Compile Shoot-em-up Docs
Design Documents Fanzine
Rise of Nations
In the realm of real time strategy, history has proven itself time and again a reliable subject matter. When done …
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
Being in charge of making a sequel to a hit game does not seem like an enviable task. Change too …
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!
While DKC2 was preluded by immense hype and released to glowing reviews, DKC3, conversely, had a lot of bad mojo stacked against it. …
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
Hero units have long been a fraught feature in RTS games, especially in single-player campaigns. Since they’re generally vital to …
Fighting Layer
The developer Arika was built from former Capcom employees, yet their first major game was the Capcom co-venture Street Fighter EX. …
Puyo Puyo~n
The pun of the title stretches the second “Puyo” to end in an “n” to form the syllable “yon”, which …
Demon Sword
Demon Sword (or Fudou Myououden in Japan, translated to “The Legend of Acala”) isn’t technically a sequel to The Legend …
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
Released in 2001 in Japan, a year prior to Quest’s purchase by Square Enix, this work is the last original …
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
Following the cult attention lavished upon Tactics Ogre, Squaresoft wished to replicate that effect for its flagship franchise. Matsuno, Yoshida, Sakimoto …
Ryuichi Nishizawa (UPL – Interview)
UPL Corporation (“Universal Play Land”) was at the forefront of the Japanese arcade development scene. Though relatively obscure outside of …
Depth Dwellers
Everybody and their mother had to put out a first person shooter after id Software’s Wolfenstein 3D and Doom hit the gaming scene. Some …
Ninku Gaiden: Hiroyuki Daikatsugeki
Sega created a Pengo sequel in the unlikeliest of places – as a licensed tie-in with the anime/manga Ninku. The basic gameplay is …
