Pocky & Rocky
Encyclopedia
Pocky & Rocky, known in Japan
as , is a scrolling shooter video game with action
elements licensed by Taito
to Natsume, who developed and published the game for release in Japan in 1992 and the rest of the world in 1993. It is the sequel to the 1986 arcade game
KiKi KaiKai (unofficially released in North America
as Knight Boy) and follows the continued adventures of a young Shinto
shrine maiden
named Pocky (known in Japan as ) and her new companion, Rocky the Tanuki
, or raccoon (known in Japan as ).
and folklore
. The game contains elements of standard arcade shooters
, with a top-down scrolling display. It was also given action game features, such as the ability to move or attack in eight directions. Rocky, who was designed by Tomoyuki Ishiyama, was given the role of Pocky's sidekick
, and served as the default second-player character who could also be freely chosen in a one-player game.
Sequences featuring 2D
artwork were added at set points throughout the game to help move the story forward, which usually occurred when a boss character was defeated at the end of a level. These scenes, though present in the Japanese and North American versions of the game, were omitted for the PAL region
releases.
, Pocky & Rocky has the player assume the role of a young girl who, while tending to a shrine one night, is visited by Rocky, a tanuki
and member of a group of yōkai
known as the "Nopino Goblin
s", all of whom have recently been driven insane by an unknown force. Together, Pocky and Rocky must travel through several levels consisting of various ancient Japanese locales while battling a number of creatures from popular Japanese myth
, including kappas, obake
, and yūrei
. Eventually, they must breach the stronghold of the mysterious Black Mantle, who has been using these monsters (collectively referred to as the "Gorgonzola Goblins") to fulfill his evil deeds. Whichever character the player chooses to play will make no difference in the outcome of the story.
Pocky & Rocky takes place from a top-down perspective with the characters moving either horizontally or vertically through a level while defeating approaching enemies and destroying obstacles that may block the player's path. Pocky can use her ofuda
talismans (simply called "cards" in the English language
version) to attack enemies from afar, or purification rod, which she swings at a wide arc, to hit ones close up. Likewise, Rocky can throw leaves across the screen or quickly turn his backside towards the enemy and swing his tail from side to side. By holding the short-ranged attack button down and then releasing it, Pocky does a spinning attack that can hit any enemy around her, while Rocky is able to transform into a statue, rendering him invulnerable to all attacks for a short time while leaving him immobile. Both characters can also slide across the ground, covering an area quickly. If a player bumps into the other while sliding, it will cause them to spin out of control across the screen, damaging any enemies they come in contact with, though the initial bump causes some damage to the receiving character. A limited-use special attack can be used to hit several or all the enemies present on the screen, and is only available once per life (they differ in actual range and power between the two characters). Though most enemies only require a few attacks to defeat, boss monsters present at the end of each level take much more, and may require an additional use of strategy.
Various power-ups can also be acquired that will increase the effectiveness of either Pocky or Rocky's attacks, such as making their projectile
s larger or giving them the ability to throw multiple ones at once. Others include the ability to become invincible, or regain hit points, giving them more endurance. Each item obtained will add to the player's total score, and when a certain amount is reached, they are given an additional life, another chance to complete the current level.
Three levels of difficulty can be selected before a player begins the game: easy, normal or hard. Selecting a higher difficulty will make the enemy creatures more difficult to defeat and provide a higher challenge to the player, as well as increase the number of hits required to defeat a boss. Defeating the game on a harder mode will not yield any greater ending or reward, and it is merely for the player's own gameplay preference.
, an in-house Natsume composer
who utilized traditional Japanese music with an electronic beat. No commercial soundtrack was ever made available, nor has the music appeared on a compilation album since the game's initial release.
like Pocky, but is only beginning her duties. UFO Entertainment later released a spiritual successor to the series called Heavenly Guardian
, developed by Starfish, for the PS2 and Wii systems.http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/09/01/kiki-kai-world-the-best-news-ever/
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as , is a scrolling shooter video game with action
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
elements licensed by Taito
Taito Corporation
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....
to Natsume, who developed and published the game for release in Japan in 1992 and the rest of the world in 1993. It is the sequel to the 1986 arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
KiKi KaiKai (unofficially released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
as Knight Boy) and follows the continued adventures of a young Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
shrine maiden
Miko
is a Japanese term that anciently meant a "female shaman, spirit medium" who conveyed oracles from kami , and currently means a "shrine maiden; virgin consecrated to a deity" who serves at Shinto shrines.-Word:...
named Pocky (known in Japan as ) and her new companion, Rocky the Tanuki
Tanuki
is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...
, or raccoon (known in Japan as ).
Development
Unlike its predecessor, Pocky & Rocky was not developed by Taito, but was instead licensed to Natsume, for the series' console debut. The project was overseen by Yoshihino Hattori, who wrote the game's story which he based heavily on Japanese mythologyJapanese mythology
Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...
and folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
. The game contains elements of standard arcade shooters
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
, with a top-down scrolling display. It was also given action game features, such as the ability to move or attack in eight directions. Rocky, who was designed by Tomoyuki Ishiyama, was given the role of Pocky's sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
, and served as the default second-player character who could also be freely chosen in a one-player game.
