Switch Funday - Blaster Master - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This week is another popular NES game that i haven't played before. for years i've been hearing people talking about how great Blaster Master so i was eager to try it for myself.

Going in, i was somewhat familiar with the basics. i knew the story revolves around a pet frog, but i was surprised how well it conveys that story with just pictures and no words. I knew there was a vehicle section as well as on foot sections, but i was also surprised how seamlessly the two gameplay styles were used in an area. it was cool when the level moved to focus on just the character. it was zoomed in and a new perspective. the high level of detail was surprising and everything controlled brilliantly. 

But i didn't really make much progress in this video. i don't know if i'm still in the starting area, but i suspect i am. i came across a green statue that couldn't be killed. there was a giant raspberry looking boss that i couldn't kill either. at least with the boss it was clear i was doing damage, just never enough to defeat it. for being at the start of the game, this boss was much tougher than i expected. it has rocks orbiting around it and they're very dangerous. 

So i come away with mixed feelings. there's no denying that this game looks great, handles great, and has great music. but actually making progress in it seems much more difficult than i expected. the levels are big, but there seems to be no sign posting as to where to go or what's needed to progress past sections. I want to play it again, but rather because i want to solve the puzzle that the first area has turned into, rather than how good the game is itself. it's certainly well worth playing if you have NES as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service.

Online Saturday - KartRider: Drift - 12 Races Across The Infinite Boost, Item, And Crossover Modes

Welcome to Online Saturday.

For today's video i'm back with KartRider: Drift. I haven't played this racing game from Nexon since it launched on PS4 back in April. you can checkout that video here https://youtu.be/61mKJc1G2M8. Back then, it was a very solid racer that looked great on PS4. Since then, the game has received numerus updates and is in it's 4th season of events. as you can see from the icon, it's spooky season so there are new spooky themed race tracks, racer customs, and karts.

In this video i just wanted to race and i was glad to see that there is still a robust online community for this game. Some games found a match as fast as Splatoon 3 does! the only thing that slowed things down was that i'm playing this on PlayStation4. the load times were always worse on here, as in the pre-race lobby you can see how fast or slow the game's loading for other racers. There was only 1 technical issue i had and whilst it only happened twice, it did get in the way of gameplay. what happened was that there was a pause, maybe for a second at most, but this is an online racing game so the action doesn't stop. so when the game unpaused, even tho it was brief, my kart had continued as had the rest of the game. It's hard to say what caused it, whether it's a frame pacing issue or a stuttering issue, but it happened.

Other than that, it was a fun racing game. it is different to Mario Kart so it's not an easy comparison. but as it's free to play, it's one i do recommend you experience for yourself. The Season Pass is also pretty good for free players as we can still earn karts and characters. the store also seems reasonable priced, like things are attainable. The only thing i want them to change is the character and kart screen. it would be nice if it was easier to see which characters have extra costumes. 

Mobile Friday - SHAPE HUNTER - Solid Style And Gameplay With A Few Rough Edges

For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out SHAPE HUNTER on iPhone 14 Pro. this game is from @MotiyaGames and is also out on Android and Steam.

In the App Store, the trailer and screenshots for this game show how stylish this game looks. But when you play it, it's more than just style. the graphics and music work well together as does the art.

The core part of gameplay is solid. you have two weapons, you attack enemies, and after each level you finish you select a bonus/item/thing that'll go with you until the run ends. It works well, but the controls were a little unexpected. you can only move your character by using the spear, and to fire both the spear and bow and arrow you have to pull back, like a slingshot or Angry Birds, and let go. by the second or third run i had adjusted, but i think it would've been nice to have a second control scheme where you fire where you aim.

The only other thing that i wasn't sure about is if this game is a roguelike. in the store it's listed as one, but nothing was carried over into the next run. it's possible that i just didn't go far enough into the game to get an item that does carry over into the next one. but the game doesn't make it clear.

Because it's a roguelike, i can accept a certain level of ambiguity. but this game is a little too close to the line. there was a weapon tutorial, but not a movement one. it's listed as a roguelike, but never says how. But it's simplicity does make it surprisingly accessible so they're only minor gripes. i was a little more annoyed with the adverts just starting without any warning. thankfully, these are short adverts and not the 30+ second adverts i've seen in other mobile games.

I do recommend SHAPE HUNTER. it does feel a little rough, and in the video i mention that at the moment it's a game you play, enjoy, and leave on your phone and check it now and then after updates as it's only going to get better. But you shouldn't get a game thinking of the future. Thankfully, the game is good enough now that future improvements that'll come are bonuses.

(Version 1.2.6 Played)

Demo Play Thursday - Dave the Diver on Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Dave the Diver. This game from developers MINTROCKET already released on PC and Mac.

I had already seen Zero Punctuation's video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXbpPyqQWEs, before playing this DEMO so for the first time in this series, i started the DEMO somewhat knowing what to expect.

