Perhaps the most unfortunately named DS title ever, Touch! Dic! is actually somewhat interesting, if you do a little investigation. It's a newly announced original title from Korea - the manufacturer, not necessarily developer, is Daiwon C&A Holdings, the exclusive Korean Nintendo distributor. The company, formed in 1973, is largely known for animation. They have released Pokemon properties, Ghibli films, and also have a satellite broadcasting business in conjunction with Bandai. The company has also dabbled in original Korean games through partnership with "Hanvit Soft", which is a botched translation of Hanbitsoft, whose pedigree you can see here. Daiwon does however, have a development group of their own for ports, so it's entirely possible that the group could create original games in-house. The Touch! Dic! website will go fully live in two days, but unfortunately this is nothing more than a dictionary for the DS (confirmed here). The YBMsisa.com reference on the box cover, that company having a large translation division, suggests that this might specifically be a korean-english dictionary. So perhaps it's not as interesting to play as it was to investigate!
Update: The official site is now live, for those interested. As dictionaries go, it looks nice. Also has a calculator function.
Sengoku Cannon is the next in the moderately popular side scrolling shooting series (Blade, Ace) from Psikyo. The game will be released by X-Nauts on PSP in July, and is now officially confirmed. New characters will be designed by Tsukasa Jun, as before.
Bent 2005 Circuit Bending Festival starts... well, now, at The Tank in New York. This festival celebrates the "art of circuit bending" and includes hands-on sessions with experts in the field of dismantling old electronics for use as musical instruments. Performances from a number of chiptune artists will be going on throughout the entire festival at select times.
Insanity Naked Hunter Group will be releasing yet another superplay DVD set, but this time it will not be shooter-centric. THE STARTING OVER HYPER STREET FIGHTER II will include SFII replays from a whopping 16 players, and a special CD and booklet will also round out the package. It will release on June 30 for 6090 yen. Check the site for video samples.
Jung Sic Park, aka Ropie, was art director for Soul Slayers and Kingdom Under Fire, and has a very nice soft style. Lots of fuzziness. Those interested in the Korean illustration scene should definitely check it out.
Play Asia has preorders up for the Taito Memories arcade collection, mentioned yesterday. There's no confirmed US date yet, but it seems likely that the game will make it here - whether the same titles will be included is another story.
Incidentally, if some of these games seem unfamiliar, jiji has added links for all of the games.
You may have seen yesterday's news that Turner Broadcasting, part of Time Warner and the guys who do Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, are moving into the games-on-demand arena with GameTap, to launch later this year. It's a monthly, "all-you-can-play" gaming service, launching with 300 games - you need to keep your subscription to keep playing the games. But.. which games? Here's where it gets interesting.
For starters, GameSpot confirms that "Sega will provide... titles from the Genesis and Saturn consoles... Pac-Man will lead the more retro part of the service's catalog." There are also more contemporary games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. In addition, a QT3 attendee at last night's launch event in S.F. reported on example GameTap games showing on demo video, including Gunstar Heroes, Vectorman, Police Quest, Toy Commander, Tomb Raider, Asteroids, and more. More info will likely debut at E3, but this is definitely something to keep an eye on.
More info has surfaced about Grev's new project, in the latest Arcadia - the game will be a fully 3D (much higher quality graphics this time) helicoptor shooting game, the likes of Zero Gunner 2. The game will run on Naomi GD-Rom, according to Click Stick.
Seems that a new revision of Guilty Gear XX #Reload is currently on location test. Some gameplay adjustments and a possible new character are expected.
Game Watch and G Para have published their first previews of the PS2 version of Cave's Mushihime-sama. The port will also be done by Cave. It'll have a new Arrange Mode with some gameplay tweaks as well as a Practice Mode. Oh. And the limited edition will come with a figurine. Another one.
RPGFan has an interesting interview with Ouji Hiroi, president of Red Entertainment, and the principal party responsible for the Sakura Taisen and Tengai Makyou series. Rather some nice bits in there, particularly this thought: "Also, you can think of game development as being something like a real RPG, too. You think, assemble colleagues and capital, face certain difficulties, use various items and clear it. And after receiving the reward, you prepare to embark on your next journey."
