Me too. It hits that part of my brain that must know all the things. I'm like, "no, I don't know what that is...but now I want to and I'll burn anyone to the FUCKING ground if they try to get in my way..."
So much time and energy went into making this and nobody played it, the company went bankrupt, and dreams were dashed. Thank you for bringing this gem, apparently ahead of its time, to our attention.
I feel pretty bad for Tokuro Fujiwara because the same thing happened when he made Tomba 1 and 2. I hope his future endeavors work out better for him and he gets the recognition he deserves.
This is a prime example of why the ps2 is my favorite console it has a seemingly endless amount of interesting and inventive titles just brimming with creativity
@@GundamGokuTV also Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox, (and PC of course until 2005, games like Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of The Earth and Condemned were mindblowing, still are)
I think your suggestion for a video on Japan's reactions to violence in video games and age ratings would be a really interesting rabbit hole to go down! I enjoy hearing about those kinds of cultural differences.
I distinctly remember, in a bizarre twist of fate, the Japanese version of No More Heroes was the worst one for censorship. Not only was the blood just black splatters, but all decapitations were totally gone. The big finishing swings where you just sliced enemies heads clean off were just a black splatter with no actual severed anything, it was insane lol.
@@TheDsRequiemwell, you're currently being out voted because I find this topic really interesting too. It would be fascinating to learn why Japan is so adverse to violence in media when a place like the US could care less...but my people freak out if you even DARE show a little bit of a BOOBIE! A penis? We collectively gouge our eyes out... Australia in particular is extremely, and I mean extremely, draconian for showing basically anything. Is it a thing? The Australian government doesn't want that thing in the media. Period. Grass? CENSORED. An umbrella? CENSORED. A face? TOTALLY FUCKING CENSORED! I wonder if Japan and Australia have some sort of cultural connection to their views on "problematic" content, and if so where it comes from. It'd be neat to see how Japan's censorship compares and contrasts to the other major markets. We can only benefit by learning about the medium we all love. Otherwise we're zombie consumers ripe for soulless companies to churn out low quality garbage art. We're already concerningly deep into that territory...
The "true" ending of this game reminds me of the "true" ending of The Stanley Parable. Sure, priorly pessimistic game, here's your dream ending youve always wanted where everything works out ok. The irony, of course, is the "best" ending of Ghosts is the hardest one while the "best" ending of The Stanley Parable is the easiest one.
it nails the aesthetics with the hologram designs and it looks actually immersive and not cartoony and slow movement helps a lot and i like the fact that it explore the demons and ghosts not only from an '' enemy type '' form but also in a psychological way and also way of puzzling out the plot
Thank you for sharing this game. I love Fujiwara-san's philosophy of structuring the game so there is no "True" ending. I like that it's what you make of it and enjoying your own journey and experiences.
Needless to say, this is a very interesting introduction to your subseries on Japan-only release games. I always found Buddhism (and its cultural diversity) to be so interesting as a Westerner. I just love learning about world religions overall, so hearing about this game was very exciting to me. Looking forward to what comes next! Thanks for bringing these older games back from the dead (pun only half-intended).
I absolutely ADORE the art in this game, especially the facial animations. They're so fluid and the style is just cartoony enough that they don't look like Gmod animations. Linda talking, the little girl, the grim reaper/shinigami character arching their brows?? The ghosts' jaws shaking back and forth? SO freaking cool. I'm already enamored by the low-poly chunks of the early PS2 but god these look so good I almost felt like they were made today and purposefully made retro, like a ton of the retro indie projects going on right now. Thank you so much for showing them off! ALSO TRANS RIGHTS WOO
As a trans guy I actually had to pause the video to check if you made up the quote about "a woman who knows deep down they are a man" getting to experience the game as a man. That's based as hell. If I ever meet this director I'm buying him some sort of a drink.
Man this game looks gorgous for a ps2 game. The character animations are great. It's a real shame this didn't get more attention and I hope a fan translation someday happens.
TW: mentions of suicidal ideation As a practicing Buddhist for over 4 years (I go to temple service every week and volunteer for my temple regularly), I can say, imo, that this game does seem to do a great job introducing Buddhist concepts to non-Buddhists in an accessible manner, especially when it comes to karma/free will, since, as you've mentioned, that's pretty much baked into the very fabric of the game. The whole "there is no one path to the best ending, it all depends on you" is very Buddhist, as well. People may not be aware of this, but there are many, MANY different schools of Buddhism, and they each practice a path to Nirvana in their own way. The Buddha himself said that there are 84,000 different ways to achieve Enlightenment. Oh, and the ever presence of death is a very common Buddhist thing, as well. Just this month one of our minister's Dharma talks (they're basically the equivalent of sermons in Christianity) talked about how we live with death constantly on our shoulder. I actually came to Buddhism in 2019 because I was struggling with things like depression, death, loneliness, and lack of meaning. I was constantly in and out of the hospital for suicidal ideation, something I'd been dealing with for four years at that point. The Buddhist concepts of impermanence and interdependence (basically "everything is impermanent and depends on everything else") really helped me deal a lot better with my struggles. Volunteering to usher at funerals also really showed me the importance and constant presence of death in our lives. So I'm glad this game made you more aware of a religion I hold so dear. Great video, as always. Love your stuff. Keep up the good work! ❤
Wow, this was beautifully written. I'm glad you found a space, as it were, that brings you comfort with the chaos that is human life. This is probably a dumb question, and I'm sure I could look it up, but are the "84,000 ways to Nirvana" supposed to be taken literally or figuratively? Is it basically saying there's essentially countless ways, or did the Buddha mean there are exactly eighty-four thousand ways?
