If anyone in the VGMaps community hasn't heard or remembered in a while, I should bring this to your attention.
I feel I need to bring and spread more awareness of a very strong favorite game series to more people. It's "Go! Go! Kokopolo".
It's about the world's first Chase-'Em-Up starring the titular wildcat, Kokopolo, and his best friend, Tatsumo, an okapi, who gets into all sorts of crazy adventures filled with madcap mayhem of hilarious proportions.
It was made by Keith Webb, who is still running Tanukii Studios Limited today.
The first game, made for the DSi, "Go! Go! Kokopolo - Harmonious Forest Revenge". It showcases the wildcat on his own quest for revenge against Jinbe, the peaceful sky guardian, for accidentally dropping a bongo drum on the wildcat's head, and set out to cause mayhem on any in his way. The game is really, REALLY cool utilizing its own unique formula of chasing enemies down to their defeat.
The premise may be unusual for a game story, but I enjoyed it, as others have.
That game has 10 worlds, spread across 80 stages, with 20 crazy enemies to scratch and chase down, and each world ends in its own boss fight, counting to a total of 10 bosses, filled with secrets to discover!
It was loads of fun doing it. Even its own Expert Mode was rather challenging.
The key problems about that game is because of its rather tight viewport size, mainly because the DS/DSi's screen is about 256x192, and it makes people who bought that game rather tough to see where they're going and how they would react to oncoming hazards in situations. I had to deal with it, but I didn't let that deter me to finish that game. That, and the levels' layouts & difficulty changes, too.
Then came the sequel for the 3DS, "Go! Go Kokopolo 3D - Space Recipe for Disaster". It continued the wildcat's adventures, but that game brought another playable character to join in, Jinbe, to find and put together Mikosuki's tablet that holds the fabled Recipe of Immortality.
The sequel brought 10 new worlds, containing 80 new stages, and 10 all-new bosses to face. It was fun! It addressed the viewport concerns by readjusting it to the 3DS' upper screen size of 424x240, making it more easier for players to react in situations.
Now, here's where I need to speak about.
The series is far due for a brand-new installment, and the third, made for the Switch, is called "Go! Go! Kokopolo DX - Super Scratch Cat Fever".
The story, while not yet told, features its next Central Target(that's what I call non-villainous final bosses that until an actual villain shows up in a later game), a rather majestic dragon called King Z., surely guarding a giant golden egg, and it would be where Kokopolo and Tatsumo are pursuing it for themselves.
The game's set to have 10 more all-new worlds, containing 80 more all-new stages, and, as before, 10 more all-new bosses to face. I have been waiting for this very long, and that is where my concerns are about the series' constant habitual periods of inactivity come to be.
I'm far more worried about Keith Webb's habitual periods of inactivity, because those are, undoubtedly, harming the series brand and good name, as well as fans' communication gaps. I feel it has something to do with recent changes and disruptions towards particular social media platforms, mostly concerning the changes to Twitter/X to those without accounts, and that causes great concern about people and game devs like Keith Webb being incommunicado(look that word up to understand it).
We clearly need to address those communication concerns before they get worse, and I feel we all need to play our part in this.
For those curious, and for awareness spreading, here are the following links...
How Long to Beat Season 2 Episode 33, "Beating a Dead Pikachu", guest starring Keith Webb -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1jNh8W-EuUTanukii Studios' Twitter/X account link -
https://x.com/TanukiiStudios/Keith Webb's Twitter/X account link -
https://x.com/WebbstaWebbKokopolo Website(may need to be updated big time to catch up to the latest game) -
https://www.kokopolo.com/Keith Webb's website -
https://www.kokopolo.com/HOSTS/WEBBSTA/MAIN/main.htmlGo! Go! Kokopolo Game Trailer -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_t0MHeJZ10Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D Game Trailer -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GrhebYvQDMIf anyone's around, please spread more awareness about this series for Keith Webb, and for his company's good will and name. We still need to support him in any way possible. Do whatever it takes to show your support for him and his series to keep it and our communications with him stronger than ever!
For those wanting to do the pixel art aesthetics the series holds, here's Aseprite to get you started.
Aseprite link here -
https://www.aseprite.org/For those thinking of making maps for it, if anyone is inclined, here's Tiled, the map editor. I didn't think anyone could do that to there before.
Tiled Map Editor link here -
https://www.mapeditor.org/If Keith Webb's not heard of such programs, please forward those to his attention. They could be very beneficial to what he works with.
Thanks to everyone still showing support for Keith Webb, his endeavors, and the Kokopolo series as a whole! Let's keep it up!