How Let's Go renewed my interest in Pokémon

When Pokémon: Let's Go was revealed earlier this year, I paid it no mind.

My lack of interest had nothing to do with me being too cool, hardcore, or even old, mind you. Instead, it had to do with my, erm, "complicated" relationship with this long-running series.

You see, although I've bought a lot of Pokémon games over the years, I've barely played--let alone completed--most of them.

A few cases in point: before Let's Go, the only Pokémon title I ever "beat" was Red. I got close with Black, but became distracted as I approached its finale. All the rest, though? Well, I put about seven hours into X, and maybe four into Diamond and Emerald. Meanwhile, my copies of SoulSilver, Black 2, and Moon all remain unopened and unexplored.



Now my initial shoulder-shrugging in regard to Let's Go makes a lot more sense, right?

The thing is, although I was frosty toward this Switch remake at first, I thawed on it shortly after copies finally hit stores. Why? Glowing word of mouth, to be frank. Plus, screens and video footage of the game made it look like a lot of fun.

So, after a bit of hemming and hawing, I handed 60 big ones to the evil superpower known as Amazon for a copy of Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! and then (impatiently) waited for it to arrive on my doorstep.



Based on all of the above, you might assume the first few minutes I spent with this title were the gaming equivalent of love at first sight. They weren't.

In fact, after putting about an hour into it, I was wondering what on earth I'd done in buying it. I found it boring and slow. Honestly, if I hadn't spent so much money on it, I would've popped its cartridge out of my Switch and never looked back. Because I did drop a wad of cash on it, though, I stuck with it. A few hours later, I was all but smitten.

I can't point out to you the exact moment when my opinion of Let's Go, Eevee! changed, sadly. All I know is that I began one play session with a yawn and ended it with a grin splashed across my face.



That grin stayed in place for most of the next 40 or so hours I spent with the game, too.

I "blame" its charming cast of characters--the eponymous monsters, especially--for most of the pain I endured as a result of that days-long smile-fest, by the way. What can I say? There's just something about how the original 151 Pokémon creatures are depicted here that makes me happy.

The same could be said about the new, Pokémon Go-ish capture mechanism. A lot of people despise it, I know. I adore it. In the past, I often found the "wear 'em down until they're just about to faint" aspect of this series' random encounters to be draining. That's no longer an issue here.



Also, combining that aspect with wild Pokémon that are visible on the overworld map makes progressing through the game a breeze.

Are those three components really enough to change someone's mind on this series? I can't speak for anyone else, but for me that's certainly been the case--much to my own surprise, I have to admit.

Will my renewed interest in all things Pokémon (or at least some things Pokémon) remain strong if the mainline game that follows in the footsteps of Let's Go in late 2019 drops either or both of these last two bullet points from the back of its brightly colored box? I honestly don't know.

I can assure you I'll approach it with an open mind, though. And who knows? Maybe I'll walk away from it 50 or so hours later (as I did after I finished Let's Go recently) feeling like I got my money's worth from the purchase--something I've rarely been able to say about Pokémon games.

A few thoughts on Dark Souls: Remastered from a gay guy who usually plays cute games

I've been curious about FromSoftware's Dark Souls since it first made a splash all the way back in 2011.

I've even considered picking up the Xbox 360 version on a couple of occasions. I never went through with the purchase, though, because that system's spent more time tucked inside its box and hidden away in a closet than it's spent connected to our TV.

When publisher Bandai Namco announced it was prepping a remastered iteration of the game for the Nintendo Switch, however, I knew I had to get off my butt and give it a try. So, I pre-ordered a copy as soon as I could--and then rather impatiently waited for it to make its way to my doorstep.



Although it took me a few days to work up the courage to stick the Dark Souls: Remastered cartridge into my Switch, it didn't take me long to fall in love with the game that diminutive cart contains.

In fact, I've put more than 16 hours into Dark Souls: Remastered for Switch since I first booted it up. I'm not tremendously far into this unnerving adventure, I've got to admit--I just entered the Lower Undead Burg after spending a ton of time in the Undead Parish. Still, I'm having a blast, and that's all that matters to me with any game I play.

What does "having a blast" mean in this case? I thought you'd never ask. Here are some thoughts on my Dark Souls: Remastered playthrough so far.



