Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
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Magatama [魔牙霊] Game Sample - Xbox
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![Magatama [魔牙霊] Game Sample - Xbox](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hfLovrRFrd0/mqdefault.jpg "Magatama [魔牙霊] Game Sample - Xbox
Magatama [魔牙霊] Game Sample - Xbox")
![Rung Rung: Oz no Mahou Tsukai - Another World [オズの魔法使い～AnotherWorld～ルングルング] Game Sample - PS (PS1)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iagUWV1rwuY/mqdefault.jpg "Rung Rung: Oz no Mahou Tsukai - Another World [オズの魔法使い～AnotherWorld～ルングルング] Game Sample - PS (PS1)
YT family, Ive a feeling were not in Kansas anymore. an exact quote from the 1939 classic film, The Wizard of Oz (Probably)
There are a lot of works that pay homage to Lyman Frank Baums highly influential childrens novel, The Wonderful World of Oz, released in 1900 and, surprisingly, theres more than one video game based on the property from Japan. Affects 2000 oddity, Rung Rung: Oz no Mahou Tsukai - Another World, is a 3D Adventure game released just shy of 100 years after the Novel was penned, giving you an idea of just how timeless the story is. While essentially a Japan-only release, GungHo Online Entertainment released the game (untranslated) for U.S. gamers on PSN in 2013. Affect is... not well known or well-regarded; while theyve been credited for quite a few games, most of them have reviewed pretty poorly and the few games they did that came to the West were dismissed or even joked (like Phix: The Adventure).
While RR Oz has a solid foundation just by virtue of its source material, RR Oz does not do too much to buck their trend of overall middling offerings. If youre familiar with the novel or film(s) the game is based on, you have a general idea of the plot; RR Oz starts with a wicked wizard opening up a portal with profound magic that can pull whole areas from other realms to Oz, stripping them of life in the process. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong time to act when a tornado winds up in a desolate prairie in Kansas, spiriting away the young Dorothy Gale, her dog Toto, and the little farm house her aunt and uncle share. When Dorothy comes to and leaves the house, shes in a land far removed from the one she knows...
As it stands, the world is in a sorry state with lands stripped of color, villagers frozen in stone, and the great Emerald City is in a state of panic. Her house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East (to the joy of basically everyone, although Dorothy is initially mortified). Norte, the Witch of the North, explains that youre in the land of Oz (and shes portrayed as a kind, ditzy woman who likes to speak in song and has no idea what a Kansas is), that you may find help if you head to the Emerald City, and that Princess Ozma is there who may be able to help you return home. She also blesses you with a little magic for good luck (a magic kiss in the original) and advises you to follow the yellow brick road before leaving. Oh yeah, and she has an apprentice errand boy named Ururu. Dorothy is already wearing red slippers, The Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow are here as well as the Munchkins, Gilkins, etc., but it takes many liberties to keep things interesting.
RR Oz has a simple gameplay loop exacerbated by curious design choices. The overwhelming bulk of the game involves item synthesis through a magic cauldron that belonged to the witch of the east named Gotcha. Every main area along the yellow brick road is lacking color and requires different colors of magic paint to remove prisms and restore the area, including NPCs turned to stone. These NPCs then have to be negotiated with and assisted to improve your trust with them, which opens up new interactions. There are four interactions needed to gain new information and recipes: Kindness, Show, Tell and Exchange. Everyone starts at the Kindness level, which requires you to do a series of fetch quests. Show / Tell opens next with Show granting you information about items you find and Tell giving you knowledge on recipes they know. Exchange is usually a max-trust extra which nets you rare items or frequently used items more easily.
