Impressions on various (obscure) Saturn games as they come...

I recently got a flood load of JPN Saturn games... mostly the ones many folks haven't played yet... and I figure instead of creating multiple threads for each little game I jam it all in one over the course of the next 2 weeks or so... so let's start off with...

CHIBI MARUKO CHAN NO TAISEN PAZURUDAMA

Quick impressions on Chibi Chan, the cute puzzler that is the 1st of what is a very large "to-play" list for yours truly.


It's cute, it's wacky, it's crazy, it's fun. Seems to fit most Saturn puzzlers don't it!

In Chibi you get "faces" colored green, yellow, pink or blue. Absent is red and again, orange is neglected.
The goal is to match up 3 like colors and it'll disappear.
It's awesome how they disappear too. They shoot some sort of Hadoken upwards with a sound effect. Ahhh those crazy Japanese.

The catch is the locked faces you received, either from the opponent sending them OR as your regular pieces.

I've never played a puzzler where you actually get debris on your own. How very unique...

Once you clear a set of like colors, any junk touching it will unlock and turn into a regular colored face. (and yes the faces have little expressions on them, it's really quite cool)
The chain possibility here is freaking nuts. Absolutely killer. I've already got some 9 chainers under my belt!

The game unfortunately has no stand-alone mode. However, the 1P mode is quite ace. It's held in a game-show format, with a wacky game host who... at the end, is your final opponent.

There are 8 different characters to pick from, all with their own junk pattern... so think of it like Puzzle Fighter! The main girl was the one who I used and her junk pattern was the simple "go down" one. Others have junk coming from OUT the bottom, or to the sides... etc.

I beat the game with the main girl and her ending is very very cute.
She's dancing with rabbits on an island... then... we see a nice shot of her in bed sleeping and smiling... obviously all a dream.

Very innocent stuff.

The final scene is bizarre as bizarre gets!
The game host is riding a bike in the middle of the night sky... while happy faces are jumping out of his basket falling down into the night. A moon with a smiley face looks down and it's all very atmospheric... like that infamous E.T. shot you remember watching as a youth. All done in excellent bright colors. Just an awesome scene here, folks.

If there was ever a unique cute puzzler for that special girl of yours, Chibi probably is it.
It's different.
In fact, I have to open my toy store pretty soon (ahem, in about 40 minutes...) but I woke up at 7 to play some Coin Puzzle Moujiya and Chibi Chan. Time passed like you wouldn't believe.
Both games are different but they're both tremendously fun.
Highly recommended.

Next up... more obscurity shall ensue...

Steve said:

I recently got a flood load of JPN Saturn games... mostly the ones many folks haven't played yet... and I figure instead of creating multiple threads for each little game I jam it all in one over the course of the next 2 weeks or so... so let's start off with...

CHIBI MARUKO CHAN NO TAISEN PAZURUDAMA

Click to expand...

AAAAGGHHH!! You've got Chibi Maruko-chan no Taisen Puzzle-dama?!?!?! Where the heck did you find it??? (and where do I find an emoticon that combines envy, covetousness, and "way to go, dude"?).

Congrats on your new acquisition, man. I'm completely jealous. Your description of the ending animations makes it sound as if they've really captured the spirit of Sakura Momoko-sensei's artistic style -- I've seen few things in my life as completely fun and charming as the images in the various opening & ending animations of the Chibi Maruko-chan anime series, but most especially in the series' mid-episode eye-catches and next-episode "previews." The little rabbit people are absolutely tops. Glad to hear that the Saturn game has really hit the mark.

Now if only I could get one for myself! Congratulations, once again!

--Chris

Dash no Chris said:

AAAAGGHHH!! You've got Chibi Maruko-chan no Taisen Puzzle-dama?!?!?! Where the heck did you find it??? (and where do I find an emoticon that combines envy, covetousness, and "way to go, dude"?)

--Chris

Click to expand...

