PSP Minis » Topic: Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile No. 1 Site for PSP Minis News & Reviews en-US Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:12:01 +0000 <![CDATA[Search]]> q onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 25 Aug 2018 07:22:31 +0000 onmode-ky 51067@ <p>I talked about PSM original <em>Super Blackout'</em>s PSV-native version in the "What are you playing right now?" thread. That version was released in late 2015, shortly after PSM closed. Since then, developer Fordesoft (Josh Forde) has been working on a new game, platformer <em>Emerald Shores</em> for PS4/PSV, and that's releasing very soon. Here's a WIP trailer: <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> (embedded YouTube video). Not a bad step up. He's also doing preliminary work on an RPG.</p> <p>Anyone remember Denysoft, the developer who tried to dump a bunch of PSM SDK re-skins into the PSM Store back in summer 2013? They apparently released this for the Oculus Rift a few months ago: <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> . Really, a 1-GB <em>Flappy Bird</em> clone in 3D that wants 12 GB of RAM?</p> <p>- 2018/08/25 GMT </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Wed, 01 Aug 2018 06:07:07 +0000 JeremyR 51002@ <p>As the name sort of hints, it was (and may still be) a light cycle game inspired by the light cycles from the movie <em>Tron</em></p> <p>Kinda weird that it's taken so long, when you have smaller developers like that Star Hammer Tactics game make a fairly high profile game, Battlestar Galactica. And another developer, The Bearded Ladies (I don't remember what they made, to be honest, but I follow them on Facebook) are working on a high profile RPG, <em>Mutant Future</em>. </p> <p>Frima is still around, but I have no idea what they make anymore. They post stuff in French all the time. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 31 Jul 2018 20:38:39 +0000 onmode-ky 50999@ <p>What have I been playing lately? You guessed it! I went back to <em>Snowboo Man</em> yet again. -_-; But I made real progress earlier today; last night, I finally figured out that I was overthinking how to do the tricks at the end of each run. I'd thought that you needed to figure out the optimal mix of rolls (up button; 150 points each) and spins (left/right buttons; 300 points each, and quicker than rolls but drop your height faster, too), using rolls to extend your flight path and air time, and spins to rack up the points. But I finally realized that spins are so much quicker to complete than rolls that it completely makes up for their faster drop speed. That is, there's no point doing anything other than spins once you get off the goal jump. This might not be true if a landing point farther out were lower, thus giving you more air time for tricks, but everything after the goal jump is flat land. So, just spin as fast as possible--end of story. Well, not entirely end of story. You can add an extra 300 points if you do a pre-jump on the way up the goal jump ramp and complete it as a spin, before you do the real final jump off the goal.</p> <p>### SPOILER ALERT ### As if anyone else here will ever play this game.</p> <p>With those much simpler tactics in mind, I got S-ranks in short order earlier today on Battles 3, 4, and 5, at last. :D And . . . there really was a surprise reveal! Upon snagging Battle 5's S-rank, my final S-rank in the game, guide girl appeared at the results screen as she usually does--only she was wearing Snowboo Man's outfit and carrying his penguin-head helmet. <strong>"Tadaa! It was me in there!", she laughed. <strike>Samus</strike> Snowboo Man is a girl!</strong> I pressed the Circle button ("OK" in the game, like in most Japanese PS games) and got the expected "Snowboo Man's course path has been updated with your course path" message (so you basically race against your ghost next time). I pressed Circle button again, which usually takes you back to the main menu . . . but this time, it went to a black screen like it was loading something! Ooh, the fabled staff roll that we should watch to the end?!</p> <p>. . . After maybe two full minutes of no change, I decided that the game must have frozen. So, if there was a staff roll, the PSM version botches it. D: Also unfortunate, replaying Battle 5 still gets you the "Tadaa!" screen but then goes straight back to the menu like any other track. I guess, if there was indeed a staff roll, it's one of those once-and-only-once-in-the-game things. So, whatever it was, I don't get to see it. T_T</p> <p>But, at least I got the big reveal! Cute little guide girl isn't just a fan of the sport--she's got skills, yo.