David Thatcher
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giraffecat.bsky.social
David Thatcher
@giraffecat.bsky.social
180 followers 370 following 150 posts
I make video games, as Giraffe Cat! I made The Sirena Expedition, which is out on Steam and Nintendo Switch:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1957300/?snr=1_5_9__205
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-sirena-expedition-switch/
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giraffecat.bsky.social
It's #RandomGameSaturday time! Here's Snoopy Concert for the Super Famicom. This Japan-only release was designed for the SFC's mouse peripheral, and is a collection of sub-games and minigames where you mostly control Woodstock directly, and use him to give orders to Snoopy, point-and-click style.
The front cover of Snoopy Concert for the Super Famicom. It is a red box, showing Schroeder sat at his piano, Woodstock and Snoopy. The back cover of Snoopy Concert for the Super Famicom. Most of the Peanuts gang are depicted, and there's a central screenshot that weirdly shows the screen where you can enter passwords to restore progress. The cartridge and manual for Snoopy Concert for the Super Famicom. Both of these have similar artwork to the front cover. A couple of pages from the inside of the manual for Snoopy Concert for the Super Famicom. There's a screenshot of gameplay, another screenshot of the password screen, and an illustration of Snoopy and Schroeder where Snoopy is unfolding a map while Schroeder plays his piano.
November 15, 2025 at 8:25 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
It's #RandomGameSaturday. Looney Tunes Space Race for the Dreamcast!
The front cover of Looney Tunes Space Race for the Dreamcast. Daffy Duck rides a space bike away from Yosemite Sam, who is firing rockets at him. The back cover of Looney Tunes Space Race for the Dreamcast, showing four screenshots of various characters in the game: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Wile E Coyote.
November 1, 2025 at 8:54 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
It's been two years since the release of The Sirena Expedition on Steam, and to commemorate this, the game will be 80% off in tomorrow's Steam Scream IV sale! What better time to pick up the game that the most recent Steam reviews have described as 'Nice' and 'deu mais raiva que vontade de jogar'?
October 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
Love this little guy!
October 18, 2025 at 12:52 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
Some more pages from the manual, including some excellent renders of all of the enemies in the game.
Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2, showing all of the enemies in the game. Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2, showing all of the enemies in the game. Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2, showing the remaining enemies from the game on the left page, and the game's credits on the right.
October 18, 2025 at 12:48 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
Some pages from the manual. Love the little drawings of Robbit!
Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2. Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2. Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2. Two pages from the manual from the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2.
October 18, 2025 at 12:45 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
It's #RandomGameSaturday! Did you know the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 came with a second disc containing the European release of the first game? I didn't! I also can't find any reference to it online. Was the European release so different from the JP one that it warranted re-release?
The front cover of the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 for the PS1. It features Robbit in the foreground, with Baron Aloha behind, above a planet. The back cover of the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 for the PS1. There are six screenshots and some art of the characters, but nowhere does it say that the first game is included. The inside of the Jumping Flash! 2 case, showing disc 1 with the main game on the right, and disc 2 with the European release of the first game on the left. The manual and case inserts for the Japanese release of Jumping Flash! 2 on the PS1. There is a large sticker featuring a MuuMuu from the game, a flier explaining the controls for the European release of Jumping Flash!, and a flier for PoPolocrois.
October 18, 2025 at 12:37 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
Doesn't get the same kind of attention as Prodigy, Chemical Brothers or Fatboy Slim, but it's definitely one of the defining Big Beat albums.
October 16, 2025 at 4:39 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
I'm away from my games collection at the moment, so here's a photo from my phone for #RandomGameSaturday: Croc 2! This one fixed a lot of the original game's control issues and introduced larger stages, but ended up being more punishing, in spite of (or perhaps because of) giving you infinite lives.
The front cover of Croc 2 for the PlayStation. Croc is holding a Gobbo and surfing on a mine cart, looking '90s-cool.
October 11, 2025 at 5:13 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
Here's my ST copy. Not shown here is a form you could fill in and send to Core Design with a photo of yourself, and they'd send back a disk with a personalised profile for use in the game with a low-poly recreation of your face. By the time I bought the game, in the mid-90s, this had expired.
