I love the incredibly tilty angle. I almost find it disorienting, as though I‘m free floating and slowly spinning to the side, so I suppose it’s appropriate to the setting.
In all seriousness, I really do love the graphics and the setting. Now you've got me curious about the sequel.
Hey.
https://twitter.com/HBVideoGames/status/1255627952580067328
Who doesn‘t want to get tilted at such an angle? It’s why I keep returning to Tokio. Hell, I‘ve played it enough for the perspective to seem all-too-natural. Now, just wait ’till we get our hands on a ringworld city build! That'll be something.
In the meantime, I have some more Disc Station goodness, hot out the freeze.
https://twitter.com/DragEnRegalia/status/1255608516091535361
The Kerosuke games for Disc Station represent a brief time when you could find relatively similar Compile software on both MSX and PC-98, right as they were beginning to transition away from the ailing MSX platform. It's a bit somber for sure--hence the game introducing itself with Bach's Toccata--but our froggy friend and his enemies, especially that pesky Jaboon, couldn't care less.
Has anybody posted this video yet? Because if not, I'll let it explain itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFRf87SqWrw
Speaking of that great video and thumbnail, it inspired me to showcase Psycho World on MSX2 today.
https://twitter.com/DragEnRegalia/status/1257058418025811971
The game got some nice ports to Mark III/Master System and Game Gear, but it has the most content and polish on its original platform.
I should watch this MSX analysis video eventuall!
But Psychic World here is reminding me that I was trying to define the 'valis' genre, since there are so many games abstractly like it, but so few that follow everything in the series. Psychic World does a bunch of it! I've still never played the original valis on pc-88. I bet it's bad!
@Video_Game_King#1316 That video is amazing. I was completely sucked in, and now I really want to play around with some MSX emulation and try out some titles.
@PasokonDeacon#1320 That game looks like such a good time. I really like the vibrant color palette (and it seems like there's a lot of colors on screen at a time, which is always nice).
@exodus#1335 I am super curious what all would be the bullet points in a valis-like genre (I've really enjoyed the Valis games I have played). Got a list so far?
@exodus#1335 Valis on PC-88 is…okay. Others would call it bad, a few would really like it, and I‘m resolute in both loving and hating it. Above all, it’s Really Weird, doing things you'd expect from Euro action-platformers like Turrican years before that game and its kind. Valis became more polished and less experimental from game to game, so I can still appreciate the wild, unbridled excess and janky fun of the original (albeit most so on better-performing ports like the FM77AV version).
I suggest making a separate thread for discussing what makes a Valis-like a Valis-like. There's a lot to be discussed there, as fantasy girl action-platformers are an interesting stylistic shift from the norm.
This one took longer to record and edit down for my liking, but it‘s this week’s new Disc Station Digest:
https://twitter.com/DragEnRegalia/status/1258203726201880579
Compile hadn't made any top-down action/adventure game on PCs for a while, so El Dorado marked a return to this kind of design, later followed by their 2000 swan song Wander Wonder. It's a short and simple puzzle-centric story, but a very well-paced and setpiece-driven one.
Ah, I‘m into this! I actually kind of wonder why this one didn’t come to console. too many colors? too high res?
it's almost giving me a grandia vibe, even though the mechanics are clearly different.
El Dorado runs at 800x600 in 8-bit color, which would have been a bit different for consoles of the period but nothing a good port wouldn't have worked around. Granted, the costs of reworking art assets for said lower resolutions were likely too high for Compile to pursue the investment. I guarantee you that, had Compile published even a small curated compilation of Disc Station greats for a mid-1990s console, I would be nowhere near the first person in this sphere putting a spotlight on El Dorado.
yeah, definitely seems like something people would talk about next to landstalker or at least light crusader. A disc station compilation would be prettttttty cool I think
Well, if it’s a 1997 game, I am pretty sure Compile would have rather ported it to the Saturn or PlayStation instead? Maybe the effort to create console-suitable assets was not worth it? Really nice looking game, in any case.
oh, I missed the 1997 bit!! Yeah, that'd probably explain it.
Other than occasional Disc Station compilations on PC, plus re-releases of older titles in newer volumes, Compile largely kept the Disc Station software catalog tightly contained. The only real crossover between Disc Station and Compile console releases comes from Madou Monogatari/Puyo Puyo, as well as Nazo Puyo on Game Gear. Compile likely wanted to give Disc Station originals exclusive status and prominence that they wouldn‘t enjoy on console…not to mention, they’re lower budget games on the whole.
Anyway, speaking of low-budget games trying hard to punch way above their weight, why not listen to Telenet's Cyber City for a change?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHw8wYT5QEU
The game itself may be a half-baked, unfinished janky mess, but at least we got a cool soundtrack out of it.
>
@PasokonDeacon#1412 Compile likely wanted to give Disc Station originals exclusive status and prominence that they wouldn’t enjoy on console…
By the way, how was the magazine sold, in the first place? Could you buy it in specialized computer stores? Subscription only? Do we have any idea about the circulation? I have never really thought about the commercialization of Disc station until now.
@chazumaru#1414 Disc Station on MSX started and remained as a small subscription magazine, closer to zines but still too official and fully-featured to qualify there. You got an included set of floppies with the game/media data on it, plus many pages featuring content write-ups (especially for demos of games from other studios featured in the volume) and notes from Compile staff.
This was also the case for Disc Station 98, which had a higher price-tag (reflecting the pricier PC-98 market) but generally the same format and content spread. Later on, Compile shifted away from showcasing competitors' games and started debuting more fleshed out games of their own, exclusive to the series.
They put DS 98 on hold in 1992 and, almost a year later, started the Disc Station Vol. XX series, still on PC-98 but housed inside mooks instead. You still had subscriptions and fairly similar content, but Compile made Disc Station more of a premium product that you'd find in Japanese bookstores, not just game shops. This seems to have worked out quite well, bolstered by Compile's success with Madou Monogatari and especially Puyo Puyo bankrolling the expansion. It all went downhill once they over-expanded and mismanaged themselves into bankruptcy; I wonder if Disc Station was ever a loss leader or successful despite the company's downfall.
Thanks. I know there was also Compile Club… We complain about online subscription services but that was already quite an expansive hobby back then, at least if you were really into Compile.
It's a day late, but the next Pasokon Sunday is up, this time showcasing a rather peculiar puzzler:
https://twitter.com/DragEnRegalia/status/1259959863150612483
Chitty Chitty Train's one of the first PC-98 games I ever played, and a really easy one to play at that. Thing is, it's also really hard later on. There's quite a few track-switching train puzzlers that came out before and after this one, but it's still my favorite in terms of aesthetics and puzzle designs.
Shane fixed the weird issue with this thread btw!
This is a cute idea here, I wonder which the first of this type of game is - mini metro is a big one recently, but I know train puzzles have existed for a while.