Did you know StoryBundle does a triannual game-themed book bundle? This time around there’s a book by Ethan Johnson featuring a cover designed by me! Check it out.
Bread’s Game Journal 01/14/22: Until You Fall’s Perfect Gameplay Is The Equally Perfect Realization Of An Old Star Wars Game.
Until You Fall is a roguelike VR sword fighting game that I have now happily bought twice, but it’s also inexorably linked in my mind to something wholly unrelated: an old Star Wars game. If you were like me and you spent any portion of your 90’s youth in that brief time arcades had their wonderful resurgence, you probably remember Star Wars Trilogy Arcade. Most of the time that game was something resembling a flight sim, or an on rails shooter, but a few times you’d get to play a pretty simple lightsaber mini game where you basically just block attacks to a simple rhythm until you get the chance to strike. At the time, it felt like you were really into a duel with Darth Vader, now, it shows it’s age.
Also show’s it’s age in that the only screenshot of the level I’m talking about is an off screen cam rip.
That’s where Until You Fall comes into play. Sure, it may not be Star Wars, or even really thematically related at all, but it understands the idea of the perfectly faked sword fight just the same as that old arcade game did. I often hear people speak of other VR games like Blade And Sorcery in reverent tones, often due to the physics based swordplay systems that lean as far into realism as they can. Here’s the thing though, looking real and looking cool, are two very different things. Much like Star Wars trilogy did, Until You Fall focuses on making you feel like you’re pulling off clutch moves, not awkwardly swinging your blade at a ragdoll.
As a result, you could level the accusation at Until You Fall that it’s largely staged, but I would counter that it is staged, in the sense that you’re taking part in a performance. You’re often just following visual cues, but it’s those same cues that make you feel powerful, and skilled at the art of sword fighting magic knights as the game presents it. Again, it’s not all that dissimilar from the way Star Wars Trilogy made you feel like you just defeated Darth Vader in a duel, even though all you really did was follow along with some on screen cues.
VR is extremely good at combining the moment to moment action of a video game, with the choregraphed moves of a performance or set piece moments of something of a theme park experience. That’s probably why I like it so much, frankly. It combines the theatre kid that was always waiting below the surface, with the grown ass adult who thinks Disneyland is unironically the happiest place on earth.
Hi everyone! As most of my followers know (Especially if the post I made on my birthday is any indication), I’m an enormous nerd on all things arcade games. I grew up playing them by way of official compilationsorplug-and-plays, but it’s very rare I get to see any of my arcade favorites in person, as arcades are quite sparse in my town.
However, last night I found out about an arcade relatively close to where I live, and while I went into it with mild expectations, let me just say that the amount of fun I had and the discoveries I made were unlike anything I could have ever expected! Below, you’ll find a deep dive of my experience there, what games I found, and a superstar display of arcade mastery! Let’s insert a coin and jump right in!
Once I arrived, the very first arcade cabinet that caught my interest (And, by extension, saw) was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat-em-up by Konami! Cartoony beat-em-ups such as this one and The Simpsons (Which they also had!) are something I’ve always had a fascination for, and while it was very tempting to start a game, I decided to hold off on it for the time being so that I could check out what else the arcade had in store— plus, games like this are always more fun with friends!
Just around the corner, I found a genuine Mario Bros. cabinet! This one was the first one that really surprised me, as I’d never seen one physically. I’d played a great deal of Mario Bros. ports in my time, but never the real deal, so it was really cool to finally give it a go…
… before realizing how clumsy I am at it. I’m telling you, the traction on each stage feels like Mario’s going ice skating with skates he buttered beforehand— the sliding is real. While I did get pretty close in beating the high-score here, it for some reason decided not to save, but that was no big deal to me. At some point I’d love to practice and see if I can really master the art of Mario Bros.
And because this is probably the only instance I’ll ever get to mention this, if you haven’t seen the commercial for Mario Bros. Atari port, I’d suggest you do so, because it is nothing short of hilarious.MAAAAAA-RI-O, WHERE ARE YOU?!
I remember getting particularly hyped when I caught sight of the ‘Galaxian’ marquee shown here, as I’d not once ever seen a Galaxian cab, though upon closer inspection, the machine is actually an iCade 60-in-1 compilation, one I actually grew up playing at a laser tag place and have a fondness for (The menu music gives me SUCH a great deal of nostalgia)!
One such title in this compilation that I consider myself a pro player at is Super Pac-Man, and that ended up being the first game that I got REALLY into playing. I noticed upon starting the game that the high score was around forty thousand or so, but by the time I wrapped up…
I showed “YOU” who’s boss (Weird, now that I look at it, that the 41,470 looks to be a default score as the stage they made it to was… well, zero)! This ended up being my all-time personal best Super Pac-Man score by just four hundred points or so, and was DEFINITELY the most exciting one yet!
When I finished with that game, I noticed that just down the hall, there were even more games, which interested me fairly quickly. I made my way down the hall and turned to the right, and sure enough, there were a whole lot more games!
