4 Reviews:
TTBB
A 10 rating from ode, a 0.1 rating from Spazm, no difficulty rating, no screenshots, and a single avoidance tag by TheChiekurs. Absolutely nothing here would have prepared me for the grand adventure this game actually is.
== PROLOGUE: The Title Screen ==
The game begins with a blank white title screen with sndGuyRock that sounds like it's been recorded on a phone put up to a speaker. Note that this is an artistic decision by the author, as there is good quality music that doesn't restart later in the game.
== CHAPTER 1: Humble Beginnings ==
Stage 1 is your typical old-school IWBTG fangame type stuff. We got traps, brown blocks, restarting scuffed GuyRock and spikes (but nothing too needley overall). The boss of this stage is also very old-school, a giant red cherry at the top middle of the screen that shoots random(360). You shoot a spike to damage it and as its health goes down, shenanigans ensue. A classic boss as old as time, can't complain.
Stage 2 is a little more interesting. Though the restarting scuffed GuyRock never left us, this stage is all about cherry cycles. Many might compare this stage to the famous game "I wanna be the Noesis", especially based on the first save which requires you to do a precise timed ledge jump with a trigger. The rest of the stage is mostly moving cherries, but they move in interesting enough ways for the saves to feel fun and unique. The boss is similar to the first, except this time it is blue and instead of random(360), it shoots these pretty flower patterns at random angles. The attacks get more dense as time goes on, so be careful! Overall it is a good boss, but some situations can be harder to dodge than others, so beware.
Stage 3 is a single screen of needle. Not much to say here, it's nothing too difficult at least, and the saves are very short. The boss at least is much more interesting, with multiple phases of small bouncing yellow cherries you must shoot and dodge.
Lastly, Stage 4 combines aspects of the previous 3 stages meaning there will be needle, traps and cycles, but the main theme of this one is that you're in water the whole time. A fine stage with fine saves. The boss is a big green cherry that sits above a pool of water, and you must jump up to damage it while dodging barrage from below. A simple and easy boss.
The Kid then finds himself in a small dark room, with 4 warps to choose from. Each warp takes him to one of the bosses he had fought previously. Simply put, you've now reached the boss rush. Don't worry, though, you don't need to do it in 1 life, the trick here is that all the bosses are buffed in some way. Besides the red cherry boss, which is still very easy, the other bosses are buffed to a noticeable by some small addition to them. Overall a pretty good boss rush. The buffs make the bosses more interesting while also not changing them too much.
After conquering the boss rush, a 5th warp appears. This leads to what they would call the boss of the boss rush. Except instead of a boss, it's actually an easy 1.5 min long avoidance to the 2nd Toradora! ED song. Everything after the intro is first tryable blind, as long as the funny moving cherries don't trip you up. After beating this, one would expect to be done with a short old-school adventure game. However, we are not here to clear a short old-school adventure game, we are here to be the cosmos!
== CHAPTER 2: The Gimmick Trials ==
The Kid instead finds himself in a hub with 4 warps in each of the cardinal directions. Unlike the previous chapter, with its linear progression, you now get to choose which order you want to play them in. In order to be the cosmos, The Kid must conquer these 4 trials that will test his abilities.
North Warp (Infinite Jump Trial): Fun and simple platforming utilizing infinite jump. I especially like the last room with the cherry cycles.
South Warp (The Tilt Trial): This one's interesting, with the gimmick being that whenever you move, the screen will tilt that much in that direction, making for some funny visual challenge platforming. The platforming itself however is a mixed bag, with 1 save being a little harder than it should've been due to a difficult to bait trap. That's only 1 save though, everything else is good.
East Warp (Single Jump Trial): Hope you can stand at the edge of a block and full jump, because for the most part that's pretty much all this stage is. It exists, moving on.
West Warp (The Speed Trial): The Kid now moves very fast in this stage, though it might be more accurate to say his FPS is higher. If you've played "I wanna be the Locus", you'll understand what I mean. Another fine stage that becomes easy once you get used to the physics.
