32 Bits is a series where I revisit the most popular games of the recent past; from the launch of the original Playstation to the last days of the Xbox 360. Why?
To chart the evolution of games.
To destroy people’s nostalgic feelings by playing the “classics” they all know…alongside the detritus everyone played at the time, but no one remembers.
To rediscover games unjustly forgotten by history.
The time is March 1996: three months into the Playstation’s first full year. The Nintendo 64 is several months away; while Sega’s Saturn system is fading fast.
This is the first of the periodical Saturn round-ups; as the Saturn was an unpopular console, I can’t just play its popular hits. Here I play a representative sample of the Saturn’s library; this post covers two games from March 1996.
Note: I’ve update the 32 Bits page; the “32 Bits” option above now has a sub-menu linking to all the articles by year and by series.
Saturn #24:
Linkle Liver Story
Developed by Nextech, published by Sega
Released: March 1996 (Japan)
LOOK AT THAT. LOOK AT IT. IT’S ADORABLE. SO ADORABLE. THE CUTEST GAME. YOU’RE THE CUTEST, ADORABLEST GAME EVER, AREN’T YOU, LINKLE LIVER STORY? YES YOU ARE. YES YOU ARE!
COUGH. Ahem.
Linkle Liver Story is a colorful game with detailed, and adorable, sprites; it’s also a Zelda-esque adventure with a inexplicable name.
“Linkle Liver Story”. The title is in English. Completely meaningless English. Victor Ireland of Working Designs claims the game’s producer told him “Linkle Liver” refers to the “people who live in Linkle”.
There is no location in the game named “Linkle”.
A early boss in “Linkle Liver Story”.
Linkle Liver Story is a Japanese game that never departed for foreign shores. My last experiences with games entirely in Japanese include SteamGear Mash, Gunbird and Tadaima Wakusei Kaitakuchuu!. The latter defied explanation; the game’s complexity and the lack of any information on it in English caused me to just give up. Isometric action game SteamGear Mash could be understood easily even if you don’t speak the language; the same is true of Linkle Liver Story, a extremely accessible game even with the language barrier.
Traversing a dungeon in Linkle Liver Story.
You play as a fox-person who lives in a field with a rabbit monk and her fox friends. When a man in a cave gives her a cape, she flies to the top of a mountain. There she finds a floating, magical fish. Soon a mole-person arrives, chasing the fish. Fox-lady and magic fish depart on a quest to save flowers and plant seeds. These flowers created the world, and the seeds grow weapons for you. A investigation uncovered that this story is what it seems, though the fish is actually a seed-pod. Unless there’s a horrible scene I missed. If there is, please don’t tell me.
The fox-lady, Kittchu, fights with spears, boomerangs, staffs and more; the seed-pod, Puchimuku, charges at enemies. Together they traverse dungeons and other challenges.
Dungeons make the player leap over obstacles and fight enemies, then face off against a boss at the end. Other areas showcase more diverse missions. A rock conceals a giant lizard, who challenges you to hide-and-seek. In another area, a massive flower sprouts a seed. The player must roll the seed up a mountain, through fish-filled waters and past needle-shooting watermelons and into the maw of another giant flower. Which, yes, is an annoying escort mission; I said the missions were diverse, not that they were original or any good. Kittchu and Puchimaku travel from area to area via a 3D world map; you leave levels by jumping into tornadoes.
Growing new weapons.
Linkle Liver Story is a simple game whose main distinguishing factor, besides being super adorable, is its weapon system. Using water drops gathered from enemies, the player plants weapon-seeds in the light of certain plants. You find new weapons and upgrade old ones by growing them.
Linkle Liver Story won’t set the world on fire; it’s appealing thanks to its colorful, cute graphics but it’s otherwise just another Zelda-like 2D action game. It provides some fleeting fun, but would never be cited as one of the Saturn’s lost classics despite its understated accomplishments.
