It’s not often I pick up a game based solely on a tweet, or find myself so enthralled by a game that I need to review it just to see more people talking about it, but here we are! Garage: Bad Dream Adventure came out on iOS and Android for the first time in English on December 16, 2021, and despite being an obscure Japanese video game with a unique, unsettling vibe, I’d never heard about it before my Twitter friend @furnuss posted about the release. (Update: As of July 2022, it is also available on PC!)
Immediately intrigued, I read up on the original game from 1999 and its journey to finally being released in English and knew I had to check it out. Since there seems to be very little talk about this exciting release, I had to share the news and my thoughts after fully completing the game!
Pixel x Pixel episode 79 rings in the new year with a live show recorded on December 31st US time / January 1st Australia time! Since this was an extra-special episode, we did things a little bit differently than usual, with Media Minutes coming first, no news, and a whole section dedicated to the media we enjoyed most in 2021, from films to video games (and even a manga special mention!)
If you’d prefer to watch the video version which includes our lovely faces, you can do so at over on Anne’s YouTube channel.
49:00 – Media Minutes: Garage: Bad Dream Adventure, Snowmance, Jingle all the Way, Single All the Way, The Princess Switch, Hush, Gerald’s Game, The Head Hunter, Pink Flamingos
Marcus’ favorite media of 2021: Yentl (1983), Edge of Seventeen (1998), Ms. 45 (1981), Titane (2021), Shiva Baby (2020), Garage: Bad Dream Adventure, Bustafellows, DJMax Respect V
Anne’s favorite media of 2021: X-Files, The Terror, Beastars, Thunderbolt Fantasy season 3, Candyman (1992), Monster Hunter Rise, Resident Evil Village, Olympia Soiree, Raging Loop, Garage: Bad Dream Adventure, DRAMAtical Murder
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
Pixel x Pixel episode 78 is here to bring you some festive cheer! Marcus shares a Collector’s Cabinet on Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City and a Checking the Score article on Princess Maker 2, and Anne has big news in the form of a brand new next-generation console. Plus, we watch both Wicker Man films together and have lots of things to say about them, an obscure Japanese PC game comes out in English for the first time ever, and Japan’s hottest game where Disney villains are transformed into cute boys gets an English announcement. We hope the final days of the year bring you joy wherever you are, and whatever you choose to celebrate, or not celebrate!
9:00 – Media Minutes: The Rental, The Green Knight, The House of Fata Morgana, Under the Skin (PS2), Garage: Bad Dream Adventure, Wicker Man (1973, 2006) 41:00 – Notable News: Kickstarter blockchain future, Twisted Wonderland English release January 20, Cupid Parasite patch live, PS Vita 10 year anniversary, Game Award things
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
Episode 77 of Pixel x Pixel is finally the episode where Anne becomes a cat! It all makes sense when you listen, promise. Marcus is still human (for now), but he’s got a extra-special sale haul to tell us all about, along with a movie that might make you think twice about going to an Airbnb. Anne finally watched Squid Game so prepare for some potentially minor spoiler discussion, and she continues to keep her finger on the pulse by playing the Inscyption demo. Then, the pair finally have to talk about NFTs and get really mad.
14:00 – Superhost, Inscryption demo, Squid Game, The Terror 36:00 – Enigma Archives: RAIN CODE announced, Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei summer 2022 release, Miyuki Ono’s Pure translation NFT, Epic Games bought Harmonix
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
It’s a special (unplanned) Thanksgiving episode of Pixel x Pixel! Sit down with a tasty snack and enjoy two friends talking about the things they love. Marcus discusses his Checking the Score piece on Into the Pit, Anne gushes about her superhero research and recently-published article, the pair dish their full thoughts on Titane after watching it together, and lots more!
