Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534186

Authors: @snailpirate, @LuckoDaStars and co, @MojoMontebon @KokoroHatsaru @thesemichrist

1st: 1/3

This is a Smiling Friends animation. Let's play a little game called: "added context three".

• First: the music used is the final boss music from Super Mario Galaxy. Good start to possibly getting it taken down in the future.
• Second, the video is 19 seconds long, a bit small, but whatever.
• Third: this video previously gained 100K views on YouTube, which could mean the audience is pulling most of the weight. Even a small fraction of that can overpower the score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDV8P_mdysY

That being said, the animation does still match the Smiling Friends style very well. Just wish the music thing was sorted out first.

2nd: 3/3

This is an opening cutscene for a game of the same name. Animation is great, given the horsepower of the Lucko team.

However, there was one scene that had inconsistent outline thickness (~0:37). That's about it.

3rd: 0/3

Sonic says: "you....."

and then I asked "Why the big pause?"

And then he said: "You're probably thinking of Knuckles, streaming on Paramount+ next week!"

Anyway, onto the review:

Animation: Out of 34 seconds, 12 come from a basic outro, and the remaining 22 had big pauses taking up half of it. It's also a little choppy, even the lip syncing is very minimal.

Sound: Author says it sucks. I only somewhat agree.

Humor: Painfully unfunny to all but the cringiest of 13 year olds.

There's always next time!

4th 1/3

This is another promotional short for that Tsubasa Siren manga. (what does "Tsubasa" mean in English?)

It's again, very basic, just them playing Castle Crashers.

See: frogreview #22

PS: Are you familiar with Totally Spies! for some reason? Just asking.

5th 2/3

Puss in Boots animation: Audio comes from Ace Vane, a YouTuber.

Congrats on the first win though, and your first completed animation proper (at least from what I can find on NG)!

It's still a bit rough though.

Overall, still pretty decent.

Total Score: 7/15 (52%)

Best/Favourite:

#2, #4, #5, #1, in that order.

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 28

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534160

Authors: @pollyanoid MojoMontebon @Xandrecos and @golfinho, @Guy-Unger @Orbitten and co

1st: 2/3

Pizza Tower animation.

The short itself is about 30 seconds long, not counting credits. I love the Wallace and Gromit-ish aesthetic, though the camera slow shake isn't exactly subtle.

2nd: 1/3

Genshin Impact animation: Not only is there not a lot of animation, but the joke's already a few years old by this point, so nah!

6,700 followers don't just magically come out of thin air.

3rd: 2/3

Love seeing this turn into a series. The one where a South Park character shows up in other video games (or SpongeBob).

Note the credits reference episodes that are not on Newgrounds, including one about a Sonic bootleg on the Game Boy Color: Go to golfinho's YouTube channel for those:

https://www.youtube.com/@golfinhoyurii/videos

4th: 3/3

Ludum Dare game: It's a tower defense game where worms fight against birds, combined with Wario-Ware style microgames for buffs.

For a 72 hour game jam game, there's quite a lot of variety and minigames. Arguably should've been way higher than 4th.

5th 3/3

I h*te this movie. Just kidding: You don't need to censor "hate" over here. Except I didn't say hate. I said hite, slang for "bring this movie to new heights, it's really good!". Mainly the animation is very clean

Also the villain almost looks like an Uberkid. Could be coincidence

Overall, most of today's top 5 are stacked, mostly near the bottom.

Total Score: 11/15 (74%)

Best/Favourite:

#4, #3, #1, #5, in that order.

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 27

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day.

This review was supposed to come out sooner, but 5th place had me delving into Ancient Egyptian history for 3 hours straight.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534102

Authors: @mukpuddy Countess-Karo @Half-Elephant @Chauder @SomeDoodles

1st: 3/3 (+1 bonus point)

This seems to be very professionally-made, almost TV quality. Well, as professional as you can with Adobe. The industry is currently shifting to Toon Boom Harmony.

Anyway, as Tony the Tiger would say: the series is grRrRRRRrreat! I haven't heard much of this one compared to other team megaprojects like Monkey Wrench or Ollie and Scoops, and I'd like to find out why.

UPDATE: Turns out the rest of the series is already on YouTube. Catch up!

https://www.youtube.com/@mukpuddy/videos

2nd: 1/3

Laugh at PINGAS as many times you want, just know that this is not TikTok.

Compared to the Kirby animation a few days prior, which is about the same length, there is quite a bit more animation, that alone I'll give a point for.

