The Famicom game shown in the photo above is Enix's Door Door, by the way--an adorable little puzzler-platformer that was released only in Japan all the way back in 1985.
In my humble opinion, Door Door may have the best packaging of any Famicom release. Not only is the cover art top notch, but each of the box's side flaps feature illustrations of the game's alien "baddies."
Oh, and the back of Door Door's box is pretty delicious, too, as you can see in the photo below. I'm not sure what the little aliens are saying in their speech bubbles, but I'm guess it's something precious.
Ah, you didn't think I'd fail to show you Door Door's cartridge, did you? Yes, it's cute, too. Are you surprised?
I don't know about you, but I really like its 1970s vibe, what with those bands of yellow and orange. Also, the game's protagonist, Chun (who later inspired the name of designer Koichi Nakamura's company, Chunsoft), makes a rather welcome appearance.
Now that I've seemingly got your attention about all things Door Door, keep your eyes on this space (or, rather, this blog) for a "Great Gaymathon" review of it in the coming weeks.
See also: Previous '12 games I bought in 2012 but didn't tell you about until now' posts
I just caught up on this series after having neglected to check in for a while. Exciting news about Mr. Driller and the Salad game. That one in particular sounds way neat! Hope you get to spend some time with each of them soon!
ReplyDeleteNo worries, Justin. You know I'll always be here :) And, yes, I'm excited about Loopop Cube: Lup Salad, too. Here's hoping I actually *do* get around to playing all of them soon!
ReplyDeleteThat's a really nice box you got there! ;> Just went and fired up an emulator for this and got some really nasty slowdown. Tried another and got the same thing. Maybe it's just a slow game; I dunno.
ReplyDeleteOh, this game definitely chugs a bit, Steve. I'm not sure why--maybe it's on a tiny cartridge (in terms of memory, etc.)? Regardless, it's just something you have to put up with while playing the game, unfortunately. I got over it after a while, but I can see where it would trip up some folks entirely.
ReplyDeleteJust tried the MSX version -- same thing! Wikipedia says Famitsu has some list where it's ranked this as one of the best Famicom games ever. I have a feeling there are many games that didn't make the list that are much smoother.
ReplyDeleteWell, just remember that it literally was Enix's first Famicom game. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Famicom version was based on the MSX version--and MSX games definitely tended to chug. It's too bad, really, as the game is fun to play and presents an interesting style of gameplay (IMO, of course).
ReplyDeleteInteresting -- it looks like it was Chunsoft's first Famicom game too. Enix was just the publisher so we can't blame them too much. The MSX is listed as the 6th system to get a port and the Famicom is the 7th.
ReplyDeleteWell, as far as I'm aware, Chunsoft really is/was some sort of spin-off of Enix--as in, the guy who started Chunsoft originally worked for Enix, which is why Enix published the game, etc. So, really, it's as much an Enix game as any other, if you ask me. Not that it matters much, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThat's strange cuz Wikipedia says Enix originally got the game as a contest submission while Mr. Chunsoft was still in high school, and that's why they published it (along with a whole slew of other contest submissions they published simultaneously).
ReplyDeleteYes, that's right. Mr. Chunsoft, as you call him (ha!), was then hired by Enix, and later they allowed him to start Chunsoft. I believe. I may be wrong here, for sure! Regardless, I didn't mean to start an argument about who deserves the blame for the game's chug :| Sorry about that!
ReplyDeleteSorry, me neither! It appears to be an interesting story tho. This kind of behind-the-scenes stuff fascinates me for some reason, and the Japanese developers make it very difficult to find any info. For example, not sure if you've ever tried looking up who the person responsible for Cho Aniki is, but there is NOTHING. I'm dying to know if it's that they are embarrassed or what.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I've never thought to look into who's responsible for Cho Aniki, for some reason. Funny that it's impossible to find anything out about it. I wonder if it has anything to do with Japan's rather ... odd (not really the right word) view of gayness?
ReplyDeleteIt's possible. I have a few theories why I can't find anything: the language barrier, the obscurity and lack of respect for the games, the general secretiveness of the Japanese games industry, and the questionable motives as to why these games exist. And by that last item, I mean nobody seems to know for sure whether they're making fun of gays, if it's actually aimed at a gay audience or just Japan being weird as usual. But considering the number of games in the series -- and even games just referencing it -- I think somebody could write a whole book on it.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if the language barrier has at least something to do with the lack of info available for those of us who don't know any Japanese, Steve. That said, I'll bet your other points have something to do with it, too. Regardless, I'd certainly like to know more about the origins of this series!
ReplyDelete