14:00 – Switch, Titane, Pikmin Bloom, Eternals, Good Omens 58:00 – Grand Theft Auto remasters, Activision debacle continues, UUUltra C BL game localization announced, Goemon Zero lost localization
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
Abs, abs and more abs in this episode of Pixel x Pixel with Cupid Parasite out now on Nintendo Switch! Marcus prepares a Collector’s Cabinet article on the extravagant limited edition bundle, and Anne shares her first impressions in her own blog post. Plus, Anne regales the tale of a Star Wars costume party, and her homemade Ewok costume! Then, Marcus has thoughts about two films that start with “T,” and it turns out there is something about that Animal Crossing: New Horizons update to entice Anne back…
20:00 – Titane, Twister, Nightmare on Elm Street 38:00 – Maglam Lord localization announced, Super Sami Roll out on Switch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons update, Community Game-Along 2022 themes announced
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
Idea Factory International’s first otome game localization in years, Cupid Parasite, is out today in North America, and Europe on November 5! This romantic comedy otome game is full of vibrant colors and a really fun retro pop Americana vibe, which is why I’ve had it on my radar since it came out in Japan. To celebrate this exciting release, I’ll be sharing some first impressions of the game, with a full review coming once I’ve completed all routes.
In Cupid Parasite, you play as Lynette Mirror, a top advisor for the marriage agency Cupid Corporation who takes on the 5 toughest clients at the company, known as the Parasite 5. Lynette has one thing up her sleeve, though – she’s the actual mythological goddess Cupid, and she’s come down to earth to prove to her father Mars that she doesn’t need godly powers to succeed at matchmaking humans.
The members of Parasite 5 have a range of extreme “quirks,” from the Thieving Parasite Allan who’s only interested in girls who already have partners to Ryuki, the Glamor Parasite who won’t even acknowledge a woman’s presence if she doesn’t satisfy his strict beauty ranking system. But Lynette isn’t going to let that stop her, and soon the group find themselves at the center of a sharehouse reality show focused on finding the Parasite 5 love!
So far, I’ve played through Ryuki’s route, which is generally recommended as one of the routes to start with because it’s pretty self-contained. On your first playthrough, the only characters available are Ryuki, Shelby, and Gill, and after your second playthrough the ability to play Allan and Raul’s routes will be unlocked. After clearing all five of these characters, there’s one more secret character route at the end. While I’ve seen some variation in the suggested route order, it seems like Ryuki, Shelby, and Gill are pretty interchangeable, while Allan should be saved for last due to the story elements in his route.
While I can’t yet comment on the story as a whole, I’m quite enjoying this game as a lighthearted palette cleanser after Olympia Soirée. Though both games are heavily focused on marriage, Cupid Parasite is so goofy it’s hard to take seriously most of the time. In fact, the Parasite 5 are all pretty unlikeable from the beginning, at least for me, so the game’s fun really comes from discovering the charming side of each of the characters.
Ryuki, in particular, is extremely difficult to like at first due to his focus on beauty, to the point that he won’t even speak to people he feels aren’t pretty enough for him to associate with. While his behavior is quite toxic, the whole game plays everything off sillily enough that I didn’t take him very seriously, but at times it still made me rather uncomfortable, and I can see him really turning off some players. Despite this, I still found him growing on me more than I expected over the course of his route!
It’s important to note that as of this post, and the launch of the game, Ryuki and Raul’s routes have unedited English text in them. Idea Factory International has announced it will be patching this, along with any text overflow, in about four weeks. For their full statement, see below.
— Idea Factory International (@IdeaFactoryIntl) October 29, 2021
Unfortunately, these textual issues are quite apparent in the latter half of Ryuki’s route, with pronouns being mixed up and many rough lines of text. Since IFI has already announced they are addressing these issues, if you can wait for the patch or want to play through other routes first, such as Shelby and Gill, I would recommend doing that. I’m not saying the game is unplayable by any means, but I did feel the unedited text in Ryuki’s route marred the experience for me.
An example of the rough text and overflow in Ryuki’s route
I’m planning on replaying the latter half Ryuki’s route after the patch is implemented to see how it’s been updated. It’s a shame, but IFI has shown great transparency by sharing exactly what sections of the game are affected and how/when they will be fixing it.
For now, I’m looking forward to playing through the rest of the routes in this extremely fun and silly otome game!