eCrew Development Program (2010)

This is one of the rarest, most mythical games in the Nintendo DS canon, developed by McDonald’s Japan as an employee training program. Fewer than 4,000 cartridges were produced and distributed only to McDonald’s employees, making it a coveted collector’s item. (If you care to know more, there’s a whole documentary about it.)

I spent hours searching for this mysterious game to no avail. I then asked my kids for help, they found the game in less than five minutes, and mastered itin about an hour:

Even though this game is in Japanese and is meant to teach you how to work at McDonald’s, it’s surprisingly fun! If you’ve ever wanted to see what it’s like working the line at Mickey D’s, this is a great way to live the dream.

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M.C. Kids (NES, 1992)

M.C. kids is a blatant ripoff of Super Mario Bros. 3. It has now been five days since I started playing and I cannot beat the first world, have thrown my laptop across my bedroom twice, and have invented a handful of brand-new unprintable curse words. This game is full of secrets and surprises, is far more clever than it needs to be, and is incrementally destroying my life. Approach this one with extreme caution, because it will suck you into its murky depths and never let you go.

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Just like SEGA Genesis’ Treasureland Adventure, M.C. Kids also crossed over to the world of handheld gaming as McDonaldland for Game Boy. And, just like Donald no Magical World, it’s a pale imitation of the original console game, devoid of any real challenges and severely lacking in the whimsy department. It’s worth checking out if you want to be reminded of just how disappointing the majority of Game Boy games actually were.


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McDonald’s Monogatari: Honobono Tenchou Ikusei Game [Game Boy Color, 2001)

This is a bit of a deep cut in the McDonald’s gaming catalog, and it’s so much fun that the concept of time will cease to exist. Despite not having English captions, it’s pretty easy to figure out how to play the five mini-games that have you working every station in a bustling McDonald’s kitchen. There’s a strong possibility that additional mini-games are buried in here somewhere, but again, I don’t read Japanese, so I’ve been running around clicking on things and hoping for the best. I haven’t been fired yet, nor have I accidentally set the restaurant on fire, so I think I’m winning? I’ll know more after I play another hundred hours or so.