The Kururin Trilogy
The Floofer Zone #13 | December 25th, 2023
It’s been a while, floofers…
This is not the first nor will it be the last time that I completely abandon this blog for several months at a time, but I can never completely abandon it bc this is simply the most effective method I have to scream about cool video games that nobody else cares about to my friends
This might be a long one, since I wanna talk about three games this time, but unfortunately there won’t be that many pictures in this post. I didn’t know that I wanted to write a blog post about these three games until after I had finished them, so I didn’t take any screenshots of my gameplay. Maybe watch a longplay of each game in the background?
Kuru Kuru Kururin (2001, Eighting)
MobyGames lists what is apparently the official description for the GBA game Kuru Kuru Kururin. It reads: “Kuru Kuru Kururin is an innovative puzzle game in which the main character is inside a helicopter, and he must navigate himself through a maze in the least amount of time possible.”
Now I’ll give you my unofficial description: Kuru Kuru Kururin is hell on earth. Kuru Kuru Kururin is the kind of game where you can very easily get stuck on the same level for several hours. Playing Kuru Kuru Kururin is what it feels like to be Sisyphus. Kuru Kuru Kururin is spoken of only in whispers, for fear of what tragedies merely mentioning its name could bring. Kuru Kuru Kururin is scarier than forced social interaction on Christmas
Obvs I’m exaggerating for comedic effect (nothing’s scarier than forced social interaction), but Kururin really is a difficult game! It’s got a bit of a reputation for being challenging, and I would say it’s well deserved, but I also think Kururin is very fair, and it even tries to help the player overcome its challenges. I truly believe anyone could beat it if they really tried
So what is Kururin like?
You play as this silly little guy (his name is Kururin) as he climbs into a helicopter-like vehicle called the Helirin and navigates a series of deviously crafted levels to rescue his missing brothers and sisters. These levels often feature tight corridors and tricky terrain to stand in your way. Touch any obstacle or wall, and you’ll take damage— three strikes, and you’re out! Restart the level from the beginning! There are no checkpoints in any level in the game! Fun!!!
The Helirin has a peculiar quirk that makes this very difficult: it’s constantly spinning, and you have no control over this. The trick is to work with the rotation as much as possible, and move in such a way where you won’t bump into anything. Of course, this is easier said than done, especially when later levels introduce moving obstacles that you’ll have to avoid, like spike balls and cannon fire
Beating some of the later levels in Kururin was hard enough, but the real challenge came after I finished the campaign. It turns out that there are secret levels that will only unlock if you manage to beat every other level while taking no damage, and I, unfortunately, really wanted to see the secret levels
I got stuck on some of those levels for a while, and at that point I discovered that Kururin actually has a separate mode where you can freely select any section of any level you’ve beaten and practice it with infinitely regenerating health(!) for as long as you want. You can even select an option in the pause menu to watch a demo of the level being played, effectively just telling you the solution to dodging any obstacle in the game
Wouldn’t most games of this era force you to buy a strategy guide for this kind of information? It striked me as oddly generous for a game so infamous for being hard, and it honestly still does, but it also speaks to Eighting’s attitude towards difficulty when they were developing this game. In any other game as difficult as Kururin, completing every level while taking no damage would be a ridiculously frustrating task, but thanks to this practice mode, it actually felt feasible to me. Eighting not only tried to encourage the player to master the game by rewarding them with bonus content, they actively chose to help the player achieve said mastery. I really think more game developers should learn from their example
The secret levels in Kururin do not hold your hand— they’re some of the hardest stuff in the game— but by the time you’ve unlocked them, you’re more than ready for that kind of difficulty. This whole quest I underwent to 100% Kururin, while sometimes frustrating, made the game a lot more memorable to me in the end, and once I was done I knew I had to check out the sequels
Speaking of which…
Kururin Paradise (2002, Eighting)
Sequels are magical things. Not every sequel turns out great, but sometimes someone makes a game that’s already pretty good and you really like it, and then they make another one and it’s even better!! Wowie!!
