Kamen Rider Black

I recently finished up 1987/88’s Kamen Rider Black. Black and its direct sequel Black RX almost exist as their own “era” of Kamen Rider. The last full TV series had been Super-1 in 1980, and there wouldn’t be another full TV series after RX until Kuuga in 2000. What Black does is introduce a lot of elements that would become hallmarks of the later shows.

The story begins with Minami Kotaro and Akizuki Nobuhiko. Kotaro was adopted by Nobuhiko’s father and raised as family along with Nobuhiko’s sister Kyoko. On their 19th birthday, both young men are kidnapped by an organization of evil cultists called Gorgom. The boys are each modified into cyborgs and implanted with a Kingstone. Being given the names “Black Sun” and “Shadow Moon”, they are to fight to the death, with the victor becoming Gorgom’s next Creation King. However, Kotaro is able to escape before his brainwashing is complete. When he’s attacked by Gorgom’s three high priests, he undergoes a transformation into his Black Sun form. Kotaro decides to use his powers to fight back against Gorgom, taking the name Kamen Rider Black.

Black’s premise and tone were considered generally dark at the time. The Gorgom organization is presented as extremely creepy and even disgusting at times. It may seem a bit funny now with its obvious rubber suits, but in 1987 I can see how this was unlike what people had seen before in this kind of show. It also introduces a lot of the tension and drama that would become standard in the later movie-era and Heisei-era riders.

The most important addition is an antagonist Rider. A little after halfway through, Nobuhiko awakens as Shadow Moon. This puts a lot of strain on Kotaro, Kyoko and Katsumi (Nobuhiko’s girlfriend), and creates a conflict of loyalties for Kotaro. Can he fight his best friend and brother? Shadow Moon of course is brainwashed by Gorgom, but sometimes shows unexpected compassion and restraint, especially when confronted by Katsumi. This all culminates toward the end of the series when the Creation King pushes the two to finally duel it out, and things don’t initially go as you’d expect…

Despite all that, most of the show is typical mid-80’s tokusatsu. Gorgom comes up with some wacky plan, Kotaro stumbles onto it, kicks the monster’s ass. The formula is broken up a bit during the first half by the introduction of Birugenia, a former Creation King candidate who was considered too out of control and sealed away. Birugenia would sometimes appear to challenge Black, spicing up the fight scenes until he was finally taken out and replaced by Shadow Moon.

The effects are decent for the time. The regular monsters are a bit cheesy, but the more major characters look great. Black has some nice organic muscley stuff in his joints, and Shadow Moon is just badass all over. The priests look really good too, both before and after their mid-series upgrade. I love the grip tightening sound effect when Kotaro clenches his fists before transforming. The biggest problem I had is that the strobe effect during Rider Punch and Rider Kick really hurts my eyes. I can only imagine the seizures this show caused.

Overall, I liked it. The regular episodes could drag on sometimes, but it’s made up for whenever the story kicks in with the Priests, Birugenia or Shadow Moon getting involved. Shadow Moon especially was a cool character, setting the stage for later Riders like Ouja, Kaixa, the Hoppers, Saga, etc. It’s certainly a lot cooler than the 70’s stuff I’ve seen (not to hate on that or anything), and much more satisfying as a full series than the one-off “movie” Riders. I’ve started into Black RX, which isn’t as dark but I still like it. Best part of RX, no Furbus.

Century Kings, a fansub group consisting of I think just one guy, has Black done through episode 38. The rest I got as raws from this thread on Henshin Justice Unlimited.

Kamen Rider Decade – DX DecaDriver and DX Ride Booker

This year’s Kamen Rider series is a big what if story. Specifically, it’s like “What if there was a giant Marty Stu crossover fanfic, but it was done by the show’s actual studio, and it didn’t suck?” That essentially describes Kamen Rider Decade, a celebration of the past 10 years of “Heisei” era Kamen Rider shows.

In the series, a man named Kadoya Tsukasa is Kamen Rider Decade. In order to save his world from collapsing, he must travel to the worlds of the past 9 Riders to completely restore his powers. Decade’s powers are unique in that aside from a few specific attacks of his own, his powers are… everyone else’s powers. Decade can transform into any of the past 9 main Riders and access their weapons, powers, forms and final attacks. If he’s with that Rider, he can also transform them into a weapon for a special combo attack.

Decade’s powers are accessed through Kamen Rider Cards. With the DecaDriver belt in its open position as in the above photo, cards are inserted through the top. The logo of the Rider the card draws from will be visible in the circle at the center of the buckle. At this point, the DecaDriver will speak the class of the card, which is one of the following:

Kamen Ride — Transforms Decade into another Rider. Also used for his initial henshin into Decade.
Attack Ride — Accesses weapons, powers and even vehicles
Form Ride — Switch to one of the Rider’s power up forms. Note, “ultimate” forms are accessed separately with a device to come later.
Final Form Ride — Transforms another Rider into a weapon to perform a combo attack
Final Attack Ride — Use a Rider’s own finishing move, or initiate the combo attack with Final Form Ride

When closed, the DecaDriver will light up in the center, speak the name of the card, and play a sound effect. Unlike in the show, where the specific name of Attack Ride and Form Ride cards is spoken, the toy will only say the name of the Rider to whom the card belongs. “Faiz”, “Agito”, etc. There are specific henshin sound effects that play in conjunction with each main Heisei-era Rider’s Kamen Ride card. Other Kamen Ride cards just get a generic effect.

