Apparently in Japan, if you get really thirsty, a magical dude called Pepsiman will appear. He will use his crazy powers to deliver Pepsi to you instantly. This is all bullshit of course, but Pepsiman was a great mascot in the 90s. He was the focal point of Japan's Pepsi campaigns. Pepsiman was so popular, he even got his own Playstation game.
The game starts with some fat American guy telling you about Pepsi. Since the game was only released in Japan, I guess this is their view of the typical Pepsi drinking foreigner; fat and retarded. After this pointless FMV, the game moves into another scene which involves someone explaining a problem to Pepsiman. Needless to say, all the problems revolve around a lack of Pepsi products.
From here an awesome theme song plays, which sings about Pepsiman. After the theme song you go in to the levels which are kinda strange. You move Pepsiman from right to left as he attempts to avoid random shit on his way to the goal. He can jump and slide under vehicles, which adds some variety to the gameplay. Also in certain levels he gets a skateboard. Pretty rad huh?
Pepsiman doesn't have music in the levels ( actually this is just in the ripped versions found online, emulators can't read it for some reason.) This is a shame because honestly his theme song is so badass if it played constantly no one would complain. The graphics are about average for a Playstation title with nothing really standing out aside from the weird 2-D people in 3-D levels. The visuals only real affect is making the player want to drink a case of Pepsi.
As far as advertisement games go, Pepsiman is definitely one of the best. It is a shame Pepsiman was never released in the US, but the game is far too weird for mass appeal. In Japan, the mascot was a huge hit. He went onto star in Fighting Vipers as a secret character. This cheat was removed from the US version and Pepsiman was not included in Fighting Vipers 2. I guess the decision makers were fans of Coca-Cola products.
Recommendation:
Pepsiman now rests in total obscurity. The game is pretty stupid, but somehow it is still incredibly fun. Pepsiman is pretty expensive in the second hand market, and a re-release will never happen. If you like weird games or Pepsi (fanatically) then track this game (or ISO) down, you won't be disappointed.
2 comments:
Ha ha I gotta play this on my PSP!
Though it's later levels are very frustating, this was a good game.
I like to think of it as a spiritual predecessor of sorts to Sonic Unleashed - it even has a unecessary stupid american guy to waste time, like the Werehog. =P
And i couldn't get the music to work, too...
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