Splatter in your House

I'll never forget that one morning as I was getting ready for school. I was in the 6th grade... and miserable. Middle school and high school were not happy times for me, and I dragged my feet each morning, watching cartoons before leaving for the day.

I was watching The New Adventures of He-Man when this AWESOME little spot for the TurboGrafx-16 version of Splatterhouse came on, farming all the aura possible. Splatterhouse was a game that felt like an urban legend. Either you'd seen it or you hadn't, and nobody believed you if you said you had.

ME? I'd played it at the Circle K by my grandmother's house and was blown away... and still am to this day. It's wild they allowed a game like this to happen at the time, and this particular version got some pretty crazy edits to play it safe. Still, I mentally default to this versions red horror mask whenever I think of the game.

It's the perfect way to spend an evening during the spooky season.

Jaseiken Necromancer? I hardly know you!

A scary video game is just the right thing to spend an evening with during the spooky season. If you're like me, you'll love older games like Jaseiken Necromancer. Between it's H.R Giger art (which was all the rage at the time) and scary twist on the RPG video game formula, it stood out. I really love the commercial itself too. The excellent miniatures and stop motion monsters really create a cool and creepy production. Just pure character in atmosphere.

PC Engine CD-ROM

Don't forget your System Card.

Bonk at the Moon

King Drool III has stolen precisely half of the moon and it's up to Bonk to save the day! I'm not exactly sure how he plans to reassemble the moon once the task is done, but it probably involves bonking it back into place with that big old noggin. I'm specifically talking about the Game Boy version of Bonk's Revenge even though all the versions have the same plot. Bonk games are generally fun platform games with colorful graphics, and weird characters/locations. The series established itself on the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 before moving to other platforms. I'm quite fond of the Game Boy (it could be my all time favorite system), so I tend to focus on those particular Bonk games.

New Week Loading...

It sure is Monday and that sure does mean the start of another new week here on Planet Zone! It's also the last few days before Christmas and that means a few hectic days. That being said, aside from this weeks Beast Saga post, there won't be any toy posts. I just don't forsee and spare time to dive into the backlog for a bit. However, I do have some other fun in mind, so stay tuned!

It was a good, but busy weekend. Saturday was spent doing the last of the Christmas shopping before the big day. There was a lot of running around and big crowds. I do enjoy shopping, but doing so much in a day can feel like a second job! Not to mention the strange events that took place in the parking lot of one shopping center. The entire area was covered in hundreds of turkey vultures. There was a very bad smell that coated the entire area. Clearly something was dead in the area and judging by the large amount of birds, a lot of it. Christmas is also a time for scary ghost stories and that certainly was one. Fortunately we got everything we needed unscathed before retiring for the evening with dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse (one of our favorites).

Sunday the wife's brother, father, her father's wife and grand daughter came over for our Christmas with them. The Mrs had prepared a bunch of snacks while they brought a sandwich tray. It was a fun dinner that included some sushi from the local Publix for me. I'm still on a low sodium diet while recovering, so I wanted to offset some of the food. I really love sushi from Publix, so no complaints from me. Gifts were exchanged and a good time was had. Afterwards, my mother came by for dinner and holiday special viewings. Actually, we've been watching Christmas specials all weekend.

It's Sunday night as I'm writing this and that means a few episodes of Beyond Belief before sleep. I've got a busy day tomorrow before work. Christmas can be hectic, but nothing beats how nice it is on Christmas Eve. All the stress is over and you can just bask in the joy. It's going to be a fun week here on the site. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for your continued support and please share with your friends!

Castle of Devils XX

Castlevania is one of my favorite video game series. I love the mixture of fantasy and horror in addition to the platforming and action. Between the straight forward game play of the originals and the exploration of later ones, each game is usually a good time. One game though that doesn't get a lot of credit is Castlevania: Dracula X. Before you correct me, I'm not talking about the PC Engine classic Rondo of Blood. I'm talking about the Super Nintendo game.

While essentially being the same story, it's basically an alternative version of the game. Slightly different levels, difficulty, and other game play mechanics make for a new experience instead of simply being a port of the prior game. It both a substitute for Rondo of Blood to set you up for Symphony of the Night or a sequel to Super Castlevania (an alternate version of the original game). 

