Hey all and welcome to another episode of 64 in 64, wherein I scour the archives of Nintendo's first fully 3D console (that is, the games were 3D; the consoles themselves have always been 3D) to find anything worth preserving for future generations via Nintendo's official retro game channels. I'm working pro bono here to find these Ninten-nuggets for those inclined to play or just read about '90s video gaming history, so here's hoping Nintendo doesn't just up and Yuzu a guy for trying to be helpful.

For every even-numbered entry from now until the finale I'm going to throw in a list of N64 games focused on a specific topic or pattern. Since this is our 40th Episode Spectacular, I'm going with the peak of lists this time: all the N64 games that I, me, this guy right here, own. Truth be told it's a fairly anodyne assortment of must-haves and bargain bin impulse buys and probably of little interest to most but it might provide some insight into some of the odder pre-select choices I've made over the previous 64 in 64 entries (as well as those to come, perhaps).

• Banjo-Kazooie: Bear and bird is a requisite though I never picked up the sequel since it arrived too late to matter. Ineligible (NSO).
• Body Harvest: DMA Design's GTA-adjacent alien insect squisher. Only good bug is a dead bug. Covered in Ep 28.
• Bomberman 64: Flinging bombs in this strange 3D take on Hudson's pyromania sim. Covered in Ep 8.
• Buck Bumble: Boom to the boom to the boom to the bass, and so on and so forth. Covered in Ep 30.
• Chameleon Twist: Sunsoft out here ensuring Yoshi isn't the most cunning linguist on N64. Eligible.
• Diddy Kong Racing: The best kart racer ever made? The right minds seem to think so. Covered in Ep 6.
• Donkey Kong 64: After that whole RetroAchievements completionist debacle, keep these apes far away from me. Covered in Ep 13.
• Doom 64: Like Doom, only murkier and pre-rendered. Covered in Ep 38.
• Duke Nukem 64: Like Duke Nukem 3D, only... well, bad. Probably still better than Forever though. Eligible.
• Extreme G: Nothing extreme about "G" since it's a constant but futuristic racing games have to have their cool titles. Eligible.
• Flying Dragon: Very unusual fighter/brawler/sim/RPG from your boys at Culture Brain. Eligible.
• Gauntlet Legends: Oh hey, we just covered this one. It's Gauntlet, but modern(er)! Covered in Ep 39.
• GoldenEye 007: Just sayin', Harold Sakata (who played Oddjob in Goldfinger) was 5'10". In no universe is that "so small you can't even be headshotted". Ineligible (NSO).
• Hexen: Is this a bad Hexen port? I genuinely don't know, I never played the original. Eligible.
• Holy Magic Century: This has another name in the US. And no, I still have no plans to cover it. Eligible.
• Hybrid Heaven: Is it possible to make MGS more incomprehensible? Konami's brightest minds found a way. Covered in Ep 12.
• International Superstar Soccer 64: A great soccer game (for those into them) that has only endured because a bootleg version's title sequence became a meme. Hua hua hua haaa. Eligible.
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: When the moon hits your town 'cause you missed the countdown, that's-a Majora. Ineligible (NSO).
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Help, I'm becoming addicted to punishing randomizer runs of OoT. Send help. And the cheatsheet that tells me where the hookshot is. Ineligible (NSO).
• Lylat Wars: Get released under your original name in Europe? Can't let you do that, Star Fox. Ineligible (NSO).
• Micro Machines 64 Turbo: The only game on this list I genuinely don't remember playing. Must've been good? Eligible.
• Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: Hmmmm, abababa, hmmmm, abababa... PU-RA-SU-MAAA! Covered in Ep 3.
• The New Tetris: Building the great wonders, one line at a time. No wonder it took the ancient Tetris slaves so long. Eligible.
• Perfect Dark: The very serious sci-fi thriller FPS where you hang out with an alien called Elvis and get high on tranquilizer darts. Covered in Ep 19.
• Pilotwings 64: The sex jazz of Birdman mode is reason enough for this to exist. Ineligible (NSO).
• Pokémon Snap: Like visiting a nature reserve except you can throw dangerous trash at the animals. And still be allowed back, I mean. Covered in Ep 11.
• Pokémon Stadium: Weird they had so many mini-games and yet no-one ever thought of making a Pokémon Party. Ineligible (NSO).
• Rugrats Scavenger Hunt: I couldn't begin to tell you why I have this. I'm not even a fan of the show. Eligible.
• South Park: In this case, I was a fan of the show. Still not a fan of the game though. Eligible.
• Space Station Silicon Valley: Take heed Horizon, this is how you do robo-animals right. Covered in Ep 17.
• Star Wars: Rogue Squadron: The only good Star Wars N64 game. Coming soon, possibly? Eligible.
• Super Mario 64: Well, yeah. What are you even doing as a N64 owner if you don't have this? Covered in Ep 1.
• Wetrix: Wetrix isn't just for the dolphin show at SeaWorld any more. Covered in Ep 21.

