There is a Maximus Cup this weekend in Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. The 41st Maximus Cup is for the Switch game F-ZERO 99. By getting 100 points, you can unlock a F-ZERO 99 theme which includes sounds and a background.
The side quest, as ever, is to try and win. unfortunately, i didn't manage to make it to the top 10 at all during this cup. in the first couple of games i managed to get into the top 20, with the first game being especially difficult. but other than that, i wasn't able to score too highly.
For this week's Online Saturday video i'm back on the Switch with Splatoon 3. It's my birthday and i wanted to play something fun and relaxing so here are 15 matches of Turf War, of which my team mates and I managed to win 10 of them.
For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game, from developers CLOVER-FI Games and Camilla Santiago. i played this on my iPhone 14 pro.
Many recent idle games i've played have had a lot of action and/or story. so seeing Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game and what it's app store page said got me curious about a different style of idle game. so going in i knew it was more casual, more laid back, and had a lo-fi feel to it.
And yet, i don't think it does great at expressing that to the player itself. if someone decided to play this game because of the lo-fi element, they maybe expecting a modern idle game. Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game starts with a brief introduction from another character and this would've been the perfect place for that character to say we can come back once or twice a day, that plants are hardy and will be ok, and that the game has a vacation mode. the game is a bit too keen to start.
But when it does it's good to see that it asks us if we want a tutorial. as Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game is out on other platforms, it's possible that we might've played it else where. it's not clear if the cloud save is just from this device or if we have a personal account. i wanted to see the tutorial so i don't know if the game asks to link to an account and get our save or start anew.
The tutorial looks great, until it abruptly stops right as we get to the main menu. i wanted a tutorial, i asked for it, so like modern mobile games i expected some, if not all, of the icons to be explained or at least pointed to. thankfully it's not difficult to work out what these buttons do when you press them.
I liked the pixel art and the art in general. but some elements of it weren't designed for my phone. my phone's screen has rounded corners, so the big text box at the bottom looks weird as the bottom corners are missing. the same with the pause button and frenzy bar. the Dynamic Island never got in the way but it was a little strange we could put items over it. i feel like something more bespoke for the phone would've worked better. maybe taking the icons and putting them to the side with the Dynamic Island and leaving the rest of the screen for the game.
Something like that might've helped with the mini games. the game with a bucket was the most awkward to play as it uses the full length of the screen. but none of my fingers could cover the entire bottom of the screen so i had to try and switch thumbs as i played. but so much is coming down so quickly, i was not effective at playing it. if the screen was smaller, like my example above or if we played on a fake handheld, so we would see the front of the handheld and played on that screen, it would've been easier. (I've tried to think of a fun name for such a portable but can't do better than "Skylight" or "Wardian")
It is good to have some mini games, but the controls just hold them back. the flower idea is good, too. but i was surprised that the game doesn't lean into it more. they do look good on the window, taking care of them is also simple enough. But that's kinda it. we have a book showing which flowers we have, but this just shows the same information. i genuinely thought we were going to get like a wikipedia article about the flowers (or a copy of the Simple English page) but there's nothing extra. i thought there was going to be a zoomed in pixel art of each flower, but again it's the same image we already see.
The lo-fi aspect of the game also has the same limitations. it's good that it says what each song is when it starts, but then it disappears. surely we could choose to have the current song permanently displayed or not. and then there's the record player, there's no play or pause of stop option. The game does have a sleep mode that i don't think i fully understood how to work or why it's there in the first place. if the lo-fi music is so important it's in the name, why not give us a music player mode. i called it a commute mode where the game fades into the background and we get to enjoy the music. maybe our plants could be on screen as a screen saver.
There's nothing wrong with Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game, but on the other hand there's nothing great. it's good at a lot of things but also doesn't excel at anything. I would still recommend it tho. there is a lot to like and a lot of potential with this idea. it's being regularly updated so it's also a game i'd recommend keeping on your phone and checking out what each update brings. but as it is, it's fine to check in once or twice a day, maybe before and after work on the commute home, and spend a relaxing time with it with the sound on.
