The Ultimate Just Got Better: Minty on PS2

トラック狂走曲 〜愛と哀しみのロデオ〜

This game makes me want to learn Japanese. This game makes me want to live in Japan and drive a truck. You can go anywhere with a truck even if signs tell you you can’t.

I know enough kana to understand that there is an Arcade Mode, an Original Mode, and Options. However, I do not know enough to answer what I believe is a personality quiz at the beginning. If any bilingual people want to translate this for me, I will be eternally grateful. I demand to know which truck driver I am.

Like Outrun, this is a driving game, not a racing game. You drive a dekotora, or decorated truck. You are racing against time to meet someone you love. Maybe you love your son or your dad. Maybe you love your cat.

In Original mode, you try to complete specific requests. In the first mission, I collected 60 tuna fish, at one point finding myself teleported into a dark canyon where I faced off against a bomb throwing rival. When I completed that, I was anxious to try another mission and after brute forcing my way through menus and dialogues, I found my self in Hell. It was a circular track with no edges. One false move and I would plummet to my death. I was able to complete one ring around and claim victory, but the evil twins who had sent me there demanded I do it again in two laps. I…could not do this.

I watched a video of someone playing on the arcade cabinet and the turning on the wheel looks delightfully loose, perfect for madly spinning clockwise to counterclockwise. I hope the arcade game has the horn in the center of the steering wheel. I honked that horn so many times in the game. Cars listen actually listen to you and move out of the way! I think I’ve learned something from this game and that is to demand what I want instead of meeting other people at their pace. I have people I love waiting for me! I don’t have time to read your bumper sticker!

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