[PSP]ティンクル☆くるせいだーす GoGo！

While we're on the subject of exceptions, allow me to point out a second reason that I would even consider shelling out dough for a console galge: The mini-game/s within it is enough to keep me hooked to it long after I've finished the story proper. Given the fact that very few galges have halfway decent mini-games, this particular aspect hardly comes to mind. ToraDora Portable! was the last game that had that kind of thrill, since the Taiga beat-em up provided me with countless hours of total stress relief.

Lillian's Twinkle Crusaders (more commonly known as Kuru☆Kuru) was an eroge that set itself apart from the rest because of it's plainly presented but insanely strategic battle system (similar to the static bash-em ups in older Megami Tensei games). It underwent a couple of revisions and was later picked up (and overhyped) by Ascii Media Works along with Kadokawa games, released once more as Twinkle Crusaders GoGo!, a CERO-compliant incarnation. (I'd say family-friendly, but the dizzying array of panchira CG in this game might raise a few eyebrows towards that wording choice) Anyhoo, on with the review.

Shin: Do I really have to kill this thing...? It's... it's so cute...

Kuru☆Kuru's story revolves around Shin Sakuraba, a down-on-his-luck boy who struggles to make ends meet while attending Ryusei Private Mission School on a scholarship. After finding out that he has been appointed as the new student council president in his second year, Shin has all these ideas about the privileges and freebies he's going to get (home-cooked meals from cute girls, cafeteria coupons for steak, etc.) but alas, it is not to be. Shin's only consolation is the fact that he's the only boy in the student council populated by a handful of girls, and later on he will find that his new position will be way more significant than he imagined... significant enough that the fate of the world is at stake!

Nanaka has been following Shin all his life, even going as far as getting into the same school via a recommendation. Every chance she gets, she flashes some pantsu in his face, hoping that he'll catch on... any other man would have gotten the message, but not our poor, dense Shin...

At the risk of sounding redundant (especially since the prior review was also a galge), Kuru☆Kuru's gameplay mainly constitutes reading and listening through the dialogue, which almost always involves comedy, slapstick and more comedy. The punchlines borrow heavily from new and old Japanese pop culture, so unless you're someone who eats, breathes and sleeps with such information, then you won't be guffawing as much as the people who do, whether they be native Japanese or hardcore gaijin otaku who research these things intensively.

While he can be annoyingly perverted and annoying in general, Pakki is a pretty good sidekick for any budding Demon King.

While most galges emphasize dialogue choices over everything else, Kuru☆Kuru gives you location choices instead. There will always be a girl in the available locations, activating flags towards a specific ending. Naturally, this may lead you to visit your chosen girl often and think that doing so will lead to a good end, but for certain characters (especially the non-SC folks), this mentality will lead you astray. The paths you take will also determine the kind of battles that will occur, so you'd better prepare to save.

Ria-senpai's Divine Panchira Attack... IT'S OVER 9000!!!!

Okay, so you got into this game with the preconceived notion that the battling aspect is a mere mini-game, and that this is just a good way to kill time after going through all the talking... if so, then you're dead wrong. While it does start out simple at first, the battles become tougher with the inclusion of EX abilities, and if by then you still don't know what you're supposed to be doing, you're totally screwed. Winning the battle is the ONLY way for the story to continue. You can set it on Easy mode beforehand in the options menu, but that's the weenie's way out. Luckily for those of the battling-impaired variety, future playthroughs will allow you to skip battles you've already completed.

Macaroon's offering a special service for school cafeteria patrons. For the male students, it's obviously not the parfaits that caught their eyes.

Aside from the usual omake stuff, Kuru☆Kuru also has a trophy system, which rewards you for accomplishing feats both in the galge and battling parts, such as collecting all the Sweets/Japanese Pastries, having Vice-President Misa rack up an unprecedented number of epic failures, and getting a God Rank in any of the final battles. Like most games, you don't really get something special for collecting them all, just the bragging rights essential for OC completionists. (like me) As an added bonus, you can replay the battles you unlocked in the game proper to see if you can improve your ranking and score from your prior encounter. This the main hook that keeps you playing this game unless you're still totally clueless about how it works.

Don't count out the school director just because she's a silly weirdo in her late 20s who gets off on fondling her younger sister's breasts... she can swing a pretty mean pair of katana when the situation calls for it.

I don't know about everyone else, but Kuru☆Kuru spells perfection in my book, being a totally hardcore galge and RPG fan. The battle system is not for the faint of brain and attention span though, you'll need to go over it several times even if you understand the tutorials just to gain even a modicum of skill. Once you do though, it's very rewarding to win over an enemy with an annoying EX skill whose HP is astronomically higher than yours.