tangomushi you are literally a god among youtubers. i'm a freshman majoring in art and i think i would've gone braindead if it weren't for your videos keeping me grounded. i genuinely adore the way you go through your analysis, explaining the story and then everything you enjoy about it in a very thoughtful and detailed way. i'm also VERY neurodivergent, so the fact that my attention has been kept for hours on end because of your videos is insane. i just finished watching your video on haunting ground and i'll probably check out your remothered video next. i hope you're having an amazing day
Very welcoming and intriguing first entry into your Japanese retspec subseries. Love the concept of a first person hellscape sim especially so early in the 2000s. The fact that its so tough to get a “good ending” that’s fairly anticlimactic makes this game that much more unique and cool to see how fujiwara and the team stayed true to their antithesis of what most other games lay out for gamers regarding handholding and endings. Overall very cool video tango and I can’t wait till the next in the your new niche subseries.
yoo thanks for covering this hidden gem! It's right up there with Baroque with setting in a very particular feeling and story through gameplay and art presentation that fits right in with stuff like Shin Megami Tensei, Silent Hill and even a few From Software titles. Thanks for your perspective and experiences with this piece, it was a real joy to see it being talked about in today's time!
There are so many weird little Japanese games that I wish got localized in the states. They are often janky and require a dozen play throughs, but their uniqueness is just something else.
This looks awesome! Thanks for the upload and all your hardwork! I've been going through your catalog and you've got loads of great stuff. Always happy to see a new vid.
Wow! This is such a fascinating game that I probably never would have known about if not for your video! Fantastic and and thorough work! Thank you for sharing!!
The male character looks so much like Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings, lol. But I really appreciate these videos about games that never got translations or wide releases. It's so cool to see what we missed and what kinds of stories were out there. It does make me a little sad that we never got some of these super creative gems, especially right now as we're drowning in nostalgia-makes in so many forms of media (which is not an inherently bad thing, but it is exhausting after a certain point). Thanks for this!
I’d love to try my hand at this game tbh. I think something I (and I’m sure tons of others) are sick of in the current video game industry is it’s all boring rehashes of other games just in different flavors. It’s all becoming very stagnant and when a game breaks the mound and becomes popular people talk about it forever. There might not have been a market for Hungry Ghosts in the past but I’m set sure there’s one for it nowadays
So I'm not the only one who feels this way. Phew! I started to think I was maybe just getting old and slightly crabby. Games don't really excite me anymore. The last one that did was Horizon: Zero Dawn, and even that game wasn't exactly genre defining. The robot dinosaurs were cool though and beautifully designed, but the story was simply okay. Aloy as a character I really dug, however if you were paying attention you could see the "twist" coming a mile away. Guess it goes to show that the kids getting into gaming don't care about the story very much, which to me is the entire point. I think too many are being conditioned to look at games as only "live service" pointlessness because they're easy to churn out, even though most bean counters don't understand they're extremely expensive to maintain. Everyone dreams of making that Fortnite money, I guess...
So, I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to put together all of the awesome content on your channel. I’ve been binge-watching your stuff all day and the depth and granularity with which you examine and dissect all of these titles is absolutely captivating. Between highlighting lesser known titles like Haunting Ground and exploring the more philosophical or psychosocial aspects of more popular games, I really admire what you’re doing here. You’ve got my subscription and my admiration as a writer and content creator, absolutely. Keep em coming!
This game looks like masterpiece of art! It's so beautiful and stylish. It is an example of creativity and high quality. Why they didn't release it in the US?
Wow. Thank you for bringing this game and video to us. This game is so unique and I was so glad to hear at the end that there is fan translation in the way 💙. Just met you channel today and loved it
In the space of half an hour, I've gone from never having heard of this game to desperately needing to play it. This is so much up my alley, thank you for shining a light on it! Best of luck to the translation patch crew!
Год назад+16
This was brilliant! Thank you so much for doing this. More of these obscure Japanese horror games, please!
Really sad that this game hasn't left Japan, not even been considered for a remaster. I don't even think they have made a translated patch for an emulation yet either..
31:01 My perspective really changed when I watched a show called Dead Like Me. It was silly, but still had some serious moments that had a very interesting perspective/spin into a Grim Reaper’s life and work. Also Jenny-Jinya’s Loving Reaper webcomics. Those get me every time. 😭❤️
Wishing you the best bud, get well soon. Btw if I might recommend a channel I personally find very cozy and comforting, I fully recommend Scruffy. If you're really into sound design stuff you'll get a lot out of his videos
I always loved those Japanese guide books for games of that era. I have all of them for the Shenmue games and it's amazing how much extra stuff is in there that helps build the world or to see how much detail they thought about that doesn't necessarily even end up in the game. Also, nice Shenmue background music in the video. :)
Awesome video! Absolutely great seeing looks at obscure games that I never heard of or straight up missed. Definitely interested in checking it out when it gets translated. It's an utter shame when stuff like this never got localized- plenty of PS2 shovelware made it internationally but then gems like this or Clock Tower. Hopefully in today's resurgence in retrogaming and remasters we'll get stuff like this to have the audence it deserves!
