Club Nintendo with Oscar Bown, Nintendo World Championships

[00:00:08] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and gaming culture in Japan's capital.

[00:00:15] Your host, Mono, here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo.

[00:00:20] Today's feature is about Club Nintendo, the major rewards program for Nintendo in the 2000s and 2010s that had tons of exclusive items.

[00:00:28] Author Oscar Bown joins the podcast to chat all about the history of Club Nintendo and about his upcoming book about that very thing.

[00:00:36] In the game section, I try to ascend to a higher plane in order to improve my time on Nintendo World Championships NES Edition.

[00:00:43] Plus, some news about new games and new happenings right here in Tokyo.

[00:00:48] Let's start with Oscar Bown and Club Nintendo.

[00:00:57] Today we're talking about Club Nintendo, the predecessor to my Nintendo.

[00:01:01] Don't get them mixed up.

[00:01:02] While it's no longer around, many people have fond memories of Club Nintendo,

[00:01:06] and there's even an upcoming book to help live out all your rewards program nostalgia.

[00:01:11] Joining me to chat all about Club Nintendo is a special guest.

[00:01:14] So, guest, please introduce yourself.

[00:01:16] Hello, my name is Oscar Bown, and I am the author of an unendorsed anthology of Club Nintendo.

[00:01:22] Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:24] Thanks for joining me.

[00:01:25] Let's start with the basics.

[00:01:27] What is or what was Club Nintendo?

[00:01:30] Club Nintendo was a rewards loyalty program

[00:01:33] that started in Europe in 2002, Japan in 2003, and in America in 2008.

[00:01:40] And it closed down worldwide in 2015 for my Nintendo.

[00:01:45] With Club Nintendo, you could buy Nintendo games and you could redeem those rewards.

[00:01:51] Yeah, like you said, it ironically launched in Europe first.

[00:01:54] And when I think of Nintendo's history, you don't really think of Europe first.

[00:01:58] You would expect it to be launched in America or Japan.

[00:02:01] But it was, like you said, Europe in 2002, then Japan the year after,

[00:02:05] and then North America didn't get it until years later.

[00:02:08] And so this is way before Nintendo did everything globally at the same time.

[00:02:12] Do you have any insight on why the introduction to each country was so stretched out?

[00:02:16] Well, I know for America, it was a case of America was so big

[00:02:21] and they didn't know if they could just distribute the awards equally.

[00:02:26] But due to high popular demand from fans, they initially launched it much later.

[00:02:32] I'm an American, so I definitely remember hearing,

[00:02:34] especially news about, oh, Japan is getting this and this and this,

[00:02:37] but there's no way to get it until finally we got it.

[00:02:41] But many years later, how did you first become aware of Club Nintendo?

[00:02:45] Do you remember when you started using it?

[00:02:46] When Club Nintendo first started, I was very, very young.

[00:02:50] So I believe it was my parents who were using it.

[00:02:53] And I often got the rewards as Christmas and birthday presents.

[00:02:57] But as I got older, I knew more about it.

[00:02:59] And I understood the process of getting the codes and redeeming them for rewards.

[00:03:05] When I was a kid, I didn't know where these things were coming from.

[00:03:07] But once I got to a teenager age, I'm like, oh, right now I get it.

[00:03:13] This is super cool.

[00:03:14] Did you go back with all your old games and then redeem a bunch of codes at the same time?

[00:03:19] Yeah, I think so.

[00:03:21] Yeah, for me, I'm an American, so I got it last.

[00:03:23] And it launched in the Wii and DS era.

[00:03:25] And I definitely remember being interested in the program when it came over here.

[00:03:29] Because, yeah, like I said before, I kept seeing on the internet,

[00:03:32] okay, Japan got this, Europe got this, and we got nothing.

[00:03:35] And while it was a bit disappointing to see regional exclusive goods, especially on the Japan side,

[00:03:41] I thought the American Club Nintendo had a lot of interesting prices.

[00:03:45] Also, the concept of a rewards program, where you technically get stuff for buying video games,

[00:03:51] was really unique at the time.

[00:03:52] And I think maybe even ahead of its time in many aspects.

[00:03:56] Because, of course, we have things like My Nintendo, which started as Club Nintendo, if you think about it.

[00:04:01] But would you say there are any major differences between Club Nintendo and My Nintendo?

[00:04:07] Yeah, sure.

[00:04:08] Club Nintendo has rewards that feel like things that you would buy in a shop.

[00:04:12] While My Nintendo rewards feel like freebies you get for buying a game at a shop,

[00:04:18] they have a lesser quality to it.

[00:04:21] But it's still...

[00:04:22] Well, to me, I love collecting My Nintendo stuff.

[00:04:25] But there is definitely that charm and premium quality that isn't quite there yet.

[00:04:32] But I think it's getting there.

[00:04:33] Yeah, there were dozens and dozens of different Club Nintendo rewards,

[00:04:36] both physically and digitally.

[00:04:38] I think now My Nintendo, it leans more into the digital side of things.

[00:04:42] And we could probably spend the entire episode just listing off each item from Club Nintendo,

[00:04:48] because there's a lot of them.

[00:04:49] But for you, which items really stand out?

[00:04:52] Oh, there's a lot.

[00:04:53] It's the Hot Summer Mario DS series.

[00:04:56] It was launched in 2004 for the launch of the DS in Japan.

[00:05:02] And how you got them was through a lottery.

[00:05:05] You couldn't just redeem them points.

[00:05:07] You had to enter a lottery in order to redeem them.

[00:05:09] And they are very limited in quality.

[00:05:13] So as you can imagine, they are very expensive on the secondhand market.

[00:05:17] And they did this again for the launch of the 3DS with a new 3DS line with Mario, Peach, and Toad.

[00:05:25] And that was in Europe as well, not just Japan.

[00:05:27] So it was cool that they brought it over.

[00:05:30] I also like the GameCube controllers in 2004 in Japan.

[00:05:34] They had Mario, Luigi, and Warrior.

[00:05:37] Ooh.

[00:05:37] Yeah.

[00:05:38] They had the emblems of the characters, and they had the color scheme of said character.

[00:05:44] They're beautiful when they're all lined up together, because even the paw is colored to the character.

[00:05:50] So it was like, oh, it's stunning.

[00:05:52] And they did physical games as well, which I thought was really cool.

[00:05:56] There was a Game & Watch Collection 1 and 2.

[00:05:59] And then you play Game & Watch games on your DS.

[00:06:01] And they did Tingle's Balloon Fight, where you play as Tingle, the old NES game.

[00:06:06] I often see a lot of the Club Nintendo rewards, because I live in Japan, so I see them in secondhand shops.

[00:06:11] I've definitely seen the Luigi GameCube controller maybe a few times.

[00:06:15] I do see the Game & Watch Collection physical boxes every now and then.

[00:06:20] And it does have the Club Nintendo logo on the box, which is really unique.

