11 Things You Need to Know if You’re Playing Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town

Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a fantastic game that eases you into its story with what seems like a simple retelling of one child’s summer. That is, before it throws you into a much more complex mess that you can’t help but fall in love with.

While the game does a great job of explaining the basics, there are many systems and mechanics in play that you’ll need to engage with and master over time. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but there are some things you should be aware of if you’re planning on playing.

11 Things Every Player Must Know in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town

Below, I’ve listed the 11 things that I think every player should know about Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. If you’re going to be playing, or you’re just curious about the title and want to get some information about it, this is the place for you.

11. Pick up Everything on the Floor

The ground of every screen in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is littered with collectibles. These glow with stars around them. The items seem random and unimportant at first, but they play a big part in the game’s economy.

These items appear randomly as you move between screens. Time advances with every new screen you enter, so it’s worth hanging around and picking up all of these items before moving on to make the most of your time.

10. Stay up as Late As Possible Exploring

Each day, you’ll get a short section of the evening to play through. You can choose to go straight to bed and advance to the next day, but I think the best use of your time is exploring. Don’t miss out on the chance to do more activities and see what everyone gets up to when the sun goes down.

9. Grab Every Bug and Fish You See, Day or Night

As I’ve mentioned already, every new screen advances the day in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. Early on, you gain the ability to fish and catch bugs, and they’re vital to progression.

Don’t sit on these side activities. It takes a while to move through every screen if you’re catching all the bugs and fish you can see, but I promise, without spoiling anything for the story, it’s well worth it.

8. Water Your Farm Daily and Always Have Something Growing

After unlocking your farm, you’re going to have four plots to plant seeds in. Ensure that there’s always something growing here by hitting the farm as soon as the day begins. It’s easy, everything only needs to be watered once per day, and you’ll reap the vegetable rewards very quickly.

7. Speak to Everybody, Even if They Don’t Have a Speech Bubble

I made a huge mistake by not speaking to every NPC I saw for the longest time. Those with main quests and side quests to deal with have speech bubbles, but everyone can be helpful to you. Speak to each NPC you can to make sure you don’t miss a single thing.

6. Complete Every Job Board Request Daily

The job boards in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town are a great source of cash and other resources. If you follow my advice and fish or catch every bug possible, then you’ll have everything you need to smash every job on the board each day. Some of the rewards are required for certain aspects of progression, so make sure you do this.

5. Spend All of Your Money on Minerals in Coal Town When You Keep Maxing Out Your Wallet

After entering Coal Town for the first time, you’ll hit a bit of a lull in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. Use this time to spend all your money at the shop on every mineral you can. This will give you a big stock of them for the late game.

4. Pick up and Complete Every Sub-Mission You Can as Early as Possible

There are dozens of Sub-Missions in Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. These pop up as time advances, and you should be able to smash them out to give yourself a nice sense of progression on each day.

These are a great source of all sorts of great items, so don’t leave them to be completed later. A few require days between completions to advance to the next stage, so hit them as fast as you can.

3. That Dude by the Job Board in Unbent Village is Actually a Shop?!

Okay, I’m just going to give you this one. The guy that stands by the job board in Unbent Village is a shop. You’ll need the items he’s selling, and that’s all I’m telling you. I spent multiple hours waiting to find an item he has, and while I got a lot of other things done in the meantime, I just wish I’d realized this sooner.

2. You Can Skip All Location Transitions After Their First Instance

This took me a little while to figure out too. Some transitions to other areas, such as Coal Town, the mine, and the passing of day to evening, have short cutscenes consisting of artwork that play out. After seeing these once, you can skip them entirely when they start to play again in the future.

This isn’t going to save you a huge amount of time, but when I got into the rhythm of completing quests, fishing, and just wanting to keep being productive, it helped to not have to sit through these.

1. There Are Quests That Require You to Return the Following Day, so Explore and Take in the Scenery

I alluded to this above. Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town has a few quests that you just can’t progress until the next day has begun. If you’ve got a quest with mission text hinting at this, just go to sleep and start the next day.

You could spend the evening fishing and try to do a few other things to help you in Sub-Missions, but there comes a point when you just want to hit that main story hard. Don’t worry. There’s a point of no return where you’re warned to save, so you can load the point just before the final mission and work on all the stuff you haven’t done if you want to.

Before you go

We love Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town. If you’ve not decided whether it’s the kind of game you’d enjoy yet, check out our review to get the details on it. You can also check out this news for Calico and Spirit City: Lofi Sessions.

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About the Author

Jamie Moorcroft Sharp

Editor

Jamie adores the indie games that you don’t hear about until you’re on a video essay binge at 3AM and suddenly the sound of them changes your life. He’s played games all his life and loves looking at the intricate details that make them magical and different. If there’s a wierd list, embarrassing feature, or something else far too out there on Bonus Action, there’s a good chance he wrote it. But that’s not all! He’s also an absolute fiend who never knows when to stop when he puts on his dirty robes and takes on his D&D persona as a Mud Warlock who acts on that tiny voice in your head when it wonders what would happen if you did something really dumb right now. He’s easy to beat in a TGC, though, just keep an eye out for his crazy card combos.

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