Makaimura och Double Dragon, vad är det?

I mitt förra inlägg nämnde jag suddgummin och undrade om ni visste vad det är för spel.

Om man inte känner igen figurerna så fanns en ledtråd högst upp i bilden. Där ser man boxen.

Även känt som detta:

Ärligt talat förstår jag hur NES spel kan vara så populära. När man jämför med famicom boxar är NES spel tråkiga, slitna och fula, enligt min mening. Jag har ingen nostalgi till NES. För mig är NES något som en kompis hade. När jag kom hem till honom spelade vi Ice Climber, där jag dog direkt medan han spelade vidare, och Duck Hunt, där jag blev game over medan han spelade vidare. Sedan skulle han äta middag och jag fick sitta själv och spela Flintstones som knappast är särskilt roligt.

Anledningen att jag kallar det Makaimura är dock inte att jag ogillar NES, utan för att jag hade problem komma ihåg det engelska namnet. I vanliga fall brukar jag ange det engelska namnet, t.ex. "For the frog the bell tolls" istället för "Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru" (ett game boy spel utvecklat av Nintendo som bara släpptes i Japan), eller Adventure Island istället för "Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima". Men jag förväxlade Ghost N Goblins med efterföljaren Ghost N Ghouls, eller så råkade kallade jag det Ghosts N Goblins. Och sen det där med var apostrofen ska sitta... Då var det lättare kalla det Makaimura. 

Jag tänker automatiskt att Makaimura är en välkänd spelserie, men när allt kommer omkring släpptes NES spelet för 39 år sedan, eller åtminstone 35 år sedan det släpptes i Europa och blev känt för svenskar. Sedermera har versioner släpptes till SNES och Mega Drive och spinoffs till Game Boy. Det finns visserligen till andra konsoler men det lär vara få som lärt känna spelet genom dessa återutgivningar eftersom de inte sålde särskilt bra. 

Det är till och med 12 år sedan som AVGN spelade det i ett Halloweenavsnitt.

Notera att han felaktigt kallar spelet Ghosts N' Goblins i videotiteln. Det kan vara så att spelet egentligen heter Ghosts'n Goblins men att de skrev fel på boxen. Jag hörde även något om att den i Europa hette Ghost'n Goblins och i USA Ghosts'n Goblins. Det gör det svårt veta vad jag ska kalla det när jag namnger den, så jag kallar den bara Makaimura.

Videon är värd att se än idag.  Även AVGN kan dock ses som något som tillhör en tidigare generation. Jag har säkert kunder som inte var födda när AVGN började göra videos. Åren går och man tänker inte på att det man ser som självklart är okänt för yngre.

Det är säkert svårt för yngre spelare att leva sig in i hur en äldre generation kastades in i detta äventyr, där en modig riddare inleder sin kamp på kyrkogården för att omsorgsfullt ta sig förbi djävlar, zombies och demoner i ett helvetiskt svårt spel, för att i bästa fall nå ett mål som få klarade. Varje träff får honom tappa rustningen medan nya fiender angriper, och överallt väntar orättvisa sätt att straffa spelaren. Som att man på bana 5 måste ta en sköld som vapen, trots att skölden är dålig. Annars skickas man tillbaka till bana 4, vilket man först märker när det sker.

Samma öde har drabbat andra ikoniska spelserier från min generation, som Double Dragon. När jag ser spel från den serien reagerar jag med "Ah! Double Dragon! Det är värt något!" men faktum är att jag sällan lyckats med att sälja dem. Game Boy versionerna säljer så dåligt att jag inte bryr mig om lägga ut dem längre, trots att jag alltid tänkt att det borde finnas intresse för hur den japanska del 2 har andra sprites än den europeiska.

Som kuriosa kan nämnas att man kan spela 2p på game boy versionerna också (del 2 & 3), och man kan till och med koppla ihop ett japanskt och ett europeiskt spel fastän de har olika sprites.

Återigen är det säkert svårt leva sig in i hur man som barn på 1980-talet hörde talas ett spel där man kunde röra sig fritt (scrolla både horisontellt OCH vertikalt) medan man spöade upp realistiska motståndare. Till och med tjejer! Som man kunde dra i håret! (tiderna har förändrats och det är kanske nödvändigt påpeka att våld mot kvinnor är fel, även i självförsvar, och att vi alla måste hjälpas åt motverka könsstereotyper. )

Double Dragon brukar ses som det första beat'em up spelet. I del 2 på NES kunde man spela två spelare samtidigt! Detta var något helt nytt. Alla pratade om vilka specialangrepp man kunde göra, som att armbåga bakåt eller kasta över huvudet. Sen när man kom till slutet av banan möttes man av denna groteska gestalt som rusade på en med en spark. Jag minns fortfarande hur rädd jag blev.

När jag började sälja spel fanns det många som var nyfikna på de japanska versionerna. Men då var spelen mycket billigare. Folk som nu är 40+ börjar inte med att köpa in NTSC versioner som ibland är dyrare än PAL. De köper in sina barndomsspel om de inte redan har dem, eller så ägnar de sig åt viktigare saker. Jag har hört om åtskilliga som sålt av sina samlingar.

Det finns ju yngre personer som börjar samla och spela, men de vill ha det som de känner till. Pokémon har exempelvis bara gått upp i värde, vilket man inte minst märker på mässor där barn under 10 år vill ha våra pokémonfigurer. Mario är också ständigt populärt. Game Boy versionerna av Mario Land går för över 100 kr.

Man kan jämföra med Kunio-Kun-spelserien som alltjämt är populär i Japan men aldrig blev lika stor i Europa. Kunio-Kun som för övrigt är utsprunget till Double Dragon, vilket är anledningen till att Double Dragon 2 till game boy fick ha Kunio-Kun-sprites. 

Det gjordes en massa Kunio-Kun-spel. Själv spelade jag mycket av fotbollsspelet Nintendo World Cup hos en bekant (ej samma person som i början av inlägget) och det gavs även ut ett populärt spel som fick heta River City Ransom. I Japan gavs det ut andra spel, både till Famicom och Super Famicom. Här ishockeyspelet:

Jag har sålt dem i perioder, men de säljer sämre nu än när jag började. Vi flashade till och med kassetter med engelsk text och sålde. Jag trodde att Kunio-Kun-spel med tiden skulle bli mer efterfrågade eftersom jag själv kunde relatera till de humoristiska huvudpersonerna i Nintendo World Cup, men det fungerar såklart inte så. Det finns för många spel och det som tillhör det förgångna försvinner med åren, om det inte släpps nya spel som håller det vid liv. 

De svåraste spelen jag klarat av

Det ska sägas att jag inte är någon gejmer (gamer...?). Jag hade max 20 spel när jag växte upp och sen spelade jag game boy i något år innan jag började med Japanspel. Sedan spelade jag spel för Japanspels räkning i något år innan det inte fanns mer tid för sånt. Trots allt tycker jag det är roligare sälja spel än att spela.

När jag var barn visste jag inte ens att det gick klara av spel. Mario var en sak, man skulle rädda prinsessan. Men många andra spel gick inte klara av. Jag spelade exempelvis mycket på ett spel som hette Boulder Dash, där det bara blir fler och fler banor. Troligen har det inget slut för ingen har hittat något.