As with the Faiz Driver, the DecaDriver needs modification to fit an adult. Since the DecaDriver closes at the side of the buckle, and the back separation is just for adjustment, I could do things a little differrently. Most importantly, there’s no need to incorporate a buckle at the back. On one side, I just stitched the strap into place the same way I did on the Faiz Driver. On the other side, I passed it through the adjustment slot, and put the adjustment piece from the backpack back on. The adjustment piece keeps the strap from sliding back through, and also does its intended job of allowing you to adjust the belt’s size.

Decade’s other main piece of equipment is the Ride Booker. Normally hanging at his left side, its primary purpose is as a card holder.

Within, there are two areas to hold cards. The area at the left has space for 3 cards comfortably. You could maybe jam more in, but I’m worried about messing them up. When you pull a card up from this area, it will bump a little switch causing a “vrooom” card drawing sound directly out of the show. The area on the right is much deeper, holding most of your cards, but has no special function.

The Ride Booker also serves as Decade’s personal weapon. The first mode is a pistol. This looks very nice, and very accurate to the show. When the trigger his held down, you get a machine gun sound effect. The Ride Booker’s gun mode can be powered up with the Decade Blast card, though for the toy this has no effect.

The Ride Booker’s second form is a sword. Unfortunately, and likely due to toy safety regulations, the blade is embarassingly short. This comes of worse than most toy swords, since the card holder section is taking up a lot of the sword’s overall length, leaving just a pathetic tip of a blade. I can’t say this looks remotely as good as the gun. Tapping the trigger will make a sword slashing sound effect. The Ride Booker’s sword mode is powered up by the Decade Slash card (though, as with the gun, this does not affect the toy).

Here’s a quick look at the Kamen Rider cards I have at the moment. The 10 Kamen Ride cards all come with the DecaDriver. The Decade Slash card comes with the Ride Booker (but not the Decade Blast, frustratingly). Decade’s Final Attack Ride comes with the Final Form Ride series Kamen Rider Decade action figure. These cards, in addition to being usable in the DecaDriver, are also used for the Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride arcade game. In fact, other than the ones that come with toys, those machines are the only way to get the cards. There is a function in them to buy cards from Kivat the 3rd. Unfortunately, there are no boosters, so it’s fairly impossible to get them outside Japan. There is hope for gaijin looking to get the most out of their DecaDriver. Somebody in Japan figured out the encoding on the barcodes and made a PDF with barcode cards you can cut out. There’s also some promo card effects as well as unintended and Easter Egg effects. Pretty nice!

DecaDriver cards complete set — PDF

I love the DecaDriver. It only really has one thing that it does, read barcodes, however that one function is really fun. It’s also very solidly made, and makes a very satisfying sound when opened and shut. Details are abound, even in places you can’t normally see. Since this allows you to role play as every main Rider from the past 10 years, how could any Kamen Rider fan not want this?

Kamen Rider 555 – Deluxe Faiz Driver and Faiz Axel

I recently got one of my personal holy grails. This is a toy that I had thought I’d missed the opportunity to own, which would’ve been unfortunate since it’s the best damn Kamen Rider toy ever. Of course, if you know Kamen Rider, you know I must be talking about the DX Faiz Driver.

In the series, Kamen Rider 555, the Rider Gears were belts and weapons originally designed by the Smart Brain organization to protect the Orphnoch King. Instead, the former CEO of Smart Brain decided to repurpose them a bit. They were sent to members of a group of kids the former CEO had raised years before, with the purpose of using them to defeat Orphnochs. The only catch — they only work for people with Orphnoch DNA.

The center of the Faiz Gear is the Faiz Phone, its power source and control device. Outwardly, it looks like a normal cell phone. On the toy, pressing any random combination of numbers followed by the Call button will make the phone say “Connectioning…” and make a ringing noise and light pattern.

The really fun stuff starts from here. There are a series of codes printed on the screen. Let’s start with the ones that let you use the phone as a gun. Where’s that iPhone app at, huh? On the Faiz Phone, key in 1-0-3-Enter, and the phone will say “Single Mode”, indicating you are in single shot mode. Key in 1-0-6-Enter and it will say “Burst Mode”, indicating that it will now fire in 3-shot bursts. In either case, fold the screen straight back and cock it to the left to turn the phone into the nifty Faiz Phone Blaster. There’s a firing sound and lights moving along the “barrel” when the trigger is pulled. After 12 shots in either mode, it will make an empty sound. Key 2-7-9-Enter and the phone will say “Charge” followed by an effect indicating it has reloaded.

Of course, the main attraction with any Kamen Rider belt is “How do I henshin?” On the Faiz Phone, key 5-5-5-Enter, and the phone will say “Standing By…” and begin making loud, pulsing standby sound effect. Set it into the cradle on the Faiz Driver belt and lock it down, and the phone will say “Complete” and play the henshin sound effect. Dramatic posing is optional, but encouraged. In this mode, you can remove the Mission Memory (the Faiz face logo on the front) and insert it into one of Faiz’s weapons to ready it for battle. Open the phone and press Enter to trigger your “Exceed Charge” finishing moves!

One concern for old fans, especially those of us who are American where everything (especially guts) is bigger, is that the belts are made for kids. There’s very little chance a full grown adult is going to fit into one as-is, unless they are very petite. Luckily, it’s not that hard to work around. For my Faiz Driver, I attached a nylon strap I cut off an old backpack. This strap had one of those plastic clips in the middle as you can see in the previous photo. This was critical for the Faiz Driver as it closed in the back and has no other separation. I simply took a good old fashioned needle and thread, and stitched through some of the pre-existing holes in the belt. On the back side, the thread forms an X pattern. This was extremely simple to do, and holds very well. Also, since it’s just thread, it’s completely reversible if I decide to undo the mod later. I even preserved the adjustment piece in the strap so I can resize the belt at will.

