So, I just thought of another set of article ideas of which the amount I can write is dependent on what's available in the Pico library. This will take a look into some of the aspects of the Japanese Pico library that can be rather offsetting to someone who sees it as just a "Edutainment" machine.
Today I'll write about how many Japanese developers had the idea to traumatize kids with early experiences in literal luck-based gaming.
To give a nice idea what I mean, I'll embed a video of this game... but in particular I'll say to take note of the mini-game that's about 24 minutes in.
Click here to jump to the mini-game being discussed.
In this tooth brushing mini-game, you choose one of the teeth and pray to your deity that it has plaque on it. If not, the plaque monsters assault you. There is no apparent way to tell beforehand what the correct areas to brush are, making this basically consist of "click somewhere and hope I don't screw up".
I'll just say that that is not quite how I'd try to teach my kids dental care.
Just to let you know I got multiple examples to go on here, here's a video with the luck-based minigame from "Pocket Monsters Advance Generation: Hiragana! Katakana! Kakechatta!"
You see, the Japanese Pico library consists of this often. It's... sort of disturbing, in a way. Why would you make a kid go through luck-based minigames? To teach how failure can be random? To teach about the cruelty of the world we're in? To teach kids that they're puny mortals who need the grace of Buddha to pass a minigame?
There aren't any elements of these in internationally-released games. In fact, a whole page of casino-themed minigames was removed from "Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld". Now, what do they expect kids to learn from Casino minigames? Hopefully it's how to copy with a gambling addiction...
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Pico Accessories 03: Multiply your drive today!
Alright, a quick write-up for the time being.While recording some gameplay of a certain Pico game, I managed to learn quite a bit about the Pico accessory known as...
The Multidrive!
You can see it on the left, in yet another picture I've obviously had stored from Japanese auction sites. The Multidrive has the shape of two gears, four buttons and a big button akin to the Pico's own traditional buttons, and a knob that looks kinda like the Drive Pico's key.
The game below it in the picture is the game that it is designed to be compatible with, "Exciting! Hataraku Norimono-tachi" (エキサイティング！ はたらくのりものたち). That is also the same game I have most recently uploaded footage of to Youtube.
And indeed, said footage is from emulation!
Similarly to the Drive Pico, the Multidrive is emulated, albeit strangely, by a combination of the buttons and mouse movements. In fact, it seems to control very similarly to how the Drive Pico does. It makes me wonder if I could swap out the gears for the Drive Pico's steering wheel on the actual hardware...
Anyhow, the instructional modes on "Exciting!" show you how the Multidrive is meant to be used, although in the video I only popped in one to show as an example (Play the ROM and you can see the rest, although it's all Japanese, of course). Based on the game, the Multidrive was designed as a "generic" big vehicle control accessory, in contrast with more specific car or train control sets. The construction and demolition trucks were given particular attention in the game.
I'm currently not sure of any other games the Multidrive is compatible with, or at least meant to be compatible with, anyway.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Slow month, huh?
Apologies for going a whole month without an update. A mixture of Hurricane Sandy and other duties really clogged my schedule.
While I was idling, a lot of Pico ROMs were released, this time from Cowering's GoodPico set. I am examining them now and will upload some videos of them to my Youtube in the coming days. Rather frustratingly, the "Toy Story 2" Pico game didn't want to boot in Kega Fusion. I really wanted to see how that looked. :(
Well, at least we got the McDonalds game now. Also, the Japanese version of "Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld", and some others.
Team-Europe has also released a few other Pico dumps, including "A Bug's Life" and some "Voice Pico" game series entries.
I'll let you all know more about them as I continue to examine them.
While I was idling, a lot of Pico ROMs were released, this time from Cowering's GoodPico set. I am examining them now and will upload some videos of them to my Youtube in the coming days. Rather frustratingly, the "Toy Story 2" Pico game didn't want to boot in Kega Fusion. I really wanted to see how that looked. :(
Well, at least we got the McDonalds game now. Also, the Japanese version of "Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld", and some others.
Team-Europe has also released a few other Pico dumps, including "A Bug's Life" and some "Voice Pico" game series entries.
I'll let you all know more about them as I continue to examine them.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
I Wanna Flyer Sky High
So, like, a real long while back, Team-Europe scanned this Pico flyer.
When I saw it, I was like "Hey, I think I have something like that lying around somewhere..."
And indeed, buried in my copy of "The Magic School Bus" (Don't ask why I have that lying around), I found a similar flyer.
Similar, but not exactly the same.
I managed to pull out my scanner to scan it. It's a bit bent and wrinkly, but hopefully this serves a good compare-and-contrast with the one Team-Europe has.
