77 Reviews:
gafro
In 2014, when I was beginner to fangames, I heard about Neon. I played it and it came big to me. I had a lot of fun with it and loved it. I enjoyed the game like a child without knowing the time passing.
In 2015, Nader's many neon games are released. I played those and it was more well produced than Neon 1 and 2 and I was surprised at how creative he was.
In 2018, I saw Nader stream on twitch. I was excited to watch Neon creator's gameplay and Nader showed me such a sexy play. He was at least in top 5 of the best consistent needle player I had ever seen. And he was really funny and positive. I found him really charming as human.
And finally in 2019, I was so excited when Nader showed progress of Neon 3 and he never let down my excitement as expected. It was such a godlike game. Every stage is perfect. I could feel how far his creativity improved for 5 years. Even though I'm much better at fangames than I was at first, I was still able to feel the feelings like the first time I played Neon.
Thanks to Nader for giving me unforgettable memories. I love Nader as awesome needle creator, sexy gamer, and nice human. I hope your future will always be great.
[22] Likes
In 2015, Nader's many neon games are released. I played those and it was more well produced than Neon 1 and 2 and I was surprised at how creative he was.
In 2018, I saw Nader stream on twitch. I was excited to watch Neon creator's gameplay and Nader showed me such a sexy play. He was at least in top 5 of the best consistent needle player I had ever seen. And he was really funny and positive. I found him really charming as human.
And finally in 2019, I was so excited when Nader showed progress of Neon 3 and he never let down my excitement as expected. It was such a godlike game. Every stage is perfect. I could feel how far his creativity improved for 5 years. Even though I'm much better at fangames than I was at first, I was still able to feel the feelings like the first time I played Neon.
Thanks to Nader for giving me unforgettable memories. I love Nader as awesome needle creator, sexy gamer, and nice human. I hope your future will always be great.
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: 70 70
Nov 25, 2019
Yiaz
This is a game I had been waiting for for a long time, ever since nader jokingly said he would make it. If you are familiar with nader's style you will know what to expect, pretty chill needle, some dotkid and of course neon colours. In this game though, there is more gimmicks added, mixing in gravity changing, upside down, vertical platforms and more to spice up the gameplay.The saves never get too hard though and most of the gameplay is really chill and fun. Also this game has quite the memorable ending; would definetly recommend, even if gimmicks in needle are not your thing.
[11] Likes
Rating: 9.4 94
Difficulty: 67 67
Nov 22, 2019
moogy
Another game patterned after CN3, similar to Vandal and VoVoVo.
This is probably the most fun thing I've played by Nader; most of the saves flow very well and even gimmicks that I thought would be cancerous at first ended up being pretty reasonable.
That said, I don't feel like it's that... memorable, I guess? There's a collection of gimmicks, you do needle with them, there's a hub, the end. I could level this same criticism at VoVoVo, but I think the degree to which this apes CN3 does the actual design a disservice, since it invites direct comparisons with a game that is monumentally more expansive in every way.
Like, there are two reasons why the hub in CN3 is so good, imo:
1) It's unexpected. Nobody was expecting CN3 to turn into what it did, and the element of surprise played a big factor in establishing the hub as something to remember. If every game just kind of copies it out of a sense of obligation, it ceases to be exciting.
2) It's large and complex enough that it actually adds a minor element of exploration to the game progression. Everyone ends up taking a very different path through floor 31 of CN3, and it's fun just seeing where all of the different branches lead and eventually piecing the whole map together. Having three or four paths off of one room that don't branch any further doesn't achieve the same sense of adventure, and makes both Neon 3 and VoVoVo feel very small, in an abstract sense, by comparison, even if it doesn't impact the actual design at all.
I think Neon 3 would have been better served by either eliminating the hub or building the entire game around it -- make the sections that are basically just needle into branching paths that lead to the more gimmicky areas, and you have a game that feels more like a cohesive whole (as opposed to a bunch of needle screens in a row) without really needing to alter much of the design itself.
Neon 3 is by no means a shoddily constructed game, but it wears its inspiration on its sleeve and unfortunately ends up feeling a bit derivative for it. I would also say this is a game more suited for less experienced players, as Nader's design tends to trend away from the precise side of things, which is a bit of a double-edged sword, at least for me. Like, yeah, not having a lot of grindy jumps makes for smoother progression through any given save, but there's a lot of points where you can just kind of play sloppily and get away with it, and that doesn't feel too great given how elaborate some of the screen design can be.
Overall, while I acknowledge this is a good game and had fun with it, the flaws definitely stuck out for me.
[6] Likes
This is probably the most fun thing I've played by Nader; most of the saves flow very well and even gimmicks that I thought would be cancerous at first ended up being pretty reasonable.
That said, I don't feel like it's that... memorable, I guess? There's a collection of gimmicks, you do needle with them, there's a hub, the end. I could level this same criticism at VoVoVo, but I think the degree to which this apes CN3 does the actual design a disservice, since it invites direct comparisons with a game that is monumentally more expansive in every way.