</p> <p>- 2018/07/31 GMT</p> <p>P.S. I honestly don't remember anything about <em>Positron</em>, not even the name, but it appears it was in our big list of in-the-works PSM titles after all. </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Fri, 27 Jul 2018 06:24:35 +0000 JeremyR 50987@ <p>One of the PS Mobile games I was semi-excited about was a light cycle game, Positron. Apparently the game might actually be getting a release sometime in the near future, on iOS and Android, and then Steam. I don't think it ever came out anywhere else. I think the guy just goes to game show after game show, showing it, posting on Facebook about it, but not actually releasing it. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 24 Jul 2018 22:39:57 +0000 onmode-ky 50975@ <p>I didn't stop, but I got nowhere anyway. Couldn't figure out how to beat Snowboo Man's trick points in Battle Mode tracks 3-5. So, my time with <em>Snowboo Man</em> ends similarly to how I finished fellow PSM games <em>Passing Time</em> and <em>Emil's Task</em>: everything done but missing the best ranks in a handful of missions.</p> <p>In the end, <em>Snowboo Man</em> was a pleasant surprise. I'd bought the Appli Archives G-Mode <em>BurgerTime</em> pack only for <em>BurgerTime</em>, and even then only to have some form of <em>BurgerTime</em>, not because I'm a big fan of the arcade/Intellivision classic. To have played all the way through one of the other games is an unexpected bonus. The music is pretty catchy, too, with three tunes in Gelande Mode, one in Trick Mode, and two in Battle Mode.</p> <p>What I've written in these last few posts seems to be [a lot] more than anyone has ever written about the game before in English. But, it seems it's a spin-off of a series of G-Mode phone games, the <em>Sukeboo Man</em> skateboarding series. Of those, there was one in 2004, and <em>Sukeboo Man 2</em> (<em>Sukebooo Man 2</em>, actually, written on the title screen) in 2006, a <em>Sukeboo Man Step Street</em> mini game in 2009, and an Android entry in the series, <em>Sukeboo Man JET</em> (or if you believe the title screen, <em>Sukeboooo Man Jeeeeeet</em>), in 2012. <em>Snowboo Man</em>, which, again, came out in December 2008, has a reference to "Sukeboo Man vs. Snowboo Man" in a load screen (which is why I thought to look up "Sukeboo Man" at all), thus cementing the connection.</p> <p>Speaking of PSM games being part of series, Thomas Hopper's (TACS Games) <em>Super Skull Smash GO!</em> got a sequel last week, <em>Super Skull Smash GO! 2 Turbo</em> for PS4 and PSV (not cross-buy in North America, New Zealand, or Australia), and on Steam. It seems to be a much bigger game than the original, expanding beyond just single-screen puzzle platforming, and with more enemy variety. I'm sure JeremyR is just frothing at the mouth for more Thomas Hopper games (technically, the PlayStation ports were done by Wolfgame, who did PSM's Deluxe version of <em>Magic Planet Snack</em>)--assuming he remembers how much he loathed them, anyway.</p> <p>- 2018/07/24 GMT </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 24 Jul 2018 04:07:42 +0000 onmode-ky 50971@ <p>Suffering from indecision over which of the plethora of unplayed games in my library to start, I--you guessed it--continued <em>Snowboo Man</em>. I have a history of saying I'm going to switch to something else but then going right back to what I said I'd set aside.</p> <p>Anyway, I unlocked the remaining Battle Mode tracks, and I was right; it has 5 of them. Even so, no staff roll (which is what the menu girl specifically said, rather than "credits") showed up. So . . . I went and got an S-rank on Trick Mode track 4 . . . then Gelande Mode track 9 . . . then Gelande Mode track 10. S-ranks on every Gelande and Trick Mode track thus got me . . . nothing. And now I've managed S-ranks on Battle Mode tracks 1 and 2, still with nothing new happening (other than removal of Snowboo Man's own records on those tracks from the Battle Mode menu). Do you have to S-rank every track in the game to get the staff roll? Or was that a red herring, and there's actually no staff roll? S-ranking the remaining 3 Battle Mode tracks would be particularly tough, though, as I think there are no mid-track opportunities to do tricks in any of them (unlike in the first pair), so you <em>have</em> to beat his trick points entirely in the final jump--where he seems to get max possible points. To clarify, an S-rank in Battle Mode means beating him in all three metrics: time, item (collected curry rice plates) points, and trick points. A tall order.</p> <p>Or I could just, y'know, stop. As in actually stop.</p> <p>- 2018/07/24 GMT </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 21 Jul 2018 23:46:04 +0000 onmode-ky 50963@ <p>I forgot that my posts about playing PSM games were supposed to go in this topic. See my posts between <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> and <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> for my thoughts on the path to all six of the endings in <em>Miko Gakkou Monogatari: Kaede Episode</em>. That was a fun visual novel, definitely one of PSM's few real highlights. Super cute low-poly graphics, silly dialogue galore, pro voice acting, and a bittersweet story of a quasi-prank between a cozy group of humans and youkai.