God, I love Takeshi's Challenge In 1986, it was already the logical conclusion to video game difficulty, realism, satire, and absurdist comedy It's like 10 years before Desert Bus but it outdoes it on 8 bit consoles I wish more games like this were made, ones with literal malice towards the player. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is like Getting Over It. I had to type this immediately after looking at the random test pattern you get by staring at the map.
We definitely see elements of malice to the player today with some roguelikes. I'm thinking specifically A Dark Room's prequel The Ensign. Apart from that it's mostly thematic in games with there still being many concessions made for the player (even The Ensign has some QoL stuff as unforgiving as it is). More deliberate malice lies with outright troll games/levels, which employ a lot of the same design techniques as takeshi's challenge. But that's still a bit different, since it's understood by the dev and player that "this is in good fun", basically. I don't know of any games that genuinely present themselves as a regular game, but have all these slights to the player when you actually get into it. At least not off the top of my head either. And yeah I've very much grown to love this evil game myself haha.
You're going Gods Work fixing the wiki articles and correcting misconceptions about the game. Seriously you making discoveries, even small of a game this old is insane
Ty! I've worked on wikis on and off for years now, so I've become quite the pedant about the sort of thing haha. And I was very proud of digging up that skip via the third island shrine! Only place I found it was in a more recent Japanese guide for the game.
@@_connorsseur You mean the skip you mentioned that sends you to the 4th island? Brother I didn't even know you could land on ANY of them besides that 4th one, I'm just impressed 🤣 You were absolutely right in assuming a vast majority of viewers were only familiar with Jontrons video, so when you mentioned every inconsistency from his video, it absolutely blew my mind. I watched that video when it was damn near new, and I could recite it from memory 🤣
So, the whole daikon thing, there's a few mays that can be interpreted: It's an ethnic slur in China. This is less likely since it's individuals talking to themselves, but I figured I'd get it out of the way first. Second: it's a sexual act slang. You can likely infer what kind. Third, and what I think is most likely: these guys just blew all their money and now they're thinking, "Well, at least daikon is still cheap." As in it's going to be their only meal for the foreseeable future. They definitely kept it vague on purpose, adding to how subversive the game is.
If I had more time that might be fun! Unfortunately I doubt it'd fare too well for the work it would take (a frustrating reality for most UA-cam content lol)
A daikon root is a type of radish. I'm not quite familiar enough with the game to know if there's any vegetables or radishes in this game with any particular practical use? A quick Ctrl+F for "daikon", "radish", "root", or "vegetable" on the Strategy Wiki and GameFAQs walkthroughs were of no help, so if there's no radishes or vegetables in this game, it may literally be a non-sequitur/useless hint? ...Either that, or they mistranslated the hint, since as far as we can tell, none of the other hints are completely useless like this one would be.
Both translations reference cheap daikon root, so I doubt it was mistranslated. Probably just useless. I mean the "hey yoshikawa, I got married too!" Hint is bordering on useless too so it's not out of the question
Speaking of TV Tropes, I added that bit about the karaoke section a few days ago by chance. Glad to see we're on the same page. I learned it from a UA-camr named Pluvius, who made a "Let's Die in Takeshi's Challenge" series that highlights a lot of the facts in this video (and more). I think the reason why "Rain of Tears" might be remembered as the only one you can sing is because it says so in the official strategy guide? Both the commercial starring Kitano and the GameCenterCX episode feature that song. Funnily enough, it's actually the longest of the four songs by a significant margin, so it makes for a terrible choice when speedrunning and will grate on you very quickly if you're stuck on that section for a while.
You know I noticed it was longer than the others, but it didn't occur to me that's why it's the safe choice in the karaoke section lol. These devs sure were asses!
@@_connorsseur Here's an extra fact in the video that you glossed over, even if it's not that obscure: if you try to social dance in front of the village chief after learning it at the culture club, you'll get a softlock (works just like the "end game" option) where he forces you to be wed to his daughter.
