I've become a giant Cleopatra Fortune fan

Personasama

Here’s a fan figure of Patrako based on her Plus version produced by CHEMICAL REACTION. Includes a cast off bottom so you can see her striped panties (non canon but this design was the apex of moe tropes, so why not):

Personasama

exodus to answer your thoughts on whether there’s renewed interest on Cleopatra Fortune or not: no way, this game is suuuuuuuuper dead. All the stuff I’m finding is 5-10 years old, with the Japanese stuff being 14 years now 😢

Looking at it from the Japanese fan community, it was only ever popular because fans thought Patrako was super moe and that’s why it degenerated into the Plus huee desuu monster. But because it was at least popular in that regard, I can find material about it! On the other hand, who’s out there stanning Flipull in the year 2020???

In my case, it was the Zuntata music that drew me in (I’ve been looping Shinin’ Queen all week aww yeahhhh), then the tight gameplay locked me in, and now I’m spending hours searching for screenshots of Patrako from a beyond dead mobile phone Java port. It’s the best!!!

Personasama

omg the official Space Invaders vs Arkanoid gave me the important Cleopatra Fortune Lore I never knew:

Patrako
Appearance: Cleopatra Fortune
Released in 1996. A fallen puzzle game where Miko Patrako asks the player to protect God from the Sphinx. Skill: Mysterious! The mysterious power increases the number of balls to four.

Also a full body shot of the art:

One minoooooooooor thing that bugs me is that in this art, Patrako is missing gauntlets but she has them in her other art:

Personasama

@gsk found me some screenshots of Patrako from Kirameki Star Road!

Looks like they reuse the Puchi Carat character sprites but then have new illustrations! Oh god, the swimsuit cat girl one is so Digicharat/early 00s moe 😢

Personasama

Gasp! Here’s a photo from the クレオパトラフォーチュンプラス設定資料集 Cleopatra Fortune Plus Setting Material Collection:

ORIGINAL SKETCHES!! Incredible; I need it.

Also Patrako in the Puchi Carat lineup:

Mannnnn, if you told me a decade ago that I’d be getting super into a Taito puzzle game from 1996 in the year 2020 then… I would probably believe it. I have a harder time believing I got so super into Columns last year when I spent my entire life previously thinking Columns was super lame. WHAT A MISTAKE, WHAT A REGRET, COLUMNS IS THE BEST 🥰

◉◉maru

Personasama Besides that, their Taito Game Expo portal site has games for BREW, which was apparently a more advanced Qualcomm OS or something?

Back in 2005 when I was designing games for feature phones, Java, BREW and iMode were the three big mobile environments and had clear geographical bent (iMode led in Japan, BREW was mainly in the US and JavaME anywhere elese). BREW was also heavily supported in Japan by the main competitor to Docomo, KDDI. So I assume these Taito games were made to support KDDI’s EzAppli software catalogue.

Personasama

◉◉maru Thanks for the context! This makes me think that maaaaaaybe there were multiple versions of phone Cleopatra Fortune: a Java version that used assets mostly downres-ed from the original game, and a BREW version that had new art. Mainly basing this hypothesis on screenshots and how they packaged the game on both a Java app service and a BREW app service.

Really wish there was video of the game!!!!!!!! 😢

exodus

it really sucks that most of these japanese phone games are lost to time. I actually tried to get the valis game when I went to Japan in 2004 or 5, but it turns out in addition to needing a japanese phone, you needed to have a japanese credit card, and a full plan not a prepaid plan, which foreigners couldn’t get because you needed a japanese ID or at least a permanent residence card.

So… it would’ve been real tough to grab them at the time even if we wanted to.

Neko

exodus I have the demo on an old FOMA if you want to play it sometime.

ohfivepro

What a great thread. I’ve been playing a bunch of Cleopatra Fortune recently as not only is it a fantastic game but it also turned up in the MAME Chronicles event as one of the ‘medium’ challenges (start on expert lvl 40 then reach lvl 70) and it was also in the back of my mind to suggest it for an arcade based event I might be picking some games for.

I’ve still never played CF Plus so I really need to look into how to emulate that as it also looks great

Personasama

ohfivepro CF Plus is really tough to run!! In my experience, you need both the .zip in a mame rom folder, then an additional “cleoftp” folder with a .chd file + cue + sfx + md5 + sha1 in there for it to run!

PM me if you need help!

Neko

UHHH FINALLY???

I’ve tried to sell this game in 2 successive Retro-Ko drops with no takers! So happy to see someone loves this game!

exodus

Sell it to @Personasama!!
You mean the saturn version, right?? If it’s the dreamcast version, sell it to me instead!

Oh also yes I want to play the cleopatra fortune demo!!!!!!!!!!!!

ohfivepro

Personasama Thanks - sounds complicated. I thought it might be ‘get demul + rom then double click to play’
I’ll look into it though to see what’s what

exodus

We don’t have a PM function on here!! oops

I think we’ll get one going soon though.

Personasama

Personasama Looking at the source art even more, I realize I’m a bigger fool: this design of Patrako originates from the Saturn cover art!!!

Also I just realized Patrako isn’t a separate character from Cleopatra but literally intended to be Cleo-patra-ko. Ghfdahfopadsjfasf I thought the Space Invaders x Arkanoid was just including the big realistic Cleopatra image to show the most iconic image from the game, not to suggest that they were one in the same character!! I’m the biggest fool!!

exodus

In these situations I often think of the anime Beck aka Mongolian Chop Squad, in which they sing with such passion:
“I was hool!”
(they mean fool but they full on pronounce the ふ as “hu”)

you were hool

Personasama

In tonight’s deep dive of Cleopatra Fortune: how does Patrako’s dress work? Is it a dress with a giant opening on the left? The right? Or is it a front flap with a back piece?

The answer: Yes.

The original arcade’s Cleopatra Fortune (1996) Patrako has an opening on the left (her right):

Meanwhile, the Saturn cover art (1997) and her appearance in Puchi Carat (1997) has it on the right (her left):

Then for the PS1 (2001) & Dreamcast (2001) version, it’s back to being on the left (her right):

But in the Naomi arcade version Cleopatra Fortune Plus (2002), Patrako’s dress has been split and she has a front flap and back part now!!

The mobile version (2004) uses the original arcade’s design, so Patrako’s dress is back to being a single dress with an opening on the left (her right):

In the Nintendo DS port of the 1997 arcade quiz game, Quiz Kirameki Star Road (2006), Patrako cameos! But she’s wearing the single dress with an opening on the right (her left!!)!! (Because she’s using her Saturn/Puchi Carat design)

Then in the far, far future of 2017, the smartphone game Arkanoid vs Space Invaders (2017) has Patrako with a split dress again!!

BUT it also uses SD art where she’s wearing a left opening single dress again SO I don’t know what’s up:

WHAT IS THE TRUTH?? WHAT IS FICTION?? IS THIS THE NEW SCHRODINGER’S CAT: PATRAKO’S DRESS???? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!!

BONUS INFO, thanks to the Kirameki Quiz fansite, I now know various Patrako’s information:
きらめきスターロードパトラ子

VA: Yoko Asada 浅田葉子
Height: 155 cm (5.08 feet)
Weight: 43 kg (94.7 lbs)
Three sizes: 72/58/76
Likes: Mummy plushies

In comparison, here’s her stats from the 2002 Cleopatra Fortune Plus, from the Arcadia April 2002 issue:

Height: 159 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Three Sizes: 74/58/77

Cleopatra Fortune Plus is clearly a sequel!! She grew four whole centimeters!!

Blrb

Maybe she owns more than one dress.

exodus

oh dang, got you there @Personasama

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