0:00:10.421,0:00:36.052
[ Techno music ]

0:00:42.359,0:00:44.964
Alright folks, it's Dr.Sparkle again

0:00:45.155,0:00:48.141
Geez, It seems like forever [br]since the last episode.

0:00:48.680,0:00:51.287
Well anyways, sorry it's so late [br]but here we are again.

0:00:51.904,0:00:54.524
The PC engine schedule [br]seems to get a bit more hectic

0:00:54.560,0:00:57.280
as we get closer to the [br]1989 holiday season.

0:00:58.000,0:01:01.602
Today, we're gonna finish up July and[br]blast through all of August and September.

0:01:02.191,0:01:04.669
We're gonna' see a number [br]of arcade ports today,

0:01:04.686,0:01:08.540
as well as some obscure [br](and rather shitty) original titles.

0:01:11.246,0:01:33.837
[ Techno music ]

0:01:34.447,0:01:38.247
We ended last episode with a [br]classic shooter, Blazing Lasers,

0:01:38.317,0:01:42.005
and we begin this episode with a [br]not-so-classic shooter, Side Arms

0:01:42.063,0:01:45.617
(or Side Arms: Hyper Dyne, [br]as it's officially called in Japan)

0:01:47.012,0:01:50.541
This is the second port of a Capcom [br]arcade game for the system

0:01:50.569,0:01:52.333
(the first being SunSun 2)

0:01:52.629,0:01:56.792
and, once again, this is published [br]by N.E.C., not Capcom themselves.

0:01:57.065,0:02:03.261
In the U.S., this was one of the very few [br]TurboGrafx games not published by N.E.C.

0:02:03.681,0:02:06.758
Rather, it was by a small company [br]called Radiance Software,

0:02:07.172,0:02:09.440
which seemed to have [br]very close ties to Capcom.

0:02:09.602,0:02:13.161
They were also well known for [br]their involvement in the canceled, ah,

0:02:13.161,0:02:15.511
Nintendo Entertainment System [br]California Raisins game.

0:02:15.876,0:02:18.161
The guy who ran Radiance, [br]Christopher Riggs,

0:02:18.194,0:02:22.515
actually lists himself as being a Product [br]Developer at Capcom in the early 1990s.

0:02:23.111,0:02:24.823
Prior to Radiance, he apparently [br]

0:02:24.823,0:02:28.294
co-founded a company called [br]Pacific DataWorks, with, uh, Troy Lyndon,

0:02:28.458,0:02:34.747
who was an interesting guy who much later [br]was behind the infamous Left Behind game.

0:02:35.198,0:02:39.693
Pacific DataWorks mostly did [br]DOS and Commodore 64 ports

0:02:39.693,0:02:41.341
for Capcom (including Side Arms!).

0:02:41.387,0:02:46.172
Riggs also had a company that [br]did computer ports for Capcom.

0:02:46.172,0:02:50.274
It's no surprise that the first Radiance [br]game is, of course, a Capcom port.

0:02:50.706,0:02:53.567
Anyhoo, [br]Earth got blown up or something, and

0:02:53.567,0:02:57.244
your little robot mecha dude is out there[br]to kill lots of aliens.

0:02:57.724,0:03:02.906
Mechanics are moreorless like similar [br]shooters of the era (such as Gradius).

0:03:03.015,0:03:06.135
Enemies drop power-ups, speed-ups, [br]and other types of, uh, special weapons.

0:03:06.591,0:03:10.578
Nothing too new or exciting, here, [br]but there are a couple interesting ideas.

0:03:10.961,0:03:13.995
The main one is: you can turn around [br]and fire in the opposite direction

0:03:14.005,0:03:15.330
by hitting the second button

0:03:15.335,0:03:18.874
(making Side Arms kind of a [br]predecessor to Forgotten Worlds).

0:03:19.567,0:03:22.996
Now, Side Arms was originally [br]an arcade game from 1986.

0:03:23.406,0:03:28.614
Aside from the ability to fire front and [br]back, a big feature of Side Arms was

0:03:28.614,0:03:31.784
that two players could occasionally[br]combine into a single more powerful form,

0:03:31.784,0:03:35.634
with one player controlling the mech and [br]the other controlling his weapons.