Bless this game for allowing you to pick genders of the MC. That wasn't popular back then and is still 50-50 now though there's def more with choices. Being able to play a female MC just feels so much better for me even if it didn't change much technically. Once I got that taste, it was difficult to go back! Also, I actually love that controller scheme idea. Granted, I am so bad with controllers but to be the one to stab the spear and/or reload and shoot a crossbow? That looked smooth if not satisfying, especially the crossbow animation. But man, if I ever play this game--I don't think I'll get that S ending. I'm too much of a hoarder haha. See shiny? Must pick shiny! Person says they want the necklace cos it's theirs? Oh okay, gullible me will believe! Thank you for sharing another great game! I wouldn't have found out about it if it weren't for you and I am so excited to see the others that you have in store for us!
Tokuro Fujiwara? That sounds famil- “Ghosts ‘n Goblins” OH NO. PTSD aside, the animation work on those ghosts is amazing. It hurts to wonder what else that team might have accomplished if they had lasted longer.
Wow! This is the coolest hidden gem on the PS2 that I have ever seen. I can't believe this never got localized. This game just oozes passion and innovation. I absolutely have to play through this for October. Thank you for making a video on it else I probably would have never heard of it.
another banger video! very excited to see more from this series, I'm so interested in seeing some more obscure games that never got localized, I'm glad you're covering them to expose people like me to work that would otherwise remain behind a language barrier. wonderful analysis, loved hearing you talk about the philosophy behind the game and how it approaches death from a place of respect, reverence, and fluidity, as well as hearing your take on the unique game design. in particular loved the way the endings function and how you discussed them from both a design and philosophical standpoint. thank you for introducing this game, will definitely be checking out the progress of the translation as it goes!
I remember seeing a trailer for this game on a dvd that came with an issue of PSM2 probably over 20 years ago. I Remember it freak my probably 10 year old self out at the time but the trailer always stuck with me. Sometime in probably the mid 2010s I was reminded of the game and tried to find videos about it but there was very little, pretty much just that trailer and some gameplay videos which I couldn’t understand. Anyways I just want to thank you for your excellent dive into this game and helping shed light onto something I have been curious about for nearly 20 years.
Great work as always Mango! Hungry Ghosts looks lovely and surreal, right up my alley! I'm seeing elements of Fatal Frame with the Spirit and Vitality system, Clock Tower 3 with the spirit interactions (the necklace) and Baroque with the combat and minimal story. Definitely one I'm going to check out once the fan translation is ready! Looking forward to the next Japanese release only video! Also the Shenmue track at 17:50 🔥
Awesome video! Speaking of japanese only games, I'd suggest trying Mizurna Falls for the PS1. It's considered an inspiration for the Shenmue series, which came out years later on the Dreamcast.
Here is another buddhist thing that ties directly to the Desire system. In buddhism, attachment to earthly things are what stop you from enlightment. The Desire system is a literal count of your material attachment that pushes your soul down, and It gives you a chance of lowering them thtought acts of sacrifice and meditación.
Gotta love a dark, tough game with beautiful art design, Buddhist ideals, a thin thread of optomism running through it and casual repping of trans rights! Awesome video for an awesome game, great work and tyvm :)
I'm so excited for this series, there are so many games that never left Japan that I have tried to find information on and struggled due to lack of archiving. This was a fantastic video.
Huh...this looks delightful, but also one hundred percent looks like the kind of game I'd bash my head against trying to play. XD Still, lovely, and intriguing premise! And I love the idea of games-japan-got-but-never-made-it-westwards as a concept for videos! I look forward to it! :D
" EVERYONE SAYS HELL IS THIS BIG SCARY UNDERWORLD BUT NO ONE'S EXACTLY COME BACK TO CONFIRM WHETHER OR NOT THAT'S TRUE " Hi ; my name is MAITREYA and I am a senior monk with the SHINGON order of JAPAN -- yes I've made the journey myself and yes it's true : hungry ghosts ( PRETA ) and the hell realms ( NARAKA ) do exist ! Part of the natural " outflow path " when it comes to breaking bargains with the worldly realm and attaining to final liberation / nibbana can be unwanted confrontations with spirits and the ghosts of ancestors -- these ghosts are deemed " HUNGRY " for the difficult manner in which they involve themselves with our sympathies and drain us of our living essence / vitality as an aspect of their predation . Thus, just as depicted in game, their " speech " can be horribly deceitful and some are even hyper-intelligent with the capacity to gamble or barter -- SPOOKY . Thanks so much for showcasing such a unique gem ... I would never have encountered it otherwise !
I really like your stuff! Super well-researched and brimming with neat little tidbits, like the river concept appearing in multiple mythologies. Keep it up! You're great at this!
I bought this game back in like 2014 when i was searching for every 1st person dungeon crawler/ Adventure FMV games or obscure horror games that resembled my favorites like From Soft's King's Field series (PS1/PS2), Shadow Tower (PS1/PS2), Eternal Ring (Ps2), Echonight 1/2/ E.N. Beyond (PS1/PS2), Baroque (SS/PS2/WII), Lunacy (SS), The Mansion of Hidden Souls (Sega CD/SS), D (PS1/SS), Enemy Zero (SS), Shadow of Destiny (PS2), The No Name Game 1/2 (DS), Juggernaut (PS1), etc. I got it not knowing any Japanese and not yet having a Japanese PS2 to play it, but the little I saw from my research made me know I needed it! I was saddened to see the extreme lack of coverage or walk-throughs or English translation, especially back then. I'm soooo happy to see you cover it, and I'm super glad to hear people are working on a translation!!! I still need to play Shadow Tower Abyss cuz I absolutely loved the OG! Have you played or heard of an obscure FMV game for the Saturn called Lunacy? It's a spiritual successor to The Mansion of Hidden Souls series on Sega CD and Saturn and has some excellent atmosphere and music, and deserves more attention! Also, Juggernaut for PS1 is a most curious trip into hell! Peace.
