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Obscure adventure game discussion thread

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I actually own a copy of Lunacy as well as quite a few other Sega Saturn games.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard another mention of it on game forums until now. 

That Fatal Jack games looks pretty peculiar.  I watched the few videos on it on youtube that are available.  Game definitely looks to be an odd one.  Thanks for bringing it up!

     
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I’ve been too busy gaming lately to bother with this thread but I’ve taken a quick break to give you another obscure one I’ve played:

MA-RI-A: The Curse of the Puppet Museum (1996) (Windows)

This is yet another Japanese language game with a horror theme which has a young girl wandering around a haunted mansion. It’s a short first person slideshow game with FMV sequences and multiple endings.

Unfortunately it isn’t very good. Its primary problem is that the mansion is randomized every game for added variety during replays and it was, quite frankly, a horrendous idea. All the hallways look the same, and the exact same rooms are re-used over and over again. It’s very tedious. Things do get much better once you get to the second floor which is much smaller and the plot actually begins to progress, but by then the game is almost over.

Title Screen:

Approaching the mansion:

Is this Stauf’s Japanese counterpart?

Don’t play with scissors:

In-game view of one of the rooms:

Creepy puppet time:

Story time:

Someone isn’t very happy:

The final puzzle:

Free the girl or save yourself?

     
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Whoa dude that looks like a cool game. loving all these chinese unknown advgames, keep em coming!

     
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cyfoyjvx - 14 March 2017 11:10 PM

loving all these chinese Japanese unknown advgames, keep em coming!

FYP Wink

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Joined 2014-07-01

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Dylan Dog: The Full Moon Nights (1988) (C64)

This is an Italian language game known as Dylan Dog: Le Notti della Luna Piena
and is one of 22 different Dylan Dog video games I have played. It’s basically just a visual novel. You pick from multiple choices where you want to go and what you want to do and try to find the best ending hidden amongst them.

It’s a story about werewolves and you get to be killed by them in many different ways. There are also some randomized events, meaning that even if you make the right choices you can still die on some occasions. Fortunately you can save your progress and the game is very short. You can probably explore all the paths in an hour or so and once you know the right path, play through it in just a few minutes.

As you can see below, there is actually an unofficial English translation of the game though it is a bit lacking and contains some added comments and language not in the original text. It’s still better than nothing though.

     
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The Witch of Salzburg (1997) (PS1)

This is another Japanese language game released for the original PlayStation. It’s basically the polar opposite of what I look for in an adventure game; no real puzzles, 3rd person, and entirely about the story. There’s a lot of walking around and talking and stuff. At least it was a horror game. I would never have made it through it if someone wasn’t occasionally being murdered.

Title Screen:

Iron Maiden wants you for dead:

I love bathing in human blood in the morning. Feels like immortality:

The male dominated cast of characters:

Exploring the castle:

Oh look. A sausage party.

Now that is how you paint a room:

     

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D - I hope you keep posting these (very) obscure games here, always fascinating to read a bit about them.  Tough though to find the time, I realize playing is preferable to posting LOL.

MA-RI-A looks kind of cool, plus I live FMV type games.  I will have to take your word on it though about how tedious the actual game is.

Witch of Salzburg also looks interesting…although those PS1 graphics are yikes. 

     
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lakerz - 26 March 2017 09:53 PM

D - I hope you keep posting these (very) obscure games here, always fascinating to read a bit about them. Tough though to find the time, I realize playing is preferable to posting LOL.

I’m not done yet, but eventually I will run out of games to post about. I’d love to have played every obscure adventure game, but I only have so much time and I play games from lots of other genres as well. I also covered a lot of obscure games when I did the AGSOTD for a year and I’m trying to avoid repeating any of them here. At least for now.

MA-RI-A looks kind of cool, plus I like FMV type games.  I will have to take your word on it though about how tedious the actual game is.

You may not be bothered by the labyrinth as much as I was. I’m not really a fan of mazes so I might be being overly harsh about it. I’d certainly be interested to hear what someone else has to say about it. I liked the FMV parts and some of the creepy environments though.

 

 

     
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The Death Trap (1984) (PC-8801)

This is an illustrated Japanese language text adventure by none other than Square, most famously known for the Final Fantasy series of RPGs. While pretty much everyone recognizes them for that, far less people know that their first four games were adventure games and this is their first. In fact, one might say that if it wasn’t for the adventure genre there would be no Final Fantasy.

