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Gururin

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Gururin
DeveloperFace
PublisherSNK
ProducerKenichi Iwanaga
DesignerKingo Hiraku
ProgrammersKaori Hijiya
Noriyuki Tabata
ArtistsKenichi Kumakura
Masako Araki
Michiyo Morohoshi
ComposersAtsuko Iwanaga
Kenji Sugai
PlatformArcade
Release
  • WW: May 25, 1994
GenrePuzzle
Modes
Arcade systemNeo Geo MVS

Gururin[a] is a 1994 tile-matching puzzle video game developed by Face and published by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade platform. A conversion for the Neo Geo CD was planned and even previewed but it did not receive an official release to the public. In the game, players must match 3 people with their respective colored outfit, while rotating the playfield in order to rearrange them.

Gururin has garnered mixed critical reception since its original release in arcades from reviewers who felt mixed towards several aspects of the game such as the visuals, sound design and gameplay, while its difficulty and learning curve has been heavily criticized.

Hamster Corporation re-released the game as part of their ACA Neo Geo series for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.

Gameplay

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Gameplay screenshot.

Gururin is a tile-matching puzzle game reminiscent of Columns and Puyo Puyo, where the player must match 3 people wearing the same color outfit vertically or horizontally in order to become warriors as the main objective. In addition to the single-player mode, the game also features a competitive two-player mode where one human competes against either computer-controlled opponents or against other human players in versus matches to become the winner. If a memory card is present, the players are allowed to save their high-score.[1]

A unique feature of the game is the rotation of people around the playfield; By pressing A or B, players rotate the arena either to the left or the right, changing the positioning of people. On occasions, an arrow appears indicating the correct way to match 3 people of the same color. However, people can also potentially grab their hands to not let themselves go, making puzzle solving more complex and later levels increase in difficulty as well. If the people manages to occupy the playfield, the game is over unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing.

Development and release

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Gururin served as the first project to be developed by Face for the Neo Geo platform and its creation was helmed by producer Kenichi Iwanaga.[2][3] Iwanaga was also both its designer and programmer along with Kaori Hijiya, Kingo Hiraku and Noriyuki Tabata.[2] Artists Masako Araki, Michiyo Morohoshi and Kenichi Kumakura were responsible for the pixel art, while Atsuko Iwanaga and Kenji Sugai were in charge of its sound design, among other people collaborating in its development.[2]

Gururin was initially only launched for the arcades by SNK on May 25, 1994.[4] A Neo Geo CD version was announced and even showcased for playing to the attendees at SNK's booth during the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in 1995 but it was never released for unknown reasons.[5] The game has since received a re-release in 2018 on various modern platforms such as the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows as part of the ACA Neo Geo series by Hamster Corporation.[6]

Reception

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Gururin has been met mixed reception from critics since its initial release.[11] AllGame's Kyle Knight criticized the visuals, sound design, difficulty and learning curve but praised the addictive gameplay and rotating mechanic.[8] In a retrospective review, Gonçalo Lopes from Nintendo Life regarded the graphics and music for being surreal and psychedelic, despite being standard for the genre but criticized for being complicated for players, recommending other titles on the Neo Geo such as Puzzled, Magical Drop and Puzzle Bobble.[9] In another retrospective review, Gabriel Jones of Cubed3 criticized its level of complexity and learning curve, stating that it was a stark contrast to the "pick up and play" philosophy of other arcade titles.[10]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Japanese: ぐるりん

References

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  1. ↑ "Oh! Neo Geo Vol. 24 - ぐるりん". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). No. 59. SoftBank Creative. August 1994. p. 134. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Face, Minato Giken (May 25, 1994). Gururin (Arcade) (in Japanese). SNK. Level/area: Gururin Staff.
  3. ↑ "Gururin (MVS)". arcade-history.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Title Catalogue - NEOGEO MUSEUM". SNK Playmore. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  5. ↑ "WCES Special - Winter CES '95 - SNK". GameFan. Vol. 3, no. 3. DieHard Gamers Club. March 1995. p. 109. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  6. ↑ Moyse, Chris (April 12, 2018). "Obscure Neo Geo puzzler Gururin drops onto modern platforms today - Room-spinning puzzler available now". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  7. ↑ "ACA NeoGeo: Gururin for Nintendo Switch". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. 2019. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  8. 1 2 Knight, Kyle (1998). "Gururin [Japanese] (Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  9. 1 2 Lopes, Gonçalo (April 18, 2018). "Gururin Review (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Jones, Gabriel (April 20, 2018). "ACA NEOGEO Gururin (Nintendo Switch) Review". Cubed3. Cubed3 Limited. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  11. ↑ Löwenstein, Richard (March 1994). "SNK Neo Geo - Neues Vom Neo Geo: Gururin". Megablast (in German). No. 5. Joker-Verlag. p. 59. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
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