Jag hade också ett spel som hette The Rescue of Princess Blobette. Jag vet inte om manualen var på engelska eller om jag inte läste den, eller om det kanske inte stod vad de olika tabletterna användes till, men jag lyckades aldrig klura ut det. Jag minns att jag påbörjade en lista där jag skrev ner det, så kanske framgick det inte av manualen.

När jag spelade ett av mina få SNES-spel, Bart's Nightmare, hade jag därför inte i avsikt att klara det. På den tiden spelade man när man kom hem från skolan tills man dog. Dog man fick man börja om från början eller spela ett annat spel. Vi hade ju inte hundratals spel på vår Ipad utan det var vad vi hade. (det finns säkert läsare som inte ens var födda på 1990-talet)

Många tycker spelet är svårt pga den andra banan i underjorden, men jag hittade ett trick som gör att man kan få två extraliv direkt i början. Ett annat trick är att man kan använda R för att scrolla bilden, för att få Maggie att skjuta ut sina projektiler. Sedan gäller det att hoppa runt snabbt som tusan så snart den gröna demonen dyker upp. Och så lyckades jag klara av det. Det förvånade mig att spelet hastigt avbröts av att Bart vaknade och det tog ett tag innan jag förstod att det måste innebära att jag hade klarat det.

Jag lyckades klara av det igen när jag skulle prova den japanska versionen. Det var rätt bra att klara av det på ett försök efter alla år, och jag misslyckades nog bara en gång med en bana. Här en spelvideo från den genomspelningen.

Här sista klippet som visar sista banan.

Spelet har överlag dåliga recensioner. En kompis skrattade åt mig när jag berättade att jag fått det i julklapp. Men när man väl kan det är det faktiskt ganska roligt... 

Jag undrar hur många som idag har tålamodet idag att spela den typen av spel där man får börja om när man dör. För att citera Cranky Kong i Donkey Kong Country från 1994:

Sen tar vi ett hopp fram tills jag började spela Game Boy igen, kanske kring 2009. Jag tänkte jag skulle försöka klara av några av de klassiska spelen, som Castlevania och Mega Man. Det första Castlevaniaspelet till Game Boy heter Castlevania: The Adventure och kom ut redan 1989. Det är hatat av många eftersom det är "såååå seeeegt". Men jag tyckte det var charmigt, man kan tänka på annat medan vår hjälte långsamt släpar sig genom banan. 

Jag tror faktiskt segheten är en bugg i programmeringen, då man ännu inte var så bra att programmera Game Boy spel i början. Man märker nämligen kring 01:30 in i video nedan, att när fienderna är borta flyter det på bättre. Senare spel verkar ha kompenserat hårdvarubegränsningar med flimmer istället för slowdowns. 

Hur som helst klarade jag av det efter några veckor, och det är det enda Castlevaniaspelet jag klarat. Det indikerar ändå att det är rätt bra, för jag tröttar snabbt på spel. Som jag sa till någon som klagade "man får se det mer som ett pusselspel än ett actionspel". Det inte är jättesvårt eftersom man inte behöver börja om från början om man blir game over. Svårigheten ligger nog mest i att inte tröttna innan dess.

Sen ville jag försöka klara åtminstone ett Mega Man spel. Jag beslutade mig för att spela genom Mega Man i kronologisk ordning, och började med Dr Wilys revenge, ett spel som utkom 1991, och ta bossarna i kronologisk ordning också. 

Vad jag inte visste är att i Mega Man ska man ju använda bossarnas vapen mot varandra. Istället kämpade jag i veckor mot Cutman med enbart blastern. Det kändes verkligen som i denna japanska musikvideo som kom ut ungefär vid den tiden.

Jag vet inte hur långt jag kom innan jag förstod att man kunde byta vapen. Det var vid något senare tillfälle efter Cutman, när man behöver flyga upp och då använda plattformen. Det tog ändå ytterligare flera veckor ta sig genom spelet.

Numer är jag såpass erfaren med spel att jag provar alla möjliga knappkombinationer...

När jag började med Japanspel började jag spela Famicom spel, eller "NES" som man säger i resten av världen. Jag hade inte samma emotionella känsla till Famicom så jag tröttnade snabbt på de flesta spel, men det fanns några som jag spelade mer intensivt. Ett av dem var Gradius, som jag rankar som ett perfekt spel i sin genre. 

Dör man tappar man alla powerups, vilket gör att man i princip måste börja om. Jag kom ändå till precis i slutet, då en dörr stängs bakom en och i panik tryckte jag bakåt och flög rakt in i dörren och dog. Så jag rankar detta som "hedervärt försök". Att jag spelade så länge trots att jag inte annars spelar schumps visar hur bra detta spel är. Musiken och miljöerna gör sitt.

Ett av få andra spel jag hade en längre session med var det som i Europa hette Robo Warrior, och i Japan Bomber King. För 11 år sedan gjorde jag denna video.

När man väl förstår sig på kontrollerna, och tillåter sig att titta i en guide, är spelet aldrig för svårt, enligt min mening. Man får undvika dö och låta saker ta sin tid, vilket är den typen av spel som fungerar bra för mig. Jag satt en hel natt och framåt morgonen hade jag kommit till sista världen, jag gav mig en timme (eftersom jag måste testa spel med famicom konsolen var jag tvungen stänga av det sen) och lyckligtvis klarade jag det under den tiden . Det var en av mina bästa Famicom-upplevelser och jag kan rekommendera gejmers att ha en RoboWarrior session. Det är nästan magiskt när solen håller på att gå upp samtidigt som RoboWarrior lämnar planeten.

Förutom det var det inte så många spel jag orkade ta mig genom. Ett var game boy spelet Bakuretsu Senshi Warrior, som på engelska fick heta Cyraid. Det är som Donkey Kong men mindre gulligt, och konstigt nog hatar folk det.

Denna typ av lite långsammare action/plattform med pusselelement har alltid varit min favorit, sedan jag spelade Lode Runner som barn. Eftersom man inte behöver börja om från början när man blir game over är spelet inte jättesvårt, men jag tror många tappar tålamodet för de inte förstår vad de ska göra. De flesta ogillar spel där man måste tänka lite.

Sista spelet att nämna är det japanska Super Mario Bros 2, även känt som Lost Levels. Att spela det på originalhårdvara är betydligt svårare än att spela det i Mario All-Stars. För det första för att man inte kan spara, men även för att man fysiskt rör sig annorlunda än i det gulligare All-Stars.

Det är svårt men ändå ett välgjort spel, och att ha närmare 100 liv gör det inte omöjligt. Jag gjorde tricket i början som ger en massa liv (jag lyckades inte hålla räkning på hur många exakt) och sedan hade som mål klara det. När jag nådde sista banan 8-4 hade de flesta försvunnit, och sedan försvann de ett efter ett till jag var nere under 10. Jag började göra dumma misstag och utgick från att det skulle bli ett hedervärt fiasko liknande Gradius, men här är videon.

