Phantasy Star（ファンタシースター）

So I got a comment (holy smokes, what are those??)  about Phantasy Star that prompted me to pick this game up again. This just goes to show that yes, comments matter here and goddamn I love them little jolts of serotonin. Alistel (thanks for the comments!) prompted me to finally finish the game and I have to say, I had fun with it on the Switch with automap and "Ages Mode" baby difficulty edition.

I played with the scanlines and mapless for all of like 5 minutes

Sure, you could play it without the map OG style but c'mon, the temptation is too hard to resist. If I was in the mood to draw maps, I have a pile of Sekaiju no Meikyuu games somewhere in my hoarder pile (oh god, the never ending backlog...)

For a game that came out in 1987, it looks really, really good. If the Mark III was this capable, it makes you wonder why there weren't more good games on the system (poor Sega). With all the weak arcade ports, and the small library, it's fair to say that this is the best game for the console. 

Granted, I was playing with additional helpful features on the Switch, I still got a good fill of that old-school Japanese RPG fun. Like many early RPGs, you start out really, really weak and need to cautiously save, heal, and slowly bring your level up. Once you get over the initial hurdle, you're off doing the usual exploring, dungeon crawling, and recruiting party members. It's all good, filling that weird need I have once in a while for a repetitively simple and somewhat therapeutic RPG.

Aww, so cute. Ok, time to get to work. KILL BOY KILL!

In addition to the automap, the pause menu has a handy explanation of all the equipment, items, and magic that you would have had to look up back in the day. What? Did you expect an explanation of what shit is IN the game? What next? Maybe you should watch some Youtuber play the game for you? Jesus, kids these days!

Do-heal. LOL, hope the person that came up with that got a nice bonus for creativity (not)

The manual even tells you the various spots where you could get permanently stuck. Ouch, that would suck if you saved and had to start over! As these things often go, I eventually put the game down when I got stuck looking for some shit in a pile of garbage. And of course, how could you not have an early RPG without the section where you have to wade through shit that hurts you on every step. Yes, I will admit I eventually resorted to looking up some help from a handy guide.

I guess it's better than the usual lava which in real life would kill you instantly

In particular, finding the Flow Mover is kind of a dick move requiring you to talk to a random NPC twice, replying both yes and no. Speaking of Flow Mover, the naming in this game is so unoriginal (eg light saber), it's actually kind of funny. Flow Mover - 24 hour dry protection for the active woman. 😂

I can't expect too much from a console RPG in the late 80s but the story was pretty much finding your party members and then just fetch quests. It's too bad because the opening intro was great. The last boss especially seems to come out of nowhere without any explanation and was kinda anti-climatic. Fortunately, I was barely able to win on my first try with all the best equipment. Tyron had 1 HP left and the cat... well, sorry but poor Snuggles didn't make it.

See what happens when you hire APRIL FOOL to write the story? Geesh!

Score: 3 WHY IS MY CHARACTER MOVING BY ITSELF? THIS GAME FUCKING SUCKS!!! out of 5 (Over 10 hours to beat, fuck Switch's ambiguous time tracking)

I had an average amount of fun with this one. It was pretty easy to play with the various quality of life improvements. I can only imagine how awesome it would have seemed back in 1987 but also probably way more frustrating.

Oh, a real gamer girl? Are you selling your dirty bath water, perchance?

I have no major complaints except of course for the fact that MY FUCKING JOYCON DRIFTS!!! You know, this is where I would go on my usual rant about how Nintendo sucks except now Sony decided to become a Twinkie. If you haven't heard the term before, it means they're fucking white on the inside man! They even have a Karen (Catherine but close enough) to explain why they need to spy on you to protect all the millennial snowflakes. If you really believe they won't store your recording past the last 5 minutes, well, ask Alexa to Google that shit for you.

As much as I would've loved a Vita 2 and the old Sony Japan, looks like I'm going to have to abandon Soyney California and settle for Nintendo, the last Japanese console maker.

I made the switch to PS1 for FF7 and it was a good run before things started going downhill with the PS4. Parasite Eve, Metal Gear, Xenogears, the list of fun goes on and on. Let's pour one out for Playstation Japan. Sigh, why does everything suck now? #2020

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely

Hoshi wo Sagashite...（星をさがして･･･）

Hoshi wo Sagashite... is one of the few ADV games on the Sega Mark III and of course since I wasn't born a Japanese kid with money (curse you, non-Japanese parents!), I had no idea about this game growing up. Hopefully, none of you took my weeb joke seriously because knowing what it's like to live as a Japanese salaryman, let me just say being Japanese isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Sure, you're having fun now, but wait till you're working 8-9 (no, not 1 hour)

This is one of the few early ADV games that I think is totally beatable without a guide. In fact, I finished it in a few hours with virtually no cheating. I only looked up the minor ending differences. Sure, I putzed around a bit trying to figure out how to order a drink at the bar but mostly if you go around talking to people and banging on stuff, you'll get through it. The menu items are a bit weird such as the option to "eat" even though you don't eat a single thing the entire game. You do have to drink in one part but I guess it would be too obvious if the menu was just "drink".

