over and play Puyo Puyo proper, which is a cheap way to get an extra game clear, but also a delightful one.
My screenshots for this are just going to be my password photos, which I am taking in case I forget to make save states on my Sega Genesis Mini.
February 19th, 2023
I didn't feel so great most of yesterday, and have nasty cramps today, so I'm not very peppy. Yesterday was nice, though. I did a lot of crafts and spent a lot of time chatting with a good friend, so even with a stomachache, my vibes were very pleasant.
Gaming-wise, I didn't do amazingly, though. I played a Tails level in Sonic Adventure, which got me excited about Sonic games in general. I might play something Sonic again today to bask in the bright colors.
I played another couple levels of Kururin Cafe, too, since it's an easy, pleasant, casual match-3 game, and the "wow, this was previously only for Japanese feature phones!" deal appeals greatly to my worst nerd impulses. I wonder if there's any upper limit to the levels in it?
February 18th, 2023
I'm so glad it's Saturday, and the start of a three-day weekend to boot! It's nice to not have the weight of work immediately hanging over my head. Plus, the weather seems decent enough to go outside today, after some snow a couple days back, so I'm hoping to take advantage with a walk over to Starbucks this afternoon.
Yesterday was a really nasty work day, so once I got clocked out, I ordered a pizza and played Idiot Maiden, a game that I'd downloaded on a whim from itch.io. If you'd like to play it, too, here's the link!
Idiot Maiden was a cute, pleasant, sacrifice and summoning themed RPG Maker game, focused on puzzles rather than combat, and I really enjoyed the hour or so I spent with it! The puzzles themselves were decently easy, but not in a condescending way, and I liked the pixel art quite a bit. It was really nice, especially for a free download.
Before bed, I played Warioware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ for a little bit and got kind of frustrated that I can't unlock the last of 9-Volt's games. I might move forward and come back to it, more for my own sanity than because I think it's an undoable goal.
February 17th, 2023
My day in and of itself yesterday was easier than the one before, but I still felt slightly like a dead fish. I got my PS2 situation settled and back up to snuff, but by the time I finished work, I couldn't really muster the energy to play. I did sit for a little bit and play an indie horror game, Connection Haunted, on my Switch, but it left me pretty cold. In it, you're in an online FPS server, probably in the 90s, and it's spookier than a normal one. I don't know if I was tired, or if it's just a game that doesn't click with me overall, but it left me totally indifferent. One of the scary bits killed me while I just stared at it like "wait, what is this supposed to be?" and I just turned the game off. It seems mega short and easy, so I'll probably go back and try again later. Last night just wasn't the time for it.
February 16th, 2023
Yesterday was kind of rough. I had a stressful day at work, then got so tired I felt kind of disoriented trying to watch TV. From there, I went to bed earlier than normal and played Kururin Cafe, an older Japanese mobile game port to Switch in the G-Mode Archives collection. It's a cute, simple, tile matching puzzle game, but I hadn't played it for a few years, so I just started over.
February 15th, 2023
My saga of not being the sharpest tool in the shed continues today. I turned on Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu again last night, ready to move forward, only to find that Marin is not only unbeatable, but that the game loops the battle over and over until you can defeat her. It turns out that one of the messages she gave me was an instruction rather than just a fun fact, so I did manage to beat her, at the cost of burning out a lot of my power. I'm not sure how recovery in this game works, so I wonder if I'll have to start over and try to beat her again, without blowing so much cosmo power?
I did play ahead a little after this, albeit without saving, so I know I can survive at least the next two or three screens. I'm going to go back and do all that again while actually reading the dialogue my next round, though, so maybe I'll get some helpful info within that.
February 14th, 2023
Today is an office potluck, so I have some yuzu and soy sauce pulled chicken in a slow cooker across the room from me, just waiting to be inflicted on my coworkers. I'm super tired and feeling kind of low this morning, but the potluck is something to look forward to.
I did redo the opening battle in Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu last night, and both my guesses were right. The system required me to actively set the power levels of my attacks, and the AI adjusted itself so that once I figured things out, Marin killed me a lot faster. At least from here, I can move forward in my next play session.
This is not quite game related, but last night, I also bought a cheap TV table, a lamp, and an Amy Rose plushie to make my bedroom gaming area tidier and more livable. It wasn't very expensive, and it feels better than just having everything on top of a box. The bear in the middle was a gift from a student in one of my adult conversation classes when I was living in Japan. She brought it back for me from Tokyo Disneyland for just no reason, and since I wasn't feeling very cheery about a lot then, Shellie May here has inexplicably been one of treasures. (Thanks to Gummy for the "you should post it!" push on at least the Sonic plushie!)
