Spinning Bird Kururin!

By Tom Bramwell Published 28 May, 2002

Duck-based spinning puzzles return.

Source - IGN

Kuru Kuru Kururin was one of those inspired game concepts that just plain worked, and worked over and over again, standing up to literally hours of frustrated replaying of the same levels. It was a brutally unforgiving premise - you guide a spinning stick through a maze without brushing the sides - but its thirty or so levels and cute, anime-style characters with propeller heads all came together to create an off-the-wall cult puzzle hit. Unfortunately, the Yanks never got it. This isn't some juvenile dig at their mental capabilities (but thanks for planting the seeds to kick that one off), it's a simple fact. Kuru Kuru Kururin was released in Japan, and then in Europe, but if you live in the United States you can't buy a domestic copy. And Nintendo is very sorry. To make up for this fact, the Japanese gaming giant has in fact unveiled Kururin Paradise, which is either a sequel or an enhanced version of the original game - it's difficult to tell. IGN makes mention of a couple of new sub-games not included in the original. One of the levels apparently has forced side scrolling with obstacles strewn about, no doubt piling on the pressure, and in another there are rows and rows of cannonballs hurtling towards you. A further level still consists of mowing a lawn with your rotating stick. If Kururin Paradise can live up to its lineage then this could be another hit for Nintendo. Due out at the end of the year, we're certainly looking forward to it. Let's just hope and pray that Nintendo doesn't reverse its previous decision and deprive us of the game instead. Related Feature - Kuru Kuru Kururin review

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (6) Latest comment 10 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Gestalt #1 10 years ago

    All this Repton nostalgia reminds me, Kuru Kuru Kururin looks uncannily like Balloons on the old BBC Micro. Balloons had you guiding a balloon through a maze, with it swinging backwards and forwards rather than spinning round and round. Same basic premise though.

  • fernandoweb #2 10 years ago

    I loved the first game but it did drive me to distraction - I was always dead jittery after I'd finished playing it (read: losing at it)- hope the next one's a bit more forgiving :)

  • otto #3 10 years ago

    Kuru Kuru was the only game I had for my GBA for a while, basically because it was the only one that interested me when I bought it, and if Advance Wars, Golden Sun, etc etc had been around then, I probably wouldn't have touched it. Which would have been a *big* mistake because it's an excellent game and ideally suited to the GBA. I still go back to it regularly.

  • Moonbender #4 10 years ago

    Played it on an emulator for a quarter hour or so, I thought it was quite dull ... though it's probably more fun in the original form.

  • Pirotic #5 10 years ago

    if you shop around you can get Kuru Kuru Kururin for £14.99, can't remember where.

  • mal #6 10 years ago

    You can get it for that price in Dixons if you get the dopey shop assistant who sells it you for five quid less than the label price. Yay!

    I saw Asda selling some games for £15 (including Columns), so some of their stores may have it for that price.

    Now I've just got to find somewhere to buy the GBA console itself...

    Oh...and Airwolf on the BBC was quite similar where you had to pilot the chopper through some caves (??) but if you wanted to get anywhere fast you had to swing the copter sideways and usually whack the tail into a wall. Or something like that.
    Edited by 1 at 28/05/02 @ 12:41

  • #7 10 years ago

    yeah.. this is what i'm talking about. definitely on my shopping list. anyone interested check this movie out : http ://www.nintendo.no/e3/gba/video/kururinp.mpg