What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
August 2025
August 20th, 2025
Last night, at fellow webmaster Win1999's recommendation, I wanted to try a Parodius game. I booted up my Saturn to try Sexy Parodius, but I was so sleepy I only played for 10 or so minutes! This feels very anticlimactic to type, but this is how blogging goes sometimes. It was a fun ten minutes, though, and there's a lot I can play now that the Saturn is set up again. It is the first step on the path to many less boring posts.
August 19th, 2025
For most of my game time last night, I was doing runs in Sonic Wings Reunion. I got down to one continue, which felt pretty good, and scored a couple more of the 45 unique endings. Even though my play still got worse and worse the later it got, it was fun.
I played a few puzzles in Jigsaw Puzzle World before bed, too. It wasn't exciting, but I was trying to wind down and get some sleep. It worked for that.
I also did a couple of shorter workouts in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, which was boring, but fine.
August 18th, 2025
I'm stuck in shmup mode right now, which is ok with me. Yesterday, the most interesting thing I played was probably Tiger Heli for the Atari 7800+. It's so cool that there's new ports of old games for an old machine available, even though I did brutally suck at this. This game has no continues or difficulty settings, so it's a one credit clear or nothing! Every time I restarted, though, I got a screen or so farther, and I didn't feel like the challenge was unfair at all. I am going to come back to this, even if it isn't an immediate priority.
Sonic Wings Reunion has completely wormed its way into my head, though. I know it's overpriced, and I cannot argue in favor of the graphics, but it's extremely fun to play. Right now, I'm seeing if I can grind out a 1CC on easy mode and get all the character endings while I'm at it. Since each pair within the ten character cast has a unique ending, I might be able to get a 1CC in normal mode, too. I don't want to get ahead of myself, though, so I'm going to enjoy the level I'm at!
I popped another 9 credits into Progear, too, but somehow did worse than I had the night before. This was disappointing, but ultimately okay.
August 17th, 2025
Yesterday, I learned an important gaming lesson. It's not ideal to grind for a 1CC in Dodonpachi: SaiDouOuJou, even in novice mode, while you're watching reruns of Boston Legal at a family gathering.
It's also difficult to go for a one credit clear in ProGear when you're terrible at shmups, but that's a different issue entirely.
I'm suddenly in "shmup mode," wanting to play shooters like crazy, but I also picked up and played a very goofy Switch racer yesterday, called Burger Race. I like it because you can race as french fries or an egg mcmuffin, but in some ways, it is also slippery to control and cursed with brutal AI. The good bits are outweighed by my liking when fries are video games, so it's fine.
I also did my daily challenges in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku. It was enjoyable, and pretty quick to get through, too.
August 16th, 2025
My pep has still not returned, even with an earlier post, but I at least don't have much to write about today. I finished gathering all the spirits in Spirit City: Lofi Sessions, at least until the next DLC comes out later this month. It felt like a decent accomplishment, even while I was rushing to take care of my to-do list stuff.
I also got sleepy and wanted to find some cats, so I started in on Cats Hidden Around the World, a longer form cat-finding experience. So far, it's exactly what I wanted, and I'll probably keep buzzing through the rest of this.
August 15th, 2025
My week's battle with super sleepiness is continuing, so most of my gaming yesterday was utilitarian. I felt overwhelmed by some work events, prescription headaches, and snack preparation I had to do, so I got Spirit City: Lofi Sessions running to help myself get sorted out. It worked, and I was able to get some of the new pets in the kitchen themed DLC, too. It was a good productivity session!
I did a pretty good workout in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too, if not a slightly dull one.
Before bed, I also tried Jigsaw Art: 100+ Famous Masterpieces, which has different problems from Jigsaw Puzzle World, leaving them about on par with each other. I like the vibes here, so I'll post more about it later.
August 14th, 2025
Last night was a really lame gaming night, which is ok! I was tired. I did some stretches with Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku to keep chipping away at some achievements, but didn't go back to do any normal exercises.
