THE HIDDEN GEMS
DIVERS DREAM
Divers Dream (JP: Dolphins Dream) was an
underwater exploration game localized and
released only in PAL territories. For a game of
its kind it has a very game-y bent, unlike the
more free-roaming Aquanauts Holiday or End-
less Blue. Your mission is to explore sunken
ships and wreckage and recover well over 100
unique treasures, as well as scraps that you can
trade in for varying amounts of money. With
that you can purchase better diving equipment
(you start off with a pair of swim trunks) and
weapons (to fend off sharks and dangerous fish). These are also customizeable by
the player.
The whole process of venturing ever-father into the sunken ships and caves, only to
surface with new treasure and buy even better equipment, is really addictive. There
is also a Free Mode so you can explore to your hearts content though, and even
during salvage missions you get to roam around very wide areas.
Though the games cutscenes are pretty ugly and swimming animations are stiff
and basic, its still totally worth playing today. On the PS2, the sorely overlooked
Everblue 2 would employ a very similar game structure of diving and salvaging,
and I believe it was released in all regions.
FORGET ME NOT
Forget Me Not was originally a home-made
game designed by a hobbyist on a version of
RPG Maker. It won a development prize and was
remade for the PSX as Forget Me Not: Pallete.
This is a beautiful game in terms of art direc-
tion, the top-down perspective and small and
but well-made sprites lure you into a nostalgic
atmosphere. The game revolves around an am-
nesiac woman and the psychiatrist who is help-
ing her recover her memories. The game has
two modes: in the first you explore and interact with the setting, and in the second
you shift into a sort of astral projection where you interact with objects to open
new paths and recover memories.
Presentation is neat and distinctive, as the character move in small, closed rooms
and hallways engulfed by darkness, but by opening new pathways you can help
fill up the void, mimicking the protagonists process of remembrance. It was also a
clear and obvious influence on the similarly haunting Yume Nikki.
Sadly it was only released in Japan and knowledge of the language is essential to
enjoy the game and progress. Hopefully it will get a translation someday.
JINGLE CATS
Jingle Cats: Rabupara Daisakusen no Kan (this
may not be the full title, but its almost univer-
sally referred to as Jingle Cats) is the kind of
game that wouldve been a massive cult hit and
internet favorite if it had been released today.
The gist of it is that you take care of two cats in
a home and try to get them to like each other.
As the game adds more cats (each of them in-
dividuals with pre-set names and preferences),
taking care of them and making them get along
becomes more challenging. Apparently there is
some kind of backstory or end goal about raising a cat choir, but I dont know about
that.
You scroll around a first-person 2D view of the houses rooms where the cats will be
doing whatever cats do. You can feed them, bathe them, pick them up and move
them around, and have them interact with objects and each other.
The games presentation is seriously charming, everything is a cartoony, scribbly,
and almost Art Noveau in its style, including the endearing cats themselves. Ob-
viously Japan-only, though once you get a hang for the menus and options (and
memorize the cat relationship chart), it can be played successfully.
BOKU NO NATSUYASUMI:
SUMMER HOLIDAY 20TH CENTURY
Boku No Natsuyasumi: Summer Holiday 20th
Century is an isometric 3D adventure game
that takes you back to nostalgic summer vaca-
tions of your childhood. You play as a Japanese
child enjoying his break in his relatives country
home.
The game is divided into days of a month. Each
day you wake up and go on adventures, wheth-
er its exploring the environment, running er-
rands for other characters, swimming, playing, capturing bugs, or climbing trees.
At the end of each day you write down what you did in your diary, creating a lovely
page of child scribbles and drawings.
As a twist, the game is really about the protagonist as an adult reminiscing about
this idyllic period of his childhood, and at the end of the game you get to peruse
each diary page of your vacation.
The game uses pre-rendered backgrounds based on real-world photographs
which much look much more lush and inviting that you would expect, and it has an
amazing sense of place and a great degree of charm. Japanese knowledge will be
required if you want to get involved with the story to any degree, but otherwise it
can be played with help from a guide.
Its amazing that there is no one working on translating this game considering the
amount of praise it has received online over the past years, so hopefully someone
will pick it up eventually. The series is successful in Japan and has spawned sequels
for the PS2 and 3, as well as a PSP spin-off which has similar gameplay and visuals
but puts you in the role of a parent raising a family.
FUURAIKI
Fuuraiki is a cult-favorite adventure which
comes close to visual novel and dating sim
games in terms of presentation. You play as a
photographer traveling across Japans Hok-
kaido region by motorcycle on a work assign-
ment, but that doesnt mean you wont encoun-
ter a number of girls on your journey who you
can interact with and perhaps romance. The
dialogue-based gameplay and progression are
pretty much the same as your average visual
novel, but the games enveloping warmth and
sense of freewheling adventure have earned it a place around seekers of lesser-
known PSX gems.
Obviously though, being the kind of game that it is, Fuuraiki is pretty much pointless
to play without knowledge of Japanese. There was a very similar sequel for the PS2
where you travel around the Okinawa region instead. The PS2 game Kita E is also a
travelogue type of visual novel where you travel by train.
RAKUGAKI SHOWTIME
Rakugaki Showtime is a Japan-only, Treasure-
developed beat-em-up/arena fighter with a
unique living scribble drawing aesthetic. A
fourth-wall hand of God draws objects on an
isometric arena, which you can pick up and
throw at your opponent, using different kinds
of throws to launch objects quickly, or in an
arc, etc. You can also counter thrown objects
and perform special, character-specific moves.
There is an item that bounces around the stage
and can be picked up after hitting it enough
times, which then allows you to perform your characters super move, much like
a Super Smash Bros. Smash Ball. Though the rules of combat may seem basic, its
actually very fun and involved.
There are several unlockable characters, including a walking Cloud Strife parody
and Mischief Makers Marina Lightyears, since this is a Treasure game after all. You
can also unlock and play as the games many mooks and generic enemies which
appear in single-player mode.
LONDON SEIREI
TANTEI-DAN
London Seirei Tantei-dan is a Japan-only JRPG
that would be my top choice for a PSX fan trans-
lation project right now. This Bandai-developed
hidden gem is visually gorgeous and strongly
reminiscent of Studio Ghibli films such as The
Castle in the Sky. It takes place in turn-of-the-
century London, in the cusp of the steam age,
and you play as a young boy who fancies him-
self a detective, going around town, solving
mysteries, and participating in turn-based fights with hooligans, policemen, and
stray dogs.
The games presentation is a dream and the story goes in directions that
you wouldnt expect once the world of spirits gets involved. It may be
one of the most charming and comfy JRPGs ever released on the system.
MAGICAL DROP F:
DAIBOUKEN MO RAKUJYANAI!
Magical Drop F: Daibouken Mo Rakujyanai!
continues the Magical Drop series of competi-
tive matching puzzle games (like Puyo Puyo
or Puzzle Attack) with cute cartoon characters.
This entry redesigns the whole casts in a more
realistically-proportioned nineties anime style
and offers a more involved story with unlock-
able characters, but the core gameplay remains
the same. The cast is large (each character
represents one of the Major Arcana) and they all
have their own special moves and attributes. The
many character animations as they win or lose in
matches are endearing and visually attractive.
