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Buy the DVD Box Set from Amazon! Visit the translation home page!  Thanks to Champignon who made the original post about Game Center CX nearly five years ago and got the ball rolling.   Imagine if the Let's Play subforum was caught in a transporter malfunction with a Japanese game show. Or if the guys on Top Gear decided to spend their hour trying to beat an old video game. Each week comedian Arino Shinya goes into a conference room and is given an old video game. They won't let him leave until he finishes the game or they run out of time. He starts playing around 10am and he has until about midnight to beat the game. But Arino is not very good at video games. While he's a nerd he hasn't really played video games in a long time. So even easy games are an uphill battle for him.  Arino reacts to the games with a good-natured humor. He's cheerful in the face of the worst games. He gets tripped up by the oldest tricks and then laughs it off. And when Arino manages to succeed his joy comes through. When he's not playing that week's game Arino takes trips to local arcades, gets life lessons taught to him from old strategy guides by a monk, calls fans of the show for advice on beating other games, or other even more surreal things.  Game Center CX is a celebration of old video games. It's like the days when you got together with your friends to beat a rented game before it had to go back. Isn't this a Japanese show? Yes, it is. Even though the show airs in Japan there's a major goon driven effort that's ongoing to translate the series. The first fourteen seasons are complete shy of one episode and significant portions of the rest of the series have been translated. Where do I watch the show? If you're in Japan and you have Fuji TV's satellite service, it airs biweekly on Thursday nights at midnight. In the US a DVD box set containing twelve episodes previously licensed by Kotaku along with four more additional episodes is now available from Amazon. These DVD's feature a new translation from the SA Team's own zari-gani, so expect the same quality of translation. Or you could download the episodes that are translated as we post them here.  Special Episode Types M - The challenge segment from the first season of Game Center CX. LE - One of the live challenges. B - A DVD only bonus episode. NC - A mini episode created for the Nintendo Channel. EX - Other extra episodes Italicized episodes have been licensed for an official release and will not be available. I used English names where ever possible and when there wasn't I used a rough translation to give some idea of what the game is like. Similarly the genres are a rough framework. pre:Episode Game Genre System Translation Season One M1 Takeshi's Challenge Insanity Sim Famicom SA Team, TV Nihon M2 Angelique Trois Dating Sim PS2 SA Team, TV Nihon M3 Steel Battalion Simulator Xbox TV Nihon, SA Team M4 Roommania #203 God Game Dreamcast TV Nihon M5 Star Force Shooter Famicom TV Nihon M6 Astro Robo SASA Puzzle Famicom TV Nihon M7 Galaga Shooter Playstation TV Nihon M8 Door Door Classic Arcade Famicom TV Nihon M9 Yie Ar Kung Fu Fighting Famicom TV Nihon Gradius Shooter Famicom Track and Field Sports Famicom M10 Super Mario Brothers Platformer Famicom TV Nihon Super Mario Brothers: Platformer Famicom The Lost Levels Season Two 1 Mystery of Atlantis Platform Adventure Famicom TV Nihon, Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 2 Challenger Action Adventure Famicom TV Nihon 3 Ghosts 'n Goblins Platform Famicom TV Nihon,SA Team 4 Konami Wai Wai Crossover Platform Famicom TV Nihon Adventure 5 Metroid Platform Adventure Famicom TV Nihon 6 Solomon's Key Puzzle Famicom TV Nihon, Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 7 Prince of Persia Platform Adventure Super Famicom TV Nihon 8 Prince of Persia Platform Adventure Super Famicom TV Nihon 9 Mega Man 2 Platformer Famicom TV Nihon 10 Super Mario Brothers 3 Platformer Famicom TV Nihon Season Three 11 J.J. & Jeff Platformer PC Engine TV Nihon 12 Attack! Takeshi's Castle Sports/Gameshow Famicom SA Team, TV Nihon 13 Tokimeki Memorial Dating Sim Playstation SA Team 14 Famicom Jump Licensing Crossover Famicom SA Team Game 15 Doki Doki Panic Platformer Famicom SA Team 16 Phoenix: The King's Licensed Game Famicom SA Team Adventure 17 Super Mario World Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 18 Super Mario World Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 19 Milon's Secret Castle Platform Adventure Famicom SA Team 20 Legend of Zelda: A Link Action Adventure Super Famicom SA Team to the Past Season Four 21 Ultraman Fighting Super Famicom TV Nihon 22 Final Fight Beat 'em Up Super Famicom SA Team 23 Adventure Island Platformer Famicom SA Team 24 Actraiser God/Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 25 Quiz: The Feudal Lords Trivia PC Engine SA Team Ambition 26 Doraemon Licensed Game Famicom SA Team 27 Super Mario 64 3D Platformer Nintendo 64 SA Team 28 Super Mario 64 3D Platformer Nintendo 64 SA Team 29 Ninja Gaiden Side Scrolling Famicom Kotaku, Discotek Murder Sim Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 30 Kid Icarus Platform Adventure Famicom SA Team Season Five 31 Umihara Kawase Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 32 Contra Run and Gun Famicom SA Team 33 Bonanza Brothers Platformer Mega Drive Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 34 Ghouls 'n Ghosts Platformer Mega Drive Clover 35 Princess Tomato in the Adventure Famicom SA Team Salad Kingdom 36 Shadow Land Spiritual Journey PC Engine SA Team Season Six 37 Street Fighter 2 Fighting Super Famicom Clover/SA Team 38 Castlevania 3 Platformer Famicom SA Team 39 Mighty Bomb Jack Platformer Famicom Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 40 Mighty Bomb Jack Platformer Famicom Kotaku, Discotek 40 Gargoyle's Quest Platform Adventure Famicom SA Team 41 Mighty Bomb Jack Platformer Famicom SA Team, Discotek 42 Adventure Quiz: Capcom Trivia PC Engine SA Team World 43 SOS Puzzle Platformer Super Famicom SA Team, Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 