Product Code Database
lit. "Strange and Mysterious World" is a shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for arcades in 1986. Set in Feudal Japan, the player assumes the role of a Shinto Miko who must use her o-fuda scrolls and gohei wand to defeat renegade spirits and monsters from Japanese mythology. The game is noteworthy for using a traditional fantasy setting in a genre otherwise filled with science fiction motifs.
The game received a number of home porting, both as a stand-alone title and as part of compilations. A bootleg of the arcade version was also released, called Knight Boy. Kiki Kaikai was followed by a sequel for the Super NES in 1992 known as Pocky & Rocky outside Japan. The series, known as Kiki Kaikai in Japan and Pocky & Rocky outside Japan, has continued since then and includes several games.
Several hidden items can be found by attacking objects with Sayo's purification rod, and can be used to either enhance her attack or grant the player points. Once a certain number of points are gained, the player will gain another life and have an additional chance to complete a level. When all of the player's lives are exhausted, a "number match" screen appears with a random 3-Numerical digit number in 50-base increments (100, 150, 200, 250, and so on). If the last three digits of the player's total score match the number displayed, (s)he is granted a free game; if not, the game ends.
The Family Computer Disk System version of Kiki Kaikai introduced a few gameplay changes over the original arcade version, including new levels and enemies, as well as limiting the number of times the player may use Sayo-chan's ranged o-fuda attack, along with a second playable character: "Miki-chan", another shrine maiden who is designated as the player two character, but only playing alternately. Though several additional ports would be made over the years, each one would rely on the same basic game mechanics.
Shortly after the game's debut, a bootleg version called Knight Boy was released. This version, though not officially licensed by Taito, was an exact duplicate of Kiki Kaikai with an altered title screen, and contained no new gameplay elements or features.
Kiki Kaikai was also made available along with various other classic Taito titles in a number of compilations. It would appear in the Japanese-only Taito Memories Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 on July 28, 2005, and again in Taito Pocket Memories for the PlayStation Portable in 2006. The game was ported as part of Taito Legends 2 for the PlayStation 2, PC, and Xbox released in North America in May 2007, and later in Taito Legends Power-Up for the PlayStation Portable. The game was made available for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch through the Arcade Archives by Hamster in March 2020. This latest release also includes both the original and Knight Boy bootleg versions.
Kiki Kaikai has garnered harsh reviews long after its initial release. GameSpot considers the game one of Taito's sleepier titles, and of overall less quality than their other classic games like Bubble Bobble and Double Dragon (the latter was licensed from Technos Japan for the U.S.). The game's graphics, though unique at the time they were produced, did not preserve well, with AllGame remarking that "once you get over your initial amusement at the game's smiling ghosts and comical skeletons, you'll find the graphics to be dull". The controls were seen as simplistic, yet responsive, though each of the game's levels were found to be too monotonous.
Like The Ninja Warriors, Kiki Kaikai had been a one-off work until 1992, when Taito allowed Natsume Atari to release Kiki Kaikai: Nazo no Kuro Mantle, which would be known as Pocky & Rocky for its international releases. Natsume would follow up with Pocky & Rocky 2 (released as Kiki Kaikai: Tsukiyo Soushi in Japan), and years later would help Altron to release Pocky & Rocky with Becky (released as Kiki Kaikai Advance in Japan). A new installment, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (which will be released as KiKi KaiKai: Kuro Mantle no Nazo in Japan), is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 by Tengo Project.
A modern continuation to Kiki Kaikai, Kiki Kaikai 2, was originally in development for the original Wii console by Starfish Entertainment and set for a 2006 release, but was canceled early in its development only to reemerge as the unlicensed spiritual successor with title Kiki Kai World, which later became Heavenly Guardian when published.
The protagonist of the game's design, as well as the ghost enemies, would later become heavy influences for the characters Reimu Hakurei and equivalent ghost enemies respectively in the Touhou Project games on the PC-98.
|
|
