Mina & Michi Review

Game: Mina & Michi
Genre: Action, Adventure, Puzzle
System: Switch (also on Steam, PS4, PS5, and Xbox One)
Developer | Publisher: lightUP, Ratalaika Games | eastasiasoft
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $4.99 | UK £4.49 | EU € 4,99
Release Date: June 30th, 2021

Review code used with many thanks to eastasiasoft

Mina & Michi is a cute, short puzzle game that is one to two players. Its pixelated style makes it feel like a retro game, but Mina & Michi is a brand new puzzle adventure title from lightUP and Ratalaika Games.

The Story

There isn’t much of a story for Mina & Michi; basically, two adventure-loving best buds, a human girl named Mina and her robotic BFF name Michi, head out on an adventure. Players get to pick which season they wish to play in, the season alters the look of the game’s terrain as the pair solves puzzles and battle slime.

The opening cutscene is just Mina remembering that time when she and Michi went on that adventure, and the whole game is a flashback to them solving the puzzles and surviving together.

Gameplay

Mina & Michi is at heart a puzzle game with a little bit of adventure thrown in. Most of the time, players will be moving through the world and interacting with plates, keys, and mazes to figure out how to get through to the next screen. There is some combat, but it is not the main focus by any means.

One player can control both Mina with the left stick and Michi with the right stick, or two players can each have a controller. Unfortunately, if playing 2-player, Mina’s “Pet Michi” button will be on the Michi player’s Joy-Con. Working together, Michi can fight battles while Mina moves boxes and uncover keys to keep moving through the levels.

There are a handful of items that players can collect to upgrade Michi’s attacks or add more hearts to Mina’s life total.

The Pros of Mina & Michi

Mina & Michi is adorable. The style is a kind of pixelated cuteness that will appeal to any fan of kawaii things (“kawaii” is the Japanese word for “cute”). There is an integrated speed running clock built-in, and it has three different levels of difficulty: easy, normal, and difficult.

You get to choose the season you want to play in. Each season has a different look and feel, though it does not appear to change the layout or the puzzles in any way. Visually, this game is old-school and stylish.

The Cons of Mina & Michi

Mina & Michi is an extremely short game. The game consists of just a few puzzles and two boss battles before the whole game is over. While players can extend the length of the game by attempting some speed running or by upping the difficultly, there isn’t much replayability after the puzzles have been solved. It could use several more levels to give it more content.

While the other versions of the game may be different, the controller layout for the Switch version could be better. Pressing the “A” button on the Switch disconnects the Joy-Cons and brings up the controller connection screen. It’s a button that is used too frequently in other games, and it was a little too easy to panic press the A button while I was playing. That kind of setup, while it does make moving from single to two-player very easy, is a little weird and distracting to the game.

Mina begins the game with four hearts, and she cannot participate in combat in any way. Michi doesn’t have a life bar and can be knocked around as often as he wants without dying. It makes Mina feel superfluous, and she just gets in the way during both boss battles. I can imagine that playing as Mina for most of the game in a two-player situation would be incredibly boring; she has to just wait around or dodge attacks while Michi does all the fighting.

Since most of the screens look a lot alike, it’s easy to get lost in the game. Have I been here before? Is this a puzzle I’ve already solved? How do I get out of here? were all questions I frequently asked myself while playing. It is unfortunate that most of my playtime was spent repeating the same locations several times, trying to remember if I had completed this part already or not.

Conclusion

There are a lot of negatives in this list, but the positives shouldn’t be forgotten. Mina & Michi is cute, short, and a co-op two-player game that can even be played with younger kids. While it is frustrating at times, it did have some things going for it.

Overall, Mina & Michi was such a mixed bag of pluses and minuses, I’m not really sure how to feel about it.

Final Verdict: I’m Not Sure.