Thoughts on Kero Blaster

[@greenmanriquezdaniel]

Matthewmatosis would you review my divorce papers? I need a well written, concise and comprehensible 6 hour breakdown on why my marriage was a failure

[@ethanstanis5829]

@Daniel W Found the idiot

[@PressA2Die]

U didnt git gud

[@Gadget-Walkmen]

Daniel W imagine saying something that fucking stupid right off the bat, holy shit.

[@0Enigmatic0]

@Daniel W You really just let people know you frequent an incel subreddit??? Dude, women aren't monsters out to get you. Just talk to them, they're people. Hell, I'm one of them, and I'm watching the same video you are. I hope you grow out this.

[@thelostone2008]

@@0Enigmatic0 You're lying, Spike. you're not a woman, you're a space cowboy.

[@zonkrt3463]

"Minor new mechanics" Shows miner cart section Never change, Matt

[@kalamoj]

gibbdude ddxddddxdddddddddddd

[@willy9473]

NI

[@mellow-mike]

I really like how Matthew speaks in these videos. Just succinct enough and not overly verbose but mainly he doesn't sound like he thinks what he's saying is the word of god which I feel like a lot of "video essay" channels suffer from.

[@cannonfodder4000]

Same, he literally just tells you what the game is, no fluff and no exaggeration involved

[@Tardsmat]

Yeah, he even conceded that he's not the guy for deep story analysis and just left it for others

[@SpookyShayOClery]

@@Tardsmat but the thing is, he's actually good at analyizing stories. He did a great job in his Last of Us II Review. I think it's pretty flippin cool that he could analyze stories and do it well, but doesn't because it's not what he's most interested in.

[@willsoe]

I really like that he doesn't drone on and on describing how a video game works. It's almost expected going in that you know this. It's just critical analysis, discussion points, pros and cons, etc.

[@JamJam117]

And that Irish is an amazing yt video voice accent

[@MrMister681]

"Kero Blaster provides a narrative reason to stay safe since few of us want to deprive our little frog dude of a warm stylish jacket." Amazing.

[@Ichiboy900]

Hard mode's final boss has to be one of the weirdest bosses I've seen in a game. Love it.

[@cinnamonnoir2487]

Honestly, I have to go with the Level 6 boss on both modes for that one.

[@TheSupremeSkill]

The protagonist remains always cool. He is an hardened professional.

[@LANBobYonson]

I picked this game up one day and played through it all in one sitting it was an incredibly enjoyable experience. Also there's a couple free games Pink Hour and Pink Heaven also available on steam based in the same game universe that everyone should definitely play.

[@cannonfodder4000]

Oh you play as the little pink guy! i'll check it out

[@DamianSabre]

This reminds me a lot of Cave Story

[@LANBobYonson]

@@DamianSabre it’s made by the same guy :P

[@DamianSabre]

@@LANBobYonson Makes sense

[@liplepeoberty5815]

@@cannonfodder4000It’s her actually. She’s an OL (Office Lady)

[@WenBilson]

I'm glad I clocked in for your thoughts. Excellent video on a game I'm most certainly going to check out now.

[@kpjlflsknflksnflknsa]

Play Dark Souls instead.

[@WenBilson]

@@kpjlflsknflksnflknsa Already played it.

[@kpjlflsknflksnflknsa]

​@@WenBilson Genuine question: what's the appeal of a 2d indie game when there exists a plethora of games with more sophisticated mechanics and detailed worlds/stories? E.g. RDR 2, Sekiro, Nioh, GoW, AC, Metro To name just a few.

[@HerbieChuckNorris]

​@@kpjlflsknflksnflknsa Sometimes you wanna do away with the 50 hour open world Icon hunting and play as a frog dude shooting a bouncy-ball gun.

[@liplepeoberty5815]

@@kpjlflsknflksnflknsaI’m sorry but you should play more until you find them not as attractive as they were to you

[@1gnore_me.]

as somebody who's been making games as a hobby their entire life ... I also want to bring attention to how genius the pixel art for this game is. the developer makes the simple style look easy and effortless, but it's actually extremely difficult to pull off.

