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Shack's Arcade Corner: Bishi Bashi

An aggressively Japanese collection of mini games makes up the backbone of Konami's long-running arcade franchise.

Greg Burke

December 13, 2018 1:55 PM

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While Bishi Bashi may not be the most well-known franchise on our side of the pond, Konami’s family of coin-op games is very popular in the land of the rising sun. A collection of mini games, the overall design of Bishi Bashi should be familiar to anyone who has played the WarioWare games from Nintendo, though the franchise predates WarioWare by more than seven years. Assuming they can make sense of the collection of onscreen nonsense, players control the action via four buttons. Each button has a distinct color - red, green, yellow, and blue.

We can’t say for sure that we know exactly what a Bishi is, but it’s a safe assumption that Bashi may refer to what players end up doing to the array of buttons on the arcade cabinet. The game has seen multiple releases in arcades since its inception and today’s episode of Shack’s Arcade Corner focuses on the 2009 release The★BishiBashi. Home console releases of the series have been limited to the PlayStation and none of these games ever made it to North America by any official means.

Mobile versions of the game first surfaced in 2001, assuming you believe what is written on Wikipedia. This would put Bishi Bashi on mobile phones many years before mobile gaming was considered cool following the release of Apple’s iPhone in 2007.

As far as what to expect while playing Bishi Bashi, words will be unable to do justice to the rapid fire assault on your senses. Even watching the video above creates more questions than answers. If you do happen to see a Bishi Bashi cabinet out in the wild, please hit us up and explain the meaning of the game (and/or life) if you are able.

If you enjoyed this week’s Shack’s Arcade Corner and are curious about more, check out our Arcade Corner playlist.For more dope videos, be sure to head over to the Shacknews and GamerhubTV YouTube channels. Dig into the archives and keep an eye on future uploads for exclusive interviews, walkthroughs, gameplay, and more.

Greg Burke

Head of Video

Greg is the head of Video Production for Shacknews. If you've ever enjoyed a video on Gamerhub.tv, it was most likely edited by him. Follow him on Twitter @GregBurke85.