It's not as tough as I thought it would be--Don't get me wrong, I've died a ton of times since I first started playing the game. But dying isn't a very big deal in Dark Souls: Remastered. Unless, of course, you bite it after you've accumulated a ton of "souls" and "humanity" and before you've saved at a bonfire. Even that's not the worst thing in the world, though. I guess what I'm saying here is I started Remastered expecting it to be completely overwhelming and instead found it to be surprisingly accessible.

I appreciate how its gameplay puts patience ahead of brute force--Although I'm sure with the right "build" you can brute force Dark Souls, too. I'm not skilled enough for that, though, so taking things slowly is the only option for me. Thankfully, Dark Souls seems as OK with that as I am. At the very least, I've never been punished for approaching a new area or enemy carefully rather than running in with guns blazing (or, um, with daggers swinging), and I think that's pretty cool.



I also appreciate how Dark Souls severely limits your ability to feel "safe"--Dark Souls: Remastered may not be as tough as I assumed it would be, but it's just as scary. Actually, I'd say it's scarier than I thought it'd be. Why? Because any time you're not squatting beside one of the game's few campfires, you're basically a sitting duck. I love that. It keeps me on my toes and even forces me to improve my abilities and tactics.

Playing this game while wearing headphones is both amazing and terrifying--Here's something I've rarely admitted here or elsewhere: I usually play games with the sound turned off. I do that because I often play games while sitting on the couch with my husband as he watches TV. I've bucked that trend while tackling Dark Souls: Remastered, though. What a game changer--pun intended. In particular, hearing the footsteps of nearby enemies when none are plainly visibly in front of you is unsettling, yes, but it's also beyond helpful (in terms of keeping you from racing into an ambush).



The ability to "cheese" certain enemies and even bosses makes me really happy--This may be the aspect of Dark Souls that's surprised me the most thus far. I honestly expected the game's developers to force players to win fair and square at every single turn. Instead, they went in the opposite direction. The result: you're free to "win" however you can--even if that means taking the easy way out. (Such as by luring a particularly tough baddie over the edge of a cliff rather than bothering to actually fight it.)

As much as I'm enjoying Dark Souls: Remastered, I have a feeling I'll never finish it--After the game first clicked with me, I was sure I would stick with it until the bitter end. Then Black Bird and Pokémon: Let's Go stole my attention away from it. Although I'm done with the latter and I'm only returning to the former every now and then, I've yet to pick up where I left off with Dark Souls. I hope to rectify matters in 2019, but even if I don't, I'm glad I learned this series isn't, as I initially feared, too hardcore for me.

How to beat Black Bird's final boss in 'True' mode

If you're anything like me, your first few meetings with the final boss of Black Bird's "True" mode won't end in success.

Oh, hell, who am I kidding? If you're anything like me, your first, I don't know, 30 meetings with it won't end in success.

In fact, I put around 25 hours into this Onion Games release before I saw the credit roll in this mode. What changed? To be honest, I found and watched video footage of someone else fighting this shape-changing baddie that clued me into a few mistakes I was making.

If you're having a similarly difficult time toppling this Black Bird adversary and you're not sure why, the following tips should help.



1. Try your best to reach the boss while in the bird-ship's fully powered-up form. (It should look like mine does in the screenshot above. Also, it should shoot large, circular bullets straight ahead and launch homing missiles that look like little crows from the side.) Believe me when I say this will make the task ahead a lot easier than it'll be if you arrive on the scene without enough ammo.

2. If possible, don't use any bombs during the first two portions of the fight. Should that not be an option for you at this point, at least save a couple of them for the battle's third phase. (Need some specific advice here? Let me know in the comments section below and I'll do my best to help.)

3. Speaking of which, I pretty much always drop a couple of bombs during this brawl's third segment. You'll know you've reached it when feathers--or whatever they're supposed to be--begin to rain down from the top of the screen. It's possible to avoid even the ones this multi-faceted foe launches at you, of course, but doing so takes more skill than I currently possess. At any rate, unleashing a bomb just as this iteration of Black Bird's final boss attempts to pelt you with projectiles not only keeps you from being hit, but it also keeps you from losing your precious homing missiles. (Assuming you're still fully powered-up.)