After completing all 4 trials, a 5th warp appears. Inside you'll find the one and only, Hatsune Miku and the 9 platform layout! Yep, it's avoidance time again. But buckle up because we're not dodging for a measly 1.5 minutes, we're doing it for 4! Thankfully this avoidance is very easy overall, the difficulty comes in if you're playing completely blind, as there are about 4 back to back insta-gib patterns 3.5 minutes into it. The patterns themselves are just knowing where to stand, so if you don't have the patience, just look up a video and get it done with. The avoidance itself didn't feel like it was 4 minutes long to me, but maybe I'm just used to avoidances at that length at this point. Once you have defeated Miku, it's time to move on to the next chapter.
== CHAPTER 3: The Stairway of Adventure ==
The Kid now finds himself in another hub, this time in the shape of a staircase with only 3 warps. Again, you can play these in any order. This chapter represents The Kid's understanding of the world. In order to be the cosmos, he must first know the cosmos. And to do that, he must explore what the cosmos has to offer.
Step 1 (The Greenlands - Nighttime -): A simple stage with simple spike jumps. The 2nd save is the hardest with a few semi-precise jumps in a row. Everything else is pretty smooth sailing.
Step 2 (The Coldlands): This stage has 2 long side-scrolling screens (Not auto-scrolling, thank god). The 2nd part of this stage has ice physics, so have fun with that. 1 jump is a bit precise, and another requires a well-timed low jump. Wasn't the biggest fan of this one but you won't be here long.
Step 3 (The Hotlands): The best stage of the 3. Comfortable platforming, not much else to say.
At this point, you're probably expecting a 3rd avoidance. However, this wouldn't be the adventure chapter without a boss! Now for the most part, this boss is very fun...if you can ignore the pointless 5 seconds of waiting you have to do at the start every time. The last phase is pretty chaotic, and I choked on it with 1 hit left twice. If you're calm, patient, and focus on your surroundings, you'll be able to beat this.
== CHAPTER 4: Spikes vs. Cherries ==
The Kid now finds himself at a crossroads. To his left, a warp with spikes along its path, and to his right, a warp with cherries along its path. Although both are deadly, this chapter represents The Kid having to face 2 of his greatest fears. He must not be fooled by the illusion of choice, for he must conquer both paths if he wants to continue forward.
The Spike Path: It's just needle. I hope you like diagonals!
The Cherry Path: The superior stage in every way. Fun saves, fun cycles, fun times!
We're going back to avoidance to end this chapter off. This one is about 3.5 minutes long, but it's all just RNG reading. You can think of this avoidance as a longer and harder version of the 1st one in this game. The difficulty comes from that same attack with the wacky moving cherries. It's fun, just try not to get yourself cornered.
== CHAPTER 5: Life and Death ==
The Kid once again has 2 paths to choose from. Though this time, it is not immediately clear what they represent. Again though, you need to clear both of them.
Left Path (The Death Trial): At first glance, this stage looks very simple, with just a bunch of gate jumps in a row. Do not be fooled though, as there is a trap every step of the way. The only way you can clear this trial is by dying to these traps, learning from your mistakes, and trying again. Overall it is an interesting trap stage. The traps weren't overly dense where it felt annoying to play, it was just the right amount.
Right Path (The Life Trial): Another simple stage at first glance, but as you cross by several screens, you'll notice something is missing: a save point. The Kid must now value his life in order to conquer this trial. Overall, a pretty good long save. Everything is easy enough, with the only hard part to me being a single platform jump (aka the yukari killer).
After The Kid has conquered both trials, he becomes fully enlightened, for he now understands the values of both his own mortality, and immortality. He is one step closer to becoming the cosmos, but now he must face his hardest challenge yet: Misaka Mikoto. A 4+ min long avoidance, and this one is quite learny, not just pattern wise, but also in understanding how to properly dodge some attacks. If you're not comfortable or have never done the famous LoveTrap attack (Locus for you K2 kids) before, this might be the ultimate roadblock for you. Otherwise, this will only be a slight hurdle.
