But like Radiant Silvergun, you’ll gradually familiarize yourself with all offensive patterns.Įnter the game’s second stage, The Enchanted Forest, and Reshrined begins to branch from its source material. Rapidly shifting between dispensing two types of attacks, dashing out of the way of danger, and using magic bombs can feel overwhelming at first. Soon, you’ll have to ready yourself for enemies than can only be damaged with your melee strike. You’ll have to learn the best method for dealing with each different type of threat through old-fashioned memorization. Lastly, there’s a mount that hops around in a state of invisibility, ramming into opponents. While your health meter will grow across even successfully completed level, you might also find some restorative food. Depending on your character, the wind power-up can increase damage or provide a bit of helpful aim assist. On the upside, there are plenty of power-ups that can augment your arsenal of ofuda, adding traits like a wider shot, or a fire icon offering incendiary damage. You’ll discover that holding onto your power-ups is indispensable. Fast reflexes are vital since you can only shoot in the direction that your character is facing, and opponents adore flanking you. They will send out of a cavalcade of creatures if you don’t proceed quickly enough. While some games permit players to gradually destroy the sources of adversity, wells in the haunted shrine can’t be purified. Some of that is because you are persistently outnumbered. The obake are delightful enough to deserve their own line of merch.īut the game remains as tough as ever.

Each foe is incongruently adorable, especially with the redrawn artwork. Tiny balls of fire called hitodama fly in circular patterns, skeletons rise from their grave before making a beeline for Pocky, while a wagon filled with single-eyed spirits stubbornly block the road. Much of the charm comes from the serene location, adorned with torii games and a lily-pad filled pond overtaken by charming interpretations of spirits, demons, and various yōkai from Japanese mythology. Like the original, the multi-directionally scrolling action kicks off at a haunted shrine. Here, shrine maiden Pocky tosses out a rapid succession of paper card called ofuda, while swinging a wooden wand known as a gohei as a melee weapon and to repel enemies. Venture into Tengo Project’s re-envisioned effort and you might feel a pang of nostalgia as you visit an area reminiscent of the first stage of the 1992 SNES game. We know that remasters generally enhance the quality of an original game, while remakes use modern technology to deliver a brand-new version. The western release also features a number of graphical alterations, with some bosses having their sprites edited or mostly replaced.Availability: Retailers, Nintendo eShop and other digital marketplaces The names of several bosses and enemies are also altered, and 'Rocky' is referred to as a raccoon instead of a tanuki. Sayo-chan and Manuke are renamed to 'Pocky' and 'Rocky' respectively, and the Japanese yōkai and Western Yōkai Army are renamed the 'Nopino Goblins' and 'Gorgonzola Goblins', with the game no longer explicitly taking place in Japan. The Western release of the game, Pocky & Rocky, make numerous changes to the game's plot and characters.

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