10 gaming video content creators I recommend

This is a list of my 10 most regularly watched youtube/twitch gaming channels, and my recommendations for anyone who happens to enjoy my blog and wants to see some of the other stuff that I'm into.

Affordable Space Adventures playthrough log

This game starts off really boring, but then it picks up as you gain more and more abilities. At first you're just exploring a barren, linear path using your flash light to see where to go.. and then you gain stuff like a Mass Generator that lets you sink into water, and a stabilizer that lets you fly with more precision.

Then it starts to get good when there are actual obstacles you have to avoid. Getting hit usually just makes you restart right before where you died, so it's just trial and error. the game keeps a log of all the stuff that has happened to your ship, including your deaths, so it kind of challenges you to get through without dying once.

Later you get the electric engine, which makes way less heat and noise than the fuel engine, and it's needed for sneaking passed certain objects that attack you if they sense too much heat or sound.. there's also objects that sense electricity levels, and those I think the only way to get through them is with going really slowly with minimum thrusters.

Level 13 is where it starts to get really hard. there's an enemy with homing missiles that shoots if it senses you, and you actually NEED it to sense and shoot at you in order to unlock certain doors...

Fantasy Zone playthrough log

There's a lot of different ports of this game... from the comments in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n8JtWOixwE I gathered that the 3DS version is the definitive port. it's exactly like the original arcade version, but with stereoscopic 3d.

Damn this is hard... the enemies get really numerous very quickly... I can't even figure out how to kill the first boss before he crushes me.

Chameleon Twist (N64) high playthrough log

the high scores on the practice mode are insane wtf... was this my old save file from when I played 11 years ago?
stage 1, beat it in 13 minutes with 22/25 crowns... I was pretty sure I got every crown but I guess I missed some secrets...
kinda hard to get used to the terrible depth perception in this game, especially when doing the tongue rotation move to get to tricky platforms... but no sweat so far.
I have the Nintendo Power guide for this game open, but haven't been using it other than just getting a quick preview of the first level...

level 2, ant land, that's where I started having some trouble... those infinite respawning enemies are such a nuisance.. and there's this one really hard crown to get near the end where it seems like the only way to make the jump is to pole vault from a weird angle... I've gotten game over so many times now trying to get this (and luckily there is no punishment for a gameover other time/points)... oh, but then I found out you can very easily just normal jump there... lmao.. actually I guess that's how you're supposed to avoid the onslaught of ants here... managed to get 25/25 crowns there, and 22 minutes (ranked 5th)... that queen ant boss was easy up until the last phase... her spinning around was so easy to avoid it was laughable, but in the last phase she summons so many ants that it's really hard to get a clear path to trip her with the tongue rotation.

stage 3, bomb land... the most annoying stage by far...

Guacamelee playthrough log

Started playing this on Wii U. It starts off a bit slow, especially if you're talking to every NPC in town and trying to find all the sidequests/extras before moving on...

But the game suddenly gets really good at the first "real" level. The platforming physics are fun and the various combat moves you learn throughout the game also double as agility moves that add to the platforming mechanics.

This game has a dual-world mechanic similar to LttP, with portals that seemlessly transition you between worlds. The game makes good use of this in platforming situations.

I also like how there doesn't seem to be anything like breakable/fake walls that are indistinguishable from normal walls. at least not so far. the level/map design is very fair about showing you all of the possible paths to take.


7/10/2015

Wow... I'm already near the end of the game. Only like 3 levels left on the world map that I haven't been to yet.. and 3 more abilities to unlock before I'll be able to go back through everything and finish up the game 100%.

I'm really liking the atmosphere of this game now... Starting with when I got turned into a chicken in the spirit world, that's when I noticed it... exploring the the spirit world versions of the towns really made me notice a lot of minor details too.

The game suddenly got way addicting once I gained the power to instantly transition between the worlds of living and dead. And it really is INSTANT, like there are tons of platforming sections where you you have to swap worlds back and forth mid-jump.

I like the story of the villain.. he used to be good, and then sold his soul to the devil, only to be betrayed. So he took revenge and turned the devil into a chicken, and took over as lord of the underworld, and now is trying to merge the 2 worlds together.

Aquaria playthrough log

Just started a new game on this today... I'm really enjoying it.

Naija, the Zora-like character, narrates the story to you as you progress... She lives in this isolated underwater cave area and has never thought about trying to leave... she says that she can hear the "verse" that calls out to her in this area... After some really chill exploration, I found a new verse, which teaches Naija the ability to lift rocks with her mind.

Now, all over this first area there have been rocks that could have cooking materials or new recipes hidden under them... but in order to go back and find them all again I'd need to re-explore the whole first area, and I'd have to remember which parts of the map I've re-explored, which is kind of annoying.

