One may be either alarmed or excited when they first lay eyes upon the artwork in this game. Plump pig girls in skimpy cleavage-bursting outfits flying around on motorbikes is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. But whatever you think of the characters, what programmer Shinobu Yagawa has constructed here as a game is no less than brilliant, with a depth and refinement that only years of experience can produce.

When you see the game in motion, the first thing to jump out is the fact that everything is animated wonderfully and the game is brilliantly detailed. Such incredible detail and animation unfortunately takes a heavy toll on the SH3 processor at the helm of CAVE’s proprietary PCB, and there are parts where the game stutters in a noticably jerky fashion (the beginning of stage 2 is a glaring example). The enemy ship design in this game is an old-school CAVE fan’s dream come true, as it is more or less an extension of the style used in Ketsui , but updated with bigger, more detailed, and better animated sprites. It should also be noted that the boss designs are some of the best Cave has ever produced.

The bullet patterns are more Raizing than CAVE, in stark contrast to Pink Sweets, which was heavily infused with CAVE-style bullet spreads. Many of the bullets are elongated shapes, their colors predominately green and blue, their movement not terribly fast, as long as you don’t let the rank get out of hand (more on that later). They are hard to dodge in dense bundles, but generally easy to manipulate across the playing field. Your hitbox is typical Raizing (as seen in Pink Sweets), so do not expect to be able to miraculously fly through bullets clouds as you could with a bit of luck in a game like Mushihime-sama. Other Raizing characteristics include the lack of a visible hitbox, and no life gauges on the bosses.

The music, aside from the boss theme, is unfortunately quite bland, and a step back from Pink Sweets. Stages 4 and 5 are not that bad, but the first three stages are really quite disappointing. Overall though, this is a minor quip, as it is just game music, and it fits into the background well enough. I do not play Cave games for the music, and I definitely will not be buying the upcoming MMP soundtrack/superplay DVD package for the music either.

There are five stages in this game, which I find to be a wonderful change of pace for Yagawa – his previous games Ibara andPink Sweets were six and seven levels respectively. The game does not really have any dull moments, and the length of a single run from stage 1 until the stage 5 clear is a perfect 25-30 minutes, just the way most of my other favorite games have been (Ikaruga, Mushihime-sama, etc). But for those who want a longer challenge, there is a second loop in the game, and going for a 2-ALL could keep you busy for years.

The gameplay system is quite simple, but like all great scoring systems it lends itself to a tremendous amount depth. The A-shot destroys enemies, who in turn produce parachuting pigs in the sky and stationary pigs on the ground. Once you suck in these pigs (which is done automatically for the parachuting ones if you are within a certain, generous range), they fill up your lard meter. Press the B button to use the lard attack, and instead of piggies you get gold medals in the shape of pig heads, which are automatically sucked in once you revert back to the A shot or your lard meter empties out. These rise in value from 100 to the maximum 10,000 points a piece, and serve as the heart and soul of the scoring system. Once you max out at 10K, the rhythmic “pork gold rocking”, as it has been termed by westerners, becomes almost hypnotic, and feels more of Ikeda’s touch (he is listed as a “system adviser” for this game) than Yagawa’s. Lastly is the C button, which detonates your bomb, converting all bullets and enemies in its path into the essential lard-meter-filling piggies that permeate the game. Those looking for a more in-depth account should peruse my strategy guide for the game.

Muchi Muchi Pork! is not a difficult game. For me it is perhaps CAVE’s easiest game to 1CC, with the possible exception of DeathSmiles (which I have yet to play). It took me less than five days of sparse play to 1CC it with Rafute, the yellow pork girl who looks and acts far too young to be in a game like this, but has a speed and accuracy that make her the perfect candidate for a quick and easy 1CC. A week or so later I had 1CC’d it with Ikuo, the buxom blue pork girl with the homing shot and strongest lard attack, and then the 1CC with Momo, the cute, pink, protagonistic pork girl with the wide shot, followed soon after. Despite being easy to clear on a credit, if you are going for a good score, the game becomes far less of a pushover.

Like most Yagawa games, the difficulty is predicated upon how well you score, and how many lives you have in tow as you go through a level. In other words, this game has rank. And indeed, the rank can become quite brutal if you allow it. The nice thing about MMP is that unlike Yagawa’s previous work Pink Sweets, the rank is very controllable, and once you figure out how to control it (i.e. just try and have 3 or less spare lives in stock most of the game) you can rock the pork gold throughout the game with little to no fear of getting slammed backwards. In addition, you can have 3-4 lives in stock (sometimes even 5) and still make it comfortably through most parts of the game if you are a moderately skilled player, something no one but the best of the best could ever dream of doing in Pink Sweets or Ibara when medaling. Extends are given with every 10 million points you score, a la Ibara Kuro: Black Label.

Thankfully the game gives the scorers out there a real incentive to control the rank and suicide often, as each time you die you get a full bomb stock. Using bombs to milk bosses is a crucial element in the scoring system, as a well-placed bomb while a boss is spamming the screen with bullets converts all of those bullets into parachuting pigs, which are worth 1000 points each when your lard meter is maxed out. Rinse and repeat a few times via suiciding for a fresh bomb stock, and you will quickly gain a few million points. The beauty of this boss milking and suiciding is that it is more seamlessly integrated into the gameplay flow than anything Yagawa has done previously with similar systems. It just feels natural, and after awhile you almost become unaware of the suiciding element in the game. As a final note, the size of each pork girl’s breasts appears to correlate with their scoring potential, and the three demarcations in this cline are lined up neatly from left to right on the character select screen. There is an inverse correlation with bust size and character speed.

Muchi Muchi Pork! is a delight from start to finish. It is tremendously fun, in a way so pure and effortless that it does little but bring a smile to your face the more you play it. I feel no hesitation in proclaiming it to be Yagawa’s magnum opus, and a game equally accessible to newcomers and veterans alike, with diverse play modes including the tougher Manpuku and
Harahara modes, along with a second loop only accessible by 1-life-ing the first loop (a charming example of Yagawa’s sadistic humor). If you are in the market for a new CAVE PCB, or happen to chance upon it in the arcades, definitely give it a try.