The friends of Ringo Ishikawa

About This Game

A highschool gang leader Ringo Ishikawa trying to live through his last autumn before graduation. With his best friends.

You should play it if:

1) You’re fond of good stories with strong dialogues (especially about growing up)
2) You’re a fight games enthusiast (you’ll get your hands on some unique brawl mechanic and I promise you’ll be satisfied)
3) You’re into some yakuza-delinquent aesthetics

Basically, the game is an existential open world beat’em up with some school sim elements. It has a little of everything: a town to explore, day-night cycle, npc on their schedule, battle grinding, school grinding, mini-games (ping-pong, billiard, video-poker, video-game console with one game…) and so on.

But the main thing is the story I’m trying to tell. And I designed the game to make you feel this story. So it’s not about rival gangs, or taking over turfs, or anything. You just live there and feel. And that’s all.

Reviews

“不良の美学とノスタルジー”
IGN Japan

“There’s a certain amount of existentialism in this game, and it feels very intentional and morose.”
9/10 – Bonus Stage

“…the fact that Ringo Ishikawa is subtle, reflective, and directionless, makes it a brilliant bit of subversion. It also means it’s the most surprisingly thoughtful game I have played in quite some time.”
9/10 – Digitally Downloaded