Basically the SNES games make for a fun little side pocket continuity that either does or does not connect with the overall series. For what it's worth, the Japanese version of Dracula X is called Dracula XX in Japan to differentiate it. Other differences between versions is the amount of gore (and there is a lot of it) is toned down for the American and European versions. It was a different time back then before games had a ratings system. Companies often tailor their products to meet regional norms. Nintendo in Japan was more open to things such as blood and religion, while in America... not so much at the time. 

Rondo of Blood is often seen as a benchmark in Castlevania games, while the SNES Dracula X is generally panned as an inferior product. Something I've never understood. Personally I've always liked the SNES game. It's a good game despite being different from the PC Engine version. Just different. There's never been a clear reason as to why the versions are different, but to me it kind of fits. Rondo of Blood is the epitome of a PC Engine game. While Dracula X is 100% full of that Super Nintendo flavor.

Recently when I bought Castlevania Advance Collection I was super pleased to discover it had the SNES game on it. That was a surprise considering the love the PC Engine gets. Getting reacquainted with it pretty much inspired me to write this post and show you all this cool game guide from Japan. Even if you can't read Japanese, it's still neat to flip through. That's actually something I plan to do periodically here when I talk about old video games is include some of the cool guides and magazines made for them. I've always loved them and willing to bet you'd appreciate them as well. The embedded reader can be adjusted to make it easier for you to flip through the pages or you can read it here.

Back Home

It's a new week and you know what that means...I'm back home. After a week in the ICU I got released yesterday. We stopped to pick up some stuff from the store and my medication and I pretty much passed out. It's good to be home. I've got to spend the next week recuperating before I go back to work. Even looking up a video for this post wore me out.

Thanks all of you for your continued support while I was in the hospital. I plan on doing more posts this week and hopefully getting back into my groove next week. It's baby steps and honestly a lot harder to write a post when you feel like crap than you'd imagine. Once again thank you for reading Zone Base even during this less than fabulous time of posts. It'll get back to normal before long, just bare with me while I try to get back to normal. As always, please share with your friends.

The PC Engine Is Love

I promise there's some good posts coming this week, but for the moment, let's take some time to appreciate the PC Engine.

A Weekend Report Of 3 Days

A glorious three day weekend has passed and alas now I must resume my normal schedule. Much rest was had as well as much put off household work had been done. There's a lot of details about housework below, you've been warned. Details you probably do care about would include some shopping Saturday morning.

We looked at what Halloween merchandise Target and Walmart had out. Normally they're fully stocked by Labor Day Weekend, but since last year it's been the weekend after. Weird considering At Home starts stocking Halloween in June, but I'm sure there's a reason. I'm sure it's stupid. Regardless, some stuff came home with us including some of the new Halloween Kinder Surprise Eggs. This years theme is these great little trick or treating mini figures. I'll be posting on those later this week.

I also grabbed a bag from the new Godzilla bag clip figures wave. This series is Heisei era themed and lucky me, I got the chase Mothra! I then finally found both Slitherfang and the last wave 2 Cyberverse Tiny Turbo Changer I needed. Thinking about it, I didn't open Slitherfang yet. I'd been really looking forward to him too, what the hell self?

Grabbed Origins Skeletor at Walmart as they had a pile of him and nobody else. I just hope I can find wave 2 of the MOTU Minis easily. I had all the Transformers they had, so I just didn't buy any Transformers at Walmart. My Vintage Blaster should be showing up next week, so there's that. They also had the glow in the dark Dino Strike balls, so I grabbed one. Got a pterodactyl with cool glow in the dark armor. 

The rest of Saturday was a mix of sleeping and watching ghost videos on YouTube. Ok, also watched some Trvl channel. Which is just ghost shows. I like ghost shows. Somewhere in the middle I ate some frozen chicken wings and fires, don't worry, I cooked them first. 

I'm totally at work right on my computer and the cleaning dude just farted. Nasty ass.

Sunday was a mixture of household chores. Both regular and long overdue ones. Several things we've put off since moving in and some just needed to be done. Got most of the put off stuff done, though there's a weekend of putting up curtains upstairs in my future. In between the work was a massive order of Red Lobster as the wife hadn't had it before and we had decided on ordering a ton of food for Sunday. It was a good idea. So many cheese biscuits.

After a long food coma induced nap, I assembled some matching bookshelves for the wife's hobby room. Afterwards I was a little worn out from sitting on the floor for a few hours. So I spent the rest of Sunday night playing my Turbografx 16 Mini. I kinda needed that. 

