The Famicom and Five Obscure Games

MAY ISSUE: POST #22

I know every now and then some blog posts seem to turn into my current wishlist, but recently I have been really wanting a Famicom. Since I understand Japanese to an intermediate level and have been playing games on and off in Japanese for a while, I suddenly want to invest in one and get some older Japanese titles.

I’m also aiming to be more retro. I want to be retro-y.

So, what is the Famicom? Well, it’s a Family Computer basically. Released in 1983, this cute little box was manufactured by Nintendo and released only in Japan. Funnily enough, it was actually Nintendo’s first console. The Famicom is slightly different from the NES though, which is a similar console released over in America and here in Europe.

There was also an add-on called the Famicom Disk System, released in 1986, with release titles such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and also Baseball, Tennis, and Soccer, for all your sporting needs.

But I’m sure you’re all eager to learn about some games for this system. In particular, some intriguing weird and wonderful ones that you may never have heard of. So let’s take a look.

Doki! Doki! Yuenchi: Crazy Land Daisakusen

I love games that have amusement parks in them, whether that be an action game or a building/park management game. I had never heard of this game though, until today! This game follows a kid with a helmet (all the armour you’ll ever need) who wants to save his girlfriend from some mysterious force inside an amusement park. He kicks balls at his enemies to attack, which seems legit enough. The game was developed by KID and published by VAP in Japan in 1981, and come on, look how adorable these two are. To be honest, I really do want to try this game- looking at the gameplay, it looks fairly entertaining. Although I have no idea what’s flying on the left side there. Is that a butterfly? A bird? And where’s the rest of the boys arm? Maybe the answer is within the game. Sneaky.

Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa

This is an interesting title that I stumbled upon. Released on the Famicom Disk System originally in 1988 and then on the Famicom in 1993, this game from Konami features a baby called Upa, who uses a rattle to attack enemies. Because, you know, that is genuinely what babies would do if attacked. I think. This baby isn’t just any ordinary baby though, Upa is the prince of a magical kingdom (naturally), and when that magical kingdom’s citizens get taken over by an evil demon, Upa is, rather generously, given a rattle in order to save them all. Whether this game is good or not I have no idea, but it looks colourful and I like the little pig in the picture.

Chaos World

So, imagine that the king of your kingdom has a daughter and that that daughter is sick. But, alongside that, there are also monsters terrorising the world. The king asks you, and only you, to investigate and conquer the world, which seems simple enough, right? Well, if you play Chaos World, you’ll find out. I just told you the plot of the game, and it doesn’t seem too bad to me, it merely has a good vs. evil plot. This game is also one of the few Famicom games that has a day/night cycle. Again, I’m not sure how good this game is, but developed by Natsume (think Harvest Moon and Rune Factory) and released in 1991, I’m sure it’s something to try out.

Joy Mech Fight

You can’t have a list of old games like this without a fighting game. Joy Mech Fight or Joy Mecha Fight is, what I’m guessing, a joyful game released in 1993. The plot is about these spectacular robots created by two scientists, however, one of the scientists turns bad and steals seven of the robots and appears on TV broadcasting that he wants to take over the world. One particular robot is called to the laboratory by the other doctor, to help defeat the sudden evil. The graphics of this game is definitely the most interesting part, since the robots arms, head, legs- you name it- aren’t attached. Yep, they’re all floating around separately. You might think that’s horrific, but actually, it’s kind of adorable.

Tashiro Masashi no Princess ga Ippai

This is a little game I found which reminds me of the ‘princess in distress’ storyline of the oh-so-famous Mario series. This game, however, doesn’t involve a plumber, but a cool dude with sunglasses. The game was released in 1989 and focuses on the story of Masashi Tashiro who has to rescue, not one, not two, but four princesses in distress. I don’t know how Mario would feel if he had to save four Peaches, but anyway. It is actually one of the first games to have multiple endings, and there is only one chance to succeed here, as there are four bad endings and only one good ending, which seems delightful. I wonder what the bad endings entail, to be honest, I hope it’s nothing too dramatic.

The interesting thing about this game is that Tashiro Masashi is a real person, and was a member of the band Rats & Star. However, he was put in jail for a number of reasons, so, I think the game made a reappearance for the occassion.

To be honest, I like this box art though.

I don’t know if that means we’re finishing this post on a happy note, but ah well, Famicom games are neat and there were some rather crazy and imaginative ideas back then.

Let me know what Famicom games you think are weird and wonderful!

Thank you for reading and Happy Gaming!

-LDG