Along with the Mushihime-sama PS2 port, the latest issue of Famitsu has confirmed the titles to be included in the first volume of the recently announced Taito Memories for PS2. 25 (!) arcade games from the very early gaming years to the mid 90s have been chosen to represent this company's history. Release date is July 28th and the volume 2 will follow soon after. This is the full list:
Space Invaders
Lunar Rescue
Alpine Ski
The Fairyland Story
Kiki Kaikai [Knight Boy]
Bubble Bobble
Rastan Saga [Rastan]
Kuri Kinton
Syvalion
Jigoku Meguri [Bonze Adventure]
Cameltry
Don Doko Don
Flipull [Plotting]
Aa Eikou no Koshien
Majestic Twelve [Super Space Invaders '91]
Runark [Growl]
Pulirula
Metal Black
Grid Seeker
Space Invaders DX
Darius Gaiden
Light Bringer [Dungeon Magic]
Elevator Action Returns [Elevator Action 2]
Cleopatra Fortune
Puchi Carat
Sadly, it also has been reported that the company's benefits of the last fiscal year have not been as good as they expected, and they're planning cost reductions on console games development. Here's a gamasutra article on the subject, in english.
News: Mär Heaven ~Knocking on Heaven's Door~ preview
Today, IT Media published a preview of Mär Heaven ~Knocking on Heaven's Door~, a nice looking little action RPG by Konami. The game is currently in development for the GBA, and is based on Noboyuki Anzai's 'Mär' and the affiliated TV series. Scheduled for June 30th.
Another World was a cult adventure game from the early nineties entirely programmed and designed by Eric Chahi then ported and released by Delphine Software, Interplay or Virgin (depending on the version) around the globe. Some of you may know it as Out of this World, or in Japan as Outer World, where it became one of the very few western games to ever top the charts.
Being a strong defender of abandonware and a really cool dude overall, Chahi recently bought back the rights of the game which turned the GBA amateur port by Foxy into a completely legit and authorized software, avaiable here for all. This ROM was carefully supervised by the original author of the game, who also provided priceless material such as specially remastered versions of the original files for the latest release. Mark this as one step forward for the abandonware scene.
[Edit: Well, this apparently moved enough enthusiasts to completely anihilate Foxy's bandwith in less than 24 hours. His site will be back online soon -Chaz]
We now learn from Japanese video-game related boards that Famitsu has confirmed the PS2 version of Cave's acclaimed arcade game. Out on July 21st in two editions - normal and limited. All three game modes will be present in the port.
The ridiculous 'homespun console' aggregation known as the Woodcube, which we linked some time ago, is now for sale on ebay. Only 4,000 Swedish Kroner, or 567 USD, and the monstrosity can be yours!
Just after releasing Senko no Ronde, it has been revealed that the next Arcadia magazine issue will unveil the forthcoming shooting game from the small company Grev. Its provisional name is 'Under Defeat' but not much else is known. Grev's site hinted at the name yesterday with a hidden "coming soon" message.
After obtaining a 22.2% share of Takara's stock back in 2000 (which led to nothing in the way of collaboration, aside from World Fighters), Konami has decided that it's time for them to go, selling all of their stock in the company to mobile game distributor Index Corp. This comes after Konami acquired Hudson as a subsidiary. We will learn more about this when Konami's financial results are posted on the 10th of may, but for now read the Gamasutra analysis.
The organizers of E3 sent out a 'sampling of "First Look" products' email this morning, revealing a number of interesting points. Firstly, Atlus is listed as publisher of Magna Carta: Tears of Blood, the popular Korean-originated PS2 RPG that went over surprisingly well in Japan. In addition, Age Of Empires II for DS is confirmed as being published by Majesco and developed by Backbone Entertainment (Death Jr.) Also, Tecmo Classic Arcade is confirmed for unknown platforms, and will include "Tecmo Bowl," "Rygar," "Star Force," "Solomon's Key," "Bomb Jack," "Tecmo Cup," "Pinball Action," "Pleiads," "Senjyo" and "Strato Fighter." Also mentioned from Tecmo are "Trapt" for PlayStation 2, presumably the latest Deception game ("Protect your castle by luring your enemies into your booby-trapped world in this trap-action game"), and Fatal Frame 3.
News: Nintendo's hidden songs and DS downloading service
One of the first titles announced by SNK Playmore for the Atomiswave arcade platform is finally going to appear in location test form this saturday, according to this official advertisement.
