hesokuri-wars

[hesokuri-wars]

Stellar news, I have found a Blingee clone

🖤 Mod Kara

Really?! Damn they really did that to us, guess we'll have to do poorly Photoshopped color swaps of the goddess magical girls units for the dark goddess units bc those wouldve totally been a thing if the app survived

Tragic news, I can't get into my blingee account to give this ask the response it needs 😔

💙Mod Kara

#literally don't know what to tag this #mod kara

[hesokuri-wars]

These tags from @snowimatsu said what I wanted to say in the original post but forgot lol. Yeah, from the sounds of it, Heso's final days sound like a total clusterfuck, so WHO KNOWS what was going on behind the scenes. Genuinely, I'm very curious to know.

As someone who doesn't like getting their hopes up too high out of the risk of facing massive disappointment, it's my opinion that nobody should really commit to this as some confirmation(?) that Heso will eventually come back. That being said, does it feel like an impossibility? No. The fact that it's been over a year could mean that Heso really is gone, or it could mean that staff is waiting for the right time to announce/launch it for whatever reason.

And IF it does come back, I'll be here (assuming my attention deficient self isn't distracted by something else, that is).

🐾 Mod Ichi

I never got the chance to play this game, but it looks so fun... Why was it shut down? Also, are there any other oso-san games still available?

Well, nobody here was playing around the time of the shutdown, so we wouldn't really be experts on the situation. Either way, game staff in general don't just outright tell players the reasons for discontinuation, but I think the safe assumption would be that they simply didn't have the budget to keep it running anymore. Which... honestly, was a possibility that I had been concerned about for a while, given how much the game grew to rely on its whales. I could be way off on this, but the fact that they flat started requiring to spend money to roll for premium sets had the alarm bells going off in my head.

As for the (mobile) games still available now, there are three - Pokomatsu, Tabimatsu, and NEETPro, all of which region-locked to only Japan (assuming you don't live there, if you want to know of a way to get around this issue, follow the instructions in the FAQ under "how to install the app" - the process should be the same).

And because I have thoughts on all of them, I wrote up a brief description on each game before concluding with my personal thoughts on the current state of the Ososan Gaming Experience, but I'm not sure if anyone else really cares that much so I'm putting it under a cut lol. Links to downloading the games are included below as well for those who are curious.

Pokomatsu (Apple Link / Android Link)

I kind of talked about this one just the other day, but basically, it's the game that "replaced" Hesokuri Wars. Not only does it use a lot of Heso's assets, but the Twitter account for Hesokuri Wars and Pokomatsu is one and the same.

And... that's really it as far as similarities go. Hesokuri Wars was a tower defense game, and Pokomatsu is that one game where you aim and shoot balls at objects/people that are slowly advancing towards you and have to hit them enough times to win (idk if there's a more succinct name for this type of gameplay). Also, you can collect screenshots from the anime, movies, and Heso, either by playing/progressing or by rolling in the gacha. The basic story of the game is that the sextuplets are defending themselves from having their roles as the protagonists stolen by the other characters.

Here's a sample of some gameplay, if you're curious. Note that the voice clips are recycled directly from Heso. Also, it's incredibly noisy, so I guess that's just another similarity the two share.

Mod Ichi's Opinion: If you like this sort of game, then go ahead and give it a try, but I personally can't see myself getting too invested in it. Collecting the cards is its main selling point, but even that's not really all that given that they're just screenshots as opposed to original art. Also, I think I'm bad at it because I can't get past Stage 8. Never mind, I was playing it while I was typing this and I just beat it lol. But now I can't get past Stage 9.

Tabimatsu (Apple Link / Android Link)

AKA the other big Oso game from back in the day, although it still wasn't as big as Heso. The premise is that the sextuplets are traveling to all of the prefectures in Japan to pick up money, and the gameplay is in the form of a board game where you roll a die and move around. Much like Heso, had its fair share of original outfits and events, but it's currently in a bit of a weird place because it's been dormant for the past few years; it's still there for people to download and play, but it hasn't had a proper update since like 2020/2021 aside from the occasional maintenance. It's very clearly on its last legs, but it's still available to the public, presumably because it's not as costly to run as some other games of the past.

A sample of gameplay.

Mod Ichi's Opinion: I really enjoyed this game when it was more active! I'd like to replay it for the nostalgia, but it refuses to load properly on my phone teehee.

NEETPro (Apple Link / Android Link)

This one was released in conjunction with the first movie. It's also made by the same people who made Tabimatsu.

