I've been aware of this series for a long time, but the large amount of menus, all in Japanese had put me off. But recently, I just decided to dive in, and it turns out that the menus are pretty simple to navigate once you're playing the game. Anyway, in case you're won dering, this is the first in a series of nconventional racing games, themed around the subculture of Japanese truck drivers who adorn their vehicles with murals and flashing lights and various other garish accoutrements. Dekotora means "Decorated Truck", you see.
It's not just the theming that's unconventional, as Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu plays unlike any other racing game I've ever played. For a start, you never have to worry about taking corners, as your truck will just automatically follow the line of the road as you hold the accelerator down. Instead the races (which are all one-on-one) are more of a strategic battle of wits between you and your opponent. Basically, your opponent will always start with a pretty big lead, and it'll take a while to catch up with them, and when you do, you'll be going at about the same speed, making overtaking difficult. The twist is that you get a speed boost from being directly and closely behind your opponent, and you've got to use this to build up speed and nip in front of them when you have the chance.
Now, you might be wondering about the "no taking corners" thing. Instead of worrying about slowing down when the road bends, you're instead expected to use left and right on the D-pad to change lanes when the need arises, either in trying to out-maneuver your opponent or navigate around the normal car-driving road users (who, on later stages, always seem to be in the way as soon as you would otherwise be able to take the lead. infuriating!). You even have to double-tap them, as the first press just turns on your indicator! As well as acceleration and steering, you also have buttons for honking your horn and shouting abuse.
Also unlike most racing games, the money you win from races can't be spent on more powerful engines, or more grippy tires. Instead, you start the game with a bland, grey truck, and your winnings are spent on your choice of a vast array of bright, gaudy junk to put on it. There's strips of flashing lights, massive murals of demons or monsters or princesses, and more. The only bad thing I really have to say about this stuff is that right from the first races, your opponents all already have fully-decorated trucks, and the miserly amount of points you get for each win means that you'll be playing for eons before your ride is looking as ostentatious as you want it to. It would be remiss, too, to talk about this game without mentioning its atmosphere: there's tons of it. It's definitely in that genre of fiction regarding working class people in showa era Japan, and if you've seen movies or TV shows from those days, you'll definitely get the same feel from this as you did from those.
Anyway, the first Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu game is one I've enjoyed playing so far, and I look forward to looking into some of its spin-offs and sequels at some point, too. it even has entries on the Game Boy and Wonderswan! I recommend giving it a try yourself, and I even have a small menu-navigation tip for the Japanese-illiterate: to load your save, you have to pick the box on the right on the main menu. Also, there's a couple of modes I haven't bothered with, like the drawing mode (because only those with the patience of the saint and some proper pixel art talent are going to get anything decent out of it), and time attack mode (because it's just the racing, without the game's main gimmick).
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