Dragon Quest Day – sackchief’s Iceburg June 29, 2021
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Welcome back to Dragon Quest Day, where we are featuring some of the best independently produced Dragon Quest videos from across the web. Since I started doing my own independent research on the history of Dragon Quest, one channel kept coming up in my search, YouTube Channel sackchief. His YouTube channel has been an invaluable resource on how to get into the Dragon Quest games and I wanted to share some of my favorites with all of you.
First up, I want to highlight his definitive ranking of the Dragon Quest games. While I admit taste is subjective, his list provides more than just numerical ranking on an arbitrary standard of quality, he talks about what makes each game great and why you should play it. It’s a fantastic video made by a true fan and you should give it a watch.
Finally, this article would not be complete without a discussion about his Dragon Quest Iceburg video. Over the course of this forty minute video he dissects some of the game’s most famous myths, talks about Easter Eggs, and a lot more. Now, let’s take a closer look at the Dragon Quest Iceburg.
If that wasn’t enough sackchief for you fear not, he’s made a ton of great Dragon Quest videos we just don’t have the space to feature here. I totally recommend his video about which order you should play the Dragon Quest games in or his Top 5 DQ games video. Regardless, you can check out his whole channel and watch all of his videos here.
Dragon Quest Day – Did You Know Gaming? June 29, 2021
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Welcome Back to Dragon Quest Day, where we are featuring some of the best independently produced Dragon Quest content from across the web. For years, the YouTube Channel Did You Know Gaming has always produced incredible and tightly edited videos filled with history and trivia about all kinds of game franchises! A few years ago, they produced a video about the Dragon Quest franchise. I know, I’m surprised there was only one too (DYKG is known for putting out new videos over the years covering new trivia about franchises they’ve already talked about) but there’s some great content in this I couldn’t find referenced anywhere else.
This video might be useful for people who would prefer to avoid spoilers, as it mostly just focuses on trivia. A few in-game jokes might be spoiled, but that is all. Take a watch and enjoy!
Dragon Quest Day – Dragon Quest Timeline June 29, 2021
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Welcome to Part 2 of Dragon Quest Day, where we are highlighting some of the best independently produced video content across the web about this classic franchise. If you’re new to Dragon Quest like I am, you might be curious on how the games and their stories fit together, so you’ll have a better idea about which game you’ll need to start with or what order you should play the games in. Fear not, this next video is going to help you.
James Rolfe, who is better known across the internet as The Angry Video Game Nerd, did his own Chronologically Confused video about the franchise. While the guy may call himself ANGRY in the title, the video is reference-quality that shows all the connections between the games, and some of the Easter eggs added in the rereleases that add further connections. It is a must watch for people interested in the series.
Warning: Just be aware, he will have spoilers.
Dragon Quest games are available on multiple modern platforms including Nintendo Switch, PS4 and iOS.
Dragon Quest Day – 16-Bit Gems Reviews June 29, 2021
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Welcome to Dragon Quest Day, where we are going to devote an entire day’s worth of site content to featuring and highlighting some of the best independently produced Dragon Quest content from across the web! I wanted to start this day with a video series that served as my introduction to the Dragon Quest franchise, the videos produced by Clan of the Grey Wolf.
Clan of the Grey Wolf (which we’ve highlighted in the past) produced what I believe to be the DEFINITIVE History of RPGs video as a prequel to their reviews of the Dragon Quest games. If you’re a casual fan of JRPGs or just RPGs in general you’ll want to watch this.
Now that you’ve seen their history video, let’s take a closer look at their reviews. First up I want to highlight a piece of Square Enix history I would have had no memory of without this video. The fact that a demo for Final Fantasy XII was included with the game Dragon Quest VIII, and most fans of the genre have argued it was the superior RPG. Enjoy.
Next up, here’s a look at their reviews of Dragon Quest I and II. These games were released on the original NES under the name Dragon Warrior, but I have to admit Japan’s box art and promotional material looks a lot better than what we got in the US.
