Kururin's siblings have wandered off and got themselves lost, and now he must hop into his Helirin (a spinning blade with a cockpit stuck in the middle) to fly around a number of worlds to rescue them. There are tutorial levels available in Kuru Kuru Kururin, but the game is straightforward enough even if the gameplay is quite different from other titles available. The action is viewed from a top-down perspective, making your Helirin craft appear as a stick. It is constantly rotating and using the d-pad (or left analogue stick if you prefer) you manoeuvre it from the start to the end of a serious of increasingly tricky courses.
Certain sections of the courses are narrow, and so you will have to wait for your stick to be positioned a certain way in order to pass without hitting the wall. Hitting a wall adds 3 seconds to your time (not a concern on your first playthrough) and also reduces your health; three hits and you fail the course, your craft shattering along with your dreams of becoming a stick-navigating superstar.
There are times where you will need to travel a bit faster in order to clear a section before the rotation of your craft sends wing colliding with wall; in order to do this you simply hold either the A or B button down whilst holding both lets you travel even faster. Tapping either L or R will trigger clown-like carhorn sound effects - a good touch but not something that affects the gameplay. The controls are responsive and work well, but as always button-mapping can be set up in the Virtual Console menu if you'd prefer to have - say - the Z triggers controlling your speed.
Ignoring the tutorial levels, there are ten worlds, each containing three levels each. It sounds a lot but once you get the hang of the courses you can work through the game quickly. There are some cute character designs in the game, viewable in the intro sequence, when you rescue a character or whenever Kururin jumps into his Helirin at the start of each level. These look good but moving a stick through a series of top-down viewed courses does not lead to the most visually impressive Game Boy Advance title that was produced. It is, however, a colourful and cheery-looking game with each world having its own theme; a jungle, a cave and the stars being three of the locations visited - there are feature in each environment that make them stand out from the others such as dinosaur fossils or whales. As you progress you can pick up customisations for your craft, altering its shape and colour; you can even have rescued family members ride on the wings.
Like the visuals the music alters between worlds, providing a variety of catchy tunes; some are chilled out while others are waltzy, whilst the ghost house goes for a funky but spooky track. The music is very good and sound effects work well too, with a few instances of sampled speech (“start" “goal") and a nasty sounding effect when you bump a wall.
The game starts off a little too easy but the difficulty is fairly well judged. To begin with you simply move through the course occasionally stopping to be at the correct angle to fit through an opening. You are soon introduced to springs that alter the direction your craft rotates, whilst later on you have to avoid canon balls and be wary of pistons that threaten to crush you. Despite these extra difficulties the biggest challenge remains avoiding the walls, with gaps getting increasingly narrow and some tricky turns to work your way around.
To help you out there are heart points to be found on the courses that restore your health, and there is a practice mode that gives you auto-replenishing health and lets you tackle a section you may be having trouble with. If you still struggle the game has two difficulty settings, with the easier one giving you a smaller stick to attempt the game with.
As well as the main mode of play there are 50 challenge levels. These are very short but also tough to beat. One mode that isn't available to Wii U owners, however, is the VS mode that back in 2001 allowed up to four GBA owners to race each other through those short courses. Its inclusion in this eShop release was always unlikely but it was something that provided good entertainment back in the day.
There's still a lot of fun to be had with the game, however, as you steadily move around turns, navigating a tricky section or rushing through a narrow gap and getting out the other side just in time to avoid clipping the wall. Even once beaten the game is replayable due to a couple of reasons. Clear a course without smashing into the sidewalls and you will be awarded a star; acquire a star on each level and you will unlock a few more. It's not much of a reward but if you like a challenge getting through each level without incident is no mean feat. The main replay value comes from trying to set a fast time on the various courses; you can just try to beat your own time or head to Miiverse to see how you compare with other gamers.
Conclusion
It may start off a little too easy but there's not much to fault with this title. It may not take too long to clear the levels but doing it without error is a tough challenge. There's a variety of environments visited in the game, accompanied by some terrific music; there's a lot of enjoyment to be had by slightly improving your times on the various courses. If you're looking for a fun game that's a bit different, Kuru Kuru Kururin is certainly worthy of your consideration.
Comments 32
I hope they release the sequel Kururin Paradise, too, because I feel that the second game is the better one. But this one's great too!
hope the sequels see their way here, but I'm sure Nintendo will be getting all their existing English translated GBA titles out the way before thinking about those Japan only ones....
I LOVED this game when I was younger, but it was a friend's copy, and I couldn't remember what it was called. Definitely picking this up.
I played it for tons of hours and its sequels are on the top of my virtual console wish list...or any wish list.
They could include a VS mode, if they split the TV screen, and made it possible to use wii classic controllers, GameCube controllers or Wii U pro controllers.