[@Yoni123]

Why is it extremely difficult?

[@Lishtenbird]

@@Yoni123 Fewer pixels and colours means that your rendering capabilities are very limited; think displaying a ball or an American flag in just 4 pixels. With such styles, you can't tweak anything "just a bit" to make it look perfect, you always have to make concessions and decide on which approximation would result in the best possible impression for the viewer.

[@Yoni123]

@@Lishtenbird I know that. But having more pixels doesn't really make it easier, just difficult in a different way because you need to be able to do more complex things then. So why is this EXTREMELY difficult? I know it's difficult, I do pixel art myself

[@Yoni123]

@gibbdude that's true

[@BIaziken2]

Yeah the sprites are very expressive despite how simple they are.

[@Coreagrus]

The take on this game, that in an industry filled with overwork, something classic done well is still great no matter how simple and unambitious it is resonates so much with me. It reminds me of a chiptune music track called 'Overkill Age'. I love the implications of that! I would play good arcade-style games for the rest of my life. Shot-em-ups in particular.

[@cannonfodder4000]

Overkill Age from Megalomachia! love those albums

[@Coreagrus]

@@cannonfodder4000 Right on, man! I'm glad someone recognized it.

[@Vattuperse]

This game doesn't get enough love

[@thrillhouse_vanhouten]

It really doesn't. And it's cheap! It's such a no-brainer, solid-bet action platformer. More people need to be exposed to it!

[@duffman18]

@@thrillhouse_vanhouten I honestly think the problem is it's _TOO_ cheap. No really, people are looking at it and going "ah it's just some cheap shite mobile game port". If it was say £10-15 then probably more people would buy it. It's a weird thing of human psychology, often pricing a product higher will result in people assuming it's a premium thing. Wine is often sold this way too. People who want to bring a bottle to a dinner party will ignore the bottom shelf stuff, probably the top shelf stuff too, but the middle shelf is where they can buy wine that is "premium" enough, though companies know that, and they price those middle shelf bottles higher than what they're actually worth, because that's the shelf people go for. They avoid the bottom shelf stuff which is usually actually pretty much the same quality as the middle shelf, they can't afford to keep buying too shelf stuff every week, so the middle is a nice compromise. But it's really a rip off

[@thrillhouse_vanhouten]

@@duffman18 You raise a good point. There is something about Kero Blaster that feels cheap enough to be disposable (at a glance), but of course the game is such a damn good value. Interesting that Kero Blaster, the game Pixel made after kinda sorta losing the rights to Cave Story, is so cheap to access, but Cave Story is being sold at a heavy duty premium price by Nicalis.

[@cinnamonnoir2487]

@@thrillhouse_vanhouten The thing about Kero Blaster is that, sort of like Cave Story, it looks simple but keeps revealing more and more of itself as you play. You start off in a simple shooter, and then it gets more difficult. Then you beat the game and find out Zangyou mode exists, and after starting it you realize that it's way more complicated than just "hard mode". ...Then, five hours later, you beat Zangyou mode and find out about Omake mode, and after a bit of picking around you realize this game is straight-up bonkers.

[@StrayCatAnimations]

You don't get enough love

[@TehMonitorTV]

The clock running reminds me of Castle Crashers

[@Aboveup]

I've had this installed for a while now. Time to finally play it.

[@siveon298]

oh hey, love your work

[@thelastgogeta]

Likewise, I shouldn't sit on this many Switch games even if I gave them the money already. Oh and I love your videos, especially the Sonic ones.

[@Kriss_ch.]

This game is delightful. I thought it was easy to dismiss after Cave Story, because it seems so unassuming and slight. Cave Story is hardly heavy on story, but much more so than this game, and both the funny and emotional moments of that story I thought were very well done. Kero Blaster obviously isn't the same thing, but once you give it a try it becomes clear that it's just as fun. This recommendation is what got me to try it out and I'm happy I did.

[@liplepeoberty5815]

Same. This is a sophistically designed game. Well polished. Replaying the same level when you lost your life is actually not that frustrating thanks to the coin/upgrade system. Gave Cave Story a try with a friend but it didn’t resonate with me well so maybe this is it.

