BANZAI!

Do you remember that weird Japanese (by way of England) betting show on Fox called, Banzai?

No?

Really?

Because it was quite the unique show. Perhaps this clip will jog your memory:


Yeah, looking a bit more familiar now, isn't it? Banzai was quite the odd show to be viewed by American audiences, shown on FOX but not for very long. I think it only lasted a season or so. It didn't catch on in quite the same way as it did in Britain. Unfortunately, most American audiences just didn't get it. But that's not stopping Channel 4 and Screenlife games from releasing a DVD game!
ScreenLife Games is at it again. They launched a new Banzai game. Check it out:

I liked Banzai when it was on t.v., it was just weird enough for me. However, I think the major issue with the show was that it had a betting theme, but you couldn't actually bet. It's far better designed for an interactive game rather than a television show. I had the chance to play it too, and it is crazy.

J and I decided to spend a lovely Sunday night cozying up and settling in for some hardcore sushi betting. J had never seen the show before so he had no idea what to expect. Which, might I say, is an excellent way to play Banzai. The game itself is pretty easy to learn, and after a practise round you're ready to start betting!

I've never played a DVD game before, but the controls were quite easy for this. If you watched the video above you'll see how to play so I won't go into that here. I will say that the hardest part of the game is using the chopsticks to effectivly shovel in many sushi pieces.

The little animated characters and sushi bits are fantastically cute. Tako, the game's red octopus mascot, is adorable! He even has his own myspace page, what a talented octopus indeed. My favourite sushi piece is the New Jersey Squirrel Roll, even though he looks more like a hamster.

So, on to the gameplay itself. The DVD randomly picks a clip to show you, so it's harder to view one that you already bet on. We saw a lot of weird clips indeed. Recurring characters are always fun, and my favourite is Lady One Question, who I showed in the first clip above. I love her interaction with Graham Norton, (also shown above) which we bet on. She actually cracks up, so it makes the bet all the better. Perhaps the craziest dare we saw was one where to children had to pull out metal skewers from a guy's face. Whichever child pulled out the skewer attached to the pickled onion won. Yeah, that was an odd one to watch...

We played for about 2 hours before we had to resort to sudden death to finish the game. J and I were just so in tune with each other that we kept betting exactly the same over and over! We even lasted 3 sudden death rounds because of that. I'm sure if we play with a larger group, that will be less of a problem. Banzai is a silly game, but quite fun. However, it is a bit more adult so I'd say nobody under the age of 14 should play it, but otherwise it looks like a great party game. Hopefully this will become a bigger hit than the t.v. show!