Duration: 40:16

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And finally cleared with everyone, which I guess concludes this relaxing ping-pong onsen trip. Last but not least is Ai Fukuhara, an actual real person lmao. It must be strange coming back to the game (or the other one she starred in : "Fukuhara Ai No Takkyū Icchokusen", incidentally another PS2 ping-pong game made by Psikyo lmao ) years later and seeing your kid self in it. Gotta be like family photos your parents took except instead you get a goofy and fun PS2 ping-pong game...but millions of people have access to said "family photo" too lmao. Even broadcasting them on YouTube of all places. And some wondering how surreal the whole situation is.

But hey, could be way worse, could be Beckham and his GBA 2D platforming game that manages the feat of giving you instant motion sickness if you dare turning around too much heh. Well...if I was the kind of person who drank and routintely got hangovers and needed to manually throw up to recover every week-end, at least it could be useful. But I am not, so it doesn't. And yes, there was a Super Mario World-looking Beckham game for the GBA where you can kick a football at enemies, I am not making this up lmao.

I recall trying Ai during the Kumite but not doing very well, turns out it's only because I didn't know how to play and I fought the salaryman right away. She's actually a very well-rounded character with no specific weaknesses as far as I can tell. Good speed, good power, can shoot on the sides (even too much at times lmao, if I get MAX with some setups at the edge of the table I don't bounce the ball correctly and actually lose the point), and I got a bunch of power shots too. (and adjusting the MAX shot on serving after taking into account the angle nabbed me a few of them too) Could she be the X-36 of this game? Psikyo guest characters are often strong after all. Though it's not like most of the others are bad or anything.

Her story and ending also explain why she isn't fought in any of the other characters' paths. All of her fights in the story mode are just a dream to her and she awakens in the "real world" to uh....play some more ping-pong of course! lol. She still fights the same amount of characters as the others' own story modes, and Kazuwo is the one who's not fought then.

Well, it was fun! I think the first menu option is for difficulty level so there's always Hard Mode to play, but I am not specifically hungering for that.

On a side-note, I have no idea what's with the sudden crazy sound at the end of the Erika fight lmao. Maybe an emulator quirk/glitch, maybe it's normal and due to the ball moving through the underside of the ping-pong table???

Played on PCSX2 1.2.1, recorded with OBS Studio