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Kururin Squash!

by Ben Kosmina - October 22, 2004, 7:14 am EDT

Welcome to Kururin Squash, chock-full of wafers and delight.

Kururin and his famous Heririn are back! ...well, his Japanese-famous Heririn. At any rate, Kururin returns for his third outing, Kururin Squash, which has absolutely nothing to do with squashing things. The basic idea of the game is that you have to guide a constantly rotating helicopter around tricky mazes without hitting any of the walls or obstacles. Previously, the series was only available on the Game Boy Advance.

The first thing that you'll notice about the game when you begin is the wonderful art style. While all of the worlds are beautifully rendered in colourful 3D, the characters are represented by Punch-and-Judy-like puppets on sticks, with additional sticks controlling the arms for expressions. When a character needs to change his facial expression, they'll literally flip around and be completely different. It's a unique, great looking style, and I am really impressed by it.

From what I can gather, the story goes that Kururin and his family win a round-the-world trip. They visit various far-off lands, but when they return home, they notice that everyone except Mama, Papa, and Kururin are gone! Mama asks Kururin to search around the

world in his Heririn to track the missing siblings. Again. Honestly, it’s like the damn kids from Home Alone. Maybe Mama and Papa should invest in some leashes.

The new element that makes Kururin Squash really great is that of new helicopters. There are four of them -- one that allows you punch with boxing gloves at the end of the blades, one that allows you to dive underwater for a brief period, one that allows you to control an on-rails flamethrower, and one that allows you to create tornadoes. These four helicopters have been used to create some incredibly clever puzzles to the regular game. The cleverest, I think, would have to be the dive helicopter. This 'copter adds a new layer of depth -- literally. All of a sudden, you have to think a lot further ahead, because there are sections where you'll have to quickly dive underwater to avoid obstacles on top, navigate through underwater obstacles, and then quickly surface before you run out of air. It becomes even tricker when currents are added to the mix, pushing you along when you want to carefully navigate your way through the levels.

The basic game structure for Kururin Squash is similar to the original Kuru Kuru Kururin -- once you complete a stage, you progress onto the next one. Unfortunately, this means that the secret branching paths of Kururin Paradise are no more, which is a real shame. However, like Paradise, Kururin Squash also features boss battles -- only this time, they really are boss battles as opposed to mini-games. The villain in question is an agitated purple Professor with Doctor Octopus-like mechanical tentacles, so from here on, he's going to be called Otto. Otto pops up at the end of each world, and it appears as though you'll need to use your special 'copters to beat him. The first world has you navigating around a giant cake, trying to punch the strawberries so that they hit Otto, all the while avoiding deadly blocks of chocolate and killer wafers.

The real challenge, though, comes from completing each level perfectly. In previous games, you only had to navigate through a level without hitting its walls to complete a level perfectly. In Kururin Squash, that is simply not enough. Now, you must not only navigate through each level perfectly, but you must also collect every single coin in the level. Coins are strewn about the level and sometimes hidden in secret passages. Breakable objects and enemies also carry coins, truly making this a tough mission. (Thankfully, the analog precision of the Control Stick improves your accuracy immensely when navigating through the mazes.) Boss battles become even tougher, as you must not only beat Otto without getting hurt, but also collect all the coins that shower around the arena once he is defeated. Not to mention that you only have about forty-five seconds to collect them all!

There are three multiplayer modes available in Kururin Squash, but initially only two are available. The third, a GBA to GC connectivity game must be paid for with 30,000 coins (but in all honesty, it's very easy to amass that many coins). The link-up game is an observation-style game which can be played with one to four players. Each player will be shown a Hererin on their screen, and on the TV screen, there are three different, yet similar looking Heririns. Using your POWERS OF OBSERVATION you must select the correct Hererin. If you select the wrong one, you'll be penalized by losing time. At the end, each player is graded according to how far they got.

Battle Mode can be played with two to four players. In this mode, it's a race to collect the most coins in a fairly cramped arena. Coins and powerups drop from the sky, and it's a free-for-all to collect them, as they briefly turn your Heririn into the more powerful punch, flame, or tornado 'copters. I haven't had a chance to play this with four players yet, but I imagine that it will be pretty hectic.

Race Mode also requires two to four players. Race Mode consists of a fairly long track with checkpoints along the way. As you might guess, it's a race to the finish. Players can push each other around, making for some dirty fighting. You only have two hit points in this mode, and when you lose them all, you return to the last checkpoint you passed. Additionally, the Heririn of the lead player increases in size as a handicap, so that other players can catch up.

While the lesser amount of multiplayer when compared to Kururin Paradise is disappointing (but really, could you top mowing a lawn with a HELICOPTER?), Kururin Squash still seems to be great fun so far. The multiplayer that is there looks like it will be fun, and single player is definitely proving to be a challenge, even on Easy mode. While there is little to no English in the game, it hardly proves to be a barrier as navigating through the game is a breeze (you can even enter your name in English if you like). You can purchase Kururin Squash from our partners at Lik-Sang.

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Genre Puzzle
Developer Eighting
Players1 - 4

Worldwide Releases

jpn: Kururin Squash!
Release Oct 14, 2004
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages

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