First, let's get straight to the point. I will tell you in the most direct, unambiguous, and blunt terms: Showa American Story, which I played at the Bilibili "Play First" event a few days ago, is a rough game that highly fits the definition of a Kuso Game.
We won't dwell on obvious issues like rough graphics or stiff facial animations. Let's talk about things you might not know: the protagonist might suddenly hit invisible walls while running in the wild, character lines sometimes replay inexplicably twice, you must stand precisely in front of NPCs and press R2 to initiate dialogue, and NPCs with triggerable side quests have no highlighting or guidance markers...
The game's combat system is also a bit weird.
Theoretically, the combat system in Showa American Story has some depth. The protagonist can equip four weapons simultaneously and has a combo derivation mechanism involving "Square Square Triangle." Almost every action, including attacking, dodging, running, and jumping, consumes stamina. Running out of stamina doesn't stop the player from attacking, but the lower the stamina, the higher the damage taken.
On top of this, the game adds a resource loop system. Player attacks accumulate "Rage," which turns into a usable Rage Bean when the meter is full. Players can use Rage Beans to enhance any attack related to the "Triangle" button, perform enhanced dodges, or instantly switch weapons to derive corresponding switch skills. With many Rage Beans accumulated, pressing Circle and Triangle simultaneously allows the player to use an "Ultimate" move, dealing massive damage.
Most importantly, consuming Rage Beans instantly refills all stamina. Beating people earns rage, rage converts to beans, beans refill stamina, and stamina is used for defense and attacking. Thus, the resource loop is complete.
Theoretically, this should be a decent combat system... but in practice, I felt something was off everywhere.
Except for the knuckles, the rage recovery efficiency of other weapons is quite worrying. Depleting an entire stamina bar is far from enough to generate a Rage Bean to maintain the loop. This forces players to either break off mid-fight to recover stamina at a distance or risk instant death from a single kick. Here, "instant death from a single kick" is literal. Players with zero stamina are as fragile as the red-pants character in Contra, and any attack can one-shot you.
Meanwhile, Showa American Story features many enemies with wide-area, multi-hit attacks. The protagonist has almost no invincibility frames when hit, so even grazing an attack drains health frame by frame. Before depleting a Boss's stamina bar, your attacks deal almost no damage. After struggling for ages, the Boss often breaks your guard with a super-armor move and one-shots you...
So, even though the combat system in Showa American Story sounds great on paper, the actual gameplay feels awkward and restrictive. Going all-out results in extremely low margin for error, while chipping away at enemies is frustratingly slow due to their high toughness. Add to that the mediocre feel of the controls... To put it nicely, "it has a solid foundation but needs polishing"; to put it bluntly, with release imminent and it still being this messy, things don't look good.
Case closed, guilty.
Objection!
Actually, the thousand words above are completely, utterly unimportant.
After all, does anyone really expect to find a hardcore action gaming experience in a game themed around 1980s Japan economically and culturally colonizing most of the US land, while simultaneously dealing with a zombie crisis, and stuffed with stereotypes and post-modern abstract memes?
Anyone who has seen the trailers probably doesn't care about those details. What everyone is more interested in are the American-born Showa-era Japanese samurai committing seppuku under cherry blossoms in front of Mount Rushmore, the six naked guys assembled into a Voltron-like mecha, the Statue of Liberty wearing a yukata, and the torii gates and koinobori carp streamers scattered across the land of Ameri-Japan...
So, can't handle the combat system? I simply change the difficulty option from "Showa Man" to "Heisei Loser" (yes, they actually named the difficulty options this way), and then just pop pills and crush through Everythinggj like the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin. A mere "core gameplay mechanic" shouldn't hinder my fun in the game.
So, how many amusing moments did Showa American Story pack into this demo?
Oh ho, there's certainly a lot to talk about.
The first scene of the demo's tutorial shows the minions of the main antagonist group, the "Brave Corps," catching a wild west outlaw who freeloaded, didn't pay, and left early. They lift the guy up, spread his legs, and slam him against a big tree. On the other side of the Pacific, this act is generally known as "Aluba" or "Tree Hugging." Excessive lust leads to disaster; circumcision cures all.
After clearing the minions and moving forward, the game gives me two new weapons. One is the large drill from the previous trailer. The execution move after depleting an enemy's stamina is called the "Dragon Drill"—yes, the Dragon Drill you're thinking of, the one involving a small knife and opening eyes wide.
Another weapon is an American flag—yes, pretty much the same one used by our neighbors in Super Earth. The ultimate move is literally a "flag-raising ceremony"...
