Kuru Kuru Kururin (GBA) Review

Received: January 31st, 2015 / Written: May 28th-29th, 2019

(As played on Game Boy Player)

Year: 2001 | Developed by: Eighting

Published by: Nintendo | [ ⬤ ]

More video game puzzling fun, yay!!! 😄

On March 15th, 1993 a video game developing company called Raizing was founded by former Compile staff in Japan who made their debut with the manic medieval-themed coin-op shoot'em up Mahō Daisakusen/Sorcer Striker (the first in a trilogy also comprised of Kingdom Grand Prix and Dimahoo) and years later would create the one-on-one tournament fighting franchise Bloody Roar.  Raizing would incorporate itself to become Eighting in October 2000, and since then no further shoot'em ups of any kind were made by them as they directed focus towards the console and mobile video game market.

Image from Wikipedia

March 21st, 2001 saw the release of Nintendo's follow-up handheld to their Game Boy Color in the form of the Game Boy Advance, and the reason this is relevant is because one of the games to come out on launch day (as well as one of the first games to be developed under the Eighting label) was the game I'm talking about today, Kuru Kuru Kururin (planned by Yuichi Toyama, programmed by Yasunari Watanabe, Taichirou Kuroiwa, and Hiroyuki Matsui, produced by Shinji Hatano, and directed by Hiroshi Satano and Masato Toyoshima).

It would also be one of the launch titles for the Game Boy Advance's release in Europe that June 22nd (localized by Sakae Yamazaki).  It wasn't accorded an American release at the time, but thankfully Nintendo would remedy that almost fifteen years later.  As one of the first games for the system, does it hold up well?

One day during a nice stroll ten bird-type siblings find themselves lost and missing.

The mother informs her son Kururin of his siblings' disappearance which he's shocked by.  It is up to him to rescue them and get them back home.

Because Kururin has never left home before he's initially unsure if he's up to the task, but being the helpful and adventurous kind of bird he is he decides to do it.

After being taught by Teacher Hare how to control and navigate the Helirin, Kururin's quest to save his family has just begun.

Umm,...

why does he have a menacing expression here? 😕 Is Teacher Hare secretly a bad guy, or was that an oversight on Eighting's part?

"STAHTO!"

Kuru Kuru Kururin is a puzzle game where you take control of the aviator Kururin guiding his Helirin in a maze-style layout which is all taking place in a bird's eye view (heh).  The phrase "kuru kuru" is an onomatopoeia of the sound something or someone makes when physically turning and spinning around, which is exactly what the Helirin does throughout.  You can navigate and maneuver it in any direction that you please, which you can speed up by holding down the A or the B button and if you hold down both face buttons at the same time you'll be able to move at the fastest rate.

What a pleasantly designed pavement

The Helirin is a stick-shaped helicopter with a slow-moving propeller and in each stage in adventure mode you begin with three hearts in the beginning blue square, for the thing you must be careful about is not to have any portion of the Helirin hit a wall or obstacle otherwise you'll lose a bit of health and the only way to replenish one or two of your hearts is by flying towards the pink heart square.  Losing all your hearts will cause the Helirin to shatter to pieces therefore you'll have to start the stage from the beginning again, and once you reach the yellow goal square you've cleared the stage.

Wavy Helirin

Each world is comprised of three stages, and each of Kururin's siblings will have to be found and rescued in every third stage.  But naturally it's not going to be easy as these mazelike stages are intricately laid out as there are a lot of curves and isolated spots which you'll have to fit through dependent on the angle that the Helirin is positioned and until one of its edges bounces off a spring it will only rotate in the same direction to name a couple instances.  There are no enemies per se in this game but later in the proceedings there will be movable obstacles that will damage and/or squish you if you touch them and even cannons that will attempt to fire at you.

Cute little beach critters

When you pause the game in adventure mode there are four options: first there's the option to view the entire stage that you're in prior to navigating yourself to get a good idea of what lies ahead of you or around you as you hold down the A button, the second option is to restart the current stage you're in from the beginning, the third option will have you alter the color palette (right shoulder button) and various Helirin designs (left shoulder button) that you collect during the first and second stages of each world, and the fourth and final option will send you back to the world map.

