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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 03:26 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 03:43 on Jun 8, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2011 01:12
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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 01:12
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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 02:38
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the old thread is full of such memories.
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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 04:51
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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 06:08
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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 06:26
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fenix down posted:Nice OP, I especially like the breakdown of the ADs. I'm not thrilled with that section so it's on my list to for a complete revision. But what I have in mind for the crew section will take a while to put together so it's on hold at least until the episodes are done. iastudent posted:They mentioned it at the end of The Chief Returns during a meeting, but passed on it due to the difficulty I think. They've gone back to games that they've initially passed on so it's not impossible that Deadly Towers will show up in the future.
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Dec 4, 2011 21:57
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While Ocarina of Time isn't on the current list to translate I can show you the best part of the episode: Arino stops for the night and hands off to AD's Emoto and Itou to continue. He returns in the morning and Itou explains the plot to him with...    I think this was the last time Itou did art for the show too... cronox2 posted:I'd say the episode I'm really interested in most right now is the multiple part Super Metroid Wii Channel one. Are there good versions of it available online? I have a good version of it. Or at least as good as any video that was streamed to the Nintendo Channel could be.
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Dec 4, 2011 22:12
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ChibiSoma posted:Of all the stuff currently unsubbed, I'm surprised Megaman 4's two-parter is there. Was it just not as fun as the others have been, or is it on the list to be subbed somewhere? I don't want to bog things down with moving through each episode and saying, "Not on the list." Everything after episode 106 has a few strikes against it that make getting a translation slower. There's issues of familiarity and availability (though we've good good masters of everything now) that just naturally push them down the list. They'll be done eventually but everyone has other priorities first. FWIW, I think seasons 14 and 15 are awesome and the only weak episodes in the bunch are Ocarina of Time and F-Zero. AD Takahashi really knows how to pick an awesome game for the show...
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Dec 4, 2011 22:31
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Zeether posted:The car shmup is Battle Formula (Super Spy Hunter in the US). It's pretty fun but hard, especially during sections where you need to speed up to go over jumps or you automatically die. It could also be Paris-Dakar Rally which features shooting sections. No, I don't know why. That game is completely insane.
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Dec 4, 2011 23:54
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If you're in Tokyo on Christmas eve this year you may want to go to the launch event for the the eighth DVD box set. Details can be found at: http://blog.fujitv.co.jp/gamecenter/index.html It sounds like they're doing something similar to the DVD event where they had people hunting for various staff members around an area.
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Dec 7, 2011 01:29
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miscellaneous14 posted:Man, I'd love to go to one of those things. There actually was a charity GCCX event held while I was over there to raise money for Tsunami victims but I was in Kyoto by that point well away from the event. I've heard that despite the announcement of free flights to Japan they can't get funding for the project so it might not happen. 
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Dec 7, 2011 03:03
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Crotch Bat posted:I've got a question(or two) for those in charge. I was sorting and filing my GCCX collection when I noticed that, outside of the most recent ones, season 8 is woefully represented with only 53 Stations being done. Are there any season 8 episodes on the block? Are they just boring episodes? Is it, as I assume, most coincidental that season 8 isn't more complete? No comment. Also no comment on Arino ever learning to not celebrate before he's actually done.
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Dec 7, 2011 07:18
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There's a real hazard in working on the show where you'll get the game tunes stuck in your head. You listen to the same fifteen second clip of music over and over and over and you just can't get rid of it. This episode has been a really bad one for that too. I'm going to be hearing that song in my head for weeks.
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Dec 9, 2011 01:30
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Crotch Bat posted:If that's your YT account then I just happened upon it about 30 minutes ago after deciding to search for anyone attempting to LP 53 Stations(nobody seems to be that crazy except Arino). Didn't see this video but did see the other 53 Stations video. It's strange. I can think of four people in this thread that own a copy of 53 Stations because of the show. And I can attest that it is really just as hard as it seemed in the episode. It also doesn't help that you're obligated to sing along with the game's music as you play.
