Dungeon Master is a very influential computer game, providing a bridge between Wizardry and Ultima Underworld. This modified port is interesting because there is so much work put into the presentation with a great opening about a traditional culture that holds a coming-of-age festival where they march through the streets with their local god. However, it really feels hampered with no mouse support considering they didn’t do much to modify it for the TurboPad.
I started in a room where portraits of warriors hung on the walls. If I touched a portrait, I could summon the warrior into my party. Everyone has a rather complex status and inventory screen. There’s an outline of their body where I can drag equipment. If I want to read a scroll, I must drag it to their eyes. If I want to eat an apple, I must drag it to their mouth. Food is not for health; there’s a hunger and thirst meter.
In the twenty minutes I played, I only encountered one enemy and one real puzzle. The monster was a spiky toadstool that exploded into possibly edible pieces when I shot it with a lightning bolt. The puzzle was a room with two doors and six floor switches. Stepping on switches would open or close the doors and I had to find the right path. This was not so much fun when moving meant clicking arrows on the screen rather than just pressing the direction on the crosspad. Still, playing a bit of the first dungeon really made me want to give the PC game a try.
This is Namco’s final PC Engine game. I’ve never really played Tower of Druaga but I know of its cryptic reputation. This update actually gives hints on how to acquire the chest on every floor, and the fan translation might make it even easier. Getting the chest helps you to raise your stats faster, get items for later, and get farther in the game. Will you really want to get farther in the game though? The action is very weak, every stage is a single lane labyrinth, and the music stays the same. One state is your agility and that determines how quickly you take out your sword for stabbing. At first, it takes a full 3 seconds for the character to hold it in front of them. That’s pretty wild! At first, I couldn’t tell why you wouldn’t just always be stabbing but then they introduce wizards that can kill you if you aren’t holding a shield up. Hmmm…I almost want to keep playing just to see if it really is going to stay this monotonous. It’s a shame that Namco would leave the PC-Engine on this note.
Another of those Pop Culturally Significant Animes I’ve never seen. The bushy captain, the etheral tall woman, the big ole red ship, everyone in Japan knows these things. That’s what I know too. In this the Yamato is buried in the sands of some planet and they are rushing to launch it. When they finally do take off you have a missile coming in. This is your first action as captain. You are supposed to select the right deck officer to launch counter measures. You select them by their christian name. The missile is coming in real time. I could not find the right one to select because I’ve never seem this show. Who the makers, Human by the way, clearly love. The Yamato blows up.
I don’t want to play Star Trek: Star Fleet Bridge Simulator in English. You sent the wrong man PC Engine thread. The wrong man. I guess this show is before Gundam or Macross so is this the source of Enemy Space Ships are green?
Also my warmovis brain activated as I tried to do all the calculations on naming this 70s cartoon ship the Yamato.
This isn’t significantly different than 1990’s Bomberman. What they add to it is more Saturday Morning Cartoon flavor and actual theming in the stages. Now there’s a greater variety of enemies and it feels much harder. I’ve been experiencing this thing with Bomberman where I concentrate really hard to get more upgrades, but once I’m powered up, I thoughtlessly bomb all over the place. Usually, this means blowing myself up and losing the nice powerups that got me there, starting over from scratch. I adore the character design and the music is incredibly. Jun Chikuma is one of the greats. We all know this. Honestly, it feels good to be playing a HuCard within such a heavy CD-ROM year.
We’re here with some more pervert comedy. You can get a few points here and there for taking pictures of people’s faces, fireworks, and flowers, but that’s not what’s going to stop you from being fired. First, you’ve got to make sure you capture the assignment, be it a flying car or a hit and run. Second, focus your lens on people exposing themselves or getting seriously injured.
Playing this, I’m reminded of Mitsubachi Gakuen when I punched the paparrazo in the face…except I’m the paparazzo and I’m keeping my face bruise-free. It is odd that Irem would make this.
Doraemon: Nobita no Dorabian Night
I watched Rudie play a bunch of this, but I think it was the HuCard version. Well, I just tried the CD-ROM version. Not only did they add voices, they also put in some cut scenes. This is a very colorful trip, balanced for children. It did the classic PC Engine trick and made me want to keep playing to see more even though it wasn’t particularly fun.
Now that it’s summer break, I’m returning to a bunch of my favorites and giving them more time, shamelessly rewinding and setting save states whenever I feel like it. So far, I’ve seen credits in Aero Blasters, Parasol Stars, and Star Parodier. I’m having a fantastic time. Parasol Stars and Star Parodier have so many Easter Eggs and delightful flourishes. I didn’t even realize I could use droplets to hop higher in Parasol Stars. Aero Blasters is evil in the later levels, but I still love it.