[00:06:24] For me, the big one is the Mario Hanafuda cards.

[00:06:28] And it was a bit mind-blowing that it was available in the U.S. store.

[00:06:32] Now, probably U.S. stores now, they might carry Hanafuda cards.

[00:06:36] But in the late 2000s, they certainly didn't.

[00:06:39] And I saved up all my points to nab this.

[00:06:41] And it's a really great set of cards.

[00:06:43] I think the exact design of the cards has been reused for the current Hanafuda cards.

[00:06:48] You can buy at any store in Japan.

[00:06:50] But the case design is different.

[00:06:52] And it has the Club Nintendo logo on it and a different Art of Mario.

[00:06:56] So it's a really fun piece of Nintendo merch.

[00:06:59] And I would say another iconic Club Nintendo item for me is the gold Mario Kart steering wheel.

[00:07:06] Which, again, I see this all the time in used game stores.

[00:07:09] And you would think it would be worth a million dollars in theory.

[00:07:12] But no, it's probably worth maybe less than $10.

[00:07:14] But it's still fun to see.

[00:07:16] And I also think of, like you said, there are physical games.

[00:07:20] But also a lot of digital games that are only through Club Nintendo.

[00:07:24] And the one that sticks out for me is Nintendouji.

[00:07:27] Which is a Japanese Club Nintendo exclusive DSiWare game.

[00:07:32] So you can only download this game if you are a certain tier member of Club Nintendo in Japan.

[00:07:37] So I really want to know the actual download numbers.

[00:07:40] Because it seems like a lot of effort to make an entire game that only a very, very small portion of people will actually download.

[00:07:47] But Nintendo did get a spirit in Smash.

[00:07:50] So he still loves on.

[00:07:51] Would you say, what are some other notable digital-only prizes that Club Nintendo had?

[00:07:57] There was the Doc Lewis punch-out game.

[00:08:00] Yes.

[00:08:00] Yes.

[00:08:01] There was a one-on-one fight with the coach, Doc Lewis, in an exclusive game only through Club Nintendo.

[00:08:08] I never got it, unfortunately.

[00:08:09] But I've seen it a lot.

[00:08:10] And it looks fun.

[00:08:12] It's just punch-out.

[00:08:13] But a one-on-one match.

[00:08:15] Yeah.

[00:08:16] And there was also, for the Wii, there was Ultra Hand Grilloff, where they brought back the old Nintendo Ultra Hand toy.

[00:08:23] And you're flipping burgers.

[00:08:25] I did have that one.

[00:08:26] I remember playing that one when I was a kid.

[00:08:29] It might still be on my Wii.

[00:08:32] I hope so.

[00:08:33] Yeah.

[00:08:33] Because a lot of these were never, ever re-released, to my knowledge.

[00:08:37] It's not like they have Doc Lewis punch-out on the Switch or anything like that.

[00:08:41] So we talked about a lot of weird ones.

[00:08:42] But what do you think is the weirdest or most unusual Club Nintendo item?

[00:08:47] For me, I want to say the Mario Kart Wii Stopwatch, which is just a strange thing to sell to kids.

[00:08:54] Yeah, that is a weird one.

[00:08:56] I think another weird one is they made a box set of Gundam figures.

[00:09:02] It's really random.

[00:09:03] It's just there's miniature Gundams in a box with Club Nintendo on it.

[00:09:08] And they also did a Gundam Wavebird controller.

[00:09:11] They also did a not-through-Clug Nintendo.

[00:09:13] It was a GameCube.

[00:09:14] And I guess this released with it as a companion piece.

[00:09:17] Oh, yes.

[00:09:18] I have looked at it, and those are also quite pricey.

[00:09:21] I didn't know that.

[00:09:22] It's kind of weird, yeah.

[00:09:23] You can just use all your Nintendo points to buy some Gundam toys.

[00:09:27] That's something I would have never thought about.

[00:09:30] Yeah, neither did I until I saw it on eBay.

[00:09:31] What?

[00:09:32] Yeah, but I have the big list of all the Club Nintendo rewards open.

[00:09:36] And there's soundtracks.

[00:09:38] There's calendars.

[00:09:39] Did you ever get a calendar?

[00:09:41] I have all the calendars.

[00:09:42] Oh, okay.

[00:09:43] We can talk about that soon.

[00:09:45] And yeah, physical games.

[00:09:47] There's, yeah, the Gaming Watch collections.

[00:09:49] Tingle Balloon Fight.

[00:09:50] There's also Zekyo Senshi Sakeburein.

[00:09:53] Have you heard of this game?

[00:09:54] Yeah, I have that as well.

[00:09:56] There was also Excitebox, which released over in the West.

[00:10:01] But in Japan, it was exclusively a Club Nintendo reward, which I think is quite random, I think.

[00:10:07] Oh, yes.

[00:10:07] That's interesting.

[00:10:08] It became in stores, but it was in stores for the West, but not Japan.

[00:10:13] Very weird.

[00:10:13] Yeah, this was right before Nintendo started to really globalize everything.

[00:10:18] But this is also kind of what is really interesting about Club Nintendo.

[00:10:22] Because Europe has things that Japan doesn't have.

[00:10:25] Japan has things America doesn't have.

[00:10:27] America has things Europe doesn't have.

[00:10:29] And so everyone had their own sort of, I guess, memories about using Club Nintendo.

[00:10:34] But they're all so different between the countries.

[00:10:37] And then if you're really hardcore, you have to go through all the different items and try to pick out which ones you like the most.

[00:10:44] So let's talk about your upcoming book and unendorsed anthology of Club Nintendo.

[00:10:48] Tell us the pitch of the book and what gave you the idea.

[00:10:51] Well, the idea of the book came from there not being really any sort of proper documentation of Club Nintendo.

[00:10:59] Club Nintendo is such a big part of Nintendo's history.

[00:11:03] And just the fact that there's not really anything about it is kind of puzzling.

[00:11:08] I've seen lists and videos about it, but they always leave stuff out.

[00:11:13] And they don't really show everything.

[00:11:15] So with this book, I want to hopefully document everything or every reward about Club Nintendo.

[00:11:21] Club Nintendo is a picture book that starts from Japan's Rewards from 2003 and goes all the way until 2015.

[00:11:30] Documenting the series it's from, what it is, and the year that it comes out.

[00:11:33] And I've edited thousands and thousands of pictures for this.

[00:11:39] Every picture requires like a dozen or so slight edits to make it really pop and make you go, wow, look at that.

[00:11:45] It just comes from there not being anything.

[00:11:48] And I was like, this is weird.

[00:11:49] It's so weird.

[00:11:51] Club Nintendo is such a big part and there's just nothing.

[00:11:53] So I was like, I have to make this book.

[00:11:56] It's so, Club Nintendo is so dear to me.

[00:11:57] And so many other fans.

[00:12:00] There is new items put on eBay every day.