I also found a large stone tablet thing, which was connected to a statue of Zora people in another area that showed a four-note verse. Playing that verse at the stone tablet thing, opened up a portal to a small alternate world type area, with nothing much in it... wtf

I explored a bit deeper, and found the 2nd verse which transformed Naija into a being of pure energy... in this form, you can shoot homing fire shots at enemies, and charge up a really strong attack that can also light up those orbs which unlock certain doors. The door closed behind me after I got this ability, and I was stuck in the Energy Temple. I explored every nook and cranny of this area, but all I found was a single white orb that I could light up with energy, and I don't know what that opened up.... I retraced through the whole area, and didn't find any new passageways opened up...

Captain Silver playthrough log

Decided to try and beat this game that I played a lot when I was a kid, but never managed to make it past the first couple levels... The fact that you die from anything in one hit probably made me not want to give it a serious try. The 2nd level where you're on a boat, I barely even recognize most of it... it completely changes up all the enemies by then. It's not actually THAT hard though, surprisingly... just getting the powerups and avoiding the easy predictable enemies enough to make it to the level boss with all your lives is enough to get through it... The bosses can get kind of hard though.

Flower (PS3) high playthrough log

Played this while vaping some dank flower... I really liked playing Journey while high, hoping for a similar experience with this.

wow that 3rd level... riding the fast wind through a valley of flower...
4th level... nighttime... flowers can only be seen in light, so now when I get to a set of flowers, a firefly comes, and I make it light up all the other fireflies in the grase, then that makes street lights turn on... oh wait, now the lights are getting dimmer...
gah... it's dark and scary now... this is a lot like that part in Journey where you are dropped into a pit of darkness and despair... now I'm looking for the faintest glimmer of light to head towards...
5th level... gotta sneak around the hard to see electrified metal... getting the flowers lights up the metal and guides you to the next set of flowers...
with more and more towers lit up, it becomes easier to collect the flowers scattered on the hills...
now in another windy cavern/trench, with split path choices... failing to dodge all the metal... wait how can wind get electrified anyway?
6th level... pedal power is so huge now... can't even collect all the flowers, there's too many...
so, I'm like a magical flower virus, going around rampaging through all the mechanical city structures and other non-flower things, and turning it all into flower fields... I even turned a big electrical tower into a giant cherry tree...
7th level is the credits sequence...

This game was so fun... felt awesome covering the whole city in flowers.

Journey (PS3) high playthrough log

In this game, you're a strange 2 legged creature wearing a robe of ribbons... there are other ribbons with that same design floating around, and you call to them with a bell noise to increase your ribbon power, allowing you to temporarily fly... it's like just being in proximity to these special ribbons gives you flight power... It's like a cat designed this game...

When you don't have any ribbon power, all you can do is walk and climb up small ledges... you end up going so slowly that it just makes you give up on trying to go in any direction where there's no ribbon power to collect... The ribbons guide you on the linear path through the game.

Each... checkpoint? is like a mural printed on a wall of sand... when you light up all the monuments near it, the wall of sand opens up a tunnel... the mural is like some metaphoric religious journey or something...

Oh man... the more ribbons you set free, the more "floaty" the game feels... it starts becoming more and more of a flying game rather than a platformer... it's not about controlling the ribbons or leading them... trying to do that only gets you going the wrong way... the whole point is to follow along with the crowd of ribbons... trust that they won't lead you into danger...

But then... inside a dark mountain... you fall into the pit of darkness and despair... no ribbons in sight... but wait, I see a glimmer of light in the distance... that's the way to go! The statues lead the way... eventually I find a map on the wall, and the ribbons catch up to me and start brightening the place up and making the game more "floaty" again... There's so many ribbons here now, this sacred temple looking area is like a free-flying zone. I keep raising the level of the pool of ribbon magic, allowing me to keep flying higher and higher, and got to the next mural checkpoint...

VVVVVV high playthrough log

Wow, how did I not know about this awesome game until now... This is the perfect game to play the first playthrough while high on edibles... This soundtrack... This humor... so amazing

Rescued Violet, found the ship + teleporter hub... the others are lost somewhere in this VVVVVV dimension and can't teleport back cuz they don't know where they are in relation to where the ship is.

Found Vermilion in the tower...

If you fall up, just pick yourself down.

Doing things the hard way...

uh... should I... yeah

I love all these self aware level names... each screen has a different title... this game is genius.

Finally found the yellow guy, Vitellary... there's this cool dual-character gameplay section.
WTF flashing lsd elephant... and a very far out of the way trinket...

These parts are levels/dungeons... you can see the tiles but not the stuff inside them...
Rescued Verdigris after that Pacman-like area...

One crew member remains...

New area: Gravitron... this game officially wants me dead. At least there's a lot of checkpoints.

New area: Single Slit Experiment...

WOOOW this is amazing... these gravity flippers kind of turn it into a standard sidescrolling platformer with weird glitches... "SYNTAX ERROR" lmao

Other sailing/ocean exploration games worth playing

Wind Waker's vast ocean overworld had such a great atmosphere, it really gets you into the mood of sailing the open seas. The wind carries you across the bobbing waves, as you roam the camera around looking for islands off in the distance, and filling out your sea chart. This game was sailing done right.

In case Wind Waker leaves you thirsty for more epic maritime adventures, here's a list of other epic games involving seafaring exploration.