270. Mushi Tarou (Victor Interactive Software, Playstation, 2000)

Mushi Tarou ("Bug Boy") is a late Playstation game that is all about catching bugs. As the title suggests, you play as a young Japanese boy who is trying to catch bugs on his summer break. Mushi Tarou takes place over the first 16 days of August, and is broken up into four 4-day segments.

During each day, you walk around an overworld (which is just one kind of small static image, this is not a high budget game) and encounter bugs to play little bug catching minigames. The only other thing in the overworld is a signboard where you can view stats on all the bugs you've collected, and a bench where you can save. There is no soundtrack apart from when you finish a level, otherwise it's just nature sounds, which is kind of nice.

The minigames are mostly very similar, though there is some variation. Generally, bug catching takes the form of a semi-automated 2D claw machine, where you move your hand left or right and wait for it to stop, once it stops, that indicates an insect is available, at which point you press circle to jump up or reach with your net, and precisely hit circle again to capture the target bug. 

Mushi Tarou gently mixes up this formula by introducing different variations where you're using 2 hands instead of one, or you're using a net, or you have to charge your net up before releasing it, though they are all functionally the same game. A few games have a slightly different variation where you have to whack a tree and then catch the bug that falls down, or another where you fling water at bugs and then catch them once they fall, though even these variations all feel very similar.

Every time you catch a bug you get a little animation where you put it in a cage. After about the 10th bug, it starts getting pretty packed. After a certain amount of in-game time passes, you are given 5 minutes to finish the bug catching. If you fail a mission, there is a swarm of bugs summoned that will give you a game over if you touch them, though you can save your progress and generally the minigames are not overly difficult, though they do require precise timing.

4/5, a shallow, naturalistic minigame assortment all about catching bugs