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Dec 9, 2011 02:52
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redmercer posted:And are you serious Mister Chief? Don't toy with our emotions... http://www.fujitv.co.jp/otn/gamecenter/index.html It's true. This is going to be one hell of an episode.
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Dec 10, 2011 00:44
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rdbbb posted:After this and the USA trip, the show may not be able to get any better for the forseeable future. This... is our year. Out of all the most desired games for Arino to play this was the one I least expected to show up. I can think of six western developed games on GCCX and two of them have been in season fifteen. Someone new on staff (probably Takahashi given how heavily the AD's are involved in game selection) has some pretty broad tastes in games.
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Dec 10, 2011 02:54
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How about that; I was wrong in the last thread. They definitely shoot episodes in the Fuji TV building. I figured busy offices like that wouldn't work so they would shoot at the production offices where they could control things and shut them down on challenge day. I wonder if the guys in the neighboring offices ever complain...
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Dec 10, 2011 09:55
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rdbbb posted:Where are you getting that from, out of curiosity? They used to, yeah, but I'm fffairly sure it's been in-house for several seasons. The episode I'm currently working shows them in the Fuji TV building. Maybe it was a one off situation since it wasn't the regular conference room for that season or the one they switch to later.
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Dec 10, 2011 10:47
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Zeether posted:I noticed something in one of the levels: Ki has a lot of references to other NAMCO games. See how many you can spot!
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Dec 13, 2011 04:05
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Emalde posted:I noticed this immediately and came here to ask about it as well. Druaga was one of the DVD bonus episodes so he has played it. In fact I think it's the longest of the DVD episodes.
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Dec 13, 2011 15:51
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 Someone wants some Ki? It's time for the epic conclusion! In case you couldn't tell from the last post and episode this is another episode brought to you by the industrious zari-gani. Full Video: http://www.multiupload.com/T9A3MWR24X Just the Subtitles: http://www.multiupload.com/RF4W8NMCF4
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Dec 13, 2011 23:46
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No. Absolutely not. No siree. Don't even think about it. (And just like that the surprise is ruined.) Just kidding around, Chief. I'm sure someone would have spilled it before the episode gets posted.
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Dec 14, 2011 00:41
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 The Quest of Ki is over and done. It's time for Arino to move on to a new year and play Bonk's Adventure. Bringing us this episode after a long marathon is the tireless zari-gani. Full Video - http://www.multiupload.com/QK4G6WXRY1 Just the Subtitles - http://www.multiupload.com/QNIJH16YEA And that is probably it for a few weeks, guys. It's possible we might get another release out by the end of the year but not really likely. So you'll need to go back to reruns until the new year.
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Dec 14, 2011 23:18
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Bocc Kob posted:Game equals Namco. Really? I thought it looked incredibly disgusting.
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Dec 15, 2011 01:47
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Tyma posted:Bonk's always been interesting to me, because as a kid it was always mentioned in UK gaming magazines as some sort of "mario killer", even though the games were never released in the UK. Bonk is a perfectly reasonable platformer for the period it was released in. It was not anything close to a "Mario-killer" though. (What was with gaming magazine's obsession with a game being a [genre-defining, super-popular game]-killer, anyway?)
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Dec 15, 2011 02:53
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zari-gani posted:Someone needs to make that into a gif. I promised myself I'd finish Kenzan before I ordered Yakuza 3 and 4. It's a great game but other things kept jumping out at me... Oh good. No quiz or adventure game episodes. 
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Dec 15, 2011 03:13
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Vlaphor posted:I just watched an entire episode of a TV show in a language I don't understand, and I loved it. I find it odd that the episode ends while it's still light out, but maybe they had too much great footage for one ep. Has scenes from part two on it as well, and they looks awesome...this is being worked on right. I recall that it didn't take too long for the USA special to get translated and that was twice as long with far more dialog. I know you're joking but to keep this clear for everyone: No one is translating it yet and I'm not sure how soon it could fit onto anyone's schedule. Even if it was translated tomorrow it still takes a while for the timing to get done. I already know what the next release is going to be due to how things are falling into place and I promise you guys it's another often requested episode.
