GameCenter CX

GameCenter CX
, also known as Retro Game Master in other regions, is a Japanese gaming-variety show television program produced by Fuji Television and . The name is a combination of "game center" (the Japanese term for an arcade) and Fuji TV's call sign, JOCX-TV. It stars Shinya Arino, a member of comedy duo Yoiko, who plays home console video games from previous decades and usually attempts to get the game's ending within a single day. The show has been on-air since November 4, 2003, with a new episode airing bi-weekly at Thursday midnight on Fuji TV One. 18 DVD sets have been released in Japan. In 2008, Fuji TV was looking for international distributors for subtitled DVDs.
Premise
The show is presented as a gaming variety show which follows a commentary-based long-play format. Shinya Arino challenges several games from previous eras, presented by his producers in order to get each ending. He is supported by the show's assistant directors (referred to as ADs) and sometimes other staff, both via moral support and actual gameplay. He also is featured in segments interspersed throughout the episodes where he goes to local arcade centers, as well as segments where he does a variety of things, such as interviews with game designers, showcasing classic console hardware or games, or a made-up game show where the staff participates.
GameCenter CX as a company
Arino is presented as an employee of the fictitious GameCenter CX company. His jumpsuit attire is adorned with the GameCenter CX logo, which with the second season onward lost the original brackets around the "CX". Arino formally greets anyone of status by serving him/her a business card. The CX company even promotes Arino depending on how well he does during the season. The phrase Arino says right before turning on the console, "Kachō on!", signifies his role as chief of the aforementioned company.
To continue on with the corporate theme of the show, a stock certificate was included with the second DVD collection to have the buyers feel like they owned stock in the company. In the last episode of season 7, Bandai Namco Entertainment president Ishikawa made Arino an honorary employee and presented him with a company card.
ADs
The assistant directors help provide creative input, construct settings, and work as a camera crew at times, especially when on location. Their on-screen presence is typically precipitated by Arino struggling with a spot in a game. They will offer help of a varying degree, enough to dislodge Arino from his despair, but not so much as to raise questions about whether he beat the game on his own. These members of staff start as interns, and often they are promoted to various paid positions surrounding the show's production. Many have moved on to other Japanese TV shows. After they left the staff, sometimes they reappeared in next seasons or special DVD challenges.
- Season 1
- Seasons 1 & 2 (first episode only)
- Season 2
- Seasons 3 & 4
, a.k.a. - Seasons 5 & 6, was part of main staff since the end of season 13-22 seasons as director
, a.k.a. - Season 7
- Season 8
- Seasons 9 & 10
, a.k.a. - Seasons 11 & 12
- Seasons 11 & 12 & 13
, a.k.a. - Seasons 13 & 14 & 15
- Seasons 13 & 14 & 15
- Season 16
- Seasons 16 & 17 & 18
- Seasons 18 & 19
- Seasons 19 & 20
- Seasons 20 & 21
- Seasons 21 & 22
- Seasons 22 & 23
- Season 23
- Season 23 & 24
- Season 25
Miscellaneous staff
- Cameraman
- Art Director, Writer
- Producer, Narrator
- Video Editor
, a.k.a. - Voice Mixing
- Planner
- Assistant Director, left the staff in the 12th season. Came back as director in 17th season.
- Assistant Director
- Production
- Assistant Director (AD)
- Promotion (PR)
Music
Audio clips from the videogame Kid Icarus (光神話 パルテナの鏡) are often used to intro segments with The King.
The song used during Arino's arcade field trip adventures is called 異国のしらべ from HEAT WAVE.
The song during his trip north is "Between the expansive sky and large land" by Chiharu Matsuyama.
The second and third seasons made extensive use of the soundtracks from the games Headhunter and Headhunter Redemption to highlight the show's dramatic segments.
The show also frequently features popular music by contemporary artists such as Phil Collins, Jesse McCartney and Madonna, as well as music from film scores like Jurassic Park and Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The song used for showing elements from games at Season 9 and onwards is called Hijacked from the library audio album called Hollywood Premieres by 615 Trax and Warner Chappell Production Music.
Segment Songs
"Game Collections" uses the songs The King Of Pleasure (seasons 1 & 2 only) and Reaching For The Stars (all seasons, bar 10th) by Fantastic Plastic Machine.
