User:Mieutwo/sandbox/editing Video games in Japan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Video games are a major industry in Japan, and the country is considered one of the most influential in video gaming.[1] Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games, including Nintendo under Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, Sega during the same time period, Sony Computer Entertainment when it was based in Tokyo, and other companies such as Taito, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Capcom, Square Enix, Konami, NEC, and SNK, among others.

The space is known for the catalogs of several major publishers, all of whom have competed in the video game console and video arcade markets at various points. Released in 1965, Periscope was a major arcade hit in Japan, preceding several decades of success in the arcade industry there. Nintendo, a former hanafuda playing card vendor, rose to prominence during the 1980s with the release of the home video game console called the Famicom or "Family Computer", which became a major hit as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) internationally. Sony, already one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers, entered the market in 1994 with the Sony PlayStation, one of the first home consoles to feature 3D graphics, almost immediately establishing itself as a major publisher in the space.[2] Shigeru Miyamoto remains internationally renowned as a "father of video gaming" and is the only game developer so far to receive Japan's highest civilian honor for artists, the 文化功労者 (bunka kōrōsha) or Person of Cultural Merit.

Arcade culture is a major influence among young Japanese, with Akihabara Electric Town being a major nexus of so-called otaku culture in Japan, which overlaps with video gaming heavily. Japanese video game franchises such as Super Smash Bros., Pokémon, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear, Devil May Cry, Animal Crossing, Kingdom Hearts, Persona, Resident Evil, Dark Souls, Kirby, Monster Hunter and many others have gained critical acclaim and continue to garner a large international following. The Japanese role-playing game is a major game genre innovated by Japan and remains popular both domestically and internationally, with titles like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest selling millions. In 2018, the country had an estimate of 67.6 million players in its game market.[3]

Gaming Platforms

Arcade machines

Video game consoles

Handheld game consoles

Mobile phones

Androids and iPhones reportedly had the highest player rate amongst its owners versus the player rate amongst owners of game consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and the Wii.[4] This is most likely due to many Japanese people having daily, long commutes on the train or bus versus time at home and the mobile phone being portable and convenient.[4] The main characteristic of mobiles games is being freemium, and this monetization model is most commonly seen in gacha games.[4] In 2015, mobile game publishers had more than twice the ordinary income rate as console game publishers in Japan.[4]

Notable Genres

Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs)

Role-playing games (RPGs) originated from tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) in the West such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).[5] In 1985, a Japanese-translated version of D&D was the first TRPG to be published in Japan.[5] TRPGs were not as popular in Japan compared to overseas, but after Enix published Dragon Quest in 1986, RPGs began to gain traction amongst Japanese consumers.[5] Soon after, multiple Japanese publishers were releasing RPG franchises such as Final Fantasy, Persona, Tales, Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda, Ys, Kingdom Hearts, and many others that were very popular with Japanese and overseas consumers.

The term "JRPG" was coined by Western media because Japanese-developed RPGs had distinct elements that set it apart from RPGs developed in the West.[6] The settings in Western RPGs tend to be inspired by fantasy and science-fiction literature while JRPGs have been inspired by anime and manga literature.[7] In addition, Western RPGs tend to be open-world and feature real-time combat systems, but JRPGs favor confining the player to smaller areas in the game world following a linear story line and most notably using turn-based combat systems like in D&D. Although there was typically less freedom in JRPGs compared to Western RPGs, the linear story lines allowed for Japanese developers to completely flesh out the character development of the player's companions and sometimes the player's character themselves.[7] This focus on narrative was different from the West's focus on expression through RPGs and JRPGs appealed to players all over the world because of their rich story lines.[7] However, as of recently, some Japanese developers are starting to try to appeal to a broader audience by introducing real-time combat, for example, such as Final Fantasy XVI.[7]

Visual novels

Visual novels (VNs) are text-based story video games where players can usually make decisions at multiple points of the story and achieve different endings.[8] VNs are novel-like, but also include character visuals and artwork to complement with different scenes in the story and sometimes voice acting.[8] Many visual don't feature many game-play features besides decision-making. This decision-making differentiated visual novels from regular novels as it allowed players to replay the game at certain decision points to make different decisions and see different endings.[8] Most VNs are romance stories and allow the player to choose between multiple love interests and fall under dating sims.[8] VNs often contained sexual content in the beginning when VNs were first developed for the PC, but when VNs were starting to be published for game consoles as well, family-friendly versions were also released.[8] Like manga, popular VNs were also adapted into anime such as Higurashi: When They Cry, Clannad, Fate/stay night, Steins;Gate, and many others.[8]

Two big subgenres of VNs are bishōjo and otome games. Bishōjo (meaning "beautiful girl" in Japanese) games are romance visual novels featuring a male protagonist with female love interests and are targeted towards straight men, while otome (meaning "maiden" in Japanese) games feature a female protagonist with male love interests catering towards straight women.[8]

Fighting games

Gacha games

Gacha games are named after toy vending machines in Japan because of its lottery system.[9] After spending in-game currency (which can be bought with real money), the player can get a random character or item.[9] Most often, the characters that the player wants are rare and encourages the player to spend enough money until they get their desired character.[9] Notable Japanese gacha games include iDOLM@STER, Granblue Fantasy, Fate/Grand Order, and others. Gacha games can often have different game elements such as combat and serve as an RPG or contain rhythm game game-play.

References

  1. ^ Prisco, Jacopo (2017-11-12). "How Japan changed video games forever". CNN. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  2. ^ Hester, Blake (2019-12-05). "How PlayStation democratized 3D video games". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  3. ^ "Japan Games Market 2018". Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  4. ^ a b c d Yamaguchi, Shinichi; Iyanaga, Kotaro; Sakaguchi, Hirohide; Tanaka, Tatsuo (2017-11-09). "The Substitution Effect of Mobile Games on Console Games: An Empirical Analysis of the Japanese Video Game Industry". The Review of Socionetwork Strategies. 11 (2): 95–110. doi:10.1007/s12626-017-0014-1. ISSN 1867-3236.
  5. ^ a b c Wada, Takeaki (2017-06-15). "History of Japanese Role-Playing Games". Annals of Business Administrative Science. 16 (3): 137–147. doi:10.7880/abas.0170228a. ISSN 1347-4456.
  6. ^ McKenzie, Theodore (2023-08-10). "Bayonetta & Devil May Cry Creator Defends the Term "JRPG"". 80.lv. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  7. ^ a b c d Bjarnason, Nökkvi. (2020). A Fantasy without a Dream: Japanese Role-Playing Games and the Absence of the Expressive Ideal. 2. 11-21. 10.34382/00013359.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Saito, Kumiko (2021-06-25). "From Novels to Video Games: Romantic Love and Narrative Form in Japanese Visual Novels and Romance Adventure Games". Arts. 10 (3): 42. doi:10.3390/arts10030042. ISSN 2076-0752.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  9. ^ a b c Lakić, Nikola; Bernik, Andrija; Čep, Andrej (2023-07-13). "Addiction and Spending in Gacha Games". Information. 14 (7): 399. doi:10.3390/info14070399. ISSN 2078-2489.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
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