[00:12:03] So there's still clearly people looking for this stuff.

[00:12:06] So I had to make it.

[00:12:09] Yeah, like even for example, I have like this page open that is, it says list of Club Nintendo rewards.

[00:12:14] But it doesn't have everything.

[00:12:16] For example, I mentioned Nintendogi earlier.

[00:12:18] But this page does not have Nintendogi listed or a lot of regional things listed.

[00:12:23] So does your book have absolutely every Club Nintendo item?

[00:12:26] Or are there still a few things missing?

[00:12:28] Hopefully it has everything.

[00:12:30] Every day I'm discovering something that I didn't know existed.

[00:12:33] Like yesterday, I found out that there's a Club Nintendo Tamagotchi.

[00:12:37] Ooh.

[00:12:38] I had no idea this existed.

[00:12:40] It came out in like 2005 in Japan only.

[00:12:43] Does it have any special branding or is it just like a normal Tamagotchi?

[00:12:47] I think it has a unique shell.

[00:12:48] But on the packaging, it says Club Nintendo with the logo.

[00:12:52] It might just be a regular Tamagotchi, but it has Club Nintendo on it.

[00:12:56] So it technically counts.

[00:12:57] Yes, of course.

[00:12:59] Your book has hundreds of very clean high-res photographs.

[00:13:02] Did you take all these pictures yourself?

[00:13:04] And what was your process for taking photos of each item?

[00:13:06] I have taken every picture myself.

[00:13:09] I take pictures of them in a light box.

[00:13:11] And for the things that I don't have, I find them online.

[00:13:15] And hopefully I can find a good enough picture.

[00:13:17] Or maybe I'll edit another picture to look like something else.

[00:13:21] But most of the collection is mine.

[00:13:23] But I've been collecting for years.

[00:13:26] How long would you say it takes to photograph one image to your liking?

[00:13:30] A good couple of minutes.

[00:13:32] Not too long.

[00:13:33] Sessions usually go a couple of hours.

[00:13:36] And in that session, there'll be like 20 pictures taken.

[00:13:39] And then I'll delete all the ones that I don't want.

[00:13:41] So I'm only left with like a handful.

[00:13:43] But it takes a while.

[00:13:45] Getting positioning right.

[00:13:47] Color balance.

[00:13:48] It takes a while.

[00:13:49] It really does.

[00:13:50] What about the digital items?

[00:13:52] Do you just upload like a high-res image of the cover art?

[00:13:55] Or what do you do with that?

[00:13:57] So for digital items, I try and I put them on the system.

[00:14:01] So for example, in 2015, they had 3DS themes.

[00:14:06] I was able to find those themes digitally.

[00:14:08] People have the files on them online.

[00:14:11] And I just took the files and I photoshopped them onto a 3DS template.

[00:14:16] To show them off and to make it more presentable.

[00:14:19] So rather than just having the logo or just having a screenshot.

[00:14:24] I want to make it look beautiful.

[00:14:26] I want every page to be stunning to look at.

[00:14:29] So I make sure it's presentable.

[00:14:31] And not just, oh, here's a logo.

[00:14:33] Oh, here's a screenshot.

[00:14:34] Yeah, that definitely seems like how people experienced using that Club Nintendo item

[00:14:38] when they were using it.

[00:14:39] Instead of just, oh, here's the screenshot of, I guess, the peach background or whatever.

[00:14:44] Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:45] And your book will soon be on Kickstarter on August 1st.

[00:14:49] Why go the Kickstarter route?

[00:14:51] For the Kickstarter route, I wanted to go all out for this project.

[00:14:54] Club Nintendo is so dear to me.

[00:14:56] So I wanted to make rewards that emulate the style of Club Nintendo.

[00:15:01] So there's a red and green book for Mario and Luigi.

[00:15:05] And there are add-ons such as a calendar that celebrates the anniversaries of major Nintendo franchises.

[00:15:13] And there's a postcard set that's inspired by Nintendo handheld systems.

[00:15:20] And a golden coin pin.

[00:15:22] Because the points were called coins.

[00:15:24] And you would use those coins for the rewards.

[00:15:27] So that's the first thing I think of when I think of Club Nintendo.

[00:15:30] I think of those coins.

[00:15:31] So that's the pin and that's the cover.

[00:15:33] And you can get a bundle with your color of choice for a slightly discounted price.

[00:15:39] And there's also a free PDF with every purchase.

[00:15:42] Okay.

[00:15:43] So you get the physical book and also the PDF file as well.

[00:15:46] If you want it digitally, yes.

[00:15:48] What was the process like of making all these things?

[00:15:51] Did you have to contact a bunch of different companies to make this stuff?

[00:15:54] Or how did you handle the manufacturing of the stretch goals?

[00:15:57] I will see how many people buy it before I start ordering and manufacturing.

[00:16:03] And they're still currently in design.

[00:16:06] No design is final at the moment.

[00:16:08] But the design process is going smoothly.

[00:16:11] And it's coming on track.

[00:16:14] I'm very excited.

[00:16:14] What do you hope people take away from your book?

[00:16:17] I hope people take away that Club Nintendo was really an amazing time to be a Nintendo fan.

[00:16:23] It was really a time where you were rewarded just for buying games.

[00:16:28] Because it was technically free.

[00:16:30] If you were buying every game that came out, you would accumulate so many points.

[00:16:35] They would be like, yeah, I can get a postcard set or a shoelace set.

[00:16:40] It was just a cool time to be a Nintendo fan.

[00:16:43] So different from now.

[00:16:44] I see so many people saying, oh, does anyone else miss Club Nintendo's rewards?

[00:16:49] And I'm like, yeah, me too.

[00:16:51] So hopefully people can remember that time where Nintendo gave this premium stuff out for basically nothing.

[00:17:00] Where you had to buy his games.

[00:17:01] You didn't have to buy anything else.

[00:17:03] Yeah, I feel that same sentiment.

[00:17:05] Where it definitely felt like you were getting stuff for free.

[00:17:07] Even though, of course, you're spending dozens or hundreds of dollars on video games.

[00:17:11] But you're also getting this really cool extra thing that you can't buy in stores.

[00:17:16] Like the Mario Hanafuda cards or whatever else you wanted.

[00:17:19] You can even register your consoles.

[00:17:21] Not just games, but your consoles.

[00:17:23] And when you uploaded your DS Club Nintendo code, you felt like a millionaire.

[00:17:27] Because you got so many points.

[00:17:29] Those are really fond memories of thinking, okay, I'm really rolling in all these Club Nintendo points now.

[00:17:34] And do you think one day in the future you might do a book about My Nintendo?

[00:17:39] Maybe the first decade of My Nintendo?

[00:17:40] Or will you try your hand at something else?

[00:17:43] I'm thinking of doing My Nintendo as a digital-only book that I update every year.

[00:17:49] Okay.

