Ogre Run

a bunch of butterflies planted in a pattern

four colored squares (blue, yellow, purple, red) set up on grass

hanging frames of various colored flowers

butterfly wings next to gender signs on cabbage leaves

Coming this Friday: English subtitles for legendary documentary filmmaker Sumiko Haneda's gorgeous short, The Cabbage Butterfly!

It's stunning work, a masterpiece of form that unlocks quietly profound meditations on our world through the scientific process

Get excited!

Each magazine had about a three-year run, almost exactly 10 years apart (Dual Magazine ’82-‘85, Mecha Press ‘92-‘95). Japan was 5-10 years behind the US getting into board wargaming and RPGs, but the US was 10 years behind Japan with anime wargames and RPGs.

IT'S COMING!

I'm stoked to announce the upcoming English translation patch for the PS1 Lovecraft-inspired horror RPG "Ningyo no rakuin", now named "The Curse of Ogaeritō"!

ETA? When It's Done™ (soon!)

Stay tuned for more updates!

#NingyoNoRakuin
#FanTranslation
#PS1
#Retrogaming

There is no enemy variety and the level design is nonexistent. As for your own tactics, they also remain unchanged throughout. Still, the weapon animations are stylish, and I haven't grown tired of watching them just yet.

Here's an example of gaining new weaponry. I've seen more casual comments speculate that the combat is similar to Kingdom Hearts. Unfortunately, that's not the case at all. Despite the care put into the story and art, the combat is extremely shallow.

My patience has paid off as I've now come to understand the game's underlying systems, including the flow of combat, the leveling mechanics, and mutation. Indeed, your character does grow faster and stronger by continuously absorbing enemies.

Cookie Cutter RM2k3 Jam A game jam from 2026-02-07 to 2026-03-01 hosted by Far Away Times. Have you always wanted to make an RPG? Now's your chance! Steps for Participating Acquire a copy of RPGMaker 2003! You can purchase i...

Oops I'm running a game jam! Make an RPG using pre-made maps; figure out how to give it your own spin without changing any of the tiles. Feel free to join in on the fun! itch.io/jam/cookie-c...

Mecha from Montreal, A History of Heavy Gear Ch. I: Protoculture Addicts & Mecha Press Wearing its VOTOMS influence on its sleeve, the tabletop game Heavy Gear rose to prominence in the late ’90s. It had come, albeit indirectly, out of foundations laid in 1987 by a handful of C…

I've slowly been working on series of article tracing the history of Heavy Gear, the VOTOMS-influenced tabletop game that arrived in 1995 and still exists today. The game's origins lay with a couple of early anime magazines, Protoculture Addicts and Mecha Press.

www.zimmerit.moe/protoculture...

Two new things for you today for the same low price of free:

1: a research dump on the two most obscure British PC gaming magazines I've ever stumbled on: PC Strategy Games and Strategy Player. Neither is easy to search for, so I've put all known info in one place: savestate.site/a-lore-dump-on...

Open palms grasp towards a man’s face.

Black tree branches pierce through a white sky. “No one can be young forever. We all grow old eventually.”

A well manicured hand grasps a microphone. “Maybe there are a lot of tragic love songs among the karaoke hits…..Because we all want to be comforted.”

Two office buildings flank a desolate playground. “There’s no such thing as “everyone.””

Tokyo Babylon (Clamp, 1990 – 1993)

Open palms grasp towards a man’s face.

Black tree branches pierce through a white sky. “No one can be young forever. We all grow old eventually.”

A well manicured hand grasps a microphone. “Maybe there are a lot of tragic love songs among the karaoke hits…..Because we all want to be comforted.”

Two office buildings flank a desolate playground. “There’s no such thing as “everyone.””

Tokyo Babylon (Clamp, 1990 – 1993)

Last year's Japanese release of Dragon Quest VIII brought with it the first trailer for Square Enix's all new franchise, Code Age. It took about four months, but we now at last have specifics on what Square Enix has planned for the property. Code Age is going to be a big franchise for Square Enix, with products appearing across all forms of media. Already, a Code Age comic has been announced, set to be published in the monthly Shounen GanGan comic in Japan. Gamers looking to experience the franchise will be able to do so through Code Age Commanders, a new fantasy action RPG featuring being developed for the PlayStation 2. There's a third project known to be in the works, but its identity has yet to be revealed (we've got our money on a cartoon). Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/04/01/code-age-commanders

Obviously, the whole franchise was a failure and never took off. I have been chuckling at this IGN article and the idea that this a Code Age world and we're just living in it.

A spaceship explodes.

Two warriors stand together.

A man carries away a woman in flight.

The game's level system.

But I’ve kept at it, defeating the boss I was stuck on and giving an earnest attempt to understand the game. The story and its presentation are interesting, and underneath the combat, there seems to be a proficiency-based system paired with stat-raises in the form of DNA manipulation.

On the one hand, the reviews were not wrong. The game starts off with only one combo, grunt enemies are too easy even if the player character feels so weak, and bosses are extremely difficult and seem to be playing an altogether entirely different game.

Going online, the majority of reviews I encountered were negative, pointing out that game play is sluggish, there is no jumping, the mechanics are unintuitive, and the game is too hard. I was primed to become the biggest Code Age defender. Well, what’s the actual game like?