Thanks for the words. Remember that Japanese guy who posted here about a week ago who used to own over 700 Saturn imports? He had a fire sell and Chibi was one of the 5 I bought from him. Excellent seller

Let's roll on. In fact let's keep up with Konami. Their long-running "Puzzle Dama" series lived on in the Saturn... and so did another one of their series...

Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball S

This cute title features super deformed baseball players and an innovative batting and pitching format. You might know these games from the SNES or N64 platforms. Even a couple PS2 titles too.

It took me a while to get my hands on this and I'm glad to say I'm satisfied.

If you ever played BOTTOM OF THE 9th (another Konami title) the pitching and batting works exactly the same. Only in Jikkyou, the presentation is vastly different (from Major League players in crap 3D to SD characters in a 16-bit esque light-hearted atmosphere)

The two games (S and Bot9) are quite similar in gameplay. There is a useful camp mode in S where you can practice running, fielding, hitting, defense and pitching. It's very critical to begin in camp mode and stick with it for an hour or so before playing a "real game."

Think of it as Spring Training. Heh, some of the modes reminds me of scenes from THE BAD NEWS BEARS. (Walter Mathau)

Here's how batting works:

You have a rectangle with an X in the middle. You have to guide the X to where the pitch is thrown and swing just at the right moment.

As for pitching, you select your pitch and then have a second (literally) to position where you want the pitch thrown. A ''+'' sign will indicate where you placed the pitch. Sound easy? Think again. Just like in REAL LIFE baseball, if you hit the ball with the + sign above the X cursor, you will likely pop out. Hit the + below the X cursor, you'll likely ground out, and so forth. Trust me, it is VERY cool, not to mention challenging and fun.

There are two types of batting cursors. The default is the normal rectangle box, and the size of that depends on the batter's batting average (clearly, the better the average the bigger the box) The second type (activated by hitting the R button) is the Power swing, which is very small in size and the same for everybody. It's much harder to make contact but if you do, the ball will likely travel faster and farther.
The payoff is, clearly again, a much smaller margin of error.

To make hitting an even more satisfying accomplishment, pitches act like they should in JPPBS. Just because you see the + sign in one place doesn't mean that's where the pitch will necessarily end up. Confused? Let me elaborate, you see...

-A good sinker will break diagonally toward the direction of the pitcher's pitching arm.

-A good fork appears to go straight, but breaks downward sharply at the last second!

-A good knuckleball breaks toward an unexpected direction -- usually downward.

-A good curve breaks diagonally toward the opposite direction of the pitcher's pitching arm.

-A good slider seems to go straight, but breaks sharply and horizontally toward the opposite direction of the pitcher's pitching arm.

Did I mention I like baseball a lot?

And on top of all this, as if it weren't already enough, you got to deal with the nasty fastball and the filthy changeup. A fastball is just that, pure dead heat. A changeup thrown after a steady diet of fastballs can be lethal -- there's no break and it can really throw off the timing of the hitter. Just think about seeing a 90 mile per hour pitch, and the next one being a 60 MPH changeup. Can you say, ''the whiff?''

It's HARD to hit. But with practice and persistence you can get better. You got to move your rectangle thing and place the X where you think the ball will end up, and you got mere nanoseconds with which to work with. ... yeah. Welcome to the Show, rook.
But believe me, it's more fun than it may sound. True, it might frustrate at times, but it's realistic and very very satisfying when you do get a hit. And yes, pitching is very fun!

The graphics though 16-bit, I have no qualms about. They're colorful and bold. The audience in the real games chant, stomp their feet... it can get quite loud!

14 teams and 14 stadiums are available. Funny animations abound. Get an error and an exclamation mark will appear over the player's head. When the pitcher is tiring and/or the bases loaded, he'll look all flustered.

Strike out looking, and watch your SD player stand there and give you this bugged-eye look.

Miss on a Power Swing and the player falls down.

Overall a solid game that has a good learning curve. Definitely worth the $10 I had to shell out. It's definitely not for everyone, and oh -- there is Japanese text so trial and error. The manual is helpful though for the 8 different modes you get...

Would I recommend it? Depends. If you're into baseball, hell yes. If what I described sounds interesting, sure. If you hate baseball completely, wait for my next write-up.

