rhdndescriptions
Game Review - by Kitsune Sniper (aka Foxhack)
The game seems to be a vertical shooter, similar to the latest Cave offerings. The screenshots at the site show 80-90% of the playable area covered in bullets, so this is one of those insane games that only hardcore shooter players will touch. Seems fun, but as it is not a free game, I cannot test it.
The game’s homepage is located at http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/th07.html.
(editor's note: hard to remember back to a time where people didn't know what Touhou was, this was written back when the game came out)
The game seems to be a vertical shooter, similar to the latest Cave offerings. The screenshots at the site show 80-90% of the playable area covered in bullets, so this is one of those insane games that only hardcore shooter players will touch. Seems fun, but as it is not a free game, I cannot test it.
The game’s homepage is located at http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/th07.html.
(editor's note: hard to remember back to a time where people didn't know what Touhou was, this was written back when the game came out)
1991
Game Review - originally written by ???
You’ve got to wonder what the hell Squaresoft was thinking when releasing this. I mean, is Final Fantasy IV on Playstation in any kind of short supply or anything? Is there an overwhelming demand in Japan to go and play a watered-down version of a game they’ve played twice over… on the go? This game truly doesn’t even compare with actual remakes like FF1 and FF2, and even Makaitoushi SaGa. It’s just a port of a years-old game, done very badly. Just listen to the music and try not to cry. I’m serious.
You’ve got to wonder what the hell Squaresoft was thinking when releasing this. I mean, is Final Fantasy IV on Playstation in any kind of short supply or anything? Is there an overwhelming demand in Japan to go and play a watered-down version of a game they’ve played twice over… on the go? This game truly doesn’t even compare with actual remakes like FF1 and FF2, and even Makaitoushi SaGa. It’s just a port of a years-old game, done very badly. Just listen to the music and try not to cry. I’m serious.
1991
Game Review - originally written by Kitsune Sniper (aka Foxhack)
This is one of many Genesis games that were recently released for online play only in Japan by Sega using their online buy and play Emulator service; this game, among others, was recently dumped by Sonic Cult. (editor's note: "recently" here referring to February 2004) Surprisingly, this isn’t a Columns or Puyo Puyo clone! You earn points by joining two tiles that have the same design. And you move them around using the pad and the buttons. And that’s it. There isn’t much in the game department.
Except that you get to play as Sonic, against Sonic! Isn’t that neat?! I know, it isn’t. Oh, and most of the music really sucks. At least the game includes some instructions… if you can read Japanese…
(editor's note: this game received a newer, better fan translation last month)
This is one of many Genesis games that were recently released for online play only in Japan by Sega using their online buy and play Emulator service; this game, among others, was recently dumped by Sonic Cult. (editor's note: "recently" here referring to February 2004) Surprisingly, this isn’t a Columns or Puyo Puyo clone! You earn points by joining two tiles that have the same design. And you move them around using the pad and the buttons. And that’s it. There isn’t much in the game department.
Except that you get to play as Sonic, against Sonic! Isn’t that neat?! I know, it isn’t. Oh, and most of the music really sucks. At least the game includes some instructions… if you can read Japanese…
(editor's note: this game received a newer, better fan translation last month)
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
As I understand it, the development team responsible for the Langrisser series moved on to do the Growlanser games, while NCS kept the license and made Langrisser Millennium. Naturally this will make fanboys spit and froth with rage that people somewhere in the world like and possibly enjoy this game, but that's fanboys for you. I dunno anything else about the game though.
As I understand it, the development team responsible for the Langrisser series moved on to do the Growlanser games, while NCS kept the license and made Langrisser Millennium. Naturally this will make fanboys spit and froth with rage that people somewhere in the world like and possibly enjoy this game, but that's fanboys for you. I dunno anything else about the game though.
Game Review - originally written by ???
The Ancient Stone Tablets is a BS-X game based on A Link to the Past. The story takes place after the events of ALttP and you play as either the male or female BS-X mascots. You have a set amount of time to play each episode of the game and there are numerous little events that take place at certain times. These could range from the opportunity to engage in certain story events, weather patterns, temporary bonuses or power-up, etc. There are also a handful of very fun mini-games that were not featured in the original ALttP.
Some of the early dungeon designs are a little bland but otherwise this is sure to be a treat for any ALttP fan as it is built from the same engine and plays like an extension of that game.
