| Pachicom 1988, Toemiland, Famicom |
Pachicom (パチコン, Pachikon) is a parlor video game released for multiple platforms that is themed around pachinko. It was released in 1985 exclusively to the Japanese market.[2]
The game of pachinko is hugely popular in Japan, since it involves playing pinball with an element of slot machines mixed in along with gambling. There are four different gameplay modes to choose from (two of them assign a player with a pachinko machine while the other two allow players to choose their own machine). The game is based on standard pachinko rules, replicating the experience of playing pachinko in a parlor. The game board has a layout with nails sticking out. Metal balls would either of or fall in between the holes created by the pegs in order to traverse the board. Certain compartments are added to the board. Should a metal ball find its way to one of these compartments, the player will receive points that are similar to credits on a slot machine.[3] Players can expect to lose that ball (and a point) if it falls below the bottom of the board (similar to falling down a bottomless pit in an action game). Initially, the player starts off with one hundred balls (points). In Mode A, the clock goes forward from 000000 seconds until it reaches 999999 seconds (the equivalent of either 16666.65 non-real time minutes, 2777.775 non-real time hours, or 115.740625 non-real time days). Once that occurs, the game is over and any remaining points are stored in the top three score list. Mode B is the same except that the clock goes backwards from 999999 seconds all the way back to 000000 seconds. It is very easy to mash the "A" button repeatedly around with the direction pad to the right in order to accumulate mass winnings from the pachinko games and "cheat" the system. Apparently the game contained a hidden angry rant written in the Japanese Romanized writing style Romanji by the creator taking up about 5% of the ROM Space, hidden in code, and only accessible by opening the ROM in a hex editor. In particular, it even includes complaints about late-stage changes, particularly to the Audio where he shows how to make the aprorpiate changes to allow for the original audio intended for the game originally.WTF!?!? (the world's most unwitting Pachinko Champion) - My Experiences This was one of the first games I played on the 400-in-1, thinking it'd be some cool Japanese space game or something (Pachicom? Maybe a cute-em-up with dogs flying spaceships with built-in computer consoles?). Instead I'm greeted to a screen that looks like a line drawing of an egg or a Hormel canned ham....or some kind of weirdo robot face! I start the game, and numbers start to turn, and a bunch of ping pong balls start to drop into the Ham/Robot Face/whatever....and there's weird noises. I hit every concievable button except the reset trying to figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do. Soon I'm jus sitting there with the Sup 400-in-1 Game Box churning away eggs into various holes in the robot face on screen while I just keep holding A/B/X/Y for extended periods....I dunno what I'm doing, but it must be going right, I think I did this for like, 30 minutes...maybe even 45...all I know is my wife was claiming I've been sitting there pressing the same button for 45 minutes watching the screen making funny faces! Now THATS Dedication! Either way, it was quite awhile before I got a game over. Seriously, this could have well have just been some random Japanese guy leading me to a Pachinko machine and leaving me to my own devices. I had not a clue what was going on, but I must have been unwittingly doing it well at least!Videos Other Stuff |
