Doujin Soft Spot

[Spacewalk]

GR 3

La-Mulana wasn’t the first MSX throwback NIGORO worked on, back when they were known as GR3 Project they released a Gradius fan game under the name of “Kenami”. If you’ve never played an STG on the MSX or any game on the MSX for that matter then this is certainly going to be an eye-opener. No it’s not a performance issue, it’s supposed to scroll column by column, the MSX couldn’t do smooth scrolling. Just wasn’t made with that in mind. It’s incredibly jarring and will probably give you a massive headache so all you can really do is try and get used to it.

Hopefully you will have more than four E’s by the end of the stage.

It’s still a damn good game though and shapes up well compared to official Gradius titles. It looks really good and sounds really good just like something Kenami, sorry, Konami could’ve made themselves. Like a real home port you’re only allowed two options max but to make up for that shortcoming you can buy new weapons after each stage using any ‘E’ orbs that you’ve collected. You better hope you can play a stage perfectly, just like your power levels your currency gets zeroed when you get killed which is going to happen frequently unless you’re really good at Gradius. It is such a difficult game. Oh god it is so so difficult I’d rather play loop two of Gradius 3 even though it’s totally bullshit. I’d go a remake though, they remade La-Mulana they should remake this. If it was as good as Hydorah that’d be sick.

The first stage has a really cool boss at the end. I can’t imagine what this is going to be like playing Re-DEATH.

Then you get to version Re-DEATH which is the hard version. Yep, the standard game is the easy mode. In addition to more aggressive enemies stage layouts have been tinkered with which is a genuine reason to play this if you can take it.

This is as far as I got.

Some versions of this only work on old version of Java. I threw up everything I had that wasn’t my dinner so it’s up to you to find the ones that work. Of course the hard one is one of those, hah hah, fun for everyone. Now excuse me I gotta go throw up.

WTF dude even the Spectrum could scroll things smoothly.

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G-Type

Well, you tell me where the enemies are.

Gradius and R-Type together at last like chocolate and orange. It’s a Click n’ Create game and we all know about those so if you’ve got a pad and want to use buttons 3 and 4 ("C’ and ‘V’ on the keyboard) you’ll have to set 'em up with JoyToKey or whatever.

These guys had to turn up some time.

R-Type mechanics work well enough in a Gradius environment even with the power-up bar. It’s just fun to use a Force Pod to take down enemies from a different game, shooting it into the face of bosses, using it to block Moai Head ring lasers even though lasers and particularly big bullets slip though. The developer was kind enough to respawn you instantly after you die and not send you back to a checkpoint which is very appreciated especially after GR 3.

The charge shot is more trouble than it’s worth.

Get it from the usual place.

[Spacewalk]

GREATEST DRIVERS

All these action shots are from the demo reel so the HUD doesn’t get in the way.

A dinky rally game. Twelve cute cars. Time attack in four tracks with eight layouts. Race against replay data with up to three cars. Realistic car tuning (over ONE MILLION patterns!) and high speed drifting. Writing about games is easy when all you’re doing is quoting the back of the box. Being cute the cars have squashed up proportions similar to those old Choro Q/Penny Racers/Road Trip games on consoles. That’s where the comparisons end though, you aren’t getting an explorable world or wacky customisation.

You get an explanation of what tuning does to each aspect of the car so even luddites like me can be a pro.

There are four courses as well as mirrored versions on offer. If you go too far off-road you’ll get auto centred on the track which is silly since this is a rally game. Also kinda annoying since there are parts of the track where you don’t get much leeway before it corrects you. The actual driving bit feels pretty good though, you can expect some off-road slipperiness but with tuning your car just right you can compensate, simple as it is. It’s probably a good idea to have different settings for different tracks. Or not, you can just close your eyes and change the settings randomly to get a car that plays ridiculously awful but you’ll get a laugh out of it.

Eat my dust, suckers!

Also from the developer: Pretty Chasers is even more dinky and cute racing game. Three tracks, two driving styles, very simple controls and you can race with up to nine other cars. The Greatest Witch is a party game where you have to be the last witch standing or hovering I guess. You know what this reminds me of? Jump ‘n’ Bump only with cute little witches instead of rabbits. Their other site which got eaten by the internet had another game or two that I forgot the names of. Maybe it’s worth hitting up Vector to find those.

