Another disappointing one for me, if I'm being honest. I remember seeing this one on the eShop back when I was in high school and wishing I had the money to buy it. So finally getting to play it now was really exciting. But eh...
Right off the bat the controls are really funky and floaty. It's literally a water level but the entire game, but even more intense with the fact that you can't move with the directional pad on its own, you have to spam A/B to propel yourself in the direction you're pointing, except you also can't propel yourself downwards or directly right or left, only up straight or at an angle. And honestly, it wouldn't be so annoying if you could attack in any direction other than up for the first chunk of the game (I say as I assume that you unlock another attack later on). You can propel yourself upwards so fast, but you have to wait so long for yourself to lose momentum and descend back to the ground, and if an enemy's chasing you, it's going to do damage before you're ever able to attack it, especially if it's got you from the bottom or side. And as a side, I'm not sure if I was just tripping balls or doing something wrong, but during the first boss I swear the little starfish would like, pin me in a corner? and I wouldn't be able to get out and they'd just keep damaging me until I died. So couple those strings of unfair deaths with controls that really hurt my thumbs and it was pretty safe to say I wasn't willing to stick around much longer.
Not to mention the fact that the game design is a bit confusing as there's at least one instance of your progression being completely halted if you visit the entrance to the next area before setting off a few flags in other areas on the map, with no indication of what exactly it is that you need to do or how these things relate to each other. I probably went around in circles for 20-30 minutes before giving up and consulting a guide before finding out I needed to go back to a specific guy again in order to trigger something.
And it's a shame too, because given everything about this game, I should love it. I love the ocean/water settings, I love pixel art and 2D games, I love old games, and I love the music. The sprites are so detailed and expressive. But... I just can't see myself willing to put more time into finishing this, like, ever.
Right off the bat the controls are really funky and floaty. It's literally a water level but the entire game, but even more intense with the fact that you can't move with the directional pad on its own, you have to spam A/B to propel yourself in the direction you're pointing, except you also can't propel yourself downwards or directly right or left, only up straight or at an angle. And honestly, it wouldn't be so annoying if you could attack in any direction other than up for the first chunk of the game (I say as I assume that you unlock another attack later on). You can propel yourself upwards so fast, but you have to wait so long for yourself to lose momentum and descend back to the ground, and if an enemy's chasing you, it's going to do damage before you're ever able to attack it, especially if it's got you from the bottom or side. And as a side, I'm not sure if I was just tripping balls or doing something wrong, but during the first boss I swear the little starfish would like, pin me in a corner? and I wouldn't be able to get out and they'd just keep damaging me until I died. So couple those strings of unfair deaths with controls that really hurt my thumbs and it was pretty safe to say I wasn't willing to stick around much longer.
Not to mention the fact that the game design is a bit confusing as there's at least one instance of your progression being completely halted if you visit the entrance to the next area before setting off a few flags in other areas on the map, with no indication of what exactly it is that you need to do or how these things relate to each other. I probably went around in circles for 20-30 minutes before giving up and consulting a guide before finding out I needed to go back to a specific guy again in order to trigger something.
And it's a shame too, because given everything about this game, I should love it. I love the ocean/water settings, I love pixel art and 2D games, I love old games, and I love the music. The sprites are so detailed and expressive. But... I just can't see myself willing to put more time into finishing this, like, ever.
Cute little indie game, very short but sets the mood for Cave Story
It's a very cute, easy little game. Unfortunately I didn't really like the controls.
Pixel look I love you? I love cave story? I don't know what I'm doing here without a guide.
Googling how to spell "hors d'oeuvres" so that I can write a review of Ikachan that says "Hors d'oeuvres served before playing Cave Story". I do like that Studio Pixel has sort of always had his own style.
blub blub im a squid lol lmao
simple and sweet squid game :]
Rating: [71]
Rating: [71]
Oh how I love to squid around, showing Ironhead who's the boss of this swim. It's not much larger than a single part of Cave Story, but this little game has an identity beyond just demoing Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya's future works. (Let's also deem this a doujin classic, just like its successor which is so often only called an indie game.) Our unlikely hero has no grim backstory or workmanlike mentality, just the earnestness and intuition to do what's right for this troubled underseas enclave. Jetting around caverns, helping out the residents, and eventually rescuing them from certain doom makes for one exciting hour-long adventure. It's like if Lunar Lander had a story, boss fights, cute characters, and an inimitable style that set Pixel apart from his peers. Squidlander, if you will! Just don't waste your time on the 3DS port, let alone the money Nicalis doesn't deserve.
