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Jonnas

N-E Staff
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Everything posted by Jonnas

  1. New Shinobi (date and platforms: TBC)

    I mean, every screen from classic Shinobi I've ever seen contained none of the precise platforming you could see in these short clips. Safe to say it's a new title. Looks pretty good, too. Considering this is a series that passed me by the side, maybe I'll finally play something from it.
  2. I kept listening to it, as they're good company for car trips. I respect the energy Brad brought to the show, even if he's no Ben. I respect that he tried something new with Sort It Out, and wisely recognized it brought down the tone of the show if he didn't introduce Keep It Up shortly after. He's also good as a host, keeping discussion focused, and he doesn't let his stuttering-while-reading weakness stop him. So yeah, I do respect him professionally. My dislike is more like being annoyed at specific quirks of his, which isn't that big of a deal. There was also a time where most of his takes about the industry felt very shallow, but even that he's been able to improve a lot. For a group like EZA, reviews and podcasts are the main dish. Isla's content is more like dessert. As you say, it's not the sort of thing that can carry the channel (or a full meal). Don is the Wasabi on the side. I'm only quoting this part, but I 100% agree with the rest of your post. Excellent summary of the whole situation. In recent times, I've been gravitating a bit towards GVG, which features plenty of individual passionate content (though their podcast is surprisingly poor), and the Minnmax podcast shows some promise. But both of these finds were definitely me trying to find the peak days of EZA again.
  3. On the other hand, I've never been a big fan of Brad I do, however, have to admit that non-Frame Trap EZA content really slowed down this year. Like, talent leaving for whatever reason is par for the course, it happens, and it is expected. But EZA never really had a backup for that, with the only new member they ever brought in being Gabby. It's lead to a real dearth of passion projects for the channel, and that's a shame. It does feel like Isla is the one ambitious member left. Going to be curious how this year will pan out for them.
  4. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    Oh wow, to think it was that close! Great find Very nice For general GBA recommendations, my recommendations are: For something in the vein of Metroid, with an explorable 2D map, there's Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Metroid Fusion; For fun 2D platformers, there's Wario Land 4 and Drill Dozer; For something more challenging and fast-paced than those, there's Mega Man Zero or Astro Boy: Omega Factor.
  5. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    Last time, I mentioned a few games I had started and immediately dropped. I won't be doing that often, as that was a byproduct of trying out a few significant NSO titles at once. I won't necessarily give my quick thoughts on why I dropped the likes of Yoshi or Burger Time So I will stick to significant updates. A.K.A. Block Block Another game I got on the cheap for Capcom 2nd Stadium. This one turned out to be much better than Pnickles. It's a series of 48 levels of pure Arkanoid in a somewhat wacky fashion (wackanoid, if you will). There's power-ups, crazy layouts for the bricks, and even the paddle has health, to motivate you to finish these levels faster. Unfortunately, some of the later levels are too wacky, with the ball ricocheting so fast in directions you can't possibly predict. Just in case you forgot this was a coin muncher. The bright side is, no game over, just insert another coin. It's a well made game, but even the best of arkanoids only gets 3 stars from me. Well, the best arkanoid so far, at least. Mega Man: The Power Battle & Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters The last games I had on the 2nd Stadium, and likely the last I'll ever purchase for that collection). I saved the best for last because... well... I've wanted to play Power Battle (PB) and Power Fighters (PF) ever since I was a teenager. Seriously. In the early-to-mid 2000s, at the height of my personal Megaman fandom, there were these high-quality sprites circulating around, being used for webcomics and stuff, and I just wondered where they came from. Then I found out about the Arcade games from mmhp.net (virtually unchanged from the past 20 years!) and all was clear... Except I couldn't play them! They were included on a pretty cool collection for the GCN/PS2 that never came out in Europe, and that was it for a long time... until the 2nd Stadium! So, these are actually Boss Rush kind of games. Wily revived a bunch of his old Robot Masters and Megaman goes fight them directly for a change. No stages to traverse, just drop on top of them and fight. You even gain their traditional weapons when you defeat them (Curiously, in this setup without platforms, I'd consider the game to be a Shoot'em up, like Contra, even though Megaman plays as he always has). Then go to Wily Castle and fight a couple more bosses to win the game. Fairly simple premise, not too hard to pull off and reach the end, especially if you play in Co-op mode. And there's a bunch of cool stuff! You can play as Bass or Protoman as well (they're identical to Megaman, with some tweaks to their dashes and