</p> <p>Last night, I went back to <em>Snowboo Man</em>, which I briefly mentioned almost 3 years ago in <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> , written after having played under a half hour of it. The game is one of the other two Japanese feature phone games in the Appli Archives G-Mode <em>BurgerTime</em> pack, and a Web search indicates it was originally released in December 2008 (the other game, <em>Pucchin Puzzle</em>, came out in June 2010, according to<br /> <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> , which has screenshots of that cute, bubble-wrap-popping (hence the "pucchi" onomatopoeia) <em>Picross</em> derivative). <em>Snowboo Man</em> is a side-scrolling snowboarding game where you go down tracks ("Gelande" in the game, more properly "Gelände" or "Gelaende") collecting floating plates of curry rice; screenshots here: <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> . You can also do tricks when you're airborne, and points generally come from time, tricks, and collected curry (make sure you find and get each track's 2000-point SP curry!).</p> <p>When I played <em>Snowboo Man</em> in 2015, I only played five tracks of the basic "Gelande Mode," managing to S-rank them all. Beating these five had unlocked Trick Mode, but I'd left that untouched. I got curious last night about Trick Mode, about the remaining locked "???" Mode, and about how much longer Gelande Mode might be (it's one of those "one level unlocked at a time" games that JeremyR can't stand). I found out that Trick Mode is much harder than Gelande Mode, and not just because you need at least an A rank to unlock the next track; you have to control your airborne trajectory in real-time to collect the curry plates, by choosing which tricks to do (up-button vertical rotations vs. left/right-button spins, where the latter drop you faster but give more trick points). It's sort of like trying to find your line in a driving game.</p> <p>After a bit of fighting with the controls (occasionally not jumping when I pressed the button) but making progress, I found that Gelande Mode is 10 tracks long, and Trick Mode is 5 tracks long. The menu girl hinted during load screens that something would happen if I got 12 S-ranks, and it just so happened that I only managed 12 (A-ranks on Trick 4 and Gelande 9 &amp; 10 no matter what I tried, ugh). The "???" Mode was unlocked: Battle Mode, where you snowboard alongside Snowboo Man himself and have to beat him in at least two of time, curry score, and trick score to unlock the next track (i.e., A-rank minimum, like Trick Mode). Snowboo Man (who looks like he's wearing a rockhopper penguin costume) also gets added to the game's title screen with Battle Mode's arrival.</p> <p>But, despite menu girl hinting that the credits (so far nowhere to be found) should be watched all the way to the end, I decided that was enough <em>Snowboo Man</em>. I'm going to guess that Battle Mode is 5 tracks long, like Trick Mode, but it was rough beating Snowboo Man on Battle 1--I basically could only match him on time, so I had to figure out a path to beat him on both tricks and curry collected.</p> <p>Anyway, not a bad little feature phone game, I guess. Will I try more <em>Pucchin Puzzle</em>, too? Well, a 70-second boot-up time and 460-level total say no.</p> <p>- 2018/07/21 GMT </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Thu, 07 Sep 2017 04:26:43 +0000 JeremyR 49628@ <p>I can't imagine it's a particularly expensive IP these days. </p> <p>Though I had heard there was another reboot in the works. But that was a couple years ago and nothing has happened. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Wed, 06 Sep 2017 04:22:48 +0000 onmode-ky 49623@ <p><em>Star Hammer Tactics</em>. I heard about him working on a BSG game, but I didn't dig any deeper. Kind of thought maybe I'd just read wrong. :P</p> <p>- 2017/09/06 GMT </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sun, 03 Sep 2017 07:12:59 +0000 JeremyR 49617@ <p>Remember Black Lab Games? I'll be darned if I can remember the name of it, but they had a starship combat Mini.</p> <p>That kinda didn't do well, but later he followed it up with a PC and I think phone game. But now he's moved onto the big time (sorta), with a Battlestar Galactica game called Battlestar Galactica Deadlock. </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 23 May 2017 09:27:45 +0000 JeremyR 49025@ <p>You should consider turning these into an e-book. Playstation Mobile, a Retrospective by its Only Fan </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 23 May 2017 03:59:44 +0000 onmode-ky 49022@ <p>Ya like text? I got a lot for you!