[00:17:50] So once the year is finished, I will just add on the new stuff that they released.

[00:17:54] So it's like a cool thing to come back to.

[00:17:56] Like, oh, look, it's a couple more pages of new things.

[00:17:59] I don't know how long My Nintendo is going to go on for.

[00:18:02] Maybe this is a permanent thing.

[00:18:04] Maybe they're going to close it and bring out something new.

[00:18:07] And then at that point, I'll probably make it into a physical book.

[00:18:10] But I also have a couple of ideas of other books I might want to try.

[00:18:14] Nothing final.

[00:18:15] But yeah, I've got a couple more ideas left in there.

[00:18:18] Yeah, you never know.

[00:18:19] People might be nostalgic for My Nintendo one day.

[00:18:21] They'll think, oh, man, remember My Nintendo?

[00:18:23] Because you never know what Nintendo will have by 20 or 30 years from now.

[00:18:27] They could have something totally different.

[00:18:28] So it is good that you're cataloging all the My Nintendo information.

[00:18:32] Because somebody somewhere will be very nostalgic thinking about My Nintendo.

[00:18:37] Club Nintendo, it ceased in 2015 once Nintendo partnered with DNA.

[00:18:41] And then, yes, they launched My Nintendo.

[00:18:43] So, yes, Club Nintendo is really the origins of My Nintendo.

[00:18:47] And there's very many similarities, but also a lot of differences, which we talked about in this episode.

[00:18:51] So what would you say is the legacy of Club Nintendo beyond just being the proto My Nintendo?

[00:18:58] I think it could be the rewards were really special, I think.

[00:19:02] Just the sheer amount that they released and the quality and consistency of it.

[00:19:09] All right, final question.

[00:19:10] If you could make one Club Nintendo item available today through My Nintendo, what item would you pick?

[00:19:17] Ooh, that's a good question.

[00:19:18] I would love for them, they used to do a lot of 3DS game cases.

[00:19:25] And that could hold, I think it was like 16 games.

[00:19:29] They had three slips of paper with two designs on it each.

[00:19:32] So you had like six designs.

[00:19:34] I would love for them to bring that again because you could hold so many games.

[00:19:37] It was great for traveling.

[00:19:38] And you had so many cool designs.

[00:19:41] And they'll be great for Switch or whatever the new system is.

[00:19:45] Oh, yes.

[00:19:45] That's a really cool thing to bring back.

[00:19:47] Yeah.

[00:19:49] Yeah, I love those cases.

[00:19:51] Awesome.

[00:19:51] Well, I'm glad I had to chat with you about Club Nintendo and about your upcoming book.

[00:19:55] So where can the listeners find you and find your book?

[00:19:59] You can find the book at Kickstarter.

[00:20:02] Just look up Club Nintendo.

[00:20:04] Kickstarter will pop up.

[00:20:06] You can find me on Instagram and Twitter at OscarBoundDesign.

[00:20:10] I post about my collection.

[00:20:12] And I'll post updates once the book is available to back.

[00:20:17] And you can find more information about the book on unendorsed.info.

[00:20:21] And that's it.

[00:20:22] Great.

[00:20:23] And the links to everything will be in the podcast description.

[00:20:25] So listeners, check it out.

[00:20:27] Oscar Bound, once again, thanks for joining me.

[00:20:29] Thank you so much for having me.

[00:20:37] Nintendo World Championships NES Edition from our pals at Indie Zero is out now.

[00:20:41] You know the Tokyo-based developer Indie Zeros from NES Remix, the Theater Rhythm Games,

[00:20:45] and yes, they even worked on Electroplankton.

[00:20:48] Believe it or not, this is not their first title this year,

[00:20:51] as they are credited on the Japan-only Game Center CX remaster on the Switch.

[00:20:55] But they seem to have more of a supervisory role there.

[00:20:58] It seems most of their development time was focused on Nintendo World Championships.

[00:21:02] And this is very much in the vein of NES Remix,

[00:21:06] 8-bit-flavored challenges focused on speedrunning.

[00:21:08] Here, though, in Nintendo World Championships,

[00:21:10] the games have been de-remixed,

[00:21:12] and the challenges are authentic segments from the game.

[00:21:15] You play a brief segment of an NES game,

[00:21:17] and you're given a score based on your time.

[00:21:20] The easiest example of an objective-based challenge

[00:21:22] is that you play the start of Super Mario Bros.,

[00:21:25] and your goal is to get a mushroom.

[00:21:27] Based on your time,

[00:21:28] you're given a rank from the lowly Cs to the top grade, S.

[00:21:32] The tier rankings for the game are kind of funny.

[00:21:35] There's B+, then A, then A+,

[00:21:37] then A++, then S.

[00:21:41] I guess they want to say,

[00:21:42] hey, A++, you're great.

[00:21:45] Not quite S great, though.

[00:21:47] There are three modes,

[00:21:48] and while World Championships would theoretically be the quote main mode,

[00:21:51] it's hard to say that's true.

[00:21:53] For one, it's not at the top of the menu.

[00:21:55] Speedrun is.

[00:21:56] Speedrun is where you take on any of the challenges at your leisure.

[00:21:59] You can try to beat a boss in Super Mario Bros. 3,

[00:22:01] or get all the eggplants in Ice Climber,

[00:22:04] or level up in Zelda 2.

[00:22:05] The challenges are all well thought out,

[00:22:07] and there's a good mix of things you would naturally speedrun while playing,

[00:22:10] like trying to get the best time on 1-1 of Mario,

[00:22:12] and also things you probably never thought about.

[00:22:15] One of Zelda's speedrun challenges is to get 100 rupees,

[00:22:19] and you accomplish this by bombing a secret area on the map

[00:22:22] and then nabbing a single 100 rupee,

[00:22:25] I guess rupee.

[00:22:27] Each challenge does show a little video of how to do them,

[00:22:29] but I will say that following the video 1-1 won't nab you that S ranking.

[00:22:33] You gotta put in a little extra sauce to grab that score.

[00:22:36] The challenges are separated by game,

[00:22:38] and within one game, it goes from easiest to hardest.

[00:22:41] Though you do need to unlock most of the challenges with coins

[00:22:43] that you get fairly easily,

[00:22:45] and each game has one legendary final stage.

[00:22:49] These are longer, more complex challenges

[00:22:51] that are surprisingly in-depth.

[00:22:52] But Super Mario Bros. 1 has you beat the game with warp pipes.

[00:22:56] Yes, you have to beat all of Super Mario Bros. 1.

[00:22:59] Donkey Kong is the same where you need to clear three stages,

[00:23:02] aka the entire game.

[00:23:04] But as we all know,

[00:23:05] the NES version does not have the 50 meter level,

[00:23:08] so it's the fake version of Donkey Kong.

[00:23:10] This is just a fact.

[00:23:12] Zelda 1, thankfully, doesn't make you beat the entire game,

[00:23:15] just the first dungeon,

[00:23:16] and it starts you inside the dungeon.

