i dont care what you say this video game character is my boyfriend
December 18, 2013 1:07 PM   Subscribe

If you've ever dreamed of making out with one of the villainous cats from Mappy or getting into a love triangle with the spaceship from Galaga and a talking Taiko drum, enrolment at Namco High is now open.

Namco High, a dating sim featuring a variety of classic Namco arcade and console characters, is a weird romantic trip through over thirty years of videogame history, mixing retro arcade stars with re-imagined versions of some obscure characters from Namco's Shiftylook site, where a number of webcomic artists and writers have been publishing comics and cartoons starring figures from the company's back catalogue since 2012.

The game is intended to be as inclusive as possible, and neither presumes a specific gender (or any at all) on the part of the player character, nor limits dating options based on other characters' sexualities, since understandably everyone finds tiny sweater-wearing space royalty equally enchanting. There's actually a recent Tumblr post by the Editor-in-Chief at Shiftylook and Producer on the game talking a little about this, in the context of the game being stuck with a unified Namco ID system that requires users to choose male or female.

The creative team includes a whole bunch of wonderful writers and artists - the best known is probably Noelle Stevenson, of cute supervillainous webcomic Nimona, but that page on the official site is well worth following some links from, as there are lots of fantastic comics and art from all of the Namco High team.

Creative Director for the whole Namco High project is Andrew Hussie, best known for wildly popular webcomic/animation/mixed-media monstrosity Homestuck as well as earlier reader-participation series Problem Sleuth, Bard Quest and Jailbreak. Three Homestuck characters appear in Namco High as fellow students who can be interacted with and/or dated alongside the fifteen Namco characters.

The game is free-to-play and can be played all the way through without spending any money: although only six Namco characters (the Galaga ship, Lolo, Valkyrie, Anti-Bravoman, Meowkie and Albatross) are available to actually date for free, the entire cast is present for conversations and story without being bought. If you happen to have an understandable hankering for forbidden Mr Driller love, the store can be found here. (It's worth noting the Homestuck characters currently can't be unlocked for dating separately, unlike everyone else: they come only as a bonus if you buy the $15 'Deluxe Pak' which unlocks absolutely everybody)

Finally, while on the subject, Homestuck is currently on a break from regular updates but still being actively worked on, and when the mega-update comes, it will be the last Homestuck update ever and will include everything up to and including the ending and will very likely break the Internet. So now's a good time to catch up! Also the links under the Homestuck characters below are aimed at people who haven't read it and want silly representative samples of the Namco High characters, so SPOILERS, MAYBE. But probably not big ones.

The students:


Cousin (player character)
Katamari Damacy series (2004, PS2)
This specific Cousin doesn't actually appear in the Katamari series, as such: they are a non-gendered, rename-able original addition to the 58 collectable, playable Cousins in the games. Namco High opens with the Cousin being sent to detention, where they first meet the rest of the cast, for rolling up a significant portion of the school and student body into a Katamari in an attempt to emulate the Prince.

Gameplay video of the iconic final level in the original Katamari Damacy
Most of the Cousins in one big image
Cousin dance!
Some photos of a Cousins cosplay gathering at Christchurch Armageddon expo 2011
Inspired by that cosplay link? Here's a guide on how to make Katamari character heads and become your true Cousin self
First page of the Shiftylook Katamari comic


Galaga
Galaga (1981, arcade)
Surprisingly not the (inanimate) ship from the Shiftylook Galaga comic. Possibly the actual ship from the games was a discrete conscious entity and extremely popular in school.

Play Galaga (Flash)
Comes recommended by SHIELD agents, too
Arcade-History entry for the Galaga series
Comparison video of lots and lots of Galaga ports and sequels
The Shiftylook Galaga comic


Lolo
Klonoa 2 (2001, PS2)
A non-playable character introduced in platformer Klonoa 2, she appeared in playable form in a few spin-offs and side games as well as the Shiftylook Klonoa comic.

Cutscene introducing Lolo in Klonoa 2
Some Klonoa 2 gameplay from later in the same video
Lolo on the Klonoa Wiki
Lolo in Klonoa Beach Volleyball
Hardcore Gaming 101 on the history of the Klonoa series (Page 2)
Page one of the Shiftylook Klonoa comic


Valkyrie
Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu (1986, Famicom)
The title character of a series that's almost unheard of in the West, Valkyrie started out as a Famicom RPG, followed up by a slightly better known arcade/PC Engine action-shooter sequel.