Magical Drop F is probably the best game in the series in terms of pres-
entation and single or multi-player gameplay, and was the last game in
the series before the original developers stopped producing the games.
Its Japan-only, but Japanese knowledge is obviously not required to play.
YUUYAMI TOORI
TANKENTAI
Yuuyami Toori Tankentai is a 2D horror adven-
ture released by Spike, which included members
of Human Entertainment, the studio behind the
Twilight/Moonlight Syndrome cult games and
Clock Tower, the originator of this type of experi-
ence.
It is presented in realistic and lovingly detailed
environments that are in 2D but simulate depth,
breathing life into the Japanese suburbs of 1999 where a group of children and a
dog explore the various urban myths that have cropped around at school. Game-
play is divided between gathering info on rumors at school, exploring the city at
night, and interacting with parents and classmates in dialogue scenes that advance
the story.
During the game sections where you can actively move around and explore, the
large and detailed character sprites, motion-captured to convey a realistic sense of
movement, travel across a 2D plane in a series of screens, investigating rumors. The
dog that accompanies often has to stop to pee on a lamppost or gets tired easily,
but will warn you of incoming supernatural activity.
If youre obsessed with the Twilight/Moonlight Syndrome games or the original Clock
Tower you should definitely look into this game, although its JP-only and text-heavy.
GUARDIANS CRUSADE
THE GRANSTREAM SAGA
The Granstream Saga is a fairly unusual JRPG in-
tended as a spiritual successor to the Soul Blaz-
er/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma trilogy of SNES
action-RPGs. This is a top-down 3D adventure
about a fairly cookie-cutter young hero who sets
out to save his floating island world of evil. The
downsides of The Granstream Saga are its ugly
character models and totally by-the-numbers
story which packs absolutely zero surprises for
anyone who has played a JRPG before.
But on the other hand, gameplay aspects of the game make it stand out, such as
the fact that combat is completely active-time, with a variety of useable weapons
and spells, and while battles are always one-on-one and enemy variety leaves
something to be desired, fights are generally very fun. Also, instead of buying new
weapons or spells, the heros magical artifact can read certain objects or metals
and create new weapons or spells out of them, which encourages exploration in-
stead of tedious grinding.
It was also developed partially by Production I.G., which means it has a lot of good-
quality anime scenes for a game of its time.
.
EHRGELZ:
GOD BLESS THE RING
Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring was a pretty well-
known 3D fighter whose main selling point was
that it featured Final Fantasy VII characters in its
roster. However the main reason why this game
is here is because it has a massively overlooked
single-player Quest Mode.
Quest Mode is basically a dungeon crawler with
fighting game combat. It has randomly-generat-
ed dungeons, monsters, treasure, and even a hunger stat. Basically, Ehrgeiz may
have accidentally turned out to be the best dungeon crawler on the PS1, or at least
a very interesting experience for fans of the genre. Its worth playing solely for this
mode.
. fortunately it doesnt look like the kind of game you could succesfully play without
BAKUSOU DEKOTORA
DENSETSU 2
Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu 2 is a game aimed
at the dekotora or decorative truck subculture
of Japan, a group of hobbyists who pimp out
their trucks with outlandish parts taken from
other vehicles and paint them with lavish de-
signs. The scene became a national craze in sev-
enties Japan due to a series of popular movies,
but has now remained as a more niche interest.
In this game two decorative trucks raise against each other on the highway to deliv-
er their package first. Since youre driving a truck your top speed is fairly low, but you
can use dirty tricks and even run over hapeless motorists to slow your opponent
down. And obviously you can customize and decorate your truck to your hearts
content.
The game has a pleasant retro charm that harkens back to the golden days of de-
kotora, with an enka soundtrack that suits the tense but colorful races across the
Japanese countryside under vibrant blue skies.
. story goes wildly off the rails at one point. However it is basically impenetrable with-
ORE NO RYOURI:
WE COOKING
Ore no Ryouri: We Cooking is a frenetic cooking
sim where you play as a child prodigy chef who
is challenged by his rival to a great cook-off in
eight different restaurants. The story is present-
ed with cartoony 2D sprites in a unique style.
The gameplay consists of taking orders from
customers and the occasional food critic, and
cooking the respective dishes in a series of
first-person activities such as cutting fish or peeling onions, exactly like in Cooking
Mama. However Ore no Ryouri throws in the nerve-wrecking time element of hav-
ing customers waiting in line, having to manage your resources in the from of cook-
ing implements, and occasionally having to perform other tasks such as calling the
police to pick up a drunk or stomping cockroaches in the kitchen. Its a very fun and
fast-paced game thats easy to approach but hard to master, and requires no Japa-
nese knowledge to play.
.
FINGER FLASHING
Finger Flashing is a puzzle-shooter hybrid pre-
sented with 2D sprites moving on vertically-
scrolling 2D isometric levels. You play as a wiz-
ard girl or a bazooka-wielding boy and take on
waves of enemies coming down on you with
power shots based on rock, paper and scissors.
Naturally I dont need to explain which one beats
which. The rules of this basic childrens game
are applied here so you can chain shots and
destroy whole groups of enemies at once while
progressing through a handful of your typical-
ly-varied stages. Single-player campaigns are pretty fun and challenging, but the
game really comes alive in two-player showdowns where you can mess with your
opponents performance to make it to the finish line before you do.
Though Finger Flashing requires no knowledge of Japanese to play, it has been fan
translated. It is also available as a PSOne Import on PSN (in Japanese) as FLASHING-
FINGER.
. DIE
KYUIN
Kyuin is a bizarre horizontal cute-em-up where
you play as a young boy riding a magical vacu-
um cleaner that shoots energy pellets. The boy
himself is a 3D model superimposed on 2D back-
grounds and most enemies are detailed sprites.
This is very similar visually and in spirit to other
wacky PSX shooters such as Harmful Park and
the Parodius games, which lots of unusual and
unexpected enemy types, varied and strange
settings for stages, and powers inspired by gags
or mundane, everyday objects. The challenge
level is low for shmup veterans, but that also makes it accessible to everyone, and
youll mostly want to play it for the ridiculous factor. If you enjoyed this, definitely
consider trying Harmful Park and Sexy Parodius as well.
. .
CRITICAL DEPTH
Critical Depth, from SingleTrac, the same peo-
ple who did Twisted Metal 1 and 2, and wikipe-
dia claims it was done with the same engine. Its
car combat, except with submarines. This game
was overshadowed by the Twisted Metal series,
and promptly ignored. Then again, it really didnt
do too much different than the TM formula any-
ways. That being said, its a fun game if you liked
TM1 or TM2, and the ability to fight in three di-
mensions I feel adds to the combat. Obviously
not as great as the TM series, but a decent game
that didnt deserve the cold shoulder it got.
. and greatly taxes the user) is essential to win. All characters also have elemental af-
WOLF FANG:
KUUGA 2001
Wolf Fang: Kuuga 2001 is a really awesome
scrolling shooter/run & gun developed by Xing.
Its actually the sequel to the vertical shmup Va-
por Trail that saw release over here a few years
prior. Slightly customiseable mechs to suit dif-
ferent playstyles and some animu voice acting
make for a pretty awesome arcade experience.
. like in the Initial D franchise, which is its own sub-
OH NO!