NEETPro is by far the simplest out of all the games, being more of a story-driven visual novel and not much else - I think this is the first and only Ososan mobile game to not have any gacha function? You play as a female showbiz manager, Totoko is your supervisor (she quit being an idol), and you're responsible for managing a sextuplet of your choice. Depending on the choices you make throughout the story, you either succeed in turning him into a movie star, or he stays a NEET.

In other words, this is the closest thing to an official Ososan otome game that exists. Like I said, this game is very much just a visual novel and not much else, so it basically was just released and not really updated since. I also found a tweet posted by the official Tabimatsu account from this September announcing the app would no longer be available on the Google Play store (though people who already had the app can still play), so like. That pretty much confirms that keeping this game up to date isn't exactly a top priority of the staff.

A sample of gameplay.

Mod Ichi's Opinion: I'm playing Ichi's route and I keep trying to brute force him into letting me become his manager and at one point he grew convinced that I was secretly an assassin plotting to kill him. Anyway, I don't think you'll have much use for this if you can't read Japanese or can't find a translation somewhere.

Overall

I feel like I've been hinting at this all throughout this post, but Ososan doesn't seem to be thriving in the mobile game sphere as of late. We used to have games like Hesokuri Wars, Damematsu, and Shimamatsu, all of which were rife with content, but all three current games I described above are fairly low-maintenance to keep running, have very sparse updates, and overall just don't seem to be here to keep your long-term interest. Maybe it's not too fair to say that about NEETPro, given the type of game it is (not to mention that it mainly served as promotional material for the movie), but like. Tabimatsu? That game used to consistently get new content, until one day, all that just stopped.

Idk I don't really have a conclusion to all of this lol this isn't meant to be some thesis or anything. It's just that when I went back to see which games were still available to the public, I immediately noticed the lack of actual content, and it's such a downgrade. It kind of bothers me as someone who not only rigorously played Heso for years, but also was super into checking out every other game the staff would drop.

🐾 Mod Ichi

#mod ichi #memorial and legacy

[hesokuri-wars]

I never got the chance to play this game, but it looks so fun... Why was it shut down? Also, are there any other oso-san games still available?

Well, nobody here was playing around the time of the shutdown, so we wouldn't really be experts on the situation. Either way, game staff in general don't just outright tell players the reasons for discontinuation, but I think the safe assumption would be that they simply didn't have the budget to keep it running anymore. Which... honestly, was a possibility that I had been concerned about for a while, given how much the game grew to rely on its whales. I could be way off on this, but the fact that they flat started requiring to spend money to roll for premium sets had the alarm bells going off in my head.

As for the (mobile) games still available now, there are three - Pokomatsu, Tabimatsu, and NEETPro, all of which region-locked to only Japan (assuming you don't live there, if you want to know of a way to get around this issue, follow the instructions in the FAQ under "how to install the app" - the process should be the same).

And because I have thoughts on all of them, I wrote up a brief description on each game before concluding with my personal thoughts on the current state of the Ososan Gaming Experience, but I'm not sure if anyone else really cares that much so I'm putting it under a cut lol. Links to downloading the games are included below as well for those who are curious.

Pokomatsu (Apple Link / Android Link)

I kind of talked about this one just the other day, but basically, it's the game that "replaced" Hesokuri Wars. Not only does it use a lot of Heso's assets, but the Twitter account for Hesokuri Wars and Pokomatsu is one and the same.

And... that's really it as far as similarities go. Hesokuri Wars was a tower defense game, and Pokomatsu is that one game where you aim and shoot balls at objects/people that are slowly advancing towards you and have to hit them enough times to win (idk if there's a more succinct name for this type of gameplay). Also, you can collect screenshots from the anime, movies, and Heso, either by playing/progressing or by rolling in the gacha. The basic story of the game is that the sextuplets are defending themselves from having their roles as the protagonists stolen by the other characters.

Here's a sample of some gameplay, if you're curious. Note that the voice clips are recycled directly from Heso. Also, it's incredibly noisy, so I guess that's just another similarity the two share.

Mod Ichi's Opinion: If you like this sort of game, then go ahead and give it a try, but I personally can't see myself getting too invested in it. Collecting the cards is its main selling point, but even that's not really all that given that they're just screenshots as opposed to original art. Also, I think I'm bad at it because I can't get past Stage 8. Never mind, I was playing it while I was typing this and I just beat it lol. But now I can't get past Stage 9.