Original Famicom gameplay
Gameplay video of the arcade sequel, Valkyrie no Densetsu
Valkyrie has made a few cameos in the Tales series over the years
Hardcore Gaming 101 on the Valkyrie series
Arcade-History entry for Valkyrie no Densetsu
The first page of the Shiftylook Valkyrie comic...
...and the first page to use the art style Valkyrie is drawn in for Namco High


Anti-Bravoman
Bravoman (1988, arcade)
The character called Anti-Bravoman here originally appeared as Black Bravoman, a recurring boss in the original arcade/PC Engine stretchy-limbed parody-em-up and a palette-swapped version of the hero. He had a different appearance again in Namco x Capcom, but the version attending Namco High is the bumbling villain/anti-hero from the Shiftylook Bravoman comic and web series.

Play Bravoman (Flash) (PC Engine port)
Trailer for Bravoman Binja Bash, a recent iOS/Android game based on the Shiftylook series
The Shiftylook Bravoman comic...
...and the web cartoon series


Meowkie
Mappy (1983 arcade)
All of the pink cat burglars trying to catch mouse cop Mappy in the arcade game are collectively called Meowkies (or Mewkies), with the only named cat being the boss, Nyamco. The Meowkie in Namco High is a kid-slash-ex-gang-member of the thieving Meowkies from the game.

Play Mappy (Flash) (Famicom port)
Comparison video of the various Mappy ports and versions
Arcade-History entry for Mappy
The Shiftylook Mappy cartoon series


Terezi Pyrope
Homestuck (2009)
Trapezi T3R3Z1 Terezi is one of the most popular characters in Homestuck, an alien, and a troll in every sense of the word. Blinded as part of a lengthy feud, she 'sees' by smelling and tasting stuff. Hence her tendency to lick people. She's a lawyer-in-training (sort of) and obsessed with JUST1C3. 4ND T4LK1NG 1N C4PS. Also eating chalk.

Terezi's introduction page
Terezi's entry on the wiki
OK TH1S M1GHT B3 H4RD FOR 4N 34RTH B4BOON TO UND3RST4ND...
A short comic by the (in-universe) creator of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, about Terezi
More recently, Terezi in repose
How Terezi was blinded (Flash, sound, will make little sense to the uninitiated but look, colours)
Flashback to Terezi's adult ancestor and role model (Flash, sound, same disclaimer applies)
Also you can buy the plush dragons Terezi likes to sentence and execute


Donko
Taiko no Tatsujin (2001, arcade)
Donko is an animate drum who dances around during songs in some editions, alongside living-Taiko-drum-dog-thing mascots Don and Katsu and a surprisingly huge supporting cast.

Arcade Taiko footage: a very talented guy playing two-player mode solo
This isn't the first game to feature Donko and romance... (minigame from Taiko no Tatsujin: Wai Wai Happy! Rokudaime, PS2)
Actual Taiko drumming...
...and more real Taiko drumming
Episode 1 of the claymation Taiko no Tatsujin show, featuring Don and Katsu being given life
Incredibly in-depth English-language fan blog for the Taiko series
Detailed info on every arcade version and cabinet
The Osu! free rhythm game/engine, while it started life as a way to play DS rhythm classic Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan on PC with custom songs and beatmaps, has a fully-featured Taiko no Tatsujin mode that's by far the best way to try out Taiko. It even supports the original Tatacon drum controller if you happen to own one
Here's the list of beatmaps/songs for Taiko mode


Albatross
Rolling Thunder (1986, arcade)
The protagonist of the Rolling Thunder games, and an agent of the World Crime Police Organization.

Play Rolling Thunder (Java) (NES port)
Video of a complete playthrough of the arcade version (Part 2)
Hardcore Gaming 101 history of the Rolling Thunder series
Arcade-History entry for Rolling Thunder
How long will Albatross live? (from this odd little series on game characters' life expectancies)


Nidia
Dragon Spirit (1987 arcade)
As far as I can tell Nidia is an original character from the Shiftylook comic - the original game's (pretty minimal) storyline has a soldier named Amul transform into a dragon to rescue Princess Alicia from the evil Zawell, and the comic has a female hero named Nidia alongside Amul on the same quest.

