Kururin Squash!

Exhilarating action while spinning!

JP release: 14th October 2004
EU release: N/A
NA release: N/A
Developer: Eighting
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 81%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

A sequel to the popular Game Boy Advance game Kuru Kuru Kururin. The series was made by Eighting, who made almost exclusively fighting games at the time, such as the Bloody Roar series. One of the many examples of a developer working with Nintendo to make something very different. After this GameCube Kuririn game, they wouldn’t work with Nintendo again until they ported Pikmin 3 to Switch and co-developed Pikmin 4.

Like the other Kururin games, you control a spinning stick as you navigate mazes. It’s something that sounds simple but is immensely difficult, as the rotation of the stick will alter how difficult certain bends are. Levels have gimmicks to change things up, the simplest one being springs that let you change the direction of the spin.

Some levels have unique features, too, such as water levels that let you dive to avoid obstacles, essentially giving you two layers of obstacles. There’s also some where you’re stuck to a rail while you control a flamethrower by spinning the stick – I didn’t like these at all, but the rest of the levels were great. There’s a surprising amount of variety for such a simple concept and it’s frustrating but fair.

Some levels even add weapons to your stick, either large fists that punch out or, later on, guns to fire. You have to time attacking enemies with the spin of your stick, and I found the simple combat to be engaging due to the puzzle elements. At the end of each series of levels is a wonderful little boss fight. It’s all really cute and enjoyable.

You can either play each level aiming for the best time or hunt for all the coins hidden in the level, which requires a bit of exploration and killing all enemies. These can be used to buy extra health, new UI designs or a GBA link cable game, which is a simple quiz where the GBA shows you a picture and you have to match it to one on the TV screen.

Considering the popularity of the GBA game and how there’s not much text you need to understand Kururin Squash, I’d imagine it was quite a popular import. I think it’s strange that Nintendo never released it outside of Japan.

Great

Like Super Monkey Ball, there’s something superbly simple about Kururin Squash. Just as Sega’s masterpiece can be reduced to a high-concept pitch, so it is with Nintendo’s puzzling beauty.
Jes Bickham, NGC Magazine #101

Remake or remaster?

A remastered collection of the three Kururin games would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Kururin Squash.