Also on the recent acquisitions list was the Faiz Axel. This item was given to Faiz about halfway through the series, and allows him to access his Axel Form, gaining super speed for 10 seconds. The toy is styled somewhat after a sports watch, but mated to a typical Sentai type wrist changer. Like the belt, it’s made for kids and the watch strap absolutely does not fit around my wrist. The second velcro strap, meant to be farther up the arm, will fit around my wrist. This makes the Axel awkwardly overlap my hand, but it does stay on.

To use, you remove the special “Axel Memory” and insert it into the Faiz Phone in place of the standard Mission Memory. The Axel will say “Reformation” when it’s removed, though this is somewhat inaccurate. In the show, it would say “Reformation” when the Axel Memory was put back, after the Axel’s time was expended. Anyway, press the red start button to begin your 10 second countdown along with a powerful pulsing sound effect. A voice will count down at the very end “3…2…1…Time Out.” You can also use the black button to switch the behavior of the “screen saver” while the Axel is idle, or to play a simple game.

Overall, the Faiz Driver just kicks ass. Yeah, role play toys are pretty high on the geek-o-meter, but this is just one of the most fun toys in my whole collection. It does a number of things, and has fun voice feedback, sound effects and lights. It also was the personal equipment of my favorite Rider, which helps. The Faiz Driver is a worthy buy for any Kamen Rider fan, though it’s heavily sought after and finding a good price on one is tough. I had to buy mine used to avoid selling a kidney for it. Still, I regret nothing.

Copying Famicom Disk System disks with Disk Hacker

I mentioned when talking about the Famicom Disk System that despite its being a great add on for the Famicom, it had all the same flaws as any other floppy disk system. One of the most common problems with any floppy-based computer is that the floppy disk media itself degrades. Most commonly, the magnentic signature that stores the data weakens over time. This is not a death sentence for the whole disk, however, it just needs to have the data copied back onto it. For other computers, this is trivial, as you can easily make a backup copy of the disk.

For the FDS, however, this is not so easy. It doesn’t have any sort of file and disk management since it was just a game console. Also, the copying of disks was intentionally discouraged since that would mean the games could be pirated. Initially, the only thing Nintendo really did was alter the shape of the disk by putting a recessed Nintendo logo into it. This meant that standard QuickDisks would not physically fit in the FDS, as the FDS had a matching raised plate.

There were ways around that, of course, pirate game makers just modified their disks to match. They would either slightly modify the Nintendo logo, or just cut big holes in there to make it work. In addition to pirate games made in this method, there were also some disk copying utilities. One such utility was Disk Hacker, which I recently came into possession of.

As you can see, it’s physically a little ghetto, but it gets the job done. The utility is pretty idiot proof, at least if you can read some basic Japanese. There’s no menu, no options, no controls. You never need touch the controller once. Just do what it says on screen. When you first load the utility, the title screen briefly appears.

This will disappear on its own, and you will be presented with the following text:

ゲームディスクヲ　イレテクダサイ。

This is asking you to insert the game disk. Pop out Disk Hacker and pop in the game you wish to make a copy of. The FDS will churn a bit, then you’ll see this:

ナマディスクヲ　イレテクダサイ。

This is asking you to put in a fresh disk, or the disk you wish to copy onto. Put that in, and again the FDS will churn a bit. When it’s done, it will most likely go back to asking you for the game disk. The FDS RAM adapter only has 32k of memory, but one side of an FDS disk holds up to 64k, so it’s going to take two passes. Put your game disk back in with the same side facing up you did last time. After that you will once again be prompted for the target disk, so put that in, again with the same side up you used before. When Disk Hacker’s job is done, you get this:

オワリマシタ。

This simply means, “Done.” Shut off your Famicom and remove your newly cloned disk. If you are copying a two-sided game, you will need to repeat the process from the start for the other side. All in all, it only takes a few minutes to copy a disk.

This method is not perfect for everyone, as there are a few concerns. The most obvious one is, where do you get blank disks? Well, you don’t. Not unless you stumble onto some unused stock from the Disk Writer kiosks. What you can do is ask your favorite retro/import game dealer for some non-working FDS games, which is what I did. Any dealer who sells FDS games gets dead disks from time to time, and is probably sitting on a small mountain of them. More than likely, they’d be glad if you’d take them off their hands for a few bucks. The vast majority of them probably aren’t physically damaged, their data has just degraded or become corrupt. Once they’re rewritten, they’ll work great.

The less obvious, but bigger problem is your FDS drive. Nintendo wasn’t stupid, and got wise to this method. They implemented two changes in later FDS drives to prevent it from copying disks. First was an expanded power board that included circuitry preventing large-scale write operations. You could still write a save file just fine, but try to write a whole disk and it stops you. This can be patched around if you have the soldering skills. The second measure is a chip inside the actual QuickDisk drive that serves the same function as the circuitry on the power board. There’s nothing that can be done about this chip.

If you need to identify whether your FDS drive is capable of writing disks, there’s a great thread on Famicom World that explains how to quickly do so. Remember, you need both the smaller, regularly shaped power board and the 7201 chip to write disks. This is also the case if you are planning to build an FDS Loader cable that bridges your FDS drive to a PC for dumping and rewriting disks. If you have the electronics skills to do this, it’s much better than using Disk Hacker because you wouldn’t need blanks, you could just restore a degraded disk from a previous dump file.

That’s all I’ve got to say about Disk Hacker. If you have the right kind of FDS drive, and come across a copy, it might be a worthy investment for backing up your precious games.

