Gotzendiener: cool little PC-Engine Import

[Graham Mitchell]

Hey guys and gals! I haven't made much mention of it on Digital Press, but I'm really into collecting and playing PC-Engine Imports, particularly the Super CD games. There's a lot of little gems that you can discover if you look hard. (Hiho Densetsu, the remake of the first Valis, Brandish etc.) A lot of the games we didn't see in the west do have issues, it's true, but they often have some level of charm and innovation that are an interesting precursor to later, more polished games. (And many of them have awesome soundtracks.)

Gotzendiener is a neat 3/4 isometric view puzzle/action game I picked up awhile ago. I popped it in yesterday and was impressed with it. It's a reverse of the traditional save the princess story. The hero dies while trying to free the princess, leaving her (you) to fend for herself. Here's a pretty accurate write-up about it:

http://www.pcengine.co.uk/HTML_Games/Gotzendiener.htm

It's got problems for sure. It's really short, and there's not much to do despite having a huge map, so it makes the game feel kind of unfinished. But the it's got a great soundtrack (the chiptunes are actually pretty cool!) some impressive cinematics, and decent animation. Like the write-up above, I'm always compelled to keep going to see what's coming next, and I find the atmosphere dark and intense.

I'm a sucker for these 3/4 isometric viewpoint games (Equinox and Dark Savior are some of my all-time favorites.) Gotzendiener is definitely not among those, but it is kind of historically interesting, and has a dark, immersive setting.

Have any of you guys/gals played this game? What was your opinion of it?

[Emperor Megas]

I'll second you on that. Götzendiener is a fantastic little game, and it can be had for relatively cheap (unless it's changed over the years, I got my copy many years ago). Every PC Engine enthusiast should give it a try.

[Aussie2B]

There was actually a topic about this one before:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119030

[Steve W]

I only have a PC Engine without a CD adapter, so I can't try this one out. Too bad, it looks pretty good. If the game was so short and it uses chiptunes rather than redbook audio, why couldn't they have put it on a HUcard? Oh well.

[Emperor Megas]

I only have a PC Engine without a CD adapter, so I can't try this one out. Too bad, it looks pretty good.

Do you have a TurboGrafx with a CD add-on? There's no regional lock for TG/PC-Engine CD games.

[old man]

I got this game and liked it. Does anyone know where I might find a translation of the text? There isn't much there so it's probably a short write up.

[Damaramu]

Yup, I picked this up last year to play on my newly acquired Duo RX. While it's a great game, I found it completely unplayable using the original RX controller.

This changed after picking up a couple of Avenue Pad 6's!

[Aussie2B]

Yup, I picked this up last year to play on my newly acquired Duo RX. While it's a great game, I found it completely unplayable using the original RX controller.

This changed after picking up a couple of Avenue Pad 6's!

I find practically anything unplayable with that RX controller, haha. Yeah, the Avenue Pad 6 is where it's at. The funny thing is that the PC-FX controller is practically the same thing, but the D-pad is so much better. Granted, there aren't many PC-FX games that give its controller much of a workout.

[Graham Mitchell]

I only have a PC Engine without a CD adapter, so I can't try this one out. Too bad, it looks pretty good. If the game was so short and it uses chiptunes rather than redbook audio, why couldn't they have put it on a HUcard? Oh well.

While I have a duo, I've been using Magic Engine because it's superior to the original hardware in almost every way.

http://www.magicengine.com/

@Damaramu and Aussie 2B: when I was playing it on my Duo with the standard controller it was HORRIBLE. It requires a lot of diagonals, which is kind of stupid. Surprisingly, it plays just fine with my X-arcade stick.

@old man: SOME but not all of the text is translated in this guide:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/turbocd/5893...ner/faqs/55811
It's mainly the menu screen.