Tabimatsu (Apple Link / Android Link)

AKA the other big Oso game from back in the day, although it still wasn't as big as Heso. The premise is that the sextuplets are traveling to all of the prefectures in Japan to pick up money, and the gameplay is in the form of a board game where you roll a die and move around. Much like Heso, had its fair share of original outfits and events, but it's currently in a bit of a weird place because it's been dormant for the past few years; it's still there for people to download and play, but it hasn't had a proper update since like 2020/2021 aside from the occasional maintenance. It's very clearly on its last legs, but it's still available to the public, presumably because it's not as costly to run as some other games of the past.

A sample of gameplay.

Mod Ichi's Opinion: I really enjoyed this game when it was more active! I'd like to replay it for the nostalgia, but it refuses to load properly on my phone teehee.

NEETPro (Apple Link / Android Link)

This one was released in conjunction with the first movie. It's also made by the same people who made Tabimatsu.

NEETPro is by far the simplest out of all the games, being more of a story-driven visual novel and not much else - I think this is the first and only Ososan mobile game to not have any gacha function? You play as a female showbiz manager, Totoko is your supervisor (she quit being an idol), and you're responsible for managing a sextuplet of your choice. Depending on the choices you make throughout the story, you either succeed in turning him into a movie star, or he stays a NEET.

In other words, this is the closest thing to an official Ososan otome game that exists. Like I said, this game is very much just a visual novel and not much else, so it basically was just released and not really updated since. I also found a tweet posted by the official Tabimatsu account from this September announcing the app would no longer be available on the Google Play store (though people who already had the app can still play), so like. That pretty much confirms that keeping this game up to date isn't exactly a top priority of the staff.

A sample of gameplay.

Mod Ichi's Opinion: I'm playing Ichi's route and I keep trying to brute force him into letting me become his manager and at one point he grew convinced that I was secretly an assassin plotting to kill him. Anyway, I don't think you'll have much use for this if you can't read Japanese or can't find a translation somewhere.

Overall

I feel like I've been hinting at this all throughout this post, but Ososan doesn't seem to be thriving in the mobile game sphere as of late. We used to have games like Hesokuri Wars, Damematsu, and Shimamatsu, all of which were rife with content, but all three current games I described above are fairly low-maintenance to keep running, have very sparse updates, and overall just don't seem to be here to keep your long-term interest. Maybe it's not too fair to say that about NEETPro, given the type of game it is (not to mention that it mainly served as promotional material for the movie), but like. Tabimatsu? That game used to consistently get new content, until one day, all that just stopped.

Idk I don't really have a conclusion to all of this lol this isn't meant to be some thesis or anything. It's just that when I went back to see which games were still available to the public, I immediately noticed the lack of actual content, and it's such a downgrade. It kind of bothers me as someone who not only rigorously played Heso for years, but also was super into checking out every other game the staff would drop.

🐾 Mod Ichi

#SORRY ANON I KNOW YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR LIKE 80% OF THIS ANSWER BUT I HAD THOUGHTS #disclaimer that i have absolutely no clue what's going on behind the scenes i'm just making observations as an outsider #mod ichi #memorial and legacy #ask

[hesokuri-wars]

カサカサ

[hesokuri-wars]

I know I ramble about Prince Ichi a lot, but just for the hell of it, here are some other Heso versions of my pissed off malewife that I love and miss!

🐾 Mod Ichi

#well I like some of these more than others but they're all here for a reason #I'd put all of the akuma rider and phantom thief sets here but like. too much space #mod ichi #ichimatsu #blog shenanigans

[hesokuri-wars]

Interesting little tidbit!

🐾 Mod Ichi

The next 4-star set has been announced and we’ve got more high school Matsus! This time they’re ready for swim class, simply called the Swimsuit (High School Student) set. 

They attack many enemies at once and have high HP and attack. They also power up the skills of other characters within the same set as well as characters from the original 3-star Swimsuit set.

This set will be available in the gacha on July 00!

💙 Mod Kara

⬆️ Mod Kara’s words from 2019 ⬆️

⬇️ Mod Ichi’s additional commentary as of 2023 ⬇️

IF TUMBLR WOULD FINALLY LET ME POST THIS THAT’D BE NICE. ANYWAY.

As you can see above, Hesokuri Wars was going to add a set of the 18matsus in swimsuits, but for whatever reason, they ended up never seeing the light of day. A bit of an explanation on how these pics were uncovered:

Back then, the news bubble that popped up whenever a player launched the game was sourced from a webpage. Given that the staff would sometimes write the news in advance, they had a full section prepared announcing the release of this set, and so Mod Kara ripped the images from there and drafted this post in anticipation of its release. Needless to say, that never happened, but we couldn’t just post these, so these guys have been stuck in limbo for the past 4+ years. Buuut now that the game’s been shut down for over a year, it’s probably fine to release them, right?

