Retro games are kind of hit and miss by today’s standards, but this one was too good to pass up. Especially if you’ve come in late to the party and missed out on how Japan’s animation evolved so rapidly from the ‘90s to what it is today.
PlayStation 3 and PSP have gotten two quirky PSOne Classics, with the first being a great dose in Heroine Dream. The game revolves around you as a producer grooming a young lady to become the best heroine in Japan, sorta like The Idolm@ster but without all the music we’ve come to expect alongside it. You’d choose her daily routines, which raises her parameters in various abilities such as her confidence or stress levels.
Bizarrely, there’s an African-American-looking dude in the game called Miyake who looks exactly like Will Smith. Don’t even wanna, know Fresh Prince… don’t even wanna know.
The other game is equally off the wall—for its time anyway. Tokyo 23 Wards Uniform Wars tells the tale of uniforms which invoke powers on their wearers (Sound familiar, guys? Just remember, this came first) and a protagonist looking for their elder brother.
With uniforms actually banned, a new unit called “Heaven” has appeared alongside “H.E.L.P.” fighting… for? Against? The wearing of uniforms. Ok look who cares this doesn’t make sense, there’s a civil war raging now with people in school uniforms beating the crap out of each other. Who needs more plot than that? There’s even special moves and powers with full-on, original special cut scene moments!
Both downloadable titles are on sale now for 600 yen each ($6)