The Ancient Stone Tablets is a BS-X game based on A Link to the Past. The story takes place after the events of ALttP and you play as either the male or female BS-X mascots. You have a set amount of time to play each episode of the game and there are numerous little events that take place at certain times. These could range from the opportunity to engage in certain story events, weather patterns, temporary bonuses or power-up, etc. There are also a handful of very fun mini-games that were not featured in the original ALttP.
Some of the early dungeon designs are a little bland but otherwise this is sure to be a treat for any ALttP fan as it is built from the same engine and plays like an extension of that game.
Game Review - originally written by jayz299
Telefang!
"Visit the electric monster world with the futuristic portable telephone D shot, and meet all of the electric monsters who live there. Become victorious in Telefang battles and raise stronger electric monsters, and collect new friends’ phone numbers. Discover the mysteries and solve the puzzles of the electric monster world in this RPG."
It’s like Pokemon only there’s no catching with Pokeballs involved, instead when you battle an enemy (and got lucky) the enemy monster may give you his Phone Number! that’s right, it will be stored in a cool cell-phone looking device called the “D-Shot” or “D-Shoot” also, besides of being a cool device it also can be turned into some sort of Pokedex and stuff so it’s an all in 1 device! you don’t even have to spend your cash buying ball containers for 200 P… so yeah… Telefang is really a cool game!
(editor's note: WELL, HAVE YOU HAD CURRY?)
Telefang!
"Visit the electric monster world with the futuristic portable telephone D shot, and meet all of the electric monsters who live there. Become victorious in Telefang battles and raise stronger electric monsters, and collect new friends’ phone numbers. Discover the mysteries and solve the puzzles of the electric monster world in this RPG."
It’s like Pokemon only there’s no catching with Pokeballs involved, instead when you battle an enemy (and got lucky) the enemy monster may give you his Phone Number! that’s right, it will be stored in a cool cell-phone looking device called the “D-Shot” or “D-Shoot” also, besides of being a cool device it also can be turned into some sort of Pokedex and stuff so it’s an all in 1 device! you don’t even have to spend your cash buying ball containers for 200 P… so yeah… Telefang is really a cool game!
(editor's note: WELL, HAVE YOU HAD CURRY?)
1983
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
Learn basic katakana with Popeye and friends! Whee yeah hurrays! Popeye’s Lingo Game takes the ever-popular “what the hell is this katakana word supposed to actually MEAN” game and, well… turns it into a real live game.
If you’re one of those (many, many, many) people that don’t know what katakana is, don’t worry about it. That’s why the world has ROM translations.
So anyways, in Word Puzzle A, you choose a category, and you’re given a word in katakana, which you must decipher into its English equivalent. In its original form, this could be a nice little katakana primer for you budding first-year Japanese students. The problem is, it’s not intended for the English-speaking populace. So, sometimes you get the actual Japanese word in katakana, which has no relation at all to the word in English. At that point, you’re pretty much on your own.
Word Puzzle B does away with the Japanese entirely and just gives you some blanks. At this point the game just becomes Hangman with a Popeye theme. Yawn. Word Catcher seems to be some two-player thing that I have no idea how to play.
Learn basic katakana with Popeye and friends! Whee yeah hurrays! Popeye’s Lingo Game takes the ever-popular “what the hell is this katakana word supposed to actually MEAN” game and, well… turns it into a real live game.
If you’re one of those (many, many, many) people that don’t know what katakana is, don’t worry about it. That’s why the world has ROM translations.
So anyways, in Word Puzzle A, you choose a category, and you’re given a word in katakana, which you must decipher into its English equivalent. In its original form, this could be a nice little katakana primer for you budding first-year Japanese students. The problem is, it’s not intended for the English-speaking populace. So, sometimes you get the actual Japanese word in katakana, which has no relation at all to the word in English. At that point, you’re pretty much on your own.
Word Puzzle B does away with the Japanese entirely and just gives you some blanks. At this point the game just becomes Hangman with a Popeye theme. Yawn. Word Catcher seems to be some two-player thing that I have no idea how to play.
1994
Game Review - originally written by Sardius
Okay, here's a weird one. Kart Fighter is an unlicensed “pirate original” fighting game for the Famicom which features characters from Super Mario Kart beating the holy hell out of each other, Street Fighter style. Sound like Super Smash Bros? It shouldn't. This game predates Nintendo's own take on the genre by several years, and in fact could be cited as a source of inspiration for the creation of Smash Bros. Well, okay, maybe not. But still.
