Sutte Hakkun Review - Screenshot 1 of 4

This review was originally published in April 2009. We're updating and republishing it to mark the arrival of the game in the Nintendo Switch Online SNES library.

Every so often a game comes along that makes you take your thumb off the fire button and don your thinking cap. But who wants to have to spend a lot of time thinking just to get through a game, you say? Well, one thing that's abundantly clear from playing Sutte Hakkun is that you're going to either love this game or hate it.

This late-gen Satellaview/Super Famicom collaboration between Nintendo and indieszero presents one of the most unique and innovative puzzle/platforming experiences ever found in a video game, with simple controls and mind-bending puzzles found in each insane level. As much fun as the game is, however, later levels belie the happy, colourful visuals and feel more like a college thesis than a video gaming experience - you'd better hope that you haven't destroyed too many brain cells if you have any hopes of ever beating this brain buster.

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The premise of Sutte Hakkun is quite simple: you take on the role of the drinking bird Hakkun, and, using your pointed beak, you must suck in various blocks, move them to where you want them, and then spit them out. You can also suck in coloured Nectars and inject the translucent blocks with it. These various Nectars each have their own unique characteristics: Red Nectar will make the blocks move up and down, Blue Nectar makes them move side to side, and Yellow Nectar makes them move diagonally.

Trying to figure out these combinations proves the biggest challenge in reaching the Rainbow Shard placed somewhere in each level. Your job is to locate all of the Rainbow Shards strung across the island and reconstruct the shattered Rainbow of Happiness, thus restoring peace to the land. Sounds simple, right?

Hakkun can walk left and right and can also jump a short distance. The problem is that the game generally places the platforms out of reach – this is where the translucent blocks come into play. You'll have to move them around by sucking them in and then spitting them out to get to previously inaccessible areas. You must then figure out which colour Nectar needed to get the correct movements from these blocks.

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As if this wasn’t enough, you also have a creature called a Makkun which can be injected with Nectar and given special characteristics. The early stages give a nice smooth introduction as to how the game plays, but the challenge quickly increases.

Controls are super smooth and perfectly built for the type of action you'll encounter in each level. Once you get a handle on the mechanics, Sutte Hakkun plays like a well-oiled machine. You can also pull up the submenu if you're stuck and it will provide hints. (Note. The NSO version is in Japanese, so navigating menus may take some trial and error!) This should really only be used as a last resort, as figuring out these tricky levels is really the whole point.

The visuals in the game are sharp, but not very detailed – that's not what this game is about. The colours are all very vibrant and the use of the translucent characters, enemies, and blocks provides a strong contrast that makes these bright hues stand out even more. Sure, there are no fancy Mode-7 effects or rotating polygons to marvel at, but you'll be too busy trying to figure out how to reach the Rainbow Shard in each level to worry about any lack of visual flair.

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Sutte Hakkun's music is almost as eccentric as the visuals. They're all very upbeat and happy tunes, and the way they blend into the background as you're thinking things through keeps them from ever becoming too repetitive, even when you find yourself stuck on the same level for ages. The sound effects are subtle as well, yet perfectly implemented, fitting the game's oddball theme like a glove. It's clear that a lot of time and effort were spent figuring out how to approach the audio/visual presentation of this unique puzzler and this extra effort really paid off in the end product.

Conclusion

Sutte Hakkun is not the type of puzzle platformer that will appeal to everyone and given its relative rarity and the large sums this unique Super Famicom title sells for secondhand, it's not a game to buy on a whim. Fortunately, its appearance in the NSO library makes sampling this addictive curio easier than ever, and you really should; it's a total blast from start to finish, though you'll really need your thinking cap. With over 100 levels which start simple enough but up the challenge considerably, it's hard to tell which is ultimately more difficult – finishing the game, or putting it down.