by Shuhei Miyazawa.
Came across this cute little arcade thing (via WarpDoor, thanks Tim!) and knew it was going to be my pick for the week – I have a bit of a weakness for well-made minimal arcade things. And this one is great – it’s cleverly designed and feels great to play. It has good “game-play”.
The game is super simple – you’re a cat, and you have to rush from one side of an allayway to another, avoiding the chaotic splattering of raindrops on the way. You’ve got a limited dash move to help. Make it to 1,000,000 points to “win” and you’ll see an ending.
Like all great arcade games, there’s a lot of nuance to the simplicity of its rules. You get a bonus for dashing across without stopping – which feels arbitrary until you realise you can start the crossing whenever you think the time is right. You get badges for catching stars during a crossing, which means you’ll probably want to let the bouncing stars accumulate, turning them into low-stakes obstacles in addition to the raindrops. A tiny set of mysterious per-game achievements lights up as you play, offering clues on how to approach your quest for a million points. This is the sort of game that looks easy to make, but really, really isn’t.
[edit: whoops! I was wrong about the win condition. You win by completing five laps once the rain has reached its maximum intensity – which makes sense! As a high score game, it would have been a little odd to artificially cap your score.]
The ending actually triggers upon running 5 laps after reaching rain speed 29, and there’s a red star bonus for unlocking all 7 achievements (though by that point the rain is far too dense to reliably collect them). Loved figuring out the achievements and making the final 5 dashes. Great recommendation!
Thank you so much for playing my game! Yes, you’re right about the requirements to reach the ending! It’s hard to reach the ending, good luck!
What an amazing day today is! I never thought that the author of “VVVVVV” would play my game!
Thank you very much for introducing my game! Pawapoke-kun is right about the requirements to reach the ending. I love old Namco games and I’ve always wanted to make a game like this one day. I am so happy!