Xevious. Japan's 62nd favorite game.

As the first installment in my series, 'Juan VS 100', in which I play Japan's favorite video games, I played Xevious for the Nintendo Famicom. Xevious debuted in arcades in 1982, making it the oldest game on the list, in which it ranked 62nd. I had trouble getting my hands on an arcade machine, so I settled for the Nintendo Famicom (NES in the West) version of the game, released in 1984. 

I was able to find a complete in-box copy on Mercari (Japanese eBay) for ¥1,234.

It's an old-school top-down shooter. You pilot a future fighter ship and try to blast enemies.

I love how Famicom packaging is only as big as necessary. 

It's strange to hold a game that's older than I am.

Xevious is very much a game-ass game; you move a thing around a place while trying to shoot/avoid other things. I'm glad that my first game in this series was one of these, because this style is at the very essence of gaming. There's something primal about trying to survive an onslaught of enemies, swerving around bullets while attempting to bomb fortifications. 

I played the game for a good 3 to 4 hours, never getting very far. It was an arcade game, so there is no true ending; the game will loop endlessly. The ship you see pictured here represents the furthest I got. I don't think I'll come back to this one often; the need to constantly tap the shooting button while anxiously avoiding hazards caused my hands to cramp up. I played on an old-school-style game controller, but I would have preferred an arcade joystick instead. This game is also credited with having the first 'boss' characters and hidden easter eggs in gaming. Both of which I never saw. 

I did have more fun than I thought I would with the game. It was extremely challenging (take one bullet, and you're dead) but also rewarding. At this point, it ranks number one on my list. On to the next one.


I leave you with a commercial for the sequel: Super Xevious.