Now that I've gotten moving done, I can get back to some regular updating. Longtime readers may remember the Japanese Artwork of Western Games article, written about five years ago, which took a look at how the covers of American and European games were changed for their Japanese releases. Previously there was maybe about a dozen games covered - it's now been updated to something closer to seventy. Other game focused articles including Nanashi no Game, the Japan-only DS horror game that's similar to The Ring, but uses a cursed video game (one that happens to look like an 8-bit Final Fantasy game) instead of a video tape; Rendering Ranger: R2, an extremely pricey Super Famicom action game developed by the folks behind Turrican; Slap Happy Rhythm Busters, a 2.5D cel shaded fighting game for the PSOne that looks a LOT like Jet Set Radio; and Frederick Pohl's Gateway, a series of text adventures by Legend based on the acclaimed science fiction novels.
It's been about two weeks since I've found HG101, and it's one of the finest sites I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteGood job! :D
BTW it seems "Nanashi no Game" link is dead.
ReplyDeleteNanashi link is fixed. Forgot to make the link absolute!
ReplyDeleteMay I point out a few comments regarding Nanashi?
ReplyDeleteI have to say I have only fully played the 1st one. Only did a couple of chapters in the 2nd, got stuck somewhere and tired of it. But since the author missed the story, he also left out a few interesting points that I though are worth mentioning:
- First, a stupid thing, but that I found funny, the "ghosts" are called here "Rugure", transliteration of "regret" (French pronounciation apparently), since when they die only their regrets, their anger, etc. is left.
Reminded me of "Rugrats" everytime I read it.
- A very scary high point of the 1st game that feels underused, as it happens very early and just once:
The game asks you to input your name at the beginning, since you are the main character, etc. At a certain early point, though, you "meet" your girl friend's "rugre" (that shot of a ghost in front of a bookshelf right there in the article) who proceeds to chase you... while calling your name out loud! Creeped the shit out of me. Allegedly might not be as effective if you name yourself "poop" or similar, though... ^_^;
Might also be a reason for the non-localization? Unlike English, Japanese is a very phonetic, what-you-write-is-how-you-read-it language. Such basic Text-to-speech conversion would be much harder to do in English.
- In my opinion, getting all of the hidden "trinkets" in the Nameless Game is worth it: you get an extra CG scene, a beautiful orchestra arrange rendition of the cursed game's main theme and a final touching detail, that give the whole thing a much better closure. I've been checking around and the CG scene is mentioned in very few places... Even GameFAQs has it wrong. It's even cut out, as it plays before the credits, in the only English video that I could find of it on youtube. Maybe that's why it's little known?
- There's also a hidden mode fruit of a collaboration between Squenix and some Japanese Theme Park: if you input ノロワレロ - Norowarero ("Be Cursed") as your name, you get to play the hospital stage with added regret-nurses. Very Silent Hill.
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ReplyDeleteA reference to a William Gibson short story in the "Nanashi no Game" article? I feel awesome for getting that reference.
ReplyDeleteAlso when the artcle made reference to the in game game's theme following the player around reminds of of the time that I got past the first dungeon in A legend of Zelda, Link's awakening. I played the game for the rest of the day and when I stopped I could still hear the music as clear as if the Gameboy was still on. I wasn't frightened, just a little disturbed; I figured that it would go away and after I feel asleep it did.
@Locien: lol, that has happened to me too. I felt really weird. I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing such a thing. :D
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