Back in the days of the Super Nintendo there was a strange little platformer called Umihara Kawase. It starred a young girl whose only tool was a fishing pole, which, as it turned out, was one of the single most powerful items ever created by man. Not only could it reel in the fish walking on their fishy legs around the level, but its elastic line could latch on to walls and ceilings, allowing the girl to swing across the gaps and use the bounce to fine-tune her trajectory.
It was cute, bizarre, and creative, but never saw release outside of Japan. However, all that's about to change, as Natsume brings the PSP version of the PS1 sequel to this side of the Pacific. Due to the impossibility of translating Umihara Kawase into anything that would make sense in English, it's been retitled as Yumi's Odd Odyssey. Say what you will, it's better than the literal translation Sea Belly River Back.
From the article, "[Jenni Lada] enjoyed Yumi’s Odd Odyssey, Natsume’s brave effort to finally localize an Umihara Kawase game. I applauded the effort and recognize it’s a platformer with a lot of potential, but honestly? It’s the kind of game that really only an uber patient perfectionist can appreciate. (Say that 5 times fast!) At a $30 price point, it just wasn’t inviting."
Yumi’s Odd Odyssey is on discount sale on the Nintendo eShop for 3DS in North America.
"It’s amazing how long it took a publisher to bring such a cult series outside of Japan, but Natsume finally did it. They couldn’t have picked a better entry to introduce this brutal but fair franchise to its new mob of fans in the West. Yumi’s Odd Odyssey is a fun and challenging game that deserves every bit of the praise and reverence that it gets from its Japanese fan base." - Eduardo Reboucas, Entertainium.org
