Kuru Kuru Kururin is a Nintendo game through and through. At first blush, the game appears to not have much going on; you’re in a spinny thingy and you have to maneuver it to the goal. Yet, as you go through each level, see all the tricks the game has up its sleeve, you realize… yeah, it’s a simple as hell game! Simplicity isn’t a bad thing if the core idea is strong of course.
In this game’s case, I wouldn’t consider its spinning mechanics strong enough to leave me like “oh shit, Nintendo are geniuses once again!”, but it still manages to squeeze a fun time out of what little there is to it. Each world is set apart by its own mechanical and level design focus, never substantially changing how you tackle the levels, but fresh enough to keep me from getting bored.
It’s surprisingly challenging too—perhaps to a fault. The expectations of execution precision and the length of levels by the end left me abusing rewind frequently, lest I have long given up on the game. In a way it feels very retro game-y, a short experience intended for a child to play over and over for days/weeks on end until they’ve mastered it. The design, even for it’s 2001 release, feels fairly antiquated.
Even if I don’t think it’s that good of a game, it’s undoubtedly charming: a fun little toy to beat in a couple short bursts. Nothing too mentally taxing, with cute graphics and surprisingly good music. Also, having 10 birds rest on my spinny thingy and fly around when I bump into things is wonderful.
In this game’s case, I wouldn’t consider its spinning mechanics strong enough to leave me like “oh shit, Nintendo are geniuses once again!”, but it still manages to squeeze a fun time out of what little there is to it. Each world is set apart by its own mechanical and level design focus, never substantially changing how you tackle the levels, but fresh enough to keep me from getting bored.
It’s surprisingly challenging too—perhaps to a fault. The expectations of execution precision and the length of levels by the end left me abusing rewind frequently, lest I have long given up on the game. In a way it feels very retro game-y, a short experience intended for a child to play over and over for days/weeks on end until they’ve mastered it. The design, even for it’s 2001 release, feels fairly antiquated.
Even if I don’t think it’s that good of a game, it’s undoubtedly charming: a fun little toy to beat in a couple short bursts. Nothing too mentally taxing, with cute graphics and surprisingly good music. Also, having 10 birds rest on my spinny thingy and fly around when I bump into things is wonderful.