@@fernandolemon9204 I mention that in the first episode of the series actually! If I didn't I would've dropped it here. May be worth moving it down to this episode when I do the bundle episode though
To some extent, yes, but the rom translation didn't use profanity for one of the NPC hints, while the cutting room floor's translation did. "The poop will lead you underground" vs "shit is your guide to the underground" iirc. So I think it's a bit up to interpretation with how you translate it. I can try and get a second opinion from a friend on that though
Huh, funny you say that you can escape the huts by use of Passwords... the Joueur du Grenier, the guy I mentioned in one of the other two videos... said he literally had to replay the whole game until he got to the village because the password got him stuck in the hut he entered. Odd... do you think it only happens after you get a certain item, or it doesn't happen at all? Also, uh, A MOBILE PORT?!?!
@@_connorsseur argh, UA-cam won't let me post a comment with a link! Well, if you want to check it, just check part 2, by 9:25. I think it's the first hut, it's one that's empty inside when he enters. He might've used passwords in a different way from yours? Hard to tell, honestly.
@@Mike14264 Sorry for getting to this over three months later-- but I finally investigated things. As far as I can tell-- he lied for comedic effect. I tried it myself twice in-game after instantly landing from the hang-glider section and saves worked as normal. So I went back to his video, and used the same password he showed in the video. Still didn't spawn me in the hut. The password clearly worked as I had the exact same items, health, and money that he did, and I'm confident anyone else would get the same result using the same password. I'm working on the "director's cut" of the series right now, so I'll include all this there to bust the myth.
"naturally, crouching is useless against animals, monsters, and children"
that's a quote and a half
This series is ripe with them lol
God, I love Takeshi's Challenge
In 1986, it was already the logical conclusion to video game difficulty, realism, satire, and absurdist comedy
It's like 10 years before Desert Bus but it outdoes it on 8 bit consoles
I wish more games like this were made, ones with literal malice towards the player. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is like Getting Over It.
I had to type this immediately after looking at the random test pattern you get by staring at the map.
We definitely see elements of malice to the player today with some roguelikes. I'm thinking specifically A Dark Room's prequel The Ensign. Apart from that it's mostly thematic in games with there still being many concessions made for the player (even The Ensign has some QoL stuff as unforgiving as it is).
More deliberate malice lies with outright troll games/levels, which employ a lot of the same design techniques as takeshi's challenge. But that's still a bit different, since it's understood by the dev and player that "this is in good fun", basically. I don't know of any games that genuinely present themselves as a regular game, but have all these slights to the player when you actually get into it. At least not off the top of my head either.
And yeah I've very much grown to love this evil game myself haha.
The mobile port episode can be seen here: ua-cam.com/video/HQ-RKXiiEVc/v-deo.htmlsi=8OlefW2Gg79ab1nN
The WHAT?
Oh you poor bastard... touch controls.
@@KainYusanagi It's been awful 😭
@@_connorsseur Can you at least Bluestacks it for keyboard & mouse/controller support or something?
@@KainYusanagi Oh I'm doing it on my phone, no peripherals or emulation haha. The port is so obscure I don't think emulation's an option.
Can't believe GTA is a Takeshi's Challenge clone.
You're going Gods Work fixing the wiki articles and correcting misconceptions about the game. Seriously you making discoveries, even small of a game this old is insane
Ty! I've worked on wikis on and off for years now, so I've become quite the pedant about the sort of thing haha. And I was very proud of digging up that skip via the third island shrine! Only place I found it was in a more recent Japanese guide for the game.
@@_connorsseur You mean the skip you mentioned that sends you to the 4th island? Brother I didn't even know you could land on ANY of them besides that 4th one, I'm just impressed 🤣 You were absolutely right in assuming a vast majority of viewers were only familiar with Jontrons video, so when you mentioned every inconsistency from his video, it absolutely blew my mind. I watched that video when it was damn near new, and I could recite it from memory 🤣
@@fluffyninja3467 Oh same, haha. It's defs one of my fav vids of his despite my critiques.
So, the whole daikon thing, there's a few mays that can be interpreted:
It's an ethnic slur in China. This is less likely since it's individuals talking to themselves, but I figured I'd get it out of the way first.
Second: it's a sexual act slang. You can likely infer what kind.
Third, and what I think is most likely: these guys just blew all their money and now they're thinking, "Well, at least daikon is still cheap." As in it's going to be their only meal for the foreseeable future.
They definitely kept it vague on purpose, adding to how subversive the game is.
A video explaining your personal experiencie researching and playing the game would be neat.