There's no commentary with this video as my computer locked up during recording and i lost it all. Frogun Encore itself also crashed on PlayStation 4 and i kept that in the video. i've had demos be buggy, but this demo was the first one to actually crash and take me back to the PS4 XMB. Thankfully it was saving my progress, tho i don't remember the game actually telling me it was, so i could continue the demo and finish it.
I haven't played the original Frogun game from Molegato, but it's one i knew off and did want to try. going into Frogun Encore i wasn't sure whether it was a sequel to the original or a re-release of it. I think it's a sequel from what was said in-game. but this demo itself does little to promote itself. there's no link to the PSN from the home screen, no trailer or screenshots when you finish it.
Even tho things were going wrong whilst playing it, i actually had a good time with Frogun Encore. i feel like the initial level and tutorial aren't a great match. the tutorial is great, but the start of the level is a little full on whereas we've not had time to adjust to the jumping or getting around the level not just by walking but by our frog's tongue.
But it doesn't take long to get up to speed. thankfully the game isn't too demanding when it comes to lives. we get 6 hits on us and if we do die, we're sent back to the checkpoint quickly with little to no punishment for it. it felt like #Tearaway #Unfolded, as i've been playing that as part of Backlog Conquering, in that the levels had little puzzles that were easy to understand and complete. the levels weren't expansive, but are well designed. and the overall design is full of charm and it very clear what it what.
One surprise was the soundtrack! just from this demo i know it's one i wouldn't mind owning. i hope they make it easy to get or at the very least stream. This demo is one i would recommend as it's just a fun platformer. since i played the demo, i've gone on to #Wishlist the game and i think for some people, they could just go ahead and do that 'cause it's just that good and fun.
We finished Part 7, https://youtu.be/-XtICrIrFek, in The Caverns and that's where we spend most of our time in this video. Visually, The Caverns was kinda cool, but the gameplay wasn't as inspired as other sections of the game.
there were no new gimmicks and the new uses of the controller were quite short lived. the Minecart section was fun and it was interesting pressing buttons to move the track, but it was far too short. it was used once and not again.
There didn't seem to be much progression in the story. the only highlight being when we finally reunited with our companion. but this to was short lived as the freed Wendigo either looked after it as a pet or maybe it's a baby Wendigo. unfortunately, we won't know happens to them because we finished Part 8 reaching the Liar of the Scraps and they couldn't follow me.
This week's Cloud Monday video is part 2 of playing the PS2 version of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus on PS4 via the PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming Service to my Japanese launch model PlayStation 4.
In Part 1, https://youtu.be/tphGJ4lCw88, the charm of the game was very evident. it was also nice how each section we had to clear was nice and short and different from each other. that continued in this section with the boss also being different and unique but importantly only needing 4 hits to be defeated. The level design is mostly solid as well. the gameplay doesn't feel like a chore, nor does it feel like it's dragging on.
But it's really hampered by the controls and camera. the controls are just too sluggish. i don't think that this is a result of the game being streamed to me via PlayStation Plus either. I wonder if it's because PS2 games used a cable to connect to the console and had a different polling rate than Bluetooth controllers. basically, does the game check on what's being inputted fast enough. it's a frustrating experience pressing a button and often not seeing it happen on screen fast enough and then occasionally seeing it happen on time. it makes the jumping difficult.
An example of this is the boss at the end of the video. for a while i couldn't jump up and down and press the button fast enough to start the next up jump before i was hit. the boss was moving faster than i could. so i had to try and start a little ahead of the boss so by the time he had caught up with me he got tired and i could hit him. i doubt this was the actual strategy, tho if it was please say so in the comments, and instead it's a result of the weird controller lag.
I'm not saying it's impossible for it to be caused from streaming the game. but i've played enough of these games to know that it's only ever been an issue in one other game.
The camera was also another frustration. i felt like i was fighting it too often and it kept getting caught in the level. I had to make some jumps based on guess work. what really didn't help was that i couldn't change the camera to inverted. back in the day, it was a somewhat normal camera scheme, but nowadays inverted is the norm.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus very much feels like the first game. it has great ideas and some not so great. what i'm curous about, and may check out in the next video, is whether the PS3 HD version of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus controls any differently. if it does, would i prefer to have better controls and camera or the ability to save and rewind. i'm very curious to try the PlayStation 3 version.
