EtherealDragonz upload thread - Update 11/17/2020 Famimaga Apr 20 1990

[Ethereal Dragonz]

16 hours ago, kitsunebi77 said:

https://necretro.org/PC_Engine_Fan

Did you find any not from this site?

Hmm, this is the first time that I have seen this site. It looks like these files I found probably originated from there, because the issues I have match the site's inventory exactly.

Bummer.

[JonnyCGood]

3 minutes ago, Ethereal Dragonz said:

Hmm, this is the first time that I have seen this site. It looks like these files I found probably originated from there, because the issues I have match the site's inventory exactly.

Bummer.

The retro series of sites (segaretro, sonic retro, nec retro) are another scanning/uploading project. They only accept pdfs though, sadly. You can view their magazine archive here:
https://retrocdn.net/Category:Shared_magazine_scans

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/17/2019] -  Famimaga February 1988
https://archive.org/details/famimagafebruary1988

Ok this one is not available in at least two different sites :-).

[KiwiArcader]

7 hours ago, JonnyCGood said:

The retro series of sites (SegaRetro, sonic retro, nec retro) are another scanning/uploading project. They only accept pdfs though, sadly. You can view their magazine archive here:
https://retrocdn.net/Category:Shared_magazine_scans

The dipshits at this site rip Retromags (and used to also rip OGM's before I closed the site to freeloaders) scans, then degrade them to get the resulting PDF at a ridiculously small file size and upload them to their site. They never detail where they got the original files from.

It's all been said before around here regarding their M.O. Like kitsunebi77 I hate the fact they take our files and then turn them into a piece of crap basically....

[kitsunebi]

LOL, Kiwi beat me to it, but yeah.

I wouldn't call the Retro sites "another scanning project," implying that they share a commonality with sites like Retromags or Oldgamemags which feature ONLY stuff we've scanned ourselves.  It's true that a small percentage of their files are their own scans (mostly Akane's files), but the vast majority of their stuff has been copied from elsewhere and as Kiwi pointed out, until the last year or so, they would always ruin the quality of everything they "mirrored" by shrinking the filesizes down.   So you're usually better off downloading all but their most recent files from somewhere else.  The biggest problem asises when other sites mirror the corrupted Retro files, which results in one big flustercuck of bad-quality files being spread around the Internet, which is the main reason I was always opposed to them changing the quality of the files they "mirrored." (Luckily, as I said, they no longer have a policy of shrinking files and allow for full-size scans to be uploaded as is.  Unfortunately, all of the files they host that were uploaded before their policy was changed remain compromised.)

Those PC Engine mags have been there for ages.  I honestly have no idea if they originated from the Retro sites or if they copied them from somewhere else, since they don't credit scanners.  At any rate, don't feel as if you can't upload all of their files to archive if you want to.  They certainly have no problems mirroring Retromags' files days/hours after we upload them, so they shouldn't have any problems with their own stuff being mirrored in as many places as possible.  Again, though, I'm not sure if anyone at their site would deserve credit for scanning those particular files.  Maybe one of their uploaders could comment on who the scanner was?

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/19/2019] -  Famimaga April 1988
https://archive.org/details/famimagaapril1988

[godane]

On 9/18/2019 at 4:24 AM, kitsunebi77 said:

LOL, Kiwi beat me to it, but yeah.

I wouldn't call the Retro sites "another scanning project," implying that they share a commonality with sites like Retromags or Oldgamemags which feature ONLY stuff we've scanned ourselves.  It's true that a small percentage of their files are their own scans (mostly Akane's files), but the vast majority of their stuff has been copied from elsewhere and as Kiwi pointed out, until the last year or so, they would always ruin the quality of everything they "mirrored" by shrinking the filesizes down.   So you're usually better off downloading all but their most recent files from somewhere else.  The biggest problem asises when other sites mirror the corrupted Retro files, which results in one big flustercuck of bad-quality files being spread around the Internet, which is the main reason I was always opposed to them changing the quality of the files they "mirrored." (Luckily, as I said, they no longer have a policy of shrinking files and allow for full-size scans to be uploaded as is.  Unfortunately, all of the files they host that were uploaded before their policy was changed remain compromised.)

