Overview
Yosaku is an arcade game developed and released by Shin Nihon Kikaku for arcades in Japan on 1979.
One of the company's earliest arcade games, Yosaku puts players in control of the titular woodcutter as they move left-and-right around the screen in side-view, using their axe to chop down trees (from both sides) and defend themselves against snakes and wild boars. They must also be careful in avoiding falling tree branches and bird droppings.
The game's name is a reference to the popular 1978 song of the same name, which is also used in part as the game's musical theme. The game itself is considered a rarity due to few arcade boards remaining intact, with the lack of digital preservation making it possible lost media.
While the game itself did not receive an official home conversion at the time, it did receive an unofficial port to the Cassette Vision in 1981 as a launch title, sometimes under the name Kikori no Yosaku (loosely translated as "Woodcutter Yosaku"). As noted in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, this version was much more popular than the arcade original.
The game was later remade as a hidden mini-game in the 2000 Neo Geo Pocket Color mini-game collection The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise. Featuring updated graphics, this version was only accessible by inserting the cartridge into an original Neo Geo Pocket.
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