[♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (2010) [MSX2] - Remix 3: China Town (SCC & OPL4 versions) Wyrdwad 2026-09-29 | [♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (2010) [MSX2] - Remix 3: China Town (SCC & OPL4 versions)
[MSX] Outroyd - Longplay (Enable CC for tutorial and commentary; See description for guide download) Wyrdwad 2023-06-26 | A full playthrough of the 1985 MSX cassette game "Outroyd" by Magical Zoo/Stratford Computer-Center Corporation. Recorded from actual MSX hardware with a very dodgy capture device (thus the middling video quality and framerate), though the version of the game played here is a ROM conversion of the original cassette tape, which is why it's missing the title screen and title music (sorry!).This is a Japanese-developed game, despite the non-Japanese developer/publisher name and the all-English gameplay. As such, most information on how to play this game can be found in Japanese only, or is only sparsely available. To that end, I've prepared an English-language guide, which gives full instructions on how to play the game, what your goal is, what the story is, what all of the items do, what all of the tiles mean, etc. You can download this guide here:sendspace.com/file/hi3o20(Temporary link to an early PDF conversion. I'm hoping to find someone who can help me make this a non-page-delineated file and offer it a permanent home somewhere, so if that's you, please leave me a comment!)Additionally, if you enable CC via the settings for this video, you'll be able to see subtitled commentary spanning the entire playthrough, explaining what I'm doing and why, giving information about what each item I acquire is used for, etc.If you're looking to play the game, please do feel free to avail yourself of either the guide (for a more spoiler-free experience), this subtitled video (for more of a full walkthrough experience), or both.I hope you enjoy this game as much as I did, and I hope you find the guide and/or this video useful to that end!
Wherein I visit THE BLUE CAVE Wyrdwad 2022-12-18 | Hopped into Shibuya on 2022/12/18 to check out the Blue Cave, a Christmas light tourist attraction that's only got another week before it's shut off for the year. (When I mention "leaving Japan," by the way, I just mean for Christmas, as I'm flying back to the U.S. to spend Christmas with my family, but I'll be back in Japan by New Year's!)Anyway, the Blue Cave was gimmicky. But kind of neat! But mostly gimmicky. I enjoyed my Panda Express meal at Miyashita Park Mall's food court more than my visit to the Blue Cave! Heheh.Still, it was an experience worth having! ;)
WYR Thrifts [Ep.1?] Hachioji? But I Hardly Know Ye! Wyrdwad 2022-08-10 | EDIT: Dunno what YouTube did to the framerate of this video, but this is virtually unwatchable. I'm attempting a re-encode with different settings now. I'll leave this video up while testing the new upload, but if the new upload is in fact better, I'll likely be deleting this one.EDIT2: Absolutely nothing is improving the framerate of this video. I swear it doesn't look this bad when played from my HD. I'm really at a loss here. I apologize to anyone who was excited to see this; I have no idea how to fix the problem. Please comment if you think you might know the reason.Right off the bat, I'm REALLY sorry about the fan-flap sounds! I had no idea my phone would pick those up so prominently.This video has been presented in the style of an LGR Thrifts episode, but really quite poorly, as literally zero effort went into its production or editing, and it was also recorded on an iPhone 6 Plus, so the whole thing is full of sickness-inducing motion blur (largely due to the fact that I couldn't seem to keep myself still for even 2 seconds!). Apologies to everyone who subjects themselves to this mess. ;)Anyway, this is footage of my first visit to Eco Town in Hachioji, west of Tokyo, as well as my haul from said visit after spending a couple hours shopping in the various Off shops located within its hallowed grounds. I only just recently discovered that this place existed, and while it's not uncommon to find, say, a Hard Off attached to an Off House, or a Book Off attached to a Hobby Off, it's DEFINITELY uncommon to find all 6 major varieties of Off stores together in one place like this. So I HAD to check it out! And of course, I had to film some of it, despite the fact that I'm... probably not supposed to? Though nobody wound up yelling at me for it, so I guess it was fine! ;)If you're not familiar with Book Off, Hard Off, etc., it's a chain of used goods shops prevalent throughout Japan and even internationally, with each one specializing in very specific types of goods. Book Off, despite the name, specializes not just in books but also CDs, DVDs, blu-rays, games, magazines, etc., and is the most ubiquitous one, found just about everywhere in Japan. The amusingly named Hard Off is pretty ubiquitous as well, specializing in "hardware," which includes everything from power tools to TVs to music players to computers, as well as the software one might use in the various systems they sell. (As a result, Hard Off is generally the best of the bunch to go to for finding games and game-related goods!) Hobby Off specializes in figurines, models, trading cards, and basically anything and everything arts and crafts-related. Off House is basically Goodwill, where all the brick-a-brack goes. Mode Off is all clothing and accessories (wallets, bags, purses, etc.). And Liquor Off is, as the name implies, where you can buy and sell used liquor (no, I'm not kidding!).This store was every bit as fun to explore as I thought it might be, so I figured I'd share, even if the video I took is a hot mess. I still imagine a lot of you will be very interested in this place!To get to Eco Town, take the Chuo line or Yokohama line to Hachioji Station, exit north, and just follow the road that stretches off northeast from the station... for like, 15-20 minutes. It'll intersect with Keio Hachioji Station on a separate line, then cross over a huge river, then finally dump you out at Eco Town on your left, right after an Eneos gas station.
[MSX] How to play DRAINER + Sample gameplay (stages 1 & 2) Wyrdwad 2022-06-19 | Special thanks to Ryan Newton, Jose Lucio Slotman, and MP83 for helping make this video possible.Big thanks also to Retroabuelo Gamer for their Spanish-language YouTube tutorial and gameplay video, which was absolutely essential in figuring out how to play this game, and is ultimately what inspired me to make my own English-language tutorial video in the first place. Spanish speakers, check it out here:youtube.com/watch?v=BuUrzrVPsaMRetroabuelo even managed to make it all the way to stage 4, so you'll get to see a lot more of the game by watching that video -- definitely give it a look!Anyway, without further ado...This video will begin by going over the game's rules -- what all the power-ups do, what the goal is, etc.Hopefully, by the end, you will be a Drainer expert and will find yourself enjoying a new old game! * * *You control a ship (known as a "battle gunner") with no weapons of its own; rather, you have to collect circular cartridges to use as weapons.Every cartridge you collect will begin tailing behind you in the order collected, bringing to mind games like Snake, Flicky, or (especially) Yoshi's Island.You CANNOT fly through your own tail, so if you trap yourself somewhere, you'll need to either use up enough cartridges to create an escape route for yourself, or shoot your own tail to destroy everything from that cartridge back.Enemies who collide with your tail will also destroy everything from that cartridge back, so be careful! * * *Cartridge types:- Regular Shot: White = 1 shot, Yellow = 5 shots, Green = 10 shots.- Speed up (blue): Not as useful as you'd think. Use them up quickly, or they'll make your tail way too long.- Laser Shot (blue & yellow): Much more powerful than regular shot, and has 5 charges.- Shield (green & blue): Allows you to cut right through some enemies you would otherwise be unable to harm.- ECM (yellow & red): Freezes enemies in place, but doesn't last very long.- Fire Dragon (red): Short duration, but turns you into death incarnate!Cartridges are finite (in other words, ammo is limited), but there is one cartridge generator in every stage.Wait a while and it will create a white shot for you (off to the right). Wait longer, and the white shot will turn yellow. Longer still, and it will turn green. Etc.Wait time is long, so use as a last resort only! The timer on the bottom of the screen is for the ENTIRE GAME, not just the current stage, so you don't want to be sitting around forever waiting for shots to appear.Also, be careful: the cartridge generator CAN be destroyed! * * *Stage goal: Destroy the core, then escape the ship before the self-destruct timer reaches 0.The core takes 5 hits to destroy in stage one, 10 hits to destroy in stage two, and 15 in stage three. I haven't gotten any farther than that, so I don't know if it keeps increasing by 5 each time or not. ;)Before attacking the core, you will most likely need to destroy the four control systems on each ship as well, represented by flashing circles. These each take 5 hits to destroy (fewer if using the laser shot).Control systems:- ESC-S (red): Opens the airlock that leads out of the ship. You MUST destroy this system, or you cannot escape the ship during the self-destruct sequence, and will definitely lose a life.- BARR-S (yellow): Removes all force field barriers scattered around the stage. The core is always protected by one or more such barrier, so it is impossible to beat any stage without destroying this first.- CANON-S (blue): Completely disables all the rotating gun turrets in the stage. It may be possible to complete the stage without destroying this, but it's not recommended, as the turrets will shoot you instantly if you're ever in their line of fire for even a moment. If the turret is no longer spinning, you'll know it's disabled and you can ignore it completely; it can no longer harm you.- MAZE-S (green): Ensures that destructible walls will NOT regenerate when destroyed. If you destroy a wall while this system is still active, it will regenerate after a few seconds, and the regenerated wall will no longer be destructible. You CAN soft-lock your progress this way, so this is usually a very important system to take out a.s.a.p.! * * *Learning enemy behavior is critical to success as well:- Some enemies take multiple hits to kill.- Some enemies can shoot at you.- Some enemies are indestructible (except when using the fire dragon power), but will move toward you if struck. You'll often need to carefully move these enemies in order to access control systems.- Most (but not all) enemies will drop specific power-ups when destroyed.Strategizing when to collect/use cartridges, which enemies to take out and when, what order to destroy the control systems in, etc. is the way to efficiently beat stages in this very, very difficult game.So... can you make it to stage 4 and beyond?Good luck!
[MSX2] Chokomaka Puzzlers: Bomb Ring - Demo Version Playthrough Wyrdwad 2022-04-27 | Full demo version gameplay from Chokomaka ("Restless") Puzzlers: Bomb Ring by Syntax, for the MSX2/2+/Turbo R home computer system, taken from the Yume Pro RPG Shaonban ("Special Edition," or more literally, "Gratitude Edition") compilation disk.A simple puzzle game in which you control a bouncy slime thingy that can only move three spaces at a time. In each stage, you're tasked with reaching a staircase in as few moves as possible without touching any bombs, spikes, fires, or other obstacles. Exceedingly simple, but pretty decent!Recorded directly from my Panasonic FS-A1ST MSX Turbo R system using S-video and dual-mono composite audio, so apologies for any visual fuzziness or background hissing.
[MSX2] Yume Pro RPG 3 scenario 1 - Sample Gameplay Wyrdwad 2022-04-27 | Sample gameplay from Yume Pro RPG 3 (scenario 1 of 6) by Syntax, for the MSX2/2+/Turbo R home computer system, taken from the Yume Pro RPG Shaonban ("Special Edition," or more literally, "Gratitude Edition") compilation disk.This third game in the trilogy goes for a first-person perspective, and also pairs you with a slime buddy... who starts off the game dead, and takes quite a lot of MP to revive. Lovely. ;) Seems really cool, though!Recorded directly from my Panasonic FS-A1ST MSX Turbo R system using S-video and dual-mono composite audio, so apologies for any visual fuzziness or background hissing.
[MSX2] Yume Pro RPG 2 scenario 1 - Sample Gameplay Wyrdwad 2022-04-27 | Sample gameplay from Yume Pro RPG 2 (scenario 1 of 3) by Syntax, for the MSX2/2+/Turbo R home computer system, taken from the Yume Pro RPG Shaonban ("Special Edition," or more literally, "Gratitude Edition") compilation disk.This second game in the trilogy is pretty neat! The music is a bit grating, but the battle animations are really cool, and the game just feels a lot more "complete" than its predecessor.Recorded directly from my Panasonic FS-A1ST MSX Turbo R system using S-video and dual-mono composite audio, so apologies for any visual fuzziness or background hissing.
[MSX2] Yume Pro RPG 1 - Sample Gameplay Wyrdwad 2022-04-27 | Sample gameplay from Yume Pro RPG 1 by Syntax, for the MSX2/2+/Turbo R home computer system, taken from the Yume Pro RPG Shaonban ("Special Edition," or more literally, "Gratitude Edition") compilation disk.This first game in the trilogy is pretty rough (and has no music), but still has a certain old-school charm to it. Be sure to check out the companion videos showcasing the second and third games, which are decidedly much better experiences.Recorded directly from my Panasonic FS-A1ST MSX Turbo R system using S-video and dual-mono composite audio, so apologies for any visual fuzziness or background hissing.
