Ikki (Famicom Review)

This week's game review is Ikki for the Famicom. This is probably the most legendary game in the Famicom library. Not because it is a good game, but it is a bad game.  This is the legendary "kusoge" or shit game. But what makes the game bad? Is it really bad? Or is it one of those misunderstood games, or even flawed but harshly criticized game? 

Well read more about the game after the jump.

Believe it or not, I quite played Ikki a lot back in my childhood days. I played it a lot along with B-Wings, Musashi, Konami Wai Wai World, Battle City and more. But more on that later.

Ikki is basically a top down screen scrolling arcade style shooter. The controls are easy enough. The directional pad. Similar to games like Berzerk and Robotron 2084. However, unlike those games, the player only shoots sickles one at a time. However, unlike other games, where you only shoot where the character is facing, or using twin sticks to control aiming, Ikki has the player shoot automatically where the closest enemy is. It is actually quite effective.

Ikki is a game about a farmer in Feudal times in Japan, starting a rebellion against a vicious feudal lord. Unfortunately, it is a one-man rebellion, due to not having any other participants other the protagonist Gonbe. Or you can make it two-man rebellion with Tago, if it is a 2 players game. 

 

The players must collect 8 golden coins scattered around the stage in order to go to the next one. There are 4 stages overall in the game and a bonus round after a few stages, where you collect onigiri thrown by the old man. After completing the 4 stages, it goes back on loop to stage 1 with harder and faster enemies.

There are some items that helps the player finish the stage or impede the player. Items like the radish, makes the player walk faster for a few seconds, the bamboo pole and the lady who follows the player, where when she touches the player, the player is stuck in place for a few seconds.

One of the biggest problems for the players is the player speed. The character unfortunately moves very slow compared to the ninja enemies he can encounter. Already, the player is at a disadvantage at the start. And the ninjas moves and shoots fast, which is almost impossible for the player to dodge enemy attacks. The game often needs precise timing from the player in order to hit them with the sickle. And the ninjas spawn at an incredibly fast rate, which can easily overwhelm the player. 

But the biggest problem in the game is the screen scrolling. The player must be very close to the edge of the screen for it to start scrolling. Unfortunately, the edge of the screen are usually where the enemies spawn. Making it really hard for the player. Also, there are no visual boundaries like fences or walls on the playing field, so the player has no idea if it is the end of the stage or not.

I think these issues elevate the game to the legendary "kusoge" status. But I think the game does not deserve that title. The game is quite playable, no game breaking bugs. And the game does not let player go through hoops and leaps of logic in gameplay like Atlantis no Nazo where you kill yourself at a certain point to warp. However, I think a few minor fixes to the game such as putting fences or walls at the edge of the stages, making the player move faster, fixing the screen scrolling issue, makes this game passable or playable if not good.

Ikki will be remembered throughout the gaming history as one of the legenday "kusoge". However, if you want to try looking at a great piece of gaming from the past, you can try Ikki.

Good Points:

+ Easy to understand gameplay

+ Good shooting system

Bad Points:

- Bad screen scrolling

- Slow player movement

- Enemy spawn too fast and shoots too fast to dodge

Sample Gameplay Video