They swapped what they knew for what they didn't — and the game came out blurred.
Yoshiki Okamoto liked shoot-'em-ups. Tokuro Fujiwara's specialty was action games. When Capcom — still just eight people in a rented office with a warped floor — was making its second and third games, the two men decided to swap. Okamoto would make SonSon, an action game. Fujiwara would make Vulgus, a shooter. Neither of them were suited for those genres, Okamoto later admitted. Vulgus came out playing like an action game. SonSon came out playing like a shooter — you fire bullets, and the screen keeps moving. Each one bled into the other. Genre lines blurred. It wasn't mastery that made those early Capcom games interesting — it was the fact that nobody quite knew what they were doing, so they made something that didn't fit neatly into a box.
— inspired by Yoshiki Okamoto
About this game
Released for arcades in 1984 and ported to Famicom in 1986, SonSon is an action platformer loosely based on Journey to the West. Players control SonSon, the grandson of Sun Wukong, in a side-scrolling adventure that blends action and shooting mechanics. Director Yoshiki Okamoto and his team at Capcom swapped genres during development — Okamoto, who preferred shooters, made an action game, while his colleague Tokuro Fujiwara, an action specialist, made a shooter. Neither were suited for those genres, and both games came out blurred — SonSon played like a shooter, and Vulgus played like an action game.
The Story Behind
Released for arcades in July 1984, SonSon was Capcom's second game and the first Capcom game released in the United States. Director Yoshiki Okamoto, who later produced Street Fighter II, led a team of about eight people working in a rented office with a warped floor — one room had been a baseball training facility. The Famicom port, developed by Micronics, was released on February 8, 1986.
Tricks & Tales
The game is loosely based on Journey to the West, but the protagonist is not Sun Wukong himself — it's his grandson, SonSon. The staff didn't want to use the Monkey King directly. Okamoto and fellow developer Tokuro Fujiwara swapped genres: Okamoto, who liked shooters, made the action game SonSon, while Fujiwara, whose specialty was action, made the shooter Vulgus. Neither were suited for those genres, and both games came out blurred — Vulgus played like an action game, and SonSon played like a shooter.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Famicom and NES are the same hardware family but use physically incompatible cartridge formats — Famicom carts have a 60-pin connector and a narrower shell, while NES carts use a 72-pin connector with a wider housing. You cannot insert a Famicom cartridge into a North American NES slot without an adapter, and vice versa. The Famicom itself has no lockout chip, so any Famicom cartridge from Japan will run on a Famicom console regardless of origin. If you are buying a Japanese Famicom cart to play on a NES, you will need a 60-to-72-pin physical adapter; if you own a Famicom, Japanese-market software is your native format and no workarounds are needed.
Maintenance Tips
The gold-plated edge connectors on Famicom and NES cartridges pick up skin oils and oxidation over decades — a gentle wipe with a cotton swab dampened in 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol, stroking along the length of the pins rather than across them, is the accepted standard. Let the alcohol fully evaporate before reinserting. The old habit of blowing into a cartridge is folklore: the moisture in breath causes slow corrosion of the contacts over time, and any improvement you felt came from the act of re-seating the cart, not from the breath itself. Nintendo eventually updated its own troubleshooting guidance to say explicitly: do not blow into your Game Paks.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese SonSon copies regularly.
How do I know if a Famicom or NES cartridge is authentic and not a reproduction?
Authentic Nintendo cartridges have security screws — a proprietary gamebit pattern, not standard Phillips heads. The PCB inside should have a copyright year and 'Nintendo' etched directly onto the board. The back label of genuine carts has imprinted stamped characters (such as 11A or 03); reproductions typically have no imprint at all. If screws look jagged or the board inside is undersized with no Nintendo branding, treat it as a repro. When in doubt, ask the seller for interior photos.
My Famicom cartridge won't start — what should I try first?
Clean the edge connector with a cotton swab and 90%+ isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Do not blow into the slot. If cleaning does not help, re-seat the cartridge firmly and try again. Persistent read failures on a NES may also be caused by worn-out 72-pin connector pins on the console side, which is a separate repair.
Can I play Famicom games on a NES, or NES games on a Famicom?
Not without an adapter. The cartridge shapes and pin counts differ (60-pin for Famicom, 72-pin for NES). A 60-to-72-pin physical adapter allows Famicom carts to run on a NES. In the other direction, NES-format carts are too wide for the Famicom slot and cannot be inserted at all.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy SonSon
A short checklist for buying a used Famicom cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese Famicom cartridge with a 60-pin connector; a North American NES uses a 72-pin slot, so it will not fit directly.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Confirm it is genuine, not a reproduction
Sought-after titles are targets for reproduction boards with replacement labels.
Ask for a photo of the circuit board and look for factory markings. Favour a shop with a licensed second-hand dealer permit (古物商) — by law its stock has a traceable origin, your simplest guard against fakes.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
See the unit we have →Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where SonSon sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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