Sayonara Umihara Kawase
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Sayonara Umihara Kawase, also known as Yumi's Odd Odyssey in North America, is the third game in the Umihara Kawase series, released in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. An enhanced version was released in 2015 for the PlayStation Vita and Windows PC; the PS Vita version of which was named Sayonara Umihara Kawase +. The Windows PC release, despite being a port of the enhanced PS Vita version, was simply named Sayonara Umihara Kawase.
Sayonara Umihara Kawase was released 16 years after the original release of the second game in the series, Umihara Kawase Shun, with only re-releases of Shun having been released in-between.
Differences from previous Umihara Kawase games
Sayonara on 3DS has a total of 50 stages and 60 stage exit doors, and on Vita and PC has 60 stages and 70 stage exit doors. However, unlike Umihara Kawase and Umihara Kawase Shun, Sayonara does not have any unused stage numbers, with Sayonara's stage numbers starting at stage 0 and finishing at stage 49 (or 59 in the Vita/PC versions). In another difference from previous games, with the exception of one stage, Sayonara does not feature any respawning enemies.
New to the series is the 'time stop' feature: the ability to freeze time for a few seconds.
Stage Select and Survival Challenge
Sayonara changes the method of progression throughout the game compared to previous Umihara Kawase games. Rather than automatically progressing through the stages until reaching an ending or running out of lives, stages are selected to be played from a stage select screen; thus, any unlocked stage can be played at any time, without any limit on lives or time. The old method of play is still available as the unlockable Survival Challenge mode; however, there are still no time limits in this mode.
The stage select screen shows arrows between stages, to show which stages a stage's exit or exits lead to. The arrows between stages are normally coloured blue, but the most recently attempted Survival Challenge path will be coloured red. When choosing a stage to play, stats for the currently selected stage will be displayed: the player's current best time to reach each exit door in the stage, how many backpacks are in the stage and whether the player has collected them, and how many times the stage has been cleared or failed.
Pressing the start button on the stage select screen brings up a menu, from which the saved profile data, replays, a gallery of artwork and music, online rankings for the selected stage, and the game settings can be viewed.
Backpacks and unlocking gallery content
Throughout the game, much like in the original Umihara Kawase and Umihara Kawase Shun, there are collectible pink backpacks -- 40 in the 3DS version, and 45 in the Vita and PC versions. Due to the removal of the limit on lives, the backpacks are now used to unlock content. Backpacks are only officially counted as collected if the stage is cleared after collecting them; and any backpack that has successfully been collected at least once will appear as blue, rather than pink. In Survival Challenge mode, which starts with three extra lives, the backpacks do act as extra lives.
Sayonara on 3DS runs at 30 frames per second, rather than the 60 frames per second of the previous games. The Vita and PC versions, however, do run at 60 frames per second. There is also some slowdown while using the Nintendo 3DS system's 3D effect, so it's recommended to play with 3D off.
New characters
Sayonara introduces new playable characters to the series. In addition to the now 20-year-old Kawase (known as Yumi in the North American 3DS version), the child version of Kawase, as well as her childhood friend Emiko, and her future descendant Yokoyama Noko, are all playable. These other playable characters have special abilities which may be useful to newer players: Emiko and child Kawase can restart once from a checkpoint in a stage after failing the stage; whereas Noko can move in slow motion during time stop.
Menu options
In the Profile section, information about the save file history will be displayed: the profile name, currently selected character, total number of stages cleared, endings reached, stage exit doors found and backpacks collected, as well as the date and time the save file was created, when it was last saved, and the total play time. The profile name and selected character can be changed in this section. On the 3DS, the currently selected character will be shown on the top screen along with some information about them. These character bios are available as gallery unlockables in the Vita and PC versions.
In the Replay section, like every game in the series, replays of recent runs through stages can be saved. In the Vita and PC versions, replays can be uploaded for other players to download, and other players' uploaded replays can be downloaded.
The Gallery has artwork of the characters, as well as a Jukebox section with music from the game. Much of this content must be unlocked.
In another first for the series, Sayonara features online rankings for each stage exit and Survival Challenge ending. The rankings are by region on 3DS, and global on Vita and PC. The game settings include an option of whether to save record times when playing as Emiko or Noko, and this setting also controls whether the record times of other Emiko/Noko players will be seen in the online rankings.
In the settings, the controls can be changed, the display of tutorial information during the game can be toggled, the volume of the in-game music and sound effects can be adjusted, and the display of the clear timer, the current stage number, the current time, which direction is being pressed on the d-pad or circle pad, or the collected backpacks can be toggled.
In addition to the unlockable gallery content, there are unlockable outfits for Kawase: one of her outfit from the original Umihara Kawase, and one of her Umihara Kawase Shun outfit. These outfits are selected through the character select in the profile section, and when playing a stage as Kawase wearing one of these outfits, Sayonara arrangement versions of stage music from their respective games will be played.
Pre-order bonuses and other bonus items
The first print run of Sayonara came with a bonus soundtrack CD. There were also six stores offering exclusive pre-order bonuses: Sofmap and Trader each offered a phone card, Animate and MediaLand each offered a bromide, AmiAmi a bookstore card and HMV.co.jp a badge.
Owners of a physical copy of Sayonara who sent in a questionnaire included with Sayonara within three months of its release went into a draw to win a key holder.
Re-releases
Sayonara was originally released for Nintendo 3DS, but has had enhanced releases on the PlayStation Vita and Windows PC.
PlayStation Vita version (Sayonara Umihara Kawase +)
Sayonara Umihara Kawase + (named Sayonara Umihara Kawase Chirari in Japan) was released for the PlayStation Vita in April 2015. See the Sayonara Umihara Kawase + page for more details.
Windows PC version
The PS Vita version Sayonara Umihara Kawase + was ported to Windows PC and released in October 2015 through Steam, with the original Sayonara Umihara Kawase name, despite it being the enhanced version. Not long after its release, it was temporarily removed from the Steam store, following the closure of publisher Agatsuma Entertainment in December 2015[1]. It was once again made available for purchase under new publisher Degica on 5th February, 2016; this had been planned for 28th January, but was delayed slightly while the transfer of rights was completed[2].
The PC version was updated on 21st June, 2016, to support the HTC Vive headset and OpenVR, with a new 'diorama mode' which allows the player to see the game from a different viewpoint. On the same day, Degica and Kadokawa released an Umihara Kawase-themed graphic set for use with RPG Maker MV. This graphic set is available for free download from Steam for owners of RPG Maker MV.
References
Links
- Official website for the Japanese 3DS release
- Official website for the North American 3DS release
- Nintendo Japan informational page for Sayonara Umihara Kawase
- Nintendo Korea informational page for Sayonara Umihara Kawase
- Nintendo of America informational page for Yumi's Odd Odyssey
- Japanese 3DS rankings by gori.sh
- North American 3DS rankings by gori.sh
- European/Oceanian 3DS rankings by gori.sh