Oh No! is yet another of those supremely weird
Japanese games. For some reason, the father of
a typical Japanese family decides to go without
clothes and starts walking around in his under-
wear. His son happily follows suit. Eventually the
underwear craze seems to catch on around the
neighborhood, so three underwear-donning
men burst out of their homes and start parading
down the street.
In Oh No! you control three characters who
are constantly moving up a vertically scrolling 3D stage in urban Japan. You must
change the formation in which the three characters move to avoid obstacles, nab
tasty hamburgers (watch out for the dangerous puffer fish hamburgers), and even-
tually make it to the finish. The game also has a multi-player battle mode and a
Love mode where boys duke it out with girls.
The whole game is presented in a likeable cartoon aesthetic and the characters
themselves move like flat paper cut-outs, similar to games like Paper Mario or Par-
appa the Rapper, which is fitting for Oh No!s whimsical sense of humor. It requires
no Japanese knowledge to play.
. hellish training ground that will put him through
SLAP HAPPY
RHYTHM BUSTERS
Slap Happy Rhythm Busters is an excellent Ja-
pan-only 2D fighting game developed by Poly-
gon Magic. Though the combat is 2D, characters
are cel-shaded 3D models who drip style, de-
signs obviously inspired by Shibuya fashion and
youth culture, and the entire game is shockingly
similar visually to Jet Set Radio (with shades of
The World Ends with You as well). It has an im-
pressive roster (21 characters, many of them
unlockable) for a brand new fighter, and the basic array of modes that you would
expect from this kind of game.
Combat does not stray far from the Street Fighter mold, with several basic charac-
ters taking on the roles of typical fighting game archetypes, but many others are
more esoteric, like a pair of twin girls fighting by sitting on top of each other, or a
man who, after losing a certain amount of HP, bows out and sends in his wolf to
fight.
The Rhythm in the games titles comes from special moves which eve-
ry character can perform, which will introduce a short rhythm-based seg-
ment for the player which will result in maximum damage if performed right.
Overall its a very fun game for people who enjoy the funky-fresh style of
games like JSR and TWEWY, or people interested in obscure PSX fighters..
SENTIENT
Sentient is one of the most bizarre, fascinating,
and potentially engrossing games to be found
on the PS1, a port of a Windows game of the
same name. In Sentient you are a technician
sent to a space station orbiting an alien sun that
currently has two problems: its orbit is failing,
bringing it ever close to the sun, and its crew is
suffering of radiation disease, which is lethal. The
game has an unseen time limit during which
you must fix one of these problems to avoid a
faster Game Over.
However, Sentient goes far beyond that. In a space colony with 62 different charac-
ters, all of which you can interact with and befriend, the possibilities are infinite. The
game is full of possible plot lines or side-quests (many of which are red herrings),
you can experience twelve different endings depending on which aspects you pri-
oritize, and the combination of NPC actions and interactions is basically infinite in
its scope.
The character models leave much to be desired, looking like digitized real-world
faces pasted on stocky polygon models, and the whole game looks kind of washed-
out and dingy compared to the Windows original, but this also gives it an interest-
ingly surreal feel. Interaction is handled through classic adventure game text parser
dialogue commands, which can seem unnecessarily long-winded at first but clearly
allows you to interact with Sentients world to a fuller degree. This is a potentially
obsession-causing game if you can get past its clunkier aspects and see into the
mind-boggling array of possibilities it offers, as a sort of outer space social survival
sim.
SAMURAI DEEPER KYO
Samurai Deeper Kyo is a 2D weapons-based
fighter, based on the anime/manga series of
the same name. It plays out in the Tokugawa
period of Japan and features a host of sword-
fighters, ninja, royal soldiers, and many other
less orthodox characters of the time. Visually
it can be somewhat reminiscent of The Last
Blade, but the characters are a lot more anime-
ish and boast modern touches, and while there
are some nice-looking stages, they dont really
reach the level of detail and beauty of the Last
Blade games.
Still, this is a very entertaining fighter with a good amount and variety of characters,
certainly a huge treat for fans of the franchise. It features an assist system like the
Marvel vs Capcom games and also has a Sudden Death mode, which is exactly like
it sounds, and can actually be pretty exhilarating with a friend.
UMIHARA KAWASE: SHUN
Umihara Kawase Shun is the second game in
the Umihara Kawase cult series of platformers,
where a schoolgirl has to navigate surreal plat-
form worlds by a using a fishing rod to grapple
onto higher ground or swing across chasms.
She will also have to negotiate fish-like enemies
wandering around the stage, and the whole
game has an odd but endearing fish theme.
The series is best known for its tether-based
gameplay and grappling physics, which are
very original for the genre and fun to master, though they also provide a high level
of challenge. Stages have multiple exits and there is a variety of paths to uncover.
Compared to the first game, the amount of enemies is lower to allow the player to
engage more with the platforming aspects, and the graphics have only been mildly
improved, but retain their oddball charm.
Upon its original release this game was sponsored by the Mitchell fish company and
features commercials in between levels. The latter Second Edition, also for the PSX,
adds a handful of new stages and removes all Mitchell branding from the game, so
it may be preferable.
LITTLE LOVERS:
SHE SO GAME
Little Lovers: She so Game. Its a mixture be-
tween a board game and a dating sim, every
player is a student in high school and the objec-
tive of the game is getting the heart of the girl
you pick at the start of each game.
Like other board games, it features minigames,
although they are not that good like the ones
in Magical Date. Most of the fun in the game
comes from making the other players fail in getting the girl spreading rumours or
using cards to impress the girl.
ADDIE NO OKURIMONO:
TO MOZE FROM ADDIE
Addie no Okurimono: To Moze from Addie is a
JP-only puzzle-adventure similar to latter titles
such as the Professor Layton series. The story is
about a young girl named Addie who is given a
broken music box by her friend Moze, who will
be moving away tomorrow as his parents are
divorcing. After falling asleep while playing with
the music box, Addie wakes up in a strange re-
sort town populated by people who look exactly
like the residents of her hometown, but they all go by different names and dont
seem to recognize her.
The game has wonderful watercolor-style portraits and scenes, and the general at-
mosphere is very nostalgic and dreamlike. Unlike in Professor Layton, where puz-
zles are unrelated to the overarching story, each word puzzle in this game serves
directly to solve a problem encountered during the game and move the plot along.
The games story has clearly done its research in terms of psychology, and many
concepts from the field will be recognizeable to people who are familiar with them.
Recently, a translation group has taken up working on this game, so lets hope that
turns out smoothly.
GERMS
Germs, a legendary lost game that was un-
earthed a couple years ago by a Japnese on-
line seller and then uploaded online by the
combined efforts of /vr/. Germs is a first-person
adventure/shooter similar in style and presenta-
tion to LSD: Dream Emulator (but not as outright
psychedelic) where you play a reporter investi-
gating a strange series of incidents in a city and
eventually encountering mutant monstruosi-
ties.
The game received an extremely limited run, which is why it was believed to be lost,
and in some ways it feels unfinished, especially in the occasional faceless character
model or nonsensical dead end. It is however worth playing for its unique sense of
atmosphere and general off quality if youre the adventurous type.
NEUES
NEUES its a rising sim where you have to help
a robot girl to become human. Every week you
have to decide a schedule for you and for the
girl, you can investigate the forest, collect plants,
teach your robot girl about religion, singing,
dancing, etc..