bullet size), and in PF, you can also select Duo (from MM8) who plays a bit differently, with heavier movement and close range punches. You can also choose your route, which determines which bosses you face (PB divides them according to game of origin, while PF mixes them up a bit more), and in PF, it also determines which mid-game permanent power-up you'll get. And, and the Robot ReMasters look fantastic! Not only do they get updated visuals and new animations full of character (Plant Man is so dainty!), their fights feel very fresh, despite being based off their original appearance. Wood Man now has an attack where he rolls around, Stone Man now summons walls, Pharaoh Man teleports around, and Shadow Man rides on a freaking ninja frog! In PF specifically, they all learned how to block too (like in a fighting game), and they might have a second half of the fight where they change their strategy. And, and, and the music is great! Like, it's all remixes, but they're really good remixes in the familiar Capcom 90s style, and in PF they're almost all attributed to the right Robot Masters for a good dose of nostalgia (though PB seems to have randomized them for some reason). Even the Ghosts 'n Goblins tune made it into Shade Man's stage! And, and, and, and even though the character endings in PB are somewhat basic, in PF they actually do cool things with the lore! There's an implication that Protoman is slowly dying, that Bass was made from alien materials, there's a direct reference to the MMX series, and there's an ending for each potential co-op pairing, it's way cooler than I expected. Finally, the difficulty curve is actually pretty well done. The first Robot Masters you face have very low health, but the later ones are really sturdy, even changing their patterns and strategies, but at least then you certainly have access to the weapon they're weak to. So you can define your strategy as you please, either dispatching the hard bosses right away, or collecting their weakness first to take care of them mid-run. That's enough gushing. I really liked these games, it's the smoothest that Megaman has ever felt, it's a healthy injection of nostalgia, and the teenager in me feels absolutely satisfied. Power Battle alone deserves 4 stars, but Power Fighters is such a polished sequel that I'm ready to give it 5 stars. Oh, and did you know that Megaman's uppercut debuted in Power Fighters, instead of Marvel vs. Capcom? I had no idea before playing this! And Bass has Guile's Flash Kick, and, and, and.... Shadow of the Ninja The good thing about trying a bunch of NSO games is that you occasionally run into small gems. Now, Shadow of the Ninja is just ok. It feels like a more agile (and more slippery) Ninja Gaiden, which is fine for the era. There's badly thought-out moments (like enemies that feel impossible to hurt at times), but the game feels good and is quite fun to play. Plus, the difficulty never really reaches the excessive frustration of Ninja Gaiden. The main flaw is that there's no password system, or any way to save your game. Worse yet, there's next to no extra lives throughout the entire game! I'm sure that last one was a likely death knell for this game, because the extra lives always leave the impression that your extra chances matter, and that victory for this short game is just around the corner, but Shadow of the Ninja does not give you that hope. Thankfully, the NSO save states do. And hey, the music is actually pretty good. 3 stars Mario Kart: Super Circuit Finally, I noticed there was only one GBA game on NSO that I hadn't considered "properly played" yet. So let's cross that system off my list. I actually first played this at the age of 10-11 in recess. Some kid had it, I tried it out. It was fun. Now that I'm a full man, I figured the game would be pretty direct, but... uh... It's really weird! Whenever I try to slide, my kart slides off way too much to the side, and if I try doing it a bit before the curve, there's a good chance it'll turn too much and the kart just skiddles on itself. It's really pleasant to control, but so hard to get right. I didn't feel any of the famous rubber-banding, and Blue Shells are incredibly rare, so it definitely felt like a more fair racer than others in the franchise. I was down to face it like that, but... somehow, Mario Kart finds a way to make you pull your hair: stage hazards are awful! They're so punishing, and so easy to run into. Don't even get me started on that one curve that sends you back on the track if you slide too much, that shit is plain evil. And why is weight so worthless? Why is DK or Bowser so easily bullied by Toad or Luigi? Why is that coin dependant? Why is speed so OP in this game? And why do the racers speak in such annoying voices every time they pass you by? I SWEAR TO GOD, IF PEACH SAYS "HERE WE GO"AGAIN, I'LL- *ahem* The game looks absolutely gorgeous for a GBA game, and it's fun to control, but it's definitely not my type. Despite this, I persevered enough to beat Rainbow Road in 150cc, so it was doing something right. 2 stars With that, I can cross off both the Capcom 2nd Stadium, and the GBA NSO, off my backlog! Nothing stops me from revisiting any of the games there, I simply reached a couple of small milestones.
  6. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    Oh my God, that's the best description you could give to that game's music! Hey now, no need to get crazy here...
  7. Bravely Default II (2020)

