Why Doshin The Giant Is One Of The Most Collectable Gamecube Games | Nostalgia Obscura
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Doshin The Giant is one of the most sought after, collectable Gamecube games, but why does this weird title remain popular to this day?
We find out on this edition of Nostalgia Obscura, our series where we shine a spotlight on the hidden gem of gaming's past.
We look at the weird development history of this game, how it inspired huge modern series and what Doshin's creators are up to today.
#doshin #doshinthegiant #gamecube
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Doshin the Giant is one of the hardest Gamecube games to get hold of nowadays. Even I, curator of all things nostalgic and obscure, had to make do with this artist’s interpretation to disguise the fact I played it on an emulator. But seriously, you’d be lucky to get a copy today for less than £50, demonstrating how sought after and collectable it is.
But ask anyone what they think of Doshin, and 99 times out of 100 they probably won’t have a clue what you’re talking about. So why does it have such a cult following? Watch on to find out…
Hey how’s it going guys! This is Tom from UDS and welcome to Nostalgia Obscura, our series where we uncover the hidden gems from gaming’s past and find out why they’re worth a second look. If you’re new to the new channel you can expect plenty more all on retro classics, as well as reviews of current releases and my own personal audiovisual shrine to all things Star Wars. So if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, make sure to hit subscribe. Depending on when this video goes out, we’re either just about to hit 1000 subs, have just hit 1000 subs, or have hit 1000, then dropped back under. If it’s the last one then it’s extra important you subscribe because I’m probably crying somewhere right now, and you don’t want to see a grown man cry do you? Anyway, on with the show.
Doshin The Giant started life on the Nintendo 64DD, and that alone warrants its place on a series with Obscure in the title. The ill-fated disc add-on for the N64 was an absolute flop. Only sold in Japan, and even there only by mail order.
With the PlayStation dominating CD gaming, and cartridges still giving Nintendo respectable sales, the 64DD felt more like an experiment than anything, with only nine games released for the hardware before efforts would turn to Project Dolphin. This was the working title for Nintendo’s new gaming machine, they’re cube-like gaming machine. I think they called it the Playbox or something, I can’t really remember…
But back to the 64DD, one of the nine games released for it was indeed Doshin the Giant in 1999. As such, it started life locked to Japan, but international audiences would get glimpses of this peculiar game through screenshots in magazines like Nintendo Power.
That’s why there was definite buzz when it was announced that Doshin the Giant would be remastered for the Playbox in 2002, with a worldwide release, no less. What? They went with Gamecube in the end? I don’t see it personally.
Now that’s a brief history of what led to Doshin, but what is it all about? Well to answer that we first need to take a look at some Giants.
To say that Giants are complicated creatures is an understatement. You have the Big Friendly Giant and The Iron Giant who are friendly, nurturing beings, and even Hagrid kind of fits into that category. I say kind of because he’s only half Giant, but let’s not get into that.
In mythology most of the giants are evil beings, with Goliath and the Japanese Oni fitting that description. Oni are basically demons who are said to exist to spread misery, and they’re also pretty keen on human flesh. So, yeah, being big doesn’t mean you’re friendly.
What makes Doshin the Giant great is you get to choose which path to go down. You can be that nurturing figure for your villagers, or you can become Jashin, something akin to the demon giants in Japanese mythology, except you can’t feed on the flesh of your villagers. Unsurprisingly I think that would’ve been a tad unsuitable for the game’s 3+ rating...
