What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

Deathsmiles 1+2 (Switch)

September 9th, 2025

Yesterday was a work from home day, so I snuck off during my half hour break to drill the later stages of Deathsmiles 2. When I went back to my desk to finish out the day, I kept blinking and seeing the sparkling pink bullet spirals behind my eyelids. It might not have been my best idea, as it made jumping back into spreadsheets a bit disorienting.

From there, I skipped out on games until right before bed, when I went back to Baking Time on Switch. I want to finish up some of the simpler games I've got started, and dumb or not, I think it's funny that this game lets me carry 50+ croissants at once and then feed them to disturbing little not-Pokemon friends. It's best when the numbers go up as a result of confusing cause and effect.

September 8th, 2025

I got really fizzy brained and excited about playing shmups before bed yesterday, so I dug into Deathsmiles II out of curiosity. I know I played the first stage over 4th of July weekend, as is normal at a family event, but I gave it a real try last night and had an excellent time. I mostly played through the stages at the lowest difficulty, but cleared the game with the standard boss battle with just one continue. It gave me too much confidence and now I think I can get a 1-credit-clear while also beating the true last boss! It seems easier than a lot of shooters, so maybe I can.

In the morning, I also played quite a bit of Mermaids of Atlantis, really feeling like I hit some kind of groove in it. For me, it got a little easier when the blocks sped up, as I had less time to think about what I was doing. It got more fun, too! I am excited to eventually reign over bubble chaos while watching painfully slow but charmingly pastel cutscenes.

July 15th, 2025

Today, I was so tired that I was nodding off at my work desk, so this won't be a very exciting post today. It's been really hard to sleep through the night the past few days! I was pretty tired last night, too, though. I played Deathsmiles for a little bit before bed, on my Switch. My longer run last night was pretty good until the last stage again, at which point I absolutely crumbled. I used a ridiculous amount of credits to beat the final boss! From here, I might need to grind out this last stage in training mode if I want my one credit clear. I'm not sure how robust those training options are, but I'll see when I'm feeling a little peppier!

July 6th, 2025

I'm ending this holiday weekend with a mild headache and a renewed appreciation for kart racers, both of which could be worse. Yesterday, I really played a lot of Deathsmiles, and ended up credit scumming my way through the last couple levels in the 1.1 version as Rosa, after doing pretty well in the early game. Seeing the final stage here makes my dream of a one credit clear seem very daunting, but it'll be interesting to get there.

At one point in the day with family, I got the Switch 2 controller handed to me. One of my siblings had just speedrun Metroid: Zero Mission, so with nothing but the best games on my mind, I ended up playing a few rounds of Atlantis no Nazo. I don't have a screenshot today, since I wasn't on my own console, but it's an extremely janky Famicom platformer that I'd been fixated on in pandemic times. The jumping is bad, your little guy drops dead from anything, the level design is baffling, and it is just overall not great. I love it, and it was fun to make other people gaze upon its horrors, even if only briefly.

I also played a few rounds of Candivity to eat up some free time while stuff cooked. It was a little boring, but kept me from getting too interested in anything while waiting for timers to go off.

July 5th, 2025

I forgot about this blog in the midst of cooking for a family thing. I made green beans with smoked sausage, cinnamon apples, dill and garlic potatoes, and some rice with ground pork, veggies, and cajun seasoning. I'm pretty happy with all of it, but scrambled, too!

I'll sort this better tomorrow, but yesterday on my own, I started an ad-supported RPG, Astarune Academy, on my tablet and played a couple credits of Deathsmiles. At my sister's, I tried Mario Kart World on her Switch 2, then came home to play Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed while chugging a White Claw. It was an ok day.

June 21th, 2025

I'm trying to do a lot of little activities today, finishing up some crafts and other projects I have started, and was briefly very distracted by the existential horrors of the news. It led to a bit of a late post!

Yesterday, I got fixated on shutting my brain off with some shmups, which did turn out to be fun. I used my lunchbreak at work to try out Deathsmiles in a combo pack I've got on Switch. Even in just my first half hour of play, it had me hooked. I got to fight a really big cow and also a volcano dragon. I'm super excited to play more of this, but I might switch to the Steam port so I can achievement hunt.

I played Sonic Wings Reunion for a while, too, getting my first two of dozens of endings. I think I can get a 1-credit-clear on easy mode in this, even if I'm a bit far from it now. Last night, I was getting 4 or 5 credit clears, but felt frustrated by how wrecked I'd get in the snow level and blobby looking final stage. Messing with training mode gave me some confidence, though, and I'm looking forward to more of this, too.

I took Monday and Tuesday off work, but don't know how much video gaming I'll do. Whether I do or don't play much, it'll be nice to get some rest for a few days.