September 14, 2006: Shinji Mikami has good Gene
by Diamond Feit
When a tragedy claims the life of a random bystander, you'll hear the curious phrase \"wrong place, wrong time.\" I'm certain I've used it myself, even though I'm no fan of what it implies. As a rule, whenever I leave my house I do so with a purpose. Should disaster befall me whilst running an errand I was probably exactly where I needed to be at that moment. Conversely if something outrageous happened on par with a meteor striking my home, it seems silly to suggest I made the mistake of sitting in my living room when an interstellar mass made its terrestrial impact.
\"Right place, right time\" is no better, as both idioms invoke an air of destiny to circumstantial happenstance. We have a succinct word for these things, one that applies equally to both beneficial and harmful surprises: Coincidence.
In the less-tragic-but-no-less-capricious world of video games, it's tempting to whip out these platitudes when looking back at an inexplicable result. A new entry in a popular series got delayed by an earthquake? A potential hit turned into a runaway blockbuster thanks to a pandemic? Both happened and may happen again, so let's just agree going forward that none of us can predict anything, yes?
Longtime gaming powerhouse Capcom has experienced its fair share of both fantastic and terrible fortune. The company gambled on young Shinji Mikami to direct a pseudo-remake of a spooky Famicom RPG and he made Resident Evil, a genre-defining hit. The company gambled again on young Hideki Kamiya to direct a sequel, then doubled-down by restarting the project when he and Mikami asked for a mulligan. Again, the resulting profits made for a massive success in the face of a near-calamity.
Capcom, Hideki Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami would not always have such blessed luck together. In the early 2000s Capcom spun off an internal team into Clover Studio, a \"company within the company, for original games\" according to then-producer Atsushi Inaba. Kamiya and Mikami both took the plunge with Kamiya directing Viewtiful Joe in 2003 and \u014ckami in 2006, two games that found instant critical success but sold fewer copies than Capcom forecasted.
Mere months after \u014ckami underperformed at retail and 20 years ago this week, Shinji Mikami's sole title at Clover debuted in Japan. Its unusual title, wackjob characters, and demanding gameplay made for a difficult marriage, but they helped turn God Hand into a unique creation that still has rabid defenders to this day.
Entering the world of God Hand drops you into the boots of Gene, a goofy yet noble traveler. The opening cinematic provides zero backstory for our protagonist; he just walks into a dusty town and collapses for want of water. His companion, a young lady named Olivia, expresses her disgust at the run-down burg and urges Gene to tidy up the place. Whatever their exact relationship, it's clear that she has faith in his abilities to do something about this situation.
The local welcome wagon shows up to offer a whistle in Olivia's direction and Gene springs into action. Players take control at this moment with no explicit goals, just an inferred mission to repel anyone who steps out of line. In classic video game fashion, everyone Gene meets wants to kill him and his combat skill will not dissuade them from trying. It's exactly like an episode of Reacher where a 6'5\" ex-military man gets accosted by henchmen and even after he puts two of them down with savage efficiency there's always one more guy who thinks he'll be the lucky one.
In Gene's case, he doesn't tower over his assailants\u2014if anything it's the opposite\u2014but he makes up for this with his speed and ferocity. He hustles by default and a double-tap of the left analog stick sends him into a sprint. Pressing the Square or Triangle buttons will lash out with lightning-fast force. Tapping the Square button will trigger a combination of attacks, while Gene's Triangle-triggered kicks work best as combo-enders. If a bad guy falters, an on-screen prompt will suggest pressing Circle to execute a powerful hold on the unfortunate prone thug.
Gene's got defensive skills to match his offensive output, as the Cross button makes him juke and jive in place to evade most incoming attacks. The right analog stick sends Gene dodging to the side or into a full-on backflip. All of these commands grant him temporary invulnerability which is key since he cannot block\u2014unlike his enemies.
As a late-era PlayStation 2 release God Hand offers players very little by way of in-game tutorials as that practice became more common in mega-budget HD games. A few floating exclamation points dot the map which will open a tip window, but these are few and far between. The instruction manual runs through the basics and explains a few stick-and-button commands that players truly need to know, but even that barely scratches the surface of the combat system.
God Hand looks like a three-dimensional evolution of the classic arcade beat-em-up but incorporates the fine-tuning of a fighting game with cancels, juggles, and a deeply customizable repertoire for Gene. Novices will likely get by the initial stooges by mashing buttons, perhaps even grabbing a melee weapon and smashing a few skulls. A well-timed dash attack can even take out a gaggle of goons at once if they're clustered together.
