Spent around 10hrs on this now and nearly at the halfway point as i'm on day 14 so thought I'd leave a few impressions.
For those that have never played a game in the series the basic concept of them is that your a 9yr old boy and your staying with your Uncle and Aunt during the summer holidays, the games are always in a rural setting and the idea is just to have as much fun as possible, collecting bugs, fishing, swimming along with the occasional event on certain calendar days and a side story which you can participate in or not, it's up to you, although not doing them will effect the ending, so theres plenty of replayability involved to achieve the most eventful summer possible, the games are set in August as well so you only have 31 days to do it in, also at certain points it's narrated by Boku's present day self as the games are usually set in the 70's.
This game though is set in 1985, it also has more in common with Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 as it's set on the coast instead of the countryside like in the 3rd game, the bike is also back and so is the ability to get yourself a nice tan if you play the game long enough without wearing a T-Shirt, but like the other games not much else has changed really, just minor tweaks and a few additions here and there, if it's not broke don't fix it seems to sum it up.
The collectables in this are capsule toys, theres 30 in total to find, which can be either found while swimming around, searching areas, in sweet packets, you can also play for keeps in Toy sumo wrestling with the other kids to bag a few that you haven't found by other means, thanks to the powers of custom firmware I've managed to take a few screenshots of the poster and the in game screen where you can view what you've collected.
The other collectibles of the series are bug catching and fishing, 150 bugs and 30 fish to find, the bug collecting has been streamlined slightly, you no longer have to inject them with preserving agent and stick a pin in them to register them, instead their automatically drawn into your diary, theres also the Beetle sumo wrestling as well with a few tweaks added, you can train them before sending them in for a fight by letting them exercise on equipment made from bits of stationary. As usual any events of the day are drawn into your diary just before bedtime with the goal being to fill it completely by doing everything.
The usual gameplay elements of the series are here also, your day consists of family exercise, breakfast around 6.30 then you have until 6pm to do what you like until your Uncle comes looking for you for tea, then you get a few more hours to yourself before trying to get to bed before 11pm, don't do that, your automatically transported back to your room where your Aunt gives you a bollocking and you oversleep the next day and miss morning exercise.
One thing they have added is brushing your teeth, your supposed to do this 3 times a day, everyday you get a little star added to a chart for each time you do it, can't see how this effects the game if you don't bother (it can be a challenge 3 times a day if your some distance away from home) but there are the addition of medals for achieving certain goals, sort of like trophies, so i'd imagine this is one of them, I do know there are medals for your tan on a level of 1-8, and the amount of toys etc you find so it's probably the same for the teeth thing. Theres a picture below of your desk along with the medal viewing option on the far left.
Earing money in the game is handled by collecting empty bottles and handing them in at the local store in return for cash, you can then buy things like food to keep your stamina up and also for playing on an old Taito arcade game called Qix.
As usual everything about this series is of the highest quality, gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds, an excellent musical score and an atmosphere unlike anything else, especially at night time when you can hear the crickets chirping outside and your Uncles usually relaxing with a beer while listening to the radio, the entire game is like an insight into country life in Japan.
Obviously if your a fan of the other games this is a must buy, if you've never played any it's worth giving it a go as it's really unlike anything else your likely to have played, the only down points are that it's in Japanese so some of the experience will be lost but most of the game is about discovery and collecting so it's perfectly playable to completion, it's never stopped me from enjoying them anyway.
I've probably waffled on long enough now but I really love this series despite only being introduced to them by the PS3 version, just to finish off I've semi translated the options menu for anyone who's picking it up at some point, it's not a literal translation as I used some software but it should be close-ish, of course if someone can translate them better then please do.
There is one option on the image below which I can't work out so if anyone can help that would be fantastic, it's the one with the hand pointing at it.
And also just a few other in game pics I took.
For those that have never played a game in the series the basic concept of them is that your a 9yr old boy and your staying with your Uncle and Aunt during the summer holidays, the games are always in a rural setting and the idea is just to have as much fun as possible, collecting bugs, fishing, swimming along with the occasional event on certain calendar days and a side story which you can participate in or not, it's up to you, although not doing them will effect the ending, so theres plenty of replayability involved to achieve the most eventful summer possible, the games are set in August as well so you only have 31 days to do it in, also at certain points it's narrated by Boku's present day self as the games are usually set in the 70's.
This game though is set in 1985, it also has more in common with Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 as it's set on the coast instead of the countryside like in the 3rd game, the bike is also back and so is the ability to get yourself a nice tan if you play the game long enough without wearing a T-Shirt, but like the other games not much else has changed really, just minor tweaks and a few additions here and there, if it's not broke don't fix it seems to sum it up.