0:03:35.755,0:03:37.764
The home version dropped this 2-Player mode, [br]

0:03:37.764,0:03:40.823
(meaning that your combined form is [br]basically just a temporary upgrade).

0:03:41.211,0:03:42.712
It lasts until you get hit.

0:03:43.047,0:03:46.992
Another cool feature is that you choose [br]the weapon you wanna lose from the menu,

0:03:47.002,0:03:51.199
instead of losing your current one when you [br]pick up a new one, like in most shooters.

0:03:51.199,0:03:53.070
You can actually carry a whole [br]bunch of weapons at once.

0:03:53.415,0:03:58.276
Now, this is actually very helpful, since certain types of [br]weapons are more useful than others in some spots.

0:03:58.537,0:04:01.911
In fact, certain weapons are pretty much vital for some areas.

0:04:02.628,0:04:08.579
And this leads me to one issue that so many Shoot-em-Ups have. [br]If you die once, you are pretty much screwed.

0:04:09.486,0:04:12.552
Side Arms is even much worse than many other similar games.

0:04:12.552,0:04:15.429
When the action gets hectic [br]and you screw up and get killed,

0:04:15.429,0:04:18.809
you'll be brought back to life with, like, [br]a single random underpowered weapon,

0:04:18.950,0:04:21.685
generally with enemies, like, [br]closing in on you from all sides.

0:04:22.323,0:04:25.671
So, get killed and odds are good that you'll [br]get killed again within a second or two.

0:04:26.724,0:04:30.153
And there are so many damn enemies [br](like missiles, et cetera) that home in on you

0:04:30.306,0:04:32.345
and follow you around, as you try to avoid them.

0:04:32.775,0:04:38.015
And when you have, like, a very basic weapon that only shoots in one direction, it's pretty difficult to pick these guys off.

0:04:39.171,0:04:45.035
Also, like Gradius, picking up too many speed power-ups will make you move, uh, too fast and be hard to control precisely.

0:04:45.952,0:04:50.369
Overall, it's actually a pretty hard game [br](harder than Gradius or R-Type, in my opinion)

0:04:50.655,0:04:55.982
but it actually, uh, looks great and I liked it [br]better than the Genesis port of Forgotten Worlds.

0:05:00.952,0:05:11.820
[ Techno music ]

0:05:19.119,0:05:23.717
We exit July with a real stinker. [br]From AICOM, it' s Takeda Shingen.

0:05:24.200,0:05:27.435
"Aha!", you say, [br]"We've already seen this game on Chrontendo.

0:05:27.435,0:05:30.556
It was, like, a strategy game, [br]published by HOT-B."

0:05:31.242,0:05:36.627
Well, no. This is actually a completely [br]different and unrelated game called Takeda Shingen.

0:05:37.522,0:05:42.364
Now, Takeda Shingen (the real person) [br]was a 16th century warlord, known for

0:05:42.364,0:05:44.948
(among other things) [br]having a badass set of armor

0:05:45.398,0:05:48.713
(which is, uh, sort of [br]semi-accurately depicted here).

0:05:49.236,0:05:52.854
Rather than being a Strategy game, [br]this is a rather dull Beat-'em-Up

0:05:53.295,0:05:55.322
And it's a painfully slow affair.

0:05:56.462,0:05:58.750
You have exactly two moves [br](at least at first).

0:05:58.750,0:06:01.034
There's Attack with a sword slash [br]and Jump.

0:06:01.675,0:06:05.956
You'll be, uh, taking enemies head-on, [br]uh, just sort of hacking at them until they die.

0:06:06.494,0:06:09.353
They block a lot, so normally [br]you'll just, sort of, walk up to them

0:06:09.353,0:06:11.126
and start repeatedly slashing at them.

0:06:11.457,0:06:13.878
They'll block a few times and then you'll get a hit in.

0:06:14.232,0:06:18.940
This was a port of a Jaleco arcade game [br](which looks a lot nicer).

0:06:28.379,0:06:30.389
The game isn't exactly hot shit,

0:06:30.389,0:06:34.194
but your character moves much faster [br]and there's a bit of action.

0:06:34.194,0:06:39.664
This is hardly top tier stuff, as of 1988, [br]but it seems reasonably bearable.

