Nintendowife

Life is good. It's the first day of my summer vacation. 6 weeks of taking it easy ahead! I'm well prepared for lazy times.

I got a restaurant gift card from work as a thanks for 5 years of employment in the company. Very nice gesture and most of the restaurants / cafés the gift card is valid for are conveniently on our daily walking routes.

I got a bunch of new games to play during the summer:

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity

Magical Princess

Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

The House in Fata Morgana: Dreams of the Revenants Edition

Touhou: New World

Rise of the Third Power

Valheim

Lost & Found Co.

RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business

Suika Game (+ summery duck pond DLC)

Got way too many considering my significant backlog but some of the sale percentages were a bit too tempting to pass. My husband gifted Valheim to me in hopes that I'd help him in the Ashlands. Maybe he needs my character to lay as a carpet on lava so he can safely hop over to retrieve resources.

I started playing Suika Game on Switch and I find it a lot more difficult than Suika Game Planet. So far I've managed to create only one watermelon and it was by accident. I haven't figured out a good strategy yet.

I also started Lost & Found Co. on PC yesterday. After a couple of initial restrictive levels the game opened up and I found it a really enjoyable hidden object game. There's plenty of humor and we already got a good laugh out of some of the events. Baby getting insane muscles from milk, vampire set on fire as soon as their parasol was stolen, mummy shopping for toilet paper, etc. The cartoonish art direction is very nice - lots of cool details and the use of animation is really nice touch.

And lastly I got some nice decor to my desk and bookshelf from a local card shop. They had fantastic service. We asked for a few specific Pokémon TCG cards and they notified us as soon as they got those in their selections. I got Mega Clefable EX and Clefairy illustration rares from the Perfect Order set. The Slakoth card has such an appropriate illustration and text to mark the start of our summer vacation and depicts our activity plans perfectly. The cute Japanese Galarian Cursola V card I came across browsing binders and wanted to take it home with me. I've had Cursola in my Pokémon Shield double battle team and it's one of my new favorites - cute but deadly in a Trick Room team.

Now that the prerequisites for a pleasant vacation time are in place, I'm just hoping for nice weather. The last couple of days have been rainy and cool. Even though I got plenty of games to play indoors, I'd like to go outside and enjoy fresh air and sunshine too!

Life advice as you get older.

You have ascended to level 16. You've been trying too hard, thinking too much. Relax. Trust your instincts. Just be yourself. Do the little things, and the big things take care of themselves.

You have ascended to level 18. Today you suddenly realize the life you've been living, the punishment your body has taken -- there are limits to what the body can do, and perhaps you have reached them. You've wondered what it is like to grow old. Well, now you know.

You have ascended to level 20. Life isn't over. You can still get smarter, or cleverer, or more experienced, or meaner -- but your body and soul just aren't going to get any younger.

Would some nice company please pick up Handsome Laundering for an English localization? It got a Japanese release for Nintendo Switch in March 2026 by publisher Edia Co. Ltd.

Art by Yuuya (Café Enchanté, Cupid Parasite, 9 RIP, HanaKare...), two adult protagonists and a cast of popular voice actors such as Nobuhiko Okamoto, Ryouhei Kimura and Kaito Ishikawa should excite a lot of otome enthusiasts.

I completed Crystar on PC a few days ago. I got the game recently for 90% off and found it a pleasant surprise. I ended up completing the game, doing 3 playthroughs for true ending and getting all the achievements.

The protagonist Rei Hatada finds herself in afterlife, Purgatory. Souls that end up there slowly descent to the deepest parts of the Purgatory where they will reach reincarnation. To her surprise Rei finds her little sister Mirai in the very same Purgatory.

Rei is offered a deal by demon twins: if she becomes an "Executor", her sister will be brought back to life. Rei is ordered to kill Revenants, souls that have broken the rules of Purgatory. Delivering seven "Ideas" from the Revenants is required for Mirai's revival. Rei accepts the deal to save her dear sister.

If Rei doesn't hurry and carry out her mission, Mirai will reach the deepest depths of Purgatory and get reincarnated - which means losing her memories along with her identity and being reborn in a new body.

What first caught my eye were the nice character designs and art direction. There's this magical girl vibe when Rei suits up for battle. The Japanese voice acting was good, as was the music. The opening theme is a banger!

Gameplay felt effortless and fun. You delve into the Purgatory where you traverse maps level by level. Combat is somewhat fast-paced hack and slash style with special skills you can activate in addition to regular button mashing. There's four playable characters each with their own fighting style and skills. You can swap characters during battle. Combat mechanics and game systems weren't too complicated so it was smooth sailing. I've seen complaints about too few enemy models but that didn't bother me.

There's some unusual game mechanics. Rei can basically grow stronger by crying. Inside Purgatory, crying fills up a power gauge that lets her unleash her Guardian that will help in fights. When returning home, crying will purify Torments, painful memories that latch onto Rei as she kills enemies in Purgatory. Upon purification Torments will transform into Sentiments, equipment that can be used to boost Rei's and her party members' offensive and defensive capabilities.

I enjoyed the game's nice quality of life features: auto-sprint after running for a few seconds, auto-use of healing items, toggle for translucent overlay map in place of minimap, etc. Sadly there was no way to skip cutscenes / dialogue which would have been a welcome feature when replaying some levels to get all collectibles.

The story went to interesting places and changed slightly on different playthroughs, slowly revealing the truth of the events. Three playthroughs are required for true ending. Subsequent playthroughs are shorter and can be made faster to clear by lowering difficulty. The second ending was my favorite and I have to applaud the writers. Unfortunately I found the first and true endings a bit too "vanilla" for my tastes.

