Casino Kid and Okami Video Game Crossover

Okamiden has been shorn of a little of its predecessor's epic sweep. Even so, you can't help but feel that Capcom might have been better off waiting for 3DS. The vine can now be tethered to other characters, pulling Chibi over gaps he wouldn't normally be able to cross.īut then the style was always intended to capture the spirit of its subjects as much as their appearance, and as Chibi dances around with his paws on the shoulders of his human partner, the delightful animation fills in any gaps left by the rough-edged visuals.

Where the brush-strokes once had that authentic sumi-e sweep, here the chunky characters and sketchy backdrops lmore closely resemble a child's clumsy but charming mimickry bold, blocky outlines with an almost Crayola-like look.

Naturally, some of the appeal of that sumptuous ink-and-wash art has been lost in the move. That it hasn't quite succeeded is understandable that it has tried is admirable. Instead, Capcom has attempted to transfer Clover Studios' wonderful world to DS as was. The original may have used Zelda as a touchstone, but – with one notable exception – Okamiden never looks to Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks to see how a handheld action-adventure can be retooled to fit a portable console. It's the hallmark of a game that's perhaps a little too reverential, that attempts to recreate the same experience on a handheld that's hardly suited to a direct translation. As bug guide Issun bounces around jabbering words of advice and you trot through areas likely to bring a warm nostalgic glow to those who loved Okami, you could be forgiven for thinking you were playing a remake rather than a sequel. And, initially at least, Chibi – like any young pup – wants to stay close to its mother. A series of substantial scene-setting vignettes try your patience before you get to control Chibiterasu, celestial offspring of the first game's lupine goddess, Amaterasu. There's a degree of familiarity, too, to the game's opening stages. Like its mother, it seems destined for critical glory but sales ignominy, prompting wolf-like howls of despair from the few who take the opportunity to revisit glorious Nippon. Okamiden starts off as a time-honoured tale of a hero walking the path set out by his ancestor, but in this case, the story is only part of the ceremony.Īs with Okami on PS2, Okamiden arrives on a system on its way out, with software sales dwindling and its successor's launch imminent. There's an element of ritual to the best fairytales, and that goes for video game legends, too.

Casino Kid and Okami Video Game Crossover