Famicom National Referendum - Japanese fan poll results (ongoing for the system's 40th Anniversary!)

[cj_robot | 545]

On 10/5/2023 at 11:42 AM, Link said:

I’m aware. But why ask “what’s your favorite (color) game” when they’re otherwise unrelated? 

They're not asking, "what's your favorite..."

The question is, "what game comes to mind..."

[koifish | 556]

On 10/12/2023 at 7:17 AM, cj_robot said:

They're not asking, "what's your favorite..."

The question is, "what game comes to mind..."

oh yeah that's true. it's more like The Price Is Right than 20 Questions.

 

[koifish | 556]

On 10/11/2023 at 9:32 PM, scaryice said:

New result:

Question #13 (10/5-10/11) - When it comes to a good protagonist, what game comes to mind?

1	Super Mario Bros.	6.8
2	Dragon Quest III	6.2
3	Metroid	5.1
4	Dragon Quest IV	5.1
5	Legend of Zelda	4.3
6	Kirby's Adventure	3.4
7	Spelunker	2.9
8	Mother	2.8
9	Fire Emblem	2.6
10	Ninja Gaiden	2.5
11	Valkyrie no Bouken	2.4
12	Famicom Detective Club (part 1)	1.6
13	Shin Onigashima	1.6
14	Mega Man	1.6
15	Shadowgate	1.5
16	Ganbare Goemon	1.5
16	Super Mario Bros. 3	1.4
18	Castlevania	1.2
19	Final Fantasy II	1.1
20	River City Ransom	1.1
20	Adventure Island	1.1

 

Interesting to see Metroid so high in a Japanese poll. Spelunker's hero is kind of famous for being so weak. I'm guessing Shadowgate is there for a similar reason, as I wouldn't have guessed that making it. I wouldn't have predicted Valkyrie either, but I guess the arcade sequel was quite popular. If this was a western poll, I think the Legend of Zelda would've won just because of Link's popularity (he always won the Gamefaqs character battles).

This week's question is, When it comes to passwords, what game comes to mind? Spoiler: it'll probably be Dragon Quest. I'm sure Metroid would win an similar poll for the NES.

Absolutely, Song of Regeneration is super famous. I wonder what other famous games would come up? With several major password games having been disk system games there, I don't know what you'd name otherwise. Lode Runner maybe?

[scaryice | 589]

New Result:

Question #14 (10/12-10/18) - When it comes to passwords, what game comes to mind?

1	Dragon Quest II	48.8
2	Dragon Quest	10.6
3	Mega Man 2	3.3
4	Konami Wai Wai World	2.4
5	Momotarou Densetsu	2.3
6	Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu	2.2
7	Haja no Fuuin	2.1
8	Bomberman	1.2
9	Captain Tsubasa	1.1
10	Dragon Quest III	1.0
10	Takeshi no Chousenjou	1.0
12	Championship Lode Runner	0.9
13	Sanma no Mei Tantei	0.9
13	Touhou Kenbun Roku	0.9
15	Megami Tensei	0.8
16	Captain Tsubasa II	0.8
17	Hydlide	0.8
18	Famicom Jump	0.7
18	Valkyrie no Bouken	0.7
20	Heracles no Eikou	0.6
20	Metal Slader Glory	0.6

 

I guess DQ2 was a longer game with a longer password, so that's why it's first instead of the original.

Next week's question: When it comes to Kanji-only titles, what game comes to mind? Let's see... Makaimura (GNG) and Getsu Fuuma Den, maybe? Contra and Salamander (Life Force) are spelled with only Kanji as well. Maybe just plain old Mahjong too.

Edited October 19, 2023 by scaryice

[scaryice | 589]

...

Edited October 19, 2023 by scaryice
double post

[koifish | 556]

On 10/18/2023 at 9:02 PM, scaryice said:

New Result:

Question #14 (10/12-10/18) - When it comes to passwords, what game comes to mind?

