This is a game I got from one of the itch.io bundles, I believe from the Palestine one in 2021. This is a fantastic little game.
I feel like games that are platformers miss a few opportunities in some cases. They don’t ape the good ideas enough, or entirely ape them. Or they just don’t take those ideas and implement them well. Like take Kaizo style games. When they’re not directly romhacks, they focus on the extreme difficulty and I don’t see many that grab other aspects.
This is the exception. It steals from Mario world in some wonderful ways that I feel like I don’t see much in platformers I’ve played(of course I could be wrong) but centers its gameplay around a mechanic that is pretty unique. You have to collect or avoid collecting coins to fulfill different conditions for different desired outcomes.
For example, you collect 1 coin which makes some jumps harder or locks you from a collectible (until you restart from a checkpoint or the beginning of the level, depending on the situation). Then you make more progress and find you need a good portion of the coins in the level to break a barrier for an optional exit or collectible. A lot of applause for the mechanical decisions for the most part.
The one I would criticize is at the end you have a gauntlet to get through. If you die to the sorta unclear mechanic for the boss, you go back to the start. However, it does give you a checkpoint at the third death, but I would prefer it to be better communicated. Once you figure the boss out it’s simple. This is a small nitpick, and largely the bosses were simple, but not tedious and pretty fun
One thing about some bosses and other portions of the game is that they’re entirely optional. Which is great imo. It respects your time but rewards you for exploring and eking out the little secrets and Easter eggs. I’m not big on methodically picking out secrets, I’m more into stumbling into them or having my suspicions confirmed which doesn’t tend to happen but it seems like there’s a pretty good mix of both in this.
I also love yokai broadly and the specific designs in this are pretty great. My only complaint here is that I wish tanuki had their signature feature or “bowing” to kappa would defeat them. Not a real complaint, but I would have been ecstatic were these details there.
Also the soundtrack slaps. It seems pretty slept on so I hope more folks find out about it
I feel like games that are platformers miss a few opportunities in some cases. They don’t ape the good ideas enough, or entirely ape them. Or they just don’t take those ideas and implement them well. Like take Kaizo style games. When they’re not directly romhacks, they focus on the extreme difficulty and I don’t see many that grab other aspects.
This is the exception. It steals from Mario world in some wonderful ways that I feel like I don’t see much in platformers I’ve played(of course I could be wrong) but centers its gameplay around a mechanic that is pretty unique. You have to collect or avoid collecting coins to fulfill different conditions for different desired outcomes.
For example, you collect 1 coin which makes some jumps harder or locks you from a collectible (until you restart from a checkpoint or the beginning of the level, depending on the situation). Then you make more progress and find you need a good portion of the coins in the level to break a barrier for an optional exit or collectible. A lot of applause for the mechanical decisions for the most part.
The one I would criticize is at the end you have a gauntlet to get through. If you die to the sorta unclear mechanic for the boss, you go back to the start. However, it does give you a checkpoint at the third death, but I would prefer it to be better communicated. Once you figure the boss out it’s simple. This is a small nitpick, and largely the bosses were simple, but not tedious and pretty fun
One thing about some bosses and other portions of the game is that they’re entirely optional. Which is great imo. It respects your time but rewards you for exploring and eking out the little secrets and Easter eggs. I’m not big on methodically picking out secrets, I’m more into stumbling into them or having my suspicions confirmed which doesn’t tend to happen but it seems like there’s a pretty good mix of both in this.
I also love yokai broadly and the specific designs in this are pretty great. My only complaint here is that I wish tanuki had their signature feature or “bowing” to kappa would defeat them. Not a real complaint, but I would have been ecstatic were these details there.
Also the soundtrack slaps. It seems pretty slept on so I hope more folks find out about it