Beached whales

When you turn on Kuru Kuru Kururin there are five save files to choose from where you can input your name (in kanji or all-capital English) and loading a file will bring you to a menu with five options (in the order from left to right): there's the make up option where you can assign the Helirin design, color, and sibling(s) of Kururin to accompany you, there's the practice option where you can ride the Helirin in the stages you've been to before in practice if you don't feel confident attempting it in adventure mode (the center option), there's the challenge mode which I'll cover later, and lastly there's the two-player mode (provided there's a connection to another Game Boy Advance with the Kuru Kuru Kururin cart).

Spring time

In the file that you choose to play for the first time when you choose to play adventure mode you're given two difficulty options: easy and normal.  The game's stage layouts and obstacles are the same as is the sense of difficulty or ease if you've become accustomed to the layout, but the only difference is the length of the Helirin as in the normal difficulty it's long while the easy difficulty halves it in size.  If you manage to beat the stage without sustaining any damage you'll receive a star ranking, otherwise it'll be just a normal ranking (technically you can make the Helirin smaller by pressing the Select button, but you won't be awarded the star ranking if you finish it free of damage that way).

Surrounded by natives and a primordial setting

Kuru Kuru Kururin is a bright and colorful-looking game, the art direction by Shinichi Ōnishi is lightheartedly endearing and the graphics by Yuki Yonei, Yukiko Sugiyama, Shinji Yamane, and Hironobu Fumita are appealing to look at. 😃 Both the field that you guide the Helirin and backdrop surrounding said field are equally interesting in design as they give each world's stages their own distinct identity plus a sense of atmosphere in the proceedings.

"GOAL!"

In the second world's stages there is a pleasant beach aesthetic with the sea creatures like turtles, crabs, and whales adorning its waters; there are various delicacies in the fourth world's stages like cookies, strawberry, and gelatin; in the sky-themed sixth world there are different creatures flying in the sky like birds and elephants that flap with their ears including a lone turban-wearing individual riding on a magic carpet; the backdrop in outer space during the seventh world is star-laden and filled with planets (including a cute one hanging on to the ring around itself);

Lots of foliage abound (and totem poles)

the eighth world is arctic in nature for it's inhabited by polar bears, penguins, snowmen, caribou, and even Santa if you pay attention during one segment of it; and for a last example the tenth world is pitch black excepting flashing lightning during the upper portions of the stages here, spooky ghosts (including ones later on that are locked in cages), lamps, and ominous candles.  Yoichi Kotabe's character designs are very adorable, Kururin has a likable design with his cyan color body with his goggles on his head and an impossible curl, depending on how much health you've got left he has a different expression in the bottom left corner,

also I like how all of Kururin's siblings are different in terms of personality, size, color, and design; anytime you save a sibling you'll be taken to two different screens: the first involves a one on one conversation with a painted on the background Kururin and sibling while the second screen shows you a background with the siblings you rescued up to that point.

Images from GameFAQs

The charm of Kotabe's characters is also evident in the Japanese cover art, not that you'd know that if you were to look at the European cover.

12/19/22 Update: Back when I wrote this wrote this review I made a comment on how American covers of the time lacked charm and how Europe was guilty of this too (which I've since deleted), to the point where I showed a couple examples; one of which I wish I had not come too hard on because had I known of the passing of cover artist Greg Martin, who did Nova Games' Whirlo's cover art, all those years ago I would never have said any of those harsh things due my affinity for the original Japanese version Xandra no Daibōken: Valkyrie to no Deai, I still feel very bad about it since I found out earlier this year and I'm sorry 😔 I don't even dislike the cover anymore; because I want to live with a clear conscience, and feeling like I made a big deal out something trivial in retrospect, I deleted the image as well out of respect for the late Greg Martin

I take it Yoshi was here if those cookies are

any indication

Composing the music for Kuru Kuru Kururin is Atsuhiro Motoyama who regularly composes for Raizing/Eighting fare like the aforementioned Mahō Daisakusen and Bloody Roar franchises as well as Eighting's contribution to Namco's Tekken franchise with Tekken Advance but also under his belt are music contributions he made for Klon's Mamono Hunter Yōko: Dai 7 no Keishō, Dual Corporation's L-DIS, the Super Famicom version of New World Computing's Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (in the form of Might and Magic: Book Two), and even the highly sought after Umihara Kawase video game franchise to name some of them.

