Game Center CX Season 6 – Back to Contents
#42
1年ぶりのクイズゲーム!! 「アドベンチャークイズ ハテナ？の大冒険」
For the First Time in a Year, a Quiz Game!! "Adventure Quiz: Hatena? no Daibouken"

Chousen

As the title says, it’s been a year or so since the first quiz game on the show, Tonosama no Yabou, so Arino is given another PC Engine quizfest: Hatena no Daibouken, which features a Capcom character theme. Arino’s about ready to put the game in when Inoko MAX steps in and gives Arino the original Game Boy version of Hatena as a warmup. Arino chooses the Final Fight board and does pretty well, going up against the first "boss," G. Oriber. He moves on to the next boss, but slips up on the difference between types of udon noodes and loses the game.

Arino thinks that’s a good enough start, so he moves on to the proper PCE version. He clears the first few questions with no trouble and continues along the game board. But when it comes to a question regarding a fashion style ("sailor" or "cola?" it’s slightly trickier in Japanese), he slips and misses. He moves on, though, and is soon given a choice of genres. He wonders aloud which one to go with, but the staff knows him too well. "Anime! Anime!" He goes for it and naturally, he aces the whole set.

A few more sets (and credits) later, Arino arrives at another genre select. He goes with a more general entertainment category this time. He clears the set, and then it’s on to stage 2! However, it’s not long before the questions start getting harder, and Arino gets his first Game Over. On the high score screen, Arino inputs his name as "WII" — today’s the day Nintendo’s new system went on sale, and Arino doesn’t have one.

He restarts the game, but doesn’t do a whole lot better. That is until another anime category comes up. With one credit and three chances left, Arino manages to get back to stage 2, but eventually gets another Game Over there thanks to a baseball question. Coincidentally, there’s some baseball-themed snacks on the desk, so Arino opens up a bag. A card is attached, but it’s… a mascot.

Back to the game. Arino racks up a couple more Game Overs. Inoko MAX steps in again and gives Arino some good news: GCCX got a Fuji TV award thanks to the success of the DVD set sales and was recognized as a "hit" (see last episode). But he also has bad news: Arino can’t use the 2-player trick to get through the game like he did with Tonosama no Yabou. But what he can use are the good ol’ numbered paddles that the ADs used back then to help him choose the questions! Inoue has his, and so does cameraman Abe, and then Inoue introduces a third…

Former AD Tojima! Back for another round! And he has a gift: a framed piece of fan art given to him and depicting Arino and all his AD helpers. Tojima hangs the picture on the whiteboard, and then Arino gets up to list everyone’s areas of expertise. Like the last quiz challenge, Arino knows anime and manga; Tojima knows a lot about America; Abe knows bikes (and now gourmet cooking!); and Inoko MAX is good with riddles and sports, among others. Everybody takes their seats and gets ready for another quiz conquering!

Annnnd they all fail — Arino loses a credit within two questions. He continues, and on the next question Tojima fumbles with his paddles to get the right answer, but Arino ends up getting it right on his own. Arino then pauses and shows Tojima how it’s done: put two paddles in each hand — 1 and 2, 3 and 4 — so that you can easily turn them! Sheesh!

A question about engines is right up Abe’s alley, so that’s an easy one. Time passes and Arino finally reaches the end of stage 2. He can choose the genre again, so Tojima suggests history. Bad move: the first answer he suggests is wrong! And Inoko MAX gets the next one right! Arino gives Tojima a quick steely glance. But Arino pulls through and enters stage 3.

Fast forward to the end of stage 3 (apparently it wasn’t that exciting). For this one, Arino chooses the Nonsection (miscellaneous) category. Near the end of the set, Arino earns an extra credit, and narrowly wins the last question thanks to Tojima. Things seem to be going rather smoothly now, but we’ll see what happens in stage 4.

Another quick jump through stage 4. Arino chooses Anime for the last boss, and naturally blows right through it. And then there’s stage 5. For this boss, Arino goes with the Game category. He starts OK, but then misses a question about Doki Doki Panic. But before long, stage 5 is cleared out as well. Only two more stages to go!

