Sega Ages Review: Ichidant-R
Release date: October 17th, 2019
Developer: M2
Platforms: Switch
Price: $7.99
Ichidant-R is an odd game and is something that most gamers have probably never heard of. The good news is it has been released on the Switch as part of the Sega Ages collection from M2. Is there enough in this quirky puzzle game to keep newcomers interested? The Gamers Lounge is going to wade through this game and try to figure out the what and the why.
I had never heard of this game until I saw it pop up on the eshop. I dug up a little information. It is part of a series called Puzzle & Action. The game was released for the Arcade, Game Gear, and Mega Drive but only in Europe, Korea and Japan. Eventually the game was released on a collection for Saturn too.
The game reminds me of Warioware in a way, players have to play mini games revolving around puzzles that may cause gamers to think. Some of these puzzles including counting up objects, moving around creatures such as frogs on lilypads. None of the puzzles are very challenging and there is enough variety to keep it interesting. Everything is on a timer, gamers will need to be quick and the arcade mode offers help at later stages.
This version of the game adds a competitive and an RPG Quest mode. I found out the RPG Quest mode is the remnants of the Mega Drive version and appears to support two players. There is one slight drawback it's not localized and all the text is in Japanese. I fumbled my way through the menus and 1 or two puzzles. While it looks interesting and has 2 players, I don't really know what is going on. The competitive mode is like a board game that supports up to 4 players, I thought this was an interesting addition but it is in Japanese.
Overall this game is a unique addition to the Switch, there really isn't anything like it. While I am glad there are extras to this release the RPG Quest mode will be impossible for most gamers to enjoy without knowing some Japanese.
Thanks to the publisher for letting us review the game
Final Score
Pros:
Interesting Mini games
Unique with a lot of quirkiness
Cons:
Quest mode is in Japanese