Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (Switch) Review

Classic Yokai Blasting Action Returns

One of the more obscure franchises from arcade and retro gaming history has come back in a big way that feels extremely authentic thanks to the fantastic collaboration between Natsume-Atari, Tengo (Wild Guns Reloaded and The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors), and ININ Games. Most retro gaming fans probably know of this pair of heroes and their Yokai-filled adventures through two excellent titles on the Super Nintendo. Pocky & Rocky Reshrined reenvisions the visual style and some of the levels of those classics into a whole new game involving time travel and taking down an evil sorcerer, known as the Black Mantle. The game takes the elements that made Pocky & Rocky stand out and pushes things further, culminating in one of the most exciting arcade-style games of recent memory. That said, it’s a tough game that might call for a buddy to help finish. Yet, for those that can overcome the challenge, there’s a rewarding experience to be found. 

Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is a top-down shooter that often feels like an adventure game even though the stages are linear. Players throw out projectiles and bat away incoming blasts as waves of monsters from Japanese folklore like kappa, kasa-obake, hitotsume-kozō, and many more try to halt the player.

Players take on the role of Pocky, a miko or shrine maiden, who starts by cleaning up the suddenly agitated creatures and ghosts filling her land. She’s accompanied primarily by Rocky, a tanuki who uses nature magic to fight. The titular pair are joined this time by three other characters. Ame-no-Uzume is the founding member of the shrine maidens who can float and use mitama to keep monsters at bay. Hotaru Gozen is a powerful samurai who’s been revived by Black Mantle’s magic but she now fights for Pocky’s cause. Ikazuchi is a lightning-slinging weasel monster who escapes imprisonment to join the fight against Black Mantle. Both Ame-no-Uzume and Hotaru Gozen appear in the game’s Story Mode, while Ikazuchi is unlocked later. Each character fits the traditional, yet eccentric take on Japanese folklore well, and each one has a unique playstyle. 

Visually the game is a delightfully weird fantasy full of wacky takes on iconic creatures. The whole game has an air of silliness to it but there are moments that feel epic, more like what’s seen in anime series like Inuyasha. The music is charming with lots of well-mixed, classic feeling sound effects. Those with fond memories of the SNES games will find themselves smiling throughout Pocky & Rock Reshrined. Even with the brief exposure I had to the first SNES game, I felt so excited to push through the nostalgic stages and learn the patterns of the beautifully animated bosses. 

Aside from a really tough pattern or two, the bosses in Pocky & Rocky Reshrined are incredible, sticking to the difficult gameplay designs of the series while creating monsters that are memorable. I like these bosses so much that I would love to see a boss rush mode added later as a patch and I do hope that the developers get the opportunity to improve or expand the game further. Standouts here include the octopus that features a terrifying introduction and the Egyptian beast that chases the player through a burning village. 

Unfortunately, I just could not get through the game’s final boss alone which leads me to my biggest grip with Reshrined. 

I am all about games with a tough but fair difficulty and for the most part, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is a game with specific rules and mechanics that are expertly crafted. However, there are moments where there are just too many enemies coming out too often too fast. Wells, for instance, are an extreme danger. With limited lives, it can be tough getting through the game but thanks to good checkpoints I made it to the final battle without much trouble.

That final battle though is full of really hard-to-dodge flames and the game’s dodge mechanic, at least on most characters, does not appear to have invincibility frames as one might expect. After dozens of attempts, I looked to find the game’s easy mode, only to find out that I needed to either beat the game or accumulate over 3000 coins. What’s even more bizarre is that coins in a session cap at 999 so one has to quit out for those coins to count and the number gained seems to always be the total one quits with rather than an accumulation of all coins gained while playing. A more lenient system would have made this far easier to deal with but I ended up mindlessly playing through the first few levels and quitting out to get the mode. All just to see what was beyond that final boss. Thankfully beating the game on easy still granted me Free Mode allowing one to play any level with any character. 

Aside from strangely gatekeeping the game’s easy mode, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is an excellent return from an often overlooked classic series. The arcadey action feels especially good when using an arcade stick; I used a slightly custom 8bitdo stick and it was awesome to play that way. There are a few visual options such as adding scanlines that all look fine and the game always kept pace in handheld mode or connected to the TV. The animation flourishes really bring the game’s world to life and comparing Reshrined to the SNES game is such a fun exercise. The game even messes with player expectations here and there, setting the tone with the first boss. 

Some players may find the controls pretty weird. Shots go out in eight directions but it’s all done through either the left stick or the d-pad, which can make certain maneuvers feel awkward at first. This game would have been far more casual had it been made as a twin-stick shooter but I like the quirkiness of this type of play. My core advice for anyone having trouble is to learn what shots can be swiped away as reflecting enemy shots often does more damage. The game hinges on utilizing good positioning, sweeping away incoming blasts, and getting shots in safely. In a way, it feels a little like Star Fox which famously asks players to put themselves in the line of fire to make shots since the reticle is typically directly in front of the vehicle. 

I do wish there were a few more modes to play in Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, even silly ones like randomizing levels or an endless string of arena battles. Once again, a boss rush would be a lot of fun. The core game though is excellent and it was clearly developed by a team that loves the original games. In fact, I believe there are a few developers involved with Reshrined that did work on the previous games. Much like my thoughts on Cotton Fantasy, I hope that Pocky & Rocky Reshrined leads to more games in this style with these characters. The game's tone and art direction are so much fun and there’s enough room left in the overall design to make really engaging sequels. Even just adding a character and a mode or two would make Reshrined that much better. 

Anyone looking for an arcade-style cooperative game definitely needs to check out Pocky & Rocky Reshrined. 

For the collectors out there, there are a few ways to get a physical release of Pocky & Rocky Reshrined. ININ Games is putting out the standard PS4/Switch EU releases for $29.99 USD. Teaming up with Gamesrocket and Strictly Limited Games, EU Limited and Collector’s Editions are available to pre-order. Thankfully, the Switch and PS4/PS5 can play games from any region, making for an awesome import opportunity. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 8.5/10

VISUALS - 10/10

SOUND - 10/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

OVERALL - 8.9/10

Find more information about Pocky & Rocky Reshrined on the official website. A digital Nintendo Switch copy was provided for review purposes. Screenshots were captured through native features of the Switch.