Released: 1986
Published by: Taito
Genre: Action/Life Sim (?)
Platforms: Famicom
I have a confession to make. I didn't exactly 100% complete the game in the review you're about to read. Don't get me wrong, it has been done--see the first episode of Game Center CX for an example of this--but unfortunately my patience could only go so far. Hopefully after reading the review you'll understand.
Takeshi no Chousenjou was released in the mid '80s, originally planned by Taito to be a tie-in product with a popular TV show. Western audiences may be familiar with that show, as it was broadcast in the UK and North America about a decade later as "Takeshi's Castle" and "MXC" respectively. There's nothing unusual about tie-in games--heck, some of them have even been downright playable. What makes Chousenjou special is the fact that Beat Takeshi himself, legendary comedian, actor, and star of the show, played a large part in the development of the game. The result had absolutely nothing to do with the TV show it was meant to adapt, and instead became a legendary kuso-ge (crappy game) that eventually earned cult status and managed to sell roughly 800,000 copies despite, or maybe because of, its frank unplayability.
The game puts you in the role of a disgruntled salaryman going about his day-to-day life. You start out at your workplace (where you can punch your boss off of his chair and through his desk), but you're free to roam the streets (to punch housewives and other passers-by), enter bars (to punch waitresses and old men), and so on. The game isn't all fun and punches though, as there are yakuza wandering the streets who'll turn the tables on you, and the game demands that certain things be done and choices be made in a really specific, astronomically unintuitive sequence. An example of this is the requirement that you choose a specific hobby early on in the game that you'll need to help you out later: choose to enroll in any lesson but "music", and then any instrument but "shamisen", and you're set up for failure right from the start. Through tedious trial-and-error, or a strategy guide, you may manage to get through the first part of this game, but the best is yet to come.
Takeshi's sadistic tendencies shine through at several points from here on, in such unique challenges as having to passably sing karaoke at a bar with the rudimentary Famicom microphone, or having to expose a map to sunlight for an hour to activate the invisible ink it's printed in. This particular sequence requires you to leave the console alone for that full hour--pressing a single button will result in your chance being wasted and having to wait another hour. But in what's possibly the most frustrating challenge, your salaryman hero decides to set out to a secret island to find a buried treasure, and you're forced to go by way of hang-glider. Enemies assail you while you do your best to get to that island... but of course, since you're just gliding, you can dodge them by going down, but never up. This makes getting over the massive mountain towards the end of the course pretty difficult, to say the least. Once you're on the island, things don't get much easier, as entering the wrong hut will trap you, forcing you to reset the game.
You might be wondering by now why anyone would want to play this game, but trust me, there's something irresistable about it to a fan of unusual games. I heartily recommend that everyone give it a try, just to soak in the sheer absurdity of it. Takeshi managed to play a joke on the gaming community--and judging from the fact that people are still talking about it more than 20 years later, it was a pretty awesome joke. Takeshi no Chousenjou gets 4/5 henpecked salarymen on the GTPU weird-o-meter.
Takeshi no Chousenjou was released in the mid '80s, originally planned by Taito to be a tie-in product with a popular TV show. Western audiences may be familiar with that show, as it was broadcast in the UK and North America about a decade later as "Takeshi's Castle" and "MXC" respectively. There's nothing unusual about tie-in games--heck, some of them have even been downright playable. What makes Chousenjou special is the fact that Beat Takeshi himself, legendary comedian, actor, and star of the show, played a large part in the development of the game. The result had absolutely nothing to do with the TV show it was meant to adapt, and instead became a legendary kuso-ge (crappy game) that eventually earned cult status and managed to sell roughly 800,000 copies despite, or maybe because of, its frank unplayability.
If you can't read Japanese, you might not be able to tell, but I'm about to divorce my wife, and she's about to try to beat me to death.
The game puts you in the role of a disgruntled salaryman going about his day-to-day life. You start out at your workplace (where you can punch your boss off of his chair and through his desk), but you're free to roam the streets (to punch housewives and other passers-by), enter bars (to punch waitresses and old men), and so on. The game isn't all fun and punches though, as there are yakuza wandering the streets who'll turn the tables on you, and the game demands that certain things be done and choices be made in a really specific, astronomically unintuitive sequence. An example of this is the requirement that you choose a specific hobby early on in the game that you'll need to help you out later: choose to enroll in any lesson but "music", and then any instrument but "shamisen", and you're set up for failure right from the start. Through tedious trial-and-error, or a strategy guide, you may manage to get through the first part of this game, but the best is yet to come.
Hey, it's the main character's funeral. Hopefully you can enjoy this austere scene, because you'll be seeing it a whole lot over the course of playing this game.
Takeshi's sadistic tendencies shine through at several points from here on, in such unique challenges as having to passably sing karaoke at a bar with the rudimentary Famicom microphone, or having to expose a map to sunlight for an hour to activate the invisible ink it's printed in. This particular sequence requires you to leave the console alone for that full hour--pressing a single button will result in your chance being wasted and having to wait another hour. But in what's possibly the most frustrating challenge, your salaryman hero decides to set out to a secret island to find a buried treasure, and you're forced to go by way of hang-glider. Enemies assail you while you do your best to get to that island... but of course, since you're just gliding, you can dodge them by going down, but never up. This makes getting over the massive mountain towards the end of the course pretty difficult, to say the least. Once you're on the island, things don't get much easier, as entering the wrong hut will trap you, forcing you to reset the game.You might be wondering by now why anyone would want to play this game, but trust me, there's something irresistable about it to a fan of unusual games. I heartily recommend that everyone give it a try, just to soak in the sheer absurdity of it. Takeshi managed to play a joke on the gaming community--and judging from the fact that people are still talking about it more than 20 years later, it was a pretty awesome joke. Takeshi no Chousenjou gets 4/5 henpecked salarymen on the GTPU weird-o-meter.
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