== CHAPTER 6: The Grim Future of a Pleasant Past ==
Finally, the multiple hubs and warps to choose from are no longer a thing. The only way forward is forward in this one. This entire stage is in grayscale with an eerie song playing in the background. You might not notice it right away, but each screen in this stage is actually a buffed version of another screen from a previous stage in a previous chapter. Some buffs are fine, others are quite a bit more disgusting, with very precise jumps, annoying planes, and other things to make the game much harder than it was initially. It's also worth noting that the music does not restart upon death in this stage. This stage represents The Kid's future. While production value has increased, so has the expectations for his skills. Something that would have been too difficult for him before is now something he is expected to do. He asks himself, "Is all of this really worth it?". But only those who can accept the future, no matter how grim it may look, can truly become the cosmos. Overall I don't think this stage was bad overall, it's just a difficulty spike platforming wise, so get your needle game ready.
Finally, we reached the final avoidance. A blue haired anime girl (not Miku) opens it up by saying "Hi! Is everyone ready?" No matter what you may think, the answer is no as she immediately throws a miniature version of herself at you. The avoidance itself is pretty short, being only 2 min long. A good mix of pattern learning and RNG dodging. It ends with a rocket spawning in her place. Take the rocket to go up into space. This is it, you have reached the cosmos. However, it is not over yet. As cherries start surrounding The Kid, and the ground below him breaks. Thankfully though, he survives with the power of infinite jump that he conveniently obtains at that moment. It then becomes clear that the battle is not over, as the blue hair anime girl (and the chibi version of her she threw at you earlier) have returned for another 2 minute long avoidance, with another dosage of RNG reading and patterns. The catch here however, is that there is actually no checkpoint between these 2 phases. So I lied about it being a 2 min avoidance, it's actually 4 minutes. Have fun! Again, if you don't have the patience, watch a video.
== CHAPTER 7: The Cosmos ==
The Kid now stuck in space, has now become one with the cosmos. But now he must conquer the final stage to truly become THE cosmos. This final stage is done with low gravity, making for some interesting gameplay. Unfortunately, you will now have to do the worst save in the game: A low gravity super F, but instead of a required 5f jump, it's a required 2f jump. Just like a super F, the timing on the double jump is also frame perfect. I was able to eventually get this jump down consistently by standing half a block away, doing the numpad trick to jump and move on the same frame, timing my shift release so that the jump ends up being a 2f, then timing my double jump when I reach right past the block. You also want the align to the right of the spike on your right from the save. Other than that garbage save, the rest of the stage is good, with 2 fun little minigame-like saves even.
Now it's time for the final boss. A boss that is as simple as it is complex. 4 large bouncing circles with numbers on them (1,2,3,5 respectively) can be shot to deal damage to the boss. The number you shoot determines how much damage you deal to the boss, but the boss itself shoots revenge bullets at you. So the higher the number, the more damage, but also the more revenge bullets. The lower the boss' HP, the more revenge bullets it shoots as well. But the longer the boss survives for, the more slow purple bouncing cherries it will spawn. There is also a destination white phase type phase 2, so you can't just spam the boss down. Once I got around to half HP, I think it's best not to do more than 5 or 6 damage to him at a time. The boss ends with a warp that starts spawning in random places on the screen, and you must survive the barrage and get into the warp. It's a good boss, but if you have no patience and keep trying to spam it down, you're going to get frustrated. Just take it slow and easy.
Upon reaching the warp, the game just abruptly ends. A very simple clear screen, with the scuffed restarting GuyRock from the start of the game is all that is left. In other words, it's almost like the game ends the same way it starts. That's it, you are the cosmos. Maybe there is a hidden meaning with this ending. Did The Kid truly become the cosmos, or could he not accept the future, and ended up reverting back to his old self from the start of the game? Or maybe him becoming the cosmos had given him the power to bring things back to how they originally were.
