Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Vision 4-2

Time: 11:53pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa
Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull

I still can't get over how fun the levels in this game are to play. I think I've just been playing a lot of more mediocre 2D platformers recently, but I love the subtle puzzle aspects in figuring out how to progress further and get the secret items.

I also want to point out how well Klonoa's character is done. In visual design, he somewhat resembles one of the many "attitude" mascot platform characters of the 16-bit generation. But his behavior in the game is of a more down-to-earth earnest character who was just out for a care free stroll when this whole adventure was thrust upon him. And the cute gibberish voices used for the character are a nice counterpoint to his "cool dude" design making him a much more deep and likable character than, say, Bubsy.

Also, Klonoa has a Pac Man on his hat. How cool is that?


The story has been pretty lighthearted so far. It has made me smile and once chuckle when I encountered a guard who talked like Yoda. I wish I'd gotten a picture of that.

After finishing the most recent level, things have become a bit more heavy. Klonoa's grandfather dies in his arms and reveals that saving the world is Klonoa's destiny. It doesn't quite work with the presentation that has come before it, but I'm willing to give it a pass to see how things develop.


I just took my dog for a walk and probably got scammed by some guy who was looking for money to buy drugs. But he seemed honest, had a complicated but believable story, and an effeminate lisp so I'm hoping he really is a hairdresser and I get a free haircut out of it.

Also, it is hot and late so my pants are now off. Just thought you should know.

Socialization Break #1

Time: Friday 9:34pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa
Drinks consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine

Man cannot live by video games alone. And besides these friends missed my recent 30th birthday festivities and were taking me out for drinks, so how could I say no? It was really great catching up with them as I hadn't talked to them in probably about six months. And it got me looking even more forward to playing some games.

On my way back to my place, I stopped by my local supermarket and two bodegas. I completely struck out in finding any of the recommended energy drinks. The supermarket was all out of anything Rockstar, and the bodegas seemed to only carry Red Bull of energy as energy drinks. Since the local MLS team is the Red Bulls and I had just been talking about them with my friends, I grabbed one of them so that I wouldn't have to break into the Yerba Mates too early.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - Vision 2-1

Time: Friday 6:05pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa
Drinks Consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar

When I moved in December, my component cable for my PS2 finally bit the dust. It had never been quite right since moving to New York and it finally gave up the ghost. Because I am cheap, I waited until I had a significant amount of things I wanted from monoprice before I ordered a replacement. I finally got it on Monday. Because I am a graphics whore and wouldn't deign to play my PS2 without the best possible graphics, I hadn't played any PlayStation games since I moved (except to test them on an, ugh, composite cable). Klonoa is thus re-breaking in my PS2.

Klonoa was a recent fun club over at Talking Time. It also recently got a re-release for Wii. And it's truly great. Only having played through three levels so far, I can see what makes it so good: the level design.

Klonoa is, at heart, a 2D platformer. You play as some non-descript rodent-like animal that can jump and shoot. Though the game is basically 2D, it is rendered in a 3D engine with levels that rotate and turn as you move through them. Additionally, things come from the foreground and background and you occasionally interact with them.

I'm playing the PlayStation version and am really impressed at the graphics. 3D on the original PlayStation sometimes looks quite ugly, but this game is a treat. Extremely colorful without to many harsh angles or muddied textures. And detailed where necessary.

But it's the level design that really makes this game. There are basically only four things you can do (jump, shoot, throw enemies, and double-jump when you have an enemy) and each level portion is designed best to show how you need to use these to get past. So far it hasn't been too easy, but the penalties for failure also haven't been very extreme so it's almost like puzzling your way on how to advance in each situation. Through in bonus items that take even more to collect and background elements that spring you or blow you upwards and navigating the game is a treat.

Quordy - I rock

Time: Friday 4:09pm
Games played: Quordy
Drinks Consumed: None

I decide to begin my game-playing extravaganza with a nice warm-up: Quordy for my iPhone. Quordy is basically Boggle, but renamed to avoid trademark infringement. It is also awesome (and better than the other high profile Boggle game for iPhone, Wurdle). It has a great interface and allows challenging friends and playing against them online. Until I started writing for The Tilt, I didn't bother putting any more games on my iPhone because Quordy was all I needed.

I also rock at it. I have an opponent who I play regularly, but my record against him is 84-34 so yeah. I'm pretty good at word games.

The weekend begins!

As of now (well, technically 4:09) my weekend on pure video games has begun. I plan to devote as much time this weekend to playing games as possible. I'll break for food, bathroom, dog walking, and maybe a little socializing. We'll see. But here, dear reader, I plan to document everything that has gone on.

To keep me fueled for this weekend, I planned to pick up several energy drinks. My friend Paul is an expert on those and so I consulted him are what are the best varieties. According to him, Sobe Energy Drink (low carb) and Rockstar Energy Drink (low carb) are the two best with Rockstar providing more of a jolt. Of course, in the three drug stores/corner markets I visited between last night and now, I could find none of them. I grabbed a sugar-free Rockstar to get me started, but I'll have to make a stop at the nearby supermarket tonight.

Anyway, I plan to periodically blog about my experiences this weekend. Here goes!

Bit.Trip Beat - Second Song

Synesthesia is a term that's been thrown around quite a bit in regards to video games lately. Near as I can figure, it is usually used to refer to a game where playing the game itself creates music. Not in the Guitar Hero sense, but in the sense that something seemingly unrelated, like a spaceship shooting down bad guys adding to the melody of a musical piece. It's... hard to describe.

Much as Bit.Trip Beat is.

As regards to how it plays, that's pretty simple. It's like Pong. Or Breakout. Or Arkanoid. Or any game where you have to hit a ball with a paddle. The controls are ridiculously simple - tilt the Wii remote forwards and backwards to move the paddle up and down.

Meanwhile, various balls or pellets or whatever come at your paddle and you have to hit them back. Some come along a straight line, some bob up and down, and some even come back at your paddle after you hit them. In a lot of ways, the game feels to me like a bullet hell shoot-em-up. The patterns of dots coming toward your paddle require split second thinking and reflexes or just plain memorization.

Did I mention that while this is going on, you've got some incredible chiptunes-inspired music (think bleeps and bloops with a driving beat) and flashy backgrounds and colors and all things happening? I imagine it is what it would be like to play Breakout during an acid trip.




The game at its heart is trying to evoke an Atari-age aesthetic. The graphics consist mainly of thick, blocky art and the animation even involves ghosting as if you were playing it on an older television set. The use of Pong to create music is especially effective when you are close to game over as the music stops, the graphics turn black and white, and the only sounds are "pings" that come from the Wii remote when your paddle hits a ball.

There's a lot more I could say about this game, but I think I'll save it for potential future blog posts.

One thing I will points out is that the level of concentration my eyeballs and brain require to play this game destroys my eyes. After staring at moving large pixels and colors for ten minutes, it practically hurts me to look at a static image again without resting my eyes.

Dragon Warrior - Why it was a pivotal moment for me

Finally had some time to write another gamespite article. The theme of this issue was pivotal moments, so I talk about how Dragon Warrior was my first step on the road to playing RPGs.

Dragon Warrior