This Month In Retro September 2022

Hello all and welcome to This Month in Retro! Today, I am taking you back into the distant past of September 1986: a month pretty limited in terms of releases to talk about, but at the same time a month that is surprisingly impactful. That is because it birthed two franchises in Japan that I unfortunately won't cover in terms of their first games due to their later releases in the west.

The first franchise is the Adventure Island series by Hudson Soft, making its debut on September 12th. Of course, we also know that it is technically an adaptation of the Arcade game Wonder Boy which did come out earlier, but Adventure Island did become a franchise on its own eventually, spanning four games on the NES alone. The series wouldn't stop there either, as it would see two sequels on the SNES, one on the TurboGrafx-16, and a sort of remake for the Wii virtual console. Unfortunately though, Hudson Soft was eventually absorbed into Konami which means that the franchise is dead and unlikely to ever see the light of day again unless a miracle happens.

That also applies to the second franchise birthed this month, and one of my all-time favourites: Castlevania. I heavily considered breaking my own rules and talk about this game since it was originally released on the Famicom Disk System which we obviously never got, but the differences are too minimal for me to be able to. Next time for sure my beloved. But yeah, this series also started this month on the 26nd and, as many know, was a very successful franchise with over 30 games that was even a massive influence in birthing the Metroidvania genre. I don't think I really even have to mention how successful the franchise is, as it even has one of the better video game adaptations on Netflix. But of course, Konami does what Konami wants so I'm a sad hamster.

So what will I be talking about then if I can't cover either of those two? Have no fear, Nepiki is here to share we also have a system release this month, being the Sega Master System in North America! Admittedly, that is also the only Western-related part I will be talking about today as the other systems didn't really see that many releases. I had to criss-cross a lot to find some Apple II releases that were at most passable, and I'm sure the MSX had a ton of releases this month but that system's release dates are so extremely poorly documented that I had to give up. Which is a shame because the MSX is a really cool piece of history that I would love to talk about, but it is what it is--the 80s were a different time when it comes to documentation. As always though, if you do have a source for older system release dates, please do let me know. Anyhow, you know the drill: I'll be talking about western releases, japanese-exclusive releases, and their RetroAchievements integration if applicable. So without further ado, let's talk some games!

The Master System

As mentioned in the introduction, most game releases this month were on the Sega Master System due to the release in North America. Although the system officially launched with just two games, a total of six were released this month and I will be covering them all. Before I do that though... what exactly is the Master System?

SEGA was known for their massive success in the Arcades, especially in Japan. Also, rest in peace SEGA arcades, you will be missed. But in 1983, SEGA decided to enter the home video game console market with the SG-1000--which, funnily enough, was released on the exact same date as when the Famicom was released by the Nintendo. The rivalry started fairly early on... though it wasn't a fierce rivalry as the SG-1000 didn't really do that well. It did have a few revisions, but in 1985, a final iteration would be released called the Sega Mark III. And this is also when SEGA felt confident enough releasing their console in the west under the new name: Master System.

The Master System is an 8-bit video game console, just like its predecessors but with enhanced graphical capabilities to make it even more powerful than its direct competition. For this release, Sega of America was specifically established to gain more market share in the west. Their primary goal at the time was to rebrand the Sega Mark III for a western release, with help of former Nintendo of America's vice president of sales. And you could definitely notice how much they wanted it to succeed over the NES. Although the pick for the name was completely random and based on throwing darts, the Master System was generally seen as the most obvious choice. After all, in a competition only one can be the "Master" right? Spoilers: it wasn't the Master System. The white grid design was also made to differentiate itself from the black NES packaging. Spoilers: that wasn't a good idea.

It unfortunately still wasn't as successful though, simply because of Nintendo's licensing practices during this generation: games released for the Famicom were not allowed to release on other consoles. Their library was limited and they had to push out games under high pressure to keep a consistent release window. While SEGA has hoped to sell 400,000 to 750,000 consoles before the end of 1986, they managed to only sell 125,000--although other sources claim its 250,000. Regardless of which source is correct, they didn't even come close to approaching the NES. Even selling the distribution rights to toy company Tonka made pretty much no difference. The latter was also unwilling to really do anything so that was a pointless endeavor in general.