The story is presented like a visual novel and
there are many characters whose story will be
revelead as you progress within the year that
lasts the game.
It can be quite hard and unforgiving without a guide (it has some hidden stats), but
its worth a shot because its quite unique and darker than the Wonder Project series.
HOSHI NO OKA
GAKUEN MONAGATARI:
GAKUENSAI
Hoshi no Oka Gakuen Monogatari: Gakuensai.
This dating sim is quite popular in Japan among
PS minor games.
Your character arrives to his new school during
the time of the cultural festival and he will have
to help the different girls in the campus with the decorations for their classrooms
and clubs.
The production values might be kinda low for this kind of game, but its quite fun and
finding different materials for the decorations make the game a unique experience.
TAIDAMA WAKUSEI
KAITAKUCHUU!
Taidama Wakusei Kaitakuchuu! is a Japan-only
take on stategy games like Age of Empires, but
heavily simplified into games that last about 15
minutes. Choose one of four teams, each one
made of three color-coded robots, and set off to
colonize a planet in seven days, planting trees,
building houses, and interfering with the oppos-
ing teams progress as well. You can view the en-
tire planets surface at any point, scrolling across
it to see your robots hard at work doing whatever it is youve commanded them.
Games last a period of seven in-game days and are over pretty quickly in practice.
There are also several different planets for you to conquer, each one with different
terrain, weather condition and special features that will force to adapt.
The game is pretty cute and very intuitive, so its not hard to get a hang for the con-
trols and menus even if you dont speak Japanese. Multi-player is also a blast.
TORNEKO: THE LAST HOPE
Torneko: The Last Hope is a modern roguelike
much like the Mystery Dungeon or Shiren the
Wanderer games. It stars the chubby merchant
Torneko from Dragon Quest IV and was sur-
prisingly localized, under the subtitle World of
Dragon Warrior. The gameplay is very straight-
forward if youve ever played a game of this
type: you travel through procedurally-generated
dungeons, fight monsters in turn-based battles,
and lose everything if you die. Torneko is a bit
more forgiving in the last case, but will still pro-
vide as much challenge as any classic Dragon Quest game. It has a good variety
of enemies to fight and items to find or craft, but dungeon environments are a bit
repetitive.
The game is presented from an overhead view with somewhat compressed-look-
ing sprites, but it has occasional claynimation scenes in place of FMVs which are
absolutely gorgeous and a total joy to watch. If for some reason youre a big fan of
Torneko or just appreciate roguelike games, be sure to pick this one up.
HAPPY DIET
Happy Diet had WiiFit beat by nearly decade at
the time of its release. Its a diet management
and weight loss sim. However, it has a pleasant
cartoon presentation and a main character who
is a kid in a racoon suit to make things more
palatable for the player. There are three modes:
in Diet Story, you help the titular main charac-
ter manage his diet in order to lose weight in
time for various events. In Own Diet, you input
your own data (height, weight, BMI, etc.) and
then manage your diet with the games helpful
knowledge of nutritional balance.
This game was also compatible with the Stepper Controller peripheral, which came
into play during Walking Mode, which set your user-created avatar (another kid
in a racoon suit) to wander around 3D environments while losing weight thanks
to physical exercise. However this peripheral is optional and the mode can still be
played while... sitting in front of the screen. Happy Diet may not help you lose weight,
but its an interesting curio for those fascinated by game history.
SOOKYUGURENTAI
Soukyugurentai is fairly well-known among
shmup fans but deserves to be tried by every-
one. It starts off hovering over amazingly de-
tailed futuristic Earth cities, with 3D models and
layering providing a fantastic illusion of depth,
and travels ever-farther into space where even
more visual wonders await. Its a very attractive-
looking game, cinematic in a way that current
AAA titles arent, almost telling a story without
words.
Choose from three different ships and take on a space invasion with the games
trademark homing laser web which lets you destroy multiple enmies at once with
correct timing. Its a fairly challenging game for shmup novices but once you get a
hang of the homing laser range it becomes a total blast to keep playing until you
succeed.
This game got an arcade release and near-perfect Saturn port as well, which was
localized as Terra Diver. In either case you dont need to know Japanese to play a
shmup.
GAKKOU DEATTA
KOWAI HANASHI S
Gakkou Deatta Kowai Hanashi S is an enhanced
port of a Super Famicom game. Its a visual novel
in a pure sense of the term with very little direct
interaction; you just click through dialogue and
scenes, continuing the story. It is a compilation
of fifty different scary stories and urban legends
set in and around Japanese schools and featur-
ing students, though the stories have recurring
characters.
The reason why this game may be worth playing to someone who doesnt know
a word of Japanese is because its so hilarious to just look at. It features a full cast a
real-life actors who were motion-captured for the scenes of the game, with incred-
ibly cheap-looking special effects tacked on. The resulting reaction is usually humor
as opposed to horror. In that sense it is similar to the cheesy FMV games of the early
90s like Night Trap, which havent aged well at all. The fact that this game is divided
into bite-sized, manageable stories also helps it be accessible to a non-Japanese
speaker.
SUZUKI BAKUHATSU
Suzuki Bakuhatsu is a game where you play as
the daughter of an explosives defusal expert.
Everything in her life is rigged with explosives,
and the core gameplay consists of disassem-
bling literally EVERYTHING in order to access
the bomb while the timer ticks down. By rapidly
searching for screws to unscrew and bolts to
unbolt, you strip away layer after layer until the
bomb is revealed, culminating in a pulse-pound-
ing wire-cut with seconds to spare.
Or something. I still havent played the game but it looks cool and you could prob-
ably figure it out.
POPOROGUE
PoPoRoGue is a Japan-only JRPG and the direct
sequel to PoPoLoCrois Monogatari for the same
console. This is a series of isometric, sprite-based
JRPGs with a great fairytale style of art design, a
classic Western fantasy setting, and very mem-
orable, light-hearted characters from all walks
of life. In PoPoRoGue, protagonist Pietro has
already defeated the Ice Demon from the first
game, and is welcomed home as a hero. How-
ever, he soon gets bored of a normal boys life
and sets out in search for adventure once again.
PoPoRoGue has the same turn-based tactical combat system as the first game,
where you move around a grid-based area and attack with skills or magic. It has no
random encounters, as enemies are present on the overworld and can be avoided.
Enemies will even chase you if you flee a battle! Also, dungeons are procedurally-
generated, and interestingly, all your secondary party members can be hired out as
mercenaries to carry out missions and return to you with rewards.
PoPoLoCrois II also exists for the PSX, but it is actually the third game in the series.
NIGHT STRIKER
Night Striker is a Japan-only scaling 3D shooter
with a presentation and layout similar to F-Zero,
where you pilot a high-speed futuristic vehicle
through a future metropolis. The game is entire-
ly sprite-based and uses scaling to simulate 3D
as you move through sci-fi cities, open fields, and
over water in different stages. Overall it looks like
a high-end SNES title, but if that doesnt bother
you the special effects and sprite art are compe-
tent.
The daughter of some important scientist has been kidnapped and a special task
force is dispatched to recover her. You shoot down enemies while strafing or drift-
ing to avoid damage; your striker vehicle has shields which collisions or damage will
chip away at, but are recharged at the end of every stage. You can also find shield
power-ups and recovery items.
