is a long-running board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

-style video game series in Japan; in which players travel by rail

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

, ship, and airplane; attempting to acquire wealth through business transactions buying properties; and dealing with rival entrepreneurs and nemeses such as the . The game mechanics are often compared to the board games sugoroku

Sugoroku

refers to two different forms of Japanese board game, one similar to western backgammon and the other similar to western Snakes and ladders.Sugoroku plays identically to backgammon , except for the following differences:...

 and Monopoly

Monopoly (game)

Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...

.

Started in 1988, the series is produced by Hudson Soft

Hudson Soft

, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...

. The title is commonly thought of as a play on the title for another video game series by Hudson Soft

Hudson Soft

, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...

, Momotaro Densetsu

Momotaro Densetsu

is a console role-playing game series in Japan featuring the character Momotarō from Japanese folklore, as well as other Japanese folklore characters such as Kintarō, Urashima Tarō, and Princess Kaguya of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.Started in 1987, the series is produced by Hudson Soft...

, with which it is sometimes confused. The project supervisor for the series is Akira Sakuma

Akira Sakuma

is a Japanese video game designer best known as the creator of the Momotetsu series.He also works as a freelance writer for books, magazines, newspapers, and comics. He has co-authored with Akira Toriyama , and Yuji Horii...

, with illustration by and main music production by Kazuyuki Sekiguchi

Kazuyuki Sekiguchi

plays the bass guitar for Southern All Stars. As a solo artist, he has played ukulele; he is a fan of Hawaiian music. For nearly twenty years, Sekiguchi has worked with Akira Sakuma in the Momotaro Dentetsu video game series as a music producer....

 of Southern All Stars

Southern All Stars

, also known by the abbreviations or SAS, is a Japanese pop/rock band that formed in the mid 1970s.The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata , Yuko Hara , Kazuyuki Sekiguchi , Hiroshi Matsuda and Hideyuki "Kegani" Nozawa...

.

The series is very popular in Japan, with 10 million units sold in the series by 1998. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the series, Hudson is collaborating with the financially troubled Chōshi Electric Railway Line, operating a train on the railway decorated with a Momotaro Dentetsu motif. Opening on April 25, 2007, the train is to run until its third anniversary. In June 2009, two Momotetsu-themed restaurants opened at Japanese railway stations: one at Haijima Station

Haijima Station

is a railway station in Akishima, Tokyo, Japan, jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company and Seibu Railway.-Lines:Haijima is a major stop on the Ōme Line between and , with through services operating to and from via the Chūō Line...

, and another at .

Since 2004, promotional marketing for the series has featured the pairing of comedian and gravure idol/tarento

Tarento

is a Japanese rendering of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for mass media personalities who regularly appear on television. Detractors of the phenomenon have referred to it in an English sense as "famous just for being famous" because many that fall into this career line...

 .

Console games

1. (Famicom
   Nintendo Entertainment System
   The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
   
   : 1988-12-02)
2. (PC Engine
   TurboGrafx-16
   TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
   
   : 1989-09-15, Game Boy
   Game Boy
   The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
   
   : 1991-03-08, Famicom: 1992-03-20)
3. (PC Engine: 1991-12-20, Super Famicom
   Super Nintendo Entertainment System
   The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
   
   : 1992-08-07, Game Boy: 1994-02-18)
4. (Super Famicom: 1994-12-09)
5. } (Sega Game Gear
   Sega Game Gear
   The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
   
   : 1995-12-15)
6. (Super Famicom: 1995-12-08)
7. (Super Famicom: 1996-12-06)
8. (PlayStation
   PlayStation
   The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
   
   : 1997-12-23)
9. (Game Boy: 1998-07-31)
10. (PlayStation: 1999-12-16)
11. (PlayStation 2
    PlayStation 2
    The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
    
    : 2001-12-13)
12. Momotaro Dentetsu 11: Black Bombee Arrives (PlayStation 2 & Nintendo GameCube
    Nintendo GameCube
    The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
    
    : 2002-12-05)
13. Momotaro Dentetsu 12: All Aboard for Western Japan! (PlayStation 2 & Nintendo GameCube: 2003-12-11)
14. - (PlayStation 2: 2004-11-18)
15. (Game Boy Advance
    Game Boy Advance
    The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
    
    : 2005-06-30)
16. (PlayStation 2: 2005-12-08)
17. (PlayStation 2: 2006-12-07, Wii
    Wii
    The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
    
    : 2007-07-19)
18. } (Xbox 360
    Xbox 360
    The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
    
    : 2007-12-06)
19. (Nintendo DS
    Nintendo DS
    The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
    
    : 2007-04-26)
20. (Nintendo DS
    Nintendo DS
    The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
    
    : 2008-12-18)
21. (Wii
    Wii
    The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
    
    : 2009-11-26)
22. (PlayStation Portable
    PlayStation Portable
    The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
    
    :2010-07-15)
23. (Nintendo DS
    Nintendo DS
    The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
    
    :2010-12-02)

Mobile phone games

(i-mode

I-mode

NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocol, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail and the packet-switched network that delivers the data...

: 2005-02-07, EZweb

KDDI

is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed in October 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp., KDD Corp., and IDO Corp. It has its headquarters in the Garden Air Tower in Iidabashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo....

: 2006-01-26, : 2007-04-02) (i-mode: 2005-11-01, EZweb: 2006-08-10, Yahoo! Keitai: 2007-04-02)
} (i-mode: 2007-01-04, EZweb: 2008-04-03) (i-mode: 2006-04-01, EZweb: 2007-02-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2007-09-03)
} (i-mode: 2007-07-01)
} (i-mode: 2009-08-03) (i-mode: 2006-11-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2007-09-03, EZweb: 2007-09-06) (i-mode: 2007-05-01, EZweb: 2008-01-31, Yahoo! Keitai: 2008-02-01) (i-mode: 2007-11-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2008-09-01, EZweb: 2008-09-04)
} (i-mode: 2008-01-04) (i-mode: 2008-06-01, Yahoo! Keitai: 2009-02-02, EZweb: 2009-02-12) (i-mode: 2009-02-01) (i-mode: 2009-09-01) (i-mode: 2010-03-01) (i-mode:2010-11-01) (i-mode:2011-05-01)