/vr/ - Retro Games

>>8381918
The one issue from my old collection that remains to this day. We're in the last great year of NP before the SNES starts fading out.

>>8381930
>Only one NES game covered
You can tell NP's struggling to find any NES game to talk about anymore.

>>8381992
>>8381996
Why not just keep the name as "The Chaos Engine"? Hell, the credits still use the original name.

And LOL at changing the Preacher to a Scientist.

>>8382036
>Evil Nazi shark from a future where the Earth flooded itself due to overpollution
>Goes back in time to WW2 so he can steal Hitler's brain and use it for his own evil plans
>Turtles foil him by convincing Hitler to blow his own brains out
Archie's TMNT was fucking nuts.

>>8382039
Supposedly based on Mitsu from the third movie, but really just Konami's OC to make the game less of a sausagefest.

>>8382049
For many who only knew the TMNT from the cartoon, this would be their first introduction to Karai.

>>8382079
Why did this one never got reprinted with the rest of the Nozowa Mario comics?

>>8382123
Another tease of Fire Emblem.

>>8382204
The only good Rob Paulson ever said about voicing Bubsy is that the check cleared.

>>8382112
>>8382119
I remember being completely fascinated with "The Game Designer" aka Dezaemon as a kid. Maybe the first time I ever really wanted to import something

>>8382269
>>8382272
>>8382274
>>8382275
>>8382276
>with the exception of Poison Ivy, every boss is beaten by hanging from a ceiling or wall out of reach and hopping down to attack and then getting back to the safe spot
Seems kinda lame.

>>8382281
Konami's last TMNT game based on the original cartoon.

Issue #57

Sweet. Will do announced but unreleased games tonight after work.

>>8382620
THE BABY intensifies.

>>8382641
How can you even buy another Shovel? The Bow replaces it in the shop, and then that gets replaced with arrow refills.

>>8382139

Ah Dragon Ballz, such a classic manga and anime series.
Can't beat Dragon Ballgt though.

>>8382686
>"Mmmmm... bread... (drools)"

More later.

>>8382216
It's crazy this 3D didn't ever really catch on. It was all hyped to be the future and after a couple years just fell into obscurity. I haven't seen one of these arts in over a decade until just now.

>>8382240
beta enemy on the top right screenshot I think

>>8382385
>>8382382
Damn, this even had a release date for Astérix on NES and SNES (unreleased). I'd love to get my hands on those NTSC-U builds of the games.

>>8382178

predictably

>>8382216

That Weege looks a lot like Wiggler at first until the picture has fully formed

That's one pissed off Goomba though

>>8382220

cute Yosh

>>8383205

Prob because so many people cannot do it. They just don't get the technique after desperately trying the weird "instructions" that STILL to this day come with stereograms and never work (First relax your eyes and then move picture closer blahblahblah) because they do not tell them WHY to relax the eyes. Just overlap the pattern and wait a short while ffs.

>>8382738
Man they're really hyped over that Ranma panda. They can't stop bringing it up.

>>8381936

Gail's note drove me to look up how the pog game actually worked. I somehow never learned as a kid. Having now learned, I tentatively judge it to be a crappy and boring game.

>>8381990
The NES would see its final games in the following year, output has really slowed down.

>>8382286

I would have felt the same way if I had read this issue then. I think I read something in some magazine (maybe Nintendo Power?) about some iteration of RPG Maker or something for... I guess it may have been Super Famicom? And anyway I was enchanted by the idea. Today I realize that I wouldn't ever had made anything very good with such a tool, that games other people made with it were probably crappy and boring in almost every case, and that the tool probably didn't provide the ability to even come close to making a game that felt as polished as a professionally made one, but back then the concept of a "game" about making games was catnip to me. I loved Mario Paint too, even though I didn't know how to draw, animate, or compose and I never made any very good pictures or scenes or tunes with it...

>>8381918
Is this the best way to present this 'data'?

>>8383491
Imagine the guy's reaction when Kung Fu Panda was announced. He'd be like that mintboy who was crying over Star Wars.

>>8381918
Thanks OP.
Brings back a lot of great memories. I read more Nintendo Power and Gamepro than any other literature from 1991 to 1996, the year I finally got a PC and dial-up internet.

>>8382126

After wondering why in the world anybody would want to play actual pachinko, let alone simulated pachinko with crappy Super Famicom physics, I looked a relevant game up on YouTube and then got sucked into watching it for half an hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogDcSkueixM (make sure CC is on for the helpful explanation)
It does seem kinda fun. As good as games like Casino Kid, anyway, and as a kid I liked those enough to want to rent them occasionally (but not own them).

>>8384107
I imagine they were trying to find a way to describe the game without saying the protagonist is a boy who transforms into a buxom redhead

>>8382161

Poor Ultraman, the lone entry in the Tournament Fighting category that doesn't accept a second player.

