#it's the reason i put it on pause

[claire-starsword]

The Shining Series’ lost mobile games

so, apparently japanese company G-MODE has an archive of old mobile games for the Nintendo Switch (and maybe Steam as well? so I’ve heard but i’m having trouble finding it). If you don’t know, Japan had a lot of unique pre-smartphone technologies, and a lot of games produced specifically for these platforms as well. Because these services have finally shutdown in recent years, these games are now inaccessible for the public and in danger of being lost forever, which sucks big time, so it’s nice to know at least one company that cares to keep them around, and their archive apparently even includes some third-party games besides their own.

how did I find this out? They’re celebrating the archive’s third anniversary by asking people of games they’d like to see added. They’ll be taking replies until April 30th. I don’t put much stock in that kinda thing, since i know nothing of business so who knows what kinds of negotiations are required for that kind of thing to begin with, it’s not guaranteed any suggestions will be added. Besides, I’m of the feeling that if certain big companies (like say, Sega, hypothetically) wanted to preserve their stuff they’d already done it on their own.

am I still clowning out there asking for shining force stuff? You silly bean of course I am. And more people are asking for Sega stuff as well. So I’m inviting you to clown with us, or at the very least get to know what stuff was once out there to begin with, because the Shining series has quite a few of these games, including tactical RPG entries that classic fans have always wanted back, and it sucks that they’re simply lost and uncared for now.

(Note: should you really decide to reply the tweet, here’s a template if you don’t know japanese:

タイトル: [game’s name, preferably in japanese of course]

メーカー名: [name of the company that made the game]

#GMODEアーカイブス)

So let’s begin with the games that have already popped up in this blog:

Shining Force Chronicles I/II/III (シャイニング・フォース クロニクル I/II/III)

The Shining Force Chronicles trilogy were ports of the Game Gear’s Shining Force Gaiden games. As you can see above though, they had different graphics. They are also very weird in that they seem to have been vvvvvery briefly available on Play Store as well? And then removed? And then accessible only through a Sega subscription service that has also shutdown??? so yeah it’s weird, but Android versions seem to exist as well, despite being just as lost. I tried very hard to find apk files but got nothing. If you ever do,

please

Ahem. At the very least, sprite dumps of the games (SFCIII here) exist in the Shining Force Central forums, so we can enjoy the updated graphics to some extent. I’ve even posted some comparisons between them and the originals for Gaiden III - Final Conflict before, but while the battle sprites there are only resized versions of the game gear ones, I and II did better and straight up redrew some to make them distinct as opposed to palette swaps.

Here’s some examples, pretty cool right? Sadly the game’s animations were more limited so there aren’t as many frames, but I still appreciate the heck out of these.

Shining Road -to the force- (シャイニング・ロード　～トゥ･ザ･フォース～)

I sadly cannot find footage of this game at all, so all I know comes from the archived website. It seems to be a turn based dungeon crawling RPG where you and your party members move together tile by tile and must figure your way through the dungeon without getting separated. Each of the four playable characters has their own attack range, and depending of your formation around enemies, it is possible to unleash combo attacks.

It’s hard to judge without seeing the game in action, but it feels to me they were trying to mix up the tactical rpg roots of the series with the dungeon crawling and smaller parties of Shining Soul, and in fact, the game does lift assets straight up from the Soul games. The character sprites however have a lot more color and are very pretty in my opinion.

Story wise it takes place in the same world as Shining Tears, following the story of Affen, a treasure hunter who dreams of becoming the first human Beast King General of the kingdom of Bestia. I’m not too familiar with the Tears setting to comment on that, but I’ll note that two out of the other three party members are said to dislike humans. The game got a sequel, Shining Road 2 -Priestess of the Dark Dragon- (シャイニング・ロード２ ～黒き竜の巫女～) which seems to be essentially the same in terms of gameplay.

Shining Force EXA Mobile (シャイニング・フォース イクサモバイル)

Sadly I cannot find footage of this one either, but as you can see in the pictures, this one is a tactical RPG like the classics, but with the world and cast of Shining Force EXA. The archived website is poor in information compared to the other games here, but it mentions the Geo-Fort being playable and capable of upgrades like in the PS2 version, which might be this game’s distinctive feature in terms of gameplay.

Story wise, it seems to take place somewhere during the original game’s plot, with the characters being transported to another world by a mysterious gate, losing their memories in the process. It sounds like a very excuse-y filler plot, but according to the one liveblog i managed to find, it actually delves into Toma’s backstory quite a bit, and also introduces new characters related to Faulklin and Duga.

I didn’t play EXA but did enjoy the story quite a bit, so I’d love to see more of this characters. Out of all games in this list, this is the one I’m most curious about. Sadly I can’t even find pictures of its exclusive characters though... I’d love to see an older dog boy in the series.

Shining Wind X ~Weissritter War Chronicle~ (シャイニング・ウィンド・クロス　~ヴァイスリッター戦記~)

Ah, the classic japanese of putting letters in names and reading them however you want. That is meant to be read as “Shining Wind Cross”, and it’s a tactical RPG like the classics, with the world and characters of Shining Tears/Wind fighting a bunch of dark elves.

