Umihara Kawase (SNES)

It's... uh... Japanese. Other than that I have no clue.

I should have expected another platformer really. It does have an unusual art style though (though putting the score in the middle of the screen is just annoying.) Plus it looks like I have a grappling hook and they're always cool.

Actually it seems that this game is all about the grappling hook (well, fishing line), and I can use it to grapple onto walls, ceilings, even enemies.

It appears to be a pretty straightforward game, you just have to get to the exit on each level, and maybe grab a few fish on the way.

This is cool though. If I hang around here long enough, these little birds flying around in the background will come and land on Umihara's head, bag or shoulder for a bit. It's a pointless little detail, but it made me smile.

Haha, yes! You can grapple onto conveyor belts.

It took me way too long to figure this out, but pressing 'up' and 'down' on the d-pad changes how much line you have out, so you can pull yourself up. Annoyingly to fire the line upwards you press 'up' and fire, but to then pull yourself up you have to press 'down', it's very counter intuitive.

It's even more annoying when you go to grab onto an enemy and reel him in to put him in your bag, but then accidentally shoot your own foot instead because you were holding 'down' to reel in before you fired.

Damn, it's raining fish over there. They might make it difficult to get over to that next platform and reel that eel thing in.

Damn! Now a fish has teleported in too. That'll make it even trickier as there's not enough room on that ledge to reel in two fish. I'm sick of fish appearing and disappearing in this, it makes the game harder than it needs to be.

Like, you'll be swinging around happily, with a nice clear screen and plenty of room to swing.

Then suddenly... oh hey there's a fish! Totally out of nowhere, and now sitting right where you're about to be unless you can react in time to dodge it.

Why isn't this ever getting old?

Umihara can grab onto ledges with her hands too and pull herself up, but it's sometimes a little awkward to get to them.

Damn I hate these snail things. I thought I could make it up here and evade them, but I got caught between them, cornered, and evaporated. One hit's all it takes to kill you and send you back to the beginning of the level.

Uh, I think I've timed this very wrong.

Dammit. Stop teleporting in! You're just being stupid now. Bloody fish.

Fin.


Sorry.