In North America, the console only managed to have a meager 115 games; an extremely small library by today's standards. That's not to say it lacked quality of course, as this console birthed franchises such as Phantasy Star and of course Alex Kidd. And while Nintendo didn't allow games to be released on other consoles, ports were the loophole that made it possible with releases such as Ghouls N' Ghosts and the first two games in the Ys series. Wonder Boy saw a good amount of coverage on this console as well with titles such as the amazing Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap, and there were a bunch of original titles too like Psycho Fox. And of course, the system was advertised as an "Arcade at home", so many 8-bit ports of such games were brought over as well, like Fantasy Zone and Hang On. So while the library was certainly small, it did still have some quality games on there.

...But that's not where the story ends. While I am only looking at the less-than-stellar North-American release of the Master System, there is more to this story--namely Europe and especially Brazil. I'm not going to go too much in-depth about either for today, but whereas the console didn't come close to SEGA's expectations in North America, it had a much bigger success in the before-mentioned regions. PAL alone saw a total of 267 releases, easily doubling what was seen in North America. As a surprising twist to the story, the Master System did actually compete with the NES in Europe, even outselling it during multiple months. The NES was still slightly more successful in the end as the difference in sales is still estimated to be a total of 1 million, but the rivalry over here was actually pretty fierce.

And then there's Brazil. Brazil's video game industry in general is quite interesting since Nintendo didn't have any foothold there until 1993, where it failed to compete since the market was dominated with NES clones. The Master System arrived earlier due to Tectoy reaching out to SEGA, and despite their hesitance due to Tonka's disgraceful performance, it was a massive success that lead to Tectoy claiming 80% of the Brazilian video game market. Brazil ended up with several exclusive games like Game Gear ports of Sonic Blast and Legend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, and even more impressive feats like Dynamite Heady and Street Fighter 2. But perhaps the most well-known fact is that thanks to Tectoy, the Master System is still being kept alive to this day. I'm not kidding here; the system has been alive in Brazil since 1989, and has never been discontinued since then. This makes the Master System one of, if not the longest living gaming console in the entire history of video games. Quite interesting how a North-American and Japanese failure ended up so impactful in other regions huh?

The Master System Launch Games

Officially, there were only two launch games for the North American release. However, there were four more games released in the same month so I'm just going to include them here as well. It's definitely not as grand a launch as we would see from... well, pretty much any other major manufacturer system, but this was still during the 80s after all. I will be going through them in a random order today, from games that have achievements to games without. I was planning to go from worst critically acclaimed to best, but reviews are very unreliable before the 2000s and my only source was MobyGames so I scratched that idea. Sales are also completely unknown so I scrapped both of them for this edition. So first up, let's go over some Arcade ports!

Game
Fantasy Zone (Master System)


Release dates	JP: June 15, 1986
	NA: September ??, 1986
	PAL: August ??, 1987

First up we have everyone's favourite sentient spaceship and one of the origins behind the Cute 'em Up subgenre, Fantasy Zone. This game was released in Arcades in March of the same year in Japan-only, making the Master System game Opa-Opa's first appearance in the west. And this certainly has been an influential game for not just the genre, but video games as a whole. Though other games are more famous for it, Fantasy Zone is often seen as the game for popularizing the concept of a boss rush! But it also was a Shoot 'em Up where, instead of going through a stage in one direction, Opa-Opa could go either left- or right while the stage loops endlessly. Destroy all bases and pick up a few handy-dandy weapons from the shop that appears after having enough money from destroying enemies, and then kill the boss at the end to move on to the next stage. The original arcade release was highly successful, and the Master System release was highly praised as well (ignoring the critic score from MobyGames). Fans overall agree, although the difficulty was unwelcome for some so that's something to keep in mind. Funnily enough though, despite being a first-party SEGA game, it ended up being released on a serious amount of other systems at the time--including the NES! After all, it was very beloved and also resulted in various sequels during the late 80s and early 90s. Unfortunately Opa-Opa wouldn't really see its own games anymore after that, though its legacy lives on in the Yakuza Arcades and as a racer in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

The achievement set firstly covers all of the levels, and all of the weapons brought from the shop. While beating the game is already going to be tough enough, almost every other achievement will certainly test your Cute 'em Up skills, like never turning left, not ever entering the shop and a super high score on the second loop. You should definitely be prepared for a hard mastery here. Super Fantasy Zone is currently the only other game in the series with a set, so if you would like to see more, check out the [Series - Fantasy Zone] Hub!

