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A Game For Men

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Australia is famous for the ferocity of its fauna, and therefore it’s not at all surprising that yesterday I came upon this:

Yes my friends, this is Animal Kaiser Plus: The King of Animals. This is nothing less than an IC card game based around animals fighting to the death! I sat on the tiny and suspiciously close to the ground seats and could hardly throw my $2.80 in fast enough to give it a play.

An ‘IC card’ game refers to a game using physical cards that are read/scanned by the machine during play. These are very popular in Japan and this is my first time seeing one in English. If you don’t have a card to scan you are giving a default player character, which for me was Leo, The Lion Cub.

The ‘gameplay’ consists of pushing one button to get a random number (between 10 and 50) which – if higher than the opponent – leads to an attack. It’s so simple even a child – a toddler – could do it and it’s obviously no major challenge for a venerable gamer like myself.

So when my Leo, The Lion Cub was repeatedly beaten senseless by the ‘Teck’ attacks of an Asiatic Black Bear I suspected this ‘playing without a card’ business was a handicap.

Happily the game vends a card every game, and after humiliating ursine defeat I received my first card. I hurriedly fed in more credits and purchased two more cards: and thus my team was complete:

Philistines may say it was pure luck I happened to get exactly one animal, one ‘strong’ and one ‘miracle’ card in three rolls – thus providing one card for each team category – but those heathens don’t understand my level of gaming skill.

Those Philistines also wouldn’t begin to observe that this game is a simplified reskin of Japanese arcade classics such as Mushiking or the various Ultraman or Kamen Rider games I often play in Japan. I’m intrigued the system has ‘gone west’, albeit in a non-licensed form.

And so I unleashed my empowered Black Panther upon the animal kingdom, and his righteous fury made mince meat of a bear and a Goblin Shark before he was in turn blown back by the juggernaut of all beasts: an elephant.

It’s perhaps fitting the game then provided me a Goblin Shark of my very own – with evocative attacks including ‘Kande Burst’ and ‘Sledge Gauer’ – although my lethargy by now was absolute and I had to tear myself away from Animal Kaiser Plus: The King Of Beasts without seeing how the shark fared. What other fabulous cards were waiting inside?

Even if I never see this game again, I’ll remember it forever.

Posted in Cards, Games, Nature, Tech, Trip | No Comments »

The Men Who Turned Their Homes Into Arcades

Tuesday, May 13th, 2025

The title of this entry is taken from the above book, which I bought a few months ago. It’s a beautiful ‘mook’ (magazine book) showcasing home arcades built by dedicated Japanese enthusiasts. While it’s in Japanese, I was able to read it using a translator.

I’ve also become a fan of topic-specific Japanese books like this, and have already purchased (and read through) similar ones about the history of certain game genres. The writing and detail in those impressed me, so I had high hopes for this one as well.

I was not disappointed: this book is fantastic, and the mania of some of these collectors fills me with profound respect. Page after page of beautiful photography shows rooms – sometimes multiple – of Japanese homes where every square inch is now dedicated to reproducing a Game Center in their house. We’re not talking one or two machines, but ten or more, including massive things like fishing games or even hydraulic sit-down cabinets.

There’s loads of wonderful and awesome anecdotes, of which the following is just an example

One man modified his home to add a massive external door on the second level so large cabinets could be installed from outside using a crane.
One man – a massive fan of the train game series Densha de Go! – has an entire room dedicated to arcade cabs of the series and even twice rented a train line so he could play his arcade cabs on actual running trains.
There are several stories of people having ceilings/floors reinforced to handle the weight of games, or removing doors, closets or even walls to make extra game space.
One guy took years to ‘brainwash’ (his words) his wife into letting him get his first arcade cabinet. A few years later he had a room full.
One man installed public toilets in his house incorporating fixtures he obtained from a closed Sega arcade!
Another man obtained an electricians license so he could rewire his home rather than pay someone else to do it.
One guy built his Game Center into a closet so it didn’t eat up living space can be invisible to guests (or family) when the door is closed.
An accountant converted his business waiting room into an arcade!
Several of the home arcades include common 1980s-era arcade extras – such as drink machines or coin changers – but one guy took it further to only include Showa-era coins in his money changer. (This is like a retro USA arcade only using 1980s quarters for their machines.)

