THE HIDDEN GEMS A brief look at some of the over- looked, underappreciated, or Japan-only games for this wonderful console. 2014, 4chan.org/vr/ /vr/ 2014 1 THE FIREMEN 2: PETE & DANNY The Firemen 2: Pete & Danny is a sequel to the SNES hidden gem which basically functioned like a top-down shooter, except you were shooting out pressurized water to put out the most mali- cious fire ever. In this Japan-only sequel protagonist Pete returns, now joined by his buddy Danny for two-player co- op action. You go around putting out several mys- teriously-started fires all around New York City on Christmas Eve, which for some reason was a very popular time and place among late-nineties video games. There’s a lot more visual variety in the game’s stages and the core gameplay remains the same. Compared to the first game, The Firemen 2’s sprite work is sort of bland and dull, but still totally serviceable, and it’s also kind of needlessly text-heavy, which will es- DIVER’S DREAM pecially be a slog if you don’t speak Japanese. It’s still a totally worthwhile adventure. Diver’s Dream (JP: Dolphin’s Dream) was an underwater exploration game localized and released only in PAL territories. For a game of its kind it has a very “game-y” bent, unlike the RACING LAGOON more free-roaming Aquanaut’s Holiday or End- This was a seriously unique game that tried to less Blue. Your mission is to explore sunken combine racing games with RPGs. It puts you ships and wreckage and recover well over 100 in the shoes of a Japanese street racer over the unique treasures, as well as scraps that you can course of ten nights in the city. Each night you trade in for varying amounts of money. With can drive around challenging other drifters to that you can purchase better diving equipment street races (the game’s version of random en- (you start off with a pair of swim trunks) and counters), and if you win you get to take a part of weapons (to fend off sharks and dangerous fish). These are also customizeable by their car to customize your own. You can end a the player. night by going to an obligatory Climax Encoun- The whole process of venturing ever-father into the sunken ships and caves, only to ter and challenging a sort of boss, which you surface with new treasure and buy even better equipment, is really addictive. There must win against to progress. is also a Free Mode so you can explore to your heart’s content though, and even during salvage missions you get to roam around very wide areas. The progression is indeed RPG-esque, as there is a very involved storyline which can be explored to a greater or lesser degree if you pay attention to various event Though the game’s cutscenes are pretty ugly and swimming animations are stiff markers on the map. Driving up to these locations activates additional scenes which and basic, it’s still totally worth playing today. On the PS2, the sorely overlooked may lead to side-quests or simply character interactions. Everblue 2 would employ a very similar game structure of diving and salvaging, Though it’s Japan-only, it can be played once you memorize the basic menus and and I believe it was released in all regions. assuming you don’t care about the story, as the map markers make progression fairly straightforward. 2 /vr/ 2014 FORGET ME NOT JINGLE CATS Forget Me Not was originally a home-made Jingle Cats: Rabupara Daisakusen no Kan (this game designed by a hobbyist on a version of may not be the full title, but it’s almost univer- RPG Maker. It won a development prize and was sally referred to as Jingle Cats) is the kind of remade for the PSX as Forget Me Not: Pallete. game that would’ve been a massive cult hit and This is a beautiful game in terms of art direction, internet favorite if it had been released today. the top-down perspective and small and but The gist of it is that you take care of two cats in well-made sprites lure you into a nostalgic at- a home and try to get them to like each other. mosphere. The game revolves around an amne- As the game adds more cats (each of them in- siac woman and the psychiatrist who is helping dividuals with pre-set names and preferences), her recover her memories. The game has two taking care of them and making them get along modes: in the first you explore and interact with becomes more challenging. Apparently there is the setting, and in the second you shift into a sort of “astral projection” where you some kind of backstory or end goal about raising a cat choir, but I don’t know about interact with objects to open new paths and recover memories. that. You scroll around a first-person 2D view of the house’s rooms where the cats will be doing whatever cats do. You can feed them, bathe them, pick them up and move Presentation is neat and distinctive, as the character move in small, closed rooms them around, and have them interact with objects and each other. and hallways engulfed by darkness, but by opening new pathways you can help fill up the void, mimicking the protagonist’s process of remembrance. It was also a The game’s presentation is seriously charming, everything is a cartoony, scribbly, clear and obvious influence on the similarly haunting Yume Nikki. and almost Art Noveau in its style, including the endearing cats themselves. Ob- viously Japan-only, though once you get a hang for the menus and options (and Sadly it was only released in Japan and knowledge of the language is essential to memorize the cat relationship chart), it can be played successfully. enjoy the game and progress. Hopefully it will get a translation someday. POP’N TANKS! HYPER CRAZY CLIMBER Pop’n Tanks! is a very obscure Japan-only Hyper Crazy Climber is an excellent console re- game published by Enix. It’s a tank combat make of a Japan-only arcade classic, a 2D action game, but with colorful environments, cutesy game where you climb massive vertical struc- anime characters, and blocky mini-tanks to pi- tures while avoiding various objects thrown at lot around various arenas. You can create your you. This game added content in every sense, own tank from scratch using various parts or with three playable characters (a boy, a girl, play through a story mode with one of the eight and a cute bug-thing) and an exciting variety of characters. Obviously there is also multi-player, stages (including a clocktower, a construction either with the story characters or with custom site, and a giant beakstalk), with a boss encoun- tanks you’ve saved to your memory card. ter awaiting you if you can make it to the top. The game’s lighthearted tone and visuals are unusual for the genre, and gameplay There are lots of new obstacles and enemies is tight and fast-paced, with battles usually over in less than five minutes. Though it thematic to each stage, and the levels are all very beautiful and visually inventive, isn’t compatible with the later DualShock’s control pad, the ability to strafe makes it but the challenging high-speed action won’t allow you to stick around and take in so that combat is smooth and exciting regardless. Story aside, no Japanese knowl- the scenery. Obviously it requires no knowledge of Japanese to play, so get on it. edge is required to play. /vr/ 2014 3 BOKU NO NATSUYASUMI: FUURAIKI SUMMER HOLIDAY 20TH CENTURY Fuuraiki is a cult-favorite adventure which comes close to visual novel and dating sim Boku No Natsuyasumi: Summer Holiday 20th games in terms of presentation. You play as a Century is an isometric 3D adventure game photographer traveling across Japan’s Hok- that takes you back to nostalgic summer vaca- kaido region by motorcycle on a work assign- tions of your childhood. You play as a Japanese ment, but that doesn’t mean you won’t encoun- child enjoying his break in his relatives’ country ter a number of girls on your journey who you home. The game is divided into days of a month. can interact with and perhaps romance. The Each day you wake up and go on adventures, dialogue-based gameplay and progression are whether it’s exploring the environment, run- pretty much the same as your average visual ning errands for other characters, swimming, novel, but the game’s enveloping warmth and playing, capturing bugs, or climbing trees. At the end of each day you write down sense of freewheling adventure have earned it a place around seekers of lesser- what you did in your diary, creating a lovely page of child scribbles and drawings. known PSX gems. As a twist, the game is really about the protagonist as an adult reminiscing about this idyllic period of his childhood, and at the end of the game you get to peruse Obviously though, being the kind of game that it is, Fuuraiki is pretty much pointless each diary page of your vacation. to play without knowledge of Japanese. There was a very similar sequel for the PS2 The game uses pre-rendered backgrounds based on real-world photographs where you travel around the Okinawa region instead.