0:06:39.797,0:06:43.157
There's even, like, bonus rounds [br]where you can get on a horse and do some target practice.

0:06:43.993,0:06:47.355
The horse stuff got completely stripped [br]out from the PC Engine version

0:06:47.376,0:06:50.297
and the result is just [br]so damn monotonous.

0:06:50.297,0:06:54.400
You know, I got a good way through this game [br]and there were a pretty limited number of enemy types.

0:06:54.965,0:06:58.052
There's basically dudes with swords [br](who are just like you), [br]

0:06:58.052,0:07:02.100
dudes with a long flail on a chain [br](and these guys are annoying),

0:07:02.102,0:07:04.037
and dudes with a long spear.

0:07:05.096,0:07:09.058
Boss battles are at the end of each level, [br]though each level looks about the same,

0:07:09.058,0:07:11.974
so there's really not much to [br]distinguish one level from the other.

0:07:12.445,0:07:16.687
Bosses are really nothing exciting. [br]This guy is just a big version of the swordsman.

0:07:21.736,0:07:24.901
Post-boss fight, you visit a shop [br]where you can refill your health

0:07:24.901,0:07:29.020
and buy some critical of...[br]offense and defenseive upgrades,

0:07:29.020,0:07:30.837
such as the war fan.

0:07:31.147,0:07:33.797
Now, in real life, uh, Takeda's [br]often depicted with his war fan.

0:07:33.797,0:07:37.590
There's a famous story about how he [br]deflected an enemy blade with his fan, once.

0:07:38.047,0:07:40.563
So this game, naturally, has him, [br]you know, carrying it around.

0:07:41.415,0:07:46.049
Takeda Shingen isn't really a fun game to play, [br]especially in comparison to contemporary

0:07:46.049,0:07:48.235
Beat-'em-Ups like Golden Axe or Final Fight.

0:07:48.654,0:07:52.518
Later, you get some better attacks, but the [br]lack of variety really kills any excitement.

0:07:53.071,0:07:56.257
It just feels like you're fighting the [br]same fight over and over and over again.

0:07:56.698,0:08:00.148
Your health bar is pretty long [br]and health refills are pretty frequent

0:08:00.148,0:08:03.871
so there's not much challenge at all [br]for the entire first half of the game

0:08:03.871,0:08:06.944
(until you get to this boss, who's, like, [br]ten times harder than the last one).

0:08:07.582,0:08:11.187
So, overall, Takeda Shingen [br]is a bummer of a game.

0:08:16.629,0:08:27.837
[ Techno music ]

0:08:37.480,0:08:42.482
So, we enter August with Maison Ikkoku [br]and a new publisher, Micro Cabin.

0:08:42.975,0:08:45.917
We've heard their name come up [br]a few times before in Chrontendo.

0:08:46.095,0:08:49.595
They were actually a pretty prominent [br]publisher of, uh, games for Japanese computers,

0:08:49.595,0:08:50.804
back in the '80s.

0:08:51.003,0:08:56.489
Like a lot of other sort of dodgy PC Engine games, [br]this one has some pretty decent music.

0:08:57.337,0:09:03.178
Right. So, Maison Ikkoku is one of these [br]inescapable menu-based adventure games.

0:09:03.178,0:09:08.370
Luckly, for us, we have an English translation [br]by Dave Shadoff and Matt LaFrance.

0:09:09.337,0:09:11.507
You play as one Yusaku Godai:

0:09:11.507,0:09:15.348
[br]a down on his luck student, living in [br]sort of a rundown boarding house.

0:09:15.610,0:09:18.960
The manager of the boarding house [br]turns out to be (of course)

0:09:18.960,0:09:22.524
a beautiful young woman who was [br]recently widowed, named Kuyoku.

0:09:23.094,0:09:26.920
This was based on a popular manga, by the [br]famous manga artist, Rumiko Takahashi,

0:09:26.920,0:09:32.464
who you might know from such comics as [br]Uruse Yatsure and Renma One Half.

0:09:32.766,0:09:40.703
It basically chronicles, uh, Godai's desire to express his love for Kuyoku, as well as the wacky residents of the boarding house.

0:09:41.046,0:09:44.774
Eventually, of course, at the end of the series, [br]the protagonists get married.

