Hi! |
A|A
(n n)
\_/
I'm here to announce that a new batch of music modules for
Yawara has been released (well, okay, there is a new batch
almost twice a week, but then, not everybody knows about it, I
suppose). There are about 60 modules available, by now, and
more to come:
La Abadia del Crimen
Akumajou Dracula (Vampire Killer)
Ale Hop!
Amaurote
Antartic Adventure
Army Moves
Astro Marine Corps
Athletic Land (Colecovision and MSX version)
Avenger
Back to The Future
Cabbage Patch Kids
Circus Charlie
Comando Tracer
Comic Bakery
Elite
Freddy Hardest
Ganbare Goemon - Karakuri Doutchyuu
Ghostbusters
Gojira Kun (Godzilla)
The Goonies
Gradius (Nemesis)
Halloween!
Hinotori Houoohen
Hundra
Hyper Olympics (1 and 2)
Hyper Rally
Hyper Sports (1, 2 and 3)
Jagur - Golden Triangle
Jet Bomber
King's Valley
Mad Mix
Magical Kid Wiz
Magical Tree
Majou Densetsu - Knightmare
Majou Densetsu II - The Maze of Galious (Knightmare II)
Majou Densetsu III - Shalom (Knightmare III)
Mask III - Venom Strikes Back
Mon Mon Monster (PSG/FM)
Mopiranger
Navy Moves
Phantis
Pippols
Q-Bert (Konami)
Rally-X
Road Fighter
Robocop
Silent Shadow
Sol Negro
Stardust
Survivor
Terramex
Thexder
Trail Blazer
Treasure of Usas
Twinbee
Warroid
Yie Ar Kung-Fu (I and II)
Yume Tairiku Adobentchya- (Penguin Adventure)
Zanac (first and second release)
If someone has missed it, here is the address to get it:
http://unicorndreams.home.ml.org
But that's not what motivated me to write this letter,
at first. Does anybody know a game named "Jet Set Willy"?
Fortunately, it's an annoying game. Why fortunately? Because
the dawn program sets, at start-up, both joystick control bits
(PSG R7) to 1 (output), and keeps them so, ALL THE TIME. I
wonder if the programmer that converted it to MSX had ever read
anything about it before. Well, anyway, if someone still plays
it, change the byte at position 7040H (F8H) to B8H. There may
be some already fixed versions around, I cannot believe I'm the
first one to notice this really grotesque bug. There are other
bugs in the game, but then, I don't think the game is worth
fixing.
"Jet Set Willy II" is also boring, but the opening music
is very good (and long, too, about 8 min of playback - someone
said me it was a classic music, "Moonlight" or something, but
I'm not sure, so I left the music name blank).
Talking about new and old games, I have to say it:
FF7 sucks. There is no other way to say it. I have the CD
with the musics of the game, so I didn't have to play it all
to listen to them... Forget it! Most like someone said, an
average movie (for the characters are "real time" with very
poor polygons) and terrible game. If the music was good, I
wouldn't dislike it so much, but only with half a dozen good
tracks, among 4 (FOUR!) almost full CDs, you start to wonder
that the only thing they do right is Chokobo music, and the
game is not worth it. "Final Fantasy V", from Super Famicom
(only released in Japanese, though I have seen a pirate English
version), is the best I have played. Strangely, the opening
theme was not included in "The Best of Final Fantasy 1987-1994"
(this CD has one of the best chorus songs I have ever listened
to, "Roaming Sheep", from FF3).
But then, let's go to the "final" considerations. The good
thing about FF5 is that you can change "job" at any time, which
gives the best playability of all multi-character CRPG I have
seen. And even so, MSX "SD Snatcher" has my vote as the best
CRGP I have played, for you can SEE the enemy, you don't STEP
randomly at a giant crystallis or ifrit (what is the chance of
a character "stepping over" something at least twice as large,
burning with sulfuric fire and sparking like a fire tracer?
I think you got it...) My vote for best character interaction
goes to "Shin Megami Tensei" (Real "Birth of the Goddess",
better known as "Shin - Digital Devil Story", Super Famicom
version). You can talk to enemies, bribe them and even convince
them to "upload" into your portable computer, so you can
"download" them to fight with you. And, of course, you can also
take them to a technomage, which can "blend" digital creatures
into a new one. Does MSX DDS do that?
And to testify that 3D will NOT rule the world, take
"Einhander" (it is pronounced [ain handa-] and means "one
handed", in Germany), also from Square. It is a shoot'em up, most like "Gradius", but
completely polygonal. Due to it's
nature, it can identify collisions far better and react
accordingly (attacking a shield will destroy the shield, not
the enemy it protects, for example). The musics are not as good
as Konami's, but some are really beautiful, and the story is
amazing. It uses some "camera adjusts" just enough for the
player to know that it is "real time rendering", not a stupid
MPEG movie, but the concept is completely 2D (you cannot dodge
a shot by swinging left-right, just up-down). "Einhander" is
for PlayStation, but I think it may be available for lesser
machines (of course I'm talking about pea-seas). The scenario
is filled with Deutche, the narration is in English and there
are legends in Japanese (wow!) "Einhander-mania" is taking
fire, for I was told there are other 2D polygonal shoot'em up
games around, not from Square (by the way, there are FF5 for
PlayStation - I never played so I cannot say if it is original
or translated to English).
... Cyberknight...
<Over>
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