Jikkyou Powerful Pro S is the second best Saturn sport import I've played, right behind the AMAZING Fire Pro 6 Men Scramble.

Oh, and for a great US baseball game, check out World Series Baseball 98. That is ace.

batter up!


the much much much more common prequel


the much much much more rare "sequel"

The only Pazuru Dama I know of and owned was KONAMI's Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Pazrudama with the red headed chick Shiori and some Senior High girls in a Tetris/Puyo Puyo type puzzler. I believe it was also called: "Toki Meki Puzzle Ball".

Mercenary X99

I have the tokimemo game on both saturn and a jamma (konami GX?) board. ^^ Damn it's hard on higher difficulities. Think I'll hunt down the mariko one too. ^^

Mercenary X99 said:

The only Pazuru Dama I know of and owned was KONAMI's Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Pazrudama with the red headed chick Shiori and some Senior High girls in a Tetris/Puyo Puyo type puzzler. I believe it was also called: "Toki Meki Puzzle Ball".

Mercenary X99

Click to expand...

Yup, thats the one I've got. Konami made another one on PS1 based on Tokimeki 2. I've got the actual Tokimeki dating sim on the Saturn too, pretty fun game.

Pingu said:

I have the tokimemo game on both saturn and a jamma (konami GX?) board. ^^ Damn it's hard on higher difficulities. Think I'll hunt down the mariko one too. ^^

Click to expand...

It is hard, especially the last boss, she is incredibly cheap.

ASTRA SUPERSTARS

Finally got this one. And damn glad I didn't had to pay through the nose to get it. It usually goes from 75-100. Though I saw a n-g member here sell it not too long ago for $63 + shipping.
Mine cost 65.
And I'm glad I didn't pay triple figures.

Not because this game sucks but my goal is to never spend triple figures on ANY Saturn game. So far I'm in great shape.

Complete PDS -85
Complete Psychic Assassin Taromaru -80
Complete Shining Force III -66
Disc only Radiant Silvergun -65
Complete Battle Garegga -FREE

You guys know how pricey these games can be, but look at the prices I got them for (or lack thereof) Simply, patience and luck. Being at the right place at the right time don't hurt either!

Anyway, I know, get on with the bloody game lad! Alrighty. Strap on your buckle belts and hold on to your soup rations! We're about to enter one fucking weird fighting world.

THE STORY
ASS (ummm, the game's initials... shit that just ain't right, I'll call it Astra...) takes place in the mystical realm of AstraWorld, a colorful land created by an ancient and peaceful god. To reward the inhabitants of AstraWorld for being such well-behaved individuals, their benefactor has created a powerful gift in the shape of the 'Lucky Star.' Eight individuals from the realm's most prominent countries have stepped forth to claim the Lucky Star for themselves. What follows is a titantic power struggle, with fighters battling each other for possession of the fabled trinket. The winner will enjoy untold fortune and glories, while the losers will face the wrath of their powerful gods.

THE GRAPHICS
The Saturn beautifully flexes its 24-inch phytons with Capcom's 4MB ram cart! So much shit can happen -- in such a SHORT amount of time. Sometimes when punches and chains connect, it seems like it's going TOO fast. Animation is smooth and yes, it also works with the 1 meg ram cart. The diff? It just loads a little longer, there's slight slowdown and slight animation frame loss. Astra definitely reeks of an anime-looking game. Some moves have characters growing as big as HALF the screen. Really quite impressive.



THE GAMEPLAY
The battles take place in mid-air. Think of it like a bungee cord. You can jump up/over your opponent and you can jump down/under your opponent. But you always drift back to the middle of the screen. Since when you press down you literally go down, there are NO Hadoken motions to be found here. In fact, it's basically safe to say the game was made with novices in mind; with button specials and two button super specials.
A+X gives your guy super powers for a short time.
B+Y is your first "Star Special."
C+Z is your second and usually more crazy looking special
Comboing is crazy as you can knock down your enemy, follow him down and continue the combo.

