Holy moly, the name alone makes me want to buy this game, I need to know more! This is the kind of shit I figured Jeff just made up when he used read out the eShop updates on the bombcast.

I think they talked about it on the 8-4 podcast some time ago. You're a kid on summer vacation and you do summer vacation-y stuff, also it's in Japan so you do summer vacation-y stuff that a kid in Japan would do. I figure that it's all about appealing to that childhood nostalgia people have.

I don't know much else about it, like where the giant monster footprints come in.

@jacksukeru: lol, well that's a bit of a disappointment.

@jacksukeru: That's just Boku no Natsuyasumi. This is a different game from the Guild02 collection.

All I could find was this short video clip, which honestly doesn't reveal too much. I may just buy this game sight unseen based on curiosity alone.

The Japanese name is 怪獣が出る金曜日. You can probably find more information/videos by searching with this rather than the English title.

You can find all the details about the game on Level 5's website, there are plenty of English screenshots there and even a video that explains the game's premiss. Attack of the Friday Monsters! is basically an adventure game about a boy who lives in a town in 1970's Japan that is host to weekly monster battles (similar to shows like Ultraman). The game was created by the team behind the Boku no Natsuyasumi series and has a very strong focus on developing a nostalgic atmosphere.

I think it looks interesting. I like the idea of the game and I've been needing something to play on my 3DS for quite a bit now. I might give it a look.

I was thinking about getting it too. Says its a life Sim, but then... There are kaiju....

That's why I want to try it.

From what I have figured is this. They say its a Tokyo life Simulator.

So you have all that going to school meeting friends....then on every friday giant monsters battle each other in the city.

The gameplay talks about Cards. Meaning once a monster is defeated you get its card......and then you can battle your friends with these cards.......and there is a card game in the game......

This is all true information. What it means I STILL DONT KNOW!!

I've played it for a few hours tonight and it's a cute little game, but I still can't exactly grasp what it is. Basically, you run around as this little kid and just hang out with friends and people in town. It seems like it's supposed to be a Japanese nostalgia trip adventure game, which is obviously hard to grasp for those of us not from Japan, but the feeling of imagination turning mundane things into exciting mysteries certainly comes across.

There are 25 or so "episodes", equatable to quests, that play out over (what seems like,) a single Friday in a small town where one of those 70's kaiju television shows is filmed. There's very light, and I mean light, puzzle solving involved and it seems like the main piece of "gameplay" is a little Rock/Paper/Scissors monster card game you can play with your friends. You walk around town collecting glowing orbs that equate to a specific kind of card and when you collect enough orbs you obtain that card for use in the battles. You also get orbs for finishing episodes and beating your friends in battles. So far all but one or two card battles have been entirely optional. There's a weird mechanic tied to the card battles where, depending on if you win or lose, you become the "boss" of the friend you beat and you can put a "magic spell" on them that makes them fall down on the ground. You can even customize your spell, so the kid says more random nonsense while casting it. I honestly don't know what impact any of that has on the game in the slightest, outside of what seems like small changes to dialogue depending on if you're the boss of a friend during specific conversations. There's also a way to combine and power-up cards, although I haven't really seen much use for it yet. It's kind of hard to grasp how deep that system gets, or to what purpose it serves besides being a silly little thing that just exists.

I will say, a few hours in and the game certainly has had a few weird moments that have made me question exactly what the hell is going on, though right now I'm inclined to believe the weird things that have happened have all been in the imagination of the main kid.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't have any fucking idea what the game is about, but I think it's really charming and I'm enjoying it between bouts of frustration with SMTIV. There's not enough niche Japanese stuff like this out there anymore that isn't some creepy anime sh*t.

I just finished it. It's short, about three hours. Really charming game. But yeah, life-simulator is a really weird way to describe what is basically just you walking around a town reading dialogue. That is really all this game is.. no puzzles or mechanics to speak of. You walk around and talk to people and a weird, really funny story takes place. This is a comparison that will only make sense to a few but it is basically if you made the real-world town segments from Ni No Kuni into a little game. Having said that, if that sounds like something you'd be into at all, I'd check it out, because I liked it a lot.

This the first episode right? So it could possibly get... more interesting?

As far as I know, this is it. It came on a cart in Japan with a bunch of other small games, like Starship Damrey and Bugs vs. Tanks.

But having said that, I wouldn't say the game isn't interesting. It actually turned out to be one of the best game experiences I've had this year. The world is beautiful, sound design/music really strong, and has some incredibly written, really funny dialogue.

It is a weird game to try and recommend generally because it probably appeals to a very specific type of person. Personally, I loved it, and it kinda joins Sword & Sworcery as a game where the setting, music and writing hooked me so hard that the game part didnt need to. Fortunate for Friday Monsters, since there isn't really a game part in the first place.

Cool dude thanks for the insight, might have to check it out.

Thanks everyone in the thread for describing this, or at least, those who described it. I was going to pick it up sight unseen, and I might still get it, but the idea of playing Persona 4: Walking Around the City Parts Only Edition has made me wary.

I just finished the game last night and I'm currently trying to become the boss of everyone by beating them at the card game. Basically all you do in Attack of the Friday Monsters is walk around town talking to people but it has so much charm and personality that I was never bored. I would definitely recommend people check it out especially if you got that $30 credit deal for purchasing Awaking and SMTIV.

Would like to put my chip in and say this game is really great, super charming, great use of sound/great soundtrack and is one of the better games I've played this year. Highly recommended! If you value narrative at all in games then you'll probably get something out of this.

This game surprisingly drew me in. It is a realtively short game, but with that said it was just the right length for that type of experience. The art is fantastic and the sound design seems to have been meticulously crafted with japanese nostalgia in mind. Even the 3D effects are put to good use and enhance immersion. Other users' descriptions of the game are bang on.

Bought it yesterday and I'm really liking it. The music is great, very charming and "nostalgic".

About the gameplay, the collectathon mechanic is just an excuse to get you to explore the whole village, which you wanna do anyway, but given that you're new in town it gives you an adventure-y feel. It's satisfying for what it tries to accomplish and what that is.

Someone drew the comparison to studio Ghibli, and to Ni No Kuni, but I'm also getting a great "Inaba" vibe, if you know what I mean...

ok, but what about the Friday monsters?

They may or may not be real and have little to no bearing on what you do in the game.