1	Dragon Quest II	48.8
2	Dragon Quest	10.6
3	Mega Man 2	3.3
4	Konami Wai Wai World	2.4
5	Momotarou Densetsu	2.3
6	Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu	2.2
7	Haja no Fuuin	2.1
8	Bomberman	1.2
9	Captain Tsubasa	1.1
10	Dragon Quest III	1.0
10	Takeshi no Chousenjou	1.0
12	Championship Lode Runner	0.9
13	Sanma no Mei Tantei	0.9
13	Touhou Kenbun Roku	0.9
15	Megami Tensei	0.8
16	Captain Tsubasa II	0.8
17	Hydlide	0.8
18	Famicom Jump	0.7
18	Valkyrie no Bouken	0.7
20	Heracles no Eikou	0.6
20	Metal Slader Glory	0.6

 

I guess DQ2 was a longer game with a longer password, so that's why it's first instead of the original.

Next week's question: When it comes to Kanji-only titles, what game comes to mind? Let's see... Makaimura (GNG) and Getsu Fuuma Den, maybe? Contra and Salamander (Life Force) are spelled with only Kanji as well. Maybe just plain old Mahjong too.

 

Really interesting stuff. I had no idea DQ2 used passwords in the famicom cart! (I have only played remakes of it on other platforms). Did DQ3 really have them too? The rest of the games make enough sense, but I am surprised, knowing how late of a release Metal Slader was, that it forced you to use passwords. Pretty brutal to me! Passwords for RPGs are pretty brutal themselves. However, I can say that as I am older, I appreciate that a password can instantly get me to position X so that I don't have to retread the same ground for the billionth time. This matters more and more as cart batteries die, and as you start to sell off or move your collection to new carts/new platforms, or any number of things. You can take a password from a famicom game and put it right into the switch online service equivalent, which is something you can't say about any other pair of consoles 40 years apart.

[koifish | 556]

Oh, and I am guessing that Kanji-only precludes particles as well? so no chance of nobunaga's ambition or anything else with a dreaded の.

My entry (after some thought) is ninja gaiden, or in JP, 忍者流喧伝 (lit. "Ninja Dragon Sword Legend" ?)

[Tanooki | 4,943]

@koifish DQ2 came out in Japan 1/26/87 and DQ3 was 2/10/88 only a year apart.  DQ3 was the first to use a battery, it was supposed to be out slightly earlier to make the Japanese new years sales boom, but what did make it for that was Final Fantasy 12/18/87 and it was using a battery too.

Up until that time passwords got longer and more heinous if someone didn't go with the FDS read/write format.  Faxanadu was out around the time of FF1 in Japan and you know how nasty that code can get.

 

As far as that next question of polling, those games strangely enough usually used utter garbage kanji for appearances that don't have the face value of what the actual name of the game is, so usually they had the name on screen in english and ont he box in smaller english set too like Salamander did.  Famidaily series on YT loves to get amusingly critical of this, and the 4 kanji of this one in literal terms at least is Sand, Gauze, Beautiful, Snake  ...seriously that's it.

[koifish | 556]

On 10/18/2023 at 9:02 PM, scaryice said:

New Result:

Question #14 (10/12-10/18) - When it comes to passwords, what game comes to mind?

1	Dragon Quest II	48.8
2	Dragon Quest	10.6
3	Mega Man 2	3.3
4	Konami Wai Wai World	2.4
5	Momotarou Densetsu	2.3
6	Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu	2.2
7	Haja no Fuuin	2.1
8	Bomberman	1.2
9	Captain Tsubasa	1.1
10	Dragon Quest III	1.0
10	Takeshi no Chousenjou	1.0
12	Championship Lode Runner	0.9
13	Sanma no Mei Tantei	0.9
13	Touhou Kenbun Roku	0.9
15	Megami Tensei	0.8
16	Captain Tsubasa II	0.8
17	Hydlide	0.8
18	Famicom Jump	0.7
18	Valkyrie no Bouken	0.7
20	Heracles no Eikou	0.6
20	Metal Slader Glory	0.6

 

I guess DQ2 was a longer game with a longer password, so that's why it's first instead of the original.

Next week's question: When it comes to Kanji-only titles, what game comes to mind? Let's see... Makaimura (GNG) and Getsu Fuuma Den, maybe? Contra and Salamander (Life Force) are spelled with only Kanji as well. Maybe just plain old Mahjong too.