Let's just say on my very first go I immediately got myself a 10 hit combo.... just by punching, timing, diving, punching, repeat.
You can also chain Star Specials after your combos... making for some crazy screen frenzy and sparks and pyrotechnics. It seems like your Saturn is going into a seizure!
(the CPU did a 77-hit combo on me -- holy shit!!!!!)

Some folks will be turned off at the "button mashing-ness" of it all. It's not at all very serious game. Just take it for what it is.

THE CHARACTERS

Lettuce
The main guy. His strongest punches makes his limbs extend like Dhalsim... but they also increase in size... like Rasputin. Some other characters also have this increasing gig. He's pretty cool, and so far the only character I've beaten the game with.

Cupe
A huge hulking man but very friendly-looking. His stage (with the gorgeous water all around you) is breath-taking.

Coco
A weird little boy dress in uh.. well let's just say you might mistake him for a little girl! One of his Star Specials include chucking down a MASSIVE pumpkin that literally eats up almost 2/3 the screen!

Fooly
The devil-looking fighter of the game. Looks like Demitri and Jedah.

Sakamoto
This guy rocks. His fierce attack is a big two hit saber sword slash. Looks like Ukyo, except with horns. Yes -- horns! His Star Specials are some of the best looking around. One transforms him into a big pink-ish beast that takes up the entire half of the left or right screen, depending on where you are. The other is a 12-hit variation of his 2 hit fierce slash attack.



Maron
Cute chick with a short top.



Rouge
Santa Claus looking little girl who throws snowballs. She should hook up with Iceman. There's no business like SNOW BUSINESS! ... sorry

Stella
Magician girl with strange attacks.



THE BOSSES

My Devil
A little funky looking devil fly who transforms into your shadow character. There's also a MY ANGEL but I've yet to encounter her.

Satan Volte
HUUUUUUUUUUGE bad ass who is only vulnerable around his head. Hitting anywhere else is futile.

Test Kun
He's baaaack! This time he comes in a blue stick figure, looking like a little kid's crayon scrawl. One of his Star Specials includes throwing 3 consecutive fireballs that connects for 30 hits.

THE OVERALL IMPRESSION
It's not for everyone. It's in the VS. mold. It's spazzy. It might seem a little shallow but there's more depth there, but it's definitely no SFA 2 or KoF 98.
But it's not supposed to be, and trying to compare those would be like comparing Radiant Silvergun to Cotton Boomerang. Two different animals.

Overall, I like Astra but I'm not as crazy about it as some other folks I know. Watching the game in action is like "DDAAAAAMMNNN!!! HOLY FUCK!"

Playing it is less impressive, IMHO. I guess I'm too used to my Hadoken motions... but hey, Astra is a unique fighter with godly visuals and fast gameplay and ultra flashy pyrotechnics. If it's your thing, you'll love it.

If not, you might be a little indifferent toward it.

Just a shame it's uncommon and goes for $75-$100. If you ever see it $50-$70, snatch it up in a heartbeat.

I actually prefer Groove on Fight, another obscure-ish Saturn brawler. It's 4 players, tag team style and it's downright strange and fun

Damn Steve where you get all that good shit from?

I'm pretty damn happy with my import Saturn collection.

Can't wait for my Rockman X3/Mega Man X3 to hit my mailbox!

BTw if you got Saturn RMX3, is the music digitized remixes or rehash of the MIDI format from the SNES?

We did two Konami games back to back, Sunsoft shows they can too.

Hebereke Popoitto is a puzzler featuring more cute characters, this time a frog, marshmallow, cat and penguin.

If you played Dr. Mario, it's like that. It's not your typical puzzler as when you start out playing (either in the 1P or 2P vs. mode) there are junk objects already in place. The colored blobs come down two at a time and can be rotated clock and counter clockwise.

An interesting twist is gravity means nothing to these blob colored guys. They can suspend in mid-air! You can also push it down but it takes a few blobs.

The graphics are worse than your typical Saturn puzzler. It's not bright or bold... it's just... there. It looks like an early SNES game.

