Since their rebirth a few years ago, Sunsoft has made good on bringing their ‘80s and ‘90s hits to a new generation. At least, all of those without licenses attached. In addition to revivals of cult titles Ufouria, Trip World and Mr. Gimmick, the once prolific publisher has also seen fit to bring back one of the earliest Famicom games – one famous for all the wrong reasons. Ikki was a notoriously bad top-down shooter involving humble farmers revolting in a feudal Japan setting, frequently mocked by critics for its unfair gameplay and terrible music. Think along the lines of the Japanese equivalent of Fester’s Quest…which was also by Sunsoft. Oh.
Ikki Unite isn’t a mere remake, however. It shares the same premise, along with its top-down perspective and cast of Japanese oddballs but takes the form of something far more modern. What we have here is essentially a Japanese take on Vampire Survivors, pitting farmers, hired muscle, and even a comedic love interest against waves of locusts, monkeys, bats, frogs, and more. Characters attack automatically, putting the focus on manoeuvring around the playing field – open farmland with villages and rivers – while collecting power-ups and avoiding projectiles. Upon levelling up, an upgrade can be picked – everything from bomb dropping pigeons to ghostly spirits.
So far, so Vampire Survivors. This isn’t a cheap imitation, though. Well, not entirely – it looks a little cheap and low-fi visually, being considerably flat while also featuring a mixture of shrunken sprites that clash aesthetically. The music also remains terrible, which I’m guessing is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the original. An imitation, however, it isn’t. Foremostly, it’s mission based – instead of dwelling within a single location, you’re ushered around the map in search of bosses. Upon their defeat, another four minutes are added to the clock. This adds a welcome sense of urgency, and you’ll also have to weigh up grinding for XP and heading to the next boss fight.
The cast of characters is also a long one, and over time new recruits will join your team, following behind. There’s an emphasis on creating a balanced squad, mixing offence with defence. This oddball roster forms the playable character pool too, and with sixteen feuding farmers and common folk available, there’s plenty of scope for experimentation. Each can be assigned two permanent upgrades upon death.
Lastly, Ikki Unite can be played online with up to 15(!) others – complete with the ability to host and join rooms or partake in a quick match. Despite playing post-launch I couldn’t find a single player online. I tried several times over the course of a week, all of which resulted in sitting in an empty lobby. So based on my experience, Ikki Unite doesn’t exactly have a thriving online community. You may have to seek a Discord channel to arrange a session, instead of merely being able to jump into a game with others. Perhaps over time its player base will grow.
Compared to other recent Vampire Survivors clones, Ikki Unite is far more complex and unique. To recap, it has 16 characters available from the outset, randomised stages, optional challenges with bountiful rewards, online play, a mission structure, bosses, and a long list of upgrades to mix ‘n match. It even has a learning curve, with the function of some ideas unclear – at least until checking the digital manual.
While this may sound encouraging, especially after the recent spat of Vampire Survivors clones have been severely lacking, Ikki Unite lacks any major hook. Simply, it doesn’t have the same addictive streak. When a run ended in Vampire Survivors, it was either because I became greedy and tried to venture into populated areas to grab loot, or because I hadn’t balanced upgrades proficiently. Here, death is often a result of not enough health pick-ups spawning, unbalanced waves with too many projectile lobbers, or – and most infuriating of all – the health gauge draining without ever knowing the cause. In the developer’s defence, most of these instances occur around 20 minutes into a run, which is where you’d expect the difficulty to rise, but even so, death often comes swiftly and doesn’t always feel like it could be avoided.
It also doesn’t help that the map is filled with rivers, decorative hedges, narrow paths, etc. Sure, it’s good to have a bit of variety within the environment, but there’s a bit too much ‘stuff’ that can’t be walked over, which doesn’t fit an experience mostly based around manoeuvring with grace.
Ikki Unite is a neat idea – bringing back a bad game and trying to either fix its faults or revive it as something new is a concept holding much appeal. Everyone likes being in on a joke. While far better than the original, and certainly not ‘revolting’, Ikki Unite still isn’t all that entertaining despite its easy to grasp premise. Its self-mocking nature has somehow extended to mocking the players who put time in to learn and overcome its foibles.
Ikki Unite is published by Sunsoft and PID. Out now on Switch. It first launched on PC in 2023.