Igen speedrunning direkt, men sablar vad nervös man blir, även av att titta på det... Som när timern rör sig mot 100 sekunder och jag står och väntar på att den snurrande eldgrejen ska hamna i rätt position (om man hoppar för tidigt loopar banan)... 

En Mario 2 session kan jag också rekommendera varje seriös gamer.

Numer har jag inte tid spela och moderna spel intresserar mig inte så mycket så det här blir nog enda inlägget jag gör av detta slag. 

Vilka famicom spel kommer gå upp i värde?

Nu har jag hållit på att sälja ett tag och har fått lite erfarenhet i vilka spel som tenderar gå upp i pris, och varför.

Sedan jag började sälja 2011 har många famicom spel stigit i värde. I vissa fall har de blivit 4 gånger så dyra. Andra spel är relativt billiga fortfarande, vissa har t.o.m. sjunkit i värde.

Kid Dracula (Boku Dracula-Kun) var värt cirka 150 kr när jag började sälja. Låt säga att 125-150 kr sågs som "rimligt". Idag är det värt kanske 250-300 kr. Så det har dubblerat i pris. Med tanke på att spelet är ganska ovanligt, är välgjort, och endast såldes i Japan tycker jag det är rätt billigt.

2011 sålde jag ett löst Holy Diver för 140 kr. Kunden tyckte det var "dyrt men kan väl vara värt det, ser kul ut". Idag får man för en lös kassett betala omkring 700 kr. Jag tror jag bara haft spelet en gång sedan dess, då såldes det för 500 kr.

Lagrange Point var ett spel som länge såldes för cirka 100 kr löst. Nu har det kommit en översättningspatch och spelet säljs löst för 250 kr. En orsak till detta är för att Retron 5 konsolen, där man kan använda en original-kassett och ladda ner en språkpatch till engelska. Jag tror att Retron 5 har höjt priset på famicom kassetter, eftersom folk måste ju kunna spela spelen de köper.

Gimmick kunde man få boxat för 1000 kr. Jag sålde en kassett 2011 för 500 kr. Idag kostar en lös kassett minst 2000 kr, och boxat kostar det 3000-5000 kr. När jag började sälja frågade jag en besserwisservän varför det japanska inte var värt mer. Han sa "ingen vill ha det, det är på japanska". Besserwissern hade fel (som besserwissers ofta har), det japanska spelet är helt på engelska och har dessutom ett speciellt ljudchip för bättre ljud. Att SCN versionen är så dyr beror enbart på de svenska samlarna som fnyser åt den japanska versionen.

Kommer Gimmick fortsätta gå upp i pris? Inte omöjligt. Gimmick är lite av en "holy grail" som "alla" samlare vill ha. Och den japanska versionen är ju faktiskt bättre än SCN versionen. Dessutom hade besserwissern också fel när han sa att den "japanska är jättevanlig". Den japanska har jag sett två gånger på fem år. Kanske 1 gång på 10 000.

Var dock observant på att det finns folk som gör gimmickrepros och säljer dem som original. Ett sådant fall upptäcktes för 2-3 år sedan från en person i Japan som sålde boxade Gimmick-spel. Han hade gjort en repro, tryckt ut både box och ny etikett på kassetten, bara manual som fattades.

Det finns andra sena SunSoft spel som är lika ovanliga som Gimmick men som inte är lika dyra, huvudsakligen beror det nog på att de inte är lika bra eller på att de har mycket japansk text. Kommer dessa andra spel att gå upp i pris framöver? Kanske, men inte säkert.

Priset på japanska spel kan också gå lite upp och ner beroende på hur yenen står. Just nu är yenen mycket stark mot kronan vilket gör att priserna har gått upp.

Ett spel som kostar 1000 yen i Japan idag kostar oss just nu 85 svenska kronor. Under större delen av 2015 hade det kostat runt 70 kr, och mellan 2013-2014 runt 65 kr. Förvisso stod yenen högre under 2011-2012.

Kan tipsa om att de flesta andra Irem spel är ovanliga. Åtminstone de senare spelen. De tidiga Irem spelen (Sqoon, Kickle Cubicle, Kung Fu etc) är inte jättevanliga men ganska vanliga, och de ligger fortfarande kring cirka 50 kr. Desto dyrare är de senare spelen Metal Storm och de två Hammerin Harry spelen. Guardian Legend är också ovanligt men har legat rätt konstant kring 180-250 kr löst. Image Fight är ett annat Irem-höjdarspel enligt mig, och det kan fås för 50-80 kr om man har tur.

Det finns ett antal riktigt välgjorda och ovanliga shoot'em up spel till famicom också som man rimligen kan förvänta sig gå upp i pris. Crisis Force är den mest kända (förutom det extremt ovanliga Recca) men jag gillade personligen annars Gun-Nac. Det finns fler, såsom Abadox, S.C.A.T. (mission to new york), Gradius II, 1943, etc. Spel som är ovanliga men fortfarande kan fås för 150-250 kr om jag minns rätt.

När ett spel blir känt går det ofta upp i pris. Om det beskrivs positivt av AVGN t.ex. Det som driver priset är att spelet har något av värde.

"Skräpspel" går sällan upp i pris. De spel som beskrivs som skit av AVGN går inte upp i pris. Ett exempel är Transformers: Convoy No Nazo som vi säljer för 50 kr idag och för 40 kr år 2011. Det är egentligen inte ett tråkigt spel (enligt de mest insatta spelkännare), bara väldigt svårt.

Det finns däremot exempel där bra spel som tillhör en serie drar upp sämre spel i serien. Allt som är relaterat till Zelda, Mario och Nintendo är lite extra eftertraktat. Många av de tidiga Nintendospelen är väl inte så speciella egentligen, såsom Wrecking Crew och Popeye. Men de säljer ändå rätt hyfsat för omkring 50 kr styck.

Jag tror att Japanspel Blogg faktiskt har höjt priset på vissa spel. Vissa artiklar har haft hundratals besökare (kanske ännu fler, det var ett tag sedan jag kollade). Vi startade bloggen för att det ofta saknades information om spel som faktiskt var riktigt bra men som var i princip okända.

Tyvärr har en av mina tidiga favoritspel, Labyrinth, fortfarande inte ökat i värde trots allt arbete vi lagt ner på att göra reklam för det... Men varje gång jag tittar på det tänker jag: Nån gång händer det!

Jag skulle kunna gå genom spel för spel och beskriva deras prisutveckling men det skulle bli lite väl omständigt för detta blogginlägg.

Vissa spel har faktiskt även gått ner i pris. Intresset för dem har dalat. I vissa fall beror det på att det släppts omgjorda versioner och folk inte har samma behov av att köpa originalet.

Vill dock säga att jag ständigt förundras över att vissa spel inte är värda mer, då det rör sig om spel som är både ovanliga, välgjorda och roliga. Medan andra spel säljs för vad som i mitt tycke är väldiga överpriser i förhållande till spelvärdet. Denna skillnad är något jag faktiskt stört mig lite på sedan jag började sälja spel. Vissa spelare/samlare köper in sånt som är roligt men billigt och ser sen hur spelen går upp i pris efterhand.