0:09:46.062,0:09:48.699
This first appeared on the M.S.X., [br]back in 1987.

0:09:49.055,0:09:51.675
It looks pretty similar to this port, actually!

0:09:52.401,0:09:54.977
It also wound up on the F.M. 7 and few other computers.

0:09:55.407,0:10:01.295
Now, the first console appearance of this game was on the Famicom, which we saw very briefly in Episode 33.

0:10:01.807,0:10:03.508
At the time, I'd pretty much said, [br]

0:10:03.508,0:10:07.987
"Well, we'll check this out in more detail [br]when we reach it in ChronTurbo."

0:10:07.987,0:10:10.407
and now, my dear friends, [br]that day has arrived.

0:10:10.407,0:10:14.407
It turns out to be a reasonably normal adventure game.

0:10:14.407,0:10:20.997
Uh, this character, here, is some kind of weird pervert dude who builds tunnels and peepholes in the walls between the rooms.

0:10:20.997,0:10:26.189
Uh... You find a porno mag, [br]which contains "pretty radical stuff".

0:10:26.189,0:10:30.473
Later, you can actually, uh, give it back to him... [br]sort of, uh, win his favor.

0:10:30.473,0:10:35.395
Much of the game takes place inside the titular Maison Ikkoku.

0:10:35.395,0:10:39.965
Uh... Maison is simply the French word for "house", [br]which (I think) is being used ironically

0:10:39.965,0:10:44.490
(in the sense that calling this place "Maison" you know, [br]sort of, tried to, like, give it a touch of class.

0:10:44.490,0:10:48.490
Um... Ikkoku, I believe, means [br]hotheaded or tempermental

0:10:48.490,0:10:52.490
(perhaps referring to the [br]various nutty residents here.

0:10:52.490,0:10:56.490
In this game, you actually save [br]by going to the bathroom.

0:10:56.490,0:11:00.490
There's naturally all sorts of goofy sexual [br]innuendo going on between the characters.

0:11:00.490,0:11:04.490
And this, so far, seems to be the first [br]PC Engine game that actually shows

0:11:04.490,0:11:08.490
nipples in one of its human characters [br]in an obviously sexualized way

0:11:08.490,0:11:12.490
(as opposed to nipples on a [br]statue or a monster or something).

0:11:12.490,0:11:15.370
Um... For the most part, you go around [br]talking to people, collecting items,

0:11:15.370,0:11:18.270
and using them in sort of unintuitive ways.

0:11:18.270,0:11:23.200
Here's your love interest, though you actually call [br]her by the rather formal name, um, Kanrinin-san,

0:11:23.200,0:11:25.295
rather than her real name.

0:11:25.295,0:11:29.715
You can't interact with her too much yet. [br]Um... You actually have to get on her good side first.

0:11:29.715,0:11:34.455
A lot of the game involves, uh, talking to people and [br]getting on their good side by giving them things.

0:11:39.495,0:11:44.635
Among the other things, uh, you find, uh, her bra is [br]up on the roof and you have a daydream about her,

0:11:44.635,0:11:48.635
um, once, uh, you found the ladder [br]that allows you to climb up on the roof.

0:11:49.866,0:11:53.866
Aside from the house, you can travel to a [br]couple locations nearby, such as this store.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The cashier is meant to look like Lum from Urusei Yatsura. [br]Ya' buy things here to bribe the residents with.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Um... A great deal of time is spent, you know, [br]sorta' dealing with these annoying housemates.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Just like in the comic, Godai tends to fantasize [br]about putting the mack on his landlord,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but he's too scared to do anything.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The main goal of the game revolves actually [br]around trying to look at that picture you see

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on the left hand side of the screen, [br]believe it or not.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And, you know, like a lot of these sorts [br]of things, your goal is kind of vague

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you make progress [br]in seemingly random ways

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but the art is good, the music is decent, [br]so it's still a lot better than some of the awful,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
uh, the other awful Adventure games we've seen.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[ Techno music ]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hudson was, of course, the [br]co-creator of the PC Engine

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they published all the console's [br]games in Japan for about the first year.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But by this point, they are outnumbered [br]by third party publishers (at least in Japan).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is the first of three Hudson-published [br]games today, Power League II

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a baseball game, of course, and the [br]sequel to the first Power League game,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which was released about [br]14 months before this one.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There are a plethora of modes here [br]- typical stuff:

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Single Game mode, a Penant Mode, All Star [br](nothing we haven't seen before).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, the first Power League game [br]got a U.S. release, under the name

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"World Class Baseball".