[00:23:18] I never thought about beating an entire Zelda dungeon in two minutes,

[00:23:22] but here, that's what you need to do.

[00:23:24] These legendary challenges come with guides built into the game

[00:23:27] that are shockingly useful.

[00:23:29] I thought it would just be vague tips,

[00:23:30] but no, they actually show you a map of where you need to go

[00:23:33] for the optimal time,

[00:23:35] along with some very helpful tips.

[00:23:37] You can't pause the game to bring up the guide, though,

[00:23:39] so you do need to commit this to memory if you want to get that S.

[00:23:42] As just a list of 150 or so challenges,

[00:23:44] there's a ton of fun to be had here.

[00:23:45] You get to think about classic games in a new way.

[00:23:48] I mean, I've played Super Mario Bros. 1 so many times,

[00:23:51] but I never really thought about speedrunning anything about it,

[00:23:54] except for maybe 1-1,

[00:23:55] so it does feel like I am sort of really playing these games

[00:23:58] for the first time.

[00:23:59] I also like how it shows your inputs at the bottom of the screen,

[00:24:02] so if you're watching somebody else's video,

[00:24:04] you can see exactly when they hit A,

[00:24:06] or when they let off of B, or whatever.

[00:24:09] 13 games are represented,

[00:24:11] and they are all iconic NES games,

[00:24:13] but come on, Ice Climber?

[00:24:15] Nintendo has basically psyoped us into thinking

[00:24:17] that it's a bonafide classic.

[00:24:19] The game is bad.

[00:24:21] I think I would prefer any other Nintendo-published NES game

[00:24:24] instead of this.

[00:24:25] Where's Yoshi?

[00:24:26] Where's Golf?

[00:24:27] Please, anything else.

[00:24:29] I will say,

[00:24:30] I am getting a bit more of an appreciation for some games

[00:24:33] since you only played their best parts in 30-second chunks.

[00:24:36] I'm not a Zodot 2 fan at all,

[00:24:38] but as a 30-second challenge,

[00:24:40] there's fun things you can do.

[00:24:41] The exciting thing about Nintendo World Championships

[00:24:44] is that all the games have their own unique mechanics

[00:24:46] that are deceptively deep.

[00:24:48] There's always a little twist on how you control the character.

[00:24:51] It's not solely about who controls the best,

[00:24:53] but instead,

[00:24:54] here are the rules for this character.

[00:24:56] Try to figure out effectively how to use them in this challenge.

[00:25:00] Figuring out that stuff is a lot of fun.

[00:25:02] The speedrun mode is beating challenges over and over again

[00:25:04] all by your lonesome,

[00:25:05] but the other two modes are online.

[00:25:07] Sort of.

[00:25:08] Kind of.

[00:25:09] A little bit.

[00:25:10] There's the titular World Championships mode,

[00:25:13] where five challenges are selected

[00:25:14] as you compete against others across the world

[00:25:16] for the best time.

[00:25:18] Now you might think,

[00:25:19] oh, is there some sort of leaderboard?

[00:25:20] Kind of.

[00:25:21] And this is my main criticism of the game.

[00:25:24] There's no real-deal leaderboards

[00:25:25] in the way you want them.

[00:25:27] You know the speedrunning mode

[00:25:28] with all the challenges I talked about?

[00:25:30] No leaderboards.

[00:25:31] So let's say I got two seconds on the Octorok challenge.

[00:25:35] How does that compare to others around the world?

[00:25:37] Or my friends?

[00:25:38] The answer?

[00:25:39] I don't know.

[00:25:40] Each World Championships competition lasts for about a week,

[00:25:43] and after a week,

[00:25:44] you do get to see some sort of leaderboards,

[00:25:46] but not during.

[00:25:47] So you basically get one leaderboard per week

[00:25:49] that you can't affect.

[00:25:51] This really hampers the fun and longevity of the game,

[00:25:53] in my opinion.

[00:25:54] Like, if I get an S rank on a challenge,

[00:25:56] but then see on the leaderboards

[00:25:58] that three of my friends got a faster time,

[00:26:00] I'm going to want to keep playing to beat their time.

[00:26:03] And in the World Championships mode,

[00:26:05] again,

[00:26:05] I get S rank,

[00:26:06] but I see on the leaderboards,

[00:26:07] I'm actually only the 500th fastest person.

[00:26:10] That's going to make me want to keep getting better and better.

[00:26:13] I don't get the idea of

[00:26:14] do your best and we'll tell you

[00:26:15] whether or not you did good at the end.

[00:26:17] Splatoon 3 did this at the start with Big Run,

[00:26:19] where the rewards were based on the percentile you scored,

[00:26:22] but they quickly changed this to just a concrete score

[00:26:25] because they realized people were confused

[00:26:26] about how good they were doing.

[00:26:28] And what's crazy is that apparently

[00:26:29] Game Center CX remaster on Switch

[00:26:31] has online world and friend leaderboards,

[00:26:34] a game Indie Zero just put out.

[00:26:37] Even all the hamster arcade games have rankings,

[00:26:39] and even 2017's Super Mario Odyssey

[00:26:42] had worldwide and friend rankings

[00:26:44] for the mini game challenges.

[00:26:46] I just don't get why this game

[00:26:47] that is built all around competitive gameplay

[00:26:49] and speedrunning doesn't have visible leaderboards.

[00:26:52] Right now, the World Championships mode

[00:26:54] feels like a fishing competition,

[00:26:55] where you think,

[00:26:56] I guess I caught the biggest trout,

[00:26:57] but then during the awards ceremony,

[00:26:59] you realize somebody caught a whale shark.

[00:27:01] The final main mode is the survival mode,

[00:27:03] where you compete in a series of challenges

[00:27:05] against ghost data of other online players.

[00:27:07] It's elimination style,

[00:27:09] so you've got to place in the top four

[00:27:10] in the first challenge,

[00:27:11] top two in the second,

[00:27:12] and then win the third.

[00:27:13] These are pretty fun and intense

[00:27:15] despite just being against ghost data.

[00:27:17] You're going to have to work a bit

[00:27:18] to win the gold survival challenge.

[00:27:20] It's also really useful to see

[00:27:21] how other people are playing the stages,

[00:27:23] since you can also see their screens.

[00:27:25] I saw someone's method for nabbing the key

[00:27:27] in the Fanto challenge,

[00:27:28] and this really helped me get an S

[00:27:29] after struggling with it for so long.

[00:27:32] So yeah,

[00:27:32] having some inkling of how others are playing the game

[00:27:35] only improves the game in my mind,

[00:27:36] but the game desperately wants to hide this from you.

[00:27:39] I do like how your scores across all three modes

[00:27:41] register for that challenge,

[00:27:42] so it doesn't matter if your fastest time

[00:27:44] for the challenge is in the speedrun mode

[00:27:46] or survival mode,

[00:27:47] you will get the recognition and reward

[00:27:49] for it no matter where.