Jag tänker inte ge för mycket tips för jag vill inte driva spekulation och riskera ha fel. Allt jag kan säga är att bra och ovanliga spel tenderar gå upp i pris. Dyra spel tenderar att bli dyrare, medan "skräpspel" tenderar att fortsätta vara "skräpspel". Så jag föreslår att du köper sådana spel som du tycker är roliga och prisvärda och som du blir glad av att se på. Då kommer du inte ångra dig. / Fredrik

Famicom Friday: Wing of Madoola

A SunSoft game that is not very common, but still pretty cheap to get because it's not very popular.


One of the reasons why it might be overlooked is that it's classified as an action-rpg game, but I would say it is 95% action. The only RPG element is that you pick up weapons and upgrades. Use them by pressing Start and then Select to change weapon.

You progress through the stages and enter rooms where you can find these items. One of the rooms has a miniboss that you have to defeat in order to get through the exit. It is hard but not unfair. You continue by pressing Select+Start at the start screen. I won't call it a cheat because the game is unplayable without this. Maybe it is even mentioned in the manual (I don't have the manual though).


The game is entirely in English. Apart from the Select+Start trick, there isn't anything else that needs to be known. The last stage can also be a little tricky from what I read on Strategywiki, because you collect the Wing of Madoola item that allows you to fly by pressing down+jump.

When you continue you get to keep all the items you picked up, so you never have to visit a room twice for items. Still it is very difficult because of the myriad of enemies that appear. I really enjoy these kind of "enemy bombardment". :) See my previous reviews of games such as Ninja Crusaders and Demon Sword.

I read at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wing_of_Madoola) that the game has 16 stages. I was stuck on stage 12 for over an hour (see some of my game play in the video below) and then I accidentally pressed Start without pressing Select and lost the chance to continue. Arino on Game Center CX did this mistake too on stage 12... But I understand him. Stage 12 is the most difficult stage, according to Strategywiki... After getting beaten so many times you start to go cross eyed.



The Game Center CX video recommends to go back to stage 10 where there is a spring to recover health, then play through stage 10 and 11 without taking too much damage, in order to get to stage 12 with more health...

While the game has this continue function, it doesn't have any password or save function, so it needs to be beaten in one sitting. As long as you remember to press Select+Start you can keep on replaying older stages too to get items on them you missed and then jump forward again.

I recommend exploring all areas to make sure you don't miss any items. Some stages are a bit like mazes and have a Metroid feeling to them but they are actually not that big. If you don't feel patient, you can of course look at the maps on the strategywiki article.

It is still a fun challenge and I hope to go back to it some day when I have more time. Arino on Game Center CX beat it, eventhough he had to replay from the start twice. He had of course full help of his staff that told him what to do and even replayed old stages for him, but the game is clearly beatable while providing a nice challenge.

We have this game for sale at our webshop: http://japanspelshop.se/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2550

Dragon Scroll for famicom

Yesterday I sat down to play Dragon Scroll, to see if it was playable in Japanese.

Dragon Scroll is an action/RPG game developed by Konami in 1987. It was only released in Japan.

Action/RPG can mean different thing. In best cases, all the fighting is in action, and you have a lifebar and level up. Some games are entirely in English. I have written about two perfectly playable FDS action/RPG games previously.

Dragon Scroll is very much like The Legend of Zelda. It has mostly action and there is no complicated menu system. With Select screen you see some items you can switch between, with English or little text. However, just like in Zelda, the challenge is to figure things out. To do this, you get clues from some enemies that you kill, and the clues are cryptic. According to strategywiki, the game is pretty hard even if you play the English translation (but I haven't tried). In Japanese, it will be impossible to get through it unless you follow a guide.

I played around for a couple of hours but it was hopeless. The good thing I can say is that the action sequences are definitely not unplayable. You have unlimited continues and I made it very far in experience points, to level 13 out of a maximum 15. So I don't think the game is hard if you know how to get through it. If you die, you keep all of your Exp points and can chose to get a password to continue at a later time.

I wasn't able to figure out any of the puzzles. Some of them include to stand between two statues for a couple of seconds, or to shoot certain statues a couple of times. (I read this later) You will in some cases get certain items, that you will have to use later on other items.

The game has typical well made Konami graphics and music. Nice big characters. The controls work flawless as soon as you get used to how your big character gets hit.

I'll quote from Chrontendo:

Konami does a Zelda clone! That's sounds really great, but the game itself turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. You spend most of the game wandering around five worlds (forest world, desert world, moutain world, etc. No ice world, thank God) and various dungeons looks for staffs, books, bells, rings and plants. Dragon Scroll is great looking, has awesome music, and the final dragon vs dragon battle is cool. But something doesn't quite click here. The magic is a little lame -- it's mostly used for finding hidden items. You never really gain any fun abilities from all the stuff you collect. The game feels structureless and lacks character; it mostly plays like a big easter egg hunt. Some of the items and areas are virtually impossible to find on your own (much like Castlevania II), so a FAQ will probably be necessary to finish this thing. -- http://chrontendo.blogspot.se/2009/09/chrontendo-episode-25-is-finally.html

Note that Chrontendo is usually a bit negative towards the games he describes.
I still have to agree with him on most points.

screenshot, taken from gamefaqs

Anyways, the game is perfectly playable and anyone who enjoys top-down NES/Famicom action/RPGs such as Crystalis or Willow should definitely try this out as this is in the same style with the same type of big colorful graphics. It isn't extremely deep and has a very standard story, but is a nice little fantasy game set in a world of waterfalls, castles and dragons, for those who enjoy that. Try it on an emulator with English text, and if you can beat it then try it on original hardware.

On gamefaqs, Dragon Scroll has a score of 4.10, which is pretty high. Higher than Willow, and a little below Crystalis. However, there are no reviews for it yet. It was only released in Japan and is probably not that well known.

Also see:

• http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Dragon_Scroll
• http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/564419-dragon-scroll-yomigaerishi-maryuu

Hana no Star Kaidou - a reappreciation

My colleague Fredrik wrote about this game earlier after playing without a guide. After reading other people's reviews, it was easy to agree that it's a bad game. But we found out that many gamers (especially from the US) don't have enough patience with games like these.

The game is about a famous japanese pop star duo and you control both of them at once. There is no GameFAQ for this game but we found another page with useful information. The game is definitely more fun and playable once you figure out how to play.

* Instead of going right towards the wall on the first stage, you can go up the stairs to the left, making it possible to proceed to the next level (pressing up+right+left+fire button).

* You can walk up to an enemy after you stun them and press up. It gives you items that increase your hearts (time) and a cassette tape needed to enter the studio.

So the game isn't as impossible as we thought. You just have to know about these two things. But it's still a really weird game. You can buy it from us here when it is in stock.

Hudson Famicom Stick HJ-7 repair

I recently got one of these for the first time.

Hudson Famicom Stick, HJ-7

It has small rubber pads for the joystick, and these had gotten stiff and it was hard to move.

I read some some recipes on how to fix them, such as boiling them for a couple of hours and then putting them in glycerol, or boiling them in an ammonia solution. Anyways, I put them in boiling water to soften them up. I don't know if it is such a good idea to do with conductive pads, but I didn't have much choice.