Update: One other detail I forgot to mention. In addition to modifying the FDS itself, some games also played some tricks with the file system that prevent some cloning utilities from working. Specifically, they would write some data at the end of the disk, but not mark in the disk’s header that those blocks are in use. However, the game will check if that data is there and refuse to run if it’s not. The some utilities would only copy the blocks marked used, while some would just copy the disk wholesale regardless of the header. The latter case would be able to copy these games.

I hate Time Capsules

With the introduction of Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”, Apple released their built-in backup software Time Machine. Time Machine just runs in the background, automatically copying your precious data to another drive. A great idea, now it’s easier than ever to get people to back up. But what about laptops?

Laptops are a huge part of the computer market today, especially for Apple. The problem is that they are, by nature, mobile and not likely to be chained to a desk with an external hard drive hanging off. That means people have to remember to plug that drive into their laptop from time to time, introducing a factor of human error and forgetfulness. There must be a better way right? Isn’t there a way to make backup as wireless as the rest of the laptop? Apple thought so, and released Time Capsule, an Airport Extreme base station with a hard drive built in. Leopard detects Time Capsules on the network and backs up to them over your wireless network with the one-click ease Apple is famous for. There’s just one teensy, weensy little problem:

HFS+ sucks

For those unaware, HFS+ is the file system used by Macs. That is, the organizational system by which the computer keeps track of where and how your data is stored on the actual disk. The problem is, it dates back a long time and as needs have grown, it has started to falter. Big drives with lots of files, especially that change all the time like on Time Machine, make a wreck of HFS+’s catalog. When that catalog gets messy, the drive starts running slow, or may develop problems accessing certain data. The traditional Mac fix for this has been Alsoft’s Disk Warrior, a miracle piece of software that takes your HFS+ catalog and rebuilds a nice clean one. Note, not fixes it, makes a new one. All nice and perfectly organized. Disk Warrior is almost critical on Time Machine drives just due to the sheer number of changes as data is added hourly, and old snapshots are removed. Eventually, all Time Machine drives are likely to need this done.

The issue on Time Capsule is that there’s no way to run Disk Warrior on it. Disk Warrior needs to unmount the drive and have direct access to it. How can you do that when it’s attached over a network? Well, you can’t. Not unless you gut the Time Capsule and attach its drive right to your computer. There’s another problem too. There are actually two HFS+ filesystems you need to worry about. The first is the one on the Time Capsule’s actual drive. The second is the one within the sparse disk image that your backup data is written into. Time Capsule (as well as network Time Machine backups to OS X Server) create a virtual drive as a sparse disk image to back up to, and since this is its own virtual volume, it has its own filesystem to worry about. If either filesystem has problems, your backup fails. Disk Warrior is able to rebuild the filesystem within disk images, and should be able to do it if you mount the Time Capsule’s drive as a shared folder. However, you still can’t rebuild the filesystem on the actual physical drive in the Time Capsule.

The worst part about it is that Apple sells this thing to lay users as a completely turn key system. Set it and forget it. That’s great until HFS+ eats its own tail, then what? Then you call your local Mac IT guy (me) to try and fix the damn thing. If it’s just the sparse image, there is hope. If it’s the filesystem on the drive, probably going to have to format it. It’s really frustrating to see people getting hit like this, from the random home users that call my office to the likes of Wil Wheaton. If your Time Capsule backup has stopped, and rebooting hasn’t solved it, I almost guarantee this is the problem. If your regular, local Time Machine backup has similarly stopped, this is probably the same issue, but at least that’s fixable.

Apple. For the love of god, get us a new filesystem that can actually handle your backup scheme. I am tired of dealing with this.

Update: In addition to the incident that prompted the writing of this post, just as I finished up somebody else walked in complaining that he can’t back up to his Time Capsule. Gee, I wonder what the problem is?

Mei-chan no Shitsuji

Butlers are big in Japan. After all, women need a fetish to match guys’ obsession with maids. Several properties have come out lately featuring butlers. Hayate no Gotoku, Kuroshitsuji… but none capitalizes on the butler rage more than Mei-chan no Shitsuji.

The premise is this: Shinonome Mei lives happily with her parents where they make a small but reasonable living running an udon shop. She spends a lot of time with her childhood friend Shibata Kento, whom she has nicknamed “Mameshiba” and who clearly has a crush on her. One fateful day, her parents are suddenly killed. Shortly after, a man named Rihito appears before her, claiming to be her butler! According to Rihito, Mei is actually the heir to the powerful Hongo family, and she must attend the prestigious St. Lucia Academy to become a proper lady worthy of the position. Further complicating things, it turns out Rihito is Kento’s older brother.

Mei is initially determined to continue running her family udon shop, but it’s soon destroyed. She’s also pressured by her grandfather, the current head of the family, by saying he won’t allow her mother to rest in the same grave as her father unless she becomes the Hongo family successor. So, Mei agrees to attend St. Lucia. When she arrives, she finds that the school requires each lady to have her own butler, responsible for her comfort and safety. The school is governed by a rigid system of rank, with Ombra being the bottom, then Luna, then Sole. Mei starts at Ombra, as all students do, but is constantly challenged and bullied by her snobbish classmates. Standing atop the hierarchy is Hongo Shiori, another potential successor to the Hongo family, and the current “Lucia-sama”, the top lady at the school. Shiori is outwardly benevolent and admired by all, but she’s secretly ruthless in pursuit of her goal. Mei is not alone, however, as Rihito is a top S-rank butler, and Kento even enrolls as a butler in training to stay close to her.

