In Japan, geolocation mobile games have always been popular, going back to the days when featured phones ruled. One of the most successful is the Keitai Kunitori Gassen (or ‘mobile nation conquest war’), provided by one of Japan’s largest internet mapping companies, Mapion. Keitai Kunitori Gassen has over one million registered members and it works sort of like a stamp rally. Users of the game can conquer different locations around the country by checking in to the location and competing with other users. There were over 600 spots available as of April of 2012.

The game gives out special Japanese warlord cards that originate from specific locations, and warlords can be strengthened to fight each other. A new stamp rally will be released this summer that allows users to conquer Japanese castles all over Japan. This particular stamp rally takes place in the age of the Civil War (or Sengoku jidai), and users who can nab over 100 castles can qualify to apply for special trips and train tickets to help you conquer other locations. Users can also post photos and make comments on places they have visited. This particular rally can be played for 100 days.

Every summer, a game like the one mentioned above is realeased on Keitai Kunitori Gassen. Since its initial launch back in 2008, there have been over 500 users who have conqured all 600 areas within the game. This new campaign will kick off on July 24th, with ten times the spots it had in previous games. Core fans are already saying how this particular version is the ultimate ‘Muri-ge’, or ‘the ultimate impossible game’.

The app is available on both iOS and on Android if you’d like to check it out.

Another famous app from this genre is Colony na Seikatsu, which can be roughly translated as Colony-like life. That game was released all the way back in 2003, and is now available as a smartphone app.