From one beloved Arcade game into the next, SEGA has even more up their sleeves. Next up, it's time for some arcade racing with Hang-On!

Game
Hang-On (Master System)


Release dates	JP: October 20, 1985
	NA: September ??, 1986
	PAL: October ??, 1987

Hang-On was yet another influential games to arcades, being one of the first Arcade games ever to use 16-bit graphics as well as a special Arcade System Board to simulate 3D effects. This Arcade cabinet did actually release outside of Japan, and was even the highest-grossing arcade game of 1985 AND 1986 in North America. Having it ported to the Master System was a no-brainer, even being a pack-in title for the console. The conversion to 8-bit was overall very faithful, with some minor understandable exclusions. The player has to race against time and other bikers to beat the clock, after which the time extends. Keep going as long as possible and a winner is you. The port was score positively by critics and beloved by fans at the same time. Nowadays it's not really talked much about anymore though, and that's for a very simple reason: Super Hang-On exists, which is an Arcade conversion of the sequel to the original Arcade game. When anything from the franchise is ever re-released, be it in a compilation or a Yakuza Arcade cabinet, it's almost guaranteed to be the original Arcade version or the Genesis version. Still, if you want to see the origins of the (small) franchise but in 8-bit, you can't go wrong with the Master System version.

The achievement set is overall pretty simple and shouldn't pose too much trouble if you can get a feel for the game: Beat stages on difficulties, complete courses, and do it again but with specific conditions. And since it is an Arcade game, points are obviously relevant here as well. Every base here is covered though, so have at it!

Alright, one final Arcade port and then we'll be moving on to some original games. Released on pretty much every system imaginable at the time, we have Choplifter!

Game
Choplifter (Master System)


Release dates	NA: September ??, 1986
	PAL: August ??, 1987

A port of an arcade remake of a console game. That doesn't happen too often now does it? Choplifter was originally designed for the Apple II in 1982, after which SEGA released an Arcade remake in 1985. This version was then ported to the Master System and... the Famicom? WHAT ARE YOU DOING SEGA?? Regardless, the original version of Choplifter and the re-releases were very positively received, so SEGA saw an opportunity here. Must say that it worked out well for them given how both the Arcade version and the Master System version also received positive critique! The player controls a helicopter in a side-scrolling action game, where they have to destroy enemy tanks and aircraft while the player tries to rescue hostages. Rescue 16 per stages and its on to the next one. The helicopter's direction is very important here, as not every direction can take care of every obstacle. It's a fairly simple- yet effective game, and fans overall agree with it as well. SEGA themselves would also make a few spiritual successors to the IP without the brand, namely Air Rescue. As for the original franchise itself, it did see some sequels on various Nintendo platforms and a HD remake for digital storefronts, but that's where the story ends.

But the story doesn't end on RetroAchievements! I know I know, very smooth transition, thank you. The Master System version has a challenging achievement set with multiple 50-pointers, like beating the game without dying, rescuing a high amount of hostages on any round, and of course, points! Points points points, gotta love Arcade games. There are also multiple fun Easter Eggs to be found, and normal progression achievements are to be found here too of course. The set has been up for a while with very few masters, so if you think you're up for the challenge, now is the time!

And that's it for the games that have an achievement set on RetroAchievements. I'm also really tired of Arcade ports so let's talk about one that isn't. Kinda. Next up, Ghost House!

Game
Ghost House (Master System)


Release dates	JP: April 21, 1986
	NA: September ??, 1986
	PAL: August ??, 1987

It is very loosely based on an Arcade game called Monster Bash, but very loosely is not completely so we have an original game here! Ghost House is a side-scrolling horror-action video game developed and published by SEGA, starring Mick the non-Belmont vampire hunter! Mick travels through a mansion and has to punch or jump on enemies to defeat them, and destroy five vampires at the end of each level to proceed on to the next. On his quest to slay the evil, elements of the mansion can be interacted with, like touching lights to freeze every enemy, as well as arrows that fly through the screen that Mick can jump on for extra points. Ghost House was a game that was fairly well received on release; not oustanding, but also not too bad. Over the years though, both critics- and players instead view the game as a below-average game, having never seen any re-release and also never any follow-ups. I guess Mick wasn't popular enough to create a family of vampire hunters to hunt down Dracula, too bad.