Play Dragon Spirit (Flash) (PC Engine/Turbografx 16 port)
Play Dragon Spirit (Flash) (NES port, some extra content)
Arcade version gameplay video
Video of a no-hit run through the PC Engine version (Part 2, 3, 4)
Arcade-History entry for Dragon Spirit
Shiftylook comic


Mr Driller
Mr Driller (1999, arcade)
The son of Dig Dug! Mr Driller has been ported to basically every platform in existence, so it shouldn't be hard to find a copy.

Play Mr Driller (Flash) (Gameboy Color port)
Arcade version gameplay
Arcade-History entry for Mr Driller


Blue Max
Sky Kid (1985, arcade)
Blue Max is the Player 2 character from Sky Kid, a blue bird in a biplane to Player 1's Red Baron. Max's name is a reference to the Pour le Mérite, which the real Red Baron received. There's basically zero story in the game, so the Namco High Blue Max is either or both the game and comic versions.

Play Sky Kid (Java) (NES port)
Arcade version gameplay video
Arcade-History entry for Sky Kid
First page of the Shiftylook comic (complete)


Hiromi Tengenji
Burning Force (1989, arcade)
Piloting a transforming hoverbike/fighter jet thing, Hiromi is literally a space cadet undergoing a six-day test (where each day is a level in the game) to become a Space Fighter.

Play Burning Force (Flash) (Megadrive/Genesis port)
Arcade version gameplay video
Hardcore Gaming 101 on Burning Force
Arcade-History entry for the arcade version


Ahiko Matsuo/Amazona
Wonder Momo (1987 arcade)
This is another Shiftylook original character: the original Wonder Momo game is a beat-em-up where a transforming heroine goes up against aliens, monsters and robots, but the entire thing is presented as a live-action show with an audience (and some creepy fanservicey jump-kick animations, and guys with cameras in the audience who the player has to be careful not to do certain revealing moves in front of). The comic stars the daughter of the original Wonder Momo, and her rival-slash-friend Ahiko, or Amazona when she's in costume.

Play Wonder Momo (Flash) (PC Engine port)
Arcade version gameplay video
Wonder Momo/Bravoman team-up in Namco x Capcom
Arcade-History entry for Wonder Momo
First page of the Shiftylook comic


Taira no Kagekiyo
Genpei Tōma Den (1986 arcade)
Taira no Kagekiyo is (hopefully) unique amongst the Namco High student body as an actual, real historical figure, a samurai who took part in the Genpei War. The arcade game, which posits a resurrected Taira no Kagekiyo fighting demons in a Yamato-e painting world, isn't the first fictionalised version of him: he appears in Chapter 11 of Heike Monogatari. And now a dating sim where he can make out with the Prince of Space's cousin. He's also another character whose Namco High appearance is closer to his original arcade game form than his Shiftylook comic.

Play Genpei Toumaden (Flash) (PC Engine port)
Arcade version playthrough video (Part 2, 3)
Arcade-History entry for Genpei Toumaden
Genpei Toumaden was also released as a 'computer boardgame' for the Famicom, with a cartridge meant to be played alongside the board - details are a bit scarce, but here are photos of the box contents, an account (in Japanese) of trying to play the thing, and video of the Famicom part.
Shiftylook comic (titled 'Scar', only loosely based on the game)


Jane Crocker
Homestuck (2009)
Jane has a decent claim to being the co-protagonist of Homestuck, although she's only introduced a fair way in. She's heiress to the (evil) Betty Crocker baking empire, fancies herself a detective-slash-comedian, has an inexplicable attraction to funny and/or blue men and has a fake moustache that acts as a phone.

Jane's introduction page, a mirror of the first ever page of Homestuck with her in place of John after the timeline was reset
Jane on the wiki
Jane is cool and collected in matters of the heart
Also she has that moustache communicator (Flash, sound, animated sequence summarising months of adventures with great music)
Another thing about Jane is she seems to transform into other versions of herself a lot
It's not always so disturbing, although maybe it is
She really has only had about five minutes outside of one mind-controlled state or another in the past year


Yuichiro Tomari
Ordyne (1988, arcade)
Tomari is the little dude piloting the Player 1 aircraft in his game.

Play Ordyne (Flash) (PC Engine port)
Gameplay video of the arcade version
Hardcore Gaming 101 on Ordyne
Arcade-History entry on the arcade game


Richard Miller
Time Crisis (1995, arcade)
As well as being the extremely 90s-action-guy protagonist of the original Time Crisis, Miller shows up as a boss in the bonus Crisis Mission mode of PS2 Time Crisis 2, and in Time Crisis 4 on the PS3.

