GameCenter CX

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GameCenter CX
General information
Alias GCCX
Retro Game Master
Format Variety show
Creator(s) Tsuyoshi Kan
Director(s) Tatsuya Fujimoto
Writer(s) Masayuki Kibe
Starring Shinya Arino
Voice actor(s) Tsuyoshi Kan (Arino's Challenge segment)
Maiko Saito (Tamage and Game Collections segments)
Country of origin Japan
Original language Japanese
Seasons 27
Episodes 367
Production
Producer(s) Seita Kadosawa, Nozomi Ishida
Production company Gascoin Company
Distributor(s) Fuji Television
Camera Kouichi Abe
Runtime 60 minutes
Broadcast
Channel(s) Fuji TV ONE
Picture format SD, HD
First aired November 4, 2003
Status Ongoing
Chronology
Related programs THE Game Maker
GameCenter DX

GameCenter CX (also known as Retro Game Master) is an ongoing variety show produced by Fuji TV and Gascoin Company.

Format[edit]

On Season 1, the show had its focus on interviews with developers from the Japanese video game industry, such as Tomohiro Nishikado and Satoshi Tajiri. Game challenges from this era had no actual priority and were always shown very late to the episode or divided into certain parts across the episodes. In the 4th episode, Shinya Arino (from the owarai comedy duo Yoiko) interviewed Oji Hiroi, who was responsible for developing most of the Sakura Taisen media, at Red Entertainment's headquarters. The game chosen for a challenge was Roommania＃203 for the Sega Dreamcast, where Arino managed to get a good ending in the game, despite thinking it was a bad ending in his mind.

In all episodes from Season 2 and onwards, the show focuses on Arino Kacho playing difficult games from his childhood. In most episodes, Arino must beat the desired game and show, if applicable, a good ending from each game, in a period of 14 hours on a day. Sometimes, the challenge can be extended to a second day or even a third day (a possibility with JRPGs). Earlier on, the assistant directors (ADs) helped Arino with strategy guides and even research from the Internet, but as time progressed, the ADs had to exercise their minds in creative ways, such as building diorama maps or drawing safety attack patterns in a whiteboard. The first episode featuring an actual Sega console and propriety from this era was episode #33, which featured Bonanza Bros. for Sega Mega Drive as the main challenge.

In most episodes, a segment called Tama ni Ikunara Konna ×× (You must visit this [place] sometimes in English) happens when Arino and the staff go into a game center or an amusement park to discover the amount of Arcade and Electro-mechanical games the place does pick up in Arino's interest. Most of the time, the ×× is replaced by Game Center, so, the segment is often nicknamed as Tamage. While Metal Slug games appear very often in this segment, sometimes, Sega Arcade games such as Space Harrier and Hang-On make frequent appearances as well.

Another common segment is Game Collections or just 19××○○, which feature games from consoles in chronological order (as long they have a license to show footage of the game). While Sega-owned games from Game Boy and Super Famicom appeared in several episodes, actual Sega hardware representation was featured in Season 2 (featuring SG-1000 and Sega Master System games) within the Ghosts'n Goblins episode and it did not return until Season 27 with Sega Mega Drive games (also shared with PC Engine).

Several one-off segments, such as Hard no Ace ga Detekonai, Project CX: Peripherals, Furikaereba Yatsu ga Ita and Kiban-ya Kouhii-ten feature games from Sega games (both for consoles and Arcade) and hardware as well.

Virtual company[edit]

GameCenter CX Corporation is a fictional company that features Arino and the staff as members of a virtual company. This is represented by Arino wearing a jumpsuit in most episodes, featuring the words GameCenter CX in katakana printed on the jumpsuit's right side of the chest. In most cases where Arino meets important people, he and the person exchange business cards with each other. While GameCenter CX Corporation is a fictional company, the name itself is an official registered trademark of Fuji Television and then, it features the Fuji TV ONE logo and the show's website as well. Arino was once employed as Shunin (Senior Staff) and then, promoted to Kacho Dairi (Acting Chief) and then, currently, Kacho (Chief). The company has no actual president but is assumed to be Tsuyoshi Kan, as Arino calls him Shacho (President) in the Arino Kacho no Boonasu Satei (Chief Arino's Bonus Appraisal in English). Despite this, Arino was a "Shacho" once during the GameCenter MSX segment, however, this segment is meant to be set in a different timeline where Arino actually played games without any failures.

