Delicious FruitLatest Reviews
PlutoTheThing
For: I wanna be the Kaenbyou
For: I wanna be the Kaenbyou
Simple beginner needle, does nothing wrong but doesn't do anything particularly well, although the final segment with multiple screens is cute.
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Rating: 6.0 60
Difficulty: 13 13
Jul 7, 2024
PlutoTheThing
For: I wanna stop crying myself to sleep
For: I wanna stop crying myself to sleep
I Wanna Stop Crying Myself To Sleep is one of the most iconic and in a lot of ways infamous needle games out there, and the reasoning why became clear to me pretty quickly in my playthrough. For one the theming in this game is incredibly strong, it's pretty clearly a game about grief and the way the stages embody each stage of grief is in many places very powerful and I found myself especially towards the end of the game resonating quite a bit with this, the fourth stage is just so dreary and the needle itself feels very constricted, whereas the final stage feels so much more open, still grounded in reality but it has the kind of vibe that just rubs off on me a bit. I also found the final needle screen to be extremely unnerving, something about it just got to me. I focused on the 2nd half when it comes to aesthetics but really the whole game is great, special shoutout to stage 2 song which I felt really set the tone of that stage well.
The platforming itself is mostly really good! It's not perfect, there's two saves I took issue with, one in stage 3 which introduces the water that rises you, I just felt like it was weak, for one the gimmick feels inconsistent in a lot of situations which is a problem the rest of the stage avoids but you really feel it in this save even when it comes to the first jump, plus the jumps just felt awkward in a lot of places and not nearly as good to pull off as other stuff in the stage. The other save was a random one in save 4 I found kinda uncomfortable to play, it's the 2nd save on the 3rd to last "real" screen. Besides that though, I really enjoyed how each stage felt like it had it's own thing going on, it made the game feel extremely varied and fresh, even just the basic jumps feel different from stage to stage. The game's use of triggers is pretty nice in my opinion, often using them to force interesting movements, and the gimmicks, while minimal, were pretty solid and complimented the needle well in most places. The game's difficulty is definitely a bit high and the jumps themselves can be quite intricate, but generally it feels good to play and rewarding to get good at. I think this is one of those games where every save just feels satisfying to complete.
Cry is a fantastic needle game, it definitely has it's sets of flaws but I think considering what the game sets out to do, it succeeds at it's goals quite well. It's definitely something that will stick with me both for the gameplay and non-gameplay elements, which is a pretty good indicator of quality. I would recommend it if you can look past the elephant in the room, there's a lot to like about the game itself.
[1] Like
The platforming itself is mostly really good! It's not perfect, there's two saves I took issue with, one in stage 3 which introduces the water that rises you, I just felt like it was weak, for one the gimmick feels inconsistent in a lot of situations which is a problem the rest of the stage avoids but you really feel it in this save even when it comes to the first jump, plus the jumps just felt awkward in a lot of places and not nearly as good to pull off as other stuff in the stage. The other save was a random one in save 4 I found kinda uncomfortable to play, it's the 2nd save on the 3rd to last "real" screen. Besides that though, I really enjoyed how each stage felt like it had it's own thing going on, it made the game feel extremely varied and fresh, even just the basic jumps feel different from stage to stage. The game's use of triggers is pretty nice in my opinion, often using them to force interesting movements, and the gimmicks, while minimal, were pretty solid and complimented the needle well in most places. The game's difficulty is definitely a bit high and the jumps themselves can be quite intricate, but generally it feels good to play and rewarding to get good at. I think this is one of those games where every save just feels satisfying to complete.
Cry is a fantastic needle game, it definitely has it's sets of flaws but I think considering what the game sets out to do, it succeeds at it's goals quite well. It's definitely something that will stick with me both for the gameplay and non-gameplay elements, which is a pretty good indicator of quality. I would recommend it if you can look past the elephant in the room, there's a lot to like about the game itself.
Rating: 9.7 97
Difficulty: 75 75
Jul 7, 2024
PlutoTheThing
For: The Sunken Cathedral
For: The Sunken Cathedral
Pretty strong needle game, I feel like the way jumps just flow together in stumble and by extension games like it is extremely satisfying to me, and this game definitely captures that with it's own spin on it. It just feels really nice to play, there was maybe one jump in the entire game I thought was a little awkward but that's it. The game itself is quite beautiful in concept and has a simple but effective atmosphere, definitely a great tribute and a really good game overall.
