NintendoDuo

Next, we get a comical scene where Randolf says "Any minute now, Corda will bust in here" (given the context, we can assume "bust" is not a typo) and Corda, who is standing right behind him, is like "hi." Another fight scene with Randolf ensues. You can guess how that goes.

Before dying for the third time, Randolf tells you that Culex is up north, since it's "not like you can stop him." With the strippers liberated from having to put up that guy, the heroes head north in search of Culex and encounter several catmen, tree men, and a few 3/4 horse 1/2 men (or as they're known in mythology: Cent-- er, "RedHorses").

Eventually (after realizing that Randolf didn't mean "north" but more like "north and to the west") you come across a castle, and Culex patiently waits inside. He's even nice enough to let you do your shopping and resting in the castle's establishments while he stands like three feet away.

So you go up to Culex, and this is when you find out he did have a second lackey: Jerzi the knight?! You've been leveling up a filthy traitor all along! The worst part of this betrayal is that, even after you've heard him call Culex "master" and take his order to destroy you, Jerzi still feels the need to treat you like an idiot and spell out this plot twist for you, adding insult to literal injury.

(At least he's apologetic about it.)

So you're forced to kill your fake friend in self-defense, and with his dying words, he tells you where Culex is going next -- not because he had a last minute change of heart, but because "going there would mean certian doom, heh heh." You learn from Jerzi that Culex went to his private island castle, which you can't reach without a ship. As luck would have it, this is when you meet a kindly king (not to be confused with the kindly king who died earlier in the game just because they look exactly the same) and he gives you a bell that can be used to summon his personal ship. All right! You've got a boat now!

That is, if you're leveled up enough to use the bell, which we weren't in our playthrough. Must be a heavy-ass bell.

Off you go to kill more sentient trees and talking cats until you're level 18 and thus powerful enough that this magical bell will fear and obey you. All right! You've got a boat now! And we hope you like sailing, because that freaking island castle is a bitch to find. As you go through every corner of the map looking for anything that might resemble a castle in an island or an island that is also a castle, you inevitably come across a cave full of friendly soldiers who tell you why the island castle has eluded you: it's a flying island castle, apparently.

In order to reach the island, you need to visit a tower that, according to the soldiers, "holds the power to fly." That sounds like a corny way to refer to a dispensary. Fine, so you go to this possibly marijuana-filled tower (which you'd probably come across already while looking for the damn castle) and the camera pans up to show you how much climbing you'll have to do, which feels incredibly advanced for this game. Yelfe isn't thrilled about the amount of physical effort involved, though.

As you climb weed tower, you fight an appropriately trippy assortment of monsters, including bird people, zombies, mummies, minotaurs, sworded skeletons, and Draculas (known here as "BldSuckrs," possibly to avoid issues with the Bram Stoker estate). At one point, you meet a guy called "Zofia, the warlock" who instantly joins your party because he says he hates Culex and, well, he's there. When has that selection mechanism ever gone wrong? Except that one time.

At the top of the tower, you run across a big orb. Now we're cooking; it isn't a real RPG until you get to touch an orb. Touching it causes a booming all-caps voice to ask "DO YOU MORTALS SEEK TO AQUIRE MY HELP?" If you ignore the voice's poor spelling and say yes, it says "THEN COME!!," makes the entire screen shake, and forces you into a fight scene with a huge dragon who looks a lot like Shen Long from Dragon Ball. Guess there are only so many ways to draw a huge dragon.

(Note: If you use this game to create a Dragon Ball RPG, get in touch ASAP.)

If you survive the dragon attack, he'll be so impressed that he gives you a flute you can use to summon him whenever you want to fly somewhere. All right! You've got a dragon now! Something none of the other 10 games we've covered in this series had used, for some reason! The game even changes to an isometric perspective when you're on the dragon, which looks very cool. Mode 7, baby!

That's the good news. The bad news is that we learn, via a cutscene, that those friendly soldiers from earlier have been massacred, as indicated by a red filter on top of them and a text box saying "!!!!!". We also see Culex standing in front of what's either a big monolith or a very dark entrance, saying that "Now only Corda and those fools are left!!!" It sure feels like we're nearing the end of the game here.

