Tester’s Corner: Go Go Nippon Ed. Vol. 2

2. Go Go NipponThis time, we bring you word from Nurio!

Go! Go! Nippon! My First Trip to Japan

 Hello all! This seems to be the second time I got the honor of working on one of MangaGamer’s titles. So, what title is it this time? Hm…? Go… Go… Japan…? You mean, that title from OVERDRIVE… specifically designed for the western market…? Excuse me for a second…

 *screams of a madman and constant running into a wall can be heard from afar*

 Go! Go! Nippon! It is!

image01On the title screen I immediately get greeted by happy colors and… © MANGAGAMER.COM all lights reserved. Well damn, I wanted to buy some lights today, but I guess MangaGamer reserved them all. Can you please give one of those lights to me? It’s so dark here in my mom’s basement…

This is a visual novel where you can enter your name and it will be used throughout the game. You know what that means, right?

image02That’s right! I wanted to go with Sexy McMuffinFluff, but that didn’t fit. So it’s Sexy McMuff. Meh. Aside from your name, you can also enter a conversion rate to a currency of your preference. That way, you can see how expensive Japan is in Euros or Dollars. (And if I can help it, in Pounds too!)

So, the game finally begins. The main character is a guy who really loves Japan and finally sees his dream come true, traveling through this fantastic country. You might’ve already guessed it, but the main character is a bit of an otaku, but he’s far from the creepy level (like, uhm… this). He found two friendly gentlemen on the internet and is staying over at their place during his trip to Japan.

Wait, they’re gentlemen? Not… girls? I don’t want to be guided by guys! I want girls! This is the worst game eve-

image03-r…!? Oh, OVERDRIVE. Oh, you. Well played… well played. You had me fooled there. Seriously, how did Sexy McMuff think they were guys all this time? Didn’t he a/s/l?

So, luckily, they’re girls after all. After reintroducing himself to the girls, Sexy McMuff heads off to their house. From there, you can pick a sightseeing spot every day, and whatever you pick determines which girl you’ll end up with. You need to play through the game twice to see all the sightseeing spots, which nicely fits with the two endings in this game. Go! Go! Nippon! and all Japanese little facts it teaches you are really interesting, and I have to say that I have learned a lot of things; big things like which Japanese shrines are the most important, and the little things like DO NOT ORDER PIZZA IN JAPAN. Seriously, don’t.

At each sightseeing spot, there’s a neat button labeled “Show Photo.” What this does is open up Google Streetview for you and it shows you a photo of the sightseeing spot in real life!

image04Hello, innocent people of Japan! Please do not mind me looking at you through the internet. Please do not worship me. I am not a god – I am merely very much like one.

When your week in Japan is up and you go back home, you can see how much money you have spent. So, they say Japan is expensive, but it can’t be that bad, rig-

image05Holy smokes… Well, maybe if I look real sweet at my mom, she’ll pay it for me…

 All in all, Go! Go! Nippon! has been a very enjoyable experience and I recommend it to everyone who wants to learn a thing or two about Japanese culture and history. I have to say it almost felt like I was there myself, with the way Sexy McMuff was amazed at everything.It really makes me want to make a trip to Japan myself one day.

 As mentioned before, Go! Go! Nippon! is a game that has been developed specifically for the western market – and that shows. First of all, some people may have already noticed, but for (almost) every English line the game, the Japanese equivalent will be displayed above it. It’s all so you can learn some Japanese language while you’re playing this game. Verii naisu!

But worst of all is, since this game is developed for the western market, it was still in the production phase when I was beta-testing it! Why is that a bad thing? Well, imagine this. The cute girl from above (the left one) is taking a bath, and you run in on her while she’s busy. And what I got to see, was this…

image06Translation: “Projected CG – Main Character encountering Makoto as she’s getting out of the bath.” But it might as well have said “No CG for you, suck on that. Problem, Nurio? U mad?” All that is missing is a troll face. That’s right, it had placeholder CG. And some of the background images and music were (probably) placeholder too!

 And that’s not the only hardship I faced. As you might see above there, Makoto’s lines are pink. Akira’s are light blue. And I… am colorblind. For most colorblind people, this is probably okay, since they mix up red with green. But of course I have to have that colorblindness that mixes up pink and light blue!

image07Seriously, who’s saying what!? Well, they’re both saying Itadakimasu, but you know what I mean…

 Of course I am not really complaining about trivial things like that. I would never do such a thing. *twitch* I’m just saying that this game trolled me on four fronts. It fooled me at the intro. It teased me with placeholder CG. It confused me with similar colors… And my collected CG gallery is virtually empty. I want to see a gallery full of images when I finish a game. My OCD collecting mind cannot handle an empty CG gallery!

