Boktai

An oldie, but a goodie! Boktai was a series of games for the Nintendo GBA that featured an ultraviolet light sensor built into the cartridge. The theme of the game is that you are a vampire hunter, and you kill the vampires with your "solar gun" that you charge up with real sunlight. You don't have to be in the sun all the time that you play, because of the charging, but when you fight boss monsters, you better be outside, and it better be a nice day! I never played beyond the first game, but I was fascinated with how the game made me view the world differently. "Oh no! It's getting late! If I'm going to kill that vampire today, I better head outside now!" I actually woke up a few times thinking "It's a great day ... for boktai!" Anyway, I get a feeling this game was ahead of its time -- I suspect that sometime soon, other toys and games will revisit the idea of a sun sensor... but for what? Sometimes I fantasize about an MMO where each character class uses different sensors out in the world -- water wizards with some device they dip in lakes, puddles, and rivers, wind wizards who have a device that gets magic from the winds, sun wizards, moon wizards, animal wizards who get power from taking pictures of animals... it could be vast and fascinating. Anyway, thanks, Boktai, for scouting out yet another inroad to the Gamepocalypse!