Shin Chan: Shiro And The Coal Town Review (PC)

Shin Chan is an anime series that I wasn’t very big into. I knew of the series, the jokes, and the aesthetics. My palette for shows differs greatly when it comes to the things that I play. I was interested when I heard that Shin Chan was getting a more cozy new game.

Game Name: Shin Chan: Shiro And The Coal Town
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): h.a.n.d. Inc.
Publisher(s): Neos Corporation
Release Date: October 23rd, 2024
Price: $29.99

Shin Chan: Shiro And The Coal Town has you as Shin Chan visiting his grandparents in Akita on a business trip with his father. Eventually, as the town opens up more for Shin Chan, you will get access to a place called Coal Town. You will be going around as Shin Chan collecting bugs, fishing for trout, picking up objects, and doing the Butt Run.

The Good

The biggest standout of this game is easily the art. The background art and the detail of the textures in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Mine is immaculate. The bright and detailed almost watercolor art makes my eyes cry from the sheer beauty. I was not expecting the art design of a Shin Chan game was going to go this hard. I never really thought of Shin Chan as an Anime with high art design but here we are.

There is a lot of things to collect and do in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. Pretty early Shin Chan gets a bug net that he can use to collect a variety of bugs. You can give this bugs over to Kazuto who is a lady addicted to learning about things. She will take and record the bugs, items and even fish you find to keep a record of it. Fishing and catching bugs are both things you can do, they can be a bit simplistic but still nice all the same.

Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town does a good job with using limitations to force you to take things slow. Areas of the town are sectioned off until you appease one of the kids in the town. Some of them will ask for a bug, or a fish, or an item that you will have to figure out how to grab. Certain bugs can only be caught at night. The time mechanic of this game is also pretty basic. You take a step off the screen and a new screen opens up, as well as an arrow on the screen moves to the right that signifies morning, afternoon, evening, and night.

I played Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town primarily on Steam Deck. It ran at a solid 60 FPS and it looked great. I think the smaller resolution helps a lot with mixing the art with the character models. The character models and faces are reminiscent of the series. The art of the models look just as if they are coming off the screen of the show.

The Bad

For the most part, the time mechanic of Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is decent. There are times however where moving screens happens at accident and it instantly changes the time on you. This happens especially frequently when you are at the grandparents house where little movements can cause a whole screen change.

Sometimes you get tasks from people you need to advance the story and often it will require things you haven’t gotten yet. There isn’t anything to really help you find what you need, you have to just grab everything and hope that you eventually find it. Luckily you can differentiate it of is it an item in the village, or in Coal Town, is it a fish, or a bug or even a farm plant.

The Verdict

Overall Shin Chan: Shiro And The Coal Town is a cozy time. It has some fun humor and dialogue that matches the show. It also has a lot of beautiful art that will make you stare at your screen in disbelief. It can be a bit basic with its mechanics but it is a good time if you are interested in spending some time with Shin Chan and his family.

Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is available on Nintendo Switch and PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: Shin Chan: Shiro And The Coal Town was provided to us by Neos Corporation for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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