Anyway, Kart Fighter is…well, it's actually really good, surprisingly. Some would go as far to say that it's the best one-on-one fighting game on the NES, though its only serious competition is Joy Mech Fight, TMNT Tournament Fighters, and all that unplayable pirated crap like those “ports” of The King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, and the dreaded Cony versions of Street Fighter.
Among its bootlegged peers, though, Kart Fighter reigns supreme. The game positively reeks of effort - all character sprites are original and unique to this game, and are large, colorful, and well-animated. The gameplay isn't perfect, but it's at least existent, which is more than you can say for any other pirated fighting game ever made for the NES. It's actually playable, for chrissake. PLAYABLE! Heavens!
It's not an excellent game by any means, but its mere concept and the decent amount of quirk contained within (dig the game's inexplicably capable and hot interpretation of Princess Peach) make Kart Fighter very much worth playing. If only for a few minutes.
And yes, the game has a two-player mode. Press left or right on controller 2 at the character select screen to enable it. Have a fun!
(editor's note: this shit should be in the Library of Congress)
Okay, here's a weird one. Kart Fighter is an unlicensed “pirate original” fighting game for the Famicom which features characters from Super Mario Kart beating the holy hell out of each other, Street Fighter style. Sound like Super Smash Bros? It shouldn't. This game predates Nintendo's own take on the genre by several years, and in fact could be cited as a source of inspiration for the creation of Smash Bros. Well, okay, maybe not. But still.
Anyway, Kart Fighter is…well, it's actually really good, surprisingly. Some would go as far to say that it's the best one-on-one fighting game on the NES, though its only serious competition is Joy Mech Fight, TMNT Tournament Fighters, and all that unplayable pirated crap like those “ports” of The King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, and the dreaded Cony versions of Street Fighter.
Among its bootlegged peers, though, Kart Fighter reigns supreme. The game positively reeks of effort - all character sprites are original and unique to this game, and are large, colorful, and well-animated. The gameplay isn't perfect, but it's at least existent, which is more than you can say for any other pirated fighting game ever made for the NES. It's actually playable, for chrissake. PLAYABLE! Heavens!
It's not an excellent game by any means, but its mere concept and the decent amount of quirk contained within (dig the game's inexplicably capable and hot interpretation of Princess Peach) make Kart Fighter very much worth playing. If only for a few minutes.
And yes, the game has a two-player mode. Press left or right on controller 2 at the character select screen to enable it. Have a fun!
(editor's note: this shit should be in the Library of Congress)
1995
Game Review - originally written by Kitsune Sniper
Silk Road 2 is a shareware RPG released by SPRITE back in 1998. The game plays like Zelda, except you can use three weapons at the same time, and you save by collecting Goddess Coins.
The game's actually quite fun, once you get to play it for more than five minutes. You move with the arrow keys [not the number keys], attack with Z/X/C, and access the menu with V. You start off with a straw, which shoots out bubbles and hurts the enemy.
No, I'm not joking.
The story starts out with a magician summoning a giant chicken from the sky. She destroys the chicken, but a catgirl is left behind! So she does the natural thing to do: She takes her to a spring and they both partake in nekkid swimming! After some very revealing scenes which I wanted to post but couldn't due to Parodius regulations [even if they are 4 pixel nipples], you start to play.
Well, give it a shot. It's fun, you know. The game isn't quite easily findable, though.
And a few notes on the game: Sometimes, I'm guessing that it depends on your video card, the intro and credits screen will have garbage on them, bits of images from sequences that are going to be shown or have already been shown. I don't know how to fix this. Also, do NOT GO TO FULLSCREEN MODE. I had to reinstall the game so it would let me go to windowed mode. :\
Silk Road 2 is a shareware RPG released by SPRITE back in 1998. The game plays like Zelda, except you can use three weapons at the same time, and you save by collecting Goddess Coins.
The game's actually quite fun, once you get to play it for more than five minutes. You move with the arrow keys [not the number keys], attack with Z/X/C, and access the menu with V. You start off with a straw, which shoots out bubbles and hurts the enemy.
No, I'm not joking.
The story starts out with a magician summoning a giant chicken from the sky. She destroys the chicken, but a catgirl is left behind! So she does the natural thing to do: She takes her to a spring and they both partake in nekkid swimming! After some very revealing scenes which I wanted to post but couldn't due to Parodius regulations [even if they are 4 pixel nipples], you start to play.
Well, give it a shot. It's fun, you know. The game isn't quite easily findable, though.
