☆20230618 fucking rad. didn't expect much from it because i took it as a meme game even tho i love hypnospace but like woa it IS pretty solid?? which is something i didn't expect since this is jay tholen's first (commercial?) shooter. fun as fuck and a love letter to all our cringe passion projects we started as teenagers, and i also loved the collaborations with different personalities from the "boomer shooter2 community. recommended, but do play hypnospace outlaw first!

☆20230611 i liked the navigation and thought that every puzzle being a single screen was a pretty fun idea, especially after playing so many myst-likes (and let's not talk about those shitty point n click that mix myst-style environmental puzzles with self contained puzzles)... but damn are most of them bad. the othello game's ai being dependent on yr cpu's power is funny as hell like it is almost unbeatable when playing it on a modern computer. i did not care about the story but the acting was great, funny as hell.

☆20230604 i kinda did not care about this game!! i mean i guess it's fun overall but i did not enjoy the more power-fantasy-vibe take on thief gameplay. also some weird choices like yeah you can play however and we give you this cool set of abilities to use but also most of them are tied to a playstyle based on killing while the game also punishes you for choosing that playstyle (i always pick the non-violent solution in ths type of game but also felt like i was missing out on the cooler skills). i also did not particularly enjoy the level design, since it waskinda open but at the same time it wasn't? anyway, i can see why this game is praised so much seeing the lack of first-person stealthers in the market in the last decade).

☆20230529 just started videogames will let you guys know when i catch up. it's surprisingly good! the way the caves are described definitely activated my imagination.

☆20230526 this is the final (i think) game designed by theresa duncan. i think i liked it more than smarty since it's definitely a more distinct game from chop suey. the setting was super original and imaginative and i really enjoyed my time roleplaying as a turn of the XIXth century parisian girl. i think everyone should play her trilogy of games, so please go do so!

☆20230520 love love love love. it kinda saddens me that a lot people picks up this game and play for 30 min before dropping it... i think this type of game doesn't really hit until you've spent some hours not knowing what to do! but once you really get into it it's such a chill experience, introspective even. it just feels nice to follow the sounds and the fish and interact with them and find cool stuff totally by chance and build a reef and once you're tired of wandering around you can then check the map and try to fill the squares like in a dungeon crawler. play it!!

☆20230515 whoa... even if don't particularly love the story it's based on, i have to admit the interaction on this piece puts it above most multimedia cd-roms of this kind. a masterclass on adapting an (already interactive) novel without merely translating paper to screen!

☆20230507 i have Thoughts but at the same time i don't have any. i just feel so... unmoved by mostly everything that happened in this vn, though i do like a lot of the characters (dlanor my beloved). the explanation in the manga was satisfactory enough but ryukishi should be put in jail for not properly explaining a certain character's past in the game itself. the final chapter was, like higurashi's, less than good, but at least that one used interactivity in a way that actually made sense. i really liked how the story ends, though! shame it takes so long to get there.

☆20230413 i can see why most of us are so nostalgic for this one since it's probably the most addictive one in the entire series! this is due to it being super straightforward, which works in its favor. the town and its habitants are super charming but also have this sort of kinda dark layer to them. i would've have appreciated some sort of objective/storyline though, i completely improved my farm and married rick but didn't try to get the extra houses because then the game would've become super grindy. i can see myself returning once in a while though. careful with the festivals, they can get easily exploitable!

☆20230409 remember when i said magical chase was probably the best cute 'em up i had played? well... play cotton 2!

☆20230409 funniest game i ever played period. shame the gameplay itself is super repetitive and basically the same as the other two! mfw

☆20230408 first game i play on my dreamcast keyboard! i gave up halfway at typing correctly and started using my index and middle fingers as i always do. it is not a very fun game and not super good or interesting at teaching you stuff and it barely has any rei representation so it's a no for me.

☆20230408 damn i just wish there was a little more to it because it's super fun and the gunplay feels really advanced for 2000. thankfully i still have its two sequels on the drive left to play!

☆20230408 next up on the nemoto harumi extended universe: eizou play. these start off as pretty cursed gravure ventures because the looks on the faces of the girls range from awkward to terrified at having a (what i supposed to be) big ass device full of cameras surrounding their bodies. but then the mood softens and you really feel like a photographer on a professional set, seeing the assistants and the other photographers around the scene, and the small chats happening between them and the models. there's a scene in particular where a 360 camera is set in the dressing room and we can see the girls playing around with it, talking on the phone and helping each other with their clothes. it was really wholesome! which is a weird thing to say about such a seemingly bizarre piece of media for the ps2 but i for some reason find the amount of gravure-related software on the console fascinating. it would've been cool to see the finished/edited pics since the sets in the vids looked baaaaad

☆20230405 i must've been waiting like 10 years to play this game and i must say... it does not disappoint! like it just does everything soooo much better than its prequel. it still has some frustrating moments (like that precision platforming section in the sewers) and it's easy to get lost on what to do when nearing towards the end of the game but fuck it's good. go pick up a secondhand xbox for 20 dollars and play it!

