Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Every few months I sit up with a start and think to myself, “I haven’t checked Nekogames for ages!” The obscure Japanese site, in a muddle of Japanese and English, is most known for the splendid Cursor*10 – a puzzle game that has inspired many others since. Then there’s my absolute favourites, the Hoshi Saga games asking you to hunt down a star in dozens of smart and entertaining levels. So what’s been happening since the last time I had a look? Well, a much smarter site design and a couple of new games to check out.

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While it appeared a couple of weeks ago, I’ve only just noticed the latest Hoshi Saga game has been released. Yoshio Ishii is a wonderfully inventive man, his tiny, simple Flash games stacked with gorgeous ideas. And the Hoshi Saga are best of all, each comprising of 30 minuscule gaming morsels where you must aim to find a star. You can find part one here, and part two here.

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After playing both of the really lovely Hoshi Saga games (and then annoying my sister by not helping her when she gets stuck), I realised that they came from the same person who wrote the completely stunning Cursor*10, Yoshio Ishii. I then realised I don’t have the faintest idea who Yoshio Ishii is, and wanted to find out. It’s not immediately clear.

For someone who’s generated quite so many superbly fun Flash/Shockwave games, he gains little attention, lacking even a Wikipedia entry. GameSetWatch gave Ishii some coverage in 2006, and Googling his name will give you results based on commentaries of various games. Also, his cat-based Neko Series saw some coverage in 2006. But where’s the glory? Gaming’s equivalent of B. Kliban deserves more attention. So here are a few other highlights from his collection.

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