JonnyCGood

Source GR was one of my favorite mags, and I always found it strange when I went back to re-read it how every archive misses issue 21. Turns out that it was never released. The only chance would be if someone from the production were to leak it, (even assuming that they finished it). The Italian version is called The Games Republic. I'm not sure if the Italian version is a 1:1 copy or if it's some kind of remix of the GR content. Early Games Republic content is definitely at least partially based on the American Gamers' Republic content. Same covers, and same articles I've seen. It could be a way to recover the lost issue of GR through a round-about way. I don't know how long Games Republic lasted, but issue 158, April 2014. In 2015, the gamerepublic.it site redirected to videogames.it/. Waybackmachine has that site dying in 2018.

https://archive.org/details/Akumajou_Dracula_All I have one of these old game guides too, this one looks like it's from Hippon Super. I've never uploaded to Archive before, so I don't know the formatting. I just uploaded the cbr directly.

Thanks, that's good too! So it seems Igarashi made Elder Gate as a pick up and play style game with less emphasis on story because he tried playing some story driven RPGs, and lost motivation after taking big breaks. Guess he's too busy at work for these.

Oh nice, Famitsu 194 has a review of Moon Crystal. Always on a look out for info on that game. Late FC release, has super smooth animations. Pretty obscure.

Few more "wish list games": - Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman Zero SFC (1997) Satellaview game. Gorgeous cute quirky, good graphics. I doubt even Japanese sources covered this game that much. - Gunple: Gunman’s Proof, SFC (1997) One of the last SFC games. Zelda clone but with a Western theme. - Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares (1999) PS Japan only sequel to Echo Night. Thank you that is extremely useful! There's another feature for the game in issue 144 as well. This is actually written external proof that Koji Igarashi directed the game! In English interviews, he totally skips over this game in his history. I don't blame him, the game didn't seem to be successful. It explains why he didn't pursue a career in directing, but rather became a full time producer/writer.

I only know of Hippon super from this video.

I suggest adding them to these collections on archive.org. That is where most of the other game mags are, and it allows for easy searching within the collection. Game and Gamer Magazines The Magazine Rack

I also have a bunch of games I'm "on the hunt" for, which I've found few if any sources. I don't feel like making a new topic for them. They are: - Cocoron (FC) 1991 - Pizza Pop! (FC) 1992 - Community Pom (PS) 1997 - Elder Gate (PS) 2000 Elder Gate was the only game that Koji Igarashi fully directed, and it's a somewhat forgotten title. It's often omitted from his biography and only through consulting the credits could I even confirm he directed it. It's JP only and wasn't a huge success, so I understand why he doesn't talk about it. The game is featured in Dengeki PlayStation 118, but no one's scanned that yet. Cocoron is the first game Akira Kitamura, director of Mega Man 1-2 made after leaving Capcom. Another nearly forgotten title. Pizza Pop! is just a quirky late FC title. Community Pom is a pretty neat game that is a top down Zelda like title. I checked, and it says 30,000 yen, not 300,000. It's actually a solid game, just sadly over looked due to its release date. I'd say it's a 7-8 out of ten game. I'm a sucker for any kind of sword based game with an up and down attack (like Zelda II). It would have been a bigger hit had it gotten a Saturn or PS release. Adventure of Little Ralph is another JP only game that is a solid 2D action title.

I've noticed that coverage of even obscure JP only games improves a lot past 1995. For example, The Adventure of Little Ralph got reviewed in Gamers' Republic, and Planet PlayStation. The mags that seem to do the best coverage of JP games were Gamers' Republic, GameFan, Superjuegos, and Consoles Plus. Usually, at least one magazine somewhere in Europe, America, or even Brazil would cover it. Hell, in 1995 Consoles Plus reviewed Hyper Iria and The Firemen, as well as other tons of obscure JP only titles. Pop'n seems obscure even by JP only standards. It likely only gotten any attention in the west in the last decade. The only coverage I've found is a 1995 preview from Famitsu (no issue given).

I'm desperately searching for sources on the 1995 Japanese exclusive game "Magical Pop'n". A cutesy, but often ignored game. As far as I can tell, no Euro or American magazine covered the game, which is rather odd. Often at least one of them would do a preview for JP only games. So it looks like the game was only covered by Japanese magazines. If anyone knows of any source related to Magical Pop'n, let me know. I know of all the web sources, which are pretty scant. I'm mostly looking for magazines and books.