What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
Merge Pixel (Android)
July 13th, 2024
I actually cleared a game yesterday, finally playing Florence. This poor game had been sitting on my Switch for ages, abandoned after purchase in a $1.99 sale, which was a totally undeserved fate. It was a short, lovely, and wordless little narrative game, pushed along by some fairly straightforward mini-games, and though romance was part of it, it wasn't really the point in and of itself. I'm so glad I finally played this!
From there, I pressed on with the very amusing, but considerably less lovely The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, too. Hidden object games are ideal for shutting off my brain, so I'm not looking for much from this. Still, having all the object names spelled correctly, or at least misspelled in a non-baffling way, would be nice.
I'm still somewhat determined to free myself of Merge Pixel, too, so I kept it running for a while yesterday. I moved up a level and racked up tons of in game gold, so I am inching closer to the end. It's still pretty far off, though.
July 9th, 2024
My power levels are low today, and that's okay. Yesterday wasn't a very exciting game day. I'm not going to post about my mobile games when I'm just doing my daily quests, but'll go back and forth on what I play with more focus for the night. I ended up trying the Samurai Shodown IV event in SNK: All-Star Brawl and got destroyed. With the level of time and focus I'm willing to put in, I might be able to better jump in on the next event.
I did a daily workout in Fitness Boxing 2, too, getting an achievement for number of punches thrown. I'd still like to 100% this game's list of achievements, but doing 100 workouts with each trainer is going to be a slog.
I also got set on clearing Merge Pixel again, leaving it running while my numbers went up. I hardly made any progress at all, but will admit that, even though I'm more chipping away at it than actually playing, I do think I'll eventually clear this by force of attrition.
June 15th, 2024
My allergies are so nasty today that I can barely keep my eyes open to do this post. It's not a treat! I've already made a salad for a cookout later, though, and done some studying, too. Maybe today won't be too bad!
I started the Australian frog habitat rehabilitation in Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, and felt like it added a pleasant "make money in this area to spend it in that one" balancing act in the game. Making and selling items does kind of take the focus off the cute frog buddies, but that's not terrible.
I did my daily missions in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star, too, which was fun. Yesterday's set ended up being a lot lighter than the day before had been, but that was fine.
I ran Merge Pixel for a few hours, too, and did make some actual progress. I probably won't do much with it for the next couple of days, since I'm more worried about staying awake than productivity for now.
June 14th, 2024
I have today off work to go see a comedian later, so I'm currently trying to brush away my workweek stress! I did make my "cross 20 things off my to-do list" goal yesterday, mostly knocking off cleaning and housekeeping tasks. Today, I'm going to tackle some of the craft and hobby ones, which, naturally, is much more fun. I'd like to make a dent in my Japanese study ones, too. I haven't ever finished the list in the two months I've been doing it, but it's ok to have a direction to take things.
Anyway, last night, I cleared the first boss fight in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star. It was very satisfying to punch a guy a lot, and the life bars and over the top special attacks were honestly all very motivating. It actually wore me out a bit, too, which I think is a good sign for a workout game.
I played quite a bit of Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, too, ticking off the goals the game gave me and making cute little frog friends. I shut it off to sleep right when it unlocked a wetland to rehab in Australia, which was an interesting twist, but I'll see what that's all about soon.
While I was trying to get stuff done, I had Merge Pixel running, too, clearing the screen every time I met a goal. I felt like I actually made a small dent in it, but it's still pure numbers-go-up nonsense.
June 8th, 2024
Last night, I was digging through my itch.io bundles after another bundle purchase brought my game buying freeze to a wonderful screeching halt when I came to a realization: I could be playing all of the homebrew Game Boy stuff I'd gathered on my Miyoo Mini+. I ended up using a short Game Boy Advance visual novel for this, Love Corp: Lyla "Do you have anymore," because that was what I saw first after getting this idea. I was not disappointed. The game itself was short, oppressively dark, and kind of a surreal stream of conciousness piece, but playing it on my Miyoo Mini+, screen filter on, made me feel like I was in an alternate universe where the Game Boy Advance had a profane, politically inclined indie scene. It definitely became a case of the medium affecting the experience for me, but that in and of itself was very cool! Video games are neat.