Arino chooses Games again for the stage 6 boss, and gets through that in a flash. The final stage is prefaced by a choice of bosses. Arino goes with the punk-looking boss for the first fight! After some close calls, Arino succeeds. Onto the next boss. Anime is the choice here, but he misses enough to have to spend his last credit. At any rate, it’s on to the third boss, Ninja Hanamaru. Arino goes with anime again and wins all but the last question. Once he’s past that, it’s on to the last remaining boss. This one isn’t offering anime as a choice, though, which disappoints him. Instead, for some reason, he goes with the one category he can’t possibly win alone: Sports!

Yet he goes alone anyway. He misses a couple questions, but ends up with two chances and two questions left. He loses it all to Time Overs. So close, and now, so very far again. Arino is forced to start all over.

An hour and a half later and he returns to the final four bosses. This time he starts with the boss he lost at, but goes with the Nonsection category. He gets through all of it on his own. By the second boss, Arino loses enough to get down to 1 credit again, but he pulls through. Now with this last chance he faces the last boss, and goes with Nonsection again. He aces every one! Finally the game is–

Crap. One more boss, six more questions. Arino gets the first couple right, but misses one. Annnnd then the other. He spends the last credit; now there truly is no looking back. The next try is much smoother. He gets to the last question with 3 tries left. He misses it. The replacement comes up. After a few seconds, he pushes a button and nails it. Finally, after 6 hours, Hatena no Daibouken is clear.

But that’s not all! Since Arino’s birthday is coming up, the staff has a special present for him. Tojima procures a bag from over the partition and hands it to Arino. Could it be? Yes! It’s a Wii! Birthday wishes do come true.

TamaGe

Game Big

For the first segment, Arino visits a nondescript center called Game Big. He starts off with a UFO catcher that has an arm that can be wildly swung around. He gets a few black capsules from it, but then wins a clear capsule with a prize ticket inside. When the operator comes, what does Arino ask for? A giant can of Ritz crackers.

From there it’s on a spiral-y pachinko-type game. Arino wins another prize: a Christmas-themed Pooh bear! And then another UFO catcher, this one filled with rolled-up ticket envelopes and an arm that features a scoop. Arino gets one envelope, but it fails to drop, so he gets the operator again. On another try, he gets a handful of envelopes. He counts up the points on the tickets. He ends up with 23! Not bad. Too bad what he really wanted — a Metal King Slime figurine — is 45.

The next catcher is SNK’s Neo Carnival, which only has a tiny metal hook as a grabber. Naturally, Arino gets it caught on the wire shelf inside. He fiddles with the controls, and the arm starts pulling the entire shelf! Arino and the staff laugh, and then he asks the operator if it counts. No, of course not, but he lets Arino have one prize as a consolation. Arino decides to leave with his loot. He did game big, after all.

Home Ground

Next is Home Ground in Setagaya-ku. It’s not quite an arcade, or a shop. It’s more of a theme restaurant — it’s just that the theme here is "home." A carpeted floor, low tables, a TV with Famicom in the center… it’s remarkably subtle.

 Arino orders a drink and then asks where the games for the Famicom are. The waitress scoots over to a dresser with drawers filled with carts. Arino pulls it out again and starts browsing. The first game he sees is a faded Tetris cart with the name "Chida" on it. A lot of the games seem to be worn out and written on, as a matter of fact.

Arino pulls out another drawer, and this one has a Super Famicom and a PlayStation inside! Another one has — ew — a leaky shampoo bottle and some massage paraphernalia. More toiletries are in another drawer. Arino grasps one more drawer and jokingly wonders if there’s going to be panties in it. He yanks it out and… it’s just the rest of the games.

Arino finally decides to play a game, and starts with Namco’s Family Jockey. He loses his first race. Then, more Namco fun with Pac-Land. Pretty soon, the game starts twitching. He figures out it’s the RF cable, so he picks it up and starts waving it around, but that just screws up the signal more.

Next is the Kinnikuman (M.U.S.C.L.E.) game. Not exactly the best one ever. After that he invites the waitress over to play a game of Mario Bros., a favorite of Arino’s because he likes to sabotage the other player rather than play it, and then cackle after he kills them. The same thing happens here, and the woman leaves shortly after getting a Game Over. He then sends in Kibe-kun to sit in. Thankfully Kibe knows what he’s getting into, and is much more adept at avoiding Arino. The waitress comes back and hands Arino a handmade 500-yen coupon for next time.

Game Collections: 1988: February-March