Curry House CoCo Ichibanya: It’s a Fine Day! Curry is Delicious!!

Like its name implies, CoCo Ichibanya is all about the curry. Typically slathered on rice, curry dishes are as common as peas and butter in Japan. In Dorasu’s game, you take the reins of the bustling curry chain.

CoCo’s gameplay is twofold: while the employees get to work serving and pleasing customers on the top half of the screen, you’re busy cycling through ingredients and putting together dishes on the bottom. Some want a little bit of curry, others a lot; some want all the extras, others are content with the defaults. Fill enough orders in the allotted time and guess what! You take one more step towards being the boss.

The action’s broken up with the help of a seperate set of 10 minigames, which include such activities as simple grid puzzles to the surely exhilarating "Curry Quiz". Aside from the quiz, the minigames seem to not have much to do with either curry or the restaurant, but that might be a good thing.

CoCo may be a popular eatery but can’t compare to Yoshinoya, a Japanese institution for over 100 years. Their reliance on cheap and simple rice bowls has kept them going — even during the tragedy of the US beef ban — and now you can recreate the magic on your PS2.

Yoshinoya the game is somewhat more hectic than CoCo — it’s like an action-puzzle title in the way it doles out speed and button mashing: the basic stages have you simply pressing the right button when floods of customers come up to the counter demanding their food. Keep it up without fail and you’ll create chains that will bring the customer happiness meter ever closer to the top. Situations take place in the day and night and are of varying urgency.

There’s a second part to the game, where a certain customer may "challenge" you to a special order that you’ll have to make yourself. Maybe they want only half a drink, or the onions cooked a special way — it’s up to you not to screw up.

And yes, there’s a quiz in this game too!

McDonald’s Monogatari (GBC)

McDonald’s is without doubt one of the most prevalent restaurants in the world of games. Titles like M.C. Kids and Treasure Land Adventure are well known, but barely concern the actual restaurant. As such, McDonald’s Monogatari is probably the most "normal" McDonald’s game out there, relatively speaking.

Players roleplay as the new assistant manager at the local Mickey D’s, and must deal with the everyday operations of the store as well as maintaining a good image in the community. Much of this is presented in minigames such as hamburger flipping, serving drinks and even calculating at the register.

Of course, it’s more than just the hectic atmosphere of a minimum-wage job; you’ve still got to have a life! Keeping up good communication may even pair you with the love of your life and watching McDonald’s slowly drift from your world as you go on whirlwind dates to the beach or New York. All in a day’s work, eh?