StrikeForce Squad!! Stardust Memories: Revisiting Kirby Flash Animations

 Introduction

In an era long, long ago... Before monetization, before algorithms, and before advertisers, there was a time when passion-driven fan content thrived prominently in fandom spaces on the early internet. Many series captivated viewers and inspired a generation to show off their own creativity. Much of this independent art was crafted using nothing but talent, personality, and Adobe Flash. While there are hundreds of different series I could talk about today, I wanted to focus on one particular genre of content that shaped my childhood—one that involves Kirby fan characters, sprite sheets, and early 2010s internet humor.

Characters portrayed from left to right: Aege (DestructionSeries), Kirby (HAL Laboratory lol), and Saito (LoneAlchemist). 

Logo created by LoneAlchemist, character art and background edited by myself.

A Fantasy of Cosmic Proportions: A Review of Cosmic Fantasy 2 (TurboGrafx CD)

 Introduction

From being one of the first RPGs to feature fully animated cinematic cutscenes, to being the game that initially put Working Designs on the map, to being labeled as Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Best RPG of the Year in 1993: it's Cosmic Fantasy 2. Developed by Nihon Telenet, Cosmic Fantasy 2 is an RPG for the TurboGrafx CD and is seen as a cult classic in the niche gaming market. It was one of the best-selling games on the console and was popular enough for NEC to consider making the game a pack-in title for the TurboGrafx CD.

In addition to everything else I just mentioned, it also recently received the honor of being played by me. And while I can see why it was very well-received back in the day, my thoughts on the game as a complete package are a little more complicated. So let’s not waste any more time and start talking about Cosmic Fantasy 2!