Random PSX imports I picked up...

[skelly]

On Saturday a friend and I went to an import game store in Torrance called Wanpaku USA. It's the only American location of a bigger Japanese chain, and it's going out of business for a variety of reasons. I think today (Monday) is their last day. Anyway, all of their used games were discounted to the tune of 60% or more, and though the pickings were slim by the time we arrived (they've been going out of business for a while), I still found $35.72 worth of interesting games.

Power Rangers Pinball (PSX): I picked this up because it was by KaZe, the folks behind the excellent Last Gladiators and the incomparable Necronomicon. I remembered hearing that PRP was not up to their standards, and it's really not. The game is in low-res (unlike the Saturn games) and the tables are kind of small and barren. Instead of choosing a table you want to play, the game has a stage progression, complete with boss levels and a continue feature. Unusual and mildly interesting, but in the end it's pretty average pinball. This came out in the States, btw.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (PSX): The RPG that deconstructs RPGs. Recently there was a TNL thread that summed it up well. Huge language barrier, but hey, $3.99.

Notam of Wind (Kaze no Notam) (PSX): Artdink's hot air balloon simulator... there was a thread about it over at TFP a while back. As you'd expect, it's really weird and mellow. When you're in the balloon, all you can do is raise or lower your altitude, in order to catch wind currents that exist at different elevations. Whee and such. There are a variety of goals depending on the game mode, but the basic balloon control remains the same in each. It seems this will be yet another Artdink game that I prefer to think about rather than play.

Reciproheat 5000 (PSX): Went into this one totally blind -- it's an airplane racing game I'd never heard of before. Think Ridge Racer meets Ace Combat, but without weapons. Luckily, it's not bad. The control is a bit stiff, but the graphics and sensation of speed / flying are fairly well done, and it has that "second / third generation PSX" thing going on -- arcadey and nostalgic. Not bad at all.

Motor Toon Grand Prix (PSX): One of the earliest Japanese PSX games, it's a gouraud-shaded toon-style racer by the people who went on to make Gran Turismo. Not much of a game by today's standards, but it provides an interesting peek at the dawn of the PlayStation. It's pretty competent, all things considered, but the sequel (released in the US) beats it handily. Still, it's neat to see what our (not so?) favorite GameFan writers were going gaga about back in the day. The game disc's art is beautiful.

Dezaemon 3D (N64): The N64 incarnation of Athena's long-running shooter-making series. Haven't tried this one yet, and I'm not expecting much considering the platform. Still, it's nice to see in the screenshots that a lot of the menus are in English. Could be interesting.

Not a bad little haul, at least in terms of quirkiness. The best thing I learned at Wanpaku? The Japanese name for the Turok series is Violence Killer.

[Viper]

Originally posted by BenT
The best think I learned at Wanpaku? The Japanese name for the Turok series is Violence Killer.

I've always felt that Turok's greatest asset was the variety of rather inventive and bloodthirsty methods of killing enemies that it provided a player with. Quite an appropriate name for the series.

Thanks for the impressions. Some of those titles sound interesting.

[Shine]

Originally posted by BenT
Notam of Wind (Kaze no Notam) (PSX): Artdink's hot air ballon simulator... there was a thread about it over at TFP a while back. As you'd expect, it's really weird and mellow. When you're in the balloon, all you can do is raise or lower your altitude, in order to catch wind currents that exist at different elevations. Whee and such. There are a variety of goals depending on the game mode, but the basic balloon control remains the same in each. It seems this will be yet another Artdink game that I prefer to think about rather than play.

Wasn't Artdink the same company that released a construction equipment fighting game? And is also known for a slew of other oddities in gaming?

[xS]

*awaiting dezamon 3d impressions*

[Sqoon]

1. $3.99 for Moon is insane. If I knew Japanese, that'd be the first game I'd play.

2. Would you be willing to sell Notam of Wind?

3. Since you mention Motor Toon's art, was it also done by the guy who did the Maximo artwork?

[Low]

I've heard of Moon, didn't Gamefan cover it? Looked interesting.

For Dezaemon fun, get Kids on PSone or part 2 on Saturn, 3D was less than stellar. *-neo

[skelly]

Originally posted by ShineAqua
Wasn't Artdink the same company that released a construction equipment fighting game? And is also known for a slew of other oddities in gaming?

Yep. They're the wack-ass simulation people.

Originally posted by Sqoon
2. Would you be willing to sell Notam of Wind?

Email me your preferred shipping address and I'll send it along in a few weeks after I've checked it out a bit more (assuming it doesn't give me any life-changing revelations in the interim).

Originally posted by Sqoon
3. Since you mention Motor Toon's art, was it also done by the guy who did the Maximo artwork?

Yeah, Susumu Matsushita. But I mentioned that more because the print quality of the disc was very good, not so much the artwork on it. I'm not a Matsushita fan, even though the Motor Toon disc IS very aesthetically pleasing.

I'd probably get more use out of it if I framed it.

[Lordmrw]

Would you be interested in selling Moon? Always wanted to play it, and I'v ignored the language barrier for rpgs some of the time and still enjoyed them.

[skelly]

Solly, I'm keeping that one. I do plan to learn Japanese... someday.

[05pro]

Kaze no Notam's not too bad. Well to be honest it's pretty rubbish but it's different enough to warrent some playtime. The draw in / pop up is shocking but the music's quite good and the gameplay's mostly relaxing. It's easy enough to control for the most part and the challenges are varied, as are the landscapes you travel over.

Hardly essensial but worth a look when bought 'really' cheap.

The TFP Thread...
http://boards.gamers.com/messages/me...cadet&id=zzwln