What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
April 2025
April 24th, 2025
I could only sleep for a few hours last night, which is making it exceptionally hard to accomplish things today. For example, I typed that sentence and then went to work on an anime music playlist for half an hour. I'm doin' great!
Anyway, as far as games go, I played a few rounds of Luck Be A Landlord before I pulled myself off of it last night, which was fun.
I also played through the first chunk of the segmented super easy mode that awards gacha tickets in ESP Ra.De. Psi. It was also fun, and I unlocked a second psychic teen to dress up.
April 23rd, 2025
I'm a bit stuck in a loop with games right now. Shmups have really been helping me with my anxiety when I actually play them. It's hard to worry about work, or housing, or health when I am trying not to let my little ship/airplane/psychic teenager get hit by one of a hundred brightly colored projectiles on screen, and I need that sometimes. Plus, G-Mode Archives+: Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi DX has really nice music. Counterintuitively, I've been finding it very soothing to try to get good at this game.
Buffet Boss, for what it's worth, just kind of puts me to sleep, but that's fine, too. My bigger concern here than the tedium is that it'll end too fast and I'll have to find another game that knocks me out this fast.
April 22nd, 2025
Last night, I took a wonderous journey through all of what gaming has to offer. In 100 Istanbul Cats, I found 100 cats.
Then, in G-Mode Archives+: Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi DX, I died thrice in some harrowing, but sparkling and aesthetically pleasing aircraft battles.
Finally, in Buffet Boss, I carried a lot of buckets of fried chicken at once, certainly more than I can in real life. Gaming is magic.
April 21st, 2025
My allergies are a challenge tonight, so this'll be a pretty quick post tonight. I played Where Rabbits in honor of Easter, but despite being a rabbit finding game, it featured a rather fantastic cat. The art in this particular series of Steam hidden animal cheapies is always super cute, though, and this was no exception.
I tried out Valis II and, though it's tricky, am enjoying it so far. The version I have on my Switch is a port of the PC Engine version, which isn't a system I'm super familiar with. The cutscenes are neat, though! Plus, it's a big innovation to make a game about a young woman who is forced to jump a lot when she's objectively terrible at jumping. I'm sure it's a metaphor and not just the game being slightly janky.
I also burned more time with Luck Be A Landlord, which is the number one obstacle in the way of my productivity.
Before going to sleep, I played one of the weird stick figure guy mobile ports that cost 20 cents on Switch, Buffet Boss. It was mindless, but soothing.
I played Ensemble Stars!! Music for a little bit, too, though that was earlier in the day. I'm too sleepy to rearrange the post now, though, so it's stuck at the end of everything.
April 20th, 2025
Yesterday, I played 10 different games, which was fun while I was in it, but a little daunting now. I'm just gonna go in order, though, and start with my morning coffee over cat finding games. I started the day with Cat Search in the Wild West, which was a cut above a lot of the hidden cat games I've been playing. Most of them were just hidden with color tricks, but that was fine, and made it a little more challenging. There were also humans around in a town with cat wanted posters, and I wanted to know how the cats managed to disrupt human law and order to such an extent that this measure became necessary.
After that, I played 100 Waiting Cats, which was not super standout in any way. It was cute, and I got to find cats, but there was nothing particularly good or terrible about it.
My last game of the morning was Cat Slide Tiles, a little path building puzzle with controls that were driving me crazy. It's cute, and I played 15 of 80 levels, I think, but the touch screen tile sliding was super finicky! I will come back to this, as the puzzles are decent, but the controls make it a lot less fun.
After a small period of productivity, I picked up a cheap lunch from Taco Bell and booted Metro Quester back up. I quit this game in frustration about six months ago, feeling like I was backed into a corner with a build that couldn't beat the final boss. I just started over rather than trying to rebuild my whole party in the game's last stretch. Since I understand the game's systems better now, it's going to be a much less daunting journey, and I'm going to be more careful about what items I get, too! It's still fun, and I am going to beat it this time.
My allergies were bad and I was feeling a spot tired, so I played Rabio Lepus Plus at random on my Miyoo Mini+ before taking a longer-than-intended nap. It was challenging, but I had a lil' bunny ship and it could get a bow for its ear as a power-up! I didn't get past stage 1 yesterday, but I can see coming back to this when I'm feeling slightly less miserable.
