Nintendo Replayed: Win, Lose, or Draw

[originally written for overtimecomedy.com on 4/22/08] 

While you and your friends were laughing at a hilarious video game mis-translation that would become one of the internet's biggest meme's, my friends and I were laughing at a piece of Engrish that makes "All your base are belong to us" look almost understandable.

The game show "Win, Lose, or Draw" was basically just Pictionary, with celebrities sometimes. I don't know if you've ever tried drawing pictures with a Nintendo controller, you can imagine how it feels when your team actually gets one right. Luckily, the on-screen players do the celebrating for you. In hilarious word bubbles, your teams exclaim:

"Super"
"Very Special"
"Hairy"

That's right. That was not a typo on my end. Did they mean "hooray"? Is there something in Japan where hairiness is a measurement of celebration? Look, we were 7, it was hilarious.

This all raises the question of why I owned this game. I'd say my parents were trying to educate my sisters and me, and this falls roughly into the "Wheel of Fortune" level of brain gymnastics.