At least it provides an enduring mystery. It’s a nice game, but which one’s Linkle?
notes
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CORRECTION: Turns out that Nextech, developers of Linkle Liver Story and last season’s Cyber Speedway, also handled the Saturn ports of Battle Arena Toshinden and should have been credited as the developers of Battle Arena Toshinden URA last week. I apologize for the error.
Saturn #25:
Magic Carpet
Developed by Bullfrog, published by Electronic Arts
Released: March 1996 (NA/Europe); December 1996 (Japan)
Magic Carpet throws players into the action; floating over a small village in a large world, Bullfrog boldly deprives new players of any initial direction (unless they read the manual, of course, but who does?) and ask them to figure out their own way through a game that defies easy classification.
A original mix of shooter and strategy game, the player flies around the world on a magic carpet. The goal: build up your own castle, defending it from enemies while gathering mana. Enough mana and you can move on to the next world. The game’s many levels last upwards of ten to twenty minutes, making Magic Carpet a lengthy experience; though initially you’re just buzzing around in search of enemies to kill, later levels increase the intensity of the action and diversify the spells you can use.
Magic Carpet is a revolutionary PC game that’s an awkward fit for consoles; the free 3D movement and many spells cry out for keyboard and mouse control (though it does support the 3D controller, released with Nights Into Dreams). The Saturn version is also missing several levels. Magic Carpet’s console port is too rough to recommend over its originator.
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Next Time: 32 Bits resumes January 5th with the Playstation games Fade to Black and Tecmo’s Deception.
I’ve come a long way since I started this series in February (I’ve covered seven months in eleven). I’ve discovered Warhawk; I’ve learned way more about the Saturn than I thought possible; I found what I thought to be one of the worst games ever made, Loaded, only to play a even worse one soon after. I’ve traced the whole history of a mediocre, briefly popular fighting game series and watched the dawn of survival horror.
I didn’t use star ratings until recently, so I feel now’s the time to recap everything I’ve played so far:
: Must play games in their day and today. Rayman (part 2); Warhawk; Resident Evil; Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
: Games that are great for their day, but dated today; often, these are games eclipsed by their sequels, but others just fall short from being essential. Air Combat; Panzer Dragoon; Twisted Metal; Tekken; Doom; King’s Field; Astal; Virtua Cop; Sega Rally Championship; Policenauts; Virtua Fighter 2
: Games that were good or average for their time, and forgettable today; quality in their time, but you can give them a pass today. Ridge Racer; The Raiden Project; Daytona USA; Virtua Fighter; Cyber Speedway; Arc the Lad; Clockwork Knight; SteamGear Mash; Gunbird; Virtua Racing; A-Train; Street Fighter Alpha; Bust-A-Move 2; The Need for Speed
: Games that were mediocre or poor in their time, and skippable today. Battle Arena Toshinden; Destruction Derby; Wipeout; Shinobi Legions; Hang-On GP; Alien Trilogy; Mickey’s Wild Adventure
: Uninteresting failures. ESPN Extreme Games; WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game; Hi-Octane; Bug!; Dark Legend; Battle Arena Toshinden 2
: Tremendous failures. Failures so dreadful that they should be perserved for future generations. These game’s developers either failed on every level (Loaded) or made compellingly bizarre creative decisions (D) or both (Virtual Hydlide). These games are anti-masterpieces, if you will. Loaded; Virtual Hydlide; D
Coming up in 1996:
On the Playstation side – Namco Museum; Tekken 2; Crash Bandicoot; Die Hard Trilogy; Mortal Kombat; new Wipeout and Ridge Racer games; 2Xtreme; Destruction Derby 2; Jet Moto; Twisted Metal 2; Motor Toon Grand Prix; Pandemonium!; Arc the Lad II; King’s Field 2; Tomb Raider; Star Wars; Suikoden; Persona; Coolboarders; and others – from bowling sims to movie tie-ins.
On the Saturn – Many, through monthly round-ups; and individual coverage of games like Nights Into Dreams.
And most notably, the introduction of the Nintendo 64: Super Mario 64, Pilotwings, Shadows of the Empire and Wave Race introduce a new console towards the end of the year.
Cultural Fragments 
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