Shining Force 3 - Scenario 2 & 3 - Sega Saturn.Renowned for its complex yet gripping story, excellent in-game graphics and simple yet addictive gameplay system, Shining Force 3 is regarded by some to be one of the greatest RPGs (role-playing game) ever made.Although the first part, "God Warrior of the Kingdom" (scenario 1) was released in North America and Europe, the second ("Target. Child of God") and third (Bulzome Rising") instalments of the Shining Force 3 trilogy were never released outside of Japan.Many put this down to the game being released at the end of the Saturn's lifespan and the imminent release of the Sega Dreamcast.Approximate eBay price - between 80-100 for the complete trilogy.Approximate time playing the game - many, many hours.Rent a Hero No.1 - Sega Dreamcast & Xbox.Taro Yamada lives at home with his parents and sister in an odd mix of mid 90s suburbia and Japanese culture.He's asked to order pizza.The delivery man brings the pizza but also a Rent-A-Hero uniform.Taro puts on the battery powered suit and is taunted by his father wearing a Godzilla-like outfit.Not realising the strength of the suit, Taro knocks his father out.Enter your hero - Rent-A-Hero.Rent-a-Hero-DreamcastThe obscurity of Rent-A-Hero is evident from the very start of the game.Throughout this off-beat action-RPG game, you'll encounter a wide range of tasks, such as rescuing kittens out of trees to doing battle with the originally named, Dr.Trouble.To add to the bizarreness of it all, you're given a set-top box called a "Creamcast" from a company from "SECA", which alerts you of superhero jobs now that you're a part-time superhero.Despite the games American look and feel, this "B-Movie" game never came out in North America or Europe mainly due to it being littered with Japanese related jokes.Rent-A-Hero did make minor appearances in North America and Europe in Fighting Vipers and Fighters Megamix.Approximate eBay price - none listed on eBay at time of writing Approximate price to learn Japanese - 1000.Dokidoki Majo Shinpan - Nintendo DS.Translated as "Thump-Thump Witch Judgment!" or "Heart-Pounding Magical Investigation", Doki Doki epitomises the wackiness of Japanese videogames culture, as well as being incredibly daring.You assume the role of a junior high school student, Akuji, how has been asked by an Angel to locate a witch that has snuck its way into his school.Using the Nintendo DS' stylus and touch screen, Akuji, or rather more disturbingly, you, must search suspects' bodies for a "witch mark".Fitting in perfectly with a Japanese obsession, most of the "suspects" happen to be Japanese schoolgirls.So, in a nutshell, your job is to roam around your school campus looking for schoolgirls, palpating each one as you go along for that dastardly witch mark.The Japanese instruction manual advises you to play the game "where no one else can see you".Sound advice, otherwise it could be game over.Approximate eBay price - 20-30 Approximate time in jail - 5 to 10 years.Guitar Freaks & Drummania - Playstation & Playstation 2.Although many don't realise it, the Japanese were making fools out of themselves in their own living rooms a long time before us Europeans were.Many credit guitar and drum games to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but it was actually Konami who started the craze with their arcade releases of Guitar Freaks in 1998 and Drummania in 1999, the former of which was later ported over to the Playstation and Playstation 2 in Japan.Using a plastic guitar which imitates the Fender Jazzmaster in terms of appearance, players must hold down the buttons corresponding to the coloured bars which appear on the screen, and move the pick lever when the bars hit the yellow picking line.Similar to "Star Power" in Guitar Hero, once a guitar icon is displayed in the Wailing Bonus column, the player tilts the guitar upright briefly to achieve extra points whilst playing the notes.The stuff of true rock stars.Not content with merely pushing buttons on a toy guitar, Konami went one step further by introducing Drummania.The drums consist of 5 pads representing a hi-hat, snare drum, high tom, low tom and cymbal, as well as a foot drum.Similar to Guitar Freaks, players observe the coloured notes scroll down the screen and hit the drum when it reaches the yellow line.Although its not entirely clear why Guitar Freaks was not released in North America or Europe, the reason why Drummania was never produced for the American market was because John Devecka, creator of Drumscape, held the US patent for "drum simulation games", which has since been bought by Activistion.Approximate price for both games, guitar and drums - 100-250 Approximate price of your friends laughing at you while you lose your dignity - priceless.Segagaga - Dreamcast.Released on March 2001 in Japan at the end of the Dreamcast's life, Segagaga is Sega's swansong before it exited the hardware industry, and is viewed by some as the epitome of what is missing from today's videogame market - originality.At it's heart, Segagaga is an RPG but rather than the traditional save the world/princess story, your challenge is to save Sega from the forces videogame makers experience in every day life.It's Sega's soliloquy of how things might have been before it shocked the world by withdrawing the Dreamcast from production and exiting the hardware industry altogether - a "Sega simulation".It's Sega saying "how would you have done it?".As it happens, the concept behind Segagaga is not far from the truth at the time the game was released.However, as the Dreamcast was such a short-lived console, it's likely that development for the game started early, or half way through, it's lifespan, so it's difficult to tell whether Sega actually knew the inevitable was going to happen.The game is thought to have been recalled just after release as Sega decided that DOGMA's (Sega's in-game rival thought to be Sony) logo was too similar to the Sony's PSX logo.Even now, the DOGMA logo still bares resemblance to Sony's PSX logo, so it can be assumed that Sega had Sony in mind when developing the game.When the company formed in 1951, a contingency plan was created called "Project Segagaga".The plan is initiated in 2025 to save Sega from it's main competitor, DOGMA where Sega only have 3% of global market share.As part of the Segagaga plan, Sega takes two teenagers and puts them in charge of saving the company.Approximate eBay price - 50 Approximate time looking for a copy - get a plane to Japan.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
5 Video Games to Never Make it Out of Japan - Part 1
