Toro Inoue

is a Japanese video game series primarily developed by BeXide and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The first game was released for the PlayStation in 1999. In the games, players talk to, feed, photograph, and play minigames with characters. Most of the games have only seen release in Japan, where Sony has also used the series character Toro as a mascot for the PlayStation brand.

History

''Doko Demo Issyo'' is a long-running series in Japan, where it has seen commercial success. The games feature "pokepi" (short for "pocket people"), characters which the player interacts with through a variety of virtual pet mechanics and minigames (e.g. talking, feeding, sleeping, photography). A major reocurring feature is to teach the pokepi words to memorize. Most games feature some type of networking features to communicate with other players by sharing "business cards" or other data.

The first game in the series, ''Doko Demo Issyo'', was released on 22 July 1999 for the PlayStation. It was possible to put transfer pokepi onto the PocketStation and interact with them on the device. The game sold over 1.1 million copies. Sony released two bonus discs that added more gameplay: ''Koneko mo Issyo'' featured younger versions of the pokepi, and ''Modo mo Issyo'' had cell phone connectivity features.

The series has touched on a variety of genres. On PlayStation 2, ''Watashina Ehon'' allows the player to make picture books, and ''Toro to Nagareboshi'' is more akin to an adventure game. On PlayStation Portable, ''Rettsu Gakkou!'' has the player learning trivia and playing minigames. By using the PSP's network functions, the player could download new lessons distributed every two weeks.

On PlayStation Vita, ''Toro's Friend Network'' creates avatars and a visualization of the player's PlayStation Network friends, allowing them to interact with the avatars in different 3D environments.

Toro

One of the game's characters, Toro Inoue, became a mascot for the PlayStation brand. '' Gamesindustry.biz'' wrote in 2004 that Toro was "firmly established as a cultural icon in the Far East" as PlayStation's mascot. '' Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine'' wrote in 2002 that Toro was used heavily as a mascot in Japan, but that the American Sony branch did not want a single mascot to represent the brand. The character was used in a variety of marketing materials in Japan, including billboards and television commercials. On several occasions, Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Japan) and series developer BeXide have held public "birthday parties" for Toro featuring food, charities, and raffles.

Games

Notes

References

External links

* (archived 2004)
* (archived 2010)
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{{Sony franchises

Sony Interactive Entertainment franchises
Video game franchises introduced in 1999
Video games about cats
Virtual pet video games
Sony Interactive Entertainment games
Japan Studio games