<Brandon's note: The game is apparently not being developed by the acclaimed Yuki Enterprise, which reinvigorated the series with SS Zero and Zero Special. The development seems to have been moved back in-house, but this is not confirmed. SNKP USA also has a little poll to see what next-gen system you would like them to develop for, but word is it's already been skewed.>
Falcom (and Gpara) unveiled what contents will be avaiable in the (traditionally absurd) limited edition of their upcoming game. Released at the end of this coming June, Ys ~ The Oath in Felghana ~ will be avaiable in a package stuffed with eight audio discs, including everything Falcom ever released concerning the soundtrack of YsIII.
Akadot has a translation of a recent article breaking down the "moe market" into cold, hard numbers. "The market for publications, visual media and games capitalizing on the emotion of "moe" - the lovable personalities of characters in anime - has risen to 88,800,000,000 yen (about $88,800,000) in 2003, according to the Hamagin Comprehensive Research Center (based in Yokohama prefecture)." Other such notable observations include: "...There are an increasing number males remaining unmarried past 30 - a demographic group comprising a dominant force in the moe market - which can lead one to believe that perhaps there is a desire for a partner that surpasses the human realm." Can you imagine the business meetings centered on profitable levels of moe?
News: Shikigami no Shiro ~Nanayozuki Gensoukyoku~ advertisement
While the official website's countdown didn't reveal anything substantial at the end, Alfa System has opened an online advertisement with some tiny screenshots and bits of information. Nothing especially relevant, though, besides that the game will combine classic adventure parts with shooting sections, and will explain the scenario 6 months after Shikigami 2.
A bunch of interesting freeware and indie games have been released in the last few days. Credits go to the IndieGamer forums, TIGS and Vector for reporting them.
Wild West Wendy is a saloon owner simulation, complete with its western ambiance, bar fights, numerous beer servings, cattle catastrophes and risky ranch alliances. There's a demo avaiable, and the full game costs about 20 bucks. For Mac and Windows.
Glow Worm is a well produced color-matching puzzler that takes the concept of Puyo Puyo to a new level by adding a secondary color for "blocks" that triggers their evolution as butterflies. Same deal as Wild West Wendy: a demo is avaiable and the full game costs about 20 bucks.
Namonaki Shima (v1.03) is a RPG which doesn't focus as much on a story as on having numerous dungeons to explore. Finishing a dungeon allows you to meet new people, visit other places on the (quite big) map and trade treasures for some better equipment. So the unique demon stone system notwithstanding, the game is quite classic. Namonaki Shima ("The Nameless Island") is free, in japanese and avaiable here for download.
Mission Missyo from G.R.C. is a visually unimpressive yet catchy puzzle game mixing Adventures of Lolo with Blizzard's Lost Vikings, and it got a new version released early this month. The game's goal is to lead three ninjas with different and complementary skills through numerous puzzle stages. Mission Missyo (actually pronounced "mishomisho") is free and avaiable here (v1.02).
Finally two good RPGMaker games surfaced lately (meaning you'll need according versions of RPGMaker/RPGツクール to play them). Hallucination Ringdom ( which runs on RPGMaker2000) is your everyday japanese amateur RPG in various aspects, but is cleverly based in an alternate modern world in which fantasy has not disappeared. Quite funny and reportedly well written by those who went through the whole game. On the other hand, Trico & Lore (which runs on RPGMaker2003) is a cute and thoughtful puzzle crawler not unlike Mission Missyo (characters with different abilities, time limit, you know the drill...). Both games are obviously free and in japanese.
Behold mere mortals, for a new version of ArmJoe is out. Takase seriously tweaked the fighting engine, added some BGM and included some of the characters' brand new full french voices. The dubbing crew Jaune Frères (AKA Chaz and our journo-champion friend Tanguy! ~Brandon) is still in post production with their work on the remaining speechless protagonists, and the results shall be avaiable to all quite soon. For those who missed the hipster train, ArmJoe is an offbeat and flashy 2D fighting game set in the universe of the japanese version of the popular musical based on Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Misérables. An interview of Takase is avaiable in english at Roni's site.
Shinji Mikami, of Biohazard fame, will be making a new game with Clover Studio (Viewtiful Joe, Ookami). No further details, but at least we know he's doing something.
For those of you with interest in Nintendogs, here's a blog...thing...about that very game, and the activities of the puppies therein. Chris Kohler asked me to link it, since he's contributing. There are also some other persons writing in it, and it's not my fault if you've heard of them. So there it is, I did it.