Early Monday morning was spent doing some organizing in my toy room before lunch lead to a long ass nap. I woke up and started the grill for some burgers and hot dogs. It was Labor Day, you kinda have to grill out. I'm usually looking for an excuse anyway. The said food was ate while watching more ghost videos and Halloween stuff. Which I also watched while doing house work. Some people's favorite thing to watch is Gilmore Girls, mine is ghost videos and old Halloween stuff. I'm exciting.

We got halfway through Trvl Channels special on Ed and Lorraine Warren before the need to go to bed hit. The wife works a normal persons schedule and I was somehow still sleepy. We'll finish it up next weekend and probably won't delete it from the DVR. We're both fans of the Warrens. I've grown up enjoying their stories and we both like the Conjuring movies. I'm not too concerned on the legitimacy of them or anything, I just really like the stories. BTW, have you seen Trvl Channel's Ghostober commercials for this year? They are awesome.

Tuesday was my Monday and I spent it as I normally do a Monday. Odd chores, watching TV, and napping before work. I recorded this month's Transform Squadron and hope to have it posted soon. Just waiting for it to go up on the network. I spent a lot of time with those Kinder Surprise Egg toys, which is probably why I didn't play with Slitherfang. Holiday breaks have a way of throwing everything off.

Space Harrier PC Engine

Turbografx-16 Mini And Auto-Correct Is Being Gross

It took a few days later than I had wanted for Amazon to fulfill my pre-order (auto-correct suggested pee-order) for the Turbografx-16 Mini (not counting the initial covid-19 related delays) as they lost the freaking thing. The replacement for here on Friday and man it was a breathe of pure happiness finally holding it in my hands.

Of course, like I've said here a few times already, I'm moving. Which probably sounds like I'm making a much too big deal of, but in reality, it's been a pretty hard move so far. Preparations and packing have all been affected by covid-19 and a bunch of other things popping up making everything harder than it should. We physically move next week, so here's hoping that goes smoothly after the headache of the pre-game (auto-correct suggested pee-game) has been. So I didn't get to play my new console until Sunday evening after my wife and I stopped packing for the night.

The first game I played was Splatterhouse. Despite having multiple copies and versions of the game, playing it on an actual TG-16 was pure joy. I flew threw the first stage before switching games. Since I was just spending a little time with my new console, I just wanted to give it a test (auto-correct suggested tryst.. what the crap?) run for a while. After I move and get things (it just suggested thighs, what?) set up, I'll spend some more time with individual games. I've got a plan to attempt streaming on Instagram and games is probably going to be a common subject. I plan overall to do more video work there as well. Once a million things stop running opposition to my plans. It's been a weird year.

I really love the simulation the micro provides. As the game selection features both American and Japanese releases, it has them separated (it just suggested perpetrated) between regions. Each menu has an onscreen representation of the console and games are in their jewel boxes. When you select the game, you get a great animation of the HuCard going into it's slot or the CD-ROM loading up a game. I'm sure you can skip it if you're just wanting to get to the game, but for right now it's a little extra that I'm loving.

The Grafx Are Turbo, All 16 Of Them

The TurboGrafx 16 Mini will FINALLY be released on May 22nd. That's tomorrow or today depending on when you're reading this. Or last year. Either way after Covid 19 moved the release back (and it changed a few times) it's finally getting released and I'm happy. Mine has been pre-ordered and will probably get here sometime next week. Which being exclusive to Amazon is just how it was going to go. Kinda a bummer seeing how I'll get it after the Memorial Day weekend.

I'm moving in a few weeks, the holiday weekend will be spent packing anyway. So I guess it's fine. After all this time, what's a few more days right? I'm pretty excited, this is a pretty big deal for me. I know it was possible to order one from Amazon's Japanese site early. When the US date wasn't too far off, whats the point? If I would have done that, I would have gotten a PC Engine Mini instead. The difference is mainly cosmetic, but it's a good cosmetic. There's also the slightly different game selection to consider. I could be here all day.

I've always wanted one of these, so the mini will suffice just nice. It was a console I could never get my parents to buy me back in the day. For some reason getting one into adulthood was always just out of reach. Thanks to emulation and the games getting put on other systems, I was able to enjoy it kinda. It wasn't that unchecked box of actually owning one though. Not to mention, I've become a fan of micro consoles over the years as they've become a thing. So this is just perfect.

