This site will now redirect to my new blog at http://jaded-perspectives.com. In the next few days, I will be taking all the relevant posts from this blog and migrating them to the new URL. Thanks!

SYTYWTMAVN - Video Playthrough

This is a full video playthrough of SYTYWTMAVN. If you wish to download the actual visual novel, visit the game's download/description page instead: http://rd2k2-games.blogspot.com/2011/07/sytywtmavn-teacup-visual-novel-festival.html

Jaded Perspectives

Check out my new blog, "Jaded Perspectives." The tagline says it all: a cynical EVN creator's ramblings on niche gaming, anime, life and everything in-between. This is basically a fresh start on the doujin game blogging legacy that this site has strayed away from.

Suguri - Horizontal Shooter

By request, here's my review of Suguri.

Suguri is a fairly popular doujin shooter with some unusual elements. You control the game's titular character Shana Suguri through 7 horizontal scrolling stages... actually, I'm not too sure if it's really seven. I'm just basing that on the stage select screen. I can't get past stage 2 on easy, but hey just because I can't beat it, it doesn't invalidate this review.

The background music is amazing. Technically, I'd say the tracks are on the same level as ZUN's music for the Tohou games, but I'm no music major so don't take my word for it. I just know that I love the BGM for stage 1. Graphics are excellent.

The graphics are excellent for an indy title. Suguri is a 2D sprite but the enemies, projectile effects and backgrounds are rendered in 3D.

The gameplay looks simplistic at a glance. All you do is shoot and avoid enemies and projectiles. There's a lifebar (shield, actually), so you can take more than one hit. However, when you actually sit down and play this game, it can take some getting used to. First of all, Suguri can take two different weapons with her into battle. You can change your weapons from the options menu. Each weapon has its own characteristics. The machine gun is the only reliable weapon for me so far (I've had this game for years, but never really played it much.) The beam laser is powerful, but there's a recoil time that stops your movement for a fraction of a second. Since the enemies and projectiles are always coming, this means you have to time your shots carefully to avoid taking damage yourself. Then, there's a power level gauge, which when filled, allows Suguri to perform a super shot based on the primary weapon you've chosen.


You unlock more weapons by beating stages. Suguri doesn't shoot straight forward like in standard horizontal shooters, she locks on to enemies when they enter a certain range and shoots straight at them (about mid-range based on the screen). This adds an extra level of challenge to the game, if you already don't have your hands full dodging the bullet-spamming enemies. Also, sometimes the bullets just fill the entire screen before you can kill the enemies. To equalize, buton 3 (or keyboard "C" by default) boosts Suguri forward or you can control the direction she accelerates at by using the directional keys. This allows for quick dodges and lesser damage in case you get grazed by a bullet.



There are end-level bosses with visible on-screen lifebars. The bosses are humanoid sprites just like Suguri. (Actually, they're characters from the game's fighter sequel, Acceleration of Suguri) Over-all, this game is a bit on the hard side and the controls are a bit of a challenge, but it's a nice refreshing change from the usual japanese shmup formula.



Publisher: Orange Juice Circle
Demo: http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2006/02/suguri.html
Buy the game here: http://www.rockinandroid.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=91

Note: I'm not affiliated with any of the websites I've linked here.