Yum, fresh meat!

So my screenshots are a little weirdly proportioned because I don't know why I didn't think of this before but the phone is like the perfect platform to knock out these early console ADV games. The shitty touch controls aren't an issue for navigating a menu and it's so handy to just try random shit when you're out doing random shit in real life. Nothing like trying to eat a cat creature with wings that can talk while you're in the checkout line at the grocery store!

Shopping for your GF while shopping for your pretend GF IRL #Gamers

So yeah, this is a pretty cute and simple story about buying an egg for your girlfriend Laila that hatches into the creature you see in the cover. There's really not much to say about the story except I guess maybe environmentalists will get a kick out of it. Mio, the species of that little creature is I guess kinda cute? But let's face it, it's not going to be a grumpy cat or baby Yoda on the social medias any time soon.

Did not sell merchandise or generate even one meme - 0 out of 5 review

Score: 2.5 Yes! This game is not fucking impossible! out of 5

Overall, definitely a neat little title that is probably the best looking ADV game on the system. You'll know what I mean if you look at that Sherlock Holmes game. (My eyes!) Best of all, I loved that it's actually beatable without having to similarly beat your head on a hard surface. Definitely not a bad one to check out on your phone while you're out, presumably doing important stuff in real life (ya right).

And unlike in real bars, she'll actually talk to you!

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely

In search of GOTY for 1987

The Family Disk System had a amazing lineup in its first year but perhaps it was a fire that burned too brightly, too soon. I don't know if it's because they figured out some new cart technology or what but 1987 is the year that FDS peaked before beginning its quick descent into irrelevance. Besides Zelda 2, Doki Doki Panic (aka Mario 2, thanks marketing!), and a handful of other titles, it's clear that the FDS add-on was losing steam and the base Famicon unit was the way to go for mainstream gaming. Unless of course, you were rich and part of the PC 88/98 fap machine master race but more on that later.

Enix

Right out the gate, Enix released Dragon Quest II for the FC in January and while I thought it was a big pile of dookie, the Japanese kids loved the crap out of it (pun intended). Personally, I attribute that to an extremely foggy pair of nostalgia glasses; maybe some of you will disagree. When it comes to Enix, I was far more interested in JESUS, and while that unfortunately turned out to be just so-so, at least I got to fap enjoy some of the nice PC88 master race graphics.

Hell yeah, PC (88) MASTER race!!

The other game I definitely do intend to check out from Enix is Wingman Special. Besides a couple action games that I tend to avoid on PC88 such as Dragon Buster and ガンダーラ -仏陀の聖戦-, that pretty much wraps it up for Enix (also World Golf 2 which, who the fuck cares).

Square

Fake news

Of course, since I'm talking about Enix, you're probably wondering, what about Square? Well it turns out, unlike Enix, Square had essentially given up on the PC and besides one FC port and Genesis, became a Nintendo exclusive 3rd party slave dev.

Besides a bunch of FC and FDS titles I totally don't care about, I do intend to check out Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School though the primitive FC graphics is gonna make it tough. I did try Cleopatra no Mahō a bit and the difficulty was brutal so I'll need to reserve some grit for that.

Yeah, yeah, I didn't forget about Final Fantasy, releasing at the end of 1987 in December. Now, I only played the PSP remake but I think it's just too little, too late to be a GOTY contender. I enjoyed DQ more and even though I hated DQ2, I don't feel FF1 is innovative enough to be GOTY. Yes, the ending was original and mildy interesting but the rest of the game was nothing we hadn't seen before.

Phantasy Star

I loved the Master System as a kid growing up because well... it was all I had. As I mentioned, the hardware was solid without all that crazy blowing and pressing reset my friends were doing at the time. Even though the number of games released was quickly dwarfed by the far more popular FC, you at least got Phantasy Star this year. Of course, I was ignorant and poor and never did get to play or own it as a kid.

Finally, 3 decades later, I played the Switch version and it was good. Probably one of the best games for this year. I was tempted to make it GOTY but the ending just didn't do it for me. For now, I'm going to say it's a close 2nd.

Super Wonder Boy

Speaking of the Master System, Wonder Boy is the first game I remember beating as a kid. I don't know all the version differences and have no idea why they put Takahashi Meijin in the other port but this game was a BITCH to beat without a cheat code (which I didn't have cause no internet). I certainly wouldn't be able to do it today. The game is meh but got dayum, I will never, EVER forget this fucking song.

NOOOOOOO!! MAKE IT STOOOOP!!!

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei

I did a full write up of the first Megami Tensei game and I thought it was a bit simple but still fun times for an early DRPG. I liked the overall setting and so far have not seen any previous game that so blatantly doesn't give a shit about using religion as source material. I have not played the original FC version but based on my time with the SFC remake, this is my GOTY so far for the unique setting and demon fusion.