44 Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa Child Endangerment Famicom SA Team Platformer Season Seven 45 Ultraseven Rubber Monster Super Famicom TV Nihon Fighter 46 Mega Man Fighting Robot Famicom SA Team Platformer 47 Wagan Land Educational Famicom SA Team Platformer 48 Out of this World Adventure Super Famicom SA Team 49 Legend of the Mystical Action Adventure Super Famicom SA Team Ninja 50 No Game – Korea Trip NA NA SA Team 51 Sword of Musashi Licensed Sports Famicom SA Team 52 Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 53 Clocktower Survival Horror Super Famicom SA Team, Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 54 The Quest of Ki Puzzle Platformer Famicom SA Team Season Eight 55 The Quest of Ki Puzzle Platformer Famicom SA Team 56 Flashback Action Adventure Super Famicom SA Team 57 Bikkuriman World Platform Adventure PC Engine SA Team 58 Masked Ninja Hanamaru Platformer Famicom SA Team (Yo! Noid) 59 Super Fantasy Zone Shooter Mega Drive Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 60 Bonk's Adventure Mascot Platformer PC Engine SA Team 61 53 Stations of the Side Scrolling Famicom SA Team, Kotaku, Discotek Tokaido Adventure Non-Challenge Segments 62 Kid Dracula Platformer Famicom SA Team 63 Mendel Palace Puzzle Famicom SA Team Season Nine 64 Sonic the Hedgehog Platformer Mega Drive SA Team 65 No Game – Cannes Trip NA NA SA Team 66 No Game – Clip Show NA NA SA Team 67 Zombie Nation Controversy Bait Famicom SA Team Shooter 68 The Wing of Madoola Action Adventure Famicom Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 69 Legacy of the Wizard Action RPG Famicom SA Team Season Ten 70 Dragon Ball Licensed Game Famicom SA Team 71 Atomic Runner Side Scroller Mega Drive SA Team 72 Yuuyu's Quiz de Go! Go! Trivia Super Famicom None 73 Lemmings Puzzle Super Famicom Clover 74 First Samurai Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 75 Donkey Kong Country Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 76 Donkey Kong Country Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 77 Fatal Fury Special Fighting Neo Geo Clover/SA Team Season Eleven 78 No Game – Fukuoka Trip NA NA SA Team 79 Layla Platform Adventure Famicom SA Team 80 Kirby's Adventure Platformer Famicom Clover 81 Battle Golfer Yui Sports Mega Drive Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 82 Mega Man 3 Platfomer Famicom SA Team 83 Mega Man 3 Platfomer Famicom SA Team 84 Super Gussun Oyoyo Puzzle Super Famicom SA Team 85 The Genji and the Heike Side Scrolling PC Engine SA Team Clans Action 86 Punch-Out!! Sports Famicom Clover/SA Team 87 Golden Axe Beat 'em Up Mega Drive Kotaku, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 88 Dig Dug II Puzzle Famicom SA Team 89 Lemmings Puzzle Super Famicom SA Team Season Twelve 90 Dragon Buster Action Adventure Famicom SA Team 91 Kid Kool Platformer Famicom SA Team 92 Shiren the Wanderer Roguelike Super Famicom Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 93 Shiren the Wanderer Roguelike Super Famicom Discotek Non-Challenge Segments SA Team 94 Go by Train! Train Simulator Playstation SA Team 95 Street Fighter 2010 Child Disappointer/ Famicom SA Team Fighting 96 Ninja Gaiden 2 Platformer Famicom SA Team, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments 97 Ninja Gaiden 2 Platformer Famicom SA Team, Discotek Non-Challenge Segments 98 Pilotwings Flight Simulator Super Famicom SA Team 99 Rainbow Islands Arcade Action Super Famicom SA Team 100 Wrecking Crew Action Puzzler Famicom SA Team Season Thirteen 101 Golgo 13: Top Secret Action Adventure Famicom Clover Episode 102 Super Puyo Puyo Puzzle Super Famicom SA Team 103 Koushien Baseball Sports Famicom None 104 Gegege Kitaro Monster Party Super Famicom None 105 Hokkaido Serial Killer Mystery Famicom SA Team 106 No Game – Yuji Horii NA NA None Interview Season Fourteen 107 Paris-Dakar Rally Racing Famicom SA Team Special 108 Smart Ball Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 109 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Action Adventure Nintendo 64 SA Team of Time 110 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Action Adventure Nintendo 64 SA Team of Time 111 Super Star Force Shooter Famicom SA Team 112 Ninja Spirit Side Scroller PC Engine SA Team 113 Night of the Sickle Visual Novel Super Famicom SA Team Weasel 114 Mega Man 4 Platformer Famicom SA Team 115 Mega Man 4 Platformer Famicom SA Team 116 Tower of Babel Puzzle Platformer Famicom SA Team Season Fifteen 117 Mr. Gimmick Platformer Famicom SA Team 118 F-Zero Racing Super Famicom SA Team 119 F-Zero Racing Super Famicom SA Team 120 Tant-R Minigame Collection MegaDrive None 121 Bio Warrior Dan Exploration Famicom SA Team Platformer 122 Comix Zone Beat 'em Up MegaDrive SA Team 123 Kirby's Dream Course Minigolf Puzzler Super Famicom SA Team 124 Metal Storm Side Scroller Famicom SA Team 125 Child-Rearing Quiz: My Quiz/Child Raising Playstation SA Team Angel 126 Super Spy Hunter Racing Shooter Famicom None 127 Pac Man 2 Adventure Super Famicom SA Team 128 Strider Side Scroller Megadrive None 129 Flying Dragon Side Scroller Famicom None 130 Saint Seiya Action Adventure Famicom None 131 Mito Koumon Adventure Famicom SA Team 132 Battletoads Beat 'em up Famicom SA Team 133 Battletoads Beat 'em up Famicom SA Team 134 Detective Saburou Adventure Famicom SA Team Jinguuji 135 Alex Kidd in Miracle Platform Adventure Master System None World 136 Gradius Shooter Famicom None Season Sixteen 137 Kung Fu Heroes Action Famicom None 138 Dynamite Heady Platformer Megadrive None 139 Dynamite Heady Platformer Megadrive None 140 Full Speed! Delivery Boy Delivery Boy Sim PC Engine None 141 Captain Tsubasa Sports Famicom None 142 Captain Tsubasa Sports Famicom None 143 Pilotwings Flight Sim Super Famicom None 144 Vice: Project Doom Action Famicom None 145 Famicom Detective Club Mystery Adventure Famicom None 146 Karnov Dancing Famicom VR-GCCX 147 Legend of the River Fishing RPG Super Famicom SA Team King 2 148 Pulseman Platformer Megadrive None 149 Kickle Cubicle Puzzle Famicom None 150 PaRappa the Rapper Rhythm Playstation SA