Anyway, that's enough navel-gazing (or, at least, gazing through a repurposed sock drawer at my collection of loose carts) so let's move onto what everyone really came here to see: The Rules!

• Two games. Sixty four minutes each. Do the math. No wait, I'll do the math: it's two hours of my weekend wasted.
• I chose the first of those two games and the other was chosen for me. I'd like to finish that sentence with "by a panel of retro gaming experts concerned for my mental well-being" but no, it's just a cold, unfeeling machine intelligence that I somehow wronged in a previous life. It calculates in megablights per second.
• I've provided some history, some deep musings about how well the games have held up, and the likelihood of them ever joining the Nintendo Switch Online premium service with all the system's highlights. Figured that would make for better reading than just one long protracted scream.
• Speaking of NSO and its honored assemblage, we're not going to cover any games on there or slated to be on there unless I got to them before they were added. If Nintendo's already vetted them, they need no additional scrutiny from little old me. (They finally added Blast Corps, by the by. Like the fifth or sixth most requested N64 Rare game.)

Be sure to check out any previous episodes here or in the links in the ranking table at the end. There's some good stuff in these. Might need to dig a little though.

Bust-A-Move '99 / Bust-A-Move 3 DX / Puzzle Bobble 64 (Pre-Select)

• Distinctive Developments / Acclaim (NA/EU) + Taito (JP)
• November 1998 (EU), 1999-03-05 (JP), 1999-04-30 (NA).
• =135th N64 Game Released

History: Bust-A-Move, known elsewhere as Puzzle Bobble, is a competitive puzzle game franchise from Taito that they spun off from their Bubble Bobble platformers, in a manner similar to how Compile's Puyo Puyo originally spawned from their RPG series Madou Monogatari (or, if we're talking platformer-to-puzzle examples specifically, the Puyo license-crossover remakes Kirby's Avalanche and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine). Puzzle Bobble's been around since 1994 as an arcade original and has seen many home console ports and sequels since: Puzzle Bobble 64 itself is an enhanced "Deluxe" version of the third arcade game, one that was created specifically for N64 and PlayStation. On a related note, Bust-A-Move 2 Arcade Edition was also made available on N64 a few months prior to this—hence why this game is branded as the "'99" edition in North America—and I suspect the randomizer might choose it for next month's episode just to screw with me.

While Taito published the N64 game in Japan—this is the third of four N64 games that they worked with, and the second we've covered on 64 in 64 (after Densha de Go! 64)—it was not developed by them. The developers in this case, Distinctive Developments, are actually British: they began porting games for platforms active in the mid-'90s (this is their only N64 game) and have since transitioned to making annual sports games for mobile platforms. Might explain why this Japanese puzzle game arrived in Europe first.

Feel free to blame my WonderSwan feature for this, but I've since reignited my passion for puzzle games. Specifically, the type of fast-reflexes, block-stacking puzzle game that is fun for about an hour before I get bored; as opposed to, say, picross where I can lose entire days to those accursed things (and I'm once again sorta thankful that the N64 was never embraced by any nonogram time-vampires). The fact that it's yet another UK game, in a manner of speaking, was unknown to me before I started the research for this episode but it fits into my ongoing agenda to prove video games from this country aren't all just soccer and rally games. Sometimes we make games with talking eggs in them. Or talking bubble dinosaurs, in this case.