[00:27:51] But for the World Championships challenges,

[00:27:53] you should try to improve your time in that mode

[00:27:55] since your scores for the other modes

[00:27:57] don't carry over there.

[00:27:58] Your best score in that mode is your best score.

[00:28:00] I guess this is to prevent people

[00:28:02] from just getting the optimal time,

[00:28:03] and then two months later,

[00:28:05] it just shows up in a championships competition

[00:28:06] and they win.

[00:28:08] But at least for now,

[00:28:09] there is a lot of overlap

[00:28:10] between survival challenges

[00:28:11] and the World Championship challenges.

[00:28:13] I guess it's helpful in a roundabout way

[00:28:15] to see how people are doing

[00:28:16] in the survival mode,

[00:28:17] then use those strategies

[00:28:18] in Nintendo World Championships mode,

[00:28:20] but I would like them

[00:28:22] to be completely separate.

[00:28:23] I do feel like the online gameplay in general

[00:28:25] is a missed opportunity.

[00:28:26] The local mode supports eight players

[00:28:28] trying out different challenges

[00:28:29] similar to survival mode,

[00:28:30] but there's no way to make a room of your friends

[00:28:32] and then pick the challenges

[00:28:33] where all of you compete

[00:28:34] at the same time online.

[00:28:36] There's so much you could do with this concept,

[00:28:37] like make a room with eight friends

[00:28:39] and you compete in five challenges.

[00:28:41] Whoever has the fastest cumulative time

[00:28:43] across all five challenges is the winner.

[00:28:46] Or have the first of three wins mode

[00:28:47] where you get a series of random challenges

[00:28:49] and the first person to get first place

[00:28:51] in three of them is crowned the winner.

[00:28:54] This game has a great core idea,

[00:28:56] but they do so little with it

[00:28:57] in terms of the actual competitive gameplay.

[00:28:59] I haven't really talked about

[00:29:00] the presentation and whatnot.

[00:29:01] It goes for an 80s video game vibe,

[00:29:03] which is fun.

[00:29:04] And the menu song is pretty catchy, I admit.

[00:29:06] There are unlockable pins to collect.

[00:29:08] And if you're an achievement hunter,

[00:29:09] you can also use these coins

[00:29:11] to unlock avatars across all the games,

[00:29:13] including some really obscure stuff.

[00:29:16] Another really cool element of the profile

[00:29:17] is that you can pick from your favorite NES

[00:29:19] or Famicom game.

[00:29:20] And I'm not talking about your favorite

[00:29:22] out of the 13 in the game.

[00:29:23] They have a massive list

[00:29:25] of almost every NES and Famicom game.

[00:29:28] You can pick Ninja Turtles.

[00:29:30] You can pick Star Wars.

[00:29:31] You can pick Shin Onigashima, which I did.

[00:29:33] If you're playing it in English,

[00:29:35] nothing stops you from picking

[00:29:36] Japan-only Famicom games and vice versa.

[00:29:38] If you're playing it in Japanese.

[00:29:40] Obviously, my favorite NES game

[00:29:42] is Mario 3.

[00:29:43] Boring pick, I know.

[00:29:44] But I am searching for the funniest,

[00:29:46] longest, or most obscure title

[00:29:47] to set as my favorite.

[00:29:49] You do see people's profile icons

[00:29:50] and favorite game

[00:29:51] in the survival mode.

[00:29:52] So that does make me want

[00:29:53] to keep playing that mode

[00:29:54] purely just to see what people picked.

[00:29:57] Nintendo World Championships

[00:29:57] is better than I thought it would be,

[00:29:59] but not as good as it could have been.

[00:30:01] This game would absolutely

[00:30:02] be a home run with online leaderboards

[00:30:03] and richer online multiplayer options.

[00:30:05] But right now,

[00:30:06] you really just have to ask yourself

[00:30:07] how badly do you want to compete

[00:30:09] in these challenges

[00:30:09] essentially by yourself

[00:30:10] with limited feedback.

[00:30:12] There's definitely a lot of content here

[00:30:14] in terms of just doing the challenges

[00:30:15] and trying to get S on all of them

[00:30:17] will take quite a long time

[00:30:19] and or drive you insane.

[00:30:21] There is fun to be had

[00:30:22] in perfecting your gameplay

[00:30:22] and games you've played all your life,

[00:30:24] but now you've unlocked

[00:30:25] a new way of playing

[00:30:26] thanks to the speedrun challenges.

[00:30:28] It's interesting to play these titles

[00:30:29] in essentially a brand new way,

[00:30:31] and you really do gain an appreciation

[00:30:32] for the depth of the game mechanics

[00:30:34] despite these games

[00:30:35] being very simple on the surface.

[00:30:37] For me, when it comes to challenges,

[00:30:39] I much prefer the ones that are shorter,

[00:30:41] like five seconds or so.

[00:30:43] Shaving off half a second

[00:30:44] from a five second challenge

[00:30:45] is way bigger to me

[00:30:47] than shaving off 10 seconds

[00:30:48] from a much longer challenge.

[00:30:50] So for a $30 single player challenge pack,

[00:30:53] there's plenty to do,

[00:30:53] but there would be so much more to do

[00:30:55] and people could customize

[00:30:56] their gameplay experience more

[00:30:57] if there were a bit better

[00:30:59] online options and leaderboards.

[00:31:00] The word of the day is leaderboards.

[00:31:02] I would be interested to see

[00:31:04] if they continue the series.

[00:31:05] It's called NES Edition in English,

[00:31:07] so people assume that,

[00:31:09] oh, does this mean that

[00:31:10] SNES Edition is coming?

[00:31:11] In Japanese, the title is

[00:31:13] Famicom World Tournament,

[00:31:14] which has a bit more

[00:31:15] of a finality to it.

[00:31:16] I had to think this would be

[00:31:18] the highest selling one though,

[00:31:19] and the rest would just be

[00:31:20] diminishing returns.

[00:31:21] But if the Super Nintendo Edition

[00:31:22] has more robust online options,

[00:31:25] I would absolutely be hyped for it.

[00:31:27] But NES Edition as it is now,

[00:31:29] I'm having a lot of fun,

[00:31:30] it's hard to definitively recommend

[00:31:32] unless the idea of just

[00:31:33] doing these challenges

[00:31:33] over and over again

[00:31:34] is appealing to you.

[00:31:35] Okay, that's all for the games.

[00:31:37] Now for the news.

[00:31:44] Who is MEO?

[00:31:46] Well, we know now.

[00:31:47] Okay, not really,

[00:31:48] but we know what game he's from.

[00:31:50] Famicom Detective Club

[00:31:51] returns after 35 years

[00:31:52] with MEO the Smiling Man,

[00:31:54] Famicom Detective Club.