In the case of Kururin Paradise (which I’ll refer to as Kururin 2 from now on for the sake of simplicity), basically everything I liked about the original game is still here, it’s just much more refined. The graphics are better, the level designs are much more varied and memorable, the art style is even cuter, the soundtrack still goes hard, the game will still kick your ass, and the plot is… well this game was Japan only and I can’t read Japanese, so all I could gather was that Kururin’s siblings went missing yet again, and it’s up to him to save them
He looks like this now btw. Just thought u should look at him again
Of course, if Kururin 2 was just more of Kururin 1 with some slight polish upgrades, it wouldn’t really be anything special. Thankfully, Eighting made two significant changes to the Kururin formula in this game that I feel really elevate it above it’s older brother
First of all, they included some Mario Party-esque minigames which you’ll have to play every now and then in order to move the story forward. They’re fun, if a bit forgettable (minus the one which makes you turn your GBA on its side, that was wild), but I really appreciate their inclusion anyway because it helps break up the monotony of level after level of the same Kururin gameplay. I feel like the game is much better paced than Kururin 1 as a result
The second change is that you can actually control your rotation now! You still can’t change the direction in which the Helirin spins, but by holding down the R button you can make it spin twice as fast for as long or as little as you want. I can’t understate how good of a change this is— previously in Kururin 1, there were many times where I simply had to wait for a moving obstacle to line up in such a way where I could actually pass without bonking it or bonking the wall. Now, there’s no more waiting! The game plays much faster and I feel way more in control, it’s super pog
Conversely, it’s also now much easier to accidentally bonk yourself by holding the R button just a little too long… but I actually think that’s a good thing. It feels like the skill ceiling in Kururin 2 is even higher than it was in Kururin 1
Speaking of skill… there's another set of three secret levels, and you do still need to beat every other level in the game no-damage in order to unlock them. Having gone through the same struggle in Kururin 1, I breezed through the easy levels in Kururin 2, but the later levels are even tougher than in the first game! The final secret level in particular is by far the most diabolical challenge in either of these games. I honestly doubted whether I could even beat it at first, but it was incredibly satisfying once I did
All in all, a truly magical sequel. Now if only I could say the same about Kururin 3…
Kururin Squash! (2004, Eighting)
In Kururin Squash! for the GameCube, Kururin sets out on his third (and final) adventure to rescue his missing siblings. Again. I wish I could read Japanese bc I really want to know how these fuckers keep getting lost
Not every sequel turns out great, and unfortunately Kururin 3 doesn't quite live up to the first two games. It feels like a regression from Kururin 2 in a few different ways, but mostly it's the level design
Half of the levels in Kururin 3 are these very strange gimmick levels, where the Helirin gains some sort of special power you can use by pressing the A button. You’ll be defeating waves of weird little alien creatures with lasers, flamethrowers, and spring-loaded boxing gloves, all the while navigating through very very boring and easy terrain. Am I missing something here? Why is Kururin an action game all of a sudden? The constant spinning of the Helirin doesn't mix very well with trying to take aim at the swarms of enemies constantly charging at you, and the result is that like half the game is frustrating and unfun
The other half of the game is still normal Kururin levels, and they're like, fine? The charm and creativity I liked so much about Kururin 2’s levels is just gone, tho. Kururin 1 had a tendency to re-use the same kinds of obstacles across multiple levels, and Kururin 3 unfortunately continues this same trend, even tho Kururin 2 had already figured out how to vary its level designs way more. And to top it all off: practice mode is gone in Kururin 3, for literally no reason. Why??
These issues make for a rather disappointing sequel, to the point where I didn't even bother to finish Kururin 3, simply bc I wasn't having fun anymore. It gives me the same vibes as Marble Madness 2: a sequel where the devs seemingly forgot what made the previous installment so good in the first place :(
Come to think of it... I actually like both the Kururin series and Marble Madness for the same reasons. While I wouldn't say they have similar gameplay, they're both brutally difficult games where the difficulty relies solely on the level design. There's no fighting, no enemies, no boss battles, just you and the level with nothing to get in the way. It's very refreshing how consistent these games are— you’ll never get blindsided by some enemy moving in a way you didn't expect bc there are no enemies, and the level is exactly the same every time. You could even argue that Kururin is in the same genre as other, for lack of a better term, “frustration games” like Cat Mario or Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
I never really got into Getting Over It, tho— it was too hard and I never saw the end! That game was specifically designed to not only be difficult, but unfair. The fact that one mistake can reset all of your progress is completely intentional. Kururin, on the other hand, has the practice mode! Kururin 1 and 2 both try to help you overcome their challenges instead of leaving you to bang your head against a proverbial wall, and this is absolutely what separates them from other hard games and makes them such rewarding experiences
I just think u should look at him a third time :)
If nothing else, I don't think I would say Kururin 3 is a poorly made game, just a disappointing one. It's got the same visual flair and incredible soundtrack as its siblings, but none of the substance to back it up. Hopefully someday this series makes a comeback… what else has Eighting made, anyway? Some other scrimblo puzzle games?