And then… I saw it.
A genuine Dig Dug cabinet.
It took every last square inch of my entire being to not just start fanboying right then and there. I’d been waiting for as long as I can remember to see a Dig Dug cabinet in person, and it was SO EXCITING finally being able to play one! You’ll notice in the image above that the high score was in the thirty thousand range, which I found was EASILY beatable given my expertise…
Turns out, all that practice playing Dig Dug on Jakks Pacific’s plug-and-play and in Namco Museum Vol. 3 payed off! Once I began Round One, I noticed one tiny detriment to the cabinet, however- it took some major effort to even go up, which is pretty much a requirement if you even want to beat the first stage.
As I played, though (Let me tell you, this was one of my more intense Dig Dug sessions, I was making some serious plays that hinged on exact timing and choosing which enemies to pump first), the joystick seemed to loosen up, and I found it much easier to move upward as the rounds went on.
This might just be my favorite picture I took last night, too. I’ve always wanted my initials to be in the top spot of any genuine arcade cabinet, and for it to be Dig Dug no less was just so satisfying! Now, we wait until I scout out a Bosconian cabinet…
They also had a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet in the same row that Dig Dug was in! The version they used was particular fun, too, as it was actually Turbo Ms. Pac-Man, which is exactly what it sounds like. Weirdly, this cabinet’s top score was relatively low (Around twenty-thousand, I think?) and I even remember hearing somebody my age remarking how difficult it is.
I don’t know if it’s just because of how well-versed I am at Ms. Pac-Man but— again— I set the high score for this, too, clocking in at 54,410! I’d played another Turbo Ms. Pac-Man a while back and remember my score being much higher, but the score I had set just proved I was on a roll!
Lastly, another cabinet I was surprised to find was Space Invaders! I recall having seen a Space Invaders cabinet many years ago at a Chuck E. Cheese north of my town, though I don’t remember it having a space backdrop like this one has, which blends in with the actual game really well.
I’d only ever played Space Invaders a handful of times, though to nobody’s surprise (But perhaps to everyone’s amazement) I set the high score HERE, too! In the image above, the score is 910, though by the time I finished, I had upped it to 1140. Games like this and Ms. Pac-Man don’t save initials for high scores, but I at least have proof on the matter that this is indeed my score!
I guess I’m a lot better at the classics that I was led to believe! The whole experience was just a blast, and I REALLY wanted to share it with you all! I definitely want to make posts like this for other arcades I visit, and you can bet that if I come across a Bosconian cabinet… THAT’S going to be one lengthy post!
I hadn’t seen news of this before but Konami have realised a new Busou Shinki arcade game “Battle Conductor”. There’s a couple of neat features - there’s a ‘charging base’ for physical Busou Shinkis (just like the original ones Konami released and which I modded) but the really cool feature is the hologram display so you can see your virtual Busou Shinkis even more realistically. I’d love to be able to see this in person and give more info, but at the moment it’ll have to wait on the wishlist.
This is “turnip strength,” a Soviet era arcade game where the objective is to help your grandmother pull a turnip out of the ground.
A little extra info: this game is based off of the Russian children’s story/fairy tale called The Gigantic/Enormous Turnip (which is widely well known in Japan, since it is about a bunch of characters coming together to pull up a giant turnip and how the even the smallest and littlest helper of the bunch - the mouse - was necessary in order to do so).
Hyper Bounce Blast, the arcade-inspired indie game we have mentionedbefore, was released on Friday. Our writer assisted Flump Studios throughout the project’s nine months of development; and the work of everyone involved appears to be paying off. Coverage by Rock, Paper, Shotgun,Hardcore Gamer,Siliconera and other outlets–all of it encouraging–has recently emerged. Player feedback has been equally thrilling: the consensus is that Hyper Bounce Blast handily tops Flump’s last game, the well-reviewed and TIGA-nominated Horizon Shift. By adhering to the instructions after the break, our followers can join the party. Still Eating Oranges has 15 copies of Hyper Bounce Blast to give out–starting now.
2. Be a Windows user, as Hyper Bounce Blast currently is Windows-only;
3. Reblog this post and leave a comment that (for verification purposes) contains a link to one’s Steam profile; and
4. Have Tumblr’s Ask option enabled.
Keys will be sent privately through Tumblr. This giveaway is open to non-followers of Still Eating Oranges, but, in the event of a key shortage, our followers will be favored. In all cases, “giveaway vultures” will be ignored.
For those who enjoy the game: please consider leaving a review! Flump Studios loves reading and responding to feedback–and it has a history of addressing players’ concerns.
How to redeem a Steam key
1. Open the Steam client.
2. Open the “Games” drop-down menu.
3. Click the “Activate a Product on Steam…” button.
New poster I did for the Super Soul Bros! As the poster makes clear, they’ll be playing at Cafe Stritch in San Jose this memorial day weekend with Mega Ran. It’s during Fanime, just a couple blocks away! I’ll be there!
Here’s a little sample of what you’ll get if you go:
