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[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / REVIEW: Mysterious Song]

Hah, it's been a couple years since I've really been active around here -- RL stuff - family, job, etc, etc., but I've always been lurking around from time to time, and finally managed to squeeze in some to play a new PCE game - Mysterious Song!  I'm sure most of you on this board are familiar with the title, and there are no shortage of reviews/comments on it.  So I thought I'd add in my 2 cents.

I must say I was quite impressed - you can really tell a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into creating this, so before anything else... great job guys.

I won't bore folks with the minor details, but will jump straight into it. 

The gameplay is of the classic JRPRG variety.  3-player party wandering the overworld, going between villages, caves, dungeons, etc.  Gameplay is simple in nature -- players can equip all things, there are the basic attack/heal spells, and everything just flows without dragging on.  There's nothing that hasn't been done before, but it doesn't do anything wrong.  It's a short & sweet RPG that one can finish in a single session (~3 hours), but that's not such a horrible thing for many of us who are time-poor now. 



Graphics are decent and I thought they were definitely comparable to other "commercial" releases back in the day.  The battle backgrounds in particular were really well done, with great detail & shading in some of the landscapes.





Music is excellent, and probably the standout feature of this title.  Battle music is really well done, for both the peon & boss battles.  I also like the cave BGM, which really makes it feel like your in a cave setting, with that echo-y reverb atmosphere.

The few cutscenes are also well done.  The art style isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I can appreciate it being different from the standard anime fare, and again, I can tell a lot of work went into all this.



Other than the length of the game, I would say this game can certainly satiate the needs of classic RPG players. 

Compilation of my other reviews:
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Ane-san
Babel
Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki
Blood Gear
Burai
Burai II
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Cosmic Fantasy 3
Dragon Knight III
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Tengai Makyō: Ziria
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

[General Gaming / SCART to Component converter]

Anyone ever use such a setup?  I figure that'll be easiest way RGB out onto a non-RGB TV for a number of 16-bit/32-bit era consoles.

Basically, I see the chain as:
Console -> Scart Cable -> Pass through to get out RCA audio -> Scart to Component video converter -> component cable -> TV

Now, I intend to hook up systems such as the Saturn, Playstation, Dreamcast, i.e. through this setup to a standard-def CRT.   Would something cheap like suffice?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hama-Scart-to-RGB-Component-Adaptor-IN-OUT-Converter-/200827344423?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item2ec23e1627

Or, do I need something like this (with a scaler) even if I don't intend to hook these systems up to an HDTV?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SCART-RGB-to-YUV-Component-Video-Converter-Scaler-/220698772855?pt=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item3362ac0577

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / REVIEW: Burai II]

Compared to the prequel (which I reviewed ->here<-), the sequel is a much, much more polished version of the original Japanese PC RPG. And unlike the prequel, the PC Engine has the only console version of this game.

The PC versions actually labels this game as gekan (下卷), which is more akin to "second half" of the one full story, rather than a "Part II". That is, it's a direct continuation of what happened in the first game. And just like the prequel, the game is split into a number of chapters, and you guide through a number short quest that's about 2-3 hours per chapter for a number of characters before they all meet up for a final showdown with the evil mastermind. However, the last quest in the prequel was much longer, but in this version, it's just as short as the individual chapters that precedes it.  Most of the quests are pretty straighforward, and there are a lot of cutscenes which advance the storyline.

This time around, the developers just about addressed every single complaint I had about the prequel's effort, including updating the graphics to match the contemporary RPGs of the era, widening the playfield, greatly easing the menu navigation, and the whole game overall feels helluva lot more polished than part I.

In fact, the game menu/navigation is pretty intuitive and easy for the average gaijin as there are a lot of icons indicating what's going on with your party members, how equipment affects party members, etc. For example, when you go into a shop, you can see how each of the equipment generally affects your party member, so you don't have to waste all this time trying out random things for party members.  When fighting, you can easily tell what's happening as icons indicating things like poison, stone, etc. appear, and up or down arrows show what's going on when your abilities are affected.

All of these things were absent in the prequel.  The developers have done a good job this time in really updating the game, and it also really helps your average gaijin understand what's going on.



One thing that took a step backwards in gameplay compared to the prequel is the difficulty level.  This game is much easier than the prequel - and this could be just for the console version.  I read that the PC versions are still much more difficult. This is a double-edged sword. While it makes it for less frustrating experience, I just didn't get the satisfaction of developing your character like that in part I.  In part I, dying is a regular part of the game in the beginning of the chapters, but you eventually get to a point where your characters kick major ass. 

In this version, they're never really *that* weak, and it doesn't take long before you're polishing off your enemies like nothing.  Also in part one, you really had to be choosy about what status you "fast-track" for character development; and also the books that your characters learned new skills from really made a difference.  In this version, you can simply set your development skills mostly to strength, and simply plow away. I never even bothered so much with the book reading - learning new skills just wasn't as important in this version.



The overworld graphics isn't anything to write home about, but there are a LOT of cutscenes in the story, and the artwork is quite exceptional. The prequel's artwork was a bit more gritty and eye-catching to be honest, but this is still really good stuff, and as I mentioned before, there's a LOT of it.  The style of the artwork is quite unique, and I can't quite point another title (other than the prequel) that has a style similar to Burai. 

The audio is also MUCH improved. While it's no Ys soundtrack, the tunes do a good job of matching up with the atmosphere, and no longer on a super-quick loop like that of the prequel.





The game is hardly ever talked about in the gaijin PCE crowd, as there's almost no information about the game in English except runin's review in ->here<-. I've yet to find a decent faq for this in even in Japanese let alone English.  Only one I found was a super basic one in Japanese for the PC versions ->here<-, but it's almost of no help.  I hardly used it. 

However, the game is relatively linear and the easy interface makes it quite possible for an intermediate JRPG player to get into without much problems.  My last save file has an indicated playing time of 21:30, so it's not a super long one by any means either.

Also, I actually wrote a minifaq while I was playing.  I've submitted this to gamefaqs just now, so it should help those out with some previous JRPG playing experience and basic kana reading skills.  I'll provide a link once it goes through.

...Onto my the next one...

Compilation of my other reviews:
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Ane-san
Babel
Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki
Blood Gear
Burai
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Cosmic Fantasy 3
Dragon Knight III
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Tengai Makyō: Ziria
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / REVIEW: Tengai Makyō: Ziria]

After another long hiatus, I finished the next PCE RPG, so here's another review.  This time, it's relatively better known (at least amongst this crowd) Tengai Makyō: Ziria.  AFAIK, this is the first console-CD RPG that was released, and along with that was tagged as PCE's "big budget" RPG-series of the era.  You can tell that this game clearly had Dragon Quest/Warrior as a template, and the developers simply changed the environment, added in some wacky humor, and added couple extra tidbits that CD-format allowed them to do.  It's also pretty damn long.  I'd guesstimate the playtime at maybe 50-60 hours or so, but it felt like it was double that.  I've said this in previous reviews of other RPGs - perhaps I'm just more time-impatient these days with a job & family and all that, but this one was a just a grind toward the end.  It took me 13 months(!) of on-off playing to finally finish this one off.

Anyway, starting from the gameplay - TM:Ziria feels like it was created by a cookie-cutter console-RPG-template back in the days.  It's got the typical talk/tools/magic/status/etc menus in the overworld, and fight/magic/tools/run/etc... during the fight scenes.  You meet several NPCs before your party eventually stabilizes into a group of three, and you carry on your fight against the evil baddies, and you have to grind quite a bit to make sure that your party has a chance of survival as they move on.  Sound familiar enough?  Well, the developers made sure you got a looooot of it.  It's not the most impressive CD-game in terms of presentation, but man, I can say that they took advantage the abundant space storage to make sure that there was a lot of game.



As for the more unique bits about this game, you can't not notice the wacky environment.  There's the pseudo-feudal Japan setting, and the game throws a lot of goofball characters at you.  Because of this unorthodox setting, it makes it more difficult for those of us who are non-Japanese to really "get" everything (language barrier aside), but it at least makes for an interesting, and more exotic setting than your typical console-RPG settings.  The plenty of wacky characters that are strewn throughout the game are also memorable - the crazy gaijin Hotei, the oni father-son duo, mischievous tanuki monsters, etc., and also Tsunade, the little girl with a big axe, who provides plenty of comic relief throughout the game.



The overworld graphics are pretty dated, but is colorful and interesting enough with the aforementioned Japanese environment, and there are a couple scenes that look quite good.  Battle graphics are better than your average RPG, as there are a number of cool backgrounds, and the enemies are well detailed and are quite sizable.  Cinema scenes are pretty basic - it's mostly static background shots with characters talking along.  I suppose the big wow for its time would be the addition of speech, which is nothing now, but at least the voice acting is pretty well done, especially whoever did Tsunade.

The music is almost all chiptunes.  It's not bad, and it fits the mood and atmosphere of the game.  However, it's nothing particularly memorable IMO.  Being a CD game and all, some cool redbook tunes here and there in the overworld would've been nice.





All said, I would've been mighty impressed had I played this game when it was first released -- when I was playing the likes of Dragon Warrior I.  Compared to the competitors of its time, graphics are much more colorful, enemies are big and detailed, plenty of cut-scenes, and even speech(!).  The only one that might've held a candle to this game perhaps would've been Phantasy Star I (which was way ahead of its time IMO).  However, there are just a number of aspects about this game that hasn't aged very well.

Still, if you're a retro-gamer, you can appreciate how much has gone into making a game like this in a 1989-context.  If you like old-school RPGs and the PCE, Ziria should be on your playlist, but make plenty of time for it. 

I still have the sequels - Manji Maru and Kabuki-den to go through (which I've bought in 2005!), and just from screenshots and reviews from others here, I'm expecting a lot more polish from them...

Compilation of my other reviews:
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Ane-san
Babel
Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki
Blood Gear
Burai
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Cosmic Fantasy 3
Dragon Knight III
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

[Off-Topic / Any car stereo buffs here?]

Well, I'm not much of one, but the head unit on my crappy commuter just died.  I'd rather not commute in total silence, and and as I like to tinker around a bit, I thought I could probably try my hand at installing a car stereo unit.  I managed to get the old unit out fine, and got hold of a el cheapo unit for $10 from some random dude.

Problem is, the unit didn't come with any connectors of any sort in the back to connect to a wires/harness to the car.  From looking around, there seems to be manufacturer (and model) specific connectors, but I couldn't get this info, even from the manufacturer's website.  The connector opening is approximately 2.5cm x 1.5cm.

Are there a few standards out there, or anyone in the know where I can get this info?  I'm waiting for verification email from car audio forums, but I thought I'd try here to see if any of you knew...

[Off-Topic / How would you rate your Japanese skills?]

Being the nerds that we are, I see that a disproportionate number of folks who have some Japanese ability on pcenginefx compared to most other groups (retrogaming or not).  Not that surprising since many of us are in to PCE (not just TG16), and that often means that some level of exposure to the Japanese language. So I thought I'd put this poll up to actually get an idea of how people rate their Japanse. 

I'm probably in the option 4 category, though that's probably starting to deteriorate as years go by, but at least I've learned enough of the language where I don't think I'll ever completely forget the basic workings of the language (like what's happened to me with Spanish).  I learned Japanese when I did the JET program for a year between 2005-2006, living in a small mountain town in Tokushima-ken of Shikoku.

For those of you that know some Japanese, what's the story?  How did you pick it up?  Plan to further your knowledge in it? 

For those of you that don't have any Japanese skills, you have any interest it it?  (i.e. Just learning how to read katakana, which can be done in one day if you put your mind to it, can make things quite a bit easier for a lot of import games.)

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Tengai Makyo: Ziria SCD version System cards.]

So I was trying to get the SCD version of Tengai Makyō to work with Ootake (the way I've been playing PCE games past couple months), and for whatever reason I'd get the "you need the SCD 3.0 card to play this game" error screen in the beginning.  I thought, what the hell is going on, I DO have the 3.0 system card image loaded on there!  Then I realized that I had the U.S. version of the system card loaded, and when I tried the PCE version, voila!  It loaded fine.

So... I wonder if this happens on real hardware.  Have any of you tried the game (specifically the SCD re-release version of Ziria), with the US system card?  Actually that's a two part question -- 1) Does this game boot up on a separate, US version of System 3.0 card? 2) Does this game boot up on a stand-alone TurboDuo?

I haven't heard of any games actually needing a region-specific system card before (other than GameExpress cards, which is obviously only one region), though I thought I recall reading somewhere on here that a few demos didn't work with US cards either...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Anyone ever play BURAI? [REVIEW Added]]

Just loaded it up, and so far it's looks like absolute crap.  I'm not really the one to look for a lot of flash in an RPG, but man, this one looks bad.

Anyway, anyone ever work through this one?  I've searched through the web in both English and Japanese for a guide/faq, and all I get is a simple guide ->here<- on the Mega CD version.

I'm not sure if I'm missing out much, but this seems to be the most underwhelming RPG game I've put on the PCE so far.  But considering it had a ton of ports (MSX, SFC, MD, PCE), I *guess* there's something redeeming about this franchise?

edit: found a faq ->here<- (in Korean though) which also explains some things about the actual gameplay. I'll see if the gameplay is interesting enough for me to continue on...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / REVIEW: Dragon Knight III]

As I opened the case to the game, a receipt fell out, and looking at it, it made me remember that DK3 was one of the last batch of games that I bought on the day that I left Japan 4 1/2 years ago.  I paid 880 yen for it at the time, and I wouldn't have paid much more because I knew this game was a censored version -- and I hate censored stuff, and it also had a US PC release (which I never played, but recall seeing ads of).  But thought, "Meh, 880 yen."  As it's a mildly adult-themed RPG, I thought it'd be gimmicky and didn't expect all that much from a gameplay point of view.  (As an aside: I hate the term "hentai" being incorrectly used for Japanese adult material -- you'd sound fucking retarded if you went up to a store counter in Japan and asked where the "hentai" section is located.)

Boy, I was pleasantly surprised after playing thorough it.  The girl factor is just a little extra eye candy of top of a solid, well-playing RPG.  The game doesn't have all this jazzy stuff of some of its peers, but what it does, it does well.  It has a nice, quick pace, and it doesn't bog itself down with anything unnecessary.  And what it does add compared to others (other than scantly-clad girls with gratuitous panty shots) is awesome characters that are easy to like, *brilliant* voice acting, and absolutely hilarious script & humor.



The presentation in-game is nothing fancy.  It looks like a number of other JRPGs with SD-sized characters walking about.  The development team did do little nifty things like changing up the player's armor color depending on his equipment (and being totally naked if equipped with nothing!).  The battle scenes have colorful backgrounds, which is a nice change after a number of plain-black background RPGs I've played through over the past few years.  The peon enemies are mostly girls representing some random monster (or not).  One that made me laugh was a peon that literally flashes her high beams as an attack.  On the other hand, a lot more polish has been applied to the cutscenes -- albeit they come in just one or two shots at a time -- you're consistently treated to a number of chicks in compromising positions, not to mention a number of rather mean-looking villains.