Team 151 Mansion of Hidden Souls Adventure Sega CD None 152 Yoshi's Island Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 153 Yoshi's Island Platformer Super Famicom SA Team 154 Metro-Cross Running Famicom None 155 Metro-Cross Running Famicom None 156 Space Hunter Exploration Famicom None Season Seventeen 157 Magical Quest Starring Disney Platformer Super Famicom None Mickey Mouse 158 Jogging Race Marathon Famicom None 159 The Adventures of Tom Platformer Famicom None Sawyer 160 Blaster Master Frog Hunting Sim Famicom None 161 Derby Stallion Horse Racing Famicom SA Team 162 Donkey Kong Country 2 Ape Platforming Super Famicom None 163 Donkey Kong Country 2 Ape Platforming Super Famicom None 164 Donkey Kong Country 2 Ape Platforming Super Famicom None 165 Dragon Ball Z Super Fighting 2 Super Famicom None 166 Shadow of the Ninja Platform Action Famicom None 167 Sky Kid Shooter Famicom SA Team 166 Shadow of the Ninja Platform Action Famicom SA Team 168 YuYu Hakusho Anime Fighting Super Famicom None 169 Rocky Rodent Mascot Platformer Super Famicom None 170 Aighina's Prophecy Action Adventure Famicom None 171 Aighina's Prophecy Action Adventure Famicom None 172 No Game - Budokan Recap NA NA None 173 Oishinbo Gormet Adventure Famicom None 174 Woody Poko Action Adventure Famicom None 175 Nosferatu Platformer Super Famicom None 176 Nosferatu Platformer Super Famicom None Season Eighteen DVD Bonus Episodes B1 Transformers: Mystery of Licensed Game Famicom TV Nihon Convoy B2 Ikki Action Adventure Famicom VR-GCCX B3 TwinBee Shooter Famicom None B4 Bomberman Action Puzzler Famicom SA Team B5 The Tower of Druaga Action Adventure Famicom None B6 Yie Air Kung Fu Fighting Famicom None B7 Binary Land Puzzle Famicom SA Team B8 City Connection Pac Man-esque Famicom None BUSA Die Hard Arcade Action Saturn None B9 Spelunker Platformer Famicom None B10 Pooyan Pig Shooter Famicom None Revenge Attempts (Spoilers for Episode Results) RE1 Legend of the Mystical Action Adventure Super Famicom VR-GCCX Ninja RE2 The Genji and the Heike Side Scrolling PC Engine VR-GCCX Clans Action Nintendo Channel NC1 Mega Man 9 Retro Platformer Wii None NC2 Virtual Console Sampler Various Various None NC3 Star Force Shooter Arcade SA Team NC4 Downtown Special Beat 'em Up Famicom SA Team NC5 Splatterhouse Side Scroller Arcade None NC6 Ultimate Qix Puzzle PC Engine None NC7 Mario Kart Racing Super Famicom SA Team NC8 Super Mario Brothers 3 Platformer Famicom None NC9 Super Metroid Platform Adventure Super Famicom None NC10 Fire Emblem: Mystery of Strategic RPG Super Famicom None the Emblem NC11 Excitebike 3D Motocross Racing Nintendo 3DS None NC12 Xevious 3D Shooter Nintendo 3DS None NC13 Donkey Kong Puzzle Platformer Game Boy None NC14 Star Fox 64 Shooter Nintendo 64 None NC15 Kirby Super Star Minigame Collection Super Famicom SA Team NC16 Kirby Collection Platformer Wii None NC17 Balloon Fight Jousting Simulator Famicom SA Team NC18 Balloon Fight Jousting Simulator Famicom SA Team NC19 Fire Emblem: Mystery of Strategic RPG Super Famicom SA Team the Emblem NC20 EarthBound RPG Super Famicom SA Team NC21 NES Remix Nostalgic Minigames Wii U SA Team Specials EX1 No Game – Far North NA NA TV Nihon Travelogue EX2 Retro Game Challenge Retro Collection Nintendo DS SA Team EX3 Retro Game Challenge 2 Retro Collection Nintendo DS None SP1 Pokèmon Fire Red Cockfighting Gameboy SA Team, TV Nihon (battles only) Advanced Super Mario Brother: Platformer Famicom The Lost Levels SP2 No Game - 2008 Year End NA NA SA Team Special Southernmost Game SP3 Robocop Side Scroller Famicom SA Team SP4 New Years 2012 NA NA SA Team SP5 Super Mario Kart Racing Super Famicom None SP6 Mario and Wario Mouse Puzzler Super Famicom SA Team SP7 Live Budokan Stage Show Various Various SA Team LE1 The Quest of Ki Puzzle Platformer Famicom None LE2 Takeshi's Challenge Insanity Sim Famicom SA Team LE3 Lemmings Puzzle Super Famicom SA Team LE4 Kirby Super Star Minigame Collection Super Famicom None LE5 Pilotwings Flight Simulator Super Famicom SA Team LE6 MegaMan 2 Action Famicom None DVD Special Feature - Ring Ring Tactics Compilation Excerpt from the Lemmings 24-Hour Special - Last Continue Excerpt from the Lemmings 24-Hour Special - Early Morning Comedy Show Arino's Wedding Genki TV Interview Catch a Catch Copy Special  There's a lot of episodes; where's a good place to start? The show doesn't have a whole lot of continuity so you can just pick an episode featuring a game you're interested in and go for it. I would recommend watching an episode translated by the SA Team first. One of the focuses of our translation is accessibility; we want you to be able to enjoy the show even if you don't know a thing about Japanese television, gaming, or culture. Starting with an SA Team episode can mean a more welcoming experience. The DVD set from Discotek media has a translation by our own zari-gani and that's the best way to see those licensed episodes. With that in mind there's several options depending on what you want to see in a show: I want to watch a comedian struggle to play games I love: Super Mario World (17, 18), Street Fighter 2 (37), Sonic the Hedgehog (64) I want to see strange Japanese games that we never got in the US: Umihara Kawase (31), Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (44), and Go by Train! (94) I enjoy watching the depths of human suffering: Attack! Takeshi's Castle (12), Adventure Island (23), Castlevania 3 (38) I want something epic: Mighty Bomb Jack (39, 40, 41), Quest of Ki (54, 55, 60), Lemmings (73, 89, Live Compilation) How bad can games get: Doraemon (26), Dragon Buster (90), Paris-Dakar Rally Special (107) I love seeing Arino interact with the staff: Quiz: The Feudal Lord's Ambition (25), Ninja Gaiden (29), Bomberman (DVD4) The trips to arcades are the best part: Game Center CX in Korea (50), Cannes Trip (65), Robocop (Game Center CX in the USA) Can you solve the mystery? Clocktower (53), Hokkaido Serial Murders (105), Night of the Sickle Weasel (113)  http://www.fujitv.co.jp/otn/gamecenter/index.html - The official website; you'll find episode information here and it's where you go to enter that week's code. http://www.gascoin.co.jp/cx - Official site of the production company; there's blogs here and information on upcoming events if you happen to be in Japan. http://www.crunkgames.com/?p=87 - Ray Barnholt's excellent episode guide. http://www.facebook.com/people/SA-Gccx/100002908560345 – The SA Team's Facebook page which is maintained by Gutcruncher. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/GCCX - The steam fan community which will send you announcements when a new episode is available. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL461C7FA8BBB8EBCB - zari-gani's YouTube playlist of all the music featured in the series http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3285054 - The retrogaming thread; if you want to talk about collecting famicom games this is the place for it. http://discotekmedia.com/ - Publisher of the DVD set in the US. Google Map of places Arino has visited Twitter Accounts @arimorokoshi415 - Arino @kankanp - Producer Kan @kbmsgccx - Staff Writer Kibe @uratokawa - AD Urakawa @inokomax - AD Inoue/Inoko MAX @Poco_SP_Dragon - AD Nakayama @kusomushi0926 - AD Emoto @tatsuya0805 - Director Tatsuya Nakauchi @suzui_idz - Masanobu Suzui, CEO of indies zero Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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 Game Center CX is a super low budget show. Arino is the sole star and as a result the crew often wind up being a big part of the show themselves. Arino regularly calls for assistance from one of the assistant directors, the show's creator provides narration in order to save money, and the cameraman regularly gets out from behind the camera to pitch in.  The AD's  The most visible crew members are the assistant directors, or AD's. Usually at least once per episode one of them will step up to help Arino through a tough spot. Sometimes they're good at the games, sometimes they just make things worse. The AD's typically work on the show for about a year (one or two seasons) before they move on to other tasks. Several of them have moved up to higher positions in the production company and continue to make regular appearances. On the show they're referred to as AD Name and that has generally been picked up by us even when they've become producers and directors.             Other Staff      What's up with the episode numbering? Season one of Game Center CX was a completely different show from what came after. The episodes centered around Arino visiting the corporate headquarters of a game publisher and interviewing major figures involved with developing classic games. There was one segment in the show where Arino played one of the company's games and was given a special goal for it.  After one season and one special the show was retooled. The challenge segments became the focus and the goals changes from things like "Catch seven monsters" to "Complete the game and get the best ending." When this retooling occurred they also officially reset the episode numbering. So in episode guides, the information guides on the channel, and on the website the numbering of episodes starts with season two. Why are episodes nearly one hour long? Don't they have commercials in Japan? They do but Game Center CX airs on a pay television channel which doesn't really have a lot of commercials. Think along the lines of HBO. What are the Nintendo Channel episodes? Much like the Nintendo Channel on the Wii here, the Nintendo Channel for the Wii and 3DS in Japan often features videos about games. A series of short, twenty minute long Game Center CX episodes have been produced for the channel. Most of these are challenges but a few of them are just Arino playing around. Some of the episodes are multipart series; the Super Metroid challenge is as long as a full episode. What are the Bonus Stages? There are versions of the episodes edited down to a length for television broadcast that are referred to as Game Center CX - Bonus Stage. The only new footage they feature are the bumpers and they have one or more segments removed. What exactly was the North Trip? The North Trip was a set of replacement arcade visit segments that were used for some reruns. They're all about Arino making a road trip through the very cold northern island of Hokkaido looking for the furthest north arcade. On a holiday special Arino also went to Okinawa to look for the southernmost arcade. What is a revenge attempt? On the most recent two DVD sets Arino and other staff members try to finish a game that Arino could not beat during a regular episode. It looks like this will be an ongoing feature of the DVDs. What are the live specials? There are six challenges that could be considered "live". The first is Mighty Bomb Jack which was a taped episode but the challenge to complete Mighty Bomb Jack occurred in front of a live audience. That episode was the conclusion of a three part challenge; the first two parts were translated for Kotaku while the SA Team translated the final part. There were also four challenges that were presented in their entirety live on television. During these challenges Arino is attempting to beat a game that stymied him in some way before. He receives faxes of encouragement from fans as he plays. The first was the Christmas 2008 challenge of Quest of Ki. Though initially scheduled for two hours Arino played for nine hours. Seven of those hours were spent on one extremely short level.  