Arcade version gameplay video
Arcade-History entry for Time Crisis


Davesprite
Homestuck (2009)
If I say Davesprite is a version of absurd ironic-not-ironic cool kid Dave Strider from a splintered, doomed timeline, where he saw his best friends die and lived with that for months before travelling back to the point the timeline fractured and merging himself with a ghostly guide in order to prevent those events from ever happening, then I realise I'm confirming everything you ever suspected about Homestuck. But that's what he is. He's also kind of part bird, and still injured and missing a wing from a really bad fight, and prone to introspection over not being the 'real' Dave.

Davesprite (or Alternate Future Dave) on the wiki
He's also an alternate version of the author of/the author of Sweet Bro And Hella Jeff
Davesprite gets along surprisingly well with non-bird Dave
How Davesprite lost that wing (Flash, sound, kind of long)
Davesprite has an epiphany
John calls him 'Dave Sprite' like it's a first name and surname
He also has the power to vaguely watermark the sky with his smug orange face
He may or may not have a ghost butt
posted by emmtee (49 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've barely started playing, and I'm a Homestuck so I really should have expected this, but Davesprite's whole schtick in this game totally took me by surprise. And by the end of my first one-on-one scene together I was pretty much destroyed.

Dammit, Hussie.

DON'T YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF MY HEART ALREADY?????
posted by Narrative Priorities at 1:10 PM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


What is this?
posted by maggieb at 1:13 PM on December 18, 2013


Narrative Priorities: "DON'T YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF MY HEART ALREADY?????"

I was not prepared for Davesprite in this game. Not prepared!

*sob*
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 1:18 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


What is this?

A Japanese-style dating sim that features various Namco video game...er, "characters" (like the laser-shooting spaceship from Galaga) going to high school with the cast of Homestuck. It's sort of an "interactive novel" format where you progress through the story by reading dialog presented over still images, making decisions for how your character will act that eventually lead to romantic entanglements.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:21 PM on December 18, 2013


(I love love love the concept but would be way more enthusiastic for the game itself if I weren't so utterly sick of Homestuck)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:23 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I love love love the concept but would be way more enthusiastic for the game itself if I weren't so utterly sick of Homestuck

It looks to be extremely easy to avoid Homestuck characters if you want to. Like, I'm not sure if you ever NEED to talk to any of them to play the game all the way through.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 1:27 PM on December 18, 2013


a dating sim featuring a variety of classic Namco arcade and console characters

CTRL-F "MS. PAC MAN"

... Phrase not found ...

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:29 PM on December 18, 2013 [5 favorites]


* Is the principal the King Of All Cosmos? Because he basically has to be.

* I notice the guys from Warp & Warp are nowhere to be found. That's probably for the best, as one on the characters is literally a tongue monster.

* emmtee has gone far beyond the call of duty on this one, basically taking one of Namco's weird web experiments and turning it into a celebration of video gaming. Thumbs up!
posted by JHarris at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


The Galaga comic is so much fun.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm not playing it until I can date one of the cars from Ridge Racer
posted by hellojed at 1:46 PM on December 18, 2013


I am nothing if not awed by this.
posted by Zalzidrax at 1:48 PM on December 18, 2013


Hey Namco, maybe you could take a break from the really convoluted internet performance art and actually release some games. They could even be based on these characters! I hear Klonoa fans would like one. (Actually I lie, Klonoa fans starved to death waiting)

(PS, isn't the Galaga comic by Christopher Hastings? If so definitely go and check out Dr. McNinja, essentially the only webcomic I still bother reading).
posted by selfnoise at 1:48 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Written by Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics), drawn by Christopher Hastings (Dr. McNinja), colored by Anthony Clark (Nedroid, colorist on Dr. McNinja). It's basically a perfect creative team.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:51 PM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


The Galaga comic is a collaboration by Hastings, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, and McNinja Colorist/Beartato cartoonist Anthony Clark.

