Delicious Fruit
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by P2shka
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by Drug_Solo
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by Drug_Solo
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by Drug_Solo
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by Drug_Solo
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by P2shka
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by Drug_Solo
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by AthgieninOr98a
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by Drug_Solo
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by Drug_Solo
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by Bob
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by Drug_Solo
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by Drug_Solo
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by Bob
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by spawneable
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by MoleTrooper
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by P2shka
Creator's Comments:
ActualKale [Creator]
The most influential needle game
[18] Likes
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 85 85
Nov 12, 2018
78 Reviews:
Xplayerlol
Really long and really challenging needle-themed floor game. Every set of three floors (With a few exceptions) uses visuals that reference a different needle game, some of which are relatively well-known, some...not as much. The similarities are only visual, though, as in most areas the platforming itself has little to nothing to do with the referenced games.
Anyway, there's plenty of variety to this game. Many different design styles for all sorts of tastes. There are short saves with complex, precise jumps, as well as longer saves with individually easier jumps that derive their difficulty from their length. Some screens have a pretty layout of blocks and spikes that makes them unique, while others look more clustered, without as much aesthetic care involved. Some saves are well balanced, consisting of jumps in the same difficulty range, while others focus their difficulty entirely on a single jump (Or in a small set of jumps). Some areas feature really pleasant visuals, while others are just painful to look at. Fun and creative jumps are slapped together with generic jumps and abominations that require stuttering or some other kind of irky maneuver. Overall, it's just a bunch of different styles of everything coming together in a single game.
And, well, that's this game's downfall too. There are some styles you just don't want to see around, and this game has plenty of these. Take Floor 80, for example, which looks super nice, with an interesting layout and jumps on the slightly more inventive side, and then it ends with that wrist-breaking choke-able jump that everybody hates (Which is not a bunnyhop, I stand corrected. Took me a while to fix this one). Or maybe the whole Archfoe area, which is a painful compilation of generic jumps with horrendous difficulty balance and individual save balance that looks like anything but an Archfoe game. But my favorite, of course, would have to be Floor 92, the only floor that borrows its design from the game it references as well.
Floor 92 is hell. I feel like the more time you spend in it, the less likely you are to get past it. Your senses start to get dull, your eyesight fails, and so do your fingers. You can take a break, but when you come back you really don't feel like doing this at all. And, as in a reverse grinding, you start to get LESS consistent with your attempts. I mean, everybody that got this far can do a gate jump with a decent consistency. But it's not a single gate jump. It's almost 100 gate jumps in a row, with 16 pixel gaps in between some of them (And a diamond at some point. And one of the rows of gates belongs to both screens of the floor, so you keep switching between screens and thus you can't even see what you're doing). And then you remember that there are only two right heights to get past a gate jump, and so many ways it could go wrong. Doing them like diamonds is tempting, because it's faster and it skips the 16 pixel gaps, but it's much harder to get consistent at diamond jumps, so you're bound to fail anyway. It sucks. Life sucks. Why even bother. Anyway, that save killed a considerable amount of my motivation to finish this game, so thanks for that, Floor 92 and whoever thought it was a good idea to make it (Or not).
Even ignoring Floor 92, whenever I think of this game, I mostly end up remembering the time I spent on its horrendous sections, rather than the time I spent playing the fun parts. I also just checked the readme file, it says "Even if you don't like the game I'm sure you'll get more enjoyment out of playing it than I did out of making it", and now I feel really bad for the maker. And I still don't get what was the point of using the tilesets referencing other games if the platforming itself doesn't reference anything. Maybe there wasn't any point. Who knows.
Anyway, it is undeniably a lengthy game with plenty of variety, so if you like how that sounds go ahead and have fun, but I would definitely not recommend it.
[14] Likes
Anyway, there's plenty of variety to this game. Many different design styles for all sorts of tastes. There are short saves with complex, precise jumps, as well as longer saves with individually easier jumps that derive their difficulty from their length. Some screens have a pretty layout of blocks and spikes that makes them unique, while others look more clustered, without as much aesthetic care involved. Some saves are well balanced, consisting of jumps in the same difficulty range, while others focus their difficulty entirely on a single jump (Or in a small set of jumps). Some areas feature really pleasant visuals, while others are just painful to look at. Fun and creative jumps are slapped together with generic jumps and abominations that require stuttering or some other kind of irky maneuver. Overall, it's just a bunch of different styles of everything coming together in a single game.
And, well, that's this game's downfall too. There are some styles you just don't want to see around, and this game has plenty of these. Take Floor 80, for example, which looks super nice, with an interesting layout and jumps on the slightly more inventive side, and then it ends with that wrist-breaking choke-able jump that everybody hates (Which is not a bunnyhop, I stand corrected. Took me a while to fix this one). Or maybe the whole Archfoe area, which is a painful compilation of generic jumps with horrendous difficulty balance and individual save balance that looks like anything but an Archfoe game. But my favorite, of course, would have to be Floor 92, the only floor that borrows its design from the game it references as well.