Mmm, strawberries

Now generally I don't really care about the Game Boy Advance's sound samples--though that might be because over the past decade I had become jaded towards it because of the Nintendo 16-bit to GBA conversions which usually result in crap sounds versus how great it sounded at one point in the '90s and as an audiophile it hurts and annoys me--but when it comes to the Game Boy Advance-exclusive titles the results are give or take in my opinion.  Despite this handheld never having the greatest of sound samples I actually found this soundtrack to be rather good for I never found it to be an unpleasant or unbearable listen which is highly refreshing. 😌

Thorny Helirin

Each world has got their own theme dedicated to them, they give an air of appropriate atmosphere given the settings, and plenty of the tracks here are pretty catchy.  The theme you hear for the ocean-based second world is relaxing, the delicacy ridden fourth world has got a quietly endearing theme, the theme for when you're high above the clouds in the sixth world is pleasantly relaxing, the theme you hear when you're in the seventh world transpiring in outer space is atmospherically stellar, the snow laden eighth world theme is catchy and serene-sounding,

Timing and strategic maneuvering are key

to survival and success

the tenth world theme you hear while navigating through the castle haunted with ghosts is fittingly spooky, the theme you hear when you unlock the eleventh world is incredible sounding, and even challenge mode has got its own theme.  The sound effects are well chosen for this game, such as the boing sound when the Helirin bounces off a spring and the shattered sounds that occur when you lost all your health causing the Helirin to break off to pieces, but the most interesting sound effects I found from this game were all the

Sometimes playing the long game is

essential in order to proceed

various sounds of the horns and bells that play out when you press either shoulder button (there's also a different sound depending on whether you held down a face button while also pressing a shoulder button).  There's the regular bicycle ring for one sound, a horn for another, but then there's sounds you wouldn't expect to hear from a horn or a bell such as a crowing rooster, a dog's woof, or even the whinny of a horse which I found funny. 😆 It does lend Kuru Kuru Kururin some of its lighthearted charm and personality which I appreciated very much, especially as it will make Kururin's sibling(s) momentarily fly off from resting on the Helirin (same for when you bounce off a spring).

In challenge mode there are five brief stages per level, the end goal is the same but the difference is that you're only reduced to two hearts

and there are no heart squares to replenish whatever health you lost.  Quick thinking and strategic maneuvering will ensure that you beat these challenging stages.

Lots of cave springs

In adventure mode there are initially just ten worlds when you reach the end, same for challenge mode's ten levels, but there is an extra set of stages for you to explore.  The requirement to have the eleventh adventure world and eleventh challenge level unlocked is that you must perfect every single stage up to that point--which basically means not losing any health.  How quickly or how long it takes for you to reach the goal is irrelevant, as long as you reach it without having sustained any damage you'll receive a star ranking and only if you do the same for all the remaining stages will you be granted access to the extra ones.  A bit hard and at points taxing later in the proceedings, yes, but it's not impossible and it can be done as long as you exercise careful and considerate perseverance. 😤

Hearts aplenty for this stage

When the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console hit the scene several years ago there were digital rereleases of Nintendo 8-bit and 16-bit games, Nintendo 64, and later on PC Engine/TurboGrafx games just like the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console.  What separates it from its predecessor, however, is that it would also digitally rerelease select Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games.  Kuru Kuru Kururin would have a second lease of life on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console on July 2014 in Japan, Europe and Australia would (re)experience it that Christmas, and America would finally get to experience it for themselves on February 11th, 2016; this was a happy occasion indeed, now American gamers would see what all the commotion was about without resorting to import it.

