One of the relatively unsung greatness-es of DOOM is that you could play and beat a level in around five to fifteen minutes before moving on to the next. There not being much of a story or interruptions in play until the level transitions almost encourages an arcade-like experience. It would be very easy, and many have, to set up an arcade loaded up with DOOM, and have people play it.

Densha de GO! IS a popular arcade series of video games in Japan, wherein one plays a satisfying and quick three-to-five minutes rounds of simple controls and precise timing. Every gauge, every meter, every number on screen has a meaning in the game and even without being able to read the Japanese you could easily figure out what it all does and how it relates to the controls. It quickly becomes intuitive, then thrilling.
One will want to perform well on these things. If one does not. If the train shoots over the edge of the station, one will be shown JUST HOW MUCH the train shot over and JUST HOW MUCH one is performing badly in comparison to others and JUST HOW MUCH money and time is being wasted in doing this. Its humiliating and infuriating, in a way pretty-much perfect for the oppressive work culture in Japan and really just in the world. Getting peer pressured into performing better every short round in it's limited few maps.

We brought up DOOM at the start because that is how we experienced Densha de GO! play a few rounds after work and dinner every day and then going on to do whatever for the rest of the day. It's nice.

Reviewed on Mar 04, 2023


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