11. In most cases, slang is nothing but flat-out silly. However, with the notable exception of Beat (whose overuse of slang is part of his character), TWEWY keeps the sland to a manageable level—it helps keep the game feeling different, but doesn’t overdo it. A prime example: your miscellaneous items are referred to as “swag”—and not the obnoxious definition.

12. The game does only have one save file, but multiple people can still play it. Once you beat the game, you unlock the Chapters Menu, which will allow you to instantly jump to the beginning of any chapter in the game! This makes replaying the game a lot easier, since you don’t have to start over from scratch—think of it like the ultimate New Game+. I’ve played it about five times now. The Chapters Menu also allows you to access the bonus chapter, which we’ll get to shortly, and explains how to get the Secret Reports, which we’ll address in a few days time.

13. Although it’s not my cup of tea, TWEWY does have a special mini-game that can be played wirelessly with friends. Tin Pin plays a glorious 8-bit track as you slide your pins across a tabletop, trying to knock your foes’ pins off the edge. Pins also have “whammies”—special attacks like swinging a giant hammer, turning into a meteor, and even pushing a pin that’s about to fall back onto the table. You do need to play it a handful of times during the story, but it’s not like the game requires you to be a master to reach the final boss—most of these events don’t even require you to win!

14. That bonus chapter I mentioned earlier is called “Another Day,” and it’s set in an alternate universe where Tin Pin rules the land like children’s card games in a certain anime series. No, I’m not kidding. Even if you don’t like Tin Pin and can’t complete the “story” of Another Day (which does require Tin Pin proficiency), it’s still worth checking into because it’s just plain hilarious. Not to mention there are a few secrets hidden away in this parallel world…

15. One of the secrets in Another Day is the Final Time Attack, an 11-round string of rematches against bosses you fought during the story. It’s one of the game’s final challenges, and, when done on Hard Mode, your time is added to your save file so you can remember how awesome you are. Clearing it also earns you a very special Thread and a small collection of pins.

16. Pins. Glorious pins. The pins Neku uses to fight enemies come in a wide variety, but they’re all worth hunting down! The pin designs are neat, all the different attacks are fun and flashy, and there are so many different ways to activate them! Pins are a huge part of what makes the combat so fun, so be sure to find and master every last one! (Or just find one set that works really well, haha.)

17. Lots of video games let you use your enemies’ powers in different ways, and TWEWY is one of them. Every Noise in the game, even the bosses, have a corresponding Pin with an attack related to the Noise it represents. Naturally, they’re hard to get, but they’re pretty powerful—the final boss’s pin, when mastered, has the highest base damage of any pin in the game!

18. Your playable characters aren’t the only ones getting EXP—your pins level up too! When a pin’s level goes up, it becomes stronger and can be used longer or more often. Give it enough levels and it may even evolve into an entirely new pin! But, just wearing them into battle won’t be enough for certain pins—they may need a different type of Pin Points (PP) to evolve.

19. We’ve all been there: playing video games late into the night because we just can’t put them down. TWEWY is highly addictive, but they also give you incentive to put down the DS and get some sleep. When you turn the game back on, the Pins you have equipped will gain “Shutdown PP” based on how long the system was off—the longer the better, all the way up to one week! (Of course, you can just adjust the DS clock to instantly get a week’s worth of PP, but that’s part of the fun!) This game is pretty hardcore, so giving you a reason to be a little more casual is probably healthy.

20. The last type of PP is Access PP, obtained through using a little thing called Mingle Mode. Basically, you activate Wireless Communication and see who else is doing the same. It doesn’t even need to be someone playing TWEWY—anyone whose DS is using wireless will earn you a boost of Access PP, and apparently there’s even a chance to encounter some kind of mysterious entity…who knows what it could be? If you do encounter another TWEWY player, though, you get extra PP and can make friends with them. Friends are nice because their Threads and Pins are put into a special shop in Mingle Mode, where you can buy them at discount price, making it easier to obtain some of the rarest (and/or most expensive) itmes in the game.