Kenji's Ending: Katawa Shoujo

Kenji's Ending: Katawa Shoujo

There's one ending in Katawa Shoujo where you die. I just want to talk about it. Since this is a visual novel, you have to show interest in one character, and then that character's narrative opens up. But, since Katawa Shoujo also deals with disabled characters, or characters that are negotiating disability, I find that many people often unknowingly get this ending.

So, what happens? Well, Hisao tells off all the girls after having a heart attack, and they express concern. Instead of picking one activity for the school festival, Hisao gets drunk with Kenji on the roof. Kenji rants about feminist brainwashing, how there will be a war between men and women, and you cannot trust anyone. So, he perceives everything as a threat to his masculinity as a blind man.

This is the only possible “ending” with Kenji, who otherwise is a clownish character, down to his theme music. But, it probably reveals the the most about his character. He simply doesn't know how to treat people as normal, because of his own sense of self-worth, or lack of it. Similarly, I think many players who first play Katawa Shoujo, unknowingly get Kenji's ending, where Hisao gets drunk and falls off the roof.

Again, this isn't because people are trying to be mean, or get the worst ending. This is simply storytelling. The game must continue with one girl's narrative taking over at the end of Act 1, the festival. If your answers are all over the place, the game can't continue. I think many players got this ending not through meanness, but through expressing curiosity about each girl.

When I first played, I was naturally drawn to Emi, because of her having no legs, which most mirrored my experience as a quadriplegic. I think most able-bodied players may not have that experience where they see their interests and positions mirrored in Katawa. They simply try to investigate the strange world of disability, and only later discover that they are more than they appear to be.

There's a lot of reasons why one might accidentally fall into Kenji's ending, if as previously stated, players are unfamiliar with the game's structure, just expressing interest in characters, or simply wanting to know more about disabilities. I'll put the ending down here, just to illustrate it. Kenji's ending might be the “worst”, but it is the most revealing of his character, and perhaps of the players' possible mindsets.

Dual Blades (2002):

Dual Blades (2002):

Dual Blades (2002):

"Dual Blades is a fighting video game published by Metro3D, Inc. for the Game Boy Advance. It is a fighting game with single player and player versus player modes. It features a "power combining system" which was very new for the genre at that time. This system allows players to create their own fighting style.”

Fighters throughout time come to fight for the Dual Blades, a weapon that will grant immortality. First off, despite the power combining system, you pretty much just have light attack (thrust) and heavy attack. (Slash.) So, it all comes down to your weapon and character, as this is a weapon-based fighting game. My favorite character so far is Shin, the feudal Japanese magician who uses a spear. He gets an ending where he challenges the best fighters throughout time again, essentially just relaunching the tournament.

Others include Brandon an American vagabond with a sword, Efe, an Ottoman warrior with a scimitar, a female ninja named Kunonichi, a beastman, a sorcerer, a Russian witch, and the last boss who is unplayable. He's an immortal Roman named Alpe Ren, who can move super fast and switch instantly between “weapon mode” and “armor mode”. The only thing comparable that you as a player can do is choose between a defensive or offensive fighting style before the fight.

For a Game Boy Advance title, it does some advanced things for the time in 2002. I don't really think there's much reason to go back to it. It is super violent, which is unusual for even a weapon-based fighting game back then. But, even watching characters get sliced in half as the final heavy attack lands gets boring after a while. There are updated modern versions and sequels on Steam, but the original is pretty one-note (i.e. the power-combining system.) and stale by now.

My favorite ending to the game though, is Duke the English knight's ending, who uses the Dual Blades to umm...stop the Viking invasions of England? It's an interesting idea. It's ultimately how I feel about Dual Blades. It's an interesting idea. But, it doesn't really follow through, even though it could've completely changed things.