4. Those of you who are used to Black Bird's "Normal" mode, or those of you who've yet to get past this portion of the "True" mode's last fight, are in for a bit of a surprise now. Not only isn't the scuffle over (as it would be if you were playing the game's easier setting), but it's got two more phases. Thankfully, the first is a breeze. All you need to do during it is avoid the green prisms that surround and then try to squeeze you. The only advice I can give you here is to stay still until the objects lock into position, then move in whatever direction is needed to avoid being pinched. Rinse and repeat until just one of those little buggers remains.

5. Enjoy that rather calm segment of Black Bird's final fight while it lasts, by the way. The fifth and final portion of this clash is the toughest and most chaotic one yet. Or it is until you realize it's not nearly as nightmarish as the game wants you to believe it is. Basically, you've got to deal with two different attack patterns this time around. During the first, the boss inhales a bunch of asteroids from the edges of the screen. Your focus here needs to be on avoiding those rotating, damage-dealing boulders. The only time you should change that tactic is when you lose your homing missiles. If you ever find yourself in that situation, go ahead and drop a bomb--assuming you have any in your arsenal. That should return you to fully powered-up status. And if you don't have any of those explosives? Shoot the green planetoids. They'll drop gems that will produce the same result.



6. The second attack pattern of this phase is the polar opposite of the first. Instead of inhaling objects from the edge of the screen, the boss spews them outward from the center of it. This is where most people freak a bit. I know I did early on. Don't follow in my footsteps. Instead, stick to one side of this many-staged adversary. When she unleashes her fury (you'll know it when you see it), stay close to the line of red "bullets" while shooting the other projectiles she sends your way. Oh, and only use bombs here if you absolutely need to do so. They won't help you power up, so save them for the first segment of the fight.

7. You'll cycle through these patterns until you've died or you've defeated the boss, so get comfortable. And make sure you aim at least some of your bullets at Black Bird's biggest baddie during this Groundhog Day-esque segment of the final battle. This is why it's so important to start the fight fully powered-up. The homing missile-bird thingies that come along with that allow you to pick away at the game's antagonist even when you're not facing her.



8. Fill "Amoris Nova" (apparently that's the name of this iteration of the last boss) with enough ammo and she'll finally explode--and in a fairly satisfying way, if I do say so myself. What's next? Why, the game's score-tally screen and credit roll-cum-ending sequence, of course. Congratulations!

9. One last thing: should you wind up with fewer than 25 million points, you won't see the game's true ending.

If you're struggling with that task, check out my post full of Black Bird tips, tricks, and tactics.

See also: 'Onion Games' Black Bird is the dark Fantasy Zone clone I didn't know I wanted or needed'

Ten Black Bird tips, tricks, and tactics

As my last post here hopefully makes clear, I like Onion Games' homage to Fantasy Zone, Black Bird, a whole heck of a lot.

I like this Switch shoot 'em up (though it's also available via Steam) so much, in fact, that I've put more than 16 hours into it since I bought it a few weeks ago.

That means I'm a bona fide Black Bird pro, right? I wouldn't go that far. My high score at the moment is a smidgen above 15 million, which puts me around 265th on the worldwide leaderboard. (This is just among Switch players, by the way. The Switch and PC leaderboards are separate.)

Still, I'd say I know my way around the game pretty well at this point.

Black Bird fan art by @karinto_angrm

That's what prompted me to publish the write-up you're reading now. Well, that and the fact that I've yet to come across a single English article or blog post or FAQ that shares tips, tricks, or tactics with players who are struggling to wrap their brains (and thumbs) around Black Bird's many gameplay elements.

So, that's what you're getting here: every hint, tip, trick, and tactic I could think of after obsessively playing Black Bird for the last 15 or so days.

1. First and foremost, never forget that only the black bird's eye is vulnerable to attack--This is part bullet-hell shmup, after all. And that kind of thing (making just a small portion of your "ship" assailable) is par for the course for the sub-genre. Keeping that in mind should make Black Bird's boss battles, in particular, a lot easier--or at least a little less stressful.