The music certainly on the top tier of PCE RPGs when it comes to the the soundtrack, as there are some cool pieces, especially in the dungeons.  There was a special thanks note to T's music in the credits, so I'm not sure about the level of their involvement, but either way, the music in DK3 doesn't hurt T's reputation at all.




Now, the real reason to get this game is unfortunately, not a good enough reason for many gaijins.  The script and the voice acting in this game is absolutely fricken hilarious.  In fact, this is the most humorous RPG script I've ever read.  The main character is a total perv, but he can kick ass too, much like a medieval fantasy version of City Hunter Ryo Saeba.  As a matter of fact, the voice immediately reminded me of him, and I soon found out it's the same voice actor as that of Ryo Saeba's.  Even though I'm not a big fan of the anime version of City Hunter (but a huge fan of the manga), this voice actor is spot on in representing an "ass-kicking perv".  This does carry over somewhat just from his intonation, but one is really, really missing out if they don't understand what is being said in the game.  A lot of voiceovers also meant that I had an added bonus factor -- it made it made it much easier for me to understand (rather than only mentally reading out all the text, with kanji and all).  Just some of the dialogs below made me laugh out loud, and it's a real shame that this would be lost on the majority of the import playing crowd.

This is a game ripe for fan translation, as ALL voiceovers is accompanied by a script, so just translating the script will allow the player to get 100% of what's going on (unlike, say Xak III or Ys IV, which isn't the case with its voiceovers -- not that I'm complaining about the effort put in to those titles  ).  All this can be remedied, as you can just play the US PC version (Knights of Xentar), but I have no idea whether the translation or voiceovers did any justice to the original.  Now, I'd imagine this will be similar for parts I & II, which I now will definitely get a hold of sometime in the future. 

 

The gameplay, as I mentioned, is quick-paced and takes a no-nonsense approach.  There are no unorthodox elements in the commands or how you go about the game.  The game pace reminds me a lot of Dragon Slayer I -- moving speed, battle speed, and the game duration as well.  It never drags on, and even grinding isn't too bad as you gain levels relatively quick and your efforts pay off rather quickly.  And though there's nothing complex about the gameplay, there are some random hidden bits around and a few multi-route areas, so an existence of a FAQ -- even though it's for the Knights of Xentar US Release -- is very welcome, and the FAQ is good enough to get you through the game, even though there are some minor differences here and there.



All in all, a very good RPG that doesn't get enough talk with the PCE crowd.  Check it out if you get a chance, or at least give the US DOS version a try at some point. 

And I'm just sayin, fan translation groups -- take a good look at this one. 

Collection of my other reviews over the years:
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Ane-san
Babel
Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Cosmic Fantasy 3
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / REVIEW: Cosmic Fantasy 3]

As one of the best known RPG series in the TG/PCE market in the west (which isn't saying much, really), I've been meaning to play thorough the whole series, since I originally beat part 2 sometime back in the mid 90s.  I went back and played through part 1 several years ago, and replayed part 2 over the past few months.  I won't bother reviewing part 2 as most of those who are into RPGs have played this one as it's one of the few US RPG releases.

When I started on part 3, what immediately jumped out was the how much more polished this one is compared to the prequels.  There were just things that are crude and seemed unfinished about the prequels (little things like music looping back every time you talk to some village character, status effects missing in part 2, etc).  However, the developers seemed to have really stepped up in their production levels of this one.  One can tell a lot more time went into everything.

As with all cosmic fantasies, there's plenty of story involved this one.  There's always humor peppered throughout the game, and Nyan, the feline character, provides plenty of comic relief.  And unlike some other series, CF doesn't forget its roots, as there's always cameos of characters from the all the prequels (Even as I played through part II recently, I found that Cobra (Yu) and Sayo (Saya) were actually the main protagonists of part I).  And we find later in the story how all these characters are connected to each other.



Starting from graphics, You can definitely tell a lot more went into the production of the game.  It's a lot anime-y this time around. I mean the prequels were too, but this time, there's also a LOT more cinema scenes - and they're some of the most well done in the PCE library I've come across so far.  More effort has also seemed to have gone into voice overs, and the overworld is vibrant & colorful.  The enemy characters are also a lot more cartoony this time around whether you like that or not.  Telenet added even nice little touches like the characters leaving behind footprints in the snow.

The only thing I really wish they would've put more effort was into the battle background.  It's a plain black background, and this really detracts from the feeling of being really immersed in the environment.  Some earlier RPGs such as Phantasy Star I had that factor nailed, and it's unfortunate that many RPGs since then still couldn't get this factor right.



The gameplay is also a bit more complex this time around.  The prequels were pretty straightfoward - anyone can equip anything, and the battle interface was the standard attack, magic, run, item variety.  This time around there are multiple different types of attacks such as standard attack, "force" attack where you do more damage at the expense of being more exposed, quick attack where you're almost guaranteed to get the first hit in, group attack, weapon effect attack, etc... Same goes for parry - there are different modes of all this stuff.  Granted, I didn't get to use all this stuff during the whole game, but some of the moves (such as force attack) are definitely necessary to have an easier time in the game.  Weapons and armor are now also differentiated between characters and what they can equip.  Because of the added complexity, it's a bit more difficult for a non-Japanese speaking gaijin to get into than the prequels, which is compounded by the lack of a complete English faq on this game (as far as I know).  There's a partial one that black tiger has put out which covers about 2/3 of the game, and I actually wrote down the last 1/3 as I played through the rest of the game, so perhaps this can help those who are looking to complete the game.

My two gripes about gameplay would be that 1) there are too many misses when you attack.  A good 50% of all your attacks will be in vain, and it's not uncommon where you have a single people left, and all four of your characters miss their attack move, forcing another turn - this can get irritating after awhile.  2) Exploring the world can be annoying at times, as a lot of the overworld is in different tiers - that is, it's not as straightforward as going from east to west at times, as you have to maneuver through various tiers to go from one point to another (see 3rd pic bottom).  And the map that was included in the game doesn't really help much in this case.



Overall, it's a definite improvement in the series, and it's really too bad that this one didn't make it to the west.  It certainly had the fit & finish level to compete against the top-tier RPGs of the era, and I'm pretty sure it would've been a cult classic now (somewhat like CF2) had it been released in English.

This is the first PCE game I played from beginning to end on an emulator (Ootake), and other than a slight video/audio sync issue during the cinema scenes, it played out perfectly, and it even allowed me to capture shots and like these for this review you're reading now.  Now, I don't have either part of CF4, so this series will be on hiatus from my playing list while I move onto something else... Perhaps I'll finally start the Tengai Makyou series next...

Just to cap it off, it wouldn't be a CF without the shower scene, so here is is (complete with a censor bar I put in  ), along with a couple more random screen shots.


Collection of my other reviews over the years:
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Ane-san
Babel
Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
Iga Ninden Gaiō
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki]

Well, it's been over two years since I've written up a review of anything (was in school and all), but it's always been my intention to continue on with writing reviews of mostly obscure PCE games, so here it goes again...

So, today, we have Bakushō Yoshimoto Shinkigeki:

Within a few minutes of playing the game, I noticed the very Kansai (South-central region of Japan)-theme going on.  The accent, the words ("maido"), the scenery (glico running man, the osaka crab) etc.  I also noticed that this game was probably based on some live-tv comedy show.  Upon a little research, my suspicion proved to be true, as that's exactly what the game is about.  In fact, I found out that the title roughly translates to something like "Laugh! Osaka Accent Comedy Show".

I have to admit that picking up on these little things increased the enjoyment value of the game for me, even though my Japanese is rusty as hell now (it's been 4 years since I've really used it), but I still understood enough of few things to get a laughs here and there from the jokes in the game.  However, you'll still get a few chuckles even if your Japanese is at zero, as there are a LOT of sprite animations that are just plain humorous.  The characters have a lot of costumes, facial expressions, etc to make it interesting enough for a playthrough.

