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The city will be destroyed... soon!

Hello players!!!
This time I played "The Kaju is my childhood friend", a Rpgmaker MV game by the notorious duo CrazyBabi & Marmalade, authors of "They Took My Beloved", "Errevale Fall", "Fateless Two, Faithless Thee" and "Burn Witches Get Money", some games I really liked. You should play them, BUT LATER, since now we're talking about this game, that's totally stand alone.

This game that was made for the Kaijujam2 event, is a short comedy adventure that mixes visual novel and various minigames. Interesting since it's a bit different from the other games I mentioned before (one was a serious horror adventure, the others were even more classic rpgs with some unusual features that made them quite peculiar and interesting).


Quicktime event!!! The button you must quickly PRESS, or you will get some STRESS!

In this game we play as Tonari Tomoko (even if the name can be changed) a normal student in a japanese school, that is friend of a not so normal student of the same school: Akai Juu... literally a Kaiju! This shy and clumsy girl is in love with Senpai, that clearly hasn't noticed her, so our role will be trying to help her as a good friend. Well, good luck, since the girl when stressed becomes a giant monster obsessed with destroying the city!

The game is basically a linear adventure with some elements of visual novel and little minigames that most of the time involve avoiding stressful situations (luckily there is always a bar that indicated how serious is the situation, so it's never a case of one-error-means-gameover) and avoiding destroying the city. These parts are intervalled by some parts where we can explore some areas (like the school or the arcade) using the classic Rpgmaker MV visuals, and in most of these instances we'll play as Akai Juu.


Another minigame that is basically the opposite of Frogger: collisions won't kill you, but will destroy everything else!

Ok, now the minigames: we've some classic quicktime events that may require button mashing, a puzzle in which you have to push people around, an inverted version of Frogger in which you have to avoit stepping on vehicles and people, an inverted version of Flappy Bird in which you must instead avoid to destroy buildings and airships and even a classic rpgmaker battle against a... vending machine! Really!

The story is pretty funny and comedic, enjoyable and totally crazy. My only gripe is that during the game there is actually no appearance of the giant robot that attacks Akai Juu (when in Kaiju form, of course) in some slides. Pity, I expected some kind of revelation about the pilot of that robot, anyway maybe in a sequel (the ending is not that final, so...)? Anyway I mentioned the slides, but there are also a LOT of other original assets, custom portraits and facesets with different expressions, and everything merges perfectly with the edited RTPs and classic Rpgmaker MV chipsets. Mapping is competently made and the music selection is pretty much perfect for this kind of comedy adventure.


This is a crucial moment! What will happen? PLAY THIS GAME NOW!!!

Final Verdict
What else can I say (without spoiling the game)? The game is fun and entertaining, the minigames are all short but varied (from puzzle to action, and from quicktime event and classic rpgmaker battle) and not very difficult (actually the only one that I had to do more than once was the Tekk'n one!) even if there is actually NO explanation about what you're supposed to do, but I guess it's pretty intuitive. In any case you can save anywhere and if you fail you can also re-try from an autosave. So don't worry, be happy and have fun!
The story is good while not particularly original, anyway the characters are cute and the narrative is greatly enhanced by the pretty custom art. I also liked the presence of various hilarious references to rpgmaker games and memes like the yaranaika face!

The greatest problem I've with this game? That's too short! 30 minutes at most, but you will surely want for more.

Posts

Pages: 1
Woah, thank you RpgmakerAddict for another great review!

Yeah, this game is definitely a lot shorter than other games CrazyBabi and I have done together (being in the 1-3 hrs range usually). I was actually the one who wanted to make a very short game (I originally wanted it to be about 15 minutes), because I wanted to see if we can make a game that is extremely streamlined but still fun. In my experience I've noticed the majority of people who play non-VN games don't want to read, so I've started restraining myself on exposition, other than when making VNs at least (which are usually solo projects on my own). In the end, I think this one was pretty successful, people seem to enjoy it despite it being short.