Most allow friends and local children to play the games, and many are members of enthusiast clubs. The latter is important since maintenance is often cited as a big issue and being in a club would make it easier to find someone with the skills required to keep 40+ year old tech working.

I’d love to be able to do this myself, but for many reasons that’s impossible so I enjoyed living vicariously through this wonderful book. It was successful enough for a second volume, which I also own, but I’ll probably leave reading that one for when I return:

Posted in Books, Games, Otaku | 1 Comment »

Ultraman Cards

Sunday, March 9th, 2025

I bought this in Japan:

It’s a box of the initial set of the new Ultraman card game! Even single packs of this was difficult to find in Tokyo, and I only saw boxes for sale in Nagoya. It wasn’t very expensive; about $30 for a sealed box of 20 packs.

At the time I hadn’t seen the English language cards for sale in the US, but in the last month or so packs of both the original set and the first expansion turned up at a local comic store. I bought every pack I saw, and opened them all.

The cards aren’t particularly attractive, and the first set in particular is heavy on images taken directly from the TV shows. It only features Ultras taken from the last couple of decades (no Showa era Ultras at all) which is ok, but I wish it was more art-based and less photographic.

The cards themselves are well manufactured, made of thick stock with a premium feel compared to other TCGs. The chase cards are beautiful, with the ones I pulled having metallic effects, rainbow foiling and embossing. But they’re spectacularly rare, and in about 40 packs (including all my Japanese ones) I only got one (of 40) ‘AP’ cards, and no SP, SSSP, UR or ExP cards!

I don’t know how to actually play the game, since I’ve failed to find any of the starter decks for sale here in the USA! Almost no retailers have them, and sellers online ask silly money. Hopefully I’ll get them one day and see if the game is fun 🙂

As I said this is a brand new TCG launched recently (with some fanfare) by Bandai. It’s a little surprising since Bandai have so many other TCGs on the market including Battle Spirits, which recently released these two Ultraman expansions:

There have been several Ultraman expansions for Battle Spirits over the years, with these two being the most recent, with the blue one in particular only being released last December. Kristin got me a box of each for my birthday.

The red expansion box came with a single card box topper promo pack (which I haven’t opened) and the set contains 69 cards in four levels of rarity. With 20 6-card packs, how much of the full set could I get?

I can’t play this game, and the cards are very wordy and entirely Japanese but they’re so pretty! This is the level of design the official Ultraman game needs in my opinion.

All the cards (even the commons) are embossed, foiled and plastic coated making them all feel like thin credit cards. And these packs are significantly less expensive that Magic packs, which asks the question why is the quality of Magic cards not at this level?

The blue expansion box included a box-topper and a promo for the new Ultraman TCG, which I found amusing. This set has 75 different cards once again in four levels of rarity.

The cards are the same high standard as the other set, and the rare cards just as spectacular:

I’ve only opened a few packs of each, and will probably finish opening the over the next few months. Even though I can’t play it, I like these cards much more than the official TCG, and I wish it were these ones that had been translated into English 🙂

Posted in Collecting, Games, Otaku, Trading Cards | Comments Closed

2024 In Games (Part 2)

Tuesday, December 10th, 2024

Once again I kept track of all the games I played this year, and here they all are. Virtually every one was on the Switch, and for those I played more than a single session, the duration played is listed after my comments.

