Sentokun in Kamakura
This new game by developer Hyohyohyo (green giant) is a short 3D action adventure about personal growth and wanton destruction. Sentokun in Kamakura is the story of a monk with antlers on his head, on a quest to defeat a giant, antlered cowboy. I don't know the fine details of the plot, but I assume their conflict is antler-related.
At the beginning, the monk is too weak to prevail, so to build up his strength, he must ransack a peaceful coastal town and raze it to the ground. If you wish there were more browser games that let you throw houses at people, you may enjoy this.
The number in the upper-left is your strength. It increases whenever you collect coins, pick up objects, destroy things, or defeat enemies. The bad guys basically operate as gateways; initially, they outclass you, but once you work out your issues on the local scenery, you'll be strong enough to trounce them.
Steer your hero with the [Arrow Keys]. He moves like a tank with treads made of banana peels, but you'll adjust. The [Z] and the [X] keys are context-sensitive. When nothing special is going on, [Z] triggers a forward leap, which is a great way to get around quickly. [X] makes you do a somersault straight into the air, and while you're there, [Z] smashes you into the ground. That butt-stomp is useless for combat, but it's the perfect way to collect nearby coins.
Nearly every object in the game, including mountains and buildings, has a weight, which you can see by walking right up to it. Press [Z] to pick the item up, and then you can rotate around and press [X] to throw it. You can pick up things that are a little too heavy by jamming on the [Z] button a few times, but if you try that with something way too heavy, you'll hurt yourself. Just like in real life, exercise caution when uprooting a tree with your bare hands.
Combat works nearly the same as picking things up. Just walk into the bad guy, and hammer on [Z]. For extra antler monk wrestlemania fun, press [left] and [right] while you've got them in the air. If you get beaten, you probably need to whale on the landscape some more to power up. You can also weaken or crush your enemies by heaving a large enough object at them.
Analysis: Sentokun in Kamakura is a happy, carefree game. You can't hurt yourself very easily, except by blundering repeatedly into the same powerful enemy, and the main character feels heavy but nimble. The chorus of sugar-accelerated voices in the music suggest that the best way to play is with reckless abandon, leaving fragments of architecture and dramatic clouds of dust in your wake.
There's obviously some Katamari Damacy influence, in the sense that you start out helpless and grow strong by destroying everything you see, starting with the smallest objects and working your way up to the hugest. One important part of the formula is missing, however—the only sign that you're getting stronger is the emotionless number in the corner. Your character doesn't grow fatter or more muscular or anything, which detracts a bit from the joy of evolving into an unstoppable creature who can literally move mountains.
It's too bad there's only one level and not much challenge. Sentokun is almost like a tech demo, a colorful, flat-shaded playground for you to smash into shenanigans. If it ends too quickly, try combing the area for every last destructible object, in an effort to maximize your strength before the big showdown. You don't get anything special for doing that, of course, but this is the kind of game where you make your own moments. Like watching a once-mighty tree sail out over the horizon where you've thrown it, or beaning a humongous cowboy with a volcano. Those kinds of moments.
[Note: Press [Z] to pass the opening screen. The plot is probably nothing like what I described. It doesn't even look like a cowboy. More like a garbanzo bean with a temple on its head and antlers on the temple. It was easier to say "cowboy".]
[Update! More information on the actual source of the conflict between these two antlered behemoths can be found here. Thanks, JoseHeno!]
you might want to add that the online version requires Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. For Vista and/or Firefox users, there is a downloadable .exe available from the author's site. Unfortunately, this means no Mac compatibility. :[
I am using Mac OS 10.5. No problems at all after downloading Adobe Shockwave 11 for the online version.
Actually, it plays just fine in Firefox, for me. Shockwave has to be installed, of course.
Fun game, too short.
Tip: Destroying small objects by throwing big ones at them gives you the same power as if you destroyed them personally. So grab the biggest building you can, then spin all the way around with it, taking out anything nearby. Then find the best way to throw it and knock down as much as you can all at once.
Some (bad) background info on the characters:
The antler guy (Sento-kun) is a mascot of the Nara Park in Japan, and a lot of people don't like his design because they think it's ugly XD
And I believe the cat wearing the horn helmet is a 2chan meme..? I'm not sure what his name is though.
[Edit by Kayleigh]
Ah, no no wait, the cat wearing the horn helmet is the mascot of Hikone Castle, sorry.
Anybody able to pick up the hillsides? I was able to get the 200k weight block after destroying most everything else, but the 500k one remains just out of reach. The 800k and 1 million block seem impossible.
Grargh!
Shockwave games aren't macwinlinux. Linux does not have a version of shockwave out, 'cos Macromedia have been dragging their heels on it since the beginning of time.
Nice little game, more of a timewaster, but it has a good concept going.
I loved this! I think Keita Takahashi would too :)
Pick up the hillside??? I can't even get the 200K one! It's yellow, so theoretically I can, but even after destroying everything It requires 10x of smashing Z, and I can't get my frantic Z-smashes to register that fast, even though I'm hitting Z 20x.
Please, when you create games, think about people they don't have QZERTY keyboards. Using arrow keys or spacebar is ok, but where is the Z key ? It's not the same here.
