New Pocky & Rocky 2021 Announcement Trailer (Tengo Project )

[Sumez]

I don't know what you guys think story mode in this game is, but it's not that.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It sounds perfectly fine, anyone who's going to play the game seriously isn't going to be bothered by running through the story mode a couple times I imagine. It's no worse than Gradius V locking Weapon Edit behind clearing the first loop on any difficulty or life stock setting (even if you just play it until you can credit feed it).

[Sumez]

I'll probably prefer running Story Mode through much more often, with its stage-assigned characters creating a specifically crafted challenge.
Free mode is more for playing around in, and especially playing Ame-no-Uzume (the tiddy goddess) on stages 2 and 3 allows you to just bypass a huge part of those stages' intended challenge since she can fly over pits and water.

[EmperorIng]

The leaderboards are separated by story mode and free mode anyhow (and on free mode there are separate boards for every character), so they are all equal challenges in their own right.

Score is reset upon continuing; however the leaderboards do not separate by difficulty. Instead, next to your score is an icon indicating which difficulty you played the game at.

End of stage bonuses include a bonus for Rank, which presumably is higher on Hard and less on Easy (I haven't checked), so this should in theory mean the best scores are on hard mode. Still it would have been nice to separate them on their own boards.

At the moment, at least one switch, it doesn't seem like a lot of people have played hard mode.

[Sumez]

Yeah right now I have the highest Story Mode score on hard mode lol, though there's a bunch of normal mode scores above me. Hard Mode might have a higher scoring potentially, but it's not really showing.

Recorded my last Hard Mode run, which is also my highest score so far - I seriously overestimated its difficulty . Two deaths across the run, with the second one literally finishing off the final boss. I find a lot of its attacks nearly impossible to deal with, especially the green bullet spray. I know their hitbox is a lot smaller than it appears, but it's incredibly hard to tell where to stand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRFOKaRdt7w

[EmperorIng]

By the way, I saw you mention it elsewhere, but it's not the case that zako give less coins/give no coins in Hard Mode. It's just that, in both Normal and Hard, ANY enemy killed with your deflect/melee (as opposed to your shot) gives no coins on death.

Nice job on clearing hard mode! I'll have to give it a shot soon, once I get a few more Normal clears under my belt.

[harborline765]

Spent some time with the Switch version, and I'd say that, while gorgeous, the performance is not great. There's some serious judder when the screen scrolls, and major slowdown when the action picks up.

Just to give my perspective on this. Jonpachi is probably correct in his observations, but I'll say that after playing through story mode twice on Switch (docked), I didn't really pick up on these performance issues at all. It might put it below the PS4 in direct comparison, but it's definitely not something that impacted my gameplay experience.

Yeah, I didn't notice it either because it didn't impact my playing of the game but it's definitely there. Replayed stage 1 and the framerate definitely drops when things get busy and there are a lot of enemies flying at you, if you pay attention to their movement while you're standing still the game is very clearly dropping frames, and moving during these scenes does show choppy scrolling.

[BrianC]

I also have it on PS4. Text is in English with JP title screen, but names are localized. I noticed the kappa throws a cucumber instead of his crown this time around.

Edit: Found out about the Kappa thing. Nice touch.

[Jonpachi]

After some more play, I do want to say that it's not BAD, and not something that should really hinder your enjoyment of the game. I'm the type of player who sometimes gets hung up on a "the grass is greener" sentiment when I know a potentially (even marginally) better version of a game is out there. I may end up with the PS4 port myself someday just because, but Switch is perfectly playable.

[Sumez]

I updated my post on the previous page listen hidden item locations with two chests with a dog item.

Honestly I think the dog is kinda dumb. It's not really worth it as a reward because they are always there giving you invincibility in the same location every time, though it does work well as a random store item (but it sucks to get it on places like the ST2 raft). And when you do have it it's awkward to control and slows you down. Taking out enemies with it is so specific it would have been easier to just shoot them, and when it disappears you'll most likely be in a very unfortunate spot.
It feels like it's only in the game because it was in the SNES game, but they could have improved it so it feels more advantageous to use IMO. Either that, or just remove it.

It's nitpicking of course. My only other issue with the game is the special attacks and how awkward they are to use.
Basically, you need to charge for a long time to employ it, which makes sense because the tradeoff is not having the deflect attack while charging. But usually when I'm charging something that far ahead I'll end up forgetting it once I need it, or I'll forget to charge ahead of time and then it'll be too late once I need it. Also holding down the charge button makes dashing really awkward. And finally, you can only charge by starting out with a regular melee attack. That means if you start holding the button while dashing or doing other things, you won't start charging. And getting hit while charging won't just reset the charge but outright cancel it, so even if you keep holding the button you still won't be charging, which just doesn't feel very intuitive to me. I'll often find myself holding down the button for a long time before realising I'm not charging for any of those reasons.