During season ten Arino revisited the original episode and Takeshi's Challenge in a two-hour special. The hour long wait required to complete a segment of the game was handled by using a password. The most ambitious of the live episodes was the twenty-four hour Lemmings challenge. Arino had twenty-four hours to complete insane difficulty. A streamlined version of this challenge was released on DVD. For New Year's Day in 2011 Arino teamed up with his comedy partner Masaru to play Kirby Super Star. The challenge took about seven hours and is notable as the only cooperative challenge that has been done for the show. In February of 2012 Arino played Pilotwings for his birthday. He started when he was 39 years old and ended when he was 40. There was a birthday party at midnight that's notable for Arino being presented with art by the SA Team's zari-gani. In addition there was a goon effort to get as many birthday greetings from around the world faxed into the show and they were overwhelmed by outpouring of support by international fans. While the shortest of these live challenges may be translated someday it's extremely unlikely that the long ones will be. Besides the length, the fact that they present the challenge without editing out the "boring" bits means that they're generally not fun to watch. It's Arino sitting there mostly in silence failing the same level over and over again for hours. It just isn't worth the effort. What's that music from that episode? Zari-gani translated this list of music used in the series: zari-gani posted:Taken straight from the ridiculously extensive Japanese wiki article on Game Center CX, here's every music used in the show!  She also created a YouTube playlist featuring the songs. What does the robot voice say at the beginning of the intro? It's one of the great mysteries of the series. There is no definitive answer that I've been able to find. Even the artist who created the music piece that the voice was taken from no longer remembers what it says. What's up with the ending to episode 44? They thought the show had been canceled so the ending of the show is a loving tribute. Fortunately for everyone the sales of DVD's and the licensing of the show for a game kept the series going. What are those things Arino sticks onto his head? They're cooling sheets. The idea is to relieve tension and prevent overheating. They've become his trademark and you'll see him appear wearing them a lot.   The Games Until recently the only Game Center CX product available outside of Japan was their first Nintendo DS game. In the US it was retitled as Retro Game Challenge.  In this cult game Arino sends the player back in time to the 1980's where they have to play some retro-style games and complete challenges to unlock more games. To help you beat the games you could check out gaming magazines for the latest tricks or carefully read over the individual game's manuals. It had eight games ranging from classic space shooters to a full Dragon Quest style RPG. A sequel to this game was made but was not released outside of Japan. It's title is Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge 2.  It follows the same formula as the first game but expands the time frame to include some portable gaming and psuedo-16-bit games. Nine new games were featured this time including a Pac-Man style maze game, a mystery adventure game, and a puzzle game. In addition several of the games from Retro Game Challenge returned in special editions. The Disks  Nine DVD box sets have been released of the series in Japan. Each set contains two DVD's with two episodes on each. Typically one of the episodes in a set is a special extended version of the television episode with additional footage. Each of the box sets contains a special challenge that was done for just the DVD release. The episodes are presented with just the challenge. Other segments may be on the disk but they are not necessarily the ones that were part of the original episode. And every once and a while there is an extra special feature included on the disk. One of the DVD boxes is different; it contains a shortened version of a special twenty-four hour long challenge that has been cut down to fit on two disks. An American DVD box set has just been announced. It's coming from Discotek Media and will feature the same twelve challenges that were previously licensed by Kotaku. They will feature a new translation by the SA Team's own zari-gani. More details to come when they're available.  In addition there are a series of related DVD's call The Game Masters. These DVD's are short documentaries about a game publisher. Arino and the show's crew make appearances on these DVD's but they're not part of the series. Other Things There are five Game Center CX books that feature information about the games, interviews with creators, and behind the scenes information about the show. The third book also features a comic all about the series which has been translated into English. Then there is this beauty.  It's been sold out for years and getting one will cost you an arm and a leg.  A Brief History of Game Center CX Translation The first group to translate episodes of Game Center CX was TV Nihon. They tend to specialize in live action Japanese superhero shows so they translated the two Ultraman based episodes (episodes 21 and 45). After finishing those they went back and did the Arino's challenge segments of the first season before translating the full episodes of the second season. As time passed their releases slowed down and it was over six months between the release of episode 9 and 10. After episode ten we waited more than a year hoping another episode would show up. Meanwhile over in Japan the DVD publisher Stylejam produced two English language episodes: Mystery of Atlantis and Ghosts 'n Goblins. They used these episodes to try to sell Game Center CX to an overseas market. Stylejam had no success in selling the show and so the only place these episodes have been publicly seen in full is an Asian film festival in New York City back in 2007. Into that void stepped the Something Awful Team. Episodes began getting translated fast and Clover, another subtitling team that happens to have a lot of goons on it, also started working on episodes. About a month and a half after those efforts got off the ground Gawker Media, owner of websites such as Kotaku, Gizmodo, and Io9, announced that they had acquired a dozen episodes of Game Center CX and would be posting them to Kotaku with a dubbed over narration as "Retro Game Master". That began a period of great confusion. The mods gave approval to continue the translation work so long as we did not post licensed episodes. Gawker did release episodes that the SA Team had translated and the