You cant use items that you cant identify, so its basically mandatory to do fetch quests, learn about the items in your arsenal, and gain recipes from every NPC. Searching for items can be done blindly or via a sonar that depletes HP... items in the area also get depleted, so when the area is empty, you have to go sleep till the next day to replenish them. Item space is very limited, areas are small and chock full of loading screens, and the constant repetition is made worse as some items and events are only available on certain days (time is infinite). There are obstacles and mini-games, but theyre few and far between and the game is engineered for a younger demographic (limited violence, younger Dorothy, simpler dialogue). The production values are close to launch PS standards and half the areas dont have music (there are items to plant seeds of music in quiet areas). There arent too many high-profile people involved with this games development, but Hisanao Suzuki would go on to do a lot of work with Square Enix (Trials of Mana, FF: Brave Exvius, Harvestella, etc.) and the talented seiyu, Sakura Tange and Kikuko Inoue voice Dorothy and Norte respectively. The game is a decent length of about 15-20 hours to 100%.
In spite of its shortcomings, this IS one of Affects better games with cute characters and silly dialogue. This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.")
![Gakkou no Kaidan: Hyakuyoubako no Fuuin [学校の怪談 百妖箱の封印] Game Sample - GBA](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jhY4hU4TOZ0/mqdefault.jpg "Gakkou no Kaidan: Hyakuyoubako no Fuuin [学校の怪談 百妖箱の封印] Game Sample - GBA
Gakkou no Kaidan: Hyakuyoubako no Fuuin is one of many titles in a loosely connected Japanese horror-mystery phenomenon known as Gakkou no, with the main ones being Gakkou no Kaidan (aka School Ghost Stories) and Gakkou no Kowai Uwasa (aka Scary School Rumors, usually featuring Hanako-san as the main point of interest). Gakkou itself simply means School and while GnK and GnKU are not strictly related, they have overarching themes and related mysteries, so talking about them together adds a little context. This is a video for one of the lesser-known GnK games and part of what will probably evolve into a video project concerning GnK as a whole. While GnK has very little relevance in the West, it rose to prominence due to the legendary and hilarious English adaptation of the 2000 anime by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, known outside Japan as Ghost Stories.
The concept for Gnk originated in the mid 80s from a visionary named Toru Tsunemitsu. In 1985, Toru was a middle school teacher who noticed that his students often shared ghost stories and rumors about various folklore and legends. Out of curiosity, this led him to collect stories from his students, where he accumulated over 150 stories in ten days. Between 1990-1996, these stories were modified and compiled into nine volumes of childrens books which were published by Kodansha. A sequel series, Shin Gakkou no Kaidan began in 2005 and five volumes were released, but the initial craze of GnK spawned a media frenzy with several video games, several live-action movies, animes (as Gakkou no Kaidan SP also exists), manga and associated merchandise.
Gakkou no Kaidan: Hyakuyoubako no Fuuin was developed by Yamaneko Co. Ltd. and published by TDK Core in 2004. For one, Yamaneko has LITTLE experience with actual game development, serving primarily as a Japanese editorial production company involved in the editing and production of game strategy books, related magazines, and books since the 90s. The other matter here is that TDK (Core) published and assisted A LOT of GBC and GBA games and probably saw this title as a quick cash grab to capitalize on the popularity of the GnK lore with both Toru Tsunemitsu/Kodansha being credited. Given these two things, I was intrigued to learn that the game didnt exactly have a good reputation in gaming circles but not entirely surprised either. Curiously, Hiroaki Mizubayashi directed, designed and programmed the game (he was also responsible for the Pocket Kitchen features of the cult PS gem, Purumui Purumui) and the character designs were by Ichio Hayashi (through Hibari Works, although much of his fame was as an in-between artist and animator), but the game has a small staff and shoestring budget otherwise. The sound was by Oka Soyo, who actually has prior experience working for Nintendo on games such as Super Mario Kart, Sim City, and Pilot Wings and freelance work on PS Lagnacure.