An adventure game based on Alfa System's Shikigami no Shiro series is in development, which is not extremely surprising since the series already has one RPG for Japanese mobile phones. The official site will be ready in less 13 hours. For now, it just has a release date (August, 2005), a target system (PS2) and a publishing company (Kids Station).
We missed this when it was new, but Eric-Jon just caught it. SNK Playmore USA will be making TV games for Jakks Pacific, a group which largely does kids TV games - with awards from Grandparents Magazine! The first three games to get the 'TV game' treatment will be Ikari Warriors, Vanguard, and Victory Road. The games will retail for around $20, and will be released in spring 2006.
Did you know, friends, that the Minibosses have a new CD out? Well only sort of - it's a split. But if you can stomach listening to some other band play on the end of your minibosses CD, it might still be worth the $10 to you. Who can say! You can still find out what I thought about their other CD here, but you still can't buy it.
The 'too good to link us even in their 'links we hate' section, but is still pretty funny' site UK Resistance has gone to the Gizmondo store to see what there was to see. Of course you already know the answer to be 'lots of nothing', but you might as well check anyway.
Oh, also that Hardcore Gamer mag has a new PDF edition out.
Lawrence has taken apart a couple of NEC consoles for your viewing confusion. Check out the innards of the simple PAL Turbo Grafx, and the needlessly complex PC FX.
As above, there's a new site for Samurai Spirits, which appears very much the 'KOF 10th anniversary' site equivalent for this series. With recent rumors circulating of a new SS! game, this new site shows that, at the very least, SNKP has something new to say about SS! in the near future.
In a new Gamasutra job post, we see that new (? - they don't seem to have a domain yet) company Playpen Studios is hiring for an Xbox music game. The Hong Kong original market marches forward!
Yesterday's appearance of Mushihime-sama OST hasn't confirmed the PS2 version we've been waiting for, but it has revealed a new Cave arcade game, nonetheless. A puzzle game based on Mushi is in development, as the OST propaganda reveals, which may be reason to speculate about this game's popularity, and lend confidence to a PS2 version being announced in the future.
Thanks to some mischievous scans on a popular german website, we can confirm that Gunstar Super Heroes on the GBA is in progress. The game seems to follow the idea of the Guardian Heroes remake by producing an experience similar to the original title with reminiscent graphics yet slightly different gameplay, although the result looks much more convincing here. It is also confirmed that Treasure are developing the game themselves.
Play-Asia has a listing suggesting that a Playstation 2 port of Cave's Mushihimesama will be relased by Taito on July 21. Not entirely unbelievable, considering an older Cave investor relations PDF suggested an upcoming "consumer game." Today also marks the release of the Mushihime OST, so perhaps something was announced in the CD booklet... The truth: soon!
Because they say dressing well is almost a important as buying a JAMMA board of Daraku Tenshi for 60,000 yen each time you visit Japan, here's a nice belt buckle for the trendy gamers amongst you (though the absolutely most trendy will have already heard of this some time ago. ~brandon) Gives a nice touch of retro without the usual nerdy smell around it.
To the shock and horror of a nation in shambles, the insert credit letters section rides again. Your friend and mine, Drew Cosner, tackles the needlessly arbitrary subject of what would happen if certain games or genres had never appeared, or were erased from history. Can you contain your enthusiasm!? Just try! Also, if the letters archives don't work properly, it's because you don't eat your vegetables, and has nothing to do with us.
In the last few weeks, the amateur GBA dev scene has been soaring with new programs and devices to produce games on the DS. Gentil_Graphiste wrote a little summary which I am now going to shamelessly translate in english.
In order to play an amateur DS game, you need three things : a Nintendo DS, a GBA flash cart and one of the PCI Wi-Fi boards that includes a specific chipset compatible with the DS (there are lists avaiable for those). Then you need to change the driver of the cart with a DS specific one, and voilà, your DS is recognized by your PC. Then just download a loader through the DS' download menu that will allow you to fully exploit the DS system with programs installed on the GBA cart, thanks to some clever coder tricks. An alternative is the "PassMe" cart, a boot cart that can be plugged on the DS port and is used to transfer the amateur programs you want to use on the DS.
