If you’re planning on announcing a newfangled version of a bad game, it makes sense to do it on April Fools Day. A little bit of self-mockery never did any harm.
During the mid ‘80s, Sunsoft released the top down shooter Ikki in Japanese arcades, with a Famicom version to follow. In the West, it was released as Farmers Rebellion, due to the word ‘Ikki’ roughly translating to ‘revolt’. Confusingly, it was known as Boomerang in some regions too.
While it was seen as a success in terms of sales, the reception wasn’t hot at all – the unfairly challenging Famicom version, in particular, was scorn by the press, coining the Japanese term kuso-gē (“crap game.”)
Sunsoft has brought Ikki back a few times over the years, including versions for Nintendo’s Virtual Console service, and on PS3 via PSN. In 2023 it was reborn anew as Ikki Unite for PC, a version of which is heading to Switch on April 18th via Plug in Digital.
Ikki Unite takes the top-down shooter premise of the original and adds 16 player online support, character classes, and Roguelite elements such as random items and bonuses. Strength in numbers in the theme, putting a focus on regrouping with your team before tackling a boss.
The PC version appears to have been well received, with the only major complaint being the lack of regional (US) servers. Comparisons have been made with Vampire Survivors, and with that in mind, it’s easy to see why Sunsoft resurrected Ikki in the first place.