Kyuiin

Kyuiin

kyuiinRelease:January 13, 2010 – PlayStation 3 (JP)
July 19, 2011 – PlayStation 3 (US)
Delisting (approx):August 15, 2012 – PlayStation 3 (US)
(Available For: 2y 1m)
Developer:Media Entertainment
Publisher:MonkeyPaw Games
Available On:PlayStation 3 (JP)
Links:Game Page on MonkeyPaw Games [Archive]

Delisting

Kyuiin was delisted from the North American PlayStation Store the week of August 13th, 2012 alongside other MonkeyPaw Games releases: Yakiniku Bugyou, Arcade Hits: Magical Drop and Magical Drop F. The reason is unclear but MonkeyPaw has stated numerous times on twitter that these games were “delisted by Sony and won’t be coming back” and that the delistings were “permanent” as far as they were concerned.

While all titles were published in Japan by Hamster it doesn’t appear to be a licensing deal or conflict between the two. There are several other Hamster releases currently published by MonkeyPaw that are still available on the PlayStation Store in the US and Europe. Yakiniku Bugyou and Kyuiin were both developed by Media Entertainment, Magical Drop by Data East and Magical Drop F by SAS Sakata, ruling out a complication with a single developer.

Equally unlikely is a technical issue with the ROM image or emulation as all of the titles are still available on the Japanese PlayStation Store. In a 2014 interview with Techno Buffalo, Ryan Olsen, MonkeyPaw PR Manager said “we’ve mostly done imports where we don’t touch the game outside of making sure the emulation process is working smoothly.”

The reason for the mass delisting in August 2012 is uncertain but in the end it is most likely a licensing issue. In the same Techno Buffalo interview Olsen says that licensing “is incredibly tricky to navigate in Japan and you need to be persistent and persistent and persistent until you hear a ‘Yes.’” While they were able to strike deals to release these games the terms may have been less than desirable, resulting in availability between only 9 months and just over 2 years.

About the Game

“Some games are wackier than others. Kyuiin falls into the weird and wonderful column. Kyuiin delivers a highly creative and very clean horizontal scroller. Your flying machine is a vacuum cleaner.”

As a boy reads from his favorite fairy tale, a fairy appears from the book and requests his help against an evil wizard who has been tampering with the stories. When the fairy inquires about the method of travel, the innovative lad looks around the room and notices a handy vacuum cleaner. In a whirl, he’s off on his new flying vacuum sucking in evil!

Whenever you suck something inside your vacuum, a meter will build up. The purpose of this is to use the sucked up enemies as a desperation attack against your foes when you find yourself in an uncomfortable position. When this weapon is used, all the collected enemies and items that are in the bag are spit out again in a destructive light beam that destroys everything in it’s path.

Graphically, all the enemies, bullets, explosions are beautifully designed sprites, which constantly scale, rotate and pulsate. The game has a very lively feel. Enjoy the innovative, creative fun that this Japanese gem provides. Look for it in the PlayStation® Network Store under the PSone Import Games category.

Video Coverage

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