Frequently translated as Legend of the River King. This sucks. They can jump in a lake. Every time I try to play this game no matter the system I am reminded this sucks! My little girl is sick and I gotta find the doctor. Except the doctor isn’t in town. He isn’t even on the world map. The world map is just filled with Owls that can one shot me and the run away command fails all the fucking time. Yeah that’s right this fishing rpg also has random battles. Against owls that kill you. Then you wake up in town with one health and gotta go to the inn to heal because your wife just says find the doctor that doesn’t exist. At my 10th death trying to find the doctor (to the left of town according to an online guide) I give up.
The fishing was also bad. You have to open your menu and equip your bait and your hook. Then I caught some small fish before being killed by another fucking owl. I guess I am just supposed to hang out by the river and fight dozens of field rats till I level up.
Also if you fish at 1HP and the line breaks that also kills you. I hate this game. I hate it every time I play it across every system I play it. You aren’t Tsuri-tarou (The Worst Game) but you are close.
I’m now watching the Snatcher Pilot Disc and the non-Kojima guy they audio interview says, “we wanted to make the shooting sections unforgetablly stressful.”
The Snatcher Pilot Disc is incredible. The trailer shows all the gross gore scenes in a way that surprises me.
I think this is where you and I diverge because Legend of the River King, like Zero4 Champ and golf, has a beatifically banal quality to it that I find extremely compelling. When I jumped into this sucker for 10 minutes, I was washed clean by the CD audio sounds of a river flowing and birds chirping. I could not catch any fish, but I could defeat rabbits and squirrels.
It’s a Western-developed PC Engine game with polygons. It is set in the Vietnam War. I’m in control of a PBR where I can switch between the captain and gunner as we putter along the Mekong River Delta.
My first mission is to raid a certain VC outpost by 2:35 sharp. This is a training mission where I’m granted invincibility so the challenge is just to get there on time. Of course, the framerate is catastrophically low and I can’t help but bump off the banks of the river and wait for my vessel to regain forward momentum. A game centered on navigating a boat through a hostile network of rivers is really cool, but framing it within the Vietnam War is not.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Vol. II
It’s more Sherlock Holmes! Mechanically, this is completely identical to the previous volume but now there are three different cases to work through. I set myself a timer of 30 minutes to try and crack one of the cases. It involved the murder of two lions in a zoo park as well as a man named Stephen Lyons. I had some trouble getting my bearings because I’m not a Holmeshead and there are a couple of locations and people whose roles you need to be familiar with to get started. Also, I had to watch cutscenes a couple of times in order to write down all the names of people and places that might lead me to more clues. The FMV audio quality makes this a bit tricky at times.
After thirty minutes, I had untied quite a bit of this mystery’s knot, but I was missing the most crucial piece. I wish ICOM had spent more time making these adventure games for the Engine. I would have enjoyed playing ports of Uninvited and Deja Vu.
And with that, we’ve finished another year’s worth of games. Next year is the beginning of the end for our beloved Engine that Could. It will be the first year since 1990 where the total amount of releases drops below 100. But just because the quantity drops, doesn’t mean the quality goes with it. Take a look and consider cooling off* with the PC Engine.
You can definitely see the console winding down in 1993 even as it has it’s biggest hit. The number of mahjong and adult based visual novels has increased while the library only hitting 90 games according to the mook. Don’t worry there’s still plenty of Yabou and 3 Kingdoms. In those 90 games the mook includes “games” for the PC Engine Laseractive. At this time I still don’t believe those are playable outside of original hardware. I am sure there is a youtuber on top of it. This also sees the release of the final Ram Expansion HuCard: Arcade CD-Rom^2.
Stats
5 Laseractive
13 Games for Adults
11 Strategy Games (Games for Real Adults)
5 Fighting Games
8 Shooters
1 Police-based Board Game
1 Ys
1 Bomberman '94
Arguably 2 Castlevanias
1 Monster Rancher Precursor
6 Sports
3 Quiz Games
1 Shin Megami Tensei
12 RPGs
2 Racing Games
Mahjong Clinic Special - Strip mahjong featuring nise-Sailor Moon
Mahjong On The Beach for horny mahjong has the most appealing art for me, not that I will actually play it. (whoops I played it)
Himitsu no Kaen Bishoujo Adventure Game - a murder has occured at a local high school now it’s up to you to solve the murder and the skirts of 3 beautiful girls.
Super Real Mahjong PIV Custom - strip mahjong
Sexy Idol Mahjong - …
Cosmic Fantasy Visual Collection - browse all the key visuals in the PCE and Sega CD version of CF.
