Pulseman Thoughts

I think I found out about this game from browsing the Wii Shop Channel and thinking it was kinda interesting. I went on to read about it on Wikipedia and was immediately hooked! Unfortunately at the time, our parents didn't want to buy us Wii Shop Channel Points, so my siblings and I occupied ourselves with other games.

Years later when we were adults, when we learned that the Wii Shop Channel was closing down, we jumped at the oppurtunity to finally get the game we'd wanted for years since we could afford them! I was finally able to get Pulseman (as well as many other desired games like My Pokemon Ranch) and see what it was all about.

I really like this game! The gameplay's fun and the story's interesting; I never got around to beating this game (I think I got to world 4 before eating it and another game I was excited for came out) but since it's on the Nintendo Switch Virtual Console, maybe someday I'll get to see how it ends!

Drill Dozer Thoughts

I remeber seeing Drill Dozer in stores when I was a kid and turning my nose up at it (I don't remember the exact reason, something to do with the art style probably). Years later when I was in highschool, I re-gained interest in it and man, what a treasure this game is! I remember getting it from a video game trade-in store somewhat near my highschool with my sister; I remember one of the guys running the store commenting how the cartridge for Drill Dozer looked fake (I remember the other guy running the store telling the first guy 'dude' in a disapproving tone). We also apparently got a shitty cartridge of Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland that would often wipe the file randomly.

I really love the style and story of the game; you play as a school kid named Jill who's the daughter of the boss of the Red Dozers Gang! One day their rival gang the Skullkers jump her dad and steal their beloved family keepsake, the Red Diamond (a gift from her late mom by the way); Jill gets appointed leader of the Red Dozers and sets off to take out the Skullkers and get her gem back, just a wild story.

The gameplay's pretty unique too considering it utilizes the L and R buttons as major controls for the game. Using her robot to drill through obstacles and enemies is a ton of fun! The gimmick of shifting through three level of gears as you collect gears through each stage is cool (I really like the sound shifting to the next gear). The game apparently had a rumble feature too but I don't recall using it.

I think my favourite part of the game is the final boss; the Drill Dozer loses it's drills and Jill has to deck Croog in the face. It's a bit hard to land but it feels so good when you do; he runs away crying like a little bitch afterwards (bro can't take a punch from a kid lol)! The parts where Jill got to briefly see her mom was really sweet too.

Harmoknight Thoughts

Harmoknight is a cute and fun rhythm game! I found out about it from a blog I was following on tumblr that posted about 3DS games; I was drawn in by its adorable colourful artstyle (James Turner draws some nice stuff!), its music, and its gameplay (I remember re-watching the trailer video over and over 'cause I was so excited and to re-listen to the songs I liked).

I adore how everything in the world of Melodia is music themed! The main character's name is Tempo, there's a woman named Lyra who uses a lyre as a bow and arrow, there's an enemy called Castanewts (though they're more frog-like to me), it's just so damn cute (I also really like pun names)! I love the design for the villains too; Gargan, Buzzooka, and Discordred come to mind of my favourites.

While I was disappointed that each song wasn't it's own original song (I know this would've been a lot of work) I still really enjoyed the songs and the differentiations bewtween the stages. I really liked Keep Up with Octarina, At the Water's Edge, Deadly Discordred, Classikaos Returns, and the Baroque Trial! I also liked when you got a perfect rank on all the stages, you unlocked artwork of the characters and enemies; love when games include this!