☆20230405 rip compile but this is not a good rhythm game. the songs are recycled from some of their previous projects and while the gameplay is kinda similar to parappa's your inputs are not reflected in any way in the music. the designs have a lot of drip though and i think it would've been nice seeing more compile-developed 3d games....

☆20230405 this is more of a tech demo than anything and not much of a game but woah that model poser is impressive. you can tell a different cg artist worked on each model but damn did they do the guy dirty

☆20230405 the awesome gameplay in this one gets kinda mudded by the weird ass control scheme but once you properly learn how to play it becomes SO rewarding like. it makes me actual mad because the level/objective design is very poor so i ended up kinda hating my time w it (not counting bosses, these were a fun challenge!). in that sense it reminds me of p.n.03 in a way.

☆20230403 i had zero idea about what the hell was this game about when i picked it up and i'm glad for it. it's so so full of charm and soul and janky in a good way. recommended!

☆20230402 not to be confused with vampire knight (2004). it can get hard and we almost missed all of the villagers lol. it's still fun! though i'd rather play other rail shooters (though i wouldn't ming getting back to this once i get a pair of gun controllers). the dialogues and the plot are NUTS

☆20230402 game is fucking raw you can only be amazed at the sheer passion these super-low-budget simple series games exude. it doesn't become too repetitive because it is very short and it has some variety on the levels. however it is pretty easy unless you want to get good scores, which i beleive most people won't even attempt to do because unlocking a single weapon/costume/whatever in this game takes a lot of grinding across multiple playthroughs

☆20230401 kirb :3 very nice very nice i got happy when i saw lolo as a boss :3

☆20230401 had this as a reference for a game we're developing so after many tries i managed to setup and troubleshoot the installation for this game so i could play it. went in expecting a pretty kusogey experience but it was...okay-ish? its most glaring problem is that is has way too many platforming sections. apart from that... there's also the lack of progression that becomes even more apparent once you get closer to the end of the game. the pacing of the levels are too samey and possessing the same guard archetype over and over starts getting boring. plus the objectives are too vague so there's not a lot of puzzle solving there, it really felt more like trial and error to me. still, i was surprised by how tightly designed it was? like even with the trial and error it all ended up making sense (though not at first most of the time) and it was very hard to get softlocked esp given how prone to that this type of game is. i also liked how it all got too chaotic real soon, it was in those moments where the game really shines!

☆20230329 beautiful point n click with lovingly painted artwork made by kikuko iwano. it is very relaxing and also short so i recommend checking it out if you can get a mac emulator working! the way it loops was very sweet.

☆20230317 she is me

☆20230308 it's not good but i found the level design to be pretty inspired? like yeah they were gimmicky but i don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. still, some crimes can never be forgiven (the platforming (aka the rest of the game))

☆20230307 i love this *as a concept* but the game by itself is not interesting enough for me to warrant hundreds of hours spent on trying to do something cool with the creatures' genetics. still, it is very cute and i love reading its community's stories and its fanpages!

☆20230304 yes i actuallt went out for once and played on an actual cab. this was fun but this body is very weak and couldn't win a single game T_T. i think it could've been more interesting as a videogame if the software directly interacted with the hardware in more ways, like adding different strengths/limits to each handle in order to add some variety to the minigames and balance between players.

☆20230302 ughhh i expected something similar to adventure or a clue-finding game with the comic but oh damn @_@ like what even was the point of the conquest when the game is not even solvable and everyone just cheated by searching for the words in the comic ugh. i spent way too many hours trying to make sense of the game until i gave up and decided to look up and explanation: turns out there's no puzzle and everything's trial and error and there's like 60000 possible combinations and only 1 right answer so i don't think anyone has ever beaten this one legit. so i very obviously followed a guide tee hee

☆20230302 went in for the ui design, stayed for the music and got surprised by a very josei experience. didn't really get to me or anything but it was still nice.

☆20230227 thought immersive sims were a dead genre but turns out they are just too expensive to produce nowadays >.< i didn't expect to love this as much as i did! it is so tightly designed but also lets the player experiment with the mechanics however she likes and it's exactly like a how a good imsim should be. sad the aesthetics of its setting weren't super unique but oh well that's just my opinion. i also missed something similar to the surveillance mechanic in the first system shock because the enemies got annoying but i can see why they did it that way especially considering ss obviously didn't have as many movement/pathfinding options as this game. anyway, the ending was a nice surprise too, i definitely recommend checking this one out!

☆20230225 i don't like it as much as i enjoyed adventure because some of the modes are way tooo hard but damn... it's amazing how the creator hit so many survival horror checks without even trying like how it handles the rooms, the item management, the sound of the footsteps... also the eyes in the dark as the sprite for the player character, so cool!

☆20230224 played through this a few times on the different level modes and i must say... it is really really good. sure it's janky but i feel that the brokenness of its mechanics also work in its favor and are solvable most of the time (like how if a key gets stuck inside a wall a bat will simply get it eventually). i can see myself coming back once in a while to replay the third mode from time to time!

