Online Saturday - Omega Strikers - The First Hour

Welcome to Online Saturday!

Today i'm playing Omega Strikers on Nintendo Switch. the game came out a day or two ago so this is my first hour with the game during it's debut weekend.

Going in, i didn't know too much about it other than what the Nintendo e-shop store page said about it. but one of the most surprising things about it was how slow it felt. one of the first comments i make about the game during the training is just how slow it is. It's something i'll say about the game a few times whilst playing and thinking back it's probably the biggest negative i have with it.

There are a few other minor negative feelings i have about the game, but it's mostly UI stuff. but in terms of core gameplay it's mostly fine. but the the game never felt fast enough, in nearly every game i was left wanting more speed or a sprint button at the very least. the only other thing about playing it that i feel is worth mentioning is that quite a few times i lost track of my own character on the pitch. the game is designed so that the whole pitch is on screen. this means, even on tv, the camera is somewhat zoomed out. there's something about this camera and the character design that makes it really hard to keep track of what's happening at times. it's also somewhat hard to work out what the other players are doing as the animations, whilst happening,  are also small. at the very least i'd like an option for a zoom camera, kinda like something you'd have in a Pinball game, or a lock on that keeps your character in the center.

For it being it's debut weekend, i found the game to have solid online. not once did a game drop and the waiting times were as low as Splatoon 3! it's free to play and i had fun in the first hour i played with it. Omega Strikers manages that first hour very well. the tutorial is a little heavy but goes over the basic gameplay loop using in-game examples, which is greatly appreciated. the Missions are also designed in such a way that it encourages you to explore the menus and customisation options. as you progress through the missions, you unlock other features such as the shop. that's something i'm a fan of, and one of the bigger complaints i have with mobile games is how quick they are to open the shop whilst explaining nothing about it. 

Omega Strikers is a free to play game and one that i recommend trying out. it's one i will be keeping on my Switch, but won't replace Splatoon 3 as my go to online multiplayer game. but it's one i will keep coming back to. if there are online events, i may pop in every month to take part. for example, this month is a Creators Vs. event. you can select to represent a Creator and as you win you earn points for them. in this video, i chose to fight for  @RubberRoss  . whilst i was only able to get a single win for his team. it was fun. (also, check out his YouTube Channel. i do enjoy not only the art but how much fun he has with his friends) 

Backlog Conquering - Malicious - Part 5 - Beating my Final Boss, But Not Malicious

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

Today's video is part 5 of playing Malicious on PS3.

I finally did it, i beat the boss. well, i defeated my final boss. this game uses a Mega Man style where you can fight any of the boss characters in any order you want. the main difference is that in Malicious, not only do you get a new ability but your opponents also get tougher. this can be seen in this video, and the last one, where there were enemies everywhere! 

But i didn't manage to beat the game. the goal of the first part of the game is to defeat the bosses who have kept some of the power for themselves. our character was created/summoned for the sole purpose of beating Malice, but before that we have to defeat 5 bosses. now i have defeated all five, i'm powered up and ready to fight Malice.

The fight against Malice is NUTS! and i couldn't beat it.

Backlog Conquering - Malicious - Part 4 - Failing to Beat The Final Boss

Welcome to Backlog Conquering.

Today's video is part 4 of playing Malicious on PS3.

The title gives it away, this video is me failing over and over again trying to beat the final boss of the game. it's the same boss i failed to beat in the first and second videos, too. what's heartening is that i am making progress. i got closer than ever to beating the boss and i feel like i'm learning more and more. But, as you can imagine, at the time it's incredibly frustrating.

I will do a part 5, i really want to defeat the boss and see the ending, unless there's more of course. i just hope it comes easier and quicker than this video. this is probably the closest i've come to getting proper angry whilst playing a game for QTE Gamers since i restarted things.

Puzzle & Dragons Tuesday - Nintendo Switch Edition - Michael Cup - 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 Michael Cup! (2023/4/24 9:00～2023/5/1 8:59 JST) in Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition whilst using a GamePad and a docked Nintendo Switch.