THE FIREMEN 2:
PETE & DANNY
The Firemen 2: Pete & Danny is a sequel to the
SNES hidden gem which basically functioned
like a top-down shooter, except you were shoot-
ing out pressurized water to put out the most
malicious fire ever.
In this Japan-only sequel protagonist Pete re-
turns, now joined by his buddy Danny for two-
player co-op action. You go around putting out several mysteriously-started fires all
around New York City on Christmas Eve, which for some reason was a very popular
time and place among late-nineties video games. Theres a lot more visual variety in
the games stages and the core gameplay remains the same.
Compared to the first game, The Firemen 2s sprite work is sort of bland and dull,
but still totally serviceable, and its also kind of needlessly text-heavy, which will es-
pecially be a slog if you dont speak Japanese. Its still a totally worthwhile adventure.
RACING LAGOON
This was a seriously unique game that tried to
combine racing games with RPGs. It puts you
in the shoes of a Japanese street racer over the
course of ten nights in the city. Each night you
can drive around challenging other drifters to
street races (the games version of random en-
counters), and if you win you get to take a part
of their car to customize your own. You can end
a night by going to an obligatory Climax En-
counter and challenging a sort of boss, which
you must win against to progress.
The progression is indeed RPG-esque, as there is a very involved storyline which
can be explored to a greater or lesser degree if you pay attention to various event
markers on the map. Driving up to these locations activates additional scenes which
may lead to side-quests or simply character interactions.
Though its Japan-only, it can be played once you memorize the basic menus and
assuming you dont care about the story, as the map markers make progression
fairly straightforward.
HYPER CRAZY CLIMBER
Hyper Crazy Climber is an excellent console re-
make of a Japan-only arcade classic, a 2D action
game where you climb massive vertical struc-
tures while avoiding various objects thrown at
you. This game added content in every sense,
with three playable characters (a boy, a girl,
and a cute bug-thing) and an exciting variety of
stages (including a clocktower, a construction
site, and a giant beakstalk), with a boss encoun-
ter awaiting you if you can make it to the top.
There are lots of new obstacles and enemies
thematic to each stage, and the levels are all very beautiful and visually inventive,
but the challenging high-speed action wont allow you to stick around and take in
the scenery. Obviously it requires no knowledge of Japanese to play, so get on it.
POPN TANKS!
Popn Tanks! is a very obscure Japan-only
game published by Enix. Its a tank combat
game, but with colorful environments, cutesy
anime characters, and blocky mini-tanks to pi-
lot around various arenas. You can create your
own tank from scratch using various parts or
play through a story mode with one of the eight
characters. Obviously there is also multi-player,
either with the story characters or with custom
tanks youve saved to your memory card.
The games lighthearted tone and visuals are unusual for the genre, and gameplay
is tight and fast-paced, with battles usually over in less than five minutes. Though it
isnt compatible with the later DualShocks control pad, the ability to strafe makes it
so that combat is smooth and exciting regardless. Story aside, no Japanese knowl-
edge is required to play.
BOKU NO NATSUYASUMI
INCREDIBLE CRISIS
Incredible Crisis is a weird Japanese game that
was localized precisely so it could be marketed
as a weird Japanese game. It stars a very av-
erage Japanese family of five who, as they go
about their day, find themselves in a series of
increasingly bizarre and ridiculous situations.
These play out as back-to-back mini-games
where you have to do things like snowboard,
survive a sinking ship, disco dance, or fend off
alien invaders using one of the family members.
The games frenetic pace and mini-game collection structure is reminiscent a less
hyperactive WarioWare, but with a sort-of overarching storyline and pre-set mini-
game sequences depending on which family member youre using. The presenta-
tion is pretty good since each mini-game is crafted in a very self-contained way, and
the soundtrack, provided by the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, is excellent.
On the other hand, its a pretty short game that can nonetheless become tedious
due to some annoying recurring mini-game sequences, and its sort of lacking in
replay value. However its a total blast the first time around.
JUGGERNAUT
Juggernaut is an all-but forgotten horror adven-
ture game that was released in all regions. You
play as a young man whose girlfriend has been
possessed by a demon, and you must know
travel into her soul to save her.
The gameplay is a very straightforward first-
person point-n-click deal where you travel from
room to room, examine objects, and solve an
undending series of (mostly easy) puzzles.
However, if you have the patience for the typi-
cally slow pace of such games, Juggernauts atmosphere and unusual settings
make it worth your while. The games main gameplay gimmick is the ability to take
control of other peoples bodies, and certain areas or objects will require different
bodies to enter or manipulate successfully. The dimension-jumping plot also leads
to a lot of delightfully bizarre situations, like browsing the Internet in the 2550s or
wandering into a village of undead residents who are all missing their eyeballs.
If you liked something like D (PSX), another horror adventure that revolves around
puzzles, youll like Juggernaut. Like D, it has a pseudo-realistic but somewhat off
art style, and also features a lot of FMV scenes which in our time look weirdly (and
interestingly) Uncanny Valley.
SOUL OF THE SAMURAI
Soul of the Samurai is a forgotten Konami-
developed game that predates Onimushas
combination of survival horror gameplay and
feudal Japanese setting. You can play as ei-
ther a samurai or a female ninja and move
through fixed-camera 3D environments while
fighting mooks. Though its not nearly as reli-
ant on item conservation or stealth tactics
as a Resident Evil game, like Onimusha, the
deliberate design choices prevent you from
being an all-out killing machine, and instead
encourage you to employ strategy and fight enemies with caution. It has has
a lot of puzzles to break up the fighting, and like many survival horror games,
features two scenarios with minor difference depending on which charac-
ter you choose to play as. It was localized and released in NA, so fret not..
N2O, NITROUS OXIDE
N2O, Nitrous Oxide is a scrolling shoot-em-up
that was never released in Japan. The game
featured music by The Crystal Method, and has
some plotline about how aliens are trying to
build a sub-atomic particle collider, and your job
is to enter these colliders and destroy all the en-
emies or something.
The gameplay was fun as hell. You are con-
stantly moving forward inside of a donut,
and can move left or right along the inner
walls as you travel forward. You start each level at a certain speed, and each en-
emy you kill makes you move faster. Also, if you take too long spikes start ap-
pearing on the wall. It makes for some high speed action. If I recall correctly
there are about 40 levels, and a boss level every 5 levels. Great colorful visuals
and the good electronic soundtrack work well together, and suit the gameplay.
A fun shoot-em-up, and a great game to play at any party with hallucinogenics.
KORKORO POST NIN
Though JP-only, Korkoro Post Nin is a game that
anyone can play and everyone should play, a
simple but highly addictive puzzle title. The pro-
tagonist is a cute mail delivery girl who for some
reason lives in a town made up of complex verti-
cal mazes presented with 2D sprites and visuals.
The goal of each level is to reach each of the red
mailboxes in the stage, at which point you can
advance, but there are also other optional col-
lectibles.
You dont actually control the girl, though; rather you control the maze itself, which
can be rotated left or right in order to guide the mail girl to her destination. (Im sure
there are other puzzle games with this exact set-up but I cant think of another one
right now.) There are obstacles and enemies as well which will spell your doom if
you run into them, but time limits will prevent you from planning out complex strat-
egies and instead force you to improvise as you get a feel for the games pacing.
