Whether they're shedding on your carpet, peering at you distrustfully from beneath a warming rock, or vomiting on your shoe in the middle of the night so you don't discover it until you put your foot in it the following morning, there's no denying animals are rad. That's why it's a creature feature on this week's Link Dump Friday, which features all manner of animals, up to and including two birds, a fish, and two cats. Variety! Featuring avian dexterity, exploding marine life, lost kittens, and more, this week is dedicated to all the animal lovers out there.
Temple Glider - Apparently, this bird's definition of "walk like an Egyptian" (waoooh, waooooh!) is different than ours. Press and hold the [arrow] keys in either direction to take off, and you'll gain height as long as you're flying that way. The goal is to make your way to the sarcophagus at the end of each stage, flying through glittery rings to increase your score, and not destroyed by any number of pitfalls that await. If it helps, you can pretend you're Star Fox.
Squawk - Real parrots are absolutely terrifying, what with their beaks that can cut through bone and whatnot, but you'd be hard-pressed to be intimidated by the roly-poly bird in this little game of avoidance and reflexes from Nitrome. Using the pegs that pop up around the screen, help your little ball of beak and feathers roll around the screen, staying away from obstacles and collecting coins. Gosh that's cute. Almost looks as though he wouldn't rather bite of your earlobe as soon as he would look at you, doesn't he?
w00t Fish - The touching, Oprah's Book List story of some chat speak, a fish, and the pink goo he wants to bathe in. Although he looks rather rubbery, the fish himself is actually fairly explosive, and bumping him against any surface results in disaster. The goal is to carefully use his rockets to propel him into the pit of pink stuff. Requiring a light touch and a lot of patience, it's an exceptionally good looking little avoider, but potentially a very frustrating one.
Stray Cat - Minoto has a history of making weird, silly, and even downright baffling games, but this one tackles a very important issue; lost kittens, which is always serious business. It also involves a devil under a rain cloud, a suspicious individual, and a... uh... mole (I think) in a hard hat. Which is actually one of the most sensible things to come out of a Minoto title. Featuring the trademark charm and obscure (read: barely there) logic we all know and love, it's another short, abstract puzzle apparently designed solely to bring a grin to your face.
Yura&Myu Escape 1 - Continuing our all-of-a-sudden tradition of offering escape games whenever possible with your Link Dump Friday brew, we bring you this short little gem about a pink cat who's been locked in a room because... uh... well, I don't honestly know. Although it's not translated into English, you don't actually need to read anything to be able to complete it. We're just going to go ahead and assume that the cat is actually a super secret spy cat, and was locked inside by his arch nemesis Colonel Fluffbottom. (Pink Cat to be voiced by Sean Connery, Colonel Fluffbottom to be played by Steve Buscemi.)
I'm stuck on Minoto's new game. I have the syringe, the boomerang, and the powder from the raccoon demolition. XP
Jayglo - have you tried combining things you have collected in your inventory?
Jayglo:
Tried using some of your items together?
Any help on the Cat Escape?
I have the clue for the picture but the order it shows doesn't work. I have both the book clue and the ripped corner of the page
Thanks!
Gave up on Temple Glider on level 3. For some reason Nitrome decided a while ago that only giving the player indirect control was a good idea, so now all their gameplay is reduced to fighting with the control system.
Review nitpick: "Press and how" -> "Press and hold"
JIGGuest, re cat picture:
note the picture on the torn piece and the number above it
I actually thought the "press and how" thing was charming, like the item descriptions in the Minoto games.
Nitrome games never had the lasting power for a full review anyway.
Oh, and apparently Colonel Fluffbottom is throwing a party, because that's where our pink protagonist cat was in a rush to get to. The scroll you find with the key at the end is the invitation that you're supposed to bring with you.
My goodness, I typed the whole thing out... sigh.
My very limited Japanese tells me that in the start of the Yura & Myu escape game, a party and a door is mentioned (so helpful, no?).
Anyway, I have found and used so far
Feather duster and piece of paper
In trash can. Ew, everything is so pink.