The plot is pretty typical shoujo fare. Tons of pretty guys doing… pretty things. Lots of flower imagery and wish fulfillment for girls wanting to be pampered. As the plot moves along, conflicts escalate from simple problems fitting in to life and death struggles as Shiori’s schemes become more and more dangerous. There’s also a forbidden love aspect since butlers and ladies are not allowed to be romantically involved. Despite that, there’s clearly something going on between at least half the couples, not the least of which is the romantic tension between Mei and Rihito so thick you could scrape it off the walls.

So, why the hell did I watch this? First and foremost, it has tokusatsu actors galore. Most prominently, Rihito is played by Mizushima Hiro, who was none other than titular character of Kamen Rider Kabuto. Rihito is not terribly different from Tendou Souji/Kabuto. Both are seen as nearly perfect, but harbor a bit of a complex regarding a particular young lady in their lives. Opposite him playing Kento is Sato Takeru, who was Nogami Ryotarou/Kamen Rider Den-O in his own eponymous series (directly following Kabuto too). Also playing smaller parts are the actors for Natsuki (Boukenger), Nago (Kamen Rider Kiva), Impactor Logia (Gransazer), and others.

In addition to the cast, the show was just somehow entertaining. Mizushima Hiro goes a long way toward accomplishing that, but it’s not just him. It’s a bit over the top, but not quite as obnoxiously so as Hanazakari no Kimitachi e was. It even has some decent fencing and hand to hand combat scenes peppered in. I would say give this a try if you’re curious, especially if you want to see some Kamen Rider actors outside those roles. It may put you off, but who knows… you may just like it.

Famicom Disk System

Back when I talked about the Famicom I mentioned it had an add on floppy disk drive as one of its most unique features. This was known as the Famicom Disk System (FDS). The drive was based on Mitsumi’s Quick Disk format. Nintendo added an imprinted Nintendo logo on each disk that matched an embossed plate in the drive. This was a rudimentary protection against piracy as it prevented standard Quick Disks from being used in the system.

Nintendo released the FDS in February 1986 in an attempt to address some shortcomings of the Famicom’s cartridge format. Principally, the FDS offered 128k (64k per side) of storage and the ability to save game data. This was important in a time when ROM space and battery backed saves were both expensive. The FDS drive itself could run on 6 C-sized batteries or its AC adaptor, and connected to the Famicom through a device called the RAM Adapter. The RAM Adapter was an oversized cartridge containing the FDS BIOS, a drive controller and 32k of RAM. Additionally, the RAM Adapter contained an FM Synthesis module that connected to the Famicom’s audio expansion pins, meaning FDS games could offer richer, bigger sounds than Famicom carts of the time.

Initially, the FDS was a big leap forward for console gaming. Its increased storage capacity and ability to save allowed complex games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid to come about. FDS games were also generally cheaper than cartridge games. For example, Super Mario Bros. 2 (an FDS exclusive) was only 2,500 yen at launch. Additional distribution was available through a network of Disk Writer kiosks at department stores throughout Japan. These kiosks would allow a user to download a new game onto a blank or unwanted FDS disk for only a few hundred yen.

As revolutionary as it was, the FDS was not without problems. For one, it has all the same problems as any other floppy disk drive. It’s dependent on a rubber belt, which in the FDS has a tendency to melt and is of a very difficult to obtain size. Also, the disks themselves degrade over time like any floppy disk. Nintendo opted not to include a shutter on most FDS disks to keep costs down, so extra care must be taken not to let foreign material contact the disk surface.

Due to these and other issues, Nintendo decided not to release a version of the FDS for the American NES, though the bottom expansion port on the NES was designed for it. Zelda would not be released for the NES for over a year after the FDS launch, pending the introduction of the MMC1 mapper with its larger memory capacity and support for battery backed saves. Metroid would launch in the US around the same time, though its save system would be replaced by a cumbersome password. Both games lacked the additional sound channel provided by the FM synthesis module in the RAM Adapter.

In Japan, the FDS’s heyday would last only a few years. Cartridges soon reached a point where they could match the FDS’s capacity and battery backed saves were more practical. Cartridges had the advantage of being available to all Famicom owners, not just those who owned both the Famicom and FDS, so developers naturally gravitated back. Though the first two games in Konami’s Dracula (Castlevania) series were FDS exclusive, Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania III) would debut in cart format. Nintendo itself released Super Mario Bros. 3 on cartridge to take advantage of the new MMC3 mapper. Square, despite being a big FDS developer with its Disk Original Group (DOG) released Final Fantasy on cartridge.

The FDS was manufactured through 2003, and supported by Nintendo Japan through 2004, and still retains a cult following. Gamers desire it for the enhancements (primarily the FM synth sounds and saving) that it offers over the NES or later Famicom cart versions of classic games. Many games would never be officially released in any other format. Overall, the FDS is worth it for discerning 8-bit gamers who want the complete experience of games like Zelda, Metroid and Castlevania. Just be prepared to deal with its quirks, and if you see any replacement belts for sale, buy them while you can.

A quick rundown of the games I have for it is as follows:

Akumajou Dracula — This would become the first Castlevania game upon its US release. The principle changes are being able to save after each boss and the enhanced FM synthesis based sounds. Also, in a rare case for games being adapted for the US, the Japanese version is actually easier. Enemies in later stages don’t do as much damage as in the US version.

Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagami — Adapted for the US as Kid Icarus, again this game lost its save feature in the translation. In its place there was a cumbersome password. It did take advantage of the Famicom’s built in microphone on the second controller, as yelling into it would negotiate for lower prices in the item shop.

Kamen Rider Black: Taiketsu Shadow Moon — This is one of the worst games I have ever played. The graphics are good, the sound isn’t bad, and the intro cinematic is pretty cool. What kills it is the controls. They are impossible. Simple things like jumping and attacking are a constant struggle. Don’t bother unless you are a really, really big Kamen Rider fan. And a masochist.