</p> <p>Yesterday, at long last, I finished the third and final route of <em>Fragment's Note</em>. Actually, the very first one I finished was the third, of the production order; I discovered from a publisher-made YouTube video, coupled with a look at the game's version update history on the App Store, that the game first released in 2012 with only two routes (Mischa and Haya), and the third (Eri) was added at the end of the year. The 5-minute video, <a href="" rel="nofollow"></a> , which ran in the game engine with the characters, uh, in character, marked the occasion of Eri being upgraded, while also revealing the sequel being in the works.</p> <p>That third route, Eri's, is the "true" route, in the developer's eyes, and I approve, since that's the best route--and not just because I think Eri is a much more interesting character than Mischa and Haya. The Mischa and Haya routes are actually nearly identical in structure, with the only differences being the specifics of what happens, where events happen, plus a few unique dialogue segments for each. In both cases, the route's girl doesn't really grow over the course of the game, and worse, in both cases, the girl engages the climax of the story's conflict . . . off screen. Yes, the big "battle" happens while you're not there, and you just come in to see the aftermath. Eri's route gives her not only a thorough back story but also actual character growth over the course of the game, accompanied by a revamped plot structure. And, we (the viewer, but not the protagonist; the point of view switches to Eri's) get to see the climactic showdown in her route, made even more compelling due to her unique character relationship. Add to that the fact that Eri's route slightly expands an emotional farewell scene, while also foreshadowing it more strongly throughout the story beforehand (it kind of comes out of the blue in the other routes--possibly making it more striking <em>but</em> less narratively acceptable), and it simply becomes a more polished, better presented story. The foreshadowing was a bit too much, perhaps, if you remember my complaints about it, as outright telegraphing, months ago.</p> <p>There is one significant difference in all 3 routes, though: <em>when</em> within the story's timeline the route's ending sequence occurs. Mischa's ending occurs <em>after</em> a specific future event. Haya's occurs <em>at</em> that event. Eri's occurs <em>before</em> it. I happened to play the routes in this order: Eri, Mischa, Haya. This honestly seems like the ideal order. I got Eri's ending and thought, "Aw, crap, so it might not actually happen?!"; I then got Mischa's ending and thought, "Wait, so it does happen? Yay!--but I don't get to see it? Damn"; I lastly got Haya's ending and thought, "Holy smokes, it's happening now!" Crushed hopes -&gt; less crushed -&gt; hopes fulfilled. A good progression, don't you think?</p> <p>So, overall, do I like the game? I still have a rant to write about two of the story's key points, and there's a lot about the presentation and characters that bug me, but yes, I enjoyed playing it. Note that I took over 1000 screen shots: funny lines, critical developments, beautiful artwork, and uh, typos/grammatical errors (speaking of which, the Mischa route clearly came first; even in the English translation, which presumably happened long after the Japanese script was all finished, there is a small number of spots in Haya's route where it says "Mischa" instead of "Haya"). The story has a tragic bit which, even with its clunky presentation, repeatedly drew me close to tears simply for its basic concept (which I won't spoil). The mere desire to share that with an audience is, for me, enough to overlook the numerous flaws.</p> <p><em>Fragment's Note</em> (English) remains available for both iOS and Android. I think it's $4 (I paid $2, the PSM edition's final price). FYI, it plays much faster if you don't evaluate every line for screen capping. Both mobile platforms also have the follow-up, <em>Fragment's Note 2</em>, and the later-published direct sequel to the original, <em>Fragment's Note: After Stories</em>, both of which got their English versions only after PSM closed.</p> <p>- 2017/05/23 GMT</p> <p>P.S. According to a <em>Fragment's Note</em> event CG (i.e., full-screen illustration) archive I found, the iOS (Android, too?) English edition has a censored shot, where an open-shirt, no-bra image becomes closed-shirt. No such censoring in the PSM English edition (I think I showed Ofaliss a few months ago). </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 10 Dec 2016 02:40:08 +0000 onmode-ky 47903@ <p>Pygmy Studio released the PSV-native editions of their PSM games <em>Forevolution</em> and <em>Rodem the Wild</em> on the JP PS Store on December 1st, apparently, 1620 yen apiece. Both of these were really strange games, as I recall, whose gameplay I never managed to discern from any of the video footage I saw. They were certainly unique, though, and these new PSV editions should be coming West at some point.