Happy Friday, everyone. We have an odd one on our hands this week: a video game released only in Japan about the 1988 US Presidential Election. Ooh, politics, this should be a lot of fun.
Developed by Axes Art Amusement and published by Hector, America Daitōryō Senkyo was headed by Japanese politician Shintaro Ito, who was actually a reporter for CNN at the time. Hector is no longer around, but they made a handful of simulation games, including golf and baseball. They also made a few puzzle games. Their most famous title, however, is probably Moon Crystal. I haven’t played that game, mostly because it goes for $800 on the Internet nowadays, but it has become a cult hit in recent years. It seems Hector has, for the most part, kept their games local. The only two that have been released here are Square Deal on Game Boy and Firestriker on SNES, both of which were positively received. That’s a good sign. So is this game any good?
Before I begin, I want to preface by saying I do not follow politics, so I will only be critiquing this as a game and not as an accurate portrayal of political events.
The game begins, and you are introduced to several politicians who you can play as throughout the game. These are based on real-life politicians who were active during this election: Margaret Thatcher, Pat Robertson, Jesse Jackson, Michael Dukakis, Noboru Takeshita, and eventual real-life winner George H.W. Bush. They have their own in-game portraits, too. The portraits take up almost all of the game’s visual aspect. They are well-drawn and capture the respective likeness for the most part, although I think some do look a little creepy.
The music is pretty good. It has a nice soothing quality that’s perfect for a game like this where there’s virtually no action involved. One of the tracks is actually an 8-bit rendition of the song “Beautiful Dreamer”. Also, at the end of the game, a very nice 8-bit rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” also plays.
Onto the gameplay. At the beginning you can select a candidate to play as. This doesn’t make much of a difference, however, as the campaign doesn’t seem to vary depending on who you choose.
The object is to address certain political situations so you can eventually make your way to the Oval Office. You can address these issues in one of three ways: conservative, centrist, or liberal. What do these mean? From what I understand, addressing issues will offend a certain group of civilians depending on which one you choose. Conservative offends working class, liberal offends religious folk, and centrist offends pretty much everyone. As you take stances against these issues, you will need to manage your funds correctly in order to rectify such issues without going bankrupt. If that happens, of course, it’s game over.
You have delegates, but you can end up losing delegates if you continue to lose funds. If the number of delegates reaches less than 15%, it’s an automatic game over.
Throughout the game you can make speeches and opinion polls. These do, in fact, benefit your campaign and increase your chances of winning the Oval Office. Up until the Primary Elections, the player will, of course, need to address current issues. Such issues include the AIDS epidemic, the civil rights movement, the ban on abortion, the CoCOM regulations, and many others. As you continue to spend your funds and make speeches over the course of the election, polls will be taken, and you can watch your vote count on a screen with the US map.
Because you have to manage your budget, there is a lot of math involved in this game. You have to manually keep track of how much you spend using a spreadsheet. You also have to keep track of poll numbers and record demographics; and determine how many public appearances you will make to give speeches. This adds a sense of realism to the game, as this would be something presidential candidates would have to deal with in real life.
As you continue to maintain your responsibilities as presidential candidate, time will eventually run out and it will be time for final voting. If you don’t have enough votes, the game will end. If you end up winning more votes than your opponent, you will be elected to office and the Oath of Presidency will be shown while “The Star Spangled Banner” plays.
So that’s America Daitōryō Senkyo. The best comparison I can make is that it’s very similar to Wall Street Kid. In that game, you have to manage your funds and make wise investments in order to inherit a fortune from your deceased relative. America Daitōryō Senkyo is pretty much the same concept, although definitely a bit more complex. That could possibly be the reason it wasn’t released in North America. Or maybe the issues addressed might have been too serious for younger players.
America Daitōryō Senkyo is functional, but at the same time it may get extremely boring and/or difficult for those who aren’t into things business, mathematics, or politics. So whether or not it’s good is really a matter of opinion. Unless you are REALLY into business, math, or politics, I would probably skip out on this one.
Rating: 6/10
Featured Image art by Kaio Scott