☆20230223 atari's last arcade game, and what a shame because this one was pretty damn fun! makes you wonder why it flopped so hard, especially considering the graphics were very impressive for the time... i wonder if people got dizzy when playing it? (this happened to me when i first played a game with 3d graphics as a child...). in any case, it's also a very fun game and i vibe with it a lot!

☆20230219 finally played this many years after completing the first entry in the series! yes it's good but... its gameplay mechanics and the thematic similarity to the previous one's levels makes it way too samey...

☆20230219 most games in this collection are pretty fun by themselves (especially loved the greenhouse and turtle bridge ones) but the requirements to unlock everything and "beat" the collection simply do not work with simple games such as these, since you do the same thing over and over and it's not even difficult, just tedious, esp with the easy mode (why force the player to play both easy and hard modes to unlock stuff?)... still, the little mario remakes were so so cute...!

☆20230219 played all four of these for some reason, don't judge me. ost slaps. it has a dedicated vibration button.

☆20230218 you do the same thing over and over and most of the level missions suck but it is peak 2000s and it must've been fun to play over xbox live when it first launched back in the day. still, i hated every second i spent playing this.

☆20230215 i'm just jealous i didn't come up with this concept myself. it's really good!

☆20230215 was gonna write this off as kinda mid because, even though the rhythm hack n slash gameplay has a lot of thought put into it (you'd think they could've had relied on the rhythm gimmick for the combat at leave it at that but, surprisingly, it does have the right amount of depth to it) the mid stages are so damn tedious and repetitive because of the platforming, and the level design is super basic... but damn, the final 3 or so levels really got to me.

☆20230204 boring as hell. the way it lays out its levels is super predictable: there is ALWAYS a save station right after a kinda tricky part. it seems like they wanted to go hardcore at times but couldn't commit to the part, and this is especially true in the last area (which they kinda try to hype as being hard as balls but isn't). this could be justified if they tried to sell the game as some kind of introduction to metroidvanias but at the same time tries to appeal to speedrunners and shit so i don't see it. plus there are so many other better (some are even free!) short-ish metroidvanias out there. at least the cat is cute.

☆20230204 kusoge except for the ost. plot is damn funny too. rip yukihiro takahashi

☆20230203 this was baaaad. the world is pretty and exciting at first i guess but uh... they could've gone with an actual chinese setting i guess? the beat em up gameplay is terrible and so damn exploitable, it just become tedious and unfun. the bioware good/evil system sucks as always. this game is a damn mess save for some of the writing... plus some crimes can never be forgiven (they censored the lesbian kiss)

☆20230125 if you're reading this, stop and go play this with a friend.

☆20230122 probably the best cute em up i've ever played! loved the addition of the shop as a progression system. difficulty is very nice and the shop makes you strategize with the power ups and you can always grind more if you mess up or don't have enough money. recommended!

☆20230122 sam barlow's incel era. still interesting and still a nice gimmick!

☆20230122 also played this for school. it was probably pretty exciting in 2012 but its meta-puzzles are pretty basic for todays standards, but i still think it's nice! i just wish i cared more about the game after the horror wore out. also didn't like how it forces you to get the achievements for the true end.

☆20230121 played this for school. way too reliant on its real world references, becoming too predictable because of that. as a walking simulator i also found it way too hand-holdy... still, i liked the diy feel and how the humane way it chooses to portray the characters.

☆20230119 sucks both mechanically and narratively and at least two of its routes are downright terrible BUT how it portrays some of its themes was pretty interesting given the year of release and the genre of this game. it's still not even remotely good but i love my femcel gf

☆20230118 it's a wayforward game alright. i don't think i might be able to play another game with cristina vee on it.

☆20230114 help me i have shiori brainrot now. it's amazing how its influence reaches us even know, so i'd recommend everyone to play this even if they think dating sims are icky or whatever, since it's also such an humane experience that teaches us to live in society and stuff, and so nostalgic too...

☆20230112 i'm gonna fight every earthbound fan who disrespects mother fr. it's such an special game that knows exactly what its doing and is not afraid to poke some fun at the player every once in a while, most of its clunkyness is intended! on another note, most complaints people had with this game (simplistic mechanics, too many random encounters) were already aknowledged in contemporary reviews, which i think is an interesting counterargument agains the notion that games somehow 'age'!

☆20230103 really really cute game i love noobow! the game is really short and simple but it was super tightly designed, it never bugged and i never got hardstucked at a dead end or anything, which i believe would be a given in this type of game had it not been developed by irem!

☆20230102 played both the dsiware individual games and the 3ds collection. it's just another dress-up game cashgrab whose devs probably think little girls are stupid, so do not bother.

☆20230102 it's not much but it's really cute. also hard as hell to play even though it's pretty much impossible to lose lol

☆20230101 this game/tech demo is pretty much 'capitalism, ho!' but it was cool seeing old, less known/dead franchises such as vib-ribbon being aknowledged in an official thing. the final boss was pretty cool too! shame it kinda ends with a huge advertisement for ps5 peripherals lol