Are you saying this game is too easy? Wow...then I must be bad at this game...
I think it's very hard from the beginning on (I haven't finished it yet, I'm stuck).
Also you didn't mention the controls at all: Using the D-Pad is very inaccurate I think. I often overshoot. The GC version of this game is A LOT better because it has analog controls.
I hope they realease it on the NA too, i love this game!
I never realized this got a European release. I only knew it as that thing from Smash Bros.
Frankly, its awesome we're getting this on the EU eShop. Good revw. Thanks
This game rocked my world.
I hope to one day see Kururin Squash released in the West as well.
This looks like fun. But I would like to know why GBA games are only showing up on the WiiU. The 3DS can handle that format. I have my 10 that they gave to us ambassadors back in the day and I would love to get more GBA titles on my 3DS.
Those were Tingle's magic words, yet they stole them...
I'd love to play this game again, but only really interested if they get it running on a 3DS.
Is there an official reason why they're not bringing GBA/SNES to 3DS? Surely it's more than capable.
I wish Nintendo had localized the GameCube sequel, it looks fun and extremely pretty.
Hopefully it'll come to North America. The more once-export-only titles make their grand debut on the eShop, the better.
@Froggievilleus Certainly the 3DS would be capable of emulating those GBA titles, but I guess Nintendo intends to offer different platforms on the 3DS and the WiiU respectively, in order to make people buy both systems. The GBA titles seem to be quite a success on the WiiU and I guess Nintendo is aware that the success may be even greater on the 3DS, but this doesn't seem to be the priority now. At the moment, the release of classic DS games is only announced for the WiiU too, though the 3DS would be the more natural choice (irrespective of the fact that the originals can be played on it anyway). On the other hand, I would highly appreciate if the GB/GBC titles available on the 3DS-eShop would arrive on the WiiU – but again it seems that Nintendo wants me to buy a 3DS to play them.
I certainly don't welcome this policy, but as to the "why", it really isn't so mysterious.
Now bring it to us here in the US! I really wanna play this for myself!
Classic Game Room?
WHY OH WHY can Nintendo get things right all this GBA games should be coming to the 3DS they keep being out the NES games but why not GBA or how about the SNES games. I have always liked Nintendo but I feel they are starting to lose thier way now with the Wii U and not using the 3DS in the right way even Sony know the the Vita is good for retro gaming
I saw gameplay footage of the Gamecube version the other day, looks fun.
@ZenTurtle That would require Nintendo actually trying and that isn't their style.
GBA games look terrible on a modern TV as well. The only way they are bearable on the Wii U is to just use the gamepad. And as for the price, pfffffff!
I imported this game for the GBA from EU. Very cool game indeed.
One of the best GBA games ever made. Very addictive
Sounds like an interesting concept I just don't think it is my cup of tea!
2/10 because Wii U VC and not 3DS VC.
8/10 is a good score for this game however.
So I guess that game Roundabout is based off of this? It sounds really fun!
I wouldn't buy GBA games on 3DS. They look much better on Game Pad.
Love this game. Bought it with a GBA in release day.
Years later I took the two GBA games on holiday one year to Corfu, just to give me something to do whilst sunbathing. Possibly one of the greatest gaming decisions I’ve ever made. I sat for a few hours every day on the beach for the whole week we were away and managed to 100% both games . Even so, completing all levels perfectly - without teasing damage - and breaking all records remains one of my greatest gaming achievements to date. Though I think I drew the line at the secret, super-difficult levels that were unlocked for doing so.
For me this is a 9/10 game.
The two sequels are 10/10 games, simply because they added the ability to also adjust the speed of rotation.
PS: I'm currently trying to 100% the GameCube game Kururin Squash! Using Nintendont in Wii mode on my Wii U.
Having played it since the old days, I can say that this is a neat little portable game for occasional pick up and play... oh wait, this is for the Wii U. =|
I hope the New 3DS finally allows for VC GBA games. And cross buy (hahaha yeah...).
Just found this little gem at a local gamestore here in the states! What a great little GBA gem, simply charming, quirky and a blast to play. I hope NOA will give this little one a chance on the Wii U VC (doubt it, but I can dream right??? ) I can (sadly) understand why NOA passed on it back in the day. Little odd...but man guys...we really missed out!!!!!!!
@YorkshireNed
Hate to say this but the price is actually par for the course. Look at competing platforms. Up to $10 for PSone games and $20 for PSP games digitally. Now compare that to prices of Nintendo games in the same generation. $10 for N64 games (or is it $12?) and $10 for DS.
It's just how much games cost, across the board. I'm neither defending nor attacking it. But it's the entire industry, not just Nintendo.
Of course, Sony is known to have great sales, and often, but that's another topic.
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