Floor 92 is hell. I feel like the more time you spend in it, the less likely you are to get past it. Your senses start to get dull, your eyesight fails, and so do your fingers. You can take a break, but when you come back you really don't feel like doing this at all. And, as in a reverse grinding, you start to get LESS consistent with your attempts. I mean, everybody that got this far can do a gate jump with a decent consistency. But it's not a single gate jump. It's almost 100 gate jumps in a row, with 16 pixel gaps in between some of them (And a diamond at some point. And one of the rows of gates belongs to both screens of the floor, so you keep switching between screens and thus you can't even see what you're doing). And then you remember that there are only two right heights to get past a gate jump, and so many ways it could go wrong. Doing them like diamonds is tempting, because it's faster and it skips the 16 pixel gaps, but it's much harder to get consistent at diamond jumps, so you're bound to fail anyway. It sucks. Life sucks. Why even bother. Anyway, that save killed a considerable amount of my motivation to finish this game, so thanks for that, Floor 92 and whoever thought it was a good idea to make it (Or not).
Even ignoring Floor 92, whenever I think of this game, I mostly end up remembering the time I spent on its horrendous sections, rather than the time I spent playing the fun parts. I also just checked the readme file, it says "Even if you don't like the game I'm sure you'll get more enjoyment out of playing it than I did out of making it", and now I feel really bad for the maker. And I still don't get what was the point of using the tilesets referencing other games if the platforming itself doesn't reference anything. Maybe there wasn't any point. Who knows.
Anyway, it is undeniably a lengthy game with plenty of variety, so if you like how that sounds go ahead and have fun, but I would definitely not recommend it.
Rating: 3.9 39
Difficulty: 88 88
May 13, 2018
dopamine
Too hard for almost anyone to rightly appreciate, but a watershed occurrence. Interesting and influential without pretense, a sincere emotional investment in the aesthetic and psychological value of needle. A profound iteration of niche obsession. Wholly ineffable.
[12] Likes
Rating: 9.2 92
Difficulty: N/A
Nov 9, 2017
LOLGamer
Another very overrated game, in my opinion. I wouldn't reccomend this unless you're a huge needle fan, or if you're trying to improve your needle skills.
Some of the rooms have great design and spike placement, but most of them don't. There is no difficulty curve, either. Some of the rooms are unimaginably harder than the others. It almost feels like a joke.
There is also room 92 but I don't want to talk about it since it's only one room. Just keep in mind that it's one of the cheapest rooms you will ever see in fangames.
[7] Likes
Some of the rooms have great design and spike placement, but most of them don't. There is no difficulty curve, either. Some of the rooms are unimaginably harder than the others. It almost feels like a joke.
There is also room 92 but I don't want to talk about it since it's only one room. Just keep in mind that it's one of the cheapest rooms you will ever see in fangames.
Rating: 5.1 51
Difficulty: 92 92
Sep 10, 2015
Kidsview
Note: I'm terrible at writing reviews. Shoutout to dono and IanBoy141 for rooting for me throughout the entire late game. shoutout to ninza for teaching me things idek. shoutout to boomerman254 for :))))))
Also, spoilers, obviously
It's about time I write my review for this game, weeks after my clear. At the time of me writing this review, it is my hardest clear, with 43 ingame hours being spent (and an extra hour in jtool). There were times when I loved grinding certain screens, but then there were times I felt like breaking my desk. Overall though, I've had some pretty great memories with this game.
Sidenote: There are certainly things I remember very well (especially late game) and things I don't remember at all. With that being said, let's break this game down.
I honestly don't have a lot to say about the first 18 rooms. They are fairly decent imo. Room 18 is a bit of a bump in difficulty compared to the previous screens, but the game is still really easy at this point.
Rooms 19-21 were a weird area for me. I don't really like cherry needle, so I didn't have too much fun with this part. The second save of room 20 is a bit overkill compared to the rest of the game, being more than half of the room with lots of weird jumps here and there. Room 21 is prety decent, however.
I honestly don't remember rooms 22-24 too much, even when looking at them again. They are just not that memorable imo.
Room 25 is when I started getting a bit excited. I was having a lot of fun getting through each save compared to the earlier parts of the game fsr. The entire area of room 25-27 just has lots of fun saves with lots of fun jumps. The tileset choice isn't too visually pleasing though imo.
Rooms 28-30 were a blast to play (for the most part). There were lots of fun jumps everywhere. Room 29 is an easy L-needle room, which is a type of needle I am really fond of. The last jump of room 29 was a bit strange for me though, taking me quite a bit of time.
