Ivy the Kiwi? is a 2010 Platform Game for the Nintendo DS and the Wii, designed by Yuji Naka, developed by his studio, Prope, and published by XSEED Games. In 2012, it was ported to iOS devices as well.
You play as Ivy, a newborn bird (presumably a kiwi, but the question mark in the title makes one wonder) who has been separated from her mother. Ivy is not controlled directly; instead the player must create ramps, slingshots, roadblocks and the like out of vines for her using the stylus or remote.
This game plays very much like a throwback to the golden years of gaming, with very little plot and straightforward 2D platforming gameplay.
This game provides examples of:
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: How many blue rats have you seen?
- Beak Attack: The titular character can be thrown with bouncing vines, spinning around pointy beak first and breaking destructible blocks.
- Collision Damage: The second most common cause of death in this game.
- Eggshell Clothing: You play as newly hatched bird, after all.
- Excuse Plot: This is about the gameplay more than the story.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Ever wonder why you have to collect ten feathers for an extra life? Well, it turns out that Ivy's mother is a phoenix! In the story book, you find out that Ivy follows a trail of her mother's feathers. Reminds you of Phoenix Down from Final Fantasy, doesn’t it?
- Happy Ending: Ivy finds her mother, who is a phoenix.
- Invincibility Power-Up: They appear beginning with the second set of stages. They protect her from enemies and the many instant-death spikes.
- The Lost Woods: Rat Woods.
- Missing Mom: The plot in between levels is Ivy searching for her mother.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Ivy.
- Questioning Title?: A rare example of this kind of title in video games.
- Regional Bonus: The backgrounds had more color added in the versions released outside of Japan.
- Spikes of Doom: Spikes are the main cause of death, but you can protect Ivy against them by stretching vines above them (or below, if they're hanging from the ceiling and you need to pull Ivy upward for some reason).
