Jiro Kuwata, 8 Man's co-creator & designer, passed away last month at 85.

Burning Fight!!

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Damn 85 is a life well lived.

Run as fast as lightning in heaven.
 

SouthtownKid

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He also did the Japanese Batman comic, which DC translated to English a few years back.
 

oliverclaude

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RIP Kuwata-san. BTW, Kazumasa Hirai, 8 Man's creator and scenarist, died five years ago (1938 - 2015).

I like this Japanese take on a superhero's double life in 8 Man. It felt like a reflection of a work related culture: crime fighter in real life and the same as the super-powered alias. Too bad Pallas' game only featured the energy capsules and not their disguised form of radioactive cigarettes ;).
 

Digmac

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Sad news to hear for sure. For it's time, 8 Man was a forward thinking character.
 

KRONOS

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That's sad to read of his passing. Does anyone know if Pallas developed any other games besides 8-Man and 2020 Super Baseball?
 

Digmac

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That's sad to read of his passing. Does anyone know if Pallas developed any other games besides 8-Man and 2020 Super Baseball?

I haven't found any mention of them outside of 8 Man and 2020 Super Baseball. I'm thinking they were a part of SNK or tied to them somehow because the staff who worked on them also worked on other early SNK titles with no mention of Pallas. Eikichi Kawasaki was the producer of both as well.
 

NeoCverA

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It was one of my first AES titles owned. That and Fatal Fury.
 

max 330 mega

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Man, that sucks. Pallas released solid titles. Solid enough that i own legit aes copies, some of my favorite early titles, yep.. Both of them. I feel like soccer brawl could easily have been developed under the same team, but i got nothing to prove it.
 
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Digmac

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Man, that sucks. Pallas released solid titles. Solid enough that i own legit aes copies, some of my favorite early titles, yep.. Both of them. I feel like soccer brawl could easily have been developed under the same team, but i got nothing to prove it.

I enjoy both 8 Man and 2020 Super Baseball. Both are solid titles and tend to fly under the radar in my opinion. 8 Man makes for some nice pick up and play fun.
 

KRONOS

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I enjoy both 8 Man and 2020 Super Baseball. Both are solid titles and tend to fly under the radar in my opinion. 8 Man makes for some nice pick up and play fun.

Oh yeah, Soccer Brawl has that same early '90's Bionic Six video game vibe. I'll have to revisit that game today.
 

Shito

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Circa early '90s, Eight Man on MVS had the distinction of being the first arcade format game I ever played that was derived from any manga, classic or contemporary.

Meaning you missed Area88 in the arcades? Too bad!
 

Missile

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8 Man is one of the few AES games I still intend to buy. Sad to hear the creator died but sounds like he lived a long life. And his creation will live on.

Meaning you missed Area88 in the arcades? Too bad!

Was Area88 big in the arcades? I only saw it once here in UK at the time.
 

GutsDozer

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Shito

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Was Area88 big in the arcades? I only saw it once here in UK at the time.

Guess that's the kind of question that is truly impossible to verify. Here in Italy I never ever saw 8-Man in any arcade, but I played Area88 (U.N.Squadron lol) quite a bit. Kazama Shin ftw! In truth I was in love with the Unicorn logo design. :-)

d4kpe62-10302b63-16fb-4214-818e-981825f2431c.jpg
 
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KRONOS

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Guess that's the kind of question that is truly impossible to verify. Here in Italy I never ever saw 8-Man in any arcade, but I played Area88 (U.N.Squadron lol) quite a bit. Kazama Shin ftw! In truth I was in love with the Unicorn logo design. :-)

d4kpe62-10302b63-16fb-4214-818e-981825f2431c.jpg

Nice. Area 88/UN Squadron is one of the few games back then that was better on the SNES than in the arcade. Also, the manga would translate well into a live action Netflix series too; Ryan Gosling as Mick Simon lol.
 

Shito

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Heh, for the SuperFamicom version added that little more strategic/incremental touch, right? Agreed. ;-)

cast-saki.jpg


Mmmh, this is almost avatar-worthy! :-D
 

Missile

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Yes I had never heard of 8 Man until I got a Ne Geo. Never saw it im the arcade. I love the idea of running really fast, that seemed novel at the time to me.

Guess that's the kind of question that is truly impossible to verify. Here in Italy I never ever saw 8-Man in any arcade, but I played Area88 (U.N.Squadron lol) quite a bit. Kazama Shin ftw! In truth I was in love with the Unicorn logo design. :-)

Yes I like those unicorns! I do own the arcade board (UN Squadron version) and it was quite hard to find in good condition. So I don't think it was that common. Having said that Carrier Airwing seems really easy to find so that must have sold pretty well. Even though I never saw that here at all in the UK. Maybe they made more of Carrier Airwing after the SNES version of Un Squadron got popular :D

Heh, for the SuperFamicom version added that little more strategic/incremental touch, right? Agreed. ;-)

I think it was a much better "home" game for sure. You couldn't upgrade to a new plane in the arcade. And building up your money with the bombing runs and choosing your next level added extra depth to the SNES version. The music might be better too - since the arcade sounds very FM sounding.

At the same time the arcade really does have better and more graphics. Even the first level on the SNES is missing those towers for example.
 
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