[@SuperCamelFunTime]

I never thought I'd ever see you review Kero Blaster. This game is an absolute gem and should be played by everyone at least once! Daisuke Amaya's legacy lives on

[@alexquinn9772]

I'm loving the Mondaymatosis videos. Keep up the good work :)

[@Serfer325]

He do be lookin fresh in da jacket tho 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

[@Chariot_Rider]

I have always been fascinated by Kero Blaster. It never got the same acclaim that Cave Story. While I admittedly still do prefer Cave Story, I think Kero Blaster was an interesting experiment that more people should play. Thanks for the video!

[@GenteelCretin]

This game came to me as a passing interest to kill time on my phone initially, and without realizing it, I became incredibly obsessed over the course of my playthrough. When the hard mode redux came through for free, I wanted to tell all my friends to play it, but no one seemed too interested. It's a very specific sort of delight, but I thoroughly appreciated it.

[@jamontoast]

zangyou mode is hard, man. but god damn if i don't want them all to sit in that sauna.

[@Fronzel41]

The flamethrower is quite good on the last level of zangyou mode (although not so much better than the laser) which seems to be a double joke about the burnable rubbish and the ritual role of fire in banishing evil spirits in Shinto.

[@giox99]

I dig this new format. It probably takes more time than most people think to make these videos, but it seems like a good way to just share your thoughts about a game, without the need to do a complete review. Your script is better and more comprehensive than ever, which makes these shorter videos enjoyable to watch, even multiple times.

[@joshfdesigns]

The game's great, hopefully this will boost its visibility. Every weapon has a purpose. Would be nice to see more small arcade-y games, even if they play it safe. Still can't get past the hard mode ice level...

[@cinnamonnoir2487]

That boss will make you hate all life.

[@SunsetSullivan]

Aw, what an adorable game about an overworked employee having their labour exploited by a selfish boss who takes all credit for their hard work and speaks to them in a language they can't understand, eventually forcing said employee to clean up the messes his idiot boss caused in the first place. Man, Pixel fucking hates NICALIS, huh?

[@BobisOnlyBob]

NICALIS have essentially stolen Cave Story from him at this point, to the point of dropping him from the copyright on the splash screen. It's horrid. They're not a safe publisher for indie game developers without some seriously heavy legal proceedings first, to get a contract that won't fuck you.

[@TectonicImprov]

Nicalis is not a great company but that narrative is unfounded and likely not true.

[@meathir4921]

@@TectonicImprov I don’t know if it’s unfounded; we’ve seen some similarly shady shit happen to Edmund McMillan with The Binding of Isaac.

[@Kyfow]

Thanks for the great video! I share the sentiment regarding the short format as you do with Kero Blaster's effort level. You don't have to spend weeks and months polishing a video to a mirror sheen if a few minutes and some interesting thoughts are engaging in their own right.

[@metallama8988]

I love your thorough explanations. I have speedrun the game before, so my opinions have shifted due to that. I wouldn't say that the final stage of Zangyou is less chaotic per se. Yeah, it introduces some new enemies and mostly focuses on them, but the patterns for the new enemies are quite chaotic in and of themselves. I will also say that Zangyou gets another point in that the final set of bosses are new as well, in addition to the remixed and reconceptualized bosses in the prior stages.

[@reviewie6102]

I love your videos. Excellent job as always

[@jakit4]

Great video, enjoying the shorter content as it allows for smaller games you might not have otherwise got around to. I particularly enjoyed the point you made about the game being under ambitious but this was perhaps the point as it’s a a game about overtime and overwork, it made me realise not every good game has to be a “game changer” for want of a better phrase. Thanks Matt!

[@qwertyuiopqwerqwererty]

I loved this game. When I finished beating the main story I was thrilled that not only was there a new game plus mode, but that it was packed with new levels and layouts. And then once I beat that and the game STILL had more to give... Man, it was fun and I got a lot more time out of it than I thought I would.

[@BigTimage]

I'm loving these Thoughts video! If it makes your workload more manageable, I'd happily accept more of them :)

[@Atticus113]

Never heard of this game. Went and downloaded it 30 seconds into the video and was not disappointed. Very fun. Thanks, Matt!