[MSX] Ghost (Mini Ghost on Steam) - Getting the Piggy Bank at the very start Wyrdwad 2022-04-17 | Ghost on MSX (released as "Mini Ghost" on Steam) is one of my favorite indie homebrew games for the system, developed by the inimitable Unepic_Fran as a prequel to Ghost 1.0 (which is itself something of a spiritual successor to his seminal Galiouslike Metroidvania and online handle's namesake, UnEpic). It's very short, but exceptionally well-designed and fun to play, and I've played through it enough times at this point that I've learned a few good sequence breaks.One of the best sequence breaks, which I now perform every single time I play through the game, is collecting the Piggy Bank item within minutes of starting. The reason for this is because (1) it's very easy to pull off, and (2) it's extremely useful to help avoid grinding money during the early stages of play.The Piggy Bank item grants you 20 free cubes (the game's currency) every time your XP bar is filled, which is going to happen a lot as you go around blasting enemies -- and since you begin the game with a cube cap of 40, and increase this by fairly small increments as you progress, 20 free cubes every few minutes is pretty huge! (Especially if you die, since you lose all your cubes...)Ordinarily, you wouldn't "be able to" get the Piggy Bank until you find the Night Vision Goggles, since it's located in one of the game's darkened duct areas -- but it happens to be located just ONE SCREEN UP from where you start, so if you happen to know the right path through the ducts (or are willing to jump around like an idiot until you stumble your way there), you can just feel your way over to where the Piggy Bank is located, shoot the box holding it, and grab it, even without being able to see any of your surroundings.It's a huge boon when playing, and something I recommend anyone who loves sequence breaking in Metroidvanias try for themselves, as it's really a fun way to gain a fairly sizable advantage early on.Happy gaming! ;)
[MSX] Magical Kid Wiz - Converting crystals to 1-ups Wyrdwad 2022-01-11 | I finally got my hands on a copy of Magical Kid Wiz for the MSX home computer system recently, but it had no instructions with it, so I decided to consult a Japanese wiki for details on what exactly all the items do and what other relevant information I might need to know to fully enjoy the game.The wiki I consulted is this one:http://web1.kcn.jp/kyoto/Wiz/index.htmlIt had me covered, and then some -- it lists all the cheats for the game that make use of a controller plugged into port 2, talks about the title screen cheat if you hold 1, 5, and 0 while starting the game, etc. But among them, it also noted something that isn't so much a cheat as it is a secret: how to convert crystals into 1-up hats.I've mentioned this to a few people who grew up playing Wiz, and none of them seemed to know anything about it, so I kind of wonder if maybe this isn't common knowledge outside of Japan? I also saw no videos showing this secret in action, so I figured I'd quickly fire up the game and record one myself.Here's how it works. It's actually pretty simple.All you need to do is get up on top of the clouds in the green dragon room while the green dragon is still alive (the trick won't work if the green dragon is dead!). Then you just stand on top of the uppermost cloud (the one all the way on the left) and toss a crystal, and a 1-up hat will immediately spawn and begin flying toward you. You can repeat this as many times as you'd like, in exchange for as many crystals as you'd care to spare (though do beware, if you toss a second crystal while a 1-up hat is still on the screen, or even immediately afterward without waiting a beat or two, that crystal will be wasted).That's it!There are two ways to get up on top of the clouds, with the easier of the two being from the left, though it takes a little practice to get the hang of. You can't jump while standing too close to the door, or you'll just go through it; you have to distance yourself from the door a bit, then jump left and VERY QUICKLY jump right off the top of the cliff (as you won't be able to stand there for long before falling off of it). The very quick second jump needs to be rather precise as well, as if you're pushing right the whole time, you'll rub up against the side of the cloud and fall -- you need to jump straight up, and only push right after you're about halfway up in the air.You can also get on top of the clouds from the right side, but the positioning for that is considerably more precise, as you need to be as far left as possible on the cliff's edge in order to land the jump. Between that and the fact that you need to actually pass through the dragon just to get to the right side of the room, it's just a lot easier to make the jump from the left side.After demonstrating the trick in action in this video, I kill the dragon, then demonstrate once more how to get on top of the clouds first from the left, then from the right.Hope this helps someone who's planning to play a no-cheat run of Wiz! I know for me, it'll be really valuable information, and will help make the crystals a lot more valuable as items, too.Enjoy!
[MSX2] SD Gundam Gachapon Senshi 2: Capsule Senki - Full Game vs. CPU (Easy, Full Moon Island) Wyrdwad 2021-12-23 | Apologies for the game screen suddenly going black and white during the ending for a short while; that's the result of the USB connection from my capture device randomly loosening at the worst possible moment (seriously, couldn't it have waited like, another minute?!). The game does not normally turn black and white at all, even if the timing of it did look suspiciously fitting!Anyway, this is a recording of one full game of "SD Gundam Gashapon Warriors 2: Record of Capsule Wars" (as I might translate the title) for the MSX2 microcomputer, published by Banpresto on floppy disk in 1990. I selected to play on the Full Moon Island map, versus the CPU, on the easiest difficulty, with the option set for both sides to start with a larger number of units, and a starting fund of 5,000 CT (credits, I guess?) for both sides as well. In retrospect, I should've picked a higher difficulty level, as the CPU is an absolutely MORON on Easy. ;)The goal of the game is simply to take the enemy's main base, which is guarded by the most powerful unit in the game: the Musya-Z. Whichever side takes the opposing base first wins.Along the way, you can capture cities, artillery, satellites, etc., each of which adds to the amount of money you receive at the beginning of each turn (represented by the IC number at the bottom of the screen).Money can be spent at your main base or any of your sub-bases to buy new units, each of which take a certain number of turns to be constructed (between 1 and 3) and can then be deployed at will from that specific base for as long as you still own it. That last part is important, as it is possible to take over enemy sub-bases -- and if there are any units under construction or ready to be deployed when you take them over, they become YOUR units!I took over one of the enemy's sub-bases during this game, in fact, but then lost it before the Z-Gundam I'd commissioned was finished being built. Fortunately, the CPU was TOO STUPID to deploy said Z-Gundam (despite having ample opportunity to do so!), so I was able to retake the (completely unguarded) sub-base on my very next turn, then immediately deploy my Z-Gundam and use it to finish off the enemy's Musya-Z to win the match. Not the best strategy there, CPU! ;)During battle, your unit generally has a button 1 attack (a ranged weapon) and a button 2 attack (usually a beam sword), and possibly a tertiary attack that's triggered by pressing both buttons together (grenade, homing missile, etc.). There are also a number of power-ups and power-downs that appear at random in the stage: oil to repair your unit or shoes to make you move faster are the good ones, but the talisman is the worst, as it freezes you in place for 5 seconds. The clock, then, reduces the amount of time remaining before the battle is declared a draw, and if you happen to pick up a flashing clock, it just ends the battle in a draw right then and there.There are also tiny robots, jellyfish, etc. that exist solely to get in your way, but can be moved around or have their movement direction reversed by shooting them, potentially allowing them to be used strategically.One thing that I didn't actually do at all during this match was deploy a carrier unit -- these are units that CAN fight other units, but can't take over cities, artillery, satellites, etc., nor can they capture bases. Instead, they can carry other units (up to three at a time) over long distances, as well as directly fire missiles or beams at other units on the map (missiles do a lot of damage but are most likely to miss, while beams do little damage but are most likely to hit). I probably should've used these units more strategically in this match, especially with all the obstacles making movement from one end to the other pretty slow-going, but... hey, the CPU was an idiot, so it didn't really matter in the end. Heheh.Anyway, I hope you enjoy this footage! There's a little bit of gameplay from the MSX version to be found on YouTube already, but it's very minimal, and doesn't show an entire match from beginning to end, so I figured I'd do the honors of being the first to upload that for your viewing enjoyment. This isn't a quick game to play, but it is a lot of fun, and has sparked my interest in the other SD Gundam games (none of which I've ever played!), so all in all, I'm really glad to have gotten my hands on this one, and definitely give it a recommendation for other MSX gamers -- especially those looking for a really nice 2-player title!
[MSX2] Singular Stone - Secret-diving in the Old Relics (feat. Len) Wyrdwad 2021-10-31 | This is one of a series of recordings of footage from the 2020 indie MSX2 Metroidvania-style game "Singular Stone" by Tohji Murakata. I decided to show off a bit of what I consider to be some of the game's more notable scenes as I replay it by clipping very specific moments.This particular clip takes place after I successfully acquired the Air Bubble for Len, which allows him to dive underwater safely. My previous video also showcased this, but here, we're using his ability to travel underwater + his innate bomb-blasting abilities to fully explore the side passages of the Old Relics and snag a whole bunch of items. This is just a really good example of the game's Metroidvania elements in action, and should entice anyone who's still on the fence about looking into this game to give it a try!Singular Stone is easily one of my favorite games on the MSX platform, and I recommend any retro gamer with an MSX2, MSX2+, or MSX Turbo R system that includes FM synth capability and a floppy disk drive snag themselves a copy from the seller's page here:https://booth.pm/en/items/2213020Yes, it's only available on floppy disk, unfortunately, due to the fact that the Vocaloid characters are all dutifully licensed for use here, and one of the terms of that license is that digital distribution is a no-no. But don't let that stop you from checking it out -- if you CAN play it, you definitely should, as it's just friggin' awesome! ;)Enjoy!
[MSX2] Singular Stone - Discovering Atlantis? (Spoiler Alert!) (feat. Len & Luka) Wyrdwad 2021-10-31 | This is one of a series of recordings of footage from the 2020 indie MSX2 Metroidvania-style game "Singular Stone" by Tohji Murakata. I decided to show off a bit of what I consider to be some of the game's more notable scenes as I replay it by clipping very specific moments.This particular clip comes with a SPOILER WARNING, as the moment depicted here is something that really resonated with me as a gamer my first time through, and I'd hate to spoil the magic of the moment for anyone else, so viewer beware!I won't say too much in the description -- you'll have to watch the video to see for yourself what mysteries are uncovered!Singular Stone is easily one of my favorite games on the MSX platform, and I recommend any retro gamer with an MSX2, MSX2+, or MSX Turbo R system that includes FM synth capability and a floppy disk drive snag themselves a copy from the seller's page here:https://booth.pm/en/items/2213020Yes, it's only available on floppy disk, unfortunately, due to the fact that the Vocaloid characters are all dutifully licensed for use here, and one of the terms of that license is that digital distribution is a no-no. But don't let that stop you from checking it out -- if you CAN play it, you definitely should, as it's just friggin' awesome! ;)Enjoy!
[MSX2] Singular Stone - Old Relics boss plays hide-and-seek (feat. Kaito) Wyrdwad 2021-10-31 | This is one of a series of recordings of footage from the 2020 indie MSX2 Metroidvania-style game "Singular Stone" by Tohji Murakata. I decided to show off a bit of what I consider to be some of the game's more notable scenes as I replay it by clipping very specific moments.This particular clips show probably my favorite boss in the game -- it looks cool when it "wakes up," but then it also leads you on a little bit of a wild goose chase as you have to try tracking it down before you can properly fight it.This is also the only clip so far in which I show Kaito in action, since I find he's not really that great of a character to play as under most circumstances -- but he IS the strongest, so he's great for boss fights. I didn't exactly have a very smooth fight, and ALMOST got Game Over here, but I persevered and was just barely able to eke out a victory.Singular Stone is easily one of my favorite games on the MSX platform, and I recommend any retro gamer with an MSX2, MSX2+, or MSX Turbo R system that includes FM synth capability and a floppy disk drive snag themselves a copy from the seller's page here:https://booth.pm/en/items/2213020Yes, it's only available on floppy disk, unfortunately, due to the fact that the Vocaloid characters are all dutifully licensed for use here, and one of the terms of that license is that digital distribution is a no-no. But don't let that stop you from checking it out -- if you CAN play it, you definitely should, as it's just friggin' awesome! ;)Enjoy!
