Cafeteria Nipponica

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Without a doubt the most prolific developer and publisher of Management Simulation games on Nintendo Switch is Kairosoft, who specializes in games with a retro-style isometric pixel art style, often with the word “Story” in the title. As of this writing, Kairosoft has released 59 games on Nintendo Switch, most of them Management Simulations.

After their earlier games, Kairosoft had established a few templates for their Simulation games that later games would largely follow. Game Dev Story established a Simulation-style game more focused on managing employee time and focus, Hot Springs Story established a Simulation style in line with Theme Park Simulators where you try to cater to guests’ tastes to maximize attendance and income, and Epic Astro Story established a Simulation style akin to games like Sim City, where you’re building out a town or settlement.

Cafeteria Nipponica originally released on mobile devices in 2012 with an expanded “SP” version of the game releasing in 2017, then saw a port to Nintendo Switch in 2019, then to PlayStation 4 in 2020, PC in 2022, and Xbox One in 2024. And of the above templates, this game seems to stick fairly closest to the formula laid out in Hot Springs Story, with players managing the dishes in their restaurant, trying to manage its hiring and growth, and eventually open up additional restaurants.

Having said that, while I think this game may be more appealing to Westerners who are more familiar with the concept of restaurant management than hot spring public bath management (yeah, we don’t have many of those here), you have a lot less freedom to implement change in your establishment here than you did in Hot Springs Story. Seemingly everything is gated by periods of waiting – you can’t research new dishes when you want, that can only be done at night. You can’t hire new employees when you want, that can only be done every once in a while on a rotating basis, you can’t get new ingredients when you want… you get the point. Add to this a restaurant with far less room to install your own choice of furniture and decoration, and you have a Management Simulation where you do a lot less managing and a lot more waiting around for things to happen.

That’s not to say it’s outright bad. It’s engaging to watch your business run, and to see customers filtering in, and your bank account slowly expand. And later when you can afford to expand or purchase a second location, your options open up somewhat. But the early parts of this game definitely feel lacking.

As I mentioned above, this game makes use of Kairosoft’s signature presentation style using simple retro-styled pixel art visuals, paired with repetitive chiptune music and sound effects. Apart from the forgettable synthesized music, everything about this presentation is really endearing, though by this point we’ve seen more or less the same thing in numerous other Kairosoft games.

Overall, despite its flaws, I do like Cafeteria Nipponica, but I definitely feel like this game goes way too far in the direction of making players wait and limiting their options. This is still an enjoyable game despite this, but it definitely feels like your agency is drip-fed to you over time. And I don’t think anyone has ever said that a drip feed is a satisfying way to enjoy a meal.

tl;dr – Cafeteria Nipponica is a Management Simulation where players manage a restaurant, deciding its menu, hiring staff, and gradually expanding and improving things. But “gradually” is the key word there, as the game slows progress to a crawl and really limiting your ability to make impactful choices. The result is a game that, while still enjoyable in its own way, definitely doesn’t feel as satisfying as it should.

Grade: C

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