The game allows the player to choose a nameless boy or girl who is supposed to go home from school one day. After Football (Soccer) practice, you talk to your teacher, Izumi, who offers you a good-luck charm before leaving and you make your way to the school gate when lightning strikes, narrowly avoiding you and destroying a 100-yen donation box. Its right at this moment that you meet a strange first-grader, Tomoyuki, and learn that his favorite book, 100 Tales of Yokai, has gone blank, indicating that the spirits within have gotten loose and are haunting the school. Youre convinced by Tomoyuki that you have to search the school and return the Yokai to the book, but youre not sure how until you run into your first one: an advanced talking cellphone with camera capabilities that offers hints as you go.
Gameplay in the game is fairly standard adventure stuff where you walk around, search for items, solve puzzles, invoke yokai and play mini-games, but on a grand scale; there are 100 yokai to find in the game and while the first few are essentially freebies, catching them all is extremely difficult and, as some Japanese reviews put it, require the patience of a saint and intellect far beyond the games intended target audience. Indeed. Besides many of the games triggerable events being INVISIBLE (meaning youll be searching tile after tile, and the phone yokai is not especially helpful), some puzzles defy conventional wisdom and there are several death ends, so save constantly. You can also take pictures to fill a B&W photo gallery, but there are basically no hints here either and I basically shot pics in random locations. I wouldnt call most of the game obtuse as the yokai book gives decent hints, but the game is hard to parse even with Japanese knowledge and theres tons of choices to go through.
Beyond the creature designs, the game has few assets, but I dont actually hate it. There are better horror / mystery games though. This is a vid of the game in action. Enjoy.")
![Aqua Jack [アクアジャック] Game Sample - Arcade](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lEOeZ7vCi60/mqdefault.jpg "Aqua Jack [アクアジャック] Game Sample - Arcade
Aqua Jack [アクアジャック] Game Sample - Arcade")
![Nyan-Nyan Punch [냥냥펀치] Game Sample - PC/Dongin](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mYyy7DNxvYo/mqdefault.jpg "Nyan-Nyan Punch [냥냥펀치] Game Sample - PC/Dongin
Two Korean indie games in a row from Nomary? Sure, why not? Nyan-Nyan Punch is a cute and simple Horizontal Shoot-em-Up developed with the RPG Maker MV engine. As one of Nomarys first significant finished projects released back in 2022 on Itch.io, the game was relatively popular, so Nomary remade various elements of the game (updating the graphics, story and attack patterns) as well as added more characters, stages and a shop with additional upgrades. This version was sold on Steam in 2023 (almost a year later) as a Remake. The original game is given away for free on Steam (put in the spot where demos would usually go) and while Nomary has expressed interest in translating games to other languages, they are currently only supporting Korean and Japanese at the moment. I doctored a ~4.5 minute segment after the normal Sample in English at the 24:35 mark... putting those captions in was a lot more work than just translating the text (I rushed a bit, Hinako is supposed to be Kinako, but maybe itll show a little International interest in these games, lol).
A simple game usually has a simple enough plot, right? In Nyan-Nyan Punch, you assume the role of a low rusty cat deity, Nyanshin, who spends more time daydreaming about kitty konquest than cultivating charisma... so her Grandma Kinako swiftly berates her then heads out to run a few errands. While shes away, Nyanshin is tasked with protecting their family heirloom, the Nyan-Nyan Ball, aka Kitty Kat Cheeks, but theres one problem her grandma barely has time to leave the house before its inevitably katnapped! The level of disrespect (and fear of the repercussions) whips Nyanshin into a frenzy and she storms off to find the culprit responsible for making off with her goods (and everyone elses goods too). Comedy ensues as the story progresses through a series of misunderstandings and hubris, but each encounter also gives her clues and brings her one step closer to the truth. The characters are quirky and cute and a conscious attempt was made to add a bit of personality to each one as you can revisit stages and get additional conversations to add to the lore.
While the intention was to make something closer to a standard scrolling shooting game, the dev didnt have much experience in this area and difficulty getting the engine to cooperate in a consistent manner, so they incorporated a lot of close range and melee attacks seen in action games while using the single screen to give the impression of a boss rush game instead. For balancing, combat was changed up significantly as not only does each character present a new ability upon defeat (like Mega Man / Rockman, different bosses have different weaknesses as well), but the inclusion of money, items and upgrades to the standard Meow Punch give more weight and consideration to player purreference. Of course, you can also opt to use just one kind of weapon as well and nothing is forcing you from using other moves (in fact, the Meow Staff basically enables rapid fire and disables charge attacks).
