Articles by Peter Malek

A late 1997 Japan-only release, Tactics Formula is a self-described tactical board game. It’s a racing game but rather than controlling your vehicle in real time, you select moves in…

Mahjong games were plentiful in Japan, and this 1995 Imagineer-published title gives the strategic game the “18+” yellow-label treatment. Mahou no Janshi: Poe Poe Poemy boils down to a riichi…

Daytona USA roared into gamers’ Saturns at launch in the West as the most hotly anticipated arcade conversion of early 1995. SEGA’s promise of “arcade in the home” was fully…

Demons lurk all over Japan, and Shin Megami Tensei’s Devil Summoners exist to combat them! Play as a student who gets caught up in a titanic struggle between evil supernatural…

Capcom released buckets of Saturn titles, one of these being the mid-1998 Japan-only Pocket Fighters. Utilizing the 4MB cartridge, this arcade port packs a punch — super-deformed “kids” characters from…

In early 1997, Imp produced and NaxatSoft released a polygonal vertical-scrolling shmup Planet Joker. Players take control of a flying mech and proceed to blast, bomb, and otherwise destroy their…

Life is tough for young, budding alchemist Marie, toiling away in her workshop in Salburg. Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg Ver. 1.3 is a Gust-developed December 1997 enhanced port…

In late 1996, arcade-goers were treated to AM1’s The House of the Dead — a light gun game with a horror theme. The enigmatic Dr. Curien, hell-bent on discovering the…

Druid: Pursuer of Darkness is a mid-1998 Koei port of a British 1995 MS-DOS Ultima-like game. In the land of Navan, four master Druids keep peace in the land, but…

Online dating on the Saturn[question_mark] Sort of! In 1998, SIMS and Dreamcube released the second Message Navi “game” in Japan. The disc is essentially a catalogue of more than 1,000…