I think these issues are most apparent in the winged bull boss fight, where you want to always be charging your defensive skill so you can have it ready when the plumes appear after the big jump. I have a very consistent strategy to win the fight without any problems, but actually pulling it off is just awkward to me. You need to time the barrier precisely so you can start charging again before it's too late. And you need to start charging while the bull is jumping, causing you to either dash away or get bumped into the air, both of which will mean your charge doesn't start when holding the button. It's one of those situations where I know exactly what to do, but the input management required to pull it off is just too much for me to comfortably control.

That's really all that annoys me about the game though. It's a fantastic gem outside of this!

[Sumez]

I've watched some videos trying to figure out if there's a way to trigger the 1UP from the "random" 100 coin stores.

This might be completely coincidental but across 8 instances I've seen recorded of me or someone else taking the store at the start of Stage 2, it results in a 1UP twice, and on both of those accounts the last digit of the coin count was a 4 (434 and 374 respectively), while all the others had different digits and got other items.

I've found 8 occurances (out of 6) of me or others taking the store a little over halfway through Stage 7, and for that one one gave a 1UP and had 0 as the last digit (but I found no occurances where the digit was 4).

Not sure if I'm on the right track here, it might be completely wrong. I tried looking at the timer as well, or relations between the coin count and the timer, but found no clear giveaways.

[Skykid]

Game is a really a cakewalk on defaults. I 1CC'd with 5 lives remaining after a handful of concerted efforts and killed the final boss without losing a single one. I suppose it's meant to be taken on on hard, if you're a bit more of a seasoned gamer. I have to say, Laser Raccoon in Free Mode is awesome fun though. A good one for personal score challenges if you can be bothered.

I've watched some videos trying to figure out if there's a way to trigger the 1UP from the "random" 100 coin stores.

This might be completely coincidental but across 8 instances I've seen recorded of me or someone else taking the store at the start of Stage 2, it results in a 1UP twice, and on both of those accounts the last digit of the coin count was a 4 (434 and 374 respectively), while all the others had different digits and got other items.

I've found 8 occurances (out of 6) of me or others taking the store a little over halfway through Stage 7, and for that one one gave a 1UP and had 0 as the last digit (but I found no occurances where the digit was 4).

Not sure if I'm on the right track here, it might be completely wrong. I tried looking at the timer as well, or relations between the coin count and the timer, but found no clear giveaways.

This is interesting. I saw a guy on Twitch playing Free Mode with Laser Racoon (Ikazuchi) and he finished the game with 15 lives remaining. The number of lives coming off of the lotteries was pretty magical, but he did say he had never been able to repeat the luck (thus far).

I reviewed the game for Nintendo Life, and (little tidbit for old shmup forum friendz) there was a lot of debate over the final score before it was published. That's all I'm saying.

Either way, it's a lovely game, tons of fun - but I'd recommend going straight into Hard Mode for your first story 1CC attempts if you're an old hand with the previous games (or arcade action games generally). The trick is to walk and not run!

[Sumez]

This is interesting. I saw a guy on Twitch playing Free Mode with Laser Racoon (Ikazuchi) and he finished the game with 15 lives remaining. The number of lives coming off of the lotteries was pretty magical, but he did say he had never been able to repeat the luck (thus far).

Do you happen to remember the username? I'd love to go through the VOD if it's still there.

I reviewed the game for Nintendo Life, and (little tidbit for old shmup forum friendz) there was a lot of debate over the final score before it was published. That's all I'm saying.

I read your review and I like it a lot. One tiny mistake is the extra character you get to play isn't unique to hard mode, it just changes (randomly?) every time you play. I'm assuming the first two playthroughs will always result in different ones, but I don't know.

Did people think 9/10 was too high? I do think the text maybe doesn't sound like it reflects that good of a game, but on the other hand I think the game is that good. Especially the comparisons to the SNES original makes it sound like you think the new one is coming a bit short.
I rated it 8/10 personally, but that's on a more resonably balanced scale where an 8 is still really good - if I were still publishing professional reviews on public outlets, I would probably adjust it to 9/10 "for inflation", to properly reflect how notable this game is.

Either way, it's a lovely game, tons of fun - but I'd recommend going straight into Hard Mode for your first story 1CC attempts if you're an old hand with the previous games (or arcade action games generally). The trick is to walk and not run!

I think starting on Normal mode is fine. The game isn't super challenging, but it will still punish you on your first time through, and I think stepping up from Normal to Hard gives you a fun added challenge, even if it is overcome just as quickly.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Couple of days ago, I preordered the German edition (which won't come out until the 6th of June or something... my pile of shame is huge anyway) due to all the positive reviews in this thread; apart from slightly less boob in some cutscenes, wil I miss anything?