You have a teammate by your side, but he offers no assistance in combat. The reason is obvious: this teammate, named "Michael Hero," is a disabled chuunibyou wrapped in bandages and sitting in a wheelchair. He covers one eye with bandages, and it's unclear if he's truly blind, cosplaying Big Boss from next door, or sealing some "Evil Eye."
He says his personality isn't chuunibyou, but a heroic spirit of helping the weak and fighting the strong, taught to him by an elementary school friend. When he was bullied for being weak, only his friend dared to stand up and resist. Of course, resisting was natural, since this friend had been held back ten years and already had a massive stat advantage over other kids... Would he dare to bully adults ten years older than himself? Your Will of Domination, I acknowledge it.
This guy said that if he graduated, there would be no one to protect the kids at school, so he ended up repeating grades for 20 consecutive years, becoming an immortal legend in American elementary schools. It is this spirit that led the wheelchair-bound Michael to embark on the path to becoming a true hero. Truly moving (sarcastic tone).
Pushing through to the end of the level, the protagonist Choko's goal comes into view. She needs to find the famous Japanese charlatan "Heian Granny" in New Yokohama Hill (formerly Hollywood). However, this charlatan is always fully booked, and without a personal introduction, getting close to her is nearly impossible.
Coincidentally, the acquaintance is right in front of us. However, he is currently being captured and barbecued by two Bosses from the Brave Corps, sprinkled with cumin, and asked to choose his desired level of doneness.
Yes, Showa American Story really knows its selling points. Rather than calling it a two-hour offline demo, it's more like a two-hour marathon broadcast of quirky character TV clips.
The demo is divided into four parts. Besides the tutorial-like Part 1 mentioned earlier, the remaining three parts focus on base casual cultivation, open-world exploration, and large-scale Boss battles. Aside from the smaller base part, the other two can be summarized in one sentence: "Exploration is full of quirky characters, and Bosses are god-tier quirky."
Let's start with the exploration part.
After saving the old acquaintance mentioned above, the player follows him to the streets of New Yokohama City, filled with torii gates, karaoke bars, free information centers, and soapland shops. Walking around here, you might randomly encounter several quirky characters who grab your attention. I met an American mafia "Wakagashira" who shoots at you, protesters from the "Zombie Human Rights Protection Association" throwing tantrums, and a seasoned old john who gives you a VIP card for a foot massage parlor.
As I walked along, I heard a passerby complaining that someone had let the air out of their tires. Truly damn immoral. Not far away, there was a guy doing bicycle repairs. He told me that times are tough lately, with people constantly leaving nails on the ground to puncture tires. What if a kid gets hurt? So, to prevent people's tires from being punctured by nails while riding, I came up with a plan: You go steal all the valve caps from bicycles on the street. That way, when their tires deflate, they won't go out on the road and get punctured by nails.
Truly damn immoral.
But if you happen to be a morally bankrupt jerk too, you two will hit it off and enter a mini-game where you steal bicycle valve caps on the street. The process involves squatting in front of a bike wheel when no one is looking and frantically twisting the right stick to unscrew the valve cap before being discovered.
Of course, during this time, passersby might suspect you due to your suspicious actions... But no worries, you can press the direction keys to make up an excuse anytime, such as tying your shoelaces, doing squats, or simply shouting "What are you looking at?" to scare them away. Passersby will react accordingly—for example, if you say you're doing squats, they might retort, "You damn bitch, who are you showing off for?"
It's easy to see that this game plays somewhat like the familiar Yakuza series, which is similarly absurd, filled with Japanese flair and eccentric characters. The core experiences are undoubtedly similar: main storylines, quirky side characters, and plenty of fun mini-games. You can even find an Out Run arcade cabinet on the streets of New Yokohama, just like in Yakuza 0.
However, compared to others, Showa American Story is rougher, more absurd, more hellish, and more offensive.
Just how absurd is it? I think the Boss fight in the final part of the demo provides the answer. Unfortunately, the officials didn't provide footage of this Boss fight. However, viewers with ninja-like dynamic vision should be able to envision the intense and magnificent battle from my description.
Shinko Kozuki, the Ninja of the 72 Divine Weapons, makes his entrance accompanied by cheap PPT-style sliding cutscenes and expensive firecracker explosion effects. Well-versed in the Kojiki record that "if one shuriken doesn't defeat the enemy, throw a hundred," he can unleash windmill shurikens and repeat the Izuna Drop at any time. He throws firecrackers on the ground to boost morale while using light-foot evasion techniques and even uses the long-lost secret technique "Radio Calisthenics" to stretch and heal...