There are new demos and projects being announced every day, and the whole scene is progressing pretty fast. The related websites are numerous, but a good way to start is to visit GBAdev.org.
[edited for great justice and small corrections]
The 2005 GBAX handheld game development competition is underway! The competition now covers DS, GBA, PSP, Zodiac and GP32. This is generally an excellent impetus for homebrewers to creat excellent stuff, so look forward to the may 31st conclusion. Those of you actually in the homebrew scene, don't hesitate to give this a look, as the prizes are: 1st Place: Sony PSP console and any game
2nd Place: Sony PSP Console
3rd Place: Choice of GP32, Nintendo DS or $150 respectively
At Game Watch you'll find more NxC screens, showing more character pairings (futuristic big hair team, etc), more attacks, more...things! Such as the shop girl from Forgotten Worlds!
After a rousing debate over 'shmups' and 'scrolling shooter', why not show your shooter love by purchasing one of Click Stick's shooty t-shirts? The first on the market depicts a tate monitor, which is either really cool, or just a monitor on its side, depending on your view.
Rid has a new features section now, with translations of character profiles from Senko no Ronde and Ibara, taken from the officialsites. It appears that after Bridget of Guilty Gear fame, G.Rev has decided to bring us a new transgender experience.
Great news from TimeTop : they have a new GameKing avaiable, and it's damn cute. We remind you that this chinese handheld system is the purest expression of oldschool with games using a 48x32 LCD screen. For more information, check this excellent page by Brian Provinciano (who is apparently still working on Grand Theftendo). TimeTop became famous among gamers for getting some obvious inspiration for the designs of previous products. Thanks to Takashi from the forums for the news.
Higurashi no naku koro ni, a reportedly excellent detective novel-like doujin game from 7th Expansion, and which features three different murder cases linked together, grew popular enough to now get adapted by Alchemist (of BaldrForce EXE fame) for Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, though the release date hasn't been announced yet. On a related note, the official site for the Higurashi drama CD has recently released a sample track introducing the CD for the 3 part drama CD series. Thanks to the almighty Zepy for the news.
NIS America announced recently that the group will be localizing/publishing Idea Factory's games in the US - Idea Factory being known for pretty but perhaps somewhat disfunctional SRPGs such as Generation of Chaos and Spectral Force (with the upcoming GvS arcade game being developed by IGS). The NISA forums make a call for fans to suggest what games they'd like to see ported.
Konami, having purchased a large amount of stock in Hudson Soft some time ago, finally announced that they have absorbed the one-time giant as a subsidiary. Hudson, continuing their current policy of releasing only mediocre games or ports/updates, most recently released Rengoku on the PSP, to little fanfare. Trouble is, Hudson was most successful as a publisher, and arguably still is, with Bloody Roar being the best of their current properties. Konami also owns major shares in Atlus and Takara, and whether it can turn Hudson back into the powerhouse it was in the PCE days, certainly remains to be seen, as Takara has certainly not stepped up, and Atlus is really in 'business as usual' mode.
Little Boy is the name of a Japanese art exhibit currently featured at the Japan Society in New York. Curated by Takashi Murakami, this exhibition marks the end of the Superflat trilogy. Be sure to read the stories at these links for the full deal behind this very ambitious art display.
Unfortunately I've been quite late in sharing this information - the delightful murasame has released a new game: Royal Edoma Engine, an isometric shooter. The game is in version 1.02 as of April second.
There's a lot of talk about violence in games, ethics in games, things like this. Well here's a good source for actual hard (or hard-ish) legal data as events transpire, a videogame weblog from davis and company legal advisors. Rather a nifty site, if you ask me.
According to Nintendo Inside, via Game Science, mobile game maker Dwango has purchased a majority share (59% of stock) in Chunsoft, of Dragon Quest fame. Dwango, site here, brought Ultima Online to phones, oddly enough.
We now have the results of the fifth Sanpugee Contest, a japanese contest for freeware games that last three minutes. The adventure game Kaicho won the first prize, but most of the other games are worth checking as well - just click the first big red square button here to download them all (you'll need RPGMaker2000 to play some of the contenders).
Millenium Crisis has gathered a lot of information on Trizeal, which some of you might have pre-ordered on Dreamcast for quite an unconventional reason. There is a lot of stuff to read (in japanese) but also some video footage of the game here.