[@benjibananas5175]

Never heard of this game. Looks pretty charming. I might check it out, thx matt

[@cinnamonnoir2487]

It's good to finally see someone talking about this game. Kero Blaster is one of the best 2D games I've ever played, period. It's got creative gameplay, interesting settings, and characters that punch far above their weight in terms of charm and relatability. I've played it all the way through three times and I'm not sick of it yet. I frankly think it's much better than Cave Story in every way, including storytelling. That being said, it takes way more than five minutes to do this game justice. Here's hoping that you or someone else has an occasion to go into more detail about it.

[@Tsuta]

One of the few games I bought for my iPhone. I used to play this all the time a few years back. It's such a great game, and so much fun on the iPhone too.

[@santiagovare]

Never heard of this game but it looks great! I'm also happy to see Matthew upload again. Your videos are fantastic!

[@omgcandy16Kimicari0]

That comment about screen transition hazards really stood out to me. I've replayed this game a bunch and never picked up on that when playing.

[@gardenhead92]

I played through this game in two sittings after watching this video. It was fantastic! But one minor correction, the flamethrower, in addition to going up slopes, can also destroy certain enemy projectiles that the other guns can't, so it's a bit more useful.

[@Stoonk]

Kero Blaster is awesome, shocked you made a video on it.

[@BruTalc]

Can't tell you how happy I am to see this video in my sub box So few people I know have even played this. Fucking ace man

[@millerwrightt]

Great game. I played it during the original release, and felt it was kind of underwhelming. I replayed after the steam release and I think it really comes into its own in zangyou mode. Pixel is an incredible Dev, looking forward to his next releases.

[@Cleve_Crudgington]

Man, I love this game. I played it on release and just recently replayed it on the Switch (including hard mode and new game + for the first time). My biggest praise is how tightly designed it is. Yeah it's short, but everything in the game serves its purpose and doesn't overstay its welcome. I'll admit hard mode had a couple of frustrating sections that almost made me quit but other than that I think it's great.

[@dogfather6165]

I feel like Kero Blaster is about getting over Dukatsu -- yeah it was made by that guy.

[@heitorbatista5392]

I like this format. I feel like you are more relaxed (ironic for a game about overwork). And you probably wouldn't talk about this game outside of perhaps a microvideos. Would love to see these types of videos allowing you to talk about different game genres.

[@barryherbers6090]

This is a blessed month,

[@specknacken6507]

It's good that Matthew fights videogame depression (in the form of FFVII-R and RE3 Remake plus the dreadful RE4 Remake rumors...) with such a powerful game such as Kero Blaster.

[@ExiledQ]

This game is a masterpiece

[@panchorosselli]

Year 2020, the ending of Matthew's videos still take me by surprise.

[@contrabandresearch8409]

I love the style of this game and the jetpack.

[@Jamradt]

Loving these Monday vids!

[@deedlessdeity218]

Makes me think about how much the late Shantae Games got wrong after their high point at Pirate's Curse...

[@jamesbuckley6875]

I'm quite liking these bite-size videos of yours. Looking forward to seeing your "thoughts on" other games.

[@franjaff6919]

I just beat this game after Matthew's recommendation and I started the harder difficulty. I think replaying it on the harder mode is essential. It almost feels like a different game, and alleviates the potential issue that some might have with the short length.

[@LeFrankist]

Thank you Mathewmatosis for existing in my life

[@retractingblinds]

Finally, a good game. Thanks Matt.

[@gbeepee9995]

Mr. “insightful commentary with sexy Irish accent” - (dark souls commentary) is back!

[@MegaDeox]

I just finished this. Good game, but man the achievements are rough. No way am I going for them.

[@TechMetalRules]

I've always been curious about this game. Great review, I'm definitely going to give it a try!

[@MamoMark]

These short videos pain me. I need more... I NEED MY FIX

[@Tenaxis]

Played before, was really smooth and fun.

[@Sokarera13]

There's a lot of bad things going on right now so it's nice that something decent (more amazing Matthewmatosis content) can come out of this horrible nightmare world.