SA Team version had to be pulled. Gawker's license was for only for a very short length of time and it quickly ended. The license to those same episodes was purchased by Discotek Media who are releasing a DVD box set with a new translation by the SA Team's own zari-gani. Clover had other translation commitments and weren't able to really work on GCCX so they handed off translations for timing work to the SA Team; they still have one more episode that they're wrapping up themselves but that will probably be their last one. After more than two years TV Nihon released another episode but it's not clear if they're going to keep going or how many years it will be before their next release. Why'd Gawker change the episodes so much? For the most part Gawker was working from the DVD versions of episodes. On the DVD's the episodes are presented as just the challenge segments. So there were no arcade visits or other segments available to them. In one case, Ninja Gaiden, this meant that they had access to an extended version of the episode. What do I do with the subtitle files for episodes? For episodes that were translated and then licensed we had to pull the full video but our translation could stay as subtitle file. If you have a video of that episode you can open it in certain media players (VLC and Media Player Classic work for this) and also open the subtitle file to have it play both at the same time. Please remember that for the twelve episodes Gawker licensed that talking about where to get them is  .  Who are the members? Translators: zari-gani, Nagoyan, ShinYaguchi (inactive) Timing: Gutcruncher, Miscellaneous14, univbee, Random Stranger How can I reach you? An e-mail to sagamecentercx@gmail.com will get to me. How do I know a new episode has been released? We've taken on a convention of putting a bit of fan art at the beginning of any post that features a new video. If you see a member of the team post a strange picture of Arino then there's there's something new right below it.  Why aren't you guys translating in order? The translators pick which episodes they're most interested in doing. That prevents things from getting bogged down with unliked episodes. The show has very little continuity between episodes so generally it's safe to skip around. Will you guys translate this episode? The long term plans are to translate all the episodes except the extended live episodes. But episode requests generally won't do much good. They're going to get done eventually though. Are you going to translate this episode already done by another group? Possibly but they're the lowest priority as long as there are episodes that haven't been touched at all out there. For episodes licensed by Gawker we could only release a translation anyway (besides, the DVD release of those episodes does have a translation by a member of the SA Team). What's the release schedule? For a variety of reasons there isn't one. Everyone is working on the show in their spare time and every member of the team has other commitments which have to take precedence from time to time. Also some episodes are a lot more work than others and there's a possibility that an episode will be completed but held back for the sake of other episodes. Why'd you translate that word/title/thing? Everyone knows what it means! One of our big goals in the translations is accessibility. We want anyone to be able to pick up an episode and watch with no assumptions that they know anything about Japan or Japanese gaming. We generally stick to the official US localization of things in games because someone looking up an episode for the sake of nostalgia will be familiar with that. We translated the term because a lengthy explanation while someone is watching a show is more intrusive than translating it. Hey, these guys are reposting your work! We're aware of a few people at various places around the net that are reposting our videos. Since we want as many people to see Game Center CX as possible that doesn't bother us. These people also have not been claiming that they helped translate the episode (with one rather sad exception that got slapped down hard) so it doesn't matter. Besides, we include a URL at the end of the videos that leads right back to this thread. I want to help out! That's great. The team has enough people to handle the timing work for episodes now but more translators are always needed. If you're interested in translating the series send an e-mail to sagamecentercx@gmail.com and I can get into details. Please do not do some work for the show and then get in touch with us about using it. We've got our own workflow and procedures in place and it's very likely that we won't be able to use something created and then handed over to us since it won't match. If you want to help, ask first and we'll explain things. Why don't you guys... There might be a good reason for that or it might just be that we hadn't considered it. We're open to suggestions; it's not like any of us have ever done a translation project on this scale before. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Jun 8, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2011 00:12
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 So in news not for the OP there are a few things. First, the bonus episode for the DVD Set 8 is Samurai Ghost, the sequel to Genpei Tomaden which Arino has already played and is also on the DVD. Second, while I don't have a newly translated episode to christen this thread I do have the next best thing: a never before seen episode. You might recall from a few releases ago that the show mentioned a bonus DVD for the initial release of the DS game Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge 2. That bonus DVD would contain an hour long challenge in which Arino plays the original game. That video had never found its way out of Japan. Until now. I give you Arino's Challenge: http://www.multiupload.com/W7VQ9SXWS9 This is not translated at all and it's unlikely to be translated anytime soon but it is a new episode that I strongly doubt that any of you have ever seen before. Enjoy.