[Skykid]

Do you happen to remember the username? I'd love to go through the VOD if it's still there.

Right here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1466707493

Especially the comparisons to the SNES original makes it sound like you think the new one is coming a bit short.
I rated it 8/10 personally, but that's on a more resonably balanced scale where an 8 is still really good - if I were still publishing professional reviews on public outlets, I would probably adjust it to 9/10 "for inflation", to properly reflect how notable this game is.

You’ve nailed it to a tee. I do think the SNES game is marginally superior. I submitted the review one digit lower, but the mainstream site and the “85%” issue came into play. It was a lengthy discussion and in the end I didn’t really care either way, because I think the game is fantastic and the average player is going to wring potentially more from it than hardened old game heads who are going to eat it for breakfast in a matter of hours.

One tiny mistake is the extra character you get to play isn't unique to hard mode, it just changes (randomly?) every time you play. I'm assuming the first two playthroughs will always result in different ones, but I don't know.

Funny you should mention it, I actually sent off four edits this morning before I even posted here, and that was one of them. It’s now been rectified.

You always play the second character after you clear the game once, as far as I can tell, so the fifth is then unlocked in Free Mode.

[Bassa-Bassa]

The SNES version was not easy to 1CC at all. Definitely not a cakewalk on defaults, in any case. It was a fair, good challenge, splendidly measured. So it's sad to hear that another modern feature has found its way here. Definitely the story mode is not for me, I hope the unlockable (gah) free mode is also harder.

[Sumez]

So yeah, didn't take much testing to confirm that my hunch was right, and the last coin counter digit is what determines the item you get from the roulette stores. It just differs for each store. EDIT: No, it's the same for each store.
I started a GD thread on the game just to compile that information. I see a lot of high scoring replays out there who clearly aren't aware of it, but I wager the top scores on the leaderboard probably did figure it out.

With every 100-coin store, plus the 300-coin ones and the hidden 1UPs, that's 15(?) potential extra lives across the entire game, for a total of (15+2) * 50,000 = 850,000 end-of-game bonus just for lives. Am I missing some?

[EmperorIng]

Awesome work my man, I look forward to testing tonight to confirm this myself. I am not sure if there are more hidden items.

[Skykid]

The SNES version was not easy to 1CC at all. Definitely not a cakewalk on defaults, in any case. It was a fair, good challenge, splendidly measured. So it's sad to hear that another modern feature has found its way here. Definitely the story mode is not for me, I hope the unlockable (gah) free mode is also harder.

Free Mode is either easier or harder than Story Mode depending on who you play with I guess.

So yeah, didn't take much testing to confirm that my hunch was right, and the last coin counter digit is what determines the item you get from the roulette stores. It just differs for each store. EDIT: No, it's the same for each store.
I started a GD thread on the game just to compile that information. I see a lot of high scoring replays out there who clearly aren't aware of it, but I wager the top scores on the leaderboard probably did figure it out.

With every 100-coin store, plus the 300-coin ones and the hidden 1UPs, that's 15(?) potential extra lives across the entire game, for a total of (15+2) * 50,000 = 850,000 end-of-game bonus just for lives. Am I missing some?

Wow, this is very interesting. Awesome find.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

The SNES version was not easy to 1CC at all. Definitely not a cakewalk on defaults, in any case. It was a fair, good challenge, splendidly measured. So it's sad to hear that another modern feature has found its way here. Definitely the story mode is not for me, I hope the unlockable (gah) free mode is also harder.

The SNES game isn't easy, but it doesn't take an extraordinary amount of effort to get it down since so much of it is knowledge-based, and undemanding once you know the ropes - it is pretty easy to 1CC consistently once you've done it; it just has some awkward hurdles before you get there. This game reuses enough ideas from the SNES game that I can imagine it's not a very difficult clear if you're familiar with that, even putting aside the apparent high life count (which seems to only really come into play once you have a fair amount of game knowledge).

[Skykid]

The SNES game isn't easy, but it doesn't take an extraordinary amount of effort to get it down since so much of it is knowledge-based, and undemanding once you know the ropes - it is pretty easy to 1CC consistently once you've done it; it just has some awkward hurdles before you get there. This game reuses enough ideas from the SNES game that I can imagine it's not a very difficult clear if you're familiar with that, even putting aside the apparent high life count (which seems to only really come into play once you have a fair amount of game knowledge).

The SNES game busts your balls in certain areas. The lightning clouds on the mountain area suck, and you need to meet very specific spots and have a strategy to stop them hammering you. The airship really requires some learning, even though the boss is pretty easy. And the penultimate stage is just long in the tooth and Dracula requires tight play. I still haven't got my SNES 1CC yet, even though I've come close several times over. Compared, Reshrined is fantastically laid back, and when you know all the secrets and hidden lives, it becomes only moderately challenging on Hard Mode.