And there goes my break of Arcade ports. It was fun while it lasted. For the final two games, we have two more conversions. First up is My Hero!

Game
My Hero (Master System)


Release dates	JP: January 31, 1986
	NA: September ??, 1986
	PAL: August ??, 1987

Released in 1985 for Arcades, My Hero is a side-scrolling Beat 'em Up. Given that it predates many of the more famous games in the genre, this game's progress is a little bit different than what we're used to, namely that the game is an endless loop of three levels until the player runs out of lives. The story on the other hand is very familiar though: gang runs off with main protagonist's girlfriend, main protagonist gives chase and gives them a whopping. The differences between the Arcade version and home release are pretty minimal, but the latter does have less space so the ninja and ape/human enemies are omitted in favour of just the street gang. Which is a shame since the second- and third level are also based around said enemies, with the second being Edo-themed while the latter is loosely based on Planet of the Apes, but you can't have everything. Similarly to Ghost House however, the game was originally well received but is now pretty much slammed upon by both critics- and players. I guess Takeshi... Steven... whatever his name is wasn't popular enough to keep beating up street gangs to save his girlfriend, too bad.

Two examples of games that were harmless on release but not canned. Probably a good explanation for why they don't have a RetroAchievements set yet. Will the final game of today follow the same fate? Let's find out!

Game
Teddy Boy (Master System)


Release dates	JP: 20 October, 1985
	NA: September ??, 1986
	PAL: November ??, 1987

Based on the Japan-exclusive Arcade game Teddy Boy Blues - Yohko Ishino from 1985, Teddy Boy is a platform game set in an infinitely-repeating maze. The unnamed main protagonist has a gun to shrink monsters, after which he picks them up. -- Continue later

Japanese-exclusive Releases

The Japanese coverage this month will be very short--in fact, it will only be about Game Boy Color games too. Aside from there not being too many big hitters, a lot of the games were too text-heavy with no translation in sight, there was too little information known about them, or they were fishing games. I'm serious, there were like, three different Fishing Club games released this month and a bunch of others as well. I figured I would mention them because I know someone really liked fishing games so if you're reading this then hi! Anyway, let's move on to some games!

Game
Magical Chase (Game Boy Color)


Release date	JP: August 4, 2000

First up we have the port of Magical Chase to the Game Boy Color. The game was initially developed for the TurboGrafx-16 which did end up seeing a North American release, but the Game Boy Color version was never released in the west. If you have played the TurboGrafx-16 version however, you are not really missing out on much as it is a 1-to-1 port with simplified visuals and music. That is of course not a bad thing, given that the original game was a well-received very cutesy horizontal shoot 'em up compared to the likes of Cotton. Magical Chase ended up being a single IP that has never been revisited, and that probably won't ever be revisited either unless Square Enix decides it's time to bring her out of retirement again. The TurboGrafx-16 version does have a solid set available on RetroAchievements, but the Game Boy Color version does not. There is a translation available however! I wouldn't say you really need it, but the choice is yours.

Let's stay on the Game Boy Color for a bit longer as most of the interesting games this month were found here. Next up, we have two RPGs!

Game
Soul Getter: Houkago Bouken RPG (Game Boy Color)


Release date	JP: August 4, 2000

There was actually one very simple reason I've decided to talk about this game: the battles play out exactly like they do in Breath of Fire, specifically the first game in that series. That isometric view they use during battle is a 1-on-1 conversion and you can't tell me otherwise. It also has a really sweet OST that I wouldn't mind listening to on repeat. But this game is unfortunately very, very unknown. The amount of information that I was able to gather is minimal, although it looks like you can combine up to three souls to perform magic attacks in battle. Yet somehow, it is a game with an English translation, albeit unfinished. While I don't know too much about it otherwise, it's a game I would like to see a complete translation of eventually, so my aim today is to bring attention to it for a potential future audience!