The way to get the best ending wasn't well implemented. With all those meters and everything being very vague and whatnot, it would be very, very hard to get through to the S ending. And you're saying it's not even worth it? Wow. They could have done this a *lot* better. Also, what are all the other ending of the game? I can't read Japanese for shit.
Absolutely loved your video, thanks for digging this up! Very interesting game! It would be great to see more Japan exclusive games in the future from you. By the way, the realm of hungry ghosts is one of the lower realms (below "karmically neutral" human realm) but not exactly hell yet, actual hells would be much worse! So it's even more interesting that the game explores that particular place.
Wonderful as usual. As someone who’s been learning Japanese for the last ten years and struggled, I’d love to have more insights, like those you offered at the end, during the series. Can’t wait to watch the next video!
The game doesn't even exist on wikipedia. They should point everyone to this video. Looking into it, it came out the same year as Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne. Kind of amazing that we got two games based around killing, befriending, and bartering with evil spirits in a single year.
just found your channel and I making m way watching all of your videos pls bring more because I'm almost done ahhahaha. But for real, really love the content so far, how you analize the plot a add some extra info is great, and I thought i knew lot from some of the games you covered but so far there is always a little something new I didn't knew about so... yeah love the channel, hope it keeps getting bigger and salutations from Venezuela
It kind of looks like Kings Field/Eternal Ring/Shadow Tower 2. I wonder if that's what they were going for, art house Arx Fatalis, which is a cool idea
I found your channel through your rule of rose video and i absolutely love the way you convey the games you play. You explain everything a person needs to know about the games. I also want to say thank you for being an lgbtq friendly channel. Its very hard to find lgbt friendly video game youtubers so thanks !!
I loved this, always wondered what happened to the Tomba devs, loved those games! That said, is that a Wittgenstein picture that the ghost bride gives you?! Keep up the good work!
This is one of those weird obscure horror games barely anyone knows about. Reminds me of Echo Night and The Void, which I could recommend for you to cover as well.
This game is a bit reminiscent of Cosmology of Kyoto in it's tone, a very non-traditional video game that focuses on buddhism and death just like Cosmology of Kyoto.
This was genuinely fascinating, and I indeed had no idea that this game existed (and I'm a fan of specifically weird Japanese games about the afterlife, i.e. Cosmology of Kyoto &c.). Your content is wonderful to see!
Concerning your intent to dive into gems that never made it outside of Japan, how interested would you be in covering the Kamaitachi no Yoru series? Interesting games on the surface, but absolutely fascinating when you dive deep into the hidden secrets.
great vid like always!! i was sitting here thinking the whole time the fp perspective in the game was very kingsfield. definitely going to watch out for the fan translation tho! Also cannot WAIT for you to talk about boku no natsuyasumi i love that game!
People don't realize how much doesn't actually exist on the internet. or existed on the internet in some small capacity that doesn't exist anymore. We've all been so conditioned to the idea that everything is on the internet and that it's there forever. thank you for finding one of those things and bringing us some information about it and this game to us.
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
Love it when something titled Something You've Never Heard Of is something I haven't heard of! Love the videos.
It's a message🤘
I hate these click bait titles, especially for media that are known cult classics, but she's probably 99% right on the money here.
Me too. It hits that part of my brain that must know all the things. I'm like, "no, I don't know what that is...but now I want to and I'll burn anyone to the FUCKING ground if they try to get in my way..."
@@ChristopherSadlowski🤣
So much time and energy went into making this and nobody played it, the company went bankrupt, and dreams were dashed. Thank you for bringing this gem, apparently ahead of its time, to our attention.
I feel pretty bad for Tokuro Fujiwara because the same thing happened when he made Tomba 1 and 2.
I hope his future endeavors work out better for him and he gets the recognition he deserves.
This is a prime example of why the ps2 is my favorite console it has a seemingly endless amount of interesting and inventive titles just brimming with creativity
@jamesdeer3129graephix baed
PS1 and PS2 both had crazy innovation or older concepts that were polished to their full potential.
wtf the graphics are great @jamesdeer3129
@@GundamGokuTV also Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox, (and PC of course until 2005, games like Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of The Earth and Condemned were mindblowing, still are)
I think your suggestion for a video on Japan's reactions to violence in video games and age ratings would be a really interesting rabbit hole to go down! I enjoy hearing about those kinds of cultural differences.
I distinctly remember, in a bizarre twist of fate, the Japanese version of No More Heroes was the worst one for censorship. Not only was the blood just black splatters, but all decapitations were totally gone. The big finishing swings where you just sliced enemies heads clean off were just a black splatter with no actual severed anything, it was insane lol.
I'd love to see a video on this too
Nah
@@TheDsRequiemwell, you're currently being out voted because I find this topic really interesting too. It would be fascinating to learn why Japan is so adverse to violence in media when a place like the US could care less...but my people freak out if you even DARE show a little bit of a BOOBIE! A penis? We collectively gouge our eyes out...
Australia in particular is extremely, and I mean extremely, draconian for showing basically anything. Is it a thing? The Australian government doesn't want that thing in the media. Period. Grass? CENSORED. An umbrella? CENSORED. A face? TOTALLY FUCKING CENSORED! I wonder if Japan and Australia have some sort of cultural connection to their views on "problematic" content, and if so where it comes from. It'd be neat to see how Japan's censorship compares and contrasts to the other major markets.