The contemporary success of Kuru Kuru Kururin in Japan would prompt Eighting to create the second installment for the Game Boy Advance, Kururin Paradise, which would be released on December 2002.

Kururin and his Helirin are back in action as his entire family and friend Teacher Hare have all been kidnapped by a group of magicians at a live magic show for they haven't returned.  The same propeller-oriented gameplay makes a return and the goal is more or less the same, but this time to make things more interesting there are branching paths and alternate exits provided you have the key to unlock the gate that leads to it.

This time around there are mini-games whenever you access the menu and mostly whenever you confront a member of the magic group, all of which are a nice break from the action.  Apparently a European version was planned according to GameFAQs but it was cancelled (I blame the lifeless cover art they got), so this installment is import only.  I got to play it on Christmas 2017 (days before technically, as my family and I celebrated the actual day while visiting relatives) and I highly enjoyed it and consider it an improvement over today's game (not that I didn't enjoy it either); the colors are pleasing and despite the bolder character outlines the visuals feel more polished, the gameplay is still good in that it's easy to play but hard to master, and there is still a lot of charm plus challenge and replay value that made the original so appealing. 😃

Image from GameFAQs

On October 2004 Kururin would make a splash on the Nintendo GameCube for the third (and final) installment of the Kururin franchise in Kururin Squash! as this time the family went on a cruise but upon coming back he realizes that all of his siblings disappeared during the trip, so they must all be saved, again!  Poor Kururin can't catch a break, can he? 😦 The same gameplay makes a comeback, but this around the Helirin utilizes power-ups in its watery environments which occasionally bookend in boss fights (another first for the series).  I haven't played this installment because my American GameCube and Nintendo Wii consoles are region-locked (the Game Boy Player, like the Game Boy itself, isn't), though I have taken into consideration getting an Action Replay (or however you play Japanese discs on an American GameCube); getting the Japanese console is out of the question because I have way too many consoles as it is plus it would simply take up space.  If there are any non-emulating suggestions, I'm all ears, because I really like the first two Kururin iterations.

During the first eleven years of my life my family and I lived in Italy where we would visit our other relatives in America during the Summer.  In the Summer of 2002 we left Italy to move here (we still visit once a year) and one of the first things I remember doing when visiting my mom's side of the family that year prior to moving into our new home was getting a Nintendo GameCube with the HAL Laboratory/Nintendo ensemble fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee.  I loved playing the original Nintendo 64 outing with my cousins a lot in prior years, as I found it to be just as good if not better.

Occasionally in Super Smash Bros. Melee you would collect trophies of the characters you play as, characters and items pertaining to the series your characters hail from, or sometimes their own isolated characters and/or items, et al, which you would view in the trophy collection room.  One of them was the Helirin, written as "Heririn" (because Japan tends to use the "l" as an "r" and vice versa) which made me curious as I never knew of Kuru Kuru Kururin before playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, but I wouldn't learn more about it until later in life; another trophy you would gather would be the bucket from Game Freak's Super Famicom-exclusive Mario & Wario

Neither for that matter a European one

and that game wasn't accorded an American release either because the Nintendo 16-bit games involving the mouse controller generally weren't as successful in the West outside of Nintendo's Mario Paint.

Flying elephants

It feels kind of bizarre in hindsight: I used to live in Italy, a European country, and yet I had no inkling of Kuru Kuru Kururin--hell, I don't recall seeing a copy of it in game stores prior to moving and anytime I visited there.  I did have a Game Boy Advance which I got for my eleventh birthday in 2002 along with HotGen's Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX but before my family and I flew to America to move there the only other Game Boy Advance games I had were Griptonite Games' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,

