Went back for an evening session and played until midnight. And I only played one new game! I got sucked into Magic Garden and Barbuta. Magic Garden is so cute and I found trying to execute huge point combos very compelling. Barbuta mysterious and frustrating and weird and I just needed to crack into it. I didn’t.
More on the meta. Potentially a couple of major spoilers below?
I did get spoiled on a stream I was watching. I don’t know if it’s major or not. There’s text on the terminal that fits the terminal input when you view it from the screen left of start in Barbuta. Executing this code begins a section that appears to take place in the developer’s office. I haven’t done it myself because I’m waiting to see if anything points to it or what.
I have been looking at the terminal frequently. I found some kind of clue in the second level of Attactics.
I’m out sick with covid so I’m hoping to identify the ones where failure is fun since I’ve got time but the brains and reflexes are jacked up for now.
I played about an hour of Pingolf last night and really loved it. This is exactly the kind of game I would gravitate towards if handed a pile of ROMs. I wasn’t using the dunk feature, which I learned about afterwards.
I was finally able to get my PC in working order last night and downloaded UFO 50.
Barbuta: Evidently I’m completely alone in not liking this one at all. The lack of music and feedback when attacking enemies calls back to those early 80’s games to it’s detriment. If the character just didn’t move so damn slow it might be palatable for me.
Bug Hunter: Very cool. I love games that feel like a board game, without the hassle of having to mess with pieces.
Mooncat is the next one to get its hooks in me. The unique control scheme reminds me of playing Umihara Kawase or getting a mushroom in Earthbound where you have to be intentional about relearning what different inputs will do in order to complete tasks like walking and jumping that are usually taken for granted. Really, really fun and weird one. Easy to get into a rhythm, and constant deaths just take you back to the start of that screen. The character designs and music are nice and surreal too.
Having bounced around six or seven games semi-randomly, I’ve gotta say that Cyber Owls, Campanella 2 and Mortol 2 are very, very cool. Cyber Owls in particular really nails that late '80s action game bombast. It has so many ideas in it! There’s like five videogames in that videogame!
I am deep into the metagame, and probably will likely finish that aspect of the game, and decide if I want to play more of this. It’s really cool. I like that the arc of it is more or less, check X game out for five minutes, that’s about how much I want to play many of these. I find it much less esoteric than something like a Void Stranger So I will likely try and do most of it myself.
People on Reddit are saying it works well in Whisky on Mac, so maybe give that a shot. If you’re on Linux it plays like native on proton. Perfect on Steam Deck.
I finished (one of the endings of) Mooncat just a bit ago and holy cow. There’s so much little hidden stuff in there. Incredible game.
I played a good bit more today. Got my first cherry disk on “Night Manor,” which I thought was excellent, uncovered a bit of the metagame, and currently I am enamored with “Barbuta,” which seems to have its own little metagame going on. All the action games I’ve dipped into so far (especially the shooters) have been wonderful and inspiring. I am in love
Played a few more. I’m astounded by just how good each game is and the amount of effort put in.
Rail Heist: This might end up being the best thing on here for me. Love everything about it. It’s sorta like 2D Hitman with cowboys, with a bit of X-Com thrown in. Seriously, play Rail Heist right now.
Nice! In the original trailer, it was the side-view golf-type game that made me go from, “This looks neat,” to, “Whoa I want to play this.” I assume that was Golftopia!
Cherry disks? Meta meta games? I just keep playing Magic Garden! That’s the only one I’ve gotten the “garden” achievement. It says I have a watering can? I don’t know what that means. I’m still pretty bad at that one, but it’s fun and cute and the music is a real bop.
