blue almanac

All posts tagged blue almanac

New Additions

Posted by Sega Dude on August 11, 2011

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Mega Drive (Japanese). Tagged: blue almanac, collection, curse, dragon slayer, fz axis, japanese, king of the monsters, mega drive, pictures, puyo puyo 2, sega, super fantasy zone, valis, ys. 4 Comments

Some great new addition to the collection have arrived from Japan.

$18 Valis The Legend of the Fantasm Soldier: Excellent platform game. Good graphics and story deeper than most action games.
$10 FZ Axis: Very cool top down Mech Robot shoot’em up.
$9 King of the Monsters: Rampage set in Golden Axe style game play.
$10 Dragon Slayer Legend of Heroes: I don’t know… cool looking JRPG that I can’t play but still love having in the collection.
$8 Puyo Puyo 2: Probably my favorite puzzle game. This is actually a duplicate. I thought I was buying the Puyo Puyo RPG 😦
$12 Ys Wonders from Ys: I really liked Ys for the Sega Master System. It’s one of those games that can be easily over looked but it’s actual a good RPG. As for the Genesis Ys, I haven’t played it before but I’m looking forward to checking it out.
$10 Curse: There are tons of side scrolling shooters and Curse is one of them. It’s also one of those games with some great cover art for the collection.
$6 Blue Almanac: When I first discovered this game (recently) I wanted it because it was a SciFi RPG that I didn’t know of. And even more recently I wanted this because Super Fighter Team has translated this game into English and released it. My English copy has been shipped but has not yet arrived.

$34 Super Fantasy Zone: I really loved Fantasy Zone on the Sega Master System so I was willing to pay more for the Mega Drive remake. And I really love the mini cases the Sunsoft games come in.The grand total for this lot was $150 which includes $33 for shipping.

English Star Odyssey now for Sale!

Posted by Sega Dude on June 22, 2011

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: blue almanac, brandon cobb, english, genesis, mega drive, sega, star odyssey, super fighter team. Leave a comment

My sense of timing for my Blue Almanac post was pretty well on the mark. Just this morning I found an email from Brandon Cobb of Super Fighter Team stating that Star Odyssey is now for sale.
Star Odyssey is the never before released English version of Blue Almanac. If you’re still into 16-bit gaming you’ve got chance at picking up a cool looking RPG that most every non Japanese speaker missed out on.

Star Odyssey Order Page

Here’s a look at the email notice that I received:

Brandon Cobb bcobb@superfighter.com

Hello, friends!

I vividly recall the first time I set my eyes on the ramshackle prototype of Blue Almanac as it had been adapted into pseudo-English. Here I held a game cartridge that few eyes had ever looked upon, despite it having been advertised in the publications of the time. People saw it, and people had interest in it, and despite that? POOF. Gone. Never set right with me for a moment. And that’s fine, because Super Fighter Team has made it our job to remedy unfair situations like that one.

As I was putting the finishing touches on the game’s new script, I took a look at one of those old press ads for the first time. The phrase “Your Star Odyssey is about to begin!” caught my eyes immediately, locking me in a silent moment of realization. We did it! We took this thing from myth to manifest. As a result, perhaps a few of the people who stared longingly at the blurry screenshots inside those early ’90s magazines will now find some pleasant closure. I’m damned proud of that thought.

—
June 22, 2011: Twenty years to the day after the release of Blue Almanac in Japan. We have done right by Hot-B Co., Ltd., licensing their fantastic role-playing adventure set in the future, and preparing it for a long overdue release worldwide.

We now invite you to enjoy the fruit of that hard work, by visiting the game’s official website and ordering a copy…

http://www.starodysseygame.com/

You’re sure to enjoy it.

—
Thank you for your interest and attention. We appreciate your support, as we would not exist without it. So long as we have such support, we will continue to fight the good fight, producing great new games for your favorite systems.

—
– Brandon Cobb
President, Super Fighter Team

E-mail: bcobb@superfighter.com
Web: http://www.superfighter.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/superfighterteam

“Never let dreams die!”
—–

Early this morning when I first tried to place my order the site wasn’t actually ready for orders. By the time I got home from work and tried again all was good.
It will cost American residence $48 US and the rest of us $55 US (the difference is in the cost of shipping).

Now, if only I had a few people reading my blog I might feel like I’ve done my part 😛

Blue Almanac / Star Odyssey

Posted by Sega Dude on June 16, 2011

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: beggar prince, blue almanac, genesis, legend of wukong, mega drive, picture, sega, star odyssey, super fighter team. 1 Comment

For a long time now (years) I’ve been very close to buying a Japanese Mega Drive game called Blue Almanac. I never knew anything about it other than it’s a Japanese RPG that I would not be able to play. But the cover art always caught my eye. It looks cool and I think it’s a Sci Fi RPG; which is also very cool and much less common than the typical Fantasy RPG (which I also love :)).

By chance a month (or several) ago I noticed a game called Beggar Prince on ebay. I had never heard of it before so I Googled it. It didn’t take too long to discover Super Fighter Team. This team has been developing classic videos games and have already released two games for the Sega Genesis: Beggar Prince and Legend of Wukong.

I emailed Super Fight Team and asked if they would be selling Beggar Prince again (which was no longer for sale). I didn’t get a very definitive answer. But it seems to me that it is a possibility; although I suspect it’s slim. Below is the email response I received:

Hello.
Thank you for your interest in Beggar Prince. Should we decide to produce additional copies of the game, you will be notified.
Have a nice day.
—
– Brandon Cobb
President, Super Fighter Team
E-mail: bcobb@superfighter.com
Web: http://www.superfighter.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/superfighterteam
“Never let dreams die!”

I sent the email request because the prices for Beggar Prince on ebay were wildly high and I knew I’d never end up with a copy if that was my only option. But at the time I was still able to order Legend of Wukong. With shipping it cost me $60 USD. It’s a lot of money for a 16-bit retro game but it’s new and I really like the idea of supporting people who are bringing us new games for the Genesis. The bottom line is I am very happy with Super Fighter Team and I’ll be keeping a close eye on their releases!

Now, back to Blue Almanac… Super Fighter Team is actually in the process of translating this game into English.
It’s English title is Star Odyssey and I was quick to join their mailing list for the release announcement for this game. I’ll be ordering Star Odyssey it as soon as it’s available.

Below are some images of marketing material from back in the day as well as cover art for the upcoming release. I believe this was a planned release that never saw the light of day for whatever reason:

Star Odyssey