"Flower" you today, balloon bird? 🙂

Nintendo's Super Mario Advance (another Game Boy Advance launch title, basically the handheld version of Super Mario Bros. 2), and Intelligent Systems' Mario Kart: Super Circuit.  It wasn't until several years later that I learned that it had never been given an American release and that it had a European release also; I did look at some screenshots but I wasn't certain what to make of it at first.  It wasn't until January 2015 that I decided to check Eighting's first Game Boy Advance game out when I imported it from Japan, and when I played it I found it to be a good time. 😃

Look at all those planets in the backdrop

I'm not sure why Kuru Kuru Kururin was denied a contemporary 2001 American release, it's innocent and lighthearted fare which anyone can pick up and play; I wouldn't think it's because the American gaming community would be above puzzle-oriented gameplay of any kind, but maybe according to American video game distributors back then they were above games with cute characters and personality it seems which frankly speaking is a conclusion that's nonsense as it has proven to not be true. 😑

Helirin as a rainbow chain link

Lots of good games that were cute weren't given American releases in the '80s and '90s because of this misguided mindset, but at least the 2016 Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console rerelease made up for this game's lack of an initial release here.  Kuru Kuru Kururin is a really pleasant game that is absolutely replete with lighthearted charm, and while the prospect of moving a propeller that constantly spins itself around seems off-putting at first given the increasingly difficult maze layouts it's actually manageable once you have a good grasp on how to maneuver the Helirin, when to make a turn, when to fit through tiny openings and/or following curves depending whether you're rotating clockwise or counterclockwise.

Almost defeated, must survive the onslaught

of springs

Not to say that there won't be any challenges once you learn how to control and maneuver it, because even if you were seemingly or slightly flawless in your run this game will still kick your tail if you're not careful.  The courses designed by Hironobu Fumita, Masahiro Yuge, Kenji Kawakita, and Yuki Yonei gradually amp up in terms of difficulty as the layouts become convoluted and/or incorporate mobile obstacles that will attempt to impede your progress.  Several of the palettes, Helirin designs, and Kururin's siblings are situated in rather difficult spots but it's not impossible to get to them once you feel prepared.

I do love that you're given the option to enable which of Kururin's siblings you want to take with you if you so choose as well as the different palette and design you wish to apply to the Helirin (there is even one that's modeled after a snake).  It's one of those things that really adds a sense of replay value.

Ride the curve

I like too that the Mode 7 rotating effects are kept to a minimum as it's only relegated to the Helirin and Kururin's siblings.  There is an adorable quality about the siblings appearing like tiny specs and flying towards the Helirin once they momentarily flew off from it (sometimes circling around before resting on it).  As little story as there is in this game, it's at least got characters, though the story usually isn't the most important factor to a puzzle game (unless that puzzler in particular does have an in-depth narrative) but the strong accessible gameplay and intriguing puzzle solutions are, and there is plenty of that involving how you're going to reach the goal (especially in one piece).

Featuring in the sidelines: the snowman from

Kaneko's cute'em up Star Parodier

The first time you play Kuru Kuru Kururin you should focus on reaching the goal first (and saving Kururin's siblings), and then once you feel ready you can revisit the same stage and attempt a damage-free run (unless you did it right away after starting a new file after having some experience, in which case you do you).  If somehow you managed to perfect the stage on your very first try, then congratulations, give yourself a pat on the back. 😄 One optional thing you could try is to beat the record from the previous owner (or yourself if you played it in the past) by reaching the goal in the fastest time you can manage, but only if you feel confident in doing so.

Why yes, Sven, I am hyped for Frozen II! 😁

The thing about guiding the Helirin is that if you do plan on making a speedy route, know then that each time you sustain damage you'll be added three seconds to your gradually building time.  Kuru Kuru Kururin is jampacked with replay value, not only because of your stylized options for the Helirin during your progress but also the attempt at perfecting each stage and if you want to later to try to beat out your old record if not the previous owner's record (whichever mode it is);

Waiting and waiting for the path to be cleared up

and there are certain stages where there's more than one route that leads to the goal: there's the easier long route and then there's the quicker albeit more challenging route which will entail that you manage to fit the Helirin in a tight spot without fail or there might be more obstacles.  Speaking of obstacles, in a few stages there are a pile of springs that will attempt to push you back if the body or tip of the Helirin comes in contact with it so you must weave around them or if you can't then you must use as an advantage to have them spring you forward (it makes sense if you see it in action)--ride the springs basically.