One thing that really irks me is the way blobs disappear. Only a straight line works! Vertical or horizontal. You have to connect 4. So that means 4 in a square shape does nothing! This is annoying and ruins the game's chain-factor.

This is a very bare bone game, with only the story mode and 2P mode (with handicap options to make adjust speed)

Overall I found this game quite disappointing. It's different (in a not-so-good way) and it isn't quite as playable as other puzzlers available on the Saturn. I'd skip this unless you loved Dr. Mario and/or must have every puzzle game made.

---

DOOM

Ah the classic FPS that redefined a genre. I have very fond memories of the original PC version and the Saturn one has always had a bad rep. The US and PAL versions anyhow... so how is the JPN version? Is the framerate as bad as people say?

I had fun with this game. I was quite surprised myself. I believe the JPN version was released after the US and PAL versions. I never played the latter two versions so I can't compare, but the JPN version has light-sourcing (though not as impressive as PowerSlave) and a 2 player link up mode. As far as I know, the PAL and US versions did not have a 2 player mode (though the US version had a false advertisement on the back of the box saying it was 2 players)

I played thru the 1st episode and there are little tweaks in how the stages look. For example, the last stage in Ep 1 with the 2 Baron of Hells, the doors they come from, there's a mutilated body with blood all over. I do not recall that from any of the PC versions.

The framerate? OK it's not hot like PowerSlave but I found it playable! Maybe the JPN version was improved slightly from the US and PAL versions??? But the framerate that so many complain about (2 monsters on screen, everything snail pace) did not appear to be the case for the JPN version.

Still, unless you're a hardcore Doom collector you should probably skip this. On the other hand, killing a Baron of Hell with a shotgun on a Saturn pad is sickeningly cool.

On the back of the JPN version box, John Romero, Doom's creator said "Best Doom Yet!"

I don't know what he was thinking but it isn't half-bad.

Heh, I actually flinched in my seat when I first came face-to-face with a Demon. Didn't see his ugly mug coming!

There was also a part where I saw the demon many yards away. I grinned and whiped out my shotgun for a little long distance aiming. I looked back on the screen after checking the time, and the demon was gone... I ran around the corner and saw his pink ass charging me... 3 shots later a fat THUMP hit the ground.

Sweetness

the PAL version (SSM rated it 68%)... the JPN one was released 3/3/95

I beat Saturn Ultimate Doom and Doom II in 5 days. Loved every freaking second of it! Dunno how they tweaked the JP version but apparently they did! You get a total of 60 levels and wow -- it's been a hell of a time going through the old levels again!

I'm quite disappointed with the following batch of games but eh, you can't win 'em all I guess...

-Fantasic Pinball
Colorful, zany-looking, pinball. I thought it would be good but it really isn't. TechnoSoft made this game and it just feels off. The physics aren't realistic (not like say Necronomicon) and it just feels ... weird. I was playing it feeling "EH" the whole time. I dunno how to beat the stages but you get 3 tries then Game Over. I can't even get pass the 1st stage so far...

-Anarchy in the Nippon
3D fighter that supposedly had the input from Japan's top VF2 players. Another one with semi-high expectations... it has a cast of 8 characters including your all-around dude, strong guy, couple girls and then... 2 really strange goofballs (one is a middle-aged business man!)
Gameplay is too slow and boring for my tastes. Sound is muffled, low and generally awful.
I also played this feeling "EH."
Nice intro, though.
The game's all in JPN too... even the options screen. Give me DOA or VF2 any day.

-Street Racer Extra
This game is decent to an extent but the CPU AI is too hard. Even on easy, watch them leave you in their dust as the race starts. It's hard to enjoy a game when the AI is so impossible. I suppose it's fun with multiplayers (the game supports up to 8 but I can't help but be disappointed with my 1st impressions on SRE. I wasn't expecting it to come close to MARIO KART but....

These are my 1st impressions only, but these games haven't exactly made me sit up and take notice any. That's the thing dealing with "odd ball" games... some you find out to be true sleeper dynamic hits... and others... well, you know why they're so obscure...

sorry, I'll try to do better next time....