Basically a dream team.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:52 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Dammit!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:52 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ha! That's what you get for including helpful links!
posted by jason_steakums at 1:53 PM on December 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


If you think you're sick of Homestuck, what's really happening is you haven't read enough of Homestuck.
posted by Rory Marinich at 1:53 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


The gaming/anime people on my Twitter feed are super pissed about the inclusion of Homestuck characters in this. It's a weird spillover from their feeling threatened by kids cosplaying as Homestuck trolls and whatnot at their conventions, and it's kind of gross.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:55 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Or I read so many words of Homestuck that I wanted to break Hussie's fingers off so he could never again write anything in trollspeak.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:55 PM on December 18, 2013


Oh man if you think canon troll quirks are annoying you should see my fanfic.
posted by emmtee at 1:56 PM on December 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


(they also all seem to hate Nightvale, for similar insecure "they're invading our cons" reasons. If Namco really wanted to troll folks hard they just need to add Cecil and Carlos in a future DLC pack.)
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 2:00 PM on December 18, 2013 [4 favorites]


> If you think you're sick of Homestuck, what's really happening is you haven't read enough of Homestuck.

I managed to enjoy Homestuck until I got to the multi-thousand word pages of circular exposition in which the author verbally abused himself for writing multi-thousand word pages of circular exposition consisting of the author verbally abusing himself. Done entirely in all-caps-and-numerals trollspeak.

You'll have to try harder to convince me to tough that out.
posted by ardgedee at 2:02 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm not playing it until I can date one of the cars from Ridge Racer

She dropped out last year, got knocked up by Rally X. (She claims he's a great BANG.)

why yes i made a joke that like three people in the world would ever get
posted by JHarris at 2:04 PM on December 18, 2013


four
posted by ardgedee at 2:09 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wonder Momo (the game) is such an odd and self-referential thing. It's practically made of fan service, but it somehow manages to be charming anyway. Basically your mini-skirted teenage girl character uses punches and kicks to beat up bad guys until she builds up her power meter, then she gains a superhero outfit and can attack them with a hoop and lasers.

Except all this takes place on stage. The whole game is a play! With an audience that includes guys trying to get upskirt shots on the protagonist with cameras, which stun her for a second if they succeed. It's one of those many little pieces of WTF from Namco's back catalog that make it a fascinating company, I think.

(Burning Force is another such game, although it's misnamed. It should be called Stare At A Girl's Butt On A Space Motorcycle.)

It's depressing, well to me anyway, that no character from the epically underrated Propcycle made it into this.
posted by JHarris at 2:16 PM on December 18, 2013


It should be noted let it get lost in the shuffle of the megapost that Wonder Momo also has a webcomic, written by the egregiously awesome Jim Zub(kavich), creator of Skullkickers.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:18 PM on December 18, 2013


I'll throw the link to the first page of that Wonder Momo comic out here again, because I don't wish the horror of navigating Shiftylook's awful archive interface on anyone.

like seriously there is a reason every single other webcomic ever has a 'first page' button and it's because sometimes new people want to start reading the thing
posted by emmtee at 2:25 PM on December 18, 2013


Valkyrie is an interesting character too, as noted above pretty much unknown in the west and yet has quite a following in Japan. She's not really been in many games, and what she's been in are surprisingly un-fan servicey. And the music in her arcade game is TERRIFIC. (Note: video has lame edited-in music until gameplay starts, please don't let that dissuade you.)

But my favorite thing about Legend of Valkyrie is that it's a two-player game, and P2 is Xandra, who is a full-on cutesy lizard person. I actually don't know Xandra's supposed gender, I think it's intended to be male despite the name, but I really don't know. All I know is it takes an awful lot of charisma to be Player 2 to a kick-ass Norse warrior goddess with an awesome soundtrack, and Xandra pulls it off.
posted by JHarris at 2:32 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


I totally forgot to include it in the post, but Xandra has their own SNES game, that is weirdly the only Valkyrie-related title to get a Western release, under the title Whirlo. Xandra's in Namco x Capcom as well, but I can't find a video that isn't forty minutes of someone slowly advancing dialogue between characters who aren't weird adorable green amphibian things.
posted by emmtee at 2:38 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


The one thing I know about Valkyrie is that she showed up as a novelty costume in one of the Soul Calibur games (2, I think?) that nobody understood because none of her games exist here.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:42 PM on December 18, 2013


Yeah, I'm amazed that Valkyrie and Xandra never got the nod to be released in the US. Even Whirlo I think only got a European release because I know I never heard of it back in the SNES days. It might have to do with the fact that the first Valkyrie game was a weird, oppressively difficult Zelda wannabe for the Famicom.