While I had Metro Quester back on, I picked Ensemble Stars Music back up, too. The rhythm game is still fun, but sadly, I have forgotten how this game works and who the vast majority of these characters are. That won't really stop me, but it was a spot weird to consider how long it had really been since I last played, towards the start of this blog. It's cool to play this on a tablet that can handle the stage animations, either way.
After dinner, when I intended to post here, I played Luck Be A Landlord for hours. I cleared a few floors of the apartment building, and got the in-game info that if I clear any floor six times, I'll get a new item type to use, which'll be my new mission in this. It was really excessive, though! My play session in this is maybe my only actual regret from yesterday's gaming marathon. My ability to moderate was broken.
From there, I got some stuff done before hitting my final patch of gaming for the night. That kicked off with the Atari 2600 port of Astroblast, which I'd never played before and am awful at! I started to get the hang of the paddle control sensitivity and the game as a whole after 30 minutes or so, but I think it'll take me quite a lot of time to get even okay at this. That is totally fine, but I was a little shocked by how awful I was at it.
I bounced over to Switch after that, and was enough in a mobile rhythm game headspace from Ensemble Stars to try Hypnosis Mic Alternative Rap Battle: First Period. It's flat out just a Switch port of the mobile game, with event stories and 73 songs if my late night counting was correct, which is great! I think more mobile games should have ports like this, even if they are low effort cash-ins, for preservation's sake. I can't wait to put 500 hours into this nonsense without worrying about paying into the gacha or anything.
Finally, I did a few more puzzles in Kemono Friends Picross before passing out at the end of my day at excess gaming. It was an appropriate end to things.
April 19th, 2025
I have played a lot of games today, and I am going to be mad about this when it's time to post tomorrow. Yesterday, though, I was pretty reasonable. I spent a lot of time on Luck Be A Landlord, because it is fun, but didn't clear any runs last night.
I played a few easy level missions in Skycat right after work, since my lunchtime had been pushed pretty late, but got a little bored and quit.
I played Kemono Friends Picross really badly before bed, too. If this game penalized errors, I would have been on each puzzle ten seconds at a time. It doesn't, though, so I was fine.
April 18th, 2025
I was worried about the weather last night, so I played Pretty Girls 2048 Strike through to the end. It took hours, which I don't usually do on a work night, but I needed to turn my brain off. I came out of this still really liking 2048 as a battle system, though, even though I wasn't too enthused about the art. Some of the character special moves felt pretty cheap, especially the one that sorted all tiles from smallest to largest, but the final set of levels was tough enough that it stayed satisfying.
I grabbed a few stars in Super Mario 64, too. They were all decently easy, aside from my struggles with the camera, since I'm still really early in the game.
April 17th, 2025
Today was tiring and stressful. I got off work, ate a big sandwich, and played games while watching Youtube tornado coverage to try to convince myself that I won't die when these storms hit my area overnight. I'll say more about that tomorrow!
Last night, I started my latest go at finishing Super Mario 64, a fun game that gives me killer motion sickness. It's not as bad as it was on a real N64 on Switch, though, so I'm going to see if playing in handheld mode, one or two stars at a time, is doable. If I can get through this puke free, maybe I'll retry Spyro next.
After that, though, I did retreat back to 2D gaming with a couple more tries to 1CC super easy mode in Esp Ra.De. PSI. I got to the boss in stage 3 both times, for two different characters, so I felt good about getting better at this!
April 16th, 2025
I played several games for just a few minutes last night, starting with Cats Hidden in Paris. The Travelin' Cats games I've played, including this one, have been pretty decent, and I was tempted to buy the Steam bundle of them last night. Buying a bunch of new games would defeat the purpose of my 100 games cleared in 100 days nonsense, though, so I resisted. I can go on an unreasonable, but ultimately low cost shopping spree after I've found thousands more cats!
In Vampire Survivors, I actually reached a new level last night, which made me happier than it should have! The library does not seem as good as the forest so far, but I'm excited to see what comes next!
I also played some casual games with PG-13 anime girls pasted on top. Bishoujo Battle Mahjong Solitaire is well paced with a good timer, nice layouts, and challenges that don't feel like they waste a lot of my time. The anime girls in it feel like they're from something, which would make more sense than their just being chosen at random, but I don't really care. I like mahjong solitaire, and this is a decent version of it. I'll probably keep playing.