Hm? What's that? This game is actually just a medley of Pel's older games and actually has nothing to do with some hidden meaning or story behind what it means to be the cosmos? Nah I like my version of events better thank you very much.
[5] Likes
== PROLOGUE: The Title Screen ==
The game begins with a blank white title screen with sndGuyRock that sounds like it's been recorded on a phone put up to a speaker. Note that this is an artistic decision by the author, as there is good quality music that doesn't restart later in the game.
== CHAPTER 1: Humble Beginnings ==
Stage 1 is your typical old-school IWBTG fangame type stuff. We got traps, brown blocks, restarting scuffed GuyRock and spikes (but nothing too needley overall). The boss of this stage is also very old-school, a giant red cherry at the top middle of the screen that shoots random(360). You shoot a spike to damage it and as its health goes down, shenanigans ensue. A classic boss as old as time, can't complain.
Stage 2 is a little more interesting. Though the restarting scuffed GuyRock never left us, this stage is all about cherry cycles. Many might compare this stage to the famous game "I wanna be the Noesis", especially based on the first save which requires you to do a precise timed ledge jump with a trigger. The rest of the stage is mostly moving cherries, but they move in interesting enough ways for the saves to feel fun and unique. The boss is similar to the first, except this time it is blue and instead of random(360), it shoots these pretty flower patterns at random angles. The attacks get more dense as time goes on, so be careful! Overall it is a good boss, but some situations can be harder to dodge than others, so beware.
Stage 3 is a single screen of needle. Not much to say here, it's nothing too difficult at least, and the saves are very short. The boss at least is much more interesting, with multiple phases of small bouncing yellow cherries you must shoot and dodge.
Lastly, Stage 4 combines aspects of the previous 3 stages meaning there will be needle, traps and cycles, but the main theme of this one is that you're in water the whole time. A fine stage with fine saves. The boss is a big green cherry that sits above a pool of water, and you must jump up to damage it while dodging barrage from below. A simple and easy boss.
The Kid then finds himself in a small dark room, with 4 warps to choose from. Each warp takes him to one of the bosses he had fought previously. Simply put, you've now reached the boss rush. Don't worry, though, you don't need to do it in 1 life, the trick here is that all the bosses are buffed in some way. Besides the red cherry boss, which is still very easy, the other bosses are buffed to a noticeable by some small addition to them. Overall a pretty good boss rush. The buffs make the bosses more interesting while also not changing them too much.
After conquering the boss rush, a 5th warp appears. This leads to what they would call the boss of the boss rush. Except instead of a boss, it's actually an easy 1.5 min long avoidance to the 2nd Toradora! ED song. Everything after the intro is first tryable blind, as long as the funny moving cherries don't trip you up. After beating this, one would expect to be done with a short old-school adventure game. However, we are not here to clear a short old-school adventure game, we are here to be the cosmos!
== CHAPTER 2: The Gimmick Trials ==
The Kid instead finds himself in a hub with 4 warps in each of the cardinal directions. Unlike the previous chapter, with its linear progression, you now get to choose which order you want to play them in. In order to be the cosmos, The Kid must conquer these 4 trials that will test his abilities.
North Warp (Infinite Jump Trial): Fun and simple platforming utilizing infinite jump. I especially like the last room with the cherry cycles.
South Warp (The Tilt Trial): This one's interesting, with the gimmick being that whenever you move, the screen will tilt that much in that direction, making for some funny visual challenge platforming. The platforming itself however is a mixed bag, with 1 save being a little harder than it should've been due to a difficult to bait trap. That's only 1 save though, everything else is good.
East Warp (Single Jump Trial): Hope you can stand at the edge of a block and full jump, because for the most part that's pretty much all this stage is. It exists, moving on.
West Warp (The Speed Trial): The Kid now moves very fast in this stage, though it might be more accurate to say his FPS is higher. If you've played "I wanna be the Locus", you'll understand what I mean. Another fine stage that becomes easy once you get used to the physics.