With games, I only did a few puzzles in Jigsaw Puzzle World on Steam. I feel like the screen is really cluttered in this, but it was definitely what I wanted from a zoneout game otherwise.
August 13th, 2025
I was way too tired for kart racing last night, which was somewhat distressing. It's been a few months since I played one of the strange, uncanny valley ridden hidden object adventures from Artifex Mundi, though, so I started up Tiny Tales: Heart of the Forest last night. I got to see a tiny lady riding a bunny like it was a horse within moments of starting it up. I was sold. So far, it's a light point and click adventure with a slightly goofy fantasy story, just like the others of these I've played, but with more mushrooms and bunnies. I'm great with this.
I did a little practicing in GG Aleste, too, using the nifty M2 training modes to try to no-hit clear the first stage. The first boss is not a problem for me, but the normal stage is.
I did some achievement grinding in Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, but didn't make much concrete progress. Since I have a lot of "throw 40,000 punches" and "exercise with so-and-so 75 times" types of goals, that is fine. Every little bit counts here.
August 12th, 2025
Last night, I hopped off work, got some Panda Express, and played way too much of Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviors for a work night. The DLC in this is super fun in that each DLC ship is from a different game, reflecting that playstyle, so that's where I spent most of my time yesterday. The screenshot is of the Night Striker DLC, which was probably lost on me because I've never played that. I cannot properly explain why I even chose that. I did really well at the Deathsmiles DLC, though, at least for a first try, and extremely badly at the Space Harrier levels, so I came away feeling like the games are being properly represented.
My kart racing yesterday was all in Super Mario Kart, which didn't go great. I was dead tired by then, and couldn't get past second place in the last cup of 50cc! It wasn't quiet enough to sleep, so I kept playing until I was just bouncing Princess Peach off of the wall in Bowser's Castle, feeling distressed that turning corners has to be so complicated, both in games and in life.
Since I'm not really great with common sense, I turned on GG Aleste after I'd quit functioning in Super Mario Kart. It was a bad move and my ship exploded a lot of times. My surroundings were still loud, but Aleste at least successfully drove me to shut off my Switch and try to sleep through it instead of trying to knock myself out with games.
I spent a while on Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku, too. Next year, I'm going to a big theme park with family, and I'm worried I'll drag everyone down by being slow on my feet and getting tired quickly. Because of that, I'm trying to improve my endurance a bit. I legitimately don't know if playing Fitness Boxing will help, but it probably won't hurt. At any rate, I'm somewhat motivated to try for all of the achievements in this game right now. Hopefully, it will be fun!
August 11th, 2025
Yesterday's kart racer was Crazy Chicken: Star Karts for the DS, which I liked more than I expected to. I only got a couple stages into story mode, since I got stuck on a rival race. The controls are janky and the recoil on the rocket launcher drove me nuts. I've played a lot worse lately, though, and I kind of like collecting ammo for weapon pickups rather than taking random ones.
My true gaming experience of yesterday, however, was picking up Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviors for cheap on Steam. I can't say too much about it tonight, because I've played it quite a lot today, too, spoiling what I have to say. It's so cool, though, and feels really good to play! The DLC is crazy, too! It's good space shootin'.
I also spent some more time with Mars Survivor, since I had my PS4 on as a blu-ray player. It's very satisfying to tidy up the landscape in it, and the slight story is starting to pick up, too.
August 10th, 2025
Today, I haven't really done anything aside from dinner with family at Chili's and watching a lovingly restored blu-ray of Gamera the Giant Monster. I guess french fries and kaiju are exhausting, though, because I am dead tired.
Yesterday, though, I had some unexpected fun with Bibi Blocksberg- Big Broom Race 3, a racing game I'd picked up because it was 2 dollars. I don't know the cartoon/German audio drama this is based on at all, but the game itself was a playable, if not basic, little budget racer. It only took me a little over two hours to scrape through everything I could do here, which was a legitimate disappointment. I like that this game's vision of girly-girl witch friendship allows for throwing bombs at each other in a prehistoric volcano while having shampoo-commercial-ready candy-colored hair. I'm glad it didn't overstay its welcome, though, since I was kind of just there for the vibes.