Its supremely addictive and entertaining and you dont need to know a word of
Japanese to play.
GUARDIANS CRUSADE
Guardians Crusade (JP: Knight and Baby) is a
very innocent-looking and lighthearted JRPG
where everyone looks like a living toy. You
take on the role of Knight and go on adven-
tures all across the land, but soon enough you
come across a weird little monster (Baby) who
introduces the games monster-raising sim
elements, as you can feed and pamper Baby
in order to make him stronger and command
him to transform into different monsters in bat-
tle. These two are your only members of your
party, but instead of spells Guardians Crusade
features collectible toys, which can be sum-
moned in battle for various different effects, and
all have unique animations and attributes which
are one of the highlights of combat.
While a lot of the environments look super basic and the FMV scenes look rath-
er unfortunate today, Guardian Crusade has a lot of surprises in store, including a
much more affecting story than you would expect, and a much more potentially
complex battle system that you could possible have predicted.
.
CHIPPOKE RALPH
NO DAIBOUKEN
Chippoke Ralph no Daibouken: The Adventure
of Little Ralph is a side-scrolling 2D action game
with varied and visually pleasant settings. You
play as a young warrior who is turned into a
small child by demons, but still ventures out to
save his hometown armed with nothing but a
sword and shield.
The game is a non-stop side-scrolling romp
through waves of enemies, and Ralph can only take two hits before going down.
Though the level of challenge isnt infuriating, it escalates at a good pace, and the
game has a unique end-of-level scoring system based on picking up fruit which will
keep more veteran players interested in retrying stages. The game is about three
hours long, and playing it in Easy mode will prevent you from seeing the last three
stages of witnessing the true ending.
This is overall a very fun and well-built title, similar in presentation and gameplay
to another hidden gem, Moon Crystal for the NES, but with much more fun boss
encounters.
.
SUZU MONOGATARI
Suzu Monogatari is an obscure Capcom game
developed by the director of the Breath of Fire
series. It is an isometric sprite-based JRPG where
you play as a girl tasked with recovering the
Seven Bells of God, which have been scattered
across the land. You accomplish this by explor-
ing the town and speaking to its residents to ob-
tain clues, and while you can do lots of life sim-
type things such as fish and dig up treasure to
sell, you also participate in card battles.
Instead of turn-based RPG combat, Suzu Monogatari is a card game-based JRPG.
Im unaware of the intricacies of the system, but based on what Ive seen online it
appears to be pretty basic and maybe inspired by hanafuda. You can tell that it was
directed by the people behind BOF however, in the character and world design. Un-
knowing Japanese.
.
SILVER JIKEN
Before he achieved international cult success
with Killer7 and No More Heroes, Suda51 had a
great run of adventure games on the PS1, but
perhaps his crowning achievement is Silver
Jiken. This is a moody and noirish crime story
about a series of gruesome murders commit-
ted in the 24 Districts, and the special detectives
dispatched to solve them. The game has two
scenarios: in the Suda-written one you play as a
detective following the serial killers trail, and in
the other one you play as a journalist writing a
story on the murders.
Silver Jikens presentation is top-notch, from the moody soundtrack to the excel-
lent environments which combine a sense of end-of-century dread with a weird
Uncanny Valley plasticism to its character portraits and film reel-style storytelling.
The whole thing is experimental in a way that is typical of Suda and obviously the
out Japanese knowledge.
.
TIME BOKAN SERIES:
BOKAN TO IPPATSU! DORONBO
Time Bokan Series: Bokan to Ippatsu! Doronbo
is a vertical 2D shooter based on the classic
Japanese Time Bokan anime series, about time-
travelling heroes. However in this game you
play as recurring antagonist Doronjo and her
two dimwitted henchmen. (They made an ap-
pearance as a playable threesome in Tatsunoko
vs Capcom.) Instead of aircraft you ride colorful,
oversized vehicles and go on a rampage de-
stroying everything in your way in lush and colorful worlds. Its great fun to be had
for anyone and obviously you dont need to know a word of Japanese to play. The
sequel to this game, which is quite similar but features different characters, was ac-
tually released in PAL territories as Time Bokan Yattaman.
.
SKULLMONKEYS
Skullmonkeys was a brutal hard platformer de-
veloped by the Neverhood, the same team that
made The Neverhood. There is a password sys-
tem so you dont have to play through in one sit-
ting, but its still a damn hard game. It has an old-
school flavor, in that one hit kills you unless you
have a power-up. The precision required for suc-
cess gives the game an Adventure Island feel. I
have never managed to beat the game, but I still
consider it the best 2D platformer on the sys-
tem. The game got mostly good reviews on re-
lease, but was largely ignored by most everyone. PSX gamers wanted 3D games for
the most part, and Neverhood fans wanted another point and click adventure. The
great claymation graphics and music and sound effects make for a pretty game. If
you like challenging platformers, be sure and check this one out.
.
HARD TRILOGY
Die Hard Trilogy. Made by the long-since defunct
Probe, the game was a mixed bag. The game
was divided into three games, each tied into one
of the movies from the original trilogy. The first
game was a fantastic 3rd person shooter, the
second was an unremarkable light-gun game,
and the third was a decent racing/action type
game. While the game got good reviews, most
gamers knew to avoid movie-license games, so
the game was mostly ignored. Its a shame too,
since the 3rd person shooter game is damned
fun, and does a good job of mixing strategy with gunplay, and very good level de-
sign.
Id recommend avoiding the sequel though, there the new developer decided the
game would be more fun if you had to do all three game modes at random through-
out the game. Unless you really enjoyed the other two game modes.
SAIYUKI: JOURNEY WEST
Saiyuki: Journey West is a Koei-developed SRPG
that is often forgotten when discussing the PSX
games that exist for this somewhat small genre.
It is based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to
the West, which has inspired unending amounts
of pop culture, including Dragon Ball.
Play as a male or female protagonist and recruit
several were-beast allies to accompany you
in battle. Aside from your main character, all of
your fighters can shift into more powerful beast
forms in battle, and knowing when to transform (as transformation is temporary
finities which affect their strengths and weaknesses in battle.
The presentation is very similar to a game like Final Fantasy Tactics, with isometric
sprites on 3D environments. Visually its somewhat more colorful, and certainly has
a more happy-go-lucky tone than FFT. Character skills and attributes are largely set
in stone, and are not customizeable. Though the game does not put forth a huge
challenge level, its demanding enough to keep SRPG fans entertained.
.
SIDE BY SIDE SPECIAL
Side by Side Special is a Taito touge racing
game. Touge racers are Japanese games where
you race cars along mountainside roads, much
genre of racing titles in Japan due to its basis on
real street racing and the sense of tension that
comes from constantly making tight turns and
moving along narrow paths.
Side by Side Special is similar to the Touge G Max
games and features over 20 cars from various
Japanese car makers with realism and fidelity as the main selling points. Races are
exciting and stages are colorful in that nineties kind of way, including beach stages
where you race past sunbathing tourists and blue-sky mountain pass races. Defi-
nitely worth looking into for genre fans who have maxed out everything in Ridge
Racer R4 and similar titles.
