The Japanese train game looks semi-normie in this context
It's Densha de Go which is a train simulator arcade franchise, originally born from arcades and released accross different consoles (primarily Playstation as of record) and PC.
Hashirou Yamanote-Sen first released on PS4 then was ported on the Nintendo Switch a couple of months later. As the name implies, you get to drive different kind of trains across the Yamanote line, the busiest and most important train traffic in the Tokyo region area.
The objective is rather simple and straight-forward: you have to drive the train from a starting point and reach several stations within a strict timetable & with as little as distance from the prescribed stopping point (represented in the form of a blue diamond). Along the journey, you're expected to obey speed limits (and sometimes asked to drive at a recommended speed), honking at workers, bridges & bystanders to warn your presence. You also get bonus points for turning off the lights at incoming trains from the opposite direction or if your brake is "smooth" (it has to be progressive without ever letting the brake lever go, something I still have issues to pull off correctly).
The amount of passengers and certain meteo conditions can affect the driving too.
Mission levels are mostly the simple arcade stuff with a mission gauge at the top of the screen that progressively depletes over time and obtaining the best high score at the end. And depending of your performance you're given either bonus points or negative points, a fully depleted gauge instantly ends the level (upon reaching the station). In some levels, you may be tasked to achieve various objectives that are necessary to complete them, such as stopping the train within a certain distance from the stopping point for example (in the second screenshot below, it's specified
within 1m of distance and it has to be done
twice for the Very Hard difficulty variant of the tutorial level).
Lately, you can drive different types of trains with their own control schemes, they have to be unlocked upon completing a chain of side levels in the main mode before their availability in Free mode.
For example, instead of using a single stick to speed/brake (up & down) for the default E235 train model, you'll have to use the two analog sticks for the 205 and 103 models (the brake directional scheme also change between the two, either moving horizontally or vertically). The n*103 train (in the second screenshot) also has a different brake system which, even at full effect, doesn't slow down the same as the default E235 so stopping at the first station proved to be an utter failure (and national-wide shamefur dispray) as seen in the third screenshot.
Also, the Switch version has native support for the
special handle controller (built and sold by Zuiki), that's not the case for the original PS4 release.
The game is exclusively in moonrunes but there is a english guide
in Gamefaqs which could be useful for non-japanese speakers, although the game itself isn't hard to understand overall on the fly. Some family relatives and friends of mine were able to play easily after quickly explaining the base stuff.
Edit: Just to say that it's the sole train game I bother to play because of the arcade-y approach.
For someone whos never owned a KOF game is XIII a good place to start? I've only Fatal Fury at the arcade and I just got into DarkStalkers because of the Capcom Fighting Collection game I bought for Switch last year. I suck at fighting games but I always liked them.
I'm not good with fighting games either, I just like them mainly for the 2D spriteworks and Arcsys' stylized 3D artstyle.
Granblue Fantasy Versus would be my most played in that genre, counting over 60 hours of playtime in the PC version on Steam. Hence why I would like it to be ported on Switch.