I honestly didn't like rooms 31-33 too much back when I first played them. There were lots of weird jumps here and there, and I'm also not too fond of vines. Room 32 was the first room I genuinely disliked. There are lots of annoying jumps, and the second save is water needle. Room 33 was a bit strange for me though. I somehow managed to fluke almost everything in the room first try. I guess that's a good thing?
I love rooms 34-36. Every save (sans one of them) was really fun to play, as I am extremely fond of this type of needle. The only save I didn't really like was the second to last one of room 35. It just really doesn't fit in with the rest of the area, being a single jump that you just go through over and over again until you eventually do it. This was pretty much the only thing I didn't like about this area.
Rooms 37-39 was the first area I actually hated. Room 37 starts out with a really annoying diagonal fall, and the rest of the saves just don't make up for it. Room 38 was incredibly annoying for me. Every single save was just extremely unfun. EsPECIALLY that first one. Room 39 on the other hand isn't too hard, but it still isn't too fun to play either. It's also really ugly. bad area
I honestly don't remember rooms 40-41. For some strange reason, they just kind of dropped out of my memory. Room 42, on the other hand, is one I definitely remember disliking. The entire save is pretty much just a bunch of F jumps, and my hand started getting tired after a while. It's such an odd room idea that definitely contrasts with the rest of the game, a common trend among the entire game. It's a shame that the only thing I remember from this area was what I didn't like.
Rooms 43-45 - the first time I said "hey I am gonna beat this game, and it's gonna be my hardest clear." The screen itself honestly isn't too fun, with the cherry and water sections being aids to play. Room 44 is also filled with water and cherries, with the last save even being a swimfest through a tight pathway of cherries. unepic. Room 45 is free.
Rooms 46-48 were mostly unmemorable for me. I didn't like certain saves and jumps (am i the only one who hates dropping into an upwards diagonal? {last jump of 47}), but they weren't bad enough for me to remember anything else about it.
I unfortunately have to say the same thing about 49-51. The area just isn't that interesting at all. No jumps were too insane or too fun, so there really isn't anything worth mentioning.
Rooms 52-54 are the first major bump in difficulty in this game. Room 53 has quite a few hard jumps (and cherries BabyRage). The biggest part of this area, however, is room (2)54. Remember the mini spike hell series in NANG? This is pretty much that, but CN1. There are a lot of tricky jumps all over this room, with there even being a mini spike plane towards the end. It is exhilarating to beat, however. This marks the start of the mid-game.
Oh boy, another area I can't for the life of me remember! Rooms 55-57! The only thing I remember was that I hated the second save of room 56 because of the really odd jump after the half diamond. Shocker that I only remember the thing I hated, huh?
Rooms 58-59 are pretty fun. Long saves with jumps that are fairly easy. Room 60 is just disgusting. You climb up a wall of block jumps (ledge jump except the spike is removed) followed by platform hop spam, and then block jumps going downwards. Why does this room exist? It just doesn't fit, even compared to the other rooms in CN1 that just don't fit.
Room 61, can't remember. Room 62 is pretty lame because it has platform hops with spikes above them, and one of the saves is literally just a single drop. and whats with is room 63? It's just an extremely long and unfun drop (that hurts your right hand) followed by a bunch of platform hops with spikes above them, followed by another unfun drop. lame
I LOVE rooms 64-66. Rooms 64-65 are the exact same room, except the starting position and the warp are flipped. Those two rooms had lots of fun jumps, organized into a really neat map layout. Room 66 doesn't follow the same trend, however the jumps are still in a similar style that is incredibly fun to play. Truly a remarkable area.
Room 67-69... Well, room 67 was fairly fun. It only has one save, and none of the jumps are hard at all. Room 68 literally has a save that is nothing but diagonals. Quite disgusting honestly, but this isn't the first time CN1 has an area with nothing but one jump. Nothing in this area, however, compares to the anger that is room 69. Room 69 is just plain disgusting. There is a mini 9 jump, an annoying fall into a corner, and a choke platform climb at the end. There is also a scrotum jump that fsr i died to more times than I should've. Should I also mention that the room spells out "50"? Yeah, apparently this was meant to be room 50, but Kale had changed plans, and instead of scrapping the room entirely, he just moved it somewhere else. Nice job!
Rooms 70-72 is mostly a bad area imo. Room 70 is pretty decent, I guess? Room 71 is just straight up unfun to play, with lots of annoying jumps everywhere. I guess I do like the idea that every killer object is formed in the shape of a sideways diamond. Room 72 is literally free.