2. Don't bother hammering the shoot button--Save your thumb a lot of discomfort and even some cramping and just hold it down. Believe me, doing so won't make playing Black Bird a bore. You and your other thumb will have plenty to do--and plenty to worry about--even if your right one remains static. (Well, except for when it shifts positions to hit the "X" button and unleash an enemy-obliterating bomb.)

3. The key to combos is to keep shooting enemies (and to not get shot yourself while doing so)--You've heard this game has combos, right? Well, they're one of the keys to getting the highest of high scores. Actually, they may be the key to getting the highest of high scores. At any rate, starting a combo is easy: just shoot and kill one of Black Bird's many enemies. (Yes, even though they're cute.) To keep a combo going, though, you have to continue shooting and killing them.

Black Bird fan art by @Taite283

But don't dawdle. You see that yellow gauge sitting just below the score in the upper-right corner of the screen? If that empties, your combo comes to an abrupt end. The same happens if even one of your foes' bullets hits your precious plumage mid-combo, by the way. So do your best to keep those projectiles at, uh, wing's length as you go about your murderous business.

4. And the key to upgrading your weapon is to keep grabbing gems--Sadly, I can't tell you how many of these gems, dropped by felled baddies, you need to grab to successfully upgrade your weapon. So grab as many as you can as you zigzag your way through Black Bird's wrap-around stages.

5. Try to balance the number of enemies you kill with the amount of time you spend on a level--Down enough baddies during a stage and you'll be awarded a ton of bonus points. How many is "enough"? It depends on the stage. You'll know you've succeeded in that regard, though, when the game offers up a "superb!" while tallying your results. You also want to shoot for "superb!" when it comes to your level-completion time. Achieve that and the bonus points you netted for your enemy kills are tripled. (They're doubled if you get a "great!")

6. Use your bombs wisely--During my first handful of Black Bird playthroughs, I saved these eye-popping and often ear-splitting explosives for the final boss, mostly to make its last form a little easier. I still hold on to a few for that purpose, but now I use some within the levels that precede the climactic battle, too. Anyway, to get the most bang for your buck, don't drop one of these weapons of mass destruction until you've maxed out your combo meter. (You'll know this has happened when its text turns purple.) Also, I'd recommend against wasting any bombs on the first three bosses--even while tackling the game's "True" mode. With a bit of practice and patience, you should be able to beat them using regular bullets--or whatever shoots out of the eponymous fowl's beak.

7. Speaking of bombs, you can't have more than six in your inventory--And you can't have more than eight life bars at any one time. Keep that in mind as you collect the power-ups that pop out of Black Bird's grinning "curse pots." (They're the little brown bowl-shaped objects that tend to be hidden beneath the dirt, behind doors, and among tree branches.) You only get a handful of points for collecting another after hitting those limits, so aim for a different power-up instead.

8. Patience really is a virtue, especially during Black Bird's boss fights--All of this game's bosses do their best to tease you into being more aggressive than maybe you should be. The third one, Paladon, is a good example. If you go into that tussle with all guns blazing, your life meter is sure to suffer for it. A much better tactic is to stay calm and to time your moves and shots with the openings it eventually offers up. In other words, don't rush these battles.

Black Bird fan art by @r_stk

9. Don't ignore practice mode--It's a good place to come to grips with the game's many components and to practice strategies without committing to a full playthrough. Sure, you can do the same in Black Bird's "normal" and "true" modes if you want, but why waste your time with that when there's a far more efficient option?

10. If you see something sticking out of the ground, shoot it!--Why? For starters, it may be a curse pot that's just waiting to provide you with a power-up. On the other hand, it could be "Aspara-san," the wonderfully strange character that's part asparagus stalk and part rocket. Simply unearthing this guy will net you 10,000 points, but that's not the reason I'm suggesting you go out of your way to free him from the dirt. So what is? If you can manage to expose the tips of one or more Aspara-sans and then use a bomb to pull them the rest of the way out--and into a swarm of enemies, preferably--you'll be rewarded with a ton of points. (Thank you to @topherocious for bringing this tip to my attention!)

Have any of you played Black Bird? If so, share any of the hints, tips, tricks, or tactics you've amassed thus far in the comments section of this post.