All that goes out the window the first time Gene meets a Demon. Players won't see the first one coming as it appears by bursting out of an ordinary henchman. Demons have significant advantages in strength, reach, and speed; they move so fast, they practically teleport. Taking one on armed with just basic punches and kicks will probably put a quick end to Gene's journey.\u00a0
Gene keeps two resource-based tricks in his back pocket to help defang Demons or other extra-deadly foes. Pressing R1 opens a Roulette wheel where players select from a menu of monstrous maneuvers, provided they have Roulette Orbs in reserve. Once Gene's Tension Meter fills up, pressing the R2 button unleashes a temporary but devastating power surge called\u2014what else\u2014God Hand. The game even includes a tutorial reminder about activating God Hand right before a Demon makes his debut, a not-so-subtle hint to new players.
Of course, there is nothing subtle about God Hand, perhaps the most video-game-ass video game ever made. Self-serious modern releases tend to put on airs as if imitating the look of prestige television can transform their paper-thin characters into complex anti-heroes. God Hand knows it is stupid and celebrates its low-brow status as it challenges players to discover just how good they can get at mastering its mechanics.
Hearing Shinji Mikami describe God Hand's origins in a 2020 interview warms my heart even as it gives me cause to chuckle. \"I wanted to make a game I thought was fun,\" Mikami said, \"In 30 years, it's the only title where I really could do everything that I wanted.\"
Yet Mikami also drew upon his long-simmering spite for Final Fight Revenge, a failed sequel made by Capcom's American branch. \"When I played it, it was shit. I used to enjoy Final Fight, so I was mad that a series I liked ended up like this,\" he said, \"I thought that I wanted to make a game like that if I ever had the chance.\"
Shinji Mikami's dream project became reality when Capcom released God Hand in 2006, but his sweet ambitions quickly turned sour. The game only moved about 60,000 copies in Japan where the PS2 still reigned as the top home console; Capcom's Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and Sengoku Basara 2 sold five times that amount.
Critics expressed lukewarm feelings towards God Hand. Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu scored it a low 26 out of 40. Gus Mastrapa called God Hand a \"flawed, oddball offering\" in his C+ review for The A.V. Club. Chris Roper's now-infamous writeup in IGN scored God Hand a mere 3 out of 10 as he felt \"player control, the camera, level design, enemy design and basically everything else flat-out sucks.\" Giancarlo Varanini's nominally positive take in Official PlayStation Magazine still compared God Hand to a \"car wreck,\" rating it 7 out of 10.
I never gave God Hand much thought in 2006 because I spent my time gaming on the Nintendo DS that year and my PS2 mainly served as a DVD player by that point. After moving to Japan I remember stumbling onto Tim Rogers' full-throated four-star recommendation of God Hand as \"a NASCAR broadsiding a freight train\" and that convinced me to seek it out in the bargain bin during my next trip to the US. I believe I found a used copy for $14.99\u2014complete in box.
Time has treated God Hand very, very well, far better than Capcom handled it and Clover Studio two decades ago. Shortly after the game's US launch in October 2006, Capcom announced Clover would fold at the end of the fiscal year. Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami all said their goodbyes, only to reunite with a new studio of their own called Seeds, today known as PlatinumGames. Many of Platinum's celebrated creations focus on fast-paced, highly-technical action, precisely the kind of gameplay that God Hand offers.
Search for God Hand on the web in 2026 and you'll find more enthusiasts than detractors. Japanese fans alternately describe God Hand as bakag\u0113 \"stupid game\" or kamig\u0113 \"god[-tier] game.\" In addition to the usual playthroughs, video tutorials and combo explainers on YouTube seek to share tips so that new players might overcome God Hand's steep learning curve. What you won't find are used copies going for a song anymore; anyone looking to pick up God Hand today can expect to shell out at least $100, and that's just for a loose disc.
I cannot pretend that God Hand qualifies as my favorite game, not by any standards. Whenever I sit down to play I get stymied by the camera stuck to Gene's back, my lack of finger dexterity in pressure situations, and those damned Demons warping around like they own the place. Perhaps they do; I have no evidence that God Hand takes place on planet Earth.
For all my misgivings as a player, however, I love God Hand's brashness. Shinji Mikami made a game for himself and never apologized. God Hand, likewise, does not apologize for its washed-out colors, nonsensical localization, or its all-singing-all-dancing finale. It was neither ahead of or nor behind the times; if anything, its purity of vision makes it a game for all seasons.
Writer/podcaster/performer Diamond Feit has written professionally since 2009 and contributed to Retronauts since 2018. Look up feitclub on social media or visit Diamond's lofi website.
