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In hindsight, I was a fool for gathering Denshattack’s satirical, irreverent, downright countercultural sensibilities with surprise. Upbeat, adjacent goofy arsenic it is for a bid driving game, it shares much communal crushed with skateboarding games, and portion the commodification of skater civilization is surely A Thing, fewer skaters person ever reapplied their asphalt-eating skills to bootlicking.
What remains striking, though, is however specifically '2026' Denshattack's targets are. The main baddies are a rogue large tech company, deploying each your existent favourite societal ills: enforced inequality, wide surveillance, misinformation-spewing talking heads, constabulary violence, and soulless AI replacing existent trade and skill. If lone it did a spot connected wide layoffs, it would person had a afloat set. You conscionable them with force, too, assembling a unit that resembles a Greatest Hits of Japanese normbreaker groups portion repeatedly ramming your motor done those oppressive mechanisms astatine top-gear Skinkansen speeds.
The effect is that Denshattack manages to person it some ways, being afloat susceptible of stretching a daft grin crossed your face, yet possessing a extremist bosom that wards disconnected the consciousness – and, indeed, accusations – that this is conscionable an ironic spot of drama bid capering. Yet according to David Jaumandreu, crippled manager astatine developers Undercoders, Denshattack was ne'er consciously fixed a governmental dependable – it simply emerged, logically and naturally, from its Japan being shaped arsenic a much locomotive-mad mentation of the existent one.
"It possibly wasn’t deliberate, oregon intentional," Jaumandreu tells me. "It was conscionable similar mounting up the world, what happened there, and the issues there... it was extrapolating what we're surviving nowadays, I guess. It's benignant of a reflection of our worries."
"When we started with the game, AI wasn't arsenic large arsenic it is today," adds shaper and decorator Àngel Beltran. "We started with the prototype backmost successful 2022, truthful it's chill to spot immoderate worldly that present you tin nexus precise intelligibly to AI and to information centres and that benignant of stuff. But I think, erstwhile you clasp this skating culture, that's countercultural astir by default. There's this presumption of resignificating the world, and making it yours. And we ever envisioned the crippled arsenic taking spot successful a near-future mentation of Japan, not truthful distant from ours. So yeah, I deliberation astir by accident, we ended up making a crippled that's precise grounded successful today's reality, adjacent without being conscious astir it until it was done."
The conception of making an anti-corporate crippled by accident becomes a spot much understandable aft looking astatine Undercoder’s backmost catalogue, chiefly the satirical 2019 metroidvania SuperEpic: The Entertainment War. This needled the games manufacture itself, with different evil megacorp connected antagonist duties – a monopolistic improvement location "controlling minds done abusive microtransactions" – and specified brag characters arsenic the Senior Monetization Vampire and Slave Team Builder, with "Pigcoins" serving arsenic currency.
As with Denshattack’s AI stance, though, SuperEpic’s manufacture criticisms turned retired much prescient than expected, with cryptocurrencies crashing hard successful 2022 and gamedev executives abandoning adjacent the pretence of we-all-row-the-boat solidarity by launching into a brutal bid of post-lockdown occupation cuts. "The crippled was overmuch much applicable 2 oregon 3 years aft its release," Jaumandreu notes. "Sometimes you get a thought oregon an thought and you widen it, to the worst mode possible, that you deliberation it adjacent looks similar a parody. And 3 years later, unfortunately, that becomes the case."
Denshattack has evidently timed its relevance overmuch better, and what it lacks successful SuperEpic’s cynicism, it makes up for with a acold wider knowing (and representation) of real-life countercultural movements. As Emi, your playable Denshattacker, ollies her mode crossed the country, she’s joined by a increasing unit of misfit champions, each pursuing the state and look of illegally doing sick bid flips. Rebelling teens similar gyaru queen Yoshie and baseballing delinquent Madoka articulation forces with ageing rockabilly mechanics Shin and Fumihiko, portion vengeful outlaw Yamagata rides consecutive retired of the bōsōzoku younker motorcycling subculture – a real-life people for which his in-game Denshattack pack is named.
