Tag Archives: Bandai

Choujikuu Yousai Macross

Reviews

Arcadia
05/1983 (Japan)
超時空要塞マクロス
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross

The very first Macross home console game appeared on the short-lived Bandai Arcadia, the Japanese variant of Emerson's Arcadia 2001 console that was released in the Japanese market by Bandai. This game is believed to have been released in May 1983 at a retail price of 3800 yen, though no official data seems to exist to support this. This was likely released around the same time as the Arcadia Gundam game, and while Gundam had been popular for a longer period of time (the TV series had begun airing in 1979), this was probably the ideal time for a Macross game since the first TV series was just about to wrap up. And though neither title was a particular impressive one, this Macross title may have come out on top. Continue Reading

Kidou Senshi Gundam

Reviews

Arcadia
05/1983 (Japan)
機動戦士ガンダム
Mobile Suit Gundam

The very first Gundam home console game was released in the height of Gundam-mania: A few years after the original TV series had wrapped up, approximately one year after the third and final compilation movie had hit theaters, but still a few years before Zeta Gundam (the second major TV series in the franchise) had begun. It debuted on a very unconventional piece of hardware for a Japanese game: The Bandai Arcadia. This was the variant of Emerson's Arcadia 2001 console that was manufactured by Bandai for the Japanese market (each country had its own version of the hardware, manufactured by a different company). The release date is believed to have been sometime in May 1983, and the retail price 3800 yen, though no official data seems to exist on either of these points. This was still a pre-Famicom market in Japan, and release dates weren't as carefully tracked. Continue Reading

Gundam Musou International

Reviews

XBox 360
12/27/2007 (Japan), 08/28/2007 (US), 11/09/2007 (PAL)
ガンダム無双インターナショナル
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

In Japan, Gundam Musou was originally released on 03/01/2007, only on the Playstation 3. It came to the Playstation 3 and XBox 360 simultaneously in the US on 08/28/2007 and to other PAL regions on 11/09/2007 as Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, with localized voices. Surprisingly, Gundam Musou would also be released in Japan on the XBox 360 later in the year as Gundam Musou International. Continue Reading

Gundam Musou

Reviews

Playstation 3
03/01/2007 (Japan), 08/28/2007 (US), 11/09/2007 (PAL)
ガンダム無双
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

There have been a ton of different Gundam games over the years, but the best regarded ones tended to be either fighting games or strategy RPGs. Gundam Musou was the first time that Koei Tecmo put a separate licensed property into a game in its already long running history of Musou titles, which until now had been completely focused around characters from Chinese or Japanese history. This decision didn't make a lot of Gundam fans happy though: The less artful, repetitive nature of a beat-em-up in the Musou series probably just felt too far away from those Gundam games everyone loved. But does Gundam really fit so badly into the Musou template? Sure it doesn't have the depth of a good fighting game or require the thought of a strategy RPG, but I'd argue that the fit turned out to be a rather good one. Continue Reading

Dragon Ball: Daimaou Fukkatsu

Reviews

Famicom/NES
08/12/1988 (Japan)
ドラゴンボール大魔王復活
Dragon Ball: Resurrection of the Evil King

As was eluded to at the end of my article about the last Dragon Ball game on the Famicom, Dragon Ball: Shen Long no Nazo, this game franchise is about to enter what I consider to be a dark place. It won't be immediately obvious with this game, but it will certainly open the door to where things are headed. Dragon Ball: Daimaou Fukkatsu picks up basically where Shen Long no Nazo left off in the Dragon Ball story line (though many story elements have been significantly altered from the source material), at the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the King Piccolo saga. Goku returns home to the Kame House after having fought against Tien Shinhan in the Tenkaichi Tournament, only to find his buddy Krillin dead. So begins the adventure! Continue Reading

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