KURU KURU
MAMAMARU
Kuru Kuru Marumaru is a driving sim with a
unique, cartoony visual style that is very well-
realized. You play as a teenage boy who wants
to obtain his drivers license to impress girls,
basically. Unfortunately the seemingly normal-
looking driving school that he signs up for is a
fifteen dangerous challenges such as driving
along a mountainside while avoiding falling
boulders, venturing into underground caves, or
even driving along the sea.
The game puts you in the drivers seat from the first-person perspective, so it is in-
deed closer to driving sims than racing games, and youll need to get a hang of
the controls before you can successfully pass even the basic tests. Obviously
there is a dating sim element as well where you romance many girls that the
protagonist is interested in; these are presented in neat visual novel-style char-
acter portrait dialogues along the main characters colorful hometown. Decid-
ing which girl to prioritize will determine your ending once you clear the game,
so while its not terribly long, it does boast some replay value. Aside from the
dating sim portions, Kuru Kuru Marumaru is playable without knowing Japa-
nese. It also has a surprisingly large amount of voice acting for a PSX game.
BATTLE KONCHUUDEN
Battle Konchuuden is a Jaleco-developed mon-
ster-raising RPG which revolves around captur-
ing and training nearly 60 different species of
common bugs, which is a very popular pastime
among Japanese children. Indeed, you play as
a Japanese boy in an overhead 2D sprite world
reminiscent of Pokmon, and you start out with
a single bug which you can then pit in battles
against other critters. Once you defeat a bug,
you can add it to your collection.
The battles in this game look a lot better than the overworld, with fully 3D models
for the bugs which look quite detailed, as do the stages where they fight, such as
patches of grass or dirt which are brought to life in an uncanny way. Battles are turn-
based where bugs move along a grid on the floor like in an SRPG, but this is more
about positioning than strategy, and once the bugs clash you can coordinate but-
ton presses or mash Square to defend yourself and emerge victorious.
Japanese knowledge is required to play. In many ways Battle Konchuuden seems
basic compared to other similar games of its time, but it can be very addictive for
bug enthusiasts or people who would like to reminisce about a childhood of dig-
ging around in the dirt.
ACONCAGUA
Aconcagua is an incredible adventure game
with a unique premise and great production val-
ues. It begins when a plane crashes into Aconca-
gua, the tallest mountain in South America and
part of the Andean mountain range. The survi-
vors of the crash are all people who in some way
are another were following Pachamama, anoth-
er survivor, a revolutionary woman who is head-
ed for her home country of Meruza to spark a
revolution that will hopefully topple the brutal
dictatorial regime. But now that said regime has
made sure that Pachamama never reaches Meruza, the survivors must pool their
skills to survive and make it off the mountain with their lives.
Aconcagua is a third-person 3D adventure game where you can switch between
your playable characters at any moment; each have different abilities which will
come in useful at different points. The game mostly consists of solving puzzles and
finding items, and interestingly the characters feel like they have real agency in how
the game progresses, as you need to make puzzle solutions make sense to them--
not just to you--by having them communicate. This makes them really feel like vir-
tual characters with thoughts and emotions.
Released late in the consoles life, Aconcagua still looks pretty great for a PS1 game,
which some particularly amazing setpieces and a rousing orchestral soundtrack.
Its plot is refreshingly mature and told in a relatively level-headed way for a video
game, but still sporting an action movie bent, making it a spiritual predecessor to
games like Uncharted (but without going into full-on fantasy toward the end).
Though the game is JP-only, the voiced cutscenes were done in English (and oc-
casional Spanish) for realisms sake, which can help players figure out solutions to
puzzles with occasional help from a guide.
UMIHARA KAWASE: SHUN
FIRE WOMAN MATOIGUMI
Fire Woman Matoigumi is sort of a distant prede-
cessor to Persona 3 in its combination of school
life/dating sim aspects with turn-based RPG
combat. You play as a male transfer student
who gets beat up on his first day trying to stop a
group of abusive ruffians. However this incident
gets him the attention of the Matoigumi, three
schoolgirls who use their magical fighting skills
to protect the weak and vulnerable, and he is
asked to join the group for his courage.
As a member of the Matoigumi, its your job to wander around the school grounds
after class checking if anyone is in trouble, and confronting bullies, stalkers, and ruf-
fians in simplistic turn-based fights. The whole game is presented in a top-down 2D
view with expressive sprites for the characters.
You improve your stats by joining various different clubs and after school activities,
and there are 11 different date-able girls in school. The dating sim aspect of the game
is pretty barebones, with few options beyond walking girls home from school, giv-
ing them presents on their birthday, and saving them from harrassment. Though
you can romance multiple girls at once, youll have to choose one to get her ending,
accompanied by an FMV sequence. Theres even a character called Otaku Joe who
holds the stats on every girl and can tell you how much each of them likes you at
the beginning of every month.
Though every aspect of this game is fairly shallow and simple, they combine to
create an original and entertaining experience that would be more developed by
games in the next generation. However, it is JP-only and there is no translation effort
planned as far as I know.
VANARK
Vanark is a 3D rail shooter very similar in style
and gameplay to Star Fox 64, where you control
a group of spaceship pilots defending the hu-
man Mars colony from an alien invasion. In each
stage you play as one of the characters and
shoot your way through 3D stages full of mon-
struous alien combatants, and the occasional
boss.
Vanark also features a few deep space free-flight
missions which put it close to a type of space
combat sim, though the core gameplay remains the same. You can also control the
pilots themselves in between missions, moving through the inside of the mother-
ship, interacting with other characters, triggering cutscenes, and engaging in oc-
casional action sequences doing things like disarming bombs.
The story is very involved and developed for a game of this genre, and while its not
exactly the most riveting thing in the world, its entertaining and definitely feels like
a bonus to all the rail-shooting action.
SHINSETSU SAMURAI SPIRITS:
BUSHIDO RETSUDEN
Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits: Bushido Retsuden
is a turn-based RPG based on SNKs Samurai
Spirits (Samurai Shodown) fighting game series,
which features various warriors and monsters
duking it out in medieval fantasy Japan. This
game was notoriously delayed many times,
originally announced at the height of Samurai
Shodowns popularity, and eventually released
with only two of three planned scenarios, which
would have covered the three main SamSho
games.
At the beginning of the game you can choose to play as one of six characters--Haoh-
maru, Nakoruru, Genjuro, Galford, Ukyo, or Cham Cham--and progress through a
2D sprite-based overworld of towns, monsters, and turn-based battles, complete
with equippable weapons, armor, and accessories, which is to say it is a traditional
RPG modelled after Final Fantasy. The story only has minor changes depending on
which character you play as, and eventually you can recruit secondary party mem-
bers, which may be other protagonists you didnt choose or additional characters
from the series.
The games story, presentation, and gameplay were well-received especially by se-
ries fans, though long load times were cited as a problem. The PSX version (it was
originally released for the Neo-Geo CD) features an active-time bar for battles, which
keeps them from being strictly turn-based.
For a while there were rumors that Working Designs would bring this game to
North America, but this never materialized and it stayed in Japan. Multiple transla-
tion groups have considered tackling the game but as of today no-one has com-
pleted an English translation.