Miku Rasher - 2D Nes Style Game

Got a small doujin game to review today. It's Miku Rasher based on the vocaloid character and internet icon, Hatsune Miku. I'd recommend the Hatsune Miku psp game too, but that's just me drooling all over Miku after seeing her booty-shakin action in "World is Mine." Back to Miku Rasher; It's free, cute, and fun. Unfortunately, it's so simple that there's not much to review, but, let's break it down. The music and sound effects are really old school. It has that famicom feel. 8 bit background music featuring Levan Polkka and familiar famicom blip-blips. The creators obviously wanted to make things look and feel like a famicom/nes game and they've succeeded in this aspect. The graphics, just like the music. The graphics are really reminiscent of simple NES/Famicom titles like Pipeline, Joust and Battle City. Nothing to mince words on, really. Check out the screenshots, they tell everything. The animations are just what you'd expect of famicom titles. Very limited animation but with smooth sprite movement. Now let's take a look at the gameplay. Sorry if I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but once again, the game feels like something right out of the nes/famicom era. Even the level of difficulty. The first otion is the A mode game. It starts easy enough but gets impossibly hard in the later stages and just like a typical famicom game; THE CONTINUE IS A LIE! That said, I like it. It's like a variation of Balloon Fight. There are only two buttons plus the arrow keys for the controls. Holding down Z or pressing it repeatedly boosts Miku up so she can fly. YOu can control her flight with the left and right arrow keys. Pressing X fires some kind of short-range projectile (is that her trademark leek?) that engulfs the enemy in a bubble. YOu have to literally burst their bubble after trapping them in it by bumping into them. Coming into contact with an "unbubbled" enemy means instant death. Enemies engulfed in bubbles escape after some time depending on the type of enemy and they get faster and harder to avoid/hit every time they escape. The objective of each level is to kill all the enemies. This pretty much sums up the gameplay. I'm not sure if there's a bonus level or boss fights. Haven't played this game to death... yet. B mode game is almost the same as A mode except that you can fall into holes for instant death as well and the enemies are more aggressive. Tutorial mode just shows you the game in action with a graphical representation of the controls in order to demonstrate the functions of each button. Over-all, I'd say not bad, not bad at all. This is the type of game I'd recommend to old school gamers - specifically, those who like the more simplistic games from the era of nintendo 8-bit dominance. It has a limited lifespan, but paraphrasing Dracula from Castelevania SOTN: "The same could be said of all NES era games." Well, maybe not all of them, but there were lots of similar arcadey games for the NES. Of course, if you like Hatsune Miku, I don't need to tell you to get this game. Download it now. (It's only 1.3 MB) The screenshots used here are from the game's official homepage. Publisher: Yoshiba Works Publisher's homepage: http://www.yoshibaworks.com/mcrasher/

Recommend a Doujin/ Freeware Game To Review

Yup, yup. I've got quite a few games on my backlog, but I'd like someone to recommend me a good doujin game to review.

I'll play any game as long as it's good. (Real clear standards, huh?) For the record, I prefer fighters, 2D shooters or classics like breakout style games and tetris. (Tetrinet? Nah, I suck at it. I get about 60 PPM max)

Please don't recommend something like Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. Yes, it's an awesome game, I know, but everyone's heard of it anyway. I prefer obscure but fun titles... Hmm... I guess I could try that Marimite mouse-controlled game for my next review. La Seour de etc... ahaha! Hmm... or Suguri, even. (Hard! Game is hard!)

Anyway, please list your recommended games on the comments here.

Umihara Kawase - Snes Platformer

Today, I feel like reviewing another non-doujin game, the cult-hit platformer, Umihara Kawase. I'll be reviewing the SNES version. Just in case you've never heard of it, it's a series of platform games starring a cute little schoolgirl called... well, Umihara Kawase (real imaginative, huh?) but what's in a name? It's all about the game and Umihara Kawase certainly delivers in that aspect. Let's break it down.

The graphics are solid just like any other snes platformer from the mid-nineties era; cutesy, colorful anime stylings and smooth animations that don't suffer from the stop-motion syndrome seen in some japanese games. Umihawra-chan and her fishing line move seamlessly through the various interconnected levels using semi-realistic physics.
Which brings us to the meat and potatoes of this game, the gameplay. You control our appropriately named female protagonist. and basically make your way through the various multi-platform levels using nothing but your fishing line and a the good old jump button. The goal is always to make your way to the level's exit door while avoiding falling into the water or getting hit by enemies, which is no small feat since one hit is fatal. However, what makes this game unique is the maneuverability and versatility of the fishing line. It can clamp on to any anything it touches (acts as an attack against enemies, which stuns them and you can them reel them in and Umihara will store them in her backpack for points) and you can control its length via the d-pad and even swing around to a certain extent. It's a lot like Bionic Commando's arm, but the fishing line is surprisingly (and not) more versatile in the fluid and intuitive way it responds. After a few minutes of immersion, using the line to hook onto nearby platforms will feel like second nature. Of course, Umihara herself is a lot harder to maneuver through the levels without having a good grasp of the fishing line's physics. Her jump just isn't high enough to get her across most gaps. It's a great platformer in that there are various ways to tackle any level (and I'm sure there are some daredevils out there who can pull off innovative ways of using the fishing line to breeze through some levels)
The music is cute, catchy and very Japanese in feel. Anime/Jrpg fans will feel right at home with the bgm for this game. It kinda reminds me of the music for Lunar and Falcom games like Legend of Heroes and the Ys series.

Over-all, this is an excellent platformer for gamers of any level - from the hardcore types to the casual players. It's quite a challenge going through the multi-platform levels and many of them require quite a bit of creativity and some luck to pass through unharmed. There are no continues and a limited number of lives available. Lucky for us, there are emulators and savestates nowadays ;). Also, this game was never released outside of Japan, but some fans have released an unofficial translation patch for the game (for what minimal text there is).