Pocky and Rocky is an underrated, difficult twin-stick shooter in the veins of Commando, a 16-bit inspired sequel Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is in the work by Natsume as we speak and should release within the week. It's neither a remaster nor a remake, rather a "follow-up" that borrows similar levels.

As for the original Pocky & Rocky, it's just an all-around unbelievably polished title from Natsume; who worked on Medabots, Wild Guns, Harvest Moon, and Ninja Warrior. They just have that portfolio without any stinkers, which made them some of the best developers of the Super Nintendo era. Unfortunately, their games weren't targetted to a Western audience, with a rather Japanese design philosophy.

This game has 6 levels which don't seem like a lot, but all of them are extremely complex and varied; they're all quite difficult. Playing on your own isn't recommended at all, as you can bring a friend to the fight, just be careful not to bounce into them, as there is friendly fire to balance.

Pocky and Rocky is quintessentially Japanese, our main character is a temple maiden and a tanuki, and our enemies are various "goblins" from the Japanese folklore legends. How Pocky & Rocky turns these chilling, creepy yokai monsters into cutesy characters is beyond stellar, and certainly gives the game a unique feel. Pocky and Rocky remain to this day one of my favorite shooters of all time and one of my favorite games of all time.

I gotta say, I’m surprised about all the love for this. I don't like the way it feels. It's slightly better than its arcade predecessor, and the presentation is really nice... but there's so much wonky hitbox stuff and general imprecision that I just couldn't have fun with it. Slow movement, lots of uncomfortable flipping around wildly since you can't strafe, lightning-fast bullets that feel un-dodgeable...

I can see it being fun for a co-op playthrough, which I guess deserves an extra half star, but otherwise I don't get it at all.

Very cute game, reminds me of Touhou which is always nice. Not as good as Natsume's other output on the SNES but a very solid time nonetheless. Seems like it would be better with a friend, though.

There's an issue I have with the weapons system, though. There are two types that gradually upgrade as you pick them up more, but should you grab the weapon you're not using, you'll be reverted to its base level and have to upgrade that one all over again. If you do this and then go back to the previous one, it will also be back at base level. It's really annoying because you're definitely going to want whatever you have to be maxed out as often as possible, and I found myself sticking to one weapon because of this when I would've preferred to switch around now and then.

No other major complaints really, except the final boss has a pretty loathsome lightning attack that you have to slide around constantly to just narrowly avoid. That one could just be me being bad at games, however. All in all, this is quite nice. I'd definitely recommend Wild Guns or Ninja Warriors first, though.

I don't have too much to say about this one. Simply put: Pocky & Rocky is a fantastic overhead shoot-em-up featuring really fun and endearing character designs, excellent sprite work, and levels that are just a blast to play. Gameplay remains pretty simple from start to finish, but Pocky & Rocky is proof that you don't need to hitch on a ton of crazy gimmicks for the sake of uniqueness.

Admittedly, I have a hard time telling where this game ends and its sequel begins, a consequence of me playing these back-to-back, though I do know that Pocky & Rocky 2 is the more beloved and perhaps best remembered entry in the series. That's not to say you should sleep on the first, however, especially if you're a shoot-em-up fan.

Just a shame the franchise didn't stick around for very long, with twenty years separating 2001's Pocky & Rocky With Becky and the recently released Reshrined. I love these little bastards and I'm glad they're back.

Uma melhora e tanto se comparado ao antecessor de arcade lá de 1986. A originalidade da premissa se mantém e é complementada por uma ótima variedade de inimigos, níveis e chefes. Confesso que depois do terceiro estágio apelei pra save states e rewind, mas foi mais por falta de paciência do que por ser um jogo injusto ou impossível de dominar: mesmo jogando solo, depois de algumas tentativas dá para entender os macetes dos níveis e aprender os padrões dos inimigos e chefes sem muitos problemas. Claro, com um amiguinho do lado deve ser uma experiência ainda mais suave e divertida, mas não tive a oportunidade de testar isso. Mas mesmo sozinho é um jogo que vale a pena.

I don't like Pocky & Rocky - it's just not my thing and it's kinda really obnoxious.

I like most action game aesthetics but the 'trouble-making youkai' setup is something I don't vibe with. Nothing really appealing to me about the whole 'ugly, disfigured demons but quirky and chibified' thing. It's like the Japanese equivalent of the anglosaxon 'lovable scrunko' setting. I'd rather have these spiritual/horror elements played straight than try to Sanrio-ify them.

I don't like how this plays either. If you're not moving purposefully slow and maxing out your weapons, you're gonna get your ass handed to you by enemies coming at you way too fast. Your move speed's too slow, and both defensive tools you have feel bad because they incapacitate some part of your movement. Your dash also snags onto walls really easily - something that made the final boss a total shitshow. I think the only point during the game where I was 'liking' the gameplay was around stage 5 when I hit a roadblock and had to start forcing myself to learn the deep tech, but it didn't make the experience more 'fun'; just more feasible.

I guess in positives, it's really pretty for '92. Also kinda funny how the plot is traditionally European/medieval monsters capturing youkai to drain their energy ((I WONDER WHAT THIS MEANS))