While it was boiling, I thought that if I could replace the pads with identical, I wouldn't have to worry about the pads being worn out or not being conductive. They look pretty identical to the pads in a MD1 controller. So tried to replace.

After a little of testing of one of my favorite games Bomber King, it seemed to work perfectly. The MD1 has nice and soft pads that move with little restistance. However! When moving the stick left and releasing, it would bounce to the right and move slightly right... The MD1 controllers are too soft! This was annoying, at least to me. So I was thinking, would this be acceptable to a customer? After some more testing I found it to be too annoying.

So I searched for other pads that would be better.

At the bottom here you can see the MD1 pad (left) and the original pad (right).

My first replacement attempt after MD1 was to cut out pads from a Super Famicom (SNES) controller. They worked alright, but I think they are slightly too short and soft, and gave a little of the same problem as the MD1 pads. Also, they didn't always make contact. I think that because these original rubbers are second hand, one can't trust them.

A video game seller needs to have many skills, such as cutting.

I looked at some other rubber pads.

The Saturn and MD2 pads are completely different and wouldn't fit. I also stabbed myself trying to open an MD2 controller when my screwdriver broke right through the plastic. Evil SEGA design.

Alright, but the SNES pads were still decent so I tried these third party replacement pads. They are stiffer than the original and new, so there would not be a concern about them making uneven contact (when some side might work worse than some other side).

The pads for the A and B button to the left are original and work as they should.

And now the stick seems to work great again. I won't bother boiling the original pads as these pads work great.

The best thing with sticks like these is that they make it much easier to move diagonally. They are also removable unlike original famicom controllers, and you can use an extension cord to make them longer.

Famicom sticks are hard to come by and I don't really know of anyone who owns one. On eBay these sticks are for sale at around 45$ with shipping. Due to my restoration work I'll list mine for 60$ (incl 25% VAT) plus shipping.

I don't know if this will be necessary to do with all of these sticks with time, but I suspect that the type of rubber they used is more likely to have this problem. Maybe it won't happen if it has been stored differently, or used regularly.

Metal Flame Psy Buster, famicom

So I sat down to play another "crappy" and unbeloved game, Metal Mech.

Metal Flame: Psy Buster, 7$

 

Known in Japan by its longer name Metal Flame: Psy Buster, whatever that means.
Of course I thought the game was awesome. Such an original idea, amazing graphics, and bullets flying everywhere, and you just keep moving fast. Amazing.

I had a lot of problems at first trying to understand what the shit was about. But then I read the guide on gamefaqs (seems like I say this in every blogpost) and really got a good understanding on how to play this game enjoyably.

What I enjoyed the most was how powerful the robot is, so you can walk around with the robot for most of the time and ignore all the enemies. Imagine if Contra had been like that, wow.
_

In case you don't have the manual and have no clue, I will provide for you the basics.

1. You need the key in each level in order to exit it. If you don't know where the key is, you could spend weeks looking for it. On level 1, the key in in the sewers. On level 2, it is at the most top right of the level, in a camera. In level 3, it isn't the far from the exit. In level 4, you need to take a special powerup before you enter the water, or else you will die. Also, there is a teleporter (big black opening) you enter by pressing Up, and the key is if you walk left from there. On Level 5, the key is if you keep going on the left side while you walk down (sort of). Level 6 however, is a very hard shooter stage that I couldn't beat.

2. Press Select while in the machine to change weapons. Unfortunately, it changes automatically back to a weak weapon every time you exit the machine so you have to change back. For example, I forgot this in the video above around 18:30 so I had difficulty killing the enemies.

3. Press Select + A to eject from the machine. If you die your guy, you restart by the mech. If both Mech and Gyu die, you have to restart the level. If only Mech dies, you can continue on your own without Mech for a while.

_

The levels are pretty big and feel advanced. A bit like Metroid. The last level was too hard for me, but at the end of it there is the mother-alien of some sort you have to defeat. I don't enjoy shoot'em up stages with difficult controls though, so I won't be trying more of beating the last level. Up to that point the game was very much fun.

Youkai Club, famicom

Hmm, youkai, that sounds familiar from other games, such as Youkai Yashiki, FDS or Youkai Douchuuki (pc engine, famicom, arcade). Yokai means something like "mythical japanese creatures".

Famicom console with Youkai Club

Youkai Club is a standard action/platforming game. I could compare it to a Castlevania type of game if I wanted to be nice, but there are many other similar games, such as some ninja games I wrote about recently.

_

At first the game seems pretty standard, but you'll notice there is an Experience bar as well as a health meter. You think it is an action/RPG game? No, not really. If you lose your health, you will lose a part of the experience points and be restored. If you lose all Exp points, you are game over. Also, if you don't have enough experience points at the end, you won't be able to complete the game.

Thankfully gamefaqs has this walkthrough: http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/578411-youkai-club/faqs/62167. The walkthrough also explains the different items you collect and which items are essential for being able to beat the game. It says:

Sunglasses: This item should be used in stage 6 when you require 

more EXP to move blocks out of
your way.

So keep that in mind.

Activate items by selecting it with Start, and then press B+Up (a bit tricky to figure out on your own).

At times it can be difficult to find the way around but I think it isn't too challenging. Figuring out I had to go down the well (08:30) was something I found by accident when I ducked for the fox.

There is nothing in the game that is amazing but it is still a nice little game to play around with. Nothing really bad to say. The controls are alright, the graphics is typical from this "middle era" famicom games, and while the music isn't memorable it is still alright.

As the gamefaqs article says:

I have enjoyed writing this guide and playing the game, and wish that anyone
using this guide finds the game just as fun and this guide helpful.  Good luck
with the game.

I found this facebook post too: https://www.facebook.com/opcfg/posts/10202714089234735?stream_ref=10 

Youkai Club, released by Jaleco in 1987. It's a horror-themed side-scrolling platformer, but has a few minor RPG elements that help it stand out from other, similar games released at the time. It's pretty fun, and worth checking out if you can.

 And this http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Youkai_Club

While fun to play, it is otherwise a rather unnoteworthy release for the system. The player controls a character who must make it through six stages filled with apparitions and other afterlife creatures in an attempt to save the world. He attacks by throwing a weapon known as the Psycho Stinger. It was never release outside of Japan.

I think what is lacking is that there isn't any real story to it; no real intro and no great ending. You won't feel any intense atmosphere. And the level design is not too inspired either, albeit okay.

It is still a fun game to play around with. A nice touch is the way you die: you lose Exp points but can still play on. At the last stage you have to have full Exp so you might have to grind there for a while. But as you improve your skill, you probably can play through the earlier stages without losing Exp. This method of playing is more pleasant than having one-death and need to restart the level.

However, the game has no continues, so don't die too much. Also, if you fall into a hole, you are game over. I read there is a cheat that allows you to start on stage 2 or 3 though.

I only played the first two stages so I can't say how hard the game becomes later on. The first two stages felt relaxed with many powerups and nothing really demanding.

