Now you’ve all probably played some form of flight sim whether it’s something sci-fi like “Star Fox” or something that is a bit closer to real life such as Microsoft’s Flight Simulator but, what would it be like to be in the role of an air traffic controller? The air traffic controller job can be considered to be one of the most stressful jobs in the world when having to organise intense volumes of air traffic, dealing with time pressure and the responsibility of human lives. So how fun would it be if it was turned into a sim?

“Boku wa Koukuu Kanseikan (Bokukan)” is such a sim series that has been running in Japan since 1998 with its very first title developed for the PC. The latest incarnation of Bokukan on the DS features five major Japanese airports Tokyo, Kansai, Chuubu, Shinchi and Fukuoka. Each has its own runways and three levels of difficulty that you must play through to unlock, starting with the easiest level. Apart from the obvious of keeping air traffic flowing smoothly, the aim of each level is to achieve a certain score in a limited amount of time.


Be the air traffic controller in the 5 major airports of Japan.
Flights are listed as an arrival or departure at the bottom of the screen and it’s up to you to give out commands at the right time. Timing is very critical and there are about five steps you have to go through before an arrival is safely parked for passengers to get off or, before a departure is prepared and flying off to its destination. Just to give you an idea of what sort of commands are involved in these steps, to land an incoming arrival flight you have to first choose the runway it will land on, permit it to land when the runway is clear, then choose a spot for it to park in. Thankfully you don’t have to remember the procedures and only the commands you need appear at during each step.


Only the commands you need appear on the screen.
It might sound easy just reading the commands I mentioned and it is on the very first difficulty level, when air traffic is very light and nearly only one plane departs or arrives at any time. But as you hit the final difficulty level for each airport, things get a lot more hectic when you’ll need all your wits and cool headedness to handle the heavy non-stop air traffic. With the airport and sky full of planes, you’ll end up using both ends of runways while trying not to crash the planes! This is when you really feel the pressure going and hearing yourself breathe a sigh of relief as the “level cleared” message chimes in.