[MSX2] Singular Stone - Path to Rins Level 2 Skill Stone (feat. Luka and Meiko) Wyrdwad 2021-10-26 | This is a segmented recording of footage from the 2020 indie MSX2 Metroidvania-style game "Singular Stone" by Tohji Murakata. I previously uploaded a raw gameplay video from mid-game featuring Rin, Len, and Miku gameplay footage (youtube.com/watch?v=OoMQ10TpiYo), but that recording was a bit unfocused, consisting of uncut gameplay from my own first time through the game. This time, I decided to show off a bit of what I consider to be some of the game's more notable scenes as I replay it by clipping very specific moments.This particular set of three clips shows:- Luka, who is initially the only character in the game capable of swimming, dives into the depths of the North Lake to find Meiko's Level 2 "Skill Stone." Skill Stones raise the level cap for their respective characters -- initially, each character can only level-up to 8, but with the Level 2 Skill Stone, they can level-up to 19, and with the Level 3 Skill Stone, they can level-up to 39 (the game's upper limit). This item is going to be very useful for the boss battle in the third clip.- A short while later, Luka dives beneath the waters of the East Forest to get the "Air Ball" for Meiko. This allows Meiko to swim underwater like Luka (without it, she would rapidly take damage and die very, very quickly). This is also going to be very useful for the boss battle in the third clip, as Luka's attack is fairly weak (despite being massive, traveling across the entire screen, and being able to penetrate both enemies and walls), plus her Level 2 Skill Stone hasn't been found yet, so she can't level-up beyond 8. Meanwhile, Meiko is one of the two strongest characters in the game alongside Kaito, with the added bonus that her attack strength is multiplied whenever she attacks while jumping (which is why I jump around like an idiot so much when playing as her!).- The third clip immediately follows the second, and is only separate because I died in between and had to reload. ;) Here I level-up Meiko a bit on some weird ghost bears, then dive underwater again to fight a pretty neat boss in order to open a back entrance to the "Old Relics" -- one of the game's final areas (and arguably its coolest!). There, after admiring some of what's to come from underneath (love that ominous boss just chilling there!), I finally collect Rin's Level 2 Skill Stone -- a more significant item than it seems, since Rin learns the ability to literally FLY at level 9 (you can see me gain and exploit this ability in the other video linked above, as I discover its existence for the first time during my first playthrough!), after which point she instantly becomes the game's MVP.Singular Stone is easily one of my favorite games on the MSX platform, and I recommend any retro gamer with an MSX2, MSX2+, or MSX Turbo R system that includes FM synth capability and a floppy disk drive snag themselves a copy from the seller's page here:https://booth.pm/en/items/2213020Yes, it's only available on floppy disk, unfortunately, due to the fact that the Vocaloid characters are all dutifully licensed for use here, and one of the terms of that license is that digital distribution is a no-no. But don't let that stop you from checking it out -- if you CAN play it, you definitely should, as it's just friggin' awesome! ;)Enjoy!
[MSX2] Eggbert in Eggciting Adventure - Intro, Practice, and Forest World Wyrdwad 2021-09-06 | Here's a pretty cool indie homebrew MSX2 game that may look a bit familiar to hardcore Nintendo gamers. Released by Fony in 1994, this is not a rip-off of the Toki Tori games -- it's the original! The creators of this game would change things around a bit and ultimately release variations of it for a number of Nintendo platforms under the name Toki Tori.This original version, however, has a lot more of that European indie spirit to it, including the high level of difficulty -- while the Toki Tori games hit you with fairly simple puzzles that gradually get slightly more difficult as the game progresses, Eggbert wastes no time in presenting you with really clever puzzle stages that force you to think outside the box and sometimes even test your timing and reflexes a bit!Containing a total of... four worlds, I think? Each with 10 stages, plus a set of practice stages, this is by no means a very LONG game, but it is extremely fun and very, very polished.You may note that there are no sound effects, however. This is because the game utilizes two different FM sound chips: MSX-music for the music, and MSX-audio for the sound effects. MSX-music is built in to most later-model MSX machines, including mine, though it's also available via a plug-in "FM-PAC" cartridge for those whose systems don't have it. MSX-audio, however, is only available via the Philips Music Module cartridge, which I don't own -- so for me, the game is music only.Fortunately, that music happens to be ABSOLUTELY STELLAR. I really love the soundtrack to this game, and consider its intense, heart-pumping stage themes to be some of the better FM compositions I've heard from indie MSX games over the years.In this video, I play through the entirety of world 1 (the Forest World) after watching the intro and playing through all the practice stages. I've played the game to completion before, but it's been years, so I found myself solving these puzzles all over again -- which is why I get stuck for so long on some of the stages!Hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching!
[MSX2] The 4th Unit - Opening Gameplay Wyrdwad 2021-09-05 | First 30-some odd minutes of gameplay from the Data West MSX2 game "The 4th Unit" -- the first game in Data West's flagship sci-fi visual novel/adventure series about schoolgirl-come-bounty-huntress Blon Win.Although it most certainly features a lot of the less desirable trappings of the genre (including requiring you to select certain options in certain locations before the story will progress, causing you to get stuck pretty frequently until you figure out what the game expects from you), the overall experience is a positive one, with a nice interface, cool art that calls to mind classic '80s anime like Project A-Ko, and a pretty decent story with all the sci-fi flair you could ever ask for.There are battle scenes in the game, but I sadly wasn't following a walkthrough when I recorded this, and didn't come upon any during my play session.I also have no plans to translate this video, so apologies to those of you who can't read Japanese. This seems like a game that's probably pretty easy to hack, however, so the prospect of fan-translating the game itself to English at some future date isn't an entirely unreasonable one -- I think it would make for a good fan-translation project, honestly, and if people like it, there are 3 more games in the series available on the MSX (The 4th Unit 2, Dual Targets: The 4th Unit Act 3, and Zero: The 4th Unit Act 4) and quite a few more beyond that as well available for other classic microcomputers and microcomputer-inspired consoles such as the NEC PC-98 and FM-Towns Marty.I hope you enjoy the video! I've previously uploaded a video of the opening and some gameplay from Dual Targets: The 4th Unit Act 3 as well, and plan to upload footage from the second and fourth games in the future.
Strider (NES) opening with originally planned vocals (sung poorly) Wyrdwad 2021-07-19 | OK, so if no one else is going to be the first to try singing this song (excepting for whoever sang the seemingly lost and possibly apocryphal cassette version), I guess I'm going to have to do it!Not sure what this is? Well... have you played Strider (or Strider Hiryu, if you're Japanese) on NES? The game was never released outside of North America (not even in Japan, where it was developed!), but a few years back, a beta Japanese version of it was leaked online, and something interesting was discovered within it. There was more text during the intro than in the American NES version -- a lot more! And it seemed to appear and disappear at strange intervals.You can check it out for yourself here:youtube.com/watch?v=xhCeMlIahO4It didn't take long for numerous enthusiasts -- myself included -- to realize that this wasn't just any old text... it was song lyrics.I absolutely loved learning this, and immediately wanted to sing this cheesy, cheesy song for myself... but I suck at singing. So I waited, and waited, hoping beyond hope that someone with actual talent would try covering this, and release a proper vocal version of it....But it's been quite a while now, and it just hasn't happened. Which means I guess I've gotta be the first, and you all are just going to have to suffer with my horrible karaoke reject voice! ;)You can read more about the whole music situation with NES Strider here, for additional context:strider.fandom.com/wiki/Strider_Hiryu:_Original_Music?fbclid=IwAR3YOuiG7ij_32-Z--a6GxjXnl144TBk9qtg8Gml3ZJ4Rt59uQ79RbNIN0sOr in Japanese here:http://web.archive.org/web/20050223164032/www.bekkoame.ne.jp/ha/kouji-s/hiryutape.htmI should note that AFTER recording this and transcribing the text, I noticed that there's a slight difference between the lyrics written on these two sites and the lyrics written in the Famicom prototype: one word is transcribed as ころし/koroshi ("to kill"), when the Famicom prototype actually shows it as ころがし/korogashi, which means "to roll" or "to flip." There don't seem to be enough beats in the music track to support this extra mora, however, and it doesn't really make much sense lyrically compared with ころし, so I've decided not to revise my attempt at this time. If any of you decide to cover it yourselves, however, please keep this in mind, and choose whichever lyric you think fits best.I should ALSO note that the translation in this video is my own, as I found a few of the translated lines in the Strider wiki article linked above felt a bit unnatural and decided to see if I could come up with anything better. The last line in particular -- which is also the title of the song -- was translated as "blue wild rider" on the wiki, which is not only grammatically rather strange in English (if anything, it should be "wild blue rider"), but also seems a bit too literal. The "blue" most likely refers to the lushness of the vegetation in the fields that Hiryu passes (in traditional Japanese culture, blue and green are sort of the same color!), and the word used for "rider" can also mean "runner," which seems more fitting based on the animation shown in this intro.Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, and -- most of all -- I hope somebody with actual singing talent covers this properly, as it really deserves a proper vocal version! Consider this my "proof of concept" so the rest of you can really make this shine sometime in the future. ;)
[♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (MSX/OPLL) - Parlor Parapara/Original Mix (Stage 1) Wyrdwad 2021-06-11 | First stage theme from the Japanese indie MSX Turbo R game "The Best of Hamaraja Night: Parapara Groove," developed by Pastel Hope in 1994 and updated in 1996, and published/distributed via the Takeru disk-writer system in Japan.The game is ostensibly a block puzzler, except the blocks are all parapara-dancin' ladies, and you're a dude who's trying to use his UNBRIDLED SEXINESS to attract them toward you and line them up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally so that at least three women with the same dress color are standing in a row. Once you've arranged them accordingly, you can unleash your SWEET MOVES to make them disappear (in... ecstasy, I guess?). And once you've made an appropriate enough "impact" (meaning, you've made a set number of ladies disappear), you clear the stage and can move on to the next. But don't get trapped, or it's Game Over!Well, it might be, anyway. You do have SOME tricks up your sleeve for getting out of tight spots: you have a limited number of cocktails you can offer to clear women out of your way, as well as a trusty jukebox (I think it's a jukebox?) you can shove around to knock people back (though the jukebox is ALSO attracted by your sexiness, for some reason!).It's a pretty absurd little game, but quite charming, and the actual block puzzle elements are easy to learn but difficult to master, exactly as they should be. And between stages, there are choreographed parapara dances like this, which really just add to the game's charm.A further updated English-language cartridge version of this game would go on to be produced and sold years later through the popular EU-based MSX indie homebrew publisher Stichting Sunrise. The cartridge version would include further enhancements and polish to the game's animations, SCC and OPL4 music options (presumably including this track), and a Challenge Mode that tasks players with trying to clear an entire dance floor with a single dance.The cartridge version would also NOT require a Turbo R to play, though the tradeoff there is that the PCM voice samples (like the one you hear at the start of this video) would be removed to compensate for this (since only MSX Turbo R models have support for PCM sampling). Probably a fair tradeoff, though the voices are a nice touch nonetheless!All in all, a cool little game, and the music in it is outstanding, even in its base OPLL FM form as heard here. This is the first stage theme, and while I think it's overshadowed by a lot of the later stage themes, I still think it's a really strong first impression for new players, and a great track overall.(Hopefully, I get to track down a copy of the cartridge version at some point and can pair this with uploads of the SCC and OPL4 versions, which I can say from the video I watched before actually DO sound even better!)
[♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (MSX/OPLL) - Natural/Original Mix (Stage 2) Wyrdwad 2021-06-10 | Second stage theme from the Japanese indie MSX Turbo R game "The Best of Hamaraja Night: Parapara Groove," developed by Pastel Hope in 1994 and updated in 1996, and published/distributed via the Takeru disk-writer system in Japan.The game is ostensibly a block puzzler, except the blocks are all parapara-dancin' ladies, and you're a dude who's trying to use his UNBRIDLED SEXINESS to attract them toward you and line them up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally so that at least three women with the same dress color are standing in a row. Once you've arranged them accordingly, you can unleash your SWEET MOVES to make them disappear (in... ecstasy, I guess?). And once you've made an appropriate enough "impact" (meaning, you've made a set number of ladies disappear), you clear the stage and can move on to the next. But don't get trapped, or it's Game Over!Well, it might be, anyway. You do have SOME tricks up your sleeve for getting out of tight spots: you have a limited number of cocktails you can offer to clear women out of your way, as well as a trusty jukebox (I think it's a jukebox?) you can shove around to knock people back (though the jukebox is ALSO attracted by your sexiness, for some reason!).It's a pretty absurd little game, but quite charming, and the actual block puzzle elements are easy to learn but difficult to master, exactly as they should be. And between stages, there are choreographed parapara dances like this, which really just add to the game's charm.A further updated English-language cartridge version of this game would go on to be produced and sold years later through the popular EU-based MSX indie homebrew publisher Stichting Sunrise. The cartridge version would include further enhancements and polish to the game's animations, SCC and OPL4 music options (presumably including this track), and a Challenge Mode that tasks players with trying to clear an entire dance floor with a single dance.The cartridge version would also NOT require a Turbo R to play, though the tradeoff there is that the PCM voice samples (like the one you hear at the start of this video) would be removed to compensate for this (since only MSX Turbo R models have support for PCM sampling). Probably a fair tradeoff, though the voices are a nice touch nonetheless!All in all, a cool little game, and the music in it is outstanding, even in its base OPLL FM form as heard here. And while I previously stated the stage 9 theme ("Music for the Parapara") may be my favorite from the game, this one is really pretty unbeatable. This is the standout track, IMHO -- the one that convinced me to check this game out when I heard its OPL4 version in a gameplay video a while back. It's hard to call it anything but the best track in the game, and I think ultimately, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be this one. This is just an excellent piece of game music all around.(Hopefully, I get to track down a copy of the cartridge version at some point and can pair this with uploads of the SCC and OPL4 versions, which I can say from the video I watched before actually DO sound even better!)
[♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (MSX/OPLL) - Midnight Telephone/Original Mix (Stage 5) Wyrdwad 2021-06-09 | Fifth stage theme from the Japanese indie MSX Turbo R game "The Best of Hamaraja Night: Parapara Groove," developed by Pastel Hope in 1994 and updated in 1996, and published/distributed via the Takeru disk-writer system in Japan.The game is ostensibly a block puzzler, except the blocks are all parapara-dancin' ladies, and you're a dude who's trying to use his UNBRIDLED SEXINESS to attract them toward you and line them up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally so that at least three women with the same dress color are standing in a row. Once you've arranged them accordingly, you can unleash your SWEET MOVES to make them disappear (in... ecstasy, I guess?). And once you've made an appropriate enough "impact" (meaning, you've made a set number of ladies disappear), you clear the stage and can move on to the next. But don't get trapped, or it's Game Over!Well, it might be, anyway. You do have SOME tricks up your sleeve for getting out of tight spots: you have a limited number of cocktails you can offer to clear women out of your way, as well as a trusty jukebox (I think it's a jukebox?) you can shove around to knock people back (though the jukebox is ALSO attracted by your sexiness, for some reason!).It's a pretty absurd little game, but quite charming, and the actual block puzzle elements are easy to learn but difficult to master, exactly as they should be. And between stages, there are choreographed parapara dances like this, which really just add to the game's charm -- with this particular track having some of the sweetest moves of them all, as far as I'm concerned!A further updated English-language cartridge version of this game would go on to be produced and sold years later through the popular EU-based MSX indie homebrew publisher Stichting Sunrise. The cartridge version would include further enhancements and polish to the game's animations, SCC and OPL4 music options (presumably including this track), and a Challenge Mode that tasks players with trying to clear an entire dance floor with a single dance.The cartridge version would also NOT require a Turbo R to play, though the tradeoff there is that the PCM voice samples (like the one you hear at the start of this video) would be removed to compensate for this (since only MSX Turbo R models have support for PCM sampling). Probably a fair tradeoff, though the voices are a nice touch nonetheless!All in all, a cool little game, and the music in it is outstanding, even in its base OPLL FM form as heard here. I like this track for its energy, and I think it exhibits the true "parapara sound" better than most other tracks in the game, even if a lot of the other tracks are catchier. The name, too, really fits somehow -- this is your ringtone when your best bud is callin' you to see if you wanna head on down to the disco for a wild night of choreographed dancin' and... erm... making women disappear? No, that doesn't sound right. That doesn't sound right at all! Uhh, maybe I should stop typing now...(Hopefully, I get to track down a copy of the cartridge version at some point and can pair this with uploads of the SCC and OPL4 versions, which may potentially sound even better!)
[♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (MSX/OPLL) - Music for the Parapara/Original Mix (Stage 9) Wyrdwad 2021-06-09 | Ninth stage theme from the Japanese indie MSX Turbo R game "The Best of Hamaraja Night: Parapara Groove," developed by Pastel Hope in 1994 and updated in 1996, and published/distributed via the Takeru disk-writer system in Japan.The game is ostensibly a block puzzler, except the blocks are all parapara-dancin' ladies, and you're a dude who's trying to use his UNBRIDLED SEXINESS to attract them toward you and line them up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally so that at least three women with the same dress color are standing in a row. Once you've arranged them accordingly, you can unleash your SWEET MOVES to make them disappear (in... ecstasy, I guess?). And once you've made an appropriate enough "impact" (meaning, you've made a set number of ladies disappear), you clear the stage and can move on to the next. But don't get trapped, or it's Game Over!Well, it might be, anyway. You do have SOME tricks up your sleeve for getting out of tight spots: you have a limited number of cocktails you can offer to clear women out of your way, as well as a trusty jukebox (I think it's a jukebox?) you can shove around to knock people back (though the jukebox is ALSO attracted by your sexiness, for some reason!).It's a pretty absurd little game, but quite charming, and the actual block puzzle elements are easy to learn but difficult to master, exactly as they should be. And between stages, there are choreographed parapara dances like this, which really just add to the game's charm -- though the timing is sometimes slightly off, as is definitely the case here (and I even tried to fix it a little for this video, but to no avail!).A further updated English-language cartridge version of this game would go on to be produced and sold years later through the popular EU-based MSX indie homebrew publisher Stichting Sunrise. The cartridge version would include further enhancements and polish to the game's animations, SCC and OPL4 music options (presumably including this track), and a Challenge Mode that tasks players with trying to clear an entire dance floor with a single dance.The cartridge version would also NOT require a Turbo R to play, though the tradeoff there is that the PCM voice samples (like the one you hear at the start of this video) would be removed to compensate for this (since only MSX Turbo R models have support for PCM sampling). Probably a fair tradeoff, though the voices are a nice touch nonetheless!All in all, a cool little game, and the music in it is outstanding, even in its base OPLL FM form as heard here. This is also one of my favorite tracks from the game, and reminds me of classic late '80s/early '90s Falcom -- specifically their dungeon-crawler RPG "Dinosaur," which has a number of tracks that sound very similar to this one. I definitely would've never expected an indie block puzzler on MSX to feature such outstanding music, but... here we are! And I hope you enjoy it. ;)(Hopefully, I get to track down a copy of the cartridge version at some point and can pair this with uploads of the SCC and OPL4 versions, which may potentially sound even better!)
The Best of Hamaraja Night: Parapara Groove [MSX tR] - Gameplay Video (Stages 1-3 completed) Wyrdwad 2021-05-29 | Gameplay video of the Japanese indie MSX Turbo R game "The Best of Hamaraja Night: Parapara Groove," developed by Pastel Hope in 1994 and updated in 1996, and published/distributed via the Takeru disk-writer system in Japan.The game is ostensibly a block puzzler, except the blocks are all parapara-dancin' ladies, and you're a dude who's trying to use his UNBRIDLED SEXINESS to attract them toward you and line them up horizontally, vertically, or diagonally so that at least three women with the same dress color are standing in a row. Once you've arranged them accordingly, you can unleash your SWEET MOVES to make them disappear (in... ecstasy, I guess?). And once you've made an appropriate enough "impact" (meaning, you've made a set number of ladies disappear), you clear the stage and can move on to the next. But don't get trapped, or it's Game Over!Well, it might be, anyway. You do have SOME tricks up your sleeve for getting out of tight spots: you have a limited number of cocktails you can offer to clear women out of your way, as well as a trusty jukebox you can shove around to knock people back (though the jukebox is ALSO attracted by your sexiness, for some reason!).It's a pretty absurd little game, but quite charming, and the actual block puzzle elements are easy to learn but difficult to master, exactly as they should be. And the extra little elements, like the choreographed parapara dances between stages, really just add to the game's charm -- to say nothing of the music itself being quite excellent!A further updated English-language cartridge version of this game would go on to be produced and sold years later through the popular EU-based MSX indie homebrew publisher Stichting Sunrise. The cartridge version would include further enhancements and polish to the game's animations, SCC and OPL4 music options, and a Challenge Mode that tasks players with trying to clear an entire dance floor with a single dance (a mode which may potentially be present in this version as well, but if so, I haven't unlocked it yet; if anyone knows for sure, please reply in the comments!).The cartridge version would also NOT require a Turbo R to play, though the tradeoff there is that the PCM voice samples would be removed to compensate for this (since only MSX Turbo R models have support for PCM sampling). Probably a fair tradeoff, though the voices are a nice touch nonetheless!All in all, a cool little game, and since the only other significant gameplay video of it I could find online happens to be of the aforementioned cartridge version-only Challenge Mode, I figured I'd upload a video of the first few stages of the main game in action. Enjoy!
Turbo Blaster [MSX Turbo R / Indie] - Area 1 playthrough Wyrdwad 2021-05-10 | Playthrough of the first area of a cool MSX Turbo R indie shmup from 1992 (published in 1994 via Takeru disk-writer kiosks) called "Turbo Blaster," developed by a group called M-O-V. Doesn't necessarily impress with its graphics, but it does have smooth 2-layer parallax scrolling throughout (more than 2 layers in a few stages), including some surprise vertical scrolling at one point, and it maintains a consistent framerate from start to finish -- both of which are notable achievements for the MSX, and are made possible by the Turbo R's technical upgrades over previous MSX models, as well as its speedy R800 processor.During the course of this playthrough, you may notice some frame-stuttering or enemy bullets that are nearly invisible, but rest assured neither of these appear as such in the game proper -- these graphical glitches are the result of my somewhat kludged capture equipment + the compression from the video encoding.This is also by no means my first attempt -- the actual video I recorded was over a half-hour long and included nearly 20 attempts at completing this stage. This game is HARD. You can tell this isn't my first attempt by the slight "ding" sound when "Area 1" appears on screen -- this is an artifact from the cursor sound at the continue prompt. If you're actually starting a new game, there is no sound at all when "Area 1" first appears. ;)Though difficult, this is a pretty legit shmup, with some really chaotic (but consistent) enemy patterns, tight corridors and moving platforms, and other neat little surprises that keep each stage fresh and new. The game's also got some cool features, like power-downs (you obviously don't want to touch the "DIE" item, which does exactly what you think it does, but you also want to avoid the "HALT" item, which freezes you in place for a few seconds), as well as your score actually being used to buy new sub-weapons between stages, leading up to the titular Turbo Blaster (a wave of energy that basically destroys everything in front of you).This game has been archived via the File-Hunter website here:download.file-hunter.com/Games/MSX2/DSKAnd if you want to see everything it has to offer, there IS a cheat you can use to begin the game with 100 lives. Thanks to NYYRIKKI for the tip:"Boot the computer without the disk, then insert the disk and type CALL SYSTEM to get to DOS. Then start the game with command TB 124."Enjoy, and thanks for watching!
[MSX] Mitsume ga Tooru - Longplay (with English fan-translation patch) Wyrdwad 2021-04-20 | Full longplay of "Mitsume ga Tooru: The Three-Eyed One Comes Here" for the MSX microcomputer, developed and published by NATSUME in 1989 (their one and only published MSX game!) and based on the manga and anime series by the legendary Osamu Tezuka. Translation courtesy of Igor Bezhenar (hacking, original English translation), me (translation editing/proofing, testing), and MP83 (original font creation, additional testing). Also available in Russian. Please click here for further information, patch download links, etc.: http://mitsumegatoo.ru
[♫] Wings of Arguis (MSX2) - Town Theme Wyrdwad 2021-03-31 | Music from the MSX2 game アルギースの翼 ("Arugiisu no Tsubasa") by Kogado Studio.Pretty cool little obscure RPG with a really nice soundtrack!This particular track is one of the first you'll hear in the game, and if you're a classic gamer, your first thought will inevitably be... isn't that the Wonder Boy stage theme? ;) But fortunately, this town theme diverges in a very interesting direction after just a moment, turning all sorts of jazzy. I didn't like it at first, but it very quickly grew on me!Loops only twice before fading out, since it's a deceptively long track.
[♫] Wings of Arguis (MSX2) - Overworld Theme Wyrdwad 2021-03-31 | Music from the MSX2 game アルギースの翼 ("Arugiisu no Tsubasa") by Kogado Studio.Pretty cool little obscure RPG with a really nice soundtrack!This particular track is what sold me on the game; I love a good adventurous-sounding overworld theme, and this is about as adventurous as they come! For as simple as the PSG composition is, it's just really effective at setting a proper "go forth!" sort of mood.Loops three times, then fades out.
[MSX2] Dual Targets: The 4th Unit Act 3 - Opening Scenes + First Battle Wyrdwad 2021-02-24 | Just a quick, previously unplanned video. Among my other recent MSX purchases, I got my hands on replacement disks for the game "Dual Targets: The 4th Unit Act 3" by Data West (yes, there's a Data West!), to replace the moldy ones I'd received in my complete boxed copy of the game many years ago. Was just about to pop them in to test them out and realized, hey, I still have my capture equipment set up from the Manes video! So since there didn't appear to be any videos of the intro from the MSX2 version of this game on YouTube just yet, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and capture some footage while testing the first disk out.Enjoy the kind of janky but charming sci-fi visuals, fairly mediocre but decently catchy (if stuttery) FM music, amusing English mistakes, and casual racism (the "color" stat on the character profiles is definitely a bit suspect!)....Honestly, all that said, I'm really fascinated by this series, and I really like how the visual novel portions of this game don't just ask you to choose which action you wish to take, but what emotion you're feeling as you perform that action. So after choosing "talk," for example, you can choose from a list of options including happy, sad, angry, and apologetic, and the resulting dialogue from your character (and response from the person you're speaking to) will be altered accordingly. Pretty neat system!The battle system is also a bit interesting, but a lot of the complexity there seems like little more than window dressing. Still, it's conceptually pretty cool, and I admire Data West's hustle, if nothing else!Need to spend more time with this series sometime soon, to be sure.
