8 of the most well-known Data East games outside of Japan? For $20? If this is going to be the only Data East Collection, then it would make me stressed out or whatever makes me not feel okay.
I guess they ignored most other DE games, because of most people not thinking they are revolutionary or interesting enough, especially the ones several people consider to be rip-offs. For several examples:
* Night Slashers is like Capcom's Final Fight with blood and horror-setting like Namco's Splatterhouse.
* Midnight Resistance is Konami's Contra arcade with rotating joysticks like SNK's Ikari Warriors series (also used in DE's Ikari Warriors rip-off, Heavy Barrel).
* Atomic Runner Chelnov is also like Contra, but with some platforming elements, automatic scrolling and the ability to shoot while walking backwards. Atomic Runner Chelnov was also controversial in Japan for its name and plot resembling the Chernobyl disaster, which made DE remake it for the Genesis/Mega Drive with a different plot.
* The Fighter's History series (including Karnov's Revenge) caused Capcom USA to sue DE for creating their own version of Street Fighter II. However, it's still a little popular in Japan, several gamers their believe it's not a direct copy, but a tribute - a congratulatory rethink of a game style that has been omnipresent since the heyday of Konami's Yie Ar Kung Fu. Some Japanese gamers like it better than most other SFII inspirations like Namco's Knuckle Heads (first modern-fighter to allow up to four players), Atlus's Power Instinct (don't know anything special about it) and Konami's Martial Champion (features several characters, including some holding weapons that can be dropped by their opponents' attacks, while opponents can fight back with them). None came even close to Fighter's History's smooth chain combo system - and that's probably why Capcom USA sued DE for that. Other fighting games DE created are Avengers in Galactic Storm (licensed by Marvel), Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty (a.k.a. Dark Legend) and this finished, but unreleased game below...
* Tattoo Assassins, DE's answer to Midway's Mortal Kombat franchise, but was (or would of been) the first to feature animal-based finishing moves (or "Animalities"). It was directed by Bob Gale, the screenwriter of the Back to the Future franchise.
* Lock N Chase resembles Namco's Pac-Man franchise, but with slightly more potential.
* Tumblepop resembles Taito's Bubble Bobble franchise, while its look resembles the Buster Bros. series by Capcom and Mitchell.
* The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy - The plot and setting resembles a steampunk (or dieselpunk) version of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, with a little feel of playing Capcom's Strider arcade, except it automatically scrolls like Atomic Runner Chelnov does. Edward Randy doesn't just slash with the whip, he also uses it to do swinging kicks. The game looked so exciting to play, Guardian Heroes includes two characters named Edward M. Cognac and Randy M. Green because Guardian Heroes character designer, HAN (漢炎剣) was a fan of the arcade game. Gunstar Heroes, another game designed by HAN, also shows influences from the game. Edward Randy also appears as a computer-controlled character in the [[1999 in video gaming|1999]] video game ''[[Sennou]]'' by [[Kaneko]]. The chapter subtitles in Soichiro Kuzuki's story mode game in ''[[Fate/tiger colosseum]]'' are taken directly from the subtitles of ''The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy''.
* Sly Spy (known in Japan as Secret Agent) plays sort of like Namco's Rolling Thunder, but with more room to run around in and some other genre's built into it. Also, it's plot resembles the James Bond series.
* "Trio the Punch: Never Forget Me..." wasn't successful, because several people couldn't understand it and thought it was crappy, but it's actually made to be crappy-funny on purpose.
* Although not a rip-off, Karate Champ is frustrating to most people outside of Japan, especially its NES version, but the arcade version is what Yie Ar Kung-Fu was inspired by. It was like the first revolutionary step in building the fighting game genre.
* Karnov was probably DE's answer to Nintendo's Mario. They are both platforming characters that shoot fireballs and have mustaches. While Mario is Italian, Karnov is Russian; however, he came from heaven.
* Road Blaster (a.k.a. Road Avenger) and Thunder Storm (a.k.a. 1984 Cobra Command) are laserdisc games inspired by the success of Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair, but have a slightly different gameplay feel and were animated by Toei Animation, like Taito's laserdisc games Ninja Hayate (a.k.a. Revenge of the Ninja) and Time Gal.
* Super Break 1 and 2, although there aren't any screenshots nor they have been dumped online, their names and release years sound like they are rip-offs of Atari's Breakout.
HOWEVER, some games confirmed in Majesco's Data East collection disc, were also inspired by other successes released a short time before DE released theirs.
* BurgerTime contains elements of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, but many people still like this game, including Sean Connery.
* Caveman Ninja (a.k.a. Joe & Mac), like Midnight Resistance and Atomic Runner Chelnov, is another Contra inspiration, but with graphics, humor and sound effects all being wacky. It's plot and setting are also interesting to most gamers. I don't see this franchise much when surfing around Japanese websites. The same designer of this franchise also did the Genesis/Mega Drive game Dashin' Desperado and the Neo Geo game Spin Master.
* The Magical Drop franchise, like Nintendo's Panel de Pon, is a puzzle game that features a lot of anime/manga-style female characters. However, some of the gameplay's elements are similar to Taito's Bust-A-Move series.
* Bad Dudes VS. DragonNinja is considered by some people to be Data East's answer to Technos Japan's Double Dragon, but is most likely inspired by Sega's Shinobi, which was released a year earlier. Either one of the most or THE MOST popular Data East game outside of Japan, not only because of good gameplay, but also the plot is a meme. It's considered by many to be a funny game. In Japan, it's not very popular, but I like the Japanese versions (especially the arcade version) better, because they sound more serious. Here are the intros and outros of the Japanese versions with accurate English subtitles:
Arcade and NES introsArcade outroNES outroIt's probably still possible to ask Paon's permission to bring their DE titles back outside of Japan, but it may be like Sunsoft quitting its business outside of Japan and currently just supporting its home region. Take Sunsoft Collection published by SNK for example.
Speaking of Sunsoft, Aero the Acro-Bat wasn't really Sunsoft's mascot. It was actually Hebe from the Hebereke series. Although Aero the Acro-Bat can be seen beside the Sunsoft logo in some games like Death and Return of Superman, Hebe can be seen in
this commercial for the SNES version of World Heroes, which sounds more serious.
Not a bad line-up at all...looks like that Kotaku leak-letter knew what he was talking about. How rare! Hm, January, eh? Hopefully it'll release in time for my birthday...
