Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Schbibin!]

Chris is right about the Japanese being bad at romanization. But correct or not, Engrish titles are official. The "Schbibinman" writing is further evidenced in the Super Famicom episode (Kaizō Chōjin Schbibinman Zero).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Full List of Arcade Card Games?]

Technically Gulliver Boy should be on there

It is in my list (Kūsō Kagaku Sekai Gulliver Boy).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Marble Madness??]

Do you mind giving furhter info for those two games listed ? I don't think I've heard of those ones before!

Gods is one of those few gaijin games that were advertised as WIP for months but never released. I remember a couple of screenshots. The game was to be ported by PCM Complete, the same company that eventually did the PC-98 and Mega Drive / Genesis conversions. I think the chosen medium was the HuCard, because I remember wondering how well/bad they would adapt Richard Joseph's soundtrack on PSG.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Full List of Arcade Card Games?]

Those lists are full of typos and missing a few titles. Here's a more complete one:

o Arcade CD

Fire Pro Joshi Dōmu Chōjo Taisen: Zenjo vs JWP
Garō Densetsu 2: Aratanaru Tatakai
Garō Densetsu Special
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Janshin Densetsu
Madō Monogatari: Honō no Sotsu Enji
Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force
Ryūko no Ken
Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling '94: Battlefield in Tōkyō Dōmu
Strider Hiryū
Tengai Makyō: Kabuki Ittō Ryōdan
World Heroes 2

o Arcade/Super CD

3x3 Eyes: Sanjiyan Henjō
Asuka 120% Maxima: Burning Fest
Brandish
Eikan wa Kimi ni
Emerald Dragon
Flash Hiders
Formation Soccer '95: Della Serie A
J-League Tremendous Soccer '94
Kūsō Kagaku Sekai Gulliver Boy
Linda³
Mahjong Sword: Princess Quest Gaiden
Popful Mail
Princess Maker
Princess Maker 2
Private Eye Dol
Sexy Idol Mahjong: Fashion Monogatari
Sotsugyō 2: Neo Generation
Super Real Mahjong P2-3 Custom
Super Real Mahjong P5 Custom
Tanjō
The Atlas: Renaissance Voyager
Vasteel 2
Wrestling Angels: Double Impact

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Marble Madness??]

It's an unreleased game (like Peter Packrat, Gods...). I don't know if the game was near completion or not. But it's possible that a proto has popped up somewhere.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Sol Moonarge]

For info, Sol Moonarge was not developed by Irem but by the Irem fan club. An official dōjin game. Which explains why the production values are kind of mixed: great graphics but poor gameplay and music.

[PC-FX Discussion / Re: kill me now]

Some games can directly access the BMP, but they aren't a lot of them. The BMP is usually used like the MB128 on the PC Engine.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Dead of the Brain]

Unless you intend your dialogues to be very funny and entertaining (think "What's up Tiger Lily"), I'd advise you against such revisionism. I'm not challenging your writing abilities, it's just that the concept has proven embarassing in the long run. Like that Macek dude who thought it would be a good idea to entirely rewrite and merge a couple of obscure Jap series which he believed nobody would remember about... Silly Carl.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Games in need of translation?]

Mednafen is clearly an emulator for developers. Its accuracy concerns the inner workings of the system, which is fine for hackers. But the way it renders audio and video is far from being accurate from a gamer's point of view. I wouldn't say Mednafen nor HuGo are "accurate" in that respect. ME and Ootake are simply trying to achieve different goals. (Just trying to put things in perspective here. Mednafen is still a decent emu in my eye.)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Best use of drum samples in PSG music]

Most of my sound knowledge/experience comes from "trackers" back in the day, so I'm partial to the PCE and SNES ( though I love a good Gens bass guitar  ). ...I miss Fast Tracker II 

Which reminds me that Champions Forever Boxing features some impressive use of samples, pretty much in a tracker way. First (and only?) time I heard all the six channels of the system being used as PCM.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PC Engine Screen-shot quiz]

Mmm, looks like a vulture to me.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: 8-bit PCM playback demo]

Very interesting. Indeed it doesn't work well with ME 1.0. The sound is much cleaner in Ootake, although the female voice is still rather distorded.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Best use of drum samples in PSG music]

Roughly speaking, PSG is the cheap synth you can hear in the chiptunes (the part producing the more or less advanced blips and blops). PCM is the format in which the samples (drums, some sound effects) are encoded. ADPCM is a sort of compressed PCM that is often used in CD games in streaming form (Sherlock Holmes for example).

IMO, two chiptune composers really stand out on the PC Engine: Kōji Hayama (Moto Roader, Schbibinman) and Daisuke Morishima (Coryoon, PC Denjin, 1943). Hayama was the first guy to use a PCM drumkit in a HuCard game, back in early 1989. At a good third place, I'll put the gents from LMS/Compile (Gunhed, Devil Crash, Cyber Dodge, Cyber Knight).