It's too bad the PC Telenet version was an overhead action (flicker hell) game cause seriously it looks and sounds SO much better than the kiddie FC graphics and music. Maybe I'll try it one day... maybe.

I COULD have used the naked girl pic but I'm not a click baiter... also I already got flagged by Adsense.

Sierra On-Line

Sierra nerds will recognize the reference to the cover art for Softporn Adventure

Sierra in those days was still undeniably a pioneer in interactive ADV games that doesn't involve endless menu selections. Sure, Enix tried to have a very, very basic walking simulator in JESUS, but it was nothing like King's Quest. Sierra is still a powerhouse in 1987, releasing Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Space Quest II. That's quite a fucking lineup.

Police Quest is undoubtedly one of my favorite series giving you the illusion of being a REAL policeman even though it's totally fake. I even enjoyed that god awful game SWAT cause how else is a kid going to learn about cold barrel shots without, you know, living in the south? #NRA #ColdDeadHands #CantFixStupid #MAGA

A quick aside but can you imagine if you involved company employees for a hot tub cover art today? Boy, I didn't know 1981 was so cool. why didn't they tell me? C'mon, let the baby know what's up!

My pick is Roberta William, hawt and made King's Quest

Still, while these games are laced with nostalgia crack for me, I don't think they stand the test of time for GOTY. All great games for their time but I probably won't recommend for the "30 FPS gives me headache" kids.

Other games I tried

Ancient Ys Vanished 

I guess I should mention that the first Ys game was released this year as well. I like Ys, especially the remake on the PSP. But once again, the choppy nature of action games on the PC88 doesn't make this first version exactly what I would call GOTY.

I dig the intro screen ofc, very classy


Tantei Jinguji Saburo Shinjuku Chuo Koen Satsujin Jiken

Another game I also played and for some crazy reason actually finished was the first Tantei Jinguji game on the FDS. It was pretty bad in every department but since it's one of the longest surviving game franchises besides Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, I thought it at least bears mentioning.

Kyoto Ryuu no Tera Satsujin Jiken

Definitely a rough start for another murder mystery series. I would not recommend anybody waste their time on it. If there was a GOTY category for most contrived setting, this would be a winner. Hmm, maybe I should start a stinker of the year series...

Rockman

1987 seems like the year the FC finally exploded in mainstream popularity in terms of the sheer number of action and platform titles. They're not really my genre but sure, I enjoyed playing Contra as a kid at my friend's house (FC port was in 1988 but it was on arcades in '87).

I briefly tried the first Rockman via the handy collection on PS4 and while I can appreciate that pattern training can be fun for some, I'm not some sort of fucking Google AI neural network that gets my algorithmic rocks off by learning patterns via repetition. Just not my genre and if you have a problem with it, start your own goddamn blog or YT channel. Too bad there's no money in it no more. What we gonna do now without all that ad money? Play games for fun? Pfft, get the fuck outta here.


Zillion

Man, that background just looks lazy...

Based on an anime, the Japanese title is Akai Koudan Zillion. I played the English version when I was a kid way back in the day. It's kind of like Metroid but with terminals and 3 playable characters. I only beat this game once and I vaguely remember it being a real pain in the ass. I liked the game but far from being GOTY.


Kung Fu Kid

Another Sega Master System game I played as a kid called Makai Retsuden in Japan though of course I had no clue at the time. I really dug this game, and got good enough where I could beat it in an afternoon when I got bored. It was really fun to jump kick everywhere and throw your Ofuda paper thing. Pretty fun and simple game.

PC Engine

It's also worth noting that the PC Engine was launched on October 30 of this year with a paltry 2 games as launch titles and 3 more released in the subsequent 2 months. One of the launch titles: Shanghai is a simple matching game using Mahjong tiles. I played Shanghai on the Master System a shit ton as a kid because there was literally nothing else to play. It's nothing to write home about.

The other launch title Bikkuriman World is basically Wonder Boy: Monster Land but the characters changed up. It was a bit interesting to finally get to play the sequel to a game I played so much as a kid but the difficulty level is brutal and I'm too old for this shit now.

Thank goodness Hudson released The Kung Fu, probably the only good game out of bunch that isn't a port. It's a pretty fun action game but too simple to be GOTY. The character details are graphically impressive if all you know is the Famicom and you haven't been fapping to PC-88 porn. Too bad kids these days just comment "Hi Score Girl!" because it was briefly shown in the anime.

I watched the anime too, so what?

Games I plan to try later

Too many to list here, there's just so many potentially cool games on PC88, MSX, etc. for example Metal Gear.

ブレインズ 電子脳攻撃司令

エスパードリーム

メルヘンベール

聖剣サイコカリバー

ヘラクレスの栄光

クレオパトラの魔宝

未来神話ジャーバス