So I can't play.
where is the z key? my mind is blown. I think i have a brain tumor now. thanks.
ah. sorry, that was my bad. I somehow managed to miss out on installing Shockwave in the 11 months that I've had this computer. >_>
I'm thinking it might be possible to put your computer settings such that you can just hold z and rack up tons of Z's... I ended with about 320k (Or 32k, I forget) after destroying the first hillside, did anyone else find something else to destroy to boost it significantly?
How inept am I at this? I can't get past the first gate.
I have Windows 2000 and Opera, and the game is running fine, thanks, but, as I said, I am stupid or something. What am I supposed to do? I've picked all the coins etc. And smashed the lamp-post and the hay (?) at the gate, and tried to jump the fence ... Oh my, I am bad at this.
I make it up to very near 32k after managing through the smallest mountain/rockside. I can't get the other three bigger one as one sticks to the orange, the other two in reds.
Pretty cute game though.
@Cheddarius:
If you have AutoHotKey, try out this script. It'll rebind your a key to mash z about fifty times per second.
a::
{
GetKeyState, adown, a
loop
{
sleep, 0
send z
GetKeyState, adown, a
if adown = U
break
}
}
Can anyone help me? I can't figure out how to increase my strength past 152 or how to get past the dog on the wagon wheel.
I defeated one of the spikey orange balls by heaving a lamppost at it, but I'm not strong enough to fight the other, and I can't aim things at it like I could the other one (they just go sailing past).
Veball --
Try picking up the far left section of the gate!
@ray9a
go back to the beginning and destroy as much as you can. Try things that seem to much. You are stronger than you think.
silliee --
Thanks, you were right!
There's something strangely satisfying about sounds and sights of breaking giant structures.... at least it offsets the annoying music ^^;;
Just a tip for anyone who dislikes the music: if you right-click in the game, you should see an 'adjust volume' option. You can choose to mute the volume from there.
Shockwave 11.5r595 in Firefox 3.0.8.
Using Vebyast's AHK script, I managed to get my strength up to a little over 150,000 and picked up everything possible, including all of the mountains. Then I walked off the edge of the land and fell down and got stuck.
Neddo - no LifeAlert in this game, then? :p
Without using any autokey code, I think the max one can get in this game is 36147, which still leaves ~15 presses to get the yellow hillside (either I'm not as fast as I think I am, or the game doesn't register presses as quickly as I'd like). That's including picking up the volcano, the smallest hillside, and destroying the boat with the biggest temple at the end of the game.
Let me know if you get past that.
If only the world were larger so you could pick up more stuff. It would be great to progressively lift bigger and bigger things until eventually you pick up the entire world (though what would you stand on?)
how do you break a boat?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2074689/Manto-kun-the-blob-takes-on-Sento-kun-the-Buddha-boy-in-Nara-mascot-battle.html
For background information on the cause of the conflict.
Can any of you people who have got past the bunny on the wheel give me some hints? I am on about 254 points having:
smashed the lamposts then rocks then gate, then small house. I figure it should be trees or battle the bunny next but i fail miserably on both these.
Any tips?
Ok, done it now. I am either suffering from bad lag on my computer or I am just really bad at hammering on the 'Z' button
ive played this game at least five times now...and i never get tired of it...(must be the katamari like style) but ive tried, and without the scipt key thing...ive been able to pick up all mountians just by pressing z alot...so i guess that means i am really good at this, or i have no life and excel in "z" pushing...
hint :
jump&smash down and floating items are relatively lighter
[Edit:Spoiler added - Please make sure, that you only write english, which is page language :) I doubt, that many people here are able to read chinese signs :))]
@Nora : no wonder the cat looks familiar...lol
There is a little girl character that comes out of the temple at the very top if you hang around the section below it for long enough. She's good for another 5000 points. Though I still can't pick up the 500000+ mountainsides without resorting to the autokey cheats :(
This was so fun I played it 3 times.
I found that if something had a yellow number when you approached it, if you tapped Z rapidly enough, you could lift it. The 3rd time I played, I practically walked through the game using this method.
Loads of fun. :D
I destroyed the boat!
Pick up the center of the temple on the top of the hill. Then turn and throw it at the boat. It will destroy the boat and you'll get +10,000!
Oops.
You only get +1,000 for the boat. Sorry.
I don't see what everyone is saying about using key pressers and such. I was able to pick up every piece of land by mashing the z key quickly. Worked fine for me. I found that right at the beginning, if you pick up the piece of land on the right when walking downhill, you can swing around and sink the boat! 167k and change at the end, I think.
I would love to see more levels!
Bah...I love this game but I HATE mashing keys. I've never been able to work out a good trick for it on a keyboard (and no, I don't want to use some sort of turbo setting...that'd just make me feel dirtier. Well, dirtier than I already am...). I've got methods on a game controller, but even there I really am not that great.
Makes me a little sad, because I can't fully enjoy this awesome little gem.
Curse you slow fingers. Curse you and the hands you rode in on!
tips pleezzze!!!
this is awesome
I seem to remember this being a part of a larger game, with an island level and...some more levels that I can't remember.
Anyone know what happened to those?
If anyone's confused about how this game seems familiar, it's because of a game called Kinpira which is about a young boy on a quest to save his father by lifting things and throwing them. In fact, the same people crated both games and there's a level with the exact same layout as this one
dead link 08/2012. damnably too, i was really looking forward to the houses & the deer head suits.
Found this link to the game:
http://hyogonosuke.com/sentokun/sentokun_in_kamakurahtml.htm
Update