But nope, we're not, because we still have to get through everyone's favorite part in every RPG game: the game-stretching fetch quest! When you fly to Culex's castle (which wasn't really a flying castle, it was just hidden between some mountains), you meet a ghost who says you're not allowed to pass until you bring him four artifacts:

Right, so now you need to remember where each of those places is. "The traitor," of course, is punk-ass Jerzi, who died near the strip club. "The murder" is poor Joyce's, which happened at the shrine where Corda fought Culex alone. "The dead king's throne" is... the throne of the king who died, duh. And the tower is the one where you fought and befriended the dragon. Each of these places holds a piece of equipment that Corda recognizes as having belonged to his dad, which he thinks is "odd" (maybe because that character hadn't been mentioned before and will never be mentioned again).

Corda equips the full dad armor and we finally enter Culex's castle, which is packed with ghosts, hydras, ogres, witches, medusas, giant worms, dragon/lion/goat chimeras, etc. -- basically, every enemy sprite that hadn't been used yet. And boy, does this game have enemy sprites. You also run across a guy called "Humongus" who was somehow hiding inside a normal-sized chest.

(His only dialogue should be "Aghhh my back!!!!")

The castle isn't huge by RPG standards, but it does have a neat little Easter egg: if you take a detour and explore some weird-looking pixels lurking in a dark corner, your curiosity will be rewarded with... a heart attack when those pixels say "I've been waiting." Oh, and a ninja attack. Nobody expects a ninja attack, especially in a fantasy RPG (or we wouldn't if a bunch of the other games hadn't used this sprite too).

You defeat the ninja, and the 50 other randomly-spawning monsters that come at you in this place, until you've gained access to two switches that open a path to the castle's boss. And then, at long last, you come face to face with that boss: no, not Culex.

It's freaking Randolf again.

So you kill him for the fourth time.

But wait! After you've re-re-re-killed Randolf, you hear Culex's voice saying he needs more time. As a result, Randolf is re-re-re-revived in a bigger, deadlier form we shall call OMEGA RANDOLF.

So you kill him for the fifth time.

(No dying last words this time, he just vanishes in shame.)

Now you get to meet Culex, who seems very happy that his giant black square is "finally open." So what the hell is that? We find out that Culex and Zofia both used to work for some dark master that Zofia sealed in another world, but Culex has just opened that seal by "harnessing the energy of the souls of the dead" (presumably Randolf over and over). Zofia exclaims "I will never serve him again!," to which Culex replies "Then I will destroy you all!" You are then thrown into a fight against "Culex?" and his two unexplained "Flunkie" sidekicks.

(Stay in school, kids, or you too will end up being cannon fodder for an RPG boss.)

You beat Culex, but once again, that wasn't even his final form (that's why he was called "Culex?" in that fight, you see). He calls for his master to lend him his power, turning him into "CULEX" in all caps, a muscular demon with a shitload of HP and big "final boss" energy.

Come on. Look at that guy. That's definitely, 100% the final boss.

Or is he?? Upon defeat, Culex flees into the other world and the heroes decide to pursue him before he can revive OMNICRON, his master (who must be almost twice as powerful, since he's got almost twice as many caps in his name). You step into the other world, ready to face OMNICRON in an epic battle -- only to be immediately arrested by soldiers, thrown in jail, and sentenced to death. After a brief cutscene with Corda pacing around in a cell, we jump to the day of his execution, and learn that...

...yeah, that was the final boss just now, because the game ends here with a "TO BE CONTINUED."

But wait, there's more? Somehow? After that ending crawl, you appear in a place called "The Programmers' Room," where the dev, Spoony Bard, welcomes you to his "stupid, mindless, and TOTALLY non-related to the story, MINI SUB-QUEST GAME!!!!!" He explains that most programmers' rooms are boring as hell (you just walk around and talk to static dev sprites), so he made what he calls the "first ever programmers' mini-game" for the amusement of any hypothetical player who reaches this point.

And, you know what, maybe this is the first post-game RPG mini-game ever! But this article is long enough, so you'll have to play the game yourself to find out what happens in it (or watch our livestreamed playthrough to see us fumbling through it). We'll only spoil one thing here: yes, you do get to kill Randolf again, "for old times."

And that's Honorable Direction 2 - Enter Culex. Did a part three ever come out? We tracked down the real Spoony Bard and asked him, and he said nope. He also confirmed that the first Honorable Direction for RPG Maker 95 is lost, and said he fondly remembers another full-length SNES RPG Maker game called Black Rain, which came out in multiple parts and used "pretty much every available resource it could," but that one only seems to exist today as a bunch of dead links. (Obviously, if anyone reading this has those files, please get in touch.)