[MSX] MANES - Longplay (one full loop) Wyrdwad 2021-02-23 | Just got a copy of this 1984 MSX game by ZAP and pretty quickly "mastered" it, inasmuch as it's possible to do so -- and noticed that there don't seem to exist any videos on the internet that show any parts of the game beyond the second floor, so I figured I'd play through it again while capturing in order to snag that particular "honor." ;)MANES (officially pronounced "MAY-knees" based on the Japanese transcription of the title, though I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, since the copy I received had no manual) is not exactly a good game, and I've even seen a few sites here and there toss around the "kusoge" tag for it, but I think when you consider its 1984 vintage, you start to realize that it's... actually pretty OK! Even a bit ambitious, considering the variety from one stage to the next and the fact that there are two entirely separate gameplay modes.The biggest issues with it are mildly imprecise controls and a bit of a heavy reliance on luck/RNG (on floor 3 to some extent, but on floor 2 to a fault, which is probably why no videos before this have shown anything past that point!). As you might be able to tell from my attempts to keep going after the game loops, that water stage is the real roadblock to success here (though it's also the most interesting stage, and the one that convinced me to pick this game up). You need to position yourself JUST RIGHT in order to make a double jump across a raft, but inching forward just one half-space is rather finicky to pull off, and there's a huge danger of accidentally moving forward twice and falling in the water (especially when you're using intermittently laggy capture equipment!). Additionally, there's a fairly good chance (I'd put the odds at around 10%) that whenever you attempt to double jump off a raft, the raft will move one half-step before your second jump is processed, causing you to smash into the wall and drown. And while it's possible this can be avoided with superhuman timing... yeah, it's pretty much just luck of the draw whether or not it happens, and it's exceedingly frustrating whenever it does. Because of the inherent danger of double jumping off rafts, it's actually more reliable to do what I did several times in this video, and ride the raft a bit farther down-river before jumping off it -- though whenever rafts strike whirlpools, they disappear, so you don't always have a chance to do that.At any rate, this longplay video shows all four stages ("floors") of the game being completed without losing a single life (which was entirely luck on my part, as there were probably a good 20-30 failed attempts before this one!).Floor 1 is a side-view maze of ladders that has you avoiding boulders that spawn in and fall down from above. All the other gameplay videos I've seen show a much more circuitous route through this stage that involves heading all the way to the left and just barely avoiding a number of close calls with boulders before circling back around to the right again. The route I'm showing in this video is much, much easier, and presents almost no danger (only once did a freak boulder spawn in while I was descending the long ladder and overtake me, out of all my 20-30 attempts).Floor 2 is an overhead-view river maze with rafts and whirlpools, and is the game's real bottleneck, but also the most interesting part of it, with the best music. Notably, floor 2 is also the only stage that has multiple possible layouts -- it seems to pick one or the other at random each time you lose a life.Floor 3 is a pain in the ass side-view ice cave with falling icicles, and I hate it. ;) Because you slide mostly uncontrollably whenever you stop moving, it's entirely possible to get totally screwed over by icicles that spawn in on the exact wrong spot at the exact wrong time, though stopping frequently, moving bit by bit, and making good use of the chains to stop yourself from sliding can mostly get you around this. Lose your patience and just charge through, though, and there's a very good chance you're toast.And floor 4 is a deceptively easy overhead-view maze split into four quadrants, with a volcano in the middle. Take the easy path and you'll just be going in circles -- you instead need to wait for the lava to recede all the way at the first juncture and sneak back in to the right. Then you just need to leap over one monster and carefully avoid one more lava flow, and you're home free!Anyway, I don't know that anyone's going to find this video (or in-depth analysis) very interesting, but hey... it's an MSX game no one's fully documented before, and it's really not THAT bad a game (as a kid, I would've gladly spent hours with this one!), so why not, right? ;)
[MSX2/tR] The Tower(?) of Cabin - Intro & Initial 1F Gameplay Wyrdwad 2021-02-06 | This is the full intro + first 20 or so minutes of gameplay from the 1992 Microcabin game "The Tower(?) of Cabin" (yes, the question mark is part of the name!) for MSX2 or higher systems, played on a Panasonic FS-A1ST MSX Turbo R system (so it runs a bit more smoothly than it would on an MSX2 or MSX2+).This game predates SeGaGaGa by several years, but is essentially the same sort of game, presenting a tongue-in-cheek and highly self-referential (which of course also means highly exaggerated!) simulation of day-to-day life at a Japanese game development studio... specifically, Microcabin itself!I haven't played too far into it, but the dialogue in this initial section in Japanese is pretty great all-around, and makes tons of references to Microcabin games, even naming all the different (competing) systems that their games have been released on, by name! And also praising Macintosh computers A LOT, in one case.This section does drag a bit, as you have to talk to EVERYONE, then trigger some flags, then talk to EVERYONE again, then trigger more flags, etc., etc. before you're allowed to go upstairs -- which the section chief even comments on, saying that he knows how tired you must be of waiting around! It's pretty funny, and... highly realistic... but I can see people getting impatient with it, too.I did eventually get permission to go upstairs, though, and stopped the recording as I entered the bathroom -- which is, of course, what this game uses as a save point!I won't be adding subtitles to this video, as there's simply too much TO subtitle, but I hope it'll at least give you some idea what the game is like at the start -- and if nothing else, you gotta dig that music! Microcabin never lets the fans down when it comes to badass OSTs, yo!
ENGLISH-SPEAKING COWORKERS, AMIRITE?! Wyrdwad 2021-02-06 | Always so awkward dealing with our kind in a Japanese business environment! ;)Footage taken from the 1992 Microcabin game "The Tower(?) of Cabin" for MSX2 or higher systems. This game seems pretty neat -- it's basically a "game company simulation RPG" along the lines of SeGaGaGa, but predating it by quite a bit. The dialogue in it is pretty great, and this exchange in particular just got a pretty good chuckle out of me when I first read it, so I figured I'd share!Press the CC button for translations of the Japanese text.
[MSX] Suite Macabre - Longplay (Green, Yellow, Red Boss Order) Wyrdwad 2021-01-24 | SPOILER WARNING: If you wish to play this game on your own, DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO, as it gives away the solutions to every puzzle and the locations of every relevant item. Part of this game's charm is exploring the hotel and discovering its secrets for yourself, so you're going to lose a lot from the experience if you go into it with prior knowledge. This video is mostly for those who are stuck, or for those who don't own an MSX and don't think they'll ever actually play the game. It is for reference purposes only.To buy a copy of the game for yourself (on physical cartridge, in a very nice box with a full-color manual that includes both English and Spanish), check out the MICROMANCERS website here (and check out their other games, too, because they're all superb!):http://www.micromancers.comThis is complete longplay footage of the 2021 MSX homebrew game "Suite Macabre," developed by Maltanto and published by MICROMANCERS. Suite Macabre is a horror adventure platformer in which you're tasked with exploring a rather deadly hotel in 1981 to find your partner, who seems to have performed some rather unfortunate experiments within it that miiiiight have just unleashed a few Lovecraftian horrors!It's a rather impressive game, especially when you consider that it's playable on very old MSX1 hardware (though the color palette is upgraded when played on an MSX2 or higher, as is the case here). Rarely does one see an MSX1 game with so much detail and motion -- there's not a single screen in this game that doesn't have rats scurrying about, flies buzzing around lights, rain falling, etc. Visually, it's an absolute stunner for 8-bit hardware that's essentially on par with the likes of the Colecovision as far as power-pushing goes.Aurally, too, it's got some pretty good creepy PSG chiptunes and nice details, like being able to ring the bell at the front desk or walk over the keys on the piano. And, I mean, while the main theme is great at setting a mood, it's not something you'd load up onto your phone to listen to on the train... but that boss theme? I would totally do that with that boss theme! That's some good stuff, yo!This isn't a perfect run, as I do die once on the first boss I fight (which, to be fair, is the hardest of the game's three bosses IMHO), and I also spend far too long attempting to make a jump at the one tree in the courtyard before I realize, oh, I'm in the wrong spot. Whoops! ;)But overall, this shows the solutions to all of the game's puzzles and the locations of all of the game's important items, with any other items that have been ignored basically existing as red herrings (confirmed by the developer) to throw you off your game a bit. Sneaky, sneaky!Note also that you can challenge the bosses in any order of your choosing. For this longplay video, I elected to save the boss behind the red door for last, because each time you beat a boss, it unlocks a section of the hotel that you couldn't get to beforehand -- but when you beat your third boss, it transports you to the ending room instead, meaning you're never able to explore the section that was just unlocked. And I happen to know from playing through the game a few times already that there's nothing of note in the unlocked section beyond the red boss door -- just a reel-to-reel tape containing the same message as the one found behind the other boss doors. No special items, and certainly no cat computer! ;)Anyway... enjoy!
[Unreleased Game Music] Pumpkin Adventure II - Shop Theme (OPLL version) Wyrdwad 2020-11-10 | BGM used in "Pumpkin Adventure II: The Keeper of the Seven Keys," an early '90s Dutch homebrew adventure/RPG title for the MSX2 microcomputer standard, developed by UMAX and published by Stichting Sunrise.This... is the shop theme played in town. That's it! Not really anything special, right? Except... keep listening to it. Trust me.I really like how it just kind of... becomes an arrangement of itself all of a sudden. Everything about it changes, from the tempo to the mood, and it really makes this a rather charming little shop theme IMHO! I dunno, I just quite like it.This game, along with its predecessor, "Pumpkin Adventure: The Quest for the Holy Grail," and sequel, "Pumpkin Adventure III: The Hunt for the Unknown," is a generally silly title written and created by Dutch teenagers (for whom English is a second language, thus the odd typo or bit of misused punctuation) and filled with swearing, crude humor, pop culture references, etc. But all three are also extremely well-designed games that manage to be engaging, fun, and involving throughout, with each one building on the titles that came before it to create an exponentially longer and more involving experience. It's honestly kind of a perfect trilogy of games, and comes highly recommended to anyone looking to collect quality homebrew titles for the MSX!And to top it off, all three games have absolutely stellar soundtracks, with PA3 in particular having... honestly, some of my favorite music on the entire platform.Note that this is the OPLL version of this track, meaning it uses ONLY the Yamaha OPLL FM chip that's built in to most MSX2+ and MSX Turbo R machines, or can be added to anything before that by way of an "FM-PAC" or similar cartridge. This is sometimes also referred to as "MSX-music."Pumpkin Adventure II supports "MB-stereo" as well, which utilizes a Philips Music Module cartridge (if you have one) to generate OPL1 FM synth (sometimes referred to as "MSX-audio") through one channel, and the standard OPLL FM synth through the other, allowing for more audio channels, enhanced FM capability, and stereo to boot (as all MSXes are natively monaural without a setup like this). As I do not own a Philips Music Module, however, I can only provide music that utilizes my Turbo R's built-in OPLL.Enjoy!
[Unreleased Game Music] Pumpkin Adventure I & II - Final Dungeon/Boss Battle Theme (OPLL version) Wyrdwad 2020-11-10 | BGM used in both "Pumpkin Adventure: The Quest For the Holy Grail" and "Pumpkin Adventure II: The Keeper of the Seven Keys," two early '90s Dutch homebrew adventure/RPG titles for the MSX2 microcomputer standard.In the first game, this track is used as BGM during the final dungeon, while in the second, it's used as the standard boss battle theme.These games (and the final entry in the trilogy, "Pumpkin Adventure III: The Hunt for the Unknown") are generally silly titles written and created by Dutch teenagers (for whom English is a second language, thus the odd typo or bit of misused punctuation) and filled with swearing, crude humor, pop culture references, etc. But they're also extremely well-designed games that manage to be engaging, fun, and involving throughout, with each one building on the titles that came before it to create an exponentially longer and more involving experience. It's honestly kind of a perfect trilogy of games, and comes highly recommended to anyone looking to collect quality homebrew titles for the MSX!And to top it off, all three games have absolutely stellar soundtracks. This particular track isn't one of the better ones, IMHO, but it very much feels like a direct predecessor to the second battle theme from Pumpkin Adventure III: youtube.com/watch?v=sQ3UFod2VxsSo it seemed worth sharing, since that's one of the more popular PA3 soundtrack uploads on this channel.Note that this is the OPLL version of this track, meaning it uses ONLY the Yamaha OPLL FM chip that's built in to most MSX2+ and MSX Turbo R machines, or can be added to anything before that by way of an "FM-PAC" or similar cartridge. This is sometimes also referred to as "MSX-music."Pumpkin Adventure II supports "MB-stereo" as well, which utilizes a Philips Music Module cartridge (if you have one) to generate OPL1 FM synth (sometimes referred to as "MSX-audio") through one channel, and the standard OPLL FM synth through the other, allowing for more audio channels, enhanced FM capability, and stereo to boot (as all MSXes are natively monaural without a setup like this). As I do not own a Philips Music Module, however, I can only provide music that utilizes my Turbo R's built-in OPLL.Also note: the footage shown in this video is from Pumpkin Adventure II exclusively, as that happens to be the game I'm playing right now. ;)Enjoy!
