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Dragon Slayer: Square's first?
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galahad



Joined: 01 Jul 2005
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:17 am    Post subject: Dragon Slayer: Square's first? Reply with quote

It appears I've finally encountered a few guys who are as nuts as I am when it comes to knowing Square. Recently, I've set about creating a list of every (yes, EVERY) Square, Enix, and Square Enix game ever released. Now, as the guy that owns that WarMECH site could tell you, even covering every Final Fantasy game is a pain, given that I probably couldn't even count all the ports/re-releases of the first Final Fantasy on both of my hands. Now, I've been playing some Square games on the MSX1 recently, including King's Knight (port of the Famicom/NES game, but I'm not sure which came first) and Aliens (a fun game, actually). I've played Dragon Slayer, and it DOES say 'developed by Square, licensed by Falcom'. However, this game is copyright 1985 (unaware of the exact release date). According to Square Enix's website, Square Co., Ltd. was established in Sept. of 1986, and according to their Japanese site, King's Knight was the first game they produced. It's also worthy of note that all the rest of the Dragon Slayer games were licensed AND devleoped by Falcom. My question is this: is it a Square game? If so, why is their company listed as being founded in 1986? I don't understand why it isn't listed in their games list, but I do know that they don't show any MSX games on their games list, or PC-8801, PC-9801, or Sharp X1 games - and I'm relatively sure Square developed for all of those systems. On a final note, can anyone confirm if Rad Racer II was released in Japan? It isn't on the Japanese site's games list either. (oh, and also, was Rad Racer developed for the MSX? I found that a "High Way Star" was produced for the MSX in 1983, and Highway Star is the Japanese name of Rad Racer, but this game is totally different and not developed by Square...)

I know these are detailed questions about very, very obscure games/systems, but I know that's what some of you guys specialize in. Cool
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ArnoldRimmer83
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm pretty certain Rad Racer II never made it to Japan. The game was definately made by Square of Japan though. The music to the game was done by Nobuo Uematsu.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know why Square Enix's site would say King's Knight was their first game, but according to this site, Square had a hand in several games before King's Knight, and even before Dragon Slayer, dating back as far as late 1984. The site also mentions that Highway Star was a FC-only release, no MSX version.
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Ichiban Crush
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wasn't Square involved in some hentai game? I seem to recall that being before '86.
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Dais



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ichiban Crush wrote:
Wasn't Square involved in some hentai game? I seem to recall that being before '86.


That sounds quite familiar. Then again, a lot of things I've never heard of before sound familiar to me.

I know Koei, Enix, Falcom, Ascii, and some other greats (and not-so-greats) had hentai games back in the day....but Square, hmm..

EDIT: *VICTORY FANFARE*

http://www.square-haven.com/games/misc/alpha/
BONUS COMBO EXTENSION LINK: http://www.serenitygrotto.com/square.html
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galahad



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 7:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, thanks for the replies and links guys.

Arnold: That's what I was thinking too, but then, I was confused. Sure, Rad Racer II was practically inferior to the first installment, but to my knowledge, (aside from FF8 PC version) no Square release has ever NOT seen the land of the rising sun. Of course, Squaresoft, Square USA, Square Enix USA, and so forth always seem to get a hard-on out of screwing us some great titles (like Treasure Hunter G).

Skrybe: Thanks for the info, but the link didn't work. Sad

Dais: I've seen the Serenity Grotto site, but it's incomplete and there's some incorrect information. Thanks for the squ-haven link though. So much for a Square fanboy like me happy that my company was practically the only Japanese one to never develop a hentai game. Laughing

If anyone else has useful info/links like these kind gentlemen, please post!
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

King's Knight was released on the Famicom in 1986.

King's Knight: 1986.09.18

However, this wasn't Square's first Famicom release. That distinction would fall to Thexder, in 1985.

Thexder: 1985.12.19

I know nothing of MSX release dates.
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KingMike



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

galahad wrote:
(aside from FF8 PC version) no Square release has ever NOT seen the land of the rising sun

Secret of Evermore.

