First Look MSX #2

Dragon Slayer by Nihon Falcom (1984) - MSX

The other day I was nosing through some stuff online and encountered a pretty cool looking game called Legacy of the Wizard which I then decided I wanted to play. Naturally, it turned out to be part of a long-running series and, being me, I had to play (and hopefully review) the first entry, and indeed all other previous games in the series before I could play the one that caught my eye to begin with. That first entry, as it turned out, was an important game that I didn't know too much about - Dragon Slayer - which was, according to many, the first ever action RPG, and that means it directly influenced The Legend of Zelda among many others! It was originally developed by Nihon Falcom and released in 1984 for NEC's PC-88 before being ported to several other Japanese home micros, but due to the difficulty in emulating those well (in my experience), I've been looking into the game via its MSX version, and like many firsts, it's fascinating.

MSX Games #3

Knightmare (1986)
By: Konami Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: MSX First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Nothing

Not the most exciting title screen...

Back in the 80s which, as everyone knows, was the undisputed king of decades, there was a children's adventure game show here in the UK called Knightmare. Episodes featured a team of four youths, one of whom would don the vision-obscuring 'Helmet of Justice' and is then placed into a fantasy medieval environment while the other three attempted to guide him or her through obstacle and puzzle-filled dungeons. It was rather ahead of it time too, featuring some CGI and even some virtual reality bits and was pretty cool. More recently, word reached me of an MSX game called Knightmare too. What was a game based on a British adventure game show doing on a Japanese home micro? As it turned out, it wasn't. It appears to have nothing to do with it, in fact. Naturally, this both confused and intrigued me considerably so I immediately (i.e. a few years later) sought to find out what the devil it actually was.

MSX Round-Up #2

They might be better known for the likes of Aleste, Gunhed, and Puyo Puyo but, like everyone else, Compile had to start somewhere. In their earliest days they favoured the Japanese 8-bit micros, eventually settling on MSX as their 'main' machine, and even this far back their focus was apparently on shoot 'em ups. One of the first was Final Justice, also one of the first games by designer, Satoshi 'Pac' Fujishima, and it was the first part of what would eventually became his trilogy - all shooters, all vertical-scrollers (kind of), and all available only on the MSX. Were there already signs of Compile's greatness this far back? Let's see :)

Final Justice (1985)

Hailing the arrival of both Pac and Compile was this, a simple shooter which, while technically a vertical-scroller, looks and plays more like a gallery shooter. Your ship is at the bottom and is armed with a pea-shooter cannon, various enemies approach from the top. Your job is simply to shoot or avoid them long enough to reach the boss. Defeat it and move to the next stage, of which there are supposedly 99 in total. Lord knows who could clear them all without cheating though! You only get one life for starters, although you do get a shield that can take a few hits. The enemies are all pretty basic and each type moves in a different way - some swoop around, some head straight for you, some meander unpredictably, etc. There are also white blocks which can, if you're quick, bestow upon you a shield-refill, shot power-up, or speed-up. Even with these, though, Final Justice is an extremely simple blaster which, while quite addictive, is also very repetitive. It's definitely interesting enough for Compile fans to take a peek at (it even has their little jingle) but it most likely won't hold your attention for very long... 5/10

Random Game I've Never Heard Of #12

Skooter (1987)
By: Pieket Weeserik / Byte Busters Genre: Puzzle Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: MSX
Also Available For: Nothing

Since the MSX series wasn't very well known here in the UK, looking through its back catalogue now proves very interesting. Many well known game series' were born here but there were also some rather more obscure titles. Take Skooter, for example, which I'm pretty sure originates from Holland - a country where the MSX was popular. It's a single-screen puzzle game starring a highly appealing white robot of some sort, and his job is seemingly to collect all four items from each of the sixteen stages, or 'sheets', while avoiding the four brick-like robotic enemies that also inhabit them. They trundle around fairly slowly and predictably and they're more of an inconvenience really - the main challenge is usually getting to the items. The publisher actually describes it as a "game of jigsaw puzzle" (translated) and that's not very far at all from the truth.

MSX Games #1

Herzog (1988)
By: Techno Soft Genre: Strategy / Shooting Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: MSX
Also Available For: NEC PC-88, Sharp X-1

The superb MegaDrive is correctly remembered as one of the finest consoles ever and was graced by countless fantastic games. One of its more under-appreciated gems is Herzog Zwei, a real-time strategy game from Techno Soft (yes, they of Thunder Force fame) which is often cited as one of the very first such games ever. Something that is seemingly even less well-known than this slightly obscure game, however, is that it was a sequel to an even more obscure MSX release called... Herzog! For the linguists among you, the name is actually German for 'duke' (no, I've no idea why a Japanese game has a German name) which does little to explain the premise. Unsurprisingly, the backdrop is warfare, namely a conflict between the 'Mercies' (blue) and 'Ruth' (red), and the goal for both sides is to reach their opponent's base and destroy it.

