This is from a classic series that started on the Famicom as Kiki Kaikai. It came to the US later, on the SNES, and was renamed to Pocky & Rocky, probably because a title like Kiki Kaikai would be a harder sell. It was a shoot ’em up, except you have control over the scrolling, and you can shoot in 8 directions. It got a sequel on the SNES and one on GBA called “Pocky & Rocky with Becky” which seems a bit more similar to the NES original than the SNES games from what I’ve seen (never played it myself).

There has been a few games kinda like this since, such as Heavenly Guardian on PS2 and Wii, and Mamorukun Curse on PS3 (which took on a more bullet hell approach), but Pocky & Rocky itself has been dormant for quite a while.

I was really hyped to try this one, let’s see if it’s a good revival!