Famicom Cushions and other Famicom Crap....I Mean Merchandise. Famicom Merchandise.

I was at Village Vanguard, a novelty store downtown, today. I did a post about them a few months ago as they sell Famicom games. They had some new Famicom crap in today though so I thought I'd take a few pictures and put them here.

The main thing of interest was the Famicom cushion. As the name implies it is a cushion and a Famicom: all in one.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of novelty stuff like this. The attempt to cash in on my ironic sense of hipster nostalgia is just a bit too blatant. Still though, it was a nice try. It is actually two cushions, a Famicom cushion and a Famicom Disk System cushion:
They are tied together at the back, where you can also see the controller wire strings:
Which connect to the controllers:
It is really a shame that they display them wrapped in ugly plastic like this. I would have been much more tempted to buy one if they had displayed them nicely (like making a cushion Famicom Box or something). Usually Japanese stores are much better at stuff like that, Village Vanguard (and whoever manufactured these things) really dropped the ball there.

I was almost tempted to remove one from the plastic for the purposes of these photos. You know, the old:

"Cough Cough" (sound of plastic being torn) "Cough Cough"

routine. I didn't have the guts though.
Another problem is that they are made of this plastic-y type of material that doesn't look like it would be too comfortable. If I did have these I doubt I would use them as cushions much.

I suppose they would make for a rather cunning anti-Famicom theft device as you could put them under your TV when you go out of town and burglars would be tricked into stealing your Famicom (and Famicom Disk System) cushions rather than your actual Famicom (and Famicom Disk System).

The problem with that is that these pillows actually cost more than a Famicom (and Famicom Disk System), so you'd have been better off just letting the burglars take the real thing.

Anyway, these are about 3300 yen if anyone is interested.

They had some other kind of interesting Famicom related crap lying around. Like this handbag:
Must have been an imported one.

They also had these carrying cases:
Not too sure what it was for. I guess you could keep your Famicom controller in there or something.

And a little box that contains Space Invaders:
And some Mario dolls:
And more Mario dolls:
And Mario mobiles:
And boxes shaped like blocks from Mario:
And Luigi hats:
And a bucket of actual Famicom games:
I didn't buy a thing.

Related Posts:
- Fukuoka Famicom Shops V: Village Vanguard and Don Quixote
- Famicom and Game & Watch Stuff From Loft

Mahjong Famiclone

I came across this unusual Famiclone at Omocha Souko the other day - the Mahjong Famiclone.

Mahjong is an old Chinese game played with tiles. I used to have a set, but I never figured out how to play it myself.

There are still some Mahjong parlors to be found here and there where the game is played (usually for stakes). I ride past one on my way downtown sometimes. Most of the ones I have seen are tiny little establishments in hole-in-the-wall places that look like they are run by shady characters.

It isn't just a gambling game though, people play it at home as well and it seems to be popular among a segment of the oba-chan set.

Anyway, I found this thing kind of funny. It was only 780 (about 9$) but I didn't buy it. According to the box it has a built in Mahjong game and can also be used with regular Famicom carts.

Interesting too is the note on the left of the cover which says it is for those "aged 12 and above."

Related Posts:
-Pachinko and the Famicom: AKA The Stupid Side of Japanese Gaming

2011 Famicom Awards

Welcome to the 2011 Famicomblog Famicom Awards, where we recognize a bunch of stupid, offensive, confusing and ridiculous Famicom stuff and the lady on the cover of "Great Deal" gives them awards.

Enough with the lengthy introductions, on to the awards themselves, in no particular order:

Category: Breaking the "Don't Make a Video Game About Bio Monsters that is named after Jesus" taboo.

Winner: Jesus Kyofu no Bio Monster

Comment: Jesus.
Category: Centering your game on 80s Heavy Metal Band

Winner: Seikimatsu II: Akuma no Gyakushuu.

Comment: This is awesome on more levels than I can count.
Category: "Bro, full frontal nudity!! Seriously dudes, check this out! Awesoooooooome."

Winner: Kujaku Ou II

Comment: Seriously, bro, high five! Whoo yeah! Toss me a brewski!
Category: Gratuitous and massively inappropriate use of Nazi imagery on game cover.

Winner: (tie) Hitler no Fukkatsu and Sabaku no Kitsume

Comment: These are probably the biggest fails in Famicom history. Just having these games makes me feel uncomfortable. Which is a shame, because they are good games. Normally I don't feel comfortable with criticizing Japanese culture, but the casual and insensitive use of Nazi imagery that one regularly encounters here is a true embarrassment to this country. Just a few days ago one of the biggest pop bands in Japan appeared on MTV dressed as Nazis with no apparent appreciation for how offensive it was. The fact that I only found out about the incident through the foreign media and never saw a word about the incident in the mainstream Japanese press also speaks volumes. But I'm getting off topic here....
Category: Successfully resisting the urge to put David Hasselhoff on the cover of your Knight Rider game

Winner: Knight Rider

Comment: Just Kit, no David.
Category: Introducing redneck, in-your-face white trash Americana to a Japanese audience

Winner: WWF Wrestle Mania Challenge.

Comment: None needed.

Category: Making racist-sounding video games by putting "super" in front of name of ethnic group and making that the title of your game.

Winner: (tie) Super Chinese and Super Arabian.