King of The Dragons (1991 Arcade/1994 Super Nintendo):

King of The Dragons (1991 Arcade/1994 Super Nintendo):

“Set out on a great adventure in a fantastical world to defeat Gildiss, the mighty Red Dragon, and save the kingdom from darkness!” – Steam

King of The Dragons is a fantasy beat-em-up that came to Super Nintendo in 1994 (As I remember it!), ported from the 1991 arcade game. It was just like playing a good hack-and-slash DnD game. I still remember a lot of the bosses, characters, the level design, and the great music that made it all unique and part of my formative DnD experience, even though it wasn't directly related to the DnD games. I just want to talk about it.

You start off by selecting your character who's on a quest to slay a dragon. There's a fighter, a cleric, a wizard, a dwarf, and an elf. The elf has the best range. The dwarf has the least range. The cleric is okay, and the wizard is a gamble, since with every level his attack spell, and thus range, also changes. Your weapons level up after every boss fight, but for some reason...I guess for the added challenge, you can also not pick up new weapons and let them disappear.

The first boss fight is the Orc Chieftain. He's got two chain whips and you have to stay in the middle of him while taking out baddies in the forest. Then, the Minotaur who charges every so often after swinging a giant axe. Then, the wyvern, who you attack in the sky, so if you don't have good range, you're just doomed unless you're really good at jumping attacks, or have a lot of magic. The hydra is pretty sneaky with it's multiple heads shooting different things out. I could go on, but really, all of the bosses are are so good, and tough. I usually die right before the giant spider on my own.

Later on, there's a cyclops, a giant spider, a dragon knight, a dark wizard, and of course, King of The Dragons, Glidiss. Each boss has its own trick to beat, but it can still be pretty tricky, if you waste a lot of health getting to them. Heck, I still can't beat the game on my own. But, a lot of the enemy designs, and level designs like spooky giant spiders in the forest, the cyclops who throws rocks, or the shifty mermen still influence many DnD campaigns today.

The settings and music are phenomenal for the 16-bit era. I feel like, in any beat-em-up, since you'll be attacking and doing the same things a lot, the sound can make or break the experience, and boy, does King of The Dragons go all out from the first level onward. Even the character select screen music feels like an epic quest, the level up sound “Wooo!” let's you know you just became more powerful, the magic screen-clearing lightning attacks or frog orbs that turn all your enemies into frogs (BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!) or (RIBBIT, RIBBIT!) feel satisfying and strong.

There are a few minor things I don't like about the game, but they're not deal-breakers. I still like it. I hate the slime enemies that capture you and drain your health. I hate the freeze spell that freezes you until you click really fast to get out of it. I hate the mimic treasure chests that bite you and you have to click really fast to get them off. Basically, I can never click fast enough to avoid them, and that always dooms me during a solo run. I do better as player two!

Despite all the annoying little enemies, it's still a great game, and its music, settings, and characters keep me coming back to it again and again to try to slay Glidiss. Taken together, all the good parts of the game make it an unforgettable experience of an epic DnD quest! Just make sure you pick the elf, in my opinion. Unless he's taken, then just pick the next best-ranged character. Check it out, if you can!

Orion Trail (2015):

Orion Trail (2015):

“Dare to travel the absurd and dangerous Orion Trail, where only the luckiest, bravest, and most stubborn captains will make it all the way to the end. Become famously incredible or incredibly dead in this single player choose-your-own-space-adventure!”

The Star Trek parody game that mixes Oregon Trail with board games, and...well, Oregon Trail mechanics. The name of the game here is funny stuff happening. You start off by selecting 4 crew members (Officers) who will influence your stats (Diplomacy, Bravado, Tactics, Science, and Attack.) From there the game takes on resource management mechanics (Crew, food, fuel, and hull.) and works like a board game.

Each space you “move” takes fuel and food. Sometimes you'll have random encounters that will add or take away skills and resources (Lost your lucky underwear -1 Bravado. Took a martial arts class +1 attack, etc.) The meat of the game however is funny encounters when you get to planets. Whether it's dealing with annoying party aliens or the villainous “Underbaker”. Each scenario gives you a choice of how to proceed, with each solution using a stat.