What little footage I could find of it sadly does not show battles, but it shows certain assets are lifted directly from Shining Force Chronicles, and the archived website confirms that yup, it plays very much like the Chronicles/Gaiden games, alternating between tactical battles with a party of up to 12 characters, and HQ stops where you manage your party, items and everything else. These HQ stops also allow you to talk with your party members, including choosing dialogue options that might deepen your bond with a character, unlocking extra story events. As a soulblader, the main character Soma also gets to select a partner each battle and do special link skills with them, whose strength also depends on your bond with them.

Thankfully this one also has a character page so we see the whole playable cast, which includes a bunch of centaurs, blind foxling monk, and, crow birdman ninja, which wields a staff?? for some reason??? i’m a bit confused at his class but he does look sick as hell and that’s mostly what i want of a shining game.

__

So yeah, this is mostly all I know about these mobile games, if anyone has more info please let me know, it sucks that they and so many others are stuck in limbo, and finding any information at all is hard, everybody say thank you Wayback Machine for what little i have here. Also, if anyone wants direct translations of certain pages here let me know, I did summaries only because i don’t want this post to get even bigger.

[alevens]

zolu is maybe one of the easiest ships i've ever liked. they're dating, except when they're not, they're best friends even when they're kissing and they're still captain and first mate when they aren't. they hold hands, they hug. they have sex. they don't.

Luffy can hold Zoro's katanas and Zoro can hold Luffy's strawhat and no one bats an eye. one says "You're so cool!" and the other says "You're strong" and it's just another way to say "I see you, this is why I follow you/this is why I trust you". it's not seeing each other for a long time and still knowing how the other's steps sound like against wood and sand. the captain runs and the first mate follows. it's always "Zoro and the others" and "Where's Luffy?"

if they're just friends, if they're something more, if they don't have a label for it, at its core, it's just about how they get each other. they understand how the other's mind works. however you view them, it doesn't erase they fact that they love each other in a way they don't love other people.

[chirpsythismorning]

Case should be closed based on this alone

[fumifooms]

I’ve been seeing a lot of people shit on straight couples in shipping and in general as a "joke" lately, particularly in the Dungeon Meshi fandom. Friendly reminder that, besides the evil straights, when you mock or put down straight couples for being straight/"not queer enough", you also make bi and pan people, and trans and ace people who experience hetero attraction feel unwelcome and lesser. Negativity hurts, love is love, happy valentine’s!

[ispyspookymansion]

gripping the counter. Misgendering and deadnaming at work constantly dont matter because its not real thats not Real to me so i dont care its a worksona i dont care i dont care i dont c

[encrucijada]

missing her (evergreen lung)

[iknowwhereyousleepatnight]

hmmm should i go through all of the dramas and musicals and other dn medias to compare light's wardrobes there as well as from the anime and manga or is that too much work

[millidew]

it’s important to me that in contrast to how I see the other protags, red is largely Alone on his journey outside his pokemon. i don't think he's good at continuing relationships when the other person's out of sight. ash and pokespe!red and their friends save the world, the johto kids end up traveling in a group, their rivals aren’t your-only-childhood-friends-turned-bullies, etc etc. which is to say that I have no idea what to do with ms leaf green

^a draft from before i got the answer beamed into my head

[crimeronan]

chronically ill people will see the rapid3 questionnaire ask "do you have problems with dressing yourself each day, including doing up buttons and tying shoelaces" and be like "ah, this does not describe me, for you see i have a System" and folks. that is what the question is getting at,

[writingislife20]

I want a book about post-apocalyptic world, it starts out with these four survivors, who are all in their early to mid twenties, with the oldest being 25. They are trying to find other survivors/find out what started the apocalypse. I want them to be traveling, getting close to where they think the apocalypse started and surrounded by a group of creatures (I’m thinking zombies, but if you can be more original, let me know.)

Just when they are starting to despair, a car horn sounds. A minivan careens into the circle, killing several of the horde of creatures. A door is thrown open, and a preteen girl pitches her head out and screams at the top of her lungs “ GET IN!!!”

They start scrambling into the minivan, while the monster shuffle at them. When the last person gets in, the girl throws the door closed and yells, ” Step on it, Rosie, and don’t hit another building!”

They turned to see a nine-year-old girl in the driver seat, with a 13-year-old boy looking like he was about to hurl. They drive so fast that one of the passengers definitely gets close to sickness. The nine-year-old keeps giggling, and whoever’s point of view it is is death scared of this little girl.

They get driven to this camp area that has obviously been turned into a hideout, with a gate enclosing it. There, they are greeted with a gaggle of kids, ranging from 7 to 16, with two elderly women, and a girl who stands out as being the oldest and probably the leader. She seems to be a lot older, and is very confident, giving directions to everyone. She takes the four of them to a side room, and shuts the door. All four of them are preparing for some sort of shovel talk. None of them are expecting to see this girl to sigh, lean against the wall and ask “Are any of you homophobic? because I am not willing to deal with that during this whole thing.”