Omega released Unyaa Proximo - Hajimeteno orz ed. - ver04/11 today. It's a vertical shooter in the same oldschool spirit as Dan!Da!Dan (i.e. neither bullet hell nor massive sprites). It's a bit reminiscent of Salamander's vertical levels. You can get it here (the ver0411 link). There are weird comments in the 'readme' file. Apparently this was at first an april fool release, based on a scrapped project, yet Omega now considers supporting the game "for real".
The Rumblefish 2 site has been renewed, with some nicer main page art. Pity they aren't using this designer for the main character art. On that last page, you'll also see the new characters from the Probe Nexus side project, which I completely miss the point of (mail me if you know).
Rumor: Samurai Spirits Atomiswave
April 11, 2005, 09:09 AM
by brandon, via a mysterious stranger - [permalink]
According to a Hamapika report (not the absolutely most reliable source, but decentish), the next episode of the Samurai Spirits series on Atomiswave may have a beta test in april. The game would be developed by Yuki Enterprise, the company responsible for development on the acclaimed SS 0 (aka SS V) and SS 0 Special. Thanks to Iggy, who likes unreliable gossips, for the rumor.
News: Master Burner and SFVI
April 09, 2005, 05:01 PM
by chazumaru, via some mysterious monkeys - [permalink]
This recent doujin game is a really neat take on Sega's After Burner. Might also ring a bell to the six people who played Panorama Cotton. Speaking of vibrant hommages, in case you haven't been on a decent videogame forum in the last seventy-two hours, don't miss out SEGA Fantasy VI. The kusoge song allegedly brought some to tears.
[4/9 edit:] we forgot to link the translated version of SFVI, which you can get here. Many puns obviously disappeared, though.
Although Nippon Ichi is becoming a bit too popular and mainstream to remain cool and hip for the underground elitist assholes that we all love to be, the weekend's buzz will mostly be about Rasetsu -Alternative-, the company's new PS2 real-time strategy game which is actually a new chapter of a popular PC series (previously reported about on ic) from Kogado - a company known by some for a bunch of games featuring young girls and big robots, such as the recent Blue Flow or the popular PowerDolls saga. As Rid noticed, two of the main characters in Rasetsu -Alternative- will look strangely familiar to fans of Xenosaga and Ghost in the Shell.
Conditioning and brainwashing software is the future of both gaming and education, according to Mindbending Software. To quote the official website: "Mindbending Software Inc. is a company specialised [sic] on psychological conditioning software packages for children. With the newest technologies our products infiltrate the computer games of your kids and mingle various subconscious or concious [sic] conditioning messages and images in the game contents." Bestsellers are the Selfesteemizer™ which fools your children into believing they are popular at school and loved by everyone around them, and the Intellectualizer™ which increase your kids' IQ through subliminal math lessons hidden inside commercial games.
The scariest part is that some parents thought this all was a very good idea and contacted Robert Praxmarer, the Austrian-born multimedia artist which programmed the aforementioned softwares then mocked-up the existence of Mindbending Software Inc., a company that would shamelessly sell these to any interested parents. Praxmarer' work is both a critique of the influence of contemporary games on kids, which promote Sims-like capitalism-oriented lifestyle, as evidence of the blind trust people have in technology to resolve all of their issues.
The little SaGa community, which is in effervescence (that's ic-speak for 'frothing anticipation' - brandon) as Romancing SaGa Minstrel's Song arrives at the end of the month in Japan, found a peculiar way to pass the time with their distorted characters. Namely, a doujin fighting game called Genocide Saga (download page).
Speaking of which, a reader from GareF noticed that Gamestop now lists three previously unannounced Squenix games to be released in the US in 2005: the aforementioned Minstrel's Song (in august), Radiata Stories (in october) and Drakengard 2 (in december). There's also a good chance that Grandia III will someday reach western shores; a game for which you can get a few videos and scenario details through the recently opened official website.
It's more or less a recent phenomenon. Japanese gamers had to learn how to do 'hadokens' with a control pad, but now they want to experience the real arcade feel at home, even if they don't actually go to the arcades anymore. Well, almost. What's true is that, for the last five years, the Japanese market has been receiving lots of arcade-style joysticks, more than in the rest of the whole timeline of videogame history placed together (maybe). Companies such as Hori or Ascii/Sega have been launching new models every year, most of them too similar each other, if not actually equal. Some of them are replicas of old classic models. Unfortunately, none of them are made with true arcade parts. Game Watch has published a comparative analysis of the most recent models that have been released for the PS2. It includes some mp3s from the joysticks and buttons' sound during operation. Really illustrative if you're thinking about purchasing one of these.