I just remembered, the famicom book I perused once said that DQ3 and DQ2 far outsold DQ1, so probably most responders simply remembered playing 2 more than 1. I would guess confusion or forgetting which game they played is why 3 showed up on the list, unless that has passwords somewhere too.

 

12 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@koifish DQ2 came out in Japan 1/26/87 and DQ3 was 2/10/88 only a year apart.  DQ3 was the first to use a battery, it was supposed to be out slightly earlier to make the Japanese new years sales boom, but what did make it for that was Final Fantasy 12/18/87 and it was using a battery too.

Up until that time passwords got longer and more heinous if someone didn't go with the FDS read/write format.  Faxanadu was out around the time of FF1 in Japan and you know how nasty that code can get.

 

As far as that next question of polling, those games strangely enough usually used utter garbage kanji for appearances that don't have the face value of what the actual name of the game is, so usually they had the name on screen in english and ont he box in smaller english set too like Salamander did.  Famidaily series on YT loves to get amusingly critical of this, and the 4 kanji of this one in literal terms at least is Sand, Gauze, Beautiful, Snake  ...seriously that's it.

Interesting, I only ever knew about DQ1 using passwords. I can imagine how much worse it is when you have a party of characters on top.

As for Salamander, I have been looking at the characters, and while I'm far from a kanji expert (and ateji can be weird anyway), I think it's supposed to be the following:

沙羅 - "sara" - the name for the Sal tree, or the Japanese stewartia

曼 - "man" - I don't think I know this character from anywhere. Best I can find is that it is the "man" in "mandala" (the buddhist symbols) but I can't offer more at this time. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can help me out. This page makes it look quite varied in its uses but I am not sure. I haven't yet put forth the full effort to read it thoroughly. https://www.kanjipedia.jp/kanji/0006581200

editing again, from that page I gather that the primary meanings of 曼 are "long", "wide", and "beautiful". So maybe they are just saying 曼蛇 to mean "long beautiful snake".

蛇 - "da" - snake. Also read "hebi" often.

Because it's ateji, however, it doesn't really need to make sense; Ateji is where you take kanji and use them purely for their phonetic value, rather than their meanings. I will admit that there is probably a lot I am missing here though, so don't take my answer as definitive. Kanji are complicated!

Edited October 21, 2023 by koifish
more kanji research

[Tanooki | 4,943]

Nah you're on point, it's a word, well, word-symbol game going off the sounds more than actual meaning of the word to form another word, in this case, Salamander, and to keep it clear, just under the kanji bomb has the name in katakana, then english in larger print yet under that.

That said, Salamander hands down by far is the most unique and beautiful Famicom cart.  It surprises me no one else or even Konami again would repeat that.

[koifish | 556]

@Tanooki Yeah, they had to put the title in readable form here because you'd have little chance that people would guess the intended reading just by looking at it. The weirdest example of this I have seen was in an issue of Super Mario-kun, where a chapter titled 新しい冒険の始め had furigana, but rather than saying the transliteration in kana of that statement, it instead had the katakana transliteration of the english translation, that being "New Adventure Start!". That was the point where I accepted that you can just invent kanji readings whenever you want.

The cart truly is a special one, as you say. Surprising nobody else ever went with a clear cart...though wasn't action 52 also clear? What a class of titles to be around.

Speaking of kanji, Konami had Salamander and they had Contra too as far as ateji games. I don't know of many others who did a ton of titles like that. Adding to the list, some answers will probably include Castlevania 3, since the title on the box is 悪魔城伝説. Speaking of 伝説, I hope they do a question for that. "For games with the word "legend" in them, what comes to mind?" I would be fascinated to see if Zelda wins out, or if something like Momotaro Densetsu stages a surprise attack.　Even more fun if just 伝 is allowed since there are a lot of games with that in the name.

[scaryice | 589]

Here's the latest poll result:

Question #15 (10/19-10/25) - When it comes to Kanji-only titles, what game comes to mind?

