The AWESOME Digital comic/adventure game thread

[GUTS]

This is for listing all the greatest Snatcher style games you've played, and only Snatcher style games (hybrids are ok too as long as part of the game is a digital comic).  Xiphas and his annual playthrough of Snatcher got me thinking how awesome a good digital comic is so I thought it would be fun to see what everyone's favorites are.  Mine-

Snatcher (Sega CD)- My personal favorite.  The Blade Runner rip-off story, violence, and adult atmosphere made this one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences ever for me.  The voice acting was even decent enough to not ruin anything, even though I saw the Random Hajile thing coming as soon as I first read his name.

Famicom Detective Club 2 (SNES)- This is a very, very close second.  The story was amazing and moved at such a great clip that I finished the whole game in one sitting.  I loved the graphics too, very clean and anime inspired but with a realistic touch that kept things serious while not losing the feel of a Nintendo game.  In fact I'd rank this as high as Snatcher if it had voice acting and some animated bits to flesh it out, I really wish Nintendo would update the game or produce a sequel, that would easily get me to buy a Wii or another DS.

Spellcaster (Master System)- A great mix of digital comic, RPG, and side scrolling action.  I don't remember much about it except that it was a great quest with some seriously challenging parts, the pyramid maze in particular was grueling.  I'd love to play it again though, I really need to track it down.

There are a few PC titles like Eve Burst Error that I've been meaning to play through, but I find it impossible to play PC games since I'd rather lay on my couch.

[Kitsunexus]

Comix Zone

Seriously though, Snatcher rules, and I love the little 8-bit intro to Famicom Tantei Club 2. 

[Tatsujin]

yeah..snatcher CD-ROMantic is and will be the best D-Comic of all time!! that game is just uber amazing!!

[Hobo Xiphas]

I agree with GUTS 100% as usual.

Personally, I'm waiting for the Policenauts translation project to release.  It will be a happy day when that happens.

If I had a DS, I'd probably pick up Trace Memory and definitely Hotel Dusk.  Hell, I might buy a DS just for Hotel Dusk, that game looks awesome; very similar to Famicom Detective Club.

There are a few PC titles like Eve Burst Error that I've been meaning to play through, but I find it impossible to play PC games since I'd rather lay on my couch.

Sucks.  Stay far away from it.  Also stay away from any Hirameki International games.  They are either horrible games or decent games ruined by awful translations.

EDIT: I'm an idiot and still think it is 2006.

[rolins]

Policenauts (Saturn) - No need for introductions. I can't wait for the translation patch.
Psy-O-Blade (PC-8801) - Great point n' click game w/ an excellent soundtrack. You play through 2 separate story lines and take control of 2 different protagonists.

[Keranu]

GUTS are you sure you aren't confusing Xiphas with NASAchusetts? NASAchusetts plays Snatcher every year around Christmas time, fits perfectly.

There are only so few digital comics I can comment on since the vast majority are in Japanese, but it is a blast to play through what's available.

Snatcher - The best obviously. To spark debate here, which version?

Shadowgate - Not sure if others would consider this a digital comic, but I do and it's classic.

J.B. Harold Murder Club - Another game that some might find hard to consider a digital comic, but a fantastic game nonetheless thanks to the amazing mystery solving.

Famicom Detective Club 2 - I nearly completely agree with GUTS on this one.

Games that look promising:

Dead of the Brain 1 and 2 - Ever since I saw videos for it on some really weird Brazilian PCE site (no not UNIVERSO PC ENGINE), I got excited to see how cool and spooky it looked! Hopefully the translation will finish.

Cobra and Cobra II - CrackTiger gives much praise to these games saying they're (or at least the second) better than Snatcher.

Blue Chicago Blues - Another J.B. Harold game except this case takes place in the radical city of Chicago! Me and Xiphas are eager to play this one, but the problem is that the English versions are harder to come by. What systems are the English versions for again? Laser Active is one...

[Turbo D]

I like Rise of the Dragon for sega cd. Its a little bit of a hybrid, but it doesn't matter cuz it kicks ass. You shouldn't be disappointed with this game.

[Tatsujin]

uruse~ yatsura! is great as well. never beat it though, but my better half did

[Hobo Xiphas]

GUTS are you sure you aren't confusing Xiphas with NASAchusetts? NASAchusetts plays Snatcher every year around Christmas time, fits perfectly.

I'm playing through it right now too, I totally stole that idea from him. 

Blue Chicago Blues - Another J.B. Harold game except this case takes place in the radical city of Chicago! Me and Xiphas are eager to play this one, but the problem is that the English versions are harder to come by. What systems are the English versions for again? Laser Active is one...

I want to play this one just to laugh at the northsiders the game centers on to be honest. 

[nat]

I have 3x3 Eyes (PCE) sitting here in my collection waiting to be played. I'll get around to it someday. I booted it up once just for shits and it looks fucking awesome.

[runinruder]

Some great PCE comics: Cobra II, Ranma 1/2 2, Private Eye Dol, Sotsugyou Shashin. 

Some good PCE comics: 3x3 Eyes, Digital Angel, Kagami no Kuni no Legend, Snatcher. 

