What's that (obscure!) game!?

◉◉maru

oprel The « Comiket building », in other words, Tokyo Big Sight is a pretty good guess and one I should think about for a future quiz! As far as I know, no video game company has ever had it’s headquarters there. However, the building you see above was not too far away (it does not exist anymore). I think on a clear day, from the top floor, there is a decent chance you could see the Tokyo Big Sight from this building.

copySave It’s not from a fighting game. However, considering the publisher, it could also have been featured in a fighting game.

exodus

That’s Namco Bandai HQ I reckon! But I do not know what the game is.

◉◉maru

exodus Correct! It’s the former Bandai Namco Mirai Kenkyūjo (Future Research Center) in Shinagawa, which I believe they occupied from their merger in 2006 until around 2015. Despite its iconic pyramidal shape, the building has since been destroyed.

So we are looking for a Bandai Namco game released between 2006 and 2015. Here is a slightly zoomed out view from the game (I had to retake the screenshot because my iPhone is an asshole).

Neko

◉◉maru Gods Eater Burst?

exodus

My initial guess based on color scheme was dead to rights: retribution, but it looks kind of PS2-like to me… or maaaaybe DS.

that’s as far as I can get!!

◉◉maru

exodus Neither of the platforms you mentioned, although they have both received a different entry from the same series. The game in question is (still to this day) exclusive to its platform of release.

Neko Nope.

You get to “visit” the building, but not in a way you could in real life.

Jax

Hmm this is screaming 3DS to me……not seeing too many candidates though.

I’ll take a shot in the dark with Kamen Rider: Travelers Senki?

◉◉maru

Jax Bingo on the platform. Not the right game.

Here is the same semi-fictional location recreated on a different hardware. It was available there one year later, via a DLC. I am cropping the base of the building for a very good reason.

Jax

In that case it must be Ridge Racer 3D!

I kinda brute forced this one but I wasn’t going to bed empty handed after scrubbing through videos of all those Kamen Rider games on the DS.

◉◉maru

Jax Good job! The 3DS was topical recently so here is one of its launch titles, Ridge Racer 3D. One of the new tracks, Oceanfront Cruiseway, had you race through the Bandai Namco Mirai Kenkyūjo, although I expect very few players have been in on the joke. (The track was later released as a DLC for Ridge Racer on PS Vita.)

Here is a video that shows the building and Oceanfront Cruiseway around 7m55s.

Jax

Alright folks, let’s try this one that I conveniently already have a capture of.

Numbers! Meters! The good stuff!

TracyDMcGrath

Jax Darn, I had gone down a wild goose chase on trying to find games with a character named Jax before realizing that it was, in fact, your name.

exodus

Hmm, looks like saturn or PS1 to me, also looks compressed or zoomed in or something so maybe it’s a port?
Also there’s a character named Jacks, which is something. There can’t be THAT many games with a stress meter and a calorie value. feels like a raising sim meets tactics game since there’s a turn meter as well.

Video Game King

exodus feels like a raising sim meets tactics game since there’s a turn meter as well.

My guess is it’s either a horse-racing sim or a very specific kind of digital board game/sugoroku game, and all I can say for certain is that it’s not Butage (the first PS1 racing game I tried off the top of my head).

Neko

Video Game King it does look like winning post or derby stallion but i can’t say i’ve seen that UI

Neko

Okay, after doing a little research, it’s one of these four PS1 games based on the TV Show : 筋肉番付vol.1〜俺が最強の男だ！〜 (Kinniku bandzuke vol. 1 〜 Ore ga saikyo no otokoda!〜)

Seems it was fairly popular at the time, one of those simulation “raising” games where you raise your person to become the strongest/most athletic man in Japan to win a competition. There were so many weird little games and experiences for PS1 it’s almost cheating for this thread.

Jax

Neko Indeed! Kinniku Banzuke - Road to Sasuke! in particular, which I’m preeetttyyy sure was the only one to feature this simulation mode, although I could be totally wrong about that.

The news of that G4, uh, thing, reminded me of Ninja Warrior, which in turn reminded me of this game, which is pretty alright if you like dumb button pressing minigames (I do!).

exodus

ah!! I knew it was a raising sim!!!

Neko

I’ll post something but it’s clear that I can’t just, like, pull a screenshot off the web from Nippon Daihyou Team no Kantoku ni Narou! Sekaihatsu, Soccer RPG (日本代表チームの監督になろう！世界初、サッカーＲＰＧ) for the Sega Saturn, given the pedigree around here.

I’ll need to find something with an even longer title.

exodus

HAH, I didn’t recognize that either. Excellent.

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