1	Life Force	12.5
2	Ghosts 'n Goblins	8.5
3	Getsu Fuuma Den	8.3
4	Ninja Gaiden	8.2
5	Contra	6.8
6	Mahjong	5.1
7	Ikari Warriors	4.1
8	Genpei Touma Den	3.7
9	Tantei Jinguuji Saburou (FDS)	3.3
10	Castlevania III	3.3
11	Touhou Kenbun Roku	2.7
12	Youkai Douchuuki	2.3
13	Kiki Kaikai	2.1
14	Hon Shougi	2.1
15	Romance of the Three Kingdoms	1.9
16	Milon's Secret Castle	1.7
17	Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu	1.5
18	TMNT	1.3
19	Saint Seiya: Ougon Densetsu Kanketsu-hen	1.2
19	Deadly Towers	1.2

 

A bit surprised GNG wasn't first, but I mentioned five out of the top six so it was quite predictable in the end.

Next week's question:

When it comes to ghosts (obake), what game comes to mind?

Clearly this poll is rigged for Obake no Q-Tarou (Chubby Cherub). The only other game with Obake in the title is Chiisana Obake: Acchi Socchi Kocchi, which is very obscure and nobody played. I'm guessing stuff like Gegege no Kitarou (Ninja Kid) will do well.

 

dfs

Edited November 2, 2023 by scaryice

[Tanooki | 4,943]

I'm surprised that Salamander isn't up there, but then again having jibberish kanji with the real name in small under it likely DQ'd it from that list, yet in a way, with Life Force, there it is.

 

I do agree with you on the selection for the next question, it maybe trying to highlight Obake no Q-Tarou, but if it's not a literal case of obake in the title, there are a good number of spirits, ghosts, ghouls, and other undead/dead type stuff that would make the list fairly interesting.

Gegege no Kitarou 1 (and the lousy sequel) would work as you said, also Ghosts n Goblins would fit too.  Splatterhouse might fit the bill, it has lots of paranormal/haunted objects.  They got 2 Ghostbusters games too, Uninvited might fit the bill. Sweet Home I think could be a possibility but might be a reach.  Off the top of my head possibly could see again Getsu Fuuma Den, Youkai Douchuki, Youkai Club, Dracula Kun, Zombie Nation (Abarenbou Tengu), Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei 1 & 2, maybe any of the 1-3 Castlevania titles.  Holy Diver?

[Link | 2,715]

22 hours ago, scaryice said:

Question #16 (10/19-10/25) - When it comes to Kanji-only titles, what game comes to mind?

What is Kanji only? Like no Latin alphabet characters on the title screen or elsewhere? I mostly play US games except for exclusives, so none of those would “come to mind” for me; I thought of Wagyan Land (which has Kanji power-ups) but that would not meet the criteria.

Tangentially, speaking of that phrase “comes to mind” I remember it coming up a lot when the Iwata Asks feature was regularly published. It seems to me just an idiom there that is not unduly equated to “favorite” in English, as that’s a concept that I believe is less emphasized in Japanese culture, from what bits here and there I’ve read. It’s not the same question, but it works the same way in the respective cultures.

Moving on. 

22 hours ago, scaryice said:

A bit surprised GNG wasn't first, but I mentioned five out of the top six so it was quite predictable in the end.

Next week's question:

When it comes to ghosts (obake), what game comes to mind?

Mine is Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti if I am in a Famicom state of mind. But just thinking of the word as a subject or character. I didn’t know about the Chubby Cherub title. Maybe with a less prodding verbage, GNG would be here. 
It could also be Maniac Mansion or Shadowgate (which would be my favorite). Now I’m curious, we will see. (Thanks for “porting”/hosting this @scaryice!) 

Honorable mention Monster Party, never released on Famicom. 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Link

[Tanooki | 4,943]

Maniac Mansion is not one you'd want to play on Famicom, stick to the NES.  It's a beta of a copy in quality, loaded with bugs, crash issues, poor interface, places to lock yourself from ever ending it.  Jaleco broke it so bad Lucasarts pulled the game away from them and re-crafted it themselves for the US version.  (Reference: FamiDaily on YT)

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Me and @Dr. Morbis were talking earlier about the GBA Classic NES Series (he was looking at my collection shelf and saw them), and we both wondered why the hell Xevious was a chosen release out of all the games on the system.  Guess questions 1 and 2 answer that...sixth most as the first purchase and third place as the first game to come to mind for a high score game.  Never realized it was so popular there.  Still not sure why they chose to localize it for the series here, but at least it makes sense why they included it at all.

