JohnnyMind

Love to see it, fingers crossed Nintendo won't take it down - they shouldn't be able to as long as the developer has been smart about certain aspects and we know for sure they have to an extent (people have to provide the roms and so the assets themselves unlike Link's Awakening on PC for example), but still!

One more reason for me to be looking forward to playing my physical copy of Showtime as soon as it arrives and man how I'd love to finally have a chance to play Goemon myself, fingers crossed it will come to NSO at least!

It always felt like the 3DS would've been perfect to play Virtual Boy games (even though I won't be able to use the 3D myself since my eyes can't properly see it) so it's great to hear that it has finally happened, will definitely download and install Red Viper when I have the time!

@bring_on_branstons As far as I know the eReader levels were included when they rereleased Advance 4 on Wii U but yeah, couldn't agree more, that's another great example of what I'd like to see Nintendo do more: include content that was originally difficult to access due to requiring additional hardware etc. - other than of course seeing more systems, not only Nintendo ones, come to NSO!

@bring_on_branstons Absolutely and another thing I'd love to see on NSO which would help making it stand out compared to Nintendo's past, in more than one sense, offerings would be Transfer Pak compatibility between N64 and GBC games - not to mention that it would be even easier than Satellaview and 64DD considering the games themselves are already on the service in that case!

Love to see it, but how I wish Nintendo officially rereleased some if not all of the Satalleview games!

Couldn't agree more with most comments here, this is absolutely ridiculous and really hope someone will put an end to this madness by dumping one of these copies and sharing the game on the internet for free as it should've been from the start... either that or, if it had to be sold commercially, the developer should've got the consent from the copyright holders or just refrained from using such material in the first place!

What a weird but also cool concept, definitely getting this digitally!

@Yoshif3 Really hope Nintendo will eventually rerelease the Satellaview games, especially the Zelda ones (have played BS Zelda and loved it while I haven't played Ancient Stone Tablets yet)!

Will straight up read the original article when I have the time for it as it will be good practice for my knowledge but still, happy that you're finally able to publish the whole translation for those interested who can't read Japanese!

Great article, will definitely consider playing this game at some point!
By the way, isn't "won't" a typo here as it should be "wouldn't" or am I missing something @Damo?

[...] stepped in to handle distribution, and this won't have helped Bushi Seiryuuden's chances [...]

@Banjo- Personally I enjoyed the 3DS version of Majora more than the original because of the quality of life features, but I can definitely see where you and others are coming from about its changes.
I liked Breath of the Wild and so far Tears of the Kingdom is overall even better for me, but I really hope we'll still get also more "traditional" Zelda games, both 3D and 2D - at least in the form of ports, remasters and/or remakes, but definitely would love new ones, too!

@Banjo- Majora is debatable because of the changes, but in Ocarina's case if they ever want to remake it again they definitely should base it on the already excellent 3DS version!

Only saw the original on N64 at a friend's house, then got it on GameCube thanks to the bonus disc included in Wind Waker but didn't finish it as I got stuck when you become an adult so it was only thanks to the 3DS remake that I finally not only finished it, but completed it and when I did I loved it (except for fishing, I sucked at it and almost got stuck there)... and the funny thing is that something similar - except that I never had that until the Virtual Console on Wii - happened for Majora, too!

Wait, I somehow missed that this game has a Kickstarter when it got mentioned on Nintendo Life, now that I know I immediately supported it at the Digital ( With Switch!) tier!

I've never finished Zelda II, maybe this remaster will finally be my chance to do so thanks to its several quality-of-life improvements!

Great news, I loved this game as a kid so I'm definitely looking forward to this version, but I also hope Konami will eventually rerelease the original!

Happy Anniversary Super Mario Bros. 3!
Unfortunately didn't have it as a kid, only played it for the first time by emulating it - most likely the Super Mario All-Stars version!

Happy anniversary Game Boy Color, it's thanks to you that I got to play not only exclusive GBC games, but also GB ones since we've never had the original Game Boy at home!
We got a red one which became my sister's and a yellow Pikachu one which became mine.

Looks good so backed it up, thanks for making us know about it through this article!

Nowadays I mostly play in handheld not only retro games, but any game in general.

Already a great article at the start and even more so by the end since it includes an analysis by 8-Bit Music Theory!

@PMurphy1978 If that's the case while still a bummer I totally get it, I had only heard about the other reason with which I disagree as stated in my previous comment!
If I have the chance I'll consider getting it physically then and regardless, kudos for making it and good luck on the sequel!

Would've loved getting this, but unfortunately it's only physical to contrasto piracy... except that those people Will find a way while they lost a potential client like me for sure!
That aside, hope everyone who can get it will enjoy it, looks great!

Say what you want about piracy, but I'm so happy that it comes to the rescue when it comes to preserving and/or making more accessible videogames as people like me wouldn't be as big videogame fans as they are today, and so supporting official releases as much as possible, if it weren't for that!

I love the Banjo-Kazooie series and I hope that at least all games will be made available on modern (Nintendo) consoles, although I'd be ecstatic if they actually made a new game!

@Sketcz Oh, I do agree with some points made by Rica, just felt that some precisations were necessary like the history of guns in Japan and that for this specific topic it wasn't necessary to go back relatively that far into the past!
The thing is, the fascination for Western cultures started even earlier than Meiji even though it had a boom in that period, let's not forget Rangaku during the Edo era for example, and before that Japan adopted Chinese and Korean models... which brings me back to my point: while of course past events contributed to it, Japanese RPGs mostly take place in European Fantasy settings primarily because of the influences mentioned by you and others at that specific time, for example jidaigeki TV shows etc. not being cool for Japanese kids at the time as Matt Fitsko mentioned.
That said, the what if scenario you proposed is a quite interesting topic on its own!