The platform action of the game itself is very basic.  You run around, jump on enemies & platforms, and clear levels.  Each level has a separate theme, like being in modern Kansai, feudal Japan, jungle, etc.  And along with the new level scenery, your character has a whole new costume set as well.  Between levels, there are a lot of mini-games that doesn't take too much to figure out, even if you don't read Japanese.  In fact, the game is so basic I did a 1LC my very first playthrough, and won every single mini-game as well.  So I can't recommend this game for the game itself, but for the novelty value of enjoying the colorful scenery and the goofy characters & spirite animations.



And other reviews I've done over the years...
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Ane-san
Babel
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
Iga Ninden Gaiō
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

[General Gaming / Games you beat ONCE, and dread to try again.]

As the title states - discuss. 

For me:
* Last Battle, Genesis - I dunno how, but I somehow beat this *once*, and never could do it again.  Damn tough game.  Anyone else here beat this one?
* Ninja Gaiden, NES - I HATE the fact that you have to go all the way back to beginning of the level if you die at the last boss.  Again, I beat it once, and never had the strength to even try again after that.  Sequels were tough, but no where near the first one.
* Castlevania, NES - Grim Reaper was the one that got me for the longest time.  I actually recently beat it again, but had to resort to using save states on a emulator.  Man, I can't believe I once beat this without cheating.
* Valis III, PCE - I only recently beat this (within the past few years).  Everyone here seems to know about the water level...
* Ghost 'n Goblins - Having to go back to level 1 after continuing 5000 times to beat the last boss for the first trip...  Ugh.
* Blaster Master, NES - Another super tough one IIRC.  I remember spending hours on this one to get anywhere near the end.  Did it once, and never tried to repeat.

Hmmm... I'm noticing they're mostly NES games.  I guess that was the era when things were most challenging.  And I'm not mentioning any RPG games, as they're mostly just about putting in more time, and not about having to perform amazing feats of reflexes.

[General Gaming / Your TOP5 best music games]

My top 5 picks:  In no particular order... (except Herzog, man I love this one)

Herzog Zwei, Genesis -- No doubt about this one.  Goddamn, I can't find a single bad track from this game.  And the tunes are soooo spot on to the game environment.  I'd pay good money to buy a soundtrack of this game, especially this doujin one. 

Ys I&II, TurboCD -- Awesome, awesome tunes again.  Like above, I think they did a good job in matching the setting to the environment, though some disagree (some didn't think the guitar jams didn't quite fit).  Nevertheless, awesome.   My favorite's the tune between the two chapters when Adol gets transported into the land of Ys.

Actraiser, SNES -- Made really good use of the SNES music chip -- These tunes are so well suited to the SNES that wouldn't have quite sounded right on the PCE or the MD chip.  It's so deep, and feels like an orchestra's playing this one out. 

Streets of Rage, Genesis.  Rad techno tunes, and its successors never quite matched up to the originals when it came to the music.

Lords of Thunder, TurboSCD -- Again, not to everyone's taste, but I do love those guitar jams.

Honorable Mentions:
Thunder Force III, Devil's Crush, Double Dragon (arcade, nes), Legend of Zelda

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Ziria SCD version]

so the wife bought me this little goodie for my birthday -- now I have no excuse to not start the TM series (already had TM2 & Kabukiden)...

Anyway, she got me the SCD version, and I read the Hibaihin (not for sale) in the corner.  From what I read, it was a pack-in for the SCD-ROM2 system?  (was this always the case?)

I also recall reading that this version pre-loads the text in SCD memory or something like that... I wonder if there's a noticeable load difference between the original CD version and this one...

Finally, I just got the manual & CD -- was there a map or anything like that with this one?  (Or the original one, for that matter)

[Buy/Sell/Trade / WTB: Playstation (1) modchip]

If anyone has one lying around, send me a pm.  Thx.

[Off-Topic / Chrysler goes kaputz.]

So I'm sure you've all heard that Chrysler is going to filing for Chp. 11.  Gee, wasn't that a waste of taxpayer money?  They get to spend bazillion taxplayer dollars just to delay the inevitable.   

GM is up next.  It just seems like it's a question of when, not if.

I think the reason why some people back the bailout is the belief that these companies would be *completely* gone if they didn't get the bailout money, but there's no way that these companies would be completely liquidated -- there's just too much tangible assets for that to happen.

So... get on with it GM, stop wasting taxpayer money and reorganize already.

[Fighting Street / Imperial System! WHAT THE FUCK!]

Some mentions of metric system here on previous posts.  I fucking hate imperial units!

How can anyone defend that shit?  Living in North America made me into a retard whenever I go anywhere else.  Who fucking uses miles anymore 'cept the UK & the US?  Even worse for fahrenheit -- even the goddamn poms use centigrade now.  Just fucking change the things already!  It's perfect timing anyway -- lot of unemployed fuckbags out there - make use of them and start to change shit over on roads.

And you Canadians don't get to escape this shit either.  How many Canadians really quote their height/weight in metric units (or even know it)? Go look at your fucking ovens and tell me whether it's in centigrade or fahrenheit.  Go look at your damn supermarkets, and tell me if they quote mainly in imperial units or metric.  Take a look at your food label and tell how they quote energy rating (is it in joules?!)!  How much How much power does your car make (in kW)? (answer: all imperial units)

Why, oh, why does this useless system of measurement still exist?  Why do BRAND NEW start-up companies in the U.S. decide to use SAE nuts & bolts to build their shit?!  Why do I even have to buy my fucking tools in both SAE and Metric for fucks sakes?  Get with the times! 

USE METRIC!

[Off-Topic / Can't remember the name of a TV series:]

Anyway, on the U.S -- I recall seeing it mid-80s or so.  I figure a lot of you are in this age group, so here's a shot:

A live-action TV series, meant for children.  It was on during the morning cartoon times, probably around 1985-86 or so. 

Things I recall were about this family that somehow got stuck in this stone-age/fantasy era, and how they eek out a living.  I remember bunch of cave settings and them running from dinosaur-type looking monsters.

Any ideas?

[Buy/Sell/Trade / WTB: NES controller for parts]

So, I need an original NES controller, preferably non-working, as I'm looking to pull off the d-pad for a mod I'm looking into doing.

Anyone have one laying around the corner somewhere?  lemme know if you do!

[Off-Topic / Where d'ya go to school?]

I'm a bit of a nerd at heart -- Hell, I suppose all the folks here clinging onto a console over 20 years old has to have some nerdiness in them.

Anyway, just interested in where people went for their ejumakayshun.  For me:

John Marshall High (Los Angeles)
Pasadena City College
Univ of Southern California
Univ of Melbourne (currently enrolled)

There seems to be quite a few Cali folks here (or who have ties to California) -- Anyone a Barrister/Lancer/Trojan? (Prob unlikely... but never know!)

[Off-Topic / Spreading the PCE love in Oceania:]

So I've landed today in Melbourne, Australia, and I'll be based out of here for the foreseeable future...

I don't recall a single member being out of Aus ever being on here (At least during my time), so it's time to spread the love.  However, my system is still back in Canada, so that won't be happening for another 2-3 months... 

I guess the PCE never caught on in the land down under, even amongst the import-gaming crowd?  :

[General Gaming / FA: Dual Region Saturn:]

Getting rid of this region-modded saturn -> here -<:

1 day left, and it's only at $15.50! (+ shipping cost!) Looks like it'll be a good deal to whoever gets it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World]

And next in line of the wacky & goofy Japanese RPG Reviews, we have Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World.

