Pasokon Deacon | discord.gg/CaDGX9AXyC | Ｊ－ＰＣ　Ｄａｚｅさんのイラストまとめ

Even if Kojima & Jiro Ishii et al. cite Portopia as their early influence, they were well aware of other notable J-PC ADVs at the time too. It's on us to know of & account for the unspoken influences, such as Tokyo Nanpa Street pioneering the pre-Tokimeki dating sim back in '85.

The article rightly points out how Portopia's Famicom port codified the command menu adventure format on consoles (most Famicom owners never bought its keyboard!). But J-PC studios like Thinking Rabbit, Riverhill Soft, & System Sacom experimented beyond Portopia for years after.

Beyond mechanics, Portopia's lack of fail states & everything about Yasu had much more impact on contemporary ADV makers. But I often see it touted as some definitive "text parser games died after this" moment when even the makers of Sokoban kept making those well into the '80s.

First out of three places to visit: King Rolf's castle town, where you're still free to roam & shop. Inn costs 200 gold, but someone in the back alley might give you some nice loot after a story event.

For as low-budget as Heroes of Legend is, the game can look surprisingly nice

A nearby warrior, Yelu, arrives just in time to beat back Rolf's champion, He sees potential in Albert, thinking him a prophesized knight from beyond who's come to defeat the tyrannical king.

After some R&R, Yelu's gone, & the village elder tasks Albert with catching up to him.

You play Albert, a near-future Chinese IT tech unluckily transported to a fantasy medieval world after a work malfunction.

Ignoring how odd that is, he's now stuck atop a tower & met by a champion of the imperious King Rolf, who compels Albert to join him (bad ending!) or die.

By the time new Gensei entries arrived on Windows-era Disc Station, Compile had started publishing the magazine in Korea via their Korean branch & KCT Media. Players on both coasts got to play Gensei Kaishingeki, the first Windows series entry, within half a year of each other.

Gensei Kitan Disc Saga III for PC-98 started this series, known for its humorous take on Suikoden/Water Margin tropes with Compile's unique charm.

Years after its full box release, it reappeared in the Kadokawa-published PC-98 Game Revival Collection alongside other classics.

@PC98_bot Also, yes, this is a real game called How Many Robot 2 (HR2). You manage & program a brigade of construction bots using a variant of C, and it came with a big box & manual like other Artdink PC sims back then.

It's as nerdy, difficult, & sim-tastic as it sounds, and I love it.

@dreamingnoctis @mmcmarvelous It got a DS port many years later, still only in Japanese ofc (and ported by a studio that mainly makes Wizardry-likes, which should tell you how niche/overlooked this is)