Keith Courage's Cool Cartoon

I was pretty excited for the Turbografx-16 Mini until Covid-19 pushed back the release. I'm still excited for it, but man that hurt a little. One thing I found odd was the exclusion of Keith Courage in Alpha Zones from the console. Keith Courage was the original pack in game for the system here in the states until the release of the Turbo Duo a few years later.

I've always liked Keith Courage and was really hoping to play it on the mini (whenever I get it), it not being included confused quite a lot of people for good reason. It was just one of the games you associate with the system. Most likely it's due to licensing issues as Keith Courage is an Americanization of the PC Engine game Mashin Hero Wataru, which was based on an anime. The anime itself has had a few other series and other games as it's pretty popular in it's own right. Much more than Keith Courage. It's not surprising that essentially Konami wouldn't deal with the licensing all these years later.

There's all sorts of toys, games, and cartoons of Mashin Hero Wataru. If you really liked Keith Courage and wanted more of it, well there's plenty of it to go around. I'm kinda tempted to watch the anime as it looks pretty neat. I feel like I've seen bootlegs of the mechs at discount stores and honestly tempted to get one of the newer figures. Because dude...Keith Courage.

Mashin Hero Wataru/Keith Courage In Alpha Zones

Oddly enough, the Mashin Hero Wataru cartoon took over the time slot Transformers: The Headmasters used.

Konami Makes Signs Fall Over

I'm in full excitement mode for the Turbografx-16 Mini. I don't know just why I'm excited for Salamander as I am. I've played plenty of Gradius, but not as much Life Force. I'm not even good at shoot 'em ups, but I like playing them. One thing I've noticed isn the commercials for Salamander is signs (presumably for the game) falling over not long after their placed.

They did the same thing for Gradius, part of me wonders if this was a Konami thing. Like, did they just have a serious of annoying instances as advertising for their games? They didn't do this for the Famicom version of Gradius. In fact it's a pretty cool little spot.

Are they saying the PC Engine version is annoying and will make you want to punch the nearest person who laughs at your misfortune? Sure, it's usually the most annoying twerp already doing that but... Look at the commercial for the Famicom Gradius II and see what I mean.

The Famicom games, they'rebeating you over the head with how awesome this game is. The PC Engine version is telling you it's got a case of the Mondays. I get a migraine every Monday, remind me not to hang any signs for Gradius on a Monday. Well, the PC Engine version anyway.

Yōkai Dōchūki/Shadow Land

Did the USA Kids Club ever give that kid a Turbografx-16?

The good ol' USA Kids Club, part of the USA Cartoon Express, a block of cartoons that came on every afternoon (and even weekends) in the channels better days. Show your allegiance and touch your hand to the screen. The USA Kid's Club was a pretty well beloved institution at the time that usually had some sort of great promotion going on. Here in 1989, they had a kinda high concept contest.

You write Santa by way of the Kids Club and tell him what you want for Christmas, anything you want as long as it's less than five hundred dollars. Then if they pull your letter, that day they'll not only read it on air, but also say the secret password for your letter. Whomever answers the phone in your household MUST answer the phone for the rest of the day with said secret word in order for you to win. Sounds easy right? Yeah, right. First off, they literally didn't even have to call. Like, they could have outright and probably did lie.

Then you add in Grandma not even remembering your name blowing the whole ordeal by not only answering the phone with the secret word, but then yelling at the USA Kid's Club operator for whatever she thinks they're saying. What's the cut off age for thinking every phone call is some sort of criminal activity? Because every single Grandma hits that wall of paranoia. Grandpa? Grandpa don't care. He can't hear the phone ring. If he does, somehow he always manages to have to take his pill then and there. Remember kids, you're going to be a nightmare to deal with when your old. I look forward to thinking the governments out to get me by way of cable boxes.

I remember sending in a letter. I'm sure the day they read it was the one day my parents absolutely had something we had to do after school. I do wonder if that kid got his Turbografx-16. The system was released here in America at that time and I don't think I could imagine anything more amazing than Santa getting you one by way of crazy cable contest.

Ninja Ryukenden/Ninja Gaiden PC Engine

Gunhed 30th Anniversary

Now that SDCC is over, back to Zone Base. I don't pretend to know a whole lot about Gunhed. A few games here, a movie that started out as part of the Godzilla series there. General cool stuff all around. It's hard not to appreciate it. Today is the 30th anniversary of the movies release and that's worth noting.

Super Star Soldier

I'm going to be an emotional mess when I get my TurboGrafx-16 Mini.

It's just so wonderful.