Mythinks #10
Sanae's Sylphid Breeze - Brisk but Breezy
We'd say what we've covered so far on this blog are all at the very least decently known. Even Gravity Circuit has a decent little following. Something we'd totally like to do is put a spotlight on lesser-known games, especially little weird indie projects like this one, at least every now and then. So here's a game we know about basically thanks to chance and got picked because the roulette rolled it on the same day we added it to our big, ever-growing bucket list. That's about as chanciest as chance meetings get.
On top of that, we should get into the fangame scene, more. In particular, Touhou fangames. And if you're wondering how a fangame is for sale on Steam, it's because series creator Zun is really based about the use of Gensokyo and its characters. Basically stating that so long as you aren't a big corporation and are indeed a fan of Touhou, you're free to do whatever you'd like with the setting. "Society If" all fanmedia could have this relationship with their original works, right?
Either way, Touhou fan media is something we aughta get into, more. There's a lot of cool Touhou Project Fan Projects out there that act as an outlet to enjoy the setting in more ways than just the nerve-wracking bullet hells that make up the main core of what Touhou is that sadly just aren't our thing. Naturally, bullet hell-esque sensibilities make their way into fangames like these, but it is far more manageable for our brain to handle.
Sanae's Sylphid Breeze is a very straightforward game, being a Touhou-skinned take on Kirby's Dream Land, them not really hiding it. Them flaunting it, even. All the hallmarks of a classic Kirby game are in there. You pick it up and even the subtlest details are there. Sure yeah Sanae's picked up some powers that let her copy the abilities of other Touhous, but you'll encounter a sword-wielding enemy that moves eerily familiar. A boss with lightning attacks that moves a lot like another boss with lightning attacks. It's very silly with it in a way that brings me back to like. Games from the 2000s that were like no longer than 10 minutes, and were a single person's first-ever attempt at making a game, so they mostly just copied what their favorite game series does, but were real cute about it.
But yes, if you've played a Kirby, you'd be very familiar with Sanae's Sylphid Breeze. In particular calling back to Kirby Super Star in terms of gamefeel in a lot of ways. The tinier control minutia that we always have trouble describing. Though the game paces a lot more like the original Dream Land, being a linear track from a definitive 1st level and running all the way to a final boss encounter in one, kind of seamless line that almost kind of feels like you're just playing one extremely long level.
JINX:
naturally, you have a set of copy abilities, and this is sadly the part of the game that's a little lacking. which is a shame, cause the copy abilities are kind of the point if you're gonna make a kirby clone. the copy abilities are more in the style of adventure than superstar, cause none of them get complicated movesets and pages of button combos, most abilities only having two attacks at most. which is fine, for a game more designed around that idea, especially in a more adventure-style game where copy abilities have one specific thing they do, and they can't do everything perfectly. which i'd almost certainly say is a weakness of modern kirby games, where they all kinda blend together to a point where you use one based on personal preference rather than one that actually works for the given moment.
for the most part the copy abilities play fine, if a little stiff because of how little of them can be used while moving. Again, definitely more adventure-feeling than superstar in that regard. The biggest problem is a lack of variety of them. the game is only 3 hours or so long, and that's with us dying a lot, so naturally i didn't expect a ton of them, exactly, but you are definitely cycling through the same three for most of the adventure with the occasional distraction given by a rare enemy or a boss. and those most common abilities feel like they should be the most generalist, but instead are kinda just the most inflexible. which i suppose works for a common copy ability, in the more classic end of kirby? but there's not really a sword kirby or cutter kirby that are ol' reliable, for what they are.
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And credit where it's due, it's nice that there's not a ton of overlap with existing Kirby abilities. The closest ones are obviously ice and parasol, but the rest kinda play like their own thing. The bubble-throwing kappa ability being throwing water balloons at an arc, but if you charge it up fully, it'll throw one balloon that splits into three. Chen's is kinda like Burning Kirby, but almost behaves a bit more like a Sonic spindash than Burning ever does.
VIXI:
In particular, I ended up gravitating towards Hina Kagiyama's power, "Misfortune", which is good about putting a protective barrier around you (good in a game that likes to get the occasional offscreen smack in on you), but also you can throw the shield of slips spinning around you to deal a decent amount of damage from a distance.
Something perhaps a bit silly is that, without Misfortune, I started to rely on just regular Sanae sucking up stars and spitting them back at bosses just for how much easier it was than managing the limited range and the fact that most of the abilities make you stand still with the psuedo-danmaku the bosses are shooting out. Especially since it feels like that does more damage, anyways. Like, that just feels like it should be a challenge run thing, not the best option.