Anyway, to  end this Tester’s Corner on a happy note, I want to set aside my own miseries and make forumgoer Yirba a happy man… woman… something. He/She/It wanted to know if the MangaGamer mascot (She still doesn’t have a name…) is in the game. Well, she is in there! She really is!

See? Right there! (Feeling trolled yet? Now you know how I feel. ;.;)

See? Right there! (Feeling trolled yet? Now you know how I feel. ;.;)

All joking aside, I really enjoyed this game and learned a lot, and I certainly recommend it to those with even a little bit of interest in the Japanese culture and history.

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31 Comments

  1. I’m male, she’s Comko, and I’m happy.

    Aside from that, an interesting (if not slightly crazy) Tester’s Corner. :p

    • Yes, consider that I wrote this full of adrenaline and ecstasy from testing out one of Overdrive’s games. I went completely bananas and just wrote whatever crazy ideas oozed out of my mind.
      …Though, I might make this my “thing” for Tester’s Corners, if I happen to get the opportunity to write any more. I can see it now… “Nurio, that crazy tester who went completely bananas.”

      Yup, that might be a good (?) idea.

    • By the way, I know you are male now… But back when I wrote this, I didn’t even know you. Interesting how that goes…
      Comko’s name wasn’t discussed much either at that point in time and I remember hearing a confirmation that she didn’t have a name yet. I’m still not sure if her name is officially Comko now.
      And sure, be happy, Yirba! >.O Leave me here trolled all by my own.

      • Officially speaking, ‘Comko’ doesn’t have a name… but everyone’s calling her that, so until/unless she’s given an official name, I’m just gonna call her that.

        And yes, I’ll just leave you there. Problem, Nurio? U mad? xD

  2. I am in no way jealous/envious/any other word ending in -ous of you for testing this, nope not at all… Git 😉
    Seriously though, I’m extremely jealous and envious, but I have to say I’ve (sadly) only had time enough to read through one day of this game so far and I’ve found it enjoyable, informative and with the fewest errors of any MG product (or any visual novel for that matter) I’ve played, so well done to you, the translator, all the other testers and all the MG and Overdrive staff who’ve worked on this. If these standards can be maintained, then it can only be a good thing!

  3. This was rather entertaining..

  4. If this game can help stem the tide of gaijin going to Japan and ordering pizza, then we will know we have done the world a great service. 😀

  5. What’s wrong with ordering pizza in Japan? I saw it on the menu sometimes on my one trip there, but I never ordered it. Do they put mayonnaise on it or something?

    • The pizzas are small and really expensive for what you get in return. And as someone who rather doesn’t waste money, this is an absolute nightmare for me.

  6. When I went over to Japan my mindset was “I didn’t fly over 5000 miles to eat pizza and hamburgers.”

  7. What kind of pizza arewe talking about? Are we talking standard pizza or okonomiyaki (I’ve heard some people call it Japanese pizza though it sure doesn’t sound like it)?

  8. Pizzas not as a common food in Japan,because for it’s was so expense e.e

  9. So, in the screenshot of Akiba, why is Comko next to to a sign that says “SUCS”?

    BTW..if you like UFO arcades, I recommend the Taito Station (the one in the pic with the alien figure) in Akiba. They have a machine where they feature “old” (meaning, you’ll be winning things like Rilakuma in summer wear) toys where it’s very easy to win stuff.

    While I haven’t had a Japanese pizza (I’ve had okonomiyaki over there..), I have had the Japanese version of a quesadilla at El Torito near the Nishi-Kasai station in Tokyo. Because many Japanese are lactose intolerant, it was almost queso-free, but instead they put lots of veggies and meat on it instead. It wasn’t bad. I happened to go to the restaurant on Halloween, all the waitresses were dressed up in costume.

  10. One gripe I have about this game is a terribly small font, which is especially irritating when it comes to the Japanese text. I have a Japanese OS and maybe that’s what’s causing it, but uh, too bad you can’t just resize it…

  11. I’m sure you could found a troll face in a mirror when you found that there wasn’t any CG in the game of Makoto naked in the bathroom. xDD

    Thanks man. It was really interesting and well done. ^^

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