February 13th, 2023
I lost track of time yesterday cooking and watching Succession, so I feel like the day got away from me. It was Sunday, so that's basically okay.
Despite that, I got started playing Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu on my Shonen Jump Famicom Mini, which is possibly not the most reasonable choice of RPG to make while Persona 5 Royal sits on my game shelf. I really want to play through a game in Japanese, though, and am inexplicably vibing with Saint Seiya lately, so I sat down with dictionary in hand to give it a shot. Then, I promptly got wrecked in the tutorial battle. I think I know what I did wrong, which is more an issue of "playing a bad game with no instruction book" than it is "lack of language proficiency," so, even though it lets me move forward after losing, I may still go back in to see if I can make any sort of dent in Marin's tutorial battle. Maybe it's unwinnable, but it'll let me try something before risking a game over out of bafflement.
I played Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ for a little bit, too, trying to get all of 9-Volt's games unlocked in my grid. Ater 40 minutes, only one question mark still taunts me. It's both a mark of good progress and indelibly frustrating.
February 12th, 2023
Yesterday didn't end up being so bad, and today is okay, too. I already made it to the grocery store, and am excited to have gathered the ingredients to make Japanese curry for dinner. Since I don't watch sports, I have a nice, calm, and empty day ahead, too. Next week is going to be a bit hardcore, so I'm grateful for the chance to chill. I don't know what I'll do, but that's okay.
I didn't really play many games at all yesterday. I wanted to start a relatively modern RPG, but had a bad, nervous feeling about picking one and ended up bailing on that altogether. I did play some more WarioWare, though, finally seeing all of Jimmy T's games and doing first clears for Mona and 9-Volt's sets of games. I really hate the "hit the nail" boss battle at the end of Mona's games, mostly because I suck at it, so a lot of my fairly limited game time last night was spent just trying to get through that.
February 11th, 2023
I'm glad it's the weekend, but it was hard to sit down and blog today. I did some crafts already, and went over to a store closeout sale where they marked up the prices of all the items before putting them on clearance. It's not the most above the board tactic, but it seemed to be working for them.
Last night, I played some of Warioware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! on the GBA app they added to the Nintendo Switch Online service. It was really fun! I'd played the Game Cube version before, back when it was new, but this one is new to me. My goal is to unlock all the games on these grids that it shows you on the menu, and I gave up last night with one question mark remaining on the Jimmy T grid, with all the sports games. It was kind of frustrating to go to sleep with such a tiny amount left to get, but ultimately, I did need to sleep. I'll keep going today!
February 10th, 2023
It was still hard to focus and do stuff last night, though I did make a very good lentil stew. The leftovers await me today, I'm mildly excited. I did play a round of Money Puzzle Exchanger before bed, though. It went okay, though I still have a good way to go before I'm remotely good at the game overall. I love when the screen overloads, though, and the combos just start flying, clearing so many coins away at once. It pushes good brain buttons.
February 9th, 2023
My attention span and focus were really poor yesterday, and a decent night's sleep didn't help much. I am worried about my productivity in the work day ahead.
The Nintendo Direct yesterday was fun, though, and I was excited to see that Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games got added to the Switch Online service! I used to really like playing Kirby's Dream Land when I was little, but could never quite beat the game. Last night, I cleared the basic game with no continues and felt slightly hollow. Still, it was very cute, charming, and fun, and the music in it is so memorable! I was really happy to get to play this again.
I then played Calm Colors to try and get myself sleepy, and hated the gingerbread man puzzle I was doing so much that I shut the game off. It did make me sleepy, though, so my goal was achieved.
February 8th, 2023
Somehow, yesterday, I got people to give me food all day, which is pretty much as good as it gets. I am quite thankful. Alas, though, how can today possibly compare?
Game-wise, it was a pretty minor day, though. I played a lot of the easy and medium puzzles on Calm Colors, and felt lucky to have unlocked more at that level. The "hard" puzzles are more engaging, but take so long that when I'm playing half asleep, as this game seems made for, I struggle to finish them. That's a pretty minor complaint to lob at a sleepytime game, though.
February 7th, 2023
I'm not approaching today enthusiastically. It's an office day, and I have to run errands after, so even if non-voluntary overtime doesn't hit, it'll be a long day where I have to eat dinner at a stupid time.
