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
Olympia Soiréeis the latest in Aksys Games’ lineup of localized otome games from Japanese publisher Otomate, and it comes with an extremely high pedigree. Featuring art from acclaimed otome game artist Satoi (Diabolik Lovers, Ozmafia!!, Nil Admirari), a team including Nil Admiari‘s director Tanabe Wataru and scenario writer Yuma Katagiri, and an all-star cast of voice actors and a compelling fantasy narrative, it’s no wonder this release came with a lot of fanfare!
In Olympia Soirée, you play as Olympia, a young woman who is the last remaining survivor of her clan, and as a result, is the sole bearer of her clan’s duty to perform a ritual dance to keep the sun shining on the world. On her 18th birthday, she is finally able to enter society as a woman of marriageable age. However, the world is governed by a strict class structure, where people of different color clans are segregated and treated differently based on the color they are born into, with “colorless” people and criminals who break the class rules relegated to the underground world of Yomi.
Neko Works, creators of the popular NEKOPARA series of visual novels about cute catgirls in cafes, made more than a few catboy fans very excited and then extremely disappointed back in 2019 when they revealed NEKOPARA – Catboys Paradise as an April Fool’s joke. But two years later, in a surprising turn of events, Neko Works announced that they were making the game “for real” due to fan interest! The free game was released today and I’ve had the pleasure to play through all the routes. I’m happy to report that it is indeed very cute and earnest, showing that Neko Works can cater to catboy as well as catgirl lovers.
In NEKOPARA – Catboys Paradise, you’re a young adult woman who has taken over running her late grandfather’s cafe (sound familiar?). To help you run the cafe are four live-in catboy employees who apparently go to school to learn how to be good catboys and prepare for a life of being owned by a human. In terms of story, it’s pretty rudimentary and really just a setting for you to watch cute interactions with the characters, as the game can be completed in 2 or so hours, depending on your reading speed. But despite this, I found myself surprisingly charmed by the four different characters and was really happy to find Catboys Paradise to be an earnest, polished experience despite its origins as an April Fool’s joke.
Of the four characters, I most enjoyed the route for “rare” male calico Dill, who loves fashion and makeup and is the “younger brother” type of the group. Fennel, the glasses-wearing butler-like cat who enjoys things like reading and Japanese history, was also a highlight. Each character has two CGs, and the routes involve getting to know them better as you and your employees learn the ins and outs of running a business on the fly. None of the routes have any real closure to them, but instead act as introductions to the world and characters, making the game feel almost like the prologue chapter of an otome game. Even so, the writing (with a solid English translation!), art, and voice acting were all so charming that I didn’t mind playing through the equivalent of a video game candy bar (short and sweet!).
Catboys Paradise doesn’t have any player choices outside of which character’s route to read through, but it includes a fun variety of reactions from the player’s perspective such as nodding in response to things the characters say. But since the experience is free and so short, I’ll refrain from saying much more and encourage you to go check it out for yourself on PC, iOS or Android. Keep in mind that unlike the NEKOPARA games, which have adult content, this game is a completely PG experience.
I hope that NEKOPARA – Catboys Paradise does well for Neko Works and encourages them to do more content with male characters in the future! If they keep up this level of polish, they have the potential to make some really enjoyable titles.
Café Enchanté is the latest in a growing list of otome game localizations for the Nintendo Switch by Aksys Games, and right off the bat, it had me hook, line, and sinker. Coffee? Check. Monster boys? Check. Stellar development team? Check. With gorgeous art by Yuuya (Cupid Parasite), a scenario by staff who also worked on Code Realize, and a narrative centering around a quaint cafe with other-worldly patrons, I had high hopes for this one right off the bat. Read on for my full, spoiler-free review!
