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History Lessons: Out Live

On February 17, 2025

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Reader, we are back on our nominal timeline for this series once more. In fact, this is the entry that sent me on my latest detour, investigating other Japanese-only games that were translated by the team at Nebulous Translations: Getsu Fuuma Den, Star Cruiser, and Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead. Now I’m back to Out Live by Sunsoft, a grid-based mecha dungeon crawler role-playing game that released in Japan on March 17, 1989 for the PC Engine. That puts it almost two months after Clash At Demonhead in our timeline. It was never officially localized in English, but thankfully I was able to use the fan translation from Nebulous Translations to play it.

History Lessons: Shiryou Sensen: War Of The Dead

By Waltorious

On December 15, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’m almost finished with the latest departure from the nominal timeline for this series. It was triggered by finding several interesting Japanese-only games that have been unofficially translated by the team at Nebulous Translations, first Getsu Fuuma Den and then Star Cruiser. This time, however, it’s not my fault! Fun Project’s horror game Shiryou Sensen: War of the Dead (Undead Front: War of the Dead, according to Google Translate) was indeed a Japanese-only title that was translated by Nebulous Translations, but it was already in my list of games to play. The problem is that I wrote down the release date of its PC Engine port (March 24, 1989), not realizing that it was originally released for the Japanese MSX2 home computer sometime back in 1987! I’m trying to play games in original release date order, even if I’m actually playing a later port like the CD-ROM versions of Ys I & II or the Genesis version of Hydlide 3: The Space Memories. So I’m extending my detour to cover the PC Engine version of War of the Dead now.

History Lessons: Star Cruiser

By Waltorious

On October 22, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’m on another detour from my nominal timeline for this series. The farthest we’ve reached is January 1989, with Clash at Demonhead. But when searching for a translation patch for the game to follow it in the timeline, I found some interesting games translated by the same team at Nebulous Translations that I didn’t have in my list. So I’m going back to play a few. The first was Getsu Fuuma Den, released back in July 1987. Now we’re jumping to May 1988, when Arsys Software released Star Cruiser for Japanese home computer systems. That places it between Ys II and Lord of the Sword in my timeline. Given the focus on consoles for this series, however — and because it’s the version with the translation patch — I played the port for Sega’s Mega Drive console, which appeared on January 21, 1990, and was handled by Masaya Games.

Star Cruiser caught my eye because it’s described as an action role-playing game combined with a first-person shooter, and, well… first-person shooters didn’t exist yet in 1988. There were a few early games on mainframes in the 1970s and 1980s, and the 1980 arcade game Battlezone might qualify, but most consider the first “true” first-person shooter to be Wolfenstein 3D in 1992. Star Cruiser seemed to do a lot of the same things, four years earlier. It even got a console port several years before Wolfenstein 3D released, which is extra surprising because consoles generally didn’t have first-person shooter games, at least not until Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. I was curious to see what Star Cruiser is like to play.

History Lessons: Getsu Fuuma Den (The Legend Of Getsu Fuuma)

By Waltorious

On July 23, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Reader, I must apologize. After a rather disorganized start to this series, during which I kept expanding the scope and going back to add more games that messed up the timeline, I thought I’d made a comprehensively researched list of every game I might want to include. Once I got all caught up with Final Fantasy II, I thought it would be smooth chronological sailing. But while tracking down a fan-made translation for the next game to follow Clash At Demonhead, I ended up on the website for Nebulous Translations and took a look at the other games they’ve translated. It’s not a long list, and yet: I still found a couple of interesting games that weren’t on my list. So I’m going back in time once again.

The first of these games is Getsu Fuuma Den, which translates roughly to The Legend of Getsu Fuuma. Released for the Japanese Famicom by Konami in July 1987, it slots in after Wonder Boy In Monster Land and before Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family in our timeline. That’s actually pretty early, only the 13th game by original release date, which makes its combination of a top-down world map, side-scrolling platforming, and grid-based dungeon crawling all the more notable. It’s likely this game was an inspiration for a bunch of others I’ve already covered.

History Lessons: Clash At Demonhead

By Waltorious

On June 4, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

The timeline for this series has been somewhat jumbled, as I kept expanding the scope and adding more games to the list that were released before other games I’d already covered. But that’s all sorted out as of the last entry on Final Fantasy II, which released in December 1988. Now, we move into 1989 with Clash at Demonhead, a game by Vic Tokai for the Famicom/NES. It released in Japan on January 27, 1989, and was localized for a US release in December 1989. I’d never heard of it before researching early examples of Metroidvania design for this series, but apparently it got referenced in Scott Pilgrim. I was intrigued as I fired it up.

History Lessons: Final Fantasy II

By Waltorious

On May 1, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

The very first game I played for this series was Final Fantasy. I had intended to play all the Final Fantasy games in order, to see how they evolved from the early games I remembered as a kid to the huge epics full of cinematic scenes they are today. But then I decided I should probably also cover the Dragon Quest series, which released first. And then I added a bunch of other Japanese-style role-playing games. And then some action role-playing hybrids. And then some Metroidvanias and Zelda-esque games. Now, after playing and writing about 30 games, I’ve finally reached Final Fantasy II, which Square released in Japan on December 17. 1988.

