Since there's a Rabi-Ribi LP here, I decided to play it again (after a few months of failed GoS LP and NoR). Why is my laptop couldn't handle game with pixel art and lots of bullet anyway?
You play as Erina, a bunny-turned-human (who is basically Reisen with hammer and bunny suit) who wanted to be reunited with her master, Rumi. Accompanying her journey is Ribbon, a fairy who (dressed provocatively) leans close to the 4th wall and wanted to rescue her friends (though you don't have to since they'll get Stockholm Syndrome shortly and you'll get an achievement if you do that). Together, they beat up lots of girls, crazy fans, and cute creatures.
The game has 2 modes of gameplay: Metroidvania exploration and boss battle. The exploration is easy as crap, you can just defeat all normal enemies with just breathing. The boss battle on the hand, is way much harder. It's also the bulk of the gameplay. Like every Metroidvania, you got a large world (10 maps) to explore in any order you like. Any movement that is not jump must be obtained by getting the item. For the offensive, Erina have her Piko Hammer that wrecks anyone's day and Carrot Bomb, which is utterly useless aside from finding secret. Ribbon handles all your ranged options, this means that when you don't have her or she's out of commission, you're without ranged attack. She has basic shoot straight bullet which is her most useful attack, a beam that is good for comboing but causes you to be unable to see enemies' bullet, Healing Staff that only heals piddly 1 HP per charged attack, and many more. All of them can be boosted for a very strong attack and temporary buff. Every attacks requires either MP or SP, so you can't spam them nilly-willy. There's also hidden tech, an unlisted move that can be executed any time and incredibly useful for speedrunner. I only found 3, 2 of which is Quick Drop, and Reverse Wall Jump, Walk Jump without Wall Jump that is incredibly useful for sequence breaking.
You can upgrade their stats by finding a lots of items, and badges in the world and you can upgrade your gear on the shop. But this game actively punishes anyone who dares to collect items. You see, getting those items levels up the bosses. If you don't want them to kick your butt, you need to constraint yourself from getting them.
Maxing money is really simple, actually spending it IS the problem. By the time I reached the final boss, she's at LV 87.
Like I said before, boss battle are the bulk of the gameplay. There are a lot of character in that game and if you want to recruit them, you'll have to beat them first. There are 24 bosses in total (it's not spoiler because there's a menu for checking your stats against them). Basically, if anyone has a portrait, you will have to fight her sooner or later. Bosses will try to kill you by spraying a lot of danmaku at you. Fortunately, you do have a small hitbox, unfortunately, the game is platformer, not a shoot-em-up. They're also incredibly resilient it took me 5-10 minutes to beat just one of them. Piko Hammer is the fastest way to defeat them, but this requires getting close to them. Imagine point-blanking Cirno's Icicle Fall - Normal. Boss battle is ranked using Devil May Cry's esque Rank System. You need to be stylish and continually damage them in order to to gain rank, failing to damage them for a while or getting hit will reduces your rank. So you need to play as a bunny hybrid of John Rambo and Dante if you want MAX Rank.
Shortly after Erina and Ribbon begins their journey, they are menaced by UPRPRC member, a bunny-obsessed fan who tried to capture Erina and they comprised half the enemy roster. An hour later, they finally arrived at Rabi Rabi Town and Erina is reunited with her master (and we got a nice CG). So, the rest of the story is now Erina recruiting anyone important to help Rumi activating Stele for Erina and Ribbon to be able to go to the Other World (read: ours) to find Rumi's sister, Miru. First attempt: They didn't get far before they're being menaced by Illusion Alius (Dark Erina and Ribbon). They fight just like them, except they have moves that I haven't gotten yet, and cheats (You'll take randomly when you combo them and Dark Ribbon can blast charged attack 3 times). Those girls will become a recurring boss. Second attempt: They are menaced by something disgusting and irritating, OTAKUS. Their sprite looks hideous, their attack hurts and comes out instantly and randomly, and they're such a pain. Being harassed by Illusion Alius II is a much better aspect, despite she can use your full combo that takes away 50-75% of your health. Third attempt: They met and fought the final boss for a while before she sent Illusion Alius III at them. Last attempt: It's pretty much a boss only chapter against a creepy boss without your ranged attack (and the boss resists attacks from bunny), and a final boss with 3 forms. After many attempts, I achieve victory against them and get a happy ending... Or is it?
There's still 6 unmarked boss in the Town folder.
As befitting of Doujin game, its music were all really good (with the exception of Boss 1 since it's just sounded too cheery and generic). They were so good the game even sell it as a DLC that is pretty expensive to buy. My favorite stage BGM is Inside UPRPRC (Damn, that name is so awkward to say in english. But it's full name pretty much translated to Rabbit Licking Club). Shame that it only plays at a small area that can be skipped. My favorite boss BGM is Sudden Death, boss BGM that is pretty much reserved for Illusion Alius.
There are a lot of achievement in that game. And I do mean a lot. There's achievement for sequence breaking, 0% run, item gathering, nonsensical achievement, to "You want me to do what?" Achievement. There's 3 separate achievement for game over for bunny's sake (one for dying, one for dying besides UPRPRC member) . No damage run is pretty out of the question for me.
Anyway, before I finished, I wanna ask a question: What's with Japan hatred with Otaku anyway? Doujin company sees otaku with nothing but pure hatred.
EDIT: I just found out something interesting. Rabi-Ribi is not made in Japan. Instead, in Taiwan. Y'know, the country that gives us great rhythm game such as Cytus, Deemo, VOEZ, and Hack and Slash on freaking iOS and Android. But still, that game does filled up with Japan tropes it's easy to mistook it.