We all know Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima IV (Adventure Island 4) was the last officially released Famicom game, but have you wondered what the last Disk System game released was?
Well look no further as I present to you, Famimaga Disk Vol. 6, also known as Janken Disk Shiro.
The game was published by Tokuma Shoten and was released on December 22nd, 1992.
It seems to be a Disk Writer exclusive although there are rumblings that it was also released with a magazine.
I can be certain it was at least a Disk Writer release as my copy is a Disk Writer version which came with a brand new manual and brand new labels that I applied to the disk (see pic below).
It seems to be highly sought after and sells for 16,000 - 20,000Y on YJ if you indeed have the paper manual to accompany the disk. I fortunately found it in a gigantic lot of FDS games and systems that I got for ~55,000Y. This lot included well over 120 CIB FDS Games, approximately 60 Disk Writer games with manuals and 2 FDS systems, 1 of which was brand new.
Not much is known about this game, but I can tell you that it seems to be an RPG game in the mold of Dragon Quest starring Disk-kun himself. Although the little bit of information I found about it lists it as a Puzzle game. It sure doesn't look like or play like a Puzzle game to me. The game would be pretty hard to play without any knowledge of Japanese. Once I get some time to play it more I'll come back with a full review, but in the mean time I've taken some screenshots below (click on them for bigger versions). Enjoy..
EDIT: After some further playing and some comments from the thread, the game does appear to be a Puzzle Game which involves Rock, Paper, Scissors. It involves moving blocks of Rock, Paper or Scissors. The idea is to match them up to "win" which removes the defeated block. Rock beating scissors, paper beating rock, etc. In doing so you can move through each dungeon. To help you on your quest there are power-ups that can be found in the dungeons or gotten in town. The "select" button brings up a menu to restart the level or exit the dungeon. This is helpful if you get stuck as it doesn't appear you can die. The "B" button also acts as a redo for your last move, but only your last move. More info to come...
(http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2384.jpg) (http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2384.jpg)
(http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2385.jpg) (http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2385.jpg)
(http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2387.jpg) (http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2387.jpg)
(http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2388.jpg) (http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2388.jpg)
(http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2389.jpg) (http://www.theretrogamer.net/temp/vol6/dscf2389.jpg)
Very interesting...
Someone should translate it, it looks like it would be fun to play.
wow...the final FDS game...
I agree, Tupin...we need a translation...
Wow, I think this is a big milestone...
You actually get to PLAY as DISK-KUN!!
This game definitely deserves it's own page on FW
Since Manuel knows Japanese, and I haven't seen a page written by him yet..I think he should get the honor ;D Or Carl since he actually owns the game.
I'm surprised Nintendo never made a game like this. I've never heard of this company before.
It always seems systems go out with a whimper, especially with modern ones.
You think they would have given Disk-kun his own game a lot earlier in its lifespan.
Oh, and does the game have anything to do with rock, paper, scissors? I recognized Janken from Alex Kidd. :D
I am going to try and take some good pics of the paper manual without opening it up all the way.
Maybe Manuel will be kind enough to translate it for everyone. What do you say?!
It is very much a puzzle game. Did you go into one of the castles? They're full of blocks with rock, paper, or scissors on them that you have to push around.
I did for about 5 seconds to take a screenshot. I didn't do much else.
So is it an RPG based around Puzzle principles?
I think the "town" is just so you can save and buy power ups. The "dungeon" is where all of the puzzles are. The RPG part is minimal, as far as I can tell.
I'll play some more this weekend and give a full review.
Seems like a pretty cool game though.
I can have a look into it, when the text on the photo is readable. :)
Here, I just went into an emulator and pulled up the first bit of text I could find:
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x28/TUPPYLUVER95/jankendisk.jpg)
It's probably is nothing interesting.
I just checked the rom. There isn't too much text in it. I could dump all of it if someone is interested in translating it.
Quote from: manuel on February 23, 2009, 05:58:53 pm
I can have a look into it, when the text on the photo is readable. :)
I'll make sure to take better pics of it this week or this weekend. (of the manual)
Thanks Manuel!
-Carl
Quote from: UglyJoe on February 23, 2009, 06:15:59 pm
I just checked the rom. There isn't too much text in it. I could dump all of it if someone is interested in translating it.
I think that would be a fabulous idea. If there isn't too much text maybe Manuel would also be intersted in translating that.
Is someone here skilled enough to put it back into the ROM?
Yeah, I could put it back in there.
Yeah, it's a puzzle game with a few adventure elements. Not too much text, but I would love to see a translation.
Quote from: UglyJoe on February 23, 2009, 07:17:06 pm
Yeah, I could put it back in there.
Would you mind passing along the text to Manuel for translation? I'll work on getting pics of the manual.
Thanks!
I have to clean it up first (control codes, and such). Plus, has manuel agreed to translate it? Or at least take a look at it?
He said he'd take a look at the manual.
I was going to PM him to ask about the game.
If it's not too urgent I think I can do it when I find the time. :)
Thanks manuel!
For a second there I though it was Dragon Quest Disk-Kun! Looks fun.
http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r51307942
For those who want their own copy, this popped up at a mere 17,810Y. That is roughly $182 USD right now.
Interesting little game. I'm guessing they thought, what the hell, why not? :D Since it was already past life support by now.
Hey, it was a good break from the traditional last game a console makes.
The last console to have a decent game as its very last release was the SNES with Kirby's Dreamland 3.
Sorry for the delay on these, didn't want to release them haphazardly. Here are the three blocks of text I found in the game:
http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text1.htm (http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text1.htm)
http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text2.htm (http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text2.htm)
http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text3.htm (http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text3.htm)
Nice.
I'll translate as soon as possible.
Oh, I should probably mention this. The game only has a hiragana font, so words that should be written in katakana are going to be written in hiragana (eg, でーたー instead of データ). Although you probably noticed that already ;D
Quote from: UglyJoe on March 04, 2009, 09:28:09 pm
Sorry for the delay on these, didn't want to release them haphazardly. Here are the three blocks of text I found in the game:
http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text1.htm (http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text1.htm)
http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text2.htm (http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text2.htm)
http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text3.htm (http://ximwix.net/storage/janken/text3.htm)
Nice, thanks Joe!
Quote from: manuel on March 04, 2009, 10:10:39 pm
Nice.
I'll translate as soon as possible.
Thanks manuel. I'll make sure to get you scans of the manual this weekend.
That would be nice, Carl.
I'm sure the manual would help a bit to understand some stuff better.
I was messing around with the game again last night. The towers have boss fights at the top :o I was able to cheat my way to the top of the towers, but I'm not good enough at the game to defeat the bosses.
edit: Okay, managed to cheat my way to the ending. End credits are in English (with a nice font!).