Critters for Sale

Game: Critters for Sale

Developer: Sonoshee

Platform: PC/Mac/Linux

Download Link: https://sonoshee.itch.io/critters-for-sale

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078420/Critters_for_Sale/

Surrealism as a definition has transformed from describing the art movement of weird imagery in the early 1920s to essentially designating something as weird or bizarre. I've had my run-ins with surreal games in the past with stuff like EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY, a game that is strange and nihilistic in presentation and tone respectively. Now let's take the strange presentation of that game and combine it with the mechanics of another game I have covered, Hell, and you get yourself one of the most bizarre and entrancing concepts I have played since restarting this blog.

Critters for Sale is a point n click game with themes surrounding the experience of death "from the comfort of your seat." The playable demo contains two out of five total playable vignettes. Each vignette centers around a different location in a different era of time, with themes centering around death and immortality amongst other themes. With multiple choices to make in this game, you must choose wisely in order to live. The game's two playable vignettes are "snake" and "goat," the first centering around receiving a text message from deceased pop star Michael Jackson to attend a club near your apartment, and the second where you traverse the Arabian Desert in Jordan accompanied by a goat and experimental hip-hop group Death Grips frontman Stefan "MC Ride" Burnett in search for a mystical cave.

Critters for Sale's presentation was what caught my eye when searching for a game to play and this certainly did not disappoint at all. The black and white, grainy presentation and nightmarish tone reminds a lot of Hell, a game I previously mentioned. The old school FMV presentation and animation seem almost next level in comparison. The atmosphere of the vignettes is otherworldly, like a strange dream you'd have at night. With casual conversations with a dead celebrity to traversing the desert with a cryptic man, this game really hits the weird factor that comes from a dream.

Critters for Sale is a strange game with a lot of potential. As of writing this, it is currently still in development and will get a full release on Steam once it is finished. I can't wait to see what else Sonoshee has in store with this game. Its presentation and atmosphere are great and I hope to see this game get weirder as time goes on.

Smashing Super Twins

Game: Smashing Super Twins

Developer: Mark Swindoll

Platform: PC

Download link: https://marksw.itch.io/smashing-super-twins-fight

I liked playing Super Smash Bros. Melee from 2012 until around 2018. I got into the game by watching a match between old school Captain Falcon player Jeff "SilentSpectre" Leung face off against Ice Climber player Robert "Wobbles" Wright in game 2 of their loser's semis match at a tournament called "Mango Juice." I was really into playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl at the time and seeing people playing Melee so quickly and optimally really intrigued me. Video in question below (coarse language in the video, so fair warning):

Long story short, I ground out the game, found out I wasn't quite good enough, had a bad experience at a tournament one year, so I stopped playing. Then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came out and I haven't really looked back.

So why bring this up? This seems like some needless information, yeah? Well, I guess context is important when explaining my experience with this franchise. So coming into Smashing Super Twins, I thought it would be important to share such experience. Needless to say, Smashing Super Twins is like a bootlegged version of Melee where you can only play as one character, have one move, and can guard. It's ironically the fairest version of any Smash Bros. game I've played in all my years of playing these games.

Smashing Super Twins is very straightforward: knock your opponent off the stage more times than them and you win. No advanced tech, no character selection, no wavedashing, no l-canceling, no tripping, no rage mechanic, just you against the opponent in a one-on-one duel to the death. This is strictly a multiplayer game and has no AI to it, so find a buddy, or a willing person, and challenge them.

The game has quite a similarity to Divekick, wherein you can only attack in midair. While in that game you had essentially only two buttons to work with, Smashing Super Twins gives you more options in movement, like in the main Smash Bros. installments.

Is the game silly? Yeah, considering that the music of the game is a reversed version of one of the tracks from Melee, that being the Final Destination theme. It was made for Duplicade 2015 after all, where the goal was to make a 2-player arcade experience that lasts about 30 seconds and is essentially supposed to be designed as a bootleg. Overall, it pretty much succeeds.

Throughout my years of playing Super Smash Bros., this is one of the strangest fan games I've encountered. It's not super complex, but it doesn't need to be. It's a harmless bootleg that's pretty funny. I'm surprised the Smash fandom doesn't really know about this thing or even talk about it. I can see it being played at Smash Summit as like a silly side-tournament or something. I'm sure twitch chat would get a kick out of it.