Developer’s site.

[Spacewalk]

RIDER

A motorcycle delivery game. You’ve got a package to deliver and the clock is ticking so you’ve gotta go fast whilst trying not to break any traffic laws whilst The Man is around. On later jobs he’ll be sneakily hiding behind road side scenery. Look out for boxes! If you accumulate too much damage that’s a bike that gets removed from play and you have to choose another one. The entire game is one big risk/reward mechanic and it’s a lot of fun.

Sneaky bugger.

To control your bike you move your mouse over the green plane at the centre of the screen. Vertical movement is for acceleration and braking, horizontal movement is for turning. Left and right mouse buttons look over your shoulders, middle button zooms in slightly so you can get a better look at whether that’s a traffic cop or just a pedestrian. I think this is really cool, it’s not a control method that I’ve ever come across but it works quite well.

You can cross over to the opposite lanes but it’s not recommended.

Also by the developer: not much in the way of games, an older version of Rider and Alpha Strike a strategy game set in deep space that’s also a screensaver? What I’m getting from the machine translated description is that you plan out your orders firs then run the game/screensaver and it all plays out which kinda makes it sound a lot like Gratuitous Space Battles but that sounds too good to be true. The rest is database and management apps.

Developer’s site.

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HACK9

You’d look sad too if you knew that the guard positioned just outside the door you just went in respawned and shot you in the back when you tried to enter it again.

If you liked Cave Story but wished it was a brutally hard stealth action game then do I have the game for you. I could not warm to Hack9 for only the cold touch of the reaper awaited me. An evening of trying to make as much progress as I could tolerate would always end machine gunned to death by tanks, blown up by missiles and a dirt nap on a bed of spikes. Make sure you grind 120 moneys in the first two rooms so you can buy a terrible pistol from page two of the arms merchant’s store. Using HP max items doesn’t give fixed increases, that’s a great idea that all games should use. Glowing appraisal! I try to be positive about any of these write ups but I wasn’t having any fun.

Also by the developer: Hacker9 which looks real similar to Hack9 which means that I’m going to completely ignore it. Ghost9 Solid which I’ll admit does look pretty cool and a bunch of other games that only have downloads for patches but are probably just rehashes of the same idea.

Developer’s site (English).
Developer’s site (Japanese).

[Spacewalk]

DESTRUCTION DESIRE

Destruction Desire is compact. Only five characters, beat 'em all and you get thrown into a second loop which is more difficult. Beat 'em all again and you get the chance to be destroyed by fighting against all the other characters at the same time. There’s an obvious Guilty Gear influence at work here and not just visually, I’ll bet that a few of the gameplay systems made the leap too all tied to the visually pleasing meter in the bottom corner of the screen but I haven’t played Guilty Gear in ages so I can’t give you any specifics. It’s an alright game but I was ultimately left wanting. A manual. I mean, it’s not exactly a difficult game to figure out but it’d still be handy to have one around.

Get it here.

[Spacewalk]

FATE AXIS

A good looking fighting game that features a cast of stereotypes such as cool protag with duals swords, spunky fighting girl, beastfolk who is a magic experiment or the last member of an extinct race (who were magic experiments) and Mr. Leave-Me-Alone with a chainsword. Of course they all have silly names. Gameplay is nice with good combo potential, fast filling meter, ring outs and you’ve got side step buttons to make it feel a bit more 3D. There’s also a technique called a “Fate Action” that buffs your attack, defence or chain attacks if you want something more to sink your teeth into. It’s one of the best doujin fighters I encountered. Most interesting other than this being a game that wasn’t developed with Fighter Maker is the pause button that lets you rotate the camera in order to get exciting screenshots.

Developer’s site (archived).
Vector link.

[Spacewalk]

VANGUARD PRINCESS

An all-female fighting game you can also buy this through Steam but this is the free version so now you won’t have to. This is one of Those Games where every frame of animation is drawn for maximum fan service appeal. But that don’t mean it ain’t a bunch of fun and also extremely nice looking. This isn’t one of those Fighter Maker games with scrappy art it’s all been done by a pro but if you work for Capcom that’s to be expected (I hear that they used to do good work over there). Even the portraits on the character select screen are animated and you get animated scenes whenever you trigger a super move, it’s totally overdone.

