I’m not quite sure where I’m going with all of my collections for the various consoles I have.. I’ve never really tried completing any collection by owning every single game released for a system, instead I prefer just buying games that I will enjoy, but then I also buy games sometimes without having a clue what it is, because I like getting surprised ^_^ This has however resulted in me owning A BUNCH of strategy games in japanese, LOADS of RPG’s that I don’t enjoy playing and also various other games that are text heavy in japanese or that just aren’t fun to play (like pachinko games, or sports games) >_<
I’ve just uploaded more games to the PC Engine HU card library and also the CD ROM library, most of these new acquisitions are strategy games or various un-fun games, haha… un-fun ^_^
but anyway, here they are:
The problem is that I’m also a bit of a hoarder, I can never get rid of anything! haha So I guess I will just end up owning every single game for every system eventually, since I keep buying stuff that I don’t already have and that list keeps getting shorter… At least when sorting I sort away some of the really boring games, (like JRPG’s and strategy), underneath the desk in boxes so I don’t have to see them and mistake them for something fun ;D
I know that a lot of people are really into RPG’s and especially JRPG’s, and I bet there’s loads of people that enjoy strategy games and sports games too, otherwise there wouldn’t be that many released over the years ;D But everybody must have some type of game that they’re just not that into… What are un-fun games in your opinion?
Seriously Play are games that I think you Seriously Should Play! In this post I will re-visit a game I wrote about a while ago, but only briefly, namely Spin Pair for PC Engine!
Spin Pair is an HU Card game, so you don’t need the CD unit or a duo to play it. It’s a puzzle game in the style of Tetris or Columns where you have shapes falling down, which you can flip or move left or right. However, in Spin Pair the shapes are very different and it makes the game more complex. Not only can you switch places of the pair of shapes falling down, but with the second button you can also rotate the contents of these two shapes! So basically what you need to do is get half a shape to fill up the opposite half of a shape in the same type/colour.
There is also another aspect of Spin Pair that I really like. If you have shapes of the same colour/type lining up horizontally in the same row and you remove ONE, then ALL of them will disappear! This makes for a great way of being able to plan ahead and arrange your shapes so that you can easily remove them all in one drop ^_^
Another trick I’ve learned is that you can separate the pair that is falling down, if you get the first one to land on a higher row then you are free to move the remaining shape to the side and also rotate it :D
There’s a story mode you can play, where each level gets a little bit harder. You will have to remove certain amounts of each shape, and this number will increase for each stage, also the amount of shapes will increase making it much more difficult since you will have to survive longer. You’re not always lucky to get the shapes you need either.
Each stage also has new shapes, they go from being quite normal shapes like squares, triangles and circles to really complex shapes.
Allt he different shapes represent various object. Everything from animals to robots and vehicles. Sometimes it can be hard to know which one it is you’re lacking. Since you can rotate the content of the shapes in four different directions it’s easy to make mistakes.
Once in a while the game will speed up, making it more difficult, and the only way to get it to slow back down is to remove shapes!
There is an endless mode instead of story mode where you just play to see for how long you can survive. It starts off easy with few objects and then increases. There is also a 2 player mode where you battle each other. Every time you remove a row with several shapes of the same type your opponent will get punished, having a pair of 3 or 4 objects falling down in their next move.
Already from the start I really liked this puzzle game, but I found it to be quite difficult. The more I played it though the better I got at it. Now I’ve managed to beat the story mode and it’s still a lot of fun to play! The final stage comes as a surprise with the words “COME ON BLACK WIZERD!!” lol… and then you have to remove loads of the same shape but in different colours, and you’ll see two cute little wizards fighting with their broomsticks.
I recommend anyone who’s into puzzle game to try this little gem out. The music is good, the animations are cute, it’s a challenge and most of all very different! You should Seriously Play it! :D
Here’s a few other games I got for my birthday ^_^
Some Famicom Disk System games, most were complete with manual as well, Kid Icarus, Gall Force, Gun.Smoke and Zanac :) I have a copy of Kid Icarus for the NES, however that one doesn’t always work so I’m really happy for this Disk System one :) I also already had Gun.Smoke for the NES, but it’s a great game and it’s always interesting to see if there are any differences between the disk and the cart version ^_^
Then there were two japanese Sega Master System games, Aleste and Rock N’ Bolt. I’m excited to try these out! Rock N’ Bolt I’ve never heard of before ^_^
Also Columns for japanese Sega Mega Drive:
And a few Famicom games I didn’t previously have: The Blue Marlin, Musashi no Bouken, Jackie Chan, The Lord of King and Great Deal.
