4 xeodrifter - back to the green planet to explore and find the run ability

Dear Readers,

After goofing with the save system, I went exploring the purple planet again until I got the plane shift. I got some health and gun upgrades too.

I returned to the green planet and covered my tracks to see if I had missed out on anything. Straight away there was the health upgrade near the beginning. There was another health upgrade to find with this method on the way to the first boss I fought. There's a hidden path in the corner of the cave where you go up and turn left for the boss and that's where I found it.

I could plane shift in the boss room too but there was nothing to find. I continued and looped through the waterway to the beginning. Here I was able to plane shift and explore another water tunnel loop for another weapon upgrade. I was still near the entrance, so I made sure to save!

I explored further with the plane shift and went to a section where the path split in two. The high road had a lava pool, the low road was a waterway. They both met in the same place and the path rejoined.

Further on was a new enemy that was big and mean looking. It dropped bombs that exploded into bits whenever I got close, so I had to be strategic when shooting at it. For now, I was happy with using the rapid shot to get a few hits in and run away!

I continued to where I had to plane shift and climb and continued to the next boss. Again it looked the same but it was red this time and it had a different pattern.

It was able to encase itself in a bubble and float after me. I had to plane shift and this made it try different attacks. It didn't seem to like when I stayed on the back plane as it attacked harshly whenever I went back there! It was pretty hard to plane shift from the front because I always had to jump first. It took a few tries, but I was able to beat it with some quick manoeuvring and the quickshot fully powered with my 3 weapon upgrades!

When I beat it, I got the run ability. This was like a sudden charging dash that kept going until you hit something or you cancel it.

3 xeodrifter - getting used to the save system

Dear Readers,

With the Plane Shift obtained, I backtracked and found a path that lead to a gun upgrade. There were these 5 meters on the touch screen and I could increase different feature strengths of the gun by equipping this upgrade. One was like a wave beam and another was a quick shooting type of beam. Another was a big strong beam. I'll learn more about them as I upgrade.

Further back again, I was able to plane shift with the submarine and found more health.

I then tried to explore the plane shift where I found the upgrade hidden in the yellow wall, but there was another type of obstacle, some kind of lava pool. I had to come back later. 

On the way back to the ship I died, which sent me back to just after obtaining the Plane Shift from the boss. Then I ran out of time to play so I quit, which reset my progress back to before I started exploring the purple planet. I'm gonna have to keep an awareness of this.

2 xeodrifter - obtaining the submarine and the plane shift

Dear Readers,

After obtaining the submarine, I continued beyond, where I immediately had to use it to explore further. I dove deep and found a badly needed +1 health capsule. I continued and it looped back to the beginning of the area. There was another place to dive, but I needed something else to continue exploring. I could already see areas in the background but didn't have a way to explore them yet.

I returned to the spaceship and travelled to the purple planet next. This place had lovely music too. The green planet had very nostalgic sounding music whereas this one had music that seemed to capture the wonder of space exploration. Very nice style of music.

I had to use the submarine very early here and explored until I got to a big shelled enemy I had to fire at multiple times to defeat. I was able to do it handily. I came across many enemies that fired in four directions and passed by some areas with a background area too.

Some enemies with a big eye and horns shot in 3 directions. I was able to beat them by standing very close to them and shooting them out.

I went through a door that led to an area with light yellow coloured blocks. There was what looked like a dead end but was a secret passage to more health.

In the water along the walls were also these tiny enemies that weren't the easiest to see but I had to be careful not to bump into them.

The path led into an area with blue walls and continued until I met another boss! This was the same as the purple one but this was a different purple. I suppose you could say that first one was more magenta and this was more bluish purple. It had a similar pattern to the first and I was able to beat it on the first try, thanks to having more health.

When I defeated it I obtained the plane shift! With this I was able to switch between the background and this plane when the situation called for it. It looks really nice on the 3DS screen!

I used the plane shift straight away on the path ahead and it looped around to just before the boss' chamber. There was also a path blocked off by a huge metallic obstacle. Don't know how to deal with that yet.

1 xeodrifter - cute little 3ds metroidvania

Dear Readers,

Now to finally start playing Xeodrifter! It's by Renegade Kid, particularly Jools Watsham. Things have changed since 2014 and he went on to form Atooi, where he still brings games like this to us. He was also behind Mutant Mudds and he supported the Nintendo 3DS like no one else did. He used to post QR codes you could scan with your 3DS that would link to special images that displayed in 3D with the .mpo format. No one else ever did this.

