New Hardcore Gaming 101 Games

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My Garden (PS1) (Japan only)

Technosoft had a long history of making shoot-em-ups, so naturally they decided to make this... flower girl simulator? That's right! Finally you can live out your lifelong dream of being a cute little girl who sells flowers to strangers in a quaint country town. The actual gameplay seems suspiciously similar to Harvest Moon, as you tend to your garden and make friends in the village.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Y8X5BbGTM

I can't believe there's no hg101 section for the Phantasy Star series

>There are several topics that we have bounties on (see below)
And they never mention the exact topics they are looking for.

Keep in mind they seem to want you to use an HD capture card to do screenshots for articles unless you are doing PS2, Gamecube, or Wii. If you don't have one, they won't accept your work.

>>2917583
I thought all the screenshots were from emulators

at least they look like it on most articles, for the older games anyway

>>2917587
Read the page OP linked yourself, I thought that's what it said.

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Kokohore! Dig-a-Dig Pukka (PS1) (Japan Only)

Information on this game is pretty damn scarce. It appears to be a virtual pet game, where you guide your a robotic pet around the lands, mining for gems. The pet needs to eat and sleep, and supposedly has some sort of personality that will vary depending on your actions.

Could not find any download links for this, unfortunately.

>>2917560
Forgot the download links for this one:

http://www.emuparadise.me/Sony_Playstation_ISOs/My_Garden_%28Japan%29/176720

>>2917579
I can't believe they have articles on so many fighting game franchises yet still none about Street Fighter. It's like saying you're into 90's british alternative rock yet you've never listened to Radiohead.

>>2917592
Yeah, like how they never bothered to give Ghandi a Nobel Peace Prize.

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One of the most shocking omissions from HG101 are amazing games of Kaz Ayabe and Millennium Kitchen. These games are universally laid-back, realistic life simulators, and there's not really anything similar to them. Despite a heavy emphasis on story and characters, they've somehow gained an intense (but very small) cult following in the west, even among people who can't understand Japanese. Here's the first one:

>Boku no Natsuyasumi series (1, 2, 3, and 4)
Four games were made in this series, on PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP. Each one tells the story of a young Japanese boy's summer vacation to a rural town in the 1970s. And that's it. Literally the entire game is just exploring the town over the course of a few weeks, making friends, fishing, catching bugs, and spending time with your family. The visuals and sound are immensely beautiful and relaxing, and the game somehow manages to inspire feelings of nostalgia for memories that you've never actually experienced first-hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX2I0YanKMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHf7Z6yegoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMvLJvLxBOg (with English subtitles!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc5ByP555Bs

http://www.emuparadise.me/Sony_Playstation_ISOs/Boku_no_Natsuyasumi_%28J%29/52912
(I haven't found a legitimate download of Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 yet)
(Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 can easily be played from disc, since the PS3 isn't region locked)
http://www.emuparadise.me/PSP_ISOs/Boku_no_Natsuyasumi_4_%28Japan%29/157687

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HG101 has an article covering the Sega motorcycle games, but they missed Stadium Cross (1992). You pull up on the bike controller to gain air from jumps, like in Enduro Racer, and you can punch other riders with a button on the handlebars. There's only one track, but up to four can play, and the cabinet has light displays that show the number of the leading player.

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Since we're posting japanese games with little information in english, I'd like to know more about Famicom Bunko: Hajimari no mori, one of the last Super Famicom games from 1999.

All I know is that it's an adventure game like Shin Onigashima (same developers), and that it's about a kid exploring a mysterious forest.

I might attempt playing it someday although my japanese is still very basic.

There's no article on HG101 about this either.

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>>2917625
But an even cooler game from this team, is

>Bokura no Kazoku (PS2)
Although this game has similarities to Boku no Natsuyasumi, such as the heavy emphasis on characters, a similar tone, and the art style, it also has some surprising differences. The previous entries followed young children, and were set in the past, in a small town, and they take place over the course of just a few weeks. However this game takes almost the exact opposite approach. It is set in the heart of Tokyo in modern times, and follows a married couple for over 30 years! The game starts at your marriage ceremony, and follows you through the years as you have children, raise them, and ultimately retire. A main focus in the game is how you choose to raise your children. A list of stats determines the abilities and interests of each child, and their opinions of you. Your children's paths in life can vary drastically depending on how you chose to raise them. Will you encourage them to follow their passions, knowing that they will be happy but might not be able to provide for themselves? Or will you push them to study hard and be the best they can be, even if that means that they resent you? There and a huge number of events throughout the game, from taking your kids to the zoo, attending their sports competitions, and even seeing them get married one day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Qpp-HOcdA