I'll spare you any more puns and set the scene. The turn of the millennium saw rapid flux in Japan's doujin game community. Widespread adoption of Windows and the Internet meant the old BBS days were fading. Anyone could hop onto Vector.jp, Enterbrain, or another host site to spread their work, get feedback, and maybe get a booth at Comiket or some other big event. All but the most prominent circles were moving on from the PC-98's strict limits in pursuit of new technologies, online multiplayer, and even more niche stories to tell. The conventionality of prior years, a need to design your game for easy transmittal across pricey phone minutes, gave way to the World Wide Web's promises of creative freedom. Only later did programmers, artists, musicians, and designers the world over realize how little had changed. This brief period of Y2K WWW optimism hadn't yet given way to paywalls, community siloing, or the reality distortion fields emanating from social media today. Coteries talked, created, and shared with each other like there was no tomorrow.
Within this primordial soup of an always-online doujin world came Ikachan, hatched out of Pixel's early efforts to make what would become Cave Story. By his own recollection, that better known title started from one of his roommates teaching the future indie legend some game development basics, sometime in 1999. The existence of even earlier micro-games like JiL JiL from 1997 puts this story in question, but it's true that Pixel's earliest software was much smaller in scope and ambition. Pixel's aims of making a multi-hour, consummate experience wouldn't show until this plucky underwater kid graced the Japanese web, using a bespoke engine and music format to massively compress its filesize for distribution. He's mentioned in multiple interviews how keeping these games small, accessible, and ideal for replays has always been the priority, something I think Ikachan exemplifies better than its spiritual successor.
Fittingly, your squid-ling journey begins in an isolated nadir of a small cave system, accompanied only by a smaller starfish fellow trapped behind sponge. This section introduces you to the game's conceit: you can only float and propel left, right, or up, with gravity in effect at all times. Cave Story starts out very similarly, forcing you to learn the base mechanics or face a swift and humiliating demise. I shuddered at the sight of spikes this early on, knowing how fatal they are at the start of the 2004 game, but Pixel's too kind here, letting you survive just one puncture. It's not even a couple minutes or so before you reach the first of many cute urchin friends, each sharing small tidbits about the setting and player goals. And the story tension's made clear right here as you learn about dangerous earthquakes threatening to collapse the whole place. Time's running out to stop the tremors or simply escape, and the player's only just wormed their way out of a craggy prison cell!
Ikachan doesn't deal with time limits, though, nor is it ever what I'd call challenging. Maybe that's because I'm used to the classic gravity platformers that inspired this one, but it's only a matter of patience to navigate these tunnels and bop enemies with your soon acquired mantle. Attacking is never that easy, even once you acquire the jet propulsion ability. Enemies have simple but somewhat jarring movement patterns one must track in order to time floats or boosts, and side attacks simply aren't possible until you get the Capacitor after the first of two bosses. The item & ability progression here is quite satisfying due to said simplicity, at least until after you defeat Ironhead. More than just bopping one or two starfish at a time with easy ways to dodge them, the iconic head honcho requires timing to reliably hit his underside and avoid those charges. Being such a short, restrained design exercise of a project, Ikachan kind of just ends after the big fight, with no new abilities or areas to test your skills. It's a bit of a letdown since the escape sequence could have benefited from even a light 3-to-5 minute timer, just to put more pressure on players.
Pixel compensates for these scant few mini-dungeons and set-pieces with a quality-over-quantity approach. Every critter you meet is memorable, either through appearance or interactions. Neither the PC freeware or 3DS commercial translations feel all that polished like Aeon Genesis' work on Cave Story, but they succeed at conveying the blasé dialogues and economic storytelling you'd expect from this creator. What small areas you dive through, and the mini obstacles you must overcome feel good to surpass. For all I've nitpicked about the game's ending, it's fun to do a kind of victory lap around this netherworld, rescuing each NPC before rocketing off into space, wondering where the hell they're going to end up. And Ikachan has a bit of worldbuilding mystery, too; why were the protagonist and Ben trapped down in the depths to begin with? Were either of them originally from the above world? What kind of bony-finned dumbass would request you deliver them raw blowfish, knowing it'd be poisoned?!
