Delicious Fruit
Download Game Screenshots
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by Dog
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by Wolsk
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by Wolsk
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by Wolsk
11 Reviews:
kurath
The third in 128ups rukito-like trigger needle.
It definitely stays true to the source material, which unfortunately results in a lot of misses for me, but overall maintains a state as being a very competent needle game. The production is as you'd expect, with simple tilesets and backgrounds, default spikes and whimsical upbeat music. It steps it up a bit during bosses which is nice.
The bosses were much easier than the platforming and were a fun diversion but not the core of the game. Keeps up a theme of having a good arena-changing final boss, which I always get behind.
Platforming wise, this is the bulk of the game and presumably what you come for. I found the earlier game more palatable and a bit more diverse, and felt it got more frustrating and less fun as time went on. The balance was sketchy, as a few long saves really dominated the playtime and primarily just by virtue of backtracking. There were some good highlights in triggers, but it felt like much of the lategame trigger work was dominated by just that backtracking, which is where I found myself enjoying the game a lot less (Also do rukito games have to have a bad water segment?).
Its a solid continuation and a solid entry in the genre and if you're looking for more of the same, it does well. Its worth a play if you like the rukito needle style as its probably one of the more faithful in the trigger needle domain, but if not, I don't think it'll change your mind.
It definitely stays true to the source material, which unfortunately results in a lot of misses for me, but overall maintains a state as being a very competent needle game. The production is as you'd expect, with simple tilesets and backgrounds, default spikes and whimsical upbeat music. It steps it up a bit during bosses which is nice.
The bosses were much easier than the platforming and were a fun diversion but not the core of the game. Keeps up a theme of having a good arena-changing final boss, which I always get behind.
Platforming wise, this is the bulk of the game and presumably what you come for. I found the earlier game more palatable and a bit more diverse, and felt it got more frustrating and less fun as time went on. The balance was sketchy, as a few long saves really dominated the playtime and primarily just by virtue of backtracking. There were some good highlights in triggers, but it felt like much of the lategame trigger work was dominated by just that backtracking, which is where I found myself enjoying the game a lot less (Also do rukito games have to have a bad water segment?).
Its a solid continuation and a solid entry in the genre and if you're looking for more of the same, it does well. Its worth a play if you like the rukito needle style as its probably one of the more faithful in the trigger needle domain, but if not, I don't think it'll change your mind.
Tagged as: Needle
[1] Like
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 75 75
Apr 30, 2021
moogy
Last two stages are a lot harder than the rest of the game and imo also much less fun. I would say that saves in this game are a little too long for their own good on average, and this ends up getting kind of obnoxious when combined with the level of precision the needle toward the end demands. Almost every save having a choke jump (or multiple) at the end gets pretty old too.
Otherwise it's a fun Rukito clone; the actual needle design is probably closer to Rukito's own style than many of its peers, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The final boss is non-trivial and requires some reading skills, don't expect a pushover after the absurdly easy mid-boss.
[1] Like
Otherwise it's a fun Rukito clone; the actual needle design is probably closer to Rukito's own style than many of its peers, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.
The final boss is non-trivial and requires some reading skills, don't expect a pushover after the absurdly easy mid-boss.
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 72 72
Apr 9, 2021
ElCochran90
*Cleared on 25/09/2023*
Perhaps it was the reviewing exercise of detailing my main complaints of 128 and 512 that will keep this review shorter, even if this is the entry that I found the most enjoyable out of the trilogy (does 724-ish count? Can we leave that as a “short-film-like” extension of the trilogy, like the godawful Disney’s Frozen short films?).
This was much easier and entertaining than 512. Many sins are still present: the Rukito-like aesthetics is an acquired taste and has never been my thing (not a sin, that’s more about me), there are traps, the last stages ramp up the difficulty, the are choke jumps right at the end of many saves, and the difficulty balance is not that balanced. Some random save in an intermediate section can be frustrating and harder than anything preceding it and following it within the stage: the most notorious example of this is the left vine jump you must pull off in Screen 3 of Stage 7, right at the bottom left. This overall save was so annoying (including this jump) it made me postpone finishing the game for like a week, and returning to it felt more like a self-imposed chore than what you’re supposed to feel when returning to a game. Also, the fact you must climb the vertical corridor with vines two times was just a no, and that is not even the ending of the save.
However, let’s get to the positive side and be less Cochran for a while. It has spirit, the bosses are a nice moment from 128-Up where you’re said “ye, here’s something different so take a break”. There are two bosses this time, so this is the game that follows even more the overall Rukito structure. 128-Up also places a lot of emphasis on what could be potential lazy level design: sometimes a gate has a wider window opportunity frame than 4 or 5 frames. The second screen of the first stage was an “oh-nah-a-carner-jamp” and we can’t even complain about it since it gives you the perfect align and positioning to make it. There’s a two-frame window, like a gate, for doing it, so it’s fun. This screen also has the best example I want to give about this: it’s considerate with the player. Consider the final save of Stage 1, which has said corner. When you go to the right side of the wall, you activate a trigger which opens a new route, and for coming back, the next thing you have to do is double jump all the way down to the bottom of the screen (beginning from the tile right to the middle cherry). If you’re observant, the trigger also did something convenient for your backtrack: the spike facing downwards (just left to the corner) gets nerfed, so it’s not a strict diagonal anymore: you can hug that wall and then time your arrival to the bottom block. Any lazy designer would leave it as it is and call it “added challenge”, but here, you see a creator aware of the length of the saves and the consistency required. This kind of “consideration” happens many times, but that’s the first thing you’ll find.
