It’s no good pressing yer nose up against the filthy, stinking window of GAME every Friday morning. The only way to be first and best out of you and your mates is to import stuff. Usually from Japan, ‘cos that’s where all the spunkiest games and game-trends are happening, you see.

So, because we wanted to do a list this week, here’s our Top Ten Japanese Games What You Must Import – even if you have to sell your furniture to acquire all the attendant chippage and specialist console beautifulness. Sorry if this list has dated a bit. We’ve been meaning to run it for ages.

And remember, if you click on the picture below and buy ‘em from Play Asia, then we get a really, really, really small amount of money and the orphans we keep in a cage get to eat food, this week (do remember that you'll need chipped machines or Freeloader discs or a relationship with Satan to play these).

Winning Eleven 6 (Gamecube)

For two reasons. First, this is only way Cube owners will get to play the franchise. Second, there are always changes made between the WE versions and the PES versions released in Europe, and usually not for the better. Which probably explains why there's almost certainly more copies of this game outside of Japan than within, and the price put on its head. Rightly hailed as the best football game on the market (and to some people still better than the sequel WE7), it is the perfect blend of strategy and arcade style action. And the Cube joystick is better than either pad or joystick on the PS2 Dual Shock (We’ll get letters. Again. – Ed).

Meiwaku Seijin: Panic Maker (PS2)

The non-mainstream side of Capcom. But then you'd expect something a bit different from the producer of Viewtiful Joe. You control a blue alien in a nappy who has been sent on a coming-of-age mission to cause mischief on a random planet of the galaxy. Our anti-hero just so happens to pick Earth. The game’s biggest plus is the freedom in what you can do to wreak havoc everywhere. By scanning people, you can not only disguise yourself to look like them, but also utilise any attributes they have such as singing terribly or throwing items at the public. The object? Prevent the public from finding out that you're just a tiny alien. In a nappy. Scheduled for a future US release (as Under The Skin), it should be out soon in Europe, too.

Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)

The legendary… yadayada. In the realm of top-down shooters, this one comes fully stacked to the gills with difficulty and probably the most weapons ever assembled from the outset. This allows for a wide range of tactics and strategies whilst employing the now customary Japanese skill of dodging as many bullets as possible. Fortunately they can also be swept up and used in a powerful counterattack. The main problem is not one of playing the game on a UK Saturn (the Action Replay cart sorts that out) or actually finding it, it’s the silly price it commands.

Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (N64)

As if by magic, another Treasure game appears. Released quite near the end of the N64's life cycle, this one got great reviews but poor sales, and has acquired a cult following in the years since. It’s a glorious into-the-screen shooter in the style of Cabal, but, since everything is scrolling at the same time, there’s so much more going on. Independent movement and firing mechanisms (via the stick and C buttons) makes you feel you are always in control, and there are plenty of tactical choices between gun and laser-sword use. Check out the amazing set-piece sequence: an overwhelming aircraft carrier level with majestic, sweeping, free-flowing through-the-air action, with the aim of taking out a nuclear missile before it reaches its target. Well worth the bother of seeking out.

Mr Driller: Drill Land (Gamecube)

Mr Driller is the Tetris of this decade. A simple enough puzzle game that sees you trying to burrow as deep as possible through coloured blocks without getting crushed from above. Hitting a block connected to like coloured blocks destroys all of them at the same time. With that basic premise, there was no reason Namco couldn't expand out the format on a more powerful piece of hardware. Each world has a different set of rules and features, meaning the game has a wide variety of styles to suit, and there are plenty of strategies and tactics needed to succeed at the depths required to drill down to. The only gripe is that you have to play the game on a proper Japanese Cube (no Freeloader trickery) be able to save properly.

Ganbare Neo Poke-kun (Neo Geo Pocket Color)

Before Wario Ware and The Truman Show, there was this game which curiously managed to combine the two concepts into one. Poor old Ganbare. We look into his world and see it is one of unhappiness. So in a similar way to that old classic Little Computer People, we give him things to do. Deliver presents, date sexy women (in his eyes), weirdoes, random effects... all have an influence on his mood. And in return, he codes up and develops mini-games for us to play as time goes on. There's no overall objective to the game as such, but we really don’t care.

Katamari Damashii (PS2)

Anyone who has watched enough cartoons in their time knows the stock gag about a small object constantly picking up mass as it rolls about until it's the size of Godzilla. Your king has tasked you, for whatever reason, to collect anything you can obtain and create a rolling ball of a certain size in each level. Starting off at ant size, simple bits of litter are the first targets, but as the ball gets bigger, wooden structures, furniture, tools, even animals and people can be collected. There’s something oddly relaxing and chilled about the whole experience, and the music is ace. We reviewed it a few issues back.

The Typing Of The Dead (Dreamcast)

This feels like a game that started as an in-joke at Sega. Yes. It’s House Of The Dead, but instead of guns, you are armed with... keyboards. Once you get over laughing at the cut-scenes of people wearing backpacks containing the latest in strap-around Sega "weaponry", you discover that it’s not only great fun, but also has a tendency to kick your arse very severely. Instead of shooting the dead, you have to type out comedy-random words and phrases to kill them off. Two player mode is even more of a laugh, especially when you can nick points by finishing off your friend's words for them. Not a game perhaps to play with a 120wpm Pitman expert. Even odder, it’s actually based on an original arcade version. (There is an easily available PC version of this one around in the UK, huge, huge fun - Koworld)

Einhander (PS1)

A shooter by Squaresoft? Yep. Lovely, glossy graphics, and a unique, flexible power-up system – with most of the ship upgrades having limited ammo, leading to ongoing trade-off and management. Use a weapon now or save it for later? Masses of variety and character. If you can’t get your hands on Radiant Silvergun, this should definitely be the next cult shooter on your import list.

Cardfighter Clash (Neo Geo Pocket Color)

Customisable card games (or CCGs) are a relatively new phenomenom pioneered by such titles as Magic: TG and Star Wars. So, how about a instantly accessible but fiendishly addictive game based upon all your favourite SNK and Capcom video game characters? The best games are always based upon an easily assimilated concept with almost infinite depth, and this happens to fall right into that category. Learning to play takes five minutes. Learning proper strategy and building a winning deck from the collection you acquire will take a lot longer. All the fun and reward not only comes from beating down your opponent, but also from knowing you are the master of your own victory without any obvious computer cheating. CCG fans should definitely lap this up. Everyone else – go on. Take a punt on something completely different.

Metal Gear 2 (MSX2)

The MSX computer might not have been the most obvious platform of choice to launch a new games series on, but that's what Konami did for Metal Gear. And whilst the west got the pitiful pseudo-sequel Snake's Revenge, Hideo Kojima was busy putting together the proper Japanese-only follow-up on the new powerful MSX2 machine. It's all about whether or not stealth is your idea of fun. But there’s also a great plot with plenty of twists, well honed play mechanics and even a few things anyone joining at the PS1 stage of the series would recognise. It isn't new or staggeringly innovative, but it just plays so damn well. Sadly, it’s also incredibly tricky to find and a lot of the plot will be lost in the Japanese text. But there’s also a fan-translated ROM available for emulator use that should satisfy anyone wanting to see just how Metal Gear branched into MGS.

MAYHEM, November 2004.

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