1991 · Takeru · Adventure · Beat 'em up

Cocoron

Nintendo exclusive

Tapir, an enigmatic blue wizard in spotted pajamas from the Dream World, sends the player on a quest to rescue princess Rua. But things quickly become more complicated and the player soon has to rescue other characters along the way, such as Santa Claus, the king of Trump castle and the blue fairy Cocoron. Tapir can manipulate people's dreams and this ability gives Cocoron an unique twist - the player can assemble his own character by combining one of the eight available heads to one of the eight available bodies (which both include several designs to choose from, resulting in literally hundreds of combinations! ). More than a mere physical appearance, each part also defines the character's attributes, such as his health, speed, how high he can jump and so forth.

Released: 3 May 1991
Platforms: NES
Genres: Adventure Beat 'em up Platformer Role-playing
Developers: Takeru
Publishers: Takeru
Modes: Single-player
Themes: Action
Country: Japan
Age ratings: CLASS_IND L
Languages: Japanese

About

Cocoron is a 1991 action-platform video game developed by K2 and published by Sur Dé Wave for the Family Computer. It was the final game to be developed by Akira Kitamura, creator of the Mega Man series at Capcom, before his retirement until 2024. A version for the PC Engine was announced, but was not released.

Keywords

gravity
brawler
side-scrolling
backtracking
singing
anthropomorphism
platform exclusive
world map
damsel in distress
upgradeable weapons
character creation
betrayal

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Cocoron is a side-scrolling action game. It features full character customization, allowing players to build a character from a toy box filled with spare parts.

Development

Cocoron was directed by Akira Kitamura, who had previously designed the character Mega Man. Kitamura had left Capcom to form the company Takeru. The score was created by Takashi Tateishi, who also did the music to Mega Man 2. According to Tateishi, Kitamura requested "more cutesy" music for the game than previous titles. The artist for the game was Takashi "Utata Kiyoshi" Kogure.

Capcom wanted to release Mega Man 3 to market before Cocoron, and they refused to delay the title despite internal problems of production.