Like, there are two reasons why the hub in CN3 is so good, imo:
1) It's unexpected. Nobody was expecting CN3 to turn into what it did, and the element of surprise played a big factor in establishing the hub as something to remember. If every game just kind of copies it out of a sense of obligation, it ceases to be exciting.
2) It's large and complex enough that it actually adds a minor element of exploration to the game progression. Everyone ends up taking a very different path through floor 31 of CN3, and it's fun just seeing where all of the different branches lead and eventually piecing the whole map together. Having three or four paths off of one room that don't branch any further doesn't achieve the same sense of adventure, and makes both Neon 3 and VoVoVo feel very small, in an abstract sense, by comparison, even if it doesn't impact the actual design at all.
I think Neon 3 would have been better served by either eliminating the hub or building the entire game around it -- make the sections that are basically just needle into branching paths that lead to the more gimmicky areas, and you have a game that feels more like a cohesive whole (as opposed to a bunch of needle screens in a row) without really needing to alter much of the design itself.
Neon 3 is by no means a shoddily constructed game, but it wears its inspiration on its sleeve and unfortunately ends up feeling a bit derivative for it. I would also say this is a game more suited for less experienced players, as Nader's design tends to trend away from the precise side of things, which is a bit of a double-edged sword, at least for me. Like, yeah, not having a lot of grindy jumps makes for smoother progression through any given save, but there's a lot of points where you can just kind of play sloppily and get away with it, and that doesn't feel too great given how elaborate some of the screen design can be.
Overall, while I acknowledge this is a good game and had fun with it, the flaws definitely stuck out for me.
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 65 65
Nov 23, 2019
cLOUDDEAD
i found most of the needle design to be lacking, most of the more standard needle are linear jumps without much interesting movement to them, and a lot of the gimmickier stuff is crammed into very claustrophic rooms filled with spikes laying out tight paths, which was especially annoying in the gravity stage. My favorite stages were the throwback stage, which used screens from older neon games (which generally had more interesting, varied, and memorable designs, most of the jumps were far more satisfying to pull off imo), and the shoot refresher stage, which pulls out a lot of unique twists on normal shoot refreshers and generally flowed a lot better than most of the game.
outside of the needle design, while I like the neon aesthetic, and the tilesets have a lot of small details that change between areas, in general it felt a bit too one-note for a game of this length. The same-y, generic music picks didn't help either. Still, the game is generally charming and its hard to completely hate, even if I think the needle design is very sub-par. reccomended for players who can clear without any issue.
[3] Likes
outside of the needle design, while I like the neon aesthetic, and the tilesets have a lot of small details that change between areas, in general it felt a bit too one-note for a game of this length. The same-y, generic music picks didn't help either. Still, the game is generally charming and its hard to completely hate, even if I think the needle design is very sub-par. reccomended for players who can clear without any issue.
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: 68 68
Sep 28, 2022
Paragus
Easily one of the best needle games to date. This game offers a lengthy experience through the classic Neon-style needle we have seen from the previous games. This time around, the game steps things up a notch by introducing a wide variety of gimmicks to make the experience more interesting and also more challenging. That being said, the pacing is fairly well done, and the balance of the saves seems to be fair with very few segments feeling longer than they should.
When introducing the quantity of style of the gimmicks used in a game like this, there is always a fine line the maker must walk between creating interesting new mechanics, and designing levels around them that compliments them. This game successfully shows you something new, teaches you how it works, and presents them in a setting where they feel fun to play by using the space in each room wisely. It's a rarity lately in some of the newer needle games that have CN3 inspirations.
Production wise the game looks great and comes with the great type of soundtrack you have in the previous Neon games. As with the previous games, there are no bosses to be found, just straight platforming with a pretty hefty amount of dotkid stuff mixed in. There's a fun little story bit at the end of the game that wraps up the experience nicely.
Most needle fans should make a point to play this, and hopefully needle makers will observe the design and flow of this game to better their own productions.
[3] Likes
When introducing the quantity of style of the gimmicks used in a game like this, there is always a fine line the maker must walk between creating interesting new mechanics, and designing levels around them that compliments them. This game successfully shows you something new, teaches you how it works, and presents them in a setting where they feel fun to play by using the space in each room wisely. It's a rarity lately in some of the newer needle games that have CN3 inspirations.
Production wise the game looks great and comes with the great type of soundtrack you have in the previous Neon games. As with the previous games, there are no bosses to be found, just straight platforming with a pretty hefty amount of dotkid stuff mixed in. There's a fun little story bit at the end of the game that wraps up the experience nicely.
Most needle fans should make a point to play this, and hopefully needle makers will observe the design and flow of this game to better their own productions.
Rating: 9.5 95
Difficulty: 68 68
Dec 11, 2019