Live in Power Bowl: TM Network

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Live in Power Bowl: TM Network
Developer(s)	CBS Sony Group
Publisher(s)	Epic Sony Record
Designer(s)	Muchiuchi Kodama (lead designer) Hiroyuki Nakada (scenario) Toboketa Okamoto (graphics designer) Toshichan Zama (sound arrangement)
Platform(s)	Famicom
Release date	^JP December 22, 1989 ^[1]
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player only
Rating(s)	CERO: n/a (not rated)
Media	Cartridge
Input methods	Famicom controller

Live in Power Bowl: TM Network (TMネットワークライブインパワーボウル, Live in Power Bowl: TM Network^?)^[2] is a Japanese-only Famicom game featuring the then-popular J-Pop group TM Network. The story starts on New Year's Eve in the year 1999. Suddenly, nuclear war breaks out and a mysterious nuclear blast sends the player back to December of 1989. Using his musical rock and roll influence, the player must persuade the world to declare global peace so that the nuclear war never happens. Using a interface that is utilized in graphic adventure games, the player interacts with the various members of the all-male band and various strangers. These people include the security guard, the office lady, and normal citizens of Japan.

However, the player has to watch how much information they let out. If he tells the wrong person that he is from 1999, then the game ends with him going to prison and the world is destroyed anyway due to World War III. Japanese literacy is required, as the entire game is in Japanese with only a few words of English spoken. There is a point where the player can get stuck. After talking to the businessman in a normal manner to get in (i.e., withholding the fact that the main character is actually from the year 1999), the player has to retrieve a briefcase but it is stuck. Using the phone doesn't work and the player has to get the briefcase before the businessman wakes up. This point in the game has stumped the most amount of English speaking people. Due to its difficulty level and emphasis on paying attention to Japanese text clues, it is recommended that only people whose native language is Japanese play this game.

[edit] Gallery

A Soviet satellite launches nuclear weapons to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China on December 26, 1999. This is considered to be the result of a losing game after something bad happens to the player.

This is an in-game picture of a Japanese prison, circa 1989. If the player tells the wrong person that he is from the year 1999, he will be locked up until the game ends.