Some decent PCE comics: Cal II, Urusei Yatsura, Nadia.

Some bad PCE comics: Miki, Cal III, Yawara.

[rag-time4]

How about Sadakichi Seven: Hideyoshi-no Ougon? Does that qualify?

[GUTS]

I can't believe I forgot about the Policenauts translation, that's my top most anticipated game translation.

Xiphas Hotel Dusk starts out really great, but never really goes anywhere.  The mystery isn't very good unfortunately in the long run.  You've played the Eve Burst Error games?  Zig is always raving about them, I have the PC versions in English but I just haven't bothered trying to play them yet.  I was thinking of installing Linux on my PS3 and using Wine to play them.

Does anyone know of any translated digital comics or upcoming translations other than Policenauts?  I remember one for famicom called Jesus or something, it was on a space station, it seemed cool but the sound effects were horrific so I quit playing.

[nat]

The English patch for Bubblegum Crash (Turbo/PCE) should be out soon. I think the translation is completely done and just needs to be inserted.

Also, I think it was already mentioned but Dead of the Brain 1 & 2 are in the process of being translated.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything that can compare to Snatcher and Policenauts, to be honest. Here are some I've enjoyed though:

Aim for the Top! (Gunbuster) 1 and 2: Part 2 is much more interesting than 1. I'm pissed that Vol 3 never got made since this is one of my favorite anime.

Nadia: Nice graphics and a fun trivia game if you understand Japanese and know the show.

Yuna 1 and 2: Part 1 was more interactive in the DC sense but part 2 has card battles that are more interesting and much better graphics.

3x3 Eyes: Not a very good DC gameplay-wise (most aren't) but really nice graphics.

If you count the simulation stuff in this genre then you could do worse than Tokimeki Memorial and Princess Maker. Stuff like Graduation is just creepy though, now that I'm an old man.

Avoid: Cal, Cal II, Cal III, and any other Cal's that were made.

And of course, Jesus for Famicom. I absolutely love the cover and the new art style used for the console port. The name, obviously, caught my eye as well. No, it isn't pronounced hey-soos either.

[Hobo Xiphas]

Xiphas Hotel Dusk starts out really great, but never really goes anywhere.

That's pretty depressing.  I was looking forward to playing it.

You've played the Eve Burst Error games?  Zig is always raving about them, I have the PC versions in English but I just haven't bothered trying to play them yet.  I was thinking of installing Linux on my PS3 and using Wine to play them.

I had to play them using Windows, WINE didn't cut it on my actual factual Linux PC installation, so it'll probably crash and burn even worse on a PS3 bastardization.

I'm not surprised that Zig raves about them, but from what I've seen, we have, uhh, diverging tastes.

Does anyone know of any translated digital comics or upcoming translations other than Policenauts?  I remember one for famicom called Jesus or something, it was on a space station, it seemed cool but the sound effects were horrific so I quit playing.

A lot of TYPE-MOON stuff has been translated\is being translated, but that's PC stuff and not really digital comics per se.

[CrackTiger]

Ranma 1/2 #2 is really fun(and fiunny), easy for gaijins and very polished.

The Space Adventure Cobra Sega-CD(Cobra II on PCE) is one of my favorites. Its well done, fun and has a great Army of Darkness style cool-cheezy localization. Its fairly straight forward, but is closer to Snatcher than the Gunbusters.

Policenauts for Saturn. I love this game, although like Cobra II it feels kinda linear/connect-the-dots-ish compared to Snatcher. Its less 'cheap' in its difficulty than Snatcher and is designed better as a game, but the theme/art/characters/etc aren't nearly as cool and feel bland in comparison. Still a great digital comic on its own.

[Turbo D]

wine isn't compatible on ps3 because it uses ppc.

[Hobo Xiphas]

wine isn't compatible on ps3 because it uses ppc.

I should have remembered that. 

Well, there goes that plan, GUTS, hahaha.

[Tatsujin]

Some great PCE comics: Cobra II, Ranma 1/2 2, Private Eye Dol, Sotsugyou Shashin. 

Some good PCE comics: 3x3 Eyes, Digital Angel, Kagami no Kuni no Legend, Snatcher. 

Some decent PCE comics: Cal II, Urusei Yatsura, Nadia.

Some bad PCE comics: Miki, Cal III, Yawara.

why snatcher isn't in the "Some great PCE comics" category? all i mean, does it goes any better than this one?

[Hobo Xiphas]

The Space Adventure Cobra Sega-CD(Cobra II on PCE) is one of my favorites. Its well done, fun and has a great Army of Darkness style cool-cheezy localization. Its fairly straight forward, but is closer to Snatcher than the Gunbusters.

I'm totally going to try this one, I can't believe I never came across it before.  Weird.

[Turbo D]

wine isn't compatible on ps3 because it uses ppc.

I should have remembered that. 

