Lotte who makes the chocolate filled koala cookies, had the brilliant idea to package excellent Bikkuriman stickers with horrible chocolate wafers. The stickers were collectables that kids traded like how kids trade Yu Gi Oh or baseball Cards. In celebration of thirty years of Bikkuriman, From Software is consolidating the experience of collecting the stickers into Bikkuriman Encyclopedia for the Nintendo DS. You start out by ripping a package open a package of Lotte’s “treat” and you unveil one of 2,000 stickers. To simulate the trading system players can trade virtual Bikkuriman stickers with other DS owners. Bikkuriman Encyclopedia has a limited (nostalgic?) appeal, but From Software earns some respect for creating an original DS title and for sparing children from eating the chocolate. I wonder if something like this came out with Garbage Pail Kids instead of Bikkuriman would have a similar appeal (or lack of?) in North America.