Why did he review those last two games together? Watch this next part and find out. Now, here’s their review of Dragon Quest III.
Dragon Quest I, II and III are available on multiple platforms including the NES, iOS and Nintendo Switch. Dragon Quest VIII is also out on multiple platforms including PS2, 3DS and iOS.
Announcing Dragon Quest Day Tuesday! June 27, 2021
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Play the horns. I know we typically reserve Tuesdays for our feature articles on Japan Travel Tips, but on this Tuesday we’ll be celebrating the definitive Japanese game franchise which set the gold standard for interactive role playing games (RPGs), Dragon Quest.
Created by Yuji Hori, Dragon Quest started life as a game on the original NES where you were tasked with fighting a dragon and saving a princess. I know that sounds pretty standard in comparison to what we can do with games today, but that’s only because Dragon Quest DID it first and has continued to produce high-quality highly-polished RPGs that have sparked the imagination of the entire world. Most recently, Dragon Quest XI has been re-released on Nintendo Switch, PC and PS4. Here’s the game’s opening cinematic.
So, to honor the franchise, and highlight some of the great Dragon Quest content currently out there, we decided to devote an entire day of this website’s content to Dragon Quest. So this Tuesday I ask all of you to sit down, grab a sword, and prepare to battle a slime! We’ll be posting up some of the best Dragon Quest content from across the web all day long. Or at least it’ll be another day to spend time together as we all wait to hear more about the next game, Dragon Quest XII.
Stay tuned and please subscribe to this website to stay up to date!
Japan Travel Tips – Japan’s Museums June 8, 2021
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It’s Tuesday, it’s time for a new look at Japan Travel Tips. In this series, which has been going strong for several weeks now, we highlight some of our favorite independent videos from across the internet dedicated to helping out people interested in visiting Japan some day. Today, we’ll be highlighting some of the coolest, unusual and most important museums Japan has to offer.
First off, and following up from last week’s travel tips, let’s talk about Cup Noodles. Not just a food for hungry gamers who can’t cook, Nissin’s Cup Noodles has always been a staple of Japan’s grocery stores. It is a quick and easy way to eat while on the go, and you can find it for sale pretty much everywhere. Well, if you are a fan of it and want to see more, DancingBacons made a trip to the source of Cup Noodles, and got to make their own! Check it out:
Cup Noodles Factory is located at 2 Chome-3-4 Shinko, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0001, Japan. Check out their website.
Next up, we are looking more artistically. Undoubtably the work of Studio Ghibli and their Master Director Hayao Miyazaki has had a profound effect on animation today. He is responsible for such films as The Cat Returns, The Wind Rises, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro. Now, following what I think is at least his third retirement, a Studio Ghibli museum has been opened featuring his artwork and giving exclusive access to the last short film the master director has worked on. There have been a few videos made over the years about the museum, but we decided to highlight one of the first, produced by the YouTube Channel Always, Ros.
The Ghibli Museum is located at 1 Chome-1-83 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0013, Japan. You can also check out their official website. If you happen to be a subscriber to HBO MAX, you’ll be able to watch most of the movies from Studio Ghibli, as well as some documentaries. I honestly recommend checking out the documentary Never-Ending Man.
This next one…we will need to be in the right mindset for. In fact, I wouldn’t blame you if you skipped it entirely. A year ago, a YouTube reviewer who calls himself Bennett The Sage did a review of one of the most heartbreaking anime of all time, Barefoot Gen. Created by a man who survived the atomic bomb attack on Japan, the anime focused on how life went on after such an event.
Following his review, Sage mentioned his visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which was built to honor those who were lost in the event, and to remind the world of what had happened. I can’t think of a better video to highlight it.
The Hiroshima Museum is located at 1-2 Nakajima-chō, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan. Barefoot Gen is currently available on the RetroCrush service.
This article ended on a difficult note, but still an important one that we felt needed to be addressed. We’re taking a break for next week, but we will be back after that with a new article. Stay safe out there. If you feel we haven’t highlighted a museum you feel we should, comment below with one and we may feature it in a future article!
