Attack of the Friday Monsters! – A Tokyo Tale

2013 | Millennium Kitchen | Nintendo 3DS

The 3DS eShop was home to some incredibly unique and fascinating titles (wow, it hurts to use past tense here). For those that frequently scoured the shop for a little treat to play, you may have stumbled across the title card for Attack of the Friday Monsters! before. Sadly, I left this little gem as a forgotten icon on my home screen for far too long. So, it’s time to change that.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! – A Tokyo Tale was created by Kaz Ayabe, founder of Millenium Kitchen and creator of Boku no Natsuyasumi, and was part of the Guild series. This was a series of two compilation collections with a total of seven wildly different games, published by Level-5. Despite Guild01 receiving a physical release in Japan, which included Yasumi Matsuno’s Crimson Shroud and Suda51’s Liberation Maiden, the second compilation would remain eShop exclusive. We weren’t so lucky to receive any physical release and as a result all the games in this series were made available as separate downloads instead.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! is a loosely structured adventure game set in the 1970’s, where we follow the tale of the young Sohta, his friends and the monsters that appear every Friday. Sohta recently moved into the Fuji no Hana suburb of the Setagaya ward in Tokyo, and helps his parents run the local laundromat. The game follows a 26 episode structure that can be freely explored. Most of the gameplay involves talking to the townsfolk and other children, as mysteries surrounding the giant monsters that appear every Friday start to unfold. As you get to know the people better, you also start to learn more about the town and the importance of the local TV Station. One of the main questions asked is whether the Friday Monster is real or just an elaborate hoax with the whole town in on it and the game really does a great job at selling this premise. It constantly throws you for a loop, by having the townsfolk be extremely sincere about the appearance of the monster. At the same time it’s all treated with a sort of casualness that undermines the supposed dread of an actual Kaiju attack. The children are absolutely mesmerized by the monster attack and every Friday they gather on a hill to get the best view of the fight. There’s even a little setup for a camera.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! captures that childlike wonder of letting your imagination run wild as you pretend to be superheroes in the playground. It embraces it’s premise with a gusto of my 8 year old self raising my arms in front of the television to give Goku energy to power-up the spirit bomb. The whole game captures the carefree vibes of growing up in a rural town perfectly and this carries over to the way that the people of the town interact. It’s an everyone knows everyone situation and the game leans into that by having the adults be completely on board with whatever is going on with the mysteries of the town. They even encourage the kids to explore and find out for themselves if the monsters are real or not. At the same time there’s a lot of ambiguity layered through it’s short narrative. Every time you think to yourself that you’ve figured it out, there’s an insane twist laying in wait around the corner to knock you off balance. Even when you’re sure that the monster isn’t real, the game goes ahead and introduces elements that throw that out of the window. Or does it?

Your primary means of progressing through the game is by engaging with the people of Fuji no Hana, either to strike up a casual conversation, deliver laundry, or by playing a game of “MONSTER CARDS”. This card game forms the core of the gameplay outside of exploration and is probably one of the most fun and accessible mini-games out there. The premise is simple; Each player plays five cards from their collection face down on the field. Each card has a numerical value and is either rock, paper or scissors. When all cards are placed on the field you get two hints that give you clues as to what your opponent played in that slot. From there you get to switch two cards around based on your deduction from the hints. Then both players reveal their cards in order from left to right in a bout of rock, paper scissors. If both cards are, for instance, rock, they clash in a draw and the player with the highest number on that card wins the draw. If you win you become that character’s boss and if you lose you become a servant. The boss is allowed to cast a ‘spell’ on their servant that makes them fall down on the ground. It’s one of the most adorable things to see how seriously the kids take this. The whole elementary school hierarchy is based around this. To get new cards you have to either beat the other kids at “MONSTER CARDS” or find sparkling objects on the ground called glims. If you collect enough glims you unlock a card corresponding to the type of glim you picked up. Any multiples of cards you get can then be combined to make cards of the same set stronger. It’s a fun and deceptively deep card game that elevates a small town simulator to a full on card battle to send the rest of the class to the Shadow Realm.

For those who’ve played the Boku no Natsuyasumi games, it comes as no surprise that the backgrounds in this game are equally beautiful and vibrant. The hand drawn areas pop off the 3DS screen and bring the small alleyways and farm fields of Fuji no Hana to life, and really sell the idyllic small town life. The 3D models of the characters blend naturally into the world around them, giving the town itself a lively feel to it. The inhabitants feel part of their environment, and this sells the vibe the game is going for more than anything. The music is a bit hit or miss, with some tracks being extremely overbearing to tracks that perfectly encapsulate the scene. The slightly off-key honks and toots work well with some of the scenes of the kids messing around during their investigation into the Friday monster. Overall, it paints a gorgeous picture for you to interact with. I particularly love any scene overlooking the farmlands with the little train passing by in the distance.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! is a great title that can be leisurely enjoyed over the weekend. Its short run-time of about 3-5 hours makes it the perfect game for when the weather outside is cold and wet, and the tea and blankets are warm inside. The idyllic town of Fuji no Hana is a rather cozy place to visit with colorful characters bringing it to life. Exploring the mysteries of the town is equally rewarding, whimsical and mysterious with some delightfully nonsensical twists routing the map to a fun story. I love that they managed to compress the comfort of Boku no Natsuyasumi into a small pocket sized experience, while giving it a unique twist. The game takes me back to more carefree times of exploring forests and little village roads.
I’m a huge fan of tokusatsu, particularly Godzilla and Super Sentai, so I was instantly sold on the premise. I wonder if the choice to have the game take place in Setagaya was a jab at the legendary Toho Studios being located there. Overall, Attack of the Friday Monsters! is a delight that takes you back to the simple joys and wonders of childlike imagination and the stories we make up with our friends. It’s a wonderful and simple game that is now, sadly, lost to time. At least, in official capacity.

There is a message to be found here about games in fairly recent history becoming lost media. Despite the first compilation having a physical release backing it up over in Japan, here in the west these games are considered lost through any official means. For those lucky enough to get their hands on the Guild games prior to the closing of the 3DS eShop, now possess a piece of gaming history that should be cherished. Attack of the Friday Monsters! serves as a reminder that, while the digital era comes with a lot of conveniences, it’s also a double edged sword towards the preservation of video game history. I hope that Level-5 will someday be willing to remaster the Guild series for modern platforms, but until that moment arrives, try to enjoy the games when you can.

It’s morphing time/10