Shin-chan might not be a household name in most countries outside of Japan, but the quirky kid from Kasukabe definitely has his fans. Coming off of the well received Shin Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation in 2022 (2021 for Japan), publisher Neos and developer H.A.N.D. have taken up the mantle to bring another Shin Chan inspired Boku no Natsu Yasumi (My Summer Vacation) title to the Switch and PC. After a release in Japan and Asia earlier in 2024, the game has finally made it’s way to North America and many other territories. If you’re curious about this game, you’re in the right place. Let’s get into it.
Review code provided by publisher.
Story
Shin-chan’s dad, Hiroshi, suddenly finds that he has to go to Akita prefecture for work. Being near his hometown, he’s good with it, and takes the whole family from Saitama all the way up to an extremely rural part of the prefecture called Unbent Village. While his dad is working and mom are taking care of his litter sister, Himawari, Shin-chan is free to roam about, help folks, make friends and more. One day, his dog Shiro comes back home absolutely filthy, covered in soot. Shin-chan follows the dog to a mysterious train that whisks them away to the seemingly frozen-in time Showa era place called Coal Town. Going between the two locations, Shin-chan must find ways to help the people in both locations. All of the general wackiness associated with Shin-chan is here, too, including playful banter and interactions with the townsfolk. The story is a bit fantastical, but it does have a few more serious undertones that make the experience great.
Gameplay
Controls in Shiro and the Coal Town are not complicated, which is a perfect fit for this kind game. You control Shin Chan with the analog stick, use the Butt-only Alien (aka dash) with ZL or ZR, bug net with R, put it away with L and confirm/interact with A. Fishing is also available in the game. This can only be done at specific points and is context sensitive and simplified. To fish, all you need to do is press A at a fishing spot, watch (or feel with rumble) for the fish to take the bait and then press A to reel it in. That’s it. Running around the fish (or bugs) doesn’t spook them, and even if you miss with the timing, the fish will still be there. The lack of gradually being able to reel in the line or do anything else might be a bit disappointing to some, but I found it relaxing.
While Shiro and the Coal town offers 3D movement in a 3D world, there are some limitations. You will not have control of the camera but I never found this to be a problem. This is an intentional choice to showcase the beautifully crafted water-color artwork that permeates the game.
Although you can opt to just spend your time meandering about Unbent Village or Coal Town, missions will help advance the story. On top of the Main Missions, a number of Sub Missions are also available. I found these to be pretty balanced. Usually these require you to bring a certain number of items to a character. General exploration or completing the Sub Missions are a great way to achieve this. Additionally, the game gives you the option to slow down or speed up the game. From the options menu, you can choose to play the game at Slow, Normal (on by default) or Fast. I initially played with Normal, but found that Slow gave me quite a bit more time to get more things done throughout the day. It should be noted that the day/evening/night cycle in the game doesn’t appear to be on a timer, but rather based on the number of screen/location changes.
Speaking of collectibles, there are quite a few insects, fish, plants and minerals to find in the game world. It might seem daunting at first, but I was able to get all of these in under 15 hours with the game before seeing the credits roll. In addition finding things in the wild, there are two stores where items can be purchased and two bulletin boards where items can be exchanged. Even if you find yourself out of money or just can’t simply find something in the world, these are great places to check. To top this off, an achievement system is also built into the game that may encourage players to try to do even more to get the most out of Unbent Village and Coal Town.
Shin-chan’s dog, Shiro, can occasionally play a part in the gameplay. There will be times when he picks up a scent and then reveals various collectables. These typically aren’t relevant to the story or missions, but they can provide another way to pick up some much needed materials.
Most of the game is a pretty laid back affair with one exception - Trolley Racing. This aspect of the game allows for competitive one-on-one racing against CPU controlled opponents in Coal Town. The controls here are also simple with R being used for acceleration and the face buttons for a variety of optional actions elements. For example, projectiles, a barrier, speed boost, a drill and more. This aspect of Shiro and the Coal Town controls well, but it felt a little bit out of place. The majority of the game has players going around the areas at their own pace and helping others. It’s slow paced and stress free. The racing is in stark contrast to this. To be clear, it’s still fun, there are also a number of customization options for your trolley and it can be a nice change of pace. The story does tie things together, but opinions on this aspect of the gameplay will vary.
Visuals, Audio & Performance
The initial take away for many when it coms to Shiro and the Coal Town are the impressive visuals. Not only does the game look good in still screenshots, it absolutely shines in motion. Whether it be Unbent Village or Coal Town, the areas throughout both locations are varied and offer a lot of interesting visual flair. Shiro and the Coal Town gives gamers a glimpse of what rural life in Japan looks like, albeit in stylized form. Whether it be the old, traditional style home that Shin-chan and his family stay in, the rice terrace near the house or the industrialized streets of Coal Town, everything looks fantastic and really nails the Japanese countryside and Showa era aesthetics. The cel-shaded character models also look like they are pulled right out of a lost episode of the Shin Chan anime series. They animate nicely and look great.
To top this off, the game runs at a pretty consistent framerate of 30 frames per second. While this holds true through most of the experience, there are times when the engine can chug a little bit. I found this during the Trolley Races, but nowhere else. It didn’t effect the gameplay, but it was noticeable.
I think the only thing I would have loved to see added here would be the addition of different weather patterns, such as rain or cloud cover. Of course, this would mean a lot more work for the artists and they would have to create these gorgeous backdrops multiple times to showcase these effects. It’s not a big deal and the game still looks awesome, but it still would have been nice to see.
Although there is no spoken English dialogue, the game retains the original Japanese audio, which lends to a more authentic experience. Most of the cutscenes are voiced, however when out exploring, the game is limited to a few one liners from the characters. I was perfectly fine with this. Outside of the characters, the locations sound authentic, really capturing and matching the visuals perfectly.
Conclusion
Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a relaxing game that is a lot of fun to play. The visuals are amazing, it runs pretty well on the Switch, the story is interesting and there are a lot of things to do. If you’re looking for relatively stress free game in the vein of Animal Crossing but with more concrete goals, this is something that you should seriously consider.
But, lets turn things over to you. Are you planning on picking up Shiro and the Coal Town? Did you pick up the last game in this side series, Shin Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation? Sound off with any and all comments down below. We’d love to hear from you.
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