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!

Die Legende von Zwei Schwertern: Eine Rezension von Der Langrisser (SFC)

 Introduction

Over Yeless' sky, far above the cursed land of Velzeria, a red star of ill omen has risen: it heralds the arrival of an ambitious man. Not too long after this, Bernhardt of the Rayguard Empire stands in the face of the legendary blade of darkness, Alhazard. Legends say that this sword is the key to infinite power, and so, the driven man pleads with the sword to give him its power. And use said power to conquer the shattered continent of El Sallia... or perhaps… the world?

The man crowned himself as the Kaiser of a new Empire, and together with his trusted knights, he sought to conquer the lands with his unparalleled strength. The armies of the Kaiser left a wake of devastation as they blazed across the continent—bodies piling like victims of a wrathful god.

Little did the Kaiser know, the ravages of his war lend power to an ancient, dormant darkness. One that awaits a day of chaos and destruction. The ancient Glory of Darkness, "Alhazard," will rain terror on the people and bleed the land dry... The blade's true nature seeks only to lay waste to the land. In the grip of evil, humanity will be choked into ancient darkness. The end can only be prevented with the Might of Elthlead, "Langrisser." 

Into the Boundaries of Time: A Review of Exile (TurboGrafx CD)

 Introduction

Today, I want to take you back to the distant past, all the way to the 12th century, and talk about a little-known game called Exile. Exile is part of a side-scrolling Action-RPG series, XZR, developed by Telenet and Riot. The series originated on the NEC PC-88 platform and eventually made its way to home consoles such as the Turbografx and Sega Genesis where it dropped the “XZR” moniker, and went by the name “Exile.” 

The Ice Wall and the Spirit of Duel: A Review of Xak - The Art of Visual Stage (SFC)

Introduction

Today, I wanted to talk to you about a game I recently played. A humble game known as Xak: The Art of Visual Stage. It’s an Action-RPG that was originally released on the PC-88 in 1989, and developed by Micro Cabin. The game was later ported to numerous systems during the 16-bit era. Today, I wanted to record my runthrough of the Super Famicom version which was developed by Sunsoft and Tokai Engineering in 1993.

 

From Zeroes to Heroes: The Story of Mario Kart Zero

 Introduction

In our current era, there are only three video game series that I can confidently say have the status of being legit household titles: Super Smash Brothers, Pokémon, and Mario Kart. Since its debut in 1992, the latter series has remained a perennial favorite, appealing to audiences in both competitive and casual play. Despite that, within the Mario Kart community lies a slightly more obscure subset of fans—the hacking community. Right now, Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart Wii boast some of the largest modding communities, with Mario Kart Wii, in particular, featuring thousands of custom tracks, additional game modes, and even third-party online servers, a decade after the official one shut down. However, this article aims to shine a spotlight on a lesser-known hacking community, the Mario Kart DS hacking community. In addition, I wanted to talk about the history and coverage of one of its most influential hacks from 2012. So, rev your engines, buckle up, and join me as I explore one of my favorite ROM hacks growing up—Mario Kart Zero.

A Reconditioned Classic - A Look at FE11's Localization

 Introduction

When I love a game, I try to learn as much about it as I possibly can. One of the things I find most fascinating about many of the games I play is how they change in their respective localizations. I really enjoy examining the text, graphics, and minute details in the Japanese versions and comparing them to their English counterparts. I love seeing how the localization team attempts to adapt a piece of media and judging how well they manage to transfer the original message. I also enjoy trying to get into the developers' and localization teams' heads to understand why and how something was changed. That's why I've always been a big fan of Clyde Mandelin's Legends of Localization website and have even bought some of his books.

One of my favorite games is Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and up until recently, it was the only Archanean FE game to be localized into English. Naturally, I wanted to learn more about how different FE11 was in English compared to its Japanese counterpart and other languages. While there are some wiki pages and sites like The Cutting Room Floor that list localization changes, there were no dedicated articles that compiled everything and discussed these changes in depth. That’s why I’m here today to share this blog post where I list and discuss many of the localization changes in FE11, in the same style as Clyde Mandelin's Legends of Localization series

Floral Fantasy: The Adventures of Sakura Taisen (Part 1)

 🌸Introduction🌸

Sakura Wars, also known as Sakura Taisen, is a game series that’s lingered on my radar for a few years. The game's name surfaced occasionally in casual conversations, but my knowledge of it was fairly limited. It wasn't until much later when I heard that Sakura Taisen's characters and mechs were featured as DLC in Super Robot Wars 30, which brought my attention back to the series.

Furthermore, last summer, since I had just graduated from college and had a lot more time on my hands, I had been catching up on a lot of anime. In particular, I was watching a lot of older mecha series, and over time I decided it was time for me to try out this Sakura Taisen game. So, I downloaded a Sega Saturn emulator, the two disk files necessary to actually play the game, and the fan translation. Once, I got everything set up, I went right into the game. And as such, I wish to share my playthrough with all of you in a two-part blog post.