This is the sequel to the excellent Magical Vacation on the GBA. Magical Starsign was developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo, exclusively for the Nintendo DS, in 2006. Unlike its predecessor, Magical Starsign was given an official release in the west, in English.
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Magical Vacation, Game Boy Advance
Magical Vacation is a GBA RPG, developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo, in Japan only, in 2001. An English fan translation is available for the game, but it’s unfortunately not yet complete. That said: the majority of the game has been translated, and it’s absolutely worth playing because this is such a beautiful adventure!
Phantasy Star Gaiden, Game Gear
Phantasy Star Gaiden is a handheld RPG, released only in Japan for the Game Gear in 1992. The game was developed by Japan System Supply and is a short, non-linear spin-off from the main Phantasy Star series. A fan translation patch makes the game playable to non Japanese-speakers.
Phantasy Star Adventure, Game Gear
Released exclusively for the Game Gear – in Japan only – by Sega in 1992, Phantasy Star Adventure is a spin-off from the main Phantasy Star series and is a kind of RPG/adventure controlled with a simple menu system. A fan translation into English makes it playable to non Japanese speakers.
Anteform, PC
Anteform is a tiny, futuristic RPG, written for the PICO-8 development platform, and was first released in 2019. It uses the same game engine as Minima and was written by the same guy, Feneric (aka Eric W. Brown). It’ll run on Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi.
Minima, PC
Written for the PICO-8 development platform and first released in 2018, Minima is a miniature version of the early Ultima games and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi. It’s a tiny RPG with exploration, a scrolling overworld, first-person dungeon crawling, turn-based combat and movement, and NPCs to talk to.
Melkhior’s Mansion, PC
Another superb tribute to Ultimate‘s isometric adventures, this one called Melkhior’s Mansion. It was created by BitGlint Games and could be described as an “isometric Atic Atac“, although there is definitely more to it than that.
Pool of Radiance, Commodore 64
Developed by Strategic Simulations, Inc., Pool of Radiance is a ground-breaking AD&D RPG for 8-bit computers. It was first released in June 1988, in America, and later published in Europe by US Gold, and in Japan by Pony Canyon.
Azure Dreams, Game Boy Color
The PlayStation version of Konami‘s Azure Dreams is an excellent level-grinder, and this Game Boy Color version is also very good, but differs somewhat from the original.
It still takes place in the provincial city of Monsbaiya, and you are still a Monster Hunter. Whereas the PlayStation version uses a 3D isometric viewpoint, this one instead goes for an overhead, 2D view. With titchy characters and intricately-detailed locations rendered as flat pixel art.
Azure Dreams, PlayStation
Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET) and published by Konami in 1997, in Japan, and in 1998 in North America and Europe, Azure Dreams is a ‘Roguelike’ Role-Playing Game about a young boy who wants to become a Monster Hunter.
