Pocky & Rocky Reshrined

released on Apr 21, 2022

Pocky & Rocky Reshrined follows the adventures of a young Shinto shrine maiden named Pocky and her companion, Rocky the raccoon, as they take on the Nopino Goblins! A third sequel in the series, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is currently being developed by Tengo Project and expected for release on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in the second half of 2021. Tengo Project consists of staff who worked on the original, as well as Wild Guns: Reloaded and Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors.


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I have always been interested in Pocky & Rocky, but never played more than bits and pieces. Reshrined was a fantastic experience, and while it wasn't a long game, it felt like it was packed with more than enough gameplay to satisfy me.

Final Fantasy, Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus. None of these games have anything to do with Pocky & Rocky. However, they are all games that I tried with no context of what they entailed only for the sake of trying something new. They are all also games that I adore.

While the trio of previously mentioned games have cultural and/or critical acclaim to make me curious, I had never heard of Pocky & Rocky until fairly recently, but I loved the artwork on the cover. Call me superficial, but that was enough to make me curious, and a few days ago I pulled the trigger and bought Reshrined. I didn’t even know what genre of game it was, but I was enamored and ready to be surprised. I am glad I took that chance.

I love Pocky & Rocky Reshrined.

As someone who plays JRPGs a solid 99% of the time, finishing this game in one sitting and in less than three hours was incredibly refreshing. The brevity, however, makes it hard to really detail my thoughts as extensively as some other titles. There is not a ton here, but what is given to you is outstanding.

I have played many games in my time, and I’ve noticed it is not uncommon for there to be games that just feel tired and samey. That is not always a negative, but it makes times where you play something inspired extra special, and this is certainly one of those times. Every corner of this game is bursting with creativity, constantly straddling a line of both goofy absurdity and genuinely great game design. While it is short and lacking detail, I struggle to think of a better descriptor of this game than it just simply being fun.

Fun gameplay, fun visuals and art direction, fun music, fun story- just a fun game altogether.

This game prods my imagination, has me laughing, and makes me itch to play through it all over again. I am so impressed by the simple joy this title brought me. The great challenge, short length, replay value, and simple fun elicits a feeling similar to something like the original Castlevania- and if you know me well you’d know that is a high compliment, and similarly to that game I know I will be returning to this one time and time again.

I need more time to truly let this game marinate as I feel I have barely dipped my toes into it fully, but after an initial playthrough and some time to sleep on it I feel my love for it grow more and more, and that is exciting. It’s early to make the call, but I know deep down I just found a longtime love.

To think I bought this game on a whim and only because of my appreciation of the cover art and now it sits so highly in my mind is special. Video games sure are cool. Play this game, I hope you enjoy it if you do.

Far more difficult than I remember the SNES version being. Also, insanely weird and backward choice to have co-op be locked behind finishing the game first. Bad call.

Overall a fun and challenging game, although sometimes the challenge ramps up a bit TOO much. Would recommend with a friend, but you know, you gotta beat it alone first, which is dumb and sucks.

EDIT: They have added a cheat code to unlock co-op without having to beat the game alone. Good on them!

Emulating SNES games en masse as a kid I did stumble upon the Pocky & Rocky games (or rather KiKi KaiKai. Took years before I found out the games weren't actually Japan exclusive) and quickly grew to appreciate the games, even though they were definitely too hard for me to be able to beat either of them (at least without heavy use of savestates.) Didn't think there'd ever be a new game in the series, especially not after Pocky & Rocky with Becky, but somehow Reshrined is a game that is very much real, and also really good.

Just like developer Tengo Project's previous games Wild Guns Reloaded and The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is certainly very familiar and even reuses some stages from the first game, but fairly quickly morphs into something that is part remake, part sequel, with absolutely beautiful pixel art graphics and a soundtrack with a mix of fantastic rearrangements of old tracks, and some very good new ones as well. The difficulty has also certainly been toned down a bit, in part thanks to less trial and error thanks to kinder enemy placement than in the old games, but also thanks to a bigger move pool and even an energy shield that unlocks a few stages in, and abilities being much easier to power-up (and keep those power-ups since they can now be picked up again after taking a hit.) Still not at all an easy game since it does keep the spirit of the original so the enemies are still fairly relentless and come from most directions at the same time at high speeds, but it still feels a lot more fair and made for modern sensibilities than the previous games did. Pretty sure it even has unlimited continues (I only used two on my playthrough, but there didn't seem to be a limit) so anyone with a bit of patience could realistically beat it.

Pocky & Rocky is at its heart a very simple and arcade-y series of run 'n gun games so I don't really have all that much to say here, but I did really appreciate how much care was put into the story mode to give some variety to the gameplay, through the stages making you play as different characters with different attacks, and also make it feel like you're growing stronger throughout the journey, through giving you more health after each stage and having Pocky unlock new skills after some stages. The plot is sort of nonsense, but it's at least the fun kind that's not afraid to go to pretty bizarre places, and the cutscenes know not to overstay their welcome.

Lui je l'attendais de pied ferme depuis sa sortie sur Switch. Je ne connaissais pas le jeu d'origine sur Snes, mais ce que j'en avais vu me parlait bien.
Le jeu est super mignon, mais je n'adhère pas au gameplay. Tirer obligatoirement dans la direction de mon déplacement me frustre énormément.

Hard, even unfair at points, but it is a fun game. Would recommend.