The friends of Ringo Ishikawa

The friends of Ringo Ishikawa is a stylish and melancholic pixel art game that blends beat 'em up action with a mature, character-driven story — you fight, study, and wander through a fading youth, searching for meaning as you realize that nothing lasts forever.

Unbelievable amount of gas in this one. Starting out lost, bruised and confused. Getting your footing and finding yourself overwhelmed with how much you want to do with such finite time. Then settling into routine and finding every day exactly the same as you throw yourself into work and drift away from your friends. Cutscenes give direction, but the feeling is ultimately rooted in the gameplay, and it's tremendous. I read Ulysses and got an achievement.

It was a vibe. A bit like Persona in the way you choose your activities every day, week for the protagonist. Completed the game without being close to getting 100% on all subject. I was around 70%, so some events happen when you show up in certain areas at specific times. It can be a bit random, slow, hard to figure out how to get into it. I usually do not have patience for this kind of thing bc I don’t want to research a game when it should explain what the objective is better. Somehow, the vibe, the music and art kept me hooked enough to overcome the “what am I doing?” first couple hrs and I felt I knew pretty much all of what you can do by the end.

If you grew up as a delinquent and grew apart from those people this game gets you. Played it on switch and rebought it for steam love the dedicated cigarette button

One of my favorite indie games. Enough that I ended up buying it twice (avoid the JP Switch physical with Stone Buddha, never updated, crashes near the beginning no matter what you do.) The combat is solidly built and the story is very interesting, not a lot of exposition, but with the little dialogue you find you'll come to know the characters well enough. Great soundtrack.

'The Friends of Ringo Ishikaw' a was a strange and unique title to play. It features an interesting mix of storytelling components, RPG systems, and classic beat ‘em up mechanics. The story initially begins with a fight breaking out on a train and as you use this initial fight before the credits are even shown you learn how to control your character and how to interact with friends. Ringo Ishikawa and his fellow rivals are trying to be the best gang thugs they can be in order to hopefully get recruited by the Yakuza. However, when the game actually begins you are in school where the principle informs Ringo and his friends that the semester is more than half over and the board is split on whether they want to hold them back another year or refuse to let them graduate. It is then up to you to decide how Ringo’s like is going to unfold, whether that be as the most feared gang member, or studying extensively to actually pass school. The gameplay takes the traditional beat ‘em up formula, but adds many different elements to it. The fighting system alone is solidly executed and reminiscent of games like Streets of Rage and Double Dragon, but with the added depth of stats and moves that can be learned and upgraded. 'The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa' is not a game for everyone, as it takes time to figure out many of the gameplay elements. Many of its systems were not well explained and it lead to a lot of down-time where I felt my time would have been better spent elsewhere in-game. While some of the activities also felt somewhat grind-like in nature, its ambitious premise left me intrigued to push on further and I’m sure there will be a dedicated audience for this title that will absolutely love it. I can see this having a Shenmue cult following on a lesser scale and I believe that’s what the developers intended.

delinquent