Deadly Premonition stands as a fantastic example of Japanese gaming. On a purely technical level, the sandbox adventure of an FBI agent called to a small American town in order to investigate a bizarre murder often seems rough and quaint when compared to the mammoth open-world releases we’re used to from Western developers. And yet, what Deadly Premonition lacks in power it makes up for in charm. While some wrote it off, those who really gave a chance to the project Japanese creator Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro poured his heart and soul into found a game overflowing with personality, attention to detail, interesting characters, and a style of storytelling that you won’t find coming from any other country.
Category: Action
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Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble
Yankii (or, depending on how you romanize it, “yankee”): A slang term sometimes used for Americans outside of the States, and people from the Northern U.S. by, well, us Yankees. It has also, however, come to be a nickname for delinquent youth in Japan, specifically those that skip school, get in fights, don’t care about social norms, and do such unspeakable things as dying their hair to a color other than black.
What is it about this lifestyle that is so interesting, and at times almost romanticized, as we might do here in the West with the “greaser” subculture from the 1950’s? Whatever it is, there’s no denying it: the life of a yankii is a whirlwind of adventure and excitement.
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Onechanbara The Movie
Let’s make a checklist of things that I like.
Cute Japanese girls? Check.
Girls in fashionable outfits? Check.
Cowgirls? Check.
Samurais? Check.
Schoolgirls? Check
Gun-toating girls? Check.
Zombies? Check?
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Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ
For a long time now, I’ve had a thing for Little Red Riding Hood. Not any specific girl, mind you, but the overall idea of the character herself. It’s a tale with a lot of potential, you’ve got to admit: young girl with a distinctive look, trying to save a loved one from the threat of a vicious wolf. I’ve even had, for many years, the perfect game based around the character planned out in my head. You’ve got Little Red Riding Hood, dressed in a blood-red Japanese Elegant Gothic Lolita-style outfit, traveling through the dark and daunting German countryside (complete with fully German voice acting), hunting down the bloodthirsty werewolves she has unwillingly been tasked with killing. In grand Devil May Cry fashion, the action is fast and furious, and you must fill your enemies full of silver bullets until they are severely weakened, giving Riding Hood the opportunity to relieve them of their heads with a swing of her mighty sword.
…er, anyhow, what I’m trying to say is, Little Red Riding Hood as a game character is an interesting proposition, and when I found out that not only would there be a game with her in it, but with her battling zombies of all things (another favorite of mine), I simply had to give the game a go.
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Retro Game Challenge
Shinya Arino–one of the two members of Japanese comedy duo Yoiko–hosts a late-night TV show in Japan called GameCenter CX. GCCX is a celebration of video gaming, but more specifically, it is a celebration of the days gone by of video gaming. Arino himself is a huge game fan, and every episode–at least, for every episode I myself have personally seen–he helps bring us a look back at gaming’s golden days, from what titles were released by a particular company back in the 80’s, to interviewing folks like Yuu Suzuki about his start at Sega, to meeting a man living somewhere in Tokyo who proudly owns every Famicom (Japan’s version of the NES) game ever released.
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