Sometimes, business cards are always distributed as presents from the show's giveaways. Bandai Namco also created fake business cards as special goods limited to special editions of the show's game adaptations for Nintendo DS, 3DS, and Switch.

List of episodes[edit]

  • All episodes listed here are hailing from Sega consoles or are owned by Sega in Non-Sega consoles;
  • Episodes where Sega games are featured as part of secondary segments are not listed.
Ep. Game Name Original System Publisher Air Date Condition Notes
#4 Roommania＃203 Sega Dreamcast Sega December 16, 2003 Cleared Interview with Oji Hiroi
#33 Bonanza Bros. Sega Mega Drive Sega July 5, 2006 Cleared Also released as part of Retro Game Master DVDs.
Sega Game Gear featured in Hard no Ace ga Detekonai
Games featured: Sonic the Hedgehog, Lemmings, Ganbare Gorby!
#34 Daimakaimura Sega Mega Drive Sega July 19, 2006 Cleared Credits goes to Capcom and Sega.
#59 Super Fantasy Zone Sega Mega Drive Sunsoft December 19, 2007 Failure Credits goes to Sunsoft and Sega.
Also released as part of Retro Game Master DVDs.
#64 Sonic the Hedgehog Sega Mega Drive Sega June 18, 2008 Cleared No Chaos Emeralds collected.
#71 Chelnov Sega Mega Drive Data East November 5, 2008 Cleared Credits goes to Paon.
#81 Battle Golfer Yui Sega Mega Drive Sega May 26, 2009 Cleared Also released as part of Retro Game Master DVDs.
#87 Golden Axe Sega Mega Drive Sega August 18, 2009 Cleared Also released as part of Retro Game Master DVDs.
#102 Super Puyo Puyo Super Famicom Banpresto August 5, 2010 Failure Credits goes to Sega and Bandai Namco.
#120 Tanto-R Sega Mega Drive Sega May 26, 2011 Cleared
#122 Comix Zone Sega Mega Drive Sega June 23, 2011 Failure
#128 Strider Hiryuu Sega Mega Drive Sega October 20, 2011 Cleared Credits goes to Capcom, Moto Kikaku and Sega.
#135 Alex Kidd no Miracle World Sega Mark III Sega February 9, 2012 Failure
#138
#139 		Dynamite Headdy Sega Mega Drive Sega April 26 2012
May 10, 2012 		Cleared
#144 Gun-Dec Family Computer Sammy July 19, 2012 Cleared Credits goes to Sega.
#148 Pulseman Sega Mega Drive Sega October 25, 2012 Cleared Credits goes to Game Freak and Sega.
#135 Yumemi Yakata no Monogatari Sega Mega-CD Sega December 13, 2012 Cleared
#168 Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyou Toitsusen Sega Mega Drive Sega October 24, 2013 Failure Credits goes to Shueisha, Fuji TV, Studio Pierrot and Sega.
#181 Gunstar Heroes Sega Mega Drive Sega June 5, 2014 Cleared
#187 Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi Sega Mega Drive Sega September 18, 2014 Cleared
#190 D no Shokutaku Sega Saturn Acclaim Japan November 20, 2014 Cleared Credits goes to fyto
(actual publishing rights owned by Throwback Entertainment)
#207 ESWAT Sega Mega Drive Sega October 22, 2015 Cleared
#223 Osomatsu-kun: Hachamecha Gekijou Sega Mega Drive Sega July 21, 2016 Cleared Credits goes to Fujio Pro, Kodansha, Studio Pierrot and Sega.
#225 Juuouki Sega Mega Drive Sega September 1, 2016 Cleared
#227 Mesopotamia PC Engine Atlus October 27, 2016 Cleared Sega appears in the staff roll of the episode.
#241
#242 		Splatterhouse Part II Sega Mega Drive Namco June 15, 2017
July 6, 2017 		Cleared Credits goes to Bandai Namco.
#254 Virtua Fighter 2 Sega Saturn Sega February 25, 2018 Cleared
#270 Vampire Killer Sega Mega Drive Konami December 6, 2018 Cleared Credits goes to Konami Digital Entertainment.
#287 I Love Mickey and Donald: Fushigi na Magic Box Mega Drive Mini Sega October 17, 2019 Cleared Credits goes to Disney and Sega.