Forensic pathologists determine the cause of death to be anime.

Three buttons for attacks and one more for your support character’s actions who can do different things based on the direction you use. No charge motions for specials and the most complex stick movement is a half circle. It’s not a difficult game to play which I think is good but I turned my back on complicated fighting games a long time ago. It’s probably not going to make people swear off Skullgirls anytime soon but it’s surely better than SNK’s last girls only fighter that I don’t know the name of.

Developer’s blog.

[Baines]

An all-female fighting game you can also buy this through Steam but this is the free version so now you won’t have to.

Some time back, there was a claim that the game’s creator receives no money for the Steam version. I don’t know if that is true.

The Steam version does have three game DLCs. Though due to Fighter Maker 2nd limitations, these DLC packs apparently don’t add to the base game but rather replace, making the various DLC contents exclusive from each other? So apparently you can’t do something like play Hilda (the boss which is made playable with the Hilda DLC) in a new stage added via the Lilith DLC?

The Steam version added Steam workshop support. Theoretically, people can create their own characters for the game and upload them to the workshop. I say theoretically, because there is no content available in the Steam workshop for the game. Either no one ever bothered, or there was some issue with it preventing people from using it. Or maybe it was because there were no real instructions, just an example sprite sheet posted to a non-Steam website.

[Spacewalk]

There’s probably a market for another version of Fighter Maker but would people really use it over M.U.G.E.N. which always seemed easier to use. Maybe if they did another 3D one so they wouldn’t have to compete. I’ve always thought that it would be better on PC than on the Playstation just from a UI perspective, I didn’t really get anything done when I used it back in the year 2000 I think it was. There was a sequel on the PS2 but I don’t think that got out of Japan.

[Spacewalk]

FATE AXIS 2: THE FRAGMENT

I didn’t know that Fate Axis received a sequel until this week so I am as new to this as you are. I really enjoyed the first game but they improved it further. Graphically it looks like it slipped between the crack opened up between the Playstation and Dreamcast and if there’s one thing that’s desperately needed it’s more games that look like almost Dreamcast games. Extra movement options (double jumping and air dashing), four more characters which bumps up the cast to a very acceptable ten and you get a time slow move for extra combos. But most importantly camera control returns. I don’t think that anyone else who liked the first game is going to have a bad time here in fact they’re going to have a great time.

Developer’s site.

[Spacewalk]

SUPER COSPLAY WAR ULTRA: ver. INFINITY

That’s a deep cut.

It’s like Super Gem Fighter only the gems are replaced with amphetamines injected directly into your veins. There’s loadsa characters with loadsa moves, like half the cast has an EX mode they can go into which changes up those moves, loadsa references and in-jokes to anime and games and god knows what and the whole thing is funny as shit. You get an easy or hard story mode, a battle royale mode where you and an AI player fight against a bunch of other dudes (this one’s really good) and a team battle mode which might be a first for a Fighter Maker game but I could be wrong. Arm Joe was fun because it was straight up bizarre, Dot Fighters was fun because it was wacky, Vanguard Princess was fun because it’s just a well done game and this is fun because it’s pure insanity.

Developer’s site.

[Spacewalk]

RADIO ZONDE

You’re definitely going to need a playguide for this one and luckily there’s a good one available here. Don’t start the game without reading that you’ll be at a disadvantage but if you want to throw caution to the wind the orange bar in the top left is your shield, the blue one your bomb and the green one drains when you move and fills when you’re still and determines your weapon strength.

This is going to be one of the hardest games you’ll play, beginners need not apply. Try running to the hills instead. Maybe you should turn on infinite lives in the switch/options menu and just enjoy the most hypnotic firing patterns this side of Touhou. You won’t have to necessarily worry about progress as all the stages are available to play right from the start including ones that are either training mode stages or survival stages that aren’t part of the main game loop. I guess the idea is that you can practice each stage before diving into ‘Touring’.

