Super FamiComplete #53: SD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari: Ooinaru Isan

 

Title: SD Gundam Gaiden: Knight Gundam Monogatari: Ooinaru Isan

Translation (Roughly): The Legend of the Slightly Deformed Gundam: A Knight Gundam Story: The Great Lion (or Legendary Giant?)

Release Date: 12/21/1991 (JP Only)

Developer: Tose/Bandai

Publisher: Angel Studios

So here we have another Dragon Quest clone (and not the only one that we will see within the first 100 games); we all knew they were going to be coming eventually but who would have thought it would be so soon. Of course, it also had to be in the form of another SD Gundam game. We have almost had as many SD Gundam games as we have had baseball simulators on this blog so far (this is actually the third SD Gundam game, and the fourth Gundam game overall). Well...here goes a huge chunk of my gaming time. 

Background

As a reminder for our neophytes and veterans of this blog (which I think totals to just me and a couple diehards as of right now), the SD in front of Gundam stands for "super deformed." This is a form of Japanese pop aesthetic that makes well known franchise characters "super cute" or kawaii by making them more chibi or "of small proportions." Gundam, as a franchise, is known for its gritty depictions of war, humanity, and is by and large melodramatic. To help liven this up and make a show which is basically giant robots battling more accessible to kids, the "slightly deformed" and cutesy Gundams were created. Many other franchises have taken this approach as well, especially around this era, such as the Kamen Rider and Ultraman. You can still see this trend in today's media too, with the popularity of the Funko Pop dolls and even in games such as World of Final Fantasy which is pretty much a SD and chibi Final Fantasy games. Often, these games are treated as a celebration of the franchise rather than a true representation of them, which is very much the case in this game. 

This game actually had several predecessors before it for the Famicom, and is its own little separate series from the rest of the Gundam line. It even had its own anime adaptation as well. The story is relatively simple: the story is set in a mythical fantasy kingdom (shocker) called Lacroa. Here robots and humans live together, with robot knights protecting everyone. The main hero is known as "Knight Gundam" who is the RPG protagonist with "no memory of his past." Suddenly the kingdom comes under attack from "Satan Gundam" who leads a band of evil robots and monsters. Knight Gundam decides to go on the offensive and protect the kingdom from Satan Gundam and, along the way, learn more about his past.

Other than that, it is a standard RPG in the same vein as Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest, if you don't know, is the legendary console RPG line crafted by the development studio known as Enix. It pretty much set the bar for console RPGs, from such innovations as the job system, the grind/leveling system, and colorful and expressive characters, monsters, and bosses. While not known for the most groundbreaking stories (usually they boil down to evil bad monster/demon/god is causing a ruckus for the world and human kind and must be stopped by legendary hero), they really did lay the foundation for what is expected from a console RPG. Final Fantasy would not be Final Fantasy without Dragon Quest before it.

The developer in this case is the company Tose. Tose is well known company for taking on anime adaptations in video games, sports games, and even made the original Game and Watch games for Nintendo. Now the publisher is a bit of a toughie. I have been trying to research Angel Studios, but that is also the studio that would eventually become Rockstar San Diego. Is it one and the same? I am not sure. If I can find the answer I will update as need be.

Gameplay

If you like a good old fashioned RPG that is a literal rip of Dragon Quest, then this game is an interesting one to check out. It really doesn't do anything original, but it is a competent RPG and hits all the notes you would want: a genuine aesthetic, decent music, beautiful character and sprite art, and tough turn-based combat. This game is an old-fashioned grind-fest, for better or worse, as the difficulty spikes a good bit at about the four hour mark. You can tell, though, that a lot of TLC went into this work.  The sprite work and character art is superb. Out of battle the character models are really cute; inside of battle they are very detailed, expressive, and are all very cohesive as to the style. One of my favorites is this cute robot hydra. The game also does not overstay its welcome: it only is about 20-25 hours long, which is short for an RPG. 