For example, if you're dealing with the Underbaker, the attack solution is to blast him. The dialogue solution is to get him to cut a deal with you, the tactical solution is to get him talking, and disable his bakery, and the bravado solution is to steal his chef hat. Each one of these then turns into a probability out of 10. So, if you have 6 bravado, or whatever, 6 squares will be ok, 2 will be failure 1 will be complete failure and another will be complete success. Of course, the higher your stats, the more chances you have for success.

So, the game is all resource management and probability with comedy mixed in. Some of the events parody Star Trek directly like evil clone planets, and some parody other elements like Rogue AI, or a planet full of Michael Jackson Thriller zombies. Willy Wonka's factory and giant space malls are also part of it. Just make sure not to get lost in the giant space mall.

The goal of the game is to reach the space station at the end, where you receive your title based on how many successes or failures you had, and what stats you most used. For example, mostly successes will earn you the adjective “Admirable ____” So, if you used bravado, you'd be “Admirable Rule-Breaker”. Or “Unfortunate Scientist” if you used mostly science and got failures.

There are 6 missions (boards) to use, each one harder and longer than the next. I mostly like this game, since the emphasis is on probability and funny stuff rather than skill. I can always have a good time, even if my resources run out and we all die, at least it'll be funny. The same stuff kind of happens on every board, you get used to it after a while. But, there's enough random elements to keep me coming back. Check it out!

Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (1993 Sega Genesis):

Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (1993 Sega Genesis):

“The Mega Drive/Genesis version, titled Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition and released as Street Fighter II Dash Plus (stylized as Street Fighter II′ Plus) in Japan, was released on September 27, 1993 in North America, September 28, 1993 in Japan, and October 29, 1993 in Europe. It is the first of two Street Fighter II versions for the console and is in a 24 megabit cartridge. A six-button control pad was made primarily for it.” -Wikipedia

Ok, so, the classic experience of Street Fighter II for me was always on the Super Nintendo. I wanted to try something different. So, I went for Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition on Sega Genesis. Well, right off the bat, you can tell things are compressed down. The graphics are a bit smaller. The sound palette is a bit more “farty”. I mean, you'll get blips and squeals where some music and sound effects cut out.

Other than that, the name of the game here is speed. Just like in Street Fighter II Turbo, it introduces a speed mechanic which can be toggled up or down in the main menu. It's called hyper here, instead of turbo. I ran a basic E. Honda play-through, because his moves are easy for me to do. Anyone can press punch fast. It was ok, other than the farty sound palette.

This was right before my favorite game in the series. Just a year later, Street Fighter II: The New Challengers would release. In Champion Edition, you do get to play as the 4 bosses. Sagat, Balrog, Vega, and M. Bison are all available. They didn't introduce Cammy, T. Hawk, Deejay, or Fei Long until 1994.

Overall, they're some good ideas were here. I just prefer the Super Nintendo experience. Although, I get that they were going mostly for speed. The playable bosses are nice. But, knowing that The New Challengers would include both them and new fighters makes the game feel a little limited. I'll bet it was good for its time. In my opinion, you can probably skip this one and play either Street Fighter II Turbo or Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.

Cards and Castles 2 (2023):

Cards and Castles 2 (2023):

“Collectible cards spring to life in this wacky Tactical CCG. Assemble a deck to challenge your friends and rivals, and engage in glorious CARD BATTLES! Will you choose fearsome dragons, or the deadly squirrels?”

This game is a collectible card game (CCG) that is all about using a cutesy and funny art-style for a war-based card game. It reminds me a little bit of Card Wars from Adventure Time. There are 6 factions. Vikings, Ninjas, Undead, Bestial, Thieves and Heroes. The Vikings can summon berserkers, land sharks, and war penguins, among others. The forces of Nature (Bestial) can summon Archers, Trees, and battle squirrels. It's all about being silly and weird.

