#victor entertainment

[easternmind]

Last year in classic games

For motives I cannot expand on with much glee, I found a little more time than usual this year to reduce my seemingly endless backlog of classics. Despite all the fine new releases 2023 has greeted us with, I was able to finally dive into this eclectic handful of games I gathered over time. It is perhaps no coincidence that I reached out for more direct game experiences than story-driven ones. I find myself increasingly drawn to games designs that are mindful of the player's time as a commodity not to be carelessly squandered.

One note, if I may: I would like to inspire my readers to progressively discard the use of the word retro this year. We are all of advancing years and wisdom, I trust. The introduction of the term retro to the videogame vernacular was a gross mistake furthering the abhorrent notion that games were as ephemeral in their nature as fashion. It is a purely commercial designation by which to profitably repackage old software as a category of its own, originating from the same minds that considered games as mere novelty trinkets of limited marketable lifespan.

It is up to the player to individually decide on an older game's appeal, whether they may be discovering it for the first time or revisiting it for the umpteenth one. This is not only an appeal for those of you who write about games in any capacity, rather to anyone who takes videogames as a serious interest and communicates with others about this the object of their predilection. Thank you.

This loose cart came with a Famicom bundle auction I won in 2009, if memory serves. I turned on the Famicom and tested it merely to verify if it was still in working condition and found myself engrossed in that trademark Pajitnov/Pokhilko elegant approach to game design. As per the cassette's label, Hatris was originally a concept developed in collaboration with ParaGraph, a Russian studio that went on to develop specialized professional software, a year before the Bullet-Proof Software licensing deal. They produced a few games in the turn of the decade that were rather unusual and, some would say, even visionary. I recommend that you look up their story, if you're curious.

The only entry from the group that isn't of Japanese provenance - though it is a Japanese edition - I played it for purely nostalgic motives, perhaps a yearning for a certain pixel, palette and parallax that resoundingly evoke a time I was fortunate enough to experience, first-hand. If I may be honest, I purchased the game for the visual value of its unique cover art, which I deem superior to the US edition's. In saying that, I must highlight that the original Amiga game box art was quite accomplished.

In the Summer of 93 while on holiday at the beach, there was a French Nintendo magazine for sale whose purchase I could not resist. It was very common to find Spanish, English and French publications at the time in Portugal. This edition had a striking four page preview of this Jaleco gem, Ikari no Yōsai, or Operation Logic Bomb as it was named in the West. For years I searched the PAL version in vain, then ultimately decided to import it on account of - you'd never guess! - the superior box art. Playing it this year at long last, I was instantly reminded of an old Game Boy favourite, Fortified Zone, which I now know to be its prequel. Most top-down shooters are best played in co-op. Ikari no Yōsai is strictly and single-player affair and not once did I miss the absence of a friendly companion.

Keio Flying Squadron 2 first came to my attention via an infamous Saturn demo disc, which came into my hands through circumstances I have since forgotten about. I use the word infamous because the entire game code was available in the disc and the level select cheat code enabled me to unscrupulously play the entirety of the game for no additional expense - at only the cost of missing out on the colourful Studio Pierrot anime FMV interludes.

Having played the sequel first, I was somewhat disenchanted to learn the original game did not feature any platforming segments, it being a pure scrolling shooter in the same whimsical vein as Parodius or, say, an AirZonk. Still, a jolly good time with the old three buttons.

For reasons that will not be immediately apparent to younger reading audiences, I pride myself in having completed most Shinobi games, The Revenge Of and GG being my preferred ones. Shin Shinobi Den, or Shinobi X in Europe, was a game not readily available from my usual game dealers. I eventually borrowed the PAL version once, though not nearly long enough to master it. I finally saw it through this year, mere days before SEGA announced a new episode. While the live action clips looked a tad maladroit in the 1990s, they came to acquire that nice patina I now look for in classic games.

Omega Force was known to take the sporadic breather from producing some of KOEI's most cherished and profitable series. I distinctly remember enjoying Destrega quite a bit in its day, a game quite unlike any other. What their 1998 Enigma lacks in consistency and originality, it more than amply makes up for with its own bizarre concepts, extravagant characters and unexpected genre fusions. Of all the titles in this post, this was the one whose pace felt the most sluggish, and needlessly so.

Microsoft Game Studio Japan release schedule plans were not at all kind on this, their first production, Magatama. Earlier this year I praised this era for its highly inspired H&S action adventure titles and even spent a few days delighting myself with the likes of Blood Will Tell, Nightshade, Bujingai, or Chaos Legion. This most unusual creation, developed by the aptly-named Team Breakout - a group composed of many talented ex-Square employees - is one among the finest of the era. Sadly, it did not do enough to persuade players at the time that it was a better purchase than Otogi or its sequel. Playing it with my mind and heart set back in time to 2003, I can say that this misguided consideration may not have withstood a second thought.

I've long wanted to write an extensive article on Japanese firefighting games. In fact, I have the structure laid out for a Japanofiles entry gathering moss in my Tumblr drafts for over a decade now. For a brief period this year I convinced myself I could finally fulfil this aspiration and resumed Sakurazaka Shouboutai as research. Developed by Racdym - later Racjin - for Irem, it is every bit as good as Firefighter F.D.18 or Hard Luck, and in many ways more inventive from a conceptual standpoint. While Konami and Spike found a way to have their games released in the west, Sakurazaka's poor regional sales performance clearly accounts for Irem's reluctance to bear the cost of an overseas ticket.

