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POCKY & ROCKY 2 Company: Enix Released: November 1994 Genre: Action/Shooter Graphics: 8.0 Control: 8.0 Sound/Music: 6.5 Storyline: 8.0 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 SUPER-NES.COM

For those that were lucky enough to experience the first Pocky & Rocky game, you know what a great and unique shooting game it was. Surprisingly, since Pocky & Rocky wasn't a huge success, Natsume has brought back the colorful japanese-style shooter with its' sequel, Pocky & Rocky 2. Everything that made the first game so unique has returned, with a few added features to top things off. What we're left with is one of the most enjoyable, yet highly underated games for the Super NES. Graphically Pocky & Rocky 2 has some shining moments. But it also has plenty of average looking visuals to offset these brilliant moments. It's got a very "Japanese garden" look to it that I tend to find very appealing. There is a huge variety of enemies and the bosses are among the high points of the game. They're well drawn and show a lot of detail for this type of game. There will be certain points in the game that contain some slightly annoying slowdown, but it's usually only for a moment and these few episodes of slowdown are few and far between, thankfully. Although this game does suffer from some areas of "8-bit" like graphics, the game as a whole has enough character and personality to overlook them. I just hate it when a game has these flashes of visual brilliance and then takes away from it by including patches of average graphics in other areas. I gave it a 7.0 because at least it does have a few flashy moments visually and I thought that at least warranted something. As the visuals would suggest, the game has a very Japanese style music to it and somehow molds it together with an upbeat rhythm that seems to carry the game's mood quite nicely. The sound effects were a little on the generic side, but they work well enough within the game's framework to keep you listening. I can definately say that the music in Pocky & Rocky 2 isn't going to appeal to just anyone, but given the oriental nature and setting of the game, it's only fitting that the music style relect that. It's at least better than the soundtrack of the first game, which I have always felt left a lot to be desired. It's not a soundtrack you'd listen to in your car, but it blends in with the look of the game quite well. For a shooter, Pocky & Rocky 2 has a wide variety of gameplay. Not only do your characters get to shoot everything in sight, but they also have the ability to throw their partners at enemies and bosses which does quite a bit of damage. You're also going to have to locate hidden partners along the way that you can use to your advantage. For instance, in one level you can enter a doorway and acquire the scarecrow. Not only can you hurl this scarecrow at enemies and bosses, but you can also use his special ability which lets you ride him like a pogo stick. Each of these partners have a special and unique ability that comes in really handy when the action gets heated and the bosses begin to get a bit more difficult to beat. The little robot Bomber Bob was my overall favorite, as when you use your magic while using him as your partner, it lets Pocky use him as a "mech" style vehicle and it's not only very effective, but it looks cool as well. One more use of having these partners with you is they will also fight alongside you shooting everything you might miss. It's at least worth mentioning that your character Pocky can also swing his staff, but using it can be more trouble than it's worth in my opinion. I liked shooting the crap out of things just fine, thank you. As I said, there's a lot of gameplay variety in this game and with a rapidly increasing difficulty, this game offers a lot of challenge and length that you don't normally see in a game like this. This sequel has twice the playability of the original Pocky & Rocky and that's saying something. I've often wondered why this game series never really gained any sort of widespread popularity, as they're both really fun shooting style games. Pocky & Rocky 2 takes everything that was so endearing about the first game and adds more playability, a slightly more forgiving difficulty, and a number of new partners to create a simple, yet extremely playable shoot-fest that's as appealing as it is enjoyable. Even if you've never heard of this game, and many haven't, you might want to give it a try and see what you've been missing. It's just one of those games that not's really outstanding in any one category yet the overall it's great.