Pocky & Rocky Reshrined [Review]
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is now on Xbox as part of ININ’s ININVASION release initiative.
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is the latest game in the classic shooter series, also known as Kiki Kaikai in Japan. The original arcade game was developed by Taito, with later home installments developed or published by Natsume. The latest comes from ININ and NatsumeAtari’s Tengo Project team.
In the game, the player controls shrine maiden Pocky or her tanuki friend Rocky (plus three new characters) as they battle creatures from Japanese folklore on their quest to defeat the evil Black Mantle. The game has eight challenging levels of arcade action, playable alone or in co-op mode.
Reshrined is a multi-directional top down shooter, mixing elements of scrolling shooters like Gradius with arena shooters like Smash TV. Levels can scroll in multiple directions and enemies come at the player from all sides; the player is able to move and shoot in any direction and generally controls the pace of movement through the levels as they rarely autoscroll. The player can shoot or deflect, then later earns unique special abilities for each character such as mirrors, shields, or cloning.
The graphics are in a classic, colorful 16-bit style. All the enemies—small monsters and giant bosses—are full of animated personality and the game’s Japanese folklore theme and setting are brought to life in a vivid cartoon style. The story of the game isn’t important or engaging at all, but the visuals alone are fun and worth the price of admission.
Gameplay can be challenging in normal mode and above, but that’s to be expected of this kind of shooter. The game has unlimited continues with mid-level checkpoints, making it more accessible. Pocky & Rocky Reshrined also offers an online leaderboard for the high score hunters out there.
If you’re an Xbox gamer, you don’t have to be left out anymore, as the game is now available to you as of this month. This is the best installment of one of the greatest classic shooters out there. Don’t miss out!
Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is available on PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC.