Game
Dungeon Savior (Game Boy Color)


Release date	JP: August 4, 2000

Kind of funny how all three games I've talked about today have all released on the exact same date. Anyway, if you want an even more obscure game than the last one, Dungeon Savior has you covered as this game has almost zero coverage on the internet whatsoever. Yet it surprisingly had a game page before I started writing this, so that's an interesting plot twist. Anyhow, Dungeon Savior is a competitive dungeon RPG maker, where you build dungeons and fill them with traps- and monsters, and then attack other people their dungeons to capture theirs. It does have an impressive count of monsters and items to be found- and placed within these dungeons though! But yeah, that's all you're getting from me, I can't find out anything else. The relatively generic name probably didn't help as I found a lot of other games yet not this one. I'm at least sure there is no translation, and also none in the work, so I'm yet again bringing this to your attention but don't expect it on RetroAchievements anytime soon.

Now do you understand my suffering of having so little to talk about this month? I really tried, I swear. Oh well, let's move on to a game that I can actually write more than two sentences about!

Game
Dance Dance Revolution GB (Game Boy Color)


Release date	JP: August 3, 2000

Ah finally, something I can talk about without even needing to go into the deep webz. After all, who doesn't know DDR? Dance Dance Revolution GB is a port of Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMIX, originally released in Arcades and later ported over to the PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast as well. Obviously, the lyrics are missing and the songs have been converted into chiptunes, but they still sound pretty sweet if you ask me. I've already listening to Butterfly by SMiLE.dk more than a human ever should in their lives, so having a chiptune version of it is a nice alternative. The original release also came with a plastic pad to put over the Game Boy Color that would mimic dance pad moves, but it could also just be played with a D-Pad. You could probably be a mad lad and play the game on a dance pad through the emulator, but I don't know if that's the smartest idea. Don't let me stop you though! There are a total of 17 songs to play through, and link cable connectivity allows for competitive play against friends.

The game does not have a translation, but it's not like you really need it. Hence why it was no problem for this game to get an achievement set! All songs ask you to do them on Maniac ficciulty, as well as a rank of at least A and also hitting perfect notes. You will have to get good at DDR, because the set is not holding back! There are also some Arcade playthroughs to be done, so good luck! And if you can't get enough, there are also sets available for the two sequels and the Disney Mix version.

And... that's unfortunately going to be it for the Japanese side this month. I really tried to find more games to talk about, but this month just didn't have too many games that never left the land of the rising sun. But before I leave, I do want to shortly mention three games that I considered talking about, but left out for a reason I'll mention with them.

Perfect Choro Q - Part of the Choro Q/Penny Racers franchise, this game is not a typical racing game like the others, but more a... role-playing golf-like game? I'm serious, you take turns and fire your cars towards walls to bounce them off and make it to the finish line. The concept sounds interesting, but it did look like a text-heavy game with no translation in sight, and not much else could be found out about it either.
Nushi Tsuri Adventure: Kite no Bouken - This game actually does have an English translation! Localized by fans as Fishing King Adventure: Kite's Adventure, this is a role-playing game combined with fishing. Unfortunately, this seemed to be more of a passion project as there is not much other information to be found other than what the translator has provided.
Rune Jade - The only non-Game Boy Color game I planned to talk about, Rune Jade is a Japanese MMORPG on the Dreamcast that plays like games such as Diablo. The best part about this game is that there is enough offline content, and that a fan actually went through the effort of translating most of this offline part. But yet again, that's where most of the information ends for me.

Conclusion

It was very surprising to me that after the strong months we've had on the Japanese side in the past few issues, that I really had a lot of trouble to find interesting games to talk about. Meanwhile, the Western side had more than enough to talk about as indicated by the list at the end of the segment. How the tables have turned huh? Regardless, I hope I was able to bring some unknown Japanese games to your attention, because as a retro community, these are exactly the games we want to know about and appreciate for what they are.

As mentioned before, there were three contenders for Game of the Month on the western side. Chrono Cross would win on the score side from the critics, but it ended up very divisive when players got their hands on it. Meanwhile Mario Tennis has an overall consistent opinion and, let's be honest, the sales are higher simply because it is Mario while the other is an RPG. The worst game could potentially be Lil' Monster, but it's tough to say due to how unknown in it. I didn't actually talk about the game, but the title of worst game would probably belong to The Ring: Terror's Realm for the Dreamcast. Not a lot of people were fond of this attempt at Survival Horror. It's pretty much the only game I looked up where there was far more negative opinions to be found rather than positive.

We go back in time again next month to the year 1986, where we will see a smaller release for a console over in the west for the first time. What system am I talking about? Find out next time in This Month in Retro!