16 Minutes In

I didn't get into how it plays but just in case this is your first time seeing a Bust-A-Move while it's mid-move-bustin', essentially the goal is to fire spherical gems into the playing field from your little ballista thing at the bottom to create color chain combos that reduce the throng of gems, otherwise it'll keep dropping and eventually overwhelm you. It's like if you took a Tetris template and added some Space Invaders "death from above" tech to it, which is fitting given it's Taito. Gems are fired at the exact angles you aim them and you can use this to bank shots off walls to get behind rows, though this naturally requires a great deal of precision that you might not be able to summon in the moment if the situation is getting too dicey. Fortunately, the Control Stick is accurate enough that aiming the gems isn't as awkward as it might've been on 16-bit systems.

I've been chugging along in the single-player Puzzle mode so far, which has a branching map screen where you can choose your own route like Darius, but there were a surprising amount of options on the main menu for both single-player and multiplayer content. It's all the same game type pretty much, but some effort has been made to vary it up as much as is possible. I was also surprised to see multiple playable characters: I guess this series went fully Puyo after all and just tossed in any character designs they felt like. I went with this sleepy/drunk gyaru type since she has my kind of energy. Alternatives, besides regular ol' Bub and Bob, included a cyborg superhero, a fortune teller, and a Ryu knock-off (the game's plot, such as it is, suggests these characters were all summoned from other arcade games, most of which are fictional if only in the "let's avoid litigation, shall we?" sense).

32 Minutes In

Still in Puzzle mode, but it looks like the end is in sight. I've died too many times to give myself anything close to a decent highscore (it wipes after every game over, naturally) but I'd like to see what happens when I reach the end of all this. I can see the last node on a map and it, unlike all the others which are named for single letters, simply has an ominous question mark. Could be an unlockable character, could be a new mode, could be something else entirely. I'll keep you posted, provided I don't get tossed back to the title screen for sucking too much. Speaking of sucking less though, I've discovered a few new features: on your first attempt after a game over, you're given a Peggle-style cursor that gives you some idea of the gem's trajectory and this cursor will change color depending on whether the spot you're aiming at will attach the fired gem to another of the same color, making it much easier to line things up. You can also fine-tune your aim using the Z trigger and R button to make gradual adjustments, though since the game often pushes you to shoot if you dawdle too much it's really only suited for moving a few extra degrees either side.

After Puzzle mode I might go see what the competitive modes are like. There's also a mode I want to check out called Collection which lets you take on maps designed and contributed by normal players; these maps occasionally show up in the other modes too, and it's neat to see someone's name immortalized as the creator whenever a stage like that begins. Reminds me of the contests that helped create the various Mega Man robot masters.

48 Minutes In

Well, I completed Puzzle mode, eventually. As far as I can tell, I earned a cheat that activates on the main menu (B, left, right, B if anyone's curious) that caused a little gremlin guy to show on the main menu but I'll be darned if I can figure out what it actually did. Anyway, once I start the final segment it'll be the Win Contest mode, which has you compete with CPU opponents one after the other. I'm not sure if that involves split-screen or what—there's not a whole lot of room on the screen already—but I'm hoping to find some of the "surprises" that mode claims to have in store.

As for the game, well, I'm getting to that point that I predicted I would where the gameplay is already starting to wear a little thin. I don't think the game is timing you—the stage drops seem to only occur after so many bubbles have been fired—but all the same there are times where it feels like the game has become unwinnable due to sheer bad luck. The bubbles that are served up by your gun are always based on one rule: that there's another one like it already on the playing field. But sometimes it's just the one trapped right up on top which makes any extra ones useless to you and instead make the field busier and harder to deal with. If the field's as low as it can get and threatening to drop again, and the bubbles you need to clear out some much needed wriggle room simply aren't there, then there's nothing you can do but hit that game over and try again. Obviously, with better planning and aim you're less likely to be in that scenario, yet the arbitrariness can still rankle especially if you were super close to clearing the stage.

64 Minutes In

The versus mode is every bit as capricious as the rest of the game: if your opponent gets a streak on, your field starts filling with junk way faster than you can deal with it. Obviously, the same is true for you as well, though that would rely on a whole bunch of factors being just so. Only reason this matters here is that in order to unlock anything you need to get a winning streak: my highest was three and that was enough to arrange one of those sliding puzzles (it arranges itself, thankfully) about a third or halfway so I suspect the number to hit is around 7 wins. But yeah, one bad shot from you or several great ones from your opponent is enough to kill any streak dead. I never did get around to the Collection menu, but I did see enough of those created puzzles to get an idea of what they were going for: some of them have a clear trick to them, like some linchpin you have to take out, while others might require a very precise and steady process of eliminating bubbles.