The game was only released in Japan but is relatively unknown to most, so it is inexpensive. Around 10$ loose or 25$ boxed. I recommend that you give it a try if you enjoy Castlevania style games. Let's call it Castlevania light.

Athena, famicom

Athena

I was asked "why is Athena so expensive? It doesn't look fun."
Athena for famicom costs around 20$. Well, it isn't very common for one thing. I thought I should try it out and write about it.

After googling around, Athena is known as a pretty bad game... The game was released on NES in the US.


_

The game does have several typical things for crappy games:

• No invincibility when hit. You can die all your health just from bouncing on one arrow or being cornered by an enemy.
• Graphics is badly drawn, as if a child created some of the enemies.
• Graphics jumps around sometimes and screen flashes.
• Pressing Select brings up a black screen... Some items get put there, but no one knows what use they have.
• Weird jumping system. The first jump is small, then second and third jump is high.
• Really hard bosses! After two hours I finally beat the first level boss. I didn't even know if I was hitting him but I think I'd keep on trying and suddenly he died. From what I've read, many later bosses become almost impossible.

All of this would have been okay had it not been for one problem: No continues! It says "continue" at the start screen, but you can't select it. I have searched the internet. As a result, very few people have beaten this game. I read one comment on a blog post who said it was the hardest of over 200 NES games he had finished ([unrealitymag]).

However, the game is definitely playable. I played it for two hours and it felt okay. While it is hard, it also has some charm to it, and it isn't unfairly hard like Fudou Myououden (Demon Sword) that still has me scarred ([blogpost]).

It isn't all bad either. Trust me! I have played many really bad famicom games. The A button jumps and B attacks, as they should. And the controls are definitely playable.

Gameplay is a bit like Makaimura (Ghosts n Goblins). The charm of the game is that you pick up different rather cool powerups. I felt it was rewarding that as I played the first level, I always found new powerups that made it interesting. And it is fun to go around breaking stuff.

I didn't make it very far and I won't be playing it more so I can't say much about the stages after the second. A good thing is that the first two stages are short. I made it to the end of stage two in the video, as you can see, and it was my second try ever.

If you are one of those people who enjoy playing the same stuff over and over, such as Makaimura, and you want a challenge, I think Athena might be worth trying out. Not everyone hates it, as can be seen from gamefaqs reviews.

Other reviews:
* http://voices.yahoo.com/retro-video-game-reviews-athena-nes-7712838.html?cat=37 ("This video game looks like the aborted student project in coding class by a high schooler who never paid attention.")
* http://www.flyingomelette.com/reviews/nes/athena.html ("The game is somewhat playable, until you reach the third level, where the play control becomes even more impossible to manage when you have to swim")

Image Fight, famicom

Another shoot'em up?! First I would like to make a praise to Irem. The had many ideas for very original games with nice graphics and music, and always great playability. The are like Konami, except that Irem always had much smaller release numbers and so their games are usually harder to find.

Maybe Irem games made their games for adults more than other gaming companies did, becaues in general Irem games have a low amount of stuff that only kids could tolerate, such as cheap deaths, lack of continues, painful music and terrible controls.

I also think Irem famicom carts are the best looking because of their screenshot on the back. 

Image Fight has no passwords or save function and needs to be completed in one go (unless you use a cheat). At first it seemed annoying because of the easy deaths, but then I found that the charm is in the infinite continues. In practice you has infinite lives because even after game over you get to restart at the same checkpoint.

The famicom version has a nice black background like flying in space. From looking at youtube videos, the NES version replaced it with a blue background, which to me seems weird.

There may be other changes between the two version but I have not found them documented.

_
The number at the bottom of the screen indicates plane speed. Change with the A button.

You need to accomplish on average 90% on the first five levels. I have tried looking around the net, but no guide informs what this number refers to or how to get 90%. The guides also say that you have to replay the stages if you get less, but on the famicom version I played you'll be taken to a penalty area (at 5:27 in video). This difficult area is where I took up my turbo-controller, at last, because without it my thumb went numb. The game doesn't otherwise require a turbo controller.

The game isn't always easy, but isn't too hard until the final boss. If you die on the boss there, you'll restart at a check point without powerups that makes it almost impossible. It would probably be easier to replay the entire game. Quite a shame that it went so easy with a good powerup, and so impossible without it. There is a stage selection cheat one can use, maybe I'll try that the next time to replay just the last stage.

You can usually find it cheap. 5-7$ loose, and 15$ boxed, or so. It isn't anything special but it also isn't too bad except that it is annoying how impossible it got in the ending... It has some fun powerups, nice graphics and sound and because you have inifinite lives you'll keep on playing.

The game is also on Pc Engine and is usually considered better than the famicom/NES version. A problem with the famicom/NES version is that it feels like it could need more polish. First you have five "training stage", but they still have real bosses and all. Then three "real battles", that are very easy with the right power ups, but if you die at the final boss the game almost becomes unwinnable.

Here is another review that I thought was most accurate. Maybe because it also reviewed the famicom game, unlike other reviews.

* http://www.videogameden.com/fc.htm?imf

Here is another review. Don't just read the first half of it!
* http://www.honestgamers.com/7780/nes/image-fight/review.html

Captain Ed, famicom

Captain Ed is an uncommon famicom game. Incidentally,  Chrontendo wrote about it just a month ago or so. In his usual negative way, he calls it "an extremely strange game", "one of the least visually interesting shoot-em-ups I've seen in a while", and in his video he calls it "crap". (http://chrontendo.blogspot.se/2014_03_01_archive.html)

Luckily, I prefer to play games rather than superficially analyze them, and I played this game for 3 hours on Friday and another 2 hours on Saturday. I had a lot of difficulties with the last stages until I found a simple trick to beat the Medusa boss. The ultimate final boss was also tricky until I discovered that you can simply hold down the shoot button to have continuous fire until he dies.

The gamefaqs review didn't know either of this. Probably because he didn't have to replay the last stage for 2 hours... When you are game over and have to type in the 20 character hiragana password, your frustration level increases. I think it took me 5-10 minutes each time I had to type it in, although I did get better at it after a couple of times.

_
The video shows my gameplay and last stage. The game is a bit unusual to understand and I think it puts people off giving it a chance. I know it has put me off it for over a year now.  Clearly, this is one of the "weird Japanese games" that could mean just about anything. (if interested, see my review of Hana No Star Kaidou a few weeks ago. *shivers*)

Some basic information: you fly around and can shoot as well as hitting blocks to get hidden items. The red blocks take away some energy, and the yellow blocks takes away a little energy in the beginning of the game, but not on the last stages because you have a stronger shield. You can refill your energy either with hidden items or buy filling up at Gas. Important note about the gas station: TAP A to fill up, don't just wait.

After you have found a couple of warp areas and bought enough eggs and items from the shop (buy everything as you get money), you'll go to the boss stage automatically. Most bosses are simple and are basically just about shooting them straight up.

Did I cheat in the end...? That's like asking if it is cheating to use the pause glitch in Blaster Master. To most people that is a part of the game, unlike a cheat code that is by definition a cheat code. Should I not be allowed to press Select to enter the menu, if this is part of the game mechanics?

