Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (2022 release)

[Tanooki | 4,946]

Mine is in the mail from playasia still along with Chrono Cross, so whenever it appears I'm fine.  I hate to say it not in a hurry.  I have Lodoss War to do first anyway and I'm neck deep in the 16bits right now...so this is about the long game it appears.

[CMR | 521]

17 hours ago, Brickman said:

I’d shoot them an email. Mine was sent out on release day and took about a week max to arrive.

It's because I forgot to click the option to ship everything separate.  They're holding it till my other stuff is ready to ship.

 

@TanookiI'm getting Loddoss War with that one too.  I just checked and it looks like it shipped today.

Edited May 5, 2022 by CMR

[Makar | 1,946]

Wow it took 2 years but it looks like this will be released on June 24th

[LostLevel83 | 86]

FYI this game is super fun. That is all.

[Tanooki | 4,946]

It is, but if you have the original it doesn't bring much to the table other than a modern-ish coat of paint.  Despite the fact I got one, I ended up getting the SNES one back in my hands in a solid trade so well, I kept the SNES game instead.   Either way whichever version you use, I can recommend it as a great little shooter/run n' gun, whatever you care to call it.

[Sumez | 2,986]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

It is, but if you have the original it doesn't bring much to the table other than a modern-ish coat of paint. 

This is such a crazy statement I don't even know what to say.
The two earlier Tengo releases (Wild Guns and TNWA) could both be described as "a fresh coat of paint", even though it would be massively underselling them, as both are fantastic updates with plenty of new content. But Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is just a completely different game. The first two stages are very loosely modeled after the first two on SNES, but that's pretty much where the similarities end - mechanically they play very differently, and the whole pace and feel of the game is just something else entirely. The first SNES game had a fast breakneck pace where rushing through enemies were often a better approach than trying to stop and fight them, while the new game is a much more methodic run-n-gun requiring you to stop and approach the level design in a strategic manner and learn the behavior of enemies rather than pretty much needing to know where they spawn in advance to have a shot at surviving.

I can see different tastes preferring either one game or the other while disliking the other one, exactly because they are so different. But both are great games with qualities entirely of their own. Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is by far the most fun new release to come out this year.

[LostLevel83 | 86]

5 hours ago, Sumez said:

The first two stages are very loosely modeled after the first two on SNES, but that's pretty much where the similarities end - mechanically they play very differently, and the whole pace and feel of the game is just something else entirely. 

Well said. During the first two stages I thought to myself “I’ve played this before. Did I get tricked into buying one of those remasters of an old game?”. It really takes an amazing turn though and becomes a unique game.

[Sumez | 2,986]

I mean it's pretty much advertised as a remake ("reshrined"?) - I'd say it's tricking people into buying a brand new game 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Sumez

[Californication | 1,478]

I guess I am the only person that was dissapointed. Am really surprised at the glowing reviews. 

As far as movement the characters are slower and the dive mechanic is more awkward. The difficulty is front heavy with the remakes of stages one and two being more difficult than later stages. Stage three is new and probably the best designed stage in the game. The ship stage is a shorter, easier version of the original stage four. The black manta stage uses some of the design of the original level 5 except again shorter, and easier.

So essentially the movement is much worse than original, the game has balance issues, and it has awkwardly designed levels imo. I didn't like it, almost at all, but I am going to wait and play it again to make sure I was not just disappointed because it is so bad compared to the original. If I had to give the game one positive, I think the bosses are mostly more difficult and I still have to figure out how to beat them cleanly.

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Californication

[Tanooki | 4,946]

@Californication Yeah I'm with you, they were disappointing, I just didn't want to bait an argument writing that being more casual about it, in a read between the lines setup.  Basically the reshrined game I called a coat of paint because that's basically to me what it is.  I played the SNES cart along side it having both for a short time, and I saw utterly no benefit to my level of fun keeping the Switch card.  Sure it looks and sounds a bit nicer, 30 years newer assets, but what's there didn't make me feel a need to keep it further.  I didn't think it played quite as smoothly but left that up maybe to bias or interpretation, but you're right, the diving didn't feel as nice, nor to me did the baton switching to knock off incoming fire compared again to the SNES game.

Yes there are differences, but the mechanics did nothing to add to my enjoyment, as you said, it just moved worse.  Maybe I'm more used to the SNES original, so what, it didn't feel as right.  I didn't think the bosses felt all that much nastier, but I could be off on that one.

[Sumez | 2,986]

The new game is quite easy, definitely a lot more than the original SNES one, but I don't see the difficulty being frontloaded, how many times did you play through it? How hard it seems might be more closely tied to getting used to it, and situations where you get powered down can have a spiraling effect. 

I'd say the airship stage is by far the hardest stage, followed by the final one, while stage 1 is a complete breeze. 

If you're going for scoring you need to not get hit at all, that also adds a really fun dimension to the game. It doesn't take long to get a hard mode no-death run, but it's a fun challenge regardless. 

[Californication | 1,478]

@SumezYou're right I do need to play it again. Part of the reason the first two stages felt harder was because how much you needed to use the fan. I got stuck there for a bit because I was trying to get through the stage the same way I played the original game. When I realized the roll was half nerfed and the fan was integral I did better. Stage 4/5, I might of beat on the first try - I forget, but if I didn't, it was close.