Yosaku
Yosaku is an arcade game developed and published by Shin Nihon Kikaku in 1979. It is a vertically scrolling shooter game inspired by the popular Japanese song “Yosaku” by Saburō Kitajima. In the game, players control a woodcutter who must cut down three trees before they reach the bottom of the screen. The woodcutter can move left and right and can swing an axe to chop down the trees. The trees move in a variety of patterns, and players must chop them down before they reach the bottom of the screen.
If the woodcutter fails to chop down all three trees before they reach the bottom of the screen, the player loses a life. The player can earn extra lives by collecting coins that appear on the screen.
Yosaku was not a commercial success, but it is considered to be a cult classic among Japanese arcade game enthusiasts. It is one of the rarest arcade games in Japan, and it is often sold for high prices at auction.
In 1980, an unauthorized conversion of the game named Kikori no Yosaku (きこりの与作?) was made by Epoch Co. for Cassete Vision, it’s become more well known than the original game.