missingno

All complimentary meaning free food? Well that helps me save quite a bit on groceries then.

It’s been years since I finished CrossCode, but I just cannot stop thinking about the characters and world. I won’t spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t experienced it yet, please go play this game it’s on sale right now and make sure you get the epilogue DLC, but Lea holds a special place in my heart for what an emotionally compelling protagonist she is.

I can’t think of any other games where slowdown is a necessary mechanic.

It’s quite common in retro shmups, particularly bullet hells putting way too many sprites onscreen. Designers were always aware of it and intentionally balanced the difficulty around it, and some later games even include artificial slowdown just to preserve that feel.

I recently got hooked on Twinkle Star Sprites, a Neo Geo versus shmup. Chaining enemies on your screen sends attacks to the opponent’s screen. Those attacks can be bounced back, and reversing a reversal can create special attacks or even a boss summon. There’s a lot going on and it’s tragic that no spiritual successor ever tried to recreate this formula.

It did get a JP-only PS2 sequel, but it looks to just be largely the same game, just with a different cast of characters and the lovely spritework replaced with a much worse low poly 3D.