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An Interview with Michitaka Tsuruta, creator of Bomb Jack and Solomon's Key

An interview with Michitaka Tsuruta, creator of Bomb Jack and Solomony's Key for Tecmo. Includes shots of the design documents and sketchs.

Interview with Yuzo Koshiro

From the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers DVD. A chat with Yuzo Koshiro, composer of many, many games from the early 80s until present, including Revenge of Shinobi, the Streets of Rage series, Etrian Odyssey, and more. Includes a look at his studio, along with some early doujin games he worked on, as well as a pitch and some footage of an undeveloped Streets of Rage sequel.

Balloon Fight

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/balloonfight/balloonfight.htm

This cutesy 

Joust

 clone gained some renewed attention recently as one of the earliest programming jobs the late Satoru Iwata did for Nintendo.

Inventories: Platforming games before Super Mario Bros. #02 - Jump Bug, Moon Patrol, Kangaroo, etc.

Tracing the history of the platformer genre before Super Mario Bros. - Jump Bug, Kaos, Jack the Giantkiller, Moon Patrol, Kangaroo.

Posted early without ads for our Patrons!

Fallen London

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/fallenlondon/fallenlondon.htm

The recent underground seafaring rogue-lite in a vaguely Lovecraftian world, alongside the two browser games that preceded it.

Suburban Commando

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/suburbancommando/suburbancommando.htm

Not quite a kusoge but not exactly "good", this movie tie-in was published at the height of Hulkamania for computers, featuring Hulk Hogan as a super-deformed sprite taking down generic enemies.

Ultra Despair Girls: Danganronpa Another Episode

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/danganronpa/danganronpa3.htm

The Danganronpa article has been updated with a review of Ultra Despair Girls, the action-based spinoff that struggles to justify its existence.

A rare look at Data East's Deco Cassette arcade system

A rare look at Data East's Deco Cassette arcade system. This is the last working model that can be found in an actual arcade. All other known functioning models are with collectors or museums. Also includes a look at two very rare Deco Cassette games. The first is Flash Boy, and the second is referred to as Ninja in English.

Your Weekly Kusoge: Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Chess Wars

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/kusoge-t2chess.htm

Capstone was infamous for their many, many shoddy licensed tie-ins, and this early CD-ROM title combines James Cameron's seminal sci-fi/action movie with, for some reason, chess.

Klax

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/klax/klax.htm

After infamously running into legal issues with Tetris, Atari set off to make their own falling brick puzzle game, one that utilized 3D graphics in interesting ways.

Megablast

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megablast/megablast.htm

A really humdrum shoot-em-up from Taito, only noteable for its bizarro plot and cameos from other Taito games. Unrelated to Xenon 2: Megablast, the UK-developed shooter.

This was originally scheduled to appear in the upcoming Taito arcade game digest, to appear along other shooters like Darius and Metal Black, but ultimately...

VIdeo: A Visit to the BEEP Warehouse in Saitama

From the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers DVD. A visit to the BEEP warehouse in Saitama, Japan. BEEP is one of the biggest dealer of Japanese computer games. Includes a tour of many of their incredibly rare titles, as well as some gameplay of some of them running on live computers, including Panorama Toh, Space Harrier, and Mario Bros.

This video is age restricted since there are some shots of some adult products. NSFW of course!

Video: A Visit to Westone's Office and Meeting with Ryuichi Nishizawa and Kouichi Yotsui

From the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers DVD. A visit to Westone's office in Tokyo in 2013, and a meeting with company CEO (and co-founder) Ryuichi Nishizawa, as well as Kouichi Yotsui, the director of the arcade Strider. Also includes a segment where Kouichi Yotsui plays his own Strider spiritual successor, Osman. We'll be posting other segments from this video set in the coming weeks - 

Patreon dono...

PO'ed

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/poed/poed.htm

A crazy surreal mid-90s first person shooter, originating on the 3DO and ported to the PS1, where you pummel bad guys with frying pans and meatballs.

Vanguard

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/vanguard/vanguard.htm

SNK's early arcade shooter is incredibly ambitious, and holds up remarkably well in spite of its age.

Your Weekly Kusoge: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/kusoge-tonyhawk5.htm

This could be the last Tony Hawk game ever, so no doubt Activision has made sure the series goes out with a bang, right? Right???

Anyway, sorry for the late Patreon posts, was away on vacation for a week while the other staff kept the main site updated, but everything should be normal going forward!

500-Word Indies: Richard & Alice

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/500wordindies/500wordindies-richardandalice.htm

It's the end of the world in this narrative-focused adventure game about the fight for survival and the interactions of two former prisoners.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/arcanum/arcanum.htm

Troika Games' fascinating but rather unpolished steampunk fantasy RPG, with technology and magic as opposing forces that cannot work together.

September 2015 Patreon supported

Thank you so much for the support this month!

Paper Sorcerer

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/papersorcerer/papersorcerer.htm

Old-fashioned dungeon crawler set inside a magic book where everything is made of ink and paper

Soma

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/soma/soma.htm

The creators of Penumbra and Amnesia: The Dark Descent return with another disturbing survival horror masterpiece, set in a bleak future at the bottom of the sea.

Your Weekly Kusoge: WWF Wrestlemania

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/kusoge-wwfwrestlemania.htm

Acclaim and Rare's first attempt at a pro wrestling game was a mess for NES.

500 Word Indies: Xeodrifter

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/500wordindies/500wordindies-xeodrifter.htm

This lo-fi indie metroidvania strips the genre down to its bare neccessities and finds value in minimalism.

Biomechanical Toy

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/biomtoy/biomtoy.htm

A toy-themed run-and-gun from Spanish developer Zeus, this obscure mid-90s arcade game has some solid action and quality Amiga-style visuals.

C.P.U. Bach

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/cpubach/cpubach.htm

C.P.U. Bach isn't really a game, but rather a multimedia product for the 3DO that can near-flawlessly create new compositions from scratch, designed to mimic the Baroque-era style of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Hardcore Gaming 101 video articles

http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2015/09/hardcore-gaming-101-video-articles-are.html

We're trying out something new to bring you some more (frequently requested) video content. Read all about it or go directly to our channel o...

40 Winks

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/40winks/40winks.htm

A forgotten 3D platformer by Eurocom from the late 1990s, starring two children who have to save a fantasy world in their pyjamas.

Blog Post: HG101 at A Video Game Con in Parsippany, NJ on Saturday, September 19, 2015!

http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2015/09/hg101-at-video-game-con-in-parsippany.html

A Video Game Con is a brand new video gaming convention starting up in Northern New Jersey. Since this is basically my backyard, I had to get a table here. So, please stop on by and say hi!

Your Weekly Kusoge: The Adventures of Gilligan's Island

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/kusoge-gilligansisland.htm

The power of mid-afternoon reruns must've been the reason for the existence of Bandai's terrible action-adventure game starring Gilligans and The Skipper. That or an extraordinarily cheap license.

Super Mario 3mix Interview

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/romhacks/3mix-interview.htm

The recently released Super Mario Maker allows you to create your own Mario levels, but ROM hackers have been doing this for years (and incidentally, have gotten some of their videos taken down by Nintendo). In a new series of interviews, we talk to the developer of Super Mario Bros. 3mix, one of the most ambitious ROM hack...