The main gameplay loop in this demo is that your character, Dave, is a diver and he's been hired to dive for fish. he can do so twice a day and all the fish he catches is delivered to the restaurant that he's now helping his friend run. there are other things you can dive for, but i don't want to ruin any story stuff, but needless to say the location where he dives is unique and each dive is different. At night, the restaurant opens and as there are no waiting staff, your character has to take on that role whilst a chef makes customer's orders. As your character had been diving for fish, this restaurant is a sushi restaurant. the menu changes depending on what you caught and you have some control as to what is available to order. throughout the demo new characters are added and each one acts like a tutorial whilst also teasing story stuff and connections.

As a DEMO, it's great. it's the start of the game, the prologue and some of chapter 1. this means we get the important back story, we get the premise, we get the tutorial, and we get to see some interesting characters being introduced and some intriguing plot points that aren't revealed in this DEMO meaning you'll have to get the game to see what happens. As a DEMO, it's one of the best i've played in this series and succeeds as after playing it, i'm interested in the game.

There are some small issues with it. one that i highlight a few times in the video is how some loading screens have beautiful pictures whilst others are plain white or plain black screens that, on occasion, seem to take a little while to load. nearer the end of the video, there was also one occasion where there was some slow down. these are small issues and didn't really get in the way of gameplay. But the biggest issue i had that did affect my gameplay was in regards to the in-game phone. the icon on the screen to use it looked like the D-Pad. but it never worked. it wasn't until nearer the end of the video that i realized that it was the plus button! i was playing with the pro controller, so my plus button is round and my d-pad is a cross. so the icon on screen didn't match my controller.

Backlog Conquering - Gunstar Heroes - Part 4 - Completing The Strange Fortress

Part 4 of playing Gunstar Heroes on #PS3 went much longer than i anticipated. in the other 3 videos, each one has shown my attempts at completing it. I finished The Strange Fortress and thought it was the end of the video, but as i was getting the story about the plot twist, the game started the next stage!

So this video is two halves, the first half is the journey to complete The Strange Fortress, and the second half is my attempt at rescuing Yellow. I do not get to Yellow, so the second half will be continued in Part 5!

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Highren Cup Revival - Achievement Run

Welcome to Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday! Sit back and either watch me play through, with no commentary, the cup or leave it running in the background as BGM!

I play and earn all the achievements from The Highren Revival Cup! (2023/9/18 9:00～2023/9/25 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

This week is the Highren Revival Cup. i have played this cup before, https://youtu.be/PUjcmShT_ig, but that was very bad for me. it took nearly 4x as long as this video! I watched some of it and i was moving so slowly. like some of the recent revivals, it's at the beginning of when i started playing the game.

There weren't as many opponents this week even when compared to last week. so a few times i was playing against the computer. when i was playing against others, it was very competitive and it seemed like we all got stuck trying to defeat the boss. playing against the computer was easier and i always managed to win so it wasn't that exciting. I hope that the recent decline in users isn't a sign that, even here in Japan, the number of people playing online is getting dangerously low.

This week i played against:

うまろ - Rank 73

ぐっしー  - Rank 56

YUKI - Rank 87

キグナス - Rank 67

めぐまる - Rank 60

Cloud Monday - For the King - Part 2 - Poor Cloud Streaming Experience Didn’t Ruin Gameplay

*Apologies for my audio quality. i forgot to change mic's from the recording laptop's to my Blue Snowball Ice. it's bad from start to finish*

Today's Cloud Monday is part 2 of playing For the King, streamed from PlayStation Plus Premium. This game was developed by IronOak Games and published on PS4 by Curve Digital Publishing. 

Part 1 didn't go well in terms of the game itself. head to https://youtu.be/Uw-QOB-l3Cw to see the many complaints i had about the game. But streaming it from PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service was actually very good. i made several comments about how, whether intentionally or not, the game's graphic design and how frequently it saved works well with the streaming service.

Here in Part 2, that was put to the test. the overall streaming experience from PlayStation Plus wasn't great. there were frequent issues ranging from resolution drops, stream tearing (where grey appears on screen), macro blocking (where fine detail is replaced by squares of color), and what looked line frame time issues or missing frames. Even tho streaming it from the cloud to me wasn't great, the game itself mostly held up ok. the only issue the game has is how it displays texts. it's small and i don't sit close to the TV when i play these games. when the resolution dropped, or when there was macro blocking, the text on screen was an issue. 

For those who have played the game, hard to read text isn't a big deal. but for newer players like myself, it is. But overall, even with the issues, it never got in the way of the gameplay. so if this is a game you enjoy or really want to try, doing so via the PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud Streaming Service is great option. Plus, as it saves so frequently, i was never anxious about loosing progress as i had trust in the game. admittedly, i didn't have to put that trust to the test.