Steve said:

I actually prefer Groove on Fight, another obscure-ish Saturn brawler. It's 4 players, tag team style and it's downright strange and fun

Click to expand...

I love Groove On Fight! It has an awesome intro, too, and a great sense of humor.

FINAL FIGHT REVENGE

The final Saturn game, released March 3rd, 2000, is a 3D fighter from Capcom. This is one of those "triple figures" Saturn games.

I remember when I first got into Saturn I always wanted FFR but everyone was quick to warn me "OH NO IT IS THE PITS!"

I even recall an EGM preview of FFR saying "For anyone with any memories whatsoever on the old Sega Saturn, for the love of God turn the page quick!"

Well, I got to finally see the game for myself, and to draw conclusions for myself. What I found.... a playable, even enjoyable brawler... but definitely nowhere near Capcom's A-list. FFR has 2 strengths of punches and kicks, taunts, and your typical power charge bars. (finish off foes with a super special and the screen flashes orange)

FFR is the closest thing to SF EX you'll find on Saturn. You got fireballs, and like Fighters Megamix there's a button that side-steps your character to avoid projectiles. FFR brings together 10 Final Fight characters and I'll break them down below.

Oh yes, during fights there are weapons littered around you can pick up and use; even toss them at your opponent once you're finished with them. Also food can be found (gee I wonder what that would do..) It's pretty cool. Among the weapons include a freezer gun, a chainsaw (!), gun, rifle, shotgun, machinegun, bomb, flame gun, etc.

CODY
This is old school-looking Cody! Not that SF Alpha 3 jailsuit crap. Surprisingly he does not have a projectile! His hadoken motion brings forth a burning fist type attack, but unlike Terry Bogard's Burning Knuckle, it's slow and has limited range. His Dragon Punch command (with kick) produces a Flash Kick.

GUY
He has a projectile! (I wish he had one in the Alpha games)
One of his super specials is called "SHINOBI"

HAGGAR
Hey, this is the only place to control Haggar on your Saturn. And for that reason alone, hey how bad could FFR really be ya know? Haggar is like Zangief. 360 degree spinning piledriver, a spinning clothesline attack, etc. But... big as Haggar is... he ain't the biggest in the game...

ANDORE
Yep. This is a monster all right. I like using him, he's quite fun. One super special he jumps and pounds the ground creating a shockwave and barrels that magically fall outta the sky. Great attack to use immediately after knocking down your foe if you're in range... it's automatic attack! Has a long chain attack, and of course he finds use for his big belly.

POISON
The only girl (though that is questionable if you followed FF's history) in FFR -- she has a fireball and Dragon Punch. Her two SS moves are really cool. One works like Ken's Vacuum Dragon Punch and the other she blows a heart-shaped kiss. If you touch it, the screen goes through a series of vintage shots of Poison. If you beat a foe using this, Poison will have a dance pole in her victory.

EL GADO
This sneaky bastard looks great because he is very slim and different-looking from the rest. He has knife projectiles that work in the vain of Sagat (one high one low) and oh, his SS move is worthy of note. He lunges and snaps your bones in several places. After each snap the screen flashes and you see bones cracking. If you win with this SS move, at the end EL GADO does some taunt as the screen flashes once more. Really quite cool.

DAMND
I always liked him back in the day. I still like him, after having played him in FFR. He's a charge character with Blanka roll attacks. Think of him like DUCK KING on steroids. He laughs and in general is a big goof ball. But don't take him lightly as he's even bigger than Haggar. His SS move is cool as he whistles and if you touch it, the screen flashes as Damnd's friends and minions take you out (one quick flash shows Andore)

SODOM
1st off, it's funny when you win with Sodom cuz the announcer says "SADAM WINS!" At any rate, this is just like the Alpha Sodom, cept in 3D. I love his 360 kick move where you grabs you and pushes your back against the ground causing a fire effect. If there is mines on the ground while he does this move -- the victim actually takes extra damage!