[BulletMagnet]

Famitsu estimates first-week sales at around 5,700 copies.

[Udderdude]

The important part is you can play the game in English with big tits.

[EmperorIng]

That the game is easy for survival, but more punishing/harder for score (seriously, try to keep your shield/health bars at max to keep on raking in those bonuses), only follows a trend that STGs, even arcade releases, have been going down for at least a decade. E.G., Cotton Rock n Roll (one of my picks for shmup of the year, last year), Sisters Royale, or even Rolling Gunner's so-called "Casual Mode." So that Pocky n' Rocky Reshrined is on the easy side isn't that unexpected nor altogether unwelcome. After all, we sucked once too but at least there's something for better players to shoot for.

Already from neophytes I've seen a number of them gripe (not in a necessarily negative way) that the game is too hard.

By the way, be sure to check out Sumez' thread in Strategy on how to manipulate the shop items, and use that knowledge to post some scores in my Score Thread!!

[Sumez]

I like the harder movement patterns of the game's Hard mode, but you still have a lot of hit points and extra lives across the game. I think it would have been cool with a mode where taking a hit has more severe consequences. Let the shield take one hit only to lose, and make the player die in one hit beyond that like in a classic arcade STG.
With all the 1UPs you can get throughout the game, a 1CC probably still wouldn't be so tough, but it would definitely feel like more of an achievement.

That said, taking one single hit while at full health anywhere in the game will cost you either 30k or 50k points from your total score, so yeah, 1CC'ing isn't much of an achievement, but at least scoring still has a tight threshold.

[Sumez]

I've only played for a total of 10 hours, but I think I've pretty much exhausted the game, I don't think I have the patience trying to climb the online leaderboards. I might go for a NMNB Hard Mode run later, don't think it should be a problem at this point, but otherwise I'm all done.

It's hard to put down though, because it's still a lot of fun. I tried instead making a run focused on demonstrating every secret in the game for a video guide. I've uploaded it here:

[evil_ash_xero]

So, do you feel that they've done their "big 3" SNES games, that they will be done now?
I would kill for a remake of Shatterhand, Shadow of the Ninja, or whatever.
I hope they do something else, but I'm not sure how many IPs they have to work with. Well, ones
that have some commercial viability.

It was so cool to see remakes, and whatever you want to call Reshrined come out. With sprite graphics, but improved.
Not some polygons or whatever. Just such cool stuff. I guess the only thing that's similar would be Sonic Mania.

[Sumez]

I've wanted to see these guys do an original game since day 1, though this is honestly very close to that. Even if the first two stages are clearly remakes of the first two stages in the SNES game, and enemy types are reused throughout, the whole feel of the game is just so distinctly different it doesn't even compare to the two other remakes.

But an original IP would probably be a lot harder to sell. I think the only reason their previous releases have been succesful at all have been then brand recognition. Even if they aren't major franchise, they got enough clout that it made retro nerds everywhere help with the promotion.

An arcade'ish platformer does feel like a natural next step for Tengo Project, and a brand new imagining of Shatterhand would be the craziest shit, I would absolutely love that. I seem to recall hearing rumors that they were planning on retiring though? I hope there is no truth to that, because they are on an absolute roll.

[BIL]

As far as dream projects go (not that their previous three releases weren't just that), I'd love to see a Ninja Warriors 2, aimed squarely to kill. Unify Natsume's astronomically refined mechanics and player/enemy designs with the OG's arcade pressure. TNWOA's bosses should be demoted to regular heavies. TNW2's bosses should be able to threaten one-on-one, with just a couple zako enough to cause lethal complications (of course, there's still room for the classic "fat bastard hiding behind crashing waves of zako" fight; it's about raising the performance ceiling).

Basically, ditch the now-tired premise of an arrogant enemy caught off-guard by black project Murder Machines. I want to cross swords with Special Cybernetic Death Squad: FASTY/Sword (shing), BOMBY/Artillery (buddabuddabudda), and GRABBY/Hands (*SNAP*). Telegraph everything, no cheap bullshit; just the upped ante of elite nemeses packing player-standard weapons and mobility, ripe for mastery-affirming demolition (needless to say, these things should blow up real good). Currently, no one unit can threaten an expert player's survival. (their clear time, absolutely, and in Time Attack regards, both of Natsume's efforts are handily immortal as-is)

Actually, how about one of the original five surviving the Banglar hit's infamous conclusion, and going all Skynet on Mulk and co. Aww shit, back to the square one, untested proto units unleashed in a last-ditch gambit! Rip off Phillip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison as needed for ending text.

Anyway, they've earned whatever it is they decide on.

[Udderdude]

I'd put in a vote for a remake of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.C.A.T.: ... ttack_Team

But I bet everyone would laugh at the name.