One of the great things about doing business in Japan is its relatively small size.  There are over 128 million people packed into enormous cities which are really not all that far from each other.  This means that it doesn’t take very much to cover the whole market via any medium: newspaper, television, radio and…bus?  Indeed. In the mid 1980’s, as Hudson rocketed to fame on the wings of its great shooters and franchises such as Adventure Island and Bomberman, the marketing powers decided to take video game marketing and PR to a place they had never before been: on the road.

 

 

If you mention the words ‘yellow bus’ to an American, he/she will instantly think of school (or in my case, of being late for school, as I always missed the bus).  If you try that same thing on a Japanese person, his eyes will flash like Blazing Lazers blasts. The appropriately painted yellow Hudson Caravan is a minibus loaded with games, gamers, mascots, giveaways, merchandise and the company’s most famous face, Takahashi Meijin.  It travels from Hokkaido, where the company’s northern base is, making various stops in the major cities and winding up in Tokyo.   A similar southern Caravan covers the south of Japan and ends up in Osaka. Just imagine a promotional video game fun wagon.  Once a year, they take their show on the road delighting fans all over Japan.  Aside from getting to see Takahashi and other Meijin ('masters'), fans get to see, try and even buy some of the company’s latest titles. Games like Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire and, more recently, Soldier Soldier R were revealed to the public for the first time as part of the tour.

 

 

The most exciting part, though, is being able to take part in massive tournaments for all sorts of prizes. Almost every year, a different title is selected for the tour and, to commemorate the event, Hudson will often market special editions of tournament titles such as Gunhed (Blazing Lazers) with the tournament mode option used for the Caravan road show.  Today, these versions are frustratingly difficult to find and equally expensive. The Final Soldier special edition which was taken on the 7th Caravan in 1991 will easily run you over $300.

 

 

Like all road shows, it is only in town for a limited time so when it does come, it’s a major event.  The Caravan tours originally ran from 1985-1998. After that, while the company continued to put on shows, the Caravan was put to rest.  Eight years later, the still popular Takahashi announced on his blog that there was a Caravan revival project being discussed. He mentioned his ideas for networked tournaments, taking the Caravan to the Tokyo Game Show, bringing back champions from the old Famicom days of the Caravan and more. The response was favorable, to say the least.  A few months later, 16-Shot (Takahashi’s nickname, earned by his ability to take 16 button-crunching shots in 1 second) and company brought the bus back out on the road in a surprise comeback and it has been rolling again ever since with better tournaments, bigger prizes, simultaneous nationwide competitions and more.

 

 

Check out the conclusion for more Caravan goodness in The Hudson Caravan: Part 2!