Today’s game is Viva Piñata. I first brushed up with this game when I was younger and there was the demo on the 360. Being broke, all I could do was play the demo. Over. And over. And over again. I did the same thing with Minecraft too. It wasn’t until 2018 when I got an Xbox One that I actually got a chance to play this through Game Pass.

I’m starting to ramble, but the point is this game has some nostalgic value to me. I saw someone did a decomp of the sequel, but as that doesn’t run under Linux as far as I know I decided to play the PC port of the original.

I’ve started by naming my Whirlm’s. They’re all variations of Todd, with the O swapped out for another vowel. That is, at least until the 5th one. The population started quickly getting out of control and I couldn’t keep up. The Whirlms breed way too fast.

Besides that though they’ve been chill. A bit plain, but they’re calm and don’t hurt anyone so they can stay.

One specific memory I have of the demo is whacking Leafos with the shovel. Probably not a healthy activity for a growing child. I remember the first time we did it too many times and you’d get the shovel taken away. The game had no priority to the controller order so I’d turn on the second controller and try to steer it over to her while my sister was playing to get the shovel taken away. Just standard sibling drama.

Overall it’s not a super deep game. I like to check in every once in a while and see what’s going on. It’s not some hidden gem “stardew valley like” or something like that, but it’s definitely good to mess around and chill in for an evening. The game is practically abandoned, so if you know how to find a copy I totally suggest checking it out. Or the Decomp of its sequel if you use windows.