Niji the Rainbow Fish (XBLIG): "A Japanese Tale of Love"

Those who know me have come to realize how much of a fan of Japanese things I am. I love everything from Japanese import games to Japanese artwork. Niji brings traditional style Japanese watercolor paintings, and scroll work to life in a vivid display. I was so excited when binary madness, the developer of Niji told me they would allow me to review their game. I was actually lucky to get a review code considering the game had been out for a while. I took a shot in the dark by asking the developer for the code. Through the email conversations I had with the developer I could tell they really care about their fans/customers. Binary madness intends to fix the glitches/errors that are present in the current game with the release of an updated version. I will be doing a review on it as soon as it's released. After acquiring the code for Niji I installed the game, and set out on a quest to 'try' to become the greatest Niji player ever! Sadly I failed in that task but, I am improving. With some dedicated practice the high score will soon be mine! ...



For those of you who haven't played Niji, or don't know the story it's basically a tale about love. The intro to Niji comes to life as a living scroll full of beautiful characters drawn in ink, and watercolor style art. Niji's love, Masu is taken from him by the Evil Thundercloud. Niji ends up being cast down, and must climb the heavens in order to save his beloved Masu. The intro contains no words, but the story is drawn out so well that anyone who watches it will know what's going on.

Niji features three single player modes, and three multiplayer modes. The single player modes include 'Story Mode' which allows the player to play through Niji's quest to save his beloved Masu. It also includes 'Survival' which gives you only 1 life (no extra lives) to see how high of a score you can achieve, and 'Endless' where you have 5 lives to see how many points you can get. The multiplayer in Niji includes 'Last Fish Swimming' (3-15 mins.), 'Time Attack' (5-10 mins.) in which each player tries to score the highest points in a fixed time, and 'Point Rush' (250,000 pts. - 1,000,000 pts.) in which the goal is to reach a set score limit. I was actually able to play Score Rush by myself for some reason?

The controls in Niji are fairly simple, but how they are applied is a little more complicated. For movement you will use the 'Left Thumbstick'. To move through the sad clouds' tears you will use the 'A' button. You can double jump with the 'A' button by tapping it twice, or use it to swim faster by pressing it repeatedly. You are also able to do tricks by pressing the 'B' button along with a direction (L. Thumbstick). Performing tricks/flips is how you score points.

Niji is played out on a large scroll that features various types of clouds. Most of the clouds are weeping streams. These streams are how Niji is able to move farther up the scroll. If you follow the stream to the cloud it will become happy, and you will be rewarded with a rainbow piece. if you do this 7 times without jumping on the same stream twice you will receive a combo boost. This boost will also send Niji flying upward quickly with a large rainbow trail. You might find that scoring points by tricks/flips is a bit tricky. The developer told me that you can't touch a stream while performing a trick or it will cause you to fall/die. This is a good tip to follow when playing Niji. I took their word for it and was able to score fairly high. I still haven't got the game totally figure out. It does require some practice to get used to, and I just haven't perfected my technique yet. I'm definitely getting there though. As you make your way farther up the scroll you will encounter thunder clouds that will shock Niji, and cause him to fall/die. When you do lose one of your lives Niji will float around as a spirit until you press the 'A' button. You have to be careful though. If you are unable to connect to a stream you will end up dying again.

I found Niji to be a beautifully artistic game done in a lovely Japanese style. It's a one of a kind game that has excellent replay value. I can't wait to see what the upcoming update has in store. I'd definitely love to see some sort of online mode with leaderboards. Even if that doesn't happen I know I'll still enjoy it. My ultimate goal is to become the best Niji player ever!!!

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