", "contentSnippet": "September 14, 2006: Shinji Mikami has good Gene\nby Diamond Feit\nWhen a tragedy claims the life of a random bystander, you'll hear the curious phrase \"wrong place, wrong time.\" I'm certain I've used it myself, even though I'm no fan of what it implies. As a rule, whenever I leave my house I do so with a purpose. Should disaster befall me whilst running an errand I was probably exactly where I needed to be at that moment. Conversely if something outrageous happened on par with a meteor striking my home, it seems silly to suggest I made the mistake of sitting in my living room when an interstellar mass made its terrestrial impact.\n\"Right place, right time\" is no better, as both idioms invoke an air of destiny to circumstantial happenstance. We have a succinct word for these things, one that applies equally to both beneficial and harmful surprises: Coincidence.\nIn the less-tragic-but-no-less-capricious world of video games, it's tempting to whip out these platitudes when looking back at an inexplicable result. A new entry in a popular series got delayed by an earthquake? A potential hit turned into a runaway blockbuster thanks to a pandemic? Both happened and may happen again, so let's just agree going forward that none of us can predict anything, yes?\nLongtime gaming powerhouse Capcom has experienced its fair share of both fantastic and terrible fortune. The company gambled on young Shinji Mikami to direct a pseudo-remake of a spooky Famicom RPG and he made Resident Evil, a genre-defining hit. The company gambled again on young Hideki Kamiya to direct a sequel, then doubled-down by restarting the project when he and Mikami asked for a mulligan. Again, the resulting profits made for a massive success in the face of a near-calamity.\nCapcom, Hideki Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami would not always have such blessed luck together. In the early 2000s Capcom spun off an internal team into Clover Studio, a \"company within the company, for original games\" according to then-producer Atsushi Inaba. Kamiya and Mikami both took the plunge with Kamiya directing Viewtiful Joe in 2003 and \u014ckami in 2006, two games that found instant critical success but sold fewer copies than Capcom forecasted.\nMere months after \u014ckami underperformed at retail and 20 years ago this week, Shinji Mikami's sole title at Clover debuted in Japan. Its unusual title, wackjob characters, and demanding gameplay made for a difficult marriage, but they helped turn God Hand into a unique creation that still has rabid defenders to this day.\nEntering the world of God Hand drops you into the boots of Gene, a goofy yet noble traveler. The opening cinematic provides zero backstory for our protagonist; he just walks into a dusty town and collapses for want of water. His companion, a young lady named Olivia, expresses her disgust at the run-down burg and urges Gene to tidy up the place. Whatever their exact relationship, it's clear that she has faith in his abilities to do something about this situation.\nThe local welcome wagon shows up to offer a whistle in Olivia's direction and Gene springs into action. Players take control at this moment with no explicit goals, just an inferred mission to repel anyone who steps out of line. In classic video game fashion, everyone Gene meets wants to kill him and his combat skill will not dissuade them from trying. It's exactly like an episode of Reacher where a 6'5\" ex-military man gets accosted by henchmen and even after he puts two of them down with savage efficiency there's always one more guy who thinks he'll be the lucky one.\nIn Gene's case, he doesn't tower over his assailants\u2014if anything it's the opposite\u2014but he makes up for this with his speed and ferocity. He hustles by default and a double-tap of the left analog stick sends him into a sprint. Pressing the Square or Triangle buttons will lash out with lightning-fast force. Tapping the Square button will trigger a combination of attacks, while Gene's Triangle-triggered kicks work best as combo-enders. If a bad guy falters, an on-screen prompt will suggest pressing Circle to execute a powerful hold on the unfortunate prone thug.\nGene's got defensive skills to match his offensive output, as the Cross button makes him juke and jive in place to evade most incoming attacks. The right analog stick sends Gene dodging to the side or into a full-on backflip. All of these commands grant him temporary invulnerability which is key since he cannot block\u2014unlike his enemies.\nAs a late-era PlayStation 2 release God Hand offers players very little by way of in-game tutorials as that practice became more common in mega-budget HD games. A few floating exclamation points dot the map which will open a tip window, but these are few and far between. The instruction manual runs through the basics and explains a few stick-and-button commands that players truly need to know, but even that barely scratches the surface of the combat system.\nGod Hand looks like a three-dimensional evolution of the classic arcade beat-em-up but incorporates the fine-tuning of a fighting game with cancels, juggles, and a deeply customizable repertoire for Gene. Novices will likely get by the initial stooges by mashing buttons, perhaps even grabbing a melee weapon and smashing a few skulls. A well-timed dash attack can even take out a gaggle of goons at once if they're clustered together.