Delicious FruitElCochran90's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: Aug 25, 2018
Bio:
About time I updated this bio.
Name: Edgar Cochran
Country: Mexico
Currently living in: Mexico City
-God's servant and one of his blessed sons (John 1:12; John 3:16).
-Lover of the entire animal and plant creation.
-Film lover and reviewer for Letterboxd.com (https://letterboxd.com/elcochran90).
-Adjunct professor and personal tutor of Statistical Inference, Business Forecasting, Marketing Research and Portfolio Theory.
Fangaming experience began in August 2018, so only modest achievements here. However, I'll describe some relevant FAQs here made to me during my stay here since 2018:
Q: Are videogames art?
A: Yes
Q: Are fangames videogames?
A: Yes
Q: Why are your reviews long and unconventional?
A: I am a film reviewer; in a way, I sort of unconsciously dragged my style of film reviewing to the world of fangames. I often involve personal experiences in my writing. Expect that structure; I'm not planning to change it.
Q: How are you rating games? Do you compare fangames as normal games that your ratings are lower than all other people ratings or are you just a critical person?
A: My ratings are not lower than people's ratings all of the time regarding fangames, but they are most of the time. However, this is not my intention. I am rating them as normal games, as in, I don't have a different spectrum for rating "normal", "official" games than fangames. They are in the same scale, because they are all videogames. I don't like to think myself as a critical person; ratings are just subjective numbers. However, I have realized that I rate games more harshly than I rate films/short films, which I do more often.
Q: What are your favorite fangames?
A: I have not played enough fangames to make a comprehensive and representative list, but this can be answered by going to my Favorites list. Anything getting 6.7 or higher will be considered immediately as a favorite.
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378 Ratings!
378 Reviews!
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378 Games
378 Reviews
ElCochran90
For: I wanna be the Heart
For: I wanna be the Heart
*Cleared on 07/10/2023*
It’s a fangame that exists from the maker of Rainbow Miku, believe it or not. One stage is LoveTrap themed but has its own twist. Nothing special. The stage to the right is standard platforming in both looks and execution except for a segment that has the gimmick of making a circle of cherries surround you and follow you, spawning new cherries towards you as you move. Taking too long will crowd the screen.
Bosses are cherries and very simple. The second boss can be even beaten without moving if you know what to do and analyze the size of the sprite of the boss.
The most frustrating part was finding the third stage, which requires a dumb move: it’s exactly above the right warp world in the main hub, and the screen transition is dumb. This stage is the only one I can call “original” even if it still looks plain, primary blue and boring; it ramps up the difficulty and screen transitions are garbage, so you’ll have to guess by dying. The structure of the level is decent; if it was a scroller section, it’d be more intriguing. The boss of this stage is hyperactive and funny, but it can’t be taken seriously with that song and it’s an easy first try no longer than 15 seconds.
The three stages open the true final boss which is a cherry that combines all the attacks of the three previous cherries in a funny, yet obnoxious way, and the song is dramatic for no reason.
You beat it. The end.
Passable and unforgettable, like Giripossible (but much less awful).
[0] Likes
It’s a fangame that exists from the maker of Rainbow Miku, believe it or not. One stage is LoveTrap themed but has its own twist. Nothing special. The stage to the right is standard platforming in both looks and execution except for a segment that has the gimmick of making a circle of cherries surround you and follow you, spawning new cherries towards you as you move. Taking too long will crowd the screen.
Bosses are cherries and very simple. The second boss can be even beaten without moving if you know what to do and analyze the size of the sprite of the boss.
The most frustrating part was finding the third stage, which requires a dumb move: it’s exactly above the right warp world in the main hub, and the screen transition is dumb. This stage is the only one I can call “original” even if it still looks plain, primary blue and boring; it ramps up the difficulty and screen transitions are garbage, so you’ll have to guess by dying. The structure of the level is decent; if it was a scroller section, it’d be more intriguing. The boss of this stage is hyperactive and funny, but it can’t be taken seriously with that song and it’s an easy first try no longer than 15 seconds.
The three stages open the true final boss which is a cherry that combines all the attacks of the three previous cherries in a funny, yet obnoxious way, and the song is dramatic for no reason.
You beat it. The end.
Passable and unforgettable, like Giripossible (but much less awful).
