The Pacman - Nippon Must Die

The Pacman - Nippon Must Die is a beat-em up video game for the Playstation 6, based on the DC Elseworld story "The Pacman - Gotham Turning Japanese".
It's a video game about Bruce Wayne, however it's got a twist: it's set in an alternate, manga-themed Gotham City ruled by the Japanese, in an alternate universe where Japan won WW2 and made the USA into its colony. 
Bruce Wayne wears a yellow Pac-Man themed costume rather than his iconic black cowl, and is an anti-Japanese resistance fighter known as "The Pacman" (note that it's "Pacman", not Pac-Man").
== Gameplay ==
This game is linear, not open world, in order to better convey the oppressive atmosphere of the Gotham blockaded by the Japanese army. 
As Pacman, this alternate Bruce Wayne is a bulky fighter, so the stealth gameplay of the main Arkham series no longer exists here. 
Bruce's moveset consists of punching enemies with the square button, or using the triangle button to Rev Roll into enemies for a heavy attack which breaks guard. Outside of battle, you can curl up in a ball to roam the world faster by simply pressing R1. 
The arrow keys are used as shortcuts to use items such as Pac-Dots which cure your health. 
When Pacman is at less than half health (Bruce refuses to do so if you aren't), he can also swallow a Power Pellet (as long as you have any) in order to enter Venom Intoxication, which makes him much more powerful and aggressive at the cost of making him unable to guard. You get four Power Pellet per day, plus you can buy them from a pusher or find them dropped by certain enemies. 
Killing enemies gives you Ability Points, which you can spend to acquire new abilities for instance the Butt Bounce (press the jump button twice for a ground pound which homes in on enemies) or the Chain Roll (allows you to combo multiple Rev Rolls).
== Setting and Backstory ==
The game is set in Gosamu no Machi, Japanese Prefecture of Higashi-Beikoku, in a 2030 characterized by a Japanese victory in WW2 leading the Nippon Reich to conquer not only most of Asia, but also the entirety of the USA and Canada. 
Due to this, Gotham looks much more Japanese-style and manga-like than most other depictions of the city. Shinto temples abound (Abrahamic religions are strictly forbidden, to the point that in the center of Gotham there's a statue of the Shinto deity Susanoo stabbing Jesus) and most of the city has an aesthetic which combines AKIRA-like cyberpunk with traditional Japanese. The No Man's Land, a slum where Caucasian and Chinese ethnicities are confined, is walled and strictly surveilled and people there live in shacks, in perpetual fear of being hunted for sport. 
Hiromu Tojo, the insane fourth prince of the Japanese Royal Family and a direct descendant of Hideki Tojo, controls Gotham directly (due to his family wanting him away from the throne) and made it his personal playground. Hiromu's personal army, the Idol Senshi, is an independent force from the Kempeitai, is known for its flashy manga-esque costumes and its brutal violence, and even hunts "Ghosts" and "Beasts" (Whites and Chinese) for sport. What were once the Wayne Industries became the HIME Industries controlled by the Tojos, and the Waynes were reduced to Hiromu's personal servants (funnily enough, Hiromu took a liking to Bruce Wayne). 
Racism is rampant due to it being a huge part of Japanese society. White Americans are the most discriminated ethnicity, as the Japanese refer to them as "Ghosts" and thought of as worse than even animals. Chinese-Americans also suffer very huge discriminations, being considered "beasts". As such, Caucasian and Chinese people dwell in the slums districts known as "No Man's Land" and occasionally are directly hunted for sport. Blacks and South Asians fare better, but still the most important roles in the society are exclusive to the Japanese. Gladiatoral combat known as "Real-Life Super Smash Bros." is a huge source of entertainment, with "Ghosts" and "Beasts" being occasionally pulled from the slums to be made into Smashers and fight each other to the death while the Japanese bet on the ones who stay alive (though victorious Smashers such as Eduardo "Saiyan" Dorrance can occasionally scale the ranks of society if they are sponsored by important Japanese people). 
== Plot ==
The game starts with Bruce Wayne recounting to a child named Aomaru Kano (his Fletchling, the equivalent of Robin in this universe) how he, as a child, had gotten away from Hiromu's palace. This starts a flashback. 
Bruce tells Aomaru that Hiromu once dreamed to stop the persecutions of "Ghosts" but always felt scared that no one would believe him. Bruce and Hiromu had once been friends (despite Bruce having to stay shut in Hiromu's villa to avoid Hiromu being dishonored by being caught befriending a Ghost), to the point that Hiromu pronounced Bruce's name Kanji as a Western name rather than the Japanese pronunciation "Shigemi Niguruma". Bruce and Hiromu used to play Pokémon together. However, Hiromu suddenly changed once he revealed he had a crush on Bruce, and, while crying, asked Bruce to kill him so that no one would find out about Hiromu being bi (a massive dishonor for the entire Japanese Royal Family). When Bruce refused, Hiromu had had his father Thomas Wayne assassinated in front of him by one of his hitmen wearing a Pac-Man hat, and then tried to feed Bruce his father's corpse in the form of gyoza in order for Bruce to build enough hate, and finally gave him a gun and asked him to shoot, telling Bruce that, if he shot, Hiromu would give him a peaceful life far away from the Japanese empire. Bruce refused to shoot, rejecting the peaceful life he could have had in clandestinity, so Hiromu ordered for Bruce to be executed, still dreaming of Bruce coming for his head. 
== Trivia ==
* This game is banned in Japan due to the negative portrayal of the country and Hideki Tojo (who the Japanese worship as a deified hero).
Category:Batman Games
Category:Batman (series)
Category:DC Comics
Category:DC Elseworld
Category:DC Alternate Universes
Category:Alternate Timeline
Category:Alternate Universe
Category:PlayStation 6 Games
Category:The Pacman - Gotham Turning Japanese