You’ve probably already seen this on Tim’s new indie games blog, but it’s so wonderful that it really deserves another mention. Tekkyuuman (freeware.remakes.org mirror) is a new game by quirky Japanese developer Ikiki. And it’s one of his best yet.
As usual, you play as an armed naked guy, though this time your weapon is a little unusual – a mace on an elastic chain. There are twelve single screen levels to progress, with bosses every third level. That’s basically it – what really makes it, though, is just how well designed those levels are, and how how much character each of those bosses have. It’s addictive as hell, and quite hard! (If you’re stuck, I’ve got a full video playthrough up on YouTube which might help.)
I was under the impression that Ikiki had given up on game design (earlier this year Ikiki’s site went down and the frontpage was replaced with something suspisiously like a goodbye message – though babelfish insists that it’s got something to do with “Fat bowls”). Speaking as someone who only found out about Ikiki’s existance earlier this year with Xander’s Nikujin post, I really hope that this game is a sign that we can expect to see more from him. (And if so, what a magnificent comeback it is!)
5 Ikikis out of 5!
(Something I wonder about: what’s the Japanese indie gaming scene really like? Is there a Japanese TIGSource, for example? Did Japanese indies get as excited about Knytt Stories (say) as we did about Cave Story? Is there a Japanese version of Derek trawling through all of Cactus’ old games? Definitly something we need to DISCUSS.)