April 9 update: we previously reported that none of these sticks used arcade parts, but reader Peter Funnell mentions: "That is incorrect: the green RAP in the article linked to uses a Sanwa arcade joystick (model JLF-TP-8Y-SK) and Hori buttons. Also the recently released HORI Real Arcade Pro Addition and Edition models use both arcade sticks and buttons from manufacturers Sanwa and Seimitsu."
If you haven't visited DCP's duo section in a while, check out this nifty feature. He's taken images of many Super CD games that have unique error messages when you try to play them without a Super CD card, such as the rather amusing Sapphire error message seen to the left. Of particular note is the Dracula X one, which actually has a rudimentary game, only accessible without use of the super CD card! He's also got some other nice stuff over there, such as a Tennokoe Bank manual/manga translation and a Valis shrine.
In other NEC news, pcenginefx recently (well, february) put up a bunch of PC Engine TV Ads from the classic era. Be sure to check out the bizarre PC Engine Duo commercial.
Homura, the new 3D scrolling shooter from Skonec (of Psyvariar fame) has two official sites. One with Taito (the game is soon to be released for Type X), and one with Skonec. Neither have much info, but an early march newspost from Skonec indicates that the game continues to use the buzz system from the Psyvariar series, as well as reflection/counterattack, which is done by drawing your sword with the proper timing and proximity to bullets. Apparently the reflection is purposefully not very precise, but very powerful. Apologies if some of this info was already available. Check AOU 05 news roundup for movies.
According to Chiisana Gemuya no Hibi, The Oneechanbara, one of D3's most successful games, is going to have a sequel, called The Oneechanploo ～ The Oneechan Tokubetsuhen, to be released on June 23.
The game will feature the two sisters from the first game and two new sisters, Futaba Riho and Makoto, heroins from some verydifferent D3 games.
Speaking of SNKP and the PS2, Play Asia has a new deal of the week - KOF '94 Re-Bout for $20. That's a fine price, there. Yoi've got four days left to get it.
Rakuten game shop has revealed some details regarding two previously announced SNK Playmore PS2 titles. 'Bakumatsu Roman: Gekka no Kenshi 1-2' will be the name of the 'Last Blade' compilation, presumably No. 2 in the 'Neo-Geo Online Collection'. Out on June 30th for 3,800 yen. The King of Fighters Neo Wave also has a release date (June 23rd) and a price (6,800 yen), but more interestingly, it will have new features not present in its arcade counterpart, in the form of some new characters (for a total of 48). Additionally, but still without a release date, 'The King of Fighters Nests Hen' and 'The King of Fighters Orochi Hen' will be the names of the forthcoming KOF compilations, from the '95 to the 2000 edtions.
The DS version of Gyakuten Saiban has gotten a name change for the US - keep an eye out now for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. The name isn't absolutely terrible - but will they translate it well, and rewrite the scenarios so that they make sense in a western context? This remains to be seen...
Here's the official site for Ys IV (PS2 remake). Not a whole lot of new stuff, but some nice flash, and a promise of a may release. Thanks to Iggy for the news.
Likely an april fools joke (and sorry for the delay in posting this), but amusing nonetheless: A tribute to Bo; a pet in a Neo Geo cart. Thanks to PopaSmear for the link.
News: Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View announced
ZUN of the doujin-soft group Shanghai Alice has announced the next game in his Touhou series of curtain-fire shooters for PC. Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View is a competitive, one-on-one shooter much like Twinkle Star Sprites. The lovely-looking screenshots show a side-by-side view of two traditional vertical-shooter windows, instead of the series' traditional single window and status sidebar. A trial version (on CD and available for download) of the game will be released on May 4 of this year, and the full product will be released at this summer's Comic Market convention in late August, as usual. For more information on the Touhou series, see shrinemaiden.com.
As everyone knows, the fiscal year in Japan ends the 31st of march. As the "new year" begins, Irem thought today (this post was originally supposed to run on the 1st, but didn't, for reasons below) was the perfect day to uncover the upcoming release of their new console, the Exidna. Its amazing specs, compelling original controllers, exciting line up and tremendous third party support turns it into a serious underdog for the next generation of console wars. Expect many other announcements from stress-relieved editors in the following hours.
