Nintendo ushered in rumble-tastic gaming with the wonderful Star Fox 64 (or Lylat Wars, as we used to call it over here) in 1997 with Sony's PlayStation introducing the new all-in-one DualShock controller just a few months later, offering not only built-in battery-free vibrations but also two - two! - analogue sticks as standard, unknowingly defining the basic features and … Continue reading Let’s get ready to rhumble!
As someone who was introduced to the PC Engine via a string of Duos and vanilla PC Engines firmly attached to briefcase-like CD attachments (do have a quick look, they're beautiful things) - a world of CD-stored speech, stunning cutscenes, and Nineties anime tie-ins - I always thought HuCards were a bit disappointing. They were the basic … Continue reading A shining Super Star
I vaguely remember the Barcode Battler being sold in the UK in the early Nineties backed by a sort of "Warriors everywhere!" kind of sales pitch; the idea being that a pack of biscuits, or favourite book, or a loaf of bread, was "hiding" a powerful hero or fearsome beast. History shows the device had the lifespan … Continue reading Soup can warriors
I've dithered over whether I should or shouldn't replay Aurogon's debut Chinese RPG Gu Jian Qi Tan (many of the staff actually ex-Sword and Fairy developers) for a long time now. The game left a huge impression on me when I first played it back in 2010; a second run through all these years later could never be … Continue reading Ancient swords and new ideas
Should you happen to be someone eager to dive in to Youfu Makai's card battling action, leaving the manual and the rest of the box's content aside for later, you'll definitely come away from your brief time with the game confused and disappointed. The game will crash - garbled screen, BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP music, and all - at the slightest … Continue reading Always check the packaging
I've politely passed on this 3D-constructed and Japanese only N64 exclusive entry in the long-running and reliably excellent Mystery Dungeon series for many years now; I have lots of Shirens and Shiren-likes already spanning goodness knows how many formats, do I really need a copy of the enthusiastically punctuated Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 2: Oni Shuurai! … Continue reading Delightful dungeon diving
As you may have already guessed from the photo above, the overly-named Bomberman: Panic Bomber is yet another spinoff of Hudson's evergreen Bomberman franchise - this time a puzzle game where little Bomber-heads fall from the top of the screen in L-shaped clusters of three, the aim being to line up a trio or more of the … Continue reading A bit of a dud
Ah, Mahjong Cop Ryu. Mahjong Cop. Mahjong. Cop. The title alone makes it obvious this game is going to be a lot fun. Who wouldn't want to play a daft Mega Drive mahjong game from 1989 created by none other than Sega themselves? And just to make sure you know you're in for an absurd … Continue reading You must be this cool to play
Square-Enix recently published a lengthy FAQ outlining in great detail, with collapsible segments and example conversations, the sort of behaviour they deem to be unacceptable in their hugely successful MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. This is in many ways extraordinary in itself, going far beyond the broad and safely acceptable (and largely ignorable and/or under-moderated) rules … Continue reading Online players are real people
[A quick note before we begin: Going forward you'll be able to find all of these Dragon Quest X diary posts under the new ~Dragon Quest X Play Diary~ tag] At a bit of a loose end and with my brain turned to mush after writing an unreasonably enormous review on brand new Taiwanese RPG Sword & … Continue reading My Dragon Quest X Play Diary: Part 02
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 