Delicious FruitLatest Reviews
CanusAntonius
For: I wanna be the guy by Aless50
[0] Likes
For: I wanna be the guy by Aless50
[0] Likes
Rating: 1.0 10
Difficulty: N/A
Dec 31, 2023
bereavement
For: I wanna be the common spike
For: I wanna be the common spike
Gates, diagonals and corners galore. Especially the corners.
[0] Likes
Rating: 4.2 42
Difficulty: 60 60
Dec 31, 2023
ElCochran90
For: I wanna kill the Maker
For: I wanna kill the Maker
Difficulty rating based on Hard Mode under the rationale that Easy Mode reads: "Easier than original screen". I still don't know if I regret that decision.
I have a specific aversion against this kind of medleys. As someone who used this website as a lesson for not downloading just any fangame I found (which made Sunspike be the first thing I played after Guy and Boshy), Thenadertwo's neon games were among my first true challenges after many 100F games and the beginner recommendations in "Intro". That made Cultured to be my first medley.
"Why is there a title card every time I enter a screen?" Oh boy, was I in diapers. As I explored it, I began to understand it was an amalgamation of several fangames assembled with a logic behind. As I explored it even further, I realized it was a parody. When I finished it, I found out that the idea did begin as a parody but the concept kept growing.
This is why I am partially biased for Cultured. I keep coming back to it to keep those good memories alive. It's quite ordinary, but suddenly, it isn't. The soundtrack is a blast and I like the screen choices, the secrets and the ability to change your sprite. I disliked the lack of bosses greatly, so with many replays I appreciated it as a medley of needle first and gimmicks second. When I got to the Stage Rush section, I said: "Hey! Nice nod to the Mega Man games!". Partially correct, but the boss rush was something popularized by K2 based on the questionable concept contained in many of the fangames that K2 featured of:
1) Collecting secrets in cryptic places
2) Clearing the game
3) Making a hub with all the original bosses buffed with steroids
I say this because Cultured 1 is not something I particularly fancy: it has no stage bosses, the final boss is somewhat bad, most of the fangames are unknown (no pun intended) to me (even more than those of K2 and K3), etc. However, there is spirit, charisma, good (and funny) memes, inside jokes for the community, and a terrific final stage which is the original section of the game, just like K2 (and in K3 in the form of a collab).
I have seen this formula repeated over and over again but in a soulles (no pun intended) manner: there is no rhyme or reason in the fangames chosen or in their respective screen choices (first save of FASF is unholy), they are known by almost no one, the soundtrack is average SoundCloud fare, and the difficulty curve is non-existent, the secrets are for nothing except "unlocking an achievement badge" (I thought we would already be past that stage), and feels wholly incoherent/inconsistent (couldn't find a word that is the antonym for "cohesive"). Be it parody or serious business, everything done here is appalling.
Throughout, I kept feeling that repulsion of just stopping: it's bad. Title card, please get out of the way: can't you just change corners based on my position relative to the center of the screen instead of becoming transparent? I normally see ahead of my jumps before jumping? Why are the "original" stages so drastically different with no single theme surrounding them? I would normally ask why are there no bosses, but that was just a decision and many seem happy with it. I'm not, and it's no surprise why so much drama was made around Get Rekt.
If anything, Stage 1 is ok-ish and the Eversion original stage is terrific as it is a throwback to retro games and the original essence that gave birth to fangames: adventure. Still, it has absolutely nothing to do with the entire game. So it turns out the only thing I enjoyed has zero correlation with the rest of the content.
I hated it.
[1] Like
I have a specific aversion against this kind of medleys. As someone who used this website as a lesson for not downloading just any fangame I found (which made Sunspike be the first thing I played after Guy and Boshy), Thenadertwo's neon games were among my first true challenges after many 100F games and the beginner recommendations in "Intro". That made Cultured to be my first medley.
"Why is there a title card every time I enter a screen?" Oh boy, was I in diapers. As I explored it, I began to understand it was an amalgamation of several fangames assembled with a logic behind. As I explored it even further, I realized it was a parody. When I finished it, I found out that the idea did begin as a parody but the concept kept growing.
This is why I am partially biased for Cultured. I keep coming back to it to keep those good memories alive. It's quite ordinary, but suddenly, it isn't. The soundtrack is a blast and I like the screen choices, the secrets and the ability to change your sprite. I disliked the lack of bosses greatly, so with many replays I appreciated it as a medley of needle first and gimmicks second. When I got to the Stage Rush section, I said: "Hey! Nice nod to the Mega Man games!". Partially correct, but the boss rush was something popularized by K2 based on the questionable concept contained in many of the fangames that K2 featured of:
1) Collecting secrets in cryptic places
2) Clearing the game
3) Making a hub with all the original bosses buffed with steroids
I say this because Cultured 1 is not something I particularly fancy: it has no stage bosses, the final boss is somewhat bad, most of the fangames are unknown (no pun intended) to me (even more than those of K2 and K3), etc. However, there is spirit, charisma, good (and funny) memes, inside jokes for the community, and a terrific final stage which is the original section of the game, just like K2 (and in K3 in the form of a collab).
