I own the GBA cartridge, you cretins, so I hold the moral high ground here. =] It was just getting too frustrating having to constantly refer to a translated script… you really miss a lot of the game, which is a shame when the most interesting thing about the Earthbound/Mother series is the writing.

How does it work? Various denizens of a city find themselves in various predicaments (illustrated by hilarious cut scenes). One kid has a crush on a girl and is challenged to a dodge ball match in order to win her heart. A tired, worn out old racehorse is running one last race and crosses paths with a robber running from the law. Cleopatra has indulged a bit too much in the starchy foods, and has to whip herself back into shape before Marc Antony comes home. You know, problems that normal people face every day. Once they realize that their problem is beyond their power to solve, they scream, “OOOOUUUENNNNDAAAANNN!” and get cheered to victory.

The Ouendan shows up and cheers and dances to a famous (I have to assume) Japanese pop song. Numbered circles appear on the screen, with shrinking outlines. When the outline is just on the border of the circle, tap it with the stylus in the order it appeared on the screen. Better timing yields more points, and keeps the Ouendan cheer meter raised higher.

Like all music games, the real point of Ouendan 2 is the songs that you tap the touchscreen in time with. Unfortunately, I don’t really follow Japanese pop at all, which makes the game a bit harder to enjoy. I did recognize some of the tracks from the first game in the series (due to karaoke and such), which made it rather enjoyable and nostalgic.

You would think that if the music is somewhat unaccessible for the Japanese versions of this game, I might recommend the North American version, Elite Beat Agents. You would also be wrong, and I would probably feel compelled to hit you with a truncheon. I searched for “elite beat agents song list,” and the first hit was from Game|Life, ironically enough. Check that link, and you’ll see that the song list is total rubbish.

My recommendation is to grab the first Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and try out its different take on the music/rhythm genre. If you just can’t get enough, go for either the true sequel (Moero! Nekketsu Rizumu Damashii) or its spiritual brother (Elite Beat Agents).

Well, my dreams of gun-metal-PS3-owning are dashed – apparently the US only gets a lame, limited edition version of the game itself.

I still might get it (‘cos I’m a sucker for that sort of stuff… remember the dilemma regarding my Mario Galaxy commemorative coin?), but I’ll be very annoyed while forking over my money to the morbidly obese cashier.

Everyone’s Nintendo Channel
“Everyone’s Nintendo Channel” is a channel that delivers Wii- and Nintendo DS-related news to everybody. You can check out screenshots of new games and download game demos to your DS. Also, it will collect information from players, and help you search for games in your collection. You might also be able to try out new games!
* You can download the “Everyone’s Nintendo Channel” free from the Wii Shopping Channel.

Check out screenshots
Take a look at promotional screenshots, TV commercials, and other promo material for new and unreleased DS and Wii games.

Search for your games
You can search for your games in various ways, including by platform, developer, genre, and title.

Review games that you’ve played
You can send us your thoughts on games that you’ve played. Afterwards, everyone’s responses will be shown in a “Player’s Choice” section.
* Reviews will be collected for a 12-month period.

Play DS game demos
You can download game demos onto your DS.

Shigesato Itoi is probably best known over here as the designer of Earthbound, one of my favorite games. I really don’t know as much about him as I’d like to… I sometimes check out his website, but I don’t have enough patience (or time at work) to read through the Japanese. A while ago I bought “Yume de aimashou,” a collection of short stories by Itoi and Haruki Murakami, but only got through the introduction. If I ever start studying Japanese again, I’ll probably use that book as my first project.

More info: A short biography.

See if you can spot Brendan in this one. I’ll give you a hint: he has the craziest hair. Plus, he says his name. I also laugh when they subtitle Brendan’s Japanese in katakana, doing nothing to dispel the widely-held belief in Japan that foreigners are remedial and can’t speak the language. Mostly true, but still…

I don’t know if this method is peculiar to me, but usually, when I’m teaching, the English vocabulary I choose is based off the Japanese vocab I know. Seem strange? Not really. I figure that if I know a word in Japanese, it’s a good bet that any moron student knows that word as well. Let’s put things in perspective: the Japanese have a national obsession with English, and start studying it in school from Jr. High on. That means at least 6 years through required schooling, plus like 4 more years if they go through college. I studied for one year in college, and have been studying in my (minimal) spare time while working a horrible job here in Japan.

But! They are still bad. I feel as if my head will explode, when I must rephrase a question about a million times, and am thinking of the direct Japanese translation in my head. In the book this class uses, there are these little sections with “crazy” English phrases. Today’s phrase was “I’d give anything for a pizza.” Heck, doesn’t that seem simple enough? This guy wants pizza! He would give anything for it! Money! His wristwatch! His liver! But they just couldn’t wrap their heads around it. ピザのために何でもあげる。There it is! The literal Japanese translation, which even I know. I don’t have any Japanese friends! I don’t speak the language at all! This country is obsessed, and they all suck.

Then I had to get a ride back with a guy who is one of the worst students. It’s so painful, because I have to be the one who stoops to the lowest common denominator. Unless I speak, the car will be about as silent as a tomb. Why are these people learning English again? I thought language was supposed to be about communication. If they think they’ll learn enough to understand movies or something, they’ve got another think coming.

I made a conscious decision a while ago. I was getting all depressed because my language ability wasn’t really increasing; I didn’t have anyone to speak Japanese to, in a country full of the little buggers. Then I realized, the point of a langauge is for communication. If I don’t communicate using the language, what’s the point? That’s when I decided to switch my focus to reading, because that’s something useful and entertaining for me. There’s a point to it. Chinese characters are cool and useful, and I like playing Japanese games and reading manga. I can still get along fairly well in society, in spite of my ineptitude. For example, last week I forgot a bag of English textbooks on the train. The next day, I was able to go tell the station staff that I lost a bag of English books, and ask if they had the bag. Not amazing stuff, but enough to function.

Wow, that was pretty long and rambling. Forgive my loquaciousness. Two and a half months to go.