I've played a chunk of this and it's a lovely little Metroidvania. It's just like if you can imagine Mutant Mudds in the Metroidvania style.

The 3D visuals are brilliant as well and it's a joy to play at a desk or an armchair when you have a comfortable moment.

The electronic instruction manual is tiny with a total of 3 pages, with little else but an explanation of the controls. The 3DS menu icon is the little red main character and the visual is the character rotating around with the logo of the game, in a nice solid pixel style.

I start the game as the little red shooter guy on my spaceship when I get hit by space debris and it damages my warp travel mechanism. This leaves me stranded in a system with four planets. My ship detects some energy thingy that'll help me so I have to go to each planet and seek out whatever these 7 dots are across the whole lot of them.

I decided to go to the green planet first. It feels very nice and Metroid-like, right down to the enemies that move back and forth. The ones that help you replenish energy are a nice tribute and are much easier to deal with than in Metroid.

I explore for a bit and come across my first boss, a big purple alien dino thing. I died a couple of times but its pattern was very sussable and I was able to defeat it for the submarine.

22 the starship damrey - alex's profile and the silver ring

Dear Readers,

All that was left to do now was to find out what to do with the silver ring. The captain wanted to give it to Alex, but I still wasn't 100% sure where her room was. I had the option to leave the ring on almost everyone's desk and nothing really happened. I ended the game a few times, guessing which desk was Alex's.

Some rooms I knew for sure about their owners, but others I didn't know, like the one with the rugby ball or the one with the teddy bear. 

My possibility-exhausting guesses finally paid off when I left the ring on the desk with the rugby ball in the room. This was Alex's room!

Rewatching the ending with its static images and text boxes, it really does feel like a standard visual novel. I'd love to read more of them!

When I ended the game with the ring placed on Alex's desk, the ending played out as normal, but an extra bit was added on. Nick observed with shock that the robot left the ring on Alex's desk and he wondered if it was a sentimental gesture or further research.

With that, Alex's profile was finally unlocked! I checked it out and it said she was called back into the military after giving birth, due to the shortage of men. The captain found this very affecting, as he was a family man himself. He wondered if her child would regard her as their mother if she got back safely after all these years.

Alex was alive of course and in Cold Sleep, but there was a Keplarian on board that Nick had to deal with now.

The game was now 100% complete! So glad I finally finished this and it was a well made little game.

21 the starship damrey - exterminating the final space leech in danny's room

Dear Readers,

I finally found the space leech in Danny's room! It was on the frame of the non-usable door next to the entrance to his room. It took me ages to spot but I finally got it!

When I exterminated this 20th and final space leech, the computer asked me to celebrate.

I checked the archive and Alyssa's profile was now unlocked. It said she was 8 years old in her father's home video and hologram but 15 years had passed by during Cold Sleep. She was now getting married and had no idea her father was now dead. It's really sad and upsetting. 

Her sun hat is great. No doubt a thing we all need in the near future.

20 the starship damrey - confused in the menu between the extra and linked content

Dear Readers,

Now to check out the linked content I unlocked by linking with save data from Liberation Maiden.

It was titled "Alyssa" and it was all about the captain's daughter on her wedding day. She felt guilty about getting married without her father and her mother played a recording he made before he left on the mission especially for when she got married, making her emotional.

This game came out before Interstellar. I'm not fond of these stories of families separated by space and time, but they may very well become a thing in the future. This extra bit of story about Alyssa is very well written and has an impact.

This also confirms that Alex isn't the captain's daughter. What's not confirmed is why he was going to give her the ring.

After reading "Alysssa" I loaded the game again and wandered around with the silver ring. I even looked up GameFAQs because I didn't know what to do.

I chose the Linked Content option again and got the Space Leech scenario! So Alyssa wasn't the linked content, just an unlockable after the story was finished.

The space leech scenario was very interesting. It was like an episode of the life of the crew. Large smuggled a space leech onboard and it caused a lot of trouble. No matter what he did it just multiplied and he couldn't get it off so the others were talking about amputation. He fled to the AR room and accidentally discovered that AR-7 had a disinfectant spray that killed space leeches that no one knew about! His arm was saved but the space leeches got everywhere.