The joy (and curse) of collecting is that you start learning about games you never heard of before; games that you didn’t know existed. Umihara Kawase is one of those Super Famicom games that never crossed my mental path up until a few years ago. And realistically how could it? Not only was it never released outside of Japan, but it also wasn’t even a top-seller in the first place!

What’s it About?

You’re the cute little girl Kawase. Armed with your backpack and your fishing reel you must navigate through a world full of seafood (fresh fish) that’s out to get you. Some versions expand on the scenario and elaborate she’s a sushi chef gathering ingredients.

How’s it Play?

Umihara Kawase is a 2D action game, similar to Bionic Commando… mechanically speaking. No, it’s not violent like those games are, Kawase doesn’t shoot people, she doesn’t fight cybernetically enhanced Nazi’s or a robot Hitler, but her fishing line, her main means of attack is very similar to Radd Spencer’s grappling hook. Not only is it a weapon, but it’s used to swing and rappel and reel yourself in all over this strange world.

In spite of the main character’s cute Dora-the-Explorer appearance and whimsical music, Umihara Kawase slides into some nasty difficulty. With 10 lives for 49 levels, no saves and continues, you need to make all of Kawase’s lives count! Some extra lives are placed in perilous death-trap situations which makes them not even worth it! A life for a life!

It’s all about figuring out the puzzle of each level; the stages themselves are exceptionally brief. Some of the earlier stages look straight-forward, but if you play with the bait-and-tackles physics enough, you’ll come to realize that almost every stage has not-so-obvious paths that warp you to a later stage.

This gives the game a surprisingly deep sense of exploration which adds to the replay value! It’s gradually becoming a popular game to speedrun!