If I had more time that might be fun! Unfortunately I doubt it'd fare too well for the work it would take (a frustrating reality for most UA-cam content lol)
A daikon root is a type of radish. I'm not quite familiar enough with the game to know if there's any vegetables or radishes in this game with any particular practical use? A quick Ctrl+F for "daikon", "radish", "root", or "vegetable" on the Strategy Wiki and GameFAQs walkthroughs were of no help, so if there's no radishes or vegetables in this game, it may literally be a non-sequitur/useless hint? ...Either that, or they mistranslated the hint, since as far as we can tell, none of the other hints are completely useless like this one would be.
Both translations reference cheap daikon root, so I doubt it was mistranslated. Probably just useless. I mean the "hey yoshikawa, I got married too!" Hint is bordering on useless too so it's not out of the question
Happy to be a viewer, your personality is so nice!
I just watched the other videos this morning, nice to see this so soon.
Speaking of TV Tropes, I added that bit about the karaoke section a few days ago by chance. Glad to see we're on the same page. I learned it from a UA-camr named Pluvius, who made a "Let's Die in Takeshi's Challenge" series that highlights a lot of the facts in this video (and more).
I think the reason why "Rain of Tears" might be remembered as the only one you can sing is because it says so in the official strategy guide? Both the commercial starring Kitano and the GameCenterCX episode feature that song.
Funnily enough, it's actually the longest of the four songs by a significant margin, so it makes for a terrible choice when speedrunning and will grate on you very quickly if you're stuck on that section for a while.
You know I noticed it was longer than the others, but it didn't occur to me that's why it's the safe choice in the karaoke section lol. These devs sure were asses!
@@_connorsseur Here's an extra fact in the video that you glossed over, even if it's not that obscure: if you try to social dance in front of the village chief after learning it at the culture club, you'll get a softlock (works just like the "end game" option) where he forces you to be wed to his daughter.
@@fernandolemon9204 I mention that in the first episode of the series actually! If I didn't I would've dropped it here. May be worth moving it down to this episode when I do the bundle episode though
From what little I've seen on the mobile port, the only difference I know of is that you can actually go to America in that version.
There's actually more than that! But I'll let that be a surprise
*I was not ready for the Red Country.*
Nobody ever is.
I can't remember any source for this, but I think I remember hearing that most of the swearing was added in the translation.
To some extent, yes, but the rom translation didn't use profanity for one of the NPC hints, while the cutting room floor's translation did. "The poop will lead you underground" vs "shit is your guide to the underground" iirc.
So I think it's a bit up to interpretation with how you translate it. I can try and get a second opinion from a friend on that though
Takeshi's Challenge has a mobile port?!
It sure does! And it's as awful as it sounds!
cant wait for the 69 parts for these!
Huh, funny you say that you can escape the huts by use of Passwords... the Joueur du Grenier, the guy I mentioned in one of the other two videos... said he literally had to replay the whole game until he got to the village because the password got him stuck in the hut he entered. Odd... do you think it only happens after you get a certain item, or it doesn't happen at all?
Also, uh, A MOBILE PORT?!?!
Wait, really? Did he show off which hut? I thought I tried all of them, as showcased in my goofy sped up section and all of them let me escape
@@_connorsseur uh, I think it might show on the video... hang on.
@@_connorsseur argh, UA-cam won't let me post a comment with a link! Well, if you want to check it, just check part 2, by 9:25. I think it's the first hut, it's one that's empty inside when he enters. He might've used passwords in a different way from yours? Hard to tell, honestly.
@@Mike14264 thanks for the tip! I'll look into it
@@Mike14264 Sorry for getting to this over three months later-- but I finally investigated things. As far as I can tell-- he lied for comedic effect.
I tried it myself twice in-game after instantly landing from the hang-glider section and saves worked as normal. So I went back to his video, and used the same password he showed in the video. Still didn't spawn me in the hut. The password clearly worked as I had the exact same items, health, and money that he did, and I'm confident anyone else would get the same result using the same password.
I'm working on the "director's cut" of the series right now, so I'll include all this there to bust the myth.
Keep milking it this is HOT CONTENT
1:19 "I don't know what this line means" bro it means the Daikon root is cheap can you hecking read
damn you're right 😔
Ooooh
now reverse engineer it :] :]