Game:

Octomania (2007)

Duration: 12:02

1,342 views

8

And now for something completely different!

I'm having a really strange internal struggle here. Deep down, I still have this unexplained and unquenchable thirst for battle, and so still I feel drawn to fighting games...or rather games on the periphery of the genre, if you're a purist and don't count most of what I've been playing.

That's all well and good, but my natural tendency towards action-puzzle games is resurfacing, probably because of the whole Puyo-Cookie-Panel-Tetris-Doctor tour I went on a few weeks ago, which...while enjoyable, definitely awakened some latent drives within me.

At any rate, a Joou divided against herself cannot stand, and as such I must see to it that all my wacky needs are met and I get my nutritionally-balanced diet of all things of insane niche genres. Fighting fans seem to like their genre incomprehensible, and puzzle games are extremely abstract by default anyway...so I'm definitely on track to fly off the deep end here.

Oh, and off the deep end we go...or are about to go, so if anybody wants off the bus, now is the time for this particular ride!

I introduce you to a game that I bet 99% of you who watch this video will have no idea ever existed (I didn't until last week) and even less idea what to make of it when you're done seeing the intro sequence.

This...is a definite poster child for the title of "widget series"...or rather "widget" as spelled "WJT" or "Weird Japanese Thing," because that's what this is. It's weird, it's Japanese, and...it's a thing...I think. I swear I didn't just hallucinate this whole game's existence, so here's video proof that my insanity is not to blame for at least this particular instance.

So, this is a puzzle game built entirely around Takoyaki: Japanese grilled octopus cakes, roughly speaking. It's a dish that was first popularized in the streets of Osaka in the 1930s that has since become one of those distinctly Japanese foods that would probably be among the more recognizable, alongside sushi, sashimi, udon, and other things...assuming you recognize any of those things at all, and aren't under the impression that "ramen" is something you get in a ten-cent pouch with a salty flavor packet.

Takoyaki is basically a dough ball with a little chunk of octopus inside for texture. The ball is basically a crispy hollow outer layer, while the octopus steams up inside and gets all cooked and kinda creamy. Then there are a variety of customary toppings and sauces, like okonomiyaki sauce, ponzu, mayonnaise, seaweed flakes, pickled ginger, fish shavings, and green onion.

Really, it's up to preparation and taste, since the only strictly necessary ingredients are the batter and the octopus themselves, and I've also heard tell of toying around with some substitutions there...so you can see that it's generally just simpler to refer to the whole process as "takoyaki" and leave it at that. (Although without "tako"--octopus--can it really be called "takoyaki"?)

The developer is called Compile Heart, which is a company made up of former employees of Compile, the now-defunct company that went bankrupt and had to sell off their Puyo Puyo franchise to Sega.

So uh, the basis is already pretty wacky, the cast looks like it could give Puyo a run for its money, although this being the first game of this name, obviously not in size or complexity...but it's got weirdness in spades. It's got apprentice magicians, slacker angels, demon princes, robots, an octopus chef...specializing in the preparation of octopus(!!!), a vain kappa (generally not considered a beautiful creature), and even a rapping tree. Yes, a tree. And no, he's just as bad as you probably think he would be. Good thing he's immune to your criticism and will not be dissuaded from his passion...well, good for him, not so good for anybody within earshot.

So, you get the good once-over: the intro, the title, the rules, a demo of play between computer players (but why the P1 side is controlled by an obvious case of a substantially weaker AI is beyond me), and a look at my first-time-ever attempt at playing.

There are incidentally two control styles for this game, you can play with the pointer or you can play with the remote on its side like a regular controller. I tried the pointer style, and as you can see, it takes a steadier hand than mine to make rapid swaps with all due quickness and efficiency. I'm also not very good at remembering in these kinds of games which rotation I actually want...my brain gets its feet tangled up in the heat of battle.

I think in general, I might swap over to the tried-and-true method, but I'm actually intrigued by the notion that you can freely swap between the two styles by pressing the minus button...I wonder if there's any potential in that, so as to get the large sweeping motion capabilities of the pointer and the precise close-quarters control of the buttons. If I could do that, I could rule the world! ...of takoyaki!

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