First Look MSX #1

Valis: The Fantasm Solider by Telenet (1990) - MSX

Like most Western gamers, my first experience of the Valis series came courtesy of the various MegaDrive ports that appeared in the US but the series first appeared on the MSX, so it was here that I had intended to reacquaint myself with the series. After booting the game up on the mighty fine BlueMSX emulator to grab a shot of the title screen, however, I had a quick try of the game and was immediately so turned off by it that the review has lain dormant in my 'drafts' section for weeks ever since as I've been too scared to return to it! I finally summoned the courage to give it another try just this past weekend but alas, I still found it to be a thoroughly unpleasant experience. This is largely due to the repetitive, flickery graphics which somehow renders the infinite enemies intermittently invisible. The main character is animated unappealingly as well, and the awkward controls make the apparently never-ending first stage an absolute chore to play through, so I'm afraid I've had to relent and seek refuge in the MegaDrive version which will instead feature in the forthcoming review! Sorry but I did try!

RKS Score: 1/5

MSX Round-Up #1

As a gamer of an almost exclusively retro variety, it's strange to look back on a system that I know bugger all about like the MSX. I suppose it's quite arrogant to assume that something must've been a failure simply because I haven't heard much about it, so although it was just that in the US and European markets, it's surprising to discover not only how popular and influential it was in the Far East, but also how many top titles and franchises found their way onto it, and in some cases started life there as well. In this series of posts I'll be taking a look at random selections of them to discover just what I've been missing, and here is the first:

Time Pilot (1983)

I've actually played this one somewhen before but I can't remember on which system. VCS perhaps? I guess it didn't leave much of an impression on me in any case. It's a multi-directional shooter which places you in charge of a jet-fighter of some sort which is sent through five different time zones where you must destroy a set number of enemy craft, as well as rescue friendly pilots drifting through the danger-zone by parachute, before the boss ship arrives. Defeat this and travel to the next period. That's about it! Time Pilots is regarded as one of Konami's best early games, and some of these really simple shooters are very addictive and great fun, but this one just doesn't do it for me. The background doesn't change until the last stage so it gets very repetitive, both to look at and to play, and it's just strangely unsatisfying to play, for me at least. It must've been a very early MSX release but surely they could've expanded the concept a little? ... 5/10

Puzzle Games #10

Eggerland Mystery (1985)
By: HAL Laboratory Genre: Maze / Puzzle Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: MSX First Day Score: 865
Also Available For: Nothing

The MSX is a funny machine to me. From a personal point of view, it actually has a lot in common with the NES - both systems were very popular in Japan but neither was remotely successful here in the UK, for example. As a result, I knew little about either machine until more recent years since when I've made a conscious effort to rectify this oversight. Many splendid NES games have been played in pursuit of this and one series I've been enjoying is Adventures of Lolo but it seems that games starring the blue sphere did not originate there. So which system did he first waddle onto? That's right, it was the ever-mysterious MSX! As with other games in the series, it seems that Lolo's object of desire, the princess Lala, has been kidnapped and hidden in the evil enemy underground stronghold of Eggerland. So, for the first of what would turn out to be many times, Lolo must summon the wits and courage to solve the complex labyrinth and save his beloved!

Early Driving Games #4

Antarctic Adventure (1984)
By: Konami Genre: Racing Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: MSX First Day Score: 26,190
Also Available For: NES, Game Boy, ColecoVision
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Okay, so it's not really a 'driving' game but this amusing little title does feature racing through its entirety. As you've probably already determined, however, it is not vehicle-based racing. No, the action here instead sees a fleet-footed penguin called Penta trying, for some reason, to circumvent our most southerly of continents by racing from one research station to the next. Penta went on to great fame, especially in Japan where he became Konami's mascot, and his first game is an interesting one. There are ten stages to challenge him, with the stations representing the various nations that lay claim to the icy continent, but the way between them is increasingly fraught with danger. The Antarctic is hardly the safest place in the world to begin with but the paths down which Penta must travel are littered with holes in the ice.

Bomberman Series - Part 4

Bomberman Special (1986)
By: Hudson Soft  Genre: Maze  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: MSX  First Day Score: 000,000
Also Available For: Nothing

After the horror of my previous look at the Bomberman series (and a mentally-scarring first use of an MSX), I approached this next installment with great trepidation. Admittedly, the main reason for this is that it's once again hosted by the MSX. However, much to my relief it seems that Hudson have mercifully abandoned the brief foray the series took into the third dimension with this release. It was again exclusive to the multi-company micro but this game is much more akin to the first NES game of the series which was the first time many Westerners got a glimpse of the character we now know and love. Despite my reservations however, I couldn't help but be intrigued (and a little scared) by that 'Special' in the title.

Bomberman Series - Part 3

3-D Bomberman (1984)
By: Hudson Soft / Kawaguchi  Genre: Maze  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: MSX  First Day Score: 000,000 (seriously!)
Also Available For: Sharp X-1

It's been a while now since my last look at this great series but since returning to it I've discovered, apparently in my eagerness to progress through the series, that I missed one out! Now that I've realised this, however, I wish this particular offering had remained obscured from my sight until the end of time. For better or worse though, it does exist, and as you may have guessed from the title, it tries to do something a little different. In more recent years there have been a few attempts to turn our hero's world into a three-dimensional one but I thought Bomberman 64, which itself got a rather lukewarm reception, was the first one. It now appears that this isn't the case, for as far back as 1984, and immediately after the original game's release, Hudson released 3-D Bomberman, and it was something of unbridled horror.