You play as an undercover agent/soldier whose mission is to rescue a scientist who has been kidnapped in order to coerce him to produce biological weapons for an African nation.

Title Screen:

About to embark on your mission:

Interacting with one of the natives:

Doing the wrong thing can get you killed:

Playing with coffins:

This guy had a key I needed:

Getting the girl:

     
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Shadow of the Devil (1996) (Amiga)

This is a Slovak language game whose influence is quite apparent as someone could easily confuse some of the game’s locations as being from the game Dark Seed. The story is about the devil taking over the world at the turn of the millennium and you trying to stop it.

It’s your basic 3rd person point and click inventory puzzle based game with instant deaths, pixel hunting and no way to save to your game. Thanks to emulators and their save state functions that latter problem isn’t an issue any longer.

The game looks much better than it plays and is probably too much of a hassle for most to get running in an emulator so I wouldn’t recommend it, but I enjoyed the atmosphere and am glad I played it, though I will never do so again. I feel the same way about Dark Seed as well, so I guess it’s a pretty good copy of that experience.

     
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Sherlock Holmes: Loretta’s Portrait (1987) (SMS)

This is a Japanese language game originally developed for the Sega SG-1000 console, but due to that console hitting end of life before release, it was instead released on the new Sega Master System which was backwards compatible. It is commonly known by its original title of Loretta no Shouzou: Sherlock Holmes.

In this game Sherlock and Watson are hired to investigate a stolen painting and become embroiled in an ever more complex case that eventually leads to several murders, including that of a child. It utilizes a verb bar like interface in combination with some point and click interaction with the environment. Much of the game involves interrogation and exploration, but it includes some inventory puzzles as well.

It’s a pretty good game for that era and now that I think about it, it might be the first Sherlock Holmes adventure game with a point and click interface. I can’t seem to think of anything earlier at the moment and I’m too lazy to check right now…

Title Screen:

Chillin’ at 221B:

Game Map:

At the Art Gallery:

The dining room at the mansion:

Murder most foul:

The stolen painting:

     
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D - 07 April 2017 10:30 PM

Sherlock Holmes: Loretta’s Portrait (1987) (SMS)

Those colors! My eyes! Confused
But for a Master System game doesn’t seem that bad, seems pretty ambitious

     

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D - well I hope you keep updating this thread as long as you can.  It is fascinating to see these games talked about. 

For example, I had no idea that Square originally did these text adventure games.  So I learned something new this week.

Also, Shadow of the Devil sounds cool, at least in theory.  I liked Dark Seed but 100% fully admit the gameplay was very clunky.  Nice to see some homages to it though!  Would not mind there being a youtube replay of the game, do not see one though.  Shame.

That early Sherlock Holmes game is an interesting find also.

     
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I had no idea that Square originally did these text adventure games.  So I learned something new this week.

Well, if you are ever in a retro gaming mood, this one might interest you:

The Crystal Dragon (1986) (FDS)

This Japanese language game known as Suishou no Ryuu or even more commonly as Suishou no Dragon is the 4th adventure game Square developed, after the two Death Trap games and Alpha. Unlike those games, which are text adventures, this is a point and click game made for use with the disk add-on for the original Famicom (NES). The story is about you searching for your friends after being separated from them after an attack on your ship by the dragon.

Being an NES adventure game it’s a pretty simple and short affair, but the good news is that someone liked it enough to make an English fansub of it which can be downloaded from places like Romhacking.net (game not included).

Title Screen:

The eponymous dragon:

Your savior:

Wandering around the spaceport:

What items should you buy?:

Exploring another planet:

 

     
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Total Posts: 313

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Shine: The Fear Has a Name (1996) (Windows)

This is a German language game originally known as Shine: Die Angst hat einen Namen. It’s an extremely bizarre game which I kind of liked. I don’t understand German so I can’t really say what it’s about and perhaps if I did understand the language I wouldn’t like it as much. The mystery might be part of the appeal.

It’s a first person slideshow game with occasional live action FMV and some challenging puzzles at times, though that might be in part due to the language barrier. I should probably mention right off that you cannot finish this game without a walkthrough if you don’t understand German as vital information to progressing is given verbally in the FMVs.

In one case I was stuck for hours thinking I couldn’t figure out a puzzle when in fact a girl I had met in a club had invited me back to her apartment for a bit of the tube-snake boogie and I was completely unaware that she had told me her apartment number, which has to be entered manually into a keypad at the apartment building, and hence I was completely stuck. It happens. Anyway, here are the shots:


     

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