Tokoro-san no Mamoru mo Semeru mo (1987)

An action platformer game by Sony label Sony Epic Records that was only released in Japan on June 27th, 1987. It is named for and features the real-life Japanese celebrity Tokoro Jouji. Tokoro-san no Mamorumo Semerumo is an action platformer that stars real-life Japanese musician/comedian/voice-actor Tokoro Jouji, a.k.a. George Tokoro. Armed with a water pistol with a finite supply of water, Toroko-san must make his way across various levels either shooting or avoiding the various enemies along the way. This game has some notoriously poor game design, such as ammo replenishing items being hidden, which means the player needs to shoot randomly to find them which simply depletes their finite ammo supply even faster. If the player takes too long in any one world, a massive vision-obscuring storm will roll in and make the game considerably more difficult to play. The game, however, does feature an early example of a non-linear stage selection progress as different paths become available after defeating each boss.

• Release Date: June 27, 1987
• Developer: Epic/Sony Records