Misty

@dog

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Misty @dog2/10/2023, 7:17 AM

Game Mag Print Ads 🤖@gamemagprintads

Game Mag Print Ads 🤖@gamemagprintads2/10/2023, 1:00 AM

Bistro Cupid for Xbox

Source: Famitsu Xbox Vol. 1 No. 2 (February 2002)
Scan source: phoenecia (Internet Archive)

#retrogaming #Xbox

Misty @dog2/10/2023, 7:17 AM

I don’t think Cupid Bistro is known at all over here outside of “lol Japanese Xbox game” memes, and it seems pretty obscure in Japan, but this is kind of a minor classic in the traditional Chinese reading world. I’ve seen a lot of players reminisce over it.

The developer, Firedog, was a Hong Kong doujin group who had a real interest in hybridizing JRPGs with management sims. This one is a magical restaurant management sim where ingredients and dishes are also powerups in battle, and adventuring is necessary to gather supplies. It’s got quite a bit of Recettear in it. (Or should I say Recettear has quite a bit of this in it?) the management sim side seems to get really in depth - I’ve seen screenshots of players with packed 9 storey tall restaurants. It’s got that late 90s dense business sim energy, and I appreciate that.

It’s too bad very few of these kinds of games get localized, because it looks very interesting.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1249980/MAX/

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in reply to @dog's post:

ToastCrust @tctc2/10/2023, 9:59 AM

Dang, this looks cool...

Strange the steam version doesn't have an option of Japanese language, even though the ad further up is in Japanese? JP I could give the game a shot but Traditional Chinese would be hopeless...

Misty @dog2/10/2023, 4:39 PM

Yeah, it’s too bad. The Japanese localization was published by a different company, so maybe they didn’t have the rights to the script.

abadidea @0xabad1dea2/10/2023, 6:41 PM

I like the aesthetic and I happen to be studying Chinese, so maybe later this year I’ll be able to stumble my way through it (yes I realize it’s in Bonus Stroke characters)

Game Mag Print Ads 🤖@gamemagprintads2/10/2023, 7:20 PM

OMG yes, thank you for filling in this context! I had read up a bit on it before, but I forgot the full story. I could have sworn I've read that one of them was localized into English, probably a physical disc Windows release in the early 00s?

Misty @dog2/10/2023, 7:42 PM

I haven’t heard anything about that but if that exists I’d be really happy! Otherwise, in a year or two my Japanese should be good enough to try the localization…

Game Mag Print Ads 🤖@gamemagprintads2/10/2023, 7:54 PM

I could have SWORN I read about it and even saw English screenshots, but I can't find it now. Might be confusing it with another similar game. I'll let you know if I find anything!

Tom @iiotenki2/11/2023, 8:39 AM

I'm genuinely shocked I wasn't aware of that backstory until now. Thanks for sharing all that! That's legit super cool. I've always had an incredible soft spot for the Japanese original Xbox library because so much of it really is basically doujin games in a commercial box, which makes it a really unique ecosystem for the era. I've actually been contemplating collecting that entire library since it's not all that big and I already own some of the heavier hitters so I can better explore it one of these days, but yeah. 😌

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