A. Yoshi: You know, I'm thirsty, I think I'll have...
*Pepsiman runs down the neighborhood with his theme playing*
AY: a nice, cool...
*Pepsiman gets to Team Yoshi's apartment building and heads to the elevator while his theme continues to play*
AY: Refreshing glass of...
*Pepsiman jogging in place while an elevator music version of his theme plays*
AY: WATER!!!!!!!!!
*Pepsiman turns the water into Pepsi*
AY: DUDE, WHAT THE HELL!? I DON'T WANT THIS FATTENING DEHYDRATING TONIC!!!!!
Pepsiman: Merry new year!!!!!
AY: *Throws Pepsiman out the window with a black hole bomb*
Text below a game of Starcraft: NonUrthGamer86: EWWWWW!!!!! What's next to my guy right now?
YoshietteNum1: I'unno, Just get rid of it!
Pepsiman: Ruhhh Rohhh Raggy!!!!
Theme: PEPSIMAN!!!!!
I'm pretty sure we don't need an introduction to Pepsi lecture, so let's get to the point, Pepsi in the 90s had a mascot, a rather westernized mascot, only in Japan. The sad part about these commercials were that while being Japan only, they took place in the east cost of the USA... They involved Pepsiman running across great distances to give people Pepsi, usually ending with some slapstick. They've got that Japanese westernized flare and are incredibly goofy. He was created by Canadian comic book artist Travis Charest. and the mascot was so successful he made it onto the Sega Saturn version of Fighting Vipers, appearing in various Japanese Pepsi themed merchandise, and even getting a video game...
The game was developed by KID, who've previously made visual novels, and they made it on a low budget. KID wasn't too fond of action games, and with the low budget they couldn't make much elaborate cutscenes, so they got an American man and filmed him while he had a Pepsi fetish. Which I'm pretty sure costs more than making CG for a cutscene, since they have to fly to America, and all. but they made up for it by having most of the cutscenes take place in the man's house.
Now onto the gameplay side of things. It's pretty much sonic adventure (which FAST FACT: Sonic Team was inspired by a level in Pepsiman to make a level similar to that one in Sonic Adventure 2) You can jump, slide, and dash through obstacle courses. I'm not too sure what you want out of this piece on this game, It was just like any other shovelware title at the time, only slightly more decent. This game was infamous for having poor grammar in it's cutscenes, Special mention goes to a man who SHOULD know how to talk proper English saying things like "Pepsi for TV Game". This whole game is filled with Pepsi fetishism. From that man binge drinking Pepsi, to the people being obsessed with Pepsi to the point of rioting for filling up Pepsi machines, to a whole Pepsi city, Yeah in this game, to quote Jesus Christ, "Pepsi is love, Pepsi is life" I get this is probably a commentary on us drinking too much sodas as Americans, but this is a celebration of all things Pepsi, not a insult to it...
This game really didn't do well commercially, people felt it was to commercialized for it's own good, to westernized for it's own good, and many critics weren't to fond of the game, feeling it too similar to other games like Sonic Adventure, and for the longest time it was a unicorn type game, rumored in games magazines, and early game websites, However as the game gained more infamy for being a blatant commercial for Pepsi, it gained sort of a cult following, for being a WTF game for the Japanese PS1. The game has increased demand since the unicorn was found, so it's not going to be the easiest game to obtain, But if you want super Japanese, look no further, find a copy, or download the game, it's up to you, don't look at me, I'M NOT JUDGING YOU!!!!!! KID Would make a few more games after that before quietly filing for bankruptcy in 2006. So yeah, that was Pepsiman, I wish I had an overarching point or some kind of moral, but all I can say is I hope you learned something today...
(Vague Hint of What's) NEXT TIME:
^Yeah we're covering this thing again.^
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