But, the game isn't without strategy. I still haven't really built a good deck up yet. Sometimes you can build buildings that give cards more health or attack. Or if you're the Ninja or Thieves faction, you can set traps so that when your castle is attacked, it hurts the other player. The object of of the game is to destroy the other player's castle.

As with most of these deck-building games, there comes a point where it just comes down to luck of the draw and how powerful your cards are, but that's how they draw you in. You might be doing good one minute and then someone draws a card that destroys everything in your deck. That's just how these games go. A cutesy art-style can only mask so much grinding.

I'm not a fan of huge grinds in games, so I usually just stick with the Vikings so far, unless I'm completing a mission that calls for another faction. They can use Dwarven weapons and armor, and have good heroes, like some guy named Björn. Plus, they're the first faction you start with, so it's easier for me just to start there and build outward.

Look, I wish I could say I liked the game more, I'm not against the “Git Gud” philosophy, but there's too much grinding for my tastes. Single-Player Quests are ok, even a bit challenging. After a while, you're either too overpowered for Single-Player, or too under-powered for multiplayer. But, as I said, I still haven't really built up a good deck. I can't really recommend it, but if you don't mind the grind, check it out.

Solo Leveling (2024):

Solo Leveling (2024):

“In a world of gifted hunters and monsters, a weak hunter Sung Jinwoo gains extraordinary powers through a mysterious program, leading him to become one of the strongest hunters and conquering even the strongest dungeons.”

Jinwoo is a 20 year old down-on-his-luck guy who suddenly finds himself in a world where RPG monsters invade Korea through a “gate”. The government learns how to use magic as energy, gold, classes, and skills, just like a game world and hires them as “hunters” to clear monster dungeons. Jinwoo joins a party with a high-ranked leader. Since Jinwoo is weak, he only has a cheap knife to start with.

One day, they end up trapped by giant god statues. But, Jinwoo is the only one who finds out that there is no boss fight. It's a puzzle. That lets him start again in the game world. After his party is defeated at various points in the puzzle, he wakes up again, and slowly learns the rules of the game world, including what gets points and how to get stronger.

Slowly, he begins to build his stats and strength, and learn where the monsters are, as well as their weakness. Now, he can bring up game screens and inventories to enhance his stats and abilities, as well as make weapons appear like swords. No more cheap knives. Jinwoo decides to focus on strength, and has a real-life muscular body as a result of spending his points on strength. However, to avoid attention, he still puts on a front of being very weak, so he can gain “levels” while adventuring solo.

Overall, it's a good mix of real-world and videogame mechanics. The monsters are interesting enough that it keeps me wondering what will happen next. It's hyper-violent, so it never gets boring. There's wolves, goblins, giant ants, snakes, and spiders. It's been fun to see Jinwoo's transformation from weakling to hero thanks to videogame-style Fighter specialization. It gives hope to gamers. (Not that I really am, these days.) Check it out!

Pirates! Gold (1993 Sega Genesis):

Pirates! Gold (1993 Sega Genesis):

“The player can play as a pirate, privateer, or a pirate hunter. It features sword fighting, ocean-faring battles, and land battles as its three main arenas of action, connected by role-playing which allows the player to court the favor of local politicos, romance women, and recruit pirates in the local pub.”

-Wikipedia

Pirates! Gold is an amazing game. It's a pirate sim, complete with different ships, towns, treasures, quests, and abilities as you sail the Spanish Main in the 17th century. First you choose your “captain”. This is the player. You can choose what ability you have, you can change your name, (Sidney is the default name.) and your nationality: English, Dutch, Spanish, or French.

Your abilities are fencing, charm, gunnery, or navigation. You only choose one. Fencing makes your sword strength better. Charm lets you get married more easily. Gunnery makes your cannons more effective. Navigation can help you weather storms and not crash on reefs. (And that happens a lot.)