The plot basically has to do with you being stuck in some not-too-distant future where the women have taken over the world, and you are determined to "fight for the the rights of men, and regain the male gender's dignity".  As you can tell, the game obviously doesn't seem to take itself that seriously, and a lot of stupid humor is involved in the plot.  There is no shortage of a lot of strange, WTF-type characters -- Some of the stranger things you can see are things like an eclectic mix of the Salary-Samurai, ("Salaryman Samurai"), sailor-suit wearing oji-sans, cross-dressing singing trios, etc.  Strangely enough, the story all of a sudden becomes more serious after the first half of the game (of what I could understand, anyway).

Like Pack-in-Video's other RPG titles, the heart of the gameplay isn't anything revolutionary.  You have a party of three members, each member can equip all items, so you have a quite a bit of flexibility when choosing weapons/armor to equip.  They all also have a plethora of magic spells at their disposal.  The battle-encounter rate is a tad high, but each fight doesn't take too long, and the difficulty curve is set at a decent level -- enough challenge, but not too much grinding necessary either.  The game doesn't track the hours you put into it, but it's a full-fledged RPG.  Expect to put in anywhere between 25-35 hours, depending on how fast you want to take the game.

Even though there's nothing particularly special about the gameplay, the presentation of the game is extremely well polished.  Definitely the most well done of the 3 Pack-in-Video RPGs I've tried (the two others being KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi & Nekketsu Legend Baseballer)  The graphics, music, and cinema all are very well done, and holds its own against any other traditional RPGs I've tried to date on the PCE. 

As for the "importability" factor, I'd say it's on the intermediate-scale.  The game isn't completely open-ended, so you won't be stuck too long, but there are also a lot of weapons, armors, items & magic to be had in the game (though most of the weapons/armor/item are labeled with icons, so that helps to narrow that what kind of "item" it'll be).  If you have zero Japanese skills, there are definitely easier RPGs to get into than this one, but for those that have a few other J-RPGs under their belt and can at least read kana should be able to tackle this one, assuming you can make out the Japanese faq that I have on the bottom through babelfish or something like that.


More gameplay shots at Mobygames.
Japanese FAQ for the game here.

My other PCE game reviews:
Ane-san
Babel
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
Iga Ninden Gaiō
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjūshi
Kūsōkagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyō: Itōryōdan
Valis I~IV
Xak I & II
Xak III

edit: link fixed.

[Feedback / Question: How do I change hide/unhide Online status]

So as the subject states, how do I hide/unhide my online status?

I've been logged in as a "hidden user" -- I've been looking around to change it, but don't see the option under the profile screen.

I've checked the help file, to no avail.  I have a feeling that I'm overlooking something extremely simple... 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Finished Valis I ~ IV!]

It's been a long time since I wrote a review, but here's one for the entire PCE series of Valis.

The was a lot of Valis talk in these boards in the past months, and that's what got me in the mood to play through the whole series.  Before, I was never really into the series, having only really played part III on the Genesis.  It was okay, but there seemed to many better games of the type.  I'm sure what drew the attention of a lot of people (including myself) into the series initially was because of the skimpy-clad anime chicks.  This art style is dime-a-dozen in video games these days, but back in the 80's / early 90's, Valis series was one of the handful of games where it seemed like the designers really put some effort on the character designs.

Though the statement about there being better games of this type still may hold true, having played through the Turbo versions gave me a whole new appreciation of the series. 

Just a short little blurb about each one.

Valis I - The only Super CD-ROM entry of them all.  A very nice remake (or it seems to be, I've never played the MSX version) -- it's a pretty solid game.  The graphics are cool, the cinemas, like all other valis games, are well done, and the character animations are done nicely.  Yuko looks a lot lankier than she does in later entries, and her magic isn't as really necessary for this one (I don't think I ever really used it).  The game is pretty easy, until you get to the last level, where you have to pretty much memorize each single enemy character location.  I spent 2-3 times as much on the last level alone than on the rest of the levels.  A really talented player could probably finish it in a day, it took me a few more sessions.

Valis II - This game sucks.  People at least hold the music in high regard, but I didn't even think that was all that special, though I never thought it was bad.  Crappiest graphics of the bunch.  Crappiest control of the bunch.  And finally, easiest of the bunch.  I'd hate to have spent ~$50 on this when it first came out.

Valis III - This one seems to get the most love, as it's the finale of the "Yuko" saga.  The characters aren't quite as varied as part IV (they move around at same speed, jump & slide the same height/distance), but nevertheless, learning to exploit the difference in their weaponry and magic is crucial in getting past many of the stages.  The water level with the enemy freezing / bell ringing was brutal, but not too many games give you that "AHHHH" feeling when you beat the damn stage.  Pretty challenging game, but not impossible by any means. 

Valis IV - My personal favorite of the series.  By part IV, the developers really seemed to have figured out the turbo hardware -- the stages look good, the cinemas are many time full screen and awesome, many of the bosses are huge and pretty damn cool, and it even has healthy amounts of parallax-scrolling in some stages.  The characters are completely different in their skillset -- Rena has her slide, Amu has her double jumps, Asfa is immune to certain damage-causing elements, and their weapons/magic are completely different as well.  Many levels in this chapter are challenging as well.  Overall, there's more challenging stages here than all the others (but the water/bell stage from part III takes the cake as the most difficult one in the entire series).  And the developers were able to squeeze all this using the paltry CD-ROM2 RAM (what was it, 64k?) - Quite impressive.

In all, a pretty good series.  It definitely exploits the use of the skimpy-clad chicks to make an above-average platform action game little more enjoyable, but hey, nothing wrong with that. 

My other PCE game reviews:
Ane-san
Babel
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjuushi
Kuusoukagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyou: Itouryoudan & Iga Ninden Gaiou
Xak I & II
Xak III

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Valis III: How the hell do I get through this part?]

I can't make this jump.  Is there some trick or what?

And I can't recall having this a tough time on the Genesis version, as I beat that pretty easily years and years ago.  I know each version has a level unique to its own, is this the PCE's unique level? 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Xak III]

Just some quick thoughts that I've finished it.

Part III of this overhead action RPG series is a bit of a different beast compared to part I/II.  Whereas the prequels were a more blatant Ys ripoff, part III is much more of its own game.  For example, part I/II was a run & bump game, and the jump was more of a novelty.  In part III, you need to hack & slash, more like... the SNES Zelda.  Jumping is also much more integral to the gamplay, as you need to jump between various platforms and also need to use it for attacking certain types of boss characters. 

This one is also a more serious adventure game than its prequel, as there are plenty of scenes with blood & gore, with plenty of severed heads flying throughout the story.  However, scenes of comical mischief is also peppered throughout the story. 

They also really slowed down the speed from the prequel, so much that it felt reeeeally slow when I first started part III.  It's not too bad once you get used to it, though.

In addition, you also play with plenty of NPC characters that follow you around, and unlike many other RPGs, they are actually quite damn handy -- so handy to the point where in some latter parts of the game, I made them the main attackers of the party at times. 

Graphics, though not stunning, are quite decent, and the music scores are above average as well.  The cinema scenes are excellent, though there weren't too many of 'em.  The English translation patch by Nightwolve is damn well done.  Anyone not fluent in Japanese will appreciate his work.  I only wish he & his group had the time and/or ability to either dub the voices or put subtitles in.  However, IIRC there were only 3 cinema scenes in the whole game (including the ending) that was solely in Japanese, so not too much was lost. 

Overall, I'm glad I picked this series up, and those who enjoyed the Ys series, or anyone who likes action RPGs in general, should give it a go.  Though the series is hardly known those outside of these circles, it's certainly part of the better group of RPGs for the PCE, and that's saying quite a bit.