Weave your snake-like Helirin around the

spiked balls to the best of your ability

If there's any real downside with Kuru Kuru Kururin is that it's a very short game, but it's a lot of challenging fun while it lasts and the aforementioned replay value does exponentially make up for that shortcoming.  And there is a fine aspect about its simple gameplay that is hard to master, it basically ensures that anyone regardless of gaming skill can pick up and play it with the difficulty building up along the way.  It's not impossible to perfect every stage regardless of the difficulty setting you chose to undergo, but I can tell you that some of the hardest stages will take countless tries before you successfully get the star ranking.  All you need is a little patience and perseverance and you'll be fine.

Them robotic bunnies sure are cute

I do wish I knew about this game back when it first came out, I think I would've liked it if I played it as a child... don't think I would've been able to perfect every stage due to my lack of gaming skills and experience compared to how much of that I had in later years, but I still think I would've enjoyed it. 😃 America was robbed, I think it would've been well-received had it been released here way back when, but I'm glad I decided to import it years ago and I'm glad Nintendo decided to give the American gaming community an opportunity to try it on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console a few years ago.  Better late than never, right?

SpOoOoOoOkYyYyYy~  👻

As Game Boy Advance launch titles go, I found Kuru Kuru Kururin be the best of the ones I played in terms of quality, challenge value, and enjoyability factor.  I remember liking Super Mario Advance at the time, but that was back before I knew about the handheld's technical limitations and downgrade in sound compared to the superior-sounding Nintendo 16-bit console as far as conversion jobs were concerned; I like Super Mario Bros. 2--both the NES original and the SNES update in Super Mario All-Stars--but I haven't played the handheld version in ages and something tells me that it might not hold up to muster. 😟

Creepy orange spewing ghost fountain

I can't reserve judgment for Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, which I downloaded on the Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console in 2017, as I have yet to beat it but from what I played I found it to be decent if not okay; it doesn't hold a candle next to Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but then what Metroidvania entry in the series can lay claim to that?  I'm sure I overlooked one or two other Game Boy Advance launch titles, but those three are the only ones that spring to mind.

Avoid the cannon fire as best you can

If you like your video game puzzlers, conventional or not, then I think you'll really like Kuru Kuru Kururin as it's good challenging puzzle fun while it lasts, but if you're looking for a game of this ilk that's got longevity, then you might be slightly disappointed by its brevity.  But if you don't care about that and just want to undergo precarious mazes and overcome a  variety of challenges to the point of beating each stage without any damage and should you seek a video game puzzler with replay value, then you'll be very satisfied in that regard.  If you've never played this game before but have long shown interest in it, then I heartily recommend you take Eighting's Game Boy Advance foray for a spin! 😃

My Personal Score: 8.0/10

d(^-^)bTO EACH THEIR OWNd(^-^)b

● During that paragraph where I decry the American video game distributors' closeminded conclusion that American gamers wouldn't be into cute games as nonsense, I was going to incorporate the phrase "for the birds", but I thought about it and figured that it would be counterproductive as I am talking about a game with birds in it, so I decided to change it to "nonsense".  It was a phrase I heard of but one I never used, and the last thing I want to do when beginning to use phrases for the first time is to use them improperly.

● In unrelated news: video game composer Rémi Gazel recently lost his battle to cancer; that's really sad news.  It makes me want to replay Ludimedia's Rayman and review it in light of this.

Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW allowed); hope you have a great day, take care! 😃

-------------------------------------------------------

He's probably sad because his follow-up venues remained Japan exclusives and/or he didn't get more than three games under Kururin's name--probably both

You can't help but wonder how Kururin manages to maintain that curl throughout the entirety of his adventures... 🤔 What is his secret?