Rating: 2.9 29
Difficulty: 35 35
Nov 13, 2023
ElCochran90
For: I Wanna be the 512
For: I Wanna be the 512
*Cleared on 25/09/2023*
Perhaps it was the reviewing exercise of detailing my main complaints of 128 and 512 that will keep this review shorter, even if this is the entry that I found the most enjoyable out of the trilogy (does 724-ish count? Can we leave that as a “short-film-like” extension of the trilogy, like the godawful Disney’s Frozen short films?).
This was much easier and entertaining than 512. Many sins are still present: the Rukito-like aesthetics is an acquired taste and has never been my thing (not a sin, that’s more about me), there are traps, the last stages ramp up the difficulty, the are choke jumps right at the end of many saves, and the difficulty balance is not that balanced. Some random save in an intermediate section can be frustrating and harder than anything preceding it and following it within the stage: the most notorious example of this is the left vine jump you must pull off in Screen 3 of Stage 7, right at the bottom left. This overall save was so annoying (including this jump) it made me postpone finishing the game for like a week, and returning to it felt more like a self-imposed chore than what you’re supposed to feel when returning to a game. Also, the fact you must climb the vertical corridor with vines two times was just a no, and that is not even the ending of the save.
However, let’s get to the positive side and be less Cochran for a while. It has spirit, the bosses are a nice moment from 128-Up where you’re said “ye, here’s something different so take a break”. There are two bosses this time, so this is the game that follows even more the overall Rukito structure. 128-Up also places a lot of emphasis on what could be potential lazy level design: sometimes a gate has a wider window opportunity frame than 4 or 5 frames. The second screen of the first stage was an “oh-nah-a-carner-jamp” and we can’t even complain about it since it gives you the perfect align and positioning to make it. There’s a two-frame window, like a gate, for doing it, so it’s fun. This screen also has the best example I want to give about this: it’s considerate with the player. Consider the final save of Stage 1, which has said corner. When you go to the right side of the wall, you activate a trigger which opens a new route, and for coming back, the next thing you have to do is double jump all the way down to the bottom of the screen (beginning from the tile right to the middle cherry). If you’re observant, the trigger also did something convenient for your backtrack: the spike facing downwards (just left to the corner) gets nerfed, so it’s not a strict diagonal anymore: you can hug that wall and then time your arrival to the bottom block. Any lazy designer would leave it as it is and call it “added challenge”, but here, you see a creator aware of the length of the saves and the consistency required. This kind of “consideration” happens many times, but that’s the first thing you’ll find.
And to close this review, we have the core idea: this is a trigger game. Traps are less heavy, so I’m finally not tagging it as such. The path that opens with each new trigger is the way you head to, and it IS the place you were supposed to go. You then witness the screen reshaping to a new form: small arrangement changes can lead to big changes in platforming. This is how you do trigger. It’s well done. No more “jump all the way hugging this absolute random wall” or “I had a hidden fake block exit to pass the save lol” trash. Everything is intuitive and the trigger hitboxes are much more fair.
Ironically, while being the best of the series, this one doesn’t have something as grand as the last genius screen of 256, but it is what it is: the culmination of 128’s distinctive trigger implementation to Rukito’s (ugly) aesthetics.
[0] Likes
Perhaps it was the reviewing exercise of detailing my main complaints of 128 and 512 that will keep this review shorter, even if this is the entry that I found the most enjoyable out of the trilogy (does 724-ish count? Can we leave that as a “short-film-like” extension of the trilogy, like the godawful Disney’s Frozen short films?).
This was much easier and entertaining than 512. Many sins are still present: the Rukito-like aesthetics is an acquired taste and has never been my thing (not a sin, that’s more about me), there are traps, the last stages ramp up the difficulty, the are choke jumps right at the end of many saves, and the difficulty balance is not that balanced. Some random save in an intermediate section can be frustrating and harder than anything preceding it and following it within the stage: the most notorious example of this is the left vine jump you must pull off in Screen 3 of Stage 7, right at the bottom left. This overall save was so annoying (including this jump) it made me postpone finishing the game for like a week, and returning to it felt more like a self-imposed chore than what you’re supposed to feel when returning to a game. Also, the fact you must climb the vertical corridor with vines two times was just a no, and that is not even the ending of the save.