[00:31:56] The first two FDC games

[00:31:57] did get remakes on the Switch

[00:31:59] by Mages a few years ago,

[00:32:00] but this is the first

[00:32:01] brand new title in decades

[00:32:03] and is headed up by Yoshio Sakamoto,

[00:32:05] who originally worked

[00:32:06] on the franchise.

[00:32:07] I did see some people call this,

[00:32:09] but I certainly didn't.

[00:32:10] It is M-rated

[00:32:11] while the others were rated T,

[00:32:13] but it does have

[00:32:14] the same anime art style,

[00:32:15] so I do wonder if this is just

[00:32:16] going to be much more darker

[00:32:17] and violent

[00:32:18] than the previous titles.

[00:32:20] Releasing an M-rated sequel

[00:32:21] to a fairly niche franchise

[00:32:23] is not exactly

[00:32:24] the typical Nintendo game plan,

[00:32:25] but I love that we are getting

[00:32:26] these riskier titles

[00:32:27] late in the Switch's life.

[00:32:29] Like this game is not going

[00:32:30] to sell a million copies.

[00:32:31] You could easily just divert

[00:32:32] this money to the next

[00:32:34] Mario game or whatever.

[00:32:35] But Nintendo realizes

[00:32:36] that one of the most important

[00:32:37] things to their success

[00:32:38] is a steady flow

[00:32:39] of exclusive titles,

[00:32:41] almost at a one per month rate,

[00:32:42] which is pretty insane.

[00:32:44] But during the Switch era,

[00:32:46] Nintendo has expanded

[00:32:47] their external partners,

[00:32:48] which makes things

[00:32:49] like this possible.

[00:32:50] And yes,

[00:32:51] I will somehow,

[00:32:51] someway have a Famicom

[00:32:53] Detective Club episode

[00:32:53] on this podcast

[00:32:54] after MEO releases

[00:32:56] where we can really dig

[00:32:57] into this intriguing

[00:32:58] Nintendo series.

[00:32:59] Famicom Detective Club

[00:33:00] is back,

[00:33:01] but do you know

[00:33:01] who's not back?

[00:33:02] Chibi-Robo.

[00:33:03] Or is he?

[00:33:04] Tiny Wonder Studio

[00:33:05] headed by ex-Skip staff

[00:33:07] who worked on Chibi-Robo

[00:33:08] announced Co-Robo,

[00:33:10] an adventure game

[00:33:10] where you are a tiny robot

[00:33:12] that explores an apartment.

[00:33:13] So yes,

[00:33:14] very much in the way

[00:33:15] that Bloodstained

[00:33:15] is not a Castlevania game.

[00:33:17] This is the Chibi-Robo

[00:33:19] version of that.

[00:33:20] A spiritual successor,

[00:33:21] if you will.

[00:33:22] The game will launch

[00:33:23] on Kickstarter

[00:33:23] and Campfire first

[00:33:24] and will be released

[00:33:25] on quote

[00:33:25] modern consoles and PC.

[00:33:28] I had to think

[00:33:29] that maybe Switch

[00:33:29] is out of the picture

[00:33:30] since this could be

[00:33:31] a 2027 game

[00:33:32] for all we know.

[00:33:33] But you at least have

[00:33:34] another game

[00:33:34] in the Switch 2 lineup,

[00:33:36] possibly.

[00:33:37] The game will be directed

[00:33:38] by Kenichi Nishi

[00:33:39] who directed

[00:33:39] the original Chibi-Robo game

[00:33:41] and Keita Eto

[00:33:42] who directed ZipLash.

[00:33:43] Both of course

[00:33:44] are ex-Square

[00:33:45] and Skip Alumni.

[00:33:46] It is kind of crazy

[00:33:47] to see all the love

[00:33:48] to leak people

[00:33:49] spread out to the wind

[00:33:50] since Skip and Vanpool

[00:33:51] both shut down.

[00:33:52] But they are still

[00:33:53] out there making games.

[00:33:55] Hopefully it manages

[00:33:56] to raise what it needs

[00:33:57] and I'm sure

[00:33:57] it will find a publisher

[00:33:58] once there's more

[00:33:59] of a concrete game

[00:34:00] there to pitch.

[00:34:01] Evo happened

[00:34:01] and the biggest

[00:34:02] or perhaps

[00:34:02] most unusual announcement

[00:34:03] is that SVC Chaos

[00:34:05] is now available

[00:34:06] on modern platforms

[00:34:07] and Steam.

[00:34:08] This was S&K's stab

[00:34:09] at an arcade versus game

[00:34:11] where the S is S&K

[00:34:12] and the C is Capcom.

[00:34:14] This was a pretty

[00:34:15] strange announcement

[00:34:16] to hype up

[00:34:17] as a big Evo moment

[00:34:18] because the game

[00:34:19] is not well regarded

[00:34:20] at all.

[00:34:21] Obviously it's hard

[00:34:22] to touch Capcom

[00:34:22] versus S&K too

[00:34:23] but it's also not

[00:34:25] as good as S&K

[00:34:26] versus Capcom

[00:34:26] on the Neo Geo Pocket

[00:34:27] for example.

[00:34:28] But it does make sense

[00:34:29] to release it now

[00:34:30] because if you release

[00:34:31] Capcom versus S&K 2

[00:34:33] then no one

[00:34:34] will buy this.

[00:34:35] You've got to trick

[00:34:36] people to pick it up

[00:34:37] because they're desperate

[00:34:37] for any versus content.

[00:34:39] I did talk about this game

[00:34:40] a few episodes ago

[00:34:41] where I was theorizing

[00:34:42] about a possible

[00:34:43] Capcom versus S&K collection

[00:34:45] but any of the S&K

[00:34:46] developed games

[00:34:47] would probably

[00:34:48] just be released separately.

[00:34:49] With this as a single release

[00:34:51] it does make me think

[00:34:52] that we might not

[00:34:52] get a collection at all

[00:34:53] and if we do

[00:34:54] it'll just be Capcom

[00:34:55] versus S&K 1 and 2

[00:34:56] which would be fine by me.

[00:34:58] The game may not be great

[00:35:00] but it might herald

[00:35:01] great things.

[00:35:03] Splatoon 3 announced

[00:35:03] a grand festival

[00:35:04] the biggest Splatfest yet.

[00:35:06] While the promo art

[00:35:07] makes it seem like

[00:35:08] the Squid Sisters

[00:35:08] versus Off the Hook

[00:35:10] versus Deep Cut

[00:35:11] the real theme

[00:35:12] is past versus

[00:35:13] present versus future.

[00:35:14] There will also be

[00:35:15] brand new amiibos

[00:35:16] of the Squid Sisters

[00:35:17] in their kimono attire

[00:35:18] and Off the Hook

[00:35:19] in their side order outfits.