I took the liberty of doing a little background research into this playable cast, since I was curious:

• Bub/Bob: The requisite protagonists. There's also a bunch of other dinosaurs of various colors.
• Musashi: The karate guy. As I suspected, he's just a copy of Ryu though with Guile's hair. I suppose that puts his design closer to Virtua Fighter's Akira.
• Twinkle: Short-haired girl wearing some kind of clown outfit. Based on Taito's arcade quiz game Yuuyu no Quiz de Go! Go!.
• Priccio: Goofy-looking pixie with palm tree hair. Based on New Capriccio, a Taito claw machine.
• Marina: The bikini gyaru I was playing as before. Apparently based on the type of characters that show up in arcade strip mahjong games, though not on any one in particular.
• Luna Luna: Purple-haired fortune teller. Based on Arcanum, Taito's fortune telling arcade "game".
• Jack: Androgynous dude who looks like a prince. Based on the card sharks you'd see in video poker, though again no specific one in particular.
• Super Sonic Blast Man: A superhero cyborg-looking guy with boxing gloves. Based on Sonic Blast Man and its sequel Real Puncher. (Maaaan, I kinda want to see what Real Puncher is all about.)
• Debblun: An evil Bub/Bob clone. Penultimate boss. Based on a bizarro world Bubble Bobble.
• Drunk: The main antagonist. He's one of those little caped guys from Bubble Bobble.
• Paya Paya: A monkey wearing a hula skirt. One of the game's secret unlockable characters (that I was nowhere close to unlocking).
• Pitch and Chap: Two cute little tadpole things. The game's other secret unlockable character.

Anyway, we're all done here. Turns out I was correct and an hour was the perfect amount of time to go around bursting bubbles. There's more content that I never got to check out though, so I'll give the game some credit for having more to offer than I originally anticipated.

How Well Has It Aged?: Old and Busted(-a-Move). Nah, it's fine, but between the unlucky draws and the punishing level of precision required for some shots it can often be an exercise in frustration, especially when it forgets how luck-based it tends to be when the chips are down (like suggesting you need to beat so many versus games in a row to unlock new characters). Of course, I could just get gud instead. That's always an option. As stated above, there's an impressive amount of content considering the type of game it is and I barely scratched the number of modes available, such as the mode where you have to complete levels in a limited number of moves. By the way also, there's like 1,000 of those user-made puzzles in there too. It's far from being the worst puzzle game on the system at any rate.

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: It's a Bubble Bobble Trouble/Boggle. Taito's owned by Square Enix these days so I could feasibly see them signing off on porting this over. Question is, why would they want to? You can buy the arcade Puzzle Bobble 3 on Switch already—as well as its predecessor Puzzle Bobble 2 and the modern reboot Puzzle Bobble Everybubble!—without anyone having to negotiate with Nintendo for a spot on the Nintendo Switch Online service. I've no idea how they feel about this internationally-outsourced port either; they'd probably be happier knowing Taito's arcade original was the only one still available.

Retro Achievements Earned: N/A.

Yakouchuu II: Satsujin Kouro (Random)

• Athena / Athena
• 1999-10-22 (JP)
• =257th N64 Game Released

History: Yakouchuu II: Satsujin Kouro is a murder mystery adventure game and—as far as I know—the only visual novel (VN) available on the N64. Specifically, it's a sound novel: a term coined by Chunsoft (the original Dragon Quest/Mystery Dungeon guys) to describe a narrative-focused adventure game that relied on sound design for much of its dramatic impact, as most of the visuals simply involved text on static backgrounds. Sort of like an audio book but for video games. The title roughly translates to Noctiluca II: Sea Route to Murder, noctiluca being the sort of bioluminescent sea life you might see from a ship deck late at night (while a murder is happening, perhaps). As you could probably deduce Sherlock-style from the numeral, it's a sequel: the original Yakouchuu was a 1995 Super Famicom game that was later ported to GBC. Neither of the Yakouchuu games were localized in English nor do they have fan translation patches, so that's fun.

