''Pocky & Rocky'', known in Japan as , is a

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

video game series originating with the 1986 arcade game '' Kiki Kaikai'' by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. I ...

. The game was adapted into a series of home console games mainly developed and published by Natsume which were titled ''Pocky & Rocky'' in the West. The games follow the adventures of a young

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine maiden, Pocky, and her

tanuki Tanuki may refer to: *Japanese raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes viverrinus'' or ''Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus''), a mammal native to Japan *Bake-danuki, a type of spirit (yōkai) in Japanese mythology that appears in the form of the mammal *A de ...

companion, Rocky, as they fight against monsters from Japanese mythology.

Overview

Common elements

The ''Pocky & Rocky'' games are

games. They star Pocky, a young

shrine maiden, and her

companion Rocky as they fight a variety of monsters. The games pull heavily from Japanese mythology, featuring many

Japanese legendary creatures Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. Pocky is typically equipped with ''

ofuda In Shinto and Buddhism in Japan, an is a talisman made out of various materials such as paper, wood, cloth or metal. are commonly found in both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples and are considered to be imbued with the power of the deities ...

'' and ''

gohei , , or are wooden wands, decorated with two (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals. The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, or a mixture of several colors, and are often attached as decorations to ...

'', which she uses to battle enemies and progress through the environments.

History

The first game in the series, ''Kiki Kaikai'', was developed and published by

in Japanese arcades in 1986. Home ports were also released in Japan for the

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice- ...

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for ...

, and

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

. The game would remain exclusive to Japan until a 2003 mobile port. Ports of the game have also since been released worldwide in various Taito arcade compilations, as well as through '' Arcade Archives''. Taito licensed the brand to Natsume in the early 1990s, who developed two new games in the series for the Super Nintendo. Natsume retitled the game for an international release, giving them the names ''Pocky & Rocky'' (1992) and ''Pocky & Rocky 2'' (1994). Altron developed and published ''Pocky & Rocky with Becky'' for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. Japanese developer Starfish SD was developing a ''Pocky & Rocky'' game for the PlayStation 2, tentatively titled ''Kiki Kaikai 2'', but it was cancelled in 2007 after Taito pulled the series licensing. A representative of Starfish SD explained that Taito "had some issues with us and we had to let the title go." The company reworked their assets into an original game, originally titled ''Kiki Kai World.'' The game was finally released as '' Heavenly Guardian'' in North America and ''Legend of Sayuki'' in Europe. It was released for the Wii in 2007 and PlayStation 2 in 2008. '' Pocky & Rocky Reshrined'', known in Japan as , released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2022. A Windows port was released in February 2023. The game was developed by Tengo Project, which previously developed ''

Wild Guns Reloaded Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

'' (2016) and '' The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors'' (2019). The team consisted of people who had worked on the first ''Pocky & Rocky'' game by Natsume for the Super NES. After being defeated at the end of ''Pocky & Rocky'', Black Mantle travels back in time to get revenge. The game features a mix of revamped stages from ''Pocky & Rocky'' with original stages. As of July 2022, the game had sold over 100,000 copies.

Games

References

Pocky & Rocky Nintendo Switch games Square Enix franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1986 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pocky and Rocky