The Old School Otaku Lounge

So apparently back in the eighties Japan made a Dragon Lair style arcade game called Time Gal; you can read about it here:

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/11/09-week/

Someone compiled all the scenes into a "movie," and it's pretty cool. Reminds me of the old Rumiko Takahashi OAVs. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_n3G8lnj0

Been meaning to pick up that for some time now. Have you seen the American cover, its atrocious. I'm always a sucker for old games with anime FMV.

I actually just found out about Time Gal today by stumbling upon the website I linked to. But I did just look up the US cover to see how bad it was:

http://www.sega-club.com/Archiv/Mega_CD/TimeGal_f.jpg

Did you ever play Lunar? I played it way back when on Sega CD and the anime FMV blew me away.

danth wrote:I actually just found out about Time Gal today by stumbling upon the website I linked to. But I did just look up the US cover to see how bad it was:

http://www.sega-club.com/Archiv/Mega_CD/TimeGal_f.jpg

Did you ever play Lunar? I played it way back when on Sega CD and the anime FMV blew me away.

Yes I have, at least the first two, on the PS1 and Saturn. I remember seeing the pictures of the anime cut scenes in magazines back then and wanted desperatly to play them (and Magic Knight Rayearth). I didn't have a Sega CD back then, so I had to wait until the PS1 versions were released. I own Eternal Blue, but my dumb-self didn't buy Silver Star Story when it was released (rented instead) and now I'll never be able to afford it.

I never got to play Eternal Blue on Sega CD because I broke up with my girlfriend (who owned the Sega CD I played Silver Star on) before it came out. But I was sure to buy them both when they came out on Playstation. I traded them long ago for a bunch of GI Joes; probably a bad trade in retrospect dollar wise but I haven't done the math. But for me the Sega CD versions are the true originals and the ones I would want to own, but I don't really collect video games. I have the game guides and Japanese art books, but I don't even own the games...

danth wrote:Someone compiled all the scenes into a "movie," and it's pretty cool. Reminds me of the old Rumiko Takahashi OAVs. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_n3G8lnj0

That video would have been okay, if the added music didn't drown everything out. For the proper arcade experience, watch this video instead. Time Gal is super fun!

I own Time Gal for the Mega CD and for the Saturn. The game was ported in English with a terrible English dub (gee, surprising) for the Sega CD, and I understand that a complete version fetches a lot (the English Space Adventure Cobra and Snatcher games go for even more for that system). Time Gal is a Taito game, but Wolfteam ported it to the Mega CD and some company called Ecseco ported it to the Saturn, as a dual pack along with Ninja Hayate (another Taito Laserdisc game). The Saturn version looks better, plus you can toggle English language text, but I actually like the presentation of the Mega CD version better. Taito themselves released the dual package of Time Gal and Ninja Hayate for the Playstation, and I've heard that this is the better home port to get. It is a bit more expensive, however.

The best home port ever of Time Gal was for the ill-fated Pioneer LaserActive, an extremely expensive Laser Disc add-on peripheral for either the Sega Megadrive or the NEC PC Engine. I have seen this LaserActive Time Gal LD on sale for a whopping ￥79,800 three years ago in Akihabara's Trader retro game specialty store. Data East's Road Blaster for the LaserActive (not to be confused with Atari's RoadBlasters) also fetches a similar high price. Data East also made another Laser Disc game called Thunder Storm, a helicopter shooting game known as Cobra Command in the USA. Taito's Time Gal and Ninja Hayate, and Data East's Road Blaster and Thunder Storm are are all available for the Mega CD, Saturn, and Playstation.

People today scoff at these types of games because they were a bit overdone in the early '90s with live action games that kind of killed the genre. But I am certainly fond of these animated LD games. I remember thinking that Dragon's Lair and Space Ace were the coolest things ever because they brought cartoons and video games together in a one-of-a-kind arcade experience.

EDIT: I really love the sound of Time Gal's blaster. It doesn't sound like any other laser pistol from any other anime, movie, show, etc.