Well if you were coming for the story, the story is pretty sparse. As well, there is no English translation made available for the game as of yet, or at least one that is complete or working, so the limited story is going to be very hard to follow for most. Overall, though, I was able to follow what to do with the help of some online walk-throughs.  The game is an old-school RPG and definitely suffers from the negative aspects of old school RPGs and Dragon Quest clones. The grind can be really terrible at times, but is very necessary to overcome the difficulty curve. The first fight with Satan Gundam, especially, can be really tough without a good bit of grinding. 

Music

As I mentioned, the music is actually pretty darn good!

Final Verdict

While there are not many versions of this game available online to view, I would watch a "Let's Play" of this game on youtube. It is worth checking out just to enjoy the sprite work and music. The walkthrough playthrough can be a bit tedious, but overall, it was still enjoyable. 

Super FamiComplete #52: Lord of Darkness (Redux)

Title: Lord of Darkness (NA) Super Nobunaga no Yabou: Bushou Fuunroku(JP)

Release Date: 12/21/1991

Developer/Publisher: Koei

Oh boy, another computer strategy game remade for the Super Nintendo. Not one of the genres that I look forward to with this blog.

Background

Now this series is one of the original CRPGs in general that started the strategy RPG genre. The game is very similar to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms style games, except that it is set during the Sengoku Period in Japan, a period when the local daimyos (regional governors and warlords) cast off the Bakufu style government (a military dictator under the Shogun) and each fought for power to rule Japan. Some daimyos fought for control, others for greater position, and some just for sport and to demonstrate military prowess. It lasted from about 1467-1608 CE in Japan, and it was incredibly damaging to the infrastructure of Japan. The most prominent and notorious of these daimyos is the person this game is based off of: Nobunaga Oda. 

Nobunaga Oda was a minor daimyo at first, ruling over the Owari prefecturem yet quickly rose to prominence after defeating the powerful warlord Imagawa Yoshimoto at the battle of Okehazama, a battle where Nobunaga and his forces were outnumbered by about 25,000 to his humble 3,000. After this began a career of military conquest made famous by his disregard for religion (he famously burnt down several temples and slaughtered thousands of monks), ingenious but ruthless tactics, and his willingness to open up Japan to foreigners for trade purposes. Nobunaga became the first conquerer to truly unify most of Japan (at least the island of Honshu), and was also well known for his eccentricities ( his love of art and poetry namely). His career came to an end, though, when he was betrayed by one of his vassals, Mitsuhide Akechi, and was slaughtered in his home castle Honno-ji. Some say it was due to jealousy and a near constant torment from Nobunaga that this betrayal occurred; apparently Nobunaga had a love of the sauce, and would regularly get rowdy and start smacking Mitsuhide's bald head. 

Nobunaga's legacy in popular culture is rather interesting though, as he is generally viewed as a malevolent figure hell-bent on conquest. In the Onimusha series, for example, he is viewed as a literal demon who is trying to conquer Japan in the name of Genma. In the Samurai Warriors series, he is nicknamed "The Demon King" and has a dark aura that surrounds him. This series, as well, is even named after Nobunaga's most famous quality: Nobunaga's Ambition. Now Lord of Darkness is the fifth game in this series, and it was one of the most widely ported. The point of the series is rather simple: you pick one of the provinces of Japan and its reigning Daimyo, and you try to conquer the rest of Japan. In this entrant in the series, you can choose from one of two scenarios: you can choose with everyone on equal footing at the start of Nobunaga's career, or you can choose towards the middle where he is surrounded by enemies.

This entrant in the series is best known for its new diplomatic options: you can barter for new technology, ask other leaders to join in a tea ceremony, etc.

Koei is the developer behind this game, who have become synonymous with the Three Kingdoms era in China and the Sengoku era in Japan through their Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, and Nobunaga's Ambition series. They are definitely more well known for their Warrior titles nowadays, which have begun to spill out into other pop culture properties with One Piece: Pirate Warriors and Hyrule Warriors. 

The Gameplay

Well its turn based CRPG style strategy action. It is a hardcore game for hardcore fans. You really have to love strategy games in order to get involved in series like this. The amount of choices are really fun: you can resort to any sort of strategy you would like from diplomacy, to deception, to assassination, or just plain old warfare. I also like the detail that they put into this being historically accurate.