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Presentation-wise, it has very solid visuals and music for a game of such small scope, all the sprites are cute. Sanae looks adorable in her various little costumes. And moreover, it's a surprise that this game is fully voice-acted, at least in Japanese. Which is probably what you'd want for a game like this, anyways. A small crack, though, is the way the english subtitles feel like they've been put through Google Translate at more than a few moments, which means it can take a moment to parse what the heck a character is saying, exactly. Not that story feels like the point of this thing, but it does like its goofs and gags, which land a little less gracefully on the bed of broken english.
The music is overall pretty good! Maybe not much I'd go out of my way to listen to, mostly classic Kirby-ifications of Touhou tracks. Or Touhou-ifications of Kirby tracks. Often even mashing the two just outright. Again in keeping to that tongue-in-cheek way it goes about being a Kirby clone. Its version of Gourmet Race and the Kabula/Mint Leaf theme is pretty fun.
It also maintains the lives system from Kirby games, which, as usual, only serves to waste time as you get to the harder end of the game. Not too much time, cause no stage is all that long, but I'd still like my focus to be on practicing a boss over worrying about replaying a level again, personally.
Not that most of the bosses in this game are THAT hard, it was mainly the final boss that gave me trouble. But each one is fairly different and they're all pretty fun to fight and learn the attack patterns of. The game has a decent amount of bite to it, at least for the standards of the series it's emulating. Again, never really TOO hard, mainly in that this is, of course, a game based on a bullet hell series, so there's gonna be An Amount of projectiles on the screen. Thankfully with some amount of restraint given this is a platformer game, plus you have multiple hits instead of just one-and-done like Zun-made Touhou games.
That is at least until it pulls another card from the original Dream Land in particular; replaying the game a second time, but in "Hard Mode" that heavily remixes the game. Which is almost where the real meat of the game is, especially in the way it has harder boss fights that feel a LOT more complete with new spell card attack phases. A lot harder, too, but by now they almost feel a bit like a Mega Man boss, especially with the way they have a consistent pattern they follow and you win out via observation and anticipation of what they're going to do next. Even if there's still a few things that will just smack you out of trial and error.
Again though, still never so hard that I couldn't get by it with enough perseverance. It's a game with a mean bite to it, but not so mean that you'll be stuck on something for hours. It's just a mild system shock when you're used to Kirbies only really getting mean in its postgame content. Which I suppose this is that, to some extent, but y'know what I mean.
And there's even a bunch of secrets in the levels themselves. Which, I guess I haven't talked that much about the level design themselves. Which certainly feel a bit like romhacks of Kirby games. Familiar stage hazards and setups that, once more, you'll recognize if you're a Kirby fan. Though they do have a tendency to feel a bit like a formality on the first playthrough where you're just trying to get through the game in the first place, kind of filler between the real meat of the experience in the boss fights.
But they do have a bunch of various secrets hidden throughout the game, and after you beat the game a second time, it unlocks a more freeform stage select so that you can go hunt for these secrets much more easily, thankfully. Once you have every power unlocked in the proverbial power room, you'll be able to fight one last pair of boss fights that really turn the danmaku up to. Well. Basically full Danmaku. Fitting enough for what's almost essentially the Kirby equivalent to a True Arena final fight.
It's a short game, but still quite a bit of a delight! We quite enjoyed it for how short it is, even if some of its most Kirby-esque elements feel like they could've used a bit more polish. Either way, a fun, short gauntlet of boss fights with little breaks between them, if you're so inclined to call the actual levels that. A nice little cautious first step into Touhou fangames, that I wouldn't mind making a springboard as I get into more in the future.
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VIXI SCORE: 7/10
Very cute and fun! Liked the challenge, even if it went for a cheap blow every now and then. Very cute all around!
LUNA SCORE: 8/10
A nice little romp! Wouldn't mind skedaddling through it once more at some point in the future. I particularly like the sprite work and general artistry of it!
JINX SCORE: 7/10
a pretty solid experience, feels fitting for its short length. but still hard and takes a bit to master, so it hardly feels mindless. a game that's small, but not inconsequential.
IONO SCORE: 6/10
I know we keep bringing up that this game slaps you over and over again, but the various fairy enemies really do feel like they take the role of a cream pie in a cartoon. Fun overall but it's a little too annoying to love personally.
CELESTE SCORE: 7.5/10
Being fifth in the writing order of this opinion-score wrap-up is hard on me, sometimes. Especially if we mostly agree on something. There's only so many times we can say it's cute! But it's just that! It's cute, not mind-blowing. Just right for the quaint little game that it is.
CHIAKI SCORE: 8/10
Very nice to play! I don't know if I'd come back to it, personally, but it does bring something to the table that normal Kirby games don't, so it's not like there's NO reason to play it so long as, well, normal Kirby games exist. Not bad to try in the middle of this mainline Kirby drought.
OVERALL SCORE: 43.5/60
