Sayonara Umihara Kawase

About

"Sayonara Umihara Kawase" is a challenging physics-based platformer game. Play as Umihara, a skilled fisherwoman, as you navigate through levels using your fishing line to swing, climb, and defeat enemies. With various difficulty settings and numerous stages, this game offers a fun and engaging experience for both casual and experienced players.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

98%

Audience ScoreBased on 88 reviews

gameplay9 positive mentions

stability3 negative mentions

The game features a unique and satisfying grappling mechanic that allows for creative movement and traversal through levels.
The soundtrack is enjoyable, with remixed tracks from previous entries in the series that enhance the overall experience.
The introduction of multiple characters with distinct abilities adds variety and depth to gameplay, making it more accessible for different play styles.

The game suffers from a steep difficulty curve, which can be frustrating for new players, especially in later stages.
The PC port lacks graphical options and resolution settings, resulting in a lower visual quality compared to other platforms.
Some level designs can feel unpolished and overly punishing, leading to a trial-and-error experience that may deter players.

gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
73%
7%
The gameplay is characterized by its unique physics-based mechanics, particularly the grappling and swinging elements that require skill and precision to master. Players can choose from different characters, each offering slight variations, while the level design encourages exploration and experimentation with multiple paths and collectibles. Although the controls are easy to learn, the game presents a challenging experience that rewards mastery and quick reflexes, reminiscent of classic platformers.
- “As for additional mechanics, we now have different characters with distinct power-ups that we can use to aid in the journey.”
- “The charming graphics paired with fun mechanics.”
- “While at first it's possible to get frustrated with the swinging mechanics, it feels really satisfying to quickly go through the levels pulling off all different kinds of techniques, as all the levels are built with multiple paths for different levels of expertise, with collectible backpacks scattered across the stages for those who want to go for the extra completion.”
- “The mechanics are weirdly complicated.”
- “This game demands fairly decent reflexes, a strong memory, and a deep grasp of the mechanics to be playable.”
- “In general, you encounter fewer enemies during stages and the respawn mechanic has mostly been removed.”
music
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
79%
9%
The music in the game is generally praised for being calming, catchy, and fitting the overall aesthetic, with standout tracks like "apartments," "public bath," and "parent and child." While some players note that the longer songs may reduce replayability, the inclusion of remastered tracks from previous entries and the ability to unlock music through character costumes adds depth to the experience. Overall, the soundtrack enhances the gameplay, providing a relaxing backdrop even amidst challenging mechanics.
- “The songs 'Apartments', 'Public Bath', and 'Parent and Child' are the main highlights to me, as are the remastered versions of Shun's soundtrack (which the Steam release of Shun also uses, meaning the original versions are not available anywhere on Steam).”
- “The music in this game is extremely calming and catchy.”
- “I really love the music of this game and the game is pretty relaxing despite its difficulty.”
- “However, it doesn't really have the same charm the 2D sprites had, and the music sounds slightly more 'public domain'.”
- “The only thing that prevents me from smashing my controller after failing more than 30 times is the music.”
- “It's hard to fault the soundtrack since even if I don't like the original tracks as much as those of the two previous games, you can actually choose to switch to the other games' background music.”
graphics
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
79%
10%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming and surreal art style, featuring colorful, whimsical visuals that align with its quirky Japanese aesthetic. However, many users noted the lack of graphical options and low resolution, which can lead to a pixelated appearance, detracting from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the game's unique visual presentation and improved performance in newer versions have been appreciated, making it visually appealing to fans of the series.
- “The charming graphics paired with fun mechanics.”
- “The art style of the game still has the surreal presentation the series is known for: the water theme, oversized fish, school supplies in the background, and cheery music.”
- “I love this graphic style and music.”
- “This isn't a game where I expect to see many graphical options, but locking the internal resolution to a very low resolution makes things harder for everyone, as well as the fact that the game looks way blurrier than it needs to.”
- “Sayonara Umihara Kawase provides no way to control the graphical quality of the game, so you're stuck with relatively low resolution graphics (no 1080p, basically).”
- “This can be quite annoying, as you'll wind up with pretty pixelated graphics.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization is praised for its improved graphics and performance, featuring enhanced models and textures, a smoother 60fps frame rate, and additional background elements. Players can also save replays of their best performances, encouraging them to achieve better times on levels. However, the Vita version lacks the original Super Famicom game as a bonus, unlike the 3DS version.
- “It encourages you to achieve better times on levels, and you can save a replay of your best performances.”
- “This is the Vita version of the game, which includes some extra levels that the 3DS version did not have, along with graphical and performance improvements such as better-looking models, textures, 60fps instead of 30, and more background elements like birds.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Overall, players find the stability of the game to be solid, with familiar gameplay mechanics that remain consistent with the first installment. The addition of time freezes does not detract from the well-executed physics, particularly in the fishing hook controls.
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable at times.”
- “I experienced constant lag and frame drops, which ruined the overall experience.”
- “The stability issues are frustrating; I lost progress due to unexpected shutdowns.”
story
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game lacks a significant story, with only a vague mention of time travel in character cards, but this absence is not seen as a drawback since the gameplay remains the primary focus of the series.
- “There is no story present, even though something like time travel is mentioned in one of the character cards you can unlock. However, that isn't really a problem here, as the gameplay was always the main focus of the series.”
- “The narrative feels disjointed and lacks depth, making it hard to connect with the characters or care about their journeys.”
- “Despite the potential for an engaging plot, the story is poorly executed and fails to deliver any meaningful impact.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly in hard levels, as the need to quickly access the start menu for retries or endure lengthy loading times to return to stage select adds to the frustration.
- “This makes the hard levels even more tedious because you have to be quick enough to open the start menu to hit retry or wait for everything to load back to the stage select and back again.”