Metroid — This classic game from the mind of GameBoy creator Yokoi Gunpei was meant as a showcase of the FDS’s capabilities, but wasn’t quite ready for launch. It has a number of very impressive FM synthesis powered sounds, from the opening music to the doors opening to the screams of certain enemies when shot. The ability to save is also much more convenient than the password system used in the US version. Metroid is one of the top reasons to invest in the FDS.

Nazo no Murasamejou — Nazo no Murasamejou could have been a much more significant game had it not been sandwiched between the juggernauts of Zelda and Metroid. It’s a very good overhead action game where you play a samurai tasked with defeating the demon-possessed daimyo of 4 castles, before taking on the source of the evil in the 5th. It’s also hard as hell and I can’t get past the second castle. ^^; For some unknown reason, it was never released on the NES.

Yume Koujou Doki Doki Panic — This game is most remembered for forming the basis of what we got in the US as Super Mario Bros. 2. The original version of the game does have some differences aside from graphics. First, rather than switching characters on the fly between stages, each character has their own progress. You must beat the game completely with each character to truly finish it. Also, there is no running with the B button, making some shortcuts inaccessible to some characters.

Evangelion

Since I finished up Gundam Wing, I figured I would take on the only 90’s mecha show more divisive among anime fans: Evangelion. I had only watched this one time, back when I first bought the DVDs. I thought it was OK, but did not get what the big deal was about. So, how does many years more experience with anime adjust my opinion?

When this show is just being a good old fashioned robo romp, it’s pretty good at it. The first half of the show contains some pretty cool sequences. Of course, things start with Unit 01 going berserk on the 3rd angel, which is great. I also like Unit 02 jumping ship to ship, the one where Asuka blocks the acid from that spider angel so Shinji and Rei could get down to the rifles and kill it, and the synchronized attack is pretty funny (and, I believe a reference to Double Rider Kick!). That’s all good stuff. Even the antics of the characters in their off time were amusing, with cocktease Asuka messing with Shinji and the perpetually drunk Misato.

Some aspects of the production are great. Sadamoto Yoshiyuki’s character designs are very nice, and I continued to like his work on the first .hack saga. The theme song is infamously catchy, and still sung wherever otaku sing karaoke. The voice cast is also superb, with the likes of Kotono Mitsuishi (Sailor Moon), Ogata Megumi (Sailor Uranus), Koyasu Takehito (Zechs Merquise) and Hayashibara Megumi (Ranma, Faye Valentine). I also noticed this recently: Kaworu was voiced by Ishida Akira who also played Gaara (Naruto), Athrun (Gundam Seed), and Fish Eye, the flamboyantly gay member of Sailormoon SuperS’s Amazon Trio

Production, however, is where the show also falls apart. Gainax was famously short on cash when this show was made, and it is apparent. I have never seen so many cheap shortcuts taken in animation from a big name studio. Pan shots out the ass. The most notable one is probably the famous bathroom scene. Suzuhara and Aida have a whole conversation while the camera does nothing but pan over a static background of urinals. And that must be one humongous fuckin bathroom too to have that many in a row.

Eventually, we pass the critical point, episode 16. This is the first episode where the series just regresses into jibberish. Between the lack of money and Anno’s steadily declining mental state, the show just goes nuts here. It loses most of its narrative structure as they desperately attempt to introduce and wrap up critical plot threads, sometimes in the span of one episode. The animation also drops off even more, as even pans apparently become too expensive and they start using just static shots. Isn’t the point of animation that it moves? Big example of this is the shot of Eva Unit 01 clutching Kaworu in its fist. I swear, you would think your DVD player locked up. It just drags on frozen on this one frame with some music playing.

Of course, it all ends with the final two episodes, comprised of little more than stock footage, still shots, and… like… scribbles. It explains nothing about the plot at all. Instead, we get to psychoanalyze everyone in turn. That’s all well and good, but I’d rather it be done within a narrative since that’s what I tuned in for. Without external knowledge of what the Human Instrumentality Project was, these episodes are impossible to understand. And, frankly, that’s bullshit.

Eva had some great ideas, and some good foundations. However, in the end, the production was a disaster and they failed to deliver on it. Regardless of what the reasons were, regardless of what Anno was trying to say, the bottom line is they fucked up and the second half of the show is a complete mess. It may have been trying to communicate grandiose ideas, and be rich in symbolism, but they failed to hold it all together into a cohesive narrative. I can sit here and spew philosophy at you for 10 hours, but it doesn’t make me a great film maker.

Now, I should point out, even though I have some knowledge of what happens, I had not seen End of Eva when I wrote this, but I wanted to get my thoughts down on the TV series before I did. The TV series should be able to stand on its own, since that’s how it was originally developed. Unfortunately, it really can’t. Now, here are my brief thoughts on End of Eva which were written later:

The Rebirth part starts off pretty well. Stuff is happening, it’s very exciting. I thought I might have finally understood why people are so captivated by this show, even to this day. Then, I got to End and it basically reverted to the same BS as the TV series. “Let’s do nothing but show weird images and spew our half baked philosphy”. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. The only difference is that this time the weird imagery had a budget. I hate pretentious stuff like this. This is what happens when a creator buys into his own hype. It’s the same reason I hate the Matrix.

Look. Everybody. All you content creators out there. You can’t just put a stream of consciousness in front of people and call it art. Your job is to communicate. If you can’t distill that thought down into something that can be communicated and understood, you fail. You fail as an artist. The mere fact that people still, over a decade later, have to sit around and argue what this series means indicates it failed to communicate its message. Being obscure doesn’t make it brilliant.

