Title: Yumi's Odd Odyssey (JP: Sayonara Umihara Kawase, EU: Sayonara UmiharaKawase)
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Agatsuma Entertainment
Platform: Nintendo 3DS (JP), Nintendo 3DS eShop (US, EU, JP)
Release Date: June 20, 2013 (JP), March 20, 2014 (US), April 24, 2014 (EU)
Price: $30, €25
Rating: E for busty schoolgirls



Umi-what?




Umihara Kawase is a long running series of platformer games starring a schoolgirl named Umihara Kawase who has somehow found herself lost in a world of mutated sea creatures on her way to school. Go figure. The original game for Super Famicom was developed by an unknown company named TNN and should have, by all means, become an artifact of the Super Famicom era, lost in time. However, the series gained a cult-following for its solid gameplay and has seen a number of releases up to this very day. But not on PSP. Not sure where you're getting this idea that it was released on PSP from.

Though Western releases of Umihara Kawase games have been planned in the past, they've never seen release outside of Japan, until now!

Gameplay



What really defines Umihara Kawase is its grapple-based gameplay. Grappling onto objects in Bionic Commando, Super Metroid and Super Castlevania IV is pretty fun, right? Well, Umihara Kawase is basically a whole game about that. But with elasticity.

Yumi, and the other playable characters, traverse through levels using their elastic fishing hook, which she can shoot out to grab onto walls or enemies. Using her hook, you can swing, bounce, rappel, or use any number of other techniques to find your way to the door to complete the level. It takes a lot of practice to master the hook, but it's a lot of fun once you get used to it.

Features

• 50 levels with branching paths and hidden exits
• Hidden collectibles in each level
• Save replays and your best times
• Unlock gallery artwork, music, new playable characters and costumes
• Online leaderboards to see how your times stack up online

Media






FAQ

Q: Is this that hometown and life game?
A: No.

Q: Why is this game so ugly?
A: Umihara Kawase tradition.

Q: Why should I pay $30 for some digital-only platformer?
A: Good question. There's a lot of value to be found if you want to learn to master the game and speedrun the levels, but the price isn't quite low enough for people who are on the fence about the game to try it out. Still, it's by far the most affordable option for Westerners who want a (decent) Umihara Kawase experience.

Q: What should I check out if I want to know more about the series?
A: There's a neat little HardcoreGaming101 page on the series. I'd also recommend checking out the Game Center CX episode about the game. Mostly because Game Center CX is great.
As far as other games to look out for, the DS version is the quintessential Umihara Kawase game, as it contains both the SFC original and Umihara Kawase Shun for PSX. However, it is VERY pricey. The original Super Famicom game and the PlayStation 1 game are cheaper, and are both worth a purchase.

If there's anything else you think should be added to the OP, feel free to let me know.

Is there at least a demo? There should be a demo.

I totally agree. For the price they're selling at, they really need to sell the game to players. I believe that how solid and replayable the gameplay is justifies the price, but a new purchaser wouldn't know that.

Or maybe there is a demo, I dunno. I didn't check.

I was planning on getting this for a while. Hopefully I can find a good time to play and enjoy the game.

wtf

...is she pregnant here or are my eyes deceiving me

EDIT: d'oh thats her bag. ive been up too long

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The original game looks pretty decent in my opinion, but the 3DS version does look awful. You'd think they would focus a bit more on the art style for this kind of game. The gameplay looks fun but I'll wait for a big price drop before buying it.

The original game suffers from some pretty uninspired art direction and really sloppy UI. The best looking Umihara game is probably Shun for PSX, which has cute sprites, but it also has really simple polygonal environments so it doesn't really all gel.

That being said, they're all extremely low budget games done by small teams so I've never had particularly high expectations for them on the presentation side.

But I'm replaying the game in the localized version and the gameplay is still super fun.

For kicks, here's some Umihara pro-play

Yumi's Ugly Odyssey

The GameCenter CX episode was ****ing brilliant. It made me want to get the 3DS game, but yeah, it's gonna have to wait. $29.99 is cho takai and I don't have moneyz anyway. But if it's ever on sale and/or whenever I actually have a job, I'll probably grab it, it seems cool.

how did i not realize umihara kawase shun is on JP PSN until now

well for those willing to go through the hassle of buying stuff on the JP PSN store, you can get a great Umihara Kawase game on your PS3 or maybe even playable on vita too i dunno for the low low price of 600 yen

so do that if you like this game or are hesitant to get it for $30! they're both different games and are both awesome!

The game is headed for EU release under its original title. But for some reason they made Umihara Kawase one word. Go figure.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/201..._umiharakawase

lol i'm gonna keep bumping this myself

The game is $20 on eShop until 6/15! For those on the fence, this might be a slightly easier price to swallow. Slightly.

$20 is a lot easier to swallow.

I might bite since I managed to play through my digital backlog.