We’re back for another episode of Pixel x Pixel, but also back from an exciting Aksys Games stream celebrating all of the new otome game announcements from Anime Expo. Plus, some very big news from Anne was announced on the stream! (You can watch the full stream recording here) While Anne has been busy working on the updated Norn9: Var Commons localization, Marcus was having quite the saga procuring his desired copy of the Saya no Uta vinyl. In addition, both watched the super-adorable Heartstopper series on Netflix, and Marcus gets to bring out his “#1 PS2 Fan” shirt for some hot new PS2-related news.
21:00 – Media Minutes: Amatsutsumi, Heartstopper, Perfect Propose, Elden Ring 58:00 – Notable News: Retro Fighters wireless PS2 controller released, Amnesia Memories and Later x Crowd release date announced, Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 announced, Tactics Ogre remaster leak*, Nier: Automata church mystery *note: this episode was recorded before Tactics Ogre Reborn was officially announced
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
Hope you like a podcast you can really sink your teeth into, because this is a juicy one! Marcus has finally gotten his hands on a Steam Deck and has all the details on how Valve isn’t living up to their “every game you own will work” bargain. Not only that, but he went to RuPaul’s DragCon and a drag king show and is ready to report back on the festivities! Meanwhile, Anne has finally returned to playing one of the highest-rated games of all time… House in Fata Morgana! Plus, stick around for a very heated Notable News – we promise you don’t want to miss out on this one!
Hello February, hello new episode of Pixel x Pixel! We’ve got some big gaming news to discuss, but before that, Marcus announces his latest and greatest solo podcast venture and the Pupperazzi review he’s been working on! Meanwhile, Anne has fully embraced the life of an artiste and is fully boosted against COVID-19 (complete with a weird side effect). There’s also the return of a fan-favorite segment where Marcus gets, shall we say, steamed, plus the introduction of a brand new segment for Passions soap opera updates!
17:00 – Media Minutes: Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Hereditary, Ask Iwata, Piofiore: Fated Memories, Come to Daddy, Gerald’s Game, Passions Preamble (RIP Sheridan) 52:00 – Notable News: Seven Seas launches new imprint Steamship, SEGA arcades no more, Steam Deck launches February 25th, Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta
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
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!
It’s time for a very spooky episode of Pixel x Pixel, complete with discussions of horror games, horror movies, and the biggest horror of them all… Marcus getting steamed at Steam! Marcus also continues to be a tech handyman while also writing a Checking the Score article on G-Darius and Collector’s Cabinet article on the Sengoku Rancelimited edition. Meanwhile, Anne didn’t create much of anything aside from the Olympia Soirée review she promised last episode, but it’s finally here!
20:00 – Squid Game, Supernatural, Angels of Death, The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, The House in Fata Morgana 45:00 – Valve Steamdeck verified system, Valve bans NFT games, Abaddon: Princess of Decay launch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 and DLC
♫ “Willie Lomans,” “5 minutes pleasure,” and “6 pence and moon” from Alphabet Planet by Hiroki Kikuta