Retro Gaming Australia

Cross another off the list of untranslated Famicom/NES games – the Tower of Druaga prologue Kai no Bouken has been translated into English.

Released four years after Tower of Druaga, but set beforehand, Kai no Bouken puts players in the role of Ki, a princess who is on a quest to take back the stolen Blue Crystal Rod from the demon Druaga. As you’d expect from a Druaga title, the game is ridiculously big with 100 levels of platforming action. It’s not particularly easy either, as Ki has no offensive attacks.

The translation project for this title stretches back to 2001, when the script was completed by Tomato, but abandoned by the group which started by the project. Another ROM hacker by the name of Zynk picked up the abandoned project in May 2013 and set about finishing it. In addition to an English translation, Zynk also released another patch which gives the game more detailed sprites.

You can get the patch here.

30 years ago today, two consoles were released in Japan; Sega’s SG-1000 and Nintendo’s Family Computer, or Famicom. Guess which one is getting the bulk of the attention?

If you answered Famicom, you are correct. Nintendo’s console took Japan by storm, and 3 years later revitalised a depressed console market in America as the Nintendo Entertainment System. The system would go on to bring us great games such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania and many more.

The impact of the SG-1000 should not be ignored, however. Sega’s first home console effort, while not the smashing success the Famicom was, did well enough to encourage the arcade giant to continue to pursue home console development. Without it, there would be no Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn or Dreamcast.

Happy birthday, you old consoles!

A scan from next week’s issue of Jump has confirmed the rumours that Final Fantasy III is (finally) seeing a PSP release.

Final Fantasy III was originally released on the Famicom in 1990, and saw its first release outside of Japan in the form of a 2006 Nintendo DS remake which also made it’s way onto iOS and Android devices many years later.

Unlike the Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II remakes which graced the PSP, the Final Fantasy III DS remake wasn’t a mere graphical update but a complete visual overhaul featuring redesigned 3D character models. The scans (provided below) indicate that Final Fantasy III for PSP is a port of this Nintendo DS remake, and will include content from the iOS version and the option of playing with the original Famicom soundtrack.

Final Fantasy III for PSP is set for release on September 20 in Japan, and will be available in both digital and physical forms.

Source: VG24/7

Akira is something of a tragedy when it comes to the video game treatment. Every single game based on the anime masterpiece has been utter shit.

Now you can experience the game that started the tradition of terrible Akira games – the Famicom version. Developed by Taito and released in 1988, around the time of the film, Akira for the Famicom is an adventure game, picking up just after the point at which Kaneda and his gang are captured.

It’s pretty bad – even the notoriously generous Famicom gave the game a pathetic 17/40.

Translation group DankTrans was behind this effort. The game ROM needs to be expanded for the patch to work (due to the English translation taking up a lot more space than the Japanese original), so applying the patch is not quite as easy as normal.

You can get the patch here.

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an icon of the 1980s. It’s the console which introduced video gaming to millions of people across the world. As we kids of the 1980s grow older, it’s our nostalgia for the NES and other consoles which drives us to begin collecting video games.

For those of you who are just starting out collecting games, or missed the NES the first time around, this feature will tell you everything you need to know about the NES. (continue reading...)