</p> <p>- 2016/12/10 GMT </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Mon, 07 Nov 2016 00:52:37 +0000 onmode-ky 47678@ <p>I don't think I ever mentioned this before, but the title of <em>Re:marriage</em> is a play on words--in Japanese, at least. The actual title is <em>Re:婚</em>, which directly translates to "Re: Marriage," giving one of the title's interpretations. However, a second meaning comes into play when you read it in Japanese (and read the "re" so that it rhymes with "see" rather than "say"). It then sounds like "rikon," which is how the Japanese word for "divorce," 離婚, sounds. Thus, the title is both "about marriage" and "divorce."</p> <p>That's also the word for "divorce" in Chinese, incidentally, pronounced "li hwun"; the individual characters mean "to separate" and "marriage."</p> <p>- 2016/11/07 GMT </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 29 Oct 2016 07:36:05 +0000 onmode-ky 47599@ <p>Oh, it's not a space issue on the PC. And it isn't really a space issue on the PSTV, either; I have no specific alternate use in mind for its space, since all my PSTV-compatible PSM games are already on the system. Rather, I just don't like the game, so why devote 222 MB to something I don't like? For any non-PSM game, I'd just go ahead and delete it, but that "Deleted PSM game = gone forever!" voice keeps whacking me on the head. $0.49 bought me this headache.</p> <p>- 2016/10/29 GMT </p> AXM on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 29 Oct 2016 07:17:55 +0000 AXM 47597@ <p>Huh, you have a point.</p> <p><blockquote> I don't know if I want to eat up 222 MB of PC hard drive space for this game any more than I want it occupying space on the memory card.</blockquote><br /> Then again, surely your PC has more than 4 gigs of space. Unless you're still using a C64 like the AVGN.</p> <p>Yes I know small HDDs were still the only choice for most people in the early 2000s. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 29 Oct 2016 07:09:15 +0000 onmode-ky 47595@ <p>Yes, but a) the point of my PSTV was to be an offline PSM machine, and backing up to PC would require taking it online and updating its firmware (which always carries the risk of bricking), and b) I don't know if I want to eat up 222 MB of PC hard drive space for this game any more than I want it occupying space on the memory card.</p> <p>- 2016/10/29 GMT </p> AXM on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 29 Oct 2016 07:03:24 +0000 AXM 47594@ <p>Can't you backup them via Content Manager? If not separately, maybe a full backup of the memory card?<br /> ...Okay, I'll try and do it myself while recording a video like usual. </p> <p>Hey, it'll be the first video I post in more than a year. And that's a shame. <a href="">30k views</a> is pretty good. Oops, shameless promotion of a dead channel. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Sat, 29 Oct 2016 06:18:50 +0000 onmode-ky 47591@ <p>Having a nearly full 4-GB PSV memory card isn't hoarding; it's virtually inevitable. And not wanting to delete PSM purchases is because of not being able to re-download them at all. It wouldn't be an issue with normal PS<strong>N</strong> content.</p> <p>- 2016/10/29 GMT </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Fri, 28 Oct 2016 09:27:56 +0000 JeremyR 47579@ <p>So apparently you are a virtual hoarder. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Fri, 28 Oct 2016 05:31:03 +0000 onmode-ky 47576@ <p>I discovered yesterday that the PSM game <em>Massive Cleavage vs. Zombies</em> (which had already been released for XBLIG, Ouya, and Android prior to PSM) had gotten <a href="">a Steam release</a>. The PSM title which I inexplicably confuse with it, <em>Don't Die Dateless, Dummy!</em>, <a href="">is also on Steam</a> these days, I found.</p> <p>In other news, just last week, a PS4 port of <em>Miko Gakkou Monogatari: Kaede Episode</em> (that's the one with polygon graphics) <a href="!/ja-jp/cid=JP0704-CUSA05592_00-MIKOSTORY2160700">released in the JP PS Store</a>. It still has English subtitles available, FYI. The game is published under the same "Play, Doujin!" label as fellow PSM alum <em>A Healer Only Lives Twice'</em>s PS4 port.