I was actually able to beat the Medusa without the trick on two occasions. The way to do it is because her balls after a while will enter a pattern of getting stuck from one corner to the other. But they are difficult to dodge until then.

Well, it certainly is a weird Japanese game, for those who appreciate those games as much as I do. The simple difficulty made me continue to play it until the end and certainly I enjoyed it enough to spend 5 hours with it, albeit the last of them in frustration.

Here is the 20 character password in difficult to read hiragana. I think it is cool, although unnecessary, that the password remembers your name too. My name is the top word up there.

Some bosses are Parodius funny, like this hardrocker. Watch out for his guitar.

The game also has some mini-games that allows you to make money. One of them is a simple betting cardgame that will almost guarantee you a profit, and another is some kind of beatmania game with a drum. My max profit for the drum game was 610$, please let me know if you get more than that.


You can usually get the game cheap. For 7$ or so I think it is well worth trying out.

And here is where airplanes come from.

Cobra Command, famicom

Helicopter games are rarely worth anything, no matter if they are scrolling or not. The only exception I can think of is Kyuukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra). But that game is exactly like any airplane shooter.

For all Apple fans, I remember I played a helicopter game on Macintosh sometime in the early 1990s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvh0agHVLHQ . 

Anyways, I played a bit of Cobra Command for a Famicom Friday, then read about how to play it properly and went back to play some more. It helps to learn what the game is about. First, you rescue hostages. You have to rescue all hostages in one area before you can continue on the level.  In the rescue hostages theme, the game probably takes from Choplifter, a simplistic game that does have its charm (also available on famicom, and is cheap like all helicopter games).

You can land on supply depots, as I did twice in the video. There you will get weapon upgrades or other upgrades. Go into the equip menu by pressing Select. The Start button is used to turn around the helicopter.


Most youtube videos have different colors for some reason, but this is how the game looks on my AV modded famicom.

Cobra Command has nice graphics, advanced levels, good looking enemies and stages, and a good strategy element. However, the controls are difficult. The helicopter is sensitive and quickly moves you into a wall for sudden death. And when you move helicopter forward it becomes strangely slow to the point that it will become difficult to avoid enemies. I try to counter that by tapping the forward button, but you can also fly backwards if you feel certain there are no obstacles.

If you can learn the controls and accept them, the game is enjoyable. I read that it has only 6 stages and is beatable without being overly hard. You start with four lives and get more from the supply depots. If you die all lives, there are 2 or 3 continues. I only played the first stage though. I rate the game "decent".

The Japanese version has Japanese text. From what I read on gamefaqs, some hostages give you messages but these messages are virtually useless. So I rate the famicom game 95% playable. As you see in the video, all the names of items in the menu are in English.

Kamen no Ninja & Fudou Myououden, Famicom

Full title is Kamen no Ninja: Akakage, and Fudou Myououden is also known as Demon Sword in the US. None of the games were released in Europe. I've played and written about a game called Ninja Crusaders for Famicom earlier. It was a lot of fun so I hoped these two ninja games would be fun, too.


Kamen no Ninja
Here is some information about Kamen No Ninja from a GameFAQs walkthrough:

Kamen no Ninja: Akakage is a relatively straightforward platformer for the Famicom. The enemies are pretty simple, the stages are short, and to top it off, you have a wide variety of great weapons/items to use! The game is quite linear with the exception of one point late in the game, so you really only need to keep moving right to beat it. Even the boss enemies (the ones with health meters) can all be defeated with the same strategy or the same couple of weapons in your arsenal. Nonetheless, this really isn't a bad game, so I would recommend it to any 2D platformer fan.
-- http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/578587-kamen-no-ninja-akakage/faqs/58865

Personally, I don't like this kind of simplistic platformers. The graphics are simple, just walking from left to right doesn't really do it for me. The music becomes annoying after a while and the game doesn't feel very well thought-out. But as the article says, it's a decent game if you like this kind of games. You can currently buy it in our webshop, link here. When I played, I got tired of it pretty quickly. Here's a YouTube clip I recorded:




Fudou Myououden

The second game was much more exciting! Fudou Myououden is an extremely challanging game, with significant inspiration from Ninja Gaiden. The enemies are thrown at you from every direction. The game is also 3M big and the stages are long. You have unlimited continues and collected magic is saved after you die. With a password you can also keep everything you've collected.

The game is still really hard. For this reason, the game was remade for the american audience. Instead of dying after just one hit, you got a health bar. The stages are made shorter and six stages were removed. The game felt somewhat slower though, and some enemies were easier to beat. My guess is the US version couldn't store as much data, so some had to be removed.

To use magic, press Start and then Down button. Unfortunately, I didn't understand this until stage 1-3, after desperately fighting my way ahead for two hours. After I discovered this, things got easier. By then, I had learned a lot of timing, as you can see in the beginning of the following video:



I made it all through stage 1-4 without any problem but at 2-1, I gave up. I've seen that walkthroughs on YouTube are about 55 minutes long, and that is probably the time spent without dying. For a Famicom game, it's a really long game.

To compare it with Ninja Crusaders, which can be completed in 20 minutes without dying, a more realistic time is about 6-10 hours. So I guess Fudou Myououden therefor would take at least 30-40 hours, and getting enemies thrown at you all the time becomes exhausting. You will need luck and good powerups to complete the stages.

It is a good game in many ways, it has nice graphics, good sound, great controls, fun powerups and the magic adds a strategic element. Reading other reviews, I notice people saying a combinaion between the easier US version and the more good-looking, longer japanese version would be better.



It's funny how I made it to the end of the stage during my last attempt seen in the video, but died when I went back.

To complete the Japanese version you really need to improve your ninja-skills. You'll have to learn exact timing, be an expert at collecting powerups, struggle with mini bosses to get higher magic. But what's most important is to play, play play, and die, die, die. I think people who enjoy Ninja Gaiden might enjoy this. This game was recently sold, but keep an eye out in our Webshop or make a request.

Fudou Myououden is kind of a sequel to another game called Legend of Kage which is much shorter and easier. So if you enjoy ninja games, that is also a game I can recommend.


External links:
* http://lvls.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/cultural-anxiety-demon-swordfudou-myououden-nesfamicom/
* http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/legendofkage/legendofkage.htm

originally posted by Japanspel at swedish blog japanspel.wordpress.com, translated by Kristin Loman.

ASO (Alpha Mission), for famicom

The game ASO: Armored Scrum Object is a game no one has bought from me in my two years. The game is uncommon (I've only had it twice), is a shooter and entirely in English, so for my Famicom Friday yesterday I was curious about why it is so unpopular.

ASO game was released on the NES as Alpha Mission. On eBay it regularly sells for hardly anything, CIB (Complete In Box) 7$. Since this is a common NES game there are lots of reviews of it. Most of them are hateful it because it is too hard.

Maybe it is another misunderstood game that I need to rescue. It looks cool doesn't it?

I have to admit I bought it by mistake. I thought it was rare and expensive, like these similar looking shooters I once had.

Metal Storm here is worth around 100$, Gun Nac at least 30$. I never understand quite why some games are so much more expensive than others, but I have to follow along and price my games according to market value.

