"And much like Christmas, originally about the birth of a religious savior-figure named Jesus, is now about buying things for people and hoping that they buy more things for you, much how Easter, originally about the death of a religious savior-figure named Jesus, is now about receiving rabbit- or egg-shaped chocolates, now and forever Obon is about collecting all of the Pokemon." Japan, trains, marketing, pachinko, hordes of stamp-seeking children.
posted by silby on Aug 7, 2009 - 34 comments

Takeshi no Chōsenjō: it came before the endurance test that is Desert Bus, and served as an inspiration for Janey Thompson's Marathon. In English it is known as Takeshi's Challenge. Released in December 1986 for the Famicom system, the game mechanisms include use of the Famicom microphone to sing karaoke for an hour. And that's after you drink to the point of blacking out, divorce your wife, quit your job, and learn to hang glide AND learn the Hintoba language, amongst other things. All of this takes place in lands populated with nothing but people that want to beat you to death. Of course, you can skip that all and complete the game in a mere 4 minutes by simply walking off the edge of existence, and magically ending at the final treasure room. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jul 25, 2009 - 42 comments

Sure you consider yourself a retro 8-bit gaming geek, but have you played Udon Boy in Ramen Land, or Kung Fu Psycho Rider? Don't feel bad, they're from Japanese culture store Meteor's annual Famicase, an exhibition of imaginary games.
posted by artifarce on Jun 5, 2009 - 7 comments

Nintendo Wee
posted by jonson on Apr 10, 2008 - 51 comments

bit Generations is a line of Japanese budget-priced Game Boy Advance games Nintendo released these past two weeks. Most of the titles feature minimalist graphics combined with simple but engaging gameplay, echoing the company's recent philosophy. Perhaps the most intriguing of the games is Soundvoyager, in which the player relies almost entirely on audio positioning to progress- a bit reminicent of this. No word on a US release yet, but if Electroplankton made it out here, maybe there's a chance.
posted by Dr-Baa on Jul 30, 2006 - 10 comments

Hardcore Gaming 101 has a e-newsletter, but the best things there are the loving introductions to dozens of classic games and game series, all either sadly forgotten or practically unknown to the Western World. Thrill to the serious action of Compile shooters! Avoid the mocking gazes of friends, roomies and significant others while reading about venerable Konami cute-em-ups Twinbee and Parodius! Figure out why the hell so many Namco games have Valkyrie in them! Try to keep a straight face when confronted with the likes of Ganbare Goemon, Phoenix Wright, The Neverhood, No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!!!, Panic!, Urban Yeti and Segagaga, the Sega Simulator! Do, uh, something along with the T&A delights of Keio Flying Squadron, Popful Mail and Valis! All this and much, much, much much more.
posted by JHarris on Mar 29, 2006 - 26 comments

Princess Maker 2 - Stressed out from current events? I doubt the game is as much fun to play as it is to be bewildered by, but either might help. "...is basically a perverse sports management simulation where your entire team consists of a single ten year old girl that you have to raise to adulthood. Much like any decent sports manager game you have to keep track of a nearly overwhelming number of statistics that fluctuate based on training. In Princess Maker 2 these run the gamut from the mundane like "strength" and "charisma", to the droll like "cooking" and "conversation", to the bizarre like "sin" and "temper". "
posted by soulhuntre on Oct 28, 2004 - 13 comments

In-your-face shoot-em-up action by bedroom-coders/games designers. From Japan: Warning Forever; Perfect Cherry Blossom; Cho Ren Sha 68K; Bullet Philharmonic Orchestra; Score Soldier; rRootage; Every Extend; TKKN / Crazy Game; and Galshell: Blood Red Skies [NSFW]. Be attitude for gains! From the West: Deadeye; Strayfire; Warblade; Mutant Storm; Bugatron; Space Birdz; Spheres of Chaos; Battle of Yavin; Demonstar; 'Troid; Platypus; Gridrunner; Intensity XS; and Tsunami 2010. From the pages of Edge magazine.
posted by nthdegx on Oct 1, 2004 - 9 comments

His name is Mr Freetime, he has 2,967 copies of Moero!! Pro Baseball for the Famicom. He knows how to use them.
posted by nthdegx on Aug 6, 2003 - 11 comments

Boon-Ga Boon-Ga! [via fark] - a video game played by spanking. Even worse is the person dressed up like the game controller at a trade show, even more disturbing next to the person in the turd (?) costume. Brought to you by Taff System (link not functional at time of posting)
posted by plinth on Jan 5, 2001 - 0 comments