What is a Sega Mega CD? Years ago, before the Sega Genesis was released, Sega had plans to release the Genesis with the name of Mega Drive in North America, but there were some legal challenges. So, they changed the name of it to the Sega Genesis, while in Europe, Australia, and Asia, it was still known as the Mega Drive.

When the Sega CD came out, it was known as the Mega CD outside of North America. Since games were region encoded (like most DVDs) you could not play Japanese games on an American system vice versa, although there were limited successes with region bypass carts.

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So, why play an old, outdated 16-bit console, when you have 64-bit consoles and PCs, with better graphics, etc? Part of it is Nostalgic Reasons, the same reason I started a BBS again so late in the game. Another part is because I never got a chance to play this game back in 1993 when it came out. .

Sure, graphics are nice, especially for arcade fighters and first-person shooters, but they really don't make a game good or bad. Also, when you have less graphics and cpu capabilities, as a programmer's or game designer's standpoint, you have to have a reason to sell your game. If the game is too easy, it's classified as a kids game. If it's too short, it's not worth the money. If it's too complicated, hard, or long, then it's not to be considered in the demographic for your average joe gamer.

So, you have to have a balance of difficulty, length, and content. With RPGs, it's a slightly be different, because most hard-core RPGers want a game that lasts forever (OK, not forever, but the longer the better.) - Games that I consider too short: dracula x (snes), lunar silver star (sega cd, sega saturn, ps1), heroes of the lance (nes), etc...

For some reason, Lunar Silver Star (aka Silver Star Story) still got much praise, even though it was a very very short RPG. Maybe because it was very colorful, had great graphics, and was playable by everyone. To me, it was too easy, too short, and more for kids. Its sequel: eternal blu, was actually a lot longer and more challenging - it kind of starts off slow, but once you get in to it, you're hooked.

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Navigating Japanese RPGs:

Not being fluent in Japanese, it's sometimes hard to know the exact storyline of a game, even its characters and weapons, armor, and other items. A lot of stuff is guess work. So, by playing an RPG in another language, it's like playing a game with out a storyline.

It really isn't as bad as it sounds. I suppose what can make a story-less game good is having a good battle system, having a good feel, and being a challenging game from the start.

But how to you navigate all of the Japanese menus? Playing Japanese RPGs takes dedication. In your average RPG, you should experiment with it for at least two hours, trying to familiarize yourself with the controls, battle techniques, and other menu items. You also should figure out how to heal and how to save your game.

Some games will be setup to save the game anywhere, some will allow you to save only in certain places, and others may have inns or people that you can go to, to save the game.

As far as healing, you should at minimum have healing items and very possibly a healer in towns, if you don't have healing spells too.

All of the above things need to be learned in your (two hour?) session. Of course, you can take as long as you want to learn these things.

So, you're done with the basics. The next steps, you'll learn as you go. Here's what you should start on next:

Spells, Shopping, Stats, weapons, armor, other Items.........

If the game uses spells, you'll need to figure out which ones are used for attacking, which for defense, healing, etc.

Next, you'll have to learn about shopping and what items to buy. How? You basically have to buy one of each item in shops to see their affects. Does it boost HP, MP, or have some other type of effect?

Now, I know that some of you may have limited silver, gold, credits, scrap, or whatever version of in-game money there is, to buy items. So, save before buying the items, test out those items, and then load your game when you've figured it all out and buy what you need.

Stats are sometimes easy, sometimes hard. Many games have half or all of the stats in English, while others may not have any. Generally, you should know your HP, MP, Exp, and possibly EXP for next level. Defense and attack may also be useful, to figure out what a certain weapon or armor may do. So, just like items, you'll want to save the game before buying any weapons or armor, buying those items, trying them out, and once you figure out which ones are right for your character, load the game back up and only buy those items.

With weapons and armor, it can be tricky to find what you need. Not all games will show how a weapon or armor modifies the attack or defense, and in other cases, certain items could be blessed with magic or cursed, and stuff like that may take longer to determine.

I could tell you a horror story about a certain game that didn't have any noticeable stat modifiers when using weapons/armor. So, in this particular game, I just bought the most expensive weapons and armor in every new town. Most of the time, I could go back and get another weapon or armor if the one I bought wasn't working correctly, but this was right before a big transition in the game. By the time I went through this transition and realized I got a bad armor item and couldn't complete one of the last quests in the game, and to top it off, couldn't go back to the old town, it was pretty much over. I tried to level up for another 20-30 hours or more, just leveling up, and it still didn't help. So, I gave up.

Don't worry about the above scenario. Just use more than one save slot in the game so that you can go back to an earlier part of a game and make the corrections you may need. This is a good thing to do even if you're not worried about items, because there could always be forgotten business to tend to.

If you're new to the mega cd, you may need to initialize the mega cd's internal ram, or the memory cartridge before being able to save. Some games may even act like they save the game even though the cart isn't initialized, and when you go to power back up and load your game, it's not there. Most games, however, will have some sort of warning, and a few won't even let you play if there isn't enough backup ram.

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Last Notes:

Not all games are going to be easy to learn. Games like Dai Houshin Den make heavily use of the Japanese language, but you could probably classify a games playability for non-japanese speakers with 4 levels:

Level 1: Action RPGS like Popful mail, Heimdall, and Dungeon Explorer (although all of these are available in the USA too)

Level 2: Cosmic Fantasy Stories, Alshark, Burai, Shining Force, maybe even Fhey Area, maybe funky horror band.

Level 3: Aisle Lord, mega schwarzschild, maybe shin megami tensei

Level 4: Dai Houshin Den

There are several other RPGs but it's been so long since I've played (or haven't at all) them that I can't remember where to classify them (maybe in a future edit). Some of those games are: A-Rank Thunder, After Armageddon, Arcus 1-2-3, game no kan 1, game no kan 2, silky lip, 3x3 eyes, might & magic iii, record of lodoss war, heroic legend of arslan, and shadowrun.

Games like mega schwarzschild are considered space,scifi rpg but don't seem like there is much actual japanese, but you really do need to know most all of the menu stuff 100%, to be able to play it correctly. That's why it went to level 3, instead of level 2, even though many of the level 2 games are way more involved.

Games with a "maybe" in front of them are somewhere between that level and the next, mainly because it's been so long since I've played them that it's hard to remember how hard they were to learn. Shin Megami Tensei is a heavily involved game with lots of Japanese, but it may not be quite as involved as dai houshin den.

Good luck in your 16-bit Japanese ventures!