[Brickman | 4,000]

On 10/27/2023 at 1:38 PM, Link said:

What is Kanji only?

It means that the title is only in kanji. So no mixture of latin, katakana or hiragana alphabet (which can be common in Japanese entertainment titles). Although some titles will have the translation of the kanji for readers because some kanji have multiple readings.

Life force and GnG are definitely the two most popular so I’m not surprised to see those two in the top spots.

On 10/27/2023 at 1:38 PM, Link said:

Tangentially, speaking of that phrase “comes to mind” I remember it coming up a lot when the Iwata Asks feature was regularly published. It seems to me just an idiom there that is not unduly equated to “favorite” in English, as that’s a concept that I believe is less emphasized in Japanese culture, from what bits here and there I’ve read. It’s not the same question, but it works the same way in the respective cultures.

The question isn’t quite translated as comes to mind, they probably just made it more English friendly (which I think is a better way of translating vs literal). But I read the questions in Japanese and it actually translates more literally to ‘speaking of kanji only titles.’ But that sounds too awkward in English.

Japanese do have the concept of what is their favourite or best thing they like but in this case the question was only asking what titles they think of with kanji only.

Hope that makes sense  

[Tanooki | 4,943]

19 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Me and @Dr. Morbis were talking earlier about the GBA Classic NES Series (he was looking at my collection shelf and saw them), and we both wondered why the hell Xevious was a chosen release out of all the games on the system.  Guess questions 1 and 2 answer that...sixth most as the first purchase and third place as the first game to come to mind for a high score game.  Never realized it was so popular there.  Still not sure why they chose to localize it for the series here, but at least it makes sense why they included it at all.

I've been aware, Xevious is huge, even it's a selfmade meme for Jeremy Parish with his WORKS videos, he had like this 1/2 second popup prank nearly per video which is "DAYS SINCE XEVIOUS WAS LAST MENTIONED: 0" for a reason.  To them it was the second coming of shooters after space invaders because everything since can trace a direct or semi-indirect lineage back to it, especially in the 80s and early 90s shooters.  But you are right, I stlil can't figure out what the hell they were thinking when they localized only 12 of like 32 games for the US market and gave us some utterly questionable crap which I'd include that in due to lack of US popularity.  Mario Bros, Clu Clu Land, Balloon Fight, Wrecking Crew, Ghosts n Goblins, US version of Kid Icarus, even Star Soldier US wise is more interesting than some of the odd choices we got.  SMB, Zelda 1+2, Castlevania, Dr Mario, Excitebike, and Pac-Man make more sense than the others.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

42 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I've been aware, Xevious is huge, even it's a selfmade meme for Jeremy Parish with his WORKS videos, he had like this 1/2 second popup prank nearly per video which is "DAYS SINCE XEVIOUS WAS LAST MENTIONED: 0" for a reason.  To them it was the second coming of shooters after space invaders because everything since can trace a direct or semi-indirect lineage back to it, especially in the 80s and early 90s shooters.  But you are right, I stlil can't figure out what the hell they were thinking when they localized only 12 of like 32 games for the US market and gave us some utterly questionable crap which I'd include that in due to lack of US popularity.  Mario Bros, Clu Clu Land, Balloon Fight, Wrecking Crew, Ghosts n Goblins, US version of Kid Icarus, even Star Soldier US wise is more interesting than some of the odd choices we got.  SMB, Zelda 1+2, Castlevania, Dr Mario, Excitebike, and Pac-Man make more sense than the others.

Yeah. Like Bomberman is cool and all, but it really isn't the best choice for a US release.  Pac-Man was an odd inclusion to me too.  Like Pac is popular, but the NES port isn't exactly widely known.  I think DK Jr would've been a better choice.  