[@machinaeZER0]

Another great video! Stumbled across you a while ago with your DS2 video, always really enjoy your stuff :) I would love to see a video from you about the Bayonetta games, or either Nier if you've played them... I'm sure I'll lovewhatever you end up putting out though, either way!

[@Bluesine_R]

machinaeZER0 He has a video called ”how to enjoy Bayonetta” on his Matthewmatosis Extra channel. He also talks about them on one of the Mega Microvideos

[@machinaeZER0]

@@Bluesine_R I'll check it out, thank you!

[@Smilephile]

Im happy someone is talking about this game

[@AtlasNovack]

That Irish accent with the complicated language is like asmr to me ♥️

[@matilyn_rf]

It's almost weird how popular Cave Story is versus how overlooked this game is by comparison. Great analysis!

[@DestroyedArkana]

It's because of how saturated the markets are. There are so many 2D sidescrolling shooters now that people have far more options. Back when Cave Story came out that wasn't the case as much so more people talked about it.

[@matilyn_rf]

@@DestroyedArkana Very true, but it's still interesting to me because of how even now people talk about Cave Story and Pixel himself so often and in the past tense-- even among the more hardcore/niche players I've talked to personally.

[@PPPPPPPPPPP25]

Losing that jacket its one off the most salty things to happen to me in a game

[@DoctorProfessor]

What an unexpected treat this video was! Some great insights on a game that deserves more attention. I'm curious whether you have thoughts on its death and upgrade systems - you mentioned the game not wasting your time, but I found having to replay levels just to try again on the boss at the end (like old-school Mega Man) felt like a waste of my time. I also got the impression the player was expected to spend coins on upgrades when failing in this way, which cheapens the eventual victory because you aren't mastering the original terms of the boss fight even once you finally get there. I feel like I would have had a much better time with this game if I could have traded a couple of max health upgrades for unlimited lives, so that it was always about actually mastering each boss instead of having to replay levels and grind out coins. You didn't get into this at all, so I'm curious what your view is.

[@tiredric]

That really is a very nice jacket

[@kir7819]

I have never heard about it, but i really want to check

[@theguyinthere]

This guy sure does love indie games

[@Slappybag46]

The ancient old one has awoken

[@Crowbar]

Never heard of this game, and if I saw it randomly popping up somewhere, I would have probably ignored it. But after this video I'm gonna buy it.

[@Crowbar]

I just opened the Steam Store page and saw that at some point I clicked the "Ignore" Button ... lol

[@saladplainzone]

i love kero blaster except for when you die and it sends you back to the start of the 5 hour long hard mode final stage with 50 final bosses but other than that it's fun

[@AwesomeRepix]

Looks like Jazz Jackrabbit! :)

[@onemirrionyen]

Didnt know anyone really knew about this game. Glad to see it though!

[@abdcdfefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz]

this game is old but awesome... like cave story

[@mrclammy3272]

Lil frog fella... I love that

[@violetzerwit2705]

absolutely not necessary but i would love if u could do anything about la mulana .......

[@EekChocolate]

I wish this game got way more attention.

[@mrwasteoffood]

wish he covered cave story, but kero blaster will do

[@VinoIxRxMxA-cq2iy]

Well.. the idea of a new game is to improve, so kero blaster did it right. Thanks for the info. Buying...

[@BoshyGuy]

Thoughts on Kero Baskin.

[@ricniclas]

I wonder if you could do a video on baba is you and traditional difficulty curves. I'm not used to playing puzzle games, but i felt like the game spiked in difficult too fast and, even though I loved the game, I can't help but feel very frustrated when I felt that I really could not finish any puzzle. I thinl the game would be a little bit better if it had a hint system, or at least a more smooth difficulty curve

[@duffman18]

The fact there's one minute long solution videos on KZbin for every level of Baba is You helps tremendously. Because what I do if I can't work it out is just watch the first move the person in the video makes. That's usually enough of a hint to make me realise what to do. But you're not wrong, it does rise incredibly high in difficulty very quickly. And I'm often frustrated by the inconsistent rules with what you are allowed to do. Like I'll find a solution that logically would work but then that specific sentence isn't allowed for some reason. It's annoying. But it's still a fascinating and unique game and I love it even though it makes me feel stupid.