We can only benefit by learning about the medium we all love. Otherwise we're zombie consumers ripe for soulless companies to churn out low quality garbage art. We're already concerningly deep into that territory...
i saw the "z version" on the re8 she showed and im so, so curious now. are there censored versions of major releases like re8 in japan??
The "true" ending of this game reminds me of the "true" ending of The Stanley Parable. Sure, priorly pessimistic game, here's your dream ending youve always wanted where everything works out ok. The irony, of course, is the "best" ending of Ghosts is the hardest one while the "best" ending of The Stanley Parable is the easiest one.
it nails the aesthetics with the hologram designs and it looks actually immersive and not cartoony and slow movement helps a lot and i like the fact that it explore the demons and ghosts not only from an '' enemy type '' form but also in a psychological way and also way of puzzling out the plot
Thank you for sharing this game. I love Fujiwara-san's philosophy of structuring the game so there is no "True" ending. I like that it's what you make of it and enjoying your own journey and experiences.
I'm so glad the warrior has a *spear* instead of a sword.
Spears or polearms in general don't get enough spotlight in fantasy.
Needless to say, this is a very interesting introduction to your subseries on Japan-only release games. I always found Buddhism (and its cultural diversity) to be so interesting as a Westerner. I just love learning about world religions overall, so hearing about this game was very exciting to me. Looking forward to what comes next! Thanks for bringing these older games back from the dead (pun only half-intended).
Hungry Ghost was Fujiwara game?!
This man is insanely talented!
I absolutely ADORE the art in this game, especially the facial animations. They're so fluid and the style is just cartoony enough that they don't look like Gmod animations. Linda talking, the little girl, the grim reaper/shinigami character arching their brows?? The ghosts' jaws shaking back and forth? SO freaking cool. I'm already enamored by the low-poly chunks of the early PS2 but god these look so good I almost felt like they were made today and purposefully made retro, like a ton of the retro indie projects going on right now. Thank you so much for showing them off! ALSO TRANS RIGHTS WOO
@@warehousedave7937get a life
As a trans guy I actually had to pause the video to check if you made up the quote about "a woman who knows deep down they are a man" getting to experience the game as a man. That's based as hell. If I ever meet this director I'm buying him some sort of a drink.
We get it your a vegan
@@pancakespushups4318 what
@@pancakespushups4318 we get it, you're a cannibal
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The most elaborate buzzfeed personality test fr
Man this game looks gorgous for a ps2 game. The character animations are great. It's a real shame this didn't get more attention and I hope a fan translation someday happens.
TW: mentions of suicidal ideation
As a practicing Buddhist for over 4 years (I go to temple service every week and volunteer for my temple regularly), I can say, imo, that this game does seem to do a great job introducing Buddhist concepts to non-Buddhists in an accessible manner, especially when it comes to karma/free will, since, as you've mentioned, that's pretty much baked into the very fabric of the game. The whole "there is no one path to the best ending, it all depends on you" is very Buddhist, as well. People may not be aware of this, but there are many, MANY different schools of Buddhism, and they each practice a path to Nirvana in their own way. The Buddha himself said that there are 84,000 different ways to achieve Enlightenment. Oh, and the ever presence of death is a very common Buddhist thing, as well. Just this month one of our minister's Dharma talks (they're basically the equivalent of sermons in Christianity) talked about how we live with death constantly on our shoulder. I actually came to Buddhism in 2019 because I was struggling with things like depression, death, loneliness, and lack of meaning. I was constantly in and out of the hospital for suicidal ideation, something I'd been dealing with for four years at that point. The Buddhist concepts of impermanence and interdependence (basically "everything is impermanent and depends on everything else") really helped me deal a lot better with my struggles. Volunteering to usher at funerals also really showed me the importance and constant presence of death in our lives. So I'm glad this game made you more aware of a religion I hold so dear. Great video, as always. Love your stuff. Keep up the good work! ❤
Wow, this was beautifully written. I'm glad you found a space, as it were, that brings you comfort with the chaos that is human life. This is probably a dumb question, and I'm sure I could look it up, but are the "84,000 ways to Nirvana" supposed to be taken literally or figuratively? Is it basically saying there's essentially countless ways, or did the Buddha mean there are exactly eighty-four thousand ways?
tangomushi you are literally a god among youtubers. i'm a freshman majoring in art and i think i would've gone braindead if it weren't for your videos keeping me grounded. i genuinely adore the way you go through your analysis, explaining the story and then everything you enjoy about it in a very thoughtful and detailed way. i'm also VERY neurodivergent, so the fact that my attention has been kept for hours on end because of your videos is insane. i just finished watching your video on haunting ground and i'll probably check out your remothered video next. i hope you're having an amazing day
Very welcoming and intriguing first entry into your Japanese retspec subseries. Love the concept of a first person hellscape sim especially so early in the 2000s. The fact that its so tough to get a “good ending” that’s fairly anticlimactic makes this game that much more unique and cool to see how fujiwara and the team stayed true to their antithesis of what most other games lay out for gamers regarding handholding and endings. Overall very cool video tango and I can’t wait till the next in the your new niche subseries.
yoo thanks for covering this hidden gem! It's right up there with Baroque with setting in a very particular feeling and story through gameplay and art presentation that fits right in with stuff like Shin Megami Tensei, Silent Hill and even a few From Software titles. Thanks for your perspective and experiences with this piece, it was a real joy to see it being talked about in today's time!
There are so many weird little Japanese games that I wish got localized in the states. They are often janky and require a dozen play throughs, but their uniqueness is just something else.