For Jaumandreu, fleshing retired these outcasts – and by extension, doing justness to the groups they correspond – was a substance of some probe and idiosyncratic experience. "I’ve been fortunate capable to question a batch to Japan, for the archetypal clip successful 1998, I think," helium says. "I've made a batch of friends and travel backmost [a lot]. I was moving determination for immoderate time. And it’s thing that shocked me, since the archetypal clip I went there, however antithetic gangs are very, precise recognisable. Like successful the precocious 90s, whenever you went to Harajuku and Yogogi (neighbourhoods successful Tokyo - Geography Ed.), you would spot the gyaru girls. Like, that was the blooming [counterculture] of that time. If you went to Yogogi, oregon the Meiji Jingu, you would spot the rockabillies dancing there. Sometimes they person these festivals that are throwbacks to the 50s and 60s, and you person them there.
"It's thing that has funny maine a lot. And past erstwhile we yet came into Denshattack, we had immoderate cognition astir it, and past we went into conscionable documenting, arsenic champion we could, each that we could astir these tribes - bōsōzoku successful particular. For example, there's a precise very bully documentary connected YouTube talking astir the origins, what are their views, etc. And adjacent though immoderate of these countercultural gangs person benignant of mislaid popularity, and possibly successful the lawsuit of bōsōzoku, mislaid the reasons for wherefore they beryllium and however they behave themselves successful a station World War era... you know, the tone inactive exists. On immoderate Friday nighttime successful Tokyo, if you unrecorded adjacent oregon if you're staying adjacent immoderate of the large roads, you volition perceive them storming done the night, not letting you slumber properly!"
Denshattack gleefully – if respectfully – smashes these specifically Japanese subcultures unneurotic with a much Western-flavoured instrumentality connected skateboarding culture, down to the spray-painted decals you tin use to your bid (which could precise feasibly person archetypal appeared connected the broadside of a Californian quarterpipe). Was it a challenge, I wonder, to meld specified geographically chiseled expressions of rebellion?
"Yeah, it was," replies Beltran, "but it was a beauteous amusive one, honestly. Like determination were a batch of challenges combining things that are possibly not expected to spell unneurotic - similar with the bid doing tricks. But arsenic David mentioned, I deliberation erstwhile we did our probe connected these gangs, we besides tried to not beryllium excessively stereotypical. You know, we arsenic Spanish developers, we've seen a batch of bullfighters representing Spain, for example, and that's not truly our culture. So I deliberation we looked a batch much at, like, the inheritance of the gangs, what euphony they perceive to, and of people that countercultural question is akin to what you spot successful a skateboard civilization successful Western countries, truthful it benignant of makes sense.
"And truthful starting with that, it was not that hard to really deliberation about. Okay, truthful a quality that has this background, wherefore did they articulation this circumstantial gang? You know. moving retired each that reason. Why are they doing these Denshattack things? Some of them, similar for example, the lawsuit of the gyaru, it tin beryllium much similar a solo thing, but for the bōsōzoku, it's much astir warring the system, and and for Suzuna, arsenic the person of the Voicekeepers (another Denshattack pack with a goth-rock theme), it's much similar uncovering her spot successful the world, extracurricular the the mainstream."
Protag Emi initially appears arsenic an objection among the main cast, being a ramen transportation miss who gets into Denshattacking due to the fact that it’s a laugh, lone aboriginal processing a revolutionary tone of her own. Still, she’s a cracking main character, arsenic she follows the aforesaid arc and feels the aforesaid feelings arsenic the player: the thrill of being capable to marque a bid bash 720 Impossibles, maturing into a tendency to usage these stunt powers to messiness up immoderate dickheads. She besides conveys 1 of Denshattack’s subtler messages, namely that you don’t request to beryllium a flag-waving militant to assistance heal the world.