Ruler
On book shelf
Key for the pink box
Click on the side of the book shelf, you'll need the ruler to reach it and the feather duster to clean it off
Orange key and ... pencil I think
In pink box
Water
In the left drawer of the desk, opened by the orange key
Green key
Use the water on the flowers on the windowsill to get it
Pencil or piece of paper with a cat on it
You should have this from one of the locked boxes/drawers. Click on the third book from the left in the book shelf to see the apparently not working order of clicking things related to the picture hanging on the wall.
Use the pencil on the blank piece of paper. Some sort of code using the first letters of each number when it's written?
When you click on the pillow, it says masaka... apparently that basically means "well, I never!", so that's not particularly helpful.
I've never been good at escape games. Let me know if you get further.
Cat Escape Walkthrough
You find yourself standing in front of a door - it's closed, of course. First, turn right and look into the waste bin. Take the piece of paper and the feather duster. Examine the rest of the scene. At the moment, there's nothing to to here.
Turn to your right. You see flowers on the window board, but there's nothing you can do with them.Turn right once again. In the shelf lies a ruler and you can look into one of the books. Remember these hints - the hint on the second page seems to have something to do with the picture we saw earlier, right?
Now take a look into the right corner of the scene, behind the shelf. You find a key, and with some help of you feather duster, you can use it on the little box in the middle of the shelf.
In that box you find a key with a yellow handle and a piece of paper that fit's the second hint-page of that book! So, let's try this combination of signs on the picture.
Go to the scene with the picture and click on the symbols: First, click at the upper left corner, then the bottom right corner, after that the upper right, then the bottom left corner, and last, click at the middle of the picture.
Oh, now the picture's gone, but you are expected to type in a number code... so better look for additional hints.
Stay in that scene and open the left drawer of the desk with your yellow-handled key. You find a bottle of water. Remember the flowers? Let's do something good to them.
It's not only for the benefit of the flowers - you find a green-handled key in the vase, when you fill the water in!
Now go back left to try that key on the right drawer. There's a pencil in it. Use it on the blank piece of paper you found at the beginning to reveal a helpful hint. Combine it with the hint on the book's first page to find out the code for the safe behind the picture.
0 = Z
1 = O
2 = T
Think about it, it's no Japanese, but something very familiar to you.
0 = Z(ero)
1 = O(ne)
2 = T(wo)
3 = T(hree)
and so on...
But what combination is asked for? In the book you read the hint: "ONE"
You get the word "ONE" from the combination of
1 = One
9 = Nine
8 = Eight
Open the safe to find the key to the door and a letter (which I can't read due to my poor knowledge of the Japanese language - but maybe you can? ^^). You're free!
@ JIGuest
Did you click heart, club, diamond, spade, cat?
That order worked for me.
That Stray Cat gamle ended quite suddenly. Heh.
I <3 JIG for not ONE, but TWO escape games today! Productivity, schmoductivity, or something.
If he has the powder, then he's already combined items (I think)
Jayglo:
You have to use the powder ('repairing agent') on the plant in the shop. It'll grow a fruit that splashes liquid on the floor, use the syringe in that to continue.
Cat escape: If you can't find the green key, and you did do something with the plant, read my spoiler or remain frustrated.
Usually with this kind of games, you have to wait after you water plants, and come back after they've grown bigger. But with this game, after stepping back and returning to the plant, the green key will have disappeared, leaving you wondering what to do next.
I had to read the walkthrough to find out that things went wrong and I had to restart. I consider that a bug.
Hey, that Minoto game was sincerely strange... In a typically cute way. Somehow the game also *is* logical.
Finally a game with a ba...
The Yura&Myu was a cute short diversion... I have one question:
Was there any point to the scroll? Not being able to read Japanese, I don't know if I missed some great clue to a hidden treasure or a superfluous little poem.
(One of these days I'm signing up for that Japanese 101 class!).
P.S.
Thank you, Dora, for the all-of-a-sudden tradition (including escape games in LDF). Once a week was never often enough for me anyhow. :)
...Temple Glider does not deserve to be Link Dumped, IMO.