This looks awesome! Thanks for the upload and all your hardwork! I've been going through your catalog and you've got loads of great stuff. Always happy to see a new vid.
I like the style of your videos! These reviews give me a cozy-horror vibe that's hard to explain and yet I love every second of it. Subscribed.
Hungry Ghosts said Trans Rights in 2003. Pretty Valid.
Wow! This is such a fascinating game that I probably never would have known about if not for your video! Fantastic and and thorough work! Thank you for sharing!!
The male character looks so much like Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings, lol.
But I really appreciate these videos about games that never got translations or wide releases. It's so cool to see what we missed and what kinds of stories were out there. It does make me a little sad that we never got some of these super creative gems, especially right now as we're drowning in nostalgia-makes in so many forms of media (which is not an inherently bad thing, but it is exhausting after a certain point).
Thanks for this!
I’d love to try my hand at this game tbh. I think something I (and I’m sure tons of others) are sick of in the current video game industry is it’s all boring rehashes of other games just in different flavors. It’s all becoming very stagnant and when a game breaks the mound and becomes popular people talk about it forever. There might not have been a market for Hungry Ghosts in the past but I’m set sure there’s one for it nowadays
So I'm not the only one who feels this way. Phew! I started to think I was maybe just getting old and slightly crabby. Games don't really excite me anymore. The last one that did was Horizon: Zero Dawn, and even that game wasn't exactly genre defining. The robot dinosaurs were cool though and beautifully designed, but the story was simply okay. Aloy as a character I really dug, however if you were paying attention you could see the "twist" coming a mile away. Guess it goes to show that the kids getting into gaming don't care about the story very much, which to me is the entire point. I think too many are being conditioned to look at games as only "live service" pointlessness because they're easy to churn out, even though most bean counters don't understand they're extremely expensive to maintain. Everyone dreams of making that Fortnite money, I guess...
So, I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to put together all of the awesome content on your channel. I’ve been binge-watching your stuff all day and the depth and granularity with which you examine and dissect all of these titles is absolutely captivating. Between highlighting lesser known titles like Haunting Ground and exploring the more philosophical or psychosocial aspects of more popular games, I really admire what you’re doing here. You’ve got my subscription and my admiration as a writer and content creator, absolutely. Keep em coming!
This game looks like masterpiece of art! It's so beautiful and stylish.
It is an example of creativity and high quality.
Why they didn't release it in the US?
Tangomushi, RagnarRox and eurothug4000 really are for me the unholy trinity of horror games
For sure, love those three. Dungeon Chill is a pretty solid new channel you might like too.
@@milk_bath Thx you were right! :D
Thanks for mentioning eurothug4000. I've never heard of them before, so I'll head over there straight away!
Wow. Thank you for bringing this game and video to us. This game is so unique and I was so glad to hear at the end that there is fan translation in the way 💙. Just met you channel today and loved it
Ending A, the "I did everything right, and they shinigami'd me" ending
Wow, at last YT algorithms shows me something I really wanted to see! Thank you for showing us this game, I'll look for disk/rom of that stuff
In the space of half an hour, I've gone from never having heard of this game to desperately needing to play it. This is so much up my alley, thank you for shining a light on it! Best of luck to the translation patch crew!
This was brilliant! Thank you so much for doing this. More of these obscure Japanese horror games, please!
That's a really interesting thought on how the controls connect the player to the in game attacks. Game looks awesome! Great video.
Really sad that this game hasn't left Japan, not even been considered for a remaster. I don't even think they have made a translated patch for an emulation yet either..
31:01 My perspective really changed when I watched a show called Dead Like Me. It was silly, but still had some serious moments that had a very interesting perspective/spin into a Grim Reaper’s life and work. Also Jenny-Jinya’s Loving Reaper webcomics. Those get me every time. 😭❤️
Appropriate for the Hungry Ghost Festival rn
I'm sick and stuck in bed, you wouldn't believe how happy I was to see a new video. Your videos are really comforting to me. Time to get comfy ❤
Wishing you the best bud, get well soon.
Btw if I might recommend a channel I personally find very cozy and comforting, I fully recommend Scruffy. If you're really into sound design stuff you'll get a lot out of his videos
Tangomushi talking about horror classics and obscure games makes me wonder if she’ll ever touch iconic suffering that is Siren games
YAAAY obscure PS2 game coverage
I always loved those Japanese guide books for games of that era. I have all of them for the Shenmue games and it's amazing how much extra stuff is in there that helps build the world or to see how much detail they thought about that doesn't necessarily even end up in the game.
Also, nice Shenmue background music in the video. :)
Awesome video! Absolutely great seeing looks at obscure games that I never heard of or straight up missed. Definitely interested in checking it out when it gets translated.
It's an utter shame when stuff like this never got localized- plenty of PS2 shovelware made it internationally but then gems like this or Clock Tower. Hopefully in today's resurgence in retrogaming and remasters we'll get stuff like this to have the audence it deserves!
Bless this game for allowing you to pick genders of the MC. That wasn't popular back then and is still 50-50 now though there's def more with choices. Being able to play a female MC just feels so much better for me even if it didn't change much technically. Once I got that taste, it was difficult to go back!
Also, I actually love that controller scheme idea. Granted, I am so bad with controllers but to be the one to stab the spear and/or reload and shoot a crossbow? That looked smooth if not satisfying, especially the crossbow animation. But man, if I ever play this game--I don't think I'll get that S ending. I'm too much of a hoarder haha. See shiny? Must pick shiny! Person says they want the necklace cos it's theirs? Oh okay, gullible me will believe!