>>2917583
This is bullshit, I have been published there and it is not true

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>>2917559
THEY DON'T PAY YOU. I'M SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE. EVERYONE WHO WRITES FOR THEM KNOWS EACH OTHER. IF YOU'RE OUTSIDE OF THEIR SOCIAL CIRCLE YOU WILL NOT GET ONE DIME.

>>2917659

Sounds bog-standard for American businesses.

>>2917657
Read the fucking link. That's what they say. I guess they didn't care for free work but since they are paying they want something better?

>>2917659
disgonnabegud.jpg

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>>2917652
And the final game is shockingly actually available in the West!

>Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS)
Evidently Ayabe looked back on his previous work and made the logical decision that they lacked enough giant monsters fighting each other. So while this game is another relaxing life simulator from a child's perspective, it happens to take place in a world where giant Tokusatsu monsters battle one another in the city every Friday. And surprisingly it doesn't feel cartoonish or goofy - the game just presents this as another detail of the setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NYKrFbwz6w

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Is this obscure enough?

>>2917659
That's actually illegal. If you have any actual evidence you should report it to the proper authorities.

>>2917592
They probably just assume their readers already know damn near everything about Street Fighter 2 and would rather read about another fighting franchise that hasn't been covered as much.

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>Planet Dob (PS1)
It's incredibly unclear what this game actually is. It seems to be an adventure game that jumps back and forth between first person and third person perspective whenever it feels like it. I think the story is entirely taking place inside the mind of a captured alien or something. It's got some crazy psychedelic imagery and a very slick, memorable style to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LROsHPJ30V0

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>Twilight Syndrome series (PS1)
Some of the first games designed by Suda51, these game are horror-adventure games with enough exposition to give off a visual novel feel to them. It is apparently about you and your friends investigating ghostly occurrences at your school Scooby Doo-style. Spookiness ensues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WveZxynMt4

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>Tokyo Wakusei Planetokio (PS1)
A cartoonish side-scrolling adventure game with some JRPG-esque turn-based combat mixed in. Set in a futuristic Sci-Fi city floating in the clouds, this story has loads of cutscenes, characters, and dialogue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk2AEnYMFXk

I think an article about the Famicom Detective Club series would be interesting to read. Apparently there's some sort of mini sequel to the first two games on the satellaview but because of its obscure release platform there isn't a whole lot of information about it out there.

>>2917772
I played one of those, maybe even the Satellaveiw one. It was really good, I wish we had more detective adventure games

Damn those are some strict as fuck submission rules.

That long and still some of the writing is pretty shit.

>>2917582
>but since I completely respect HCG101 as the last bastion of respect and dignity for retro gaming in a world of jumpcuts YouTube e-celebs with Justin Bieber haircuts...

You know I always shit on HCG101 for the inaccuracies and how opinionated and annoying some writers could be. But when you put it like that, they're really not so bad...

Their article on Japanese computers is great http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/JPNcomputers/Japanesecomputers.htm

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>>2917924
Apparently they don't even understand the difference between V1 and V2 mode.

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>>2917659
I can verify that I don't get paid but it's because nobody listens to our podcast. Then again that's because it's like 3 months between episodes.

>>2917918

That long and they'll still say "What the hell" and publish an article for someone they consider a friend.

Like that time I tried to write an article for a game from a franchise that doesn't have a single article or page for it. Sure enough, they come and tell me: "Articles must be for the whole franchise, not just a single game."

So that ended there but lo and behold, a month later what do they do? They put up a post for just one game (from another franchise) with a "lol guise we know we know... but here it is anyway!" disclaimer at the top.

idk hgc101 has never really been outstanding. it's pretty much a wikipedia for obscure games with a more personal touch to it to see if there's anything worth checking out beyond curiosity or to understand where a popular series came from.

