the_game_database|| news | latest | gallery | upcoming | search: 
Gacharoku
  PS2PartyJ  
  opened by paleface at 01:46:48 08/20/03  
  last modified by paleface at 12:25:50 03/05/24  
  paleface [sys=PS2; cat=Party; reg=JPN]
           
Mini-game contest from the designers of Ore no Ryouri, or so it would seem from the similar characters, dual analog-stick emphasis, frequent food themes and cultural craziness. Each of the forty or so minigames features exceptionally strong graphic design, some sort of twitch-action input, and probably you and three friends laughing yourselves silly while simultaneously thumping madly on the controllers.
 
All but one or two of the games can be easily understood (but perhaps not easily mastered) without a knowledge of Japanese. In addition to the hilarious multiplayer minigames (examples include the game where you must stroke your character's hair with a comb to build up static electricity, then carefully raise the comb to extend your hair to the top of the screen, and the game where you take turns dropping water into a hinged bamboo waterpipe, trying not to be the one who fills it to overflowing, while a herd of wildebeest stampedes through the background) there's some sort of single-player activity mode which I haven't seen much of except for the amazingly addictive calligraphy game where you use the analog stick to trace kanji characters, using button pressure to try to lay down a stroke of the correct width. Sounds lame but is amazingly fun, particularly with friends watching and mocking you the whole time.
 
If you have two or three pals who you can hang with regularly and who are also into wacky Japanese games, this is essential.
 
  paleface 03:04:14 09/29/03
           
There are three main menu selections.
 
The first is the primary board-game style affair, where the characters take turns rolling dice and running around the looping board path, landing on special squares, engaging in minigames with some or all of their opponents, and somehow gambling and winning money. It's very hard to understand without knowing Japanese, and the minigames play in a small picture-in-picture--this allows those not participating in the minigame to continue taking their turns around the board, but it also makes things less involving for those in the minigame than it would have been if it were full-screen.
 
The second option takes you to a bunch of minigames arranged around household crafts. There's shaving (a balloon--don't pop it with too much pressure!), calligraphy, pottery, and so forth. Very fun, and I think these are played hot-seat, ie one at a time. The game tracks your overall score as well as the scores made in each game.
 
The third option takes you to a mode where your characters take turns ascending a staircase, choosing a minigame each time they stop. The winner of the minigame gets to take a random number of steps further up the staircase, then they stop and another minigame is played, and so on until someone gets to the top, where they are declared the winner. The games are all simultaneous multiplayer and you can keep picking your favorite over and over if you want, as long as you won the last minigame.
 
  paleface 22:16:15 12/06/03 [title updated]
           
I'm not sure how the title is supposed to be spelled, but "Gacharoku" looks more typically Japanese than "Gacharocku," and they spell it that way on MagicBox and GameFAQs, so I guess I'll just shape up and cut out the "k."
    
downloads:
· minigames.jpg
 
references:
· Gacharoku 2 (PS2)
· Hachiemon (GBA)
· Ore no Ryouri (PS1)
· Simple 1500 Series Vol.66: The Kaiten - Mawasun Da!! (PS1)

 
© 2024 paleface.net. Game impressions are © the individual contributors. All rights reserved.