Well, there goes that plan, GUTS, hahaha.

haha, i know, it sux. There is a ppc wine project, but I don't really have faith in it. I just wanted to run magic engine on xubuntu ps3. I asked in the magic engine forum but no one cared.

here is that ppc wine project:http://darwine.opendarwin.org/index.php

[Joe Redifer]

I have Policenauts for the Sega Saturn 32-bit Entertainment Powerhouse and I like to use my Saturn Stunner Light Gun with it to shoot things.  The first disc is super short for some reason, shorter than even a quick playthough of Castle of Illusion.  Then for NO REASON you go to space.  Well, there might be a reason, but I don't speak the MOON LANGUAGE this game tries to pass off as dialog.  I'd love a translation patch, but I fear it'd probably be for the PS version and not the Saturn.

[Kitsunexus]

Well, there might be a reason, but I don't speak the MOON LANGUAGE this game tries to pass off as dialog.

I don't speak Japanese either.

[Hobo Xiphas]

it'd probably be for the PS version and not the Saturn.

You got it. 

It's better than nothing.

[Keranu]

I'm really hoping for PC-98 and 3DO translations someday myself!

[GUTS]

Dammit, Wine doesn't work on PS3?  It worked on my Xbox, but the menus wouldn't work on Eve which was disappointing since everything worked great other than the menu problem.  Oh well.

Space Adventure Cobra was great, but WAY too easy to the point of being a little boring since the puzzles were all short-bus material and the story was funny and dumb but not cool enough to carry the lack of challenge.

[runinruder]

Some great PCE comics: Cobra II, Ranma 1/2 2, Private Eye Dol, Sotsugyou Shashin. 

Some good PCE comics: 3x3 Eyes, Digital Angel, Kagami no Kuni no Legend, Snatcher. 

Some decent PCE comics: Cal II, Urusei Yatsura, Nadia.

Some bad PCE comics: Miki, Cal III, Yawara.

why snatcher isn't in the "Some great PCE comics" category? all i mean, does it goes any better than this one?

Snatcher is cool, but I thought a few other comics (like Cobra II and Ranma 1/2 2) were much more entertaining.  And Snatcher's final act was forty-five of the most boring minutes I've ever spent with a PCE game.

[SignOfZeta]

Xiphas Hotel Dusk starts out really great, but never really goes anywhere.  The mystery isn't very good unfortunately in the long run.

I'm going to just mention here that I loved Hotel Dusk, and somebody else here did too.

[guyjin]

Dammit, Wine doesn't work on PS3?  It worked on my Xbox, but the menus wouldn't work on Eve which was disappointing since everything worked great other than the menu problem.  Oh well.

Wait, you mean a piece of Playstation3 software is an inferior port of the xbox version? SHOCK! GASP!

[Kitsunexus]

Of course Wine doesn't work on PS3. To really ensure you stop regretting you bought the PS3, you need Everclear. 3 gallons of it.

[MissaFX]

Didn't anyone play the digital comic games on the PS1/PSX?

The Yarudora series was wonderful.  I own two of them on the PSX:

Kisetsu o Dakishimete which is a love drama game
and
Double Cast which is a murder mystery game

Yukiwari no Hana and Sampaguita are the other two.  I own 'Hana on the PSP but I have not played through it yet enough to make any comments on it.  I made sure it booted and kinda filed it away on a shelf...

The games have wonderful animation though and are interesting enough, at least the two I played on the PSX, that I have played through them more than once.

I have some Square game which is a live action comic type game where you play a spirit who has to talk to the main character to help them avoid death.  The interface requires you either be fluent in Japanese or in my case, have a Japanese native with you in RL when you try to play it.  I wish I could remember the name of it for the life of me, but I cannot.  I want to say: Another Memory?  Or something like that.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the PSP comics.  The Metal Gear comics and the Silent Hill comics I found to be interesting and they play on my TV too with the TV out.  If you like Silent Hill and have a PSP get the Silent Hill UMD video disc for it before they become a "rare" item on ebay...oh wait, everything on ebay is rare.

[Hobo Xiphas]

Uhh, no.

I haven't played any of those because I am an American and only speak English and German. 

[Kitsunexus]

The Metal Gear comic UMD would have been better as a book; there is no game to speak of.

[MissaFX]

The Metal Gear comic UMD would have been better as a book; there is no game to speak of.

It's a UMD video disc, I expected it to have little to no interactivity.

[Kitsunexus]

The Metal Gear comic UMD would have been better as a book; there is no game to speak of.

It's a UMD video disc, I expected it to have little to no interactivity.

I expected it to be worth the money.

[TurboXray]

The English patch for Bubblegum Crash (Turbo/PCE) should be out soon. I think the translation is completely done and just needs to be inserted.

It's been inserted and in near complete status (about 95%) for about a year now.  It just needs some small format corrections and a final review of the english text.

Also, I think it was already mentioned but Dead of the Brain 1 & 2 are in the process of being translated.

We might be going into beta by the end of this month for DotB 1. Things are looking great and have been doing re-insertion tests all this month.

 Runinruder, GUTS, and you other DC fans: if you're interested in doing any beta testing on some PCE DC games, then just drop me a PM or David Shadoff over at ME forums.

 Dave also has a DC translation that's finished, but needs a final beta testing (Maison Ikkoku).

[Keranu]

Cool, Maison Ikkoku is another DC I've been interested in, but haven't played because of the strict language barrier.