The player has spells which are powerful, but they exhaust large amounts of energy which can be refilled from attacking, taking damage and over time. Youll also use up energy performing the Shadow Dash once you acquire the Moon Amulet from Battie, so exercise caution as some attacks (especially the warning ones where the character typically goes off screen) can deal considerable, nyasty damage. With eight main opponents to face, you can clear the game in about 30 minutes or so. Youll get an additional achievement if you complete the game extra fast and if you clear the game without saving or using continues. One thing Ill point out about this game is that Steam says it does not support controllers on my end, but it recognized my Xbox controller without any issues. The game is on the easier side, so those looking for a high skill ceiling should look elsewhere.
The game is simple looking, but the characters are bold, colorful and expressive. The music is... not entirely stock? Theres people credited for the soundtrack and whats here is pretty good, but I know at least one or two tones have been used in other games. Overall, its a fun short game thats worth an hour or two, especially if you pick it up on sale, and I aint kitten! This is a video of the game in action. You can get it at:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2312340/NyanNyan_Punch/
Enjoy.
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![Dungeon Shoutenkai: Densetsu no Ken Hajimemashita [だんじょん商店会 〜伝説の剣はじめました〜] Game Sample - PlayStation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mdhhuhyt9RI/mqdefault.jpg "Dungeon Shoutenkai: Densetsu no Ken Hajimemashita [だんじょん商店会 〜伝説の剣はじめました〜] Game Sample - PlayStation
If youre looking for more hybrid Shopkeeping games like Recettear: An Item Shops Tale and Al･Fine, youll probably get a kick out of one of several such precursors like Kodansha and KINOTROPEs unusual cult classic, Sararas Little Shop (or the proper full title, Dungeon Shoutenkai: Densetsu no Ken Hajimemashita), a cute game with deceptive difficulty and depth. Originally released in 1998 with releases on PSN in 2011/2014, the game combines dungeon crawling and business management with a branching narrative and plenty of cryptic elements that evokes a real sense of adventure. That said, the game is structured in such a way where youre rewarded in the long haul for pushing its systems to the limit but loose enough where you dont have to engage with the trickier aspects of it.
The general plot of the game is fairly basic on the surface: The player controls a (nearly) silent protagonist named Sarara, a young witch girl who cant use magic in the traditional sense who is traveling with her loyal cat and familiar, Chocolate (Choco for short), who decides to open a shop in Dungeon Town. While her and Chocos backstory is explored to a small extent, the game is not meant to be deep in this area with a mostly cliche story of Princesses, Heroes and Demon Lords and a quirky shopping gimmick at the center of it all, but the many characters you meet are meant to help shape the experience. You can invite 10 groups of characters (about 30 in all) as the game goes through fourteen different scenarios explored through fortune cards; these scenarios are somewhat random (except the first and last) and theres often more than one method to clear them as well as branching scenarios within scenarios that can completely change their criteria and the ending of the game.
For example, one scenario might have you look for a cooking pot for a character... do you just use one sitting in your shop or go through a ridiculous quest to get the biggest one you can find? Another will have you awaken as a cat... if you have cat-related items in your inventory, you can go to a black cat market at night to barter for rare items (or if you found Ruby and overthrow the Thieves Guild, you can get free Dashi, but its not enough to get the rarest item). Or another will have you make an aphrodisiac to seduce a beautiful lady... do you make it for the poor eccentric man or rich snob? Decisions, decisions! The game has a lot of choices and almost everything offers a surprising degree of player agency as you travel Dungeon Town during the day or at night. This also segways right into the gameplay.
