March 11th
Today's challenge is: “Why do I like this?”
Today is pretty interesting, because I hardly have anything to say about the game itself, but a lot more about the circumstances behind the game. Sort of like how it was with day 5. The game I'll be talking about today is
The Yakyuken Special, which I own on the 3DO.
So what is this game? It's a strip rock-paper-scissor FMV game. You pick your desired partner among the featured Japanese women, and play a best-of-9 set with her. When you win, she removes an article of clothing. You don't have to strip down if you lose (duh). However, if she wins 5 games first, then you'll have to replay the set if you wish to see the girl wearing less clothes. If you're wondering, they all do strip to their birthday suit, so yes, definitely an adult game. Every round comes with a song and dance in the girl's current attire, and often she looks like she's being held at gunpoint, which can be very disturbing.
Now, I know. What the fuck, right? Well, here's the thing: I don't really care for the game itself, nor did I ever look for it specifically. However, this game has grown to be quite special to me and a lot of other people, so now, it's time for Story Time.
Every year, I host a party with other FFR folks (we haven't done it this year because of Covid, but we typically do it in January otherwise). A few days before our first annual meetup, I saw an ad on one of the game collecting groups I follow about 3DO demo discs, the guy had 4 of those and was selling them for 10 bucks each, and had a bundle deal of 25$ if someone took everything off his hands. I contacted him since I wanted them, and he asked if I was interested in a 3DO “Japanese porn game” as a free bonus. I obviously said yes.
I got those discs on the day before the meetup, and after playing a bunch of other games with the guys, I decided to give Yakyuken Special a try, and none of us knew what we were getting into, or what the game was even called. Thankfully, it was very easy to figure out, and we ended up getting quite a bit into it, especially the little song and dance bits. We were cheering for whoever was using the controller as though we were watching a damn sports game. I probably have a video or something of that moment, I'd have to look.
It has become a staple of our little meetups, and honestly everyone seems to cherish it, and yes, even the girls (who we'd usually have using the controller as we discussed our "epic winning strats"), which makes it even more awesome. And to answer the question written in today's theme, I guess we can all agree the game sucks, but why is it such a successful title to boot up while partying? I think our shared love of irony is the biggest factor. Could also be the absolute power of women's T&A. Could be both.
Apparently there's a sequel, and I now need it. Otherwise, the game is available on 3DO, PS1 and SEGA Saturn.
(For those of you wondering, here's the song (from the Saturn version). No dance though, but I'm sure those of you curious enough can find it easily)