Etrian Odyssey 1 (HD Remaster): I’ve beaten this game thrice before (on DS and 3DS) and had fun replaying this remake on easiest difficulty. Interesting to see how simple the systems were for this first game in an iconic series. (13 hours)

Star Ocean R: An immensely fun retro remake game with lovely graphics and a charming story, although it clearly rushes the ending. In typical Tri-Ace style, the postgame dungeon was great. (38)

Mon-Yu: Defeat Monsters And Gain Strong Weapons And Armor. You May Be Defeated, But Don’t Give Up. Become Stronger. I Believe There Will Be A Day When The Heroes Defeat The Devil King: A dungeon crawler in the Wizardry style with cute graphics and a lot of repeated assets. Initially seemed for a younger audience, but the brutal difficulty quickly changed my mind. A solid game, and fun while it lasted. (30)

Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Remaster): This was the first Final Fantasy game I ever played (over 30 years ago) and I’ve replayed it many times since. This version is wonderful, and another reason the pixel remasters are fantastic value. (16)

Dead Cells: Return To Castlevania: I ploughed through this DLC expansion and moved on since I’d played the hell out of the base game years ago. A top tier 2d action/platform roguelike. (8)

Undead Darlings: This visual novel / dungeon crawl hybrid had a decent story but the gameplay was slow and ponderous and it needed a few more design passes before release. I gave up after the second dungeon. (5)

Etrian Odyssey 2 (HD Remaster): A wonderful game with lots of depth, fun classes, expansive dungeons but a fiddly quest system. The remake graphics could have been prettier, but I enjoyed this wholeheartedly. (27)

SD Shin Kamen Rider Rumble: A roguelike beat-em-up with popcorn enemies and unsatisfying fights. Should have been much better. (3)

Knight Witch: Some excellent ideas in this Metroidvania bullet hell game, but it needed another playability pass before release, since missing basics like fast travel make parts of it tedious. Bosses are overturned as well. (28)

Final Fantasy V (Pixel Remaster): Another iconic game in the series, and one I have dim memories of since it was never originally released in the USA. I loved the job system and the challenging and varied boss fights. Absolute enjoyment from start to end. (30)

Diofield Chronicle: The production qualities are top-notch, but excessive length exposes weakness of a fundamentally simple gameplay loop. Worth a play if you like tactical RPGs with insane and unpredictable stories. (35)

Wheel Of Fortune: A solid version of the TV quiz show, and fun in multiplayer.

Jeopardy: Another good version of the TV show, albeit potentially unfun since there’s little penalty for buzzing in instantly. The questions may also be a little easy. Wheel Of Fortune is the better game.

Demon Gaze Extra: Fun dungeon crawler with a charming story and even though I beat it on Vita years back I had fun replaying it. Drags a bit a couple of dozen hours in and balancing issues on a few RNG bosses should have been fixed in this remake. (35)

Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night: A top-tier Metroidvania, which ran surprisingly well on the Switch (considering a choppy launch). This was my second time playing it through, although I didn’t go insane for 100% this time. (21)

No Man’s Sky: The third – and best – of my playthroughs. Once again I just explored the universe randomly until I maxed out my ship and gear and even after 70 hours felt like I’d only dipped my toe into an ocean of content. A fantastic game. (70)

Unicorn Overlord: A masterpiece of design in every area, with beautiful graphics and sound, wonderful and immersive tactical gameplay, and the sort of story and characters Vanillaware has rightfully become famous for. A contender for one of the best strategy RPGs of all time. (45)

Dredge: Fascinating fishing game with a compelling Lovecraftian story. Wonderful setting with moody and effective graphics. I had loads of fun exploring the world, and the game was exactly the right length. Highly recommended. (10)

Fate/Extella Link: A bland musou game with unappealing character designs and combat very much in the shadow of betters in the genre (like the Zelda or Fire Emblem games). One for fans I suppose. (5)

Legends of Amberland: Loving homage to old school Might & Magic games that hit more than it missed. A fun, cozy rpg that didn’t outstay its welcome. (13)

Starsand: Atrocius controls, execrable story and no fun in the gameplay make this weird survival game one for the trash. (1)

Puzzle Bobble Everybubble!: A new version of Puzzle Bobble with an emphasis on multiplayer. Tight controls and simplistic but satisfying gameplay, but look elsewhere if you’re after a good single player mode. (2)

Titan Quest: A competent but unremarkable Diablo clone. Movement is a bit floaty and character development and gear seem to favor the late game which made normal mode a bit boring. Nice graphics in the switch and got better as it continued. I enjoyed it enough to eye the DLC… (35)