On HuCard, the best PCM showcase would be Coryoon. On CD, I'd go for Cyber City OEDO 808.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Override !!!! Holy Moly~]

Sting released a sequel to Override for the X68000: Last Battalion.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Australia's getting TG-16 VC games, so...]

I think that its a sign that there's a chance of North America getting some non-domestic VC platforms.

You're hoping too much. In France, we got the Japanese PC Engine (not the US TurboGrafx) yet the European VC only offers US games. The only way to get Japanese games on your VC is to live in Japan.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Batman Review]

"Speaking of ruining the entire experience, the music in this game is absolutely ear piercing."

That's what you get when you play on a half-finished emulator like Hu-Go. I remember the harsh comments of a reviewer from a shooter fansite who was complaining that the Gunhed soundtrack was absolutely horrendous. Admittedly the guy had never played the game on a real system.

[General Gaming / Re: Best Castlevania (Real Castlevanias only)]

Chronicles on the X68000 has some great MT-32 tunes, though nothing quite beats Chi no Rondo in that department.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbografx covers are rubbish]

That is definitely a mastery rivaling that of Seurat's.

Indeed, the artsy TGX cover is clearly influenced by neo-impressionism

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Just when you thought that Bonk couldn't get any cooler...]

Yup, link is fixed...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bonk 3 Hu-card or Bonk 3 CD?]

I'm not a fan of the CD soundtrack (although made by T's Music). Even worse, it's lacking some tunes, which makes it very repetitive compared to the PSG chippies. And loading times are painful when you're used to the HuCard. I think there's a reason why the CD version wasn't released in Japan.

[PC-FX Discussion / Re: PC-FX: Polygon Capable?]

the PC-FX game library is not all FMV/anime games.

Indeed. It's mostly all FMV/anime games.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Just when you thought that Bonk couldn't get any cooler...]

Thankfully there's no Amiga game for the VC (yet). Have a look at the ending screenshots.

Wonder Boy 2 (warning: French language)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbografx covers are rubbish]

Does anyone dare disagree with me?  Eh???

I always thought the TurboChip covers were in an artistic league of their own. Point in case.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Blazing Lazers Debug Mode]

Musically-wise, I can't quite remember anything from the '90s :p

Pat O'May is produced by Ron Thal, maybe that does ring a bell... The funny thing is, he often writes music for a French documentary channel called Thalassa. Many of their programs are dedicated to the safeguard of coastal and oceanic environments. There has been a long-running program called "La France vue du ciel" ("France seen from above") where long travelling shots are taken from an helicopter, pretty much like those fancy aerial effects in The Lord of the Rings. There was a recurrent joke here about Peter Jackson stealing those so-called "Thalassa shots"

100 Candles

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Blazing Lazers Debug Mode]

my dad has been listening to Jacques Brel for the past two days, non-stop!

Talk about setting the right mood! I love Brel... but only when I'm depressed

I'm listening to Pat O'May these days. He's a French-Irish indie folk-rock composer from Brittany. Some of his tunes are quite in the vein of Steve Vai. Very cool and atmospheric, although his albums are hard to find. He should have made soundtracks for PCE shooters

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Vol. numbers?]

26 is certainly Aoi Blink. 48 was probably the Ten no Koe Bank.

The release dates of both titles roughly coincide with the "missing" numbers.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Blazing Lazers Debug Mode]

> Human Dog

You're not far from it

The four difficulty levels are Normal Dog, Hard Human, Super Mania and God of Game.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Blazing Lazers Debug Mode]

Flashing powerups just turn one of your existing lives into a continue. You need to reach some high score checkpoints in order to gain new lives.

Steve: I'm not sure what Godhead is. I'm not familiar with Blazing Lazers. In Gunhed, the fourth difficulty level is God of Game, which I completed -- a long time ago, in a galaxy far... Right. What I remember is that the game was actually rendered more difficult because enemies were essentially much tougher to destroy.

[General Gaming / Re: Sonic CD: Which soundtrack do you like better?]

I'm a fan of Spencer Nilsen -- Ecco CD rocks. However, while I enjoy his Sonic CD soundtrack, I think it was simply not necessary to ask him to compose an entirely new score. The Japanese one perfectly suited the game, and I can only imagine it was changed because of obscure copyright issues.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: First Japanese Virtual Console game in America?]

Considering that BLR is in English, it's not exactly surprising. Like many other PC Engine games, it was almost ready for an international release without any change whatsoever. It never happened because the suits at NEC US were a bunch of retarded. It's a good thing that someone at Hudson Soft is finally realizing this. I'm still confident you won't find any original game on the VC that needs some serious localization, but I'll certainly be glad if Hudson can prove me wrong

[General Gaming / Re: Tengai Makyou fans. Anyone play Oriental Blue - Ao no Tengai?]

Yes, I'm aware of that. The likely reason why it doesn't appear at Tengai.jp is because the site is a Hudson property, but Oriental Blue (although developed by Red and Hudson) entirely belongs to Nintendo.

Here's an article of sort I posted a couple years ago on another site.

Oriental Blue ~ Ao no Tengai [2003]

"Once upon a time in the Tengai world... The Blue Land was a beautiful place to behold. Under the kindly rule of the Heaven Lord, Humans, Torcs and Onis were all living in good peace and harmony.

But uncanny fears begin to spread in Daito, the capital of this land. Rumour says that the city is slowly drifting into the Dark World... Playing the role of Tenran or Aoi, you arrive in Daito amidst the growing madness, with a strange manuscript in hand intended for the Heaven Lord himself.

The People From the Dark World are trying to turn Daito into an evil gate. From a mist of darkness emerges the Blue Castle, a huge palace in the sky which is the lair of the Devil Dharma... It doesn't take long before the capital is finally sealed to the Dark World!"

[...]

Stricto sensu, Oriental Blue is not explicitly advertised as a Tengai Makyō volume. At best, it's sometimes labelled as a gaiden, a side story. Nevertheless, if we put aside the most obvious departures (the absence of Torajirō Tsujino as character designer and the lack of recurrent characters from previous adventures -- except perhaps for Hyakki Chūjō, who bears some resemblance to Masakado and Kōtenmei), a couple of details give away some pretty strong clues that this game is still an integral part of the franchise.

Back in 2001, Ao no Tengai was presented at the E3 show as a new Far East of Eden episode planned for the GBA -- its working title was Tengai Makyō: Oriental Blue. The "Tengai Makyō" title was later scrapped in favor of a more elusive tagline presenting the game as a new RPG set "once more in the Tengai world". Marketing wise, that still tells a great deal about the targeted audience.

Semantically speaking, however, it implies that the game takes some significant distance from its "prequels". Indeed, "Tengai" is an archaic expression for any mythical and heavenly place that is, so to speak, "far east of Eden" -- that does not only mean Japan, but the ancient Orient as a whole. The point is that a game which action is set somewhere in Asia doesn't necessarily belong to the Tengai Makyō series... But then again, much of the same can be said of the opposite (The Apocalypse IV being the obvious counterexample here).

Besides, the mandatory wacky humour (which was scarcely used in Manjimaru and Zero, but kind of became the series trademark "thanks" to Fūun Kabuki Den and Daishi no Mokushiroku) is totally lacking from Oriental Blue. The unexpected result is that it actually makes it look and feel very much like the opus that started it all, Ziria -- which, ironically, was bashed outside of Japan for the relative seriousness of its mood and the almost zen austerity of its unique wafu graphic style.

Yet, despite the story doesn't explicitly take place in dandy Jipang but in what is called the Blue East, it still borrows a fair amount of cultural references from old Japan, China, Mongolia and Thailand (though, in true Red tradition, the map of the Asian world is barely recognizable). Definitely more of a fantasy work than a historical journey, this game still features some delightful anachronisms and subtle steampunk elements that have become standard fare in this series.

Finally, one can not escape the fact that Kōji Arai's Ao no Tengai just plays and sounds a lot like his previous Tengai Makyō Zero: an installment that wasn't spoiled by the unfortunate involvement of megalomaniac extraordinaire Hiroshi Adachi -- aka Hiroi Ōji, the legitimate instigator of the original Tengai Makyō concept, who later took way too much personal initiative in the game design department and tried hard (but without success) to turn the whole thing into a Princess Minerva spin-off

[Off-Topic / Re: Nick Wood]

There's an anecdote about SYN. The name was chosen after the three founders of the studio: Simon Le Bon, Yasmin Parvaneh and Nick Wood. Some sites state that it was founded in 1998, which is erroneous. Syn Sound Design had been in existence as early as 1989.

[General Gaming / Re: Tengai Makyou fans. Anyone play Oriental Blue - Ao no Tengai?]

It's as official as a TM can be. It was directed by Kōji Arai, who was also game designer on Zero and Fūun Kabuki Den. It's a very good game with great PSG tunes.

[Off-Topic / Re: Nick Wood]

AFAIK, Nick Wood did personally compose the music for Gate of Thunder and Dynastic Hero (and the animation picture Tōi Umi kara Kita Coo, which sounds a lot like the latter). Dynastic Hero and Coo were co-composed with Julian Lennon.

Japanese developers are not consistent when it comes to game credits. In many games, you'll find the composer listed under the simple title "Sound" which could mean anything. In the case of GoT, "Sound Design" was probably a joke on the fact that Nick Wood's studio was named Syn Sound Design at the time. Nowadays, it's Syn Entertainment. The site is in reconstruction, but a few years ago you could find GoT listed in his resume.

