Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation - The Endless Seven-Day Journey

It was nice. A bit slow sometimes, but once I got used to the pace of the game I enjoyed a bit more.

If you long for nostalgic summer days in the Japanese countryside or even just the carefree summer vacations of your childhood, this game is sure to scratch that itch.

As a spiritual successor to the Boku no Natsuyasumi (also known as 'My Summer Vacation') series of games, it goes for a similar style of play. Every interaction in this open-ended adventure is delightfully pleasant. The scenery is beautiful, and Shin-chan is an adorably annoying kid. Simply wandering around, collecting items, and interacting with the various townspeople is a wonderfully relaxing experience.
The OST is also unreasonably good for such a small title.

The visual style, including the character models, has been crafted with great care to ensure the game truly feels like an episode of Shin-chan. The 2D backgrounds are especially beautiful, showcasing the untapped potential of pre-rendered backgrounds that games like Resident Evil on the PSX and Gamecube once demonstrated. Sadly, this is a risk few in the industry are willing to take today.

Anyway, to go off topic even more, this game is also an excellent choice for studying Japanese, as it displays furigana everywhere and the dialogue requires user input to continue. The dialogue is simple, owing to the fact that all characters speak to a 5-year old and there is not so much of it that you will grow bored or exhausted from trying to understand it. The only negative for japanese learners is that the game will only allow you to save at the end of a day, so you cannot easily end the game whenever you want.

To sum up: This game captures the nostalgia of summer in the Japanese countryside, blending beautiful scenery and simple, pleasant gameplay, while also being a fantastic tool for studying Japanese.

Buen juego aunque un poco repetitivo.