Now, when are people going to stop asking me about this show the minute they find out I watch anime? Can I be done now?

Gundam Wing

Since it’s happened to come up several times lately in conversation in my life, I decided to rewatch Gundam Wing again. I haven’t watched it through in years. Probably not since I started heavily getting into the other Gundams. It’s in vogue now to bag on Wing, but how does it really hold up once you’ve seen the Gundam saga in its entirety?

Short answer: Not great, but it’s not the worst

Let’s start with what I do like about the show. First is the animation. It was very high quality for 1995. Lots of detail, very smooth. They made heavy use of the backlit effect, even when it was a trivial thing. Like, a small corner of a display screen in a cockpit would by in a shot, and they would go through the trouble of backlighting it. That is some dedication. The opening sequences are also really slick. What’s up with the “Rhythm Emotion” OP though? It was only in the last 10 episodes, and it was like… not quite finished until the last few. At first several of the gorgeous shots of the Gundams were replaced with lower quality or stock animation.

The music is also pretty good. Two Mix, of course is awesome. “Just Communication”, “Rhythm Emotion”, “White Reflection”, all good stuff. The BGM is also very memorable. I like “The Wings of a Boy Who Killed Adolescence”, “When the Dragon Swims, Everything Ends” and “The Curtain of the Next Chapter Rises Now”. Emo names not withstanding. I never really got into the character songs for this show though. They kinda… suck.

Now, onto what’s not so good. Characters. The G-Boys are about as deep as puddles. The only ones with personalities are Duo, Quatre and Zechs. Quatre’s personality is simply “annoying” (though he was kinda fun when he was batshit crazy), and Zechs’ was ripped off of Char. So, that leaves Duo who, while likable, still has nearly zero actual development. Then there’s… ugh… Relena Plotdevice… er… Darlian… er… Peacecraft… Obnoxiousbitch… whatever. I can’t say much that hasn’t already been said. I’ll just put it this way: I spent 49 episodes hoping the rhino would just sit on her. It never delivered. Fuck you, rhino. Fuck you.

It was only the secondary characters who were really interesting and/or likable. Lady Une, Noin, Dorothy (who would be hot if not for those two badgers on her face). Howard is awesome. We should all be that cool when we’re old to rock shades and a Hawaiian shirt. Even some of the secondary cast falls flat, though. Like, what were they trying to do with Treize? Are we supposed to love him? Hate him? I have no fucking idea. Neither do the other characters. Wu Fei kills him, then cries about it, then in EW he’s like “Treize is still alive, I need to rekill him or something”. I’m with you, Wu Fei. I don’t know what’s going on either.

Speaking of confused, how about the plot. Man, stuff just makes no sense. Even the very premise of the show has issues. If OZ a) Has been sitting on the Tallgeese all this time and b) knows what Gundanium is, then why can’t they make Gundams? What is so different about them? Then there’s the nonsensical decisions the characters make. Here’s a brilliant tactical maneuver. You need to get your asses into space to fight OZ. The only guy whose Gundam can actually operate in space dumps it in the goddamn ocean instead of taking it along. Why? Because if the G-Boys posed a threat in space, the whole next story arc can’t happen. Bullshit. That also brings me to my number one annoyance with Wing: not enough Gundams. The entire middle third of the show has almost no Gundams. Wing and Heavyarms are ditched on Earth, Sandrock is blown up, and Deathscythe and Shenlong are being rebuilt. So, we get little bits of Mercurius and Vayeate, Zechs doing a bit with the Tallgeese… it’s all just frustrating. I’m not tuning in for the deep, intricate character development obviously. I want to see some goddamn Gundams!

Speaking of forcing the plot, that’s Relena’s entire job. Every time the writers didn’t know how to move forward, they just pull out Relena to create the proper motivation. Relena Plotdevice. And as a coup de gras, what the holy hell happens to Zechs at the end? From like nowhere, he decides Earth = evil, peace = for sissies, let’s blow shit up. This was obviously a take on Char becoming the antagonist in CCA, but with Char it made sense. Char was moving forward the agenda of everyone moving to space that he was always a follower of. Zechs just randomly decides to kill everyone on Earth. Then goes back on it because… Heero cut Epyon’s arm off? Huh? I have no clue.

Endless Waltz has most of the same issues as the TV series. Makes no sense. Plot is forced. Not enough Gundams. The Gundams don’t even show up until the third episode. It’s not called “Mobile Suit Leo”, it’s “Gundam”. Where are the god damn Gundams?!. And here again, a character does something completely nonsensical just to make the plot work. What was Wu Fei’s problem? If he hadn’t been acting like a d-bag, they could have stopped the whole thing before it started. Argh.

EW doesn’t even do much to explain anything. Yeah, we know a little bit more of the background, but still not enough. Who trained Trowa? For that matter, how did Duo learn to pilot a Gundam? Was he the original pilot, or did he just steal it like Trowa did? Doesn’t Wu Fei’s fiance bear more than a passing mention? What’s the deal with the Gundam engineers? I know there’s a lot of extra material like manga that explains this stuff, but that’s bullshit. I shouldn’t need to read extra manga just to understand the backstory of the main characters. The main characters. It’s not like this stuff is getting into Noin’s past or something. The original Gundam has a lot of supplemental material that expands on its setting, but you don’t need it just to understand the show.

So, in the end, do I hate it? Well, it is entertaining, I can give it that much. In the overall spectrum of Gundam shows, I’d say ZZ is worst, followed by Seed Destiny, then maybe Wing. 0083 and V are down there around Wing too, but Wing is definitely better than ZZ and Seed Destiny. I guess I have it to thank for getting me into Gundam in the first place, but now I have much better ways to get my Gundam fix.