[edit] Well this disappeared quite quickly from the official site. Fortunately Working Designs supports it, and has a few translations in the works. In case this page disappears as well, Matt saved a bunch of pictures.
News: Summon Night Exteze ~Yoake no Tsubasa~ review
It is not really known how Banpresto/Flight-Plan want the game name to be romanized exactly but some other details can be obtained now thanks to IT Media's preview. Firstly, the main character is a 'two-in-one', that is, a young warrior and a female fencer trapped inside one body. The player will be able to switch between them at any moment. Summon creatures will of course be present, not only to fight enemies, but also to solve puzzles. And the graphics will be using a similar engine to the one in Summon Night 3, with true high resolution character sprites and 3D backgrounds, with some of the monsters also rendered with real-time polygons.
Perhaps the most 
Jung Sic Park, aka 
You may have seen 
Seems that 
Along with the Mushihime-sama PS2 port, the latest issue of Famitsu 
Today, IT Media published 
Another World was a cult adventure game from the early nineties entirely programmed and designed by Eric Chahi then ported and released by Delphine Software, Interplay or Virgin (depending on the version) around the globe. Some of you may know it as Out of this World, or in Japan as 
The ridiculous 'homespun console' aggregation known as the 
Just after releasing Senko no Ronde, 
The organizers of E3 sent out a 'sampling of "First Look" products' email this morning, revealing a number of interesting points. Firstly, Atlus is listed as publisher of Magna Carta: Tears of Blood, the popular Korean-originated PS2 RPG that went over surprisingly well in Japan. In addition, Age Of Empires II for DS is confirmed as being published by Majesco and developed by Backbone Entertainment (Death Jr.) Also, Tecmo Classic Arcade is confirmed for unknown platforms, and will include "Tecmo Bowl," "Rygar," "Star Force," "Solomon's Key," "Bomb Jack," "Tecmo Cup," "Pinball Action," "Pleiads," "Senjyo" and "Strato Fighter." Also mentioned from Tecmo are "Trapt" for PlayStation 2, presumably the latest Deception game ("Protect your castle by luring your enemies into your booby-trapped world in this trap-action game"), and Fatal Frame 3.
While the 
A bunch of interesting freeware and indie games have been released in the last few days. Credits go to the 
Behold mere mortals, for a new version of 
Lawrence has taken apart a couple of NEC consoles for your viewing confusion. Check out the innards of the simple 
Yesterday's appearance of Mushihime-sama OST hasn't confirmed the PS2 version we've been waiting for, but it has revealed a new Cave arcade game, nonetheless. A puzzle game based on Mushi is in development, 
At 
After a rousing 
Rid has a new 
Great news from TimeTop : they have a new GameKing avaiable, and it's 
Unfortunately I've been quite late in sharing this information - the delightful 
The 
According to a 
This recent 
Although Nippon Ichi is becoming a bit too popular and mainstream to remain cool and hip for the underground elitist assholes that we all love to be, the weekend's buzz will mostly be about 
The little SaGa community, which is in effervescence (that's ic-speak for 'frothing anticipation' - brandon) as Romancing SaGa Minstrel's Song arrives at the end of the month in Japan, found a peculiar way to pass the time with their distorted characters. Namely, a doujin fighting game called 
It's more or less a recent phenomenon. Japanese gamers had to learn how to do 'hadokens' with a control pad, but now they want to experience the real arcade feel at home, even if they don't actually go to the arcades anymore. Well, almost. What's true is that, for the last five years, the Japanese market has been receiving lots of arcade-style joysticks, more than in the rest of the whole timeline of videogame history placed together (maybe). Companies such as Hori or Ascii/Sega have been launching new models every year, most of them too similar each other, if not actually equal. Some of them are replicas of old classic models. 
If you haven't visited DCP's 
Homura, the new 3D scrolling shooter from 
Likely an april fools joke (and sorry for the delay in posting this), but amusing nonetheless: 
ZUN of the doujin-soft group Shanghai Alice has 
As everyone knows, the fiscal year in Japan ends the 31st of march. As the "new year" begins, 
It is not really known how Banpresto/Flight-Plan want the game name to be romanized exactly but some other details can be obtained now thanks to 