Before bed, I played a bit of Clutter 1000, too, feeling weirdly melancholy that I couldn't piece together what the game's creator was trying to say with all of these chaotic puzzles. Maybe I was just sleepy, though.
August 9th, 2025
I just went to get a drive thru coffee, and an Oscar Meyer Weinermobile drove by while I was waiting. It has nothing to do with games, but it's interesting to be waiting for an overpriced latte and see a giant hot dog zoom by.
Anyway, last night I rolled credits on Vampire Survivors. I don't even feel like I'm at 25% in this game, so it's not a big accomplishment. It's a nice milestone, though.
Before that, I tried a super cheap game called Mars Survivor on my PS4. I was expecting a little Survivors-like in space, but it was more of a super-simplified survival game. It drove me a little crazy that it's trying to get me to pony up for mobile style microtransactions on console, but it seems small enough that I kind of want to press on.
As far as kart racing goes, I tried Smurfs Kart on my XBox last night. It was actually fine! I really like the 80s Smurfs cartoon, so there is some bias at play here, but the Smurfs being tiny allowed for some charming tracks that play with scale. There's quite a lot to do and unlock here, too. It's not an amazing game, but I can see myself putting quite a lot of time into it.
August 8th, 2025
Yesterday, in kart racing, I tried Garfield Kart on Steam. It's kind of boring, but was pretty amazing compared to the Wii games I was playing the day before. It was a little less fun because it was working predictably, but it was still kind of a relief that this game worked. I cleared the first cup in 50cc and felt great ambivalnce about continuing.
After that, I tried Griffin, a PC port of a Game Gear tank shooter I had stashed away, before kart racing totally cracked me. I expected a typical shmup, but this was slow paced and deliberate, which isn't a bad thing at all. It has some nice pop-art-y style to it, too, which is charming. The second stage boss's patterns are mysterious to me, but it'll be fun to figure this all out.
To finish this post off, I finished one of my silly numbers-go-up mobile games yesterday, called Idle Cat Fish Pond. I haven't been posting about these things much because they feel more like fidget toys than games, making them boring to write about. In this one, I just clicked on stuff and sometimes ignored an ad that it showed me. Still, even though it was low effort and no skill, it was kind of satisfying to collect every fish. I have some more games from this company on my phone and tablet, too, and they all seem pretty similar. Another one will probably pop up soon.
August 7th, 2025
Last night, I tested some cheap and wonky Wii kart racers from eBay, and it was a doozy. Myth Makers Super Kart GP was a doozy in a fun way. It has bad motion controls, weird and muffled music, and seems extremely unforgiving. I kept hitting walls, bursting into flames, and launching into rivers, though, and I was having a blast. If I'm going to be playing a bad game, I want to play one that is bad in a funny and entertaining way, which this was fulfilling for me. I probably won't ever clear it, but I'm at least going to unlock the girl with cat ears.
Please note, the screenshot below is of a race I lost badly.
I tried M&M's Kart Racing, too, and found it completely incomprehensible. The controls were also bad in this, but it had dingy, pixel-y looking graphics and a total lack of charm, too. It's going to be really funny when I get someone else to play it with me.
That kind of killed my kart racing spirit for the night, so I played Sonic Wings Reunion a little before bed. It was a nice palette cleanser.
August 6th, 2025
I tried All-Star Fruit Racing last night. My biggest thought on it right now is that, if you actively fall asleep during a race, it's difficult, if not impossible, to catch back up and win. I will hopefully have some slightly more in-depth thoughts on this after my next play session.
August 5th, 2025
Last night, as I turned on my Miyoo Mini+ and decided to try the Game Boy Color port of Woody Woodpecker Racing, I said to myself, "If I cannot play as Chilly Willy, I am going to jump off a cliff." Chilly Willy, upsettingly, is an unlockable character, but I don't even know where any cliffs are and didn't have shoes on to go find one at that point. Instead, I played the game for a few minutes and vibed with it a lot more than I expected to. I'm not very used to isometric racers, and I lost every race I tried. It was easy to understand where I'd gone wrong, though, and it gave me that good "ah, I'm sure I'll get it if I can just tighten a turn here, and shave off a second here," feeling. Maybe I can't race as an excellent little penguin yet, but I will not mind getting to that point too much.
I also did a couple of puzzles in Picross S: Genesis & Master System. It was fine!
August 4th, 2025
Yesterday, I decided to see if I could get Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends Racing over and done with. It wasn't very fun! The race opponent AI was so bad that I won the final race when every single one of them got stuck on a hill. Keroppi drove past the jam-up on the last lap, and then I watched his little car turn around to join them in the purgatory of gentle slopes. The boat controls made the apple collection missions on water really miserable, too, with turns that were difficult to control and godawful terrible drifting.
The graphics are cheerful and sunny, though, and as a proud cute-stuff-liker, I have to admit that I really liked a lot of the track details. The vehicle colors were all vibrant, all the characters got cute little race outfits, and it was all just very colorful and pleasant to look at. It's a shame it wasn't actually fun, but I can't say there was nothing I enjoyed here. I just wish all these cute designs had been used for blind bags and stationery, not a rubbish kart racer.
That being said, the slowness of Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends Racing makes the 20 tedious missions a lot more doable than the unhinged speed at which Supersonic Tank Cats operates. I kind of like the races in Supersonic Tank Cats, but the controls are not well suited to the precision collection missions require, at least on Switch.
In non-racer gaming, Ad SHOOt got patched on Switch, so I gave that another try. It actually fixed up a lot of the slowdown issues I'd been having, so I got to the stage 3 boss in one credit last night. I do think the gimmicky bosses are more fun to play than the stages, so I'm not sure if I want to try and one credit clear this on easy yet. There's still enough slowdown present that I think I'd have to pick this up on Steam for a real chance. It's fun, though, so for now, I'll just enjoy it.
August 3rd, 2025
I finished Halloween Racer yesterday! It had a charming theme and some nice fake-3D hills and valleys around the tracks, and I kind of liked the focus on checkpoints rather than flat out competition, too. It was more dull than challenging, though, and it must have been a chore for kids back in the day to run 18 races in one sitting on real hardware. Still, after clearing Expert cup, I was rewarded with one of the finest game completion screens I have ever seen. "Great. You have won all races," is such a wonderful message for players! I can almost hear the dev team going, "Wow, good for you, you want a medal or something?" It was delightful.
I don't have racing games out of my system yet, so I went from this to Gensou Skydrift, a Touhou kart racer where the girls ride each other like skateboards. It's the kind of game I'd be excited to explain to my co-workers. It was a little buggy, and had some loops so incomprehensible my brain struggled with how they related to the concept of 3D space. As a Sonic fan, I felt right at home and played until my system's battery died, then came back for more later. I'll probably finish the campaign here in the next few days.
I also played a round of Vampire Survivors, but didn't accomplish anything.
August 2nd, 2025
I had an unpleasant "the work week has ended and I am tired" Friday night collapse last night, so I ended up going back to Halloween Racer. I didn't feel like it got all that much harder in Advanced mode than Rookie, but it's not unpleasant. It's just not very exciting. I wasn't going to play the highest difficulty, but the next character I unlocked was cute, so now I'm playing Expert mode. This is just how life goes sometimes.
August 1st, 2025
Even though it's been a couple years since I last played it, I played the first Grand Prix in Supersonic Tank Cats last night. I had problems with it before, but last night, I actually had quite a lot of fun with it! It had nice speed, and I kind of found the low poly backgrounds charming. It helps that it was a free game, but I liked making my cat go zoom. Since I'm currently in kart racer mode, I'll go back for the other two cups, too.
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