Do kiwis dream in color?

When Yuji Naka's latest platformer Ivy the Kiwi? hit the streets in Japan a few weeks ago, it was a little slice of sepia-toned heaven. When the storybook-ish DS/Wii title hits the streets in the States (courtesy of XSeed) this summer, though, it'll have a shiny, Technicolor sheen to it.

What does that mean? Well, here's a screenshot from the Japanese version of the game:

And here's a screenshot from the North American version of the game:

Although I understand why Naka and his cohorts at Prope Ltd. added a bit of color to the title before bringing it to our shores, I personally prefer the subdued tones of the original--in part because the backgrounds of the new-and-supposedly-improved North American version seem to swallow up the titular Ivy.

See also: 'Screw Sonic, I'll take Ivy the Kiwi instead' and 'I still don't understand why there's a question mark in this game's title'

The 'Mother' of all novel translations

Reason #2,516 to be jealous of the Japanese: In 1994, not only did they gain access to Shigesato Itoi's Mother 2 (aka EarthBound), but they gained access to Kumi Saori's novel adaptation of the Super Famicom/SNES title, too.

Thanks to Lindsay Nelson, we may soon be able to scratch that reason off the list. Why? Well, the Wisconsin-born blogger has decided to spend this Golden Week translating (into English) Saori's 492-page paperback.

Although Nelson won't be posting the full translation on her blog--due to a pesky little thing we call "copyright law"--she will be posting "excerpts from the book that are really worth taking a look at."

Anyway, all of this is a rather long-winded way of letting you know that I heartily recommend checking out Nelson's blog if you have any interest in the Mother series whatsoever.

Finally! GiFTPiA in English

OK, so only the game's intro has been translated into English. You've got to start somewhere, though, right?



Anyway, the folks at kirameki.altervista.org translated this Animal Crossing-esque "communication adventure" game, which was developed by skip Ltd., into Italian some time ago.

If you'd like them to translate it into English, too, head on over to their site tout de suite and take part in their most recent poll.

(Via gonintendo.com and tinycartridge.com)

Fabio Friday

The folks over at 1up.com posted a feature about Electronic Gaming Monthly's best and worst covers earlier today. Unsurprisingly, the following Fabio-centric cover was deemed one of the magazine's lesser efforts.

Thankfully, EGM's third issue wasn't a complete wash. After all, it included articles about two intriguing-but-ill-fated systems: The Atari Lynx and the Konix Multisystem.

Read: "The Best/Worst EGM Magazine Covers"

It's that time of month again...

No, it's not that time of month, silly; it's the time of the month where I obsess over a game--or, more likely, a system--I wish I owned.

Which piece of gaming equipment is the object of my obsession this month? The PC Engine.

Sadly, this isn't the first time I've spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about NEC's little white wonder; in fact, I've  done it a number of times since I first became aware of the pocket-sized system in the late 1980s.

This is one of the best photos of a PC Engine I could find on line.

How exactly am I obsessing about the PC Engine? Oh, reading reviews of its games (TheBrothersDuomazov.com is current fave), searching for images of the system and its games on Flickr--that kind of (bat-shit crazy) thing.

Ironically, I bought a PC Engine CoreGrafx II and a slew of games on eBay a few years ago--only to turn around and sell the whole shebang when my husband and I moved to Seattle. It's just as well, I guess, since I've always preferred--and, as a result, wanted--the alabaster original.

See also: 'I hereby declare March 15 Hug Your PC Engine (or TurboGrafx-16) Day'