The Legend of Steel Empire: I beat this remake of a 1990s shooter on one credit on normal mode on my first play, obtaining 90% of the achievements. (0.5)

Ninja Jajamaru: The Great Yokai Battle: A fun challenge based platform game, with a few other modes on the cart as extras. Took me half an afternoon to beat everything, but I had a lot of fun, (3)

Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros: I took this 3DS game with me when I traveled mid year and got hooked on it again. The systems are archaic compared to the phone version but it still has a lot of appeal! (10)

Legacy of Ys Books I & II: Another replay, this time on the DS. Ys is always a fun retro RPG, albeit a bit frustrating in certain areas. (5)

Ring Fit Adventure: I returned for some more time with this exercise game and gained about 50 more levels and have almost beat the second loop through and yet there’s still more than half the items still to be found?!? A great rpg! (+15)

Fire Shark (Toaplan Arcade Garage): A dated but fun shooter, here perfectly emulated on the Switch. I bought this for the bonus game – Wardner – which I fondly remembered from my youth. (4)

ZeroFire (Toaplan Arcade Garage): Both games in this package are very dated and the default difficulties are insane, but it was fun playing through each in easy mode. Demons World, the extra game, seems almost impossible! As with the previous game there’s an incredible amount of bonus versions and extra content included. (3)

Talisman: A too-slow version of the board game, made worse with choice due to packing in every expansion. The real version is more fun. (1)

Metroid Prime Remastered: Engrossing and labyrinthine with good boss fights and wonderful exploration. I remembered nothing from playing two decades ago and enjoyed it as if it were my first time. (12)

Tiger Heli (Toaplan Arcade Garage): The weaker of the three ‘Arcade Garage’ complications I bought, since neither game on the cart really holds up. That said the nostalgia level was high. (1)

Phantasy Star 4: I’d been wanting to replay this for years, and found it was more vanilla than remembered. Combat is a bit bland compared to FF games, but the music and cutscenes are great. The translation is very dated, but I still enjoyed it to the end. (20)

Risen: Janky Elder Scrolls wannabe hampered by poor controls, lousy graphics and terrible combat. The quest/world design is oppressive and I played this one for longer than I should have. (5)

The Dragoness: Command Of The Flame: A competent Heroes of Might & Magic clone. I liked the challenges on each map, but not the time limits. It plays well and balance is good but it weakens in the endgame and ends up outstaying its welcome. (30)

Sol Cresta: A very late sequel to retro shooters Moon/Terra Cresta that adds all sorts of systems and features but doesn’t quite ‘click’ as I feel it could have. I beat it and moved on. (1)

Etrian Odyssey 3 (HD Remaster): The best of the three remakes with an incredible amount of content. Once again I enjoyed this as if I hadn’t already beaten it twice! (22)

Bloodstained Curse Of The Moon 2: A fun retro platform game spun off the game mentioned above. This was notably easier than the first one (I played last year) and I beat in under 90 minutes! (1.5)

Shining Force: Fun to replay this tactical RPG after 30+ years. Both deeper and more difficult than I remembered, especially in the final battles. This was the game I named my fanzine after! (20)

Nintendo World Championship NES Edition: A ridiculously addictive set of microgames built around speed running NES classics. I beat/unlocked everything and for one mission was ranked #1 in the world! (7)

Darksiders 3: A mostly successful God of War / Souls hybrid. Some wonky controls but the core gameplay was fun enough to overlook. (25)

Brigandine: A repetitive tactical fantasy war game with poor AI and mundane graphics (aside from extraordinary character portraits). No threat to fire emblem. (15)

Touhou Luna Nights: Short and sweet bullet-hell Metroidvania. Fun, but very linear and not as good as it’s made out to be. (5)

Vagante: Harder, uglier and less fun than Spelunky. An overly punishing roguelike that needed more playability and a better reward system. (1)

Class of Heroes: This Wizardry-like is almost a system without a game, and yet strangely compelling in its dastardly way. I got distracted and never returned. (5)