[@ricniclas]

@@duffman18 the cool thing os that there's some "hint" guides around the internet, and they help without (usually) making the solution obvious.

[@ricniclas]

@@duffman18 but I can't hate on the game either. Is so charming and inovative. I sometimes get the feeling that it was intended to play with friends, so everyone could think of solutions together

[@GatorThyMe]

If the view count is low that's because everyone left to go buy this game. It looks awesome!

[@modocrisma2]

Some of the characters in this look like the characters in Ame Manga

[@joebailey8294]

Are we getting Mega Microvideos 3 without realizing it?

[@ince55ant]

search steam for Pink Hour and Pink Heaven for mini versions of this game. theyre technically demos but that feels too reductive a term to use

[@duffman18]

Pretty pretty please could you do a full video on cave story Matthew? I really enjoy Kero Blaster but I've never played his other game Cave Story, because for the longest time I vehemently hated every metroidvania I ever tried. I finally beat Super Metroid though, and I loved that. I also love Axiom Verge. Hate Hollow Knight. So it's really a complete toss up whether I'd like Cave Story or not. It'd be great if you could possibly ever do a full video on Cave Story, mr Matosis, pretty please. If you have the time. Don't worry if not. But you convinced me to try so many games and you're always on the money Oh yeah please possibly do an update video on Catherine. Since in your video on it years ago, you said an unpatched glitch meant that the Western version was literally impossible to beat. But there's a new HD re-release of it coming out soon called Catherine Fullbody. So perhaps it'd be worth revisiting, for a short video on the new version which presumably won't have that bug anymore.

[@Cleve_Crudgington]

Just FYI, Cave Story is pretty light on the Metroidvania elements. There is a little bit of exploration and backtracking but it has a lot more in common with linear action platformers.

[@DarthFennec]

Never heard of this. Makes me think of Cave Story or Momodora. Might pick it up sometime ... EDIT oh it's by the Cave Story guy, that makes a lot of sense.

[@just_matt214]

I hope you didn't buy Momodora, 'cause much like Cave Story, its publishers (Dangen Entertainment) are currently rerouting all the money that game makes to the CEO's personal bank accoint. That goes for all of Dangen's published games, btw.

[@Visionsofmortality]

Very very good little game.

[@markchee9398]

was the point of 0:39 to show that you can drop the light fixture on the enemy?

[@liplepeoberty5815]

You are not encouraged to get close to the enemy here though since his throwing attack is very fast

[@LiquidSquidd]

He's done it again

[@Nagazongas]

Thank you.

[@mexismug]

Now give us your Thoughts on Kero Kero Bonito!

[@andrewgemino1263]

Could you do a video on astral chain? I honestly think it’s my favorite game from platinum and I would like to see tour take on it

[@cannonfodder4000]

same!

[@andersdenkend]

I quite enjoyed it, although it's arguably not as good as Cave Story, imho. Quite fun nonetheless.

[@picleus]

Controversial thought here, but I actually like it more than Cave Story! But I see why people would prefer Cave Story.

[@andersdenkend]

picleus Yeah well, they feel like two different games actually. To me Cave Story just felt a bit more involved and seemed to have more meat to its bones. Other than that I also enjoyed Kero Blaster quite much.

[@stephenobrien6983]

Great game but I just cannot beat the boss of Hekichi Plateau on Zangyou mode.

[@cinnamonnoir2487]

That boss is evil incarnate. If it makes you feel any better, the entire rest of the game is easier. ...Except maybe the sub-boss of Level 7.

[@whetlands]

Did you ever test out the controls for Kero Blaster on a mobile device? I hadn't tried them out but I read that Pixel had designed the control scheme and presentation with mobile devices in mind and it makes a lot of sense in retrospect.

[@adrian53080]

This reminds of cave story. Is it from the creators.

[@togglebott7748]

Fun game

[@Android480]

Off topic, but how did you like EXAPUNKS? I liked the other zachtroinics games and I'm wondering how it compares.