Episode 201 - Gaming in the Clinton Years

[Shell Game]

[vaMpiresoftWare]

This one brought back some memories. These were truly awful publications. People were so horny for Lara Croft.

I like that both the super negative attitude in that era towards Japanese things being in Japanese games and Alisia Dragoon came up because it's a good example of the localization style of the time. Looking at in 2024, some of the in-game graphics are really clearly anime style, but the English versions got the Boris Vallejo style fantasy cover art treatment where the character is only vaguely like the one that appears in the game. This game had some unique mechanics for that time. The JP cover actually shows all of the different little helper monsters you can switch between.

UK Cover

JP Cover

I went down the rabbit hole of these types of covers awhile back and my favorite might be Phantasy Star II.

Characters in the game that are clearly anime!

Same characters on the US cover looking totally different. Cat/elf girl is now horn girl.

Battlemania/Trouble Shooter is another good one.

Characters in the game and that's anime!

US Cover in a bizarre realistic style and hilarious windswept hair.

JP Cover that looks like the game.

[CozyJosie]

the reason Abe from Oddworld was in that list is because the raw sexual energy of Abe cannot be contained by mere gender categories

[Shell Game]

To clarify, Abe was listed as the game designer's answer to the question "who is your favorite video game character" or something. Abe sadly did not have a feature in Girls of Gaming 1. They had several installments though so who can say he didn't get his due?

[CozyJosie]

Abe sadly did not have a feature in Girls of Gaming 1.

damn