Jeremy Parish

NES Works Gaiden #048: Portopia Rezoku Satusjin Jiken (Patreon)

Published:

2022-09-28 13:04:24

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Enix chun soft famicom graphical adventure koichi nakamura nes works nes works gaiden yuji horii

Content

This week's episode is another highlight for the channel, one of those portfolio pieces I could use to find a job somewhere. Games like this bring out my best. There's just so much to say about Portopia Renzoku Satusjin Jiken! And I managed to do it all without spoiling the story's twists, too.

Check out the fan translation—it's top flight. (And don't be afraid to check a FAQ when you get stuck. Excellent as it may be, Portopia is still a 1983 game and relies on a bit of unintuitive nonsense to pad its play time.)

Files

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Another Famicom milestone this week, one that ranks up there with the other legends of the system's early days. Unlike Xevious or Super Mario Bros., however, Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken never officially made its way to the U.S., and its influence took much longer to be felt than that of its mighty peers. Nevertheless, this collaboration between Yuji Horii, Koichi Nakamura, and Enix massively shaped the nature of Japanese console games in the coming years with its innovative mix of visual elements and simple interface mechanics. But rather than go on about it here, I'll simply let this episode do the explaining. Production notes: Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! NES/Famicom footage captured from @Analogue Nt Mini; arcade footage captured from MiSTer with thanks to @MiSTer Addons. Video upscaled to 720 with @Micomsoft xRGB Mini Framemeister.