Room 73-75 are mostly mediocre, except room 73. I love room 73 purely because of the style of it. I have never seen this style before, but it is honestly just so beautiful. It's somewhat like a maze, with blocks and spikes scattered randomly around the room, forcing you to try and find the right path. It's a shame the rest of this area didn't follow along this same amazing trend. They just felt kind of standard, with nothing special about them.
Room 76 is where I think the late game officially starts. Room 76 is cherry needle (DansGame) with an align-dependent pixel perfect jump during the second save. Pretty unfun to play, but it isn't too bad. Then you are hit with room 77. The second save of this screen was just pure pain for me. The first jump is a dropledge, which leads to lots of annoying deaths. There is also a downwards corner jump at around the middle, and another corner towards the end (tho its a setup corner). I also choked the last jump PepeHands. Then comes room 78. Room 78 is considered to be the hardest room to quite a few people... except for me. Lots of people have trouble with the second save in this room, but I guess I just got lucky since I fluked it in 15 minutes. I do understand how people could have trouble with this save though, considering the last jump is a carat. Honestly the only jump I really struggled with was the longjump at the end. I guess I really can't say anything about save 2 merely because i managed to fluke through it all. However, the first save was incredibly disgusting. Several jumps in the save are just plain awful, especially the strange midair 1.5 sideways gate. For some reason, this save took me an hour.
Rooms 79-81 were the hardest area for me. Room 79 is water needle (DansGame) with lots of annoying jumps everywhere. I almost lost all motivation to continue when I was doing the second save, merely because I wasn't having fun at all, and I didn't desire to continue. I still pushed on, however, which brings me to room 80. My 2nd least favorite room in the game, and the hardest room for me. This awful, awful screen took me such a long time to do, with every single jump (except the bottom area) just being purely painful to play. Let's break this save down into sections: Section 1 is the top nonwater area. You just die a lot here, waiting for the time you can get to the next unfun section. This is section 2, the first water section. The half invert (this jump isn't really named by the community, but it's a gate with both spikes facing downward) is just really annoying to deal with, and of course it ends with a downwards plane. Section 3, the next water section is honestly not too bad, but dying there after sections 1 and 2 is just really annoying. Section 4, the last water segment, is also not too bad. However, most of the time you get here, you are just too nervous and you jump either too high or too low through the gates. Then there is the last section, after all the water segments. I've had a really bad time with this part. I was super excited, I thought i would see the next screen. You get through... jump by jump... and then you choke the gate jump. The excruciating feeling of choking the very end, after going through everything else, is just awful. Gate jumps are pretty much free, yet I choked and died, forced to do everything all over again. After the gate jump, the last jump in the room is a 4.3. Isn't that nice? It's also very easily chokable. Thankfully I didn't die here, that would've sucked. Room 80 is honestly such a bad experience, and I wish to never go through it again... (except i literally have to because its used in needle in a haystack). After this, you finally get to room 81. It honestly isn't hard, but it's incredibly annoying. The first save has a water drop where you go through 6 16pxs, right after a downwards water plane. I was also terrible at doing the second save, making me realize how much I hate single water block needle.
Thankfully, after all of this, you enter the Archfoe area, rooms 82-84. I'm probably the only person who likes this area. Generic needle is just so fun to play. Starting off with screen 82: The first save is a combination of different styles of double diamonds, which is actually really fun to go through. The second save has inverts, a sphincter, and a plane. This save was not too fun, mainly because of the sphincter. I also choked the very last jump, which is a shuriken omegalul. The last save has an upwards sphincter, a double diamond, and a ground plane. Every single one of these jumps is easy because of setups, so I really liked this save. Rooms 83-84 are fairly standard, with 83 having some generic jumps, and 84 being an entirely different style. The style of room 84, however, is done really well. The entire area is just a masterpiece, and probably my favorite area of the game.
Rooms 85-87 were really hard. The first screen isn't too bad, but it takes quite a while because of how many jumps there are. Room 86 is also not too bad, however I didn't really like the diagonal drop in the second save. Then you get to room 87. Room 87 is another room that I remember purely because of how much I dislike it. The beginning half just causes so many deaths. There is a drop that kills you a bunch, and a shuriken that is extremely precise. Later on, you have to go through a gate into a corner, a dropgate, and then a drop into a 16px. Lots of easily chokable jumps purely put at the end just for the purpose of killing you. Great.
Room 88-90 were another area that lead to me losing motivation to continuing. Room 88 has a long drop that ends with a downwards diagonal, killing you almost everytime you get to it. The worst thing, however, is the drop at the end. I actually had to go in jtool to learn a good setup for the right vstring so that I could have a 3 frame turnaround, since sometimes you only have 1 frame to turn around, and most of the time you have 2. The second save is honestly not worth mentioning, since there really isn't anything special about it. Then there is room 89, yet another room I remember purely because of how much I hated it. The corner. The 8px ledge. The chokes. I've died to pretty much every single jump that exists on this screen, even the ending scrotum. At least practicing in jtool helped me learn some ez ways to do certain jumps. Room 90 is literally free.