After completing all 4 trials, a 5th warp appears. Inside you'll find the one and only, Hatsune Miku and the 9 platform layout! Yep, it's avoidance time again. But buckle up because we're not dodging for a measly 1.5 minutes, we're doing it for 4! Thankfully this avoidance is very easy overall, the difficulty comes in if you're playing completely blind, as there are about 4 back to back insta-gib patterns 3.5 minutes into it. The patterns themselves are just knowing where to stand, so if you don't have the patience, just look up a video and get it done with. The avoidance itself didn't feel like it was 4 minutes long to me, but maybe I'm just used to avoidances at that length at this point. Once you have defeated Miku, it's time to move on to the next chapter.
== CHAPTER 3: The Stairway of Adventure ==
The Kid now finds himself in another hub, this time in the shape of a staircase with only 3 warps. Again, you can play these in any order. This chapter represents The Kid's understanding of the world. In order to be the cosmos, he must first know the cosmos. And to do that, he must explore what the cosmos has to offer.
Step 1 (The Greenlands - Nighttime -): A simple stage with simple spike jumps. The 2nd save is the hardest with a few semi-precise jumps in a row. Everything else is pretty smooth sailing.
Step 2 (The Coldlands): This stage has 2 long side-scrolling screens (Not auto-scrolling, thank god). The 2nd part of this stage has ice physics, so have fun with that. 1 jump is a bit precise, and another requires a well-timed low jump. Wasn't the biggest fan of this one but you won't be here long.
Step 3 (The Hotlands): The best stage of the 3. Comfortable platforming, not much else to say.
At this point, you're probably expecting a 3rd avoidance. However, this wouldn't be the adventure chapter without a boss! Now for the most part, this boss is very fun...if you can ignore the pointless 5 seconds of waiting you have to do at the start every time. The last phase is pretty chaotic, and I choked on it with 1 hit left twice. If you're calm, patient, and focus on your surroundings, you'll be able to beat this.
== CHAPTER 4: Spikes vs. Cherries ==
The Kid now finds himself at a crossroads. To his left, a warp with spikes along its path, and to his right, a warp with cherries along its path. Although both are deadly, this chapter represents The Kid having to face 2 of his greatest fears. He must not be fooled by the illusion of choice, for he must conquer both paths if he wants to continue forward.
The Spike Path: It's just needle. I hope you like diagonals!
The Cherry Path: The superior stage in every way. Fun saves, fun cycles, fun times!
We're going back to avoidance to end this chapter off. This one is about 3.5 minutes long, but it's all just RNG reading. You can think of this avoidance as a longer and harder version of the 1st one in this game. The difficulty comes from that same attack with the wacky moving cherries. It's fun, just try not to get yourself cornered.
== CHAPTER 5: Life and Death ==
The Kid once again has 2 paths to choose from. Though this time, it is not immediately clear what they represent. Again though, you need to clear both of them.
Left Path (The Death Trial): At first glance, this stage looks very simple, with just a bunch of gate jumps in a row. Do not be fooled though, as there is a trap every step of the way. The only way you can clear this trial is by dying to these traps, learning from your mistakes, and trying again. Overall it is an interesting trap stage. The traps weren't overly dense where it felt annoying to play, it was just the right amount.
Right Path (The Life Trial): Another simple stage at first glance, but as you cross by several screens, you'll notice something is missing: a save point. The Kid must now value his life in order to conquer this trial. Overall, a pretty good long save. Everything is easy enough, with the only hard part to me being a single platform jump (aka the yukari killer).
After The Kid has conquered both trials, he becomes fully enlightened, for he now understands the values of both his own mortality, and immortality. He is one step closer to becoming the cosmos, but now he must face his hardest challenge yet: Misaka Mikoto. A 4+ min long avoidance, and this one is quite learny, not just pattern wise, but also in understanding how to properly dodge some attacks. If you're not comfortable or have never done the famous LoveTrap attack (Locus for you K2 kids) before, this might be the ultimate roadblock for you. Otherwise, this will only be a slight hurdle.