Sequences featuring 2D
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
artwork were added at set points throughout the game to help move the story forward, which usually occurred when a boss character was defeated at the end of a level. These scenes, though present in the Japanese and North American versions of the game, were omitted for the PAL region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...
releases.
Story
Set in Feudal JapanHistory of Japan
The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human...
, Pocky & Rocky has the player assume the role of a young girl who, while tending to a shrine one night, is visited by Rocky, a tanuki
Tanuki
is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...
and member of a group of yōkai
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
known as the "Nopino Goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
s", all of whom have recently been driven insane by an unknown force. Together, Pocky and Rocky must travel through several levels consisting of various ancient Japanese locales while battling a number of creatures from popular Japanese myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, including kappas, obake
Obake
and are a class of yōkai, preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore. Literally, the terms mean a thing that changes, referring to a state of transformation or shapeshifting....
, and yūrei
Yurei
are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 , meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 , meaning "soul" or "spirit." Alternative names include 亡霊 meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 or お化け...
. Eventually, they must breach the stronghold of the mysterious Black Mantle, who has been using these monsters (collectively referred to as the "Gorgonzola Goblins") to fulfill his evil deeds. Whichever character the player chooses to play will make no difference in the outcome of the story.
Gameplay
Ofuda
Ofuda, is a gofu or a talisman issued by a Shinto shrine. It may also be called shinpu . It is made by inscribing the name of a kami and the name of the Shinto shrine or of a representative of the kami on a strip of paper, wood, cloth, or metal.It is to be renewed yearly, typically before the end...
talismans (simply called "cards" in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version) to attack enemies from afar, or purification rod, which she swings at a wide arc, to hit ones close up. Likewise, Rocky can throw leaves across the screen or quickly turn his backside towards the enemy and swing his tail from side to side. By holding the short-ranged attack button down and then releasing it, Pocky does a spinning attack that can hit any enemy around her, while Rocky is able to transform into a statue, rendering him invulnerable to all attacks for a short time while leaving him immobile. Both characters can also slide across the ground, covering an area quickly. If a player bumps into the other while sliding, it will cause them to spin out of control across the screen, damaging any enemies they come in contact with, though the initial bump causes some damage to the receiving character. A limited-use special attack can be used to hit several or all the enemies present on the screen, and is only available once per life (they differ in actual range and power between the two characters). Though most enemies only require a few attacks to defeat, boss monsters present at the end of each level take much more, and may require an additional use of strategy.
Various power-ups can also be acquired that will increase the effectiveness of either Pocky or Rocky's attacks, such as making their projectile
Projectile
A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....
s larger or giving them the ability to throw multiple ones at once. Others include the ability to become invincible, or regain hit points, giving them more endurance. Each item obtained will add to the player's total score, and when a certain amount is reached, they are given an additional life, another chance to complete the current level.
Three levels of difficulty can be selected before a player begins the game: easy, normal or hard. Selecting a higher difficulty will make the enemy creatures more difficult to defeat and provide a higher challenge to the player, as well as increase the number of hits required to defeat a boss. Defeating the game on a harder mode will not yield any greater ending or reward, and it is merely for the player's own gameplay preference.
Music
The background music for Pocky & Rocky was composed by Hiroyuki IwatsukiHiroyuki Iwatsuki
Hiroyuki Iwatsuki is a Japanese video game music composer who has contributed to the soundtracks of Ninja Warriors, Pocky & Rocky, and Omega Five...
, an in-house Natsume composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
who utilized traditional Japanese music with an electronic beat. No commercial soundtrack was ever made available, nor has the music appeared on a compilation album since the game's initial release.
Sequels
Pocky & Rocky became popular enough to spawn two official sequels and one spiritual successor, though none are well recognized. The first sequel is called Pocky & Rocky 2 (or Kiki KaiKai: Kayako), also on SNES, and the other is Pocky & Rocky with Becky (Kiki KaiKai Advance) on the GBA. The GBA game introduces a new character called Becky (or Miki-chan in Japanese) who is also a mikoMiko
is a Japanese term that anciently meant a "female shaman, spirit medium" who conveyed oracles from kami , and currently means a "shrine maiden; virgin consecrated to a deity" who serves at Shinto shrines.-Word:...
like Pocky, but is only beginning her duties. UFO Entertainment later released a spiritual successor to the series called Heavenly Guardian
Heavenly Guardian
Heavenly Guardian, known in Japan as and as Legend of Sayuki in Europe, is a scrolling shooter game developed by Starfish SD. It was self-published in Japan, published by UFO Interactive Games in North America, and published by 505 Games in Europe...
, developed by Starfish, for the PS2 and Wii systems.http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/09/01/kiki-kai-world-the-best-news-ever/