Tevi: Metroidvania with wonderful control and response, but a little linear and the map design is boring. Combat is fun but bosses were tedious damage sponges. I wish they’d license their engine to another studio to make an even better game! (25)

Metal Slug Attack Reloaded: Insanely addictive tower defense game (of sorts) that I played nonstop for days then had to delete to stop playing. In the end I beat every stage with an S rank and was happy to move on. Amazing value for $10. (20)

Into The Breach: Fun roguelike tactical game with small maps and interesting combat. It’s a bit unrewarding though, and I found it too repetitive after a while. (6)

Burnout Paradise Remastered: The same game I enjoyed 10+ years ago, but this remaster gives you the very best cars immediately which strips away all the challenge. I didn’t put much time into this one. (2)

DoDonPachi Dai Fakkatsu: Bullet hell majesty now on Switch. This is a perfect emulation of a punishing arcade classic. Came in a nice box set with a soundtrack and art book. (3)

DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jo Re:Incarnation: This installment of the series was released (in the arcades) before the above, but seems to be much more difficult. One day I’m going to dedicate myself to becoming an expert at this game! (3)

Fight Crab: The answer to the question “What if QWOP was a 3D fighting game about crustaceans?”. Humorously insane, but ultimately a near-unplayable joke game. (3)

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Dream: A charming RPG with a well written story and very likeable characters. Kept me interested until the very end. One of my most enjoyed games of the year. (55)

Legend of Grimrock: KLS and I played this one together and had a wonderful time exploring every part of the dungeon and ultimately defeating the game after finding every secret. A loving homage to Eye Of The Beholder. (18)

Diablo 2: I couldn’t guess how many hundreds of hours I’ve spent on this game over the last two decades, but this year I racked up another six dozen beating hell with a lightning amazon. One of the best games of all time! (70)

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince: I had fun with this series years back on Game Boy, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this new version. It’s Pokémon meets Dragon Quest, and while a bit simple was never boring. (35)

Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon: I’ve always loved this oft-maligned GBA installment in the series, and despite having beaten it ten times in the past, bought the Switch collection and beat it again five more this year! Unlocking all five classes was as much fun as ever. (19)

The Mummy Demastered: Short and sweet Metroidvania weirdly based on that Mummy film from a few years back. Beat it in two sittings! (6)

Pretty Girls Game Collection 2: Probably objectively trashy collection of minigames but I enjoyed unlocking all the art and the mahjong solitaire game was genuinely well done! (15)

Titan Quest Atlantis and Ragnarok: Both DLCs went on sale around Thanksgiving, so I got them and played through again using a new character! This time I enjoyed the game even more than before, and maybe I’ll return again one day. (30)

Ys X: Nordics: I’m still playing this one, but so far I’m enjoying it quite a lot. Ten hours in and the story, combat and exploration have hooked me.

Puzzle & Dragons: As of this post, I’m at 4207 cumulative login days, which is 11.5 years. I’ve beaten every dungeon (and in fact usually do so the day they’re released) and have far more resources and characters than I’ll ever use, but I still play daily. This seems to be the game of my life. (Too much!)

This is a long list: 65 games played in 2024 totaling more 980+ hours (much more if you include Puzzdra). I was asked my favourite hobby the other day and I answered “I don’t know”. I wasn’t being evasive, it’s just that gaming is such a part of my life I often don’t even think of it as a hobby 🙂

Posted in Blog, Games | Comments Closed

2024 In Games (Part 1)

Thursday, December 5th, 2024

Another year comes to an end, and once again it’s time for my game-buying update. I’m still avidly buying – and playing – games, and two trips to Japan (since the last update) contributed to this hobby as it usually does.

This was also the year in which I sold off the bulk of my remaining collection. Specifically I sold off my Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PS Vita and PSP collections: a total of over 600 games. This was the sixth sale in eight years, the biggest I’ve done so far (in quantity and dollars) and was a portion of the collection I had previously claimed I’d never sell.

I still have robust collections of 3DS and Switch games (over 500 combined) as well as select games on many systems that I didn’t want to part with, but I think my days of selling the collection are now behind me. I’m still enjoying the Switch and the recent confirmation that the successor console (the ‘Super Switch’?) will be reverse compatible means I’ll be playing my collection for many years to come.