And last but not least a bunch of PC Engine games that I didn’t have :D I will upload these to the PC Engine library soon ^_^
So today I’ve been busy as well! I’ve updated the PC Engine libraries with all the new games I’ve acquired and also created a collage with all the thumbnail pictures of all my PC Engine scans. Check out the PC Engine collage! ^_^
And here are some of the new games I’ve added to the libraries:
Toilet Kids is something I just HAD to buy as soon as I saw it on the Famicom Blog! I mean, come on! It’s TOILET KIDS! And all the enemies are flying poops and butts! LOL! °( ^o^)°
Here are some scans from the manual, it’s hilarious! :D Look at that happy poop in the middle! :D Butts and poop everywhere! Flying butt-rockets and penis-planes!!!! Who the hell came up with this?!? LMFAO!
Some other PC Engine games that I’m very happy with are Cotton, Download, Violent Soldier, Paranoia, Mr Heli no Daibouken, PC Denjin Punkic Cyborgs and all the other great shooters I’ve just uploaded to the library!! Zipang was a cool puzzle platform, kind of like Solomon’s Key. The cover art is ridiculously awkward and funny as well ^_^
I just realized today that there is something wrong with my first PC Engine console, otherwise I would have had that one connected to the computer so I could record some gameplay, so right now I only have the Duo that’s working and it’s too far from the computer for recording to be smooth.. but I will try to work something out soon so I can review some of these awesome games! :D
Got a lot of new games for the PC Engine, especially a lot of CD-ROM games now that i have a Duo! :D
So now I’ve split up the PC Engine Library into 2, HU-Cards and CD-ROM games.
I’ve added over 60 games today in both libraries, here’s some of them:
First time starting up my PC Engine Duo and it works perfectly! Also I was able to capture gameplay footage through the Elgato! :D Yay!
Akumajou Dracula X Chi no Rondo.. that’s what I’ve been playing tonight, and damn this game is good!! :D
I recorded a movie of the intro, it’s awesome! And odd!! There’s a German voiceover, which made me think I had bought the wrong game. Then I realized it was only released in Japan and seeing the japanese subtitles made me come to my senses and understand that this was the way it was supposed to be..
Good thing for me though, since I can’t read kanji fluently but I can understand German! :D
Great intro ^_^ watch it >>
The graphics were stunning, you can really tell that they used the full potential of Super CD-ROM! ;D It’s a big difference from the HU-card games.
You control Richter Belmont, and he has a whip just like Simon and the others, and you collect hearts to use your special weapons, like the knife, axe, holy water etc. The first boss was a fire breathing flying purple dragon-thingy, a step up from the bat ^_^
You still collect orbs after each boss battle at the end of the stage like in the first game:
The second stage was extremely similar to the first stage of the first Castlevania game! You fought ghouls and you were inside the castle and it looked the same! Just better graphics ;D
All of a sudden though I got chased by this giant beast! That freaked me out..
But I got away, and looked back to find that the giant beast had run into a wall.. and lost his head!!? lol, he must have been running really fast for that to happen!
The second boss was a pain in the ass.. I was stuck there for a while, even had to use a continue >-<
However, on one of my attempts in reaching the boss I found a key and went into a looked door to find a girl in need of my rescue! :D This added up to a cutscene:
On the third stage I encountered the seamen, much like the second part of stage one in the first Castlevania. It feels nice to get that feeling of recognition, while still having to find new ways of getting past enemy patterns :)
The sceneries are beautiful, and it really feels like you’re playing a Castlevania game!
Some parts also felt a bit like Symphony of the Night. It wasn’t as linear as previous Castlevania games, yet not as extent as SotN though, you still had the option to go in different directions but still reaching an end of a stage.
Most of the enemies could be recognized from earlier games.
And some appeared in this game that later appeared in future sequels like SotN, AoS, etc. Like this third boss ^_^
I bumped into these guys, the axe-throwing-maniac-knights. The difference between these dirt-colored maniacs compared to the regular axe-throwing-blue-knights is that these ones just charge you repeatedly and it’s super hard to dodge >_< At least the blue ones have a dodge-able pattern… This guy killed me over and over again, and I eventually gave up for tonight.
Thankfully this game has a save function so I can give it another try tomorrow ^_^ I wonder what “Player Change” does though.. it wasn’t there before..
For those of you who don’t have the PC Engine but still would like to try this game out it can be downloaded for the Wii Virtual Console, and there’s also a remake (which also contains the original) on the PSP called The Dracula X Chronicles.
This game is an excellent example of why I hold Konami so dear ^_^
Retro Video Gaming 