[Unreleased Game Music] Pumpkin Adventure II - Battle Theme (OPLL version) Wyrdwad 2020-11-10 | BGM used in "Pumpkin Adventure II: The Keeper of the Seven Keys," an early '90s Dutch homebrew adventure/RPG title for the MSX2 microcomputer standard, developed by UMAX and published by Stichting Sunrise.This is the main battle theme from the game, and while it's much more basic than the multiple battle themes used in its sequel, people seem to love battle themes, so... when in Rome, y'know? ;)This game, along with its predecessor, "Pumpkin Adventure: The Quest for the Holy Grail," and sequel, "Pumpkin Adventure III: The Hunt for the Unknown," is a generally silly title written and created by Dutch teenagers (for whom English is a second language, thus the odd typo or bit of misused punctuation) and filled with swearing, crude humor, pop culture references, etc. But all three are also extremely well-designed games that manage to be engaging, fun, and involving throughout, with each one building on the titles that came before it to create an exponentially longer and more involving experience. It's honestly kind of a perfect trilogy of games, and comes highly recommended to anyone looking to collect quality homebrew titles for the MSX!And to top it off, all three games have absolutely stellar soundtracks, with PA3 in particular having... honestly, some of my favorite music on the entire platform.Note that this is the OPLL version of this track, meaning it uses ONLY the Yamaha OPLL FM chip that's built in to most MSX2+ and MSX Turbo R machines, or can be added to anything before that by way of an "FM-PAC" or similar cartridge. This is sometimes also referred to as "MSX-music."Pumpkin Adventure II supports "MB-stereo" as well, which utilizes a Philips Music Module cartridge (if you have one) to generate OPL1 FM synth (sometimes referred to as "MSX-audio") through one channel, and the standard OPLL FM synth through the other, allowing for more audio channels, enhanced FM capability, and stereo to boot (as all MSXes are natively monaural without a setup like this). As I do not own a Philips Music Module, however, I can only provide music that utilizes my Turbo R's built-in OPLL.Enjoy!
[Unreleased Game Music] Pumpkin Adventure II - Forest/Cave Theme (OPLL version) Wyrdwad 2020-11-10 | BGM used in "Pumpkin Adventure II: The Keeper of the Seven Keys," an early '90s Dutch homebrew adventure/RPG titles for the MSX2 microcomputer standard developed by UMAX and published by Stichting Sunrise.This is, for all intents and purposes, the game's main "overworld" theme -- though it's also played in the Caves of Bracaval, so I figured I'd just call it the Forest/Cave Theme.This game, along with its predecessor "Pumpkin Adventure: The Quest for the Holy Grail" and sequel "Pumpkin Adventure III: The Hunt for the Unknown," is a generally silly title written and created by Dutch teenagers (for whom English is a second language, thus the odd typo or bit of misused punctuation) and filled with swearing, crude humor, pop culture references, etc. But all three are also extremely well-designed games that manage to be engaging, fun, and involving throughout, with each one building on the titles that came before it to create an exponentially longer and more involving experience. It's honestly kind of a perfect trilogy of games, and comes highly recommended to anyone looking to collect quality homebrew titles for the MSX!And to top it off, all three games have absolutely stellar soundtracks, with this being one of the first you'll hear upon starting the game in earnest. It's essentially the "main theme" of the game, and as main themes go... it's pretty catchy stuff! I think I like Pumpkin Adventure I's main theme a little better, though: youtube.com/watch?v=H2sLS_5AXgcNote that this is the OPLL version of this track, meaning it uses ONLY the Yamaha OPLL FM chip that's built in to most MSX2+ and MSX Turbo R machines, or can be added to anything before that by way of an "FM-PAC" or similar cartridge. This is sometimes also referred to as "MSX-music."Pumpkin Adventure II supports "MB-stereo" as well, which utilizes a Philips Music Module cartridge (if you have one) to generate OPL1 FM synth (sometimes referred to as "MSX-audio") through one channel, and the standard OPLL FM synth through the other, allowing for more audio channels, enhanced FM capability, and stereo to boot (as all MSXes are natively monaural without a setup like this). As I do not own a Philips Music Module, however, I can only provide music that utilizes my Turbo R's built-in OPLL.Enjoy!
[Unreleased Game Music] Pumpkin Adventure I & II - Lava Cave Theme (OPLL version) Wyrdwad 2020-11-09 | BGM used in both "Pumpkin Adventure: The Quest For the Holy Grail" and "Pumpkin Adventure II: The Keeper of the Seven Keys," two early '90s Dutch homebrew adventure/RPG titles for the MSX2 microcomputer standard.In both games, this track is played while navigating a lava-filled cave -- and in both games, you use a special lava-proof bucket to do so. Weird!These games (and the final entry in the trilogy, "Pumpkin Adventure III: The Hunt for the Unknown") are generally silly titles written and created by Dutch teenagers (for whom English is a second language, thus the odd typo or bit of misused punctuation) and filled with swearing, crude humor, pop culture references, etc. But they're also extremely well-designed games that manage to be engaging, fun, and involving throughout, with each one building on the titles that came before it to create an exponentially longer and more involving experience. It's honestly kind of a perfect trilogy of games, and comes highly recommended to anyone looking to collect quality homebrew titles for the MSX!And to top it off, all three games have absolutely stellar soundtracks, with this being a particular standout track from the first that... I guess the creators at UMAX agreed was a standout, so they decided to reuse it in the second as well! Can't blame 'em for that...Note that this is the OPLL version of the track, meaning it uses ONLY the Yamaha OPLL FM chip that's built in to most MSX2+ and MSX Turbo R machines, or can be added to anything before that by way of an "FM-PAC" or similar cartridge. This is sometimes also referred to as "MSX-music."Pumpkin Adventure II supports "MB-stereo" as well, which utilizes a Philips Music Module cartridge (if you have one) to generate OPL1 FM synth (sometimes referred to as "MSX-audio") through one channel, and the standard OPLL FM synth through the other, allowing for more audio channels, enhanced FM capability, and stereo to boot (as all MSXes are natively monaural without a setup like this). As I do not own a Philips Music Module, however, I can only provide music that utilizes my Turbo R's built-in OPLL.Also note: the footage shown in this video is from Pumpkin Adventure II exclusively, as that happens to be the game I'm playing right now. ;)(ALSO also note: Doesn't this track remind you a bit of "Ana Ng" by They Might Be Giants? I'd love to hear somebody do a mashup of the two songs!)Enjoy!
[MSX2] Singular Stone - Raw Gameplay (Len, Rin, and Miku) Wyrdwad 2020-09-06 | Just got this brand-new indie homebrew MSX2 game in the mail yesterday, but I've already put a good 5-6 hours into it, and just figured I'd capture one of my play sessions so I could show others why the game is so addicting. It's not super-duper interesting footage, since much of it is spent just grinding levels or checking my surroundings for anything I might have missed (now that I've unlocked abilities or characters I didn't have when I went through some of these areas previously). But still, I figured I'd share, in case anyone else is interested in grabbing this game!You can order your own copy of it from here (once it's back in stock):https://booth.pm/en/items/2213020I HIGHLY recommend checking this game out, whether you're a Vocaloid fan or not, as it's an extremely complex, well-balanced, well-designed action RPG with a Metroidvania structure and just... seemingly endless hidden secrets and items and abilities. It has the basic structure of Cave Story, mixed with gameplay that feels like a refined form of Ys III, Romancia, Sorcerian, or Popful Mail SFC, with a dash of Legacy of the Wizard/Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family's multiple playable characters with unique skills thrown in for good measure.It's quickly become one of my favorite indie homebrew games on the entire MSX platform, and I really can't recommend it highly enough.
[Unreleased Game Music] Pumpkin Adventure I - Overworld Theme Wyrdwad 2020-08-23 | I recently got my hands on a DSK of "Pumpkin Adventure: Quest for the Holy Grail," the first game in the Pumpkin Adventure homebrew RPG trilogy for the MSX2 platform, and I really quite like it! It's cute, fun, stupid, and charmingly simple.Unlike Pumpkin Adventure III: Hunt for the Unknown (the only game I've played through in the trilogy to date), the first game has no combat, and the story is really basic and... lifts more than its fair share of references from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (as one might expect from a 1992 homebrew microcomputer game!). It feels more akin to an early point-and-click PC adventure title than a Japanese-inspired RPG (which is what its two sequels very squarely qualify as), with puzzles based solely on exploring the game world, talking to NPCs, finding items, and using those items in the proper places.And fortunately, like Pumpkin Adventure III... its music is quite good! Not AS good as PA3's, by any means -- but that's a high bar to clear, as that game's soundtrack is just utterly sublime.But this overworld theme? This overworld theme is nothin' to sneeze at! Again, simple, but catchy. And you gotta love that bass line!
Izumic Ballade (MSX Turbo R) - Intro (English fan-translated beta version) Wyrdwad 2020-08-09 | EPILEPSY WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS QUICKLY FLASHING IMAGES AND SHOULD NOT BE WATCHED BY THOSE WHO ARE SENSITIVE TO SUCH THINGS!Opening to the 1996 homebrew/indie MSX2 JRPG "Izumic Ballade," fan-translated to English WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY. ;) Re-upload after it was discovered that, since the game was made in MSX-BASIC, it actually runs considerably faster and smoother on an MSX Turbo R than on an MSX2 or MSX2+, almost certainly because MSX-BASIC was optimized to make use of the Turbo R's R800 processor by default.For comparison's sake, check out this same opening running via emulator on MSX2 hardware: youtube.com/watch?v=iSnNQ3raGq8This game was a one-man effort originally created by a guy named Shinobu Hatakeyama while he was still in high school -- as in, literally, he did EVERYTHING, from the graphics to the music to the writing to the programming. And he did it all in MSX-BASIC, which is... certainly not the most optimized way to make a game! (Incidentally, Hatakeyama would go on to create two really awesome shmups for the MSX after this called "Kyokugen" and "Pleasure Hearts," then branch out to create really spectacular doujin shmups for a variety of other platforms as well, including the somewhat legendary games "Judgement Silversword" and "Eschatos." So if you're a fan of those games, what you are now beholding is the very first doujin effort from the guy responsible for them!)Anyway, due to the fact that this game was made 100% in MSX-BASIC (which was definitely NOT meant for a JRPG of this complexity!), it would be a pretty big understatement to say it's rough around the edges (even more so in English, since more characters are required to convey the same thought as the Japanese text). Nonetheless, the game itself is wholly unique and genuinely quite charming, featuring a bizarre obsession with the bass clarinet, a ton of fourth wall-breaking moments, innumerable Yu-Gi-Oh references (several of which can be seen in this very video), and a cast of extremely odd characters that include a music teacher who appears to be perpetually shirtless and has a "98" emblazoned on his forehead for reasons which are never explained, as well an alien plush doll with the kanji for "law" scrawled across his body in red ink.Because I found myself charmed by this odd little obscurity -- and since its source code is just right there, easily accessible due to MSX-BASIC not being a compilable programming language -- I decided, what the hell? I've been meaning to learn MSX-BASIC for the longest time anyway, so I might as well try to reverse-engineer this game and translate it to English, making it playable by a much wider audience!I started with this intro, then moved on to the main game, though I've been quite thoroughly stuck in the main game for the last several years due to the one single part of it that was NOT fully programmed in MSX-BASIC: the battle system. Enemies are BLOADed into memory from a binary file before each battle, and I can't for the life of me figure out how this binary file is structured -- nor can I translate even one word of it without completely breaking it. Additionally, the fact that English text takes up more space than simple Japanese text means that the main game occupies a larger portion of memory than it did in Japanese, which seems to conflict with the BLOAD and cause the game to hard-lock my system almost every time a random battle is triggered. Until someone with far more technical ability than I is able to thoroughly reverse-engineer this binary enemy data for me, the fan-translation is quite definitively stalled -- though part of the reason I'm uploading this video now is because the faintest ray of hope HAS presented itself recently, so fingers crossed I can get back to this sometime soon-ish!In the meantime, please enjoy this clunky, very MSX-BASIC (but also weirdly charming) introductory cutscene in English!Special thanks to MP83, who created the English font for this, as well as the "G-R-A-S-P" graphic.(NOTE: Although it looks better in this video than it did in the previous MSX2 video, the Hideto concert scene is still far inferior here than it is when played on actual hardware -- it seems to be missing a ton of frames, despite OBS claiming to have recorded it at 60 fps. And then YouTube encoding on top of that killed even more frames, turning the trippy visuals into something of a chaotic mish-mash! It really is a shame, too, as the concert scene looks so charmingly retro and psychedelic on actual hardware... but, oh well! This is just an example of what the game looks like, anyway.)
Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact [MSX2] - Mission 3 Playthrough Wyrdwad 2020-07-14 | I wonder how long it'll be before I get that one dislike on this video that I always get? Either way, I'd like to give a big thanks to my biggest fan (can there be any doubt as to who it is?) who dislikes all of my videos within 24 hours of me posting them. I appreciate the boost to my view count, and -- presumably -- subscriber count as well, for you to see all my new uploads so quickly! Heck, you probably even have the bell clicked as well. Truly, you are devoted to me! It's very gratifying. ;)Anyway! Here we've got mission 3 from the 1989 Game Arts game "Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact" for the MSX2 microcomputer standard.Easily one of my favorite games on the entire platform, and arguably one of the most progressive and forward-thinking games of the entire 8-bit era. Not only is this a 1989 game in which you play as a badass female military soldier piloting a transforming mech suit on a dangerous mission to save the earth and her fiance alike, but it also features dynamic music (boss themes are seamlessly integrated into the stage themes), as well as an optional tutorial mission -- something that you just didn't see back then, as players were typically expected to read the manual in order to learn all the ins and outs of the game. And when tutorials DID eventually start to catch on, they were rarely optional, usually instead being forced upon players before they could start on the game proper.This game was released on a large number of platforms, even including an MS-DOS port published in English by Sierra back in the day. The Sierra version lacked the intro and ending from all Japanese versions of the game, however -- likely because the story was altered a bit, and very much NOT for the better. In Sierra's version of the story (which is told through a comic strip printed in the instruction manual), main character Joanna is much more impulsive, actually STEALING the Fire Hawk mech suit in order to save her fiance, going against direct orders. This is very much not the case in the Japanese game: Joshua (yeah, her name is Joshua in the original Japanese; you just kind of have to roll with that!) is a fully capable member of the military crew on the spaceship Rapina, and is sent into the Nediam comet along with the rest of her squadron. Along the way, she encounters the downed wreckage of each of her squadmates, and can communicate with them to get hints on what challenges lie ahead, which I always thought was a really nice touch -- a great way to organically give the player hints, while also making them feel like a total badass!The Sierra version also changed Joanna/Joshua's outfit -- in all Japanese versions, she's depicted wearing a standard-issue military uniform identical to that of everyone else on the ship. In the Sierra version... it's all about them short shorts. ;)Anyway! I decided to record a playthrough of this game, as I hope to post a full video review of it somewhere down the line. And I think I managed to find a good way to get both nice-looking video and accurate sound from real hardware, so this is my test case for that! What do you guys think? Does this look/sound good, or what?! ;)Mission 3 is the first "real" mission, in that it's the place where even the best of players are likely to experience their first death until they become real experts at the game. Fire Hawk is TOUGH, but never unfair -- careful expedition and smart handling of the enemies around you will always see you through a mission successfully.In my case, I did die once on the boss, but was able to continue right at the start of the boss area afterward. If I would've died a second time, I would've had to restart the stage -- the way continues in Fire Hawk work are, you get ONE chance to restart from your last checkpoint, but once that's been used up, it's back to the start of the mission with you next time around! Again, tough, but fair, I'd say...Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! Take care!
Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact [MSX2] - Missions 1 & 2 Playthrough Wyrdwad 2020-07-11 | Missions 1 and 2 from the 1989 Game Arts game "Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact" for the MSX2 microcomputer standard.Easily one of my favorite games on the entire platform, and arguably one of the most progressive and forward-thinking games of the entire 8-bit era. Not only is this a 1989 game in which you play as a badass female military soldier piloting a transforming mech suit on a dangerous mission to save the earth and her fiance alike, but it also features dynamic music (boss themes are seamlessly integrated into the stage themes), as well as an optional tutorial mission -- something that you just didn't see back then, as players were typically expected to read the manual in order to learn all the ins and outs of the game. And when tutorials DID eventually start to catch on, they were rarely optional, usually instead being forced upon players before they could start on the game proper.This game was released on a large number of platforms, even including an MS-DOS port published in English by Sierra back in the day. The Sierra version lacked the intro and ending from all Japanese versions of the game, however -- likely because the story was altered a bit, and very much NOT for the better. In Sierra's version of the story (which is told through a comic strip printed in the instruction manual), main character Joanna is much more impulsive, actually STEALING the Fire Hawk mech suit in order to save her fiance, going against direct orders. This is very much not the case in the Japanese game: Joshua (yeah, her name is Joshua in the original Japanese; you just kind of have to roll with that!) is a fully capable member of the military crew on the spaceship Rapina, and is sent into the Nediam comet along with the rest of her squadron. Along the way, she encounters the downed wreckage of each of her squadmates, and can communicate with them to get hints on what challenges lie ahead, which I always thought was a really nice touch -- a great way to organically give the player hints, while also making them feel like a total badass!The Sierra version also changed Joanna/Joshua's outfit -- in all Japanese versions, she's depicted wearing a standard-issue military uniform identical to that of everyone else on the ship. In the Sierra version... it's all about them short shorts. ;)Anyway! I decided to record a playthrough of this game, as I hope to post a full video review of it somewhere down the line. And I think I managed to find a good way to get both nice-looking video and accurate sound from real hardware, so this is my test case for that! What do you guys think? Does this look/sound good, or what?! ;)Missions 1 and 2 do a nice job setting the stage for what's to come, and mission 2 is also really good fanservice for people who played the original Thexder, as the first part of it is basically stage 1 from that game -- until you go underground, exploring beyond where you were able to go in Thexder. It reminds me of how you can visit the continent upon which Dragon Quest 1 took place in Dragon Quest 2, but also explore well beyond that -- it just really helps sell the scope of the game world, while also showing how much bigger and better the new quest is!So, I hope you enjoy this! Take care!
Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact [MSX2] - Intro & Practice Mode Playthrough Wyrdwad 2020-07-11 | The full intro and practice mode (tutorial mission) from the 1989 Game Arts game "Fire Hawk: Thexder the Second Contact" for the MSX2 microcomputer standard.Easily one of my favorite games on the entire platform, and arguably one of the most progressive and forward-thinking games of the entire 8-bit era. Not only is this a 1989 game in which you play as a badass female military soldier piloting a transforming mech suit on a dangerous mission to save the earth and her fiance alike, but it also features dynamic music (boss themes are seamlessly integrated into the stage themes), as well as an optional tutorial mission -- something that you just didn't see back then, as players were typically expected to read the manual in order to learn all the ins and outs of the game. And when tutorials DID eventually start to catch on, they were rarely optional, usually instead being forced upon players before they could start on the game proper.This game was released on a large number of platforms, even including an MS-DOS port published in English by Sierra back in the day. The Sierra version lacked the intro and ending from all Japanese versions of the game, however -- likely because the story was altered a bit, and very much NOT for the better. In Sierra's version of the story (which is told through a comic strip printed in the instruction manual), main character Joanna is much more impulsive, actually STEALING the Fire Hawk mech suit in order to save her fiance, going against direct orders. This is very much not the case in the Japanese game, as you can clearly see from this intro: Joshua (yeah, her name is Joshua in the original Japanese; you just kind of have to roll with that!) is a fully capable member of the military crew on the spaceship Rapina, and is sent into the Nediam comet along with the rest of her squadron. Along the way, she encounters the downed wreckage of each of her squadmates, and can communicate with them to get hints on what challenges lie ahead, which I always thought was a really nice touch -- a great way to organically give the player hints, while also making them feel like a total badass!The Sierra version also changed Joanna/Joshua's outfit -- in all Japanese versions, she's depicted wearing a standard-issue military uniform identical to that of everyone else on the ship. In the Sierra version... it's all about them short shorts. ;)Anyway! I decided to record a playthrough of this game, as I hope to post a full video review of it somewhere down the line. And I think I managed to find a good way to get both nice-looking video and accurate sound from real hardware, so this is my test case for that! What do you guys think? Does this look/sound good, or what?! ;)Enjoy!
Seed of Dragon [MSX Turbo R] - Area 3 playthrough Wyrdwad 2020-07-06 | No-commentary playthrough of the entire third area (looks to be Austria or Slovenia on the map, but I think they were going for Transylvania) of the MSX Turbo R-exclusive game "Seed of Dragon."Recorded from actual hardware (Panasonic FS-A1ST) via S-video output, uploaded raw from the resulting file. The capture device I'm using is limited to 30fps, but the game isn't exactly a 60fps+ marvel to begin with, so I don't think this should affect anything. ;)Seed of Dragon is one of the few games to be released exclusively for the fourth iteration of the MSX personal computer standard, the "Turbo R." The big advancements of the Turbo R standard included more memory (256 kB standard, as opposed to 64 on most older Japanese systems and 128 on most European models), support for PCM audio sampling, and -- most notably -- the addition of a 16-bit R800 processor in addition to the Zilog Z80 used by the MSX, MSX2, and MSX2+ standards.This game... does not really impress, as it still uses block-scrolling like most older MSX titles, and doesn't really look or sound much better than what you'd be able to get out of an MSX2, save for the scratchy PCM speech samples used in the intro. However, if you compare it to other games that use similar levels of color and detail and attempt to play out as similarly fast-paced platformers -- such as Falcom's MSX2 version of "Ys III: Wanderers From Ys" -- it becomes abundantly clear that the R800 is being put to good use here, as this game manages to run at a consistent and entirely acceptable speed and the controls are actually super-responsive.And while it may be choppy compared to the types of games you'd see on other platforms, and the music may lag every time you open the menu (as a result of having to access the disk), the gameplay and general game design more than makes up for its shortcomings IMHO. Simply put, Seed of Dragon is quite fun and addictive!The gameplay is fairly interesting and unique, too, with your avatar able to customize his arms/legs and body separately using consumable drops from defeated enemies. Customizing your arms/legs gives you a different attack altogether and affects your jump height, but every arm/leg other than the default is on a timer, meaning it's constantly being consumed every second you have it equipped. Customizing your body, then, gives you a boost to your HP, and also changes your special ability (activated with down + jump). Bodies aren't automatically timed like arms/legs are, but rather consumed only when you use your special ability -- and depending on what that ability is, it may either consume body points all at once, or gradually as the effect persists.You'll also find equippable items as you play, which have passive effects when equipped (and are the only things that carry over from stage to stage). Bracelets increase strength, shields/emblems increase defense, rings cause you to gradually heal over time, wings increase your jump height, horns make you faster, and amulets decrease the consumption rate of the corresponding element (for both arms/legs and body, I think!).And then there are keys, which are dropped both by normal enemies and by bosses, as well as story items that are used to progress through certain points in each stage.Aaaand, there are items that give you one free resurrection should you die.This playthrough of area 3 is far from smooth, due to the presence of easily the most difficult boss in the game thus far -- not the final boss of the stage (who is pathetically easy), but the three hands that throw projectiles at you, which seem pretty well impossible to avoid... though I seemed to figure out, ALMOST too late, that I can stand behind them and they won't be able to hit me? Wish I'd have figured that out earlier! ;)Want to see me fail hard, despite trying just as hard to succeed? Check out my first, failed attempt at this stage!youtu.be/-y9FA-7vtKgAnyway, I hope you enjoy this video, and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on this semi-clunky but surprisingly cool little hidden-ish gem of the MSX library!
