What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

Miniso Retro Game Console: Game I

July 23rd, 2025

I played quite a lot of games for a work day yesterday, but I'm maybe most interested in talking about a weird little "brick game" console I bought at Miniso. I had one of these off brand all-squares LCD games in junior high, so the Miniso version, though it is now being sold as cute and trendy, made me feel nostalgic. When I was a kid, I liked it because the games were abstract and didn't make a lot of sense. Last night, though, I went straight for Game I, which turned out to be a version of Tetris with an area clearing piece and garbage blocks that shift every time you get a line. It was mysterious, but a bad version of Tetris is still pretty fun in that it is Tetris. I want to pick a "goal score" in this, beat it, and then move onto another game on here.

I also tried Pokemon Friends, the new minigame/puzzle/edutainment Pokemon game that surprise-launched yesterday morning. It is definitely a game made for kids, and nothing I've done in it has been challenging. However, while playing it, I didn't think at all about dying from climate change or nuclear war, so I bought in to the full game and look forward to playing it for a zillion hours. Anything that can shut up my bad brain is magic.

I did my first daily workout in Gold's Gym Cardio Workout on Wii and really enjoyed it. It mixes mini-games in with the regular boxing, giving it a more varied feel than most of the later Fitness Boxing games.

Before bed, I finished off the day with two rounds of Vampire Survivors. I'm getting close to the end of the Garlic Paradise adventure!