Acquisition #140: Flash Koibitokun (WonderSwan Color)

Would you believe it if I told you that this is the game that prompted me to start buying Bandai WonderSwan games (despite the fact that I don't yet own one of these Japan-only handhelds)? Well, it's true.

As for how I became aware of this life-changing game (OK, so that may be laying it on a bit thick): Frankly, I found out about it while perusing one of my favorite websites, Kimimi's Blog.

Late last year, Kimimi published a rather glowing write-up of this Kappa Games-developed title. In particular, this line stuck out at me: "Your small ninja is tasked with making sure precious love hearts find their way across the screen and soften the hearts of the people on the other side." Cute, right?

Just as cute--and just as important in terms of piquing my interest in both Flash Koibitokun in particular and the WonderSwan in general--are the colorful screenshots Kimimi posted of this portable puzzler.



Sadly, I can't yet share any impressions of this acquisition since, well, I still don't have a WonderSwan (or, rather, a SwanCrystal) system. Hey, don't look at me like that. I'll get one soon. Or eventually. I promise.

For the time being, though, I'll just continue to stare at the boxes and flip through the manuals of the handful of WonderSwan I've bought thus far.

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

Additional proof that Kimimi (of Kimimi's Blog) is an awesome chick

Everybody who has been to Kimimi's Blog--and that's all of you, right?--knows that said blog's proprietress is an awesome chick.

(I apologize if the word "chick" offends any of you, by the way. I'm only using it here because I called Darwin Yamamoto a "dude" in this similarly-themed post. As such, I thought it would be only fitting to describe Kimimi as a "chick" in this one.)

Well, I recently discovered that Kimimi is even more awesome than I originally imagined. You see, after chatting with her--in the comments section of this blog post--about Sega's Sakura Taisen (aka Sakura Wars) series, Kimimi offered to send me her spare copy of the Saturn version of the series' first title.

Sakura Taisen's beautiful box art.

After hemming and hawing for a bit, I took her up on her generous offer--despite the fact that I don't currently own a Saturn. (Full disclosure: I've owned two in my lifetime, the first of which was bought and sold while I was a teen and the second of which was bought and sold about five years ago.)

I know I could play the game using an emulator like SSF, but I'd prefer to play it on the real thing. So, I'm going to do my best to keep from playing it until I pick up another Saturn (and a copy of the awesome-tacular Saturn Bomberman).

In the meantime, I'd also like to extend a hearty "thank you" to the folks at Aksys Games and Dudedle Studio, who recently sent me review copies of Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and Sugar Shooter 2, respectively. Expect to see "somewhat gay" reviews of both titles shortly.

The obscurer, the better

Did you know that "obscurer" is considered an acceptable, usable word? I've always thought you should say "more obscure" rather than "obscurer," but apparently that's not the case.

Anyway, all of that is beside the point. I only brought up the word obscure because it perfectly describes the games that are (briefly) detailed on one of my new favorite blogs, Kimimi's Blog.



Case in point: Kimimi recently covered what sounds like a lovely little WonderSwan Color game called Flash Koibitokun (above), in which "your small ninja is tasked with making sure precious love hearts find their way across the screen and soften the hearts of the people on the other side." (Go here to read more of Kimimi's thoughts on this import title and to watch a gameplay video of it.)

If you're at all interested in "games that generally have little coverage elsewhere," as Kimimi puts it, I'd highly recommend checking out kimimisblog.blogspot.com at your earliest convenience.