This concludes our dive into every SNES RPG Maker game that can be found today, unless more are being traded in the deep web or something. Or if someone makes another one, of course. Reminder that if you decide to do that, there's now a way to add custom characters and even distribute them as a SNES-compatible "DLC" pack...

Limitations:

As of right now, the latest official version of Nintendont isn't compatible with Homeland. You can boot the game, but it'll freeze if you try to go online. See the "what you'll need" section below for a link to the latest compatible version (Sep 5 2021).

This works on Wii U! However, you can't use a Nintendont channel forwarder to launch the game from the Wii U menu. This only works in Wii mode. Sorry, channel forwarder enthusiasts.

This works on Dolphin too! Go to settings and make sure SP1 is set to "Broadband Adapter (HLE)". However, Dolphin players can only join servers, not start their own. Wii and Wii U players will crash their consoles when trying to join. (Or that's what happened in our tests; let us know if you get different results.)

This sort of works with the WIP fan translation! Because, you know, WIP. The translation can't go online on Wii or Wii U because it changes the game's ID, which means Nintendont doesn't know it needs to enable Broadband Adapter emulation for this game. For now, you'll have to use the Japanese version OR modify the translation to change the ID from "GHEE" to "GHEJ" using a program called GCRebuilder. Dolphin and GameCube players can use the translation as-is. (Note: Future versions of the translation won't have this limitation.)

If any of these issues are solved in future versions of Nintendont or Dolphin, we'll update this section.

What You'll Need:

The game's ISO file (can't link you to this one, go ask Bing).

A compatible version of Nintendont. As of right now, the latest compatible version is the September 5, 2021 one, which you can get here. Click the down arrow button to download the file. Rename it from "loader.dol" to "boot.dol".

A save file with online mode unlocked. We're using the save file that was uploaded by GeBeCluck23 to onlineconsoles.com, converted to .raw format to work with Nintendont. Here's an already converted version. (If you're using the WIP fan translation with the modified game ID, use this one.) Alternatively, you can unlock online mode yourself by playing through one game scenario. If you decide to do that, you might want to check out Longplay Archive's walkthrough of the "DreamWorld" scenario (the first two and half hours or so in the video below) and/or Lua's Homeland speedruns on Twitch.

OPTIONAL: The "add English chatbox" cheat code, created by shaaktee_. This enables the Latin alphabet in places where it can't normally be used, like the name selection menu, which is useful if you don't want a Japanese name. Here's a version in .gct format for Nintendont. (If you're on Dolphin or GameCube and just want the code in text form, here it is.)

Got all that? Okay, now we can get into the actual tutorial.

Tutorial:

Step 1: SD card/USB drive preparation

Put the game's ISO file in your SD card or USB drive's "games" folder, like this: /games/Homeland [GHEJ]/game.iso

Put Nintendont in the "apps" folder, like this: /apps/Nintendont/boot.dol (the "icon" and "meta" files aren't strictly necessary but if you want the app to look nice on the Homebrew Channel, you can get them under "Quick Installation" here.)

Put the save file in the "saves" folder, like this: /saves/GHEJ.raw

Put the cheat file in the "codes" folder, like this: /codes/GHEJ91.gct

Step 2: Nintendont settings

Put the SD card or USB drive back in the Wii or Wii U and launch the Homebrew Channel (again, if you're on Wii U, you'll have to go into Wii mode, DON'T use a forwarder).

Launch Nintendont. Once it loads, look at the date to make sure you're not in an incompatible version (meaning one released after 2021).

Pick SD or USB depending on what you're using.

Press B to go into the settings. Make sure Cheats, Memcard Emulation, and BBA emulation are On.

Press B again to exit settings. Select the game from the list and press A to launch it.

Step 3: Network settings

Once the game loads, press any button to go into the main menu. If you don't see "バカ" at the top, that means you put the save file in the wrong folder (it's "saves", not "save"... you big バカ).

Select the third option (ネットワーク), then the first one (ネットせってい), then the first one (はい). This will take you into the network configuration menu.

Scroll all the way down to confirm you totally read all this important text. Select "同意する" and press A to confirm.

