Who says the Nintendo DS is dead (or, I bought 19 DS games in 2019)

In 2017 and 2018, I played just one Nintendo DS game--and it was "just" a DSiWare title, Boxlife. Last year, I played eight. And not only that, but I finished each one. (Read about them here and here.)

Unfortunately it didn't put as big of a dent in my backlog as I hoped it would. That's because I added 19 DS games to my collection in 2019.

They are, in alphabetical order:

• Another Code: Two Memories
• Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island
• Disgaea DS
• Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry (the European version of Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times)
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2
• Gabu Gabu Planet

• Gyakuten Saiban: Yomigaeru Gyakuten (the Japanese version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)
• Magical Starsign
• Marl-oukoku no Ningyou-hime (the Japanese version of Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure)
• Mawashite Koron
• Princess Debut
• Puzzle Series Vol. 5: Slitherlink
• Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure

• Touch Detective 2 1/2
• Trace Memory
• Unou no Tatsujin: Soukai! Machigai Museum
• Unou no Tatsujin: Soukai! Machigai Museum 2
• Witch Tale: Minarai Majo to 7-Jin no Princess (the Japanese version of A Witch's Tale)
• The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

Have you played any of these DS games? If so, share your thoughts on them in the comments section of this post.

Nice Package! (The Adventures of Puppet Princess, PlayStation)

One of the byproducts of my most recent attempt to learn the Japanese language (don't worry, I'm still working on it, albeit slowly) has been a reignited interest in a certain world-conquering system made by a little company called Sony.

The system in question is the original PlayStation, naturally (OK, so I could've said it was the PS2, but to be honest I've always preferred Sony's first effort in this space to its second), and the focus of my renewed interest in this console has been on its amazingly diverse catalog of Japanese releases.

The game seen below, known outside of Japan as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, is a good example. I mean, it's an RPG that stars a female protagonist and features all kinds of sing-songy cutscenes.



My original plan was to buy the North American version of this Nippon Ichi-made game, by the way, but I quickly changed course after I came across (while perusing eBay) the copy shown throughout this post.

Granted, it helped that this particular copy carried a surprisingly cheap price tag. (It was less than $5, to be exact.)



It also helped that I found The Adventures of Puppet Princess' cover art to be rather appealing in its Disney-esque simplicity.

The art produced for the front of this title's instruction manual (see above) is even nicer, if you ask me.



The inside of The Adventures of Puppet Princess' manual is stuffed with similarly adorable illustrations, with the ones shown above and below being but a fraction of what's made available to those who pick up copies of this PlayStation game.



Have any of you played some iteration or other of this lovely little RPG? If so, which version have you experienced, and what did you think of it?

See also: other recent 'Nice Package!' write-ups about Hyakumanton no Bara Bara (for the PSP), PoPoLoCrois Monogatari (for the PSone) and my new 'noble pink' Nintendo DS Lite

Help me blow my hard-earned cash on a couple of un-translated Japanese PSone RPGs, too

I know what some of you are thinking. Enough with all of the "I'm learning Japanese and I'm totally jazzed about it" crap! I appreciate where you're coming from, I really do, but I honestly can't help myself.

Although it's still "early doors," as British sports commentators are fond of saying, for me and my studies, I'm far enough along to be able to translate (or look up, if need be) pretty much every word I come across that's written using katakana or hiragana, and I find that pretty darn exciting. Plus, I'm finally starting to learn some kanji and grammar (not necessarily in that order), which is making things even more thrilling.

Anyway, all of the above has me itching to buy some of the Japanese PlayStation RPGs I've long wanted to experience--but previously avoided because of the language barrier--so I can pop them into my trusty PSone-plus-monitor combo and give them a whirl at last. (An added bonus: I figure playing through some of these titles, like The Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom, will help me expand my vocabulary.)

A couple of the games I'm contemplating at the moment:

PoPoLoCrois Monogatari--This beautiful, sprite-filled adventure is based on Tamori Yousuke's 30-plus-year-old manga series. Sadly, that's all I know about it right now but, really, what else do you need to know about a game that looks a stellar as the one showcased in the screenshot above?

The Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom--I'm a bit more knowledgable about this Japanese RPG, which was released in other regions as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (and eventually was ported to the Nintendo DS). What am I looking forward to most about this title? Seeing its flan attack in action, of course.

TwinBee RPG--OK, so this Konami-made joint isn't as much of a looker as the games mentioned above, but I still want to play it. I mean, it allows you to control low-poly versions of TwinBee, WinBee and GwinBee while battling similarly low-poly enemies that look like turnips and carrots. What's not to like?

As always, I'm open to any and all suggestions you may have when it comes to Japanese PSone RPGs I should add to my ever-growing "to play" list, so feel free to name some in the comments section below.

See also: 'Help me blow my hard-earned cash on some un-translated Japanese PSP RPGs'

What I'm playing for #NISNovember: Marl Jong!! for PlayStation

Those of you who follow me or the Chic Pixel blog (or both) on Twitter probably have already heard that Chic Pixel's proprietress, Anne Lee, has proclaimed this month to be #NISNovember.

For the uninitiated, all that means is that Lee would like whoever is interested to play one or more games that have been developed or published by Japan's Nippon Ichi Software or NIS America at some point during the month of November and then use #NISNovember to tag any social-media posts that are related to your playthrough.



Anyway, thanks to the header above, I guess the cat's out of the bag in regard to which Nippon Ichi game I'm currently playing as part of #NISNovember.

Should Marl Jong!! not ring a bell for you, here's the gist: it's a Japan-only PlayStation game that combines NIS' "Marl Kingdom" characters--featured in games like Rhapsody, Little Princess and Tenshi no Present--with what seems to be a rather basic version of mahjong.



I say "seems" in the sentence above because I'm far from an expert when it comes to mahjong. I know enough to have beaten a few of my opponents in this particular game, though--which is more than I can say about my experience so far with, say, Nintendo's Yakuman for GameBoy.

Although I only recently acquired the copy of Marl Jong!! that can be seen throughout this post, I first became aware of the game some years ago, shortly after I discovered the wonderful world of emulation.
 


Don't worry, I attempted to track down an actual copy of the game as soon as I fell in love with its adorable graphics and accessible gameplay, but accomplishing that feat proved to be rather difficult--until, like I suggested a few sentences ago, I came across one on eBay.

Thankfully, the wait was worth it, as not only is the cover art that was made for Marl Jong!! all kinds of cute, but so is its disc and manual.



Along with Marl Jong!!, I'm also hoping to play one or more of the following DS titles as part of #NISNovember: Atelier Annie, Disgaea DS and Rhapsody. Have any of you played any of these games? If so, I'd greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts (good or bad) about them in the comments section of this post.

See also: 'On the one hand, I'm glad I finally own a copy of one of Nippon Ichi's first PlayStation games, Cooking Fighter Hao'