More importantly, he is probably the Boss with the most phases I have ever fought in my entire gaming career.
After depleting Mr. Shinko's health bar and entering a blade-clashing QTE, the protagonist cuts off one of his hands, pushing him into Phase 2, where he cosplays as the Shrine Maiden Ninja. In Phase 2, Mr. Shinko starts fleeing across the Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, turning the game instantly into Subway Surfers. The protagonist catches up and depletes his health bar again. Just as both sides are bloodied and locked in a stalemate, a melodious phone ringtone suddenly sounds. Mr. Shinko hurriedly bows and apologizes: "Sumimasen, please allow me to take this call first."
A voice rings out from the brick-sized mobile phone: "Hello, you have been selected as a premium customer by our bank. We invite you to experience our XX insurance project..." Clearly, the US in the 1980s didn't have spam call blocking systems. The expensive mobile phone was promptly smashed to pieces by Mr. Shinko.
Just during this phone call, Mr. Shinko secretly caught his breath and healed back to full health, dragging the fight into Phase 3. After struggling to deplete his health bar again, the protagonist chopped off one of Mr. Shinko's legs and minced it finely to prevent resurrection. Now you surely can't jump around anymore, right?
Just kidding, he can still jump!
With only half his body left, Mr. Shinko enters Phase 4. His attack pattern changes to standing on one leg, using firecracker explosions to launch himself into the air, and then crashing down on the player with a flying kick... By now, my healing items are completely depleted, and my novelty has turned into exhaustion from thinking, "Is this ever going to end?" Fortunately, the limbless Mr. Shinko can no longer land balanced. Each jump sends him rolling on the ground for a while, allowing me to barely win in a state of empty resources, causing him to explode and scatter, saying Sayonara.
I have to say, this Boss fight left a deep impression on me. Never mind whether it was long and tedious; just consider whether the developers piled enough stuff onto him, whether the presentation was absurd enough, and whether there were enough phase twists.
This Boss fight experience is roughly equivalent to what Showa American Story offered us in this demo. The bizarre combat system, rough gameplay polish, and long, tough, multi-phase Bosses constantly remind you that this isn't a traditionally "good" game. Yet, one amusing moment and quirky character after another keep you playing, as if brainwashed by short-video algorithms.
Finally, it's worth noting that although Showa American Story is set against the backdrop of "Japanese cultural and economic colonization of America," its primary target audience is likely Chinese players. Most of the jokes in the game don't require deep knowledge of American or Japanese culture to understand, and many punchlines and memes are "domestic exclusives" for China. For instance, the "Aluba" scene at the beginning of the tutorial mentioned earlier will likely make most Chinese male players chuckle, while foreign players might be completely confused.
However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. For a game that is already a supreme mashup, the integration of "Chinese elements" feels like the icing on the cake.
For example, after finishing the exploration part, the player visits the top hot spring inn in New Yokohama for a high-end bath experience. Upon entering, I expected to soak in a mixed-gender large bath while enjoying flowers and sake... Instead, I saw individual small tubs under cherry trees. The owner explained, "Americans don't like sharing baths with others; this is a localized improvement adapted to local customs."
The steaming water in the tubs isn't just regular hot water, but different bath salts... or rather, hot pot broths. The owner says this is their specialty, with options like beef bone clear soup, spicy red oil, healthy mushroom, sweet and sour tomato, numbing rattan pepper, sour and fragrant Tom Yum, and explosive cilantro. Premium customers can choose a dual-flavor yin-yang tub. As the highest-level VIP who saved the owner's life, we get the ultimate treatment—the nine-grid pot.
Thus, the final image becomes us, on American soil formerly known as Hollywood, soaking in a mysterious Eastern nine-grid hot pot, drinking sake from the Land of the Rising Sun, and watching cherry blossoms fall onto spicy oil slicks... How to put it? Whether Chinese, American, or Japanese, the feeling at this moment is less like the outrage Italians feel seeing pineapple on pizza, and more like laughing out of frustration, having no choice, and finding peace while listening to the Guan Yu theme song.
In short, Showa American Story, set for release later this year, is likely a masterpiece—but the kind of "masterpiece" that means "psycho" or "legendary weirdo," the type that gets tagged with "TV" and spreads across short-video platforms. If you're looking for a high-quality game with satisfying combat, I suggest staying far away from this thing. But if you're just looking for a substitute for the president of Flying Dog.exe...
Yoshi, sit tight, here comes the big one.