Other than that, though, I was kind of doing the same stuff I have been all week. I had a very enjoyable Fitness Boxing 2 session that ended in me unlocking some new outfits for my trainers.
I also ran Merge Pixel for a lot of the day, but I didn't get anywhere in it at all. That was fine.
I don't know how good my post'll be tomorrow, as I've become set on reading Jujutsu Kaisen from the start to the last published chapter within a week. It's good to have sensible and productive goals! I'm sure I'll play something, though!
June 3rd, 2024
I failed to get out of bed in time to do a good post before work, but certainly, I'm ready to do a bad one!
I didn't play anything too wild yesterday, though. After dinner and before watching a couple movies, I played a few more levels of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, which is still very enjoyable. Everything feels good and responsive, play-wise, and the sprite art is really detailed and charming. This is fun so far.
Before bed, I played a little bit more of New Pokemon Snap, but I felt like I wasn't making progress despite playing in two new levels. The underwater special stage kind of bothered me, too. The little photo pod reminded me of the Titan submersible, and I kept thinking about what extreme danger my trainer was in over trying to snap a photo of a glowing Pokemon.
On the more utilitarian side, I did some achievement hunting in Fitness Boxing 2 yesterday, and was able to get three or four achievements down. Some were for time spent with trainers, and some were score/number of punches thrown challeges, but I felt productive nontheless.
I had Merge Pixel on for a lot of the day, too, and am well over the halfway point now. I am more sure than ever that I can eventually clear this game, especially since it takes no effort and barely any attention.
June 1st, 2024
June is off to a rainy start here, but I'm going to make some cookout salads after this post regardless. Vegetables still taste lovely inside!
As far as things go with games, I don't have too much exciting to share today. I played New Pokemon Snap a while longer last night, and though today's screenshot is of Bellossom, I spent the vast majority of my playtime just running through a coral reef level over and over. It was pretty, I was sleepy, and my attention got zoomed in on it. It made for a nice play session.
I also let Merge Pixel run for most of the day, as I'd still like to clear this some day. It's nice to finish a task and clear the screen after, so it ends up serving as kind of a focus tool.
May 21st, 2024
Today's post'll be quick due to my oversleeping! Too many new prescriptions at once is not fun!
I did some more missions in Fashion Dreamer until I unlocked another photo frame.
I tried Cooking Mama Cookstar for PS4 because I was tired and was surprised, as much as I've heard about it, that it was actually a functioning game.
I did a daily workout in Fitness Boxing 2 before my work day started, which felt very productive.
Finally, I had an extremely boring time with Merge Pixel. I might take a break from this soon.
May 20th, 2024
I'm doing an early post today, and it feels quite strange. I had a doctor's appointment hours before I usually get up, and am now working hard to not go back to bed, so I can go to the pharmacy before work. My strange late shift schedule is making it easy to get things done today, but I'm so sleepy!
Anyway, yesterday I went to the Ghibli Fest showing of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, so I didn't do any big weekend level gaming. I did finally start up the new event in Fashion Dreamer for this month, a few days after it got going. The photo frames are really cute this time, so I'm looking forward to buzzing through this.
I played a little more of Bucket Crusher, too, but in the daylight, it makes me feel slightly dead inside. It was still okay for right before I went to sleep, but there's a specific time and place for games like this, I suppose.
I kept Merge Pixel running, too, making okay progress between craft time tasks. Even so, I'll feel more relieved than anything else when it's over.
May 19th, 2024
I wasn't my most interested in games yesterday, but I did get on a "making stuff" kick. There's some pretty utilitarian crochet unpictured, but I built this little Tepig model, because I love snapping the easy Pokemon kits together, and a not-lego fruit shop. Tepig longs for fruit, but alas, they are too large for any of these bits and bites to be filling!