Room 91-93. HERE WE GO! So room 91 isn't too memorable. The first jump of save 1 is an upwards plane, and there is also a fulljump diamond. Overall, it's a fairly standard screen. Then you get to room 92. The worst room that exists in this game. It's 92 gate jumps in a row, with 16pxs inbetween all of them. That's it. Doesn't sound so bad, right?
Wrong.
Gate jumps are 2 frame perfect. You can only jump through them if you 4f or 5f. 16pxs are also 2 frame perfect! Imagine 92 gate jumps and around 40 16pxs in a row! It's painful. You constantly go, attempt after attempt, praying that one attempt brings you to victory. You get past the first 2 rows... then you do a dropgate. Then you get past the next 2 rows... And then you go through a row that switches between both screens. Literally disgusting. Oh, but don't worry, after this you only have 3 rows left. Too bad one of them has a diamond in them. Hurray.
Room 92 is an experience. You internally scream at every single death you have. Then as you start to get far.. you start to gain hope. But then the nerves hit you. You start thinking of the worst. "What if I die to the diamond? What if I die to the very last gate?" Then the nerves get the better of you and you die. You die, and you die. I spent 3 hours on this room. I died to the 3rd to last gate. The entire experience was nothing but awful. I legitimately thought I wouldn't be able to beat this game because of it. I felt really upset because I went through the entire game, only to be blocked here. At least I beat it. Oh and by the way, right before the very last gate jump, theres a fake block designed to scare you by making you think you're gonna die. However, if you full jump into it, you actually die. Great! I honestly don't like talking about this room.
Thankfully, after that horrible experience, you get to room 93. A fairly decent room I guess? The diagonals are really annoying to deal with, and the ledge at the end of save 2 also sucks. Then you have room 94, which is a bunch of infuriating drops. There isn't really a lot to say to describe this screen. It's just drops, that's it.
But hey, that area is done now. You arrive at rooms 95-97. Room 95 has 3 different routes. The longer the route is, the easier it is. I went for the shortest possible route, typical of me, which is a drop that has a corner, awkward movements, and 2 16pxs. You just kind of try it over and over again until you do it. Then there's room 96, which has an alternative version. I chose the one that starts with the 9 jump. This save actually has 3 9 jumps, and it was incredibly annoying to play. I honestly just chose this over the alternate version because I didn't want to deal with diagonals. The rest of the screen isn't too important. Then room 97. Literally free, unless you want to do the alternate version. But why would you wanna do that? also NOPE
Finally, the last area. Rooms 98-100. Room 98 is an annoying start, with a save thats literally an extremely long row of diamonds. Oh and should I mention it's water needle? Then there's room 99. Almost every jump in this room is just infuriating. Of course one of the last rooms causes me pain, haha. Oh also theres a diamond at the end. But hey, you finally arrive at room 100. Room 100 is pretty annoying. I had to go into jtool and learn easy ways to do every jump, purely because of how terrible it is. I mean you know something is bad when it starts with a ground plane. Lots of jumps in here were just so annoying to go through. But you are constantly thinking about how close you are. "I'm about to win! I'm about to finally beat this game!" You choke the last jump, but it doesn't matter. You are about to beat CN1. And then...
It happens. You finally win. A single screen saying "THIS IS THE CATHARSIS". A song saying "im sorry for what i've done"
Everything is forgiven, Kale. This game was quite the experience. Though I was angry for most of the game, getting through the saves was just really exhilarating. Thank you, Kale, for making this game. I will certainly go for Crimson Needle 2. You have inspired me to continue playing fangames, and you have also inspired me to play harder fangames. You have inspired me to set goals for myself. I will always remember this.
So overall, Crimson Needle 1 is a game that I really liked going through, and I recommend playing it if you want a challenge.
[5] Likes
Also, spoilers, obviously
It's about time I write my review for this game, weeks after my clear. At the time of me writing this review, it is my hardest clear, with 43 ingame hours being spent (and an extra hour in jtool). There were times when I loved grinding certain screens, but then there were times I felt like breaking my desk. Overall though, I've had some pretty great memories with this game.
Sidenote: There are certainly things I remember very well (especially late game) and things I don't remember at all. With that being said, let's break this game down.
I honestly don't have a lot to say about the first 18 rooms. They are fairly decent imo. Room 18 is a bit of a bump in difficulty compared to the previous screens, but the game is still really easy at this point.
