The prolific fan translator AeonGenesis has returned with another patch, allowing you to play an obscure piece of Japanese video game history.
This time around, it's the turn of the 1998 PS1 title ParanoiaScape, a strange horror-themed pinball game from the developer Mathilda and the mind of the Japanese special effects artist Joji "Screaming Mad George" Tani.
Tani, in case you've never heard of him, is a figure who first came to prominence as a punk musician in Japan, with his name being a reference to his love of Mad Magazine and the shock rock pioneer Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Later on, however, he would arguably become better known as a visual artist in the film industry, thanks to contributing effects to movies like John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led jungle thriller Predator, and Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, alongside other films.
In the early 2000s, he also notably had a role in designing the custom masks worn by the heavy metal band Slipknot during the release of their second and third albums, Iowa and Vol. 3, and even tried his hand at game development in the '90s, which is ultimately what led to the creation of ParanoiaScape.
ParanoiaScape is based on Tani's original concept and finds the player exploring a hellish landscape in first-person, with two skeletal imps carrying a pair of bone paddles (which the player controls) floating in front of them. These paddles, similar to those in pinball, are used for deflecting incoming projectiles, which, in this case, take the form of attacks from the various demons you will encounter. Tani was also responsible for the creature designs seen in the game, as well as the music, and even makes a cameo in the game, giving the player feedback.
Here is the description of the game and the hack from AeonGenesis:
"Paranoiascape is a first-person surrealist horror pinball game. If that sounds insane, it is! I don't want to say much more because it really is something that should be experienced, not described, but I will note that the game does have an option for an infinite number of pinballs - I recommend setting this. You still have a health bar and can still die, but this option reduces some of the extra frustration that dropping the ball can create.
As far as the patch goes, before each level there's a screen offering some tips for the level - this translates that. There are also some voice clips in 3-2 where Screaming Mad George himself gives you feedback — it turns out that he recorded English versions of these and included them on the disk, and I was able to swap the calls to the Japanese clips with calls to the English clips!"
If all of this sounds interesting enough for you to make you want to check it out, the patch is available to download now from AeonGenesis's website.