    ...and they were never seen again I'm mad at myself that I let myself veer off this game. I was having great fun with it. The next time I pick it up, I should restart from the beginning.
  8. If it was all up to recency bias, it would be a tight race between Alan Wake, Spider-Man, and Mario. Anyway, I get the feeling that TotK, Resi 4 R, and Spider-Man aren't going to win it because, despite being quite good, they're all fairly similar to other memorable games that came out relatively recently. If they can help it, I think TGA wants to avoid giving the GOTY award to "Twice the Spider-Men as 5 years ago", "Remade even harder than 5 years ago", and "We won the award 7 years ago, but now we craftin'". Super Mario Wonder is way too off-genre of what TGA wants. If they didn't give it to Metroid Dread, they ain't giving it to Mario. Alan Wake has a legit shot, but this Horror passion project also falls short of the kind of game that tends to gain awards. Plus, direct comparisons to Resi 4 would then be inevitable, and TGA likely doesn't want the scrutiny of "picking a side" in a flamewar. Alan Wake is too risky, is what I'm saying. Baldur's Gate is part of a mainstream-approved genre, is universally praised (quasi-Cinderella story, too), hasn't had any recent game quite like it, and it is just unique enough (especially when seen with the other nominees) to look like a hot take when it wins. ...On a side note, I do wish Baldur's Gate had come out before the Dungeons&Dragons film. That was a good one, and it might've helped its chances.
  9. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution

    Some GBA titles had translations, but if the game was text-heavy, it would only fit 2 or 3. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for PAL releases to have an ENG/FRA/GER version and an ESP/ITA version, as separate releases with separate cartridges. If the game had very little text to translate, there was the possibility of the cartridge fitting 5 or 6 languages. That said, and upon reexamining the Direct... something fishy is going on. I think that dialogue was trailer-exclusive, and was translated because they were doing that for all pop-up text with special fonts (which includes the dialogue boxes, apparently). What really convinces me that I was mistaken... is that other titles in the Direct had very tiny print saying stuff like "Available in European/Brazillian Portuguese", but Shantae had no such thing The game is going to be great regardless, but that would've been the ultimate perk. My hopes got dashed way forward.
  10. That presentation felt... bare. There was interesting stuff in there, but the package truly didn't feel like much. Shantae: Risky Revolution looks amazing. So great to see the series keep moving along at its pace, no matter the obstacle; Outer Wilds is an important get, so that's good. One more system to wishlist it on ; Blade Chimera looks solid, but aesthetically bland. Lukewarm for now; A Highland Song looks nice; On Your Tail, Death Trick, and The Star Named EOS are point&click mystery/detective games, and I'm a sucker for the genre. Consider my interest piqued; Howl wins the "Most unique" award for this presentation. Don't care much for the look, but the trailer convinced me it might be a gem. So yeah, neat. Just neat.
  11. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution

    The Portuguese version of the Direct showed this in Portuguese! Not sure if it was just for the purposes of the trailer (and only this trailer), but I think it would be the first-ever GBA game translated into the language, if true. Anyway, the game looks terrific!
  12. It's a real shame not to see Street Fighter 6 in the GOTY category. I get it, this has been an insane year for major releases, but still. I've complained my fair share about this show in previous years, so now I'll just say that "Best Adaptation" is a cool idea for an award, and I fully support it. More unique awards catered to the reality of the gaming industry, please! Maybe next year they'll have a "Best Boss" category... whoamIkidding? As for my prediction... TGA normally likes to play it "safe" with the nominees, but still award the main prize to a slightly more surprising candidate (emphasis on "slightly"), to pretend they're making a hot statement. I do believe this is why they crowned "It Takes Two" and "Sekiro" in the years that they won. With that in mind...... ... .... Baldur's Gate 3 will take the prize
  13. All I want is a date for Freedom Planet 2 on Switch, please. The game's been out for a year, I just want it on my preferred system. "December" is too vague! Beyond that... I try not to have expectations, really, anything can happen in an Indie showcase. Normally I hope for a game from Inti Creates, but I already know what they're working on, and it's not exactly my cup of tea. Ok, I do have a bit of a wild hope: after playing some extra Castlevania this month, I'm curious about what IGA is up to. Would be neat if he showed his next project here.
  14. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    First of all, welcome back, H-o-T Hadn't commented on it yet, but it's always good to see you around here. As for Strider, the original game itself is a solid 3, as I have played it before. Very technically impressive for 1989, fun to play, aesthetically wild, and very charming. The chaotic gameplay and brutal difficulty bring it from a 4 to a 3, but I was quite pleased with it when I played the Arcade version on the 1st Capcom Arcade Stadium. Even if I couldn't finish it. My scathing comment was specifically for the Mega Drive version, which is awful. Choppy as heck, animations don't play properly, screen size is smaller than in the Arcade... Showcases few of the original game's strengths, and it exacerbates the game's flaws even further.
  15. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    I remember plenty of kids who liked Crash Bandicoot at the time: Nintendo and Sega weren't in their minds when talking about Crash. I would say Crash is fondly remembered for the same reason that Ghosts&Goblins, or Ninja Gaiden, or any unfairly difficult game is fondly remembered: because kids don't put too much stock into finishing games. They remember the fond times exploring and trying to beat each level that they could, and largely ignore that certain parts of it are overly difficult even for seasoned players (because, for beginner players, everything feels equally difficult). Crash was fun to control and had a charming design, that's all it takes to form fans. ... Speaking of games we drop as adults, I dropped a few over these past few months (as an adult!). Here are some quick-fire opinions on each: Pnickles: Got it on the Capcom 2nd Arcade Stadium, and I absolutely regret it. It's a Puyo Puyo clone, with the twist that the blobs of 3 or more don't burst on their own, they require two special blocks before they burst... It's a slow game, with no way to regulate difficulty, and it's just really boring. 1 star Flicky: Tried it on NSO. I found it to be a pretty fun Arcade game that I can revisit from time to time. Didn't finish it, but I'm not exactly in a rush to do so right now. 3 stars Altered Beast: I tried it previously on a PS2, a long time ago. I remember it being horrible. Tried it again on NSO, and I can confirm it is horrible. I will say that the graphics and sound look great for the 80s, but that's all the praise I'll ever give it. 1 star Strider (Mega Drive): I was surprised to see this on NSO. Didn't know there was a Strider game on the Mega Drive! Now I know why, because it was a lousy port of the Arcade game. The original is pretty fun, and difficult enough on its own, the MD version makes it look amateurish. 1 star Ghosts'n Goblins (NES): Was on a Halloween mood, checked the NES version of this game... Wasn't impressed. I played the GBC version a long time ago, and that one ran better than this one. Plus, it was so unbearably difficult, I'm starting to question if the original game is good to begin with. 2 stars And now, for some that I have played more thoroughly. Streets of Rage 2 I played the first one last year! After getting the NSO, I figured this was as good a time as any to check the following game in the series. The beat'em up genre is one that I've neglected over the years, due to seeing it as more of a co-op experience. I've given it more of a shot over this past year, but never really found the one to truly wow me. Until now. Boy, did I love this game. To think this wasn't part of my childhood, me, a Mega Drive boy! Four distinctly fun characters, memorable charming enemies, varied stages, creative bosses (except for that second Wolverine...), wonderful difficulty curve, and excellent music? Oh yes. It's also the right kind of short, perfect for a chill session of gaming. I started with Blaze on Normal, but I felt it was too easy, so I switched to Hard. Did fine until around Stage 5, where difficulty spiked. I decided to dial it back, try Normal difficulty with Max, and ended up beating the game with some save states. Then I went back to Blaze's Hard playthrough and powered through the last couple of levels with save states. To restore my honour, I played Very Hard with Axel, and actually did pretty well without save states! Ended up relying on them to deal with the ninjas, so there goes my honour. Still, even without save states, I think I could beat it without wasting all my Continues. Anyway, I can't give it less than 5 stars. Between this, Chiki Chiki Boys, and the Power Rangers game, it seems that Mega Drive was a true beat'em up utopia. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Julius Mode I played this one four years ago! I said at the time that playing like Julius felt slow. But after this monumental break, it only feels "kinda" slow Julius' age is getting to him. Anyway, it was Halloween, and I wanted a fun romp. Plus, that 7-hour Castlevania video left me in a mood, let me tell you. Julius mode is fun. If the sub-weapons from the 3 protagonists were scattered across the map, it would even make for a robust campaign. As it stands, it's more of a side-attraction, albeit one with genuine challenge involved. Some bosses need to be approached very differently (like soloing Aguni with Yoko because the other two chumps don't have an overhead attack), and I certainly did not expect Paranoia and Death to be more difficult than Abaddon. This has nothing to do with the playthrough, but I give Dawn of Sorrow 4 stars. With this, the game has gone from "Beat" to "Completed". The Horror of Salazar House I...never played this one. But it was Halloween, and I needed something genuinely creepy. I grabbed a short game from my Steam library. This is a one-man Indie game by a Chilean developer called Ignacio Maldonado. It tells the story of a young reporter investigating a house that's been abandoned ever since its family - the Salazars - vanished a few years ago. Kinda pulpy, the author does say it was inspired by Italian horror films. Anyway, the game looks like this, aiming for some Pentium vibes. It's very much a "pick-your-story" adventure book at heart, with occasional choices that lead to immediate, gruesome death. Thankfully, the game is short, save points exist, and there are no soft locks. Visually, it does a lot with very little, using its monochromatic colour scheme to great effect, and the creepy parts are creepy. There are also "Hiding in closet from the stalker" segments, which are appreciated to keep me on my toes, though they do feel a tad undercooked. It was a cool experience, and a great fit for Halloween. 3 stars Castlevania Legends Added on the NSO! Never played it before now! Perfect night to have a curse. It's clunky, the level design is filled with dead ends, stupid traps all over the place, hitboxes and jumps are janky af, bat enemies are the worst, spells are either OP (if you have hearts to use them) or absolutely useless (when you don't have hearts), music is best described as "bootleg Castlevania", the barebones plot manages to be overwritten, and just to be annoying, the game displays the existence of collectibles just to deny me the pleasure of a "Completed" game. But it's fine, not the worst Castlevania I played. 2 stars
  16. Live action is not the route I imagined an official Zelda product to follow. The series is so colourful and vivacious. I really hope this doesn't take itself seriously. This better turn out really cheesy.
  17. Nintendo Switch Online: NES

