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Dragon Quest, or Dragon Warrior as it was known outside of Japan, is the first in a series of role playing games that really need no introduction. The game launched a legitimate phenomenon in Japan which continues on to this day. The game’s artwork being penned by Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama is the icing on the cake. But while this is all well and good, I recently realized that I have never actually played the very first instalment of the series. Partly due to not having a NES as a child (long live the Sega Master System). As I grew up and started getting my grubby hands on new systems, and even discovered the world of emulation, I still never got around to playing the game which started the Dragon Quest series.… Read the rest

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Fist of the North Star is a legendary manga series which ran for several years during the mid-80’s in Japan. Naturally it spawned an anime series, a (terrible) live action film and, of course, a string of tie-in video games. The Famicon version isn’t the very first video game incarnation of the series, but it is as good a place to start as any. For those who are not familiar with the original manga series, it revolves around Kenshiro, a wandering ass-kicker who wanders around a post-apocalyptic wasteland kicking the asses of all he feels deserve and ass kicking. His signature move is the ‘Holy Fist of the North Star’ which consists of Ken attacking his opponent with a flurry of well-placed blows to the abdomen which results in a delayed explosion of the body.… Read the rest

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Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu, or just ‘Jackie Chan’ as my Japanese version reads, is a side-scrolling platformer published by Hudson Soft in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it also made an appearance on the Turbo Graphix 16. It was developed by Now Production Co., a game development studio that started out in 1986 and, surprisingly, is still around. A little digging revealed that these were the same glorious bastards behind Adventure Island and Splatterhouse. They even worked on a couple of Sonic titles. It doesn’t seem like they are all that busy these days, but I’m impressed both by the company’s history and resilience.… Read the rest

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Holy shit, where do I start with this one. I found this cart while browsing around a local second hand shop. It was about 80 yen (still less than a dollar) so I thought “fuck it” and added it to the already sizable pile of carts that my wife would no doubt grill me over once I got home. Seriously, I’m a simple man, as long as I have my whiskey and my vidya games I’m happy. And being a Friday night with no work the next day, the door to an all night bender was wide open, but really, not even alcohol could help me enjoy this game.… Read the rest