And to close this review, we have the core idea: this is a trigger game. Traps are less heavy, so I’m finally not tagging it as such. The path that opens with each new trigger is the way you head to, and it IS the place you were supposed to go. You then witness the screen reshaping to a new form: small arrangement changes can lead to big changes in platforming. This is how you do trigger. It’s well done. No more “jump all the way hugging this absolute random wall” or “I had a hidden fake block exit to pass the save lol” trash. Everything is intuitive and the trigger hitboxes are much more fair.
Ironically, while being the best of the series, this one doesn’t have something as grand as the last genius screen of 256, but it is what it is: the culmination of 128’s distinctive trigger implementation to Rukito’s (ugly) aesthetics.
[0] Likes
Perhaps it was the reviewing exercise of detailing my main complaints of 128 and 512 that will keep this review shorter, even if this is the entry that I found the most enjoyable out of the trilogy (does 724-ish count? Can we leave that as a “short-film-like” extension of the trilogy, like the godawful Disney’s Frozen short films?).
This was much easier and entertaining than 512. Many sins are still present: the Rukito-like aesthetics is an acquired taste and has never been my thing (not a sin, that’s more about me), there are traps, the last stages ramp up the difficulty, the are choke jumps right at the end of many saves, and the difficulty balance is not that balanced. Some random save in an intermediate section can be frustrating and harder than anything preceding it and following it within the stage: the most notorious example of this is the left vine jump you must pull off in Screen 3 of Stage 7, right at the bottom left. This overall save was so annoying (including this jump) it made me postpone finishing the game for like a week, and returning to it felt more like a self-imposed chore than what you’re supposed to feel when returning to a game. Also, the fact you must climb the vertical corridor with vines two times was just a no, and that is not even the ending of the save.
However, let’s get to the positive side and be less Cochran for a while. It has spirit, the bosses are a nice moment from 128-Up where you’re said “ye, here’s something different so take a break”. There are two bosses this time, so this is the game that follows even more the overall Rukito structure. 128-Up also places a lot of emphasis on what could be potential lazy level design: sometimes a gate has a wider window opportunity frame than 4 or 5 frames. The second screen of the first stage was an “oh-nah-a-carner-jamp” and we can’t even complain about it since it gives you the perfect align and positioning to make it. There’s a two-frame window, like a gate, for doing it, so it’s fun. This screen also has the best example I want to give about this: it’s considerate with the player. Consider the final save of Stage 1, which has said corner. When you go to the right side of the wall, you activate a trigger which opens a new route, and for coming back, the next thing you have to do is double jump all the way down to the bottom of the screen (beginning from the tile right to the middle cherry). If you’re observant, the trigger also did something convenient for your backtrack: the spike facing downwards (just left to the corner) gets nerfed, so it’s not a strict diagonal anymore: you can hug that wall and then time your arrival to the bottom block. Any lazy designer would leave it as it is and call it “added challenge”, but here, you see a creator aware of the length of the saves and the consistency required. This kind of “consideration” happens many times, but that’s the first thing you’ll find.
And to close this review, we have the core idea: this is a trigger game. Traps are less heavy, so I’m finally not tagging it as such. The path that opens with each new trigger is the way you head to, and it IS the place you were supposed to go. You then witness the screen reshaping to a new form: small arrangement changes can lead to big changes in platforming. This is how you do trigger. It’s well done. No more “jump all the way hugging this absolute random wall” or “I had a hidden fake block exit to pass the save lol” trash. Everything is intuitive and the trigger hitboxes are much more fair.
Ironically, while being the best of the series, this one doesn’t have something as grand as the last genius screen of 256, but it is what it is: the culmination of 128’s distinctive trigger implementation to Rukito’s (ugly) aesthetics.
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: 82 82
Nov 12, 2023
Yiaz
8 stage trigger needle game with 2 bosses. The platforming is for the most part really fun, with a lot of moving obstacles sprinkled in as well and the platforming feeling pretty satisfying to pull off. Most of the triggers just change the platforming layout to make you be able to access the parts where u need to go, but some of them also give off the rukito feeling and make you actually react to things and from time to time there is also that one trigger that just straight out owns you. But it's all in good fun. My only real complaint is that the final stage felt quite a bit harder than the rest and had imo way too bright background and tiles. But other than that the game was really fun. Would defintely recommend
[0] Likes
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 72 72
Apr 7, 2021