Comment: (rolls eyes and shakes head in exasperation).
Category: Ruining game by putting stupid kid on cover.

Winner: Kakefu Kun no Jump Tengoku

Comment: I do not like this kid.

Category: Best display of 80s fashion crimes on game cover.

Winner: (tie) TM network Live in PowerBowl, Mottomo Abunai Keiji

Comment: Hey, the pirate shirt from Seinfeld.
Category: Creepy cover

Winner: Kyonshizu 2

Comment: Live photography was not a good choice for this cover.
Category: Making a game that kind of looks like a girl game, but then it, like, has the name written in these Heavy Metal type letters so it looks kind of, like, hardcore or something, but then, like its got like these fairies on it so, like, I don't know, its kind of like, confusing or whatever.

Winner: Hydlide Special

Comment: Like, what is it, like, a girl game, or like a boy game or what?

Pachinko and the Famicom: AKA the Stupid Side of Japanese Gaming

I was in Omocha Souko a couple days ago and found that they had put some more stuff into their junk section. Unfortunately the only Famicom related thing they put out was this:
The Pachinko Controller (misspelled as "controler") from Coconuts Japan. At 100 yen I figured, what the hell.

Released in 1991 this probably takes the cake as the stupidest controller ever released for the Famicom. This is one of those things that is peculiar to the Japanese world of gaming. One of those "stupid things" I should say. And I do apologize for the excessive and childish uses of the word "stupid" in this post. I really couldn't think of a better way to express the nature of this controller and pachinko games in general than with the use of that adjective.

Anyway, almost every console in Japan has at least one Pachinko controller released for it. The junk section of Omocha Souko is full of them, mostly for the Playstation.

Pachinko is a simple game, very similar to pinball. You shoot metal balls and try to get them to fall into certain holes. Unlike pinball though, pachinko is a form of gambling. You win more metal balls if you get it in the right hole and these can be exchanged for prizes. So its really more a combination of pinball and slot machine.

As gambling is technically illegal in Japan, you can't exchange these balls directly for cash or prizes. But mysteriously a number of businesses have sprung up right next to pachinko parlors which will exchange them for such prizes. No collusion there whatsoever (wink wink, nudge nudge).

The pachinko industry is an insanely large one. In 2006 it took in 27.45 trillion yen in revenue (about 275 billion US dollars), a sum greater than the domestic auto industry. They are everywhere, you almost can't walk 5 steps in Japan without running into one. This leads me to...

My Rant About Pachinko

I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but the urge to use this post as a platform to air some of my grievances with the pachinko industry is just too great. Skip this section and go to the bottom if you are only interested in the Famicom controller. Read on if you are interested in bad stuff about pachinko.

I have to say that I have never played Pachinko (save on the Famicom) and never will. There are just so many reasons to be disgusted by the industry that it boggles the mind. The top four that I can come up with off the top of my head:

1. Pachinko kills babies. No kidding. Every summer across Japan pachinko addicted parents leave their offspring in boiling cars while they go to play pachinko for hours on end. They then come back to find their kids dead from the 40 degree heat (see here, here and here for just a few examples reported in the news).

2. A lot of pachinko parlors are owned by groups with North Korean connections who funnel the profits to Pyongyang, which in turn uses it to build weapons. I thought this might just be an urban legend, but it turns out there is a semi-reputable source for this information (see the Japan Times article here).

3. As with any gambling, some people get addicted to it and end up ruining their lives with debt. See the above linked Japan Times article on how shady consumer loan companies have taken advantage of this by setting up shop right next to Pachinko parlors (though I'm glad to say that most of those businesses have gone under since that article was written due to changes in Japanese law on the interest that such companies can charge).

4. Pachinko parlors are ugly. In an urban area they can sometimes provide a bit of welcome kitsch to a street, like this one here:
But most of them are just massive contributors to urban sprawl. It is not uncommon to find stretches of once beautiful countryside being razed to build one of these eyesores and the massive parking lots that surround them. Beautiful old farmhouses and rice paddies replaced by this:
Not good at all.

End of Rant

OK, glad I got that off my chest. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the stupid controller.
As I was saying, this is a stupid controller. You might notice that it is basically just a big, clumsy regular Famicom controller with an added trigger button. I plugged the thing in with a Pachinko game to give it a try:
I had a lot of trouble figuring out what this trigger was for. The best I can tell it just replicates movements that you can execute with the regular buttons. So, you know, its kind of stupid.

Actually, I have to say that Famicom pachinko games in general are really stupid. The fact is that it is not a fun game to play at all, the only thing you control is the angle of the ball when it is released and then you just watch as the balls randomly fall wherever they might:
Seems the only reason people play regular pachinko is because of the gambling element, which of course is absent in the Famicom. So as I said, its just kind of stupid.

Anyway, I end this post with a photo of the crumbling facade of "Pachinko Empire", a parlor not far from my place that went out of business a couple years ago and now sits rotting:
I get all sorts of pleasure from seeing this thing crumble. It is a mix of schadenfreude and my romantic fascination with the folly of hubris and the ephemeral nature of human existence. Brings to mind the classic of Japanese war epics:

The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.

- Opening passage of the Heike Monogatari (13th century military romance. Translated by Helen Craig McCullough)