Gotta wonder what happened that caused them to never be put into the game. Cheers to the set that never was!

🐾 Mod Ichi

#mod ichi #memorial and legacy

[hesokuri-wars]

I could never stand the Hero Matsus. I don't know what it is but I just never liked their designs and think they're so tacky.

(Sorry Mod Kara I know you like them. Please forgive me. 😭)

💚 Mod Choro

So last month I asked people which sets/units they missed the most now that the game was done, and what better way to ring in the holidays than to be a massive fucking hater? Is there any set you remember that you utterly despised (or just had a moderate disdain for)? Any particular character? Bonus points for not going for any "easy targets" aka already not well-received sets.

Again, I'll start:

🐾 Mod Ichi

(P.S.: This really is just for fun and to see other people's tastes and opinions, so don't take it personally if someone doesn't like a unit that you love. This goes both ways - don't get overly confrontational if someone likes something you hate. This is all subjective opinion at the end of the day, so let's be normal and chill for once.)

[hesokuri-wars]

Hi! Sorry to disturb you guys, but your mobile links and FAQ doesn't really work on mobile, tried with Wifi and Data and both said they couldn't connect to it. ^^

Sorry to bother!

Ahhh yeah, that's because our domain changed, and the links were never updated. Should be fixed now!

(And for future reference, if a link on the blog doesn't work, check if the URL uses a co.vu domain, and if it does, change it to hesokuri-wars.tumblr.com. The page should load then. You should be able to do this on mobile as long as you're using your browser and not the app!)

🐾 Mod Ichi

#also i'm lifting the requirement to read the faq before sending questions now that the game's gone lol #it's EXTREMELY outdated; it hasn't been updated in years and out of all of it only one question still applies? #ask #mod ichi

[hesokuri-wars]

The next 4-star set has been announced and we’ve got more high school Matsus! This time they’re ready for swim class, simply called the Swimsuit (High School Student) set. 

They attack many enemies at once and have high HP and attack. They also power up the skills of other characters within the same set as well as characters from the original 3-star Swimsuit set.

This set will be available in the gacha on July 00!

💙 Mod Kara

⬆️ Mod Kara’s words from 2019 ⬆️

⬇️ Mod Ichi’s additional commentary as of 2023 ⬇️

IF TUMBLR WOULD FINALLY LET ME POST THIS THAT’D BE NICE. ANYWAY.

As you can see above, Hesokuri Wars was going to add a set of the 18matsus in swimsuits, but for whatever reason, they ended up never seeing the light of day. A bit of an explanation on how these pics were uncovered:

Back then, the news bubble that popped up whenever a player launched the game was sourced from a webpage. Given that the staff would sometimes write the news in advance, they had a full section prepared announcing the release of this set, and so Mod Kara ripped the images from there and drafted this post in anticipation of its release. Needless to say, that never happened, but we couldn’t just post these, so these guys have been stuck in limbo for the past 4+ years. Buuut now that the game’s been shut down for over a year, it’s probably fine to release them, right?

Gotta wonder what happened that caused them to never be put into the game. Cheers to the set that never was!

🐾 Mod Ichi

#hesokuri wars #hesowars #money wars #osomatsu san #osomatsu san the movie #osomatsu #karamatsu #choromatsu #ichimatsu #jyushimatsu #todomatsu #news #mod kara #mod ichi #memorial and legacy #it would feel wrong to delete mod kara's words so i won't #not deleting the tags either

[hesokuri-wars]

I'm the horny police, so:

These are just the Karas I can remember off the top of my head. Deepest apologies to that one Ichi in there but he's also representing my feelings.

No one needs to point out my favorite Matsu. The joke writes itself.

💙Mod Kara

So last month I asked people which sets/units they missed the most now that the game was done, and what better way to ring in the holidays than to be a massive fucking hater? Is there any set you remember that you utterly despised (or just had a moderate disdain for)? Any particular character? Bonus points for not going for any "easy targets" aka already not well-received sets.

Again, I'll start:

🐾 Mod Ichi

(P.S.: This really is just for fun and to see other people's tastes and opinions, so don't take it personally if someone doesn't like a unit that you love. This goes both ways - don't get overly confrontational if someone likes something you hate. This is all subjective opinion at the end of the day, so let's be normal and chill for once.)