One of the lighter moments.

Six characters/ships with totally unpronounceable names are available to play as selectable with left and right at the menu and with three firing keys and the ability to combine them in different ways as well as the various quirks each character/ship has there’s a staggering amount of variety for a game of this type. They range from easy to use (Khyh, Mahilo) to insanely fucking difficult to use (Gophn) so I’m sure that you’ll find at least one that suits you. I’m partial to Hykyh myself, being able to root yourself to the spot whilst waving your firing line left to right like you’re hosing the garden is quite handy as is the energy claws that have good horizontal range.

Good thing it autosaves a replay I was too focused on not getting killed to take shots whilst on the go.

Also by the developer: a fighting game called Dogma which is proving difficult to track down. Eventually they went on to make Hellsinker which should be obvious to anyone who’s played that since they are so stylistic similar Zonde might as well be the prequel or maybe just a prototype. A high difficulty prototype despite not having as many gameplay subsystems to manage.

Vector link.
Japanese wiki, also covers Hellsinker and Dogma.

[Spacewalk]

IDINALOQ

Wow! Polygons! That was pretty new back in 2007. Not even ALLTYNEX Second was out yet. There are some pretty high production values on show, the 3D is good, character art is good, there’s voice acting including an intro video with a vocal song but that’s a separate download. I wouldn’t be surprised if Silpheed was a huge inspiration for this the games look like cousins. Silpheed also wasn’t really about score attack so I guess that this is the game for people who aren’t into STGs for chasing scores. It only took me, like, this long to get around to it.

Three firing buttons for three different directions and holding down two of those either puts your options in front of you as a shield to eat bullets that refill your graviton beam meter which is also triggered with the same inputs, you’ve gotta double tap it or something it’s a bit tricky. It’s a tricky game, since it’s got a ‘3D’ perspective and not straight overhead telling when bullets are about to hit you is harder than it should be.

Also by the developer: a maze game about painting the terrain released for the PC-98 and an arena game about throwing balls at weird monsters.

Developer’s site.

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PATRIOT DARK

One for the Cave fans particularly ones of DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, Ketsui and Espgaluda. Either tap the shot button or use the repeat shot button for rapid fire, hold it down for concentrated fire that drains meter whenever an enemy is destroyed. If the meter runs out enemies shoot angry red bullets that can’t be taken out by large explosions or converted into green gems. Destroy enemies with your rapid shot to get blue medals that feed your meter. Since I’m not a good writer I made that sound tricky but it’s actually simple to understand. The combo meter is straight up DoDonPachi.

Also by the developer: another STG that the machine translated description calls it as a “nostalgic retrotic new sense anchor driving barrage shooting”. There’s a trial version available.

Developer’s site.

[Spacewalk]

YS FLIGHT SIMULATOR

The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn’t have fish for dinner.

It’s not my first flight sim, that honour goes to LHX Attack Chopper on the Mega Drive (please don’t laugh) but it’s the flight sim that I bought a cheap HOTAS setup for so I could play it properly (yes, for a free game I found on the internet and nothing else. I guess that makes me obsessive). I picked a good one to play it’s just complex enough and much more attractively low poly and as a proponent of sorts for low poly graphics it was love at first sight.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

There’s no pre-flight setup routines to go through before you can lift off and getting off the ground is easy but if you’re somehow having trouble you can just use the autopilot. Some missions will even start you off already in the air. Everything else about flying a plane it simulates and with support for seven controllers with six axes and thirty two buttons each plus keyboard and mouse you won’t be hurting for inputs.

I’m doing everything I can… and stop calling me Shirley!

If you just want to fly around and test out the huge list of aircraft (including helicopters!) then hit the ‘Create New Flight’ button and off you go. There’s also a few quick start combat missions including one where you play as ground support units in the ‘Simulation’ menu as well as fifteen levels of landing practice. Interestingly, you can also simulate a small amount of ground vehicles. If you want further goals there’s more missions in the ‘mission’ folder in your install directory and they’re not all combat missions.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.