The themes in the game may not be suitable for everyone (e.g. suicide references and psychological disorders). I personally liked how the game wasn't afraid to include sensitive themes. It was a nice window into human psyche and what some people are willing to do for one reason or another.

I've grown fond of the publisher Furyu's output as they aren't afraid of taking risks. They release entertaining games that aren't super polished but they often have this peculiar charm that appeals to me. Crystar is another shining example of this.

It took me 52 hours to finish three playthroughs and get all the achievements, which includes collecting all memoirs of the dead. Even though the true ending wasn't that much to my liking, I found the game enjoyable to play and I appreciate the experience it offered.

Your game was Coming Soon. Coming to consoles finally! Some will say you're graphically not good, but I don't mind. Won't change the way I feel watching your ending credits roll!

My picks for the Pokémon grid thing that's been doing the rounds here lately. Tough choices.

Favorite: Eelektross. Great and versatile Pokémon with nice design.

2nd favorite: Clefairy. So adorable and great support in double battles.

Least favorite: Cradily? I don't have a clear least favorite so went with something that popped into mind first.

Underrated: Cinccino. Just won the Master Ball rank Battle Tower with Cinccino in my double battle team. Surprisingly strong and nice coverage.

Overrated: Metagross. I remember times when online battles were filled with these. I slaughtered them with my Eelektross (unless the players rage quit first).

Best starter: Pikachu. Such an iconic cutie.

Best Dynamax: Alcremie. Cool design concept. Very good Pokémon in doubles.

Best Mega: Mega Houndoom. I haven't seen all the new megas but I like this one. Reminds me of my late dogs.

Best region variant: (Galarian) Cursola. So cute and cool concept. A monstrous sweeper in Trick Room team as well.

Best eeveelution: Vaporeon. Bulky, good move selection, pretty cute.

Would have as a pet: Alolan Meowth. I've always liked how it looks and I'd most likely go with a cat as a pet.

Best looking shiny: Dedenne. I recently got one and it's adorable with great color combo.

Idk why I like this, but I do: Shiny Trevenant. Well, I do know why I like it - nice colors and rather cool design. Shiny variant clearly differs from the regular too.

Has a personal story behind it: Ninetales. Perhaps my favorite back when I played the Gen 1 games. I recently returned to my roots and got a Ninetales for my doubles team.

More shinies in Pokémon Shield! I was in the process of breeding some critters for a double battle team to go with the shiny Dedenne I caught.

Funnily my husband asked me if I've ever managed to breed any shiny Pokémon. I replied that no, I hadn't managed to hatch any shinies from eggs in any game. Then suddenly the next day I got not one but two shinies! I only had Shiny Charm, no other boost for shiny odds.

Ah, yes. Just my luck. The moment I use a regular Poké Ball to catch something in Pokémon Shield Dynamax Adventures, the creature ends up being a shiny... You don't know if the caught Pokémon is shiny until at the end of the Dynamax Adventure run when checking the Pokémons' summaries and selecting the one you want to keep.

I caught a shiny Dedenne with a hidden ability. And of course Dedenne also happens to have a very nice looking shiny variation. Now I regret not using an Ultra Ball, Luxury Ball or Premier Ball that would have fit the aesthetics a lot better.

Here's a screenshot of a regular wild Dedenne and my chocolate brown shiny Dedenne for comparison.

I returned to Pokémon Shield on Nintendo Switch a few weeks ago. I had gotten the game at launch and finished the main story in 2020, but wasn't inspired to do much more back then. Now 6 years later I thought it would be nice to go back and try to fill the Pokédex.

When I returned to the game in March, my original save file had only 58 hours of play time and 218 Pokémon in Pokédex. So I had gone with pretty much the bare minimum to finish it. Now 3 weeks later my save file has over 213 hours clocked in and I managed to get all 400 Pokémon to complete my Pokédex! My husband helped me by trading version exclusive creatures from his copy of Pokémon Sword.

I've had my winter vacation week together with the Easter holidays, so I've had plenty of time to dedicate to catching 'em all.

The last Pokémon I needed for my Pokédex was Mimikyu and I joked to my husband that it will probably corrupt my save file, knowing its tendencies to put a curse on someone... Luckily my save file is still fine!

I bought the two expansions, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra that added a good amount of new story content and other activities. So part of that 213 hours went to playing the new additional content. Very enjoyable stuff with fun gameplay, new characters and Pokémon!

I finished both expansions' main story but still have some content left to play in both. I'm about to finish upgrading the Isle of Armor Dojo fully - just 200 000 watts left to donate to unlock a powerful opponent to fight. I still have majority of the Dynamax Adventures game mode to finish in Crown Tundra so I'll be continuing with that too.

I spent a good chunk of time breeding a nice "competitive" double battle team with good IVs, natures, aesthetic Pokéballs, etc. I realized I had never had Alcremie before so wanted to get one. I specifically aimed for the Caramel Swirl + Ribbon Sweet variation. I managed to breed one with great IVs and I got the Gigantamax Factor for it too, so it can transform into a ginormous cake in battles.

I decided to go for a Trick Room team, so I bred a full team of Pokémon with "No good" in Speed IV and EV trained each of them. I'm especially fond of Runerigus and Cursola which work really nicely in the team. Runerigus has a cool concept with intriguing lore. Cursola is just very cute and has a monstrous Sp.Atk. Clefairy is the only Pokémon I've had in my team previously, all the others are new to me.

The names of my team members have a patisserie theme. Rum-flavored Runeberg torte is my favorite Finnish pastry. Bébé is a small pink pastry, an old Finnish classic I often ate when I was a kid.