Doujin Gaming 101

By: Derek Yu

On: September 27th, 2007

Hardcore Gaming 101 is hands-down one of my favorite video game websites. It’s a compendium of information on mostly retro, or retro-style, games that range from obscure to legendary. The site’s simple white-on-black layout serves its purpose well… namely, to thoroughly explore all the games and game series featured on the site.

And thank goodness – Kurt Kalata, the website’s maintainer, understands very well that jpeg compression or uneven resizing makes pixels cry. This site is chock-full of gorgeous screenshots for your orbs to ogle.

Recently, Kurt has opened up a section on HG101 for doujin (Japanese homebrew) games. He’s reviewed Gunners Heart, Duo Princess, and Master Burner, so far, with the promise of more to come. And there’s also an introduction to doujin games article on there, with detailed instructions on how to install and run doujin games on your PC.

And not a moment too soon! I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to throw this site some love for a long time.

(And don’t forget: TIGSource’s Introduction to Doujin Shmups, by Postman and William Swaney)

Posted in Community, Doujin

Xander

Ah, now I remember this site. Ys: Ark of Nepishtim (I think?) was just about to come out, and I was a little curious about what the series was like.

In comes hardcore gaming, and suddenly I’m addicted to the soundtrack. Dammit I hadn’t even played the game by that point, I do love the boss theme though… and Ernst’s. Also reminds me that no matter how long I fear my posts are, really compared to those guys I’m sorely lacking in wordage. Redonculously informative, I just ended up reading the history of the Sega Ages series. I really want Dynamite Deka again.
zr

like i believe they legally acquired every game they write about. screenshots are a big hint about how they got their hands on these stuff.

“let’s tease these motherfuckers with games they can’t buy anywahre! they don’t know anything about emulationnnnnnnnn
BreadCultist

I love that site. Partly because I like reading articles about games I’ve played that I agree with. And reading about games I haven’t played is cool too. This new section is relevant to my interests, I’d better get reading.
http://myspace.com/akktivecarbon !CE-9

“please something pushes a button”… I can’t resist a request like that.

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/gunnersheart/logo.jpg

these games look freakin sweet, that’s for sure though.
Moose

I love Doujin games, but I have a real problem with the attitude.

Most Doujin games are almost impossible to obtain outside Japan unless you use a shipper such as Himeya. None of them have online registration, even though Japan’s perfectly capable of doing that.

And why not? Bluntly, because the authors don’t want non-Japanese to play them. There’s usually some excuse along the lines of “well, if we made them international we’d have to censor ourselves” but it’s basically stemming from the belief that the ignorant gaijins don’t know the difference between a manji and a swastika or whatever.