TOKYO--Although dating sims have never caught on in the US (and no, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball doesn't count), they're quite popular in Japan. PachiPara 13: Super Umi no Pachi-Pro Fuuunroku, which roughly translates into "Pachinko Game 13: Super Fun Rock Pro Casino," is another in Irem's series of games that combine the dating sim genre with another genre popular in Japan. For instance, Irem's Bumpy Trot series combines courtship with mech combat. PachiPara 13, though, combines dating sim mechanics with what appears to be an oddly dramatic plot revolving around slot machines and casino games.

　　For the record, slot-machine games are also fairly popular in Japan, with some high-profile licenses coming out with their own pachinko/slot-game adaptations, such as Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou: Hokuto no Ken, a pachislot game based on Fist of the North Star. Irem's hope is to marry this trend with its dating sim expertise to create something compelling for a wider audience than either genre can capture alone.

　　That's the impression we got from the trailer, at any rate, which is heavily laden with Japanese text and voice-overs. It begins with two students, sitting on benches at a university, crying their eyes out. After a bit of talking, they look over their shoulders and realize that the benches they're sitting on are backed up against each other. After a bit of shock (we gather that they're crying about breaking up with each other), the trailer proper begins, revealing a whole host of odd details about the game.

　　From what we saw, PachiPara 13 will be heavily plot-driven, with a large cast of characters that seem to congregate at a slot-machine parlor. Some seem to be antagonists, with a vampiric, wheelchair-bound older man the most sinister of the lot. The game quickly showed off what appeared to be a kissing minigame, where you have to navigate a pair of floating red lips toward the face of a young girl who's puckered up and ready to make out. It's a bizarre view, to say the least, since you navigate the lips from behind and above; the game appears to be attempting to put you inside the head of the male character as he gets his mack on.

　　Other scenes in the trailer revealed that the game will have biking, roller skating, and controllable driving minigames, as well as pool parties for extra socializing fun.

　　We're not sure what PachiPara 13 will wind up playing like. It could be dominated by playing slot machines, or it could mostly be a dating game. Either way, it's unlikely the game will be released in the US, but if we hear more about it, you can be sure that GameSpot will keep you in the loop.