To repair childhoods, it's a bit late
Now that Ikki Unite has arrived on PC, the moment has come for the peasants to rise up.
A Nintendo Famicom version of Ikki was released in arcades in 1985, shortly after the original. The Famicom version is well-known for being among the first video games to be given the moniker "kusoge," which translates to "crap game." There have been instances when Jun Miura's writing on this game is credited with creating the kusoge terminology, although the details are a bit hazy.Though it may seem like an odd game to pick up again, kusoge is more often regarded in Japan as a shared experience of sorrow. The fact that Ikki's Famicom version sold rather well only served to cement its reputation among younger gamers.On the other hand, Ikki Unite is a very different animal, more reminiscent to Vampire Survivors's horde-filled gameplay. Since attacks are automated, the focus is mostly on placement and character enhancement to dispatch the hordes more quickly. Ikki Unite upends the status quo by emphasizing its 16-person multiplayer mode, in which groups of players navigate monsters and goals. Although it's a big difference, anybody who has played Vampire Survivors will probably find it difficult to get over the déjà vu sense.I may go back and revisit \i>Ikki Unite, but my first 30 minutes of use this morning was mostly constructive. But even though it was geared for multiplayer, the latency was absurd. It wasn't a major obstacle, but it's certainly a bad first impression. I ended up playing with a bunch of Japanese night owls as well, but that was okay since the game Ikki Unite doesn't really demand or even permit a lot of talking. It most likely had no effect on the ping, however.The longevity of \i>Ikki Unite will rely on how successfully it manages to hold onto its player base. Even though I was able to join two complete teams without any player overlap, this region isn't exactly known for the \i>Ikki brand. Although it's a bad product, I can't help but support it on some level since I like series revivals.\i>Ikki Unite is now playable on PC using Steam.