Well, once you've started, you can sail around and attack ships or towns, capturing and plundering, or you can hunt for treasure. You can gain letters of marque to fight on behalf of any of the 4 European nations. So, when you capture enemy ships or towns, you can do so in the name of England, or whoever. This is usually the way I play. It's just too fun.

But, you have to keep your crew happy and well-fed or else they can desert and mutiny. Things that make them happy are like successful attacks or appropriate ship size vs. crew size. (You can capture a large variety of ships, including Galleons, Frigates, Sloops, or Merchant Ships, among others.) Of course, finding treasure makes them happy. You can buy treasure maps at local taverns throughout the Caribbean, sometimes.

Press “C” in sailing mode to check out all your maps, and figure out wherever the heck you are in the Spanish Main. You can also pinpoint places on the Spanish Main map. Often, you'll run into other ships you can choose to engage in combat or sail away. Once in sea combat, you can try to sink enemy ships or capture them. You can also fence the enemy captain by crashing your ship into theirs and boarding.

Other than attacking towns and sinking or capturing ships, you can complete quests too. These include capturing another pirate, getting married, finding lost cities, robbing treasure fleets, finding treasure, or finding each one of the members of your captain's long-lost family. Completing each one of these effects your score at the end when you divide up all your gold. Every game is different.

Some endings are more spectacular than others. If you have a lot of gold, and complete a lot of missions, you can ultimately become a pirate governor or King's Advisor if you do really good. Others include Rich Banker, Rogue, Fleet Admiral or even Beggar or Pauper, if you do really bad. Since I don't do a lot of missions, I usually end up more on the bad side. But, it's more fun to me just to sail around and attack things, rather than figure out where such-and-such lost city is from unmarked maps.

My usually bad final scores aside, Pirates! Gold is an still an amazing game. It looks and sounds great. Frankly, I'm surprised it runs on a Genesis cartridge. If you have access to a virtual Sega Genesis (or Sega Megadrive as the Genesis is known in Europe.), or even a physical cartridge, give it a try today. You won't regret it! I can play this game all day still.

Drifting Home (2022):

Drifting Home (2022):

“Follows two childhood friends who drift into a mysterious sea with an entire housing complex.”

Childhood friends check out an old apartment building they grew up in before it's scheduled to be demolished. They soon end up in a magical sea along with the demolished house, drifting on it like a boat with the rest of their sixth grade friends. The two main characters are Kosuke and Natsume, who grew up together with Kosuke's grandpa in the old apartment.

We soon discover there's a stowaway in the floating apartment, Noppo who everyone thought was Natsume's imaginary friend. Yuzuru, a girl, is scared of Noppo and thinks he's a ghost at first. He says they've been friends for a long time. There's more truth to this than meets the eye.

It's not all just about the friends, but also returning home, and the drama between Natsume and Kosuke. Natsume blames himself for his grandpa's death, and so refuses to accept the parting gift from his grandpa, a camera. Meanwhile, it's revealed that Natsume had an abusive childhood, so she had to move into the apartment.

They raid other drifting apartments for snacks, food, and fresh clothes. Eventually, Natsume cuts her knee getting into a vending machine and they have to make get bandages from a floating drugstore. They also collide with an old floating carnival, where Yuzuru first developed her love of theme parks.

Kosuke accepts the camera and starts taking pictures of all the old buildings. Here's where it gets really magical. As it turns out, Kosuke spots “things” growing out of Noppo's arm. Plants! Noppo reveals that he's the ghost of the old apartment, and the magical sea is a graveyard for old buildings. If he doesn't join them, they can never return home.

I enjoyed this movie. It's a magical meditation on memories and the cycle of pain and joy, death and rebirth. (Samsara.) Once they let go of their grief, they experience joy, and return home magically. Kosuke takes pictures. Noppo can finally return home. If you have a chance watch it. It's a great anime drama on Netflix!