Game Center CX Season 3 – Back to Contents
#14
「ファミコンジャンプ」放送局
"Famicom Jump" Broadcasting Station

Chousen

Bandai’s first real hit Famicom game was the mega crossover RPG Famicom Jump, including characters from Shonen Jump’s heyday in the 80s. Through the course of the game, you’ll come across 16 heroes who will join your party in hopes of defeating Piccolo. Arino starts from the beginning, entering the run-down town of Fist of the North Star and then getting into a fight with Buffaloman from Kinnikuman. He dies in the battle and restarts.

On the second try he figures out how to explore and meet characters a little better. This eventually leads him to meet up with Kenshiro, the hero from FotNS. With him in his party, Arino makes his way back to Buffaloman and wins. Later, AD Urakawa hands Arino the Famicom Jump guidebook. He makes his way to the first dungeon and the first real boss: Kenshiro’s enemy Kaiou. The game shifts to a 2D fighting screen and Kaiou is wasted in no time.

Four hours have passed. Arino moves into the next area on the world map, and apparently has to meet three more characters. He enters the Capsule Corporation and meets Bulma, who sends him into a time machine. From there he meets Senbei from Dr. Slump, who Arino buys some items from. He does a little fetch quest, and Senbei introduces him to Arale. Arale takes Arino to Caramelman’s house, where he fights him as Arale. He wins, and frees Obochaman.

After that, Senbei gives Arino Time-kun, a timeslip robot that will send him back to his own world. Back in Capsule Town, Arino is approached by Kaori from City Hunter, who asks to assist the manga’s hero, Ryo. As Ryo, Arino fights Taopaipai from Dragon Ball, who uses teleportation to throw his opponents off. But Arino wins rather easily. Later, while passing through a forest, he spots Goku! From there begins a minigame, where Arino earns a power-up item. Onto the next area, and 3 more characters to gain!

Unfortunately, soon after Urakawa comes in and informs Arino it’s time to go to make a scheduled radio appearance. Arino leaves, and we quickly pick up a day later in the other conference room. Another fetch quest includes getting a toy for a small boy, and it takes Arino about an hour to get it done as he tries searching for just the right one in the shops. Once he gets it he’s shuffled away again by Urakawa.

Fast forward to day 3. In the game, more warping around leads Arino to the Kame House. Master Roshi is inside, and he asks Arino to fetch him a naughty video. Arino finds it in town, from a kid hiding beside a house. For a job well done, he gets the magic cloud that Goku uses. From there he flies south to the next area, and acquires four more heroes. He then meets up with JoJo and a few more before finally heading into area 5. There he meets Taro from the baseball manga Dokaben, who challenges him to a home-run derby minigame before he decides to join up. Unfortunately Arino isn’t the best at it.

Urakawa takes this time to give a little gift: an issue of Jump from 1988, from when Arino was 16. Refreshed from the memories, Arino gets back to the game. Finally he hits a home-run and gets Taro on his side. More characters come into the fray over time, and eventually all that’s left is one — Kinnikuman. After a short minigame he gets him, and the roster is complete. Onto Piccolo’s castle!

Unfortunately the enemies are a little relentless, so he loses Taro. But it’s not long before he gets to the final boss, King Piccolo. Piccolo moves back and forth across the screen, shooting a wave of spread fire every once in a while. It’s predictable, but it’s too much for Arino, who gets a Game Over from the battle. And keeps getting them, and keeps getting them… until finally, on the eighth try he destroys Piccolo. But the adventure isn’t over! Arino must now go through a 13-stage battle gauntlet, choosing the right hero to go against each opponent.

Three of his heroes fall on just the first stage, which is definitely not a good thing. The heated battles continue, with a bit of tag-team action, close calls and accidental deaths. Amazingly, Arino makes it to the end to face the younger Piccolo. Saint Seiya pulls through and defeats him rather easily. Arino clears the game with nary a scratch. Too bad the ending is rather weak, but what else would you expect from Bandai?

TamaGe

This time Arino visits a "mysterious game center" in Yurakucho known only as RENO. The place is in an indoor shopping center and is stocked primarily with tabletop machines — very shiny ones, giving off a classy vibe. It’s mysterious mostly because there’s no one else inside at the time.

Arino starts off with a game of Xevious, and when he fails that, moves on to Xevious 3D/G! That doesn’t work out either, so he scouts the area a little more and tries out Tehkan’s Super Volleyball. He screws up the first serve, which doesn’t bode well. He seems to have more fun laughing at the goofy continue screen if anything.

Also in the center is a Nintendo VS. Tennis machine. Arino calls over Urakawa to engage in a match. Naturally, Urakawa smacks him around a little, and before long he gives up. The next game Arino tries is Elevator Action. While playing, he makes an Ocean’s Twelve reference, and eventually dies by getting squashed by the elevator. That’s it for RENO.

Moshi-Moshi Daisakusen

The legend continues. Arino speaks with a woman in her 40s who talks his head off, but when he finally gets back to the game he encounters what seems to be an actual boss! Later, he calls up an 11 year-old viewer, but gets his mom instead. Another viewer points him towards a warp, which he takes, and in his next battle he comes across the pig companion. Actual progress!!

Game Collections: 1985: September-November