EDI E.
Fires gun in Sagat esque way. One of his SS moves has him calling upon his police car and you actually get to control it (in a 3D environment -- the car is exaggerately huge) and if you win via this move, EDI E. goes to handcuff you.

ROLENTO
His SS moves are the best. One is that "yank em up and down" move while the other you get to control a helicopter! If you win with the latter, the helicopter shoots down the foe. Hey it's the little things.

Sadly, FFR does lack a lot of "the little things" such an intro, extra modes (only VS and arcade), etc. The music's forgettable and the sound's only decent at best.

But overall I dig it.

Oh yeah, the end boss is Belger the zombie. He has stretch limbs and his stage is cool. A lot of the game's stages are pretty neat, ranging from wastelands to courtyards, etc. The backgrounds look good in hi-res but the polygon count on the fighters are too low. Imagine if it looked like DOA or VF2 and with better music -- FFR could have been a serious contender, so to speak.

Still, what can I say -- I like it. Not a lot, but I like it.

Minakata Hakudou Toujou

Hello,

I've got a pretty large import Saturn collection, mostly just shooters as they're my favourate, so nothing really obscure there.

I did pick up a really odd game a while back in a used record shop called Minakata Hakudou Toujou. It is an Atlus release, and I've never seen it for sale or even mentioned anywhere. I reckon it's either pretty rare or common muck than nobody even bothers trying to sell.

Does anyone know anything about it?

Found a copy of Dezaemon 2 the other day for cheap.



It's a game that allows you to design and customize your own shooters. I haven't really had time to ty it out yet, but it looks pretty interesting.

The only thing is, the instruction book is 60 pages long (the game comes in a special jewel case), and it's all in Japanese, so it's gonna take awhile to figure out...

tsukaesugi said:

Found a copy of Dezaemon 2 the other day for cheap.

It's a game that allows you to design and customize your own shooters. I haven't really had time to ty it out yet, but it looks pretty interesting.

The only thing is, the instruction book is 60 pages long (the game comes in a special jewel case), and it's all in Japanese, so it's gonna take awhile to figure out...

Click to expand...

That sounds awesome!

Let us know how you make out getting it to work; If it isn't too difficult, I want one!

Bishamon said:

That sounds awesome!

Let us know how you make out getting it to work; If it isn't too difficult, I want one!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it too.

So far, from what I can tell, it comes with three basic shooters that you customize. You don't actually design your own game from start to finish. What you do design though, are your ship, the way it shoots, bombs and power-ups, enemies, etc.

DERON DERO DERO

Sounds strange? Unfamiliar?

How about then...

I just say...

TECMO STACKERS?

Yep. TS did come out on Saturn, only in the import scene known as Deron Dero Dero, or DDD or Dero for short.

If you've played the US PS1 version you know how it goes. Basically you wanna line up 4 like-colored blobs. There are pink, red, blue, green and yellow. (why does everyone hate on orange) The blobs have to be touching.

Here's the twist. When you clear out blobs, the remaining ones that were touching those blobs, will extend out their limbs or whatever to try and find their matches... so it adds a totally new twist to the PUYO PUYO formula.

Each square blob has its own little expression, like red is the happy one while blue is grumpy. The graphics, like most puzzle games, are colorful enough to get the job done adequately.

You get 1P mode, 2P, Time Trial or Chain Reaction Mode. In the CRM you get a HUGE vertical screen for maximum chain combos. I'm talking 3 stores high! It's pretty cool and can last you hours.

Overall I found this to be a decent puzzle game. I rather play Puzzle Fighter or Coin Puzzle Moujiya but I think Dero is a keeper. It has a cast of characters too, but you can't select which one you want. Includes a green elephant, a cat, a vixen, etc.

I wouldn't pay more than $15 for this, and the Saturn version seems to be quite uncommon. If you can, spring for the PS1 version for a test drive.

Some folks have called it "Scrubby" but I still found it enjoyable, though again, not as addictive or charming as say Puzzle Fighter or Bust-A-Move. It was just cool to find out that this game was on Saturn, though. It made me say "WHOA! I had no clue Tecmo Stackers, what I thought was a PS1 'exclusive,' is also on the Saturn... neat-o... I gotta check it out."