[koifish | 556]

I get confused by some of the US names, but I definitely never knew until these posts that Ninja Kid was a GeGeGe no Kintarou game. I'm also confused; Did TMNT use kanji in the JP release name? Would have expected it to just use the katakana, unless the series was basically unknown in Japan and they had to explain everything (which would explain how the GCCX episode for the arcade game port went) The kanji question was fun; You saw a wide variety of responses, which shows how it isn't something that easily is dominated by one game.

It's funny; Maybe it's the fault of the English title, but my first obake thought was makaimura. Next would probably be castlevania, or maybe even Mario 3 and its fearsome teresa.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

11 hours ago, koifish said:

I get confused by some of the US names, but I definitely never knew until these posts that Ninja Kid was a GeGeGe no Kintarou game. I'm also confused; Did TMNT use kanji in the JP release name? Would have expected it to just use the katakana, unless the series was basically unknown in Japan and they had to explain everything (which would explain how the GCCX episode for the arcade game port went) The kanji question was fun; You saw a wide variety of responses, which shows how it isn't something that easily is dominated by one game.

It's funny; Maybe it's the fault of the English title, but my first obake thought was makaimura. Next would probably be castlevania, or maybe even Mario 3 and its fearsome teresa.

The original TMNT was indeed released in Japan.  It just used the Japanese name, Gekikame Ninja Den.

https://nescartdb.com/profile/view/4761/gekikame-ninja-den

No idea why they didn't include it, as it would be a fantastic choice for the Classic NES series, but it is what it is.

[scaryice | 589]

Here's the latest poll result:

Question #16 (10/26-11/1) - When it comes to ghosts (obake), what game comes to mind?

1	Chubby Cherub	37.9
2	Spelunker	20.9
3	Super Mario Bros. 3	7.4
4	Ghostbusters	6.5
5	Ninja Kid	3.6
6	Ninja Jajamaru-kun	3.1
7	Sweet Home	2.7
8	Youkai Douchuuki	2.1
9	Pac-Man	1.3
10	Ninja Hattori-kun	1.1
11	Kiki Kaikai	1.1
12	Chiisana Obake: Acchi Socchi Kocchi	1.0
13	Famicom Detective Club (part 2)	0.8
14	Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti	0.7
14	Ghosts 'n Goblins	0.7
16	Ikki	0.6
17	Youkai Club	0.5
18	Mito Koumon	0.4
18	Doraemon	0.4
20	New Ghostbusters 2	0.4

 

As mentioned above, the Japanese name for Chubby Cherub has obake in the title (Obake no Q-Tarou), so it was a predictable result. The first time I remember seeing the word obake in English was playing Final Fantasy Legend 2 (aka Saga 2) on the Gameboy. Of course, I had no idea what it meant back then, and I pronounced it wrong as well (same story for words like Gaiden and Kage).

Japan loves Spelunker, so I should've guessed that would do well with the ghost that relentlessly pursues you throughout the mine. A strong second place showing.

Next week's question:

When it comes to "I learned a lot," what game comes to mind?

This is an interesting because there's not an obvious answer. Some people on Twitter were saying educational games or Family BASIC, but those weren't exactly popular.

Edited November 2, 2023 by scaryice

[Link | 2,715]

7 hours ago, scaryice said:

When it comes to "I learned a lot," what game comes to mind?

I learned cardinal directions and other navigational skills from Legend of Zelda. 

[koifish | 556]

Any game that has a lot of historical content will do well. Koei gang RISE UP!!!

[Tanooki | 4,943]

I was thinking family basic too but it's not great, yet there are learning games that might fit largely KOEI and it's copycats over there who also made a play off either the three kingdoms or nobunaga era type stuff.

I know they didn't get the Mario edutainment dreck we got, but they do have the earliest era stuff like that popeye and dk learning title choice too not that they're liked either.  They did get some that would basically teach you how to work the Japanese stock market in its boom period, so maybe?

I would bet you'll find something with the various Go and Shougi training/playing games hitting that one.  Some of them didn't even have AI, you had to play along with a going match coded into it (from real known played games then) and guess the best move, to being educated how to play.