Pepsiman

Pepsiman

"PEPSIMAAAAN!"

Protagonist:	Pepsiman
Genre:	Action
Platforms:	PlayStation
Release Date:	March 4, 1999
Developer:	KID
Publisher:	KID
Made in:	Japan
Franchise:	Pepsi
Previous Game:	Pepsi PlayStation Sampler
Next Game:	Pepsi Cae Bien

"Chester Cheetah was cool, Cool Spot had "cool" in his name, but Pepsiman? He's not cool at all!"
— Angry Video Game Nerd

Pepsiman is an action game developed and published by KID for the PlayStation. It was released only in Japan in March 1999, and it is based on American carbonated soft drink Pepsi's Japanese superhero mascot with the same name.

Bad Qualities

Terrible graphics, especially when it gets dark in certain areas like the sewer and it's hard to tell when there's pitfalls that can lead to death.
- Most objects, obstacles, and NPCs use 2D models, which makes things look even worse.
The plot makes no sense; society is collapsing due to Pepsi vending machines being out of order... yet there are Pepsi cans scattered all over the place?
- Pepsiman is often tasked with "saving" people from situations such as burning buildings or crashed planes, yet all he can actually do is give them Pepsi cans.
- Speaking of the plot, if Pepsiman & the world is inside a can, then why did the TV Game Guy look inside the can if he drunk the can into his gullet & react like he tasted something odd, did this mean that the world this game takes place in an can or the tv in the ending credits?? There was no explanation for what just happened. In other words, It's nonsensical.
Whenever Pepsiman takes damage the game places a humorous scene of him getting hurt, however these take up far too much time and levels have very strict time limits.
The controls are very awkward.
The Pepsiman theme song is played over and over which quickly becomes annoying.
- In some levels, the music is glitchy sounding, which makes it even worse to listen to.
Cheap level design that results in constant deaths until the player memorizes every obstacle via trial-and-error, especially in the already mentioned dark areas.
The game often shows weird FMV "snuff film" cutscenes about a stereotypical North American man aka TV Game Guy (role by Mike Butters) telling the player to buy more Pepsi, which makes this game one big product placement.
The game is very short and can be completed in less than an hour.
The unlockable content is not worth it. Most of the unlockable content is just cosmetics and the way you have to unlock them can be tedious mainly because of BQ #6.
Mediocre voice acting.
Expert mode isn't much different from standard game as the only difference is that the player has less time to complete the level.
Abilities like the speed boost and brake are not told to the player at all.

Good Qualities

The game has charm to it.
While repeated so much that it becomes annoying, the Pepsiman theme is admittedly catchy.
Unlike most Japanese games, it has English menus and English voice acting, which can help those that imported the game to understand it easily.
You can unlock three unique costumes for Pepsiman - Classic Pepsiman, Wire-Frame Pepsiman, and Stealth Mode Pepsiman.
Pepsiman's model is still well-designed, despite being a bit pixelated.
A lot of references to the Pepsiman commercials are present.
This game has innovated with new genre call Endless runner games which most games on mobile games like Subway Surfer, Talking Tom Gold Run, etc.
TV Game Guy is entertaining to watch.
When completing the game, you unlock Free Play, which works as a level select so you can play certain stages without having the to play the whole game again.
- Free Play also gives the player 99 lives.

Reception

Pepsiman received very mixed to negative reception, however due to the oddness of the concept and being a Japan-exclusive game, it developed a cult following over the years.

Multiple YouTube game reviewers such as Caddicarus, The Completionist, and The Angry Video Game Nerd have reviewed the game in recent years, most of them pointed out the game's excessive amount of Pepsi advertising and frustrating gameplay as its biggest problems.

Trivia

The actor, Mike Butters, reprises his role as the Pepsi addict man in the cutscenes for the AVGN review.
Mike Butters is best known for playing the character Paul in the Saw movies.
Pepsiman appeared in Fighting Vipers for Sega Saturn as a playable character.

Videos

Comments

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ParodiS2021

19 months ago

Score 1

Wasn't this on Awesome Games Wiki?