Gomibako No Densetsu Restoration Project
The team at Kohococoa Design Works is proud to restore a critical piece of the history of the Chicago-built S.I.C.K. Console. This was made possible thanks to a friend and S.I.C.K. fan based out of Odawara, Japan. They wish to remain anonymous and apologize for being unable to provide us with a functioning copy of the game (we had hoped to begin an English localization and HD remaster). We are still looking to track down a copy of the game itself, if you or someone you know has a functioning copy, please reach out!
While primarily understood to have had a release limited to the Chicagoland area, we recently uncovered that there was in fact a trial Japanese launch, complete with at least one exclusive title.
That title, released on February 14th 1997 was GOMIBAKO NO DENSETSU, or "The Legend of Trashcan". It was developed by the Japanese studio known as "Kohococoa INC", a brand which we revived in 2023 (along with the iconic multi-color coffee mug logo) with the formation of our studio.
Based on the screenshots we were able to restore, along with a promotional website (accessible HERE), magazine advertisement, and promotional music video, the game appears to have been the S.I.C.K.'s attempt at having a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest inspired Role Playing Game. Given the popularity of Pokemon in Japan, we also believe the game had a heavy focus on monster collecting. The screenshots potentially support this - what one might initially read as a standard "Bestiary" feature could in fact be a monster examination screenshot, perhaps as a player chooses which monsters to add to their party. Notably, the game appears to use real-time 3D environments in contrast to the pre-rendered backgrounds of PlayStation era Final Fantasy titles.
These materials were provided to us by a Japanese collector who was eager to help highlight a missing part of not only the history of the S.I.C.K., but also gaming history at large. We were provided access to a copy of Famitsu awarding the title a perfect 40/40 score, claiming:
Despite releasing only two weeks after FINAL FANTASY VII, GOMIBAKO NO DENSETSU has just set a new standard for role playing games.
Famitsu staff also noted their appreciation for the protagonist Tornado's "gunblade", and in a later review of Final Fantasy VIII, noted that Square likely took note of the hero's iconic weapon, incorporating it into Squall Leonhart's design.
English Translation of the Ad:
Our localization team has provided an English localization of the advertisement for non-Japanese speakers:
The mercenary Tornado travels the kingdom of Neo Chicago, searching for the legendary slime dumpster. Capture monsters and make new allies, building the kingdom as you go in Legend of the Trashcan. Exclusively for S.I.C.K.
Genre: Anime RPG
Release Date: 2/14/1997
Price: 9700 Yen (approximately $78.25 USD)
Notes and Credits:
Art, music, and writing created by me, Cian Rice. Fictional screenshots were created by staging models in Unity and utilize the PSXShaderKit from the Unity Asset Store to create a more authentic "PSX" aesthetic. The Battle Theme utilizes sound fonts pulling from Final Fantasy X, Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers, and MOTHER 3. The advertisement's javascript is using code provided by https://github.com/orangeable/css-before-and-after-image-slider
The promotional website may not display properly in some browsers (the Japanese characters don't render as they should). In my testing we've found Firefox to be the only offender, however other browsers may see issues as well.