Pick the first memory card, then "DHCPでつなぐ". Leave this on "自動", then pick "セーブ", then "はい". Press A on "ゲームに戻る" to exit the network configuration.

Step 4: Change your name

This part is only necessary if you didn't start your own save file and used the one with online mode already unlocked.

In the main menu, press A on "バカ" to enter the save file. By the way, "バカ" means "stupid", so it's a good idea to change your name to something more dignified.

Once you're in the game, walk up to the angel (yes, that's an angel), press A, and pick "たずねる" to talk to it.

Pick the third option (なまえをかえる), then "はい". You're now in the name entry menu. NOTE: You won't be able to change your name if you've already joined or started a server. The game will ask you to leave or end the server first (see Steps 6 and 7 below for how to do that).

Pick "123" to enter the numerical table. If you added the cheat file, you can now press D-pad down + Y to enable the Latin alphabet. Enter a good, dignified name (sorry, "POOP" is taken) and press "OK". NOTE: If you pick a name someone in the server already has, you'll be forced to add an extra character before connecting.

Pick "はい" once again to confirm.

Step 5: Enable IP connections

This part is only necessary if you DID start your own save file. IP connections are already enabled in the "online unlocked" one.

In the game, talk to the angel and pick "いう".

Pick "ABC", then "#", then enter "せつぞくきりかえ" letter by letter. When you're done, press "OK".

If the angel says "マッチングサーバーけいゆせつぞくに きりかえますか?", that means you're already in IP connection mode. Pick "いいえ" to cancel. If the angel says "IPアドレスしていせつぞくにきりかえますか?", that means you're in matching server mode, which hasn't worked since 2007. Pick "はい" to switch to IP mode (unless you have access to a time machine).

Step 6: Connect to a server

In the game, go to the shelf on the upper right corner and pick "しらべる", then "マスコットをえらぶ". This will take you to the mascot selection screen.

Pick any available mascot except for the God Mascot (the one that looks like the angel but black). Unless you started your own save file, that means Gant (the big rocky guy next to God) or Pinoc (the long-nosed one in the corner). You might want to read Puutan's mascot guide to decide which one you'll be playing as.

As the mascot, go talk to the angel and pick "たずねる", then the first option (いせかいへいく), then the second (ネットでぼうけん), then the first (ホームランドをさがす).

You'll be taken to the connection screen. Pick "はい" to confirm you want to go online, then enter the IP of the server you want to join and press "決定". NOTE: You can check kamisaba.info for public servers and their IPs. Make sure they have a green connection icon to verify that they're currently working. You might also find servers in the GameCube Online Discord or the Homeland Discord (feel free to DM for an invite). Or you can start your own! See Step 7 for how.

If all went well, you'll see your character in the game's park. You're now online! The "ON LINE" sign on the corner shows your connection strength (yellow is good, red is bad).

To quit for the day, press start, pick "ログアウト", then "はい". At this point you can decide if, while away, you want your mascot to be used as an AI companion by anyone (だれでもOK), by friends only (きずなのひと), or by no one (だれにもダメ). The first option is recommended, since you might level up and get free stuff. Press A to confirm your decision.

To rejoin the same server, talk to the angel without using a mascot and pick "たずねる", then the first option (いせかいへいく), then the second (ネットでぼうけん), then the second (ログインする). You'll be taken to the connection screen again. Confirm you want to go online with "はい" and confirm the IP (you shouldn't have to enter it again, unless the host has changed it).

To quit the server permanently, talk to the angel without using a mascot and pick "たずねる", then the first option (いせかいへいく), then the second (ネットでぼうけん), then the third (マスコットたいじょう). Pick "はい" to confirm. Note that you won't be able to join the same server again unless you pick a different mascot.

Step 7: Host a server

IMPORTANT: You can only host a server if you're able to forward port 9003 TCP to your Wii's IP! If you don't know what that means, you probably can't.

In the game, go to the shelf on the upper right corner and pick "しらべる", then "マスコットをえらぶ". This will take you to the mascot selection screen.

NOW you can pick the God Mascot (again, the one that looks like the angel but black).

As the God Mascot, go talk to the angel and pick "たずねる", then the first option (いせかいへいく), then the third (かみさまプレイ), then the first (ホームランドをつくる).

You'll be taken to the connection screen. Pick "はい" to confirm you want to go online.