Thanks for playing! You basically play all our games so we're always excited to read your next reviews on them!
author=Marmalade
Woah, thank you RpgmakerAddict for another great review!

Yeah, this game is definitely a lot shorter than other games CrazyBabi and I have done together (being in the 1-3 hrs range usually). I was actually the one who wanted to make a very short game (I originally wanted it to be about 15 minutes), because I wanted to see if we can make a game that is extremely streamlined but still fun. In my experience I've noticed the majority of people who play non-VN games don't want to read, so I've started restraining myself on exposition, other than when making VNs at least (which are usually solo projects on my own). In the end, I think this one was pretty successful, people seem to enjoy it despite it being short.

Thanks for playing! You basically play all our games so we're always excited to read your next reviews on them!


Hello!!! Well yes, being an event game that's understandable! It's cool, the mix between minigames and VN parts is perfectly balanced and pacing is very good. My only issue is that during the first monster minigame no one TELLS you what you are supposed to do, so I ended destroying the city under the time limit because I believed that was the goal!
Buahahahaha I'm so dumb!

Anywayyy... nice it's cool!
Oh and I've still more games you made to play yet! At least three! :D
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
author=Marmalade
Woah, thank you RpgmakerAddict for another great review!

Yeah, this game is definitely a lot shorter than other games CrazyBabi and I have done together (being in the 1-3 hrs range usually). I was actually the one who wanted to make a very short game (I originally wanted it to be about 15 minutes), because I wanted to see if we can make a game that is extremely streamlined but still fun. In my experience I've noticed the majority of people who play non-VN games don't want to read, so I've started restraining myself on exposition, other than when making VNs at least (which are usually solo projects on my own). In the end, I think this one was pretty successful, people seem to enjoy it despite it being short.

Thanks for playing! You basically play all our games so we're always excited to read your next reviews on them!
Hello!!! Well yes, being an event game that's understandable! It's cool, the mix between minigames and VN parts is perfectly balanced and pacing is very good. My only issue is that during the first monster minigame no one TELLS you what you are supposed to do, so I ended destroying the city under the time limit because I believed that was the goal!
Buahahahaha I'm so dumb!


Yeah, the first minigame needs instructions. We're planning a small update to fix some minor stuff and add some art, so maybe we'll do something about that.

author=TheRpgmakerAddict
Anywayyy... nice it's cool!
Oh and I've still more games you made to play yet! At least three! :D


No pressure! But I'm looking forward to your thoughts if you ever do!
author=Marmalade
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
author=Marmalade
Woah, thank you RpgmakerAddict for another great review!

Yeah, this game is definitely a lot shorter than other games CrazyBabi and I have done together (being in the 1-3 hrs range usually). I was actually the one who wanted to make a very short game (I originally wanted it to be about 15 minutes), because I wanted to see if we can make a game that is extremely streamlined but still fun. In my experience I've noticed the majority of people who play non-VN games don't want to read, so I've started restraining myself on exposition, other than when making VNs at least (which are usually solo projects on my own). In the end, I think this one was pretty successful, people seem to enjoy it despite it being short.

Thanks for playing! You basically play all our games so we're always excited to read your next reviews on them!
Hello!!! Well yes, being an event game that's understandable! It's cool, the mix between minigames and VN parts is perfectly balanced and pacing is very good. My only issue is that during the first monster minigame no one TELLS you what you are supposed to do, so I ended destroying the city under the time limit because I believed that was the goal!
Buahahahaha I'm so dumb!
Yeah, the first minigame needs instructions. We're planning a small update to fix some minor stuff and add some art, so maybe we'll do something about that.

Oh well in the first minigame it was my mistake. Why would I had to destroy the city? Well... maybe due to the slides of the Kaiju ehehe!

author=Marmalade
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
Anywayyy... nice it's cool!
Oh and I've still more games you made to play yet! At least three! :D

No pressure! But I'm looking forward to your thoughts if you ever do!

Oh yes but I started Burn Witches Sidestory a couple of months ago and I still have to finish it eheheheh
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