However, let’s get to the positive side and be less Cochran for a while. It has spirit, the bosses are a nice moment from 128-Up where you’re said “ye, here’s something different so take a break”. There are two bosses this time, so this is the game that follows even more the overall Rukito structure. 128-Up also places a lot of emphasis on what could be potential lazy level design: sometimes a gate has a wider window opportunity frame than 4 or 5 frames. The second screen of the first stage was an “oh-nah-a-carner-jamp” and we can’t even complain about it since it gives you the perfect align and positioning to make it. There’s a two-frame window, like a gate, for doing it, so it’s fun. This screen also has the best example I want to give about this: it’s considerate with the player. Consider the final save of Stage 1, which has said corner. When you go to the right side of the wall, you activate a trigger which opens a new route, and for coming back, the next thing you have to do is double jump all the way down to the bottom of the screen (beginning from the tile right to the middle cherry). If you’re observant, the trigger also did something convenient for your backtrack: the spike facing downwards (just left to the corner) gets nerfed, so it’s not a strict diagonal anymore: you can hug that wall and then time your arrival to the bottom block. Any lazy designer would leave it as it is and call it “added challenge”, but here, you see a creator aware of the length of the saves and the consistency required. This kind of “consideration” happens many times, but that’s the first thing you’ll find.
And to close this review, we have the core idea: this is a trigger game. Traps are less heavy, so I’m finally not tagging it as such. The path that opens with each new trigger is the way you head to, and it IS the place you were supposed to go. You then witness the screen reshaping to a new form: small arrangement changes can lead to big changes in platforming. This is how you do trigger. It’s well done. No more “jump all the way hugging this absolute random wall” or “I had a hidden fake block exit to pass the save lol” trash. Everything is intuitive and the trigger hitboxes are much more fair.
Ironically, while being the best of the series, this one doesn’t have something as grand as the last genius screen of 256, but it is what it is: the culmination of 128’s distinctive trigger implementation to Rukito’s (ugly) aesthetics.
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: 82 82
Nov 12, 2023
ElCochran90
For: I wanna be the Azure
For: I wanna be the Azure
*Cleared on 03/08/2023*
I remember beating hours before the clock ticked midnight and the year of 2021 began, exactly like I finished Needle Satan around 18:00 CST during December 31st, 2019. What a throwback to good memories, back when I had a responsiveness in old fangames with Windows 7 because of something related to Windows Aero which ch...
I’m not even talking about Azure. My question is, why did I find out there was an extra extra stage to Locus 3 years later? If I had known back then, I would have done this immediately after Locus.
More accurately, why was this released separately? It makes no sense, but I have two plausible explanations with me doing zero research on the subject matter, and now that I think about it, possibly irrelevant since they are pure speculations, but oh well.
1) Both stages were planned for being in Locus, but felt repetitive having two extra stages, so one was left as a separate fangame for not having effort wasted
2) Laziness or a deadline that have to be met, but wasn’t
Still I find it troubling that I have to review and rate this separately from Locus when this has the actual final boss and the ENDING CREDITS OF LOCUS. Why? More than a “conglaturations for conquering all these previous stages”, it is more like “bro you didn’t know this was part of Locus, but now that you know, bro do you remember all these stages lol?”
For my two cents, if the first scenario is what happened, the best extra stage was chosen for Locus as it is the best part of the game and it contains the only avoidance boss (which I have spoken enough of in Locus).
This possibility of an extra stage is “45° platforming: the fangame”. It starts very rough, assuming you have beaten all stages of Locus quite recently, all decently warmed up, so there is not really a merciful difficulty curve. It’s whatever, and brutal. There’s a reason why the entirety of Locus and the “shortness” of Azure are rated around 70 of difficulty. The extra in Locus also had a lot of 45° hills with needle, but this one maximizes that challenge. You’re not used to tilted physics, and you move, to our perception, quite fast. Calculating 16px gaps is a horror story and is a must in this game. Granted, it’s not usual level design either and one appreciates an approach to creativity: none of the screens are the same. However, adding traps to many of the saves after 50% of their completion is the final insult. The gimmick is enough for the challenge so that now you have to time, adjust and adapt to traps.
The song? Amazing. Screw the Falcon Sound Team haters: Azure Arbitrator will always be insanely epic, and for this game, Mystic Core works terrifically: no loop, correlates with the game’s distinctive and pleasing color palette, and the colorful spikes. It just fits.