This wasn't a great cup for me. the actual recording took over an hour! i didn't win nor did i get to the final boss character. i was often stymied by the second round of enemies! if i could beat them i would get stuck against another monster. it was strange how that seemed to happen to me more than other players, tho some did get some low scores like myself.

This week i played against:

まるまん - Rank 64

TheGolden - Rank 77

UANI - Rank 58 (Vani?)

いーあるふぁんくらぶ - Rank 62

☆あや☆ - Rank 64

キラ - Rank 71

なつき - Rank 64

まさとし - Rank 70

☆REI☆ - Rank69

Cloud Monday - Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - Part 1 - A Few Issues Throughout

Today's Cloud Monday is part 1 of playing the PS4 game Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom on the PlayStation Plus Streaming Service.

This is a game that i've been interested in for a long time. it's art style has always interested me and now it's on the PlayStation Plus Premium service i took this opportunity to play it. i also thought that it's bright bold clear art style would highlight the highs and lows of streaming the game. and it did.

First things first, i'm fairly sure we saw a new issue in this video, Zebra Striping! i don't know the technical name for it, but this seems the most apt. there were a few occasions where instead of the bright colorful art, it was replaced with stripes of black and white (or maybe a greyish color). it kinda felt a bit like stream tearing so maybe the information was just missing. it didn't happen often,  but as the title hints at, but that was the case with many other things in this video.

There wasn't just one issue in this video. each of the usual suspects, macroblocking, stream tearing, resolution dips, etc, cropped up at some point. it was often just one thing at a time and not for very long. it's like the video is peppered with occasional blips of issues but no one big thing. the issue is, even tho it didn't get in the way of gameplay it was very noticeable because of the games bright clear art style. each time it happened, even if it was brief, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

So on one hand it was fine to play, on the other it was distracting and took me out of the experience of playing the game. i'll do part 2 next week at a different time and day so we can see if it's something that persists.

Switch Funday - Pulseman - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This week the Mega Drive App, that's part of the Nintendo Switch Online, was updated with new games. i had heard of all but one of the games so i went with Pulseman for this video. It's a game that didn't come out in the UK and it wasn't one i had heard of. well, seeing the game and hearing it's from Game Freak did trigger some sort of memory but nothing i could fully remember.

It was fun playing it tho. it felt very much of it's time and as i grew up playing the Mega Drive, and Master System, it was kinda nostalgic playing it. the level design, the character style, the music all worked well together. those backgrounds tho ... i said it in the video ... they're bananas! 

it's both impressive and pointless at the same time. the backgrounds look technologically impressive, doing things i've not really seen outside of a Sonic special stage. but they didn't seem to really add much to the game either. But, and i said this in the video, the backgrounds could stand out more in Pixel Perfect mode on a modern TV than they did back on a CRT. 

I did have fun playing it. it was a little tough but that could be a mix of it being my first time with the game and the time it's been since i've played such a platformer on the Mega Drive. i'm glad that there was a rewind feature but the game isn't too stringent with health. there are three hearts and each hit doesn't mean you loose all of one. in a way, that helped make the game feel more approachable. the only real downside was the levels. they're big and there seems to be more than one way to get from A to B. but it's never clear if the exit you reached is the real one, nor is there any clear indication if there's a TV in every level or if there's a need to go in them always.

If you have the Mega Drive as part of Nintendo Switch Online, i do recommend that you give it a go. but use the rewind feature.

Online Saturday - Tetris 99 - Getting Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe Edition Theme

Welcome to Online Saturday!

Today i'm playing Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. This weekend it's a special event where you can earn a Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe theme by earning 100 points.

this video ended up being a little longer than i expected. i had treid to do an extra video at the end with a little commentary about how it had gone. but i hadn't started recording my audio so in the end there are 3 extra matches of Tetris 99 after i got the theme.

Getting the theme wasn't too bad. apart from 1 game, i think i got into the top 50 each time. of course my goal is top try and win one as i've never managed to do that in all the games of Tetris 99 i've played. some of the games in this video were especially challenging as it felt like i was always on the defensive. i was being attacked so much that all i could do is clear what they had sent my way meaning i didn't have a chance to send much to them. a couple of matches also felt like there were taking a long time, like we were all hanging in for a long time.

It's a nice theme. Let me know how the cup went for you. did you get a win?