Super Famicom — Sailormoon: Another Story

Somewhere in the late 90’s, Final Fantasy V was translated to English and a ROM patch was released to the Internet, allowing English speakers a chance to play the game for the first time. In the wake of this, other unreleased Japanese RPGs were translated and patched. One which caught my attention was Sailormoon: Another Story. The show was at the peak of its popularity on Toonami, and I was heavily getting into anime and Japanese culture through (VHS!) fansubs of it. I downloaded ZSNES, the ROM, and the patch, and played through it enthusiastically.

Recently, I bought a few Super Famicom carts along with a simple cart adapter to let them fit in my SNES. Of course, one I particularly sought out was Another Story. I hadn’t initially intended to play through it, as I’ve already beaten the translated version a few times, and I didn’t think I wanted to sit through a whole RPG in Japanese. After turning it on for a few minutes though, I decided the level of Japanese would actually be manageable and decided to give it a go. With kanji and translation dictionaries at my side, I didn’t have much trouble. Good practice, actually. Also, as I played through it I was referencing a FAQ that summed up most of the dialogue in the walkthrough, based on the translated ROM. There were a lot of wild translation errors that I can see now. For example, during Venus’s segment in chapter 2, the Japanese dialogue uses the term “jibun jishin” which means one’s self. Jishin can also mean earthquake, so the translated ROM apparently starts talking about earthquakes within Venus’s self or something like that.

As for the game itself, it’s a classic Super Famicom style RPG. You wander around exploring your environment and talking to people. In some areas, you’ll be pulled into random turn-based battles where your party squares off against some monsters pulled from the anime’s Monster of the Day ranks. The story is set after the 3rd manga story arc, or the Sailormoon S anime, and is an amalgamation of the two continuities with original material thrown in. All 10 inner and outer Sailor Senshi are playable (but not Tuxedo Kamen), and have access to all their special attacks from both the anime and manga. As with the show, Senshi are able to combine their attacks for new or more powerful effects. You also have access to a full party combo attack depending on the formation you’re in, and if you’re using the 5 Inner Senshi, you can use their powerful Sailor Planet Attack. One oddity of the battle system is that EP for using your special attacks caps at 12 for each character, but refills after every battle. This actually has the effect of encouraging you to bust out powerful attacks, which really speeds up leveling up. However, it does reduce random encounters to simply tapping the A button to repeat the same attacks you’ve been using to defeat the enemy party in 1-2 turns, once you’ve figured out how to do that in the current area. Another criticism of the combat is that the enemies, even most of the bosses, only pull from a very small pool of special attacks which get old quick. With all the unique and amusing monsters from the anime that make an appearance, it would have been nice if they all used their own signature powers.

The gameplay is very dialogue-heavy. You will typically go through long story sequences, followed by being cut loose on an area with random battles where you train up to fight a boss. Then, another story scene and repeat. The story centers around an evil being attempting to alter destiny, which leads to fan-pleasing showdowns against the series’ previous villains like Queen Beryl, the Black Moon Clan and the Death Busters. You also do some time traveling to visit the Silver Millennium and the Earth Kingdom of their previous lives, and the events leading up to their destruction. If you don’t like Sailormoon and aren’t into the story though, you will be very, very bored.

Character customization is minimal. You can equip each Senshi with up to 3 accessory items which affect their stats, though each Senshi has two accessories of her own gemstone hidden in the game which are vastly superior to any of the regular items, so there’s no reason not to use them. The extent of strategy with the characters is to just look at which stat is their highest after getting their gemstone accessories, then fill the third slot with a regular item that complements it. For example, you would put an attack enhancing Bracelet in Mars’ third slot, and put her toward the front of the formation to capitalize on her high damage attacks. Mercury, you would put either a Tiara (defense) or Anklet (speed) and put her in the back where she’ll be near impossible to kill and good for doing healing.

Difficulty of the game seems to be wildly debated depending on who you talk to. Some find it extremely easy, others extremely difficult. I tend to fall in the prior camp. I think some people get so wrapped up in the story, that when the game returns control, they forget they’re playing an RPG. As long as you remember to put some equipment on new characters as you come into control of them, explore the areas thoroughly so you don’t miss those valuable gemstone accessories, and make sure to not let characters fall behind in level, you’ll be fine. There is a point where you gain free roam of the world with an airship and have to go to the North Pole, only to find the enemy parties there are substantially tougher than previously. That can be a bit rough, especially since this is where you first gain the ability to choose your own party out of the full group and there are several characters in need of catching up. Use your head, don’t forget to make good use of your formations, and carry plenty of status healing items. This is also where you learn one really annoying thing about the game—Chibi-Moon is mostly useless, and nothing you do will make her anything but a wasted slot in your party whenever you’re forced to take her along. So, just like in the anime, pretty much. Chibi-Moon is actually unique in that she has three gemstone accessories, but all they wind up doing is giving her good defense and the highest speed in the game, easily hitting 999 on speed. Even then, she’s only really useful for doing a combo healing technique with Mercury.

Overall, I like this game despite its flaws. But, I really like Sailormoon, and can sink myself into its very fanservice oriented story. If you’re a Sailormoon fan, this is a game you shouldn’t pass up. For the rest of the world, I’d say pass. There just isn’t really enough RPG meat in there to sink your teeth into if the story doesn’t do anything for you. The translated ROM is easy to find, and if you’re up for a bit of a Japanese workout, I got my cart CIB for about $30 or $40 I think.