The history teacher in me loves it, but this is basically a game of Monopoly or Risk: the game will take a long, long, long, long, long time to complete. It also falls into the trap of Romance of the Three Kingdoms where the different "stories" you choose are really just a different table of starting conditions. There is no narrative thread other than ones you create through your imagination and how the game plays out. It is very much a board game translated into a early console game. 

This game is very similar to Romance of the Three Kingdoms (heck it is even made by the same company), in that there are more modern versions of the game available that go into way more depth. I highly recommend checking them out if you would like the experience of a SRPG set in the Sengoku period. 

   

Music

Final Verdict

Overall I would just choose to play a newer version of this game. One came out a little bit ago for the PS4 and XBox ONE. 

Super FamiComplete #51: D-Force (Redux)

  

Title: Dimension Force (JP) D-Force (NA)

Release Date: 12/20/1991

Developer: Asmik

Publisher: Asmik

When I first started to journey through the SNES catalog, I wasn't expecting a schmup like this. this game is a journey. It is janky, poorly made, poorly designed...but I really kind of love it. The game starts terrible and generic, goes off the deep end, and then ends up being a hot mess at the end. It is the weirdest bell-curve I have seen in an older game. 

Background

This game was made by Asmik, a little known company that was eventually responsible for the some Japanese only gems (a standout is Lennus II). The game is a typical vertical schmup, but with the main vehicle of destruction being an Apache Helicopter. That is pretty neat! Other than that, there is not too much more of interest about the background.

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The Game

Oh man where to begin. First of all this game looks like hot garbage. The animation is really stilted and static, and the backgrounds and colors are drab. The ocean you sail over in the first level has this weird surf style gradient that gets really disorienting and headache inducing after a few minutes.

The game as well is terribly difficult. Your sprite is already large, and your hitbox extends in a rectangular box past your sprite. If you so much as brush with an enemy or their projectile, it is an instant loss of life. Once you burn through your lives you are in a Game Over, no continues. Where there game is forgiving, though, is that it is generous in power-ups, and if you die you only lose one level of power-ups. Since you can get a total of 12 levels, this isn't too punishing a set-back.

This is where the shame of it is, though, because if you can beat the first level, this game cranks it up in terms of fun and craziness. You see, every other level is where the D in D-Force comes from; this stands for "dimension." For example the second level takes place in prehistoric times, while the fourth level takes place in a fantasy castle. The other neat thing is that, on these levels, you can change your altitude to go a couple different routes or take out enemies who are on the ground. For example, during the dinosaur level, there are triceratops dragons who can shoot fireballs into the air at your helicopter, and your little Apache must go to ground level to attack them. The only drawback to the ground level is suddenly you have objects that you must avoid, such as walls, blocks, or trees. These levels are where this game shines. Plus, it is really cool when you kill the T-Rex boss and all that's left is his body sans head and tail (actually this was really weird and disturbing).

Now this game, after about the third level, goes off the rails completely. The levels become ridiculously long, and the boss battles can take a ridiculously long time. The boss of the snow level (level 5) took about 25 minutes to kill. He wasn't even that difficult, but the boss had a teeny-tiny hit box that made it drag on. Another boss which, design wise, was pretty cool (it is like a futuristic war train), was borderline broken if you didn't have powered-up items and couldn't shoot beyond right in front of you. I got stuck on this boss until I decided to just restart the game and try again with a better power-up. The game is just too darn hard and punishing in the later levels to recommend. 

Plus the graphics and the action are butt ugly and slow respectively. There are just some goofy design choices. Some bosses attack patterns and weak points mix so that it is almost impossible to do consistent damage to the boss without losing a life, which is really cheap and stupid.

Does this have any good music?

The game has mediocre tunes overall. 

Ads and Arts

Final Verdict
I would play this game for the curiosity of it and the fact that parts of it are just bananas. I think this game is best enjoyed with cheats, though, as otherwise I imagine this game is just infuriating.