And yet, it is a short fangame with a final boss which difficulty has no relation to the brutal needle. It’ll take 20 minutes if you are not sufficiently skilled, and perhaps 3-5 tries to the ones used to respond quickly to attacks. The sprite is nice, the fight is just plain dumb. Why make something like this? And this is the point where you’re thanked for playing all Locus as well? What if you didn’t?
It is this disconnection with Locus, the game giving you zero room for warming up, the traps in 45° needle / platforming, the lack of correlation with the boss, and feeling more like a short extra stage of another fangame than as a self-sustaining, independent game which makes me not enjoy this.
I’d only recommend this for the ones that played Locus and want to theoretically 100% it, assuming you got all the items and the extra stage in the original Locus; otherwise, even the credits won’t make sense.
[0] Likes
I remember beating hours before the clock ticked midnight and the year of 2021 began, exactly like I finished Needle Satan around 18:00 CST during December 31st, 2019. What a throwback to good memories, back when I had a responsiveness in old fangames with Windows 7 because of something related to Windows Aero which ch...
I’m not even talking about Azure. My question is, why did I find out there was an extra extra stage to Locus 3 years later? If I had known back then, I would have done this immediately after Locus.
More accurately, why was this released separately? It makes no sense, but I have two plausible explanations with me doing zero research on the subject matter, and now that I think about it, possibly irrelevant since they are pure speculations, but oh well.
1) Both stages were planned for being in Locus, but felt repetitive having two extra stages, so one was left as a separate fangame for not having effort wasted
2) Laziness or a deadline that have to be met, but wasn’t
Still I find it troubling that I have to review and rate this separately from Locus when this has the actual final boss and the ENDING CREDITS OF LOCUS. Why? More than a “conglaturations for conquering all these previous stages”, it is more like “bro you didn’t know this was part of Locus, but now that you know, bro do you remember all these stages lol?”
For my two cents, if the first scenario is what happened, the best extra stage was chosen for Locus as it is the best part of the game and it contains the only avoidance boss (which I have spoken enough of in Locus).
This possibility of an extra stage is “45° platforming: the fangame”. It starts very rough, assuming you have beaten all stages of Locus quite recently, all decently warmed up, so there is not really a merciful difficulty curve. It’s whatever, and brutal. There’s a reason why the entirety of Locus and the “shortness” of Azure are rated around 70 of difficulty. The extra in Locus also had a lot of 45° hills with needle, but this one maximizes that challenge. You’re not used to tilted physics, and you move, to our perception, quite fast. Calculating 16px gaps is a horror story and is a must in this game. Granted, it’s not usual level design either and one appreciates an approach to creativity: none of the screens are the same. However, adding traps to many of the saves after 50% of their completion is the final insult. The gimmick is enough for the challenge so that now you have to time, adjust and adapt to traps.
The song? Amazing. Screw the Falcon Sound Team haters: Azure Arbitrator will always be insanely epic, and for this game, Mystic Core works terrifically: no loop, correlates with the game’s distinctive and pleasing color palette, and the colorful spikes. It just fits.
And yet, it is a short fangame with a final boss which difficulty has no relation to the brutal needle. It’ll take 20 minutes if you are not sufficiently skilled, and perhaps 3-5 tries to the ones used to respond quickly to attacks. The sprite is nice, the fight is just plain dumb. Why make something like this? And this is the point where you’re thanked for playing all Locus as well? What if you didn’t?
It is this disconnection with Locus, the game giving you zero room for warming up, the traps in 45° needle / platforming, the lack of correlation with the boss, and feeling more like a short extra stage of another fangame than as a self-sustaining, independent game which makes me not enjoy this.
I’d only recommend this for the ones that played Locus and want to theoretically 100% it, assuming you got all the items and the extra stage in the original Locus; otherwise, even the credits won’t make sense.
Rating: 3.6 36
Difficulty: 70 70
Nov 12, 2023
ElCochran90
For: I wanna be the Magnanimity
For: I wanna be the Magnanimity
*Cleared on 25/07/2023*
On the underrated vein of PomuRin’s most creative game, “Conscience”, Magnanimity is a solid and fun classic that is painfully unfinished. However, I still find it to be not appreciated enough by the community, considering my unpopular rating scale and the time this was conceived.
The game is quite Conscience-like in the way it concocts and amasses a respectable variety of environments from original video games like Kirby’s Dream Land for the Game Boy to Kirby Super Star Ultra for the DS. We also have Super Mario World, Kirby Super Star and Super Mario All Stars thrown in for good measure, as obligated and overused they might seem today; at least those are done in a better way than freaking Popularity.