History Lessons: Blaster Master

By Waltorious

On February 4, 2024

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

My quest to play through early console role-playing games, action-role-playing hybrids, and Metroidvanias continues. I’ve got a nominal timeline, but I keep deviating from it as I add more games to the list. Now I’m finally catching up. The farthest I’ve reached is September 1988 with Spellcaster, before that was Exile in August, and before that was Blaster Master in June 1988 — a mere two weeks after our last entry, Cosmo Police Galivan. Since I’ve covered Exile already, Sunsoft’s Blaster Master is the last game on the list that predates Spellcaster; after this, I’ll be moving forward with the nominal timeline and entering the tail end of 1988.

I actually played Blaster Master as a kid. I never owned a copy, but a friend did, and we played it together on his NES. I don’t remember if we ever reached the end, but we did get pretty far. So it was a bit of a nostalgia blast (heh) to play it again now.

History Lessons: Cosmo Police Galivan

By Waltorious

On December 29, 2023

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

For those just tuning in, I’ve been playing through early console role-playing games, action role-playing hybrids, and Metroidvanias, but since I keep adding more games to my list the timeline has gotten a bit muddled. The farthest I’ve reached is September 1988 with Spellcaster, but since then I’ve gone back to fill in some games I missed. Most recently that was The Battle of Olympus. If I’d done things in order, The Battle of Olympus would have been followed by Ys II and Lord of the Sword, before bringing us to this post about Cosmo Police Galivan, by Nihon Bussan.

Inspired by Japanese tokusatsu television series Space Sheriff Gavan and Space Sheriff Sharivan, Cosmo Police Galivan was originally a 1985 arcade action platformer game. On June 3, 1988, a Famicom port appeared with drastically different gameplay. While still focused on platforming action, it added role-playing mechanics and nonlinear environments reminiscent of Metroid, that require protagonist Galivan to seek out new weapons and abilities in order to open up new paths. It was never released outside of Japan, but fortunately there’s a fan-made translation patch allowing English speakers to play it via emulation (I used the Retroarch frontend and Mesen emulation core, as usual for Famicom/NES games). It sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a go.

History Lessons: The Battle Of Olympus

By Waltorious

On November 28, 2023

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’m still rectifying the timeline for this series. After reaching September 1988 with Spellcaster, I realized I’d skipped over some games that should really be included, and went back to cover them. Most recently, that was Sorcerian, released in late December 1987. Thus we now enter 1988 once again. Following Sorcerian in the timeline should be Dragon Quest III, which I’ve already written about, and now The Battle of Olympus, which released in Japan on March 31, 1988, and was later brought to the US by Broderbund in January 1990.

I’d originally skipped over The Battle of Olympus because I’d seen it referred to as a clone of Zelda II, suggesting it had little of its own to offer. After reading more about it, I decided to include it anyway, and I’m glad I did. It does have a lot of similarities with Zelda II, but it manages to feel like its own game despite them.

History Lessons: Sorcerian

By Waltorious

On November 7, 2023

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. If you’re looking specifically for console games, those are here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’ve been playing early console role-playing games (and action role-playing hybrids, and Metroidvanias), nominally trying to go in chronological order. But I haven’t been very successful at that. The farthest I’ve reached in terms of the timeline is September 1989, with SpellCaster, but I’ve since gone back in time again to fill in some games I missed. Several of those are entries in Nihon Falcom’s Dragon Slayer series, including Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family (AKA Legacy of the Wizard), and my most recent entry about Faxanadu, a spinoff game based on Xanadu, the second Dragon Slayer game. If I had my timeline in order, the next game after Faxanadu would have been Hydlide 3: The Space Memories, followed by the original Final Fantasy (which was actually the first post I wrote for this series, heh) and Phantasy Star. After that, we reach the fifth Dragon Slayer game, Sorcerian, originally released in late December, 1987.

Sorcerian is notable as an early example of a game designed to support expansion packs. The development team was tired of having to write the code for a game’s engine and systems every time they made a new game, so they tried a new approach with Sorcerian: it shipped with one disk for the game systems, and another disk with a collection of playable scenarios. Then Nihon Falcom — or others! — could release more scenario disks, which players could collect to continue their adventures. This formula proved successful, and Sorcerian was ported from the PC-88 to other home computer systems as well as consoles like the Mega Drive and PC Engine CD. Later, Sorcerian saw enhanced re-releases for Windows, and the wide range of scenarios to play mean that there are fans still playing it today (interested readers may enjoy this comprehensive feature about Sorcerian for more details). Unfortunately for me, all of those releases are Japan-only, without even any complete fan-made translations. The only time Sorcerian appeared in English was a version for MS-DOS, brought to US markets by Sierra On-Line in 1990. Which means I’ve found myself in the strange position of using comparatively fiddly DOSBox emulation to play it, rather than the console emulation I’ve used for everything else in this series so far.