I can’t claim to be an enthusiast so I don’t know how many other freeware flight sims are out there but I’m guessing that they cater to a more hardcore crowd and they sure ain’t a ~13MB download. I guess that makes YSFlight more of a light sim then but my idea of a light sim are old games like Stunt Island or Aces Over Europe and the extremely vague memories I have of those and the weaker hardware of the time make for simpler games than this one.

I’d recommend YSFlight to anyone and not just sim enthusiasts. It’s a highly enjoyable game and a great entry into flight sims in general. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?

Seven. Lieutenant Zip died this morning.

Also by the developer: seems he was an avid FM TOWNS developer with a few other flight sims and some tools under his belt. Also screensavers.

Developer’s site.
English fansite.

[Spacewalk]

ASTROPORT

With ASTRO PORT you can expect games set in highly industrialised battlescapes where big mechs fight even bigger mechs in desperate struggles. Everything is dirty, rusted and worn which makes for an aesthetic that’s incredibly appealing. They’ve done lighter fare but the industrial look is so ingrained in their identity it’s hard to picture them doing anything else. Whilst they have a score of games available on Steam and a few more elsewhere they’ve also released a few free games with awesome names which we’ll be checking out today.

In Tank Domination (yeah!) you drive your tank around an arena of warehouses destroying all enemies before you run out of go-go juice. Holding the shot button down locks your turret’s direction so you can move and aim separately and the bomb button lines up a crosshair for your napalm cannon and holding this down increases the range. You have an energy meter that acts like a timer so it pays to be aggressive with your play style. The only colour in this world is bullets and the language you use in unsuccessful attempts to weave through shots.

Demolition Gunner In Seek and Destroy (fist pump) swaps the tank for a chopper. Most likely it takes place over the same infinite warehouses since it shares a lot of graphics. Since you’re in a chopper and not a jet you have some degree of lateral aiming of your shots which gives it a different feel to the other STGs in this thread. Bomb works the same as in the last game unless you’re playing ‘REMIX’ mode where it’s a super heavy machinegun that shoots straight up the screen. ‘REMIX’ also changes the entire gameplay to be more like a danmaku and is somehow easier. You can also grab stars for an end of level bonus which is a feature that would resurface in later games.

I think this might be one of the developer’s best games. Fans of Zero Gunner and Under Defeat should warm to it both being games where you are a chopper. Yeah, I’d play the shit outta this again it’s great!

Sonic Ironstorm: FATAL ATTACK (phear) gives you two different fighters to choose from, one that shoots bullets in a tight spread as well as loadsa missiles, the other with a wider spread pattern and that familiar napalm cannon from the previous games. Firmly in the domain of trad shooters this isn’t a game that you can go wrong with it’s a solid game for the times when you don’t want any fancy crap and a stiff challenge.

Ladies and gentlemen… Dr. Super Electric Amamori. It’s some kind of wacky adventure game and it went completely over my head because of the language barrier but I did drop napalm on a bunch of gangsters. Just click through the options. A side game to the very much not an adventure game Super Electric Robot Valkaiser.

To round things up Robot and UFO is super old school. If you are hot on Galaga and think it would be improved if it was a time attack game then you’re going to really like it. It’s okay but I think that Kenta Cho did it better with Titanion (this is a reminder to go back and replay earlier games. I’ve written about a lot of games in here so you might have forgotten about the old ones).

Also by the developer: don’t quote me but I think they started their career making games with Dezaemon 2, venerable STG making tool for the SEGA Saturn. You should deffo check out some their other games available on Steam since they can be had for a couple bucks whenever there’s a sale on. My picks are Gigantic Army, Satazius and Wolflame. There’s some other ones that aren’t on Steam so you’ll have to get them elsewhere like Rocketron which follows the Metroid formula. Can you imagine what a Metroid-like by a developer of super tough STGs would be like? If you download the trial version you won’t have to.

Developer’s site.

[Spacewalk]

BOOTFIGHTER WINDOM XP

Bootfighter gives you a bunch of mechs, about fourteen of 'em, that look suspiciously like Gundam all suspiciously named after versions of operating systems in a game that plays suspiciously like a Gundam VS game. Talk about cool, the only thing that comes this close is that Gungriffon fangame I posted screenshots of months ago. Speaking of screenshots you should check the pause menu for a camera mode that kills the HUD and lets you frame the current action from a myriad of angles. The game’s a blast so of course you want to get the most exciting one you can.