Those PC Engine mags have been there for ages.  I honestly have no idea if they originated from the Retro sites or if they copied them from somewhere else, since they don't credit scanners.  At any rate, don't feel as if you can't upload all of their files to archive if you want to.  They certainly have no problems mirroring Retromags' files days/hours after we upload them, so they shouldn't have any problems with their own stuff being mirrored in as many places as possible.  Again, though, I'm not sure if anyone at their site would deserve credit for scanning those particular files.  Maybe one of their uploaders could comment on who the scanner was?

The PC Engine Fan magazines i think came from a rutracker.org torrent. The pdfinfo on some of the files say it came from pcenginefx.com. From what i can tell retrocdn is hosted these (PC Engine Fan) files untouch. Torrent link below for you to check:

https://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5093461

@KiwiArcader It gets odder with other projects that your pdfs show up like TOSEC-PIX. TOSEC-PIX remove metadata from your pdfs like for example the Edge magazine (AU) files. They have a 'baking method' before including files into there database files and its just weird cause the metadata removal is not done with everything. I also prefer the original files for checksum/filesize checking. Anyways i figure you would want to know about that.

[gingerbeardman]

Could you please tag your Japanese uploads as "right to left" so that the pages are ordered correctly in the web viewer?

Here's how: https://www.retromags.com/forums/topic/11191-japanese-magazines-scan-project/?do=findComment&comment=55369

Thanks!

Edited September 20, 2019 by gingerbeardman

[kitsunebi]

For files that have already been created:

Quote

How do I make books flip right to left?

You can make books flip right to left by adding a metadata pair, page-progression=rl.

Use this click path starting at your item page:

Edit > change the information > Add another field > type page-progression in the left box and rl in the right box > click the Submit button.

Oh, but the most important alteration to the previous post I wanted to make was: Thank you for taking the time and effort to locate and upload these scans that we might otherwise never have had access to.  We are all very grateful to have them made freely available to download.  If you have the time to correct the flip order on archive's preview pages that would be lovely, but if not, we're still grateful and content that the files can be easily viewed in the proper order by using the Japanese reading mode of our CBR/PDF readers.

[Ethereal Dragonz]

3 hours ago, gingerbeardman said:

Could you please tag your Japanese uploads as "right to left" 

 

58 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

 

Thanks guys. Done.

Japanese magazines are kind of weird because they are not consistent on where they flip. Famitsu for example matches the western style and I confirmed from YouTube that Famimaga is right to left.

[kitsunebi]

10 minutes ago, Ethereal Dragonz said:

Japanese magazines are kind of weird because they are not consistent on where they flip. Famitsu for example matches the western style and I confirmed from YouTube that Famimaga is right to left.

Actually, they usually are consistent.  It has to do with the direction the text is printed.  Most Japanese mags are like Famitsu and print the text horizontally from left to right, just like we do, and thus the pages also turn Western-style.  But Family Computer Magazine and a few others print their text in the more traditional vertical top to bottom style.  Each line of text is printed from top to bottom, and one progresses across the page from right to left.

It's the same with other mediums like picture books.

[Ethereal Dragonz]

6 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

Actually, they usually are consistent.  It has to do with the direction the text is printed.  Most Japanese mags are like Famitsu and print the text horizontally from left to right, just like we do, and thus the pages also turn Western-style. 

Ahhh, now I get it. I am usually looking at the pictures and never really paid attention to text I can't read :-).

[kitsunebi]

Just now, Ethereal Dragonz said:

Ahhh, now I get it. I am usually looking at the pictures and never really paid attention to text I can't read :-).

Yeah, thanks to manga, most people are aware that Japanese books typically turn from right to left.  And that IS true of things like novels and manga, where the text is printed vertically.  But horizontally written text is always read left to right, the same as in the West.  So if the text is horizontal, it's read in the exact same manner that we do.

Why some magazines do it one way and others don't is a mystery, I guess.  Perhaps it affects the layout of pictures?  For example, as I mentioned before, children's picture books are often printed in Western fashion.  A block of Western-style text can be placed at the top of a square page and leave a rectangular space underneath for the picture which is wider than it is tall, simulating the natural wide angle view of the human eye in the same way that widescreen film does.  But if you print the text vertically, then it has to be placed on the left or right side of the picture, leaving a rectangular space that is taller than it is wide - an unnatural aspect ratio for human perception.