CLICK MEDIC
Click Medic is a zany take on hospital simulation
developed by GameFreak of all people. You take
on the role of a fresh young doctor on his first
day on the job. Gameplay is divided into two
sections: first you meet and diagnose patients
based on their symptoms, and secondly you
take them to some sort of futuristic machine
where you can use micro-tools to enter the pa-
tients body and eliminate the virus responsible
for their illness. (Viri are represented as cartoony
little critters that need to be zapped away.)
The entire game is played like a visual novel or adventure, including the virus-zap-
ping gameplay segment where you have to choose which routes to take inside a
patients body to succeed in curing them. The hospital staff consists mostly of cute
girls who will interact with you in large anime-style portraits. There are other activities
that can be done around the hospital which revolve around general management
and equipment improvement as well. Knowledge of Japanese is required to play..
LOVE LOVE TOROKKO
Love Love Torokko (Love Love Truck) is a mine-
cart-racing game with... dating sim elements?
A group of people are looking for a legendary
treasure inside a mine and you play as a boy
who wants a piece of that pie. It takes two peo-
ple to operate a minecart by pushing the lever
like a see-saw, so you get to pick one of several
different girls to accompany you, which will ap-
parently determine which ending you get.
The story is very silly and lighthearted, with
3D anime-style character models and fairly basic but colorful environments. You
race your minecart across the railways by rhythmically pressing buttons, jumping
or switching rails to avoid falling off dead ends or to jump over obstacles or shots
from enemy minecart-riders. Theres not much else to the game beyond the single-
player story mode, Im not sure if multi-player exists but it does seem to be available.
BEALPHARETH
Bealphareth is an isometric, third-person dun-
geon crawler with fairly well-drawn sprites and
consistent but nicely-realized medieval fantasy
environments to explore. Gameplay is seriously
addictive because unlike other games of its kind,
battling is completely active-time and you can
switch between characters in your party at any
time instantaneously, all of which have different
skills pertaining to their battle class. The sheer
amount of available weapons and monsters to
be found makes it a great experience.
And obviously there is a dating sim aspect as well, in that every character who joins
your party will be a girl, and you will be able to interact and romance with all of them.
Obviously depending on which one you go for youll get a different ending for them.
Even if youre not interested in this aspect of the game its very much worth playing
for fans of dungeon crawlers or action-RPGs. Unfortunately its Japan-only, and at-
tempting to play it blind would be quite the effort, though its certainly possible.
TAIL CONCERTO
Tail Concerto is a 3D action-platformer starring
a furry police offer chasing a group of pirate kit-
ties while riding a mech that looks and moves
surprisingly similar to Tron Bonnes. The whole
game has a Mega Man Legends sort of feel and
takes place in a world of floating islands popu-
lated by cute anthropomorphic animals. You run
around on your bipedal mech capturing felons
in bubbles and jumping across great chasms.
Unfortunately the game isnt D-pad-compatible
and the analog controls can sometimes lead to
frustrating platforming hell, especially in the last stages.
However its a cute little game definitely worth a look for Mega Man Legends fans,
with a couple really cool stages but mostly bland boss fights. Its the kind of game
you could probably 100% in a day, so dont spend too much money on it if youre
not going to emulate. Solatorobo: Red the Hunter for the NDS was a spiritual sequel
set in the same world.
SONIC WINGS SPECIAL
Sonic Wings Special is a vertical console shmup
that combines aspects of the first three Sonic
Wing games, bringing together a total of 14 pi-
lots, each with an extra unlockable aircraft. Co-
op multi-player is also a possibility but the sec-
ond player can only pick someone from the
same team as the first players character. The
game is fairly zany and light-hearted, with char-
acters such as an American cyborg and a talking
dolphin. Different characters and combinations
have different endings, as well.
The stages and planes in Sonic Wings special can look somewhat dated, as they are
basically taken from games that were mainly from the previous console generation,
but the variety in characters and stage paths, not to mention secret characters with
alternate versions of stages, makes it worth playing. It also has a pleasant sense of
humor and a number of instances of entertaining Engrish.
TOBAL 2
Tobal 2 was the sequel to Tobal 1 which was
released in all regions. Tobal 2 is an extremely
complex fighter rpg under the guise of a typical
3D party fighter. The art was designed by Akira
Toriyama which adds nice flair to the game. The
graphics are top notch for the ps1 and there are
2 soundtracks for the game. One for the Quest
mode and one for the Arcade mode. In game
combat plays with the speed of Virtua Fighter
and the technicality of Tekken.
There are literally over 200+ characters although some are just pallette swaps, but
still many characters have just frames and their own movesets. EVERY character
you meet is playable. In the Quest mode you play in a dungeon crawler type setting
and descend dungeons while managing stats like stamina and defense while man-
aging inventory space and the most useful equips. You unlock characters pokemon
style by throwing gems at enemies near death. There are even random encounters
in some dungeons. The arcade mode plays like any typical fighter. You take on all
the main characters and view an ending.
RISING ZAN:
SAMURAI GUNMAN
Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman is essentially the
missing link between the clunky 3D beat-em
ups of the 5th gen and the fast paced beat em
ups of the sixth generation that started with
devil may cry.
Speaking of devil may cry, this game came out
two years before the first game, yet has an al-
most scary number of elements that feel like
they were taken directly from that game (and later title godhand, made by many of
the same people). A hero in red wielding a sword and a gun at the same time fights
his way through a wacky and anachronistic wild west, interrupted by cut-scenes
where people say silly stuff and minigames and set pieces where people do silly
things.You have a powerup mode that makes your character very fast and changes
the background music to his themesong, you have arbitrary ratings at the end of
every stage to rate how sexy and cool you were (instead of stylish) and the char-
acter even has a tendency to yell LETS ROCK before kicking ass.
Speaking of the game itself, this is where the missing link moniker comes in. Put
simply, while the controls make a valiant effort compared to how jank ps1 3D beat
em ups were, they still have some issues. You move via tank controls because ps1
game, the lock on is pretty finnicky and the camera has a tendency to not cooper-
ate. However besides that most of the elements that made devil may cry such a hit
a few years later are there. You can freely combo between a variety of sword, gun
and jumping moves, and while the game starts out pretty easy it ramps up the dif-
ficulty fast, with multiple playthroughs on a harder mode or to get a better ranking
is encouraged.
While the combat is a little clunky, the game oozes a very specific kind of charm,
best personified by the goddamn original theme song they made for the game.
NEKKETSU OYAKO
Nekketsu Oyako was a Japan-only PSX launch
title intended almost as a tech demo to demon-
strate the consoles capabilities for handling a
traditional arcade beat-em-up game. However
its also a very fun game on its own right. An evil
organization has kidnapped the mother of a
family of four; now the father, son, and daughter
set out to fight hordes of enemies on very color-
ful, JoJos Bizarre Adventure-esque city streets
on their quest to save her.
The gameplay is nothing surprising for fans of beat-em-ups and the three playable
characters (sadly, Mom does not become playable after rescuing her) sport good
variety and are all totally viable. It was ported to the Saturn some time later, but sur-
prisingly the technical differences arent so great as for there to be a truly superior
version, and the PSX original handles transparency better. Its definitely one of the
beat-em-ups worth hunting down for the PlayStation, along with titles such as Panz-
er Bandit and Captain Commando, as the console didnt receive many other arcade
ports.
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