Tuesday, October 08, 2013

I just discovered Chunsoft's Homeland, and now I'm sad that it never left Japan

Actually, the header above isn't completely accurate, as I know I heard about Homeland in some form or fashion around the time of its 2005 release.

I'm pretty sure my interest in this import-only GameCube title quickly vanished after I heard it was an MMO, though, so let's just pretend that I wasn't introduced to it before this past weekend, when I heard British game developer Hayden Scott-Baron mention it while listening to a recent episode of the Chic Pixel Plus! podcast.



Unsurprisingly, Scott-Baron's chatter caused me to look up a gameplay video of the title (see above or here) and, man, does it look good. I'm especially fond of its art style, which recalls other quirky titles of the same era like Chulip and GiFTPiA.

So, I'm now on the lookout for a cheap-ish copy of this Chunsoft-crafted (another point in its favor, by the way) curiosity. Sure, I won't be able to understand much, if any, of it for some time to come, and I won't be able to check out its online multi-player mode (thankfully, it has an offline single-player mode, too), but it's hard to care too deeply about that when everything looks as charming as it does here.

7 comments:

sharc said...

yeah, i've always been sad that the online element in this one is apparently just dead and gone.

unless i've mixed things up, there's a standalone version and a boxed set with a broadband adapter. neither one is worth paying the typical asking prices on ebay, tho.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOME-LAND-Nintendo-Game-Cube-Import-Japan-Video-Game-gc-/300952008755?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4612233833
i'd go with this, and maybe even offer $20.

thegaygamer.com said...

The question is: is the offline single-player content enjoyable, worth playing, etc? I've never read anything about it (the gameplay, I mean), to be honest, so I'm curious.


Doesn't surprise me to hear that they released two versions of the game, BTW--one with a broadband adapter. I should hunt down a photo of that version...


Oh, and thanks for the eBay link. That's not a bad price at all, really. The packaging is a bit beaten up, but that's not the end of the world.

Francis Gordon said...

Yeah Homeland has always totally fascinated me. So uh. How does MMO's work again? Can it no longer be played online because, the servers are dead and gone now? Or something? Is there any point in like, rigging up a DIY server thing because.. Well, is there even an existing and playing fanbase for it in Japan? Geez the Gamecube was weird for its online / at least LAN stuff huh.

thegaygamer.com said...

It sounds like it's not a full-on MMO, Francis--or at least that's my understanding. It supposedly/seemingly has a single-player (offline) mode as well as an online, multi-player mode, and it sounds as though they differ in at least some aspects.


As such, I have a feeling the only avenue open to folks like us these days is to play the single-player mode, as I highly doubt the servers are still active, etc. And even if they were, who would be playing it anymore, even in Japan?


I'll let you know if I ever pick it up. I have a feeling I will, but I also have a fairly short memory sometimes, so it may slip my mind before I go through with the deal :)

thegaygamer.com said...

Honestly, all I care about is that it has a single-player mode. I'm glad to hear it should still be possible to play it online, though. And thanks for sharing the info you dug up!

thegaygamer.com said...

You mean besides this game, right? I certainly can't remember anything myself, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.


Also, online Animal Crossing for GC would've been awesome. Hell, it'd still be awesome today! Damn...

thegaygamer.com said...

No worries!