I feel it. I feel the cosmos.

Perfection 👀

Bangai-o Spirits (8): Definitely a Bangai-o game, but feels extra difficult for some reason. I like the ability to customize your weapon loadout and though it feels a bit overwhelming, it does allow for different strategies for each stage. Definitely going to play this more.

Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam (7.5): Wait, this is a competent Tony Hawk game on the DS? It’s more based on competition with other skaters in races or trick challenges, but it’s actually fun for what it is. And the soundtrack is great too! I want to play more of this.

Rune Factory (5): A game I liked the concept of at the time but just couldn’t get into. Playing it again now I still feel the same way. Farming games have come a long way, and I’d rather try one of the more recent games in this series or just go back to Stardew Valley. Time to let it go.

N++ (5): I have tried to like this game on several occasions. On paper it’s great with tons of levels and simple yet challenging gameplay, but it’s just not that fun to me. Modern games like Super Meat Boy, Dustforce, and Speedrunners are more appealing than this ever was to me. Time to let it go.

Picross DS (6): Time makes a big difference. I do like the touch controls, but having to pan around the field is annoying. The whole puzzle is also displayed on the top screen, but this feels worse to play than the Picross S series. Gonna let this one go even though I think it’s still a good game.

From the Abyss (6): This is basically the same as Children of Mana, but I had more fun with it. The monster catching mechanic is kinda neat, but it’s extremely repetitive and overall pretty boring. I don’t think I need to see more.

Contact (9): What a fascinating little game. I’m a sucker for Grasshopper Manufacture so this is no surprise to me, but I wound up playing for over an hour without realizing it. Definitely want to play more of this.

Contra 4 (7): Perfectly cromulent. The dual screen setup is annoying. The controls also feel a little stiff, but maybe that’s just the DSi gamepad. I want to keep this for now and try it on another system to see if the controls feel better, but I don’t see this being among my favorite Contra games.

Super Princess Peach (8): Very cute and feels unique amongst Nintendo’s non-Mario platformers. I like the concept and get Yoshi’s Island vibes, so I’ll keep playing this one for sure.

Clubhouse Games (7.5): I had a lot of fun playing this with friends back in the day, but now it’s superseded by the Switch version. I never finished the campaign so I’ll probably do that at some point, but I’m going to prioritize playing the Switch version over this one.

Lock’s Quest (7): Tower defense with a bit of real time strategy. Not my favorite genres, but I don’t feel like the tutorial gave me nearly enough to decide on this one. I’ll play a bit more and see if my opinion changes, but this isn’t likely one that I’ll finish or play too much more of.

Children of Mana (5): Very underwhelming. Combat is bad; enemies bounce around and hit each other (and you) after the third hit of your melee combo. Magic feels useless. So many games of this era did what this game does only better. I like some Mana games, but I'm probably never playing this again.

Wrapped up a project tonight. I 3D printed the case and buttons. It has a small LCD, 2 USB breakout boards, and runs on a raspberry pi pico. Picking this as my first soldering project taught me a lot but was difficult. But hey, it works on my PS5! Now to relearn how to play Street Fighter...

Beeka beeka