    Mysterious Murasame Castle is a fun game, but very difficult. Feels like a predecessor to many a hack&slash, but its design is clunky like only a NES-era game could be. Very much worth playing, mind you. I certainly like it way more than, say, Ninja Gaiden.
  18. Yeah, I haven't played it, either! That's quite the Halloween treat!
  19. Castlevania Advance Collection

    That happens in a few titles, yeah. There is one particular instance where that is used to great effect in this one Castlevania game... But what gets me about the Harmony of Dissonance version of Legion is how sturdy it is, how it refuses to lose parts, how it starts to slowly open... Plus, the one body that refuses to fall, staring at the fourth wall with its eyeless face... It gives me so many creeps.
  20. Castlevania Advance Collection

    I'm very fond of Harmony of Dissonance (or CHoD, according to these last few posts). It's very smooth to play, the plot is engaging enough, the visuals are psychedelic and ethereal, and the soundtrack is eerie enough to match. Helps that it was, in fact, my first Castlevania It's a shame the map itself is so needlessly large, but it sounds like the QoL changes from this version help a lot I also like how the game marries the Metroidvania genre with Horror. This game still has the creepiest (and grossest) Legion in the series. But to be perfectly fair, Aria of Sorrow has it beat pretty handily. CAoS is sublime, and the best Castlevania of this genre (of the ones I played, anyway). I'd also like to take this opportunity to share something I've been listening for these past few weeks: the most thorough Castlevania retrospective I've ever seen. That's seven hours (!!!) of content, and it's pretty liberal with spoilers, but I found this guy's takes to be pretty fair, and he certainly did his homework when contextualizing each release. If you don't/can't/won't listen to the whole thing (understandable), you can just check the parts where he talks about specific games, since they're adequately timestamped (for example, Harmony of Dissonance is at the 3:22:38 mark, and only lasts 14 minutes).
  21. Hey flameboy! I definitely remember you, and it's always nice to see a familiar face And while I can only speak for myself, I think you made the right call. Social Media is a scary place, I don't wanna go back there either!
  22. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    At the risk of spoiling a 10+ year old game... there's Spirit Tracks
  23. Your Gaming Diary 2023

