Crostar (translation), the creator of rhacp, submitted another cute and simple platformer, Nori Kuro Cat, for the 13th 3Punge contest (translation), which won 4th place. It is similar to his first 3Punge entry, Supa Kingu Rato (pictured below), in terms of aesthetics and level design. But but this time the main character is a ninja cat that belches fireballs instead of a puffy, pink head that plows through enemies with its pointy ears.
Each shot that scores a consecutive hit increases the range and strength of the cat’s firepower and fills one unit of the 3-level gauge. A miss zeros it out. Once the gauge is full, it slowly drains until the another successful shot replenishes. While at full power, a special burst attack can be preformed by pressing the down arrow and X, which is practically necessary when a wolf wearing a wood mask is hit by fully powered fireball and for finding hidden objects.
After completing the 3 levels of the easy mode, the normal mode is unlocked. However, it is necessary to do more than merely completing the 3 levels of the normal mode to unlock the hard mode, which is the only one with a boss.
It is interesting how most of Crostar’s 3Punge entries have evolved as games with a similar look and feel but each with its own unique gameplay elements. The past stages of the evolution in order of release: Supa Kingu Rato, a momentum-building platformer; Sky-Whirling Geo, an auto-scrolling, sword-slashing, wing-flapping platformer; and Round and Round the Tsuchiyui, a difficult, experimental shooter that requires lining up an enemy within the epicenter of the two circling heads to shoot it.
Tangent: entry number 2, Spirit Collect, was a challenging shoot-em-up with mediocre graphics that won third place. Some shmup fans might enjoy it, but I gave up on playing any further than a few games after watching the included replays.