Kuru Kuru Kuruin is a Game Boy Advance launch title that we North Americans didn't receive until it was released as part of the GBA Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

I like the concept of using a Japanese fidget toy and converting it into a puzzle game based on precision, and I think they executed it quite well. The levels are solid and passing through tight corridors without taking any damage can be satisfying. My main issue with the game is the difficulty curve as the later levels can be quite annoying to complete thanks to obstacles such as spike balls and cannonballs. I didn’t bother getting perfects in all the levels to unlock the extra world because of my frustration. If I had given a little more time to do this, I could've pulled it off, but I got my fulfillment with the Adventure Mode and Challenge Mode

Kuru Kuru Kuruin is an obscure GBA game that I enjoyed. Despite my frustration with the later half of the game, I recommend this to people who have the Expansion Pack or have an emulator installed like mGBA.

I think this game could significantly benefit from having a checkpoint system, as clearing levels beginning to end in one run can be extremely tedious and difficult. I can't get too upset at the game for this though; it gives you the resources to help complete a level, as the practice mode includes checkpoints and even watchable demos of each level. I feel like this game would be much more enjoyable (and longer) if I was a kid in 2001 who just got this game with my new GBA as opposed to someone abusing the rewind feature on the Switch to beat the game as fast as possible. It has a lot of charm, and I really like the unique concept of the gameplay.

It's no secret that Nintendo keeps a lot of hidden gems to themselves in Japan. What I find interesting is how back in the 2000s, some of these Japanese games were localized exclusively in Europe. I can't tell if they wanted to use PAL regions as a testing ground, or if Nintendo of America simply turned their nose up at the prospect of releasing certain titles overseas. Nevertheless, we got Kuru Kuru Kururin in English out of this, so I can't really complain, now can I?

Kuru Kuru Kururin is a game about navigating an eternally-rotating pole through mazes. That's really all there is to it, and they push your ability to do so to the absolute limit. There's an occasional extra mechanic or two: springs that are safe to bounce off of and can reverse your rotation, or moving objects to dodge. Despite having no direct control over your steady rotation, you have three movement speeds (normal, A/B, and A+B), and it's really satisfying to manuever yourself through the intricately designed levels. The level designers were also kind enough to leave little marks on the ground to indicate it's safe to stop moving, which is good, because this game can be really unforgiving. The main stages can feel really long and drawn out, not helped by the fact that there are precisely zero checkpoints. You have to do each stage in a single run. There are "soft checkpoints" that refill your HP, but you'll still get booted out of a stage after touching a wall three times. I also feel like this game being on the GBA doesn't really do it any favors control-wise. your method of changing speeds feels like the best compromise they could make for the fact that you're using a d-pad. I can imagine a game like this controlling leagues better with an analog stick.

Confession time! I played through the first half of the game on normal difficulty, until I hit a roadblock at "Cave 3" (very creative level names) and made a new file so I could choose easy difficulty instead. Easy mode cuts your pole's length in half, and as a result, snaps the game's difficulty in half as well. It's a real overcorrection in my eyes; The whole game was designed with the full pole length in mind. In easy mode, you breeze past everything, and can even take shortcuts that would never be possible on normal difficulty.

The only thing left to comment on is the presentation, which is serviceable, I suppose. None of it really sticks out in my mind. The menus have a game show-like feel to them, but a lot of the visual design looks like pre-rendered models turned into GBA sprites, which is a look that I've never really been a fan of. Most of the areas you play through have cookie-cutter theming to them (cave, ocean, grass, etc). Story is as simple as it gets: One day Kururin's siblings hit the road and go missing, and you play through a buncha levels to go find them. An attempt was made, but a lot of it ends up feeling like an afterthought.

Overall, Kuru Kuru Kururin gets my award of "eh, good enough". It's a really neat idea executed well, despite the fact that nothing else really sticks out about it. I'd still say it's worth a shot though. Now, there's two more games that never left Japan, but I'm gonna have a seat for a bit.

Okay, so: Remember those old mazes you could get as a kid where you'd have to navigate a metal stick through a metal maze and if you hit the sides you got a little shock? And how it was weirdly addicting despite being way too hard for little kids? I had one of those that literally came with a headband that had bells attached to it so if you messed up it would set the bells off and make your whole head rattle. I have no idea how it made it past product testing because it probably gave some poor kids actual head trauma. If anyone reading this knows what I'm talking about let me know because I've been trying to find this thing online for ages and I can't remember the name of it.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because Kurukuru Kururin is basically one of those games but with a little more depth and a very charming visual presentation. You're still a stick trying to avoid hitting the edges, but the gimmick is that the stick rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise - you can also hit springs spread out throughout the level to change the rotation. It has a little bit of a learning cuvre, but once you get the hang of timing the stick movement to coincide with juuuust the right angle to make it through a curved path, it's pretty dang satisfying.

Also, the visuals and aesthetic in this game add a lot to it. Your character is a cute little bird in a silly little airship and you're going around saving your lost siblings. The music is catchy and the pastel visuals are easy on the eyes.

However, a massive caveat for anyone playing this game: it gets fucking hard. I went into this thinking "well, the art style is clearly kid-friendly, I have to imagine they leave the actually hard stuff for the postgame, right?" Folks, I was wrong. The last two worlds in the main campaign got so stressful that I nearly stopped playing (and honestly, that's the only reason I'm giving this 3.5 instead of 4). By the end of the game I was still glad I played it but you'd have to pay me to get perfects in every stage to unlock the postgame content.

Kurukuru Kururin is a game of contrasts: It is simultaneously a pleasant romp through colorful worlds and a hell game designed by Satan from which no one can escape. If nothing else, I would say give it a shot on the GBA NSO if you enjoy a puzzle game that's easy to pick up but hard to master.