Thread by @Richmond_Lee

Hey, you finally woke up! You hit your head pretty hard there!

What's that? Dune trailer? Xbox series S? Global pandemic? What are you talking about? Hurry up and look at these new screens for Pocky and Rocky!

https://twitter.com/TENGO_PROJECT/status/1303892813147336704

My goodness, these little characters are so CHARMING!! Look at how cute and SERIOUS they look!

Even from behind, on a small pixel grid, this is an absolutely beautiful rendition of a Komainu (狛犬) statue! That's right, this game is RICH with beautiful real life cultural and historical references!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界

I love how this Tanuki dude is being carried around on a palanquin by smaller Tanuki! So damn cute!

Look at how well it reads too! Very smart decision to use white for their closed happy eyes ala (^__^ ). It's a very unusual decision, but they made it work! It doesn't draw undue attention to itself! I mean how else would you make the eyes read on their dark face stripes anyhow?

These acorn projectiles are so flippin CUTE!

Look at Sayo-chan/Pocky riding a Shisa (シーサー)! This is exactly what I want out of video games!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界

And the fish with legs! I AM SO HERE FOR THIS!

https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/778966367596744708?s=20

(Fish with limbs are one of my favorite things)

https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/1228221844106297354?s=20

Look at this little frog dude just chilling there. Every inch of this game looks beautiful! So full of life!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界

THIS IS SO COOL! So much personality as the protagonists relentlessly assault these Hitotsume-kozō (一つ目小僧) yokai lol! This looks like one of those "wouldn't it be great if?" pixel art concepts that are usually just a single amazing illustration. BUT THIS IS THE WHOLE GAME!

Hitotsume-kozō (一つ目小僧) are usually depicted as children. But that one in the back looks pretty grown up haha!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界 #yokai

There's so much beautiful detail in this sprite art. But it's not distracting! It's never overly busy, or over-rendered to the point where it loses the appeal of sprite art. This is "Hi-Bit" pixel art at it's best!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界 #SpriteArt #HiBit

Never underestimate the power of good dithering in sprite art!! Just because you can use more colors doesn't mean you SHOULD!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界 #SpriteArt #HiBit

Look at the gentle transition from light to dark here. This is MASTERFUL. The shadows feel so naturalistic. Hard shadows too! You don't often see those in games!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界 #SpriteArt #HiBit

The shaded area FEELS shaded, yet it meshes with the whole. Doesn't distract from gameplay. Doesn't lose detail. This is something that's incredibly difficult to capture with photography or 3D. Also of course incredibly hard to convey by hand, but they pulled it off beautifully!

It's a testament to the skills of the creators at @TENGO_PROJECT that these projectiles read so well! The paper/leaf planes and temple seals are very distinct from their leaf covered surroundings!
#PockyAndRocky #奇々怪界 #SpriteArt #HiBit

A lot of projectile heavy games opt to make the bullets INCREDIBLY CONSPICUOUS. It's evolved into its own aesthetic for sure. But I'm glad the new Kiki KaiKai/Pocky & Rocky opted for a more naturalistic look. It takes so much skill to pull this off!
#奇々怪界 #SpriteArt #HiBit

God I love that you can even distinctly make out the species of tree that these tiny leaves are from! Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum) and Ginko (Ginkgo Biloba)!
#奇々怪界 #SpriteArt #PockyAndRocky

Fun fact! Gingko trees are "living fossils." Gingko trees have changed very little over the last 270 million years! Dinosaurs used to eat them! And the Gingko tree we have today is the sole remaining species of its entire botanical taxonomic division! nature.com/articles/news0…

This game looks SO GOOD! Please follow @TENGO_PROJECT for more developments! They're one of the best developers around! Play their other games too!

natsumeatari.co.jp/tnwoa/