Daria Reviews Wonder Project J [SNES]

[Daria]

Treasure of the Rudras is the best RPG from Squaresoft to remain unreleased in the West

[lendelin]

Great that you reviewed Treasure of the Rudras!

Recently I read up more in depth about Super Famicom RPGs not released in the US and Europe, and I discovered Repro carts of these games. I have to play these games, I had no idea how many fantastic SNES-RPGS were unfortunately never released in America. I am so looking forward to play these fantastic games.

I 'll buy the following games very soon, do you have other suggestions? I might have overlooked some must-have games.

Secret of Mana 2
Tales of Phantasia
Star Ocean
Treasure of the Rudras
Romancing Saga 3

I really want the Tales game because I have all the Tales games released in the US (for consoles, I don't collect and play handhelds except for the couple of GBA games I have which I play with the Gameboy Player on the GameCube).

[Daria]

Great that you reviewed Treasure of the Rudras!

Recently I read up more in depth about Super Famicom RPGs not released in the US and Europe, and I discovered Repro carts of these games. I have to play these games, I had no idea how many fantastic SNES-RPGS were unfortunately never released in America. I am so looking forward to play these fantastic games.

I 'll buy the following games very soon, do you have other suggestions? I might have overlooked some must-have games.

Secret of Mana 2
Tales of Phantasia
Star Ocean
Treasure of the Rudras
Romancing Saga 3

I really want the Tales game because I have all the Tales games released in the US (for consoles, I don't collect and play handhelds except for the couple of GBA games I have which I play with the Gameboy Player on the GameCube).

Just warning you, Romancing Saga 3 doesn't have a finished translation and your character name displays with weird spacing issues (drives me nuts). It's mostly done, but I'd hold on a reproduction honestly. Tales of Phantasia's a good game, the SNES translation has a lot of swearing which a lot of people complain about. I didn't mind it, but it does sound out of place. The upgraded PSX version has two complete translations available, if I were to play the game again today it would be one of those and not the SNES version. Just for the updated graphics and additional party character. Also I'd probably just stick to the PSP version of Star Ocean, but there's nothing wrong with the SNES original. Seiken Densetsu 3 is a must play though! As is (obviously) Rudra.

I also really liked:

Dragon Quest III (the SFC remake is gorgeous)
Dragon Quest V (yeah it's on DS but this is one of my favorite games)
Dark Half (haven't spent too much time on this one but the concept of playing a vampire who has to eat NPCs to survive is a great hook)
FEDA (It's like a darker more serious Shining Force)
Glory of Heracles 3 (a really solid Dragon Quest clone in ancient Greece)
Live A Live (Plays a lot like Saga Frontier, choose different chapters set in different time periods and genre settings with their own parties and gameplay styles)
Madou Monogatari (You play a 6 year old little girl who happens to be the mascot from the puyo puyo games. She's a kindergartener in magic school and has to pass her final exam. It's a pretty simple game, but adorable and funny)
Emerald Dragon (pretty basic RPG but I really liked the characters)
Sailor Moon Another Story (Very pink. Terrible difficulty balance. But - dammit I really liked it. The story was all over the place and advanced quickly. Each sailor scout has her own mission, so you get a ton of backstory and character development)
Radical Dreamers (Not an RPG. But a visual novel that ties in with Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Very well written and absolutely worth playing if you're a fan of the series).

My three favorite SFC translations aren't RPGs though.
Clock Tower (point and click survival horror)
Wonder Project J (point and click, life sim adventure game)
Famicom Detective Club Part 2 (murder mystery visual novel)

There's a bunch I still haven't played though.

[lendelin]

Just warning you, Romancing Saga 3 doesn't have a finished translation and your character name displays with weird spacing issues (drives me nuts). It's mostly done, but I'd hold on a reproduction honestly. Tales of Phantasia's a good game, the SNES translation has a lot of swearing which a lot of people complain about. I didn't mind it, but it does sound out of place. The upgraded PSX version has two complete translations available, if I were to play the game again today it would be one of those and not the SNES version. Just for the updated graphics and additional party character. Also I'd probably just stick to the PSP version of Star Ocean, but there's nothing wrong with the SNES original. Seiken Densetsu 3 is a must play though! As is (obviously) Rudra.

I also really liked:

Dragon Quest III (the SFC remake is gorgeous)
Dragon Quest V (yeah it's on DS but this is one of my favorite games)
Dark Half (haven't spent too much time on this one but the concept of playing a vampire who has to eat NPCs to survive is a great hook)
FEDA (It's like a darker more serious Shining Force)
Glory of Heracles 3 (a really solid Dragon Quest clone in ancient Greece)
Live A Live (Plays a lot like Saga Frontier, choose different chapters set in different time periods and genre settings with their own parties and gameplay styles)
Madou Monogatari (You play a 6 year old little girl who happens to be the mascot from the puyo puyo games. She's a kindergartener in magic school and has to pass her final exam. It's a pretty simple game, but adorable and funny)
Emerald Dragon (pretty basic RPG but I really liked the characters)
Sailor Moon Another Story (Very pink. Terrible difficulty balance. But - dammit I really liked it. The story was all over the place and advanced quickly. Each sailor scout has her own mission, so you get a ton of backstory and character development)
Radical Dreamers (Not an RPG. But a visual novel that ties in with Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Very well written and absolutely worth playing if you're a fan of the series).

