Hopping Girl Kohane EX
released on Feb 16, 2023
Hopping Girl Kohane EX is an action puzzle game and players control Pogo Stick and aim for the goal in this action puzzle game. The game is easy to operate with a single thumb, yet offers a hard-hitting, authentic action experience. The key to the game is the mysterious stamps with various effects. Step on the stamps skillfully and aim for a high score!
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Is it weird that I mostly want to talk about Hopping Girl Kohane EX's progression system? For what is a pretty unusual and weird semi-physics based precision action/puzzle platformer with plenty of questionable design decisions, the boring GDC talk topic is its truly compelling bit.
Said progression, of course, is cute clothes. For a game with a rock-bottom budget otherwise, D-O enterprise have put in a stupid amount of outfits. Legitimately as many outfits as there are stages in the entire game, most with unique models, different hairstyles and stuff for our bubbly protagonist Kohane as she basically plays pogo stick monkey ball. They do also come with stat boosts, which is questionable but they're never over the top and never required to get the S ranks or all the coins on a stage.
And that's the real hook of the progression. Those cute outfits can all be bought from a shop for grinded out currency... or you can get an S rank in the stage they're attached to. And as the balance of grind for cash is obnoxious enough, but you really want to see Kohane in the virgin killer sweater (yes, really, how is this game rated 7+ PEGI), the game pushes you to go for those S ranks, to get all the frog coins.
Which is good, because it's in the score attacks where the gameplay itself shines. Played as just a start to finish game like monkey ball Kohane is a pretty mid game, and it's level design is kinda weak. This is something the original kohane suffers heavily from - sprawling, huge levels that miss the point because the path of least resistance and most clothes is beelining it to the finish. When really, the way of playing the game that is by far the most fun is to route out the maps, go for full combos by constantly be jumping on special blocks, do it fast, get all the bonus coins and dont get hit. And then you get rewarded with a cute bolero dress which Kohane looks so happy in...
EX also generally improves on a lot of the general problems of the original, despite largely being comprised of the same assets and structure. The levels are still wide, but nowhere near as labyrinthe, long and massive as lategame OG. General pacing and game speed is higher, and there are a lot more sections of actual perilous precision platforming that will kill you rather than just hurt your rank upon failure. Moving platforms are predictably pure hell to deal with on a pogo stick, and learning how to deal with their timings and how to carry momentum onto them is particularly rewarding.
Kohane EX is a really telling exercise. The original I found, frankly, extremely mid and this sequel is in so many ways as similar to it as Fifa 23 is to Fifa 22 - hell, it removes content such as the championship mode and multiplayer, which is a bit of a shame even if they kinda sucked, and production values for the story is way lower. And yet, through careful repackaging and tweaking of it's formulas and how it's presented, it becomes something pretty great.
Seriously though, how is this game rated 7+ it's like Dead or Alive Extreme level horny at times.
Said progression, of course, is cute clothes. For a game with a rock-bottom budget otherwise, D-O enterprise have put in a stupid amount of outfits. Legitimately as many outfits as there are stages in the entire game, most with unique models, different hairstyles and stuff for our bubbly protagonist Kohane as she basically plays pogo stick monkey ball. They do also come with stat boosts, which is questionable but they're never over the top and never required to get the S ranks or all the coins on a stage.
And that's the real hook of the progression. Those cute outfits can all be bought from a shop for grinded out currency... or you can get an S rank in the stage they're attached to. And as the balance of grind for cash is obnoxious enough, but you really want to see Kohane in the virgin killer sweater (yes, really, how is this game rated 7+ PEGI), the game pushes you to go for those S ranks, to get all the frog coins.
Which is good, because it's in the score attacks where the gameplay itself shines. Played as just a start to finish game like monkey ball Kohane is a pretty mid game, and it's level design is kinda weak. This is something the original kohane suffers heavily from - sprawling, huge levels that miss the point because the path of least resistance and most clothes is beelining it to the finish. When really, the way of playing the game that is by far the most fun is to route out the maps, go for full combos by constantly be jumping on special blocks, do it fast, get all the bonus coins and dont get hit. And then you get rewarded with a cute bolero dress which Kohane looks so happy in...
EX also generally improves on a lot of the general problems of the original, despite largely being comprised of the same assets and structure. The levels are still wide, but nowhere near as labyrinthe, long and massive as lategame OG. General pacing and game speed is higher, and there are a lot more sections of actual perilous precision platforming that will kill you rather than just hurt your rank upon failure. Moving platforms are predictably pure hell to deal with on a pogo stick, and learning how to deal with their timings and how to carry momentum onto them is particularly rewarding.
Kohane EX is a really telling exercise. The original I found, frankly, extremely mid and this sequel is in so many ways as similar to it as Fifa 23 is to Fifa 22 - hell, it removes content such as the championship mode and multiplayer, which is a bit of a shame even if they kinda sucked, and production values for the story is way lower. And yet, through careful repackaging and tweaking of it's formulas and how it's presented, it becomes something pretty great.
Seriously though, how is this game rated 7+ it's like Dead or Alive Extreme level horny at times.