Of course, we can't forget how sumptuous the game looks and sounds even today. This was the debut work featuring Pixel's, uh, highly pixelated and textured artwork, and his catchy PC Engine-like chiptunes in turn. At no point was I ever confused about where to go, a function of a highly readable tileset and use of negative space in these environments. Wise coloring and immediately recognizable character silhouettes gave Ikachan the identity it needed to stand out amidst other, more detailed doujin games of the time. I've always considered this and Cave Story more than just retro throwbacks in both style and substance. They're two of the best examples of minimalist 2D dot visuals I know, and just as impressively coded for efficiency. Performance isn't super smooth due to the 50 FPS limit, but frames never drop and the controls always feel as low-latency as they should. So, despite its rough origins, the game's engine and presentation has more than survived the perils of Windows' evolution.
I wish I could be as glowing and partial to the 3DS version, though, which I acquired through Totally Legal Means and used for a quick replay. Nicalis has a history of making changes and additions to Pixel's work both welcome and dubious. In this case, I'm torn on the level design alterations, which range from adding more rooms to house new enemy types (none of which are much different from the originals) to straight-up padding out runtime. A couple of the routes players take to upgrades are now a bit too long for comfort, but there's a cool change to the Pinky rescue area where you now have to navigate a partially-hidden rock maze. Some nice new details like the shiny claws on crabs help too, yet I can't help but feel all of these changes are either too slight to matter or too irritating to ignore.
Worse still is the new localization, which interferes with the more humble themes and characterization of the original. See, Ikachan was never that much of a hero, nor destined to save the village from destruction. We start from the bottom and then, through our actions and honesty, do the right thing. But the revised character lines point to Nicalis' interpretation of the story, where Pinky becomes a Lisa Simpson type upon and Ironhead's no longer as hostile as he ought to be. The original English translation presents more fitting voices for each NPC and distributes the plot details better across the playthrough. Here it's more haphazardly presented, with Pinky's dad being much more mean to you for no good reason, or the upper tunnels sentry no longer being a pathetic bully like the pearl carrier back below. And there's still no added, meaningful new bits of plot or development here that would justify these liberal rewrites.
The 3DS port is otherwise very faithful, perhaps too much to justify the $5 pricetag. But that's a problem Nicalis faces with Cave Story, too, except they very likely brought ikachan to the eShop as a quick cash grab most of all. No extra sections, bosses, or challenge modes sends a clear sign of "we think you're dumb enough to buy this freeware". Enough's been said about Tyrone Rodriguez's downfall into exploiting Pixel's games and prestige for his benefit, and I hope everyone else who worked on this release got paid properly (or are eventually compensated despite the company president's asshole actions). I still hope this romp gets a proper custom engine or decompilation in the near-future. A level editor exists, and I presume there's gotta be at least one mod out there, but so much oxygen goes to a certain later title that everyone's kind of slept on this one's potential. Well, be the change you want to see in this world, I suppose. This wouldn't be my first time modding a fan favorite game just for my own pleasure.
Until then, Ikachan is a fun, unassuming Metroidvania channeling the better parts of the genre and its legacy. So many doujin and indie works have long since achieved much greater things, yet this would have been my favorite Flash-/Shockwave-ish PC game if I'd stumbled upon it in my childhood. Most importantly, this was something of a missing link between the quaint J-PC doujin period and the increasingly cross-regional, indie-adjacent paradigm that circles and creators now work in. Without this and especially Pixel's next game, so much pomp and circumstance around the revival of the bedroom coder dream may not have worked out as strongly. That's enough reason to try this ditty! It's definitely a case of untapped potential, justifiably viewed as a taste of Pixel's games to come, yet I can boot this up anytime and come away with a smile.
I'll spare you any more puns and set the scene. The turn of the millennium saw rapid flux in Japan's doujin game community. Widespread adoption of Windows and the Internet meant the old BBS days were fading. Anyone could hop onto Vector.jp, Enterbrain, or another host site to spread their work, get feedback, and maybe get a booth at Comiket or some other big event. All but the most prominent circles were moving on from the PC-98's strict limits in pursuit of new technologies, online multiplayer, and even more niche stories to tell. The conventionality of prior years, a need to design your game for easy transmittal across pricey phone minutes, gave way to the World Wide Web's promises of creative freedom. Only later did programmers, artists, musicians, and designers the world over realize how little had changed. This brief period of Y2K WWW optimism hadn't yet given way to paywalls, community siloing, or the reality distortion fields emanating from social media today. Coteries talked, created, and shared with each other like there was no tomorrow.
