Welcome to another review of two titles from the Japanese based studio Kairosoft, namely GCafeteria Nipponica & Pocket Clothier. You might remember this studio from my previous review – which can be found right here! To quote myself:
This Japanese studio is very well known for the hefty amount of simulation games they developed. Most of their games are mobile based, which isn’t strange. The controls for most of these games are easy to use, and the gameplay is designed for short bursts of gameplay. Does this means it’s a strange fit on the Switch? On the contrary!
Cafeteria Nipponica
The number of Kairosoft titles on the Nintendo Switch has greatly expanded, and I’m really happy with it. These games are highly enjoyable and go way deeper than what they give away at first glance. Like I stated in the previous review, the concept is simple: Get a company up and running and make it the biggest success the world has ever seen. Both games use unique parameters to get things done. In Cafeteria Nipponica you’ll develop dishes, based on the cuisine you choose (European, Asian, American). You cater your restaurant towards the dishes and the audience it attracts. Do you want to become the next McDonalds? Are are you more in the market for a high-end businessman/woman meeting spot. It’s all up to you.
Cooking Simulator?
Cafeteria Nipponica is not a hardcore food-RPG. If you are in the market for these kind of games, I would suggest looking up something like Cook, Serve, Delicious 2!!. Instead, you get a deeply layered simulation game, in which you can create your style of restaurant. You want to develop the best omelet there is? Sure, go ahead – try and combine it with some fresh milk or cheese (or soy sauce), to create new dishes, cooked up by Worden Hamsey (for example). While developing new dishes, you will have to tailor the setting of your restaurant towards the needs of the clientele, pay your bills, hire new personnel… And once you make enough money, you can expand your business and become the biggest hit in the culinary world.
Pocket Clothier
In Pocket Clothier you run a, surprise surprise, clothing store.
At the beginning of the game, you start with a two-story clothing store and a total of six clothing goods. To acquire more goods, you must purchase them from clothing companies with medals, a special currency that is harder to acquire than money. These medals are earned by completing in-game challenges or selling stylish combos to customers. As the game goes on, you gain access to more and better goods.
What makes Pocket Clothier stand out is that each piece of clothing has its own set of stats that can be modified using items. Clothing stats are further modified by the stats of the display they are placed on. If you group certain items together you will get even more points, which will result in even more profit. I decided to run a man- and woman store, with a separate floor for both. This way I had the room to create great combinations and earn enough revenue to buy a third floor.
Fashion Paradise
This was one of those titles of which I thought I would not enjoy them as much as I did. Pocket Clothier is hard, and that makes it fun. You can buy stuff from every company, but this way, you will end up with some kind of thriftshop, in which nothing can be combined. So you will have to commit and decide on which kind of store you want to run. Next to that, you will have to change up your seasonal wear as well. Nobody wants to buy short sleeves in winter or a fur-coated jacket in spring..? Once you get the hang of this, Pocket Clothier will change in one of those games that makes time fly by in mere seconds.
Conclusion:
It’s still really hard to score these games since they were developed for mobile systems. The graphics are simple, but look nice. You can see that Pocket Clothier is one of the ‘newer’ games since it has better graphics and sounds. Still, most of the games are interest-bound, it’s hard to make a sell for them. I enjoyed Pocket Clothier, one I rate it as one of the best Kairosoft games I have played so far. Cafeteria Nipponica was a blast from the past but did not age as well as I hoped. So before picking up any of the Kairosoft Games, look online for some information on the game and ask yourself – am I into this genre? If the answer is yes, and you always have dreamed about creating your clothing store or running your restaurant? Then pick them up right away!