>>2918894
Wikipedia is pretty terrible for retro games with gems like:
>Competing systems included the Sharp X1, Fujitsu FM-7, MSX, and NEC PC-8801. NEC was behind its competitors in terms of hardware (with only 16 colors and no sound support) and needed a way to regain control of the market. Thus came the erotic game. The first commercial erotic computer game, Night Life, was released by Koei in 1982

All dem rules, all dat $60 max pay for writing for another guy's website. Unless you have a deep obsession for a game that no one else cares much about, it seems unlikely that it would be worth the effort. Maybe if you are a freelance writer trying to compose a portfolio piece or something and want some monetary compensation it could be worth it.

>>2918884
I'm pissed Rasa stole Werewolf from under me, but that's my fault for not finishing my article. It's just really hard to stay motivated sometimes.

>>2918908
(Oh, and from glancing back over the thread, it sounds like you probably won't even get paid. Fantastic! I wish people wouldn't get led astray by the classic "write it for exposure" or "don't you even care about writing for fun?" bs)

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Several months ago, an acquaintance I know said he was writing a Plok article for Hard Gay 101, but I don't think he finished it. Just asked him to make sure.

>>2918914
The people I know've gotten paid, but they're pretty much entrenched. Not sure what happened for the other folks though.

>>2917583

It's vague, but I think you only need capture cards for systems that can't be emulated.

>This means you must know how to use emulators. If it's a game on the PlayStation 2, Gamecube or Wii, you need your computer to be able to run PCSX2 or Dolphin. If it's on another platform, you need an HD capture card. If you are unable to run these programs or do not have the necessary equipment, do not pitch the article in question.

>>2918915

He said I could do it myself, wew.

Online, people either ignore the game or fawn over it, exaggerating its importance by saying Rayman and Yoshi's Island ripped it off. The game deserves a bit of character assassination.

>>2918938
I'm butthurt because those limey faggots didn't return my emails. I mean, they're obviously obsessed with/hung up on the character, I figured they would have enjoyed talking to someone about it.

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Zool deserves an article, if only for being sponsored by a candy company and popular on the Amiga.

>>2918946

They took a long time to respond to my own emails, but they eventually did. For a while I thought they hated a fan thing I was working on because of it.

>>2918948
Hm. I thought they just hated Americans or something.

It's an alright game, but that last gauntlet is such a pain in the ass.

It's sad that some people in this thread have had bad experiences. All of mine have been very positive, but then again I'm mainly interested because I love learning about unusual games and spreading the word about them.

>>2918894
I kind of just want a site that's a list of obscure games with descriptions and screenshots

>>2917559
You should go for 3 WONDERS on snes

>>2918908
I lived in Kenya for a little while doing missionary work. $60 US dollars is a shitload of money and they speak English over there.

>>2919170
da fuq

>>2919170
Fuck. Welp, time to start writing for HCG101 and move to Kenya. How's the quality of life over there?

>>2919239
It's ok, stick to the tourist areas and they mostly won't rape you.

>>2919246
>mostly

dude....

>>2918908
I don't even think the quality is that good, but I guess thats what you get for paying people 30 bucks for what should be probably at least 5-10 hours of working.

Assuming they beat the game and do some actual fact checking.

I may be in the minority, but I genuinely feel like you should beat a game before reviewing it. The last straw for me with Classic Game Room was when I realized he just didn't fucking even make an effort to beat stuff.

If you're just doing like a "quick look" or a "check out this game" (which HG101 seems to be about) then iit's ok not to beat it I guess, but it still rubs me the wrong way.

I also hate the idea that only one person can write an article on a subject. It also seems like a massive circle jerk over there.

>>2919239
For White people? Very high. They didn't have such a painful split from White rule like Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Congo.

The biggest problem is to find a barber that knows how to cut White people's hair and won't charge you an arm and a leg.

>>2917559
The submission rules sound like a Nathan For You-style BS "you should have read the fine print," excuse to take your work and not pay you for it. HG101 is a great site for finding obscure games and all, but it's well-known for its cronyism. I was an English major in college and not a single one of my research / analysis pieces had such an extensive laundry list of criteria for submission. I sincerely hope they loosen up a little, for the sake of the site.

>>2917625

I've never understood the fervor surrounding Boku no Natsuyasumi over here. I see people recommend the shit out of it all the time, then immediately say "not that I know Japanese, but this game is incredible! it's also very text-heavy and you will get nothing out of it if you don't know any moon runes."