This game is orthodox yet complex, and it doesnt hold your hand much. The main component, running a shop, is robust but can put people off initially if they dont engage it proper (theres a secret shop at night to sell items for 50% to circumvent this mechanic). Customers have different preferences, displaying items a certain way or with the right interior helps, and theres a hidden trust meter that determines how well you can haggle (items can start at 25%-200% value and deviate based on counter offers). This is especially true for future comrades as they not only shop at your store, but will equip gear they buy from you... some items attract more customers or improve negotiations and you really need to pay attention... a customer might buy whats in the window, sell you something, or request something specific. This also goes into combat; while battles are turn-based, the player can negotiate deals with monsters too. Good deals will have monsters offer tips about the game world.
Combat is brutal early on youre limited to 20 items, Sarara is the only one who can use items in combat (to make up for her magic deficit and not to be underestimated), monsters can frequently break or trivialize gear with abilities, and allies have yellow gear that changes at different intervals (you can exchange their gear in dungeons, but they will return it when they leave). Characters have regular levels and classes, but Sarara has a Business Level (Pro-tip: Get to BLV18 as fast as you can and give everyone Morning Stars, it makes grinding mobs way easier... if you can get the Monks rare drop / steal on Floor 11, the Wind Lute, it makes things that much easier with medium strength heals to the whole party, its one of Sararas rare magic items). The graphics as a whole are decent (the beautiful character designs by Ryo Sasaki / 佐々木亮 are a highlight, though the game has minimal battle effects and not too many event CGs) and the soundtrack is complimentary (each group has their own dungeon theme, I just wish the main battle theme was better as youll hear it A LOT). The game design by Tomoyuki Fujinami / 藤浪智之 is interesting overall and the games about 20+ hrs to properly 100% (you have to collect all items to get the true ending).
This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.
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![PriZhm [プリサム] Game Sample - PC/Doujin](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pYrmywaV0no/mqdefault.jpg "PriZhm [プリサム] Game Sample - PC/Doujin
PriZhm [プリサム] Game Sample - PC/Doujin")
![Soukou no Kihei: Space Griffon [蒼鋼の騎兵 -SPACE GRIFFON-] Game Sample - Dreamcast](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qLT-15NphrQ/mqdefault.jpg "Soukou no Kihei: Space Griffon [蒼鋼の騎兵 -SPACE GRIFFON-] Game Sample - Dreamcast
Also going by the name of Bluesteel Variable Formula: Space Griffon and Aoi Hagane no Kihei: Space Griffon, Soukou no Kihei: Space Griffon is a remake of a remake and Panther Softwares most enduring title, so well start from the beginning.
Originally released in 1993 for the PC-98 under the name of Hamlet (and no, its not related to the Shakespeare play of the same name, but the literal definition of a small village or settlement), the game was a Pseudo 3D Sci-Fi Horror RPG Anime Action-Adventure Game with hybrid FPS elements and real-time combat. The game was then remade in early 1995 as Space Griffon VF-9 (the only iteration released outside Japan) for the PlayStation and featured full 3D graphics and the title was entirely voiced. This version was then upgraded again in 1999 for Segas Dreamcast with upgraded visuals and hi-res art, some added music and rebalanced gameplay while using basically the entire VO work of the PS game. A final, little-known revision was released in early 2001 for Windows PCs in Japan and parts of Taiwan known as Soukou no Kihei: Space Griffon V.O. which was the DC game with added Voice Operation controls via a compatible microphone. It is worth noting that the PS/DC games have NO SUBTITLES and, as such, will hinder the hearing impaired.
In the year 2148 A.D. on 10/17, all communications with the moons largest man-made structure, Hamlet, were lost. Hamlet, meaning a small village was the property of a huge conglomerate known as A-MAX FACTORIES, whose mainstay was products for the military. At the facility, development of the moons natural resources as well of production of foodstuffs, medical supplies and military weapons were being carried out. Because of the confidential nature of the research, the newest security system was installed and constantly being upgraded to completely shut out outsiders. The facilities themselves were designed with living quarters, various factories, farming areas and natural resource mining facilities to allow them to be completely self sufficient.
