Artdink — the masters of weird, niche experiments (A-Train, Aquanaut’s Holiday, Mr. Domino) — once made a hot air balloon simulator. Kaze no NOTAM asks a single question on the box: “Did you luxuriate in the wind?” That’s the entire game distilled. Not action. Not score-chasing. Just the quiet chaos of floating wherever the air decides to take you.
Controls are stripped to the bone: a burner to climb, a flap to adjust, and the rest is up to shifting winds. There are two ways to play — Try Task, where you set up custom scenarios like beanbag target drops, and Round, a string of nine levels built from those templates. Every flight plays out differently because the wind won’t sit still. That unpredictability is the game.
The box art comes from Hiroshi Nagai (famous for his city pop album covers), setting the tone before you even boot up. Inside, you get mid-’90s 3D visuals with some subtle flourishes — night burners flickering against the dark — plus a soundtrack of smooth, Weather Channel-style jazz fusion that makes drifting feel timeless.
Kaze no NOTAM isn’t for twitch reflexes. It’s a meditative PlayStation oddity, a slow-burn experiment about surrendering control and enjoying the ride. Not a game for everyone — but for the right player, it’s a strangely beautiful hidden gem.
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