The BEST episodes of GameCenter CX season 16

#1 - Pilotwings Live In Iwate

Season 16 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/5/2012

The story of Arino and Pilotwings is not a happy one. This game was meant to serve as a victory lap during his 40th birthday challenge and instead it humbled him for the second time. Arino is not one to let sleeping dogs lie, and so he will once again challenge Pilotwings, but this time he'll be doing it in front of a live audience of hundreds in the city of Iwate. Before we get to the challenge proper it's decided that it would be remiss not to have the first ever TamaGe in Iwate. He stops by the Shizukuishi Retrospective Store which is brimming with nostalgic food, games and paraphernalia. Arino picks up some goodies, plays some games with local kids and then checks out some more traditional games being played in the store.

#2 - Dynamite Headdy (1)

Season 16 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/26/2012

Dynamite Heady is the strange hero of one of Mega Drive's finest, and hardest, platformers. Can Arino figure out this treasure and conquer it?

#3 - Space Hunter

Season 16 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/7/2013

After finally getting across the line against his challenge of Metro Cross Arino is immediately thrust into his next challenge, Space Hunter. Space Hunter is a 'game' played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a TV accompanied by what can be generously described as music. God speed Arino. Since this is the last episode of the season we need to squeeze in two installments of Barcode Gambler. The first is a Nintendo vs. Sega bout followed by a battle of the live challenges. As Arino has already run out of coins he has to get creative to stay in the game. We're also treated with a bit of GCCX News where we get to see Arino enjoy playing Fix-it Felix Jr., a promotional game made for the movie Wreck It Ralph.

#4 - Karnov

Season 16 - Episode 10 - Aired 9/6/2012

The game being featured in today's challenge is the classic action game starring a mustachioed hero, Karnov. It turns out that God isn't pleased with how things are going on Earth so he decides to send a hulking sinner to handle the clean-up. Arino will have 9 stages to work his way through as the eponymous hero in order to see the ending and regain his freedom from God. The United States Of Odaiba event was held again this year and like previous years there was a live stage challenge. This year Arino was challenging a game that had recently been featured on the show and he did his utmost to send the crowd home happy. In the final instalment of The Living National Famicom Treasure, Arino is asked about Great Detective Tsurube. It just so happens that Great Detective Tsurube is about a subject that Arino is intimately familiar with, the world of comedy.

#5 - Dynamite Headdy (2)

Season 16 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/10/2012

Arino continues his struggle with the detachable hero, Dynamite Headdy. Is all hope lost?

#6 - Kattobi! Takuhai-kun (Full Speed! Delivery Boy)

Season 16 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/24/2012

Another entry in the perpetually neglected delivery boy simulation genre, it's time for Arino to challenge Full Speed! Delivery Boy. Arino's patience and driving etiquette will be put to the test as he delivers packages to the town's residents and tries to clear all 30 stages. P-Koen, an arcade that specialises in classic 10 yen arcade and mechanical machines, is the stop for today's TamaGe. Inside Arino spots a machine that the owner claims has been never been conquered, which is a challenge that Arino simply can't walk away from. Arino, The Living National Famicom Treasure, is asked to explain Tokimeki Ninja Girl Memorial. The master explains that this is a dating sim before he pontificates on the pitfalls of ninja love.

#7 - Pulseman

Season 16 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/25/2012

Today Arino will be challenging Game Freak's forgotten masterpiece, Pulseman! Intended as a competitor to Sonic, Pulseman unjustifiably fell into obscurity thanks to only being released physically in Japan. Now Arino will have to battle his way through 8 electrifying stages in order to defeat the evil Dr. Wakayama. Another year, another visit to the Tokyo Game Show. It was standard fare this year as Arino presented at the Japan game awards and fans flocked to the show's merchandise booth. But there was a slightly sadly note brought on by a notable absence. This episode also marks the beginning of a segment that will surely go on to be a classic, Barcode Gambler. In this segment Arino must place a bet on the winner of a showdown determined by the Barcode Battler, a device that scans and generates a fighter based on a given barcode. In this inaugural installment we get a real battle for the ages, Sonic The Hedgehog vs. Super Mario Bros.

#8 - Yumemi Yakata no Monogatari (Mansion of Hidden Souls)

Season 16 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/13/2012

Arino is about to get a glimpse of what was once thought to be the future of video games as he challenges the FMV Mansion of Hidden Souls on the Sega CD. The story follows a young boy who must save his sister from being transformed into a butterfly. Arino will have to discover the many secrets hidden within the mansion if he wants to save his sister and himself. On this week's TamaGe Arino heads to a cute little candy store in Itabashi. It has all the features one would expect from a store of this type. Sun bleached coin flippers outside, friendly old ladies, Metal Slug and degenerate gambling. Find out who will be declared the king of comedy as Sanma and Beat Takeshi go head-to-head in the latest bout of Barcode Battler!

#9 - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (2)

Season 16 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/24/2013

As any new parent knows, newborns can be a real handful, so it's no surprise that Arino's challenge of Yoshi's Island has been extended into part 2. Arino is determined that this family reunion will be a happy one but there's one scary fellow who will have something to say on the matter. To test his might Arino has come Fujimidai Game Park, an arcade that has a large assortment of fighting games. Arino gets a little roughed up and then miffed once he realises who's been handing out the beatings. The hits keep on coming in Barcode Gambler when it's time for two super hard games to take to the ring. It's Adventure Island VS. Ghosts 'N Goblins in a showdown for the ages. We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you a special report of a live event. This time it was a stamp rally focused on finding producer Kan's murderer. The truth may be shocking and viewer discretion is advised.

