After playing all the official Umihara Kawase games, time for the sole unofficial tribute game!

This is part of a line of doujin (self-published amateur enthusiast work) games by Alpha Secret Base, some of which were ported to the Xbox 360. The character of Natsuki had previously been used in a couple of Sokoban clones, but this goes for something more niche. Aesthetically it’s a strong homage to the UK games—particularly the SFC original—with its checkerboard blocks over digitised photo backgrounds, accompanied by soothing jaunty tunes.

However, the bouncy swingy rope mechanics have been swapped out for the “anchor”, an extendable claw that locks into rigid length when gripping a surface or object. Natsuki can then rotate around the point of connection, and freely jump or let go. The controls can be finicky and hard to get used to, but essentially you use up and down to rotate, and remember to let go of the buttons before readjusting your aim. It’s similar but different, and shares the high skill ceiling.

Of course, like the UK games it lovingly draws from, GNS is hard. A lot of my frustration and muttered oaths came from grappling with the controls, but the level design too tries its best to impale you on many spikes. It’s very much a puzzle-platformer, and while precision is required there’s some freedom to how you approach each stage. The object is simply to pick up all the scattered collectibles (mostly food, although there are also Xbox Zero consoles to nab!), then you can move on, or try and get a better time or clear it in fewer jumps.

Speedrunners can get through the game in ten minutes; it took me about three hours to get through its 50 levels, and maybe 300 deaths. Sadly, actually getting the game running took almost as long; the official Mac/PC releases have long fallen in the deprecation hole, and refused to work for me. Dedicated individuals have taken up the task of unofficially porting and updating the game, but the only option I could see to actually play it was compiling the code from its Github home, which required the expertise of my patient and generous spouse Cathy (<3). So if you’re up for the double challenge of troubleshooting the install and contending with a unique but familiar puzzle-action-fest, you might be charmed by this little indie tribute!