Gaming History You Should Know – The Nokia N-Gage June 6, 2021
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It’s Sunday! Welcome back to another Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the best independently produced content focused on the history of gaming. Nowadays, it’s common to play a high quality game on your portable phone, but 17 years ago that just wasn’t possible. Today, we’re going to highlight one of gaming’s biggest missteps of all time, where a major company just jumped too early and it eventually cost them everything.
Let me set the scene for you guys. It was E3 2003. I was an 18-year old kid attending his first E3. While I was there to preview the PC games, I was exposed to everything the show had to offer (and it was GLORIOUS!). In 2003, when it came to handheld gaming, Nintendo was sitting on the top of the mountain with Game Boy Advance partially due to the incredible success of games like Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Cell phones were starting to take off, with almost everyone that year having a personal one small enough to fit in their pocket. One of the biggest cell phone makers at the time was a company called NOKIA, which enjoyed a enormous market share due to their simple yet well-made handsets.
In 2003, a common cell phone was small, would last about a day on a single charge, could make calls and send simple text messages, and be a calculator. That was about it. If you wanted to play games on the go, you needed either a laptop or a GBA, and that would mean carrying another thing in your pocket along with your wallet and phone. At E3 2003, NOKIA announced they would change all that, and announced they were making a cell phone that could play games, and it would be called the N-Gage.
When the N-Gage eventually released it was a total flop. In fact, to say it flopped would be an understatement of the year, it flopped HARD! The price dropped almost immediately, and a hardware revision rushed to market, but it was all for naught. The handheld didn’t sell, and gamers went on to buy the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP instead. What happened?
Derek Alexander, host of the YouTube Channel Stop Skeletons From Fighting, has just produced what I would consider the definitive history of the N-Gage. If you ever wanted to see what would happen when a company does it WRONG, you need to watch this.
If you asked me, I don’t believe NOKIA ever really recovered from the N-Gage failure. The company went on to make a few more bad business decisions like partnering with MS to make nothing but Windows Phones at a time only iPhone and Android phones were selling, and that was that.
Japan Travel Tips – Ramen June 1, 2021
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It’s Tuesday, and that means a new list of Japan Travel Tips, where I share with you some of the best independently produced travelogs about the country. We have already shared with you tips on how and what to eat while in the nation, but we intentionally left out one of the most recognizable foods in Japan, Ramen. Grab a bib and get ready to slurp!
Every region in Japan will have its own take on the popular food. First off, I’m going to highlight the work of Abroad in Japan, who produced this incredible video on the city known as Japan’s Ramen Capital, Fukuoka! Not only does he take a look at the food, but also some of the coolest sights to see in the city. Fukuoka is known for its creamy Pork bone broth, which is a staple of their noodle soup. Honestly, my words cannot do it justice, you’ll have to see it for yourself.
If you like different ingredients in your Ramen, don’t worry there are different options all over the country. Next up I have to highlight the work of Only in Japan. Seriously, this guy’s channel has been an invaluable reference for this series. Only in Japan has taken a closer look at some of the kind of Ramen you’d find in back alleys and side streets. Here’s a look at a place famous for their Ramen Alley, Sapporo.
Not enough Only in Japan for you guys? If that hasn’t made your stomach growl, in this next video he takes a look at the Ramen in Kyoto.
If you want to see more, he’s also taken closer looks at the Ramen in Hokkaido and Fukuoka.
I’m sure you’re wondering, “What if I want something SPICY, can I get that in Japan?” Yes, you totally can! I want to highlight the work of Mark Weins, who has a love for traveling for food and all things spicy. Watch his expression trying out Devil Level Ramen while at an outdoor market.
Finally I wanted to share some real fire with you all. Apparently, the Devil Level is not the hottest Ramen you can get in Japan, there is a Ramen shop that will actually use real fire. The YouTube channel Twosome Travellers actually got to try it. I’m not kidding, you have to see it to believe it.