And a few notes on the game: Sometimes, I'm guessing that it depends on your video card, the intro and credits screen will have garbage on them, bits of images from sequences that are going to be shown or have already been shown. I don't know how to fix this. Also, do NOT GO TO FULLSCREEN MODE. I had to reinstall the game so it would let me go to windowed mode. :\
2002
Game Review - originally written by Kitsune Sniper
Well, it seems to be an RPG, and it’s got really pretty graphics, but that’s all we know about it for now. ^^;; (editor's note: very helpful)
Well, it seems to be an RPG, and it’s got really pretty graphics, but that’s all we know about it for now. ^^;; (editor's note: very helpful)
Game Review - originally written by Kitsune Sniper
It's a Super Robot Wars game, which means it's got characters from a ton of different anime shows and pits them against each other in a war of sorts. And that's all I know about the game.
It's a Super Robot Wars game, which means it's got characters from a ton of different anime shows and pits them against each other in a war of sorts. And that's all I know about the game.
1992
Game Review - originally written by Kitsune Sniper
Assault Suits Valken is the Japanese version of Cybernator, a game that Konami brought over to America. The game is a sidescrolling shooter similar to Contra, but here you pilot a huge Mech named Gundam err I mean Valken. The main difference between this version and the US one is the story - a lot of things were removed by Konami for no reason, and the game paused itself while you received instructions during a mission in the US version. Valken doesn't do that, which may be a disadvantage - particularly against the last boss, who you can't attack until he shuts up. But he can attack you! Yep, unfair, but that's life.
Assault Suits Valken is the Japanese version of Cybernator, a game that Konami brought over to America. The game is a sidescrolling shooter similar to Contra, but here you pilot a huge Mech named Gundam err I mean Valken. The main difference between this version and the US one is the story - a lot of things were removed by Konami for no reason, and the game paused itself while you received instructions during a mission in the US version. Valken doesn't do that, which may be a disadvantage - particularly against the last boss, who you can't attack until he shuts up. But he can attack you! Yep, unfair, but that's life.
1991
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
Obviously, this is the game that Ultraman Ball for Gameboy totally ripped off. The whole time I was playing Armadillo, I was thinking “God damn, this is exactly like Ultraman Ball.” It was that similar. Aside from the stupid overworld map, anyways. So you're an armadillo, I guess, and you can roll into an indestructible ball. An indestructible ball that can jump. You can stay in a ball the whole time, but you won't get very far. I mean, how else are you going to climb ladders? And you jump higher when you're normal. Also, you can slide down ledges, which helps you reach high ledges (just like Mega Man X, and, yes, Ultraman Ball). So yeah, it'd be pretty cool if there wasn't some serious slowdown, throughout the entire game. Sigh.
Obviously, this is the game that Ultraman Ball for Gameboy totally ripped off. The whole time I was playing Armadillo, I was thinking “God damn, this is exactly like Ultraman Ball.” It was that similar. Aside from the stupid overworld map, anyways. So you're an armadillo, I guess, and you can roll into an indestructible ball. An indestructible ball that can jump. You can stay in a ball the whole time, but you won't get very far. I mean, how else are you going to climb ladders? And you jump higher when you're normal. Also, you can slide down ledges, which helps you reach high ledges (just like Mega Man X, and, yes, Ultraman Ball). So yeah, it'd be pretty cool if there wasn't some serious slowdown, throughout the entire game. Sigh.
1993
Game Review - originally written by ???
Sequel to the original Dyna Brothers, this game has an intro! And it seems to play the same as part one, which was similar to Populous. Which means that you have to breed dinosaurs and take care of them. Not in the Tamagotchi way, thankfully. Can you imagine cleaning up after them? Eeeegh.
Sequel to the original Dyna Brothers, this game has an intro! And it seems to play the same as part one, which was similar to Populous. Which means that you have to breed dinosaurs and take care of them. Not in the Tamagotchi way, thankfully. Can you imagine cleaning up after them? Eeeegh.
1992
Game Review - originally written by ???
Cutesy sim game. You play the role of [s]GOD[/s] aliens and you have to take care of dinosaurs in an island, making it rain, breed them, and other similar tasks. This game is very similar to Bullfrog’s Populous, and it seems fun, but not knowing what every menu does was frustrating.
Cutesy sim game. You play the role of [s]GOD[/s] aliens and you have to take care of dinosaurs in an island, making it rain, breed them, and other similar tasks. This game is very similar to Bullfrog’s Populous, and it seems fun, but not knowing what every menu does was frustrating.