Delicious Fruit
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by GaspacoZanis
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by GaspacoZanis
26 Reviews:
PlutoTheThing
Melanzana is an avoidance which speaks for itself, it’s one of the most intimidating avoidances out there as it offers an almost 3 and a half minute long gauntlet of nonstop pattern gameplay, featuring brutally tight timings, strange and complex maneuvers, and almost no truly easy sections. In spite of that though I think the game is a little misunderstood in some aspects, largely due to the fact that a lot of people don’t even want to really try because of how much it demands from you.
The general gameplay of Melanzana is surprisingly varied, in theme with the song it’s sort of like learning a dance (at least what I imagine that’s like) where all the cherries are your dance partners, you learn how they move, where they go, and most importantly where you fit into all of this. What you’ll find is that while the game is ultra punishing for even the smallest mistakes, in a lot of ways it’s quite generous, offering a fair amount of leniency for a lot of inputs, there are no frame perfect inputs or anything although there are several tight timings, some that are only 2-3 frames. While you may spend hours learning one part, everything in the fight can become consistent with enough time, which makes learning the later bits a time consuming but manageable process which is extremely rewarding to power through.
A big part of what makes Melanzana feel so good is the patterns themselves, they are basically all centered around a particular motion and most of them flow into each other, which while overwhelming at times feels amazing to execute in most cases. A common criticism I see of this game is that it’s “all circles and lines” but I think this is a very misguided critique, while some bits may look similar and there are a few motions the game uses multiple times (such as walking off a platform and jumping back on) for the most part everything in the game feels quite distinct, and that includes all the spinning lines the game is known for. Every bit has its own nuances that separate it from the rest of the avoidance that you have to adapt to, and I personally never felt like it was repetitive or like something was overdone. Some parts of the avoidance that stood out to me were the first pre-chorus, which has some super tight movements especially at the start, but feels really good and visually is my favorite part of the fight, verse 2 which was my favorite part, it feels super fluid and smooth throughout and was always extremely satisfying to pull off, and the second chorus, which is relatively simple compared to the rest of the fight but still has some really intense bits along with patterns that felt super satisfying to execute. Nearly every part of the fight however has at least something cool that’s both challenging and fun, there’s some bits which are better than others for sure (for instance I think the zoom-out is a little stupid especially since it encourages using a 1 frame jump) but even then I don’t think I ever was truly frustrated with a pattern or input, they all felt good.
There’s also some depth in the fight which is maybe not obvious to a viewer, there’s a good variety of random elements which change how exactly you need to perform a pattern. Some of them are a little unbalanced, notably getting green instead of purple on intro 2 is a bit trickier, and I personally struggled a lot with getting a “3” on the numbered cherry at the end of verse 2, although it may be a personal issue. The random elements are abundant and definitely keep things fresh, it’s a testament to how well made this game is in my opinion. While not perfect and in some ways definitely improved upon by its successor, Verre (although I haven’t played it yet :P), Melanzana still manages to be an incredibly impressive game in just the fact it exists. It’s so impressive, so complex, and so well made. It’s obviously not for everyone, no pattern avoidance ever will be, but for as much as Melanzana asks of the player in order to overcome the challenge it presents, it ensures that every second you spend is worth your time.
[4] Likes
The general gameplay of Melanzana is surprisingly varied, in theme with the song it’s sort of like learning a dance (at least what I imagine that’s like) where all the cherries are your dance partners, you learn how they move, where they go, and most importantly where you fit into all of this. What you’ll find is that while the game is ultra punishing for even the smallest mistakes, in a lot of ways it’s quite generous, offering a fair amount of leniency for a lot of inputs, there are no frame perfect inputs or anything although there are several tight timings, some that are only 2-3 frames. While you may spend hours learning one part, everything in the fight can become consistent with enough time, which makes learning the later bits a time consuming but manageable process which is extremely rewarding to power through.
A big part of what makes Melanzana feel so good is the patterns themselves, they are basically all centered around a particular motion and most of them flow into each other, which while overwhelming at times feels amazing to execute in most cases. A common criticism I see of this game is that it’s “all circles and lines” but I think this is a very misguided critique, while some bits may look similar and there are a few motions the game uses multiple times (such as walking off a platform and jumping back on) for the most part everything in the game feels quite distinct, and that includes all the spinning lines the game is known for. Every bit has its own nuances that separate it from the rest of the avoidance that you have to adapt to, and I personally never felt like it was repetitive or like something was overdone. Some parts of the avoidance that stood out to me were the first pre-chorus, which has some super tight movements especially at the start, but feels really good and visually is my favorite part of the fight, verse 2 which was my favorite part, it feels super fluid and smooth throughout and was always extremely satisfying to pull off, and the second chorus, which is relatively simple compared to the rest of the fight but still has some really intense bits along with patterns that felt super satisfying to execute. Nearly every part of the fight however has at least something cool that’s both challenging and fun, there’s some bits which are better than others for sure (for instance I think the zoom-out is a little stupid especially since it encourages using a 1 frame jump) but even then I don’t think I ever was truly frustrated with a pattern or input, they all felt good.
There’s also some depth in the fight which is maybe not obvious to a viewer, there’s a good variety of random elements which change how exactly you need to perform a pattern. Some of them are a little unbalanced, notably getting green instead of purple on intro 2 is a bit trickier, and I personally struggled a lot with getting a “3” on the numbered cherry at the end of verse 2, although it may be a personal issue. The random elements are abundant and definitely keep things fresh, it’s a testament to how well made this game is in my opinion. While not perfect and in some ways definitely improved upon by its successor, Verre (although I haven’t played it yet :P), Melanzana still manages to be an incredibly impressive game in just the fact it exists. It’s so impressive, so complex, and so well made. It’s obviously not for everyone, no pattern avoidance ever will be, but for as much as Melanzana asks of the player in order to overcome the challenge it presents, it ensures that every second you spend is worth your time.
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 96 96
Apr 30, 2024
SUDALV
Разумеется, я это не проходил, но у меня этот авоиденс всегда вызывает очень много эмоций, когда я смотрю как в него играют. Наверное потому что мозг не может подсознательно поверить, что можно так стабильно исполнять все эти паттерны подряд, в итоге это выглядит будто вижу магию на яву.
[4] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Jan 13, 2021
KingSlendy
Quite possibly the hardest and best pattern avoidance to ever exist. 3 minutes of extremely precise patterns where even a tiny mistake can end everything. But that, somehow, is consistent at the same time.
Visually the boss is beautiful, and not too distracting from what's going on.
I can only recommend this boss to people that really like precise patterns or have the patience and skill to learn all of it.
Visually the boss is beautiful, and not too distracting from what's going on.
I can only recommend this boss to people that really like precise patterns or have the patience and skill to learn all of it.
Tagged as: Avoidance
[2] Likes
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 95 95
Jul 22, 2023
Pigeon12
It is of high quality and very difficult.
[1] Like
Rating: 9.6 96
Difficulty: 95 95
Aug 17, 2022