Tag Archives: Japanese

Royal Stone, Game Gear

Royal Stone is a tactical, turn-based fantasy RPG with combat and magic that was released for the Game Gear – in Japan only – by Sega in 1995. Thankfully, an English fan translation does exist, so that we – non-Japanese-speakers – can now understand the storyline and enjoy the game in full.

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Wario: Master of Disguise, Nintendo DS

Wario: Master of Disguise was developed by Suzak and published for the Nintendo DS by Nintendo in 2007. It utilises dual screens (of course), and also requires use of the DS touchscreen when playing.

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Wario World, GameCube

Wario World for the GameCube was developed by Treasure and published by Nintendo in 2003. It was the first 3D Wario game and, unusually, was released in Europe and North America before it eventually came out in Japan (almost a year after its initial release in the West).

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Wario Land 4, Game Boy Advance

The fourth game in the Wario Land series (after Wario Land, Wario Land II, and Wario Land 3) is arguably the best one at this point, having been released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2001.

All three of the previous games were fun, varied, and beautifully-designed, but the enhanced graphics and power of the Game Boy Advance definitely gives this the edge over its predecessors.

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Wario Land 3, Game Boy Color

Wario Land 3 is the sequel to Wario Land II and was developed and published for the Game Boy Color by Nintendo in 2000. It once again features Mario‘s rival, Wario, doing what he does best: shoulder-barging things and cheekily going about his destructive platform business.

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Wario Land II, Game Boy Color

The follow-up to Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on the Game Boy is this 1998 release for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color.

Wario Land II was initially released for the black and white Game Boy, but was re-released for the Game Boy Color six months after its initial release and it is the Game Boy Color version that I’m focusing on here (because it looks much better in colour than in monochrome).

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Defenders of Oasis, Game Gear

Not to be confused with Beyond Oasis on the Sega Megadrive, Defenders of Oasis is a turn-based Role-Playing Game for the Game Gear that is based on the “One Thousand and One Nights” middle-eastern folk tales, also known as “Arabian Nights“. It was developed and published by Sega in 1992.

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Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction, MSX

The second Gradius/Nemesis sequel developed and released exclusively for the MSX by Konami, Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction is another great ‘bullet hell’ progressive weapons shooter that really shows what the MSX is capable of.

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Gradius 2, MSX

Gradius 2 (aka Nemesis 2) is a sequel to the classic Gradius/Nemesis and was published for the MSX in 1987. This game is, however, unrelated to the actual arcade game sequel, Gradius II, and is a separate game in its own right in the Gradius/Nemesis series.

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Gradius, MSX

Gradius – also known as Nemesis in some regions – was one of the first progressive weapons shooters to come out in arcades, and it was a big hit in 1985 when it was first released.

This led to the game being converted to many home computer systems, including the MSX, which was programmed by Konami themselves. So the game is unsurprisingly very good; very authentic, and with graphics and gameplay that push the MSX quite hard (I wouldn’t say “to its limits”, because I’m not a marketing a-hole, but it does push first-generation MSXes a fair degree).

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