#10 - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1)

Season 16 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/10/2013

It has taken a good long while for everyone to calm down after the conclusion of his last Mario challenge but the time has come to take on another entry in the series, and this time it's Yoshi's Island. Being a parent himself, Arino will hopefully have the patience of a saint required to guide Baby Mario to the ending and to reunite him with his family. The name of this arcade may be mundane but Retro Game Museum makes for a memorable visit. Not only does it have a great selection of arcade classics, each accompanied with blaring music, but an owner with a unique manner of speaking. It's a testosterone fuelled instalment of the underground Barcode Gambler. This time it's the battle of the action stars when Arnie's Terminator 2 takes on Sly's Rambo.

#11 - Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 2 (Legend of the River King 2)

Season 16 - Episode 11 - Aired 9/20/2012

It's the second instalment in the cult hit River King series, Legend Of The River King 2. In this fishing RPG challenge, Arino must battle fish and all manner of woodland creatures to level up and reel in the River King and the ending too. A concerned fan has suggested that Matuzakaya's arcade get the TamaGe treatment as rooftop arcades of its kind are getting rarer and rarer. Arino duly obliges and justifies his decision when he wins big on a couple of their many prize games. During a little ice cream break producer Kan quizzes Arino on who would best represent Japan in the Olympics if video games were included. Arino doesn't fancy his chances but Kan thinks there is a country that he'd have a better shot at representing.

#12 - Meikyuujima (Kickle Cubicle)

Season 16 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/8/2012

The puzzle chief returns once again to tackle Irem's puzzle classic, Kickle Cubicle. This ice themed action puzzler involves the creation and manipulation of ice blocks in order to gather the dream bags found on each stage. Will Arino melt under the pressure of this challenge or will he once again prove to be as cool as ice? Today's TamaGe isn't really a TamaGe at all. Rather it's a clip from the trip to Cambodia where we get to see Arino and eventually someone else enjoy some noodles. Today's Barcode Battler will put an end to the age old argument of Final Fantasy vs. Dragon Quest. Whatever camp you're in the outcome will leave you shocked.

#13 - Parappa Rappa (PaRappa the Rapper)

Season 16 - Episode 14 - Aired 11/22/2012

It's not every day that we see a Playstation challenge but only something truly special would be worthy of the 150th episode's challenge. That something special is the rhythm masterpiece, PaRappa The Rapper. Arino's rhythm and rhyme will truly be put to the test in this anthropomorphic music classic. When Arino isn't busy laying down hot beats he likes to relax and visit arcades and so he decides to do just that in Toy Park Masamiya. Primarily a store stocking a lot of retro toys they also have a few arcade machines including, would you believe, Metal Slug. The two titles duking it out in Barcode Gambler this time are both giants of the historical simulation genre. In the red corner there is Nobunaga's Ambition and in the blue corner is the much cooler sounding Black: Romance Of The Three Kingdoms.

#14 - Gun-Dec (VICE: Project Doom)

Season 16 - Episode 8 - Aired 7/19/2012

#15 - Super Chinese (Kung Fu Heroes)

Season 16 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/12/2012

Arino goes HIYA! in the first installment of the Super Chinese series on the Famicom.

#16 - Captain Tsubasa (Tecmo Cup Soccer Game) (1)

Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/7/2012

Arino goes for the gold trophy in the first of Captain Tsubasa's Famicom adventures. How will Arino score in this adventure sports hybrid game?

#17 - Captain Tsubasa (Tecmo Cup Soccer Game) (2)

Season 16 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/21/2012

Will Arino's team be taken out of the cup, or will he score the final goal and lead them to victory?

#18 - Famicom Tantei Club: Kieta Koukeisha (Famicom Detective Club)

Season 16 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/2/2012

It seems that someone has been knocking people off in connection to a large family inheritance and it will be up to super sleuth Arino to crack the case in Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir. Arino will be struggling to keep his clearance rate in the red when he takes on this sprawling crime drama. Arino's off to pay a TamaGe visit to a quaint little candy store in Kiyose City which he hears has a number of classic 10-yen games. Once he arrives he's greeted by a few kids who quickly share some insider tips that'll net him the most bang for his buck. The Living National Treasure is presented with an early famicom game that he's familiar with by the name of Uradius. Unlike the similarly named Gradius, Uradius is a simulation of the life of a certain Assistant Director.

#19 - Metro-Cross (1)

Season 16 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/7/2013

The subject of today's challenge is Namco's odd classic, Metro-Cross. Perhaps best known in the west for its appalling box art, this challenge will see Arino running (and skateboarding) for his life as he attempts to beat the clock on the game's 32 tracks. Toshimaen, an amusement park that features not one but two arcades is the destination for this week's TamaGe. Rather than trying out the typical arcade games Arino is more interested in the prize games typical of an amusement park but when his luck begins to turn he has a special guest step in. The two pugilists duking it out in Barcode Gambler this week are the notoriously lightweight protagonists of Spelunker and The Mystery Of Atlantis. It's a hero who is fallible to bird droppings versus a man who can be left crippled by a one foot drop in this dynamite battle.

#20 - Metro-Cross (2)

Season 16 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/21/2013

Arino is racing towards the finish line in the pulse pounding conclusion to his Metro-Cross challenge. There is no let up after reaching the half way point in the game as the strange obstacles continue to pile on. Perhaps a little role-playing will give him the final push he needs towards the goal. Not only has Metro-Cross stretched into a second part but so has the TamaGe visit to the Toshimaen amusement park. First up Arino tries out a cooking game with a unique input device before he takes on Abe's daughter Amane in Mario Kart and Final Furlong. Two very fitting competitors have stepped into the ring for the latest round of Barcode Gambler. In the red corner is the incumbent, Street Fighter 2 while in the black corner is the up and comer Virtua Fighter.