Of Raccoons and Priests

This week it's a blast from the near past. A fairly rare game for the Super Nintendo, Pocky and Rocky wasn't exactly The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but it took an arcade twist to an easy-to-follow adventure set in a mystical alternate Japanese past.
This game is steeped in Japanese folklore and mythology, so the creatures probably seem very weird to those of us on the other side of the Pacific. You play as one of two beings: Pocky, a young female priest who fights with a charm and throws talismans, and Rocky, a tanuki (raccoon dog) that fights using its tail and throws magic leaves. There's really not much beyond aesthetics between which character you pick. The game plays more similarly to Galaga or Ikaruga, or some space shooter like that, in that enemies constantly stream from the top or side within an given instance of an area -- areas are divided into screens, and each screen has a certain amount of enemies along its path. Power-ups come in the form of mystic talismans, which power up your throwing items to new levels (either a multi-spray or larger thrown items), and if enemies get too close to shoot, Pocky and Rocky can repel them with their charm or tail respectively.
The cutesy nature of this game can be deceptive, as it sometimes requires some twitch reflexes. The controls are pretty responsive, but the enemy movement patterns can be hard to hit, and bosses can take a while to wear down. It doesn't feel quite as mindless as the game I previously blogged about. I enjoy the simplistic yet still slightly challenging nature of the game, and the distinctly Japanese flair of the game reminds me of another old favorite, Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The graphics are neither good nor bad, being a SNES game. Just be prepared for some odd enemies.
It's good for a rom or to own, and I recommend playing through it at least once.