August 27, 1999
Square will re-release Chrono Trigger for the PSX around the end of the year. You read it here first.
August 18, 1999
The only thing worse than a thief is a lazy thief. It has come to my attention that some of the information on this site is being published word for word on major sites w/o crediting Superfami.com as the source, or sometimes other people are claiming authorship of my work. Fortunately, the webmasters of these sites are very responsive and understanding of the situation.
As a message to potential thieves: If you don't learn how to copy something and make it look original, you will continue to get D's in high school.
Thoughts on the industry. As I am sure you are all aware, Sega of America has lost Bernie Stolar. I am not a "Bernie Hater" as many Sega owners are. My few experiences dealing with Mr. Stolar directly were very pleaseant and professional. From all evidence at hand, he did a very good job of paving the way for the launch of the Dreamcast in the US. At this point the DC looks like it will have a better US launch than it did here in Japan.
Mr. Stolar is being replaced by Toshiro Kezuka of Sega of Japan. Kezuka-san has been in the US since April of this year. His responsabilities for Sega Japan included being head of domestic sales and distribution. Previous to joining Sega in 1995 he was president of Honda France.
This does not bode well. By all signs, Kezuka-san has little to no experience or understanding of the US market and if he was head of sales and distribution for Japan, would he not be at least partly responsible for the rather poor launch of the DC here? How can he be expected to perform the duties of COO of Sega of America at the time of Sega's most important launch to date?
As a side note, this is not surprising in a way. Japanese companies are famous for not giving complete trust to local managers and then sending someone from the home office to replace them. Usually the replacement has no real idea of how business is done in the market to which he (always he) is assigned.
Superfami.com wishes the best of luck to both Bernie Stolar and to Kezuka-san.
August Birthdays August 24th is Hideo Kojima's birthday.
August 10, 1999
The rainy season is mostly over now so the flea markets have been back on. TSR has gone back to the USA. Pony Boy will be sorely missed by the remaining members of Team Gaijin.
Summer is a strange time for game hunting. It is almost not worth going to Akihabara during the summer because all the stores will be low on stock. When summer vacation starts, it seems all the kids head directly for the game stores to pick up all the good games. Can't balme em. The outlying areas can still be good, but when the temperature is hovering around 90 and the humidity is so bad that you start dripping with sweat the minute you walk out the door, a day of riding the rails can be hell.
The US$ is in the toilet. The exchange rate has hovered around 114 for over a week now. As usual we are determined to ride out the storm and will do our best not to raise our prices.
Metal Gear fans will be interested to know that Konami will be publishing a book of Shinakawa's art for the game. It was supposed to be released last month, but is now scheduled for sometime in August. We will attempt to stock as many copies of this title as possible. Our bet is that this one won't be around for very long so if you are interested, you might want to drop us a line.
July 7, 1999
Yet another way to get Ninja!!!
The following information was contributed by MGSolidFox@aol.com.
You need a GameShark or PAR of at least version 2.0 to use this method,
or a DexDrive for the save game below. This method will not work
with a GS/PAR below 2.0 or with an XPlorer/Xterminator/Xploder (not tested
the new 3.0 software since it is not yet available for download)
Here's the technique:
If you have a DexDrive or something compatable with DexDrive saves, right click here to dowload a save game. You still need a GS or PAR to boot the game though.
- Use the enable code below and the codes for Clear Sneaking, Weapons, Advanced and Special Mode from here
- Turn all these codes ON and boot the MGSI VR Disc.
- Go to the VR Training screen, but DO NOT load a save game from a memory card
- Check to see that all modes are available then choose to save. You might want to save to a fresh memory card just to be carefull.
- Reset your PSX, then start the game with only the Enable code, NOT any of the clear codes.
- You can now play as Ninja.
July 2, 1999
More MGSI info from the official guidebook.
As suspected by many, there is an easier way to open the Ninja mode on the VR Disc. To play the Ninja section of the VR Disc, finish the main game with a rank of "Big Boss", "Fox", "Doberman" or "Hound" and save your "Foxdie" data to your Pocketstation.
June 28, 1999
More MGSI info from the newest
issue of "Famitsu PS"
June 25, 1999
Metal Gear Solid Integral is out!!! I will have lots of pics and screen shots up by tomorrow, but the first news is that the actual game itself (not the menus) uses the new anti-mod boot code. You will need an RHP mod chip or a PAR/Gameshark to play this game. Codes are here but the boot codes listed are wrong. Here are the correct codes:
Enable Code (Must
Be On-Disc 1 & 2)
$D00C3AB6 1040
$800C3AB6 1000
$D00C492A 1040
$800C492A 1000
Enable Code (Must Be On-VR Disc)
$D00C209A 1040
$800C209A 1000
June 10, 1999
Long time no updates Being unemployed has it's advantages, like time to play games in between interviews and calling headhunters. SaGa Frontier 2 is a snoozer. Those of you who are not patient and fluent in Japanese should probably avoid it. I finally made time to finish Metal Gear Solid. Jeremy Blaustien is a great translator, no matter what anyone says! I'm a sucker for a good story and a hollywood ending, so I have joined the millions of satisfied gamers who have completed this title.
The Last PCE game was released. Dead
of The Brain 1 & 2 came out on June 3rd. I have been filling
orders slowly, if you pre-ordered with me and I have not contacted you
yet, you are on a waiting list and will be contacted when I can fill your
order.
Superfami.com is hiring Let's qualify that statement a bit. I need a 2D artist to work with me on character and background design as well as animations for an RPG project targeted for the PSX.
Since this is strictly being done in my spare time with no budget, there is no pay involved, but this would be a great chance to sharpen your skills and if things work out right, there may be some compensation in the future. Think Shadowrun / SD Snatcher environments and characters. Email me for details or with some sample drawings. Wizards, knights and princesses are not welcome. Applicants must be willing to sign a paper or PGP signed electronic NDA.