@Sketcz There's a typo if you want to correct it, "did manga based in a huge variety of mythologies", "based in" instead of "based on".
Anyway, great article! I would argue against the first paragraph of Rica Matsumura's opinion since the aspects mentioned are about earlier periods of the history of Japan.
First, while of course Western culture had developed even better guns by the time Japan reopened, guns had long been known thanks to China since the 13th century and even Portuguese ones had been introduced in the 16th century.
Second, while the fascination with Western culture never died, what is specifically described is more typical of the Meiji era because starting from the Taishō era there has been the emergence of Japanese novels over imported ones and in more recent periods different products of Western culture became more prominent like movies and computer games.
In conclusion, I think that there are much more relevant reasons for the predominance of European fantasy settings in Japanese RPGs like the ones you and others stated, including Matsumura except for what I mentioned!

@Damo There's a typo if you want to correct it, "We've been releasing titles weekly week since March 3rd, 2017" instead of just "weekly", plus the one pointed out by @Mario500.
Anyway, great interview and reminder that I should check at least some of the Arcade Archives games when I have the chance to support Hamster as I really appreciate the wealth and variety in its catalogue!

Happy anniversary Viewtiful Joe!
Unfortunately missed this series back in the day so I'd love for it to come to Switch to have a chance to play it!

Happy anniversary Link's Awakening!
I didn't have it when I was a kid so I played it only on emulator back then, absolutely loved it and so bought the Deluxe version on 3DS and the remake on Switch (glad we got Deluxe on NSO as well) when they came out!
@carlos82 Hope we'll get at least remakes of the other Capcom Zeldas, but new games in this style would be absolutely welcome, too!
@JackGYarwood Didn't know the original had such a glitch, interesting!
@strenny Yep, there's already an article here on Time Extension about that and other things Moyse did:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/05/random-did-you-know-the-german-zelda-links-awakening-has-secret-music-and-adult-dialogue

Knew about the dialogue, the comics (although I hadn't seen these pages before) and I think I've at least heard about the remix, but never listened to it so thanks for making an article about it!

The journey to solve this "glitch" was quite interesting, thanks for sharing the various possible solutions for those interested in playing this game without debug mode on (and also for making those who hadn't heard of it at all before like me discover it)!

Incredible article, I've been fascinated by the Satellaview ever since I found and played several of its games through emulation, especially BS Zelda (although I haven't finished its original version yet, only the simplified one)!

Interesting, also personally for me since we actually had this game at home when I was a kid (never finished it despite overall enjoying what I played of it which is why I wouldn't mind a Star Wars collection on Switch including it)!

Had never heard that Egg had a Russian bootleg before, interesting!

@Sketcz Unfortunate to hear you had such issues with the GB version, hope they'll eventually be fixed (even better if by the time I play it myself)!
Yeah, fingers crossed for a remaster to have a much better way to play the original just like Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon.

@Sketcz While I wouldn't personally be interested in playing it as you can tell from my previous comment it would be nice if this game also got a remaster for those like you interested in it!

Finally the Zelda CDi game that needed the most not just a remaster (like Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon did) but a recreation got it, kudos to John Lay for making it, I'll absolutely play it when I can (even more so since it's for the Game Boy as I'm a sucker for the GB/C Zeldas aesthetic)!

I didn't know about Assault Suits Valken at all before the coverage of the upgraded port on Nintendo Life, it's so interesting learning even more about it thanks to this article!

What a cool, forgotten until recently part of Mario's history!

Didn't know about this, pretty cool (pun intended) and while it's practically useless in vanilla I agree with your comment about it being potentially useful in randomizers at least!
@EarthboundBenjy That I have seen/heard before either from randomizers or someone playing the Shadow Temple after the Spirit temple even in vanilla as some people do.
@RupeeClock That use of the Ice Rod/Ether Medalion is also new to me so thanks for sharing it!

First Dream Land 2 was surprisingly added to NSO so early despite not being among the announced games allowing more people to play it for the first time or replay it officially and now a fan even made a DX version, love to see all the love for this game!

@Vacuumator Yep, you remembered correctly, it says so also in this part of the article:

The first issue of NMS launched with a free Game Boy-style keyring containing a digital clock, while issue four would feature a CD containing the arcade soundtrack to Street Fighter II.

Hadn't heard of this magazine before since I'm from Italy, it was quite interesting learning about part of its and the UK video game magazine market's history other than it being a precursor to Let's Plays with that issue!

@belmont Yeah, £50 is too much for me also counting the inevitable shipping costs and potential import ones so unfortunately I'll have to skip it, too bad because I would've gladly backed it up for a digital copy only!

Even leaving the Mario aspect aside, from what I've played (I certainly didn't finish it) I feel that Mario Is Missing is a good example of what "edutainment" shouldn't be: you should strive to make learning easier by showing what you want to teach through visuals, sounds, fun and varied gameplay (like @gaga64 said each world feels just like a reskin) etc., not dumping it on kids as is!

Finally read the full article, was quite interesting and I'd like to at least try this game at some point (hopefully it will eventually come to Switch and/or its successor like @ManaOwls suggested)!

Happy anniversary Mario Kart Wii, had a lot of fun playing you back in the day (except for the ridiculous conditions to get even just 1 star which is required for certain unlockables)!
Plus, let's not forget there are still so many people playing it nowadays even online thanks to the modding community!

Great interview, I'll try this game out myself when I have the time!