: Alright. Let’s make it an arcade!






Hiro! I looked forward to hearing from you.

It seems like this must be Hiro’s friend, who got him the job here.


: Looks like the manager is gone…



Wait… does this mean we can play the games? … And get paid for it?

Yes. We can.





There’s three options here:
Turbo Go! Go!
UFO Catcher
Serious part-time job

Shenmue, eat your heart out! Think you're the first Japanese slice of life simulator with part time jobs and arcade games? Zero4 was doing this in 1991!

Well, pretty sure we’re not going to do any serious part-time job work just yet. Especially when the managers not around. There’s two games here - Turbo Go! Go! - A racing game, and a UFO catcher.

Well, we all know what a UFO Catcher is. (Or crane game, as it is usually referred to here) For some reason Japan was and still seems to be obsessed with them. It seems to exist as a trope for catching toys for prospective girlfriends.

Since UFO catchers are lame, let's play Turbo Go! Go!.

It's pretty simple, you drive your formula one car, picking up stars along the way. As you go you're constantly passing other F1 cars, which you need to avoid. Should you collide with one, you slow down.





The game goes for a couple of minutes, and at the end tallies up your score.

Well, that was an amusing distraction, and the boss still isn't here yet. So let's check out the UFO Catcher.

We get a top down view of the catcher with what looks like gummy bears. You hold the button, and the crane moves horizontally until you release it. You push it again and it moves vertically, and when you release it, the crane attempts to pick up the toy.

It's really fiddly, since the crane only goes in one direction at a time, and the lack of analog controls gives you zero control of the speed.





It's just as boring and lame and probably as rigged as real crane games. It’s really frustrating and rather awful, as you basically need to line it up, pixel perfect to get a prize.

You only get one shot per turn, but this doesn't matter since the boss is out and it’s free, since Hiro works here and he isn’t going to start paying for it when he needs that money for octopus legs for his car.

I don’t want to know how many tries it took. Hiro spend probably most of his shift on this damn thing.

But, finally, after countless tries, I got a pink bear!

Wait, why did the music suddenly change to gentle, romantic music?





Is this … is that… is she?

… Please tell me this game doesn't have a dating sim component on top of everything else.


: Sorry. How do I do this? I never get anything.


: : You want a stuffed toy?


: Yes. they're so cute!


: : If you’re okay with the one I took, I’ll give it to you!


: Is that true? I’d love that!



Oh Hiro, you old dog. I'll bet at this stage his friend is standing at the arcade counter, seriously regretting offering him this job.

I’m presented with 3 options.

Seems a bit forward to push for a date right now. So I’ll just give her the toy. It doesn’t add any horsepower to my car anyway.


: I can’t take it for free from someone I don’t know!


: I’m a part timer here, so don’t worry about it.


: But that won’t make me happy. Please let me do something for you…


: Even if you want to thank me, i’m working part time now…


: If so, i’ll come back to thank you another day. See you later.


: She was such a cute girl.



Well. This just gets weirder and weirder. I wonder if she’ll show up again… How would she thank me?




Thanks for your hard days work. You can go home now


Alideo games, met a girl, and got paid 10,000 yen for my troubles. There's worse jobs out there.