My other PCE game reviews:
Ane-san
Babel
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjuushi
Kuusoukagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Nekketsu Legend Baseballer
Tengai Makyou: Itouryoudan & Iga Ninden Gaiou
Xak I & II

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / High-Score Competition for some $$$!]

This idea might die out, but I think it's worth a shot...

So in the spirit of poker night or something similar, I'm thinking about a little shoot-em-up competition, similar to the Spriggan high-score competition that was on this forum some time ago.

The difference?  How about a minimal fee to buy-in via paypal (depending how many people decide to go in -- it could be little as $1, or a lot more, say, much as $20 or so if everyone is super-duper-competitive), and winner collects the entire pool?  Even just a little cash gets the competitive spirit flowing in most people.  I think it could be a lot of fun.

And we can pick a game out of Super HuCard, so that everyone can compete.  A game like Gunhed Special, with its time trial mode, can be especially fitting, considering it's meant exactly for a competition of this sort.

Waddaya think?  Any takers? 

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Up for bids: Strider Hiryu and Fatal Fury]

Up on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130185576529&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=003

Starts only at $24.99, and no reserve -- Auction ends tomorrow (Jan 3rd, 7pm PST).

[Buy/Sell/Trade / SuperGrafx system for sale: *SOLD*]

I also still have many games left for sale here:
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=2952.0

And my next system up for sale, the SuperGrafx + 1 game (Battle Ace).  Comes with everything you see here, including the oft-missing extension slot cover (the orange piece).  It's in good shape, though the A/V cable is kinda ratty (It uses the same one as the CoreGrafx and TurboDuos, so if you have one already, they are interchangeable).

I'm looking to get $100+shipping. 

_{https://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o90/thumpin_termis/100_0115.jpg}

Closeup pic:

_{https://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o90/thumpin_termis/100_0116.jpg}

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Multi-region CoreGrafx II, SCD-ROM2 systems for sale: **SOLD**]

Okay, I'm moving to Australia next year, so I gotta slowly start getting rid of some extra systems. I also still have many games left for sale here:
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=2952.0

So, here's a modded CoreGrafx II + SCD-ROM2 system.  The SCD-ROM2 system has some light scuffs, but it works w/o problems.  The CD system has the System 3.0 preloaded (just like the Duo), so you don't need an extra card to play SCD games.  The CoreGrafx is modded with a switch to play either US or Japanese cards.  However, I DO NOT have the matching controller that goes with the CoreGrafx II (with orange-background color).  In lieu, I'll throw your choice of: 1) Avenue Pad 6 controller, 2) US TurboDuo Controller, 3) JP TurboDuo controller (with purple backgrond colors).  I'll also add in a couple games as a freebie so you can test everything out as necessary.  Finally, it's not in the pic but I'll throw in a multi-tap as well.

Looking to get $275.  Willing to separate for the right price.


Closeups:


Shots of it playing US Turbochip & Japanese game, respectively:

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Xak!]

Just started playing part I.  I can't believe how little talk this game has amongst the folks here, considering how it plays shockingly similar to the oft-talked about Ys.

Only about half an hour into it, but so far has really solid music and decent graphics, along with a great intro. 

I think I'm gonna really enjoy this series. 

[Off-Topic / Somewhat of a drunken stupor]

So... as I sit here in some shitty motel in Korea after drinking a couple bottles of soju, it makes me think...

Fack, I would love to just fucking quit work and play video games a good 8+ hours a day, but with all the pressures of adult life, it ain't so easy.  Forget about 8 hours of video games, I haven't had a chance to play fucking half an hour of video games a day these past few months.  Work (65+ hrs a week), grad school applications, and family matters as of late (ill father in homeland -- hence I'm in Korea), make things such as video games a back-seat matter.

Shitty thing is, when I DID get to play video games for say, 2~3+ hours a day, I feel guilty.  I feel like I wasted my time. 

Damn, am I just getting old?  Any of you feel the same when playing video games for extended amounts of time?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Nekketsu Legend Baseballer]

So on to my next review of a J-RPGs that vast majority of western TG16/PCE players probably haven't played -> Nekketsu Legend Baseballer.

I was quite intrigued about this title - a traditional RPG using baseball in the storyline as well as using it for its fighting system.  It basically involves a wacky storyline involving a motley crue cast of characters fighting against monsters and going after the evil "Dark Baseballer".  It's a strange, but interesting mix that the developers were trying to tackle, and though I can see how it might've worked, in the end, most will see it as a sloppy, quick, patch-up job once the novelty wears out.

Here's how "fighting" works.  When you're on defense, throw a strike, and that'll take off enemy HP, throw a ball, and your team members take a hit.  When you get them out, it takes off additional points.  If they get a hit or score a run, you take the damage.  When on offense, it's the other way around.  And instead of magic, you can throw curveballs, change-ups, "magical throws", use special hitting tactics, etc.  It sounds interesting, but it quickly gets to be a chore when fighting takes _FOREVER_.  No, seriously.  I mean, some single peon fights can take upto 20 minutes.  Thankfully, you don't get to fight all that often, but when you do, every fight takes at least a few minutes.

Other than the unique fighting system/environment/storyline, it's pretty standard fare.  Walk around town, find and recruit party members, fight mid-level bosses, etc, etc.  The voice acting in visual scenes are incredibly terrible, but I guess that probably won't matter to the majority of you here since it's in Japanese.  It's a good laugh hearing how bad it is though.

I've only played one other Pack-in-Video game prior to this (KO Seiki: Beast Sanjuushi) - and that was okay, so I had wondered why Pack-in-Video has a pretty bad rep amongst some PCE players.  This game showed me why -- there are many glaring bugs and some things left out that show how rushed/lazy the developers were.  This game still should've been in beta testing stages.  Some of the things I found questionable in the game were:

1.  A lot of sprite bugs.  Characters flash in and out of screen / they float around screen, etc.
2.  There's no way to equip/take off items on your characters UNTIL you get into a fight.
3.  There's easy way of knowing how the items you equipped affected your character status.  You just have to memorize/write down what they were, equip an item, then go to the status screen, and see how it affected the stats.  And remember how you can't equip until you get into a fight?  Well, you can't see how it affected your character until AFTER the whole fight.  When each fight session takes a long-ass time, and then you have 9 characters in total, this becomes downright annoying.
4.  Whenever you find an item, you have no idea what you got until you check your inventory screen after walking upto the "treasure box" (a gym bag).  What if you have tons of shit in your inventory?  Well... have a good time trying to figure out what you procured.
5.  You can sell usable items, but you can't do anything about your equippable items.  They just pile on and take up room in your inventory.

Now, how playable is this for those who don't read Japanese?  I'd say it's not too difficult to figure out the fighting system if you know how the game of baseball works, but you'll probably need some help figuring out where to go  (There are times when you need to warp back to other towns and so forth to advance the storyline).  For those who'd like to tackle it, here's a Japanese faq page that should help you figure out where you need to go if you use babelfish - http://www.jimpower.org/baseballer/

In sum, I will give credit for the game's original theme, and it's not the most horrible game out there, but overall, it's a rather disappointing experience. 




My other PCE/TG16 game reviews (including other random and/or obscure J-RPGs):
Ane-san
Babel
Blood Gear
Cosmic Fantasy 1
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes
Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjuushi
Kuusoukagaku Sekai: Gulliver Boy
Tengai Makyou: Itouryoudan & Iga Ninden Gaiou

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Babel]

And on to my next review of a J-RPG that I've yet to hear much about from others -- Babel.