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Dec 4, 2011 00:12
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American or Japanese, this is my favorite television show by far. Hope you guys keep churning out those episodes!
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Dec 4, 2011 00:24
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Oh man, a new thread.    the old thread is full of such memories.GCCX easily can creep into my top 10 favourite shows of all time. Arino is adorable, and I just love watching him struggle with games. I'm several (Like 15+) subbed episodes behind, hoping that for my christmas vacation, I'll just plow through the ones I've missed.
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Dec 4, 2011 00:28
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New thread and a new video (untranslated, but I don't care)? Awesome!  The only thing that stinks is that the video description reminds me that I should get back to work on my Retro Game Challenge LP that I thought of starting in the previous thread. I took a break from it after running into technical difficulty after technical difficulty, but having a new thread is inspiring me to want to work on it again.  SereneCrimson posted:
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Dec 4, 2011 00:51
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Glad to see Kotak mentioned in the glossary.
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Dec 4, 2011 00:53
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This is a great show for anyone who has fond memories of banging their heads against impossible retro games, and the fantastic SAGCCX team deserves endless praise for making it available to non-speakers. I've watched every episode you've put out and I can't thank you guys enough.
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Dec 4, 2011 01:00
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SereneCrimson posted:Oh man, a new thread. We will make new memories in the new thread. Has anyone heard what the Christmas/New Year's special is going to be this year? Will it be another superlong live challenge or are they scaling things back?
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Dec 4, 2011 01:38
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Random Stranger posted:Has anyone heard what the Christmas/New Year's special is going to be this year? Will it be another superlong live challenge or are they scaling things back? The month is young yet, but it doesn't look like they're doing anything. There's a DVD launch event/signing on 12/24 though. I'd also like to repost the news of the fifth GCCX book that's coming out 12/15 and will have another blowout of the USA trip. rdbbb fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 01:52
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AD Urakawa's Twitter is missing from the OP, it's @uratokawa
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Dec 4, 2011 01:57
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Am I missing something, or aren't there links to the subtitle files for the SA-and-Kotaku episodes on the big episode/file list? Being NotAmerican, I can't see the Kotaku episodes in the first place, so it's ironically much easier to get the raws and throw a sub file on them.
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Dec 4, 2011 02:17
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Dominic White posted:Am I missing something, or aren't there links to the subtitle files for the SA-and-Kotaku episodes on the big episode/file list? Being NotAmerican, I can't see the Kotaku episodes in the first place, so it's ironically much easier to get the raws and throw a sub file on them. Kotaku still has the rights so it's considered
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Dec 4, 2011 02:22
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Does the USA episode have any identification on the Goons who appear? just curious
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Dec 4, 2011 02:36
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VarXX posted:Kotaku still has the rights so it's considered In the previous thread, the subtitle files were up where appropriate, though.
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Dec 4, 2011 02:38
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Sad to see the old thread go, but I'll follow the new episodes wherever they are.
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Dec 4, 2011 03:01
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HAIL LORD ZLATAN posted:Does the USA episode have any identification on the Goons who appear? just curious
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Dec 4, 2011 03:21
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Can someone translate the challenges for each game he does in the Retro Game Challenge video. Edit: Was his challenge to beat each of the games? joek0 fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 03:23
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New thread gonna be better than the old thread.
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Dec 4, 2011 03:48
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Dominic White posted:Am I missing something, or aren't there links to the subtitle files for the SA-and-Kotaku episodes on the big episode/file list? Being NotAmerican, I can't see the Kotaku episodes in the first place, so it's ironically much easier to get the raws and throw a sub file on them. I didn't add them initially for the sake of getting things moving but almost all of them are up there now and the last few will be dropped in soon. joek0 posted:Can someone translate the challenges for each game he does in the Retro Game Master video. After season one the challenge was always to beat the game. The only exceptions were the Nintendo Channel episodes where sometimes he was given a different goal (beat Concrete Man in Mega Man 9, blow up the big ship in Star Force again, and the like).
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Dec 4, 2011 03:51
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Obeast posted:Sadly no, but the ones who stood out from what I saw were rdbbb, who cosplayed as Arino and was interviewed about why he loves the show, and Jetpack Postman, who gave Arino and the staff copies of zari's "America Loves Game Center CX" poster. I love the new thread and will always cherish the time we have together
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Dec 4, 2011 04:07
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Do any of you people own gamingcx.com? They seem to upload to youtube your translated episodes within hours of you posting them here on megaupload and don't seem to give you credit. If y'all aren't involved with them, you should probably have a word with them.
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Dec 4, 2011 04:22
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Great OP, just one minor nitpick: The Arino's comedy duo is called "Yowiko" or "Yoiko" in romaji, not "Yukio."quote:Do any of you people own gamingcx.com? They seem to upload to youtube your translated episodes within hours of you posting them here on megaupload and don't seem to give you credit. If y'all aren't involved with them, you should probably have a word with them. They do some half hearted credits in the very first post (Takeshi's Challenge) but none at all after that, and a lot of people are under the impression that this is their work. It kinda pisses me off, but unfortunately due to the nature of fansubs I feel like there's not a lot that can be done about this. Nickoten fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 04:32
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Geez man, you put as much love in those opening posts as the team does the eps themselves. Very nice. Didn't Arino have a twitter account too?