When it comes to vertically scrolling shooters ("shmups"),  I find most of the pure shmups repetitive, dull and uninteresting. There are a lot of simplistic vertical scrolling shooters on the NES/Famicom, such as Exed Exes, Argus, the classic Xevious, Hector '87, Gyrodine, Exerion, Galaga, Dragon Spirit, Star Soldier and Star Force.

I do enjoy shooters if they have some strategy element, like Zanac and Guardian Legend that I have blogged about before. Or Gradius or Twinbee that I have mentioned many times. These are games where you have to think out a strategy and not just madly shoot your way around.


I read that it has a strategy element to it so I thought that maybe I would find some amusement in it.

_

After around 3,5 hours I had found a strategy that took me to stage 5, as you see in the video. A useful strategy is to equip the shield and then collect get E to keep the shield strong. At boss battles I switched to fire that killed them quickly. 

A little explanation of the useful icons: You collect the E icons which will give you energy, up to a max of 24. When you have energy, and possibly collect the airplane icon, you get special items you can use. Change this by pressing Select, navigate to your choice, and press Select again. I soon discovered that the "sheeld" was very useful, while the other special weapons only last for a short time and should be reserved for boss fights.

The M and L icons improve your gun and your missiles. The K icon is useful because it allows you to continue with all upgrades if you die. The W warps you forward. The F icon shows all nearby powerups. S increases speed. Then there is the rare special icon you see at 05:50 that restores your energy to full.

Then the bad icons: The C that takes away all your energy. The inversed K that takes away ALL your ships powerups. The R warps you back (this can actually be useful so you can collect more powerups). Looking at my video, I now realize the inverted E takes away some energy. The C and especially inversed K must absolutely be avoided! It isn't too hard to avoid the negative powerups actually. The inverted K will only appear after you have maxed out one weapon, so after maxing out just be more careful. When your plane is already strong, you have less reason to go around collecting powerups.

Most complaint that the game is bad because it is too hard, except one reviewer who found the game boring because it was too easy http://www.gamefreaks365.com/review.php?artid=1602. I think that is because he played on PSP, PS3 or emulation. On the original NES/famicom hardware, shooters are harder because:

1. The composite video (or worse: antenna!) on NES makes it harder to see bullets
2. The NES controller can't move well diagonally. Look at my video how I mostly move back-forward or right-left.

The game only has 6 stages and then it loops, but the stages keep on counting up to 13 before going back to 1. It might get harder the second time. I think that 3,5 hours of gameplay isn't much for an old school games to make it to stage 5 out of 6. With some practice I probably could make it to stage 6 and then maybe beat the boss there.

Well, I enjoyed it enough to keep me amused for 3,5 hours of a Friday, which is more than most games do. I think I would enjoy keep playing it, as it seems like a game one could master and beat in a short amount of time. Playing to stage 5, as in my video, takes 15 minutes. Looping it once would probably only take 20 minutes. Perfect for a quick fix.

I also enjoyed that the game isn't unfair or has insane enemies. Most enemies and bullets can be avoided without having the die EVERY time you first encounter them (as you would in Salamander / Life Force). The gun turrets on the ground only seem to shoot once, so you don't have to worry about a cheap shot when you are flying over them. The tracking bullets that appear later seem hard at first, but I think they only change direction twice and can be avoided with some practice. I don't think the game has cheap deaths. 

Another complain is that you start slow. Well, you are slow in Gradius too, and the solution is to get speed ups and other powerups, and then avoid dying. The game only gives you three lives and no continues so you do have to avoid dying. According to gamefaqs, there is a continue cheat but I couldn't get it to work and the cheat has three "thumbs down" so I think it is fake.

ASO / Alpha Mission isn't the deepest game but it doesn't deserve the univeral hatred it has. I don't think it is worse than similar NES shooters. 

For some more reviews, see:

• http://www.gamefreaks365.com/review.php?artid=1602 (too easy)
• http://www.questicle.net/2011/01/35-alpha-mission.html (too hard)
• http://www.examiner.com/review/retro-video-game-review-alpha-mission-nes ("For its crimes against the shmup genre, arcade ports, and the act of gaming in general, this mess gets one and a half stars out of five")
• http://www.flyingomelette.com/reviews/nes/alphamission.html (too hard)
• http://www.honestgamers.com/1916/nes/alpha-mission/review.html ("I just can't think of a single shmup I got less enjoyment from than this game and I'd be hard-pressed to think of any game (regardless of genre or system) that provided more negative memories.")
• http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/587088-alpha-mission/reviews

Hana No Star Kaidou and Romancia, for famicom

I had another famicom friday...

First I played Hana No Star Kaidou. Chrontendo called this one of the worst famicom games, but he has been wrong in the past, so I thought it might not be too bad.

I was wrong.
This blog explains why: http://plaingamreviews.blogspot.se/2012/09/hana-no-star-kaidou-famicom-1987-victor.html
If you just put the game in and start playing normally, you will NEVER finish it. You'll get stuck at the end of stage 1 because there is a wall there and you can't get past it. The reason for this is explained in the blog post. Sort of like Takeshi No Chousenjou - designed to be impossible without a guide.

Personally I prefer playable games.

At least it seems to have a continue function, unlike the next game: Romancia.

Harcore gaming wrote a nice article about it: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/romancia/romancia.htm
This game is labeled "action/RPG", but just like the previous game it is somewhat like a cryptic adventure game. The box looks very used so whoever owned it mustve tried really hard.

This is one of the reasons why I enjoy used games, you can almost feel what the previous owners felt about them. Crappy games are usually in good condition (such as Super Pitfall).

The articles mention that an unofficial translation was made easier, or should I say playable. In the original you don't know what to do and have to find your way through with the help of friends or a guide. Maybe some enjoy games that punish you, but it won't be enjoyable if you don't know Japanese. For example: If you talk to the wrong person, or talk to him too many times, you will either die or make the game unwinnable.

It's the quintessential 80s "obscure for the sake of obscure" RPG, and while trying to outwit it is somewhat amusing, it's also extremely difficult to actually enjoy. - hardcoregaming

I basically agree, except that I don't know why people use the word "extremely" so often.

But do give the amateur translation a try, because they removed some of the harder unwinnable tricks.

There is this FAQ for the amateur translation: http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/578491-romancia/faqs/52973. You can read stuff like:

From here on out, DON'T KILL ANYTHING! You've done good deeds,
which are represented by GOLD RINGS. If you kill an enemy, you'll lose a gold
ring. DON'T LOSE YOUR GOLD RINGS! If you do, you'll be sorry! Trust me, you
won't be able to finish the game, so don't do it!

Romancia is not a long game. Maybe that's why they made it so hard. They figured they would save space (and chips, making it cheaper) by making a shorter game and so they had to make it super difficult. The game is so hard and you have no continues, I think hardly anyone would beat it without save states on an emulator with a walkthrough.

Also see: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Romancia

After playing games like these, I sometimes consider buying a smartphone to play apps on instead, I think many games are actually better these days. But there are so many of them. With the old games I know that I will have played them all some day.