Recommended if you can catch it on sale. I enjoyed Pocky & Rocky as a kid on SNES, so I was curious to pick this up and re-experience the game with a modern twist. It has all the top-down shmup gameplay of the SNES and 80s arcade version, but with some added QOL improvements, extra characters and some small unlockables.

My main gripe with it is that there just isn't a lot to substantiate full-price for this game. It's pretty much a basic story mode, an arcade mode, and some extra characters to unlock. Near as I can remember, it's more or less different stages after you get past the first stage as compared to the SNES version. That said, would have been great to get the SNES stages after you complete the main game. Sadly that's not included, neither is anything from the original Kiki Kaikai, Pocky & Rocky 2 on SNES or Pocky & Rocky with Becky from GBA. This game could have been a great opportunity to include the legacy titles. Maybe DLC down the road but I doubt this is the sort of title that sells enough to motivate the dev to do DLC etc.

Aside from playing the story mode, there's not a lot to do once that's complete aside from a few things you can unlock, so once you're finished there isn't much to come back to. If you really like the main game, it's very much replayable but there's nothing else to do once you're done with the handful of main tasks that the game offers.

As a fan of the SNES version when I was a kid, I was pleased with this remake-sequel hybrid. Definitely recommended to old-school shmup fans or retro gaming enthusiasts in general. It touched on all of the right points for me. It's a great mix of nostalgia plus something new. If you can snag it on sale, it'll fill a few afternoons with great throwback visuals and gameplay but not much else.

Recommended if you can catch it on sale. I enjoyed Pocky & Rocky as a kid on SNES, so I was curious to pick this up and re-experience the game with a modern twist. It has all the top-down shmup gameplay of the SNES and 80s arcade version, but with some added QOL improvements, extra characters and some small unlockables. My main gripe with it is that there just isn't a lot to substantiate full-price for this game. It's pretty much a basic story mode, an arcade mode, and some extra characters to unlock. Near as I can remember, it's more or less different stages after you get past the first stage as compared to the SNES version. That said, would have been great to get the SNES stages after you complete the main game. Sadly that's not included, neither is anything from the original Kiki Kaikai, Pocky & Rocky 2 on SNES or Pocky & Rocky with Becky from GBA. This game could have been a great opportunity to include the legacy titles. Maybe DLC down the road but I doubt this is the sort of title that sells enough to motivate the dev to do DLC etc. Aside from playing the story mode, there's not a lot to do once that's complete aside from a few things you can unlock, so once you're finished there isn't much to come back to. If you really like the main game, it's very much replayable but there's nothing else to do once you're done with the handful of main tasks that the game offers. As a fan of the SNES version when I was a kid, I was pleased with this remake-sequel hybrid. Definitely recommended to old-school shmup fans or retro gaming enthusiasts in general. It touched on all of the right points for me. It's a great mix of nostalgia plus something new. If you can snag it on sale, it'll fill a few afternoons with great throwback visuals and gameplay but not much else.