My three favorite SFC translations aren't RPGs though.
Clock Tower (point and click survival horror)
Wonder Project J (point and click, life sim adventure game)
Famicom Detective Club Part 2 (murder mystery visual novel)

There's a bunch I still haven't played though.

Thanks so much! This helps a lot. I'll wait then with Romancing Saga 3, I would have regret it buying it already. Yeah, Secret of Mana 2 and Rudras are a given, I'll look into the other suggestions. Is the Tales of Phantasia PS version the regular commercial Japanese one which offers also an English translation?

The Dragon Quests III and V look very tempting. Very, very tempting.

[Daria]

Is the Tales of Phantasia PS version the regular commercial Japanese one which offers also an English translation?

Not sure what you mean, but I think you need an image of the regular Japanese release, not the "best of" or whatever they call their GH games. Absolute Zero has probably the better translation, but Cless Productions patch includes a lot of game tweaks. I don't know which is the better option. It's a matter of personal preference.

[Daria]

Wanted to do something fun for Valentine's Day but missed the deadline. :P

[Guntz]

I didn't realize before how much cheesy singing there is in Rhapsody, wow.

[Daria]

I didn't realize before how much cheesy singing there is in Rhapsody, wow.

The scary part is I really highlighted the "good" songs. But overall the soundtrack falls under the "so bad it's GRRREAT!" theory.

[celerystalker]

The scary part is I really highlighted the "good" songs. But overall the soundtrack falls under the "so bad it's GRRREAT!" theory.

When that game launched, I was assistant manager at a FuncoLand. I used to put the soundtrack CD in a PlayStation behind the counter, and a coworker named Eric and I would loudly sing the "Mountain Men" song every time it came up, regardless of what was happening in the store. Second best sing-a-long we ever had in that place. We also occasionally did a duet on the opening song, where I sang all of Cornette's parts while he sang the other girl's parts. Good times.

[Daria]

When that game launched, I was assistant manager at a FuncoLand. I used to put the soundtrack CD in a PlayStation behind the counter, and a coworker named Eric and I would loudly sing the "Mountain Men" song every time it came up, regardless of what was happening in the store. Second best sing-a-long we ever had in that place. We also occasionally did a duet on the opening song, where I sang all of Cornette's parts while he sang the other girl's parts. Good times.

Holy crap that's hilarious! I'm going to forever picture that when I hear the song now. XD

[Guntz]

I hope you got promoted to manager for that.

[lendelin]

Great topic! I enjoyed the video as always. But one thing I won't forgive you, Daria - after viewing your video I actually listened to the Rhapsody soundtrack CD. It was wonderfully awful. I think the songs must be heard while playing the game, after 10 minutes playing the songs in the background I had to turn them off.

I have this game now for over ten years on my shelves and never even looked at it. Thanks for reviewing it, I'll give the game a try just for the heck of it. The other two games sound very interesting as well. Again: great topic!

[Daria]

New video! I've reviewed three really unpoplular Genesis RPGs to see if there's anything worth playing here.

[celerystalker]

I like Sorcerer's Kingdom quite a bit. It definitely is quirky, but its length is just about right to get you through it without getting old. Fun game.

[lendelin]

Great 'Unepic Adventures' - review! I haven't played any of the games, but Sorcerer's Kingdom might be worthwhile. A long time ago I wanted to buy Traysia but thanks goodness I didn't because I read that it was a pretty bad game. I bought instead another game and spend twice the money -- it was Crusader of Centy. I don't regret this decision.

To me it is still amazing how some games of the 8-bit- and 16-bit-eras failed to grab the players attention in the first hour of gameplay or just made it so terribly frustrating that you didn't give the game a second chance. Like with Sorcerer's Kingdom. I think game developers are nowadays much better to introduce the player slowly with rewards into gameplay. Something Nintendo and Miyamoto always mastered and implemented to perfection.

But then it might also be a generational aspect of patience and expectations - while you had to evoke the players interest back then in the first hour of gameplay, today you have to do it in the first five minutes.

[Daria]

Yeah even if you discount the monetary value, I'd take Crusader over Sorcerer any day.

I'm not sure that Sorcerer is a product of its time as much as it's just unbalanced. It's a shame even Treco didn't have the foresight to tweak the beginning enemies to make the first quest playable before publishing the game.

[Daria]

Now for something a little different:

[celerystalker]

Lots of good games there, and I always like an opportunity to say how much I love Xanadu.

I spent a good amount of time with the Famicom version of The Black Onyx, Super Black Onyx. It's really well done, and its first person crawl is surprisingly smooth. The battle system completely kicks ass, and it's neat how you can encounter random adventurers also raiding the tower and either fight them or get them to join your party if you have any openings.

[Daria]

Lots of good games there, and I always like an opportunity to say how much I love Xanadu.

I spent a good amount of time with the Famicom version of The Black Onyx, Super Black Onyx. It's really well done, and its first person crawl is surprisingly smooth. The battle system completely kicks ass, and it's neat how you can encounter random adventurers also raiding the tower and either fight them or get them to join your party if you have any openings.

I wanted to ask you since I saw you've obviously played it extensively. Is it completely in English? It looked like it was from the videos I was browsing and I'm thinking of picking it up.

[celerystalker]

All of the important stuff is in english. The shops, the menus, item descriptions... all english. Being a dungeon crawl, that's about all there is to it text-wise. Definitely a game that needs a map, though, whether from online or if you feel like going old-school and getting out the graph paper. I also posted a write up explaining the combat in this thread:

https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/s...=1#post2021137