Makeruna! Makendou Z

[1983parrothead]

This is to discuss Fill-in-Cafe's last game they developed.  Fill-in-Cafe was best known for the Asuka 120% BURNING Fest. franchise. They also developed Mad Stalker: Full Metal Force titles that Masaki Ukyo (Guardian Heroes) and Masatoshi Imaizumi (Panzer Bandit) worked on together.

Fill-in-Cafe developed Makeruna! Makendo Z as well as the PS1 version of Makeruna! Makendou 2, because of their partnership with these companies:

Success Corp. (developed the SFC Makeruna! Makendou 2, the DATAM Polystar-published Cotton 100%, and the Final and Return versions of Asuka 120%)
Opus (sound developer of the SFC Makeruna! Makendou 2 and Seta's choice for composing Twin Eagle II, while Seta published various DATAM Polystar video games, including the first Makeruna! Makendou as Kendo Rage)
DATAM Polystar (Owner of Makeruna! Makendou series)

Anyway, Makeruna! Makendou Z modeled itself after the Famicom game La Salle Ishii no Child's Quest and the MOTHER / EarthBound trilogy, which are all Dragon Quest-style RPGs in a non-fantasy medieval setting.

I think this game deserves a fan translation, as well as a gamerip of its soundtrack.

[elmer]

I saw your post on HG101 mentioning "Makeruna! Makendou Z", and took a quick look at it.

I'd not seen it mentioned before, it looks quite a nice little 16-bit RPG. 

I certainly had a smile on my face at the intro, which I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I can't understand Japanese, but I'd love to hear what people think about the game.

From a "developer's" standpoint ... I'm a bit disappointed to see yet another PC-FX game that's just using a single 16-color background, with another 16-color foreground  layer for the text.

It is really nothing that couldn't have been done on the old PC Engine.

Are there any sections later in the game where it actually starts to really use some of the PC-FX's capabilities?

[filler]

I've always thought this game looked pretty cool. There is some fun animation about it on one of the Anime Freak FX discs if I remember correctly.

I talk about the game briefly here right after I picked it up. https://youtu.be/bmKxDzuefKI?t=12m32s I haven't played any more of it unfortunately.

I do have Kendo Rage on the SNES which is a localization of the SFC game in the series which is an action/beat-em-up, and also the PSX game (digitally on PSN) which was a vs. fighter. The PX-FX game is the only RPG in the series.

There is also an anime OAV which was released on LD in Japan which I'd love to get my hands on.

[SamIAm]

I once read that the developers had to finish this game on a volunteer basis because the company was simply out of money.

[xelement5x]

Looks interesting for sure.  I guess it would depend on how good the story/battle actually is.  The opening looks very neat, but I have learned that an amazing opening doesn't mean the actual game will be fun.

[esteban]

I once read that the developers had to finish this game on a volunteer basis because the company was simply out of money.

That is depressing to hear.

[Necromancer]

I've not played it yet, but it sure looks nice; is it a tough one to muddle through for english only peeps?  I'd be all over a translation for it, but that's true of any PC-FX game..... because I'm an OBEY whore. 

I once read that the developers had to finish this game on a volunteer basis because the company was simply out of money.

That's a bummer, but at least the guys were passionate enough to finish it up on their own.

[SegaSonic91]

Wow, I never realised that this game was an RPG.  I thought it was more boring "anime adventure" crap that NEC so loved making.  I wish I had bought it back in 2004 now!  I could have bought it new for only about 6000yen.  It's quite rare these days.  And it is "rare" as in hard to come by rather than "rare" like Zenki FX of DracX where they are just overpriced and every damn shop in Akiba has at least one copy.  Not to mention the auction sites.

[Arkhan]

I once read that the developers had to finish this game on a volunteer basis because the company was simply out of money.

lol, so, they started doing what we do !