Big In Japan
“Oh, when you’re big in Japan, tonight, big in Japan, be tight
Big in Japan, ooh, the eastern sea’s so blue
Big in Japan, alright, pay then I’ll sleep by your side
Things are easy when you’re big in Japan
Oh, when you’re big in Japan.”
– Alphaville, Big in Japan, 1984
The phrase “Big in Japan” is one of many obscure pop-culture phrases I heard growing up but never fully understood. Looking it up years later, I learned that it described, for better or worse, being more popular in Japan than one’s home country.
According to Marian Gold of the band Alphaville, “That line has a certain meaning. It means that if you’re a complete loser, you’re telling other people, ‘I’m not a loser because in Japan I’m really big.’ It’s the lie of the loser, and it fitted perfectly into the story of these junkies, which the song is about, in a very tragic way.”
Before tackling Purgatory Purgers, I put forward two scenarios to Eric:
- Quit your day job and go for broke (as I did back in 2016, though more happenstance than a direction of my choosing)
- Treat it as an all-consuming hobby
There were stumbling blocks, but we eventually got through them and learned a lot about each other in the process.
A Bit Nostalgic
Around early May of 2024, Eric’s cousin Chris purchased Purgatory Purgers. I knew Chris in my early teens – we’d spent a lot of time together, most notably, in a local play (an outdoor performance of a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the park). I’d lost touch with Chris over the years, but became reacquainted with him through Eric a few months after publishing Purgatory Purgers.
Later that month, Chris started a YouTube channel called “Back to the Past Gaming,” where he started posting retro gaming content. The pseudonym he chose for himself was “ABitNosthalgic”, which seemed oddly appropriate, given our shared history.
The following month (June, 2024), Chris began making videos for Purgatory Purgers.
A direct result of Chris’ feedback was the publication of versions 1.4 and 1.5, which fixed more bugs and added some QoL features (e.g., controller support). He created about 22 videos in total, including all 3 of the ‘best’ endings. Unfortunately, Chris gave up YouTubing shortly after. As a thank-you for his time and help, I sent both him and Eric a Purgatory Purgers T-Shirt from the Merch Store.
Big in Japan
Early this year, Eric and I were chatting on Discord when he asked if we had any recent downloads of Purgatory Purgers, and to my surprise, we did. Apparently, he’d mentioned the game to some people, and one of them decided to check it out. Later that night, on a whim, I was searching YouTube for “Purgatory Purgers” and came across a Japanese YouTuber by the name of catlover_mimi, who had played it as part of a larger itch.io live stream:
Apparently, his channel specializes in playing free games from Itch.io, and he just happened to come across Purgatory Purgers!
Through the use of Closed Captions and auto translate, I was able to piece together (roughly) what he was saying. Here are some phrases I picked out:
- “I feel like I’ve fallen into the ultimate trap!” (Downward Spiral)
- “Lime Bath, the two of us are in a lime bath, it’s really good, oh my!” (The Bathhouse)
- “Red one [Bob] has a pretty nice butt, it has a really nice butt…” (The Great Feast)
- “Plump butt, plump plump…” (This Can’t Go On)
- “Why does it look like this? It’s mysteriously cool” (Jeff Ending 2)
- “It was an amazing game, wasn’t it?” (Feedback after beating the game)
It was a real pleasure watching him play the game, and it’s a shame so few people ever got to try it. Still, I’m very happy with what we made, and I’m starting to get the itch to create the next one!
