Challenge From Kiyoshi (8.4Mb)
A Challenge From Kiyoshi is indeed just that, a real challenge! Casual gamers will undoubtedly find Challenge from Kiyoshi a difficult side-scrolling platform game to progress far through, and not only is it decidedly on the tough side, but screens are littered with instant-kill traps as well! This is reflected in you having 999 lives at the start. You could well use up 100 lives on getting through the first three levels! But for those who like a difficult platformer as a challenge, this one would be hard to beat! It’s probably one of, if not the - most difficult platform game(s) around to actually complete!
A businessman is about to get promoted, but then an earthquake happens . . . and things get really crazy!
It is brutally difficult in later stages; you’ll find puzzles that need unusual (and tough to find!) solutions and the occasional invisible platform that you can only happen on by trial and error! I can get through the first level after the earthquake in one go without any problems (If you find the first level easy, try attacking the company president!), but the second level is far more OMG Arrgh!, as timings, moving and jumps have to be just right, in fact about perfect, in one or two select places, to succeed. Some later levels need a combination of constant very precise jumping and timing! When you complete each level, the checkpoint save moves to the start of the next level. This checkpoint is kept if you exit and resume the game later.
999 seems a lot of lives, but you get one go per level and have to restart the level each time your character gets killed! The number of lives is reset back to 999 about half-way through the game. There’s a time limit for each part, but you are far more likely to get killed than run out of time!
Some of the levels are quite varied. There’s a gangster mob fight level and a flying level amongst the various platform levels. As well as enemies, some of whom shoot, there’s a very good assortment of spikes, retracting spikes, pits, moving platforms, collapsing stones, stompers, falling blocks, fireballs and logs that catch fire - to keep you well occupied and right on your toes, and to keep your tension, anticipation and concentration very well honed indeed, if not constantly at breaking point! There are thankfully occasional places of refuge! Though not enough to keep things in any way over-comfortable! There are also boss fights after some levels. You get the ability to dynamite things later in the game. The skeletons level is mighty difficult!
You can reset lives and restart from the beginning at any time by deleting the save file in the game folder. It runs direct from the extracted folder and is the English version, at least for the main messages! There are 18 levels and two boss fights, going by checkpoints. You could consider these to be 3 parts, with each part split into several stages.
Controls are ‘Arrow’ keys to move L/R and crouch, ‘X’ key to select/advance dialogue and jump - and extended high jump by holding the ‘Down Arrow’ key as you press the ‘X’ key. The ‘D’ key is used to attack. ‘Tab’ key restarts stage from checkpoint , ‘Esc’ key exits the game and the ‘F4’ key swaps between full-screen and windowed modes. The ‘Spacebar’ pauses the game. Press the 'X' key to start and also use this key to advance the game when needed, eg after 'game over' or after completing a level.
The graphics are retro and most excellent, and music though of Japanese origin is catchy and fun to play along to. The game plays in XP, Vista and Win 7 (32-bit). No guarantee is given whether it will run on Win 7 (64-bit) computers.
The screenshots make it look much easier than it actually is. They don’t give a real indication of just how difficult this game is!
Boy this is one mean ‘son of a b****’of a game, but it’s truly great fun; if you don’t mind frequent (or very frequent!) demise of your game character, and constantly restarting stages!
It's a brilliant and really excellent platformer!
And who wouldn't want to take on this sort of challenge?
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZATMK2M4eA (Additional walkthroughs on YouTube)
Download HERE ---- Use the underlined Japanese text to download the English version, under the red download button!
(High speed) Video Walkthrough up to last levels http://www.nicozon.net/player.html?video_id=sm10555391
