Krazy for Kairosoft

There’s a shiny copy of Skyward Sword sitting near my TV. I started Ocarina of Time on the 3DS, but have only just finished meeting Zelda for the first time. Meanwhile, Deus Ex is on hold after my Jensen got stuck in a vent somewhere and Assassin’s Creed Revelations is gathering dust, although not as much dust as Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, which I have vowed to finish before starting Revelations.

So instead of trying to free up time to play these lovely gems, I’m playing Kairosoft games in every moment of spare time. Thanks to a new Android phone before Christmas, I’ve now got something to play every minute. Waiting for something to photocopy at work? Out comes the phone. Waiting for the tube? Out comes the phone. Waiting for my lunch to finish in the microwave? Yup, my phone is glued to my hand. Actually, even while eating my lunch.

I went straight for Game Dev Story thanks to all the buzz it had around Ready Up staff a while back. Bunnyhop Games was a mediocre company, mostly suffering from lack of funds thanks to their CEO not really knowing what the hell was going on. Why were all the new licenses for consoles so expensive? Was Bunnyhop Games really supposed to be making that much money by then? The poor designers, coders and overpaid producers were working really hard and getting little reward. However, with the lessons learned, hopefully the CEO (cough) can start up a new company that will be more successful.

From there, I started raiding the rest of Kairosoft’s catalogue. They make such adorable sim games that it’s really easy to sit there draining away your time and battery life just watching little figures run around and little numbers pop up. The great ship HMS Rabbit set sail in World Cruise Story to great acclaim and managed to satisfy many kings (and queens) of many countries. Except for the Mexican country; HMS Rabbit didn’t see any sombreros on board but we were a big hit in Hawaii Wahai. Hot Springs Story saw Bunny Springs become the best hot spring in Japan! Bunny Springs’s best feature was its use of expensive plants to enhance scenery to make for a truly relaxing and refreshing experience. Epic Astro Story saw Planet Rabbit expand from a tiny, fledgling colony to a thriving interspace tourism destination, except for that one square of unexplored land. Those volcano monsters defeated Planet Rabbit’s brave explorers with no mercy, and to this day the planet still remains unable to mine the precious jewels in the volcano, although the planet does well at exporting Plasma TVs and 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker sets.

Currently, Mega Mall Story is my Kairosoftware of choice. Rabbitry Mall is constantly expanding and is well-known for its appealing combination of shops and interesting escalator arrangement. We’re currently researching elevators to improve customer transport. The fast food restaurant, Chinese buffet and cafeteria combo upstairs is proving to be very popular.

These games ‘finish’ when you hit year 16, as in your high score is calculated and you’re free to play longer but won’t be scored again. When Rabbitry Mall has reached that time, it’ll be off to Bunnyspeed Racing (Grand Prix Story) and even Bunnyhop FC (Pocket League story). Once you get the hang of how one works, the rest follow on nicely because they all have a very similar structure. Build things, invest in things, unlock things, improve! They’re so addictive and there are even more that simply haven’t been translated or made into Android versions yet. There’s one with a school, a city sim one and even a Samurai village sim one. Hurry up and localise your whole catalogue for Android, Kairosoft! Otherwise I’m actually going to have to sink time into playing something proper.