I miss ‘cool Japan’. That post bubble economy, hyper-cute, retro futuristic land of dreams. I basically miss when everything was like a Puffy AmiYumi music video. It seemed that everything cool came from Japan in the late 90s, and video games were no exception. It’s thanks to Konami’s Bemani division that flooded the market with their catalogue of technicoloured, well-timed button mashers. Peripheral games like Beat Mania, Guitar Freaks, Dance Dance Revolution and Pop’n Music dominated the arcade, while more ‘call and response’ styled games such as Bust a Groove and UmJammer Lammy found their home on consoles. Konami dominated the arcades with rhythm games, but another key player in the waning arcade market hadn’t contributed to the flood just yet. I’d say Sega would’ve been focusing more on the upcoming release of the Dreamcast at that stage, and merely dipped their toes in with Samba de Amigo – a cute, but safe entry with maraca peripherals. Continue reading