Recommended by Ardwyw_mp3 as part of this list.

The world of untranslated niche Japanese gaming is one that's always interesting to delve into as an outsider looking in. While even the most niche titles are often translated for us here in the Anglosphere nowadays, there's still a treasure trove of untranslated oddities from decades prior waiting to be discovered by aesthetic gimmick accounts, and while Docchi Mecha! looks like it'd be right up the alley of that kind of audience, its managed to slip through the cracks of time and info on the game is hard to come by, even on the Japanese side of the net. So here we have a real hidden gem, a game that required me to roll up my sleeves and get to the bottom of myself.

So what is Docchi Mecha!, exactly? It's a console RTS about a colorful cast of characters competing in a tournament to become a God of some sort and gain control of their own planet (at least, this is what I could gleam from the Google Translated Wikipedia synopsis and the story-mode cutscenes). Despite the somewhat serious-sounding premise though, Docchi Mecha! is an incredibly goofy game. Everyone, from the troops to the opponents are very silly-looking and full of charm, with your opponents ranging from super sentai fanboys to some kid's overly-doting mother, and the troops themselves are these abstract, Ballz-3D amalgamations of fuzzy-looking sprites and googly eyes. It has a very childish vibe, with its simple designs, youthful voice acting, and colorful palette & UI, which helps to disarm you when it kicks your teeth in with its frantic gameplay.

Now, "Console RTS" is the kind of phrase that inspires fear in the hearts of many a PC-playing fiend, but Docchi Mecha knows its limitations and keeps it simple, simple enough for both its young target audience and functionally-illiterate English-only bozos like myself to understand. The goal of each match is cultivate an army of dubious little critters in order to capture checkpoints as you trek across the map and ultimately destroy the opponent's base camp. Each troop has its own unique function, from the disposable foot soldiers who build camps and harvest resources, to the elite squadron of top-heavy goons who serve as your main source of damage. It's a game of momentum, where both you and the opponent start off with nothing and slowly gain resources and troops until the match either turns into a drawn-out war of attrition or the most embarrassing curb-stomp ever seen in the history of warfare. Docchi Mecha! takes no prisoners, because it gets difficult real fast if you aren't on your P's and Q's. The second opponent you face pushed my shit in hard and each subsequent match just keeps escalating in difficulty until I was gorilla-gripping my controller mashing hotkeys and hoping my adorable army of funny little dudes don't get utterly stomped by the giant flatfish my opponent just spawned. It's frantic and panic-inducing RTS gameplay that works surprisingly well for a console game and it's honestly incredibly fun, even for someone like me who isn't a big RTS buff all things considered.

In this golden age of fantranslations, it's a little sad that stuff like Docchi Mecha! falls by the wayside, because it's an interesting curio that deserves at least some attention, due to its easy-to-pick-up nature and overall wacky charm, and it's worth a glance at the very least, even if you can't speak a lick of Japanese.