Rooms 19-21 were a weird area for me. I don't really like cherry needle, so I didn't have too much fun with this part. The second save of room 20 is a bit overkill compared to the rest of the game, being more than half of the room with lots of weird jumps here and there. Room 21 is prety decent, however.
I honestly don't remember rooms 22-24 too much, even when looking at them again. They are just not that memorable imo.
Room 25 is when I started getting a bit excited. I was having a lot of fun getting through each save compared to the earlier parts of the game fsr. The entire area of room 25-27 just has lots of fun saves with lots of fun jumps. The tileset choice isn't too visually pleasing though imo.
Rooms 28-30 were a blast to play (for the most part). There were lots of fun jumps everywhere. Room 29 is an easy L-needle room, which is a type of needle I am really fond of. The last jump of room 29 was a bit strange for me though, taking me quite a bit of time.
I honestly didn't like rooms 31-33 too much back when I first played them. There were lots of weird jumps here and there, and I'm also not too fond of vines. Room 32 was the first room I genuinely disliked. There are lots of annoying jumps, and the second save is water needle. Room 33 was a bit strange for me though. I somehow managed to fluke almost everything in the room first try. I guess that's a good thing?
I love rooms 34-36. Every save (sans one of them) was really fun to play, as I am extremely fond of this type of needle. The only save I didn't really like was the second to last one of room 35. It just really doesn't fit in with the rest of the area, being a single jump that you just go through over and over again until you eventually do it. This was pretty much the only thing I didn't like about this area.
Rooms 37-39 was the first area I actually hated. Room 37 starts out with a really annoying diagonal fall, and the rest of the saves just don't make up for it. Room 38 was incredibly annoying for me. Every single save was just extremely unfun. EsPECIALLY that first one. Room 39 on the other hand isn't too hard, but it still isn't too fun to play either. It's also really ugly. bad area
I honestly don't remember rooms 40-41. For some strange reason, they just kind of dropped out of my memory. Room 42, on the other hand, is one I definitely remember disliking. The entire save is pretty much just a bunch of F jumps, and my hand started getting tired after a while. It's such an odd room idea that definitely contrasts with the rest of the game, a common trend among the entire game. It's a shame that the only thing I remember from this area was what I didn't like.
Rooms 43-45 - the first time I said "hey I am gonna beat this game, and it's gonna be my hardest clear." The screen itself honestly isn't too fun, with the cherry and water sections being aids to play. Room 44 is also filled with water and cherries, with the last save even being a swimfest through a tight pathway of cherries. unepic. Room 45 is free.
Rooms 46-48 were mostly unmemorable for me. I didn't like certain saves and jumps (am i the only one who hates dropping into an upwards diagonal? {last jump of 47}), but they weren't bad enough for me to remember anything else about it.
I unfortunately have to say the same thing about 49-51. The area just isn't that interesting at all. No jumps were too insane or too fun, so there really isn't anything worth mentioning.
Rooms 52-54 are the first major bump in difficulty in this game. Room 53 has quite a few hard jumps (and cherries BabyRage). The biggest part of this area, however, is room (2)54. Remember the mini spike hell series in NANG? This is pretty much that, but CN1. There are a lot of tricky jumps all over this room, with there even being a mini spike plane towards the end. It is exhilarating to beat, however. This marks the start of the mid-game.
Oh boy, another area I can't for the life of me remember! Rooms 55-57! The only thing I remember was that I hated the second save of room 56 because of the really odd jump after the half diamond. Shocker that I only remember the thing I hated, huh?
Rooms 58-59 are pretty fun. Long saves with jumps that are fairly easy. Room 60 is just disgusting. You climb up a wall of block jumps (ledge jump except the spike is removed) followed by platform hop spam, and then block jumps going downwards. Why does this room exist? It just doesn't fit, even compared to the other rooms in CN1 that just don't fit.
Room 61, can't remember. Room 62 is pretty lame because it has platform hops with spikes above them, and one of the saves is literally just a single drop. and whats with is room 63? It's just an extremely long and unfun drop (that hurts your right hand) followed by a bunch of platform hops with spikes above them, followed by another unfun drop. lame
I LOVE rooms 64-66. Rooms 64-65 are the exact same room, except the starting position and the warp are flipped. Those two rooms had lots of fun jumps, organized into a really neat map layout. Room 66 doesn't follow the same trend, however the jumps are still in a similar style that is incredibly fun to play. Truly a remarkable area.
Room 67-69... Well, room 67 was fairly fun. It only has one save, and none of the jumps are hard at all. Room 68 literally has a save that is nothing but diagonals. Quite disgusting honestly, but this isn't the first time CN1 has an area with nothing but one jump. Nothing in this area, however, compares to the anger that is room 69. Room 69 is just plain disgusting. There is a mini 9 jump, an annoying fall into a corner, and a choke platform climb at the end. There is also a scrotum jump that fsr i died to more times than I should've. Should I also mention that the room spells out "50"? Yeah, apparently this was meant to be room 50, but Kale had changed plans, and instead of scrapping the room entirely, he just moved it somewhere else. Nice job!