>>2917559
>make some quick money
u wot m8?
Where is this money coming from? How is he making money from this non-commercial website in the first place?

>>2917659
sounds awfully SJW of 'em to be in a clique

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>>2917559
all the games I love already have articles... on TvTropes.
Both are faggy SJW shit, but they have all the infos on the games.

>>2920493

TVTropes is an unbelievable hugbox. Like, not even Wikipedia coddles its users as much as those faggots.

>>2919737
Ad banners, Patreon, and book sales I'm guessing.

>>2917684
The real reason is because Street Fighter II alone had so many different versions and ports, that it's hard to keep track of them all. Personally, I wouldn't mind contributing an article about the series, although a lot of their already existing fighting and beat-'em-up coverage leave a lot to design, especially the Final Fight and Kunio-kun articles.

>>2920493
How do you even use tvtropes to find out about new stuff? I"m being serious, that site totally confuses me.

>>2920976
>a lot to design
*desire

>>2917592
They also haven't got tekken afair

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>>2920981
you click on the "tropes", for example
Laser Blade, and you check out games with laser blades in them. Then you click on other trope links until you're sick of the site. There's a revolting amount of shit on that site, but you can stumble on neat things sometimes.

>>2922917
Having to rabbit hole is one of the worst ways to navigate a site. It turns it into more of a time waster then an actual information hub.

>>2922919
TV Tropes is for retards who don't know how to edit Wikipedia and Wikia.

>>2922917
they didn't even have a stamina bar trope

>>2917559
>and I assume most of you do too
They don't. They play Doom, Super Metroid and Sonic and that's about it. Just look at this board.

i enjoyed tvtropes for about a week until i realized every other sentence starts with "in this troper's opinion" or "don't forget about x, where y happens". drives me up the wall

>>2917559
That's the most absurdly specific submission guide I've ever seen for anything, especially a web article

>>2917579
this

yet they have a Dong Country section and a Mega Man section

>>2917559
I noticed some series are missing their lates entries, for instance the SMT page are missing everything from SMTIV onwards. Would adding the new stuff also be of interest?

>>2923686
Would an alternative to HG101 work? With a lot more contribtors and such, more lenient guidelines for submission and the ability to write multiple articles on a single game?

>>2924797
Sure, knock yourself out.

HCG101 is flawed but is still the best retro gaming site. I wish a better one would come about.

>>2924805
What would you want in a site?

I had some ideas, mostly what I posted, but I think some cool community things would be good like "game club" which would basically be book club but for video games.

>>2920981
Each trope listed on the site has a dedicated page explaining the trope with numerous examples of games/movies/TV shows/whatever that used it near the bottom of the page

>>2924805
They need to get people who actually know their shit to contribute to the site. I remember a Virtua Fighter player calling out most of the bullshit in their Virtua Fighter article.

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>>2924917
>>2924986
It's extremely hard to vet this kind of stuff so I humbly propose a hybrid between HCG101 and a Wiki style (like TV Tropes and uhhh... Wikipedia) with multiple people submitting info until the good shit floats to the top.

I remember /v/'s recommended games Wiki sucking when it started and nowadays it's pretty decent.

I also humbly request that you give /vr/ some credit for its creation and call it Very Retro or Violent Reagan or something with V.R...

Also I think HCG101 is too dry sometimes, make it fun, make it funny.

>>2925034
It wouldn't be exclusively retro

>>2924917
We (HG101) had a game club but nobody participated, that's why we're changing the format of the podcast. If you can figure out how to get people to participate that would be great, but mostly people would bitch about not wanting to play roms, or they didn't like the game, etc. so be forewarned.

>>2925058
>dropped

Nobody cares.

Go compete with IGN, faggot.

I used to agree with the wiki thing for HG101 additions, but after spending more time here, and looking at how other wikis end up it's obvious that people will just end up in a pissing match if they were given that option.

>>2923450
They stop doing that a long time ago thankfully. Why the fuck would you speak about yourself in an anonymous wiki anyway?

>>2925597
Ego. Inflated sense of self worth.

>>2925058
Ya blew it, faggot.

I have over 10,000 games and I speak Japanese. I'm not helping out on a site that shares space with modern niggergames.

>>2926138
Dude. It's MLK day.