That's my theory, anyway.

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/21/2019] -  Famimaga October 1988
https://archive.org/details/famimagaoctober1988

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/22/2019] -  Weekly Famitsu 7 September 19 1986
https://archive.org/details/famitsu7september1986

I had to upload this one immediately after coming across it. I do not see it on Archive.org or similar sites. This is a pretty cool find!

Edited September 23, 2019 by Ethereal Dragonz

[kitsunebi]

I was gonna correct you (or rather, Wikipedia)...

Quote

Famitsu, formerly Famicom Tsūshin, is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa.

...but it turns out Wikipedia was simply reporting news early. 

"Kadokawa Game Linkage??" said I.  "Never hear of it."  And sure enough, I opened last week's issue of Famitsu and it was still published by Gzbrain.

Turns out, the Kadokawa Game Linkage company name doesn't become official till Oct 1.  So it doesn't exist.  Not for another week, anyway.

But the interesting thing about the merger is that it puts all of the Dengeki line under Kadokawa as well, meaning that a single publisher now has a monopoly on pretty much the entire gaming magazine industry in Japan (except for some niche products like BugBug, Megastore, and some otome game mags).

But then I guess Future UK is pretty much the only publisher producing English mags at this point as well.

[kitsunebi]

Ah ha! I CAN correct you after all!  The above mag is from September 19, not September 16.

[JonnyCGood]

One of the Famimaga issues covers Dracula II (Simon's Quest). That mag can help answer a question that has plagued fans for ages: Are the villagers lying to you or is there some weird translation issues? What about the Duck in Graveyard and other issues? Seeing what the Japanese at the time had to say about these things really helps.

[kitsunebi]

3 minutes ago, JonnyCGood said:

One of the Famimaga issues covers Dracula II (Simon's Quest). That mag can help answer a question that has plagued fans for ages: Are the villagers lying to you or is there some weird translation issues? What about the Duck in Graveyard and other issues? Seeing what the Japanese at the time had to say about these things really helps.

https://legendsoflocalization.com/digging-up-castlevania-iis-graveyard-duck/

[JonnyCGood]

6 hours ago, kitsunebi77 said:

https://legendsoflocalization.com/digging-up-castlevania-iis-graveyard-duck/

Oh I've read that and other English media discussing this the strange elements of the game. Reading what Japanese media at the time has to say might shed more light on it. If they're just as confused as everyone else, then it just means the game is quirky. Or they might reveal some kind of reference that flies over the heads of non-Japanese. That's why all these old gaming mags and game guides are important. They can illuminate things we don't know about these old games. Might be dev interviews, or it just might answer age old questions we have.

[kitsunebi]

I think the fact that the game's manual explicitly says that townspeople will lie and try to confuse the player covers most of what you're talking about when you say the game is "quirky." 

For anyone interested in a detailed list of Japanese vs English for everything said in the game: https://bisqwit.iki.fi/cv2fin/diff

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/24/2019] -  Weekly Famitsu 61 November 1988
https://archive.org/details/famitsu61november1988

 

Heigh-Ho! This is part of the small vein of old Famitsu magazines I was able to find.

I am intently looking for old issues of Comptiq (pre-1997) for kitsunebi77, but not having luck. So if someone happens to find this thread and has a few of these, please upload!

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/25/2019] -  Famimaga February 1989
https://archive.org/details/famimagafebruary1989

[Ethereal Dragonz]

Newest upload [09/26/2019] -  Weekly Famitsu 91 January 5 1990
https://archive.org/details/famitsu91january1990

This is the last Famitsu I have for now.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Ethereal Dragonz

[godane]

You may want to look for magazine scans that on here: https://retoge-mag.hatenablog.com/

I figure they maybe on perfect dark p2p but i can't get that to work really on windows xp virtualbox. That guy has posted scans of other magazines from here and retrocdn , and others so i figure maybe you can find the original cbr/cbz files. Thanks for all the scans you have found so far.