</p> <p>I'm pondering deleting <em>Disillusions Manga Horror</em> from my PSTV's memory card. Despite my inclination to hang onto every PSM purchase purely on principle, <em>Disillusions</em> is a 222-MB game that's short, not fun, and which gave me motion sickness. With only ~70 MB of free space left on the card, the removal of that game would give a lot of breathing room. Maybe I could put one of my PSP download games in its place. Except . . . I'm not supposed to delete any PSM purchases. *grumble grumble*</p> <p>- 2016/10/28 GMT </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Wed, 26 Oct 2016 22:48:15 +0000 onmode-ky 47568@ <p>The similarity between "clam" and "can" keeps giving me imagery of spaghetti with <em>canned</em> clam sauce. From before the Aztec civilization. Hmm, I guess that means all extant cans are past expiration.</p> <p><blockquote>Cheerios submerged in tomato sauce (or rather, soup), wha?</blockquote></p> <p>I don't know what kind of degenerate Cheerios you've eaten, but they're not noodle products. However, you have made me think of an Italian equivalent of "rival food products from the same maker": spaghetti versus macaroni! The enmity runs deep.</p> <p>- 2016/10/26 GMT </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 25 Oct 2016 07:36:14 +0000 JeremyR 47558@ <p>Yeah, but remember, we invented tomatoes. </p> <p>Well, the Aztecs did. But until then, you had spaghetti with clam sauce. </p> AXM on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 25 Oct 2016 04:49:33 +0000 AXM 47557@ <p>I just wanted to make two jokes to feel good about myself, to increase my self-esteem, for once, and both "backfire" on me.</p> <p>:)</p> <p><blockquote>"Rally" = "Larry."</blockquote><br /> Arguably "Rarry", too.</p> <p><blockquote> But good job, getting started learning Japanese!</blockquote><br /> Simply trying to write in katakana two English words without translating, and failing at it, doesn't seem to be "learning Japanese" to me.</p> <p><blockquote>Spaghettos!</blockquote><br /> Hmm... SpaghettiOs.<br /> what I would say if I had the chance to try it and the will to. But who would sell and eat <em>that</em>, in the land of real spaghettis? They don't even have anything to do with spagettoes. Cheerios submerged in tomato sauce (or rather, soup), wha? </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Mon, 24 Oct 2016 18:42:58 +0000 onmode-ky 47555@ <p>Haha, you got it wrong, haha! ;P It would actually be written in katakana as ドクター・フィル, "Dokutaa Firu" (also, what you wrote was "Fuiru"; it needs to be a little ィ and not a normal イ to get "fi"). But good job, getting started learning Japanese! Now forget all your Italian so we'll be even! Spaghettos!</p> <p>By the way, it always amuses me that "<em>Doctor Who</em>" written in Japanese looks the same as "Doctor Fu" does. And how "Lock On!" is the same as "Rock On!", and "road" = "load" = "lord," and "Rally" = "Larry." Etc., etc., etc.</p> <p><blockquote>FYI, some are <em>Doraemon</em> gags</blockquote></p> <p>As far as I can tell, all four <em>Doraemon</em> gag items in the game have no effect other than wasting your money. There are two other items (rare, usually not in the store) that have a massive effect on your stats, and it turns out that their names are a reference to <a href="">Takenoko no Sato and Kinoko no Yama</a>, a pair of chocolate/cookie snacks by Meiji which seem to have a rivalry (I guess the American equivalent of "rival snacks from the same maker" would be Mounds and Almond Joy, and the Italian equivalent would be . . . uh, grapes and raisins?). In the game, it's Takenoko no Yama and Kinoko no Sato; as with the <em>Doraemon</em> gag items, the names have been slightly altered. Despite their low cost (only 194, which I guess may be how much the real life items cost in yen), one of the items dramatically increases your health while dramatically decreasing Saori's affinity for you, and the other does the opposite. Generally speaking, they're useless, since one stat is ruined either way.</p> <p>One would hope the real life items aren't so intense.</p> <p>- 2016/10/24 GMT </p> AXM on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:14:03 +0000 AXM 47552@ <p><blockquote> Dr. Phil (or the Japanese equivalent)</blockquote><br /> You mean ドクトル フイル, right?</p> <p>Yes, I'm proud of this, ky.</p> <p>For everyone else, I katakana'd Doctor Phil. "Dokutoru Firu".<br /> Laugh now. DO IT. IT'S FUNNY! </p> JeremyR on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Mon, 24 Oct 2016 08:46:05 +0000 JeremyR 47551@ <p><blockquote> You talk things over with her, and in a tearful catharsis, the two of you agree that you need to be growing together,</blockquote></p> <p>Or in other words, she watched too much Dr. Phil (or the Japanese equivalent) </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Mon, 24 Oct 2016 03:11:11 +0000 onmode-ky 47549@ <p>As I <a href="">wrote earlier</a>, I finished the Japanese-only PSM visual novel <em>Re:marriage</em> today. It was honestly quite enjoyable, with warm writing, cute graphics, and a touching good ending (obviously, the other ending is not touching). It's also a bit different from the small sample of other visual novels I've played.