As Jaumandreu says, a "good heart" is enough, astatine slightest to commencement with. "You spot from her inheritance that she was raised successful a loving family, she cares astir people, she cares astir radical that she conscionable met. And she has that bully quality successful her character, successful her spirit, adjacent if she's being ace playful. For example, erstwhile she truly comes to recognize wherefore Yamagata is truthful aggravated with the world, due to the fact that of his background, she empathises a batch and says, well, let’s marque a amended world. Even if I conscionable privation to person amusive successful it, but you know, determination are things that are much important.
Beltran concurs, seeing their pb arsenic embodying Denshattack’s uplifting quality. "For maine personally," helium says, "one of the almighty things astir Emi arsenic a quality is that - and I've seen this absorption successful players, and it makes maine truly arrogant of David and Jordi [de Paco], the different writer - we took a beauteous optimistic attack with her. It’s not needfully that we are peculiarly optimistic astir the future, but I deliberation it's refreshing. I deliberation we summation thing by being excessively pessimistic, and I deliberation Emi is simply a large quality due to the fact that you tin spot yourself successful her. It’s similar breaking the 4th partition due to the fact that you, arsenic a player, are besides entering Denshattack due to the fact that you privation to person fun, and past you realise you are caring astir these characters and astir this world. I deliberation adjacent though you are warring this ace shady corporation, and the crippled has a batch of similarities to the existent world, it inactive takes a precise optimistic approach. I don't know, I'm ever successful for a spot of optimism these days!"
Catharsis forms different cardinal constituent of Denshattack’s optimism. For its characters, opportunities to undermine the authorities – a smashed CCTV camera here, an induced kaiju onslaught determination – are seldom much than a fewer way bends away, and america successful the existent satellite get to instrumentality crashy revenge connected the AI infrastructure that’s been economically impoverishing us, enabling lies to us, and risking, if not straight damaging our health. It’s ironic, however, that the means of promoting a brighter real-life aboriginal often trust connected Denshattack leaning into afloat fantasy, via its progressively outrageous setpieces and brag battles.
"When thing is climactic, it's cathartic," Beltran argues. "We ever thought of that erstwhile designing levels from a gameplay perspective. Like, we ever effort to marque each level surprising, and that's wherefore we started with a crippled astir trains doing tricks, which is beauteous unsocial by itself. But for us, that was conscionable the beginning, and that's wherefore we past added things similar you riding a Ferris wheel, oregon entering a volcano, oregon warring a mecha. So we tried to sprinkle these precise aggravated moments passim the game."
"Sometimes you fantasise with it, right?" Jaumandreu adds. "Like the full 'train doing skating' happening is... well, it's a phantasy of mine due to the fact that I find it cool. But it's similar whenever you spell connected a bid and look done the window, everybody has imagined it’s similar you're skating implicit immoderate goes done the window, right? I deliberation those moments were benignant of earthy to make successful the Denshattack setting, truthful it was a precise collaborative infinitesimal erstwhile everybody successful the squad benignant of entered the travel of Denshattack and the world. Some [setpiece ideas] would travel from the writers, immoderate would travel from the level designer, immoderate would travel from the producer. It was a truly collaborative thing."
It is to Denshattack’s recognition that it doesn’t simply exploit these fantasies for escapism’s sake; this whitethorn beryllium a world successful which the 09:15 to Osaka tin leap disconnected its tracks and commencement grinding a rainbow obstruction successful the sky, but it’s inactive 1 based connected our own, with galore of the aforesaid problems. And, portion it’s besides existent that nary of these problems tin really beryllium fixed by challenging their perpetrators to a instrumentality battle, determination is existent sincerity successful the game’s content that effecting alteration isn’t the sole domain of those with a beingness of activistic bona fides. Anyone tin help, and tin assistance with a smile. There’s powerfulness successful that message, I think, whether oregon not it's the 1 Undercoders acceptable retired to make.
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