…..we…. lost…. again…..

Let's not think about that. Let's take our minds off everything and discuss Choro-Q!

What is Choro-Q?

Perhaps this short Japanese commercial can explain it.










...Or perhaps I’d better try:

Choro-Q is a series of Japanese car toys that are based on real cars, but with ‘cutsified’, squished proportions.








They are notable in they are teeny tiny, itsy bitsy, cutesy wutesy, with little pull back and release motors. There's thousands of variants, representing almost every JDM car you could think of, and many other enthusiast cars.





I couldn't help but buy one for myself of a AW11 MR2.





These toys have been around since 1978 and have amassed a cult following of collectors. You may have come across them in your childhood, as they were sold in Western markets as ‘Penny Racers’





And like everything else, they even have their own video-games… An awful lot of them, in fact… 30 something by Wikipedia's Count


In that last video of the drag against Fujiwara, I included some footage from Choro-Q 3 for the PSX.

I chose that one because it seemed to have an easily accessible drag racing mode that you saw there, as well as the MX5 and Supra. But I've experimented with a few of them as part of my research.

The cars in the game not technically licensed, but they do that 90s thing where if they just don't use the actual name, no one can sue them, right? And each game has a hundred or so cars from all makes and models - some even with specific and iconic real life race liveries.

The games themselves are rather unique - they're racers with Mario kart-ish flair, as you'd probably expect, but the main attraction is the open world story mode.





But in this story mode, you don't follow the people driving the cars. No, the cars themselves are the characters... Literally... There's no humans in the Choro-Q universe. The cars are sentient beings, living in their own car based little society. It's just like Pixar’s Cars - though Choro-Q beat them to the idea by a decade.

They hang out in coffee shops…





And gossip about real estate…





They keep their money in the bank…





And assault one another in dark alleyways at night…





Just like real people!

And in the world of Choro-Q, there are many characters and adventures to be had.

Like, for example, you must mend a Castrol TOMS Supra’s broken heart.








And the central goal of one of the games is to become the president of ChoroQ Land, which is accomplished by challenging the current President to a race.

Who, turns out, is actually a Nissan President.





These games were seemingly quite popular, and some of them actually got Western releases. You may know the games as Penny Racers, Gadget Racers or Road Trip Adventures…




This latter one is probably the one I spend the most time with on account of it being accessible, with an English localisation.This one in particular seems quite ambitious with an open world, day / night cycle and multiple locations to visit.

You can even visit Vegas and gamble on roulette tables. Great message for kids of all ages





Did you ever feel like having a 4th generation Celica tell your fortune?






...This game has you covered.


One of the main gameplay features of the open world design is visiting various photo booths scattered around the world, where you can have a Toyota Yaris take your picture in front of local landmarks to help you craft your own digital memory scrapbook.





So without further ado, here are some pictures of my Choro-Qs as they vacation across Choro-Q land….

There's beautiful Japanese temples, tropical islands, blinding neon cities of sin in the middle of inhospitable deserts, those sad old western tourist town traps... and more!







Well that was a fun little distraction. Where were we again?


Oh right…