Games-wise, my game buying freeze is forcing me to reach back into shovelware I bought in the past, rather than scouring the Switch eShop for new garbage to buy. Last night, this led me to Bucket Crusher, one of my fifty 20 cent pickups from the April Qubic Games sale. My idea when I threw that ten dollars to the wind was that, if I played each 20 cent game for 20 minutes, I'd at least get some interesting posts out of it. I've already breezed past that with Bucket Crusher, which is a fine knock-things-down-until-I-fall-asleep game. It does bother me that the structures you knock down are just pixels rather than having physics to them, meaning you can take a stripe out of the middle and the top doesn't collapse. It's still kind of satisfying, though. I will come back to this.
My Merge Pixel saga continued, too, but I did not make a lot of progress because I didn't care enough to run it for a lot of the day. I'll keep going today, since it feels momentous to be over the halfway line.
May 18th, 2024
This won't be a very exciting post today. I was sleepy and my stomach hurt yesterday, so I only played casual-style games. Fitness Boxing 2 probably got the most focus out of me, and that wasn't a ton. I did a few free workouts just to get my third fitness game session for the week under my belt and called it a day.
I officially hit the halfway point of Merge Pixel yesterday, though, and am perhaps now even more determined to see this mind-numbing idle grind through. The daily login bonuses have really been carrying me here, in terms of currency boosts, so going back to the start of that 7-day cycle has been a temporary slowdown. I might leave it running across the room while I do crafts and chores later, just to get some sweet imaginary gold.
To finish the day off, I played Love Colors until I passed out again. It didn't take long.
May 17th, 2024
I'm scumming a quick post before work this morning, with a lot of relief that it's Friday. Last night, though, I cleared Super Mario Land! It gave me a lot of satisfaction to beat a game as an adult that I could not clear as a seven year old. It is a charming, strange little game, and I like how different the worlds are from normal Mario games. The horizontal shooter final boss had me swearing like crazy, though!
I kept up my quest to 100% the achievements list in Fitness Boxing 2 as well, switching trainers to get started on a new set of daily workout rewards.
Before bed, I also did a few screens of Love Colors, which knocked me out fast. I did wake up a lot from there, but getting to sleep was nice.
Lastly, I have my daily update for Merge Pixel. I made minimal progress yesterday, but might leave it running a bit more today. It's not like there's a lot of actual gameplay to engage with.
May 16th, 2024
Today's game report won't be very exciting. I played a few more levels of Super Mario Land last night, but decided it was getting me too pepped up when I wanted to sleep soon and stopped. I was really enjoying it, but got tense about clearing levels!
After that, I worked on some screens in Love Colors, since I needed the help relaxing. It was fine.
I kept Merge Pixel running while I did other stuff as well. Currently, I think this is going to take a few weeks to clear, but since it's really light on actual play, that still feels like nothing.
May 15th, 2024
Being awake is still proving to be a big challenge for me, so this'll be a quick post.
First, I played Super Mario Land for a few minutes, since it hit Nintendo Switch Online and I hadn't played it since I was a kid. I like the world 1 music in this game quite a lot.
I kept on with a few more chapters of Destiny's Princess: A War Story, A Love Story, too, but I don't actually like the character whose route I targeted first very well. I'm halfway done already, so it's fine. The affection meters are way touchier than I expected, too! I might need to start taking notes.
I didn't do much in Merge Pixel yesterday, but still made some progress. I'm getting close to the halfway mark.
May 14th, 2024
I wanted to keep playing Altered Beast last night, but I was too dizzy and couldn't sit in front of my TV. It was unpleasant.
Instead, I had been wanting to try an otome game for a while, since I keep reading novels where girls die and get reincarnated into them to dramatic effect. I had a couple of lower-tier looking ones from deep sales stashed on my Switch, so I tried Destiny's Princess: A War Story, A Love Story.I only played the first 15 minutes or so of this, though, so I have no real opinion on it yet.
I plugged away a bit more at Merge Pixel, too, making another big jump at the daily login bonus.
