jeffrud

I'm just copypasta-ing from a Discord but if you'll allow it,

The Druaga comp in your article is apt. Most people respond to that game by running in the opposite direction. Some people basically started GameFAQs sneakernet leaving journals at the machines to share tips. Fromsoft were in the latter end of the pool.

Which, as you point out in a comment, feels a bit like malfeasance by the developers on some level. But keep in mind, Druaga was in some sense a continuation of Endo Masanobu's work in Xevious, which had legs in no small part due to the hidden Sol Tower bullshit in that game. Some people approach that game as a vertical shooter, some people approach it as a fucking koan (see the direct sequel Super Xevious: GAMP no Nazou for the rawest and worst expression of this tendency).

I get the sense you could be made to say something mealymouthed like "These games can exist for their strange little backwater market of puzzle game consumers", which sure sounds like something I would say. That, even after you really dig through the guts of Fromsoft's work. What I'm more interested in seeing, when you get there, is walking us through why this Endo/Miyazaki-esque design school seeping into the rest of video gaming is a full net negative.

As always, this is probably the best writing the site has had on a consistent basis since Walker left.

Ringo Starr sang "Boys" in 1962. We've been through this.

Feel bad that I'll be drafting off of your mahjong coverage with some of my own in the near future.

That said, do you have any non-Yakuza mahjong games that you'd profess to enjoy on their own?

@bigsocrates: I held one of my old Zunes a few weeks ago. That platform was amazing. I used to squirt Katamari Damacy tracks back and forth with my roommate, who was also among the Zune faithful. I used the desktop Zune app as my main music player for years longer than anybody else on earth, until I was forced to migrate to Groove, which is also now dead.

Zune was great.

@borgmaster: I'm very ill equipped for this, the irony being I played more baseball than any other sport growing up. As far as games that license the NPB league, I think Komani's Pro Baseball Spirits series is the main pick there? I dunno dude, I just follow hockey and the CFL now.

Having been a blockbuster, DYNABLASTER® is a game for the strategic thinker whose smart tactics will instill fear in his competitors – playing online or local against others or against the computer.

Wasn't the entire pitch of the Amico that it avoided online interactions with all of those sick, perverted Nintendo degenerates? How is this in the spirit of Amico? HOW IS TOMMY GOING TO STAND FOR THIS FILTH????

Part of me is bummed out that it isn't a new F-Zero release or even a straight port of GX/AX.

Another, louder, more slovenly part of me is ready for this to be shoveled directly into my mouth by daddy Nintendo like the French ladies with the milk in that meme. A rework of the best SNES game? Yes please. Thank you sir.

If you ever come within 100 miles of Seattle I would like to repay in you several gallons of whatever beverage you'd like. These are a constant joy and a balm for dark times.

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I'd take slight issue with the idea that Namco was focused on NEC at this point, considering their last PC Engine title was the mid-1992 port of The Tower of Druaga. They were certainly more Super Famicom oriented at this point, though compared to their torrent of games on the Famicom, the early adoption of the Mega Drive, and the torrent of games they'd release for the PlayStation I would say their support for the Super Famicom was begrudging and muted. I'd argue all of their flagship games from that period remained in arcades or were ported to non-Nintendo systems.