Current Events > Japanese games really peaked in the 2000s generation of games

(+) Yeah! (+)

The creativity just aint there like it used to be. We rarely see out there stuff like Jet Set Radio, Katamari Damacy, Gitaroo Man, Viewtiful Joe, or Power Stone. The game business is too cutthroat for zany stuff to get big funding. I hope the Japanese indie scene continues to grow

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Games in general did. Triple AAA games are awful

I think a lot of it was trying to appeal to a global audience vs being happy with their niche sales.

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The guy behind Viewtiful Joe is still making wacky shit at Platinum.

Cobraiak posted...

Games in general did. Triple AAA games are awful

This.

Blame A/B testing product development for churning out mediocre products to cater to the masses.

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Murphiroth posted...

The guy behind Viewtiful Joe is still making wacky shit at Platinum.

That's true. Wonderful 101 has a lotta of that game's spirit

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We need another Metal Wolf Chaos featuring trump

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pogo_rabid posted...

I think a lot of it was trying to appeal to a global audience vs being happy with their niche sales.

I agree , budgets ballooning too didn't help .
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Japan have been turning things around in the last few years IMO but yeah not quite back to that peak I think.

Silent Hill 2 was 20 years ago and still feels pretty unique.

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ArianaGrandSlam posted...

I really think you guys just arent like looking for good games half the time

the last 5 years have had some of the very best games Ive ever played in my life

Hey hey whoa. I'll say this; there has never been a better time to be playing video games. There are quality games from AAA to indie that I like.

The problem is that the zany creative japanese games that I talked about in my first post have dramatically decreased. That wild creativity isn't quite there. Game companies play it safe.

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I think the thing with Japan is they never really made a smooth transition to the HD era. Either they tried to appeal primarily to the West to survive (Capcom and Square-Enix) or they just sort of floundered (Konami).

I think now they're figuring out a better balance but I just don't think they have the same amount of manpower compared to Western studios. They seem to excel better with mid-budget games IMO. For whatever reason the big budget Japanese stuff just never really seems to feel right.

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ImAMarvel posted...

They're making another spiritual successor to both of those games that's based on Ultraman. I'm not really a fan but I can't wait anyway because I haven't been disappointed by any of his games yet (besides maybe Okami but I never finished that one)

As a mecha and toku fan I'm really looking forward to it

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The creativity is still there. Racists just call it weeb now

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Remember when the creators of Parappa the Rapper and Gitaroo Man wanted to make this sick as fuck looking rhythm game? The kickstarter failed.

Depresses me everytime I think about it

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A combination of trying to chase specific western trends and hugely increased development costs meaning that everything needs to be market tested to the nth degree instead of taking chances and letting people go nuts really fucked up Japanese video games. They have a great indie scene just like the US does but naturally it's a lot harder to get into unless you speak the language naturally. Most of the heavy hitting companies from the 90s and 2000s are now either circling the toilet or nowhere near as prominent as they once were (SNK, Konami, Falcom), or basically the messed up little brothers of the western AAA situation (Capcom, Square)

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Blue_Inigo posted...

Remember when the creators of Parappa the Rapper and Gitaroo Man wanted to make this sick as fuck looking rhythm game? The kickstarter failed.

Depresses me everytime I think about it

This is kinda their own fault tbh, or at least the genre's fault. Rhythm games were long oversaturated and dead by 2017, which is I think when they began this kickstarter.

I mean Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 both came and went in 2015. Harmonix had a failed Kickstarter for Rock Band on Steam. What made them think a spiritual successor to Parappa the Rapper would be any different?

They should have revealed that way before they did, or alternatively should have waited a few years. That way rhythm games would have been dead longer and more people would miss them and pull the trigger based on nostalgia.

Those companies were just way too eager to spam rhythm games every chance they got. Gotta let the genre breathe a little bit

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Kyle1022 posted...

This is kinda their own fault tbh, or at least the genre's fault. Rhythm games were long oversaturated and dead by 2017, which is I think when they began this kickstarter.

I mean Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 both came and went in 2015. Harmonix had a failed Kickstarter for Rock Band on Steam. What made them think a spiritual successor to Parappa the Rapper would be any different?

They should have revealed that way before they did, or alternatively should have waited a few years. That way rhythm games would have been dead longer and more people would miss them and pull the trigger based on nostalgia.

Those companies were just way too eager to spam rhythm games every chance they got. Gotta let the genre breathe a little bit

i mean, was it supposed to come with an instrument peripheral? because i think band games and rhythm games are a very different animal in terms of marketing and it was a lot more likely that it failed because people nowadays dont know what gitaroo man was

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ultimate reaver posted...

i mean, was it supposed to come with an instrument peripheral? because i think band games and rhythm games are a very different animal in terms of marketing and it was a lot more likely that it failed because people nowadays dont know what gitaroo man was

Guitar hero died because they released a million new versions each year and oversaturated the market. I think in another 5 years or so they could try again.

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Where's my new Virtua On game

Where did Dark Cloud go

Custom Robo? Brave Fencer Musashi? Mischeif Makers?

All dead and nothing to replace em

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ultimate reaver posted...

A combination of trying to chase specific western trends and hugely increased development costs meaning that everything needs to be market tested to the nth degree instead of taking chances and letting people go nuts really fucked up Japanese video games. They have a great indie scene just like the US does but naturally it's a lot harder to get into unless you speak the language naturally. Most of the heavy hitting companies from the 90s and 2000s are now either circling the toilet or nowhere near as prominent as they once were (SNK, Konami, Falcom), or basically the messed up little brothers of the western AAA situation (Capcom, Square)

Also the Indie scene is hampered because PC gaming in japan wasn't really a thing for the longest time, people were having to put everything on consoles which made things more difficult.

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It really doesn't help that Sony moved to the US and have been actively antagonizing Japan, too, so Nintendo are all they have left to turn to in the console market.

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I stopped playing Japanese games that weren't made by Nintendo for the most part from like 2002 till 2017ish. Since then they've made a hell of a comeback for me and they are my favorite games again like they were in the 90s

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