I have seen this formula repeated over and over again but in a soulles (no pun intended) manner: there is no rhyme or reason in the fangames chosen or in their respective screen choices (first save of FASF is unholy), they are known by almost no one, the soundtrack is average SoundCloud fare, and the difficulty curve is non-existent, the secrets are for nothing except "unlocking an achievement badge" (I thought we would already be past that stage), and feels wholly incoherent/inconsistent (couldn't find a word that is the antonym for "cohesive"). Be it parody or serious business, everything done here is appalling.
Throughout, I kept feeling that repulsion of just stopping: it's bad. Title card, please get out of the way: can't you just change corners based on my position relative to the center of the screen instead of becoming transparent? I normally see ahead of my jumps before jumping? Why are the "original" stages so drastically different with no single theme surrounding them? I would normally ask why are there no bosses, but that was just a decision and many seem happy with it. I'm not, and it's no surprise why so much drama was made around Get Rekt.
If anything, Stage 1 is ok-ish and the Eversion original stage is terrific as it is a throwback to retro games and the original essence that gave birth to fangames: adventure. Still, it has absolutely nothing to do with the entire game. So it turns out the only thing I enjoyed has zero correlation with the rest of the content.
I hated it.
Rating: 2.9 29
Difficulty: 70 70
Dec 31, 2023
Riot3_1_2_1
For: I wanna make a Rookie
For: I wanna make a Rookie
needle, sneasel, needle, lampent, needle, flygon, needle, froslass
generic, but I liked it
[0] Likes
generic, but I liked it
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: 45 45
Dec 31, 2023
PlutoTheThing
For: Ides of Noel
For: Ides of Noel
Cool game with great visuals, touching story, and fun platforming! The gimmicks are really cool and the game has a bit of a learning curve which is fun to adapt to. There's also a little bonus for clearing without dying which is quite fun, it bumped my rating up a tiny bit. Highly recommended!
[1] Like
Rating: 9.3 93
Difficulty: 44 44
Dec 31, 2023
Nearigami
For: I Wanna Be the Hades
For: I Wanna Be the Hades
Hades is a classic and still a pretty memorable precision needle experience. I enjoyed my time here, and even though the double plane save is pretty bad, I feel proud of myself for beating it.
[2] Likes
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 70 70
Dec 31, 2023
Nearigami
For: Chew 045
For: Chew 045
I played this because it was in precision needle FSR. I got to one screen pretty far in and just couldn't get through it. What you have to know about me is that for most of my time playing fangames, I have outright refused to learn how to cancel. I think it's mostly because I just didn't have the discipline for it, and, to me, any game that required one frames wasn't worth playing. When I came back to fangames recently after a year away, I told myself that I would "do fangames right" this time. I would do my best to sincerely appreciate as many aspects of these games as I could, to the best of my abilities, and be myself, rather than be someone that would be admired by other people. I want to love fangames more than anybody else, because they have been the only thing truly constant in my life since I discovered them.
I started playing precision FSR because I wanted to test my open-mindedness and actually learn how to play and enjoy this genre, even if I suspect they'll never be my favorite. So I learned how to numpad cancel. I had previously only used numpad in order to get through K3 Secret 2, and that was years ago at this point. I had completely forgotten how to do it. Over the course of a couple weeks, I actually got pretty decent at numpad cancelling! There's a rhythm to it that once you learn for real, you don't forget. And you know what? They're surprisingly fun! My experience playing fangames has been enriched by opening myself up to numpad cancelling. The screen I got stuck on in this game however, was my first required low-cancel. I couldn't use my little numpad tricks in order to progress. I was stuck with the other kind of cancelling I put off learning. So I bashed my head against the wall for a bit until I ultimately gave up. A week later though, I came back, confident from my recent precision clears that I could get this one jump.
I threw myself at it for 30 minutes. Shift cancelling, as it turns out, is much more difficult to pull off than numpad cancelling. 95% of the time, I wasn't even getting the cancel in the first place. Even when I was, I either didn't cancel at the right height, I wasn't in the correct position, or I screwed up my second jump. I didn't give up though. Even though it's one jump, I DID feel myself getting better at it. Eventually though, I got through, and I popped off as much as I possibly could have at 1:30 in the morning without waking up my family.
I think I understand the appeal of precision needle now. It's a process of making micro-optimizations and improving muscle memory, forcing yourself through jumps that are just barely possible. It's truly a niche experience, but once it has its grips in you, there isn't anything else quite like it. It absolutely tows the line between garbage and genius most of the time, and frankly I can't say I recommend them wholeheartedly unless you're a specific kind of person, but there's absolutely a place for it.
The rest of the game is whatever and probably will be nothing special to anyone else, but for me, as the game that made me learn how to low cancel, I'll be sure to remember it.
[4] Likes
I started playing precision FSR because I wanted to test my open-mindedness and actually learn how to play and enjoy this genre, even if I suspect they'll never be my favorite. So I learned how to numpad cancel. I had previously only used numpad in order to get through K3 Secret 2, and that was years ago at this point. I had completely forgotten how to do it. Over the course of a couple weeks, I actually got pretty decent at numpad cancelling! There's a rhythm to it that once you learn for real, you don't forget. And you know what? They're surprisingly fun! My experience playing fangames has been enriched by opening myself up to numpad cancelling. The screen I got stuck on in this game however, was my first required low-cancel. I couldn't use my little numpad tricks in order to progress. I was stuck with the other kind of cancelling I put off learning. So I bashed my head against the wall for a bit until I ultimately gave up. A week later though, I came back, confident from my recent precision clears that I could get this one jump.
I threw myself at it for 30 minutes. Shift cancelling, as it turns out, is much more difficult to pull off than numpad cancelling. 95% of the time, I wasn't even getting the cancel in the first place. Even when I was, I either didn't cancel at the right height, I wasn't in the correct position, or I screwed up my second jump. I didn't give up though. Even though it's one jump, I DID feel myself getting better at it. Eventually though, I got through, and I popped off as much as I possibly could have at 1:30 in the morning without waking up my family.
I think I understand the appeal of precision needle now. It's a process of making micro-optimizations and improving muscle memory, forcing yourself through jumps that are just barely possible. It's truly a niche experience, but once it has its grips in you, there isn't anything else quite like it. It absolutely tows the line between garbage and genius most of the time, and frankly I can't say I recommend them wholeheartedly unless you're a specific kind of person, but there's absolutely a place for it.
The rest of the game is whatever and probably will be nothing special to anyone else, but for me, as the game that made me learn how to low cancel, I'll be sure to remember it.
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: 60 60
Dec 31, 2023
Chatran
For: Selected Needle Works 21-23
For: Selected Needle Works 21-23
I abstain from giving this game a proper rating because it's clear to me that this game does not cater to anyone's specific tastes, and certainly not to mine. It helped me learn what all I like and dislike in needle, as well as what I'm willing to accept out of art. Which is to say, I can't fully accept everything this game offered to me based on my own design philosophies.
I do want to start by saying the treatment this game has gotten overall is unfair. I know all too well how it feels for a game with soul put into it to be completely ignored. I went into this with the purpose of giving it a fair shot because I felt it deserved it, and despite many of my issues I will list in this review, I am glad I tried it and gave it some form of attention.
I find this game to be extremely inaccessible. A major portion of that lies in some of its unforgiving difficulty, which primarily lies on multi-screen and / or trigger-dense segments; and this is just the way it is. Clearly to me difficulty is no longer an aspect in fangames I find appealing, and such is life.
But in other ways I find this game inaccessible, mainly in the way the game presents itself. I'll personally draw the line at difficulty, but I personally will not accept the same merit when a game alienates an entire population as a form of artistic vision. I won't pull any punches, I find the fact that this game visually obscures the platforming to blindness to be egregious.
I don't want to *not* recommend this game, because even though I listed nothing but complaints, I find there's a lot of gold here. I genuinely had a lot of fun for a decent chunk of the game's runtime, and I think that amounts to something. I just inherently disagree with much of how this game simply exists, and I feel the need to vent in some space regarding that. Please forgive me for doing so.
I do want to start by saying the treatment this game has gotten overall is unfair. I know all too well how it feels for a game with soul put into it to be completely ignored. I went into this with the purpose of giving it a fair shot because I felt it deserved it, and despite many of my issues I will list in this review, I am glad I tried it and gave it some form of attention.
I find this game to be extremely inaccessible. A major portion of that lies in some of its unforgiving difficulty, which primarily lies on multi-screen and / or trigger-dense segments; and this is just the way it is. Clearly to me difficulty is no longer an aspect in fangames I find appealing, and such is life.
But in other ways I find this game inaccessible, mainly in the way the game presents itself. I'll personally draw the line at difficulty, but I personally will not accept the same merit when a game alienates an entire population as a form of artistic vision. I won't pull any punches, I find the fact that this game visually obscures the platforming to blindness to be egregious.
I don't want to *not* recommend this game, because even though I listed nothing but complaints, I find there's a lot of gold here. I genuinely had a lot of fun for a decent chunk of the game's runtime, and I think that amounts to something. I just inherently disagree with much of how this game simply exists, and I feel the need to vent in some space regarding that. Please forgive me for doing so.
Tagged as: artistic_vision
[5] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: 85 85
Dec 31, 2023
PlutoTheThing
For: Mauri Climbs a Mountain
For: Mauri Climbs a Mountain
Really fun pathing needle with a lot of charm and polish. Particularly the final segment is really cool with how you traverse the tower to reach the top, and all the platforming is quite fun. The ending is pretty cool as well!
[1] Like
Rating: 8.7 87
Difficulty: 48 48
Dec 31, 2023