"Arino's Ring-Ring Tactics!" uses both the opening and ending songs from Monkey, Monkey Magic and Gandhara.
"Urawaza Jet Stream" uses the songs "The Intimacy of My Woman's Beautiful Eyes" by James Carter (for only one episode) and "Romeo Is Bleeding" by Tom Waits for the rest the segments. Episode 25 uses the song "Night Birds" by Shakatak while Arino is reading the postcard.
"The Aces of Hardware Won't Disappear" uses (and is named after) the song "Heart No Ace ga Detekonai" by Candies.
"The Romance Never Ends" uses (and is named after) the song "" by C-C-B.
"Game & Watch, I Can't Leave You Alone" uses the song "" by .
"Famicom Manga Café"'s song is based on by Yoshie Kashiwabara.
"GameCenter CX NEWS" uses the song Eternity by Capsule.
"Singing About Whatever the Hell You Want" uses (and is named after) the song "" by Kenji Sawada.
"Retro Read-Aloud" uses the song Naturish by Marsh and Nox Vahn.
"Everything Important in Life, I Learned From Video Game Strategy Guides" uses the theme song from the 1999 film The Road Home, by .
"A Waste of Color" uses the song Sailor Fuku o Nugasanai de by Onyanko Club;
"Project CX" uses the song Earthly Stars by Miyuki Nakajima.
"Barcode Battler" uses the songs Liar Game and Electrode Spark 0101 from Liar Game.
"Famicom Sniper" uses a special arrangement of the Main Theme from Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode.
"When I Looked Back, He Was There" uses the song "Yah Yah Yah" by Chage and Aska.
"Game Center MSX" uses the song Overnight Success by Teri DeSario
"DJ Monster Battle" uses the song "Anasthasia" by T99.
"Chief Arino's Bonus Assessment" uses the song "En Aranjuez con Tu Amor" by David Garrett.
"2P Battles Without Honor" uses the song Jingi Naki Tatakai from Battles Without Honor and Humanity.
"Good-Bye Game Boy" uses the song Good Bye Natsuo by Aya Matsuura.
"Until the Udon Boils" uses the song 634 (MUSASHI) from NHK Pro Yakyuu at the end of each episode.
"KACHOxFAMILY" uses the song "Mixed Nuts" by Official Hige Dandism.
Original songs
Last Continue by former AD/AP Tomoyaki Nakayama
Sayonara Game by former AD Yuko Watanabe
Tatakae! Kacho Fighter by producer Nozomi Ishida
Momoko-chan Koi Uta by former AD Takeshi Tsuruoka (originally from Tokaido Gojusan Tsugi)
Last Continue (English version) by former AD/AP Tomoyaki Nakayama
Ken o Nuke! GCCX MAX by multiple staff from the show as Messe Messe Club (Gen Matsui, Yuta Kaga, Kouichi Abe, Ryo Osuka)
ENDINGRATULATION by writer Masayuki Kibe
Game challenges
Main games
NOTE: An asterisk (*) is noted beside the episode number to indicate the episode's localization and release on Kotaku. Western titles in "quotes" are unofficial names Kotaku uses to refer to Japan-only games.
1st season
(This season featured a game series or game company as its main focus with Arino's challenge game as a secondary feature)
2nd season
(episode numbering started with Arino's challenge games being the main feature)
3rd season
4th season
(The season mascot changes from King to Queen)
5th season
(Season was shortened due to birth of Arino's daughter)
6th season
(The season mascot changes from Queen to Dark King)
7th season
(the season changes from Dark King to King. The Dark King makes a brief reappearance in #53)
8th season
9th season
(Season was shortened due to Arino being hospitalized; all episodes from #64 and onwards started to be in HD and 60FPS)
10th season
11th season
12th season
(The season mascot changes from King to Fallen Warrior)
13th season
(The season mascot changes from Fallen Warrior to King)
14th season
15th season
16th season
17th season
18th season
(The season mascot changes from the King to Elephant King)
19th season
20th season
21st season
(During Episode 244, the staff switched to a CRT monitor during the light gun stages.)
22nd season
23rd season
24th season
(The season mascot changes from King to Frozen King and then to Penguin King.)