These scans are kind of large, so they're linked rather than embedded;
Front - Top
Front - Bottom
Back - Top
Back - Bottom
The main differences between this flyer and the one Team-Europe scanned are the showcased game selection and arrangement. Most notably, "Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld" and "Muppets on the Go" are in this one while "Adventures in Letter Land" and "The Great Counting Caper" are absent. Also, "The Magic School Bus" has art that more closely resembles the actual game's art. One oddity both flyers have in common is the art for "The Berenstain Bears" that doesn't resemble the final product.
When I saw it, I was like "Hey, I think I have something like that lying around somewhere..."
And indeed, buried in my copy of "The Magic School Bus" (Don't ask why I have that lying around), I found a similar flyer.
Similar, but not exactly the same.
I managed to pull out my scanner to scan it. It's a bit bent and wrinkly, but hopefully this serves a good compare-and-contrast with the one Team-Europe has.
These scans are kind of large, so they're linked rather than embedded;
Front - Top
Front - Bottom
Back - Top
Back - Bottom
The main differences between this flyer and the one Team-Europe scanned are the showcased game selection and arrangement. Most notably, "Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld" and "Muppets on the Go" are in this one while "Adventures in Letter Land" and "The Great Counting Caper" are absent. Also, "The Magic School Bus" has art that more closely resembles the actual game's art. One oddity both flyers have in common is the art for "The Berenstain Bears" that doesn't resemble the final product.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Pico Accessories Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition
Alright, this is pretty much being written because I don't really have any "real" info per se. Except hopefully this is kind of insightful anyway...
Today's accessory is one that looks simple enough. See that device to the left? Because it sees you! Rah, those eyes! Popping out of the plastic! They haunt me!
And that game to the right? The only game it's meant for. It's got a bit of a long name though; Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Minna de Pico Pokémon Waiwai Battle!
The game comes packaged with this controller (unless the second hand dealer you're buying from lost it, that is), and is the only game compatible with it. I haven't even gotten any info on whether or not it has it's own unique name, so I suppose for now it's safe to just call it the Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Minna de Pico Pokémon Waiwai Battle! Controller.... No, that's way too long a title, I'll just call it the blasted Pikachu joypad.
The plug on the end of the pad looks like an ol' PS/2 cable. If you're asking where the PS/2 port on the Pico is, there is none. So where does the controller plug in to? Look at that hole on the bottom-right of the Storyware cart. It appears the joypad goes directly into the game!
Now, has anyone here ever had a console so sensitive that just touching the cartridge on it briefly would screw up the game? Man, I'd hate to be the poor sap who yanked the cord constantly trying to play this one...
It's not necessarily easy to tell what the joypad does from it's shape. It has four buttons, two white and two red. On the left and right sides, to make each side not a carbon copy as well as to remind you that this is a Gen 3-era item, are Plusle and Minun . Below them are Charmander and Bulbasaur, for some reason. I'd say the orange team has the type advantage here...
These buttons do not have any counterpart on the actual standard Pico controls. They also have no emulation support currently, which kind of makes actually playing the game impossible.
Since it's in a shape that invokes the feeling of the classic Genesis/Megadrive 3-button joypad, I'd assume it's purpose is to give the give the game more of.... dare I say it? ... Yes. I dare; "The Arcade Feel."
Of course, if it turns out it's actually for something more mundane, like feeding Pikachu blocks or something, then I'll probably have to edit this accordingly.
Today's accessory is one that looks simple enough. See that device to the left? Because it sees you! Rah, those eyes! Popping out of the plastic! They haunt me!
And that game to the right? The only game it's meant for. It's got a bit of a long name though; Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Minna de Pico Pokémon Waiwai Battle!
The game comes packaged with this controller (unless the second hand dealer you're buying from lost it, that is), and is the only game compatible with it. I haven't even gotten any info on whether or not it has it's own unique name, so I suppose for now it's safe to just call it the Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Minna de Pico Pokémon Waiwai Battle! Controller.... No, that's way too long a title, I'll just call it the blasted Pikachu joypad.
The plug on the end of the pad looks like an ol' PS/2 cable. If you're asking where the PS/2 port on the Pico is, there is none. So where does the controller plug in to? Look at that hole on the bottom-right of the Storyware cart. It appears the joypad goes directly into the game!
Now, has anyone here ever had a console so sensitive that just touching the cartridge on it briefly would screw up the game? Man, I'd hate to be the poor sap who yanked the cord constantly trying to play this one...
It's not necessarily easy to tell what the joypad does from it's shape. It has four buttons, two white and two red. On the left and right sides, to make each side not a carbon copy as well as to remind you that this is a Gen 3-era item, are Plusle and Minun . Below them are Charmander and Bulbasaur, for some reason. I'd say the orange team has the type advantage here...
These buttons do not have any counterpart on the actual standard Pico controls. They also have no emulation support currently, which kind of makes actually playing the game impossible.
Since it's in a shape that invokes the feeling of the classic Genesis/Megadrive 3-button joypad, I'd assume it's purpose is to give the give the game more of.... dare I say it? ... Yes. I dare; "The Arcade Feel."