[putschki1969]

Watched several concert vids of both FJ and Kalafina. I noticed that Kaji san always plays the piano for FJ concerts but haven't seen her do the same for Kalafina concert vids. Does she have some management reason why is this so? Thanks 💕

Hello there!

Sorry for the super late reply. This has been in my drafts for quite some time. I've actually been holding off on replying to this ask because I don't know the exact answer and I always feel awkward making these posts if I am not 100% sure of what I am talking about. I know a great deal about Kalafina but I tend to be vague about details when it comes to Yuki Kajiura herself. She may have discussed this issue in the past but I am personally not aware of any specific incidents. So a quick disclaimer: I have nothing to back up what I'm about to say. It's all just speculation, please take everything with a grain of salt.

At the end of the day, I think it comes down to two things:

Personal preference

Label issues

1.) Quite frankly, I believe that Yuki Kajiura might have purposefully chosen to remove herself from the spotlight and stay in the background for most of Kalafina's career path. After all, Kalafina was never meant to be a proper band with steady members. Making them into a "marketable group" was more or less the brainchild of their agency Space Craft (they had seen an opportunity to make money and went with it). Going a more mainstream route with a ton of promo work and increased live performances was not something any of them had ever expected. If it had been up to Yuki Kajiura, I am pretty sure she would have been content with turning Kalafina into FictionJunction 2.0. Yuki Kajiura obviously cared a lot about the music but I doubt she was ever super invested in all the surrounding stuff, especially when Kalafina's image became more and more commercialised/idol-like. I remember her voicing concern about the elaborate stage productions and Space Craft hiring a choreographer because she didn't feel it was necessary for them to dance or do anything else except sing. Having said all that, I think it would make sense for Yuki to mostly stay out of these activities. She would of course make exceptions for certain events (e.g. big conventions) but overall, I believe she was quite happy being an audience member.

2.) Kalafina's work was released under Sony (later Sacra Music - a subsidiary of Sony). Yuki Kajiura's work on the other hand has always been released under the record label FlyingDog (which is a subsidiary of Victor Entertainment). There have been a few occasions where Kalafina's appearance had to be cut out of official home video releases (e.g. Animelo) and my best guess is that this happened due to label issues. Some stipulations on Sony's part perhaps? Or other labels not willing to pay certain royalties to Sony? I believe it is quite tricky to have an artist who is signed up with one particular label appear in the release of another label. While it is certainly not unheard of, it's probably not the most feasible option. I am guessing in Kalafina's case, either Sony or FlyingDog were against YK appearing in official Kalafina live releases.

[z2z-gaming-and-random-art-ai]

Console Racing Driving Games of 1993 - Metal Fangs

Metal Fangs is a cyberpunk sci-fi team based racing game developed by Sega and published by Victor Entertainment for the Sega Genesis. Metal Fangs was released on the 17th December 1993, this release was exclusive to Japan.

The game takes the form of heats based races with one heat having one team attacking with 4 team members while the other team defends with 3 team members on track, some of the games characters portraits are parody's of real life people and characters from media such as Neo from the Matrix, Madonna, Jason Voorhees and more, each of the characters having a cyberpunk look to them. Points are earned for hits on enemy team members as well as kills, the team with the most points at the end of the final heat progress to the next round

1. Intro 00:00 2. Gameplay 00:15 3. Outro 09:11

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Console Racing Driving Games of 1993 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJOZYl1h1CFwuAaztF2yWcDR2ruiEDNZ

[august-sysex]

cymbals - glide (yann tomita mix) (2002)

[casinonewgame]

[村越正海の爆釣日本列島] / A-wave / 1998

[nineteenfiftysix]

The Mad Capsule Markets - Mix-Ism (The Mad Capsule Markets, 1996)

[miyurockbridge]

Trance Heaven Best QUEENS  Album cover w/ obi sleeve & CD art 

[pigdemonart]

Dominó

Doodly of Vico playing with some old souls in Santuario

Part of a bigger batch of doodles that i cant believe forgot to post LOL

Patreon | Ko-Fi

[gummygoatgalaxy]

Cyborg and Jinx Redesign

My version of them lol

Here's a link to my redesigns of Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy

[vectorwife]

Some pics of Victor, his dad, my self insert, and our child together :) they’re a very close knit family and even though Victor is an immature and rude person, he loves his daughter, wife and father dearly. They are very evil people but not to each other, and that’s beautiful :)

[kadilnu]

Romeo is also cool

[i-am-trans-gwender]

Jax was only sad because he wanted to be the one who made Kaufmo abstract

(Joking)

[july-19th-club]

love season 2. i'm concussions! and i'm psychic visions! the headache brothers

[vintageadsmakemehappy]

1953 RCA Victor Televisions

[nineteenfiftysix]

The Mad Capsule Markets - Pulse (OSC-DIS, 1999)

[kresnikcest]

Post-perfect end AU where Victor is begrudgingly assuring Ludger that yes, Julius really does love him back, it will be fine, he knows this, because he can’t stand the sheer amount of angst these two are carrying around despite everyone being alive.