Yakouchuu II is the fourth and last game Athena put out on N64, though it's the first one of theirs we've encountered on 64 in 64. The others include a bowling game, a mahjong game, and an entry in their shoot 'em up construction kit series Dezaemon. As for the company, it's a semi-obscure Japanese team that was known primarily for their shoot 'em ups though they evidently liked to dabble. Two of their arcade games, Strike Gunner S.T.G. and Daioh, have since been revived by Hamster's Arcade Archives (Hamster having bought all of Athena's IPs after the latter folded).

A sound novel, huh? Managed to find the one Japanese N64 game that was almost entirely all text did you, Mr. Random Chooser? Well, I could muster some enthusiasm just from the novelty of playing the N64's only VN but I suspect I'm going to be in for a slow, confusing time as I try to piece together what little I can read into a functional narrative. Unless a cat or a dog wanders into view and starts ominously chanting numbers out loud I know I'm going to quickly run out of kanji I can recognize at a glance (and the only reason I can read 1-9 in kanji is because of all the Ryu ga Gotoku mahjong I've put myself through).

16 Minutes In

Ohhh man, I vastly overestimated my ability to read any of this. Here's what I've gathered so far: we're on a ship—I believe its name is "Dynasty" or maybe "Destiny"—and the scene opens on the dining suite which seems like a fancy place. I heard a bottle of champagne being opened, that sound novel magic at work, so even if I can barely read anything I can surmise from the upbeat jazzy casino music and restaurant sounds that this is a luxury cruise sort of affair. Pretty sure I saw the kanji for sofu (grandfather) so maybe the protagonist is vacationing with his grandpa, or maybe the boat belongs to him. I also hit a decision point where I think I'm revealing my name to someone. It starts with "boku wa..." ("I am" or "I will") and the first and second options included the name Kenji, with the first ending in "yatta" which seems like a positive response so I went with that. Just re-emphasizing here that I have almost zero clue what I'm reading here.

While researching I did find a fan translation on YouTube (thanks "Teary_Eyes"_Anderson!) that is kinda winging it like me, albeit with way more accuracy, so I'm thinking what I'll do is after every sixteen minute update I'll summarize what I think I've learned in the first paragraph and then clarify what's actually going on (according to this more fluent YouTuber) in the second. Should be proof enough that I'm not just spending this whole time watching a video instead of playing the game, though with this genre it can be hard to make the distinction. So, while this might spoil the fun of watching me spend an hour floundering around in the water as it were, here's what's really been happening so far: You're a highschooler named Fuwa Takashi (or you can choose your own name: I went with Mento because... immersion?) and are joined by your classmate Hayami Arisa on the Dynasty (called it!) cruise ship's maiden voyage. The diner scene is a party hosted by the captain to celebrate the ship's successful launch. Arisa and I are here because her grandfather (yay) was the one who designed the ship's state-of-the-art computer systems and he'd invited her to join the maiden voyage; it seems I'm a "plus one". That multiple choice prompt actually refers to Arisa's cousin Kenji, a grade schooler, who is sitting with us and being a bit of a brat about the two of us not actually dating. The options are to 1) pinch his cheeks in affectionate retribution (what I did), 2) lift him up, I'm guessing to display dominance, or 3) laugh directly in his face like a psycho. The cheek-pinching doesn't seem so bad in comparison.

32 Minutes In

The captain went on for a while as the background switched to the suite's stage area but then I got my second prompt, and I couldn't get anywhere with translating either of the three. The second option started with "no"—presumably I'm declining to do or accept something, so maybe there won't be any follow-up prompts if I reject whatever this is from the jump. I'm a pretty negative person in general so this response probably suits me best. I just hope the question wasn't "do you need a life preserver ring?". Well, not that the Dynasty's actually sinking or anything. Suddenly, the Dynasty starts sinking! Someone set off an explosive device somewhere in the center of the ship! Finally, the game is speaking my language. The universal language of explosions. More from the context and sounds than anything I can actually read, I ascertain that we're all shuffled off to the lifeboats while the crowds panic in the background and we make it to Lifeboat #6. We're then treated to a late title card and a dramatic intro movie where the game zooms in on various background images for, I suppose, a sense of urgency. I'm guessing we're not investigating the murder of a ship though: probably this was a distraction to get the real killing done while we're all out here freezing our butts off bobbing helplessly on the ocean.

