Today's Wholesome Direct presentation was full of wonderful upcoming indie games filling Summer Game Fest with cozy vibes, but as a retro connoisseur, my absolute favorite reveal of the show was Milano's Odd Job Collection. This gorgeous PS1 game never made it out of Japan back in the day, but a quarter-century later, that's finally changing thanks, in part, to an excellent fan translation group.
Milano's Odd Job Collection has you play as an 11-year-old girl named Milano, who's off on a 40-day summer vacation. You choose how to spend your time each day, but you spend a lot of it working various part-time jobs, which take the form of minigames where you do things like deliver pizzas, or milk cows.
Yes, sure, technically this is a game all about child labor, but look… it's just so darn cute. You'll build up Milano's stats over time, which influences what kind of jobs you can take, and you can spend money on furniture to decorate your little house. You can also choose to escape the rat race and just spend a day relaxing whenever the mood strikes you, so this isn't purely a capitalism simulator.
The original game was known as Milano no Arbeit Collection – Arbeit being a German loanword used in Japan for part-time work – and it was released in 1999 by Westone. If you know Westone's name, it's probably because of the Wonder Boy series it developed for Sega through the '80s and '90s. The company's background in adorable 2D characters arguably hit its peak with the beautiful pixel art for Milano.
The game's official English translation is being published by XSEED across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC, but perhaps the more intriguing name attached to the release is Hilltop. This fan translation group has spent the past few years releasing excellent, but unofficial English patches for a wide range of cult classics and genuine obscurities, ranging from a wild Sega rhythm game to a lost Mega Man Legends spin-off and the utterly wonderful Boku no Natsuyasumi 2.
Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 quickly became a personal favorite of mine when I finally got to play it thanks to Hilltop's translation, and I'm beyond thrilled to see their work recognized to such a degree that they're now working on official localizations of lost cult classics. Here's hoping Milano is every bit as endearing as it looks.
For more retro greats, check out our guide to the best PS1 games.
