KiKi KaiKai for PCE

Review #8073

KiKi KaiKai

A decent start to the series

PCE 1990 Taito Action Action › Gun
KiKi KaiKai screenshot for PCE
Screenshot used for review/reference purposes.
3 / 5

Gameplay

Plays just like the far-superior SNES sequels.
You can also wave a stick to deflect enemy projectiles or fire a peashooter for longer distance damage. However, the peashooter only reaches about 25% of the screen so even it isn't terribly helpful. And the hit detection is brutal. Your hotbox is enormous. Combine this with one-hir kills and you've got a frustrating difficulty curve.

3 / 5

Level Design

I love the level design of the sequels, but things are far less interesting here. There are a few branching paths to choose from, but the stages lack much variety. Enemies storm in a groups and are often easier to avoid than to engage with, although they swarm and fire too many unblockable projectiles in the later levels.

3 / 5

Theme

Slight Legend of the Mystical Ninja vibe. The ancient Japan setting is nice and the sprites are cute but the backgrounds lack any personality.

3 / 5

Art Style

Super deformed character designs. Unlike the sequels, there's little variety in enemies.
Bland colors.
Good animation and sprite work, including some fun death animations.

2 / 5

Audio

I like the music but the sound effects are atrocious! Every single shot plays an ear-piercing screech.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

About this Site - Sep 2025 Update

Super Hydlide for Genesis

Chrono Trigger for SNES