I'm sure the translation will corroborate as much since this segment's narrative was mostly of the "show, don't tell" persuasion, though I do want to know what it is I said "no" to earlier. That decision branch occurred after the ship's caddish young owner and his attractive blonde companion took the stage to announcement their engagement, and Arisa caught me staring at her. The first response is to come clean that you were curious about the woman, the second had you denying you were ogling (Arisa sees right through you, of course, since she knows your type), and the third was to suggest you were scoping out the dude instead (Arisa seems grossed out by this; guessing she's not a fujoshi then). Again, pretty much the same option I would've picked normally, being the dishonest evasive type that I am. Man, when did this game start becoming a personality test? The resulting evacuation's description pretty much matches what was shown—visual storytelling is going to be the only thing that saves this playthrough, I suspect—but the video did reveal that new multiple choice prompts will appear if this is the second playthrough of the game: I'm only supposing that Yakouchuu 2 is doing that thing where you can only get a "normal" ending on your first attempt and can then use the knowledge you've acquired to find alternatives, including perhaps a "true" ending.

48 Minutes In

In this segment we spend some time in the lifeboat with a bunch of other folks, including I believe the ship owner and his fiancée, our engineer grampa, cousin Kenji, and some suspicious skinny guy who jumped on board the last moment. After a few minutes of text, we found another ship that had come to rescue us but I didn't see a name (the Dynasty had these ¬ brackets around it every time its name was mentioned, so it stood out). What's intriguing is that the soundtrack took on a very eerie tone around this time, so there must be something ominous about this second vessel. I did make out "kiri" (fog) so maybe the idea is that the thick cover made it seem like it materialized out of nowhere like a ghost ship? I don't think this is a supernatural murder mystery game but I can't say for sure that it isn't. Murders are way easier to solve if the victim's ghost appears afterwards and tells you who did it, yet sadly it's very rare that such witness reports are permissible in court. (Talk about your habeas corpus though.) Couple last notes here: Another prompt came while we were in the lifeboat, two options this time—the second started with "wakara nai yo", or "I don't get it", which felt the most germane given the language comprehension skills on display thus far. Also, "Unrengusu" kept coming up in katakana and I'm not sure what it means, whether it's someone's or something's name (the most common usage for katakana if it's not a loanword).

While we've yet to start on the central murder mystery—I don't think we even know if there's been a murder yet, we were all too busy not drowning—there's certainly enough mysteries to be cleared up by the translation, so here's the rundown: the anxiety was building among the lifeboat's occupants, which as well as the people mentioned above also included another attractive woman of means, the shipyard director who has been carrying around an attaché case ("attaché case" was written out in katakana so I was able to read it, but I guess I didn't put it together that it was worth mentioning. Attaché cases are always worth mentioning in murder mysteries, though), and the junior crewman driving the lifeboat. The prompt was to either try to assuage Arisa's worries (first option) or be equally perturbed (second) so, great, I ended up sounding like a panicky idiot from The Poseidon Adventure. Well, at least it's earnest—I know how much Arisa appreciates honesty. (A third option appears on NG+, where you nonchalantly explain what'll happen next. Seems like cheating, surely?) As for the eerie ship, turns out it's kinda busted on top of being (apparently) deserted so it really did embody some ghost ship vibes.

OK, last section now. Hopefully a body shows up. I mean, that's not normally a thing to be hopeful for, but this is a murder mystery game...