Anyway, I'm oddly happy Blue Max is in this, because Skykid is another of those amazingly underrated games, like Propcycle, that litter Namco's history.
posted by JHarris at 2:44 PM on December 18, 2013


I'd do a post on Valkyrie myself, except it'd probably just end up being a link to Hardcore Gaming 101's excellent writeup, which was already linked above. In short: she comes from the heavens to fight cutesy monsters, she has the power of Amazing Theme Music, and she's BFFs with a Lizard Person. Wait, I already said those things? Okay.
posted by JHarris at 2:46 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Here's a YouTube playthrough of the score attack levels of PropCycle. The thing is the game "controller" is actually an exercise bike, and the faster you pedal on it, the faster you go in the game. The Story Mode, which goes through four stages, is quite a workout! I know I'd get worn out after stage three.

A gym that got one of these babies in it would have my business for life.
posted by JHarris at 3:05 PM on December 18, 2013


I love threads like this one, because they're an excuse to dip into my improbably large body of gaming knowledge. I'm sure to add more stuff to it as I think to.
posted by JHarris at 3:31 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Looking at Xandra, I can't not see Vattu. I wonder if Xandra was an inspiration for the character design.
posted by jason_steakums at 4:10 PM on December 18, 2013


Is anyone else completely unable to play the game? I can't even get it to load on Chrome, it says I have the wrong browser specs even though I don't, and on Firefox it just goes to the store and there is no option for free play.
posted by capricorn at 5:19 PM on December 18, 2013


Once you register your account, it automatically kicks you to the store, presumably because money. If you go back to the main site there's a button to click to start playing, or at least there was for me.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:31 PM on December 18, 2013


All I see is "redeem code" and "sign out", alas.
posted by capricorn at 5:34 PM on December 18, 2013


Sorry, wrong link for the main site. You want Namcohigh.com, not Namcohigh.shiftylook.com. Because that's logical.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:45 PM on December 18, 2013


That "Play Now" button just takes me back to the store, but I'll stop trying to use Metafilter as tech support now. ;) Thank you for trying to help, though, I appreciate it.
posted by capricorn at 5:54 PM on December 18, 2013


Wait, what is the purpose of the store in the game? Is it pay to play? To unlock things, in a web game?
posted by JHarris at 6:27 PM on December 18, 2013


Ah, in order to date various Namco characters you have to pay money. And for all of them the total is over $13. Um, no thanks, my curosity over what would happen if one of the Prince's cousins decided to hook up with the ship from Galaga ends the moment money enters the picture.
posted by JHarris at 6:30 PM on December 18, 2013


As I understand it, some of the relationship lines are free, thankfully including the Galaga one.
posted by IAmUnaware at 7:44 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Looking at Xandra, I can't not see Vattu. I wonder if Xandra was an inspiration for the character design.

Dunno. Xandra should be in more things though. Wielding his stabby pitchfork of might.

That reminds me of how one of my favorite Soul Calibur characters was Lizardman. The joke was that his moveset is identical to Sophita's. Also, one of his weapon demonstrations has him just sitting down having a quiet moment.

In short, more games need lizard people. More games, but fewer elections.
posted by JHarris at 10:18 PM on December 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Meowkie's storyline is pretty touching, and a lot of the dialogue is laugh out loud funny.
posted by ShawnStruck at 4:07 AM on December 19, 2013


The other cat enemy in Mappy, the red cat named Goro, is known in Japan as Nyamco, and is kind of slightly a Namco mascot due to the simularity of its name and that of the company.
posted by JHarris at 7:14 AM on December 19, 2013


I can't believe some folks are actually complaining about spending $13 on a game that contains over 120,000 words of text and hundreds of full-color art assets. Particularly when you're only paying for extra content and the core of the game is free.

I mean, I can, but it's depressing the hell out of me.

Would they also be complaining if the game was totally free-to-play but forced you to watch ads during scene breaks?

Like, seriously, this stuff takes thousands of human hours to put together. Do those people not deserve to eat and pay rent????
posted by Narrative Priorities at 11:28 AM on December 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


I can't believe some folks are actually complaining about spending $13 on a game that contains over 120,000 words of text and hundreds of full-color art assets.

Some of us have a limited income.
posted by JHarris at 1:38 PM on December 19, 2013


JHarris: "I can't believe some folks are actually complaining about spending $13 on a game that contains over 120,000 words of text and hundreds of full-color art assets.

Some of us have a limited income.
"

As do I, so I play through the 6 fully free characters and click on the others for side story details. QED.
posted by ShawnStruck at 10:44 PM on December 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


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