Within this primordial soup of an always-online doujin world came Ikachan, hatched out of Pixel's early efforts to make what would become Cave Story. By his own recollection, that better known title started from one of his roommates teaching the future indie legend some game development basics, sometime in 1999. The existence of even earlier micro-games like JiL JiL from 1997 puts this story in question, but it's true that Pixel's earliest software was much smaller in scope and ambition. Pixel's aims of making a multi-hour, consummate experience wouldn't show until this plucky underwater kid graced the Japanese web, using a bespoke engine and music format to massively compress its filesize for distribution. He's mentioned in multiple interviews how keeping these games small, accessible, and ideal for replays has always been the priority, something I think Ikachan exemplifies better than its spiritual successor.
Fittingly, your squid-ling journey begins in an isolated nadir of a small cave system, accompanied only by a smaller starfish fellow trapped behind sponge. This section introduces you to the game's conceit: you can only float and propel left, right, or up, with gravity in effect at all times. Cave Story starts out very similarly, forcing you to learn the base mechanics or face a swift and humiliating demise. I shuddered at the sight of spikes this early on, knowing how fatal they are at the start of the 2004 game, but Pixel's too kind here, letting you survive just one puncture. It's not even a couple minutes or so before you reach the first of many cute urchin friends, each sharing small tidbits about the setting and player goals. And the story tension's made clear right here as you learn about dangerous earthquakes threatening to collapse the whole place. Time's running out to stop the tremors or simply escape, and the player's only just wormed their way out of a craggy prison cell!
Ikachan doesn't deal with time limits, though, nor is it ever what I'd call challenging. Maybe that's because I'm used to the classic gravity platformers that inspired this one, but it's only a matter of patience to navigate these tunnels and bop enemies with your soon acquired mantle. Attacking is never that easy, even once you acquire the jet propulsion ability. Enemies have simple but somewhat jarring movement patterns one must track in order to time floats or boosts, and side attacks simply aren't possible until you get the Capacitor after the first of two bosses. The item & ability progression here is quite satisfying due to said simplicity, at least until after you defeat Ironhead. More than just bopping one or two starfish at a time with easy ways to dodge them, the iconic head honcho requires timing to reliably hit his underside and avoid those charges. Being such a short, restrained design exercise of a project, Ikachan kind of just ends after the big fight, with no new abilities or areas to test your skills. It's a bit of a letdown since the escape sequence could have benefited from even a light 3-to-5 minute timer, just to put more pressure on players.
Pixel compensates for these scant few mini-dungeons and set-pieces with a quality-over-quantity approach. Every critter you meet is memorable, either through appearance or interactions. Neither the PC freeware or 3DS commercial translations feel all that polished like Aeon Genesis' work on Cave Story, but they succeed at conveying the blasé dialogues and economic storytelling you'd expect from this creator. What small areas you dive through, and the mini obstacles you must overcome feel good to surpass. For all I've nitpicked about the game's ending, it's fun to do a kind of victory lap around this netherworld, rescuing each NPC before rocketing off into space, wondering where the hell they're going to end up. And Ikachan has a bit of worldbuilding mystery, too; why were the protagonist and Ben trapped down in the depths to begin with? Were either of them originally from the above world? What kind of bony-finned dumbass would request you deliver them raw blowfish, knowing it'd be poisoned?!
Of course, we can't forget how sumptuous the game looks and sounds even today. This was the debut work featuring Pixel's, uh, highly pixelated and textured artwork, and his catchy PC Engine-like chiptunes in turn. At no point was I ever confused about where to go, a function of a highly readable tileset and use of negative space in these environments. Wise coloring and immediately recognizable character silhouettes gave Ikachan the identity it needed to stand out amidst other, more detailed doujin games of the time. I've always considered this and Cave Story more than just retro throwbacks in both style and substance. They're two of the best examples of minimalist 2D dot visuals I know, and just as impressively coded for efficiency. Performance isn't super smooth due to the 50 FPS limit, but frames never drop and the controls always feel as low-latency as they should. So, despite its rough origins, the game's engine and presentation has more than survived the perils of Windows' evolution.