Turns out, this place used to be a conversion camp that flew under the radar, and this girl had been breaking her little sister out of it when this whole thing started. Most of the kids have been fine, as they’ve been on lockdown due to her entering, almost all the faculty was dead or had abandoned the kids when everything started. The only adults who were left were the lunch ladies and the grandmother of one of the kids, who had been there visiting her grandson.

This 19-year-old had been put in charge of a gaggle of kids, and three older women who did not know how to take care of that many children. She asked the team for help dealing with the kids, crying that she needed an adult.

The group of four look at each other. Only one of them has experienced with children, and that is with a few kids from daycare, who are arguably younger than these ones. All of them are grad students, who barely survived the apocalypse due to sheer dumb luck, antisocial behavior, and their ability to dodge people attempting to bite them (grad students get crazy and cranky when you tried to wake them up or take them away from their work). All four of them are human disasters, then they look at this kid, who didn’t even get the chance to go to college, who is begging for help, and looks like she’ll cry if they refused to help.

They all collectively decide that They will be the responsible one. all of their other friends are human disasters, so they have to clean up their behavior and take care of this girl and the many children she has under her care. They know they’re going to need to help.

The problem is, they are all human disasters, who barely know how to cook. They are trying to be responsible, but they only have one brain cell, and it passes between them with no warning.

The rest of the story should be a mixture of comedy(these 20 year old trying to take care of a bunch of kids) and apocalyptic drama (these old ladies, trying to figure out why the apocalypse started, with a few appearances from Timmy, the grandson, who is seven years old and was sent there without the grandmother’s knowledge.)

Just, let the responsible grandparents figure out how the apocalypse started and why, while the grad students try to be responsible for 20 to 30 kids.

[that-butch-archivist]

Discovered that two of the femme books I'd been wanting for a while (that JUST arrived) were written by femmes who actually live in my state. Is. Is there a secret femme lesbian society I'm not aware of??? And would you folks mind an eavesdropper???? I don't want to interrupt, I'd just love to take notes.

[samgelina-jolie]

Legally Blonde au with Steve as Elle Woods I love it but there are so many reasons I don't think Eddie would be in law school you know where he COULD be??

He could be the 'guilty' person Steve's team is trying to defend.

In a world where Chrissy was killed but no supernatural shit involved just a tragic run of the mill murder, and because of Eddie's stellar luck he's the one who finds her body. But when he calls the police, they took one look at the scene (Sweet innocent cheerleader, Satanic drug dealer covered in her blood because he'd been checking for a pulse damn it), they deemed it an open and shut case and arrested Eddie on the spot. His case hadn't even been allowed to go to trial first because everyone was so convinced he'd done it.

Then professor Holloway, in an effort to trip Steve up assigns him and a few other students he thinks don't deserve to be there (Steve's too thick, Nancy and Robin "just don't have the right outlook"=They're women) Eddie's case. And at first Steve is the only one who believes him. Robin is doubtful and tired of being accused of being too naive and Nancy points out the evidence against him would suggest otherwise, but Steve just... believes him.

So they take the case, and they're able to win after a long trial involving incompetent police officers, a town so full of contempt for a guy they'll very clearly lie to keep him locked up, a psycho boyfriend who'd fanboyed a little too much over some small town serial killer from the 50s and Steve falling in love with his client (Nancy says it's unprofessional, Robin argues its romantic). But they win, all thanks to Steve calling out there's no way Jason could have been at the pool that day because thered been a storm warning and outdoor pools aren't open on those days (or something else jock-ish).

Anyways afterwards, Eddie moves out of Hawkins cause Fuck that place and just so happens to move closer to Steve's school, Steve graduates (probably not top of his class, he still had Nancy Wheeler to compete with) and the two of them live happily ever after.

[wawataka]

i've been trying to screen record the spanish dub for mob psycho so i can put the episodes up on a drive. but unfortunately for me crunchyroll has now done the thing where if you screen record, the screen will just turn black . any normal person would have just been like ah whatever and given up. but unfortunately for crunchyroll, i am not a normal person

[undead-potatoes]

Just my luck to get a really painful dental emergency the one week my home visit dentist is on holiday

[keeps-ache]

[staring out the window but it's just a sticker on the wall] i actually need to make something right now or i'll espode

[mellotronmkll]

i like literally wish i didnt feel compelled to rewatch and relisten to the same things over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again its like actually really annoying and frustrating because i just feel like im constantly stuck in a loop doing the same things over and over but thats just literally what its like being autistic like its just frustrating cos i dont want to have to be constantly fighting with myself over it because its like okay we dont need to get stuck in the daily loop of walking in circles for hours listening to the same songs we've heard 200 times or sitting and watching things we've seen 30 times and there are better ways we could be spending our time but the compulsion is SO strong and its just Omfg like its just annoying and horrible because I have to force myself to try to break out of patterns I wish the constant compulsion I have to do the same things over and over and over and over and OVER AND OVER wasnt there at all because it would make things way easier for me and it just makes me feel so dumb.