Maybe Sakura Beach 3 will go as far as to not actively revolt me? Sakura Beach 2 understood this lesson well. And then trust the players to make the right decision. I mean, if you are forced to continue on from a toxic, poorly-written, unconvincing narrative base like Sakura Beach 1, the best thing you can probably do is just write in a new perfect character who lampshades and solves all problems by virtue of existing.
Sakura Fantasy also deserves some secondary praise, for being the first Sakura game to acknowledge that non-white skin colours actually exist. And the results are… well, exactly what it says on the tin. Sakura Fantasy is the first game where the entire development team was clearly on the same page: make hilariously schlock-y porn. If Sakura Spirit was the spark that lit the match, and Sakura Angels was the gentle hissing of the fuse, Sakura Fantasy (Chapter 1) was the eventual fireworks display.
Sakura Fantasy Chapter 1: Full Bore Award Spotting a cool watch in the neighbour’s trash can is no reason to book an express flight to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The game that taught me that me that, even though it’s possible to find great things in unlikely places, I probably shouldn’t start expecting them. The only one of these awards that isn’t some shade of backhanded compliment, Sakura Swim Club deserves all commendation for showing me that even in the most unlikely of circumstances, great things can bloom.Īnd then right after Sakura Swim Club came the first Sakura Beach. Sakura Swim Club: Gold In The Water Fountain Awardįour weeks after the fact, I still think Sakura Swim Club was really, really good. Still, I wonder what my opinion of Sakura Angels would’ve been if I hadn’t played it first. This also means I genuinely struggle to describe it in a way that isn’t ‘like Sakura Spirit, but more so’, so I guess that that’s the dark side of sequel-fame. And while later games would firmly disprove that idea, I have to commend Sakura Angels for being more or less exactly the game I’d imagined it would be. When I first started this Sakura Month idea, I had the mental image that all games would be some variation on the Sakura Spirit theme.
Wherein I present each Sakura game with a fitting prize for their efforts. So how about a little ceremony? An awards ceremony. It’s been quite the adventure, after all. So! Instead, I figured that I should close out Sakura Month a little more formally. I literally don’t have anything else to say about this game. Yes, there’s even a chocolate costume! Continuing this series’ proud obsession with putting molten chocolate on naked women. And, well, having seen Clicker Heroes second-hand now… yeah, Sakura Clicker is almost a carbon copy. The gameplay initially reminded me a lot of Time Clickers, but I’ve since been told that both that game and Sakura Clicker owe a lot of their DNA to Clicker Heroes. Sakura Clicker is a clicker-type game with Sakura-style graphics. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can fit everything I have to say about Sakura Clicker inside four or five paragraphs: Ha! You actually thought I was gonna do it, didn’t you? Readers, I love your attention and I love your faith in me, but there is no way I could write a full four-to-five-thousand word review on Sakura Clicker. ( Game source: I’d love to blame Patreon one last time, but this one’s free-to-play.) NSFW levels: some bikinis - quite a lot of bikinis, in fact - but nothing major.) ( Spoiler levels: Narrative, it’s a clicker game. It’s the largest breaker of the mold, too the reason I saved this particular game for last is because it’s not a visual novel at all. There’s only one Sakura-brand left in Steam’s store. And I don’t know about you readers, but I can definitely say I’m no longer the man I was when I started this. And what a ride it’s been! We’ve watched angels battle ancient sorcerers, high school swimmers work out their emotional baggage, voyeuristic battle maidens go on a quest for a fallen star, and childhood beachfront friends be awful at each other. Sakura Indeterminate Stretch Of Time, if we’re sticklers for accuracy.