[1] Like
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 59 59
Jul 6, 2024
opanker
For: I wanna Jiongyohai
For: I wanna Jiongyohai
Tagged as: Needle
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Rating: 4.0 40
Difficulty: 32 32
Jul 6, 2024
Cosmoing
For: I wanna be THE GUNFIGHTER
For: I wanna be THE GUNFIGHTER
The drop under the starting screen that leads to stage 4 is basically impossible (requires some halign trickery that's unreasonable for a human).
The version that's uploaded is also 1.1.1, the latest is 1.4.0.
Game is really cool otherwise, hoping this gets fixed.
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The version that's uploaded is also 1.1.1, the latest is 1.4.0.
Game is really cool otherwise, hoping this gets fixed.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 100 100
Jul 6, 2024
xva
For: I wanna be the Crimson Needle
For: I wanna be the Crimson Needle
I’ve written two separate reviews for this game, as the two versions that most people play are essentially two different games. they are so different to the point where clearing the game and not clarifying which version it was causes confusion. your experience will greatly vary depending on which one you play. I do think you should definitely play this game. this review’s ratings are representative of the original, non-speedrun version
——— ORIGINAL VERSION:
this game is best described in one word: mess
I first played this game on the original, non-speedrun version, which meant I got to experience the authentic and original Crimson Needle experience. it sure is something unique, despite being essentially a ton of difficult and fucked-up jtool needle
actually, the term “fucked up needle” is a good way to describe most of the latter floors. stuff like random ledges (f93), overly precise drops (f88) random corners (everywhere), singlejump diamonds (f91), strangely precise and uncomfortable jumps that look and play weirdly (f84 last save) - and most of all, f92’s infamous 92 gates. it’s all quite memorable to me, despite being very difficult and annoying at times. the needle is pretty fun at the start of the game until somewhere around the Butterfly tileset of f70-f72. to add to this, the tileset after it is potentially the worst tileset in the game. f73-f76 just suck and there isn’t much else to it. it’s rather difficult to enjoy at best, and painfully irritating at worst
additionally, maintaining a good balance of difficulty and quality is often where games like this meet their undoing. this game completely fails at this, with random difficulty spikes all throughout. usually this isn’t too much of a problem, however this game’s difficulty spikes are very noticeable and are often tough to overlook. there are often random insane chokejumps (f88) and floors which are clearly harder than the ones around them (f92, f54, f76). there are many classics, of course, and they’re more plentiful than the bad screens. just about a third of the game is memorable and great screens. the second third is good/alright screens, and the last third are sub-par and somewhat annoying screens with the rare ‘ancient Kale atrocity’ (namely f92 and f79 come to mind)
something about this game feels slightly painful - maybe the word “crimson” has an effect here, meaning a deep, dark red color. red, being the color of blood, is also often associated with pain or hurt
overall a classic, but you likely won’t enjoy it upon your first playthrough
85.3/100, 6.5/10
——— SPEEDRUN VERSION:
greatly nerfed version of Crimson Needle 1 that essentially removes most of the bullshit and nerfs all the difficult chokejumps. I’ll mostly talk about the changes and how they affect the game, as the structure of the game is kept the exact same
it’s akin to playing Kamilia 2 Remake instead of Kamilia 2. it irons out all the crap and all the difficult stuff, and makes it a much smoother and easier-to-find-fun experience. however, all the bad/unbalanced parts being ironed out comes at a cost: it’s less memorable and feels like just that - a speedrun. speedruns tend to play minimal amounts of a game just enough to get a completion. this is what this feels like, and it isn’t a super great feeling. after clearing, you most certainly won’t feel as accomplished as you would for clearing the original. however, I can understand why people play the speedrun version more often nowadays. people don’t wanna spend ten hours on a game like CN1 just to say they hate it at the end. it’s not an easy game to enjoy at all, you either need to be a massive Kale fan or just a lover of that kind of needle (which is obviously quite rare). as for the speedrun version, it’s way fairer and easier to enjoy, which makes the game more appealing
it feels a little dumbed-down at times and isn’t exactly reflective of the original game, but it isn’t a bad experience per se. the fact I’ve played and cleared the original before this is likely clouding my judgement and making it feel worse than it is
recommended
83.0/100, 9.3/10
[2] Likes
——— ORIGINAL VERSION:
this game is best described in one word: mess
I first played this game on the original, non-speedrun version, which meant I got to experience the authentic and original Crimson Needle experience. it sure is something unique, despite being essentially a ton of difficult and fucked-up jtool needle
