Initially I was approached to write for Source Gaming with a view to recapping the past week’s events in the world of Japanese Nintendo. However writing that Poisoft are developing Gakuyu Unmei Kyodotai ~Friends in the Same RPG~ for January release, that the Japanese 3DS has hit 20 million total sales and Nintendo have began an eShop sale with 30% off dozens of popular titles would take up all too little space so instead I’ve decided to look at the -mostly overlooked- top ten Japanese 3DS eShop exclusives from 2015. The only criteria is that they can not be available in any other region and that they rock. So here goes…

10. Kamen Rider: Ghost Game!!

Old-school side-scrolling beat-em-up with guns plus token motorbike levels. All-too-easy on the easiest setting but pump up the difficulty and you’ll find one rather fun fighter.

09. Oh! Gatti-man Ultimate ω Chinpou & 26 Games

26 mini-games featuring Gatti-man, the star of the monthly boys magazine Dengeki Bazooka which gives away a download code each issue. Super basic games and lowest common denominator (Gatti-man wears a thong, puts pants on his head and farts a lot) but many are expertly executed.

08. Hippariinya

Mouse catching game from Tom Create (Smash Cat Heroes, Escape From Zombie City) where you control a cat and spring into the meddling mice in a Monster Strike kinda way. Sounds like a throwaway DSiWare title on paper but in reality provides hours of rodent genocide.

07. Cororoke no Mori Poitto

Also incorrectly translated by myself as Forest of Poitto Cororoke (which is slightly better than the Miiverse Woods of Cororoke flip community) and some sort of simulation game involving the cutest creatures and something I find easier playing than trying to describe.

06. Shinjuku Dungeon

Old-school Action RPG very much plagiarising Hyrule Fantasy on the Family Computer. Set in Shinjuku station in Japan (which supposedly resembles the layout of a dungeon) and over in three hours but great fun while it lasts.

05. Monokage Quest

And an old-school JRPG by Poisoft, this time taking inspiration from Famicom-era Dragon Quest. The story and aesthetics aren’t on a par with Enix’s classic but it gets super fucking hard all too quickly and charms by death.

04. The Legend of Kusakari

Plays almost like the lawnmower simulations on the ZX Spectrum but where-as the Speccy ‘games’ were mostly junior designers designing their very first ‘game’; The Legend of Kusakari plays to a backdrop of an actual JRPG with the subsequent shenanigans affecting mowage.

03. Jump Hero

Reminiscent of being a 2015 version of the excellent PINCH 50 taking the hardcore insanity of Mobile & Game Studio’s classic and combining it with an endless runner. The level design is almost immaculate with the finished product more than a test for even the most seasoned of gamers.

02. Tatakae Butasan

In perhaps the least likely game to be revived of the year: Mechanic Arms bring back mid-eighties Arcade game Butasan for an all new 3DS affair. Imagine Bomberman with pigs and you’re really on the mark. Unfortunately no online multiplayer but that doesn’t prevent Tatakae Butasan from bringing home the bacon.

01. The Battle Cats

Plenty has already been said about Ponos’ tower defence game that was a smash-hit (12 million +) on both iOS and Android before becoming the best selling eShop game of 2015. Playing almost like videogame meth with its addictive qualities and easily one of the better eShop games never to reach the West.

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