#290 Space Channel 5 Sega Dreamcast Sega December 5, 2019 Failure
#294 Mugen Senshi Valis Sega Mega Drive Riot February 6, 2020 Cleared Credits goes to City Connection
(currently owned by Edia)
#299 The House of the Dead Sega Saturn Sega May 21, 2020 Cleared
#314 Dynamite Duke Sega Mega Drive Sega February 25, 2021 Cleared Credits goes to Seibu Kaihatsu and Sega.
#321 Gain Ground Sega Mega Drive Sega July 8, 2021 Cleared
#328 Rastan Saga II Sega Mega Drive Taito November 25, 2021 Cleared
#329 Super Monkey Ball Nintendo GameCube Sega December 9, 2021 Cleared
#332 Space Harrier Sega Mark III
Sega Saturn 		Sega January 27, 2022 Cleared Sega Saturn version cleared only.
#341 Crude Buster Sega Mega Drive Data East July 14, 2022 Cleared Credits goes to G-Mode.
#343 Alien Storm Sega Mega Drive Sega August 11, 2022 Cleared
#344 SteamGear Mash Sega Saturn Takara September 8, 2022 Cleared Credits goes to Tomy.
#346 Magical Taruruto-kun Sega Mega Drive Sega October 13, 2022 Cleared Credits goes to Tatsuya Egawa, Shueisha, Toei Animation and Sega.
#347 New York Nyankies Family Computer Atlus October 27, 2022 Cleared Credits goes to Atlus and Sega.
#349 Captain Silver Sega Mark III Sega November 24, 2012 Cleared Credits goes to G-Mode and Sega.
#352 Night Trap Sega Mega-CD Sega January 26, 2023 Cleared Credits goes to Sega
(original game owned by Hasbro)
#359 Ichidanto-R Sega Mega Drive Sega May 25, 2023 Failure
#367 Samba de Amigo Ver.2000 Sega Dreamcast Sega October 26, 2023 Failure
#368 Bare Knuckle II: Shitou he no Requiem Sega Mega Drive Sega November 9, 2023 Cleared Credits goes to Sega and Yuzo Koshiro for the music.
DVD THE Game Maker: Sega Hen All Sega systems Sega
M2 		April 3, 2012 Two-disc DVD Box. Includes:
Game Collections of multiple Sega games
Playthrough of Sega games with Shinya Arino & Yoshiyuki Hirai
Masayuki Kibe interviews Yuji Naka
Retro Arcade Game Travelogue (Tamage) with Sega games
Virtua Fighter battle: Arino vs. GameCenter CX Staff
DVD Dynamite Deka Sega Saturn Sega August 31, 2012 Cleared Included as part of GameCenter CX in U.S.A. DVD box set
DVD Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Sega Mega Drive Sega September 2, 2016 Cleared Normal Ending
Included as part of GameCenter CX: Mega Drive Special DVD box set
SP Sangokushi Taisen Ten Nintendo DS Sega July 30, 2008
July 31, 2008
August 1, 2008 		Unknown Specials played with Arino and Toshi Kato from Unagi (later Beagle 38)
SP Bakuretsu Gundan Renegade PlayStation 3 Sega August 23, 2012 Unknown Special played with America Zarigani and an AD from the show.
Was available only through the show's official website

Trivia[edit]

  • One of the TV show's writers, Masayuki Kibe, is a Sega console owner (his parents bought a SG-1000 over the Family Computer by accident) and became a Sega fan over the years. He was also responsible for writing the screenplay of Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls anime.
  • Gameplay footage of the Famicom version of Fantasy Zone is seen in the movie adaptation of the program (GameCenter CX THE MOVIE: 1986 Mighty Bomb Jack). While this counts towards a Sega game featured, the movie credits only Sunsoft due to their source code and distribution rights.

Name in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese ゲームセンターCX
Geemu Sentaa Shii Ekkusu		 GameCenter CX

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://segawiki.com/w/index.php?title=GameCenter_CX&oldid=3227"