Pepper Grinder Update #1 is Live

Hey everyone!
Pepper Grinder launched just under a month ago, and thousands of you have played it. The reception has been mindblowing, and I am forever grateful for your support and the invaluable feedback you have provided since the launch. It helped shape this update and make the game better across the board.

With this update, Pepper Grinder gets full support for PlayStation and Switch gamepads, a new speedrun timer, and numerous quality-of-life changes and bug fixes. If you're interested in all the details, you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this announcement.

On an unrelated note, new Pepper Grinder merch with brilliant art by Jor Ros landed on the Devolver merch store (US, EU). It's up for pre-order now, with estimated shipping in June.

Thank you for all of your support!
Riv

Pepper Grinder - Update #1 Changelog

NEW ADDITIONS

• added additional support for Playstation and Switch gamepads on PC so that the correct button icons will now be displayed for them.
• added a speedrun timer that can be toggled on and off with the tilde ~ key on keyboard or by clicking on the right stick on gamepad while in any stage or on the map screen
• added a scene skip option to the 4-Boss intro and outro scenes
• added a scene skip option to the Credits and changed the fast-forward feature to be activated by pressing Down rather than A or B, which are now used for the skip
• added a feature for the Gatling Bit that will move it to certain checkpoints if it has been left behind in stages 2-3, 4-3, and 4-4

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

• changed 1-Boss so that the Giant Beetle can be knocked down from a wider range of angles when on the ceiling
• changed 1-Boss so that fewer ghost bullets are fired in the Phase 3 burst sequences, but with a larger gap between each one so the same area is covered but less densely.
• changed time attack requirements for stages 2-A, 3-2, and 3-4 to be more forgiving
• changed the screen shake option so that at 0 hit stop is also disabled
• changed sticker gacha machines so that drop rates are heavily weighted in favor of stickers missing from the player's collection
• changed the 4-Boss phase 2 arena so that grapple points now appear in the bottom corners to give players more chances to recover from a fall
• changed Naro's skull projectiles in 4-Boss so that they all detonate when the player takes damage so that they'll never do an additional point of damage just as the player recovers

BUG FIXES

• fixed an issue where more than one of each BGM record could spawn in the sticker book
• fixed an issue where if a gatling bit and a key were dropped close enough to each other, neither could be equipped
• fixed an issue with NarMortar enemies so that mashing grapple while pulling off their canopy will no longer teleport the player out of bounds to the origin point of the stage if input is during the same frame as when the grapple point is disabled
• fixed the Mary Poppins glitch to foment unrest in the speedrunning community (sorry)
• fixed an issue where audio could cut out after reloading from a checkpoint
• fixed an issue where checkpoints could incorrectly carry some non-critical data between saves, like playtime
• fixed an issue where it was sometimes possible to get stuck between points on the map screen if the player moved before a new path was fully revealed
• fixed an issue where players could get blocked during a falling ice block puzzle in 3-4 if they did things in a certain order
• fixed an issue where the player could become trapped if an ice block fell on top of them
• fixed an issue where the intro stem BGM in 3-2 wouldn't play if the player skipped the drill startup animation
• fixed an issue in 3-Boss where a certain animation trigger was failing to advance Mint's attack phase if it was interrupted by the player dealing damage, resulting in a hang
• fixed an issue where it was possible to block progression by going back through the stage after exiting the mech at a certain point in stages 4-2
• fixed an issue where cannons frozen in blocks of ice could still be entered if the player was already in drill mode
• fixed several level design issues that allowed players to get out of bounds in un-fun ways
• fixed an issue where a failsafe intended to place the player in an open position if they somehow got stuck overlapping a solid object could trigger incorrectly and place the player on the wrong sides of walls or out of bounds
• fixed an issue where Naro could hang in the transition to phase 1 part 2 if it were triggered during one of his drop attacks
• fixed an issue where Naro’s skull projectile explosions could kill the player during the button-mashing event for defeating him