Onion Games' Black Bird is the dark Fantasy Zone clone I didn't know I wanted or needed

When Onion Games announced earlier this year that its next release--after the pair of mobile curiosities known as Dandy Dungeon and Million Onion Hotel--would be a PC and Switch shoot 'em up called Black Bird, I was nearly beside myself with excitement.

Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the time I spent with the aforementioned Dandy Dungeon in 2017, but I had similarly thrilling experiences with many of company founder Yoshiro Kimura's previous offerings--Chulip for PS2 and Little King's Story for Wii chief among them.



My enthusiasm for Black Bird waned a bit after seeing the game's first real trailer a few weeks ago. Not only did it look a little too close to Sega's Fantasy Zone for my liking, but it also looked a little too much like a bullet-hell shmup. (The only bullet-hell shmup that's tripped my trigger to date is the gay, smutty Sugar Shooter.)

So, I didn't buy the Switch version of Black Bird upon release as planned. And at that point, I wasn't sure I'd ever pick it up. A few days later, though, I apprehensively plopped down $20 on it anyway. Why? For starters, I'd been looking forward to it for so long that ignoring it seemed wrong. Plus, I felt like both Onion Games and Kimura deserved the benefit of the doubt. Neither has done me wrong yet, so why start second-guessing them now?

Boy, am I glad I went ahead with the purchase. In the 10 days since I bought Black Bird, I've put more than nine hours into it. That's quite an accomplishment when you consider the game has just four stages and its normal mode can be finished in about 20 minutes.



So why do I keep returning to it over and over again? Here are five reasons I'd say are as relevant as any:

Black Bird may be short, but it has a lot of depth--This game may not have a lot of raw content, but it makes up for that by having a lot of components. There are weapon upgrades. Combos. Collectible gems. Bombs. End-of-level bonuses. And they're all intertwined in a way that takes some time to understand. (Hell, I still haven't wrapped my head around a few of them--and I've played Black Bird for nearly 10 hours.) Given that, I actually think this game's brevity is a plus. It allows you to come to grips with its many elements without asking for too much of a commitment.

When everything "clicks," it feels like you've entered another plane of existence--OK, so maybe that's overstating things a bit. I don't think saying it's easy to "get into a zone" while playing Black Bird is hyperbolic, though. I often feel like I'm on autopilot--and I mean that in a good way--whenever I make another run at a high score. (And let there be no doubt: moving up the online leaderboard, and not reaching the end credits, is the focus here.) Is that due to its entrancing soundtrack? Maybe, but I think there's more to it than that, too--like all of the mesmerizing details that are crammed into each level and the sheer number of enemies and projectiles that careen around the screen at any given moment.



Black Bird's amazing soundtrack is like an extension of its gameplay--Don't take that the wrong way; the music here isn't interactive like it is in, say, ASCII's Otocky for the Famicom. Still, Black Bird's gameplay and soundtrack feel intertwined in a way that's unique and unusual for the medium. Even if that weren't the case, though, the tunes here would be well worth trumpeting. Besides the poppy, Beatles-esque theme song, they're so otherworldly vaudevillian they'd surely make Danny Elfman proud.

Some of the enemy designs in this game are so cute I almost feel bad shooting them to smithereens--The key word here is "almost." After all, they'll gleefully gun you down if given the chance. Still, there's no denying most of them are downright adorable. I especially like the ones that bob around the screen with colorful balloons tied around their waists. (I'm also pretty fond of "Aspara-san," who is part asparagus, part rocket, and mumbles "let's kill something" as he launches himself into the air.)



I appreciate that Black Bird's story is bleak--Or at least it seems to be bleak. You see, Black Bird's story is told through painfully short between-stage vignettes that feature no words or voices. (Aside from the occasional exclamation or guffaw, that is.) Still, those bits and pieces make it clear this is no childish fairy tale. A case in point: the game begins with a little girl falling over dead on the street as people pass by without missing a step. After an old man pokes her corpse with a cane, she transforms into the eponymous fowl.

Clearly I'm in love with this peculiar, pint-sized shoot 'em up. That doesn't mean I think everybody will feel the same way about it. If you're not a big fan of the genre, you may not get your money's worth from Black Bird--especially given its $20 price tag. Those of you who fall head over heels for shmups, though, should download it to your system of choice (PC or Switch) as soon as you have the funds.