After 22 years, the one and only game Sega developed for PS1 finally has an English translation, and it's a gateway to the '00s world of J-pop idols and Hamtaro anime
Aug. 25, 2024A delightful little obscurity just got much easier for English speakers to play
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That game is Mini-Moni. Shakatto Tambourine! da Pyon!, and as the one English word in the title implies, this is a rhythm game that optionally allows you to play using a custom tambourine controller. The track list is largely dominated by the work of the titular J-pop idol group Mini-Moni, who are likely most notable for their regular appearances in ’00s Hamtaro anime films, where they appeared in hamster form as the Mini-hams.
Yes folks, this is a perfect storm of 20-year-old otaku goodness. The game’s made even more interesting by the fact that it was the one and only game that Sega developed exclusively for the PS1 - though it’s worth noting that the company alsoporteda Puyo Puyo arcade title toSony’s original platform. Either way, it’s a fantastic little historical curiosity, since Sega’s decision to go multiplatform came well after the PS1’s time in the sun had ended.
Now, all these years later, the wonderful Hilltop has released a translation patch for the game as “a little bonus English patch we made pretty quick while working on our bigger projects.” You can download it for free on Hilltop’sPatreon, though as always, you’ll need to provide your own copy of the game to apply the patch to. Hilltop previously brought ustranslations of the lost Mega Man Legends chapterand theoutstanding cozy game Boku no Natsuyasumi 2.
There’s never a bad time to dig into thebest PS1 gamesof all time.
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