My Top 5 Game Center CX Segments

I've talked in a previous post about my love for the show GameCenter CX, a Japanese show where comedian Shinya Arino is tasked with beating a retro game by a certain time limit. The show is an hour long, and the main challenge is broken up by a couple of shorter segments throughout. The recurring one is TamaGe, where Arino visits an arcade, or at least a business that has arcade games attached to it like a candy store. One of the other segments changes from season to season. While there hasn't been a seasonal segment that I've actively disliked, there are certainly some that stand out as particularly entertaining to me. So today I'd like to talk about five of my favorite seasonal segments from GameCenter CX!

1. The People in My Head

Okay, so right off the bat we're starting with a bit of a cheat. Because this one wasn't actually featured as one of the segments in the show itself. Rather, this was a special series of video clips they put on the official website. The segment was so popular though, that they ended up putting it on one of the DVD releases.

So in The People in My Head, various staff members are tasked with drawing famous characters from video games, but they've got to do it from memory. There are some very talented people working on GameCenter CX, and cameraman Abe always has some amazing art to show. But it's the less talented of the bunch that make the segment truly worth watching, as Arino does not hold back in making fun of them. He awards a 'best of' for each collection of drawings, and each time it's usually the worst of weirdest one that he says is his favorite of the day.

There's almost too many that are hilarious for me to say which drawing is my favorite, but I think the one of staff member Urakawa making Ryu throwing a fireball that Arino says looks like he's inviting people to his shop, saying "Irashaimasen!" Ryu looks so happy!

2. Ring Ring Tactics

This was a very early segment, going back to season 3 (they're on season 28 as of my writing this)! This segment saw Arino playing through the notoriously difficult (and maybe tedious?) Ganso Saiyuki: Super Monkey Daibouken, a famous kusge, or crap game, from the Faimcom era. This is an extremely obtuse and early RPG that gives you no indication where you need to go or what you need to do next.

Luckily, the 'Ring ring' part of the title is all about Arino calling fans to get help! Before the season aired, fans could write in and leave their phone number and say something like how far they've made it. When he gets stuck, Arino calls a random number. Some people were adults who had figured out the game in their youth and were able to give helpful tips on what Arino should do next. Other times it might be someone that clearly didn't think they'd be called, as they didn't really know what he should do! And then other times a mother answers saying that the kid that sent in the postcard isn't home!

I think I like this segment because while it would be a tedious slog to use as an actual full episode, broken up the way it is, and with him able to call in help from people (that may or may not actually be able to help) makes it really fun. Plus while I like seeing Arino play retro games from my youth, I also really like seeing him play games that I might have missed or in this case that never came to the West in the first place!

3. Until the Udon Boils

In this segment Arino visits an Udon shop being manned by staff writer Kibe. Kibe is a huge fan of udon, and maybe my own fondness for it is why this one ranks so high for me! In each segment, Kibe will be boiling a different type of udon, which he talks about briefly. Then, to pass the time while the udon is being prepared, Arino is presented with some type of retro gaming oddity. One time it was Nintendo themed puzzles, and another it was retro gaming collectible cards. A short while later the udon is ready, and Arino eats some, talking about what makes it unique.

No too many of this season has been translated yet, so I actually haven't seen too many of Until the Udon Boils yet, but Kibe is always entertaining when he's on the show, and he truly has a passion for udon that I love seeing. Between Arino's retro game items he looks through and Kibe's udon of the day, this one always makes me want to sit on the floor playing NES with a steaming hot bowl of udon nearby!

4. Shocking Videos: MAX

This one is a favorite of mine because of the hilarious editing and over the top seriousness on display. In a parody of a weirdo hoarding snuff films, Arino goes to the apartment of Inoue, one of the show's ADs. ADs are assistant directors, and help Arino out if he's having a particularly hard time with a game. (They also scout out games by playing through them completely and deciding if it would be a good fit for the show.)

Arino arrives at Inoue's apartment, and Inoue shares shocking videos of violence caught on tape...such as footage of the player from Paperboy getting hit by a car, or the main character in Balloon Fight getting zapped by electricity. Like I said, part of the charm of this one is how dramatically it's edited, such as warning viewers of the violence and giving a countdown to when it happens. And Inoue plays it straight too, acting as if he's about to show something that shouldn't be shown to people. It's a really fun idea and it's made me try to think of other events in retro games that would be pretty horrible if they were real. Which is probably most of them, I suppose?

5. Famicom Sniper

This one is preeetty silly, but once again, it's the great editing that makes the segment so enjoyable. This segment starts off with a very Golgo-13 feeling intro, showing Arino wielding a Nintendo Super Scope several stories up in a building looking out a window to the streets below. Somewhere on the street nearby, a shady exchange will happen between to members of the staff, with one stealthily handing the other a Famicom game that Arino has previously played on the show. With only a brief glimpse, Arino has to figure out what the game was.

It's a pretty simple premise, but I found the staffers trying to act shady on the streets pretty funny, and Arino usually has something insulting to say about them as they make their attempts. It's also fun to play along, and sometimes I could guess what the game was.

So there you have it, five great segments in addition to Arino's usual challenges from GameCenter CX. I had planned on being cheeky and adding a 6th segment, but after looking through the list I think I could easily talk about five more segments that I love just as much, so I'm sure I'll return to this at some point in the near future. For those GameCenter CX fans out there, what's your favorite segment? Leave a comment and let me know! Thanks for reading!