15 Ridiculous Games That Could Have Only Happened In Japan

1. Takeshi's Challenge

sonatine2 Takeshi "Beat" Kitano is my hero. When the guy is not directing cool movies, or starring in them as either mild mannered protagonists and violent yakuza overlords, he spends his time hosting an insane amount of TV shows. He is so famous in Japan that the people have attempted to make him run for president, but he has always turned the offer down. Kitano has held at some point in time practically every role there is in showbiz including video game designer. Except that supposedly Kitano does not like video games. In fact, it has been rumored that he hates them. So when approached by Taito Corporation to create a game based on his life a devil horned Kitano agreed enthusiastically to help with a few ideas of his own. The product of their collaboration has been cited by more than a few as one of the worst video games ever made. You know immediately that something is wrong with a game when it is plastered with numerous warnings stating that it cannot be played with a conventional mindset. No advertisement in history has ever been more truthful. There are no directions or hints during game play at all to lead the character through the story. You simply have to know that out of all the places you can go in the game you must first quit your job, get really drunk in a bar, sing karaoke, and divorce your wife the next morning (all Kitano's ideas). If you fail to do any of these you will lose the game. Just like if you fail to take the bartender's offerings of "just one more" you will lose the game. There are parts of Takeshi's Challenge that if you move the controller at all during a solid hour you will lose the game. Sometimes the screen will flash game over, other times you will find out later on in the story. During all of this the only actions you can perform are walking, talking, jumping, and punching. Yes, part of this game is just trying to punch everything. In fact, if you punch the title menu 30,720 times at the very beginning then you will win the game. Needless to say, it's a nightmare created to terrorize kids who will go to great lengths to accomplish quests in video games. Eventually you will take Takeshi to an Island cave filled with treasure. The End. No credits. Stay on the this ending screen too long the game will ask you, "Why are you taking this game so seriously?" Clearly designed to give gamer's a bad day you might even find it more surprising that developers at Taito kept having to turn down ideas from Takeshi for being way too adult in nature for younger audiences. It has also been rumored that the only time Kitano actually met with Taito concerning the game he was completely drunk. Did I mention the guy's my hero? Like this article? Got any to add? Let us know in the comments section below.
 
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aka The Thompsonator. Action movie & shooter game fanatic. Biggest weakness? Taking things over the top... The internet is the disease. Meet the cure. Find more action on my Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/ActionRation