Thank you for sharing another great game! I wouldn't have found out about it if it weren't for you and I am so excited to see the others that you have in store for us!
Tokuro Fujiwara? That sounds famil-
“Ghosts ‘n Goblins”
OH NO.
PTSD aside, the animation work on those ghosts is amazing. It hurts to wonder what else that team might have accomplished if they had lasted longer.
Wow! This is the coolest hidden gem on the PS2 that I have ever seen. I can't believe this never got localized. This game just oozes passion and innovation. I absolutely have to play through this for October. Thank you for making a video on it else I probably would have never heard of it.
Becoming a God of Death with a cool scythe sounds dope af. A ending is the best ending.
It's always a good day when there's a Tangomushi video! Can't wait to watch, not familiar with Hungry Ghosts - definitely intrigued.
Love this channel so much. I've watched your videos so many times, I missed this one. Super excited to watch it. I'm already creeped out.
Thanks for this video, I've been interested in this game since I first heard of it but could never get any info due to how obscure and foreign it is.
Fantastic video!
I'd love to see you cover deSpiria for the Dreamcast.
awesome vid! i wish i could find some translated gameplay 😭
👀i would love to see a video about the cero system
What a neat idea for a game. I imagine if this released today as some indie title, it would find a niche but passionate audience.
another banger video! very excited to see more from this series, I'm so interested in seeing some more obscure games that never got localized, I'm glad you're covering them to expose people like me to work that would otherwise remain behind a language barrier. wonderful analysis, loved hearing you talk about the philosophy behind the game and how it approaches death from a place of respect, reverence, and fluidity, as well as hearing your take on the unique game design. in particular loved the way the endings function and how you discussed them from both a design and philosophical standpoint. thank you for introducing this game, will definitely be checking out the progress of the translation as it goes!
I remember seeing a trailer for this game on a dvd that came with an issue of PSM2 probably over 20 years ago. I Remember it freak my probably 10 year old self out at the time but the trailer always stuck with me. Sometime in probably the mid 2010s I was reminded of the game and tried to find videos about it but there was very little, pretty much just that trailer and some gameplay videos which I couldn’t understand. Anyways I just want to thank you for your excellent dive into this game and helping shed light onto something I have been curious about for nearly 20 years.
Great work as always Mango! Hungry Ghosts looks lovely and surreal, right up my alley! I'm seeing elements of Fatal Frame with the Spirit and Vitality system, Clock Tower 3 with the spirit interactions (the necklace) and Baroque with the combat and minimal story. Definitely one I'm going to check out once the fan translation is ready! Looking forward to the next Japanese release only video!
Also the Shenmue track at 17:50 🔥
Awesome video! Speaking of japanese only games, I'd suggest trying Mizurna Falls for the PS1. It's considered an inspiration for the Shenmue series, which came out years later on the Dreamcast.
Hungry Ghosts has been on my radar for so long, and this is just another reason to try it.
Here is another buddhist thing that ties directly to the Desire system. In buddhism, attachment to earthly things are what stop you from enlightment. The Desire system is a literal count of your material attachment that pushes your soul down, and It gives you a chance of lowering them thtought acts of sacrifice and meditación.
This video is an absolute masterpiece , I’m for sure gonna love this series about obscure games ❤️
Found this after listening to Something Rotten. Can't wait to check out more of your stuff as well as what this new series will bring 🤩
Gotta love a dark, tough game with beautiful art design, Buddhist ideals, a thin thread of optomism running through it and casual repping of trans rights! Awesome video for an awesome game, great work and tyvm :)
HOLY SHIT, I remember Extermination! I was TERRIFIED of that game as a kid lmao
Such a pleasure when I see new content released from you! I play your past videos endlessly in the background when I’m doing art!
you're truly one of my favourite creators when it comes to videogame essays. thank you for creating the content you do!!!!
TOMBA MENTIONED Great video as always Tango!
I'm so excited for this series, there are so many games that never left Japan that I have tried to find information on and struggled due to lack of archiving. This was a fantastic video.
Well, you certainly sold me on playing a translated version, if your group manages to finish it. Fingers crossed!
HELL YEAH THESE GHOSTS ARE HUNGRY FOR TRANS RIGHTS
5 seconds in and you hit me with the best track from FFX??? Damn I'm starting to love this channel
The fact that the director just casually implies trans people is so cool.
Huh...this looks delightful, but also one hundred percent looks like the kind of game I'd bash my head against trying to play. XD Still, lovely, and intriguing premise! And I love the idea of games-japan-got-but-never-made-it-westwards as a concept for videos! I look forward to it! :D
" EVERYONE SAYS HELL IS THIS BIG SCARY UNDERWORLD BUT NO ONE'S EXACTLY COME BACK TO CONFIRM WHETHER OR NOT THAT'S TRUE "
Hi ; my name is MAITREYA and I am a senior monk with the SHINGON order of JAPAN -- yes I've made the journey myself and yes it's true : hungry ghosts ( PRETA ) and the hell realms ( NARAKA ) do exist !
Part of the natural " outflow path " when it comes to breaking bargains with the worldly realm and attaining to final liberation / nibbana can be unwanted confrontations with spirits and the ghosts of ancestors -- these ghosts are deemed " HUNGRY " for the difficult manner in which they involve themselves with our sympathies and drain us of our living essence / vitality as an aspect of their predation .
Thus, just as depicted in game, their " speech " can be horribly deceitful and some are even hyper-intelligent with the capacity to gamble or barter -- SPOOKY .
