I've been trying to play through retro JRPGs in chronological

>>3966984
Rather, the title is actually just "Dark Sider", singular.
I messed that.

If you're using an emulator to play it, try a different emulator? Maybe make sure the rom is not read-only (it might be trying to create a new save file in the disk image? I don't know. Not that familiar with MSX emulation)

Pre-internet doujin/indie games are the final frontier

Have you really played through everything just up until around Dragon Quest already? I'm going to assume no, just because there are a bunch and they are probably painful to playful to play past the point of being entertained by the novelty.

File: dark sider.png (73KB, 544x480px) Image search: [Google]

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I ended up getting it to work, so I'm happy.
After taking my first step out of town, I got instantly murdered by a catgirl in a random encounter. Fun stuff.

>>3967875
According to my arbitrary criteria of what should constitute a JRPG (I skipped some outliers that Wikipedia lists such as Rambo and eroges with no fantasy elements) the only ones I've knowingly skipped were ones which I was not able to properly emulate. The games predating Dragon Quest by my criteria number around 30, so it isn't insurmountable.

So far I've beaten a small handful, including "The Black Onyx", "Fantasian" and "Mugen no Shinzou" (this one took a long-ass time but I got into the habit of grinding while I watched TV or did other things). For the games I haven't beaten, I put at least 8~10 hours in them before moving if it feels like I'm not making any progress.

There is definitely a point where most of them become painful to play. But even if I have to give up, it's still fun to explore the video game equivalent of ancient unexplored ruins.

>>3968004
Catgirls kill.

>>3966984
>>3968004
Are you using BlueMSX?

File: ugly piece of shit.png (68KB, 544x481px) Image search: [Google]

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90% of all random encounters seem to be that same catgirl no matter what terrain I'm on. She deals between 18 and 62 damage per hit, and gets a sneak attack about a quarter of the time before you can act. You start with 20 HP and deal 3-4 damage.

As a change of pace, I was murdered by this lovely creature instead.
I'm convinced this is a game designed for masochists, since every single random encounter is a one-sided bloodbath and I haven't found anywhere to buy equipment. It's also listed as an eroge, but the only titillating thing I've seen so far is the ever-present border of a girl being bound by vines.

It must know its secrets.

>>3968010
I am, it works like a charm.

>>3968004
Have you played Xanadu?

>>3968048
She kinda looks like Umi from Magic Knight Rayearth.

>>3968048
Do you think the catgirl is some piracy measure?

>>3966984
>Dark Siders

>>3968345
He probably either needed to do something in town first like buy/find equipment or just hit an unlucky random. Scaling in early RPGs can be ruthless look at Phantasy Star.

>>3971293
>Play Ys
>Leave town
>Blue guy
>Brush him by a pixel
>Obliterated

>>3971293
>romancing_sa-ga_room.jpg

File: roper.png (75KB, 544x486px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3971293
>or just hit an unlucky random
That's what I thought at first too, but that catgirl is the weakest of the 4 different monsters I've found after hopelessly spending several hours trying to find some way to progress or win battles. The ugly bastard pictured here deals upwards of 280 damage per hit, and I was never able to accumulate a single experience point for my troubles.

After biting the bullet and translating the dialogue of various NPCs I eventually found a girl who blocks a pathway and says "I'm sorry! Because this game is for children(?), you've reached the end of the game. Those who wish to continue with DARK SIDER please write to the creators at CITY FACTORY."

With City Factory presumably being the name of a pre-internet doujin circle, since I can't find any other information on it, or this game anywhere on the net.

The only two dumps of this game I was able to scrounge up were exactly the same, so I think it's safe to say the full version of DARK SIDER has probably been lost to time.

At least I tried.

File: Dark Sider (19xx)(City Factory)_0000.png (22KB, 544x480px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3968048
Did you forget to equip? I gave the game a try and the catwoman dealt a 3 damage on a critical hit.

>>3968004
I've been doing this with old 1980s systems myself. Every time I load a game up for a dead system I feel like im the first person to set foot into that world in decades.

Kind of a surreal feeling indeed seeing some of these old dead worlds alive again

>>3971545
>so I think it's safe to say the full version of DARK SIDER has probably been lost to time.
Kinda sad and mysterious, I mean, the game already is pretty obscure by itself, but only a minority that touched this title know what full version is truly about, also for a game that predates DQ it has some well made sprites.

>>3971545
You could probably hack the ROM to remove the NPC and walk past her or something if you were so inclined. Now you've given it an air of mystery, I must know more.

>>3975267
Do we have any tangible proof that it's older than DQ?

>>3975561
Dragon Quest was released in May of '86.
One of the few Japanese sites I could find that even mentioned Dark Sider claimed it was released January 1st 1986, however looking back that may have just have been a placeholder date for an unknown release.

So not tangible, no. It's just as probable it was created within the months following Dragon Quest's release.

>>3968327
A little bit.