Peculiar Japanese Games I Love
Deadly Premonition is not my first peculiar, janky or oddball Japanese game, I've loved them for years! Here is a growing list of some of my favorites as I remember them and/or add pages for them!
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The best way to play as a gigantic, city crushing robot? By remote control of course!!
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FYI, this game can be troublesome to play on a PlayStation 3, through HD hardware, with a wireless controller that doesn't have the same "analog buttons" as the PS2. There's an easily overlooked setting to adjust the button pressure though so I can play once more!
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The best "My First DSLR Photo Sim" that plays like it's coated in molasses!
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They added so much more but it's still slow and clunky, especially being on the Wii.
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I was sick of Resident Evil by the time Deep Fear came out but I loved it just for its unique underwater setting alone. Ok, well there was also the unbelievably bad voice acting and effeminate genius scientist guy.
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A unique mix of FPS and platforming a la Jumping Flash only with a million times more robots. Hard as hell and genuinely creepy as frantic robots fly into your face out of the darkness.
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You are a basket who hits a catapult that tosses a frog towards a glowing diamond. What?
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This game came with a tiny skateboard and was awesome!
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Because the way to endear bastardized Chinese folk heroes to Americans is to turn them into superheroes. In my case, it worked.
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Even when this game was new (in the U.S.) it was hard to be wowed by its visuals. But the spooky underwater vibe and intriguing structures to be found kept me glued to it.
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He's cute and the game puts a clever spin on typical platform gameplay but it's the bizarre stuff that happens in this game that makes it memorable.
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Thanks to an English translation released in Europe I was finally able to play this "god sim" game where I continually hit the wrong buttons and either killed or utterly frightened innocent humans.
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The original and, really, still the best version of WarioWare!
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My second favorite WarioWare and one with its own technological gimmick!
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I don't even need to say a thing about either of these games!
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Seriously, they're both perfect!
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Stupid hard rhythm gaming but I love the idea behind it and some of the music is pretty good, thought the promised Namco tunes are a disappointment.
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Yes, you were right in expecting to see this one on here!
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Fantasy pinball with FMV, weirdo rules and kitschy style.
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Save the city from disasters! Especially little dogs!
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My first submission to Giant Bomb! YAY! I only ever played a demo (almost endlessly for a week or two) but ChainDive's peculiar air-based beat-em-up gameplay remains fondly in my memory.
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Possibly still my favorite of them all.
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Kind of a sham for this list, I think I like it better as this neutered english version with girls on the cover and no story or explanation whatsoever as to why a guy with a guitar case is flying around collecting sky coins.
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Slow, clunky, mindless. But somehow I just can't get enough of this game. It's a ROM I keep on hand at all times and in my mind's eye it still looks fabulous to this day!
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and I'd love it even more if it were 1) not on the Wii and 2) didn't use unresponsive motion controls. Maybe a Move remake would help.
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I drag this game out every year or so. So totally bizarre, hard and wonderful.
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I love the original, called Felony 11-79 in the U.S., a lot more but I can't deny some admiration for a game with overly cautious sea lions and a mission that requires you to save the Mayor's posh party by running around town making hot dogs.
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Before PaRappa really set the music/rhythm genre on fire in the U.S. I was nuts about the Japanese original, Bust A Move, and it became one of the only games I've ever imported.
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and I loved the sequel both more and less. Better mechanics, more characters, just-as-catchy songs, but the magic had already dulled as you can only play punch-in-the-move-to-the-beat for so many years.
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Platform shooting with a cast of characters that really came into their own with this release. Baron Aloha is sideswiped by the even more bizarre Captain Kabuki and the MuuMuu's take on a starring role.
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Such trouble to ever get ahold of a copy of this game! I think I was too far removed to really love it like I would've when it was released but I still appreciate its gameplay, visual style, and packed-in soundtrack.
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The videos of the giddy little girl are enough to push this into ultra-bizarro territory but the gameplay is actually pretty fun on its own.
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I'd love it even more if I could understand it!
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Tony Hawk does a 900? Pfffft, this one character decapitates himself on purpose, repeatedly!
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Shear beauty. A subdued, near-silent, yet emotionally wondrous experience.
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If this weren't from Nintendo it would have been labeled one of the most bizarrely Japanese games of all time so this totally counts.
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Hey guys, let's make a StarFox clone and then let some company localize it in Engrish! SOUNDS PERFECT!
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I never expected to love this game so much.
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Oh no! Sentient, multi-colored fire!!
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It's FOUR kinds of MEDIOCRE shooter! But ya know, it was a really shining example of story and action coming together in the very early days of PlayStation.
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I LOVE the idea behind Christmas NiGHTS! I played it every December to watch it change from regular to winter to Christmas and I especially liked remixing the game's soundtrack.
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Furiously hard, its the look and music that kept me going through this shining example of the DSiWare shop!
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I'm not sure if I'd actually like playing through it but I love the odd world this game exists in.
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So ubiquitous is this -- the most peculiar of all Japanese games to make it to the U.S. -- that I didn't even think to add it to this list until I was 50 titles in!
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It's a very different kind of pretend dancing but, by god, I freakin' love it!
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Japan, repurposing China's history for its own entertainment. This one is much more coherent and less fanservice-y than previous entries but still just as odd in design.
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I... am XTOL.
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Nothing more peculiar than an already bizarre Japanese game being co-opted by Nintendo and rejiggered as a Mario game.
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Finger of God, meet multi-arm guy!
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PUMPKIN GIRL!
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The most entertaining use of satellite imagery since Google Earth.
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You can level up your shooting gloves in this BILLIARDS GAME!
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This game has no idea what car culture is and it doesn't care. Bounce your car to win money and cover it with bikini girls!
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Dog wearing sumo belt gets +Aerodynamic points.
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Taking out all the precision of DanceMasters makes all the difference! If it weren't an existing product I'd simply yell 'just dance'!
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Busted as the motion controls may be I still find the game's characters and animations delightful.
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Too bad it's not a more entertaining game.
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For no reason other than the title alone.
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Well, I probably love it.
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Tough to love coming at it 12 years later but the fleeing circus bears and engrish e-mails sure help.
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As if an anthropomorphic time cat wasn't bizarre enough, the whole production feels like a Sega game. From busted design to the music and level layouts.
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It's like the team figured out how to make the Genesis do amazing things but didn't have a super cohesive game to put behind it. So you're a giant robot who can fold itself into a giant unicycle.
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I'm not sure this is even a game but it IS highly peculiar and VERY Japanese.
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It doesn't seem so weird from the cover but, man, these characters are nuts.
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I actually prefer the busted, grotesque U.S. hack version known as Fantasia II but the gameplay quirks make it an honest-to-god interesting take on Qix that I really like in either visual format.
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This game has almost nothing at all to do with X! X! X! X! X! X! FLYING DROPKICK!!!!!!!!!
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