64 Minutes In

Well, I immediately get another prompt. The options are "Understood" followed by a verb, or to ask Arisa for something instead. Since I'm probably on thin ice already with her right now I went for the first one and took decisive action. From where the previous catch-up left off I think it's suggesting that I board this ghost vessel and tie a rope up on the deck for the other passengers (the ship's own rope ladder is long gone) since the crewman can't leave the lifeboat and I'm the only expendable adult male on board. Boy, can I relate. We find the ship's name, written in English: Pandora. We even got a spooky violin sting when we read it out. You know it's Pandora's box that's scary, not Pandora herself, right? She's not a monster, just some ancient Greek chick with poor impulse control. After exploring the deck a bit, we get another prompt. Can't read this one at all, so I went with the first option again. Decisive! That girl and kid I left behind in a boat with a possible murderer will surely respect me if I keep blindly choosing the first option each time. I opened a door and walked through it after the prompt, so I guess it had something to do with whether or not I should explore the interior of the Pandora. The next prompt gave me two near identical options and a third I couldn't make out, but the first two suggested that Arisa was with me at this point and that we're choosing which room or direction to check out. I did the first option again. Decisive! Fingers crossed that if there's a body on this spooky boat, she can be the one to bump into it in the dark. I did all the climbing after all. At this point, I was hurrying through text to see if something else would happen but got stopped at a final multiple choice prompt, halfway through trying to read it when the last alarm went off. So much for all the murdering. Maybe it's an avant garde type of murder mystery where you only find out in the final act that someone died?

Let's see what I missed: First prompt was as I suspected, where I either volunteer to climb up (after being asked to by the crewman) or I try to dragoon Arisa into doing it instead like the manliest man who ever sailed the seven seas (she straight up slaps you across the chops if you try to suggest this, by the way). Bonus NG+ third option is to chicken out completely. Is the bonus route meant to be comedic, or is it because I already know that there's something terrifying on this accursed ship? Second prompt wasn't about exploring the interior—we'd already decided to do that as a group since it was cold as balls outside—but came after Kenji thought he spotted a figure higher up on the deck. You can either try to wave it off as his imagination, or suggest to him that it's some kind of phantom out to eat his soul because, hey, we've already been an amazing big brother figure to him so far. After entering the empty dance hall, we find there's no power and the crewman leaves to find the bridge. The rest then introduce themselves to make everyone less anxious: the skinny guy was a newspaper reporter, as the protagonist had assumed. The other beautiful woman was a doctor. Arisa then introduced her grandfather (who was winded from all the walking), herself, and her cousin, and the third prompt came after the thin guy then asked if I was another relative. First option is to tell the truth and say you're Arisa's friend, second to say boyfriend (that's why these two differed by a single kanji), and third to say a fellow cousin. Arisa is extremely adamant that the second and third options are incorrect if you should choose them. Damn, girl. Looks like the Dynasty isn't the only ship sinking tonight. The last prompt, that I didn't answer but was probably going to pick the first option anyway (decisive!), was after Arisa asked me to accompany her exploring the rest of the ship, with the responses being 1) "sure", 2) "no, I'll stay here since I'm worried about the other passengers", or 3) "uh, wait, I think I'm getting sick?" followed by a lot of fake coughing. Truly the acme of heroism.

Sadly, that's about as far into this groovy mystery as I was able to get. I'd estimate after we all go our separate ways that one (or possibly more) of the ten people named so far turns up deceased and we all start distrusting each other while waiting for a rescue; if the murder victim was caught in that explosion back on the Dynasty it's going to be hard to figure out who killed them if they're at the bottom of the ocean. Not while Fish Police remains cancelled anyway. Hey, pour one out for CBS's Fish Police: the true victim in all of this.

How Well Has It Aged?: As Well As The Titanic. VNs have come a long way since the '90s sound novel era, yet even those being produced on PlayStation at this time could probably fork out for some voice acting. All we get here are a few atmosphere-setting tunes and some passable foley work. It's hard to judge the story itself since I can't read it but the many branches suggests there are some variations to the narrative that might be entertaining to explore across multiple playthroughs, especially since (as stated) some prompts only appear in subsequent runs. For instance, what would a full coward% run look like? Do I just abandon everyone to die? I could certainly see this protag physically throwing Kenji at the murderer to buy himself some time. Of course, it'd be helpful if there were a fast skip text button or some visual representation of the story flowchart where you could jump directly to the prompts not yet explored, but I suspect both of those were later VN QoL additions. Let's just say that this was mostly unplayable for language barrier reasons and move on.

Chance of Switch Online Inclusion: I Think We're Ship Out of Luck. Athena's IPs went to Hamster but I strongly suspect they only cared about the arcade games in that library. I don't really see them introducing a "Visual Novel Archives" series on Switch et al, as it seems a bit out of character, but then VNs are as popular now as they've ever been (especially in the west). Even so, I suspect both Yakouchuu games will be—much like the good ship Pandora—abandoned and left to rot.

