The friends of Ringo Ishikawa

The friends of Ringo Ishikawa is a distinctive combination of side-scrolling street fighting, RPG progression, open-ended exploration, and everyday life simulation. Developed and published by yeo, it follows Ringo Ishikawa, a Japanese high-school gang leader approaching graduation alongside his closest friends. What initially looks like a retro beat ’em up soon reveals itself as something much more reflective. Fighting is certainly important, but the larger experience revolves around friendship, routine, uncertainty, and the uncomfortable realization that adolescence is coming to an end. Rather than pushing the player through a conventional chain of stages, the game provides a small town that can be explored with considerable freedom. Ringo can attend school, study, exercise, spend time with his friends, earn money, visit different establishments, participate in recreational activities, or roam the streets looking for trouble. Characters follow schedules, businesses operate according to particular hours, and time advances throughout each day. These elements give the world a surprisingly convincing rhythm. Learning when and where certain people appear gradually becomes part of unde…

a bit buggy, but amazing, albeit frustrating in some points

Ringo Ishikawa KNOWS the value of friendship. The strong points of this game are the vibes, the charm, the aesthetics, the FEELS. Graphics, soundtrack and scenery capture the feelings of a Japanese delinquent's life masterfully. But the game goes deeper than that, with a big focus on the plot and covering themes such as existentialism, growing up, relationships and being directionless in life. It should not be played as a "traditional game". If you like your gaming experiences to always have an indication on where to go and what to do, you might find this kinda open-ended. The game has no mission log (not that it needs one), no map, no direction - much like its protagonist. Instead of tackling stage after stage like most games, sometimes here you just have to let time take its course. Maybe doing something - or nothing - with that time. Living a little. Appreciating the boredom that sets in every once in a while. And there's quite a number of stuff to do if you're interested. Also, some reviews bashed the ending. I disagree. In my opinion it is a good closing for such a story. Even if it feels slightly rushed, it's powerful. Don't expect your standard finale, though.

I don't know what to say about this game. You're practically living the day to day life of a gang leader in his school. The story is rough, in an expositional way, and yeah... play it if you're into art type games. I gotta think about what I just played though.

this game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rocks

Played through this game several times, love it!