1942 is a vertically-scrolling bullet hell shooter from Capcom, first released into arcades in 1984. The game is loosely based on the Battle of Midway of WWII and sees you piloting an American P-38 Lightning, fighting against Japanese forces.
Tag Archives: Japanese
Yoshi’s Story, Nintendo 64
After Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, this is the second instalment in the Yoshi series. Yoshi’s Story was first released by Nintendo, exclusively for the Nintendo 64, in 1997.
Phantasy Star Online, Dreamcast
Phantasy Star Online was developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2000 for the Dreamcast. The game is an online/offline JRPG in the style of the previous Phantasy Star games, and is much-celebrated. We’re looking at PSO “Version 2” here, which came out in 2001, with expanded content.
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, PC Engine
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones is a single-player platform game with action elements, developed by Advance Communication Company and published by Hudson Soft in Japan (in 1988) and NEC in North America (in 1989).
When the PC Engine was launched in North America in 1988 – as the TurboGrafx-16 – THIS was the pack-in game that greeted new owners. Not R-Type, not Turrican, not Ghouls ‘N Ghosts – nor any of the other great games on the system – but Keith bloody Courage in bloody Alpha Zones… History has noted that NEC (the manufacturer of the PC Engine) missed a MAJOR trick there, possibly even contributing to the console’s under-performance in sales, and eventual demise.
Persona 5, PlayStation 3
Persona 5 was developed by “P-Studio” and was published by Atlus in Japan and North America, Deep Silver in PAL territories, and Sega everywhere else, in 2016. It is a Role-Playing Game set in contemporary Japan, featuring monsters, the occult, and the supernatural. Oh, and turn-based combat (but don’t let that put you off).
Illusion of Gaia, Super Nintendo
Developed by Quintet and published by Enix in Japan in 1993, and by Nintendo, everywhere else, in 1994 and ’95. The later ‘Westernised‘ version was censored in places, but there are some good fan-patches of the uncut Japanese version available in English.
Eight Man, Neo Geo
Eight Man (aka “Eightman” aka “8 Man“) is a one or two-player scrolling beat ’em up based on Kazumasa Hirai‘s manga and anime character of the same name, who is considered one of the earliest Japanese cyborg superhero characters. The game was developed by Pallas and published exclusively for the Neo Geo by SNK in 1991.
Mr. Driller 2, Game Boy Advance
A conversion of the arcade game of the same name, Mr. Driller 2 works brilliantly well on the Game Boy Advance. It was initially released in 2001 by Namco.
Tekken 6, PlayStation 3
Namco‘s Tekken 6 was released first – as an arcade game – in 2007, and then later released as an enhanced version on PlayStation 3 and XBox 360, in 2009.
Dark Souls, PlayStation 3
Considered by many to be a masterpiece of video game design, Dark Souls is an action-based fantasy role-playing game, and was developed by From Software and first published by Namco Bandai Games in 2011.
Dark Souls was so successful, in fact, that it created a succession of similar games, called ‘Souls-likes‘. Not many games can claim to have created a whole sub-genre on its own, but this game did.
The King of Grabs 