Last night was okay. Having been curious about the Square-Enix Marvel games, I tried Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy on Game Pass and was pretty impressed. I haven't played a lot of shiny, show-off-the-system games in ages, so wandering around the first area, I felt surprisingly like "wow, is this what this machine can do?" It's not even a super recent game; I can't imagine how I'll react to something that's actually impressive for people today! It was fun, too, but even if I can't squeak out the time for this tonight, I'll talk about the actual game more when I play further.
February 6th, 2023
It's the start of another work week, but I feel less existential dread about this one than the last. Last night, I stayed awake a little better than I have been lately, and played Blinx the Time Sweeper for a little bit, thanks to Game Pass. It's kind of clumsy to play, which I thought back on the original XBox, but the art direction is a lot more interesting than I remembered. The setup, where you get timed to find and defeat enemies within a stage, was pretty interesting, too. I had more fun with this than I thought I would, so I'll pick it back up.
February 5th, 2023
I wasn't home too much yesterday, and I'm actually not there this morning, either, instead doing free laundry and helping out with some cat stuff in another's home. Because of that, I don't have any screenshots today! I couldn't get the QR code reader on my laptop to work, and I'm a little too lazy to force it for a short post today.
Even though I was extremely tired last night and went to bed hours earlier than normal, I picked up a couple of five dollar games in the NIS sale on the Switch eShop and wanted to give at least one of them a try. Last night's victim was Penny Punching Princess, a brawler where you can bribe monsters to become summons instead of fighting them. I only played for 15 minutes, but it was cute and fun, so I'll definitely play it again, hence my total lack of concern as to the screenshots.
I'm off to watch a bigger TV than normal and do crafts, and I hope that all of you have decent days ahead, too.
February 4th, 2023
Finally, it's over! Using a mix of brute force grinding and power boost items, I cleared the final boss in StrikeForce Kitty last night! The main game was only a couple of hours long, but I think I spent well over 15 hours just level grinding to clear secret levels and the final boss. The ending was only one screen, too, which was kind of a letdown after all that. I got a lot out of this for a free game, though, and it was really cute! I will not go back and 100% this game, because I super don't want to, but I don't regret the time I spent on it, either. I'm really excited that I got through this game.
February 3rd, 2023
I'm really late posting today because today was a killer. I didn't sleep well a couple nights straight, and then I had car problems, tech problems, work problems, errands, and a trip to the grocery store, all delaying today's post.
Last night, though, I cleared the "secret boss" in Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, finishing off the game! It was a short and easy game, but I thought it was fun and'll play the sequel when that hits Game Pass for sure. I hope it allows for more document destruction.
I also ground out another precious stat point in StrikeForce Kitty, the RPG with the least balanced endgame I've ever seen. I swapped into using the Ghibli cats after scoring them all from the secret levels, and feel like I'm finally within reach of beating this game. I don't know if I will this weekend, because the level grinding has gotten kind of boring. It would be neat, though
For tonight, I'll play something, at least for a few minutes, but for now, I'm off to make some crispy dehydrated mandarin oranges! They'll be delicious, and it'll make my apartment smell lovely, too. Even a bad day can be improved by the power of snacks.
February 2nd, 2023
I spent way more time looking at vintage cross stitch and embroidery stuff on eBay last night than doing anything of note, so this will not be a great post today. I did spend a few minutes playing Money Puzzle Exchanger on Switch, though, which is a puzzle game I've given a few chances since first playing on PSP. In it, you match up Japanese coins to bring them up a value- so, five 1-yen coins become a 5-yen coin, two of those become 10 yen, and so on, up to 500 yen. The variable amounts of each piece that you need to match make this game interesting, and I'm sure the key to the whole thing is over combo-ing the 1, 10, and 100 yen coins that are only good for matches of five pieces or more. It's fun, and the character designs are cute, so I'd really like to get the hang of this someday. Redownloading the Arcade Archives port onto my Switch turned out to be a fun idea.
February 1st, 2023
It's the start of a new month, and it feels like January went by so fast! It wasn't an awesome month, nor was it the worst. In terms of this blog's topic, though, I cleared 4 games in January, which feels pretty decent. Three of the four were tiny Cube Escape games, but that's okay. I feel good about it.
Last night, I didn't do anything to get posting for this month off to a good start. I felt really tired, and one of my neighbors was playing really loud music, so I played Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Mega Mix on easy mode until things quieted down enough to sleep. The bass from the other apartment got in the way a few times, but I wasn't playing hard enough to care. Every little bit counts for my goal of buying up all the unlocks!
I also played a single, forlorn game of Disney Tsum Tsum, slightly thrown by the server I was on starting February a day early. I thought it was a US server, but maybe it's a general international one.
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