Basically, it’s a platformer action game with some light RPG elements like magic (you unlock spells via medals you collect and then trade at a shop) and some dungeon crawl elements (find the key to unlock the next part of the map) mixed with cute art and fun music. I definitely think playing with 3D is the way to go, since so much of the platforming relies on Z-axis perspectives (fireballs launch from below you, platforms move up and down, etc.) and it probably doesn’t look or feel as good if it’s all flat.
after playing through Stages 0 and 1, the game told me it was time for a break
it plays pretty well and one cool element is that you can get a preview of the track in first person view before you race on it. it seems like it has most of the F-Zero elements in it (boost, get life back by riding over a part of the track) but the tracks themselves have no music and instead you are treated to very-loud, ear-piercing VB racing noises.
i’ll probably play more of this eventually, but D-Hopper feels like the better game of these two unreleased titles.
honestly, feels really weird to think that I had to live to middle age to play a VB game i’d been really looking forward to since I saw previews of it at age 12 (and to play on it on the same VB i’ve had since that time)
edit: it turns out that Dragon Hopper was designed and directed by the director of Wario’s Woods and the first few Paper Mario games (and a special thanks for Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon). interesting to see a finished project of his that wasn’t released.
The Argentina level is pretty good. Putting a save in before the wine tour and then reloading it four times to find different ways to shove your target into the machinery is an alright time. Was hell getting 20/20 though. I think I did all but maybe one, two challenges in the level.
The final level is…fine, once. If you make it a Silent Assassin Suit Only run it whips, since there are only 5 mastery levels and you’ll max it out in one go.
I did go through a second time (I forgot it caps at 5/5) and went ham with the silenced shotgun. Guess that was kinda for nothing!
I could probably uninstall it, but there are still a lot of DLC bits to play, as well as, uh, this “Kill Slim Shady” event that ends on the 13th. I…I guess…
I’d strongly recommend trying all the different escalation missions. I enjoyed starting those with a brute force tactic that I slowly whittled down to the rube goldberg series of events that satisfies all the requirements. There’s also the bonus missions like Patient Zero that reuse the existing maps.
I have finally broken through Gourmet Level 6 in the videogame Poinpy and have ascended to the next level. I was not expecting there to be such a variety of fruits, enemies, and much more. It was overwhelming for me and the rest of the regiment but we pressed on. I felt the devil’s fire within me as I got combo after combo. I must go now, and attempt a few of the puzzle levels. And if providence smiles upon me - some more upgrades.
Red Dead Redemption II (PS4): thought i’d go back to this for a bit in the hopes that my appetite for it might’ve picked back up
alas, no such luck- by the time i’d finished paying the O’Driscolls a social call and was doing the usual open-world post-mission wandering about, i could feel my attention span giving notice
Finally fired up The Swapper. It’s good. I keep getting mad when I hit seemingly impossible puzzles and then brute force my way through it. I’m pretty sure that’s not possible, so is it that my dumb solutions are the solutions after all?
Anyway I’m stuck yet again so now to sleep on it and maybe come back with a working strategy.
I am still trying to put Rise of The Ronin to bed. It was excellent running around these meticulously created Bakumatsu era cities created by Japanese people. I love all the winking jokes as a modern person that Tokyo is mostly the sticks.
It is filled with so so much history that is supposed to make the (Japanese) player go “Oh yeah I think I remember learning that in middle school.” Towards the back-half it spirals with how many people from history you meet and you can give all of them uki-oe postcards and western cigars until they fall in love with you.
It has been 90% natural until I got the guy who invented Judo saying “I think I will invent Judo.” The Player Character is the force of inspiration incarnate, pushing dozens of people onto the stage of history.
I have never put together that Matthew Perry landed his Black Ships, made his proclaimation, left, came back and then The American Civil War happened and America dropped out of the picture. So France and Britain tried to get their grubby hands on the freshly cracked melon of Japan. They also brought Cholera, which is wrecking the population outside of all the civil dissagreements and small battles.
It is pretty neat how much real history is in the game where every mission is stab 15 guys in the back except the Enemy Leaders who you have to fight to make the boss weaker.
Shout outs to Kaishu Katsu a guy multiple people tried to assassinate but each time he talked them down till they were on his side. He had a plan to burn down Edo but was real happy he didn’t have to do that because I went around and talked to all my friends after killing 15 underlings and 3 enemy leaders of their’s each.
i’m playing From Software’s first non-original IP game, Spriggan: Lunar Verse based on a manga which ive never read even though ive known the name since the first time i used the internet by myself like a big girl and read it on Anime Turnpike. It sucks ass!! It’s their first pretty bad video game. but it’s 2026 and i can quicksave anytime i want, so im enjoying it a lot. It’s really stupid, and funny. It has neat ideas and they’re trying, it’s fascinating to see their first 3rd person kinda character action combat game, but also it had two of the most godawful boss fights i’ve ever played. back to back. But then it also had a level where i destroyed like 20-30 beefy werepanther men with flying lariats so i don’t fucking know
fun fact about Spriggan: Lunar Verse, it was not actually developed by “From Software” proper (semantically anyway), but a subsidiary responsible for two games. this one and Echo Night II.
The Fandom wiki et al refer to this group as From Liquid Mirror Software, though I think in the game(s?) they are credited as CS2 Development Division 2
mobygames just says “from software” which seems sloppy
yeah, i was fascinated to learn that. Ingame does present both the FromSoft and CC2 logos. evidently From wanted a second development division but whether it didn’t stick due to the quality of the games* or just other production factors, who can say but From. looking at staff credits, all the guys involved remained on for later From projects, so maybe they just didn’t want their output to appear diffuse. Like we know they have multiple teams working on multiple games at a time to this day, that’s where people get that shitty B-team narrative about Dark Souls II (very funny knowing now that DS2’s team was a lot of FS old heads)
*i can’t speak to Echo Night 2 yet because i’m also in the middle of Echo Night 1. it’s cool