Valis Visual Collection - same for Valis 2 and 3.
Soutsugyou Graduation, here a year before Tokimeki Memorial will come out I gotta stop and take a moment with this particular shlock. Adapted from what else a PC-9801 game, in this one you are a teacher guiding 5 of your pupils towards your goals sexual and not. It’s gross from the description and I’m not going to dignify it with my time. I have adult focused pornography to indulge in. Picks up my hat, good day pervert. Except I actually have sympathy for the perverts. I want to use the other P word.
When I talk about how Tokimeki Memorial is good because it isn’t horny despite them wanting to make it horny I mean it removes 90% of the adult “If I was back in high school I’d have so much sex” thought. It takes out most of the other P word.
as the resident druaga sickie (literally forced a couple of friends to watch some episodes of the tower of druaga anime with me yesterday, all of which can be seen on tubi (there has never been a better time to watch something on tubi)), the pc-engine remake rules. playing the game on hard difficulty removes the stat system, and playing on mania removes the stats and hint system. i always play on hard.
Following Namco, Human, and Loriciels, Hudson serves their own tennis game to the Engine. The box art is gorgeous; look at that Bomberman color scheme pop.
It’s more or less the same level as Human’s Final Match series. The shots fly at a manageable speed and everything runs smoothly. There’s an assist setting that will automatically position your player for you during a rally. There’s a campaign mode where you try to win a certain number of tournaments before a deadline. I lost the first match in my first tournament, but I really started to pick up in the second. I really appreciate that Hudson still made HuCards this late into the console’s life.
Nihon Bussan gets in on the soccer action and make something very similar to last year’s Tecmo World Cup…except not as good. There’s a marker showing who your pass is going to, but if you press in a direction at all after passing, they won’t catch it. I do really enjoy seeing all the J. League mascots. Oh, I’m just now reading that 1993 was the first season for the J. League. Woah, there’s Spanish, German, and Italian in these team names. “Tokyo Verdy?” And they wear green uniforms? I’m going with Gamba Osaka because I like that city and that’s a cute name for a team. I won the game. Look, I may have rewound every time I missed a goal or pass or block or anything I didn’t like happened. The important thing is I won. See? Here’s proof!
riot zone - it’s a beat em up set in kowloon! unfortunately, it’s also a good example of the pc engine showing its age: it doesn’t look anywhere near as good as last year’s streets of rage 2 or this year’s final fight 2, most of the backgrounds are static images, and there’s no co-op. still, a beat em up set in kowloon with a great cd soundtrack is still a pretty good time.
cd battle: hikari no yushatachi - almost like a proof of concept for the ps1 monster rancher games. put in music cds to turn them into parties of rpg characters, and have them fight each other. a mildly interesting novelty, but there isn’t much of an actual game in here.
fiend hunter - a prince of persia-alike with lots and lots of long dialogue scenes. also it’s insanely difficult and not very fun.
black hole assault - a pre-sfii-style fighting game where a single player fights various cpu opponents in sequence. lots of decent-looking cutscenes with full english voice acting, which is a novelty i guess.
flash hiders - a fighting game with very 90s oav character designs. has an extensive single player mode where you pick a character and gradually increase their stats. it’s ok i guess. might be the first fighting game with a cpu vs cpu mode?
one thing to note is that two games from 1993 have secret mini games if you try to play them with the original cd system card: rondo of blood and tenshi no uta ii
I wish I had more to say about this, the sixth Power League game I’ve played for the PC Engine. This is the last one. As always, I played a full game. The computer player changed their pitcher five times. Buddy, there’s no way you have that many good pitchers on your team. I hit a home run in the fifth inning which saved the game from running into extra innings. I appreciate that Hudson kept the same announcer for all their sports games.
I’ve hated football and Madden my whole life but I love this. It was a Hail Mary throw from Hudson to finally have success in America. Of course, that pass was incomplete.
I love John Madden’s joyous gesticulations. I love the FMVs that play whenever you make first down. The action strategy of selecting plays and rolling the dice on a pass or run feels so good. This probably isn’t the best 16-bit Madden. I bet the Genesis version that was made by EA is smoother, faster, and better looking. I chose the Steelers for my team and the Browns for the computer because I wanted to win. I played up until getting a touchdown, and I’m very satisfied with that. I never would have thought that my turn to sports games would include becoming a fan of Madden.
Fiend Hunter and Flash Riders were in my list of Adult Games based of the mook’s screenshots/description. Any comment on actual horniness before I find out myself?
i haven’t played much of fiend hunter, so maybe there’s dirt in that one later on, but flash hiders doesn’t seem especially horny at all, as far as i can remember.