3rd: 3/3

Sprite animation, using 100% original background and sprites. And they all fit within the pixel grid.

Most sprite animations, especially from yesteryear, often rely on vanilla sprites from external sources with varying levels of modification (sometimes none), and tend to scale and rotate them, which overall cheapens the whole thing.

None of those tricks are here. It's very well-made, great style, with good music too.

4th: 0/3

LEGO animation: This is a 3D render and not stop-motion: It is a remake of a clip from a season 5 episode of The Simpsons.

Given its length, and the author's own admission that "it didn't come out the best", I unfortunately cannot score any higher. Better luck next time!

5th: 1/3

Flash Forward Jam entry. There are ten shorts, each based on the Plagues of Egypt (W), or in other words, God's response to the Ancient Egyptians who wouldn't free the Israelite slaves so they can get out of Egypt.

It's supposed to decpit them in a humourous setting, but as a daily winner, it's relatively basic, 1st place aside. The animation features the usual Flash crud, and the plagues themselves are very straightforward (especially "death of firstborn").

Plus a bunch of out-of-context historical inaccuracies that may have been overlooked:

One big thing that a lot of modern fiction always does is that most depictions Egypt are usually set in a big desert with the pyramids as a stock background element, with very few plants in sight.

Geographically, about 95% of Egypt is desert, however, most of civilization, both historically and today, tend to live closer to the Nile River, which in Ancient times, flooded every year and made the soil fertile, making it useful for agriculture (W).

The image below shows the Nile Delta, which is where the majority of the flooding took place.

This should be relevant to "Blood", which features the Nile turning to blood, and maybe also "Livestock" as well.

Some other minor nits:

1- there exists evidence that the pyramids weren't originally beige, rather they were white. The exterior was made of limestone, but over time the limestone was removed, exposing the beige we see today.

2- corn didn't exist outside the Americas until after the 1500s (Locusts)

PS: I was working on an entry myself, but I had to put it to rest. Not only was I not able to find time in between two collabs, but Flash kept crashing whenever I opened my submission for some reason.

Overall, it's a bit lacking. Not crap, but just seems small: 1st place seems to be pulling most of the weight here.

Total Score: 9/15 (61%)

Best/Favourite:

#1, #3, #5, #2, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 26

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534102

Authors: @BoyPorcelain VimHomeless @RoskiArt @HorseFolder @poundtoundhound

1st: 2/3

The entire movie has a really creepy feel to it. In just one shot, there's a girl in front of a TV screen, and each time she changes the channel, something else pops up. IDK if this is supposed to be a commentary on life

I loved KEY-MAN and Son of the Musk, but it seems like there's been a bigger push towards Shorts and shorter videos in general (ie. like on YouTube and Instagram). Hope you're still working on that cactus animation!

2nd: 0/3

The actual animation itself is 15 seconds: After doing a bit of digging, I've figured out it's not worth giving any points.

Moral: If the biased buttman gives it a buck, don't give a fuck.

3rd: 1/3

Castlevania fan animation: This was made for the series' 35th anniversary (a while ago). The actual animation is ~35 seconds long, not counting the outro.

The first 11 seconds is in colour, but includes some level of motion tweening, then the rest becomes black and white and significantly rougher, almost as if it's been rushed. But hey, it's the thought that counts!

4th: 2/3

This is a 3D animated short featuring the usual Loose Ends cast in a cinema watching a 2D movie. Love a little experimental retro-3D every now and then, and this is fun ride too!

However I couldn't help but notice some previous episodes being removed from Newgrounds, for some reason, including Portal ID #777777.

5th: 3/3

This is a scene for a YouTuber's Pokemon collab

Despite being ~30 seconds, it's still very clean and well-animated.

Honorable Mention: Mixed Signals (yesterday's 5th place)

STILL not on the front page

EDIT: Spoke too soon!

Overall, today's picks are mostly short, but still watchable.

Total Score: 8/15 (51%)

Best/Favourite:

#4, #1, #5, #3, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 25

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534051

Authors: @jonathan and co, @Roskiart Countess-Karo beenibroh and co, @AwkwardTom

1st: 3/3 (+1 bonus point)

JAY'S DAY is the 2nd episode of RATBASTERDZ. After watching UNDERGROUND, I feel like at this point it's already shaping up to become 'one of the greats' alongside Monkey Wrench etc. Keep up the good work!

