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))