    After some forum mishaps, it's time to make a post about the scant few games I finished over the past couple of months. Free, lighthearted game, and of a genre I appreciate, so I checked it out. Writing-wise, it's fun, and clearly made by loving fans. Lots of small references to the franchise's history and fandom here and there. Plus, this is the first time I've ever thought Shadow was likable. The ending was a bit "meh" for me, but nothing that hurts the overall thing. Gameplay-wise, it's super basic. Like, 2004-flash-game-on-newgrounds basic. Every scenario is locked to one location at a time, with 2 or 3 items to be used at any point. The only moderately exciting part was the final "whoddunit" at the end, where you're actually asked to think about and recap everything that happened. There's also GameGear-style minigames, I liked those plenty. 3 stars. Very cute game, and a nice afternoon Recommended by @Londragon at the N-E Café, way back when. It was made by the Hörbergs (of Gunman Clive fame), so that's all I needed to know. If Gunman Clive is like Mega Man, and Super Punch Patrol is like Streets of Rage, this game is like Contra. The main twist is that there's no levels or stages, only boss battles. That's great by me, Boss Rushes are an unappreciated genre. These are excellent bosses too, if you think you know what mechs look like, you haven't seen THESE mechs. The creativity is off the charts. I should say, I don't actually like Contra, it's not my cup of tea. I do like this game better, and it all comes out due to game design... but the controls aren't that hot. Weapon-switching is very clunky, and movement is excessively floaty and janky. This wouldn't be much of an issue if I was just rushing to the end, but the game rates your performance against any of these boss fights, and it's so frustrating to miss any of them just because a wall jump (or even a regular jump) decided to not register properly. The writing is very silly, and I already knew that going in. It's a Hörberg guarantee. 4 stars. Great concept, in need of a final coat of polish and refinement. I posted about this in the main thread. It's great. It's a great revival for the series, and very much a direction I appreciate. Despite the chaos, skill can still be rewarded, and I generally feel satisfied if I can finish within the Top 20. So far, the only real flaw is the small amount of tracks, and the fact that any other interesting game mode (team racing, mini-GP, etc.) is locked to events, therefore hour-dependent. We'll see what future updates will bring to the game... and hopefully the series. 4 stars. Great revival, and one of the most exciting games of 2023. Oh, they made a single-player game out of F-Zero 99. Neat. To be frank, I had never played the original before, not properly. I gave it a try a long time ago, and I was not fond of the controls. Looking back, I think someone messed with them, because the game plays pretty great in NSO, and after 99, I had to give this the time it deserved. So yeah, raw F-Zero, prototypical F-Zero, it's pretty fun. A shame that there's only one boost per lap, but the hazards are damaging enough to make health matter, so races are just as exciting and risky as they're supposed to. Furthermore, playing the various Grand Prixes (sic) gave me some serious GX flashbacks, in a great way. Simple, but very well designed tracks, that somehow manage to include various gimmicks and retain distinct character. Pretty difficult too, made me sweat. What I didn't like was the bumpers, that is, the extra racers that aren't doing anything but impede your progress. I have no words for how frustrating and unfair they feel. They block roads, they purposefully drive against you, they sometimes explode, they pop out of thin air when you're trying to catch up and my brain hates to see that. There are no words for how pissed off I get, being in 2nd place, trying to catch up to Dr.Stewart (always him in the lead), but there are 3 or 5 bozos in the way, which should not happen in any race! Makes me livid enough to *bump* the score down a point. Anyway, I beat Knight, Queen, and King in Standard difficulty, and that's good enough for me. 3 stars. It feels very aged, but I still appreciate it. I played the first one a few years ago. Ended up getting the sequel near the end of the 3DS eshop. It's better than the first one, I found. Mainly because these feel more like organic block puzzles, they're much more intuitive. Rather than navigating a vertical labyrinth, you're solving puzzles based on gravity and movement. Pretty challenging too, with a steady difficulty curve. There are also sprite-based puzzles here, but this time I strongly disliked them. They did not feel natural, and I got headaches trying to work out the solutions to those. Thankfully, they only make up less than 10% of the game. I finished the 100 story puzzles, and I'm now working my way through the 40 post-game puzzles. They somehow feel easier, despite requiring more complex thinking. Good stuff. 3 stars. Sweet game, I hope it sees a rerelease sooner, rather than later.
  24. Questions

    I did all of this on my laptop. Can't see any posts here, nor any unhide option. But you did give me the idea to check the thread from my phone, where I'm not logged in. Sure enough, as a guest, I can't see the accidental post, so it's safe to assume it's effectively deleted. Thank you, in any case
  25. Questions

    Not sure if this is the spot to ask this... but I accidentally posted in the Gaming Diary thread just as I started to write a post. I tried to delete it immediately, and all I found was the "Hide" button. So, did that button hide the post from everybody, or just from myself? And if it was just from me, how do I "unhide" it? So I can delete it properly?
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