The contents of the box for the Atari ST release of Corporation, laid out on a wooden floor. The front and back of the box are visible, along with disks 1 and 2, the Agent's Manual, and a 'company profile' which features backstory for the game. Amusingly, it is set in the year 2020.
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
This #RandomGameSaturday is the Mega Drive port of Corporation. I've not played this version, but I played it on Atari ST a lot as a kid. It was ahead of it time, but kind of in a bad way; a first-person-shooter with weird mode-switching controls for movement and shooting that felt really clumsy.
The front cover of Corporation for the Mega Drive. It features an extreme close-up on the face of one of the green aliens from the game. The back cover of Corporation for the Mega Drive. There are four screenshots of what look like a fast-paced first person shooter, but don't be fooled; it's slow and awkward! The front cover of the manual and the cartridge for Corporation on the Mega Drive. Featuring the same green aliens as the front cover.
October 4, 2025 at 8:36 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
#RandomGameSaturday. It's OutRun 2 (and OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast)! I'd been looking forward to Sumo's port of the arcade sequel for a while, and I was super into it. It felt like the first game to make Ridge Racer's drift mechanics feel more friendly, but still rewarding to pull off well.
A hand holding copies of OutRun 2 for the Xbox, and OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast for the PS2. The cover of each features a red Ferrari; in OutRun 2 it is drifting towards the viewer, and the driver and his companion seems to be having an exciting time, but Coast 2 Coast's cover is from a much lower angle, and the Ferarri seems to be driving in a straight line, or stationary. Similarly, the driver and his companion look kind of bored. A hand holding OutRun 2 for the Xbox and OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast for the PS2, this time showing the back covers. The tagline for OutRun 2 is, "The beautiful journey returns. So buckle up and let the love affair begin... Again," and Coast 2 Coast's is, "Give in to the power. Feel the kick as you blip the throttle of your favourite Ferrari and blast across America from coast to glorious coast." I don't know what it means to 'blip' the throttle, but I never did learn to drive.
September 27, 2025 at 10:57 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
This week's #RandomGameSaturday is R:Racing for the GameCube. Which means it's also Pac-Man Vs!
The front cover of R:Racing for the GameCube. It features of a woman standing next to what I believe is a race-modified Lister Storm. The back cover of R:Racing for the GameCube. It features a close-up of the woman from the front cover, along with the slightly uninspired blurb, "The race is just beginning." The inside of the case for R:Racing for the GameCube, showing the manual and the bonus disc, Pac-Man Vs. This is a four-player version of Pac-Man where three players play as ghosts on the GameCube, and one player plays Pac-Man on a connected GameBoy Advance.
September 20, 2025 at 3:37 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
This week for #RandomGameSaturday, it's the Patapon trilogy on PSP!
The front covers of Patapon, Patapon 2 and Patapon 3 for the PSP. They are orange, green and light blue respectively. The back covers of Patapon, Patapon 2 and Patapon 3 for the PSP, and underneath their respective manuals. The back-of-the-box blurb for each reads, in order: "To beat your foes, you must beat your drum." "Use the power of the beat to match your tribe through new lands," and "Only your rhythm will set them free."
September 13, 2025 at 9:30 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
This delivery of 'Help me! Find my medipack!' in Excalibur 2555AD was incredibly funny to my friend and I as teenagers, and has stuck with me for most of my life.
September 9, 2025 at 2:47 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
It's #RandomGameSaturday, and here's Tech Romancer for the Dreamcast! Classic Capcom fighting game, with big mechas.
The front cover of Tech Romancer for the Dreamcast. It shows two blue mechas and red mecha on a yellow background. The back cover of Tech Romancer for the Dreamcast. Down the left side are portraits of 5 pilots, and down the right side are portraits of three mechas. Along the top are four screenshots, all of which were clearly photographed from a CRT TV, as you can see obvious moire patterning.
August 30, 2025 at 11:07 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
This week's #RandomGameSaturday is Panekit, a Japan-only PS1 game where you build modular vehicles in order to complete tasks. Similar to Mars First Logistics, but 24 years earlier!
The front cover of the Japanese PS1 game Panekit. The central image is of a vehicle that you can make in the game, and the subtitle is 'Infinitive Crafting Toy Case'. The back cover of the Japanese PS1 game Panekit. It is yellow, and there's a grid of screenshots of things you can build in the game, including a helicopter, and what looks like one of the characters from Xi (Devil Dice). Three of the case inserts from the Japanese PS1 game Panekit. One informational (?) flier, a quick reference guide, and the manual. A two-page spread from the manual for the Japanese PS1 game Panekit. On the left is a blue page with 'Data' written on it, above a paragraph of Japanese text. On the right is another Data page (4-1), which is filled with a wireframe outline of one of the vehicles made in the game, on a black background.
August 23, 2025 at 6:34 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
It's the last of my old Atari ST games for #RandomGameSaturday: Midwinter! I had both this and its sequel Flames of Freedom, and much preferred the first game. FoF was just too ambitious for its time, and ran incredibly slowly, whereas Midwinter felt smooth and zippy by comparison.
The front cover of Midwinter for the Atari ST. It is published by Rainbird, who the box proclaims to be Masters of Strategy. There is a sticker for £5, meaning that it was one of the more expensive games at the stall in Coventry Market that I got it from (most of them were £2). The back cover of Midwinter for the Atari ST. There are four screenshots showing the various modes of transport in the game: Skiing, hang gliding, snowmobile and cable car, and a fifth screenshot showing a map of the game world. One of the bullet points down the right side of the box claims the game has a 'vast playing area of 160,000 square miles', which seems like a lot! I don't remember it taking that long to get around (it felt like you could cover ground fairly quickly, even just by skiing), so I think their scale is a little bit off. The manual for Midwinter for the Atari ST, on a hard wood floor. It is, if I remember correctly, over 150 pages thick. Behind it is a fold-out guide to various elements of the game world.
August 9, 2025 at 10:15 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
I'm back in the UK now, but #RandomGameSaturday is another of the Atari ST games from my Mum's attic; Captain Blood. Probably the most French game I own, I was so fascinated by this game's exploration and dialogue system.
The front cover of the box of Captain Blood for the Atari ST. A sticker reveals that I paid £2 for it, presumably at the stall in Coventry Market where I bought the majority of my ST games. The back cover of the box of Captain Blood for the Atari ST. There are 3 smaller screenshots along the bottom, and then a large screenshot above them, around which are descriptions of the various parts of the game's admittedly-confusing interface. Remember the '80s, when you could use the back of your game box as part of your manual? Other bits of text credit the scenario to Philippe Ulrich, direction to Didier Bouchon, and music to Jean-Michel Jarre. The instruction manual and story booklet for Captain Blood. Both want you to know that Jean-Michel Jarre did the music.
August 2, 2025 at 5:18 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
I was obsessed with it for most of a summer; Frontier superceded it when I got that, but I still really enjoyed Space Rogue's more structured storytelling. I also found a copy of Federation of Free Traders in the attic, but I don't remember much about that one.
July 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
I'm in Ireland, so this week's #RandomGameSaturday is something from my Mum's attic: Space Rogue for the Atari ST. I picked this up on holiday in Coventry in 1994, found in the back of a stationery shop for £2. A year before I got a copy of Frontier: Elite II, this game really took me by surprise!
The front cover of a copy of Space Rogue for the Atari ST. It is developed by Paul Neurath, published by Origin Systems and distributed by Mindscape International. The back cover of a copy of Space Rogue for the Atari ST. There is a lot of text describing the two main parts of the game: an 'Inspired Space Flight Simulation!' and an 'Intense Role Playing Adventure!'. Next to this are three screenshots showing, from top to bottom, a 3D view of a spacecraft approaching a runway in space, a map of a star system, and a top-down view of the player exploring a space station. The top lid of the box is visibly bowed outwards at the sides, a consequence of having spent upwards of 25 years in my parents' attic. Four of the contents of the Space Rogue box laid out on a wooden floor. These are: a Sunracer Owners Guide and Instruction Manual, a small collection of in-world fiction called Stars of Opportunity written by Neil Shapiro, a flier for the mini-game Hive, which you can play at the various space stations, and a cut-out-and-fold model of the Titan spaceship, which is suitably low-poly for a game made in 1989. A map of the Far Arm Stat Cluster, from Space Rogue. In the centre the map shows how the game's eight star systems relate to each other, and along the bottom and right edges are smaller maps of each system, showing the locations of planets, asteroid belts and nebulae.
July 26, 2025 at 10:18 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
This week's #RandomGameSaturday is actually a whole load of games: Sega 3D Fukoku Archives 1-3. Several of the games in these collections got releases on the 3DS eShop, but only the second volume got a western release. Details of the games in the Alt Text!
Three 3DS games on a wooden floor: Sega 3D Fukoku Archives, Sega 3D Fukoku Archives 2, and Sega 3D Fukoku Archive 3 Final Stage. The back cover of Sega 3D Fukoku Archives, showing screenshots of the 8 games included: - Bare Knuckle / Streets of Rage (Mega Drive). - Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Mega Drive). - Ecco the Dolphin (Mega Drive). - Space Harrier (Arcade). - Fantasy Zone (Arcade). - OutRun (Arcade). - Space Harrier 3D (Sega Mark III). - OutRun 3D (Sega Mark III). The back cover of Sega 3D Fukoku Archives 2, showing screenshots of the 9 games included: - Power Drift (Arcade). - Puyo Puyo 2 (Arcade). - Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive). - Fantasy Zone II W (3DS Remake). - Galaxy Force II (Arcade). - ThunderBlade (Arcade). - Altered Beast (Mega Drive). - Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (Sega Mark III). - Maze Walker (Sega Mark III). The back cover of Sega 3D Fukoku Archives 3 Final Stage, showing screenshots of 9 of the games included: - Turbo OutRun (Arcade). - Alien Syndrome (Arcade). - Columns (Mega Drive). - Thunder Force III (Mega Drive). - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive). - Gunstar Heroes (Mega Drive). - Bare Knuckle II / Streets of Rage II (Mega Drive). - After Burner II (Arcade). - Super Hang-On (Arcade). It's not mentioned on here, but this collection also includes Champion Boxing and Girl's Garden for the SG-1000, which are unlocked if you have save files for the previous 2 collections.
July 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
Continuing a theme of sub-par racing games with surprisingly good track editors, this week's #RandomGameSaturday is International Moto X, a game I played as a teenager because a distant cousin brought it with him when his family visited one summer. I found this pristine copy in Sore Thumb in York!
A copy of the PS1 game International Moto X, developed by Graftgold and published by Warner Interactive. You can see my thumb. The back cover of International Moto X for the PS1. There's a wall of text describing the game in 6 different languages, and 5 screenshots down the lefthand side that do little to excite.
July 5, 2025 at 10:53 AM
giraffecat.bsky.social
#RandomGameSaturday this week is Afro Dog: The Puzzle for the PS1. This game was part of the Simple 2000 series, a line of Japanese budget games that sold for ¥2,000, and a lot of which were released in Europe by Midas, Agetec or 505 GameStreet.
The front cover of Afro Dog: The Puzzle for the PlayStation. It features a cartoon dog with a rainbow-coloured afro. The back cover of Afro Dog: The Puzzle for the PlayStation. The front side of the fold-out instructions for Afro Dog: The Puzzle for the PlayStation. The back side of the fold-out instructions for Afro Dog: The Puzzle for the PlayStation.
June 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
giraffecat.bsky.social
I think I was in that very store a couple of months ago! They've got a really fun basement, but that Neo Geo cabinet is nuts.
A copy of Over Top for the Neo Geo, locked in a glass case, and priced €9999.99.
June 28, 2025 at 12:51 PM