Seed of Dragon [MSX Turbo R] - Area 2 playthrough Wyrdwad 2020-07-05 | No-commentary playthrough of the entire second area (Egypt) of the MSX Turbo R-exclusive game "Seed of Dragon."Recorded from actual hardware (Panasonic FS-A1ST) via S-video output, uploaded raw from the resulting file. The capture device I'm using is limited to 30fps, but the game isn't exactly a 60fps+ marvel to begin with, so I don't think this should affect anything. ;)Seed of Dragon is one of the few games to be released exclusively for the fourth iteration of the MSX personal computer standard, the "Turbo R." The big advancements of the Turbo R standard included more memory (256 kB standard, as opposed to 64 on most older Japanese systems and 128 on most European models), support for PCM audio sampling, and -- most notably -- the addition of a 16-bit R800 processor in addition to the Zilog Z80 used by the MSX, MSX2, and MSX2+ standards.This game... does not really impress, as it still uses block-scrolling like most older MSX titles, and doesn't really look or sound much better than what you'd be able to get out of an MSX2, save for the scratchy PCM speech samples used in the intro. However, if you compare it to other games that use similar levels of color and detail and attempt to play out as similarly fast-paced platformers -- such as Falcom's MSX2 version of "Ys III: Wanderers From Ys" -- it becomes abundantly clear that the R800 is being put to good use here, as this game manages to run at a consistent and entirely acceptable speed and the controls are actually super-responsive.And while it may be choppy compared to the types of games you'd see on other platforms, and the music may lag every time you open the menu (as a result of having to access the disk), the gameplay and general game design more than makes up for its shortcomings IMHO. Simply put, Seed of Dragon is quite fun and addictive!The gameplay is fairly interesting and unique, too, with your avatar able to customize his arms/legs and body separately using consumable drops from defeated enemies. Customizing your arms/legs gives you a different attack altogether and affects your jump height, but every arm/leg other than the default is on a timer, meaning it's constantly being consumed every second you have it equipped. Customizing your body, then, gives you a boost to your HP, and also changes your special ability (activated with down + jump). Bodies aren't automatically timed like arms/legs are, but rather consumed only when you use your special ability -- and depending on what that ability is, it may either consume body points all at once, or gradually as the effect persists.You'll also find equippable items as you play, which have passive effects when equipped (and are the only things that carry over from stage to stage). Bracelets increase strength, shields/emblems increase defense, rings cause you to gradually heal over time, wings increase your jump height, horns make you faster, and amulets decrease the consumption rate of the corresponding element (for both arms/legs and body, I think!).And then there are keys, which are dropped both by normal enemies and by bosses, as well as story items that are used to progress through certain points in each stage.Aaaand, there are items that give you one free resurrection should you die.This playthrough of area 2 has a few hiccups, as I'd only played the first half of this area previously, so the rest was me going in blind. As a result, I made a few poor choices and mistakes along the way, but I still managed to clear the area without using up all my continues -- and that's what counts!I hope you enjoy this video, and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on this semi-clunky but surprisingly cool little hidden-ish gem of the MSX library!
Seed of Dragon [MSX Turbo R] - Intro & Area 1 playthrough Wyrdwad 2020-07-05 | The complete intro to the MSX Turbo R-exclusive game "Seed of Dragon" from boot + a no-commentary playthrough of the entire first area (which I guess is supposed to be... Thailand? Myanmar? It's not super clear!).Recorded from actual hardware (Panasonic FS-A1ST) via S-video output, uploaded raw from the resulting file. The capture device I'm using is limited to 30fps, but the game isn't exactly a 60fps+ marvel to begin with, so I don't think this should affect anything. ;)Seed of Dragon is one of the few games to be released exclusively for the fourth iteration of the MSX personal computer standard, the "Turbo R." The big advancements of the Turbo R standard included more memory (256 kB standard, as opposed to 64 on most older Japanese systems and 128 on most European models), support for PCM audio sampling, and -- most notably -- the addition of a 16-bit R800 processor in addition to the Zilog Z80 used by the MSX, MSX2, and MSX2+ standards.This game... does not really impress, as it still uses block-scrolling like most older MSX titles, and doesn't really look or sound much better than what you'd be able to get out of an MSX2, save for the scratchy PCM speech samples used in the intro. However, if you compare it to other games that use similar levels of color and detail and attempt to play out as similarly fast-paced platformers -- such as Falcom's MSX2 version of "Ys III: Wanderers From Ys" -- it becomes abundantly clear that the R800 is being put to good use here, as this game manages to run at a consistent and entirely acceptable speed and the controls are actually super-responsive.And while it may be choppy compared to the types of games you'd see on other platforms, and the music may lag every time you open the menu (as a result of having to access the disk), the gameplay and general game design more than makes up for its shortcomings IMHO. Simply put, Seed of Dragon is quite fun and addictive!The gameplay is fairly interesting and unique, too, with your avatar able to customize his arms/legs and body separately using consumable drops from defeated enemies. Customizing your arms/legs gives you a different attack altogether and affects your jump height, but every arm/leg other than the default is on a timer, meaning it's constantly being consumed every second you have it equipped. Customizing your body, then, gives you a boost to your HP, and also changes your special ability (activated with down + jump). Bodies aren't automatically timed like arms/legs are, but rather consumed only when you use your special ability -- and depending on what that ability is, it may either consume body points all at once, or gradually as the effect persists.You'll also find equippable items as you play, which have passive effects when equipped (and are the only things that carry over from stage to stage). Bracelets increase strength, shields/emblems increase defense, rings cause you to gradually heal over time, wings increase your jump height, horns make you faster, and amulets decrease the consumption rate of the corresponding element (for both arms/legs and body, I think!).And then there are keys, which are dropped both by normal enemies and by bosses, as well as story items that are used to progress through certain points in each stage.Aaaand, there are items that give you one free resurrection should you die.This playthrough of area 1 goes by mostly smoothly, because I've actually played through area 1 before, so I already knew what to expect and what order to do things in. I did screw up pretty badly on the second miniboss, though! But you have enough continues (read: lives) that you can afford to screw up a few times on most stages. Seed of Dragon requires focus and planning to beat each stage, but a difficult game it is not!Anyway, I hope you enjoy this video, and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on this semi-clunky but surprisingly cool little hidden-ish gem of the MSX library!
Mai Mai [MSX2] - Intro, brief gameplay, and first (NSFW!) cutscene Wyrdwad 2020-07-04 | *NOTE: CONTAINS MILD NUDITY AND ADULT DIALOGUE AFTER 13:45 TIMESTAMP! VIDEO IS NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN!*(Also note that this is a floppy disk title, and as this is direct video capture from real hardware, all disk-loading is present, in case you're wondering what all the long pauses are! This video may be released for a second time in the future with all the disk-loading stripped away for ease of viewing, but if so, that will supplement this upload, NOT replace it, as this is much more accurate to the actual gameplay experience.)This is footage from the adult-themed MSX2 role-playing game "Mai Mai" by Fairytale (often listed online as "Dancing Mai," and YouTube lists it as just "Mai," which may actually be correct -- it's hard to tell if the second MAI in the Japanese title is supposed to be a pronunciation guide only, or an actual second usage of Mai). The game is a cute dungeon-crawler inspired by Compile's "Madou Monogatari" (a.k.a. Sorcery Saga) starring a 10-year-old catgirl named Mai who's a bit... stupid. And also a bit of a brat. But also kind of endearing, perhaps because she really does act more like a cat than a person most of the time.After borrowing magic homework from her friend in order to copy it, she realizes the one thing she can't copy is actual field work... so she attempts to cast a spell in order to get that part of her homework over with, and winds up teleporting herself into the human world. Immediately, she draws a crowd, including one high school boy who tries to touch her. She gets upset and magic-blasts him into a wall, which causes the crowd to disperse while yelling "MURDERER!" Confused and disoriented, she wanders the city streets, following the smell of food because... well, what else is a catgirl in the human world SUPPOSED to do, really? ;)The first cutscene most players are likely to stumble upon is the one that begins at 13:45 or so and reveals the "eroge" nature of this title, as it involves Mai hearing a couple about to engage in an extramarital affair, and climbing the wall in order to spy on them (since she's not sure what they're doing and is trying to understand what she's hearing). They spot her, however, and she falls backward, landing on her butt and dropping one of her cat-food items. Bummer!This game contains surprisingly detailed and colorful animated cutscenes, as well as generally good animation and spritework across the board and a really bangin' PSG soundtrack that utilizes the three available sound channels to really great effect....Though the real reason I'm uploading this? I just bought a Turbo R a few weeks ago, and am trying to see how much nicer my video captures look now that I can use S-video instead of composite. And the answer is... MUCH nicer! It's not perfect quality, but it's sure close enough for my needs. I'm gonna have fun with this! ;)
[Unreleased Game Music] The Iron Gauntz - Title Theme Wyrdwad 2020-05-12 | Title screen theme from the 1987 MSX1 game "The Iron Gauntz," by Nakagaki and/or Ryuichi Kandha.Both the audio and accompanying video montage of gameplay scenes were recorded from real hardware (specifically, a Panasonic FS-A1WX MSX2+) via composite output and a rather sub-par capture device, so apologies for the poor quality of the video in particular -- the actual game runs a lot smoother and looks a lot sharper.This game... is a mystery. It came up in the MSX community recently, and was mentioned as a Japanese overhead-view action game featuring mechs, which seemingly has no information about it ANYWHERE online. And indeed, this game's very existence is a giant question mark! The developer is listed as "Oops," and though the in-game story text (what little there is) is in Japanese, the intro and most of the system text is in semi-decent English, including some old English staples ("thee" and "thou" and the like).No videos of this game being played have been located prior to these uploads, and no photographs or scans of the original box art or instructions or... really, any physical evidence of this game's existence AT ALL have surfaced as of the time of this writing. Heck, even the Video Game Preservation Society has never heard of this one!And to top it off, it's a Japanese MSX1 game on a floppy disk, which is extremely rare -- the vast majority of MSX1 titles in Japan were released on rom cartridge or cassette tape.It's been speculated that this may have been a submission to a magazine, or an unpublished game that surfaced long after the fact (a theory which is supported by the executable that boots the game being named GNTZTST.COM -- Gauntz test?), but the fact is, no one actually seems to know!Regardless of this... the game is pretty impressive! It's a non-linear exploration-based maze of 256 (!) rooms, each of which is populated by enemy robots featuring surprisingly sophisticated AI that often makes them genuinely challenging to take down. Your movement and attacks alike are 8-directional, and extremely fluid, with the game actually sporting omni-directional smooth scrolling -- something almost unheard of on MSX1, given that MSX1 had no hardware support for scrolling whatsoever.Much of the game's progression is based on floor panels, the color of which determines its function: white unlocks the room's doors, pink is either a power-up or power-down, green gives you story information (either triggering a dialogue box-driven cutscene or revealing the name of an enemy type), and blue warps you to another predetermined room.It's very simple, but there's a depth and atmosphere to it that really makes it addictive to play!I'd love to own a copy of this game one day, assuming it even exists to BE owned. But even just as a random DSK file of unknown origin, The Iron Gauntz is another feather in the MSX's cap for sure, and comes highly recommended!
The Iron Gauntz (MSX) - Gameplay Footage Wyrdwad 2020-05-12 | Just some random gameplay footage of me playing a 1987 MSX1 game called "The Iron Gauntz." This is being recorded from real hardware (specifically, a Panasonic FS-A1WX MSX2+) via composite output and a rather sub-par capture device, so apologies for any fuzziness and dropped frames -- the actual game runs a lot smoother and looks a lot sharper.This game... is a mystery. It came up in the MSX community recently, and was mentioned as a Japanese overhead-view action game featuring mechs, which seemingly has no information about it ANYWHERE online. And indeed, this game's very existence is a giant question mark! The developer is listed as "Oops," and though the in-game story text (what little there is) is in Japanese, the intro and most of the system text is in semi-decent English, including some old English staples ("thee" and "thou" and the like).No videos of this game being played have been located prior to these uploads, and no photographs or scans of the original box art or instructions or... really, any physical evidence of this game's existence AT ALL have surfaced as of the time of this writing. Heck, even the Video Game Preservation Society has never heard of this one!And to top it off, it's a Japanese MSX1 game on a floppy disk, which is extremely rare -- the vast majority of MSX1 titles in Japan were released on rom cartridge or cassette tape.It's been speculated that this may have been a submission to a magazine, or an unpublished game that surfaced long after the fact (a theory which is supported by the executable that boots the game being named GNTZTST.COM -- Gauntz test?), but the fact is, no one actually seems to know!Regardless of this... the game is pretty impressive! It's a non-linear exploration-based maze of 256 (!) rooms, each of which is populated by enemy robots featuring surprisingly sophisticated AI that often makes them genuinely challenging to take down. Your movement and attacks alike are 8-directional, and extremely fluid, with the game actually sporting omni-directional smooth scrolling -- something almost unheard of on MSX1, given that MSX1 had no hardware support for scrolling whatsoever.Much of the game's progression is based on floor panels, the color of which determines its function: white unlocks the room's doors, pink is either a power-up or power-down, green gives you story information (either triggering a dialogue box-driven cutscene or revealing the name of an enemy type), and blue warps you to another predetermined room.It's very simple, but there's a depth and atmosphere to it that really makes it addictive to play!I'd love to own a copy of this game one day, assuming it even exists to BE owned. But even just as a random DSK file of unknown origin, The Iron Gauntz is another feather in the MSX's cap for sure, and comes highly recommended!
![[♫] Best of Hamaraja Night (2010) [MSX2] - Remix 3: China Town (SCC & OPL4 versions)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eBFE1PirZsM/hqdefault.jpg)