And it's time for announced but unreleased games. Gonna cover the JP special section as well, even though they specifically said most of them weren't likely to ever come to the US.

U.S. Presidential Election AKA America Daitouryou Senkyo - Hect (NES)
Not much to say beyond what is already said in the article. There's an 80% complete fan-translation that was released just last year. https://www.romhacking.net/translations/5755/

The Game Designer AKA Dezaemon - Athena Co. Ltd. (NES)
Man, having the magazine talk about these games in-depth is making this easy. Fan-translation exists. https://www.romhacking.net/translations/117/

Mystery Novel AKA Otogirisō(St. John's Wort) - Chunsoft (SNES)
The game that effectively started the "visual novel" genre. Despite it's popularity and iconic nature, no one has ever attempted to make a fan translation.

Legend of the Fire Emblem AKA Fire Emblem Gaiden - Nintendo (NES)
More of an RPG than TBS like the first Fire Emblem. Two fan-translations exist, here's the newer one: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1445/

Monster Maker - Sofel/Namco (GB)
First in a series, relied very heavily on barcodes to scan. No fan-translation exists, but you wouldn't be able to emulate it without some way of emulating the barcode scanner and barcodes.

More in next post.

>>8384312
And of course, Gaiden eventually got remade as Fire Emblem Echoes which did come to the US.

>>8381937
YES FINALLY

>>8384312
Pachinko AKA Pachio Kun Special - Coconuts (SNES)
No fan-translation exists, nor likely to exist any time soon. Most people outside of Japan don't care about Pachinko.

Mindseeker - Namco (NES)
No fan-translation exists, nor likely to ever exist since who wants another Taboo: The Sixth Sense?

Ultra Quiz Across America AKA America Oudan Ultra Quiz - Tomy (SNES)
No fan-translation exists, nor likely to exist any time soon. It's a collection of mini-games.

New Demon Island AKA Shin Onigashama - Nintendo (NES)
An FDS game that was on two disks, where the second disk wasn't available until a month after the first disk was released. No fan-translation exists.

Off to the Races AKA Tekichuu Rush - Hect (GB)
It's a program for predicting the winner of a horse race. Amazingly enough, it hasn't gotten a fan-translation yet.

Super Momotaro Dentetsu 2 - Hudson (SNES)
Board-game style games from Hudson. No fan-translation exists, or is likely to exist soon.

More in next post.

>>8383491
It was unforgivable they didn't put Kuno in that game. NP should've called them out on that.

>>8384387
Dragon Ball Z 2 AKA Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Freeza!! - TOSE/Bandai (NES)
Strategy RPG hybrid. Fan-translation exists: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/4222/

Dragon Ball Z 3 AKA Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden 3 - TOSE/Bandai (SNES)
Had a French release and a Korean release, but not a US release. Two fan translations exist which are pretty much 1:1, neither translates the menus. This one comes with patches for the JP and France releases: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/334/

Dragon Warrior 5 AKA Dragon Quest V : Tenkū no Hanayome - Enix (SNES)
First DQ game on the SNES.

Political Mahjong - Unknown (SNES I think?)
Hell if I know what this one was supposed to be, they don't even give me a company name to work with. I doubt there's a fan translation all the same.

Final Fantasy 2 - Square (NES)
RPG's didn't sell well, so they never bothered to bring out very many. While a fan-translation from Demiforce has existed for forever, it was also poor quality. https://www.romhacking.net/translations/139/ So be sure to patch it with the fix patch designed to bring the script more in line with official translations of the game: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/2656/

Final Fantasy 3 - Square (NES)
Three complete fan-translations exist. The original from 1999 that is solid if no longer in line with official terminology: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/141/ A lesser known translation that expands the game to 1MB to fit in more text, but is glitchy on accurate emulators: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1590/ And a recent translation designed to be accurate and use the modern official terminology: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/4760/

More in next post.

>>8384604
"Political Mah Jong" is Mahjong Club Nagatacho: Sousaisen
Famicom game by Hect, naturally no translation exists, nor will one probably ever exist.

>>8384604
Whoops, forgot to wipe DQ5 off of there, I already covered that in an earlier thread.

Final Fantasy 5 - Square (SNES)
Easily the best FF game in terms of RPG gameplay thanks to the upgraded Jobs system from FF3. Fan-translation has existed since forever: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/353/

Shogi/Igo - Unknown (NES)
Can't tell what this is, but I'm sure there's no fan translation.

Pachinko and Slots - Unknown (NES)
Same deal.

Sengoku - Data East (SNES)
Was supposed to come out but didn't get ported over for some reason. It's just a beat-em-up so you really don't need a translation. But if you really want one: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1742/

Fireteam Rogue - Accolade (SNES)
A very ambitious action/adventure type game that entered into dev hell and blew a 2 million dollar budget. One dev involved says they spent way too much time working on compression algorithms when they should have just cut some enemies and levels to make it all fit. Two alphas have surfaced, and both are far from complete and playable games. Earlier Alpha: https://snescentral.com/0/1/1/0113/Fireteam_Rogue_(U)_(beta).zip Later Alpha: https://snescentral.com/0/1/1/0113/Fireteam_Rogue_(later_beta).zip

Matrix Prime - Accolade (SNES)
Was also supposed to come out for the Genesis, but didn't make it to either platform. Not even a screenshot exists.

More in next post.

>>8384761
Thanks man, I don't know enough about the Mahjong, Shogi, Pachinko games to know what is what.

Tarzan - GameTek (SNES)
This one was cancelled at a 95% complete state. The source code and assets have been posted online along with a final compiled version, and an altered version of the game designed to be more playable. All can be found here: https://archive.org/details/tarzansnesprotoassetsrom

Milo VS Godzilla AKA Godzilla: Monster War - Extreme(it was Alfa System) (SNES)
A simple action fighting game. No fan translation exists, none is really needed to play.

Impossible Mission 2025 - Microprose (SNES)
Was also going to be a Genesis title, this Amiga game stayed on the Amiga. A few screenshots have appeared of the SNES version that was being developed, but it's believed whatever might exist was only 20-30% completed and it hasn't appeared yet.

And that's finally everything for these two issues. Whew.

>>8384867
"Shogi/Igo" is two games.. Shogi Meikan 92, and Igo Shinan 92
Both Famicom by Hect; obviously no translation

"Pachinko and Slots" is Tokyo Pachi Slot Adventure
Famicom by Coconuts; obviously no translation

Buying shit tons of "wholesale lots" of famicom games over the years has made me unfortunately very familiar with fc/sfc Japanese gambling games

>>8382301

Tetris 2 was one of the few among these late-era NES games that I actually played (on a rental). It was okay, but a bit depressing. I guess it's mostly just Dr. Mario, and I was never really into Dr. Mario.

Those Nazca lines backgrounds are bafflingly ugly.

>>8385479
Nintendo was sticking the Tetris name onto every block-drop puzzle game that even vaguely resembled it, and now most of them can't ever be re-released because of all the mandates that the brand name has since been given.

>>8384260
Viz was finally releasing Ranma in the US, so Hard Battle didn't get hit with another Street Combat localization. Still, it was a niche audience since fledgling early 90s anime fans and Viz having no idea how to market anime that wasn't GUNS N GIRLS N GUTS as Akira had popularized certainly did lead to them trying whatever.

Heck, even when they'd sell Pokemon on VHS the trailers at the end would be for Ranma so hard to say if they EVER figured out who they were selling the show to.

>>8386294

That one makes more sense than Tetris Attack, which is the only other case of this that I'm aware of, since its falling pieces do appear to contain exactly four blocks each. It does have that fundamental "tetra"-ness to it, even if the rest of it is mostly Dr. Mario or whatever.

On the other hand, I would feel more satisfied calling Tetris Attack "Tetris 2", because unlike Tetris 2 it's an awesome game.

>>8386363
>2 episodes
>$30

Those were dark times. Also calling it a "sex comedy" is kind of strange.

>>8386468
don't forget about

>(dubbed)

>>8382641
>>8382649
Honestly this sounds like a glitch/oversight of some sorts that was probably fixed in later revisions?

As you say it should be impossible to buy another shovel. Perhaps he stumbled on a glitch or is using a beta version.

>>8382112
>>8382119
>>8382123
>>8382126
>>8382129
>>8382135
>>8382139
I really appreciate how the Japanese keep track of units sold and retail prices so efficiently.
Finding such information in the rest of the world is sketchy at best.
Famicom RPGs tend to cost 50% more than the "standard" famicom game prices, and then you also have budget games... but in the west everyone puts everything in the same bag and tends to forget that so many games (like, most GB games...) were budget titles

>>8386485
So it's worth nothing then

>>8386517
So like how NP showed how to clear the death drop in Blaster Master, but it didn't matter because the US version made it easier by adding platforms?

>>8382382
>This game does a good job of showing that war is not all that much fun.

So much of this magazine is relentlessly positive, and then... the minus lines in Now Playing come along to shock us back to sad reality.

>>8382382
>Bebe's Kids
>Poor play control

That's the understatement of the century.

>>8382079
It's easy to miss that this is from the era when Wario was still drawn cross-eyed. Once Wario becomes a protagonist of his own, this quirk of his character design is quietly discarded.

>>8382665
I'm a big fan of its gaiden story, Sailor and the Seven Ballz.

>>8386410
I recall Tetris Blast, Tetrisphere, Wordtris, Hatris, and so on. I know some aren't Nintendo, but a lot of puzzle games were using the Tetris name for things that had nothing to do with it.