I had some high expectations for this game, since Telenet has produced some other excellent RPGs.  From what I understand, the story has quite a bit of religious tones to it (if you haven't noticed from the title).  Essentially, you're in some distant planet that sorta looks like a post-apocalyptic type world.  This world was created when earthlings lost control of their spaceship and landed here.  They go on to teach their advanced technology to the people, and along the way, deify themselves to the people of their new planet.  Few hundred years pass, and you're some rambo-type guy who rescues some girl being kidnapped by soldiers.  And of course, this girl is no average girl, and you are swept into this storyline.

In the game, you use modern weapons to fight against your enemies, which I though was really cool.  However, the encounter rate is on the ridiculous side -- you are caught in a fight between 2-4 seconds of walking, and what really is annoying is that you don't gain much from fighting.  There is no experience system, as your characters level up only depending on where you are in the storyline.  You do get money from fighting, but not much, and you're never really in need of much money anyway.  In fact, towards the latter part of the game when you can easily run away (about 3/5 in to the game), I ran away from all my peon fights.  In addition, the there is pretty cool fighting animations, but it has to constantly load the animation from the CD, which is a drag.

Decent graphics & sound for an RPG.  Cool enemies and characters.  The overworld isn't big, but the towns are huge.

One thing -- this is NOT an import-friendly RPG.  Unlike some import RPGs where you can only go to one or maybe two other spots at a time, you can go to multiple towns/places in this game, and you have to search through these huge towns & talk to the right people to advance the storyline, so if you don't know exactly where to go next, you can be wandering around aimlessly for a long, long time. 

I'd guess that it took me around 17-20 hours of gameplay to complete the game.

Less loading time during battles, as well as less frequent, but a more meaningful, battle encounters could've improved this game tons.  It does have a rather good storyline, but if you don't understand it, the gameplay alone may not keep import RPG players playing this game for a considerable amount of time.


Japanese faq site here -> http://rko.jp/babel/index.html

...
Moving on to my next obscure RPG -- I'm thinking about either the Nekketsu Legend Baseballer (a baseball(!) RPG), or some other wacky title.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / PCEngine/TurboGrafx Offline Catalog]

Here's a little app that I came across that might be of interest to the folks here.  An offline catalog of all the PC-Engine/Turbo CD games with screenshots and some random info.  Downloads:

PCECD Catalog: tg-16.com/./pc_engine_catalog_cd.rar
HuCard Catalog: tg-16.com/./pc_engine_catalog_hucard.rar

[General Gaming / Name that game!]

So, let's see how arcade-dorky all you are. 

I thought the graphics were beyond brilliant at that time.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Debuggers for the PC Engine:]

Here's what I want to do.  I want to compare the CD and the SCD-released versions of Tengai Makyou: Ziria to see if the SCD version is indeed using the extra RAM provided by the SCD card.

I know you can use a debuggers to check if memory is being used, but that's about all I know.  Anyone care to give me a quick rundown where I can find this debugger, and lead me in the right direction?  I haven't properly coded for years, so it might take some time to get it going, but this is just a burning question that I must find the answer to!

[Off-Topic / Beer lover thread]

Any beer lovers here?  So which ones do you like/hate?  I'll get the ball rolling:

Favorites: Sam Adams Boston Ale, Bass Ale
It'll do: Big Rock Trad Ale, SA Boston Lager, Sleeman's Honey Brown, Newcastle
Can't stand: All that see-through yellow piss-water out of Anheuser-Busch/Coors/Molson/Labatt/Kokanee/Miller.  Well, okay... Coors light on a BBQ out on a hot day maybe okay.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Blood Gear:]

Well, I thought I'd write up a mini review of the game once I was finished with it, but I can't because I'm stuck!  For now, I'll just say that it's a solid action-RPG.  And the action sequences reminds me of something like a toned-down version of Cybernator or Target Earth. 

Anyway, I can't find a damn thing about this game on the web, and it seems a few of you have played this game, so help me out if you remember this part - sorry for the crap pics - I'm not too handy with a camera:

Here's the overworld part where I'm stuck.  To the northwest, I see some mech, but I can't do anything there, I just enter from the left side of the screen, and over a structure in the center part of the scene, then I just exit again on the right, and I'm back where I am.  I presume I have to get to the enemy boss somehow, but I'm not exactly sure how.

So in the mean time, it looks like I can do something on the right side of the screen, the maze in the forest -- I figure I have to do something here before I move on to the boss on the top section.


So here I am, and I've got the map of the maze from the commander in the town (shown on screen), but I have no idea where I'm going.  I just keep on warping from one part of the maze to another.  The far-right and far-left have these barriers, but I can't get through them.  I tried using the same bombs that you use to blow through the barrier in the dam part of the game, but that doesn't do anything...


Anyone know what I'm supposed to do?   

Oh, and my mech sometimes get into the "lock" mode, where it doesn't turn around.  What exactly triggers that event?  It seems somewhat randomly for me.  Is it when I get hit in a certain way?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Tried Itouryoudan and Iga Ninden Gaiou last night:]

Gave it a quick initial run (about 1/2 hour each) of both games last night. 

Tengai Makyou Itouryoudan:
I think I would've enjoyed this fighter a lot more if I were familiar with the original characters.  I've been promising myself to give the Tengai Makyou RPG series a run, but am still looking to procure Ziria so I can to start out from the beginning, and marvel at the progression of the series. 

Of course this game will be compared to Street Fighter II.  It's one of the many clones out there.  Really nice and colorful graphics.  Pretty big sprite sizes as well.  Looks to be about the size of SF2 characters.The only thing was that the background felt a bit too static at times.  No people/things moving in the background/foreground at all, which makes things a tad stale. 

The game controls okay, though I didn't feel they really captured the whole Street Fighter" fluidity of moves/combos in the game.  It may get better as I get more involved in the game, but I don't know if I really care enough to get good at the game.  Not bad at all, but nothing to write home about. 

And after playing this game, it got me wondering how SF2:CE would've turned out on the Arcade Card, and though I still have mixed feelings, perhaps NEC did the right thing by releasing it just on a HuCard (not to mention the Arcade card came some time afterwards the release of SF2, IIRC).  The loading times didn't seem too bad on Itouryoudan, but it does get a bit tedious after awhile.  On the other hand, a 16-bit SF2 with full red-book audio sounds.  Mmm...

Iga Ninden Gaiou:
A Shinobi rip-off that could've been a lot more.  It's a basic hack & slash Ninja game.  It looks & sounds pretty good with some good looking background, a lot of cut scenes, and decent music, but the game play leaves one a bit deflated.  You walk, slash, slash, slash, throw those wachamacall it things (not the star things, but the dart-like ninja projectiles).  Some hits that the enemies can get off of you seem a bit cheap, and the gameplay overall just doesn't feel as refined as something like Shinobi series or Ninja Spirit.  A very average Ninja game.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Cosmic Fantasy: Bouken Shonen Yu (CF1)]

Finished it today.  It's been 10 years or so since I played CF2 in English, so I can't compare this to the sequel that well, but from what I recall, pretty big steps seem to have been made going from part 1 to 2.

The general game graphics blows chunks (I seriously thought that the game loaded crap sprites when it first started in the spaceship), but the cut-scenes are pretty nice. 

I think just about the only time they use red-book CD audio is during character speech, and intro/endings.  And the PSG music is pretty standard RPG stuff for its day.

I grumbled a bit about why games like Dragon Slayer would even need a SCD card with its crummy graphics, but after playing this game, I can clearly see how it helped DS.  CF1 runs on the old System 1.0/2.0 cards with minimal (64k?) RAM, and it accesses the CD for just about every damn thing you do  -- battles, entering shops, going into status screen, or even accessing your magic command in the overworld.  It's pretty tiring at times, but I got used to it after awhile.

Still, it was good fun.  I always prefer sci-fi themes over fantasy, and this one has a good mixture of both sci-fi and fantasy in there.  Story progresses little bits at a time, and like many J-RPGs, though you have one big goal (to defeat Morgan), you have to complete small tasks to carry on with the story.

The game doesn't keep track of your gameplay time, but considering this wasn't a long RPG, I'd guess it took less than 20 hours to complete the game. 

I found an English faq for the Sega CD version in gamefaqs.com which works okay most of the time, but there are some differences which can throw some people off.  This Japanese faq is much better done, and even non-Japanese readers can get help from it as it has detailed maps on the site.

Onto my next RPG...

[Off-Topic / Your ride?]

So enough nerd talk for a bit.  We're bunch of guys here.  I'd like to check out your ride, especially since we have a good group from various parts of the world.

As for me -

My vanilla Ford Ranger to get me around and haul shit.  (me unloading one of my old bikes in the back)


An '90 Yamaha 600FZR that's sitting around with me in Calgary.  This place is like a death knell to a motorcyclist.  The roads suck ass -- zero curves, and is still filled with gravel from winter, and real riding season is only a few months long.


An '01 Ducati 996 a day after I bought in back in '03.  Right now it's sitting in my friend's garage in California. If you can sorta make out the label on the exhaust (Termignoni), that's where my user name comes from:


---
And a few past wheels:

A 4-speed '90 Mitsubishi Minica that served me well in Japan.  0.66 liters of pure power, baby!  I bought it for 30,000yen, and sold it for 20,000.  Best damn deal I ever got on a car.  Never broke down, and didn't even to pay for shaken (a super expensive, bi-annual safety inspection) while I was there! 


a '94 Yamaha FXR250.  Sitting in a shop in Japan on consignment.  Anyone in Japan want a 250 for cheap?  I guess it's still technically mine until it sells.   


A 67 Royal Enfield Bullet 350. This is the bike that was in the back of my truck on the top picture.  I imported it from India into California.  Rode it around for a bit, but every damn time I put a wrench to it to fix one thing, another thing would go.  Leaked oil like no tomorrow.   I sold it before I headed out to Japan a few years back.

[General Gaming / Anyone use the x-box for emulating older consoles?]

So I'm thinking about picking one up for emulating classic console systems, if only for consolidating all these older systems into one neat package.

So... how viable is this option?  Is playing SNES/Genesis/TG16 games on an X-box pretty much the same experience as playing on the real thing, or are there still big enough issues to warrant playing on the real thing?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Ane-san]

Thanks to Tatsujin's little preview of Ane-san, I decided to give this beat-em-up a try.  Double Dragon II and Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (River City Ransom) are the only decent beat-em ups I found on the PC-Engine so far, but they're still not up to the quality that is something like Streets of Rage 2/TMNT/Final Fight, etc.

Unfortunately, this still isn't quite up there with the above beat-em-ups, but I'd say it's up to par with something like DD2.  The list of moves aren't huge, but unlike say, Riot Zone, the "feel" of beating your opponents to a pulp is there.  The game is quite short, and the balance issue is a bit off -- some of your characters may be too weak at times, where you die with just a few hits from a grunt, whereas with some characters, you hardly ever get hit at all. 

However, there are a couple things that make Ane-san stand out.  First, you get to purchase power-ups between stages, which is really cool.  I haven't gone through all the power-ups yet, but this is something that worked well in these type of games (i.e. Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari/River City Ransom).  I wished more beat-em-ups did this type of thing.  But more so than that, what makes this game stand out is the campy all-female bosozoku-theme (Japanese biker gang).  The music is bosozoku-rock as well.  Think of Elvis-type rock with whaling Japanese, sometimes Engrish, voices--it's hilarious.  The garbs these characters wear and the dumb bikes these folks ride are quite funny as well.  Though I can't say I endorse these punk kids' activities in real life, since I'm big into bikes, I admit that I can empathize with their sub-culture  -- I was once a young punk kid on a bike too.  The graphics also point out to this theme, and some reviews I read point out how ugly these girls are, and I guess that's true, but since the whole point of being a bosozoku kid is trying to show how tough and cool you are, the programmers went all out to make these female characters all tough and intimidating, in a hilarious way, rather than cute/hot.

Considering that the Duo sorely lacks quality beat-em-ups, I was really happy I got to try this.  Yes, I downloaded it to try it first as I see it going for a higher price range -- around $50 -- on ebay.  I dunno if this one is worth that much, but I will whip this one up when I see it going for a more reasonable price range.  (If it's $50 on ebay, I'd guess maybe 3000yen or so in Japan?  I'd probably shell out for it my next trip down there)

Back cover of the game.


Real life bosozoku girls.

[General Gaming / New saturn forum.]

I know there are quite a few of you here that enjoy your Saturns, so I thought I'd pass this one along.

http://segasaturngroup.proboards81.com/

I guess it just started up and is looking to fill members.  I know of no other saturn-only forums, so I hope this one becomes successful.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / PC Engine Games & Extras]

Ok, so cleaning up some of my stuff:

I'll take paypal for payment.  As for shipping, I'll be fair about it, and will try to charge close to what actual shipping + materials will cost me.  If you only want a few loose hucards, it obviously won't cost much, but if you want bunch of double-case CD games, then that'll it kick it up a few notches.

Just to give you an idea of shipping rates that I charged so far:
2 Loose HuCards to the U.S. $2.50
2 Complete single-CD case games to the U.S. $6.50
2 Complete single-CD case games + 4 loose HuCards to UK. $15

BTW, I'm looking for Neo Metal Fantasy and Tengai Makyou: Ziria (SCD Version), so if any of you would like to make a fair trade, let me know. 

Unfortunately, I can't offer tasty sandwiches with an order as Keranu does, but I can provide hints for JP RPGs that I played and still remember.

Onto what I have -- all listed in US$:

PC Engine Games complete with manual and case
(other extras such as spine cards/maps if noted)
-------------------------------
Bravoman - $6 (title label sticker on the case loose)
Burai - $4
Burai II - $5
Cosmic Fantasy 3 - Bouken Shonen Ray - $10 (map)
Dragon Knight III - $20
Dragon Slayer II (Legend of Heroes II) - $12 (map)
Gulliver Boy - $12 (map, reg card)
KO Seiki: Beast Sanjuushi - $12
Summer Carnival '92: Alzadick - $30 (spine card)
Street Fighter II: CE - $10 (spine card)

Hardware
------
Duo Tap - $15 (new boxed)

I also have a few (some modded, some barebone) Sega Saturn systems & games for sale ->here<-.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Using flashcards for backing up PCE save ram]

Does anyone know if this can be accomplished?

1) to transfer & save individual files to your computer HD.
2) and will a rom image of tennokoe bank function as it's supposed to on a flash card?

[Off-Topic / Poor Easter Bunny... (Kids might not wanna see this!)]

Pulled from another forum.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Dragon Slayer]

Finished Dragon Slayer again since I played it for the 1st time 10 or so odd years ago.  Wow, I'm not quite sure why this game fetches relatively high prices on ebay - I guess just cause it's an English-text RPG.

The classic console-RPG gameplay itself is okay, but the graphics are rather underwhelming.  There aren't any eye candy in the whole game except the intro and the ending.  Story is somewhat typical as well.  Take out the CD music & voices in the game, and it probably could've been easily ported as a HuCard game.  And the voice acting... is absolutely atrocious.

So I just started part II, and the overworld looks a lot more polished and cleaned up compared to part I.  (and it starts out exactly the same way - you sneaking out to do some slime hunting).   So far, I gathered that I have to travel around to 4 other kingdoms and send out messages or something to that effect. 

We'll see how this goes.