Judo kick!

Yep, it’s rad as hell. Maybe not as fast as I’d like especially since this is an anime mech game. Virtual On is ideally the speed that any anime mech game should aspire to. You can move a bit faster by boosting and a few of the mechs can transform during boosting but since any movement tech drains your generator you can’t go fast for extended periods of time. Blocking is very effective (also drains your generator) and there are plenty of buildings that you can take cover behind at least until they get levelled so managing meter is a goof skill to develop.

Don’t worry about the screen clutter it’s actually easy to understand.

You’ve also got a weapon energy meter to manage but it’s not as stingy. A lot of the mechs have a beam saber which doesn’t use meter so getting up in the grille of whatever is trying to junk you and comboing it until it dies worked well enough for me. You’ve got five buttons for weapons so it’s not like you’re stuck for choice. It’s a game that uses a lot of buttons and one that you’re going to have to JoyToKey the arrows to your digital pad because this is not a game that was made for analog thumbsticks.

Game modes include ‘Survival’ and ‘Team Battle’ which should be self explanatory. ‘Blitz Tactics’ mode has you and an AI team trying to destroy the enemy team’s flagship whilst protecting your own. I eventually got massive slowdown once things got hectic but I guess that’s the game telling me to turn down the FX. It kinda sucks because this is by far the most fun mode. ‘Practice’ gives you a stationary target to shoot your weapons at as with practice modes from other games. You can also play online.

Cool beams.

Also by the developer: a sequel titled Ultimate Knight Windom XP and a few expansions. Publisher CuriousFactory picked it up and you can buy it from them DRM free but it’s a version that’s out of date or so I’ve read.

Vector link.
English translation courtesy of Mirror Moon.
CuriousFactory’s Windom section.

[Spacewalk]

BUSTER

Different Buster to the Vacant Ark and Iwanaga developer Buster. If none of the games like running at fullscreen edit ‘system.ini’ in each folder and change “fullscreen” to “off”, you can always maximize the game window if the display is too small for your liking. Make sure “software v-sync” is “on” otherwise the games will run too fast to be playable even though it’s very amusing. All of Buster’s games feature appealing visuals and enjoyable if basic gameplay it’s easy to see why they were popular. They’ll easily keep you entertained for a few hours apiece.

AKUJI THE DEMON

You play a deposed demon who has to regain his former glory. Each level is a maze and hides orbs that give you back your abilities as with all platformers these days. Lucky for you all your powers are just laying around the same dungeon you got banished to. Being a game that was released before the glut of games like Metroid it doesn’t need to adhere to the formula and can focus on just being a straight platform adventure and not have to worry about levels being interconnected or any of that junk.

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GUARDIAN OF PARADISE

So I’ll just pop round the chemist and pick up some Vics then.

A game in the style of Legend Of Zelda but without the open world. Every dungeon occupies its own little pocket of the world with no scope for backtracking. Major gameplay feature is being able to command spirits to solve puzzles. You can also juggle enemies with sword slashes if your timing is right which does make at least one of the bosses easy to dispatch if you get the right set-up with your spirit’s ability. This makes it interesting enough to stick with through to the end. Expect the usual stuff like Sokoban and switch puzzles.

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HYDRA CASTLE LABYRINTH

Bravery.

This is a game that’s for anyone who thought that LA-MULANA wasn’t enough like Maze Of Galious for their liking. Doesn’t stray far from the source which I think is good because it means that the people who have a phobia towards old hardware can finally enjoy a game that is close enough to act as a stand-in for one of the best games on the MSX.

The game takes place in a huge dungeon filled with smaller dungeons that you need to complete in strict order. Tools are found in chests hidden in the big dungeon, some revealed after clearing the screen of enemies others are hidden in the walls and you’re gonna need 'em to beat those small dungeons. Definitely make a map as you go the game ain’t gonna do it for you. If you dread boss fights they aren’t very tough, it’s impossible to imagine anything this cute to be any real danger.

