What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

ESP Ra.De. PSI (Switch)

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 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!

March 23rd, 2025

Yesterday, most of my game time went to Sims 4 again, which was a lot of fun! I'm still working on the time travel storyline, so I got to invite people to the park and abandon them to dig holes, or visit friends and rummage through their couches. I'm still not even at the halfway mark of this event, so I'll probably toss some more hours into it today. It's fun, so I'd like to see it through!

In less fun gaming, I played and "finished" a cat game I'd gotten in a Steam bundle, Slide Stories: Neko's Journey. It was super cute, so I could get through it, but I don't like slide puzzles! I just wanted to get this over with, so I sat down and ran through it on the easiest mode in one sitting. As a hater, it was not my favorite, but if you do like slide puzzles, this is very calm and charming.

I played Esp Ra.De. PSI for a little bit before bed, too. This Switch port has some very nice "learn the game" features, chopping the levels into bits to use for managable practice sessions, so I messed with those and made a couple super easy arcade mode runs last night. It was nothing special, but I want to eventually clear normal mode without spamming credits, so I'm cool with having a slow start.

March 21st, 2025

I didn't get done with things until really late last night, and had to talk myself out of trying Castle of Shikigami at 1:30 in the morning. Instead, I tried Esp Ra.De. PSI, which, in the light of day, seemed to me to be a completely lateral move. I want to get good at shmups so I can enjoy extremely anime arcade style games, and Esp Ra.De., with its flying psychic battle teens, is exactly what I want. I want to start off in this by getting a 1CC, or one credit clear, in super easy mode, which seems very doable. It wasn't doable last night, but I played it until I flat out fell asleep last night and got my first good night worth of sleep all week. This might not be a good long term strategy, but it made today easier.