== CHAPTER 6: The Grim Future of a Pleasant Past ==
Finally, the multiple hubs and warps to choose from are no longer a thing. The only way forward is forward in this one. This entire stage is in grayscale with an eerie song playing in the background. You might not notice it right away, but each screen in this stage is actually a buffed version of another screen from a previous stage in a previous chapter. Some buffs are fine, others are quite a bit more disgusting, with very precise jumps, annoying planes, and other things to make the game much harder than it was initially. It's also worth noting that the music does not restart upon death in this stage. This stage represents The Kid's future. While production value has increased, so has the expectations for his skills. Something that would have been too difficult for him before is now something he is expected to do. He asks himself, "Is all of this really worth it?". But only those who can accept the future, no matter how grim it may look, can truly become the cosmos. Overall I don't think this stage was bad overall, it's just a difficulty spike platforming wise, so get your needle game ready.
Finally, we reached the final avoidance. A blue haired anime girl (not Miku) opens it up by saying "Hi! Is everyone ready?" No matter what you may think, the answer is no as she immediately throws a miniature version of herself at you. The avoidance itself is pretty short, being only 2 min long. A good mix of pattern learning and RNG dodging. It ends with a rocket spawning in her place. Take the rocket to go up into space. This is it, you have reached the cosmos. However, it is not over yet. As cherries start surrounding The Kid, and the ground below him breaks. Thankfully though, he survives with the power of infinite jump that he conveniently obtains at that moment. It then becomes clear that the battle is not over, as the blue hair anime girl (and the chibi version of her she threw at you earlier) have returned for another 2 minute long avoidance, with another dosage of RNG reading and patterns. The catch here however, is that there is actually no checkpoint between these 2 phases. So I lied about it being a 2 min avoidance, it's actually 4 minutes. Have fun! Again, if you don't have the patience, watch a video.
== CHAPTER 7: The Cosmos ==
The Kid now stuck in space, has now become one with the cosmos. But now he must conquer the final stage to truly become THE cosmos. This final stage is done with low gravity, making for some interesting gameplay. Unfortunately, you will now have to do the worst save in the game: A low gravity super F, but instead of a required 5f jump, it's a required 2f jump. Just like a super F, the timing on the double jump is also frame perfect. I was able to eventually get this jump down consistently by standing half a block away, doing the numpad trick to jump and move on the same frame, timing my shift release so that the jump ends up being a 2f, then timing my double jump when I reach right past the block. You also want the align to the right of the spike on your right from the save. Other than that garbage save, the rest of the stage is good, with 2 fun little minigame-like saves even.
Now it's time for the final boss. A boss that is as simple as it is complex. 4 large bouncing circles with numbers on them (1,2,3,5 respectively) can be shot to deal damage to the boss. The number you shoot determines how much damage you deal to the boss, but the boss itself shoots revenge bullets at you. So the higher the number, the more damage, but also the more revenge bullets. The lower the boss' HP, the more revenge bullets it shoots as well. But the longer the boss survives for, the more slow purple bouncing cherries it will spawn. There is also a destination white phase type phase 2, so you can't just spam the boss down. Once I got around to half HP, I think it's best not to do more than 5 or 6 damage to him at a time. The boss ends with a warp that starts spawning in random places on the screen, and you must survive the barrage and get into the warp. It's a good boss, but if you have no patience and keep trying to spam it down, you're going to get frustrated. Just take it slow and easy.
Upon reaching the warp, the game just abruptly ends. A very simple clear screen, with the scuffed restarting GuyRock from the start of the game is all that is left. In other words, it's almost like the game ends the same way it starts. That's it, you are the cosmos. Maybe there is a hidden meaning with this ending. Did The Kid truly become the cosmos, or could he not accept the future, and ended up reverting back to his old self from the start of the game? Or maybe him becoming the cosmos had given him the power to bring things back to how they originally were.
Hm? What's that? This game is actually just a medley of Pel's older games and actually has nothing to do with some hidden meaning or story behind what it means to be the cosmos? Nah I like my version of events better thank you very much.
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 70 70
Jun 19, 2024