As so few people have ever heard of it, i though you all might like to see what it's about. Boxed set with game & Inro kun (pedometer) The rather rare 3 button walking controller This is one of the most obscure & weirdest & wonderful gamecube games you can get. Its like a virtual holiday in japan (^_^) Its a simulation game based on the Ohenro pilgrimage, a 1,400 kilometer journey around the 88 temples of Shikoku region of japan. Due to the disk size only 23 of the temples on the route are represented in the GC version. As you visit each temple you are meant to offer prayers & collect a special seal that goes in your ohenro journal each one is unique to each temple. Its sort of a souviner of your visit. You might be wondering just how the game works if you have ever seen any screenshots (probably less than 3 people on here hehe) Sadly is not like a densha de go kind of game with pure FMV, instead its a series of still photographs which zoom in & slowly fade to the next one as you walk. The scenery you pass is the old side of japan with breathtakingly beautiful views, as you slowly pass through the countryside you will see so many sights then theres the amazing scenery of inside the temples. You navigate the temples with a selection of menus, you can also bring up a map in case you miss anything. There are a few things to do in each temple you visit. Firstly you will have to find the priest who stamps your book with the temple seal, without this you cant progress to the next temple. You can also take part in prayers if you find the altars. During praying the screen turns black & buddist prayers appear which you are meant to chant along with. Hehe its too bizarre but if you can read kana its do-able, if you dont want to chant you can just listen to the monks chanting. This is an example of one of the temple seals that you collect for your journal, each one is a calligraphy work of art & no 2 are ever the same. Also in each temple there are prayer slips & candles to find, you have to visit all areas to find them. The game makers spared no expense when they made the game. It has its own 2 special controllers. To play the game properly you use the 3 button walking controller & the idea is to use the 2 big buttons to walk on the spot (crazy eh) The second controller is the pedometer that you clip on as your walking so it can count how many real steps you take, it has a little gamecube joypad plug on the bottom so you can connect it to port 4 of your gamecube. When you connect it lets you upload the milage you have walked into your journal. Here are some pics from the game, apologies in advance for the poor shots but rear projection tv's & cameras dont mix. These are the screens you see on the journey between temples, the meter in the top right is the amount of step left to do. These are the kind of things you see when you get to a temple. This temple has a golden budda statue, every temple has somthing different to see.
Heres some pics from Gokurokuji temple. These are the kanji options that you have to contend with right through the game.
I'm still having trouble with the hammer ons. I love Crossroads on medium. Hey wait a sec thats a special addition Gibson isnt it??? America gets all the lame stuff I swear.
Wow, that looks awesome - who developed it? Nintendo in house? Is the game playable without the 3 button controller, and what does the pedometer "do" - e.g. if you walk 100 steps in real life does it let you use them up in walking to the next temple? Finally what kind of price would you be looking at for each of the parts? heh, sorry for so many questions, its just this looks really interesting
Uh? Do we even have an active thread on guitar hero? :110: Game looks cool! Thanks for the screen shots! What's the average cost? (i'll leave out any jokes about the 3rd leg for the 3 button walking controller)
The Game is made by a 3rd party called PIN Change (Panasonic Innovative Navigator) As for the pedometer, you pretty much guessed correctly what it does. I still have to fully test it out though. You dont need any of the extra controllers though as it can be played on a standard GC pad. You just tap the L & R triggers to do the walking or ifyou fingers get tired you can just hold up on the analogue stick. As for prices, i wouldnt pay more than the original retail price, its usually cheaper now as its pretty old. I picked mine up via yakumo. I got lucky & spotted the 3 piece delux set on yahoo for 7,000-8,000 yen if i remember correctly but that was a lucky find. Usually its the boxed sets with the game & pedometer which seems to pop up most often. As for the original retail prices for all the bits......(in yen) Game 6,800 yen (might have been more, i cant remember) (came with free mem card 59) Game & pedometer boxed set 12,800 yen Pedometer on its own 5,800 yen 3 button walking controller 6000 yen 3 piece deluxe set (game, pedometer, controller) 19,400 yen
Hahaha. Couldnt help myself. There I go trying to be funny and I totally missed the "3rd leg" thing. Figures. All joking aside, I thought guitar hero was a huge risk with the peripheral. This is in a whole other class. They are going to have to sell a bunch of these to make $$$. Still quite cool none the less. Thanks Importaku, cool stuff. And if there is no active thread for guitar hero, for shame:110:
so... you walk in real life and then you can use those steps in the game to walk to temples? wow, thats what i call fun.
wow, thanks for sharing!! looks really nice can you take a picture of the "controller" besides the cube or something? wonder how big it is
I'm no expert on Japan, so I didn't want to say it...but that was what I was thinking. Somehow it seems more appropriate to have Americans praying before a TV...
pretty easy to source the game that comes packed with the pedometer (about 5 of them for cheap on Yahooauctions jp). Had no success in finding the foot pad on any of the usual JP auction places, let alone any ebay site. :-/ tubo