Also by the developer: he’s done several other games all which I’ve forgotten the names of. Sadly, he seems to have denied his past as his current website doesn’t have links for any of 'em and they’ve all been removed from Vector.

You did it, you found the heart of doujin gaming!

Developer’s site.
Google Drive folder with translated games.

[Spacewalk]

DIAVOLO NO DAIBOUKEN

But you can never leave.

Diavolo, the villain of JoJo’s Bizare Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind is the hero of this game. As JoJo villains don’t have happy endings his fate is an eternity of suffering. You’re going to suffer too having to listen to Hotel California on constant loop. Can you help Diavolo regain his former glory or will you go mad in the process.

You start out in the hotel room and that’s where you wind up whenever you beat a dungeon or die. The enemy variety is nuts and there’s loads of traps which are all super mean and you can even get killed spending too many turns on the current floor, allegedly, so you won’t be running out of tickets back. Getting deep sixed will send you back to square one but you get to keep any items you have in storage which you unlock when you beat the first dungeon supposedly.

Tonio is the shopkeeper because of course he is. No gut exploding dishes that reset your body’s health level though.

It’s a Roguelike in the style of the Mystery Dungeon games which I guess makes it Passione’s Mystery Dungeon. It’s not a particularly hardcore Roguelike but if you can’t read Japanese it’s going to be hard yakka purely through the amount of trial and error and note taking. You’re going to want a play guide but luckily the download I found has one of sorts included. Of course, throwing caution to the wind and running around like a blind fool jamming whatever you find on the dirty ground into your body good or bad is silly fun.

I’m not sure but I think this says something about gutting me like a fish.

After you’ve spent some time getting stabbed by junkies and homeless people you might want to figure out how to protect yourself better so you can spend some time getting stabbed by beetles and old Chinese blokes with knives for hands. You’ll find different coloured discs in the dungeon and jam them into Diavolo’s head with gold discs going in equipment slots (attack, defence, utility), red discs going in the ranged attack slot and silver discs do various things similar to potions I guess. You can throw discs if you want, throwing things in computer games is a bunch of fun.

The sixth floor is as far as I got I probably should have levelled more.

Eat pizza or walk around to regain health. There are things called Monster Houses which are bad news. Oh how cool is this, every time you use a disc the music changes to the band that the disc is named after. This is going above and beyond what was expected. It’s pretty great that this even exists, people expect JoJo games to be fighting games so getting a Roguelike that is such a fit thematically as this I don’t think that anyone would have expected. It’s on point!

Yep, shoulda levelled more.

Get it here.

[Spacewalk]

There’d usually be another game here but I’m taking a break from writing about doujin games. I got through all the ones on my list and there were almost thirty of 'em so that’s enough for the time being. I did add a contents page to the first post so it’s easier to find specific games but that’s pretty much it for a while. It’s not like I’m abandoning my thread, if I find something well cool it’s likely I’ll be back to share it but I can’t say when that will be.

[MakotoTheGray]

Hey there, forgive me if this isn’t the place for asking this, but I gotta give it a shot anyways. You seen well versed in freeware games from the old days, so I gotta ask this, I made this account just for this very purpose: From Tomoshibi, Knight Of Knights must be their most famous, or at least the one who captured the hearts of a lot of people back in the day ( mine included ). But I believe that this wasn’t the only game that they made that used that style, or at the very least, someone copied it in some way. I do not know the name of this game, since I was very little when I played it, but I am 101% sure that it’s out there. There was this game, pretty linear one, you gotta go from point A to point B, it was just one big map, mostly barebones, I think, there was this one specific part that you had to cross a big chasm, jumping from a specie of floating sigil to the next, if you fell down, there would be a lot, and I do mean A LOT of little grin reaper enemies ready to swarm your character. The final boss was very simple, a knight whose armor was half black and the other half red. If you know the name of this game, or at the very least, a place where I could start looking or asking around, I would be eternally grateful. Again, if this isn’t the place for asking such question, I apologize once more.

[Spacewalk]

That does sound a bit familiar actually, I’m sure that I played something like that but I’m still drawing a blank. I spent around an hour going through Vector but the closest game I could find was this one but that’s not it. Sorry I couldn’t help more it’s maddening not knowing which one it is.