I did a few stages of Pretty Girls 2048 Strike while I was at it, too. I'm getting close to the end of this game, but the battles are still fun. I'll have to find another version of 2048 to think about when I should be doing something more productive after this.
April 15th, 2025
I had a meds switch that's making it super hard to sleep, and tonight I'm right on the precipice of crashing and falling into my twice-weekly deep slumber. Because of that, I'm not at my most enthusiastic about posting tonight. I started and finished Where Cats last night, though. It was fine, and very calming after work.
I also had Spirit City: Lofi Sessions running, but turned it off after I hit 100 tasks on my Thursday-Monday to-do list. I'll do it again this weekend, but I got tired and gave up last night.
I played some Vampire Survivors, too, and actually did pretty well. It was fun.
April 14th, 2025
Yesterday, I did a little catch up on my game clearing goals, starting with Where Jellyfish + 450. This was essentially exactly what I want from one of these Steam lineart hidden animal games- there were 550 jellyfish in a cute bit of art, some of which were decently hidden. I wish all of these had 500+ things to find on the screen now. It was very satisfying.
I played Romeow: To the Cracked Mars, too, having played the first game in this series back in January. It was maybe a little easier than the first game, and even shorter, but I thought it had some nice twists on the spatial navigation puzzles, too. It was solidly ok.
Out of a perhaps misguided desire for productivity, I also had Spirit City: Lofi Sessions on in the background for most of the day, getting another of the kitchen spirits as I clicked things off my to-do list.
Finally, I played a few rounds of Vampire Survivors before bed, but didn't play them particularly well. I cleared a few achievements, though, and have an idea of which ones I'd like to go after next.
April 13th, 2025
I got back to chasing 100 game clears in 100 days yesterday, but wasn't in the mood for finding cute animals. I'd raided some itch.io bundles I had on hand the other day for quick finishes and ended up playing Please, a creepy little walk and push buttons game. This only took about 15 minutes to get through, but it had some decent environmental storytelling and neat looking texture warps all over the place.
I also started and really dug into Ace Angler Fishing Spirits M, the mobile version of a Japanese arcade game about fishing. It's a game with quick levels and a lot of flash, so it adapts well to the mobile format, and if I'm understanding everything correctly, this may be a mobile game with a concrete end, too! I was weak and paid three dollars to remove the post-level ads, but since that would have given me less than 15 minutes of play in an arcade, I don't really regret it. I'm sure all the shiny fish will make for very exciting blogging.
I went back to chasing my one-credit-clear on super easy mode in Esp Ra.De. PSI, too. I wasn't doing well last night, but hadn't played for a while. If I keep at it, I'm sure I'll get my 1CC!
April 12th, 2025
Last night, I wanted to try to clear a beat-em-up, so I turned on The Gladiator in the IGS Arcade Collection, a set of Taiwanese arcade ports for Switch. It's a bothersome game collection, with bad sound and game screenshots blocked, but I liked the game anyway. It had cool sprite art, good character variety, some fun boss battle dialogue exchanges, and nice combat, too. I decided I wanted to take a little more time with it, so I set it aside after two levels and will go back to it when I have a decent chunk of time.
I did some more Mega Picross puzzles in Kemono Friends Picross, too. I'm starting to get the hang of the "this number stretches two rows or columns" patterns, which makes me feel smarter than it should.
April 11th, 2025
I found a decent cat finding game last night with Seeking Cat, an extremely cute game I'd gotten cheap on Steam. It had lovely, very tactile 3D art, with one of the stages even having some magazines I remember my dad having scattered around the floor, multiple screens, and several cats that were actually half-decently hidden! It's one of the better ones I've played lately, and I was very charmed by it
I was trying to be productive, so I had Spirit City: Lofi Sessions on last night, too. I picked up the kitchen themed DLC when it came out, and this was the first time I'd actually messed with it. I love that you can edit the colors on the new outfits, and it should be fun to gather the new, food-themed spirits.
I also started back in on Vampire Survivors. It turns out nothing makes a game easier to appreciate than playing a couple low-tier clones of said game.
April 10th, 2025
Yesterday, I felt stressed, so I turned on G-Mode Archives+: Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi DX because I thought it would be interesting to play a Japanese feature phone port of a bullet game on my Switch. It was choppy, somewhat blurry, had muffled sound, and was extremely fun. I've never played a normal version of Ketsui, but I got very locked into this, collecting the little scoring cubes and dodging hundreds of lovely pink and blue video game bullets. I was using easy mode for the auto-bombs and got to level 3, making me feel like I can definitely see the end of this. Plus, it just stops after one credit, so I'm about to have a very weird first-ever 1 credit clear.