</p> <p>My previous experience with visual novels has been with ones where you just pick choices at story branches, and while there might be a dating sim element of affinity towards other characters which plays a role in determining the ending, that's about it. <em>Re:marriage</em> differs from those in that rather than one affinity parameter for each of many characters, it has three parameters, all affecting your relationship with one character. There were plans for independent stories with other characters--you would have selected one at the start of the game--but that update never came, and the only story to choose at the time of PSM's closure is the one where you're married to the ponytailed Saori.</p> <p>When the game begins, Saori tells you she wants a divorce. This is a surprise for you, and you're not sure why your three years together have left her feeling this way. But, the good news is that the job she's planning to take to support herself after leaving you doesn't start for three months. You manage to convince her to stay until then, and in the meantime, you can try to mend your relationship.</p> <p>Once the intro ends, you find that you need to control three statistics displayed in the upper left corner: your savings (numerical, can go negative), your health (a green bar), and Saori's affinity for you (a red bar). Game flow alternates between work weeks and weekends. At the beginning of work weeks, you choose whether to focus on overtime (earns you money, but costs you health and some affinity), coming home right away (earns you affinity and some health, but no money), or going out drinking after work (strangely earns you health, costs you some money and some affinity). Your choice doesn't directly affect what happens each workday, but rather changes the probability distribution of which behavior you take as each workday auto-passes.</p> <p>On the weekends, you control what you do each day. You can recover health (sleeping, not drinking; costs you some affinity), go shopping (for various items with different stat effects and prices--FYI, some are <em>Doraemon</em> gags), or spend time with Saori (go out with her (spends money), talk with her, or help out around the house--these don't always give the same results, especially if done repeatedly).</p> <p>Over the course of the three months, there are seven events which you'd do well to not botch. With the exception of her birthday, which occurs early on, and a walk in the park together toward the end, you also have to qualify for the events to even start, by having high enough affinity and health. Two of the events require fairly large expenditures as well, so you can't just spend all your time on health and affinity measures.</p> <p>If, by the end of the third month, you've managed to get your stats to appropriate levels, you come to a realization about why Saori wanted to separate. (I'd label the following as a spoiler, but it's really not a spoiler what the good ending means for this game, is it?) You talk things over with her, and in a tearful catharsis, the two of you agree that you need to be growing together, not simply being together and trying to maintain the status quo. The tennis cutie you've known since school days has faith in your future together again, and voila, you stay a married couple.</p> <p>A far more satisfying game than <em>Dead End Valentine</em>, which actually cost me more. It's too bad this didn't get translated into English. Instead, we got <em>Don't Die Dateless, Dummy!</em> Oh, and a note about the music: it works well for the game, but it's heavily compressed. With earphones on, you can clearly hear distortion.</p> <p>- 2016/10/24 GMT </p> AXM on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 02 Aug 2016 19:39:50 +0000 AXM 46963@ <p><blockquote> By the way, AxelMill, how much of rymdkapsel have you played?</blockquote><br /> A couple hours at most. I didn't even finish it, if I recall correctly.<br /> This might change. Might being the key word. </p> onmode-ky on "Minis Developers Flocking To PlayStation Mobile" Tue, 02 Aug 2016 17:08:40 +0000 onmode-ky 46957@ <p>A week or two ago, I played one of the visual novels that are the only remaining unplayed PSM games I have. Actually, <em>Disillusions Manga Horror</em> isn't really a visual novel, at least not in the usual sense. You walk around a first-person 3D environment, triggering audio or environment events, and that's it. It's very short. It's not that interesting. It's a disappointing 49-cent purchase. I think I'd rather have spent that money on a different motion sickness generator.</p> <p>By the way, AxelMill, how much of <em>rymdkapsel</em> have you played?</p> <p>- 2016/08/02 GMT </p>