Oh yeah the music is pretty strange stuff. You'll either like it or hate it...

Astra Superstars sucks, there is no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Review these games, Id do it but Im lazy:

Kyuu ten kai - if you havent played this and you like pinball go get it right now, its worth the 10 bucks.

Nekketsu Oyakko

Elevator action returns

Necronomicon

Hobgoblin said:

Review these games, Id do it but Im lazy:

Kyuu ten kai - if you havent played this and you like pinball go get it right now, its worth the 10 bucks.

Nekketsu Oyakko

Elevator action returns

Necronomicon

Click to expand...

Necronomicon = my favorite pinball game ever. Its just insanely fun.


I'll have to look into these puzzle games... since right now I only have the Puyo Puyo games and the Bust-A-Move stuff.

Hobgoblin said:

Review these games, Id do it but Im lazy:

Nekketsu Oyakko

Elevator action returns

Necronomicon

Click to expand...

NO- average at best

EAR- awesome arcade action and as such should not be missed out by any fan of that style. Harkens back to the good ole days. Only its price tag is negative. (55+)

Necronomicon- probably Saturn's best pinball game, with a small cultish following on the net w/ high scores listed.

Man, I dunno how to really describe this next game but I'll try. It's pretty damn weird.

Susume Bakabons!

It's a falling piece puzzler, so how weird could it be, you asked? Well, very damn weird would be my answer.

Different colored balls with expressions on them. Typical rotation gig, except in SB the rotating looks jerky and awkward b/c you do not actually see the pieces rotating like you would in Puzzle Fighter. This was the same way with Hebereke's...

Anyway, to make "matches" it's really funky.

No, you don't match 3 like-colors in a row.

Or 4.

In fact, you won't get any where in SB unless you match up TWO different pairs of like-colors! This is really an odd twist to the genre and well -- hey at least it's something TOTALLY different.

The most basic fundamental match works like this.

One color on bottom.

Two different but like-colors on top

Then the color on the bottom, put that piece on top.

So pretend:

Red
Green
Green
Red

There ya go: a simple match. You can also do this horizontally and THANKFULLY, diagonally. It's a pretty cool hand-eye coordination test... it really is.

There's also an odd gimmick thrown in for wacky measures. At the far ends of the playing field you have two stationary um, things. These things activate as a "3some detecter." (quiet, you)

Basically you can put one pair of colors, and then you just need ANY ONE different color and bam you got a match.. so it's much more simple.

Every time you get a match the balls turns into little human faces before they vanish, as a bar on the side charges up... I can't really explain it, it's really odd. But the yellow bars to the sides show how many pieces you clear. Usually you'll see 4 yellow bars. They disappear after a second on screen. Chain some together and the bars can go high, like 15 high or something. I guess you can call it a premature "character in the middle of the screen doing some zany act" technique.

Pretty bare bone game with 1P or VS. But the game opens up with a very WHAT THE HELL intro. A rooster wakes up a Japanese family complete with dialogue and you just sit there going "this is Japanese strangeness abundance!"

The stages have different backgrounds, including one guy on a bike suspended high in the night sky (what is IT with Japanese folks and the night sky? But I like it!)

In the VS mode you can select from 9 characters, and 1 you have to unlock apparently. Each has his or her own stage.

The 1P mode is hard and opens with the odd-ballest intro I ever did seen!

---

Starring LeLeLe and blah blah

Directed by blah blah...

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A SCREAM IN THE DARK FOREST

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B&W hand-drawn picture shows creepy cottage

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This cottage looks... mysterious

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more B&W pics

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In the end, they actually move you in the B&W animation til you come across this figure with his back turned to you, he turns around and yells out some funky Japanese.
All done with horror movie esque music.

I like this game. It's different, hard, and unique. The music caught on with me and didn't let go, either. It's like a funky wedding theme or something...

Would I recommend it? Well, if you're a huge puzzle fan, yes. Probably something I'll play now and again. Don't say I didn't warn you how Japanese-y it is...