Thanks to the incredible influence of a certain blue hedgehog every company - every company - that wasn't Nintendo back in the Nineties was desperate to have a platforming mascot animal-ish character of their very own, usually a [Something] the [Something]. With attitude. And Konami's was Sparkster, the armour plated, rocket powered, tail swinging, opossum star of Rocket Knight Adventures. … Continue reading Rocket-powered platforming
Shin-chan has been his oddball little self for over thirty years now, the manga and anime star headlining games on just about anything and everything going all the way back to the Game Boy and Famicom. The public reception of these titles has generally ranged from mild apathy to active dislike, something created because the … Continue reading Review: Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi
In 2026, 114 years after it sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the RMS Titanic mysteriously reappeared in the churning sky above Tokyo, and the talented women of the AMP (that's Attacked Mystification Police Department) were called in to investigate. Surprisingly Silent Möbius: Case: Titanic's supremely supernatural setup - playable on PC-98, FM-Towns, X68000, … Continue reading An amusing cyber psychic adventure game
Japan's capital city may be no stranger to invasions by fantastical beasts but the games depicting these dramatic events rarely attract a staff list as notable as 7th Dragon 2020's, a "dragon hunting" RPG produced by none other than Reiko Kodama (Phantasy Star, Skies of Arcadia), directed by Kazuya Niinou (Etrian Odyssey, both Dragon Quest Builders), and graced with Yuzo … Continue reading 2020. Tokyo. A dragon hunting RPG.
Power DoLLS FX, released in 1996 for NEC's poorly received PC Engine follow-up, the PC-FX, is one of several remakes of the original PC-98 game Power DoLLS, a Kogado Studio "Scenario Simulation Game" featuring an all-woman cast stomping around in giant mechs on the distant planet Omni in the far future. The grid-like nature of the battlefields, marketable … Continue reading Playing with DoLLS
[Apologies for the literal screen shots in this one - emulation doesn't play nice with this game] When you spin the wheel of blind import purchases you do so in the knowledge that whatever comes your way could be anything from a life-changing hidden gem to a complete waste of time, money, and effort - … Continue reading The Dreamcast’s other speak ’em up
"20 JAPANESE GAMES L@@K RARE IMPORT SEGA NINTENDO RETRO!!" yells the eBay listing, the price suspiciously affordable when weighed up against the bundle's quantity. I bet you already know the sort of "deal" I'm talking about - and you already know to avoid them too. Even without clicking on the imaginary link you can virtually … Continue reading Fillers, coasters, and horse racing
There's a lot to love about Radiant Silvergun: Treasure's good name alone conjures up warm thoughts of imaginative action and quality, but even when judged in its own little vacuum it's still a shmup that's hard not to like whether your first encounter with it is in arcades, on the Saturn, or via the Xbox 360 … Continue reading BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS
What do you get when Hudson Soft, the developers of the Nectaris (AKA: Military Madness) series, are given the keys to Intelligent Systems' Famicom/Super Famicom/Game Boy Wars? Exactly what you'd expect. There's your little cluster of buildings. There are the enemy's. Each side has to shoot and shell their way across the map, soldiers taking … Continue reading More of the same, please
As I was filling up my shopping cart with digital copies of old X-COM games to inevitably lose at and the wonderful Moonstone: A Hard Day's Knight (a game that routinely fetches second hand prices I can only describe as offensive on Amiga or PC) while browsing GOG in the hope of purchasing some Good … Continue reading Home is where the horror is