25th season
(The season mascot changes from Penguin King back to the King)
26th season
27th season
DVD-Exclusive Challenges
Each DVD-Box set released includes a game challenge exclusive to the DVD set. Most of these challenges were Famicom games.
Nintendo eShop-exclusive specials Challenges
These challenges became officially inaccessible by the closure of Minna no Nintendo Channel on June 28, 2013 for Wii and on March 28, 2023, by the closure of Nintendo eShop for 3DS and Wii U.
Video releases
On June 23, 2011, gaming website Kotaku started streaming English translated episodes of the series. On January 13, 2012, Kotaku announced that their agreement to broadcast the show had ended; there would be no second season, and existing episodes would be removed when the rights expired. On February 28, 2012, Discotek Media announced that they had acquired the rights to the 12 episodes shown on Kotaku, releasing them on DVD on September 18, 2012.
DVD Boxes
So far there have been eighteen DVD sets put out with the latest released in December 2023. Each one contains key episodes, game center visits and a game challenge exclusive to the DVD set. They are not season compilations.
Rental DVDs
Rental DVDs are budget versions of DVD boxes, containing several challenges, several Tamage and a little bonus video.
Other DVDs
Notes
Segments
Each episode of GameCenter CX is made up of a number of different segments. The only segment which appears in every episode is Arino's Challenge. The other segments vary by episode and season. However, the episodes that appear on Kotaku omit these segments, instead of focusing only on the challenge of the week.
Media
Video games
At the end of the sixth season, it was announced that there were plans to make a GameCenter CX video game. The game, entitled GameCenter CX: Arino's Challenge, is for the Nintendo DS and was produced in a collaborative effort by Fuji TV and Bandai Namco Games. During the seventh season, certain parts of the show featured the development process of the game. The game was released in Japan on November 15, 2007, and in North America by Xseed Games on February 10, 2009, under the title Retro Game Challenge. A second game, GameCenter CX: Arino's Challenge 2 was released in Japan on February 26, 2009. Xseed Games has stated that US release of the game is unlikely, due to its predecessor's not catching enough attention from the North American gaming community. A third game, GameCenter CX: 3-Choume no Arino, was released in Japan on March 20, 2014, and is the first installment in the series to come to the Nintendo 3DS.
Arino appears as a Mystery Mushroom figure in Super Mario Maker, which is unlocked by clearing one of his Event Courses added to the game on November 4, 2015.
A remaster of the first two games on Nintendo DS, named GameCenter CX: Arino no Chousenjou 1+2 REPLAY for the Nintendo Switch was announced by Fuji TV and is set to be released only in Japan by February 22, 2024. Currently, no news of English localization from either Fuji TV or Bandai Namco was announced.
Theatrical Film
GameCenter CX: The Movie - 1986 Mighty Bomb Jack was released on February 22, 2014, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the show.
Spin-Offs & Advertising
THE Game Maker was a series of DVD discs focused on game collections featuring Arino & Yoshiuki Hirai doing playthroughs with live commentary, as well extended Game Collections, interviews, and other kinds of extras (varying by disc). These DVDs were manufactured between 2010 and 2011. The companies featured were Irem, Jaleco, Namco, Sega, Sunsoft, Taito and Tecmo (the Sega edition was sold in a DVD box with two DVD discs rather than a single one).
GameCenter DX starring another challenger (Masaru Hamaguchi, the other half of star Arino Kacho's comedy duo "Yoiko"), and featuring many staff of the original, began in 2015 to showcase contemporary Nintendo titles, such as the latest entries in the Mario Bros. and Starfox series.
Since 2023, the TV show's official YouTube channel made Arino do collaboration crossovers with known personalities from Japan, such as Eiko Kano's CritiKano Hit, Nijisanji's Hyakumantenbara Salome and Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.
Nintendo eShop-exclusive specials
On occasion, special GameCenter CX programs were produced for the Nintendo Channel for the Wii.
Later, when the Nintendo eShop succeeded the Nintendo Channel, additional specials were produced, such as a special where Arino and late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata interviewed each other and played Balloon Fight, which Iwata had programmed during the early years of his career.
References
External links
Official GameCenter CX site (Japanese)
English episode guide at Crunk Games
2003 Japanese television series debuts
2000s Japanese television series
2010s Japanese television series
2020s Japanese television series
Television shows about video games
Fictional companies
Discotek Media
Fuji TV original programming