kitsunebi

3 hours ago, lytron said:

 

• Mother 2 = Earthbound (already released at that point) - Probably an included guide book?

Yes, it was a separate supplement strategy guide included with the issue.  I believe just about every issue of The Super Famicom had a separate supplement included until late in the title's run, and most were given prominent billing on the main issue's cover.

On 12/26/2016 at 9:11 PM, JackieFhan said:

This is before or after DKC, strong assumption before but it looks like DKC stuff

This is about 2 1/2 years before DKC.

15 minutes ago, Areala said:

Final Fantasy VI?! I love it!

By my count, FFVI was mentioned on the cover of this mag 14 issues in a row! (this being #13)

5 hours ago, Areala said:

I so want one of those Densha de Go! controllers! Just imagine playing Resident Evil with it...

Surely there's a tank simulator somewhere out there with a custom controller better suited to that task? 

8 hours ago, Areala said:

Amusing in that the game's title is clearly "Psycho Soldier" both by the katakana and the romaji, and yet elsewhere in the ad its referred to as "Psychic Soldier", a term which makes much more sense in the context of a game where you disable opponents by shooting energy blasts from your hands.

Oh, I don't know.  I think "Psycho" Soldier makes sense enough if you look into her eyes...deep into the hollow empty void of her eyes, until you can see what she sees and hear the voices that she hears...

Instruction card:

5 minutes ago, Areala said:

No, no, I meant real-life strip mahjong. Not video games...real people.

Why I didn't assume that coming from you, I don't know.

There are hostess clubs within a 10 minute walk from my apartment, but I don't know about any strip mahjong clubs.  The way I imagine it, a master mahjong player is seen as so masculine and virile, women just can't help themselves but to undress and throw themselves at them when they lay the smackdown on some tiles like a boss.

Well, that's how I imagine Japanese men imagine it, anyway.

4 minutes ago, Areala said:

I swear, if I find out there's some kind of underground 'Strip Mahjong' circuit over in Japan, I'm going to completely lose my mind. How did 'matching tiles' and 'nudity' wind up going together so easily for these people? Is it codified into law somewhere?

They're everywhere.  I was getting winter tires put on my car last month at the tire/auto parts store, and the waiting area was full of coffee vending machines and strip mahjong games.

4 hours ago, Areala said:

It makes sense. I mean, the best Japanese can do with a written language like English which has a whole mess of sounds and letters that don't appear in their language is "take a guess". That's pretty much all romaji is for us, right? A "best guess" at translating these sounds into an English equivalent that results in all kinds if verbal hilarity when trying to distinguish Rs from Ls?

Actually, I was half joking.  Sure, if they were trying to write an English word, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was misspelled.  There are so many misspelled words on signs and other high-profile public places that it's inexcusable no one thought to use a dictionary before spending the money to produce them.

However, romaji is not English, and it's a completely formalized system capable of writing any Japanese word with unerring accuracy that everyone here learns in elementary school.  Granted, this doesn't guarantee that a foreigner reading a Japanese word written in romaji will be able to pronounce it correctly unless they're familiar with certain rules of Japanese pronunciation, but a Japanese person will have no trouble reading or writing any Japanese word perfectly using romaji.

So assuming the title of a sci-fi shooter is based on a Shinto goddess, I have to assume they knew what they were doing and the "lass" is part of a pun.  The Japanese lurv lurv LURV their puns, though doing one in English is usually a bit beyond them, so...who knows.

4 minutes ago, Areala said:

I know the title is 'Amaterass' going by the ad/flyer

Well, it's definitely "Amatelass," in the ad, but you're probably right.  They spell stuff wrong all the time here when they try to write something in romaji.  Or maybe they're smarter than I think and are combining Amaterasu with lass for a clever play on words?  Nah, my money's on "they spelled it wrong."

I don't think Japan cares much about copyright infringement.  If you see the next pic I uploaded of Mahjong Ladyhunter, you'll see what I mean.

I always point to the fact that you could buy bootleg Disney DVDs at the national chain 100-yen store to drive home my theory that Japan lives in a bubble unconcerned by copyright law.

Not coincidentally, Tim Burton's Batman film was released in Japan during Xmas of 1989.  Perhaps you noticed the...similarities?  On top of that, the font of the title is directly copied from Marvel's The Punisher comic.

"I will make a great game – and nobody makes games better than me, believe me – and I’ll make it very inexpensively. I will make a great, great game on our personal computer, and I will make you all pay for that game. Mark my words."

- Capstone's lead designer announcing Trump Castle 3 to the gaming press

 

PSP was very successful in Japan (in part due to the Monster Hunter franchise), so including those bonus missions in Peace Walker was a smart move on Konami's part.  I've never played it, but I always assumed they were in the US version as well.  Not sure about the HD collection console release.

Yeah, Monster Hunter was HUGE in Japan at the time, so a crossover was guaranteed money in the bank.

Done

I always find it amusing when somebody who knows a little bit of Japanese tries to write something in katakana and does it wrong.
Should be トゥーム レイダー.
It would have been fun if they'd done the entire issue in chibi-Lara style.
 

I just want to point out that this ad features an Octopus wearing a pair of panties on its head.  Combine that with the American-flag top hat-wearing bald eagle boss being battled in one of the screenshots, and its conspicuous lack of a US release is more understandable.

Dat face...
But who wouldn't be excited about having an oh-so-portable enormous plastic satchel?

I think his mullet is a bit more magnificent in the other ads, actually.

Yeah, he's in all three ads.  And my dreams.  Feel free to add "Captain Mullet" to my tags, if you like.

Jaime Bunker.  Professional Gamer.  Professional Heartbreaker.

This game was called Magic John in Japan.  I...guess the new title is better?

Too bad they didn't call it Bitchin'!

This entire game seems to exist for the sole purpose of the contest which took place 4 months after its release.  From which point I guess there was no reason to play it?

summary from wikipedia:

• After the game's release in late 1991, players had until noon EST on April 11, 1992 to practice beating the game. At this time, MTV revealed a secret password. By entering in this password and the game's serial number before beginning the game, players unlocked a secret sixth Prize World level. After this, players had until midnight to complete the entire game, including the Prize World. This prompted the game to reveal a 24-character code. By calling in to a special hotline with this code, players had a chance at winning one of 36,252 prizes.

I wonder what this stuff is worth today.  Also, I had no idea that some of the Dragon Quest anime was aired in English.

Yeah, the interior art looks heavily photo-referenced, which i hate.  It isn't Greg Land-level godawful tracing, but a lot of the characters do look like photos with digital processing layered on top.