In 2024 I purchased 77 games for 4 different systems. I’ve dismissed the pie charts for this update since almost all the purchases were for the Switch. Here’s the breakdown:

– 73 games were for the Switch (91% of total dollars spent)
– 2 games for the Playstation 2 (4%)
– 1 game for the Playstation (2%)
– 1 game for the MSX (3%)

That last one is of note, since it’s the first MSX game I’ve ever purchased. Since it is a cartridge game for the Japanese model MSX, this means I can’t and never will be able to play it! This is also true for the PS1 and PS2 purchases (since I sold my consoles years ago) but all four of these were Wizardry games so they’re ‘for the collection’ 🙂

Compared to the 31 years of data I have, the total number of games purchased (77) ranked 8th, and the total dollars spent ($2412.50) ranked 5th. The average price of the Switch games was almost exactly $30, and the others all cost more with the MSX game – at about US$77 – being the most expensive I purchased in 2024. Of the 77 total games 17 were purchased in Japan, and I ‘saved’ a bit doing this since the Yen remains weak.

The above data also doesn’t include the approximately $150 I spent on Puzzle & Dragons during 2024. It remains the only mobile game I play (and the only one on my phone) but I still play it every day, as I have for over 11 years!

Let’s move on to my favourite games of 2024, as usual in no particular order:

Unicorn Overlord (Switch)

Vanillaware games are always remarkable, and everything they’ve released in the last fifteen years or so would likely make one of my top 50 games of all time lists (and one of them, Dragon’s Crown, desperately needs a Switch rerelease despite the fact I have previously purchased it for three other consoles). This year they released a tactical strategy game of such high quality that it even attracted players to a genre that historically has struggled to find a wide audience. Unicorn Overlord is so good in every aspect, that it’s remarkable it was the creation of a new designer. The combat and unit design is about the best I’ve seen in this genre, the world map is exquisitely explorable, the graphics and animations surpass even the astonishingly high standards set by previous Vanillaware games (I’m looking at you, Odin’s Sphere) and best of all the story and characters make it a joy to play from start to the very end. This is a masterpiece, and if I were listing best games of the last decade this one would be in the top five.

Metal Slug Attack Reloaded (Switch)

This cursed game! It’s an inexpensive (digital only) strategy game featuring Metal Slug characters autobattling against each other in a series of challenges. The amazing pixel art (taken from the famous series of run-and-gun games) hooked me initially, but the gacha element and ‘just one more try’ gameplay took over quickly and I became insane for this game. I played it endlessly for maybe ten days, and because I was starting to dream about it when I finally S-ranked every single battle I hastily deleted it from my Switch. The relief was profound, but doesn’t negate the fact that this was one of my favourite games of the year while it lasted!

Diablo II Resurrected (Switch)

This legendary game was first released in 2000, and I we bought two copies on launch day and played them (via local multiplayer) into the ground. KLS lost interest in time but I kept going, eventually modding the game and playing my own versions. I played it on and off for about a decade until Diablo III was released at which point that sequel took over. Then in 2021 Blizzard released a remastered version of Diablo II on the Switch which I bought and played for another 150-ish hours (and it very nearly earned a game-of-the-year spot that year). A few months ago, I fired it up and started again, became once again addicted, and 70 hours later walked away from a level 96 lightning Amazon. This is one of the best and most playable games of all time, and given I’ve never beaten the highest difficulty with a Paladin or Druid I can’t honestly say I won’t return again one day 🙂

2025 is now almost upon us, and I already wonder about what games will come my way this next year. As for the ones I play, well that’s already mostly decided by a ‘to play’ list of already-purchased games that is dozens of titles long. But I also know there’s a few promising titles on the horizon, including a Switch remake of one of my favourite games of all time. I think it’s a safe prediction that you’ll read more about it in next year’s update.

Oh and the ‘Part 1’ is because once again I’m following up with details of every game I played this year. Watch for that in a week or so.

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