My game clear yesterday, which is less interesting in retrospect, was 100 Robo Cats, a find-the-cats Steam game where cats frolic with mechs. It was good because of the theming, but a little lame because the cats weren't actually hidden. This is such a common issue with these games that it feels a little rude to complain. I know what I'm getting into.
I fought through a couple more levels of Pretty Girls 2048 Strike, too, getting unnaturally fired up at my ability to match numbers. This is such a fun battle system that I'm still taken aback by it being in such a silly anime girl exploitation game. Even after I clear this, it will stay on my Legion Go forever.
April 9th, 2025
I'm pretty sleepy tonight, but last night, I ran through Where Ferrets on my Legion Go. It was extremely cute, but lacked the "side missions" the other Where Insert-Animal-Here games I've played so far had. That doesn't make this game worse, but it does mean it only took me five minutes to get through. As crummy as I felt last night, that was totally fine.
I played a few stages of Kemono Friends Picross, too. This game is serving me very well before I go to sleep lately.
April 8th, 2025
My brain is melted tonight, but I played quite a lot of stuff yesterday. I will do my best for a decent post! I played a short adventure game on my Switch yesterday afternoon, called A Cat and His Boy. It was a very small, focused, and sweet game about a cat's ability to share good vibes, and I'm glad I finally sat down and played it. The controls in the platforming section were slippery, and some of the game story sequence bits were somewhat funky, with characters being in two rooms at once. I like having the chance to play smaller, more personal games like this on a console, though. A bigger variety of games on hand makes this hobby more fun!
I also tried Lawn Mower on my Tetris mini arcade machine yesterday. I've actually played some of Lawn Mower before, on more traditional Famicom-on-a-chip systems, and it's ok for an unlicensed game. The timing is tight on grabbing fuel cans, but since that's basically the whole game, I don't have a problem with it. What I can say about this play session, though, is that the joystick on the mini-arcade cabinet is excellent! I could move my little lawn mower with so much precision, and though I still suck at this, it was a much better play experience than I've ever had with this game before.
The rest of my gaming for the night was all before bed business. I did a couple rounds of Pokemon Pinball because it's very fun, but played them badly. It would be kind of fun to fill the whole Pokedex in this, but I don't know how possible a goal this is.
Finally, I played Kemono Friends Picross until I forgot what the concept of numbers represented, and passed out for the night directly afterwards.
April 7th, 2025
Last night, because I always play normal stuff, I started Hidden Mysteries: Titanic for the Wii. The instruction book really emphasizes how every puzzle and hidden object screen is tied to the story, but the story has me stealing eggs and using mummy shrouds to set off smoke alarms on the Titanic. I love how bonkers so many of these hidden object adventure games are, but the motion controls are probably going to slow me down here.
I cleared Luna's Fishing Garden yesterday, too, and it was really cute! The end bit of the game dragged a little, since I felt like there wasn't a ton to do while I waited for resources to stack up, but it was very sweet and pleasant! The pixel art was really nice, too.
April 6th, 2025
I don't feel very creative today, so it was hard to get myself hyped up for a post here! I tried inZOI last night, though. It was my birthday present to myself! It feels way more fishbowl-ish to me than Sims, which I'm completely okay with. My character, a trainee K-pop idol who chain eats bowls of yellow soup in her studio apartment, is very self-directed, and I kind of like that. I feel like I could run this game while I did crafts or even worked on this site without all hell breaking loose. It was peaceful and slow-paced.
I'm still sticking to the "100 games in 100 days" concept, too, so I played Where Birds yesterday. It wasn't nearly as good as Where Ghost Cats, which I'm not just saying as a joke. The art is a little less cute, but as far as the side objects, go, the humans are too easy to find while hiding a balloon in a coconut tree just feels a little unfair. It was okay, but pretty mid-tier for a Steam 100-hidden-whatever game.
I kept going with Pretty Girls 2048 Strike, too, hitting some higher difficulty battles and merging numbers until my eyes lost their power to focus. I'm maybe not responsible enough to have 2048 with a battle mechanic on hand, so I am taking a break from this today.
Other than that, I did a few battles in Fire Emblem Heroes. It was fine!