2nd: 2/3

Previously covered The State Hound last week in the infamously locked P-bot thread. This one was from November 2021. It's more stylized, but it's also ~50% shorter. Still very well-animated though.

3rd: 0/3

7 seconds long, though Kirby is still very well-animated, despite the movie being better suited towards YT Shorts and not Newgrounds.

4th: 1/3

This is a trailer for a fighting game of some sort (most likely MUGEN). The intro animation reuses a lot of background assets from SpongeBob. The animation is meant to be nostalgic (ie. 2000s Flash animation), but just ends up looking amateurish by today's standards, even with Flash.

The game itself also isn't on Newgrounds, so reviewing it here would be out of my jurisdiction.

5th: 3/3 + 1 bonus point

A very well-animated 10 minute short film about robots beaming shit to each other. It's meant to represent autism...

You know what? Just watch the movie.. Not only is it well-animated, but

This is my call to put it on the front page and keep it there for at least 2 weeks! Because 5th place is no place.

Overall, today's picks are extremely mixed. On one hand, two amazing movies bordering on perfection, and one that's also good, but on the other, two (relatively speaking) stinkers.

Total Score: 11/15 (70%)

Best/Favourite:

#5 + #1 (tied), then #2, then #4, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 24

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day. I might be a bit late with this one:

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534051

Authors: @Sexual-Lobster @JerseyHouseStudio ProsciuttoMan @WaeBakStudios @RongRong

1st: 3/3

What do you get when you cross The Witcher with The Wiggles?

ANSWER: A real bloody bang of a job by the Internet's favourite Aussie greaseball. No, not that one.

The actual short is 2 and a half minutes long: The rest is credits + original drawings of Patreon supporters.

Great job!

2nd: 3/3

This is a pro-Palestine animated short. It's a team-effort that uses a mix of 2D and 3D elements.

Politics aside, I love how Biden had to be turned around by a barrel of oil so he doesn't throw the grenade at the nukes and tanks.

PS: I gave it 4 stars.

3rd: 2/3

Graphics are nice, and a few different people designed some levels. However, it's a bit of an odd choice to make SHIFT auto-retry the level, especially when it's so close to the Z and X keys, where you might hit it by accident.

It also took a bit of time to load.

4th: 3/3

3rd episode of the series "Falling Upward". I hadn't watched the other two, but I still get where they're going with this:

Some of the shots seem a little rough and unpolished, but otherwise it's a good effort from a great team.

5th: 2/3

This is a ~7 minute Runescape parody that took over a year to animate, presumably in between other projects.

Backgrounds and VFX definitely need some improvement. A lot of things looks unpolished compared to the main character. It makes the whole thing look inconsistent. Otherwise it's a very enjoyable animation.

Overall, it all looks great. Nuff said.

Total Score: 13/15 (84%)

Best/Favourite:

#1, #4, #2, #5, #3, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 23

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies and games of the day.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1534025

Authors: PringusMcDingus @EddyFaulkner @Fiddleing @AllisonDZ @BifBurpBark

1st: 2/3

Based on Sonic 06: Found out this is a clip animated from a Lythero video, which is linked in the YouTube upload.

And it turns out the YouTube version includes more clips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sqGEQlMPS8

Still looks like a lot of work went into this and the other Lythero clips. Shame only one of them made it here whilst YouTube got the lot. Talk about foreign power!

2nd: 3/3

So a big Godzilla-esque monster burns through a city, bites off and eats its own arm, and then all of a sudden, starts promoting champagne?

Very weird and experimental, and I like it!

3rd: 2/3

Nice monochromatic style and tile graphics, the focus is on exploration, or in other words, a lot of walking around.

There's a lot of content, however part of the intro is unskippable, and according to some reviewers, inventory items can be hard to find. Some weren't able to save their progress, as the feature reportedly doesn't work.

Funny how this is supposed to be a 2-bit (4 shades of grey) when there are some objects that are green (ie. adding extra colours)

4th: 0/3

I count nine. Nine unique frames. Ah ah ah!

That being said, if you the author are reading this, I'm aware it might be your first time creating a cartoon, but I'm sorry, there just isn't that much substance given its size, even as a 20s short. Feels more like a motion comic than an animation.

But don't feel bad, there's still so much to learn, and learning can be fun!

5th: 3/3

I think it's very wholesome and well-written, though the characters are literal puppets. Shame it's only at 3.4 stars.

Overall, we're in a bit of a drought today, half of them are from newcomers, but what what we do have can still be enjoyed. Stay tuned for tomorrow's best!

