i love you, short, quirky 90's rhythm games.

I enjoyed Bust A Groove (or Bust A Move, as I played it) a nice amount. About as much as I was expecting to, really. The gameplay is pretty simple once you actually figure out what they're asking of you and it doesn't take any longer than an hour to finish up a single character's campaign. At the moment, I've only seen Strike's ending, but I'm sure I'll be returning to this game occasionally to try out the rest.

The music is great and easy to follow, as should be the case with any rhythm game, though I think I would have appreciated a little more experimentation when it came to each song's tempo. Combos tend to blend together once you get far enough in, as much as I tried to vary my timing a bit, especially since there isn't all too much variation to the actual input strings themselves.

Other than that, I can't think of much else to say. It's a very arcade-y feeling PS1 game, and I enjoyed my time with it, most likely will enjoy my time with later down the line as well. For now, though, I also have to play the sequel. Thank you Ptcremisi for the recommendations.

I am just so done with this. Anyone who knows Coffee Talk well enough knows that you have to pretty much master it to get the complete ending, and episode 2 makes that a chore. And that is a severe understatement. I have replayed this SO MANY TIMES. And I still technically didn’t get the Cat Shelter Ending. It takes at least 40 minutes to replay every single time. I’ve finished all the story arcs and gotten every single other achievement. I’ve done all the things for the phases but I think in the wrong order?? So I’d have to do that all over again, but who knows if it would actually work? I really loved this game, but trying to get the true ending ruined it for me. This is infuriating. It’s just way too much to do and I’ve done EVERYTHING. But I did it in the wrong order. There was no indication from the game either. I don’t get why it needs to be this complicated. Absolutely ruined the game for me. I basically did it, I don’t care I’m counting it as mastered. Not worth wasting my time on this anymore at this point as I’ve seen everything!

A game that could very easily have fallen into any number of pitfalls in the messages it tried to convey or they ways it tried to convey them, but deftly dodges every one. A game about numbers and systems and relationship values that is steadfastly against the idea of gamifying life and relationships, that asks us to value each other and the in-between moments of life.

On my good days, I’m here. On my bad days, I’m still here.

Losing parts of ourselves and our identities are as essential to the experience of living as growing them is. Individuals can only do so much but they can still be so much for each other, and that’s worth as much as anything else. In a world where there is no ultimate victory for ideology or faction, where there is no intrinsic value in any one outcome that is ultimately worth more than any other, we’re still gonna find ourselves in each other.

I’m still here.

DOJO, CASINO, IT'S ALL IN THE MIND

i kinda expected this to impress on me harder than it did. instead it was more like "woah! this thing aligns closely with my tastes!". i get the vibe that it woulda impacted me more (and nudged me a little closer to being queer) if i had played it as a kid. ah well. i'm not going to complain. i love lammy (top 10 lesbian 4 sure), love milkcan, love how offbeat and funny the cutscenes are, love how ridiculous cool mode is, love that they squeezed 2 campaigns with a multiplayer mode for each out of this. guitar hero: bashful lamb is primo nanaon-sha and i don't think they hit a high quite like this ever agai- oh shit, vib-ribbon came out after this?? never mind. that game's even better.