JP Wentz

writing the title of the US release of DuckTales in Japanese:

If you’re worried about the future of games, remember that your $ holds enormous sway. Support companies who actually care about the art and craft of making games, who put people first and value their employees & audiences. Support indies especially. The future doesn’t belong to greedy corporations

Linda Cubed! Any version (PS1, Saturn, or PCE).

I haven’t played the PS1 port, but I recall Japanese bloggers talking about how they preferred the PC-FX original because of the persistent on-screen map. (I also think it’s just more interesting as a PC-FX game than a PS1 game, personally.)

Random NPCs will give you useful tips. And the ones that don’t at least have amusing things to say (again, in Japanese at least; Shoji Masuda is a fantastic writer, but I don’t know how the fan translation stacks up). Scenario A is overall super forgiving and relatively short, so just experiment!

Can’t speak for the English fan translation, but at least in Japanese it’s very straight forward! There are a lot of mechanics, but the game eases you into them little by little (and if there are any you aren’t into, you can ignore them). Biggest piece of advice: talk to everyone.

Linda Cubed, DQ7 Reimagined, Castlevania 64, and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance highlight a mish-mash of new and old impressions alongside the latest news as we kick off 2026 for the second time with a respectable Tight 79! 8-4.jp/podcasts/202...

Hoshino Gen and Kondo Koji on Kouhaku

Kondo-san joined Hoshino Gen performing at the Nintendo Museum! #紅白

...and a PC Engine CD tune to also get you into the holiday spirit:

A PC Engine chiptune to get you into the holiday spirit:

RIP😅

If the trend continues, you should have plenty of chances yet! They had a bunch of leftovers from last year’s at TGS too, in case TGS is up your alley. ^_^

The merch itself is all so expensive, but it’s fun to see people turn out, despite the age of the property.

Such a bummer that the Masuda RPGs that did get official locs were OreShika 2 and Yuusha Shisu. (Both games I like very much, but far from his best work.)

A lot, actually! All very expensive! Most of it bought by me!

It’s been a few years since my last play-through, so I started a new file on the PS1 version on the train ride there. Can confirm that this game still rocks!

December 2025 Linda Cubed pop-up shop. Zoomed out picture of the entire Linda Cubed corner with people shopping.

Assorted Linda Cubed pin badge collectibles. Characters are random (unless you buy them all as a set).

Merch lineup poster.

This has been an expensive day 🥲

More people showed up.

“Lined up” for this year’s Linda Cubed pop-up shop, which opens in five minutes!

(Quotation marks because I’m the only one here. I am the line, lol.)

日本語版『UFO 50』を2025年中にリリースするつもりでしたが、仕上げの時間がもう少し必要でした。でも、とてもいい感じですよ！もう少々お待ちください！

(We need a little more time with the Japanese version of UFO 50. It's looking great, though!)

This! ☝️

There were definitely some great games that came before it! My favs are Suikoden, Policenauts, Popolocrois, and Wild Arms, to list a few.

(FWIW, I’m pretty much always thinking of game release dates in terms of the Japanese timeline, which looks a bit different from North America)

With Metroid Prime 4 dropping mere hours before we recorded, we went for the next best thing: a bunch of games from the late 90s! Tune in for talk of Analogue 3D, Viewpoint 2064, 2D gaming on the PS1, and more—plus some current-century stuff like Ball x Pit and Lumines Arise. 8-4.jp/podcasts/202...

Last Armageddon - Could this be the most player-unfriendly RPG of the 1980s? (PC-88 Paradise) YouTube video by Basement Brothers

I love Last Armageddon (the PC Engine version, anyway), so @basementbrothers.bsky.social’s latest PC-88 Paradise entry was a fun watch! Big recommend!

(I also got some sadistic joy out of forcing him to play the unforgiving PC original via my Patreon dollars)

m.youtube.com/watch?v=L03a...

神絵！

[PCエンジン]
マジカルチェイス
#パルソフト #ドット絵 #pixelart

Banner image for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

Extremely proud and honored to have been part of the 8-4 team on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment as an English Translation Producer and Editor! Huge huge thank you to Nintendo, @thehalpnetwork.bsky.social, and all our incredible voice actors for helping us bring this story to life!

PCエンジン
#ドット絵

PCエンジンHuCardの起動不具合の原因と対策を考える : 雑木林のなかで 前回ご紹介した通りにPCエンジンDUOの音声不具合は上手く修理できたので気持ち良く遊んでいたところ、なんと、ゲームが起動しないHuCardがあることに気がつきました。症状の特定と修理手順カートリッジ式のゲームで良くある症状として電極の接点不良が考えられます。この場合

Never had one spontaneously go bad, but I have several that did this (or something similar) from the get-go upon purchase these past few years, despite no obvious visual issues.

FWIW, this person seems to have had something similar happen:
zatukibayashi.blog.jp/archives/pce...

ワルキューレ全集ですって！！

soulsov tomorrow?