Iwate Mountain Dance Reviews

This games the quintessential example of hidden gem. It's light on story, heavy on action. The controls feel great and you always understand why you got hit. Except that fish boss, fuck that guy. Very difficult.

Amazing music, every character is individually well created. The game progressively gets more and more difficult and teases you with a true ending if you're willing to unfold the story. 10/10 example of what a great modern bullet hell game is.

This game is hard but fair with nice pixel art and not so bad music. The gameplay is simple but well executed, boss pattern are interesting and deadly and the character reacts quickly and precisley. Overall a very good boss-rush game !

I loved!! super recommended !! It reminded me in part of Momodora of the colors it handles in pixel art, and the gameplay and theme feels like Touhou and the game Bleed. It has no platform levels, you directly face Bosses on the map, the music accompanies very well the relaxing atmosphere it wants to provide, even in the boss fights that are quite exciting, but everything has a very beautiful and relaxing aura of peace . Art is what attracted me the most. It also has a story, short, but beautiful. The difficulty would say that it is normal, if you have already played bullet hell platforms you should have no problem completing it. If you are a casual player it will cost you a little more but you can complete it. The most surprising thing is that the game has been created by only one person! magnificent.

Iwate Mountain Dance is one of the most calming and relaxing bullet hell x platform games I have ever played. The art, music, sound all come together for a very beautiful and tranquil touhou like. STRENGTHS -Excellent boss designs with unique attack patterns. -Layout of the game across a small town makes a “boss rush” game interesting. -Intriguing NPCs make the town feel alive. -Save points at each boss encounter enable fast restarts. -Holding down the shoot button will aim automatically so you can focus primarily on dodging. WEAKNESSES -Controller support and customization of controls could be improved. -UI is very basic. -Lacks additional features/modes typical for similar games. -Co-op integration is a bit clunky. Despite a few interface and controller weaknesses, Iwate Mountain Dance is a unique gem that I highly recommend. It is a short game, however I think it has the potential for high replay value. I am very much looking forward to any future updates.

Decent bullet hell, that is not to hard except for the true ending boss that in my opinion a massive leap in difficulty.

TL;DR, If you're looking for an exceptional challenge, I don't think you'll find that with this game. I'd equate the hardest bosses in this game with the milder parts of the hard difficulty of Touhou 6. The low difficulty does make the game accessible to beginners, but a mode with a much higher difficulty would've been neat. For most people, I'd say wait until it's on sale. More thoughts below. You're basically open to fight most of the bosses in whatever order you want, with no minor enemies in between them; a huge plus in my opinion. It also makes the game quite short which isn't too much a big deal since re-fighting the bosses is, in my opinion, a good time. There's polish to be had; the music isn't terribly memorable, some fights have really janky mechanics, certain cutscenes softlock you in walls, and so forth. These don't occur terribly often in my time replaying the game, but they happen often enough that it might irritate someone playing through the game casually. Hebi's roar comes to mind.

A fun little bullet-hell boss-rush platformer. It's relatively easy, and would probably be good for beginners, though a skilled player who knows the genre will probably find it too easy. You have an auto-aiming attack which lets you focus on dodging, and an omnidirectional dash that gives you a moment of slowdown to make sure you're dodging where you want. The patterns tend to be relatively randomness-heavy, which is of course a mixed bag. The main downside is definitely the length. I'm pretty bad at platformers and bullet hells, but I fully cleared the game in 8hrs. Someone more skilled could absolutely first clear it in near half that time. There's also a few minor annoyances: The lack of a focus mode for fine movement or seeing your hitbox, minor issues with the movement, and one notably janky bossfight [spoiler]against a giant fish[/spoiler]. There's room for improvement here, though the dev's next project is on hold as of this review. I think there's still enough here to enjoy at 13CAD, especially for a small indie project, but waiting for a sale is perfectly reasonable.

This game was a lot of fun. It wasn't perfect, notably, the art is inconsistent, and my cursor looked messed up. But playing it was a great time, it has a certain really nice quality that I can only describe as feeling personal. If the developer ever creates another game I'll definitely look into it. Edit: It's been a few years, but I just came back and replayed this game. I still love it. Looking back I actually like the art much more than I did originally. Sure, the style of the background, the terrain, the trees and character sprites seem to differ sometimes, and it is a little "messy". But it all still forms a charming whole. Whenever I think about art not having it to be perfect, and it being allowed to be a little messy, I think of this game and its aesthetic. my cursor is still messed up though, and i am not even on the same device XD

Any Touhou Project player would immediately recognize the classic spellcard designs and dodging tactics involved in this game. And yet, I think that this game is something any player can enjoy - both bullet hell lovers like myself, and people coming from other genres. Pros: + The mixing of bullet hell and platforming serves as a fun surprise, and a new challenge to people used to playing either of the genres separately. + Great sprite design, which reminds me a lot of Celeste for some reason. + Early spell cards of each boss introduce you to a "main mechanic" which will come back later in more difficult variations. + Personally, I like the absence of regular stage enemies. The bosses tend to be the most interesting, and beautiful, part of a bullet hell. + The controls feel smooth, and support the fast playstyle required to play. Neutrals: | The background music is fine. | There is no explanation on how exactly to pass certain attacks or bosses, and you truly have to learn it for yourself. While it's good for some bosses, some of the others (like one of the "ministers", which are the high-tier bosses) have non-intuitive mechanics which are required to pass them, but you'll have to discover them by luck (anyone who has played the game probably understands, but to avoid spoilers I won't write it here). Cons: - Sound effects, though becoming recognizable really quickly, also become repetitive and sometimes out of place. - Dialogue is kind of silly. Overall, the game is great. Despite its flaws, the good outshines the bad and creates a fun experience, despite it being a short game. A solid 7.5/10 for me, and I'll surely play more than one playthrough.