\nAll that goes out the window the first time Gene meets a Demon. Players won't see the first one coming as it appears by bursting out of an ordinary henchman. Demons have significant advantages in strength, reach, and speed; they move so fast, they practically teleport. Taking one on armed with just basic punches and kicks will probably put a quick end to Gene's journey.\u00a0\nGene keeps two resource-based tricks in his back pocket to help defang Demons or other extra-deadly foes. Pressing R1 opens a Roulette wheel where players select from a menu of monstrous maneuvers, provided they have Roulette Orbs in reserve. Once Gene's Tension Meter fills up, pressing the R2 button unleashes a temporary but devastating power surge called\u2014what else\u2014God Hand. The game even includes a tutorial reminder about activating God Hand right before a Demon makes his debut, a not-so-subtle hint to new players.\nOf course, there is nothing subtle about God Hand, perhaps the most video-game-ass video game ever made. Self-serious modern releases tend to put on airs as if imitating the look of prestige television can transform their paper-thin characters into complex anti-heroes. God Hand knows it is stupid and celebrates its low-brow status as it challenges players to discover just how good they can get at mastering its mechanics.\nHearing Shinji Mikami describe God Hand's origins in a 2020 interview warms my heart even as it gives me cause to chuckle. \"I wanted to make a game I thought was fun,\" Mikami said, \"In 30 years, it's the only title where I really could do everything that I wanted.\"\nYet Mikami also drew upon his long-simmering spite for Final Fight Revenge, a failed sequel made by Capcom's American branch. \"When I played it, it was shit. I used to enjoy Final Fight, so I was mad that a series I liked ended up like this,\" he said, \"I thought that I wanted to make a game like that if I ever had the chance.\"\nShinji Mikami's dream project became reality when Capcom released God Hand in 2006, but his sweet ambitions quickly turned sour. The game only moved about 60,000 copies in Japan where the PS2 still reigned as the top home console; Capcom's Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and Sengoku Basara 2 sold five times that amount.\nCritics expressed lukewarm feelings towards God Hand. Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu scored it a low 26 out of 40. Gus Mastrapa called God Hand a \"flawed, oddball offering\" in his C+ review for The A.V. Club. Chris Roper's now-infamous writeup in IGN scored God Hand a mere 3 out of 10 as he felt \"player control, the camera, level design, enemy design and basically everything else flat-out sucks.\" Giancarlo Varanini's nominally positive take in Official PlayStation Magazine still compared God Hand to a \"car wreck,\" rating it 7 out of 10.\nI never gave God Hand much thought in 2006 because I spent my time gaming on the Nintendo DS that year and my PS2 mainly served as a DVD player by that point. After moving to Japan I remember stumbling onto Tim Rogers' full-throated four-star recommendation of God Hand as \"a NASCAR broadsiding a freight train\" and that convinced me to seek it out in the bargain bin during my next trip to the US. I believe I found a used copy for $14.99\u2014complete in box.\nTime has treated God Hand very, very well, far better than Capcom handled it and Clover Studio two decades ago. Shortly after the game's US launch in October 2006, Capcom announced Clover would fold at the end of the fiscal year. Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami all said their goodbyes, only to reunite with a new studio of their own called Seeds, today known as PlatinumGames. Many of Platinum's celebrated creations focus on fast-paced, highly-technical action, precisely the kind of gameplay that God Hand offers.\nSearch for God Hand on the web in 2026 and you'll find more enthusiasts than detractors. Japanese fans alternately describe God Hand as bakag\u0113 \"stupid game\" or kamig\u0113 \"god[-tier] game.\" In addition to the usual playthroughs, video tutorials and combo explainers on YouTube seek to share tips so that new players might overcome God Hand's steep learning curve. What you won't find are used copies going for a song anymore; anyone looking to pick up God Hand today can expect to shell out at least $100, and that's just for a loose disc.\nI cannot pretend that God Hand qualifies as my favorite game, not by any standards. Whenever I sit down to play I get stymied by the camera stuck to Gene's back, my lack of finger dexterity in pressure situations, and those damned Demons warping around like they own the place. Perhaps they do; I have no evidence that God Hand takes place on planet Earth.\nFor all my misgivings as a player, however, I love God Hand's brashness. Shinji Mikami made a game for himself and never apologized. God Hand, likewise, does not apologize for its washed-out colors, nonsensical localization, or its all-singing-all-dancing finale. It was neither ahead of or nor behind the times; if anything, its purity of vision makes it a game for all seasons.\nWriter/podcaster/performer Diamond Feit has written professionally since 2009 and contributed to Retronauts since 2018. Look up feitclub on social media or visit Diamond's lofi website.", "guid": "170031179", "isoDate": "2026-09-20T11:00:11.000Z", "itunes": { "duration": "950", "image": "https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/170031179/089b55d1334e46608114cb212a197d36/eyJkIjo3MiwiaCI6MzAwMCwic3RyaXBfYWxwaGEiOjEsInciOjMwMDAsIndlYnAiOjB9/1.jpeg?token-hash=irDQIK-DAbKpAGRoQhacLMNXsPCTihRQqBvuZ3alr2g%3D" }, "itunes_duration": "0:15:49" }