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Dec 18, 2011 05:23
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Mister Chief posted:Game Center SEX? Finally. All of those are visual novels. There's no way I'm overlaying all of that text!
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Dec 18, 2011 06:56
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Shlapintogan posted:And I'm with Boogie on this one. If you're yelling at Arino for being bad at video games, your vocal chords are in serious poo poo. Which is why the Game Center CX Drinking Game is: - Take a drink when Arino is overconfident. - Take another when that overconfidence is immediately shattered.
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Dec 19, 2011 04:00
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Dache posted:I have to take issue with the "it's like Top Gear for video games" tagline you guys use though. It's nothing like Top Gear, and it was one of the things that actually stopped me from clicking on the banner for weeks until a friend watched it and told me more about it. Since I used it as a title I obviously disagree. They're both shows that are about having lighthearted fun with their topic. There's a lot of goofing around and even if you don't care about the nominal topic of the show it's still interesting. The shows have a playful tone that they have in common. And it doesn't hurt that one is the most watched television show in the world and the other is a show that we're trying to get a bit more attention for.
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Dec 19, 2011 13:33
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Hakkesshu posted:To be comparable on that level, you'd probably have to have Arino driving around Tokyo in a custom built F-Zero car, getting shot at by red arremer helicopters . Someone send them a postcard! They have to do this for the next live special!
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Dec 19, 2011 15:13
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Ledneh posted:Hell yes sega channel. I think you mean ten years behind the times. absolutely anything posted:After humming it for like a week straight I noticed a certain something wasn't on Youtube. So I fixed(?) it. drat you! 
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Dec 20, 2011 14:11
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poo poo was like ten years ahead of its time
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 (I forgot I had that picture for Quest of Ki...) Merry Christmas, everyone. Sorry I can't give you a new episode for Christmas but I do have a present for all of you. To be honest I'm not entirely certain what this is. It is a Japanese video featuring an interview with Arino conducted in English using AD Nakayama as the translator. I think it was being used to try to sell Game Center CX to overseas markets (kind of a "See how big we are? We're getting interviewed by this person in English!"). Anyway it's an interesting Game Center CX artifact that I thought you guys might be interested in: Arino Interview: http://www.multiupload.com/SXCCC7FRAD Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Dec 25, 2011 |
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Dec 25, 2011 05:59
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Mister Chief posted:Is this the one with the pony-tailed gentleman? Yes, it's that one. I should also mention that the "news organization" featured in the video isn't a real one which is what makes me think it's a promotional video.
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Dec 25, 2011 06:57
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Zeether posted:How are you supposed to beat the karaoke challenge in the translated version? You say that like people can beat the karaoke challenge in the original version.  (Actually I think the program only recognizes tones... vaguely. It's like the Karaoke Revolution games; you can sing any words you want as long as you have the pitch and hold the note long enough.)
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Dec 26, 2011 03:00
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rdbbb posted:If you were around the old thread when I shared a preview from a Sunsoft cover album that was coming out, well, it came out, and I got it, and the Tokaido song that was the highlight. That's strange. I saw a Sunsoft album before that featured 53 Stations and having another one seems odd... Wait a second... Official English Lyrics posted:Wanna kiss you We now have the real reason this game was never released in the US.
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Dec 28, 2011 01:34
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Johanz posted:Ah, back from celebrating the holidays.. Man, I'm way behind on my GCCX schedule, still watching the Bonk episode! Appreciate all the translation efforts too. Yeah, scheduled for 8 hours with a good chance of overtime on it means it's probably not going to get translated. I'm just dying of curiosity to know what they'll make him play. Hopefully it will be something cruel.
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Jan 2, 2012 14:08
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Johanz posted:I wouldn't mind seeing a 10 min compilation, translated or not, of the fun stuff from the live thingy. If they do it like Lemmings and Ki then there will be some kind of recap in the regular episodes.
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Jan 3, 2012 00:53
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