Rooms 70-72 is mostly a bad area imo. Room 70 is pretty decent, I guess? Room 71 is just straight up unfun to play, with lots of annoying jumps everywhere. I guess I do like the idea that every killer object is formed in the shape of a sideways diamond. Room 72 is literally free.
Room 73-75 are mostly mediocre, except room 73. I love room 73 purely because of the style of it. I have never seen this style before, but it is honestly just so beautiful. It's somewhat like a maze, with blocks and spikes scattered randomly around the room, forcing you to try and find the right path. It's a shame the rest of this area didn't follow along this same amazing trend. They just felt kind of standard, with nothing special about them.
Room 76 is where I think the late game officially starts. Room 76 is cherry needle (DansGame) with an align-dependent pixel perfect jump during the second save. Pretty unfun to play, but it isn't too bad. Then you are hit with room 77. The second save of this screen was just pure pain for me. The first jump is a dropledge, which leads to lots of annoying deaths. There is also a downwards corner jump at around the middle, and another corner towards the end (tho its a setup corner). I also choked the last jump PepeHands. Then comes room 78. Room 78 is considered to be the hardest room to quite a few people... except for me. Lots of people have trouble with the second save in this room, but I guess I just got lucky since I fluked it in 15 minutes. I do understand how people could have trouble with this save though, considering the last jump is a carat. Honestly the only jump I really struggled with was the longjump at the end. I guess I really can't say anything about save 2 merely because i managed to fluke through it all. However, the first save was incredibly disgusting. Several jumps in the save are just plain awful, especially the strange midair 1.5 sideways gate. For some reason, this save took me an hour.
Rooms 79-81 were the hardest area for me. Room 79 is water needle (DansGame) with lots of annoying jumps everywhere. I almost lost all motivation to continue when I was doing the second save, merely because I wasn't having fun at all, and I didn't desire to continue. I still pushed on, however, which brings me to room 80. My 2nd least favorite room in the game, and the hardest room for me. This awful, awful screen took me such a long time to do, with every single jump (except the bottom area) just being purely painful to play. Let's break this save down into sections: Section 1 is the top nonwater area. You just die a lot here, waiting for the time you can get to the next unfun section. This is section 2, the first water section. The half invert (this jump isn't really named by the community, but it's a gate with both spikes facing downward) is just really annoying to deal with, and of course it ends with a downwards plane. Section 3, the next water section is honestly not too bad, but dying there after sections 1 and 2 is just really annoying. Section 4, the last water segment, is also not too bad. However, most of the time you get here, you are just too nervous and you jump either too high or too low through the gates. Then there is the last section, after all the water segments. I've had a really bad time with this part. I was super excited, I thought i would see the next screen. You get through... jump by jump... and then you choke the gate jump. The excruciating feeling of choking the very end, after going through everything else, is just awful. Gate jumps are pretty much free, yet I choked and died, forced to do everything all over again. After the gate jump, the last jump in the room is a 4.3. Isn't that nice? It's also very easily chokable. Thankfully I didn't die here, that would've sucked. Room 80 is honestly such a bad experience, and I wish to never go through it again... (except i literally have to because its used in needle in a haystack). After this, you finally get to room 81. It honestly isn't hard, but it's incredibly annoying. The first save has a water drop where you go through 6 16pxs, right after a downwards water plane. I was also terrible at doing the second save, making me realize how much I hate single water block needle.
Thankfully, after all of this, you enter the Archfoe area, rooms 82-84. I'm probably the only person who likes this area. Generic needle is just so fun to play. Starting off with screen 82: The first save is a combination of different styles of double diamonds, which is actually really fun to go through. The second save has inverts, a sphincter, and a plane. This save was not too fun, mainly because of the sphincter. I also choked the very last jump, which is a shuriken omegalul. The last save has an upwards sphincter, a double diamond, and a ground plane. Every single one of these jumps is easy because of setups, so I really liked this save. Rooms 83-84 are fairly standard, with 83 having some generic jumps, and 84 being an entirely different style. The style of room 84, however, is done really well. The entire area is just a masterpiece, and probably my favorite area of the game.
Rooms 85-87 were really hard. The first screen isn't too bad, but it takes quite a while because of how many jumps there are. Room 86 is also not too bad, however I didn't really like the diagonal drop in the second save. Then you get to room 87. Room 87 is another room that I remember purely because of how much I dislike it. The beginning half just causes so many deaths. There is a drop that kills you a bunch, and a shuriken that is extremely precise. Later on, you have to go through a gate into a corner, a dropgate, and then a drop into a 16px. Lots of easily chokable jumps purely put at the end just for the purpose of killing you. Great.