100 years after being in operation, there had been several waves of immigration and up to 85% of water, food and various living commodities were self-supplied. There were military personnel, factory workers, researchers, miners and their families living there, making it a huge lunar city with a population of close to 1000 people. In recent years, there were pure Hamlet residences born and raised on the moon. Various goods that were difficult to get on earth were being made and exported from the moon. In addition, Lunar Tears, which is known as the Stone That Brings Happiness, were very popular on earth and making Hamlet more well-known. Suddenly, Hamlet lost contact with earth, so A-MAX FACTORIES sent a group of special agents known as A-MAX CLEANERS to investigate. Going by the call signs of BOSS, THIEF, MURDER, BIGHORN, MARIA (The only one going by their actual name) and KID (the main character), horrors abound in the space station as machines go rogue and the threat of a disease and bio-monsters loom.
SG for PS and DC is about 60% story and 40% gameplay and is a rudimentary FPS game. At a glance, it seems to take a lot of inspiration from Silent Debuggers (TG-16), Out Live (TG-16) and Out Live: Be Eliminate Yesterday (PS). The player explores a 3D space station while looking for clues, finding key items, upgrading gear and taking down enemies. One cool aspect of the game is the VF-9 (Variable Formula) which is basically a copy of Shōji Kawamoris Macross Variable Fighter mech that can transform into three modes: Combat, Assault and Cruiser. Combat (Battroid) is the slowest / strongest form, Assault (Gerwalk) is weaker but has higher mobility and defense, and Cruiser (Fighter Jet) has the highest defense and speed + a low center of gravity to dodge, but has compromised combat abilities. All modes can strafe and the Dreamcast game has the smoothest play control. Energy and Body Armor must be maintained with items and are limited, and the player can only hold seven gears that can be armed or mounted.
Besides the visuals and music, the game is extremely similar to the PS game (one could probably even mod the English voices over the Japanese ones with effort) but a few scenes look different, artwork is completely different, and combat has been rebalanced; the Action Response Level (ARL) has been removed and Repair Units restore 1000 Body instead of 400 to compensate. Kazuhiko Okuno (best known for Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Macross 7, but also did several games such as Quo Vadis, U.P.P., etc.) did the art which is generally pretty and the game has hours of spoken dialogue, which is pretty impressive. Absence of music aside, the game(s) are slightly underrated. This is a video showing 40%~ of the game (02:32:27 has music not in the original), although I was going pretty quick. Enjoy.
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![Sugar Waffle [ちっちゃなわっほ～使いシュガー] Game Sample - PC/Doujin](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s4rb3b66Nx0/mqdefault.jpg "Sugar Waffle [ちっちゃなわっほ～使いシュガー] Game Sample - PC/Doujin
Sugar Waffle [ちっちゃなわっほ～使いシュガー] Game Sample - PC/Doujin")
![Monstre Waltz [G-MODEアーカイブス+ 夢幻舞葬モンストラバルツ] Ending + Bonus Episode - PC](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sX96iCKUeIY/mqdefault.jpg "Monstre Waltz [G-MODEアーカイブス+ 夢幻舞葬モンストラバルツ] Ending + Bonus Episode - PC
If you want to know about this game, please refer to the game sample. Otherwise, this is just for my records and coincides with the ending and a special bonus episode for completing the game and loading your save file. The ending references some conversations from the Epilogue (the most important of which is the moment Norman and Shiela have before her dramatic stunt she pulls on Norman, making a prediction of the future stating that in Normans right hand, hell still have his usual cane and in her left hand, shell have a ring) plus a 20+ year time skip to events lateral to Necronomicon and Nightmare of the Whole Sky. Enjoy.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4192750/GMODE/
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![Magatama [魔牙霊] Game Sample - Xbox @Vysethedetermined2](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hfLovrRFrd0/hqdefault.jpg)
