From the now defunct Japanese developer Givro, this is a quirky raising simulation and Bishōjo title. To give its full title, here we have Wonder Project J2: Corlo no Mori no Josette (ワンダープロジェクト J2 コルロの森のジョゼット—Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest).
Catchy, eh? Right, first we need to clear a few things up. This was a Japan-only Nintendo 64 title. And it launched in November 1996.
Very innovative, really, for its time. It was covered in an issue of the UK’s official Nintendo magazine and, for some reason, the strange little game has stuck with us over the years.
Innovative Life Simulation Wonder Project J2 Still Stands Out on the N64
This peculiar little gem belongs to the Bishōjo genre. Now, wait for it, that’s a type of video game where players interact with attractive women. Indeed.
Right, the plot involves a robot girl called Gijin. Its inventor, Doctor Geppetto, completes the project in his old age.
Too doddering to assist any further, it’s consequently up to the player to “raise” the robot. And you do this through a talking bird. Which is called Bird.
Here’s an English translation of the opening of the game. That might help clear up the sense of lingering confusion on Wonder Project J2.
In Japan, some of the game concepts are so warped they don’t receive a release in the rest of the world.
Titles like legendary RPG Secret of Mana helped to bridge the gap, but Wonder Project J2 is a perfect example of why some titles just don’t come out over in, say, England.
Really, can you imagine this sitting on the shelves in Bolton of Greater Manchester? With local teenager Callum, who likes chips and pies, trying to work this one out. No.
Still, here’s a TV commercial from Japan that supported its release.
In the game, you answer the robot’s questions through Bird. And it learns as you progress, so can complete problems it comes across.
How well the robot does depends on your ability to teach her correctly.
Obviously, we’ve not played this game. We’re covering it as it reared up in our memory recently, for some reason.
We always remember looking at the fantastic art style—like a Studio Ghibli film. But we knew it’d never arrive in the UK. Hell, it took 20 years for Super Mario RPG to arrive in Europe. For shame! So, there was no chance of this thing arriving.
Reviews seemed quite strong for it. And the Japanese box for the release is a work of bloody art. Really something.
Plus, with a jaunty soundtrack you can’t go too wrong.
Erm, yes. If you want to play this game then you’ll have to import it from Japan. Or get it off eBay (or just watch the YouTube clips for free).
Back in 1996, the N64 game had some impressive perks. It came packaged with a game-theme controller pad. That’s some commitment right there.
It was reviewed in Future Publishing’s awesome N64 Magazine here in England and received 55%. Largely due to the confusion with the Japanese text. However, it’s worth nothing legendary Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the title 33/40.
It’s certainly unique. No denying it. But the series is now officially dead.
Square Enix has shown it occasional love over the years, providing it with a two-part downloadable version available for mobile. That was in 2010 and it was, once again, only available in Japan! Annoying, eh?
However, there is a fan translation that’s been around since 2007. If you have a Google around you should be able to find a ROM quite quickly.
By the Way, the First Game in the Series Was on the SNES as Wonder Project J: Kikai no Shōnen Pīno
The 1996 N64 outing for robot and bird was a sequel to the SNES game Wonder Project J: Kikai no Shōnen Pīno (1994).
Considering this is now 30 years old, it’s incredibly impressive how good the graphics and sound were. Almanic Corporation developed this one (before changing its name to Givro Corporation for the sequel), really maxing out the potential of the Super Nintendo.
Again, this one didn’t release outside of Japan.
However, in its home country it was a pretty big hit and sold some 1.3 million copies alongside gaining decent reviews (Famitsu gave it 28/40).
What is Bishōjo? A Look Into the Weird World of Cute Female Characters
Yeah, these are a sub-genre of dating games. In Japan, there’s quite a big industry centered around video game dating sims.
It’s very Japanese and doesn’t seem to be a big deal elsewhere. They’re basically Choose Your Own Adventure Books, but with deliberately aesthetically pleasing female sprites.
The Princess Maker series seems to be a major example of this. You can think of them as video game novels, sort of, unfolding. Some of them have over 70 endings, depending on how you develop the story.
Erm… yeah. Sweet and innocent? We think… sort of. It’s a popular genre with heterosexual guys out in Japan.
It seems to be part of the whole anime scene out there, which was heavily influenced by Swedish actor Björn Andrésen (see The Most Beautiful Boy in the World documentary). His mug inspired that Japanese look of sharp angle faced dude bros.
Super Seducer and the West’s Take on Dating Sims
In the west, we do things differently! Whilst there’s a sort of sweet innocence to bishōjo, our dating sims are more about bagging the babes.
And that brings us to Super Seducer. This is from pick up artist Richard La Ruina—his job is to help guys “bag a babe” and all that. We watched Cynical Reviews’ playthrough of Super Seducer 2 (and there’s a third one on the way).
Basically, you can pick ridiculous chat-up lines with women to say if they will/won’t work. That’s based off La Ruina’s beliefs, anyway.
La Ruina stars in the games and he hires a bunch of actors to do scenes with. The idea is to build up your confidence to ask out the girl of your dreams, we guess.
But a lot of people have been playing through the game to deliberately pick the worst possible chat-up line.
For amusement purposes, as La Ruina will chastise the player for making an appalling choice.
However, some of his ideas about “good” chat-up lines are pretty warped. So, if you take the seduction simulation seriously, you’re heading for a well-deserved slap or two.
The games seem to have bracketed themselves in with the incel movement of guys angry at women because no one will date them.
For which we suggest you don’t play games like Super Seducer. And just work on improving yourself. Take up some fun new hobbies or something, eh?