Squawk does, but not this, IMO. While I ADMIT Nitrome should have explained the secret wall-bounce trick (which makes the game far more playable) why are you writing it off again?
(Also, you aren't supposed to spam each arrow key. Learn to master quicktapping, I actually thought the game was pretty responsive.)
Anyways...if you press the opposite direction when you're at a wall, you can do an avian walljump of sorts: All your momentum is carried over to your new flight path. It definitely makes the game more playable.
Beat Temple Glider twice and loved it. Don't QUITE see why it was link dumped, though.
Minoto's Stray Cat Walkthrough
Pick up the Boomerang, go right 2 screens and throw it at the Fruit in the tree. Grab the Fruit.
Go right and open the small drawer to get the Syringe.
Move left twice and drop the Fruit into the Raccoon's basket. Pick up the scraps (Powder) of the wall that drop on the ground.
Examine your Syringe in your inventory, then select the Powder and use it on the Syringe to get Repairing Agent.
Use the Repairing Agent on the potted plant. Then, use the syringe on the yellow puddle on the floor.
Move to the first screen and use the Syringe on the locked toolbox. Pick up the jackhammer (Breaker).
Give the Breaker to the construction worker and pick up the Towel he leaves behind
Give the Towel to the sad, wet demon and now you have a Wet Towel.
Return to the first screen and wipe off the dirty window with the Wet Towel, revealing the vampire's secret identity! Take Dracula with you.
Go to his hanging casket and put the Towel below it.
Move right once and refill the Syringe with the yellow liquid
Return to the casket and use the Syringe on the chain
Put Dracula on his casket and pick up the Bar Code Reader left inside.
Go right and use the Bar Code Reader on the can of fish.
Take the Receipt and give it to the Mommy Cat
The end!
Also, I'm very glad another Minoto game was posted(albeit an older one) because I found two new sequels of her halloween series Werwolf already uploaded and a 4th coming soon! Yay :) Thanks, Dora!
Love Minoto games! They make my Fridays.
Totally agree with Ryan here... a full nitrome game deserves a full review <3
Stray Cat was adorable (and I completed it with no cheats!). I always love the descriptions of objects in Minoto games.
Temple Glider - level 3 is do-able (I rage quit many days in a row). The REAL challenge is level 6 at the far right, where you are supposed to drop and avoid getting ARROWNED! (think Strong Bad)
Temple Glider help:
Level 3: The wind doesn't affect you on the ground. Also, you can navigate the winds in the air with button tapping (you can't hold down a directional input and expect to win: I admit once again Nitrome should have made it clearer you need to tap when you need to navigate tricky obstacles.) Tap repeatedly on the ground (but not long enough for the bird to actually go airborne) to get past the crusher statuettes when the wind is blowing against you.
Luckily, wind puzzles don't show up very often. Level 20 is the only other example I can think of, and that's the final level anyway.
Level 6 (I assume you're at the final checkpoint sarcophagus): Get the ring, then just...drop from the center. Seriously, just drop. The arrows can't touch you, and you'll land straight into the sarcophagus.
Yeah, I also beat Temple Glider long time ago, multiple times. I also 100% agree with Ryan, with the wall jump technique, the game becomes playable, but not too easy, you're still left with a challenge.
The most I could get from Cat Escape was the beginning where it talked about going to a party and everyone was going to be there. The cat wanted to leave, but the door wouldn't open. So the cat had to find the key to open the door. As for that item you get at the end, it basically says about the same thing, along with a ton of kanji I never learned. XD I think it's basically just a reminder letter of the party, if anything.
I actually really liked Temple Glider. Maybe I'm biased (Nitrome fangirl alert!) but I found the controls sort of intuitive. At the beginning they gave me some trouble, but they grew on me more and more the further I progressed in the game. Plus that bird is just so darn cute...
Townhouse: I actually haven't but I will now! Thank you for helping me out without giving everything away. :)
...and another Nitrome game that doesn't work for me. Most of their games don't.
Minoto is who I direct people to when I'm trying to explain the concept of "moon logic." :D
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