The implementation of stages, bosses and gimmicks are cool, but the quality overall presents great variance. The lava stage, the one with Sagat as its boss for absolutely no reason, which had me laughing at the beginning to be honest, has standard screens and a gimmick that allows you to freeze fireballs. Also, we have the normal, generic and standard IWBTG stage, but what is a classic without it (except probably something better)? The Zombie boss is just whatever... There are some questionable decisions here and there, so expect no rhyme or reason.
Yet, this odd facet works in the favor of the game and keeps it fresh, unexpected and unpredictable: it’s better to go blind. Difficulty balance is not off, although you might experience some grinding with the later bosses compared to the overall adventure platforming.
This is the type of fangames that retains my favoritism for the adventure genre, and at the end of the day, that was the genre of the one that started it all. Yet, it is not a consistent experience overall, the last boss is really easy (and famous), and the latter combined with the whole unfinished business gives it a very anticlimactic “conclusion”. What a bummer.
[0] Likes
On the underrated vein of PomuRin’s most creative game, “Conscience”, Magnanimity is a solid and fun classic that is painfully unfinished. However, I still find it to be not appreciated enough by the community, considering my unpopular rating scale and the time this was conceived.
The game is quite Conscience-like in the way it concocts and amasses a respectable variety of environments from original video games like Kirby’s Dream Land for the Game Boy to Kirby Super Star Ultra for the DS. We also have Super Mario World, Kirby Super Star and Super Mario All Stars thrown in for good measure, as obligated and overused they might seem today; at least those are done in a better way than freaking Popularity.
The implementation of stages, bosses and gimmicks are cool, but the quality overall presents great variance. The lava stage, the one with Sagat as its boss for absolutely no reason, which had me laughing at the beginning to be honest, has standard screens and a gimmick that allows you to freeze fireballs. Also, we have the normal, generic and standard IWBTG stage, but what is a classic without it (except probably something better)? The Zombie boss is just whatever... There are some questionable decisions here and there, so expect no rhyme or reason.
Yet, this odd facet works in the favor of the game and keeps it fresh, unexpected and unpredictable: it’s better to go blind. Difficulty balance is not off, although you might experience some grinding with the later bosses compared to the overall adventure platforming.
This is the type of fangames that retains my favoritism for the adventure genre, and at the end of the day, that was the genre of the one that started it all. Yet, it is not a consistent experience overall, the last boss is really easy (and famous), and the latter combined with the whole unfinished business gives it a very anticlimactic “conclusion”. What a bummer.
Rating: 6.1 61
Difficulty: 65 65
Nov 12, 2023
ElCochran90
For: I Wanna Possible
For: I Wanna Possible
*Cleared on 06/07/2023*
Like Needle Satan and countless other needle games, it consists of two stages with a few screens of needle each. Left warp gives a winter feeling and is a fan of corners. Right warp is neon-like and has the more creative-ish needle, but with one of the most intolerable, annoying and loud music choices for a needle. If we’re going to these extremes, I’d prefer the game to be silent. It is two screens but also the hardest warp by a dumb margin; the last jump of the last warp is pretty dumb difficulty-wise unless you immediately know how to cover that much of a distance. Personally, I would recommend playing the left warp and tossing this to the Recycle Bin.
Also, I could never see the clear screen because the game crashes. Everything I did was download the game and that’s it. Perhaps the error screen is the true clear screen.
It sucks.
[0] Likes
Like Needle Satan and countless other needle games, it consists of two stages with a few screens of needle each. Left warp gives a winter feeling and is a fan of corners. Right warp is neon-like and has the more creative-ish needle, but with one of the most intolerable, annoying and loud music choices for a needle. If we’re going to these extremes, I’d prefer the game to be silent. It is two screens but also the hardest warp by a dumb margin; the last jump of the last warp is pretty dumb difficulty-wise unless you immediately know how to cover that much of a distance. Personally, I would recommend playing the left warp and tossing this to the Recycle Bin.
Also, I could never see the clear screen because the game crashes. Everything I did was download the game and that’s it. Perhaps the error screen is the true clear screen.
It sucks.
Rating: 2.5 25
Difficulty: 65 65
Nov 12, 2023
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