(also known by the abbreviated name ''Momotetsu'') is a long-running

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

-style video game series in Japan; in which players travel by

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

, ship, and airplane; attempting to acquire wealth through business transactions buying properties; and dealing with rival entrepreneurs and nemeses such as the . The game mechanics are often compared to the board games

sugoroku (literally 'double six') refers to two different forms of a Japanese board game: ''ban-sugoroku'' (盤双六, 'board-sugoroku') which is similar to western tables games like backgammon, and ''e-sugoroku'' (絵双六, 'picture-sugoroku') which i ...

and

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

History

Started in 1988, the series was initially produced by

Hudson Soft was a Japanese video game company known for releasing numerous titles across video game consoles, home computers, and mobile phones. Headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo, it also maintained an office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. F ...

. The rights to the series are now owned by Konami Corporation, who absorbed Hudson in 2012. This series is spin-off from another video game series by

, '' Momotaro Densetsu''. The project supervisor for the series is

Akira Sakuma (also known by the abbreviated name ''Momotetsu'') is a long-running board game-style video game series in Japan; in which players travel by rail transport, rail, ship, and airplane; attempting to acquire wealth through business transactions buyi ...

, with illustration by and main music production by

Kazuyuki Sekiguchi is a Japanese musician, best known for playing the bass guitar for Southern All Stars.Riantrisnanto, Rully.Band Lawas Southern All Stars Kembali Ramaikan Permusikan Jepang (in Indonesian), June 26, 2013. As a solo artist, he has played ukulele. ...

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band formed in Kanagawa in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), (drums) and (pe ...

. In some works, and (composer of " Makafushigi Adventure!", opening theme song of the Dragon Ball anime) also participate in music production. From 2004, for many years promotional marketing for the series featured the pairing of comedian

Tomonori Jinnai is a Japanese actor, ''tarento'' and presenter. Filmography TV series Regular appearances Quasi-regular appearances Single-occasional appearances Specials Former appearances Radio TV series Regular appearances Guest appearances Dr ...

and

gravure idol A model is a person with a Role (disambiguation), role either to display commercial product (business), products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an Model (art), artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in British and ...

tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in the United States were descri ...

Chinatsu Wakatsuki is a Japanese variety ''tarento'' and former gravure idol. Her real name was before she got married. She is previously represented with Platinum Production. Filmography TV series Current appearances Former appearances Radio Current appeara ...

. In June 2015, creator Akira Sakuma stated "I'm announcing here that Momotaro Dentetsu is officially done. Ishikawa at Konami squelched everything." However, in July 2015, Konami lends the license to

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

for an unspecified amount of money. After seven years with no releases, a new version of the game was released, exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS. Momotaro Dentetsu II released in the US on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.

Titles

Console games

Its console games are as follows: # (

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

: 1988-12-02) # (

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

: 1989-09-15,

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

: 1991-03-08, Famicom: 1992-03-20) # (PC Engine: 1991-12-20,

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

: 1992-08-07, Game Boy: 1994-02-18) # (Super Famicom: 1994-12-09) #* (

Sega Game Gear The is an 8-bit fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily competed with Nintendo's Game Boy, the A ...

: 1995-12-15ハドソンゲームナビ
/ref>) # (Super Famicom: 1995-12-08) # (Super Famicom: 1996-12-06) # (

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

: 1997-12-23) # (Game Boy: 1998-07-31) # (PlayStation: 1999-12-16) # (

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

: 2001-12-13) # (PlayStation 2 &

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

: 2002-12-05) # (PlayStation 2 & GameCube: 2003-12-11) # - (PlayStation 2: 2004-11-18) # (

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

: 2005-06-30) # (PlayStation 2: 2005-12-08) # (PlayStation 2: 2006-12-07,

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

: 2007-07-19) #* (

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

: 2007-12-06) # (

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

: 2007-04-26) # (

: 2008-12-18) # (

: 2009-11-26) # (

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

: 2010-07-15) # (

:2010-12-02) # (

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

: 2016-12-22) # (

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

: 2020-11-19) # (

: 2023-11-16)

Feature phone games

* (

i-mode i-mode (, ) is a Japanese mobile internet (distinct from wireless internet) service operated by NTT DoCoMo. Unlike Wireless Application Protocols, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail, and ...

: 2005-02-07,

EZweb au, or au by KDDI, is a Japanese mobile phone operator. au is a brand marketed by KDDI in the main islands of Japan and by Okinawa Cellular in Okinawa for their mobile cellular services. au is the second-largest wireless carrier in Japan, w ...

: 2006-01-26, : 2007-04-02) * (i-mode: 2005-11-01, EZweb: 2006-08-10, Yahoo! Keitai: 2007-04-02) ** (i-mode: 2007-01-04, EZweb: 2008-04-03) * (i-mode: 2006-04-01, EZweb: 2007-02-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2007-09-03) ** (i-mode: 2007-07-01) ** (i-mode: 2009-08-03) * (i-mode: 2006-11-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2007-09-03, EZweb: 2007-09-06) * (i-mode: 2007-05-01, EZweb: 2008-01-31, Yahoo! Keitai: 2008-02-01) * (i-mode: 2007-11-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2008-09-01, EZweb: 2008-09-04) ** (i-mode: 2008-01-04) * (i-mode: 2008-06-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2009-02-02, EZweb: 2009-02-12) * (i-mode: 2009-02-01) * (i-mode: 2009-09-01) * (i-mode: 2010-03-01) * (i-mode:2010-11-01) * (i-mode:2011-05-01) * (i-mode:2012-02-01)

iOS games

* (iPhone/iPod touch: 2011-02-17)

Sales and popularity

The series is popular in Japan. Momotaro Dentetsu 7 sold over 500,000 copies in Japan. Total shipments exceeded 12 million units by 2011. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the series, Hudson collaborated with the financially troubled

Chōshi Electric Railway Line The is a long railway line operated by the private railway, privately owned Chōshi Electric Railway between Chōshi Station, Chōshi and Tokawa Station, Tokawa stations in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the Chōshi Electric Railway's only li ...

, operating a train on the railway decorated with a ''Momotaro Dentetsu'' motif. Opening on April 25, 2007, the train ran until its third anniversary. In June 2009, two ''Momotetsu''-themed restaurants opened at Japanese railway stations: one at

Haijima Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Akishima, Tokyo, Japan, jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the private railway operator Seibu Railway. The station is also a freight depot for the Japa ...

, and another at

Kaminagaya Station is an above-ground metro station located in Kōnan-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan operated by the Yokohama Municipal Subway’s Blue Line (Line 1). It is 11.0 kilometers from the terminus of the Blue Line at Shōnandai Station. Lines * Yokoha ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Konami franchises Digital board games Hudson Soft games Konami franchises Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection games Video games based on Japanese mythology Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1988 Wii Wi-Fi games