Tag Archives: Japanese

EarthBound Zero, NES

This classic NES game was initially released in Japan in 1989 under the title of Mother.

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Umihara Kawase, Super Nintendo

Umihara Kawase is a weird-but-great Japanese platform game first released for the Super Nintendo in 1994.

The game has an excellent rope-based mechanic that makes it different and interesting to play.

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Out Run, Arcade

Sega‘s single-player arcade classic race game – Out Run. Played and enjoyed by millions of people throughout the world.

Out Run was first released in 1986 and took video game arcades by storm with its superfast, colourful graphics, jaunty music, gripping gameplay, and cabinet steering wheel.

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Shining In The Darkness, Megadrive/Genesis

When I first played Shining In The Darkness – a 1991 party-based Role-Playing Game for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis, developed by Climax Entertainment and published by Sega – I was ready to dismiss it, because of the unattractive, ‘cartoony’ graphics, the clunky interface, and the generic script. But after some determined play – admittedly: in an emulator, and using quicksaves – it became apparent that this was no ‘throwaway’ level-grinder. It was in fact something quite special…

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Stop The Express, ZX Spectrum

Stop The Express is an early ZX Spectrum game – created by Japanese developer Hudson Soft and first released in 1983 – and is a simple action game where the aim is to traverse the train carriages, from right to left, in order to reach the engine and to stop the out-of-control train.

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Star Fox, Super Nintendo

I’m going to use the Japanese and North American name for this game – Star Fox – rather than the European name (Star Wing, which was chosen because the name “Star Fox” was apparently too similar to a German company called “StarVox”!).

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Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, Game Boy Color

This colour remake of Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge was released as part of the Konami GB Collection Vol. 4 compilation in 2000.

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Twinkle Star Sprites, Neo Geo

SNK‘s Twinkle Star Sprites was released for the Neo Geo in 1996 and is an interesting mix of vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up and head-to-head puzzle game. Yes, I know that sounds weird, and this game IS weird, but weird in all the right ways…

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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, Game Boy Color

Which came first? Oracle of Seasons or Oracle of Ages? The answer: neither. They were both released at exactly the same time (February 2001), and both games are companion pieces to each other.

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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Game Boy Color

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages was released as a twin title with The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons for the Game Boy Color in 2001.

Both games were developed simultaneously by Flagship (a division of Capcom) and both games are essentially companion pieces that can be played separately, or linked, so that what you do in one affects what happens in the other.

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