Pepsiman

Pepsiman (Japanese: ペプシマン, Hepburn: Pepushiman) is an action video game developed and published by KID for the PlayStation. It was released in Japan in March 1999, and is based on American carbonated soft drink Pepsi's superhero mascot with the same name, and focuses the player on avoiding obstacles by running, dashing, and jumping, while Pepsiman automatically runs forward through each of the game's stages. The game was made with a low budget, prompting the decision to make videos in-between stages that show a man drinking Pepsi, as they were cheap to produce. The game also features 3D cutscenes, which the future visual novel writer Kotaro Uchikoshi created 3D models for. While an American publisher did look into acquiring the rights to publish the game in the United States, it ended up being a Japan-exclusive game. Reviewers frequently compared the game to other games, including Crash Bandicoot, and commented on its simplicity and its price, which was thought to be low. A writer for Complex included it on a list of company-branded games that "didn't suck", commenting that it is not a bad game as long as the player can tolerate the large amount of advertisement in it. According to Uchikoshi, the game did not sell well.