YouTube video by gardnaeden Code Age Commanders Soundtrack Disc 1 Track 26 - Zaurak Terminal ☆

It would be the brainchild of Yusuke Naora, who was the art-director for USaGa and who would also serve as the game’s producer. The soundtrack was composed by Kumi Tanaoka who was coming off Crystal Chronicles and FFXI. Like the character designs, it’s quite stylish: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdv...

I’ve become deeply curious about another black-sheep Square title of the time, one that Kawazu also worked on, Code Age Commanders, a game I kept finding for bargain bin prices. Why is this game so cheap? It seems that Square attempted a wholly new I.P. with a relatively fresh team

"Floating higher and higher. It's a wonderful feeling." This month, I'll be writing about one of my favorite games of all time: the divisive, the messy, the experimental Unlimited SaGa! Akitoshi Kawazu's no holds barred love letter to tabletop game design and his refusal to adhere to the norm!

The National Diet Library is exploring the possibility of extending its Digitized Transmission Service for Individuals (DCTI) to those residing outside of Japan. To understand potential demand, the NDL and CULCON have created a survey. Deadline for responses 3/31! forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

Not gold that glitters, or interviews with collectors from different countries. Part 5. Tunisia. Today we present to you the fifth episode — Tunisia (with concurrent coverage of the Middle East) and its resident, hiding under the call…

UnknDoomer from old-games.ru has been doing a series of interviews with game collectors around the world. This week he spoke with guys from Taiwan & Tunisia.

While it's stiff, it's an interesting look at the struggles of being a dev/collector in poorer parts of the world:
medium.com/@unkndoomer/...

The Use of Life on Steam The Use of Life is a multi-ending adventure book style JRPG. The main character’s various attachments change in accordance with the choices the player makes, and the ending changes depending on “the u...

That’s fair enough. If you haven’t played it, check out The Use of Life, an RPG from last year that I think has a similar design ethos: store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/...

I don’t know when, but at some point, I would also like to write about CyberConnect2’s Fuga series.

"Floating higher and higher. It's a wonderful feeling." This month, I'll be writing about one of my favorite games of all time: the divisive, the messy, the experimental Unlimited SaGa! Akitoshi Kawazu's no holds barred love letter to tabletop game design and his refusal to adhere to the norm!

Save 10% on Don't Stop, Girlypop! on Steam Spread the love! Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is a Y2K arena movement shooter where standing still is not an option. ❤ Just ❤ Don’t ❤ Stop ❤ Moving! ❤

Don't Stop, Girlypop!: A Y2K maximalist arena movement shooter. Reminds me of Ryan Trecartin's films although irony-tinged/adjacent FPS are also their own genre (see Cruelty Squad/BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3): store.steampowered.com/app/2610650/...

Drowning Song of the Stagnant Sea on Steam A dark fairy tale set in the deep sea. The fated encounter between a sea monster and a human forever changes their lives in this visual novel. Contains platonic yuri.

Drowning Song of the Stagnant Sea: A visual novel centering on a scylla who wants to devour a human woman she becomes obsessed with: store.steampowered.com/app/3966180/...

Sidereal Wanderer ST on Steam To master space warfare, the evolution of ‘Side Real Wanderer’ continues. On a battlefield formed from an 8x8 grid, annihilate hostile forces.

Keeping tabs on Waku Waku Games who also published last year's Ghostwriter Workshop and this year's One Turn Kill.

Sidereal Wanderer ST: An enhanced remake of Sidereal Wanderer, a space-military strategy game: store.steampowered.com/app/3894200/...

Ad for Sound Novel Tsukuru 2. Taken from Dengeki PlayStation Vol. 55 (1997-9-26). SOURCE: https://archive.org/details/play-station-vol.-55-1997-9-26/page/n5/mode/2up

This is an ad for Sound Novel Tsukuru 2, a tool for making games similar to Chunsoft's sound novels. Ryukishi07 actually attempted to make his own novel game using this software on the Sega Saturn. This experience began the domino effect that eventually led to him creating Higurashi years later.

A magazine page describing Hydlide as an "Active Role Playing Game." From LOGiN September 1985.

A magazine page describing different T&E games with different genres. Daiva is an "active simulation war" game and Laydock is a "movie space shooting game." From LOGiN November 1987.

A magazine page describing Falcom's Dragon Slayer as "a new type of real time role-playing game." From LOGiN September 1985.

A magazine page describing Game Arts' Zeliard as a "Fantasy Action Game." From LOGiN November 1987.

I’m also curious. T&E Soft used the same term for the first Hydelide and they even had more sub-genres for their other titles. But I can’t say that I’ve come across other developers using any of these. There were all sorts of different names for sub-genres that never quite caught on.

Final Fantasy Tactics Translation Comparison (OG vs WotL) – Chapter 1: Gariland to Dorter Slums The following is the second part in my series comparing the original and WotL translations of Final Fantasy Tactics. In this section, I cover the beginning of chapter 1 through to the post-battle c…

Starting the year off with the second part in my series comparing the original and WotL translations of Final Fantasy Tactics!

In this section, I cover the beginning of chapter 1 through to the post-battle cutscene at Dorter Slums.

Hope you enjoy!

annacairistiona.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/f...