You can certainly contact him on his blog and ask him for details.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bravoman hes is missing a sound channel]

You have uninstalled the NEZplug plugin and now Winamp correctly plays your HES file? It's downright puzzling

It most probably means you have another plugin that conflicts with NEZplug. Make sure you don't have an older plugin in the Winamp plugin folder named in_he2.dll. The correct library should be in_nez.dll.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bravoman hes is missing a sound channel]

Thanks for the re-rip Chris. Indeed the original from Ancient Sound Vanished sounded a bit weird.

one incompatibility I've found is that .M3u playlists made by the original ripper sometimes don't work with my version of WinAmp.  Perhaps it has to do with what language the computer is set to.  It seems that the length of play, fade, and looping values in the playlists aren't always interpreted correctly.

Most playlists from five or six years ago were made for the in_he2 plugin by Cisc, which used a slightly different syntax. Those playlists won't play correctly with the later NEZplug-based plugins.

PD, I suggest you try NEZplug+ for Winamp. Here is the direct link to the file if Japanese is not your forte. Both the original rip and Chris' re-rip work here. You could also have a go at my updated playlist (will only work with Chris' rip).

http://mapage.noos.fr/kaminari/Bravoman.zip

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Arcade Card Pro Case Size]

The thicker jewel case is actually half the thickness of a double case. I can recall a couple of PCE games with such a case: 1552, Alnam no Kiba, Linda Cube, Monster Maker, Princess Maker 2.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Bloody Wolf!]

Interestingly, the arcade PCB is essentially a PC Engine with a YM2203 and a PCM chipset. That's why the PCE port is almost identical to the original version (ironically, I find the PCE tunes better than the FM ones).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Somebody give me the facts.]

People don't quite realize that hentai is mainstream in Japan, and that many well-respected Japanese publishers have done some hentai in the past. Rolfee is not a hentai character -- but she's the mascot of InterChannel (ex-NEC InterChannel) which essentially does censored ports of hentai games for consoles.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: The SCSI adapter was a rumor?]

The drive is a PC-8801-30 and was used with PC-88 computers. The PC-8801-30 and the CDR-30 of the PC Engine are actually the same model. At the time of the Interface Unit's release, the CDR-30 was re-used by NEC to equip some PC-88 models like the PC-8801MC. It could also be used as a standalone drive for earlier PC-88 models via an interface named PC-8801-31.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Batman]

I seem to remember there are 12 stages per level, and 4 levels in all. You do the math.

Like most platformers of the time, I personally think the "canned" version wouldn't have aged very well. What we have instead is a puzzle game that still stands the test of time, providing that you enjoy the concept (yeah, I'm one of those freaks).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Is there anything like MIDINES for TG16?]

You can search for infos at Vorc, but I don't think anyone has ever tried to use the PCE as a MIDI synth.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Question for those awaiting Neutopia 3]

This is indeed a great idea, only problem is that it's hard to find PCE PSG composers out there . It's hard enough making the sound effects.

PSG tunes in villages would be great.

It's hard to find motivated composers because we're in dire need of a decent PSG tracking program. Understandably, no composer today wants to waste time with a primitive MML notepad when other platforms have such neat sequencers as FamiTracker, NerdTrackers 2, Raster Music Tracker or Vortex Tracker 2.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Post your scores for the Spriggan showdown here]

Now that the contest is over, I suppose I can post my personal score in the Score Attack mode

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Insanely Frustrated! *TURBO OST MUSIC*]

If you're looking for the Keith Courage soundtrack, you'll find the HES rip at my website under its Japanese name (Mashin Eiyū Den Wataru). That's one of those boring tracklists I've had on the backburner for months without finding the courage (haha!) to finish until recently.

[Off-Topic / Re: What are YOU watching on YouTube.com?]

Sim Heil: a Flight Simulator X review.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Do you actually use the Wii strap when playing?]

> Do you actually use the Wii strap when playing?

You should

[Off-Topic / Re: PCEngineFX message board street fight]

[...] where he beat the shit out of 23 screwdriver wielding mexicans.

That's not too far from the truth. I can confirm they all ended up in a New Mexico hospital, each one of them with 23 screwdrivers in their bowels. But I swear to Keranu I had absolutely nothing to do with this. I was just passing by when one of them asked me why I wasn't wearing a mustache. I just can't remember what happened next, but one thing I'm sure is that they were definitely not Irish.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Populous]

I wish I still had my copy to squeeze it hard

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Populous]

Well, the verdict could be that some early batches of Populous might have had a built-in BRAM, which might have been dropped in later batches with the advent of the Interface Unit and external back-up devices. If Mednafen claims to emulate the BRAM of Populous, at least there must be some code in the game to support this saving feature.