Retro Achievements Earned: N/A. (Darn, this could've been a very easy set to complete.)

Current Ranking

1. Super Mario 64 (Ep. 1)
2. Diddy Kong Racing (Ep. 6)
3. Perfect Dark (Ep. 19)
4. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Ep. 3)
5. Donkey Kong 64 (Ep. 13)
6. Doom 64 (Ep. 38)
7. Space Station Silicon Valley (Ep. 17)
8. Goemon's Great Adventure (Ep. 9)
9. Bomberman Hero (Ep. 26)
10. Pokémon Snap (Ep. 11)
11. Tetrisphere (Ep. 34)
12. Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Ep. 19)
13. Banjo-Tooie (Ep. 10)
14. Rocket: Robot on Wheels (Ep. 27)
15. Mischief Makers (Ep. 5)
16. Super Smash Bros. (Ep. 25)
17. Mega Man 64 (Ep. 18)
18. Forsaken 64 (Ep. 31)
19. Wetrix (Ep. 21)
20. Harvest Moon 64 (Ep. 15)
21. Bust-A-Move '99 (Ep. 40)
22. Hybrid Heaven (Ep. 12)
23. Blast Corps (Ep. 4)
24. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Ep. 2)
25. Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Ep. 4)
26. Tonic Trouble (Ep. 24)
27. Densha de Go! 64 (Ep. 29)
28. Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 2 (Ep. 32)
29. Snowboard Kids (Ep. 16)
30. Spider-Man (Ep. 8)
31. Bomberman 64 (Ep. 8)
32. Jet Force Gemini (Ep. 16)
33. Mickey's Speedway USA (Ep. 37)
34. Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Ep. 7)
35. Body Harvest (Ep. 28)
36. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Ep. 33)
37. Gauntlet Legends (Ep. 39)
38. Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (Ep. 29)
39. 40 Winks (Ep. 31)
40. Buck Bumble (Ep. 30)
41. Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (Ep. 20)
42. Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Vol. 1 (Ep. 39)
43. Conker's Bad Fur Day (Ep. 22)
44. Gex 64: Enter the Gecko (Ep. 33)
45. BattleTanx: Global Assault (Ep. 13)
46. Last Legion UX (Ep. 36)
47. Hot Wheels Turbo Racing (Ep. 9)
48. Cruis'n Exotica (Ep. 37)
49. San Francisco Rush 2049 (Ep. 4)
50. Iggy's Reckin' Balls (Ep. 35)
51. Fighter Destiny 2 (Ep. 6)
52. Charlie Blast's Territory (Ep. 36)
53. Big Mountain 2000 (Ep. 18)
54. Nushi Tsuri 64: Shiokaze ni Notte (Ep. 35)
55. Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (Ep. 14)
56. Tetris 64 (Ep. 1)
57. Mahjong Hourouki Classic (Ep. 34)
58. Milo's Astro Lanes (Ep. 23)
59. International Track & Field 2000 (Ep. 28)
60. NBA Live '99 (Ep. 3)
61. Rampage 2: Universal Tour (Ep. 5)
62. Command & Conquer (Ep. 17)
63. International Superstar Soccer '98 (Ep. 23)
64. South Park Rally (Ep. 2)
65. Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. (Ep. 7)
66. Eikou no St. Andrews (Ep. 1)
67. Rally Challenge 2000 (Ep. 10)
68. Monster Truck Madness 64 (Ep. 11)
69. F-1 World Grand Prix II (Ep. 3)
70. F1 Racing Championship (Ep. 2)
71. Sesame Street: Elmo's Number Journey (Ep. 14)
72. Wheel of Fortune (Ep. 24)
73. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (Ep. 15)
74. Yakouchuu II: Satsujin Kouro (Ep. 40)
75. Mario no Photopi (Ep. 20)
76. Blues Brothers 2000 (Ep. 12)
77. Dark Rift (Ep. 25)
78. Mace: The Dark Age (Ep. 27)
79. Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. (Ep. 21)
80. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (Ep. 32)
81. 64 Oozumou 2 (Ep. 30)
82. Madden Football 64 (Ep. 26)
83. Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (Ep. 22)
84. Heiwa Pachinko World 64 (Ep. 38)