Author Archives: BClarkOMP

The Yellow Monkey: Trancemission VJ Remix

Reviews

Hardware: PlayStation
04/14/2000 (Japan)

This is less of a game, and more of a multimedia promotion tool for the movie Trancemission and the rock band The Yellow Monkey. For an overview on The Yellow Monkey, look no further than my article about Perfect Performer (the previous PS1 game they were featured in), or my ongoing look into their career if you're interested in more details.

Trancemission was the first film by director Eiki Takahashi, and was a science fiction drama released in 1999. Takahashi was the director of "Spark" music video, The Yellow Monkey's 10th single that released in 1996. The band even appeared in this movie as futuristic policeman, and their 18th single "So Young" was used as the theme song for the movie. It also starred Jun Murakami, Natsuo Ishidou, and Chiharu Kawai. Matsudo (played by Murakami) is a regular salary man working in the stock market in forward trading. One day he gets a promotion, but something seems off. He's kidnapped by a mysterious organization, brain washed, and is now under their control.

Our Nostalgic Games: Moon Patrol

Magazine Translations

Our Nostalgic Games ~Retro Gamer Roundtable~ #179

Editors passionately discussing games playable on modern hardware that are just as good as they've ever been!

Arcade Archives Neo Geo (PS4) - Moon Patrol

A side-scrolling action game from Irem. Controlling a moon buggy that shoots up and forward, this game features Beginner and Champion courses.

Original Release Year: 1982
Hardware: Arcade
Date of Digital Release: 03/22/2018
Maker: Hamster

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi Dinner Show

Magazine Translations

Japan's Best Singing Sega Employee Belts Out During a Company Dinner! Our Full Report of the Takenobu Mitsuyoshi Dinner Show!

By Umanami Rei

There are a lot more photos from the event available in the original article!

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi Dinner Show @ A Company Cafeteria

A lot of people probably went crazy when this was tweeted out on Sega's official Twitter account on 10/28/2019. Sega Interactive sound creator Takenobu Mitsuyoshi is known worldwide as "Japan's best singing salary man", and is a point of pride at Sega. Be that as it may, it turned into a big deal online with people asking "An employee is singing at a company dinner?" and "Why a dinner show?" about this never before attempted experiment. But it's out of fashion for the media to let such an interesting...no...ground-breaking first of an event to be left uncovered! Famitsu.com hurriedly got the scoop, and now we bring you the results of me sneaking into this Sega Sammy Group employees-only event!

Mega Drive Darius: Have Fun With This Historical What-If of a Port

Magazine Translations

Yuuichi Toyama (Taito Development Division 2, Development Department, left)
Katsuhisa Ishikawa (Taito Development Division 1, Head of Sound Department, right)

What were each of you doing when Darius first came out?

(Toyama) I would have been working on Thunder Force III at Technosoft around then. I was responsible for game development on the MSX, but was very jealous of the capabilities of arcade hardware (Laughs) I played Darius quite a bit and everything about it astounded me, including the three screen cabinet.

(Ishikawa) I was still in high school. I remember thinking what an amazing game Darius was when it rattled the windows of the old shop I used to play it in, with the huge sound it put out from the Body Sonic system (Laughs)

Today’s Akihabara With UK

Magazine Translations

Interview/Article - Yukio Hayashi
Photography - Hiroyuki Matsuzaki (https://www.instagram.com/itl_mtzk/)

UK is the guitarist in a duo called MOROHA, that blends music and spoken words. He also loves games and Akihabara. We talked to him about why he's so entranced with Akihabara as we walked around the area for around three hours, as it poured down rain during the rainy season.

1:00 PM on 6/10, pouring rain. JR Akihabara Station, the Electric Town exit.

It's too bad that it's pouring rain, but thanks for doing this.

(UK) Thank you.

First off, I'd like to hear some of your memories of Akihabara over lunch. Where do you usually eat when you come here?

(UK) Sure. A lot of the times it's ramen or something, but I go to Gansen a lot too.

Ahh, Gansen's great. Let's go.

1:10 PM, pouring rain. In front of Gansen.

...Looks like it's closed today and tomorrow (Laughs)

(UK) Too bad! Alright, let's go get some curry from a place near Suehirocho station instead.