And Square's first FC game was Thexder (aka Teguzar), an action game reportedly released in November 1985 (Bandai blatantly ripped off this game along with a less blatant rip-off of Space Harrier to create Mobile Suit Gundam: Hot Scramble).
(Damn, missed Klarth's response)
Enix's first FC game was Door Door.
Not sure if DvD (who made a FAQ of the game) was quoting Enix or not, but it was pretty funny: CAN YOU SHUT UP ALL ALIENS?
So, it was this game, where you open the limited supply of doors and try to lead the aliens into them, then close the doors so they like vanish from existance or something.
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lugnut
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
And Square's first FC game was Thexder (aka Teguzar), an action game reportedly released in November 1985 (Bandai blatantly ripped off this game along with a less blatant rip-off of Space Harrier to create Mobile Suit Gundam: Hot Scramble).


And of course, Thexder as you probably already know is a port of a Game Arts PC game - anybody played the PC version to know how well the FC port compares?

'Cuz the FC game sure ain't much to write home about.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

galahad wrote:
Skrybe: Thanks for the info, but the link didn't work.

Huh, that's strange, it's working for me. Try copying and pasting the link and see if that works: http://www.squarecn.com/ff/show.asp?owner=3&ID=2770
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galahad



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah yes. Thexder. That game, from what I know, was simply licensed by Square, but produced by GameArts as Iugnut pointed out. It was just a port to the Famicom. Then again, the 1985 release date still defies Square-Enix's site, which says Square was founded Sept. 1986.

KingMike: I forgot about Secret of Evermore. Thanks. (Thanks for your Sword of Kalin translation too. =p )

Skrybe: Still isn't working. I even momentarily opened IE (much to the dismay of my computer's security) to test it, but to no avail. Ah well.
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kap
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

galahad wrote:
Skrybe: Still isn't working. I even momentarily opened IE (much to the dismay of my computer's security) to test it, but to no avail. Ah well.


It loaded for me. How exactly does it fail to load for you?
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Smeg
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kap wrote:
galahad wrote:
Skrybe: Still isn't working. I even momentarily opened IE (much to the dismay of my computer's security) to test it, but to no avail. Ah well.


It loaded for me. How exactly does it fail to load for you?


Times out here.

(my browser does not time for that site)
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here, I've mirrored the page on my server. If it doesn't work now, I'm out of ideas.
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Blitzwing
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thexder on the pc was pretty much identical to the famicom verison, so it was a very good port
(of a fucking hard as hell game)
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Ichiban Crush
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 3:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dais wrote:
http://www.square-haven.com/games/misc/alpha/


'86... Well I'm just no good at Square history... :(
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sailoranna



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 5:09 am    Post subject: No idea if this will help or not Reply with quote

but I found this with the whole square thing being listed. Its a german site that has already a list of square games going back to 84 on all systems.

http://squarenet.gamigo.de/main.php?site=special&id=19

hope it helps some
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galahad



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow. Thanks guys!

Skrybe: Thanks for taking the liberty of mirroring the site. The link worked fine. Smile (However, what character encoding is that? Until I figure out, much of the text is mumbo-jumbo.)

sailoranna: Excellent link. Thanks a million. That site had plenty of details in their article, and it sheds light on more than a few things. Square DID produce games before 1986, where they were established as their own company. Before that, they were simply a section of another company. So, I suppose you could say, King's Knight WAS Square's first game - their first game under the name Square Co., Ltd.

There are still a few unkown dates here and there, but I'm working on it. Then again, I'm covering a full list of Enix's games as well - more of a pain even than Square's, you can be sure.
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Smeg
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

galahad wrote:
(However, what character encoding is that? Until I figure out, much of the text is mumbo-jumbo.)


Shift_JIS.
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Skrybe
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 6:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually, that's Chinese Simplified, not Japanese. It's a list of Square's releases throughout the 80s, the same list that's at sailoranna's link. I don't think there's any info there that's not at the place sailoranna linked to, so don't worry too much if it doesn't display right for you.
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