Room 88-90 were another area that lead to me losing motivation to continuing. Room 88 has a long drop that ends with a downwards diagonal, killing you almost everytime you get to it. The worst thing, however, is the drop at the end. I actually had to go in jtool to learn a good setup for the right vstring so that I could have a 3 frame turnaround, since sometimes you only have 1 frame to turn around, and most of the time you have 2. The second save is honestly not worth mentioning, since there really isn't anything special about it. Then there is room 89, yet another room I remember purely because of how much I hated it. The corner. The 8px ledge. The chokes. I've died to pretty much every single jump that exists on this screen, even the ending scrotum. At least practicing in jtool helped me learn some ez ways to do certain jumps. Room 90 is literally free.
Room 91-93. HERE WE GO! So room 91 isn't too memorable. The first jump of save 1 is an upwards plane, and there is also a fulljump diamond. Overall, it's a fairly standard screen. Then you get to room 92. The worst room that exists in this game. It's 92 gate jumps in a row, with 16pxs inbetween all of them. That's it. Doesn't sound so bad, right?
Wrong.
Gate jumps are 2 frame perfect. You can only jump through them if you 4f or 5f. 16pxs are also 2 frame perfect! Imagine 92 gate jumps and around 40 16pxs in a row! It's painful. You constantly go, attempt after attempt, praying that one attempt brings you to victory. You get past the first 2 rows... then you do a dropgate. Then you get past the next 2 rows... And then you go through a row that switches between both screens. Literally disgusting. Oh, but don't worry, after this you only have 3 rows left. Too bad one of them has a diamond in them. Hurray.
Room 92 is an experience. You internally scream at every single death you have. Then as you start to get far.. you start to gain hope. But then the nerves hit you. You start thinking of the worst. "What if I die to the diamond? What if I die to the very last gate?" Then the nerves get the better of you and you die. You die, and you die. I spent 3 hours on this room. I died to the 3rd to last gate. The entire experience was nothing but awful. I legitimately thought I wouldn't be able to beat this game because of it. I felt really upset because I went through the entire game, only to be blocked here. At least I beat it. Oh and by the way, right before the very last gate jump, theres a fake block designed to scare you by making you think you're gonna die. However, if you full jump into it, you actually die. Great! I honestly don't like talking about this room.
Thankfully, after that horrible experience, you get to room 93. A fairly decent room I guess? The diagonals are really annoying to deal with, and the ledge at the end of save 2 also sucks. Then you have room 94, which is a bunch of infuriating drops. There isn't really a lot to say to describe this screen. It's just drops, that's it.
But hey, that area is done now. You arrive at rooms 95-97. Room 95 has 3 different routes. The longer the route is, the easier it is. I went for the shortest possible route, typical of me, which is a drop that has a corner, awkward movements, and 2 16pxs. You just kind of try it over and over again until you do it. Then there's room 96, which has an alternative version. I chose the one that starts with the 9 jump. This save actually has 3 9 jumps, and it was incredibly annoying to play. I honestly just chose this over the alternate version because I didn't want to deal with diagonals. The rest of the screen isn't too important. Then room 97. Literally free, unless you want to do the alternate version. But why would you wanna do that? also NOPE
Finally, the last area. Rooms 98-100. Room 98 is an annoying start, with a save thats literally an extremely long row of diamonds. Oh and should I mention it's water needle? Then there's room 99. Almost every jump in this room is just infuriating. Of course one of the last rooms causes me pain, haha. Oh also theres a diamond at the end. But hey, you finally arrive at room 100. Room 100 is pretty annoying. I had to go into jtool and learn easy ways to do every jump, purely because of how terrible it is. I mean you know something is bad when it starts with a ground plane. Lots of jumps in here were just so annoying to go through. But you are constantly thinking about how close you are. "I'm about to win! I'm about to finally beat this game!" You choke the last jump, but it doesn't matter. You are about to beat CN1. And then...
It happens. You finally win. A single screen saying "THIS IS THE CATHARSIS". A song saying "im sorry for what i've done"
Everything is forgiven, Kale. This game was quite the experience. Though I was angry for most of the game, getting through the saves was just really exhilarating. Thank you, Kale, for making this game. I will certainly go for Crimson Needle 2. You have inspired me to continue playing fangames, and you have also inspired me to play harder fangames. You have inspired me to set goals for myself. I will always remember this.
So overall, Crimson Needle 1 is a game that I really liked going through, and I recommend playing it if you want a challenge.
Rating: 7.2 72
Difficulty: 88 88
Sep 5, 2019