Arcade Archives KiKi KaiKai Will Seemingly Include Western ‘Knight Boy’ Version

This week’s Arcade Archives release for the Nintendo Switch has been revealed. It’s KiKi KaiKai, the scrolling shooter that is the first game in what would become localized as the Pocky & Rocky series. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

In KiKi KaiKai, you play as a shrine maiden named Sayo-chan. She must use her talismans, scrolls, and wand in order to ward off yokai who have kidnapped the seven lucky gods. Like the rest of the Pocky & Rocky games, this means you must go across the entire vertical stage, and fight bosses waiting at the end.

One thing special about this particular release is that Hamster claims that it includes both the Japanese and overseas versions of the game, which you can switch between. However, KiKi KaiKai was never released overseas in the West… officially, at least. There was actually a limited bootleg release of the game, titled Knight Boy. Knight Boy is essentially just a palette swap of the title screen and doesn’t change anything about the game otherwise, not even Sayo-chan’s shrine maiden outfit. Despite saying Taito on the title screen, it’s not officially licensed.

With the Arcade Archives release including the Knight Boy version of the game, it means that Taito may have officially acknowledged the overseas version, despite being a bootleg.

Check out more screenshots below:

Arcade Archives KiKi KaiKai will launch on the Nintendo Switch eShop on March 12, 2020. Here’s a look at what other Arcade Archives games are in the works.