Shining Force 3 - Scenario 2 & 3 - Sega Saturn.Renowned for its complex yet gripping story, excellent in-game graphics and simple yet addictive gameplay system, Shining Force 3 is regarded by some to be one of the greatest RPGs (role-playing game) ever made.Although the first part, "God Warrior of the Kingdom" (scenario 1) was released in North America and Europe, the second ("Target. Child of God") and third (Bulzome Rising") instalments of the Shining Force 3 trilogy were never released outside of Japan.Many put this down to the game being released at the end of the Saturn's lifespan and the imminent release of the Sega Dreamcast.Approximate eBay price - between 80-100 for the complete trilogy.Approximate time playing the game - many, many hours.Rent a Hero No.1 - Sega Dreamcast & Xbox.Taro Yamada lives at home with his parents and sister in an odd mix of mid 90s suburbia and Japanese culture.He's asked to order pizza.The delivery man brings the pizza but also a Rent-A-Hero uniform.Taro puts on the battery powered suit and is taunted by his father wearing a Godzilla-like outfit.Not realising the strength of the suit, Taro knocks his father out.Enter your hero - Rent-A-Hero.Rent-a-Hero-DreamcastThe obscurity of Rent-A-Hero is evident from the very start of the game.Throughout this off-beat action-RPG game, you'll encounter a wide range of tasks, such as rescuing kittens out of trees to doing battle with the originally named, Dr.Trouble.To add to the bizarreness of it all, you're given a set-top box called a "Creamcast" from a company from "SECA", which alerts you of superhero jobs now that you're a part-time superhero.Despite the games American look and feel, this "B-Movie" game never came out in North America or Europe mainly due to it being littered with Japanese related jokes.Rent-A-Hero did make minor appearances in North America and Europe in Fighting Vipers and Fighters Megamix.Approximate eBay price - none listed on eBay at time of writing Approximate price to learn Japanese - 1000.Dokidoki Majo Shinpan - Nintendo DS.Translated as "Thump-Thump Witch Judgment!" or "Heart-Pounding Magical Investigation", Doki Doki epitomises the wackiness of Japanese videogames culture, as well as being incredibly daring.You assume the role of a junior high school student, Akuji, how has been asked by an Angel to locate a witch that has snuck its way into his school.Using the Nintendo DS' stylus and touch screen, Akuji, or rather more disturbingly, you, must search suspects' bodies for a "witch mark".Fitting in perfectly with a Japanese obsession, most of the "suspects" happen to be Japanese schoolgirls.So, in a nutshell, your job is to roam around your school campus looking for schoolgirls, palpating each one as you go along for that dastardly witch mark.The Japanese instruction manual advises you to play the game "where no one else can see you".Sound advice, otherwise it could be game over.Approximate eBay price - 20-30 Approximate time in jail - 5 to 10 years.Guitar Freaks & Drummania - Playstation & Playstation 2.Although many don't realise it, the Japanese were making fools out of themselves in their own living rooms a long time before us Europeans were.Many credit guitar and drum games to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but it was actually Konami who started the craze with their arcade releases of Guitar Freaks in 1998 and Drummania in 1999, the former of which was later ported over to the Playstation and Playstation 2 in Japan.Using a plastic guitar which imitates the Fender Jazzmaster in terms of appearance, players must hold down the buttons corresponding to the coloured bars which appear on the screen, and move the pick lever when the bars hit the yellow picking line.Similar to "Star Power" in Guitar Hero, once a guitar icon is displayed in the Wailing Bonus column, the player tilts the guitar upright briefly to achieve extra points whilst playing the notes.The stuff of true rock stars.Not content with merely pushing buttons on a toy guitar, Konami went one step further by introducing Drummania.The drums consist of 5 pads representing a hi-hat, snare drum, high tom, low tom and cymbal, as well as a foot drum.Similar to Guitar Freaks, players observe the coloured notes scroll down the screen and hit the drum when it reaches the yellow line.Although its not entirely clear why Guitar Freaks was not released in North America or Europe, the reason why Drummania was never produced for the American market was because John Devecka, creator of Drumscape, held the US patent for "drum simulation games", which has since been bought by Activistion.Approximate price for both games, guitar and drums - 100-250 Approximate price of your friends laughing at you while you lose your dignity - priceless.Segagaga - Dreamcast.Released on March 2001 in Japan at the end of the Dreamcast's life, Segagaga is Sega's swansong before it exited the hardware industry, and is viewed by some as the epitome of what is missing from today's videogame market - originality.At it's heart, Segagaga is an RPG but rather than the traditional save the world/princess story, your challenge is to save Sega from the forces videogame makers experience in every day life.It's Sega's soliloquy of how things might have been before it shocked the world by withdrawing the Dreamcast from production and exiting the hardware industry altogether - a "Sega simulation".It's Sega saying "how would you have done it?".As it happens, the concept behind Segagaga is not far from the truth at the time the game was released.However, as the Dreamcast was such a short-lived console, it's likely that development for the game started early, or half way through, it's lifespan, so it's difficult to tell whether Sega actually knew the inevitable was going to happen.The game is thought to have been recalled just after release as Sega decided that DOGMA's (Sega's in-game rival thought to be Sony) logo was too similar to the Sony's PSX logo.Even now, the DOGMA logo still bares resemblance to Sony's PSX logo, so it can be assumed that Sega had Sony in mind when developing the game.When the company formed in 1951, a contingency plan was created called "Project Segagaga".The plan is initiated in 2025 to save Sega from it's main competitor, DOGMA where Sega only have 3% of global market share.As part of the Segagaga plan, Sega takes two teenagers and puts them in charge of saving the company.Approximate eBay price - 50 Approximate time looking for a copy - get a plane to Japan.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment