6.8 /10 1 Votes6.8
4.8/5 Emuparadise Initial release date 30 November 1987 | 4/10 IGN Developer Hudson Soft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre(s) Side scrolling platform game Similar Hudson Soft games, Platform games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
J.J. & Jeff, known in Japan as Kato-chan Ken-chan (カトちゃんケンちゃん), is a side scrolling platform game for the TurboGrafx-16. The Japanese version is loosely based on the then-popular comedy television show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan which Vin Di Bona Productions used as its inspiration for the popular television show America's Funniest Home Videos. The game is best remembered for its off-beat characters and enemies, and toilet humor, including flatulence, urination and defecation in the Japanese release. The game is often criticized for being too censored or sanitized when translated for America with most reviewers feeling that the Japanese version was superior in humor and gameplay. On May 28, 2007, it was released on the Wii's Virtual Console in North America, and in Europe on June 15.
Contents
Story
J.J. & Jeff are bungling detectives in the same vein as Inspector Clouseau. They are out to solve a kidnapping case. In the Japanese version, Kato-chan & Ken-chan, it is based mostly on the "Detective Story" segments of the show.
Gameplay
At the start, the player chooses either J.J. or Jeff to play. The unchosen character will appear at various moments in the game standing by lampposts and hiding in bushes, but remains unplayable.
There are three ways to attack enemies in J.J. and Jeff. One is to jump on top of them in an attack echoing Super Mario Bros.. The second way is to spray enemies with a can of spray paint. The third is to kick enemies.
The game included six levels (fields) split into four parts, even though the manual says there are a total of 8 levels.
A life bar labeled "Vitality" depletes as the character is injured. Eating food hidden in each level will replenish this meter. Money found can be used to play a slot machine game for items. The slot machine is one of several hidden rooms found in each level. Kicking random objects can produce money, food, and other items. Extra lives are obtained at 70,000, 150,000, 300,000 and 500,000 points.
Censorship
The original Japanese game has a heavy emphasis on sophomoric toilet humor, most of which was removed for the American version. For example, in the Japanese version, the spray can was originally Kato and Ken's own flatulence. Also, the unplayable character was originally defecating in the bushes and urinating on lampposts, but the urine was removed, and the character was seen wearing a bear mask in the American version.