What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

Turnip Boy Robs A Bank (XBox Series S)

January 21st, 2024

Even though I was very tired yesterday, it ended up being busier than I expected! I did some real bowling, which meant I didn't have to play a workout game, and was just generally out and about.

Before I get into game stuff, though, I want to post about the book of the month over at Bookbug, a Neocities book club. This month's book was Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata, which I buzzed through pretty quickly. It's been a couple weeks since I finished it, but I wanted to think about it a bit before posting on it. Structurally, it felt kind of short story-ish to me, with a limit on subplots and a pretty foregrounded focus on self-acceptance versus the acceptance of society, which isn't a complaint at all.

A lot of my impressions of the book, though, came from the fact that I got a Thriftbooks copy loaded with notes from someone who judged the characters very harshly. Seeing a critique of the heroine's lack of emotion in sunny bright blue letters in the margins was kind of like having a Greek chorus with very cute handwriting standing in for the society she couldn't fit into. It was an interesting reading experience, and I think it highlighted the protagonist's bafflement at what people wanted from her. Of course, that means I'm judging the book on more than itself, but since I'm not being graded on this, I'm not going to worry too deeply about that.

Overall, I did think it was an interesting character study, and one that left me curious to read more of Sayaka Murata's work. It was cool that the heroine was outside of societal norms without inviting pity, and I felt like, at least in translation, the quick, unadorned style provided a very readable reflection of her inner voice. Reading this made me glad I jumped on the Bookbug bandwagon.

In terms of games, I didn't play a ton yesterday. On my XBox, I started Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, which I'd been looking forward to quite a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about the rougelike structure yet, but I was able to grind out enough upgrades to beat the first boss and get a bit more into the story. Also, I got to do graffiti with a big crayon, and that was good stuff.

After that, I did not want to play Fashion Dreamer, so I dug through the Nintendo Switch Online apps and ended up turning on Kirby's Adventure. This is a replay for me, and since I came to the NES really late, in the 00s, I think it might be the only game I've ever beaten on real NES hardware. It's really cute and pleasant to play, though, and the graphics are so bright for the console! Since it's a late release, it's not so strange that it's impressive, but I still love the look of it. I'll probably run through this pretty quickly.

This was a longer post than I expected to make, and today will be a little busy again. I'm sure I'll play something, though, and'll be back tomorrow either way.