Thanks so much for showcasing such a unique gem ... I would never have encountered it otherwise !
This was hella interesting. crazy that 99% of the world will...well.... never even know about this huh? good job! :)
One of the few times I feel like "You've never heard about this" is truly something a majority never heard about
Can't believe we never got this in the states. Ugh... Looks so esoteric. Would've loved this back in the day.
I really like your stuff! Super well-researched and brimming with neat little tidbits, like the river concept appearing in multiple mythologies. Keep it up! You're great at this!
I bought this game back in like 2014 when i was searching for every 1st person dungeon crawler/ Adventure FMV games or obscure horror games that resembled my favorites like From Soft's King's Field series (PS1/PS2), Shadow Tower (PS1/PS2), Eternal Ring (Ps2), Echonight 1/2/ E.N. Beyond (PS1/PS2), Baroque (SS/PS2/WII), Lunacy (SS), The Mansion of Hidden Souls (Sega CD/SS), D (PS1/SS), Enemy Zero (SS), Shadow of Destiny (PS2), The No Name Game 1/2 (DS), Juggernaut (PS1), etc. I got it not knowing any Japanese and not yet having a Japanese PS2 to play it, but the little I saw from my research made me know I needed it! I was saddened to see the extreme lack of coverage or walk-throughs or English translation, especially back then. I'm soooo happy to see you cover it, and I'm super glad to hear people are working on a translation!!! I still need to play Shadow Tower Abyss cuz I absolutely loved the OG! Have you played or heard of an obscure FMV game for the Saturn called Lunacy? It's a spiritual successor to The Mansion of Hidden Souls series on Sega CD and Saturn and has some excellent atmosphere and music, and deserves more attention! Also, Juggernaut for PS1 is a most curious trip into hell! Peace.
The way to get the best ending wasn't well implemented. With all those meters and everything being very vague and whatnot, it would be very, very hard to get through to the S ending. And you're saying it's not even worth it? Wow. They could have done this a *lot* better.
Also, what are all the other ending of the game? I can't read Japanese for shit.
Every time you say 'Village of the Dead,' I flashback to my time playing Folklore.
That's not a complaint. :)
NEW TANGOMUSHI VIDEO LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO
I absolutely love how you cover this kind of stuff. This is like my specific niche.
I weep at this game being Japanese only. So thankful for fan translations!
Absolutely loved your video, thanks for digging this up! Very interesting game! It would be great to see more Japan exclusive games in the future from you.
By the way, the realm of hungry ghosts is one of the lower realms (below "karmically neutral" human realm) but not exactly hell yet, actual hells would be much worse! So it's even more interesting that the game explores that particular place.
Wonderful as usual. As someone who’s been learning Japanese for the last ten years and struggled, I’d love to have more insights, like those you offered at the end, during the series. Can’t wait to watch the next video!
BABE WAKE UP NEW TANGOMUSHI VID DROPPED
No, but seriously super excited to finally see a new one! Been waitin' for it!
The game doesn't even exist on wikipedia. They should point everyone to this video.
Looking into it, it came out the same year as Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne. Kind of amazing that we got two games based around killing, befriending, and bartering with evil spirits in a single year.
just found your channel and I making m way watching all of your videos pls bring more because I'm almost done ahhahaha. But for real, really love the content so far, how you analize the plot a add some extra info is great, and I thought i knew lot from some of the games you covered but so far there is always a little something new I didn't knew about so... yeah love the channel, hope it keeps getting bigger and salutations from Venezuela
Wait... First person, horror themed, dungeon crawler with right stick combat on PS2? That's Shadow Tower Abyss!
It kind of looks like Kings Field/Eternal Ring/Shadow Tower 2. I wonder if that's what they were going for, art house Arx Fatalis, which is a cool idea
I found your channel through your rule of rose video and i absolutely love the way you convey the games you play. You explain everything a person needs to know about the games. I also want to say thank you for being an lgbtq friendly channel. Its very hard to find lgbt friendly video game youtubers so thanks !!
Very unique and insightful horror game.
Please try the game ps1 horror game
Koudelka. It's right up your alley of expertise and a good game!
Oh shit Tango dropped a video? 😍
* *body slams play button* *
I loved this, always wondered what happened to the Tomba devs, loved those games!
That said, is that a Wittgenstein picture that the ghost bride gives you?!
Keep up the good work!
This is one of those weird obscure horror games barely anyone knows about. Reminds me of Echo Night and The Void, which I could recommend for you to cover as well.
This game is a bit reminiscent of Cosmology of Kyoto in it's tone, a very non-traditional video game that focuses on buddhism and death just like Cosmology of Kyoto.
This was genuinely fascinating, and I indeed had no idea that this game existed (and I'm a fan of specifically weird Japanese games about the afterlife, i.e. Cosmology of Kyoto &c.). Your content is wonderful to see!
Concerning your intent to dive into gems that never made it outside of Japan, how interested would you be in covering the Kamaitachi no Yoru series? Interesting games on the surface, but absolutely fascinating when you dive deep into the hidden secrets.
great vid like always!! i was sitting here thinking the whole time the fp perspective in the game was very kingsfield. definitely going to watch out for the fan translation tho!
Also cannot WAIT for you to talk about boku no natsuyasumi i love that game!
You know for the shinigami section, I thought it’s four times the strike, cause you know…
People don't realize how much doesn't actually exist on the internet. or existed on the internet in some small capacity that doesn't exist anymore. We've all been so conditioned to the idea that everything is on the internet and that it's there forever.
thank you for finding one of those things and bringing us some information about it and this game to us.