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Power League II was never [br]released outside of Japan, though.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In fact, there are six [br]Power League games on the PC Engine

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the first one was the only one [br]to get a non-Japanese release.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Naturally, this looks and feels a lot [br]like the first Power League game.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If we look at the two back to back, [br]we see the sprites have been changed a bit,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but both games look very similar [br](with one exception).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In the first game, after the batter got a hit, [br]it showed the outfield straight down,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with the uh, camera's line of sight [br]being perpendicular to the ground,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
much like the, uh, Sega Genesis', uh, [br]sports games, like Tommy Lasorda Baseball.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Power League II uses a much [br]more traditional 45 degree angle

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(looking sort of down and out over the field).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As always, playing against the CPU is tricky.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's certainly a way to strike [br]out the CPU, but I didn't find it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Generally the CPU would get a good powerful [br]hit against anything I would throw at it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When I was at the bat, I'd get lots of fly balls

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(and, uh, the computer would actually [br]catch these with absolute 100% accuracy)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as well as tons of foul balls

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(like, about 4 out of 5 hits would [br]be a foul ...or just really weak hits).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Of course you have to play these things for a [br]little while to sorta' get, you know, the feel to them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I didn't play it long enough to actually, [br]you know, get very good at this thing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, Power League II is [br](just like its predecessor)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a sharp-looking baseball game that [br]doesn't really stand out in any way,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
other than its, you know, [br]nice looking graphics. [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And we will get to see four more of [br]these during the life of the console.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[ Techno music ]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Our third PC Engine game, [br]from Naxat (a.k.a. Taxan)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who had previously released the, uh, [br]great pinball game, "Alien Crush"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as well as a golf game. [br]Now, we have a pool game from them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Break In, featuring [br]Simulation, Action, Technique

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Geez! is this an instructional sex game?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Simulation is sort of a tournament mode, [br]Action is just like one-off, uh, playing a game,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and Technique is like a [br]tutorial practice mode deal.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Break In is pretty generous with [br]the types of games you can play.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For example, you have, uh, Yotsudama [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(a four ball game that's played [br]on a table with no pockets

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and doesn't really resemble [br]normal pool that much)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and "Bowliards", which appears to be [br]a, uh, (actually is misspelled here)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is sort of a hybrid between [br]bowling and billiards.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hmm! Yes, I would like some nice shiny oranges and a glass of... orange soda? ...or maybe a big glass of [???]?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Man, we're gonna' get f---ed up [br]on that [???] there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Lots of options, here. [br]Choose singles versus doubles,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who is controlled by computer [br]and who is controlled by... "Man"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Sorry, ladies! This is a man's game.)[br]Pick a character,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(choose from either seven [br]men characters or "Woman")

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"Dragon"!? Come on! [br]This guy's hobby is golf?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm surprised it's not... [br]you know... Billiards.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Actually, I'm kidding. [br]There are seven female characters as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hmm! I like Emmy's dumb '80s fashion and, [br]uh, Sophia's, sort of, adorable geek chic

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but really, uh, Sigrid, the boozy [br]actress seems like the coolest to me.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So picking a card determines who breaks.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, when you actually get ready to [br]shoot a va... shoot the ball, here,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you have a great deal of control, much [br]like the typical golf games of this era.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You have this image ball concept [br]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(not something I've seen [br]in pool games prior to this)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
CPU players are generally [br]decent but not 100% perfect,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which is a nice switch from the [br]various baseball games we've seen.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Franky's pretty cool, but I [br]think that mustache is fake.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Like a lot of other PC Engine games, [br]Break In has some pretty chill music.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, this is the Technique part.[br](I'm trying to learn trick shots.)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Good luck.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We've only seen a few pool games [br]throughout the Chron series.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I still kinda like Compile's nutty "Lunar Pool" [br]game the best (which was on the N.E.S.)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but among sort of like regular serious pool [br]games, "Break In" is definitely one of the slickest.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[ Techno music ]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Whoa-hoa! Did I load up a Famicom [br]game by mistake? What is this?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well, it's yet another Capcom arcade port [br](and we're not really getting top tier Capcom

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
stuff here).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The MegaDrive gets "Ghouls and Ghosts" [br]and the PC Engine gets "F-1 Dream".