I wish I could be as glowing and partial to the 3DS version, though, which I acquired through Totally Legal Means and used for a quick replay. Nicalis has a history of making changes and additions to Pixel's work both welcome and dubious. In this case, I'm torn on the level design alterations, which range from adding more rooms to house new enemy types (none of which are much different from the originals) to straight-up padding out runtime. A couple of the routes players take to upgrades are now a bit too long for comfort, but there's a cool change to the Pinky rescue area where you now have to navigate a partially-hidden rock maze. Some nice new details like the shiny claws on crabs help too, yet I can't help but feel all of these changes are either too slight to matter or too irritating to ignore.
Worse still is the new localization, which interferes with the more humble themes and characterization of the original. See, Ikachan was never that much of a hero, nor destined to save the village from destruction. We start from the bottom and then, through our actions and honesty, do the right thing. But the revised character lines point to Nicalis' interpretation of the story, where Pinky becomes a Lisa Simpson type upon and Ironhead's no longer as hostile as he ought to be. The original English translation presents more fitting voices for each NPC and distributes the plot details better across the playthrough. Here it's more haphazardly presented, with Pinky's dad being much more mean to you for no good reason, or the upper tunnels sentry no longer being a pathetic bully like the pearl carrier back below. And there's still no added, meaningful new bits of plot or development here that would justify these liberal rewrites.
The 3DS port is otherwise very faithful, perhaps too much to justify the $5 pricetag. But that's a problem Nicalis faces with Cave Story, too, except they very likely brought ikachan to the eShop as a quick cash grab most of all. No extra sections, bosses, or challenge modes sends a clear sign of "we think you're dumb enough to buy this freeware". Enough's been said about Tyrone Rodriguez's downfall into exploiting Pixel's games and prestige for his benefit, and I hope everyone else who worked on this release got paid properly (or are eventually compensated despite the company president's asshole actions). I still hope this romp gets a proper custom engine or decompilation in the near-future. A level editor exists, and I presume there's gotta be at least one mod out there, but so much oxygen goes to a certain later title that everyone's kind of slept on this one's potential. Well, be the change you want to see in this world, I suppose. This wouldn't be my first time modding a fan favorite game just for my own pleasure.
Until then, Ikachan is a fun, unassuming Metroidvania channeling the better parts of the genre and its legacy. So many doujin and indie works have long since achieved much greater things, yet this would have been my favorite Flash-/Shockwave-ish PC game if I'd stumbled upon it in my childhood. Most importantly, this was something of a missing link between the quaint J-PC doujin period and the increasingly cross-regional, indie-adjacent paradigm that circles and creators now work in. Without this and especially Pixel's next game, so much pomp and circumstance around the revival of the bedroom coder dream may not have worked out as strongly. That's enough reason to try this ditty! It's definitely a case of untapped potential, justifiably viewed as a taste of Pixel's games to come, yet I can boot this up anytime and come away with a smile.
Very short but very cute and fun. Very pretty on the 3DS.
Short, but sweet. It has all of the charm of Daisuke Amaya's Cave Story, the only thing I'd say negatively about it is that it's over way too soon & that the movement can be a little annoying. This may be more of a personal preference, but the swimming movement didn't feel nearly as sharp as Cave Story, making it a somewhat lesser experience. Overall, cute and worth playing.
Short but fun 1-hour game. The music and art are good - very similar to Cave Story of course - but there wasn't anything that interesting story or character wise. The controls were sometimes annoying, but the dash makes up for it. Overall, it's a nice little experience that will probably be enjoyable for Cave Story fans.
As hour long games go, this is about as good as they get.
Pretty short little game, but still pretty fun.
Ikachan is a very basic game when it comes down to it. It has some cutesy story and visuals, but nothing to justify going over freeware price, especially considering how short it actually is.
I really loved my time with Ikachan. It was such a good game to chip away at for months even with me needing a walkthrough by the end, it never got annoying or anything. It had a solid idea and executed with LOADS of charm and heart.
A big highlight for me though, besides the controls and how the world feels, which feels VERY alive, is the soundtrack. Only 6 songs, yet they all were super captivating and especially the ending theme hit very close to my heart.
- SPOILER SECTION -
And that goes for the entire ending as well. Super well done sequence with a great sequence with a great meaning. Even giving the fish that were abusing the people another chance in that ship, in that giving a chance to 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘺 everyone, while say what you will on it not being super accurate all the time, does send a message that everyone can change if given the chance to and if said chance is taken. And to have said message portrayed so simple yet so effectively, was really moving.
- SPOILER SECTION -
Overall, this was a great time. Especially after checking out a load of Pixel's work prior to Cave Story, but this in particular was a big one to check out. And I'm very glad I did. Because in it was a great time that was very touching.
