Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was the first Castlevania game released for the Nintendo DS and was released by Konami in 2005. It is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow on the Game Boy Advance and continues the story of that game.
Tag Archives: Japanese
H.E.R.O., SG-1000
Activision‘s classic underground rescue game, H.E.R.O., was released on Sega‘s SG-1000 console – in Japan only – in 1985, and it is somewhat different to all the other versions of the game out there.
Lucienne’s Quest, 3DO
Lucienne’s Quest is a Japanese Role-Playing Game developed by Microcabin for the 3DO. It is, in fact, the only traditional JRPG released for the 3DO and was initially released in Japan in 1995. The game was localised into English and released in North America in 1996 by Panasonic.
Ordyne, Arcade
Released in Japan only, Ordyne is a cute and colourful (and very Japanese) one or simultaneous two-player ‘bullet hell’ shooter that was developed and distributed by Namco in 1988.
Yellow Submarine, MSX
It’s not often you get a game that’s based on a Beatles song, and Yellow Submarine for the MSX is one such rare example. Published by Takeru in 1987 Yellow Submarine is of course not an official license and was slipped out to the Japanese MSX market – on cartridge – in the hope that no one at Apple Records would notice. If they did, it appears that nothing was done about it.
The Fairytale Dreams of Alice, PC Engine
Originally released for the PC Engine in 1990 in Japan only as “Fushigi no Yume no Alice” (aka Alice in Wonderdream), this challenging and colourful platform game was fan-translated in 2021 as The Fairytale Dreams of Alice and is now fully playable in English.
U.N. Squadron, Arcade
Released in Japan as “Area 88” and based on the Manga series of the same name, U.N. Squadron is a horizontally-scrolling bullet hell shooter arcade game developed and distributed by Capcom in 1989. It features three playable characters, each flying a different aircraft, and one or simultaneous two-player gameplay.
Another Bible, Super Game Boy
Another Bible is the fourth game in the Megami Tensei ‘Last Bible‘ spin-off series and was originally released for the original Game Boy, in Japan only, in 1995. An English fan translation, by Aeon Genesis, was released in 2002 and the game is also Super Game Boy compatible, so that’s the version I’m showing here.
The Grinch, Game Boy Color
Developed by KCE Nagoya and published by Konami in 2000, The Grinch is an action maze game for the Game Boy Color, based on the Dr. Seuss book, and the film (starring Jim Carrey), “How The Grinch Stole Christmas“. It is completely different – arguably even better – than the PlayStation and Dreamcast games that were also released to coincide with the film.
Rod Land, Amiga
The Amiga conversion of Rod Land is an enhanced port of the Jaleco arcade game from 1990. It features extra levels, extra animation, hidden features and bonuses, and glitch fixes. The conversion was done by Random Access and was published by Storm (a sub-label of The Sales Curve) in 1991.
The King of Grabs 