Also, I was researching earlier how difficult it would be to confirm and list up all the games released outside Japan. According to Akuji, only six games came out.
Organizer Tetris: as explained earlier, it is a different version from the Japanese Tetris. Organizer Box Jockey: based on the card’s design and button layout, I am very confident this is a straight port of Sokoban. Organizer Chess: this seems to be an exclusive game for the West. Organizer Golf: based on the card’s design and button layout, I think this is a port of Pro Golf. Organizer Hatris: I expect this is a straight port of the Japanese Hatris; it requires a 8000 series Wizard or above (the equivalent of the Hyper Denshi System Techō series). Backgammon for Electronic Organizer: this seems to be an exclusive game for the West; it requires a 8000 series Wizard or above (the equivalent of the Hyper Denshi System Techō series).
Not much else I could find on these games but it did lead me to learn a fun tangential anecdote for the few Seinfeld fans on these forums. The season 9 episodeThe Wizard, in which Jerry offers his father a $200 “Wizard” pocket organizer that his father only uses to calculate tips at the restaurant, is based on – and named after – the Sharp Wizard.
Based on the airing of the episode (February 1998), it could still have been an OZ-9000/IQ-9000, which was compatible with IC cards, but according to this specialist site, the device is an OZ-5500, which unfortunately was not compatible. No backgammon for Mr. Seinfeld.
Interesting^ tangential gizmo: Takara’s Kid’s Electronic norn – Electronic Fortune Teller (KE-01T), a pocket organizer for kids that also used the calendar and user’s contacts registry information to simulate fortune reading. (Photos not mine.)
It came bundled with physical tarot card set which would be used by the software inside the Norn. Other features were a biorhythm-based fortune telling app and a user compatibility check app (modern use of the term “app” is my editorial choice here, just to clarify).
This specific version from 1991 is branded with characters from the manga and TV show Shōnen Ashibe, featuring titular young protagonist Ashibe and his baby seal friend Goma-chan. The 1988 manga originally aimed at young adults but the IP gained tremendous popularity with kids when the anime series aired in 1991. I can’t find a trace of another version of the device using a different IP.
The device does not feature any port allowing to read IC cards, but it was actually manufactured by Sharp on behalf of Takara (as stated discretely on the back of the box) and, by the looks of it, the software inside is almost certainly adapted from various software formerly created for Denshi System Techō machines.
@◉◉maru Tangential information #2:here is a new thorough video showing a 1997 update of Bandai’s standalone LCD mahjong game series – probably their follow up to 1992’s The Mahjong IV – which reused the Mahjong Club branding invented for the Denshi System Techō game and was named the Mahjong Club PokeJong <Sorry, it seems embedding is disabled for the video.>
I played another big Denshi System Techō game this summer but I will need a bit more free time to write something about it.
In the mean time, I also recently got my hands on a Summer 1994 pamphlet from Hector mentioning pretty much all their video game releases (going back to Shōgun on the Famicom in 1988). There is a decent space dedicated to Ihatovo Monogatari, as well as all their IC cards releases for the Denshi System Techō on the same page!
Here is a closeup on the IC card section, with helpful release dates as well as the mysterious Solitaire which, as far as I know, was never documented online until now. It is a port of the Game Boy game released in 1992.
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, there is no Hanafuda game on the system. It would have been quite a challenge at this screen resolution, even for the 8 Mark cards.
I will try to add one review before the end of the year. Played a big title this summer but I forgot almost all about it at this point…
@“◉◉maru”#p145136 Since I don‘t think I’ve said it before, I just want to tell you this is my favorite thread on the forum, and every time you‘ve posted an update it’s been an absolute thrill. Excited to see what the big game was you played!
You’d be surprised how small Hanafuda cards can be rendered. In colour on GBC, NGPC, Pico-8 (this one drawn by me!).
And in black & white or shades of grey on: Classic Macintosh, PalmOS, and perhaps more directly relevant the Sharp PC-E500, and Sharp PC-G850 (shown below, plus there’s a web and app based emulator for the system).
Anyway, do we know anything about the Fortress or Puzznic versions? Are they also GB ports?
@“matt”#p145266 Oh sure, they managed to port Shanghai so anything is possible but, for the record, the original Denshi System Techō screen resolution (96×64 – let’s forget the true 96×32 which most game cards did not support) is way smaller than the Game Boy (160×144) or the NGPC (160×152) screens. So the game would most likely need to be a Hyper Denshi System Techō card compatible with 192×145 screens.
Thinking of Soreike Hanafuda Dōjō on the NGP, I also worry the lack of color and even GB-style grayscale must a huge pain in the ass to represent Hanafuda’s intricate art. That video you posted sure is impressive, though.
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I have Fortress, it’s actually one of the very first games I got on the machine (the photo in the OP is mine). I can’t really remember why I never came to it in this thread but I think the main reason was I am not that familiar with the original game in the first place and wanted to get more context first. I am also interested in the Victor connection in all this. It seems to be a rather unique port at first glance.
I do not own Puzznic unfortunately but I am pretty confident it will be very close to the GB version.
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@"saddleblasters"#p145147 Thanks! I hope you won’t be disappointed.
one for classic Macintosh
https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2021/10/31/hypercard-hanafuda
and one for a CASIO pocket computer
https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2023/08/25/casio-caleid-xm700-mobile-navigator-hardware/
(iirc this device has an IC type of slot, I need to check)
Great to hear Fortress looks interesting. I'm most familiar with the Apple II (original) and PC-88 (monochrome, quite high resolution) ports. But there isn't a GB port so it has to be custom in some way, the screenshot on the back of the Fortress box confirms that. Victor did the Japanese PC-88/98 ports, so I suspect the underlying code might be very similar here. IMHO the game is half way between Lights Out and Go.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g4X0uP6Zy8w
Finally, I found this page about IC compatible devices: https://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/wakiba/retro/658061.html
I bought a loose Tetris IC card, just for kicks. Will be some time before I can test all my devices. These are probably unsurprising results but I figured I'd post them anyway!
Sharp Zaurus PI-4000 (1994/5) - IC card fits but device doesn't recognise it or do anything when the card icon is pressed. [similar device](https://global.sharp/corporate/info/his/only_one/item/t31.html)
(Sorry, no time to write a bigger article yet, work has kept me pretty busy.)
A nice little video of a guy finding his old Zaurus MI-E1 and checking what games were on it. The video shows a pretty decent port of Pengo and a Hanafuda game ( @"matt"#p145090 !). The MI-E1 was introduced in November 2000 so this is already way past the lifetime of the SC Denshi System Techō card format (1987-1995), with that specific generation of color screen LCD Zaurus using both Compact Flash and even SD Card instead.
@“◉◉maru”#p150006 cool! I actually have an MI-E1 but need to buy a battery and charger for it. I believe it won't power on with only mains power it requires both a working battery and power.
This version of Hanafuda is already known and documented in my list. But great to see it running!
@chazumaru do you happen to have your PA-8500 to hand? It seems it could be the first device to feature emoji (it can display them, but not sure if they can be typed?) Could you confirm?
I mention it and link to this thread in my blog post about the forgotten history of emoji.
This changing of the emoji history timeline has been confirmed/announced by emojipedia, reported in the press in Japan, and partially acknowledged/rebuffed by the previous earliest discoverer.
edit:
I blogged about TETRIS on my PA-8500, with a video of gameplay.
I just got this for $2.49. I guess it’s an OZ-7600.
will this play SC denshi games despite being an American system? It’s got room for a card. (I thought the calculator thing was one but it’s just a dummy to fill space.) I’m very curious and need to get hold of some of these game cards now.
