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

You play Okuninushi, the famed earth kami who pacified the Reed Plains before entrusting the heavenly king Ninigi with Japan's future. A weak but willful Amaterasu needs you to stop Susanoo's return to power—no easy task.

Like in the Kojiki, you start by visiting the underworld!

@speedynoelle @Kalyoshika @Macaw45 Messenger from Dark Knight is my personal favorite pickfor OG PC-98 visual novel. It's got little if any choices, a distinct NVL-style text window, and its themes also reflect what Kanno and co. were doing at elf/C's Ware around that time.

Some info: https://t.co/hDNXmGxGMC

I had to look in a rather dirty place, but I've found a credits list for Tennis Tennis 2! And some other extracted art, too.

The search also confirmed that doujinshi artist VOGUE did the character art for this game, just like with Mujintou Monogatari on PC-98. Glad that's sorted

I wouldn't be surprised if the developers wanted to make a J-PC equivalent of Namco's classic tennis games, such as Pro Tennis: World Court from that era.

We're years away from Mario Tennis, Smash Court, & Power Smash to name a few "cute but detail-driven tennis" successors.

Before moving on to baseball, Softec made the only exclusive tennis games on PC-98. This was hardly new for a studio making everything from pinball recreations to fantasy bunny adventures.

Here's some packaging, courtesy of old auction listings. I haven't found any manual scans.

EMAG might not have accomplished their hopes of becoming Taiwan's premier console-style developer for PC games, but their ethos lives on with studios like Winking, SIGONO, & Red Candle today. Next time you hear about Detention or Legend of Tianding, cherish what it all started!

So, what did Taiwan's PC software world look like back in '96?

In short, something of a nexus between Japan & Korea, both of whom exported many big PC titles to the island country. IBM PCs & net cafes became nearly as much a factor here as in Korea, as did many wordy CRPGs too.

The Frane trio, + one-off Vampire Hurts, represents EXE-CREATES' peak era of Windows-based nostalgic goodness, prior to becoming a JRPG mill for Kemco and other mobile game (mobage) publishers. Low budget this may be, but it's got more fun, polish, & design smarts than it seems.

From the same year as Ys II Eternal, Frane borrows many tropes & mechanics while adding new elements. Indeed, EXE-CREATES had already remade a few Falcom games, including Ys II for Falcom Classics II!

(& because the first Frane was so good, we also have Frane II, whaddaya know)

@MainOdio @Lurkish_Delight I believe you're thinking of Tokyo Twilight Busters, which also had a DS remake many years later.

This article's always a useful read: https://t.co/gspEM2ddyp