Product Info

Platform

Switch, PC

Publisher

neos

Developer

h.a.n.d., Inc.

Series

Shin Chan

Genre

Action, Simulation

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

2.6 GB

Release Date (NA)

Oct 24, 2024

Purchase From

eShop

Steam

Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a delight with its simple graphics and laid-back adventure.

Welcome to Coal Town

The Nohara family are on a business trip to a rural area called Akita where things are peaceful and carefree. Shinnosuke, the five-year-old character you’ll play as and the main character in the anime series, Crayon Shin-Chan, takes a ride in a mysterious train that lands him at Coal Town, a lively and prosperous but mysterious place where it feels like time has frozen. You’ll travel between Coal Town and Akita where you’ll collect things, befriend the locals, take on quests for the townsfolk, and solve the mystery in Coal Town.

Before you take your trip to Coal Town, you’ll spend about an hour getting used to the game’s collecting mechanics, meeting the townsfolk, and otherwise familiarizing yourself with everything. The game slowly feeds you piece-by-piece to draw out your experience in Shin-chan’s adventure.

It’s Night and Day

The game’s clock works fast, too fast, as day and night just fly by. Your exploration between areas takes a decent chunk of time and merely travelling to Coal Town counts, too. This gives you less time to do your activities, such as collecting items for a quest or for your collection. Once it’s dusk, you’ll be prompted to return home for dinner by a cutscene.

After dinner with the family, you’ll have the ability to explore areas at night. Night time grants you the chance to find insects and creatures in the water nearby that only come out after the sun has set. However, there are fewer available areas to explore compared to daytime. You can’t stay out too long either. Another cutscene lets you know you are sleepy and then shows Shin back at home sleeping.

You can forgo spending adventuring at night and go straight to bed if you wish to start the day sooner. For how fast the cycles go through the day, it can be challenging to get everything done within a day. Some experiences, such as collecting a certain amount of bugs or food items for money, will go away the following day if not done in time.

Money in the game isn’t used often, but you’ll utilize it to buy specific items to help prolong the game’s story. You can also use the purchased items to trade for new items.

Collect Them All

One of the biggest parts of the game is collecting. Similar to simulation games like Animal Crossing, you’ll collect bugs, fish, and food items to complete your book. You’ll use a bug net to capture bugs, a fishing rod to grab fish, and scavenge areas for edible foods. You won’t get them all at once, though. Whether you’ll pick them up is based on the location and time of the day.

The game does a great job to help identify new bugs that haven’t been caught yet by displaying flashy sparkles. Without it, they blend in too much with the gorgeous backdrops. Fish swim and can only be made out based on their shadows. Even then, you won’t know what you get until you successfully catch one. Crabs and other non-fish organisms located in water require a different tool which is unlocked later in the game. Capturing either of these creatures is very easy. Fishing takes more effort: it’s a matter of waiting for the fish to make the first tug. Once it happens, hit the action button on your controller to reel it in.

When you make any new findings, you’ll want to report to Kazuko in order to make an official marking in your book. It’s a fun side activity that’s not required to complete everything, but it’s fun nonetheless.

Off to the Races

Trolly racing is one of the best parts of Shiro and the Coal Town. The biggest downfall is you have to play about halfway through the game to get it. This requires not only progressing the game’s story but also doing side quests to unlock this activity.

Once available, you will have some difficult times but will also find it to be a fun challenge. You’ll unlock new tracks and the opportunity to upgrade and customize your trolly cart for different cart racing experiences. For example, will you choose to make smoother turns or distract your opponents? Some of these ideas would be great to see in other games like Mario Kart.

Beautiful Landscape

The graphics in Coal Town may look simple, but they resemble the original illustrations of the popular anime very well. Its animation and movement is great and complements the stylish and vibrant backdrops. Each one is vastly different from the other, and when the time of the day changes, so do the colors in the background. The shimmering rice fields look beautiful as the sun sets. The fireflies glow brightly when walking down the dirt path. It’s like every area is a painting.

The music suits the picturesque visuals. It’s calm and collected—and why wouldn’t it be in a rural environment? In addition, the voice cast for the anime series return for this game, giving it that extra official and authentic touch.

The Final Ride

Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a delightful game that captures the anime with beautiful backdrops, fun racing, and collecting.

A Nintendo Switch review code provided for this review.