actually, the term “fucked up needle” is a good way to describe most of the latter floors. stuff like random ledges (f93), overly precise drops (f88) random corners (everywhere), singlejump diamonds (f91), strangely precise and uncomfortable jumps that look and play weirdly (f84 last save) - and most of all, f92’s infamous 92 gates. it’s all quite memorable to me, despite being very difficult and annoying at times. the needle is pretty fun at the start of the game until somewhere around the Butterfly tileset of f70-f72. to add to this, the tileset after it is potentially the worst tileset in the game. f73-f76 just suck and there isn’t much else to it. it’s rather difficult to enjoy at best, and painfully irritating at worst
additionally, maintaining a good balance of difficulty and quality is often where games like this meet their undoing. this game completely fails at this, with random difficulty spikes all throughout. usually this isn’t too much of a problem, however this game’s difficulty spikes are very noticeable and are often tough to overlook. there are often random insane chokejumps (f88) and floors which are clearly harder than the ones around them (f92, f54, f76). there are many classics, of course, and they’re more plentiful than the bad screens. just about a third of the game is memorable and great screens. the second third is good/alright screens, and the last third are sub-par and somewhat annoying screens with the rare ‘ancient Kale atrocity’ (namely f92 and f79 come to mind)
something about this game feels slightly painful - maybe the word “crimson” has an effect here, meaning a deep, dark red color. red, being the color of blood, is also often associated with pain or hurt
overall a classic, but you likely won’t enjoy it upon your first playthrough
85.3/100, 6.5/10
——— SPEEDRUN VERSION:
greatly nerfed version of Crimson Needle 1 that essentially removes most of the bullshit and nerfs all the difficult chokejumps. I’ll mostly talk about the changes and how they affect the game, as the structure of the game is kept the exact same
it’s akin to playing Kamilia 2 Remake instead of Kamilia 2. it irons out all the crap and all the difficult stuff, and makes it a much smoother and easier-to-find-fun experience. however, all the bad/unbalanced parts being ironed out comes at a cost: it’s less memorable and feels like just that - a speedrun. speedruns tend to play minimal amounts of a game just enough to get a completion. this is what this feels like, and it isn’t a super great feeling. after clearing, you most certainly won’t feel as accomplished as you would for clearing the original. however, I can understand why people play the speedrun version more often nowadays. people don’t wanna spend ten hours on a game like CN1 just to say they hate it at the end. it’s not an easy game to enjoy at all, you either need to be a massive Kale fan or just a lover of that kind of needle (which is obviously quite rare). as for the speedrun version, it’s way fairer and easier to enjoy, which makes the game more appealing
it feels a little dumbed-down at times and isn’t exactly reflective of the original game, but it isn’t a bad experience per se. the fact I’ve played and cleared the original before this is likely clouding my judgement and making it feel worse than it is
recommended
83.0/100, 9.3/10
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: 85 85
Jul 6, 2024
LastTISisLife
For: Terrible Needle Fourinone
For: Terrible Needle Fourinone
It did better than Irkara, but it was still kinda bland overall and i vaguely remember most of the content in the game. I know many 100f kinda goes in same way, but idk, even stuff like Amaranth or Anan spike was more valueable for me in essense, despite being obviously way less polished. I appreciate some floors tho, guest stages were pretty enjoyable, and i really like 91-99 with passion - they were stylish and unique, easily best part of the game, but the most of the game felt uninspiring unfortunately
Also special shoutouts to last floor, which heavily ruins fun for me and drops enjoyment for like solid 1 point at least and raise difficulty like rocket goes in sky. I know many people find it not that hard and bad, but for me it was insanely hard and very bad to play as well. 6 screens of gameplay, where screen 4 and 5 are the hardest and has some really weird-ass jumps... hmmm. Also last jump of screen 2 and first jump of screen 3 were awful as well. All in all, it was worst long save i've ever beaten, which is shame because this floor was main reason why i try game initially
So idk. It might be decent experience, it seems that i'm minority in context of enjoying this game. But i really didn't had that much of fun generally
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Also special shoutouts to last floor, which heavily ruins fun for me and drops enjoyment for like solid 1 point at least and raise difficulty like rocket goes in sky. I know many people find it not that hard and bad, but for me it was insanely hard and very bad to play as well. 6 screens of gameplay, where screen 4 and 5 are the hardest and has some really weird-ass jumps... hmmm. Also last jump of screen 2 and first jump of screen 3 were awful as well. All in all, it was worst long save i've ever beaten, which is shame because this floor was main reason why i try game initially
So idk. It might be decent experience, it seems that i'm minority in context of enjoying this game. But i really didn't had that much of fun generally
Rating: 5.9 59
Difficulty: 88 88
Jul 6, 2024
Cythraul
For: I wanna break through Ario Trials
[0] Likes
For: I wanna break through Ario Trials
[0] Likes
Rating: 1.3 13
Difficulty: 74 74
Jul 6, 2024