Iwate Mountain Dance

Disclaimer: My scores/reviews are almost always based on having bought the game at close to the "lowest historical price" on steam at time of purchase. Quick score: 3/5 Notes: For 12$? Absolutely not. Get it on sale. The world, "story", music, and art are all pretty barebones but they serve their purpose. I believe there are around 10 or so bosses, but outside of the final boss and secret boss they are extremely easy. I only died twice prior to the final bosses. Your playtime will vary, but I wouldn't expect more than about 2 hours of playtime at the absolute most.

This game was a lot of fun. It wasn't perfect, notably, the art is inconsistent, and my cursor looked messed up. But playing it was a great time, it has a certain really nice quality that I can only describe as feeling personal. If the developer ever creates another game I'll definitely look into it. Edit: It's been a few years, but I just came back and replayed this game. I still love it. Looking back I actually like the art much more than I did originally. Sure, the style of the background, the terrain, the trees and character sprites seem to differ sometimes, and it is a little "messy". But it all still forms a charming whole. Whenever I think about art not having it to be perfect, and it being allowed to be a little messy, I think of this game and its aesthetic. my cursor is still messed up though, and i am not even on the same device XD

It definitely was fun!

Decent bullet hell, that is not to hard except for the true ending boss that in my opinion a massive leap in difficulty.

A fun little bullet-hell boss-rush platformer. It's relatively easy, and would probably be good for beginners, though a skilled player who knows the genre will probably find it too easy. You have an auto-aiming attack which lets you focus on dodging, and an omnidirectional dash that gives you a moment of slowdown to make sure you're dodging where you want. The patterns tend to be relatively randomness-heavy, which is of course a mixed bag. The main downside is definitely the length. I'm pretty bad at platformers and bullet hells, but I fully cleared the game in 8hrs. Someone more skilled could absolutely first clear it in near half that time. There's also a few minor annoyances: The lack of a focus mode for fine movement or seeing your hitbox, minor issues with the movement, and one notably janky bossfight [spoiler]against a giant fish[/spoiler]. There's room for improvement here, though the dev's next project is on hold as of this review. I think there's still enough here to enjoy at 13CAD, especially for a small indie project, but waiting for a sale is perfectly reasonable.

It's pretty good. My only complaint is that the platforming doesn't feature enough in the fights. Some fights use the platforming to good effect, like Hebi and the River Carp, but even the extra bosses can be defeated by just slightly moving to the left and right. Still a good game and bullet hell besides.