Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (Nintendo Switch) – The test

Pocky & Rocky reshrined is a scrolling shoot em all released on April 21, 2022 on the Japanese eShop, the game is published Natsume & Taito accompanied by the developers Tengo Project & NatsumeAtari. The game is a remake of pocky & rocky released on Super Famicom in 1992 in Japan then in 1993 for the rest of the world on Super Nintendo.

In all episodes of the series, you play as Pocky, a young Shinto priestess who will leave to calm the yokai, for various reasons (Yokai = Japanese demons).

Pocky & Rocky are part of a small series with the 1^er episode released on arcade under the name of KiKi KaiKai in 1986 where the main antagonist was Rocky the tabuki who will be Pocky’s ally in the SNES episode. The continuation of 1992 (japan) and in 1993 (in the world), will always be called Kiki Kaikai or Pocky & Rocky, the story will directly follow the arcade episode with the yokais who have become good samaritans, unfortunately a villain in black hoods will create mayhem by making them evil again.

There is also Pocky & Rocky 2 or Kiki Kaikai 2 released again on SNES and Super Famicom, once again a villain arrives and it is up to the priestess accompanied by her tanuki friend to resolve the situation, but we will have unlockable characters (7 in total with Rocky). As much as Pocky & Rocky 1 was a resounding success at the time, the second episode was much less appreciated and is often forgotten by most people.

Story

A panicked Rocky comes to see Pocky to tell him of his concerns, all his friends in his group of Yokai (the Nopino Goblins) have been driven mad by a mysterious force. After listening to Rocky, the old Yokai friends attack Pocky & Rocky. The story is nothing like a Kingdom Heart, something happened and here we go, the friends are going to break Yokai galore. Each beginning of level and each end of level will explain a little more about what is happening and it will be nice to follow especially with its very cute drawings and with the most modern pixel art.
The story has been changed since it was a bit incoherent and too little explained, which will cause certain levels and certain bosses to disappear completely despite everything, we will find the same cast of enemies and a good part of the original levels modified. To quickly get an opinion on the story without spoilers, in the original game, the black coat was bad and that’s it. In Pocky & Rocky reshrined he’s mean, but the reasons they led him to want to eliminate you are explained with time travel and divinity, it’s going a bit too far.

Gameplay

Like a shoot em all you will have to shoot everything that moves in order to obtain various bonuses to improve your ability to “purify” your enemies. The bonuses are categorized as increase in firepower, restoration of life point, temporary invincibility, obtaining more super attack and obtaining more life. You will have 3 types of shooting: fire shot, green shot and multiple shot each character will have its variants and you can increase the power by 3 times by taking the same shot bonus several times. There is also a melee button, which will allow you either to return certain projectiles or to defend yourself against whoever dares to approach you, moreover certain enemies are not killable with shots, you will have to hit them above to release it. You will also have a “charged” shooting feature where you will have to press the fire button several times or the melee shot which will make a special attack that changes depending on who you are playing. All characters will have a super special attack that hits a wide area of ​​the screen, it hurts and it hits almost everyone. The last useful button is the dodge which is double-edged, it helps when well used and it blocks you in the end of the animation making you vulnerable. You will have 2 game modes, story mode and free mode. The story mode will make you follow the adventures of Pocky & Rocky with 3 possible difficulty levels (super easy, normal and hard). Free mode will need to be unlocked by completing the story with a minimum score of 10,000 (it’s very easy to do.) and you can play as any playable character you partially play in story mode.
The game is playable in multiplayer, unfortunately it will only be in free mode and locally as there is no online co-op mode while an online scoring system is available. Also, it is impossible to do the story with a friend, it’s a shame when Pocky & Rocky 1 and 2 on SNES was playable with 2 at any time.

Music & Graphics

The music is generally soft and relaxing, on the other hand for the bosses or the moments a little more dramatic the music will be energized. All the music has already appeared in the previous episodes of the series and yet it will always stick with you. The graphics are incredible, respecting the original graphics with their full cuteness by adding a much larger color palette and pixel-perfect detail, it’s a master class. Even the animations are incredible, whether it’s the one we see for the story or that of the characters we play, moreover special mention to Rocky who moves his behind to hit his enemies for those who happen to be wearing his buttocks.

Lifetime

The game shouldn’t last very long, the continues are endless and the difficulty is high, but it’s still largely doable. The story mode should not last more than 2 hours and the free mode being identical it will be identical or even faster without the story of the game.
The online coop mode will limit replayability even with the 5 characters available and despite the online ranking which will not be of interest to everyone.

The differences between the remake and the original

Pocky & Rocky reshrined is the remaster of Pocky & Rocky and many things have changed, such as bosses like Count Dracula or the genie of the lamp who disappeared. The choice of characters is more important which was at the base only Pocky & Rocky and now 3 more which is justified by the story. Levels have disappeared and some of them are different enough to justify the events of the game. All the enemies present in the original game are more resistant and with a different pattern. All the bosses look more impressive, even the 1st boss in the game got a second phase which it didn’t have in the original. The story took a turn from just the classic villain with a black coat and well, it became a story about time travel with a desire for revenge for various reasons.

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