April 5th, 2025
I had to work late last night, which is my favorite thing to do ahead of a long weekend, so I buried myself in casual games after a late dinner. I had it in my head that I could clear 100 games in 100 days, which is certainly true if I mostly play hidden cat freebie games on Steam. It would be satisfying, if not a bit silly.
That being said, last night I did play an extremely charming hidden cat game, Where Ghost Cats. The title is a little funky because it's a mostly unlocalized Chinese game, but that doesn't bother me at all. Finding cats is universal. This one had really cute art and a couple of side tasks, so though it was still super short, I enjoyed it. This one wasn't a freebie, but I got it in a bundle with quite a few other hidden animal games from the same developer. I'm looking forward to playing the others!
On a less cute note, I also tried Pretty Girls 2048 Strike, which I picked up in a different bundle after becoming fascinated by the idea of accompanying extremely casual, old fashioned games with PG-13 anime pinup girls. I don't really like the art here, and want to know why my military girls are fighting vaguely fantasy themed girls in such a calm and orderly way. 2048 makes for a really solid battle system, though, and I'm enjoying the balance between merging existing blocks and trying to get in position to deal damage. This is totally ridiculous, but I'm having a good time with it.
April 4th, 2025
Yesterday was another uneventful gaming day, as I just kept up with the newbie style missions in Fire Emblem Heroes. They're throwing so many good characters and materials at me as a returning player right now that I feel like it's going to be a harsh come-down when they cut me off. I kind of suspect I'll just be able to finish the story content with everyone I've been given, though. It doesn't feel like a rough setup to me at all, so I'm waiting for the catch.
April 3rd, 2025
I was too sleepy for much gaming yesterday, but I did play a little bit of Fire Emblem Heroes. I come back to this mobile game every few years, but upon this return, I'd totally forgotten how to play! Luckily, it gave me a returning player sort of questline, with some five-star characters to balance the power creep that had gone on while I was gone. I am not proud, so I will do the beginner-style quests to get my bearings again.
April 2nd, 2025
Today is my birthday, and I am very sleepy because of wind and storms keeping me awake last night. I stalled out on this as long as possible so I could zone out for a bit. Last night, though, I just played Dragon Cliff, an idle-ish RPG I'd gotten cheaply in a sale. I'm starting to get the hang of this and have a nice time. If I continue playing it once every other month, I should have it done in a few years!
April 1st, 2025
Today got off to a weird start! I've been having weird dreams lately, so I was looking at my Neocities feed this morning and saw "this website," but with a different screenshot on it. My first thought was, "Oh, I played this in a dream where I go to a weird abandoned shopping mall and I'm not awake yet, but I'm in a different dream-zone. Got it!" I then clicked on it and it was Skep's website, so I realized it was probably not a dream, but did briefly assume it was an early "birthday prank," the normal thing everyone does and that I'm certainly experiencing annually. I realized it was an April Fools Day joke pretty fast from there, but it was a longer journey than it needed to be.
Aside from my being impressed that it was a pretty detailed and personalized match to this site, screenshotted below for posterity, I can't say enough nice stuff about Skep's site, which you can visit by clicking on these words! It's one of my favorite sites on here, and has a lot on offer: classic Chinese literature, pasta sauce, lizard noir, booze, and more! I can't recommend the site strongly enough, especially the fantastic in progress Romance of the Three Kingdoms piece.
Anyway, it was cool, and I was excited.
My gaming last night was not so exciting. I got really tired and decided that it would be a good idea to see if I could 20cc, or 20 credit clear, Space Harrier. I couldn't, as I am terrible at Space Harrier, but I did have a lot of fun. Tonight is the final night of Astro City Mini week for me, and I'll probably just give this another shot. I hit level 14 last night, so it would be nice to at least match that tonight.
I also tried Power Rangers: Dino Thunder for Game Boy Advance on my Miyoo Mini+ because I was in a weird rabbit hole after watching some Kamen Rider on Sunday. It's not very good, but it's also excellent. It's a mediocre beat-em-up/platformer where a guy tells you to believe in yourself over and over and then you can spam summon a dinosaur mech to kill everything on screen ten times straight. I didn't play this for a massive amount of time, but I felt I was truly gaming.
Before bed, I played some more of Kemono Friends Picross, but it's picross, so for today, I have no real notes on it. I clicked on some boxes and made some little pictures of anime girls.
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