May 13th, 2024
I was knockout level sleepy yesterday, but still tried to do quite a lot. My biggest accomplishment was a Wal-Mart run, where I picked up a super cute Brickcraft tape deck, in neons with some MTV branding. Some of the non-Legos I've had feel a little funky to build, like they take too much effort to snap together. This was really nice and click-y, though, and I was so pleased that the little tape fits in the deck for display! For less than five dollars, I was pleased with this.
Games-wise, I didn't do anything too exciting. I think I have a consistent path through the second level of Altered Beast now, since I was getting to level 3 with a lot less effort last night. I'd still like to be taking less damage in level 2, but I will get there.
I did some free exercises in Fitness Boxing 2 as well, pushing myself over the 51% of in game achievements earned line. The second half is going to be super time consuming, though. It looks like it requires 100 exercises with each trainer. Since I do 2-4 a day, that will take a bit.
I kept Merge Pixel running, too, but thanks to daily login bonuses, had a major progress bump. I suspect that I'll be stalled out a bit on that front today, while my per-second earnings catch up to the upgrades I can afford.
May 12th, 2024
I didn't feel my best yesterday, and my efforts to take it easy ended in my having a lot of stuff to post about here. Right after making yesterday's post, I bounced over to my XBox and finished off Adios, which only took 20 or so minutes. I felt like the Cooking Simulator style controls on the last bit kind of undercut the seriousness of the game's tone. I'm done now, though, and am glad I took the time to play this.
For the first time in a while, I did a couple off brand Lego kits, too. Both of these are from FiveBelow, and ignoring the scale issues, I think they make a cute pair. The flower shop had a misprint in the instructions, so I was glad this was simple enough to reverse engineer from the box photos. The Hello Kitty ice cream truck was ok all around, though, and I think the block colors are really good.
From there, a friend mentioned Altered Beast, and since I'd never messed with that much before, I got my Genesis Mini out and played it quite a lot. I definitely feel like I can beat it, especially if I crank up my lives and HP on the secret options menu. I'm pretty terrible at it, though, so it might take a while. Right now, I'm at the point where the first level is pretty breezy, but the second boss's patterns are still eluding me.
I also let Merge Pixel run for a while, and am documenting it here just to see how long clearing it will take.
May 11th, 2024
I didn't quite get back up to where I should be, but I was able to catch up a little on sleep last night. It meant I didn't want to get up, but when do I ever?
All things considered, I probably spent most of my gaming time idly swiping at Merge Pixel while I did more important things. I'm very determined to finish this, despite the fact that it is mind numbing, and have over a fourth of the little pixel people collected now. I've already half-heartedly been at this today, so it'll make another appearance here tomorrow.
I wanted to finish off Adios last night, but even a first person game this slow and low on action has the power to give me motion sickness. I'm interested enough to finish it off today, but if my stomach gets wobbly again, finishing it Sunday will be fine, too. I just can't abandon this quiet little character study.
To finish the day off, I went back to Love Colors before bed, too. I actually got quite a few screens cleared and felt a little accomplished. No, coloring in the little pixels does not take any skill, but it is still satisfying.
May 10th, 2024
Yesterday, I had to take my asthma inhaler a couple times, which makes me very peppy and almost totally unable to sleep. Breathing is worth it, but today is gonna be a challenge. It's Friday, though, so it's okay.
Buoyed by pharmacuetical pep, I had a pretty good session of Fitness Boxing 2 last night. I'm starting to put together a long term plan to hit all of the game's achievements, and should get about three of them in my next session. It'll take ages, but since they're more of an endurance test than a skill one, I've got this.
I played a couple more scenes in Adios, too, impressed by both the genuinely conversational tone and the fact that I got to feed a horse an apple. The horseshoes minigame was confusing, though- I played the whole thing and am not sure how the controls worked.
My final game of the night was Merge Pixel, an Android play-in-browser game I was hoping would put me to sleep. It did, eventually, which was an accomplishment. All you do in this game is wait around and drag little pixel buddies on top of each other to form more "valuable" little pixel buddies, but it seems to have a clear ending and isn't very nasty about ads. I'll come back to this one.
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