The collectables in this are capsule toys, theres 30 in total to find, which can be either found while swimming around, searching areas, in sweet packets, you can also play for keeps in Toy sumo wrestling with the other kids to bag a few that you haven't found by other means, thanks to the powers of custom firmware I've managed to take a few screenshots of the poster and the in game screen where you can view what you've collected.
The other collectibles of the series are bug catching and fishing, 150 bugs and 30 fish to find, the bug collecting has been streamlined slightly, you no longer have to inject them with preserving agent and stick a pin in them to register them, instead their automatically drawn into your diary, theres also the Beetle sumo wrestling as well with a few tweaks added, you can train them before sending them in for a fight by letting them exercise on equipment made from bits of stationary. As usual any events of the day are drawn into your diary just before bedtime with the goal being to fill it completely by doing everything.
The usual gameplay elements of the series are here also, your day consists of family exercise, breakfast around 6.30 then you have until 6pm to do what you like until your Uncle comes looking for you for tea, then you get a few more hours to yourself before trying to get to bed before 11pm, don't do that, your automatically transported back to your room where your Aunt gives you a bollocking and you oversleep the next day and miss morning exercise.
One thing they have added is brushing your teeth, your supposed to do this 3 times a day, everyday you get a little star added to a chart for each time you do it, can't see how this effects the game if you don't bother (it can be a challenge 3 times a day if your some distance away from home) but there are the addition of medals for achieving certain goals, sort of like trophies, so i'd imagine this is one of them, I do know there are medals for your tan on a level of 1-8, and the amount of toys etc you find so it's probably the same for the teeth thing. Theres a picture below of your desk along with the medal viewing option on the far left.
Earing money in the game is handled by collecting empty bottles and handing them in at the local store in return for cash, you can then buy things like food to keep your stamina up and also for playing on an old Taito arcade game called Qix.
As usual everything about this series is of the highest quality, gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds, an excellent musical score and an atmosphere unlike anything else, especially at night time when you can hear the crickets chirping outside and your Uncles usually relaxing with a beer while listening to the radio, the entire game is like an insight into country life in Japan.
Obviously if your a fan of the other games this is a must buy, if you've never played any it's worth giving it a go as it's really unlike anything else your likely to have played, the only down points are that it's in Japanese so some of the experience will be lost but most of the game is about discovery and collecting so it's perfectly playable to completion, it's never stopped me from enjoying them anyway.
I've probably waffled on long enough now but I really love this series despite only being introduced to them by the PS3 version, just to finish off I've semi translated the options menu for anyone who's picking it up at some point, it's not a literal translation as I used some software but it should be close-ish, of course if someone can translate them better then please do.
Settings
1. Time Advance: 1. Slow(Recommended) 2. Medium(Default) 3. Fast
2. Picture Diary: 1. Single Diary(Default) 2. Separate into 3 sections (Events, Bugs, Fish)
3. Water Tank: 1. Plastic Water Tank 2. Plastic Strawberry Pummet (Allows you to choose which item you want to keep water insects in, both greyed out until you either purchase the Plastic Water Tank for ¥500 from the store or receive the Plastic Strawberry Pummet during an event.)
4. Password: Changes the questions asked to gain access to the Kids Club (Beetle Sumo,Toy Sumo), I'm fairly sure the option is for switching between general knowledge or popular 80's Japanese culture so probably best just to leave on the default setting as you can usually guess the answer within 2 attempts
5. 50 Yen Game Option 1: 1. 5 Lives(Default) 2. 4 Lives 3. 3 Lives
6. 50 Yen Game Option 2: 1. EASY 2. NORMAL(Default) 3. HARD
7. Show "NEW" insects: 1. ON(Default) 2. OFF
8. Message: 1. Voice + Text(Default) 2. Text Only
1. Time Advance: 1. Slow(Recommended) 2. Medium(Default) 3. Fast
2. Picture Diary: 1. Single Diary(Default) 2. Separate into 3 sections (Events, Bugs, Fish)
3. Water Tank: 1. Plastic Water Tank 2. Plastic Strawberry Pummet (Allows you to choose which item you want to keep water insects in, both greyed out until you either purchase the Plastic Water Tank for ¥500 from the store or receive the Plastic Strawberry Pummet during an event.)
4. Password: Changes the questions asked to gain access to the Kids Club (Beetle Sumo,Toy Sumo), I'm fairly sure the option is for switching between general knowledge or popular 80's Japanese culture so probably best just to leave on the default setting as you can usually guess the answer within 2 attempts
5. 50 Yen Game Option 1: 1. 5 Lives(Default) 2. 4 Lives 3. 3 Lives
6. 50 Yen Game Option 2: 1. EASY 2. NORMAL(Default) 3. HARD
7. Show "NEW" insects: 1. ON(Default) 2. OFF
8. Message: 1. Voice + Text(Default) 2. Text Only
And also just a few other in game pics I took.
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