Кики Каикаи: Приключения Саё-тян в мире ёкаев

1986 arcade game
the 1986 video game

The game follows the adventures of "Sayo chan", a young Shinto shrine maiden living in Feudal Japan. One night, while Sayo chan is fanning a ceremonial fire, she is visited by the Seven Lucky Gods, who warn her of a great, impending danger. Suddenly, a band of mischievous youkai appear and kidnap the gods, quickly retreating to a faraway mountain range. Sayo chan, determined to help the gods, sets off on a journey across the countryside, where she confronts a number of strange creatures from Japanese mythology, including obake, and yurei.

Kiki Kaikai is an overhead multi directional shooter game that requires the player to move in four directions through various levels while attacking harmful enemies as they approach from off screen. As Sayo chan, the player can attack by either throwing her special o fuda scrolls in eight separate directions, or by swinging her purification rod directly in front of her. These techniques can be upgraded by finding special paper slips left by defeated enemies that will either enhance their power or improve their range. Sayo can be damaged by coming in contact with an enemy, and can only be hit once before she is knocked out and must resume the level from a preset continuation point. At the end of each level, the player must face a powerful boss monster that takes several attacks to defeat and is more difficult than normal enemies. Several hidden items can be found by attacking objects with Sayo's purification rod, and can be used to either enhance her attack or grant the player points. Once a certain number of points are gained, the player will gain another life and have an additional chance to complete a level. When all of the player's lives are exhausted, a "number match" screen appears with a random 3 digit number in 50 base increments (100, 150, 200, 250, and so on). If the last three digits of the player's total score match the number displayed, (s)he is granted a free game; if not, the game ends. The Family Computer Disk System version of Kiki Kaikai introduced a few gameplay changes over the original arcade version, including new levels and enemies, as well as limiting the number of times the player may use Sayo chan's ranged o fuda attack, along with a second playable character: "Miki chan", another shrine maiden who is designated as the player two character. Though several additional ports would be made over the years, each one would rely on the same basic game mechanics.

Kiki Kaikai was created in 1986 by Taito game designer Hisaya Yabusaki. Pulling inspiration from tales of Japanese mythology, as well as several top down arcade shooters popular during the era, the game put a conventional spin on the usually technologically driven science fiction "shoot 'em up" titles at the time. Utilizing action game elements, the player is free to move about the screen as he/she chooses, instead of being forced forward in normal scrolling shooter fashion. While similar to the earlier released game Commando in both style and presentation,

Shortly after the game's debut, a bootleg version called Knight Boy was released. and a web based game service was launched on Taito's Japanese website later that year courtesy of EZWeb. Kiki Kaikai was also made available along with various other classic Taito titles in a number of compilations. It would appear in the Japanese only Taito Memories Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 on July 28, 2005, and again in Taito Pocket Memories for the PlayStation Portable in 2006. The game was ported as part of Taito Legends 2 for the PlayStation 2, PC, and Xbox released in North America in May 2007, and later in Taito Legends Power Up for the PlayStation Portable. The game was made available for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch through the Arcade Archives by Hamster in March 2020. This latest iteration also includes both the Japanese and overseas versions.