[00:35:21] Now it hasn't been announced

[00:35:22] that this is the absolute

[00:35:23] final Splatfest

[00:35:24] but Nintendo did say

[00:35:25] before Splatoon 3

[00:35:26] even launched

[00:35:26] that 2024

[00:35:27] is the cutoff

[00:35:28] for new content.

[00:35:29] So I think a lot of people

[00:35:30] are treating this

[00:35:31] as the last new Splatfest.

[00:35:33] It would be weird

[00:35:34] to do a new one

[00:35:35] after this one, right?

[00:35:36] As for who I'm going to pick

[00:35:38] I gotta go with present

[00:35:39] since that is what

[00:35:40] Off the Hook is representing

[00:35:41] and they are my favorite squad.

[00:35:42] Keeping with the 3 theme

[00:35:44] the Splatfest will be

[00:35:45] three days long

[00:35:45] since it takes place

[00:35:46] during a Japanese holiday

[00:35:47] which is great for me

[00:35:48] since I missed

[00:35:49] the last few Splatfests.

[00:35:50] I still play Splatoon 3

[00:35:52] fairly regularly

[00:35:53] and it's a great game

[00:35:54] to just pop into whenever.

[00:35:55] So I'm extremely excited

[00:35:57] to see them go all out

[00:35:58] just one last time.

[00:35:59] Speaking of going all out

[00:36:01] Hobonichi Mother Project

[00:36:02] is going all out

[00:36:03] with the 30th anniversary

[00:36:04] of Mother 2

[00:36:04] aka Earthbound

[00:36:05] and the newest announcement

[00:36:06] is a huge

[00:36:07] soft vinyl nest figure.

[00:36:09] It's 22 centimeters tall

[00:36:11] poseable

[00:36:12] and comes with some items

[00:36:13] like the baseball bat

[00:36:14] and the Franklin badge.

[00:36:15] It's supposed to mimic

[00:36:16] the Showa era toys

[00:36:17] from the 50s and 60s

[00:36:18] but the quality of course

[00:36:19] is much much higher.

[00:36:21] It looks great.

[00:36:22] Seriously check this thing out

[00:36:23] if you haven't seen it yet.

[00:36:24] The downside

[00:36:25] it's nearly 30,000 yen.

[00:36:27] It will be available

[00:36:28] via lottery first

[00:36:29] but then will be sold

[00:36:30] to everyone later on

[00:36:30] in August.

[00:36:31] I do want to at least

[00:36:33] see it though.

[00:36:33] I'm sure it will be

[00:36:34] at some Earthbound exhibit

[00:36:35] in the future.

[00:36:36] And speaking of new merch

[00:36:37] Nintendo Tokyo

[00:36:38] and other stores

[00:36:39] are now selling

[00:36:39] gacha keychains

[00:36:40] of the Super Nintendo

[00:36:42] N64

[00:36:42] and GameCube controllers.

[00:36:44] For the past two years or so

[00:36:46] they've sold the NES

[00:36:47] and Famicom controllers

[00:36:47] split up into keychains

[00:36:48] and now the next three

[00:36:50] generations join the pack.

[00:36:51] The keychains are

[00:36:52] for SNES

[00:36:53] the US and Japanese buttons

[00:36:55] for N64

[00:36:56] the buttons

[00:36:56] and the analog stick

[00:36:57] and GameCube

[00:36:59] is the buttons

[00:37:00] and the C-stick.

[00:37:01] These look amazing

[00:37:02] but they are gacha

[00:37:03] so you can't choose

[00:37:04] which one you want.

[00:37:05] And they are all

[00:37:06] in the same machine

[00:37:07] as the NES

[00:37:08] and Famicom buttons

[00:37:08] so you have about

[00:37:09] a 50-50 shot

[00:37:10] of getting the new ones.

[00:37:12] Will I try?

[00:37:12] Of course.

[00:37:13] I've got to at least

[00:37:14] give it one shot.

[00:37:16] I have the Famicom

[00:37:17] D-pad keychain

[00:37:18] and it's really cool.

[00:37:19] You can kind of fiddle with it

[00:37:20] and the D-pad moves.

[00:37:21] It's not just one

[00:37:22] big plastic chunk.

[00:37:23] It looks very authentic

[00:37:24] to the actual controller.

[00:37:26] Last bit of Tokyo related news

[00:37:27] right now in Roppongi

[00:37:28] there is a Monster Hunter

[00:37:29] 20th anniversary exhibit.

[00:37:31] There's an AR experience

[00:37:32] artwork of the games

[00:37:33] huge statue displays

[00:37:34] at Cafe

[00:37:35] and of course

[00:37:36] exclusive merch.

[00:37:37] It runs until mid-September

[00:37:38] so you have plenty of time

[00:37:39] to check it out.

[00:37:40] I'm not a huge Monster Hunter fan

[00:37:42] but I do love stories.

[00:37:43] I might check out the exhibit

[00:37:44] if I have time

[00:37:45] because even if you're not

[00:37:46] a big fan of the series

[00:37:47] the monsters undoubtedly

[00:37:48] look cool

[00:37:49] and it seems to have

[00:37:50] a nice layout.

[00:37:51] Coming out all over Japan

[00:37:53] though is a special

[00:37:54] Street Fighter collaboration

[00:37:54] with sushi chain restaurant

[00:37:56] Sushi-ro.

[00:37:57] There are new menu items

[00:37:58] themed after Street Fighter

[00:37:59] aka everything is now spicy

[00:38:01] and there are some

[00:38:03] exclusive stickers

[00:38:03] and merch featuring

[00:38:05] new artwork.

[00:38:06] You can also win

[00:38:07] some Street Fighter sushi plates

[00:38:08] via lottery

[00:38:09] just in case you too

[00:38:10] have a sushi conveyor belt

[00:38:11] in your home.

[00:38:12] Okay that's all for now.

[00:38:13] Thanks as always for listening.

[00:38:15] Be sure to like and subscribe

[00:38:16] to this podcast

[00:38:17] on your favorite app.

[00:38:18] Leave a five star review

[00:38:19] as well it really helps.

[00:38:21] This podcast is also

[00:38:22] available on YouTube

[00:38:23] so like and subscribe

[00:38:24] there as well.

[00:38:25] I'm on Twitter,

[00:38:25] Threads,

[00:38:26] Blue Sky,

[00:38:27] Instagram.

[00:38:27] Just search for

[00:38:28] Tokyo Game Life

[00:38:29] or find the links

[00:38:30] in the podcast description.

[00:38:31] If you like the podcast

[00:38:32] be sure to share with your friends

[00:38:34] and on social media.

[00:38:35] If there's anything

[00:38:36] you want to talk about

[00:38:37] or cover

[00:38:37] don't be shy

[00:38:38] just message me.

[00:38:39] The next episode

[00:38:40] will be on August 11th.

[00:38:42] See you next time.

[00:38:43] Matane!

[00:38:43] ắm

[00:38:44] You

[00:38:44] Thank you.