#last time I said this you all got horny in the inbox. don't. #mod kara #memorial and legacy #mod post

[hesokuri-wars]

Really?! Damn they really did that to us, guess we'll have to do poorly Photoshopped color swaps of the goddess magical girls units for the dark goddess units bc those wouldve totally been a thing if the app survived

Tragic news, I can't get into my blingee account to give this ask the response it needs 😔

💙Mod Kara

#mod kara #ask

[hesokuri-wars]

Thanks to this blog re-appearing, i had a dream about hesokuri wars last night--??

Anyways i miss seeing the stupid costumes they'd come up with lol i had a soft spot for the Prince white day costumes, and the gothic lolita costumes---

I hated the. Slug things. I cant even remember the name of them, i just hated themm 0/10 , no.

Oh, the Geruges? Yeah lol those were pretty slimy and gross, much like the humans they spawn from. I didn't mind them, personally, but it's not hard to see why others would.

And by Gothic Lolita, I assume you mean that one Princess subset? Funny you should mention it in the same breath as the Princes, because I was bitching to Mod Kara in our texts last night about how the Prince set seemed largely forgotten by the Heso staff in the end, and she made a comment about how there should've been a Dark Prince set to complement the Gothic Lolita Princesses. I haven't been able to stop thinking about the wasted opportunity since.

If she got her wish for a Dark version of her favorite set granted, then it would only have been fair if I did too, but… Well. You don't want to get me started on this.

🐾 Mod Ichi

#ask #mod ichi #well not like the circumstances of the dark magical girls set were all that ideal either #but I will never not be bitter over how the princes fell to the wayside DESPITE being one of the first recurring sets!! #consider it a miracle that I revived this blog and went this long not complaining about this point #princes make up my entire heso-playing personality #memorial and legacy #game chitchat #what was the dream tho

[hesokuri-wars]

I see you guys... I am lurking, spying... 👀

It's funny because I've also been reminiscing a lot on Heso lately. I miss the boys and all of the fun designs and AUs it gave us. I still have the Hesokuri Wars art book (though frankly it's outdated now) and it's amazing how much love and effort went into everything.

My favorite set has always been the White Day Princes, but I'm also really fond of the Drag Queens, Sweets Villains, Dark Youkai, Christmas Vampires and a bazillion more.

💚 Mod Choro

To anyone who's still here: Are there any particular sets you miss now that the game has shut down? Any particular character from that set? I'll start:

~Mod Ichi

[hesokuri-wars]

To anyone who's still here: Are there any particular sets you miss now that the game has shut down? Any particular character from that set? I'll start:

~Mod Ichi

#also not a particular set but the denki mystery story looks really cool I really need to find translations or smth #<- prev tags #check out denkimystery on tumblr #they have some stuff there

[hesokuri-wars]

I am glad to see a fellow magical girl matsu fan, i had no idea they did a dark magical girl set! I feel more robbed that we didnt get more stuff for them i loved all the designs so much

Agree!! Also, from a cursory look, it seems the dark magical girls were released literally one day before the app shut down, because fuck us I guess ✌

I will still cherish them.

💙Mod Kara

#ask #mod kara #they were what —mod ichi

[hesokuri-wars]

My love of Magical Girl Karamatsu is well documented on this blog, but the fact that heso released the Dark Magical Girl set I had been clamoring for for the better part of five years while I was offline is rude and clearly a personal attack. Anyway, my beloved:

💙Mod Kara

To anyone who's still here: Are there any particular sets you miss now that the game has shut down? Any particular character from that set? I'll start:

~Mod Ichi

#but i only really care about kara in this set. my favorite overall set is actually vampires & I think fondly on their initial event #i'm still quietly offline. but i've been lurking. hi #holy shit you can edit tags now? finally some decent web design #mod kara #memorial and legacy #mod post

[hesokuri-wars]

Wait, hold on, how much does the public know about the unreleased Hesokuri Wars set of the 18matsus in school swimsuits? Is that something that truly never surfaced, or is it like an open secret amongst fans of the game? If I went, "Ooooh do you guys want to see something you've never seen before~?" would you guys actually be surprised, or would I just look like the biggest goddamn fool?

The Osomatsu unit from that set for reference (and a Pokomatsu card for scale):

🐾 Mod Ichi

----

Release them from their prison

💙 Mod Kara

#these boys have been in our drafts waiting to be posted since 2019 and well I think they deserved to be freed finally #hesokuri wars #osomatsu san #memorial and legacy #mod ichi #mod kara