A big highlight for me though, besides the controls and how the world feels, which feels VERY alive, is the soundtrack. Only 6 songs, yet they all were super captivating and especially the ending theme hit very close to my heart.
- SPOILER SECTION -
And that goes for the entire ending as well. Super well done sequence with a great sequence with a great meaning. Even giving the fish that were abusing the people another chance in that ship, in that giving a chance to 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘺 everyone, while say what you will on it not being super accurate all the time, does send a message that everyone can change if given the chance to and if said chance is taken. And to have said message portrayed so simple yet so effectively, was really moving.
- SPOILER SECTION -
Overall, this was a great time. Especially after checking out a load of Pixel's work prior to Cave Story, but this in particular was a big one to check out. And I'm very glad I did. Because in it was a great time that was very touching.
If it was any longer it would be too much. The movement conceit is clever but makes for a tired thumb. Have you ever wanted to be a squid for an hour? I have, but probably no longer than that.
squid
The momentum based gameplay takes a minute to get used to but nothing about the game overstays its welcome. Gotta love my guy Pixel he just doesn't miss.
Ikachan es un juego paradigmático de los “indies” tempranos de los 2000. Un juego de exploración bajo el agua en que controlamos a un adorable calamar que debe ir de allá para acá recolectando ítems, luchando con enemigos y solucionando problemas de los habitantes de su mundo.
En los tiernos diálogos del juego se puede ver como su autor, Daisuke Amaya, autor del posterior Cave Story, ya tenía aspiraciones de hacer videojuegos en los que contase historias en las que el mundo y los personajes tuvieran una especial importancia.
El resultado es un juego corto, que sabe jugar con sus limitaciones técnicas para limitar la progresión de habilidades y en el mapa a su escasa duración y contar una pequeña historia sobre la ayuda y la cooperación.
En los tiernos diálogos del juego se puede ver como su autor, Daisuke Amaya, autor del posterior Cave Story, ya tenía aspiraciones de hacer videojuegos en los que contase historias en las que el mundo y los personajes tuvieran una especial importancia.
El resultado es un juego corto, que sabe jugar con sus limitaciones técnicas para limitar la progresión de habilidades y en el mapa a su escasa duración y contar una pequeña historia sobre la ayuda y la cooperación.
very short but oozing in charm and the story is very cute
SQUID GAMES‼️
Ikachan is a simple and short game that can be completed in 1 hour or less it was one of the first games from the creator of Cave Story the proposal is simple and a simple story but the small group of characters is captivating the game has to be approached with the what he set out to do manages to be competent with beautiful music that is pleasing to the ears from start to finish, and of course its easy-to-learn gameplay.
fofinho mas meus dedos doem
A very short metroidvania where you play as a little squid (hence the name, Ikachan) who's trapped in some underwater cave and encounters some other sea creatures who are trying to escape. The movement's not amazing (though it is improved with the dash upgrade) and the music, while pretty solid, gets a bit tiresome since it's mainly just one overworld track that's played on loop during the majority of your playtime, but otherwise, it's got solid pixel art and an interesting enough premise, and is a good example of the early potential shown by Studio Pixel (the creators behind Cave Story and Kero Blaster). Worth your time if you just want a tight little nostalgic experience and want a nice appetizer before a Cave Story run.
Poke your pointy squid around for an hour or eight using the swim from Cave Story. If you play this game and tell me you dislike it I'd call you a liar. Studio Pixel at its finest.
"Ikachan is mostly notable as one of the games Cave Story developer Pixel (Daisuke Amaya) created before, uh, Cave Story. No, wait. I probably mean particularly notable at that, because Ikachan does feel in some ways a dry-run for Cave Story. It’s got exploration, some story, an exp./upgrade system, amnesiac hero who wakes up in a cave system… it most likely uses an earlier version of the same engine, too."
Read more: https://everygame.tumblr.com/post/73156760891/ikachan-nintendo-3ds-developedpublished-by
Read more: https://everygame.tumblr.com/post/73156760891/ikachan-nintendo-3ds-developedpublished-by
Fun little game that you can blast though in about an hour tops, even if most of it's appeal is due to the fact that it's a spiritual predecessor to Cave Story (sharing the same creator, gameplay elements, and even the engine, to a degree) and the momentum-based movement system. Can get rather frustrating thanks to said movement system, but it doesn't overstay it's welcome and is somewhat bearable due to it's short length.