Things to Know:
- Ramen is popular and Ramen Shops can be small. Expect a line, especially during lunch hour. Also a good idea to pay and leave as soon as you finish your bowl.
- Menus will likely be in Japanese. If you don’t speak the language you can either point at a picture of what you want or use a translator app on your smartphone.
- Always try the broth first with the provided spoon.
- Slurping is allowed and encouraged especially if it is good.
- Super Spicy Ramen could cost extra.
- Do not ask for your Ramen to go.
- Dispose of your leftovers in the designated bins.
That about wraps up our tour of some of the best Ramen options from all over Japan. Next week, we’re going to take a pause with our discussion of food and instead talk about some of the most unique museums you could visit in Japan.
Gaming History You Should Know – Sega’s Genesis Modem May 30, 2021
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It’s Sunday, welcome back to a new Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the best and most important independently produced gaming documentaries from across the web. As a PC user back in the mid-90s, I was strongly aware of the fact that I could use my PC to play games with people all over the world. Since high-speed internet utilities did not exist for residential consumers at that time, the only way I could get on the internet was with a telephone modem. For those of you who don’t know what that is, a modem would hook into a telephone land-line, and similar to how a FAX machine functions, and (depending on the configuration) transmits data either between two computers or one computer and their ISP. It was very slow, with even tiny downloads that would take hours, and very prone to disconnection but at the time it was the only way to play games online against people all over the world.
During the 16-Bit Gaming Wars, there were several attempts by console makers and their third-party hardware manufacturers to bring an online multiplayer experience to their game consoles. This was an interesting choice as game consoles typically supported two-to-four player gaming (depending on whoever else was on the couch with you at the time), and because of that online gaming was less of a priority. However, there were attempts. Today we are going to see the story of one of those attempts.
Enter Norman Caruso, better known as the Gaming Historian, with a documentary about the first attempt Sega made to bring a modem to their game console, the Genesis. If you had any interest in Japan’s gaming history, you need to give this video a watch!
As a person who lived in North America at the time, I vaguely remembered multiple attempts by Sega to incorporate a modem into their consoles over the years. The most successful of which was probably the modem that shipped with the Sega Dreamcast.
Japan Travel Tips – Staying at a Japanese Hot Springs Resort May 25, 2021
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Welcome back to our look at Japan Travel Tips, where we share the research we’ve done for those interested in traveling abroad! Over the past few weeks we’ve shared great tips for food, transportation, shopping and entertainment, but we’ve barely scratched the surface for everything Japan has to offer! In fact, the purpose of this week’s article is to expand upon something we touched upon in one of the first articles in this series, a type of hotel accommodations in Japan that is truly Japanese, the Ryokan.
You’ve had a long and difficult year. You deserve a weekend with your family at a beautiful natural hot spring hotel. There, you can relax in the hot bath and all your meals are prepared. That’s the Japanese mentality behind staying at an Onsen, or Ryokan. Typically, a Ryokan is a destination resort. They are built in beautiful mountainous areas with natural geothermal activity. The natural heat from the earth can be used to warm the hotel’s bath water, and provide a perfect place for groups to stay.
If you’d like to know more about the ins and outs of a Ryokan, its history, and how it works from the perspective of a guest, I’ll let Life Where I’m From take it from here.
So what goes into the food? One of the big reveals about a Ryokan that made my father interested in traveling was learning that the food served was all locally obtained and prepared. Typically, Ryokans are located near major harbors which can provide a constant supply of fresh fish, but even if you aren’t a fan of fish they will still find ways to accommodate you. Here’s a video specifically dedicated to the food courtesy of Only in Japan.
So, what if you aren’t traveling with a full family and are just traveling with a significant other? A Ryoken can accommodate you both. Here’s what the experience was like for a married couple who run the channel Flying the Nest.
Hope you enjoyed this look at the Ryokan. Stay tuned for next week, because we are FINALLY going to be talking about Ramen!
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