Total Score: 10/15 (65%)

Best/Favourite:

#2, #5, #1, #3, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 22

Here's an honest critique of the 5 "best" movies of the day.

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1533998

Authors: @binejyeah @KokoroHatsaru @Indigo-Bluez @DungeonSoup teemovsall

1st: 3/3

Basically you have a large Johnny Bravo-style dude with a big mouth. The rough character animation and use of digitally altered backgrounds can be considered part of the style, and I like it.

It's a very well-written, albeit overdue Easter parody. Looks trippy!

2nd: 1/3

This is a trailer for an upcoming manga series, however this trailer is animated (about 20 seconds).

For anime/manga standards, it does look a bit crud, not quite on the same level as artists like bluethebone, rtil, or AetherionArt. That's not to say anime styles aren't harder than other styles.

Most notably, I can still detect aliasing with that bodyshot 4 seconds in, even through the VHS filter, and the hands could also use some improvement:

As a standalone movie, can't go any higher. Otherwise I believe this will shape up into something awesome.

3rd: 3/3

Original 3D animated short. Great voices, looks very mid-to-late 2000s-ish, and there's an interesting plot twist:

Note: Not all the contributors: (there are several) are on NG.

4th: 3/3

Original series about gnomes. Very well animated.

5th: 0/3

Boobs. Beach. Bullshit. There's only one B to rule them all!

Overall, a lot of great original content, and one upcoming project to look forward to.

Total Score: 10/15

Best/Favourite:

#1, #3, #2, #4, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 21

I

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1533969

Authors: @POSTBOY @NoodleDood12 @BSMattW @ComixGuy927 @AlexEmery

1st: 2/3

This is another one of those "5 Second Day" animation on the #1 spot: Sounds a bit misleading when both animations are around 1 minute long.

As a #1 entry, it looks kinda rough, but still enjoyable. I like how the violinist is completely oblivious to the big giga-monster-alien-robot fight in the background.

2nd: 1/3

Another Gwimbly animation: Despite this 15 second short looking very professional, Putting him in a Smash Bros introduction feels very "obvious", given the popularity of the new Smiling Friends character.

3rd: 3/3

This is a 10 minute long episode of an old series called Bonus Stage, made to celebrate its 20+ years of existence.

The animation has evolved quite a lot since 2003, and aside from some minor audio mixing (namely the music being too loud), this seems to be very well-made.

Arguably should've been MUCH higher on the list:

4th: 1/3

It's ok, but as a Daily Pick, not that great. The voice is a bit monotone, the animation style, though still appealing, is a bit basic given its length (~10 seconds), and the entire premise is that yes, the cake IS made of rocks.

5th: 2/3

A very experimental music video for something called "Doogality". The music is great. I love the whole concept, especially the atmosphere in the first half, but the second half is just a pan of a single background, making it look padded.

Honorable Mention: UberFisch

This is a neat arcade-style game that plays a bit like Asteroids. Great music, but the shooting a bit bland: You can just hold down the fire key without consequences.

Overall, despite the scores, this lineup is still mostly enjoyable. Ultimately, giving a perfect score to an awesome movie means nothing if you also give the same score to an arguably smaller or lesser movie. Lower scores don't automatically mean it's bad, otherwise, what's the point of ranking them at all?

Total Score: 9/15

Best/Favourite:

#3, #1, #5, #2, in that order:

f r o g r e v i e w: d a y 20

It's Day 20 and today's looking very good, hopefully this streak continues!

Entries thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1533943

Authors: @Crisppyboat Atastic @emilyzullo @CoffeeEd @Notakin

1st: 3/3

Great stop-motion/3D aesthetic. It's not every day you see an original film of this caliber take the #1 spot.

2nd: 1/3

Slow down! This is the third Pebbles animation I've reviewed in just under 3 weeks. These always seem quick to get out the door, but are at least entertaining enough to not warrant a complete zero.

3rd: 3/3

I saw this one prior to the awards. it's a great spoof of the 'bitchy thots you see on the internet', and I love the aesthetic, though it can be choppy.

4th: 3/3

A bit minimalistic, but very well-made and worth a watch!

5th: 2/3

This plays a lot like Hotel Mario, the graphics are really good, but seems tough to get used to. Kinda wish the screen was bigger or is adjustable.

Overall, mostly bangers.

Total Score: 12/15

Best/Favourite:

#4, #1, #3, #5, in that order: