What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu (Shonen Jump Famicom Mini)

February 15th, 2023

My saga of not being the sharpest tool in the shed continues today. I turned on Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu again last night, ready to move forward, only to find that Marin is not only unbeatable, but that the game loops the battle over and over until you can defeat her. It turns out that one of the messages she gave me was an instruction rather than just a fun fact, so I did manage to beat her, at the cost of burning out a lot of my power. I'm not sure how recovery in this game works, so I wonder if I'll have to start over and try to beat her again, without blowing so much cosmo power?

I did play ahead a little after this, albeit without saving, so I know I can survive at least the next two or three screens. I'm going to go back and do all that again while actually reading the dialogue my next round, though, so maybe I'll get some helpful info within that.

February 14th, 2023

Today is an office potluck, so I have some yuzu and soy sauce pulled chicken in a slow cooker across the room from me, just waiting to be inflicted on my coworkers. I'm super tired and feeling kind of low this morning, but the potluck is something to look forward to.

I did redo the opening battle in Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu last night, and both my guesses were right. The system required me to actively set the power levels of my attacks, and the AI adjusted itself so that once I figured things out, Marin killed me a lot faster. At least from here, I can move forward in my next play session.

This is not quite game related, but last night, I also bought a cheap TV table, a lamp, and an Amy Rose plushie to make my bedroom gaming area tidier and more livable. It wasn't very expensive, and it feels better than just having everything on top of a box. The bear in the middle was a gift from a student in one of my adult conversation classes when I was living in Japan. She brought it back for me from Tokyo Disneyland for just no reason, and since I wasn't feeling very cheery about a lot then, Shellie May here has inexplicably been one of treasures. (Thanks to Gummy for the "you should post it!" push on at least the Sonic plushie!)

February 13th, 2023

I lost track of time yesterday cooking and watching Succession, so I feel like the day got away from me. It was Sunday, so that's basically okay.

Despite that, I got started playing Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu on my Shonen Jump Famicom Mini, which is possibly not the most reasonable choice of RPG to make while Persona 5 Royal sits on my game shelf. I really want to play through a game in Japanese, though, and am inexplicably vibing with Saint Seiya lately, so I sat down with dictionary in hand to give it a shot. Then, I promptly got wrecked in the tutorial battle. I think I know what I did wrong, which is more an issue of "playing a bad game with no instruction book" than it is "lack of language proficiency," so, even though it lets me move forward after losing, I may still go back in to see if I can make any sort of dent in Marin's tutorial battle. Maybe it's unwinnable, but it'll let me try something before risking a game over out of bafflement.

I played Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ for a little bit, too, trying to get all of 9-Volt's games unlocked in my grid. Ater 40 minutes, only one question mark still taunts me. It's both a mark of good progress and indelibly frustrating.