Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town Review

Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a perfect video game translation of a boring summer school break spent out in the countryside. Protagonist Shinnosuke and his family have been dragged out of the city for his father’s career, and he manages to find a way to fill his time with an amazing adventure.

Key Details

• Developer: h.a.n.d., Inc
• Publisher: Neos Corporation, Limited Run Games
• Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch
• Price: $39.99
• Review Copy Provided: Yes

My Kind of Life Sim

The best way to describe Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a life sim lite. It’s got most of the elements you’d expect from games like My Time at Evershine, but they’re pulled back just enough so you’re never overwhelmed.

You play as Shinnosuke, the protagonist of cartoon and anime series Crayon Chin Chan, during a single summer in the countryside. You likely know the drill. His dad’s here for work and the family’s been dragged along. There’s nothing to do so grandparents, the locals, and nature become the toys and playground that home and school offered.

After a short three-day tutorial, you find yourself responsible for helping out Coal Town. The titular location calls to Shinnosuke because all of its coal is gone and the town is dying. It’s up to you to try to fix things.

As you might expect, based on previous Shin Chan games, you do this over the course of dozens of days split into three time periods. Each time you move to a new part of a location, be that the Unbent Village or Coal Town, time passes by. In every screen, you’ll have the opportunity to catch bugs, find items on the floor, and fish.

I quickly got into a routine of clearing out every screen of collectibles before moving on. This served me well towards the end of the game where there are lots of quests that require loads of resources. The sense of progression you feel even if you spend days without completing a quest is also there regardless because every single item in the game has a purpose and will help you at some point.

Mostly Mechanically Sound, Always Enjoyable

Finding items feels similar to farming in this game in that they’re not complicated but play a big part in its economy. You must water seeds and plants and collect items because they’re your resources. You use these to complete quests that require materials or deliverables, and even complete job board tasks by trading them in.

Fishing and bug collecting feel pretty decent considering they’re one-button affairs. However, there were times when I’d swing for the same bug twelve times before catching it, and fish would get away for seemingly no reason. I don’t know if this was just a me problem, but it felt like each mechanic could do with one more pass to tune them up a bit.

My inner collector found great joy in filling out every collection you can in the game before its conclusion. Even if you don’t, it’s built to allow you to complete Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town and go back to fill out those collections and complete unfinished quests with your progress intact.

There’s one major gripe I have with the story, and it’s that you can play too well and end up getting stuck. I hit a point where I had to spend days just running around collecting whatever I could find because an item meant for progression wasn’t signposted or wasn’t available until a set number of days in. It may also have been linked to side quest progression, but it’s difficult to tell.

I’m nitpicking here, but it led to a lull in the game that made me want to move on to something else. If you’re playing Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town, make sure you speak to every NPC and find all those stores and job boards early. They’re essential for main quests, but the game won’t tell you this.

Outside of these pretty minor points, the game is packed with fun activities to explore. I had a great time seeking out quests from NPCs around the world, often handing them everything they needed just after getting the quest because of my aforementioned days of hoarding collectibles.

Something that becomes a highlight later on is a racing mini-game that I had the best time with. You need to collect items to unlock and purchase upgrades to help you win harder and harder races, and I could feel a lot of Mario Kart in the inspiration behind it.

This racing mini-game is actually linked to the phenomenal final boss fight. I say this not to tease you but to point out that not only does Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town have super approachable life sim gameplay, it’s got intense racing and vehicle upgrading that’s an intrinsic part of the story.

Ideal for Handheld

I wouldn’t normally label a game with a preferred platform, but Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is perfect on Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck. I played it all the way through on Switch, and a good chunk of that was with a newborn on my chest. It’s made to be played on a handheld device so you can take it anywhere.

The time mechanic won’t impact the game until you move to a new screen. So you can pause it or stay on one environment for hours before you pick it back up and move on. It hits every note it needs to on the life sim checklist, but without making things so overly complicated that you must be glued to it or carve out time for it.

Note that the game is also almost fully voiced in Japanese. I don’t speak the language, but I appreciate that every major cutscene and all characters have some level of voicework. It brings the adventure to life even more.

Summer Vibes

The summer holidays are a period of every school year that I think everybody used to and still does both look forward to and dread. The opportunity to spend so much time out of school and just playing around doing what you want is enticing, but the reality is that it’s tough to fill your time without a solid plan and the power of daydreaming.

I think Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town perfectly captures that sense that we all had, and kids likley still do have, about the summer. Yes, you can spend all day playing games and hanging out with your friends, but everythign ets boring without an objective, drive, and direction.

This game makes you question just how real every second spent in Coal Town is, but it ultimately doesn’t matter. Every mission, collectible, and character feels important for the duration of the story, and keeps you engaged for the dozen or so hours you’ll spend with the title.

The collectibles are real things my kids collect now. From bugs to produce, mushrooms, and even rocks, it grounds the game and gives you a drive to explore every day. The characters are like those you’d meet if you went away for the summer, and Coal Town itself and its troubles are the story you’d make up on that holiday away.

What Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town gets you playing is what I would construct in my head every summer, and I think it’s brilliant that so many people can enjoy this imaginative playground.

Amazing Artistry

One aspect of Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town that I can’t leave as a footnote is its art. Every environment is beautifully hand-drawn for you to explore, and the unique cel-shaded characters blend into them as if this were a Saturday morning cartoon you couldn’t stop watching.

As if stunning artwork wasn’t enough, the game has an incredible soundtrack. It hits every note for silly, dramatic, and exciting scenes while pulling out all the stops for big cutscene moments. The credits and one very special scene at night that I don’t want to spoil are the best in my opinion, but you should play to see what you think.

Final Score – 8/10

Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a perfect life sim that’s lighter on the management side of things that you can dip in and out of at your leisure. It’s got plenty for you to dig into through its story and a while after without ever overloading you.

This is a magical adventure you’ll instantly identify with, and it’ll make you long for those stretched-out summers where you crafted your own worlds and stories alongside reality too. With collectibles, enjoyable mechanics, and a story that’ll keep you engaged long after it’s over, there’s so much to love about this beautifully-presented title.

If you need a few tips before jumping in to Coal Town, you can check out our guide for some pointers and help make the game a smoother experience.

**A Nintendo Switch copy of Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town was provided to Bonus Action for the purpose of this review.**

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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