Of course, if it turns out it's actually for something more mundane, like feeding Pikachu blocks or something, then I'll probably have to edit this accordingly.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Disney loved Japan more than you.
So, here's the question of the day...
Have you ever played a videogame based on Dumbo?
Did you even know one existed before seeing this video?
The answer to both is probably "No", because the only Dumbo video game is on the Pico, and was only released in Japan.
Other Japan-exclusive Pico Disney titles (Besides the load of Mickey Mouse titles which I brought up before) include Snow White, Peter Pan, various Winnie the Poohs, a couple Donald Duck starred games, a few "Disney Princess" branded titles, and who knows what else.
Now, a good amount of these games, such as the Dumbo one shown above, were released in Japan well after the Pico was deemed a "dead console" in other regions, so some of these are understandable. However, there's just as many that simply did not come out outside of Japan even when you'd think it'd have been a no-brainer. Heck, "Mickey no Yukai na Bouken" was a launch title in Japan, but nowhere to be found in the USA.
Team Europe managed to get prototypes of a few international translations of some of the games that would not be released, but besides that, well, "That's all, folks!", as a certain competitor to Disney would say.
I wonder, are there any more? Maybe even in English? I'd have thought these would've at least been considered for a USA release, since, you know, the US is Disney's home. Then again, so I've heard, these Pico games are far from the only things that were given the Japan-only treatment.
Of course, this also begs the question, what was localization for a Pico game like? The text would probably be fairly simple, since, well, these games are designed for preschoollers, but how about dubbing? And of course, there's Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld's censorship issues...
Anyhow, to top off this weirdness of the day, just a note; Disney wasn't the only one giving Japan some "exclusive" treatment. Among other IPs well-known in America that only got Pico games in Japan include Peanuts (Particularly "Snoopy"), Lego, Paddington Bear, and... um... McDonalds. Maayybe more on that later.
Have you ever played a videogame based on Dumbo?
Did you even know one existed before seeing this video?
The answer to both is probably "No", because the only Dumbo video game is on the Pico, and was only released in Japan.
Other Japan-exclusive Pico Disney titles (Besides the load of Mickey Mouse titles which I brought up before) include Snow White, Peter Pan, various Winnie the Poohs, a couple Donald Duck starred games, a few "Disney Princess" branded titles, and who knows what else.
Now, a good amount of these games, such as the Dumbo one shown above, were released in Japan well after the Pico was deemed a "dead console" in other regions, so some of these are understandable. However, there's just as many that simply did not come out outside of Japan even when you'd think it'd have been a no-brainer. Heck, "Mickey no Yukai na Bouken" was a launch title in Japan, but nowhere to be found in the USA.
Team Europe managed to get prototypes of a few international translations of some of the games that would not be released, but besides that, well, "That's all, folks!", as a certain competitor to Disney would say.
I wonder, are there any more? Maybe even in English? I'd have thought these would've at least been considered for a USA release, since, you know, the US is Disney's home. Then again, so I've heard, these Pico games are far from the only things that were given the Japan-only treatment.
Of course, this also begs the question, what was localization for a Pico game like? The text would probably be fairly simple, since, well, these games are designed for preschoollers, but how about dubbing? And of course, there's Sonic the Hedgehog's Gameworld's censorship issues...
Anyhow, to top off this weirdness of the day, just a note; Disney wasn't the only one giving Japan some "exclusive" treatment. Among other IPs well-known in America that only got Pico games in Japan include Peanuts (Particularly "Snoopy"), Lego, Paddington Bear, and... um... McDonalds. Maayybe more on that later.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Pico Pico Douga
Searching NicoNicoDouga for Sega Pico content is difficult.
About the only search terms you can really use are the English word "Pico" and "ピコ". However, both of those results lead to a bunch of various unrelated things. Yes, including this kind. Sometimes the internet can be rather annoying...
Nevertheless, there are things to find! So, why look for Sega Pico videos on NicoNicoDouga? Obviously enough, the answer is to see how the Japanese game library looks when it's played on the original hardware.
Of course, hearing Japanese commentary on the games might be fun too, if those translate into hilarious snark.
I've dug out from NicoNicoDouga some videos of a playthrough of "Magic Knight Rayearth" for the Pico. Embeds come in the full article after the jump.
About the only search terms you can really use are the English word "Pico" and "ピコ". However, both of those results lead to a bunch of various unrelated things. Yes, including this kind. Sometimes the internet can be rather annoying...
Nevertheless, there are things to find! So, why look for Sega Pico videos on NicoNicoDouga? Obviously enough, the answer is to see how the Japanese game library looks when it's played on the original hardware.
Of course, hearing Japanese commentary on the games might be fun too, if those translate into hilarious snark.
I've dug out from NicoNicoDouga some videos of a playthrough of "Magic Knight Rayearth" for the Pico. Embeds come in the full article after the jump.
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