Sayonara Umihara Kawase (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Similar to the rest of the franchise, the plot or narrative of the game is not to be found in any very explicit way inside the software itself. In this case, it is not even to be found in the digital manual that comes with the game. It is, however, generally accepted that in each game of the series, the action takes place inside of Kawase's dreams. How much this explains the fishes having feet and walking on the ground, giant tadpoles laying tiny frog eggs (instead of the other way round) and what the deal is with these giant vegetables being found all over the place, is left to the imagination of those people consuming illicit substances.

The goal of the game is fairly simple: to exit Kawase's dream world! To do so, level after level of platform action must be traversed. There is a catch, though - stages may sometimes have more than just one exit, and different exits lead to different levels that may or may not be reached at all, going a different way! There are about 50 stages in total, and yet the end may be reached in no less than 10 stages, depending on the path that is chosen. This is identical in concept to how the two previous games in the series worked. In this 3DS instalment, however, the player has access to a map, clearly indicating what stages hold more than one exit and keeping the general structure of the game clear, whereas in the past, this was purposefully kept obscure so has to incite the player to explore.

Moreover, the player no longer has a limited amount of lives, and is not required to play through the whole game in one sitting as it saves progress in-between each stage, making it more suitable for the kind of short and quick "pick-up-and-play" sessions that are associated with portable gaming devices.

The main and distinctive aspect that sets the Umihara Kawase franchise apart from all other platform games has to be its gameplay. Kawase, or any of the other playable characters as there are several in this particular release, is equipped with a fishing line and lure, which she may throw towards walls, ground and ceiling surfaces to "hook" onto them, and swing herself in the air. This is not all there is to it as this would only make it a simple Bionic Commando rip-off of some sorts, and there is far more versatility to this basic mechanic to be found in the game. It can be used to safely lower the playable character down the edge of platforms or to swing across deadly gaps and, even as she is hanging by the fishing line, she has the power to lengthen or shorten the line as it swings, increasing the momentum and making it possible to pull off the most improbable stunts. Very early on in the game, the player's mastery of this gameplay mechanic is put to the test with the aforementioned, hard to reach, secondary exits, opening up entire portions of the game otherwise inaccessible.

This is far easier said than done. Mastering the mechanics of the game requires a great deal of practice. This was true in previous episodes of the game, and this is still very much true in this one. Sayonara UmiharaKawase doesn't pull any punches with the difficulty, throwing hard-to-reach platforms and collectable objects the player's way very early on in the game. Indeed, the collectable pink rucksacks from past instalments are back and this time they are not extra lives but merely collectable objects. This is a side-challenge to the main game, as there is a certain amount of those to collect in each stage, for those who fancy themselves as completionists. One thing that is a bit regrettable is the impossibility to see the whole stage to look for them, as was possible in the original game by pausing the action and scrolling with the D-Pad, and at least in the DS version of Umihara Kawase Shun by looking at the bottom screen that had a mini map of the whole stage.

Another neat feature of the game, which was already present as early as in the Super Famicom game, is the possibility to save replays of stages. Some levels require such shows of dexterity and skill that it would indeed be a shame to not be able to keep a memory of them inside the game itself, and even back on the Super Famicom the makers of the game had understood this. This is still possible here, and the game even makes it possible for newcomers to watch a tutorial video for the first ten stages to familiarise themselves with the basic techniques necessary to see the adventure through to the end.

Completely new to this version, however, is the online leader board, prompting the most avid players to challenge themselves to finish the stages faster than anyone else on the planet! Another neat addition to this episode is character selection. There are several playable characters, the main one still being Kawase, while the other ones have some special power making progressing through the game a bit easier, such as slowing down time or gaining a checkpoint at certain locations within the stages from where the player may start again, should they fail.

The difficulty itself may be off-putting, though. Potential buyers should not let the childish aesthetic of the game give them an impression that the game will not present any big challenge, as this is simply not the case at all. Sayonara UmiharaKawase is a concentration of pure masochistic fun, not so far off from the likes of Super Meat Boy or I Wanna be the Guy for PC, although the biggest difference is that the difficulty comes more from mastering the controls themselves than from level design or environmental hazards. With that out of the way, however, it should be stressed that the difficulty to master the controls does not mean that they are bad - quite the contrary. It only means that they defy standards and sweep players off their feet in a sense by using mechanics most are simply not used to. Playing the game long enough to understand them and watching the tutorial videos should take people by the hand just enough so that they do not give up out of frustration.