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's a bit of a story here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
F-1 Dream is one of those [br]career type racing games.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Alright, so let's fire up [br]some F-1 racing action.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Wait. What's going on, here? [br]These are not F-1 cars.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is apparently kind of a prologue [br]to the main F-1 racing game.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Your car is super lame [br](and I'm sure there's no way to win).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Anyway, the original F-1 Dream was a 1988 [br]arcade game, which used the likenesses of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
real Formula 1 drivers in the intro.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a pretty basic top-down racer.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I guess there was still, like, some sort of [br]demand for this kinda thing in the late '80s

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(I don't know why.)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
One funny touch was, if you smack into the [br]guardrails near spectators, they all go running

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
hysterically.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Right, so I'll fill you in on the basics of F-1 Dream.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is one of those racing games where [br]you collect money for racing and then

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
use it to buy upgrades for your car [br](which starts out super shitty).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
First, you actually need to [br]hire guys to work on your car.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Here, I'm, uh, hiring a tire guy [br]and an engine guy.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
After paying these dudes, I have enough [br]money left to put some better tires on

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
my car and then it's off to the F-1 race!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Well, this is technically the tr... time trial [br]but the actual race is up next.)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, you just sorta cruise around the track[br]and, uh, (in order to qualify for the race)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
however there's a couple things about this [br]type of game that drives me crazy

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(namely the controls).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I've seen this in other Japanese [br]top-down racing games on the Famicom

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but it drives me nuts here as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The controls are not from the perspective [br]of the driver, but from the viewpoint of the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
game's camera (meaning that if you're [br]pointed up and wanna turn right, you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
press Right on the directional pad - [br]which makes sense so far - but if

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you're facing down (towards the bottom [br]of the screen) and you wanna turn the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
vehicle right, you press Left, because the vehicle's [br]right is towards the left-hand side of the screen.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This tends to confuse me, since we usually [br]think of, you know, driving from the driver's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
point of view, especially when I'm heading [br]towards the bottom of the screen and drift

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
towards the side of the road, trying to correct [br]myself will usually result in me driving off the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
road, since it feels to me like [br]the controls are reversed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You start bringing in money pretty quickly [br](even for doing poorly) and you will slowly

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
be able to improve your vehicle.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Among other things, if the car gets damaged [br]too much, it'll explode in a rather cool fashion

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you'll get a Game Over.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Beyond that, there's really not [br]that much to say about F-1 Dream.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We've already seen a lot [br]of games like this already.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We saw a much more creative take on a [br]career racing game last time, with Namco's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Final Lap Twin.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Quite frankly, the most distinguishing thing [br]about F-1 Dream is just how appallingly

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
last-generation the graphics look.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[ Techno music ]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, after taking in that weird looking box cover, [br]you really should pause this and take a moment

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to read this batshit insane intro, here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's about, uh, finding mysterious fortunes [br]and "Busters" (uh, "the name..." for "...people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we call... fortune hunters".

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Their "historic journey" is to get "FISA" [br]("called legend by the people"). Hmm.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The "one person..." who [br]"...can make it real ...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has got to be billionet and radical, [br]physically and mentally"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and "Yes, you are the one!"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
One of the great things about doing a [br]series like this is you find shit that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
doesn't seem like it has any reason to [br]exist (for example, "Rock On").

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is the second game from publisher, [br]Big Club and developer Manjyudo.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They had released a game in June called [br]"Jinmu Denshō Yaksa" (covered in

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Chronturbo 4) which took a character [br]from a PC-88 game and stuffed him into

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a Space Harrier clone.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As far as I can tell, "Rock On" [br]is a completely original game.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a Shoot-'em-Up (and [br]not a great one at that).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In fact, uh, VG Den (a review site for the [br]PC Engine and Super Famicom games

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
calls it the worst [br]Shoot-'em-Up for the console.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't know if that's true, [br]but damn, it sure ain't good.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If nothing else, you get a lot of power-ups!