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Dec 4, 2011 04:37
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The only thing the OP is missing is the fact that no one can agree on what the voice says before the themesong plays.  But once again: Thank you for bringing me this show. Every time I watch it I'm filled with warm childhood memories of sitting next to my brother and watching him play Nintendo games. Except my brother was better than Arino. Hell, my four year old nephews are better than Arino.
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Dec 4, 2011 04:39
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Chiming in to agree with the rest that it's a great OP. Only thing I'd add would be some of the weird complaints from the last thread, or that terrible quote from Kotak's introduction post about GameCenter being what Japan should be (I don't remember it off hand).
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Dec 4, 2011 04:42
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cronox2 posted:Chiming in to agree with the rest that it's a great OP. Only thing I'd add would be some of the weird complaints from the last thread, or that terrible quote from Kotak's introduction post about GameCenter being what Japan should be (I don't remember it off hand). I cant find the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of "It shows what Japan is capable of when it does things totally on its own!" I know Im saying it wrong because the original quote dripped with Kotakus usual Japan Dick Sucking
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Dec 4, 2011 04:50
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Looking forward to more uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
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Dec 4, 2011 04:56
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Nickoten posted:Great OP, just one minor nitpick: The Arino's comedy duo is called "Yowiko" or "Yoiko" in romaji, not "Yukio." I knew that. I don't know what I was doing when I typed that. And the Kotaku quote is "What Japan can do when it tries". Which now that I think about it would have been a great thread title even if we'd be the only people laughing at it. I'm completely open to things to add to the OP. I didn't want to add the Kotaku gripes though because that's not a good way to welcome anyone curious about the thread.
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Dec 4, 2011 05:08
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Awesome new op Random Stranger, guess this is a good time to say thanks again to the translating team. Does anyone have a copy of the old animated banner ad that you were running for a while? As a way of saying thanks I'll pay for a couple of rotations in the "Goon Ad" space if you can supply that banner. e: It is done, 2 placements running for 2 months, should start appearing within 24 hours I think. ee: It's in rotation now. Xik fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Dec 5, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 05:15
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Xik posted:Awesome new op Random Stranger, guess this is a good time to say thanks again to the translating team. Does anyone have a copy of the old animated banner ad that you were running for a while? As a way of saying thanks I'll pay for a couple of rotations in the "Goon Ad" space if you can supply that banner. Here's the banner ad that was used:  You know, I would have lived to use this as Abe's picture...  But he really needed a motorcycle shot.
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Dec 4, 2011 05:26
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Random Stranger posted:You know, I would have lived to use this as Abe's picture... If I had talent Id make a monocle pop off his face.
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Dec 4, 2011 05:40
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Thanks for reminding me I need to watch all of these. My favourite so far is probably Mega Man 2 or Ghouls and Ghosts
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Dec 4, 2011 06:19
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Lock posted:Didn't Arino have a twitter account too? Dug around a bit, finally found it myself. @arimorokoshi415
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Dec 4, 2011 07:21
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Excellent OP! I'm looking forward to collaborating in new memories. Transmitting broadcast. EDIT: Going through the nice list Stranger put up I see Super Mario World was already on third(?) season. I didn't know it was so early on the show, considering it's a high profile game and all. Would love to see it translated some day. Sadly, the turnout of the challenge has been spoiled again and again in various episodes. If anyone's seen it, is there anything otherwise relevant in it? I try to avoid watching GCCX without subs because my Japanese is subpar. jyrque fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 08:27
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joek0 posted:Can someone translate the challenges for each game he does in the Retro Game Master video. 1) Warp to and complete stage 64 (the final stage) in Cosmic Gate 2) Find the hidden Arino head/king in Haggleman 1 3) Complete the first race in Rally King without taking damage 4) Get the 1.5 million (I guess the 150 thing is how they say 1.5 million in Japan?) point bonus in Area 4 of Star Prince 5) Finish the last three in-game challenges of Rally King SP for Abe (who seems to suck at the game) 6) Doing some weird trick regarding going through the exit of each stage with a few seconds left in Haggleman 2 (I have no idea what this one does) 7) Find and defeat the hidden Demon Arino boss in Guadia Quest (with underleveled characters) 8) Complete the third/final stage in Haggleman 3 Obeast fucked around with this message at 09:49 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 09:00
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I love this show and I love everybody involved in letting me see it. But especially Zari-Gani. But especially Arino.
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Dec 4, 2011 09:07
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Random Stranger posted:e: and make it loopable too i guess ee: VVVV Bravo Lowclock fucked around with this message at 11:12 on Dec 4, 2011 |
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Dec 4, 2011 10:03
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Lowclock posted:Should see if you can get one of the guys from the GIF thread to stabilize it so his head is still and you can see the expression better. 
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Dec 4, 2011 11:06
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God, it's been a long while since I reared my ugly head 'round these parts. I've been on a Skyrim binge for so long it was difficult to make enough mental real estate for anything else. I even missed when you guys posted the episode I requested, hahahaha (I already managed to watch it. It came out great!). Anyway, incredible OP for an awesome new thread. The list of episodes with links was expected, but it's fantastic that you included a profile for everyone in the show. Team SAGCCX is great as always, so I hope this thread hits it off even bigger than the last one. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a rather impressive backlog to work through and only so many hours left in the weekend...
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Dec 4, 2011 11:57
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