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, this looks pretty boring, huh?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well, I guess there's a couple [br]things we can say about this.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
First of all, the power-up [br]system is a little different.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You can carry three different special [br]weapons at once, though none of them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
display even the slightest [br]amount of creativity.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's the three way shot, the laser [br](you know, the one where you shoot

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
both directions vertically, one where you [br]shoot both directions horizontally).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Use the Start button to move between them [br]but there's no Pause feature in the game,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
meaning you have to switch weapons on the [br]fly (unlike in Side Arms) which is, you know, kind of a pain.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Rock On uses kind of like a cute pudgy design [br]style; your ship looks a little bit like Opa-Opa.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
One annoying factor here are these warps.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They actually send you back to the [br]beginning of a level if you... if you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
don't know what they are [br]and accidentally go into one.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't know much about the developer [br]Manjyodo, except they made a handful

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of PC Engine games and were mostly involved in importing/distributing arcade games.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As of 1998, their website was still up, [br]but all it had was listings of arcade

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
cabinets for sale, along with [br]commercial boats (like, big boats).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For example, they were selling [br]an 11 million cargo boat.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's really nothing interesting [br]or exciting or creative here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In fact, uh, this boss is ripped right [br]out R-Type. (the nerve!)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Instead of points, you get money, [br]though I never did see a shop or

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
anything to spend the money in.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I love the way the interface at the bottom [br]actually gets covered up by background objects.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I haven't seen this happen in other games [br]on the console, so I assume it's a problem

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with the game, itself, not the emulation.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So we're definitely scraping [br]the bottom of the barrel, here.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a real puzzler, this one is, and I still [br]have no idea why it's called, "Rock On".

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Oh, hey! One important thing [br]happened in August 1989.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The TurboGraphx 16 was released in [br]the United States (purportedly debuting

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on August 29th) though as was often the [br]case, it was apparently a limited launch

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(just in New York and California).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And, while Hudson was the most prolific [br]publisher for the system in Japan, almost

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
all the games, here in the U.S. were [br]released by NEC, themselves.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
With NEC's U.S. headquarters apparently [br]being the (I'm sure very lovely) town of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Woodale, Illinois.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The console itself was redesigned [br]quite a bit and turned out quite a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bit larger than the PC Engine.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Uh... It had a pretty decent selection [br]of launch titles, actually.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Aside from, of course, [br]"Keith Courage in Alpha Zones"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which was the pack-in game, [br]there was "R-Type", "Legendary Axe",

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
uh, "Alien Crush", and "Dungeon Explorer".

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
along with the ubiquitous golf and racing [br]games, "Power Golf" and "Victory Run"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Rounding it out was two Beat-'em-Ups, [br]"Vigilante" and "China Warrior"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(a.k.a. "The Kung Fu", which was the first [br]game released for the system in Japan.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, eight games, which was actually a pretty [br]hardy, uh, launch lineup, for back then.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Some sources say "Blazing Lasers" was a [br]launch title, but upon further inspection,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this appears to be false.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Here's an ad from GamePro in late 1989 [br](not as cool looking as the Genesis ads).

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The TurboBooster, by the way, was an [br]add-on that allowed for a composite video

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
output and stereo sound, instead [br]of the standard R.F. connection.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The TurboCD is featured in the ad, [br]even though that would actually

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not come out until later in 1990.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As you'll recall, the TurboGraphx came [br]out, um, in the U.S. about, uh, two

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
weeks after the Genesis, so this was [br]sort of like the first battle in the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
16-bit wars, with the still-somewhat [br]mysterious Super Famicom lurking

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
somewhere in the wings [br]in... in the... the future.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
E.G.M. did quite a bit of coverage on the [br]new PC Engine, along with lots of Sega

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
coverage as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Genesis was ten dollars [br]cheaper than the TurboGraphx

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(a hundred and ninety [br]instead of two hundred)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and, uh, both were noticeably cheaper than [br]either the N.E.S. or the Master System

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with inflation factored in.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
While Sega obviously overtook NEC eventually [br]in late 1989 the 16-bit playing field appeared

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be, uh, completely up for grabs.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[ Techno music ]