If all went well, you'll see the God Mascot in the middle of a map. You're now hosting! To get players, share your IP with friends or register your server at kamisaba.info.

To stop hosting for the day, press start and pick "ちゅうだん" and then "はい". If there are players in the server, this will start a 60 second countdown before it stops.

To restart the same server, talk to the angel without using a mascot and pick "たずねる", then the first option (いせかいへいく), then the third (かみさまプレイ), then the second (かみさまをさいかいする). You'll be taken to the connection screen again. Confirm you want to go online with "はい".

To stop the server permanently, talk to the angel without using a mascot and pick "たずねる", then the first option (いせかいへいく), then the third (ホームランドをつくるこわす), then pick "はい" twice. You'll be taken online to confirm you want to destroy the server forever. :'(

Special Thanks and Acknowledgements:

Puutan's English Homeland guide. Now that you can go online, you should definitely check this out to, you know, learn how to actually play this game.

The users of the Homeland Discord for their patience, support, and keeping this game alive all these years. It's a small server whose regulars wouldn't like seeing a ton of random English-speaking people join at once, so please DM for an invitation if you're seriously interested in joining (or join the GameCube Online Discord, which has a Homeland section).

The Kamisaba website. Go there to find servers!

GeBeCluck23 for the "baka" save file.

shaaktee_ on Discord for the cheat code.

FossilArcade for the excellent Homeland review that got us interested in this game in the first place:

At Risek, you get directions to a tunnel leading to the mainland, but the tunnel is guarded by the fearsome Randolf, a Culex henchman whose job is to kill you if you try to escape your island exile. You catch Randolf just as he's mugging a priest, because "stand here and wait until a guy tries to escape an island" is a pretty dull job and mugging men of cloth is the closest thing he has to entertainment.

Once you vanquish the mighty Randolf, the priest, in accordance with RPG customs, joins your party. His name is Yelfe and he turns out to have healing powers and a healthy hatred of Culex, so he should come in pretty "handy," as he puts it. Corda and Yelfe head for a town named Capem, where Culex is infamous among the populace due to his town-destroying ways. They don't care for that guy one bit.

(No, the game clearly it was "derseted.")

Some people in Capem are about to send a boat to a town up north to check if it got Culex'd or not, so Corda and Yelfe hitch a ride with them. During the trip, they have a heart-to-heart and Yelfe reveals his motivation for becoming a butt-kicking priest: his fiancée happened to be visiting another town at the same time as Culex and didn't survive. The screen goes dark as Yelfe talks about his tragic past...

...either for dramatic effect or because the crew's trying to tell these two to shut up and let them sleep.

When you reach the town up north, it's completely on fire! Or, well, as "on fire" as the tiny fire sprites in this game will allow.

Exploring the nearby area leads to a huge wall that's blocking the way. A guard tells you that all passage is forbidden unless you have permission from the king, because Culex's base is on the other side and everyone hates that jerk. Note that it took roughly 20 minutes for this game to get to the obligatory "go talk to the king" moment most RPG Maker creations put at the very beginning, which should give you a sense of how long it's gonna end up being.

So Corda and Yelfe follow the guard's directions to the castle, walk in, and tell the king they want to kill Culex. He's so taken with these two murderous randos that he invites them to a sleepover.

The next morning, a loud noise awakens Corda and Yelfe. You exit your room to find that the castle has been invaded by Culex (whose city-destroying powers, we now learn, also apply to huge walls) and the king and his men escaped without even waking you up. You meet Culex again, and his tone implies that Randolf's next performance review would have been rough if, you know, you hadn't killed him.

(This is what you get when you entrust such an important job to someone whose name sounds like a Starbucks barista's interpretation of "Randall.")

Culex knows that you aren't leveled up enough to fight him yet, so he sics his anachronistic samurai henchman on you and leaves. After defeating the samurai, Corda and Yelfe find out that the king is now hiding in a cave with the anti-Culex resistance. That's where you meet Tani, a fellow Culex-hater who sorta invites herself into your party. She has a certain jock energy that immediately clashes with Yelfe's dweebiness.

The king asks you three to go on a suicide mission at Culex's base as a distraction while his soldiers launch a proper attack, and you're like "Yeah, sure, what the hell." The base is guarded by bizarre creatures like a winged lion with a scorpion tail and a giant snake with the upper body of a sexy lady. Is Culex a Dr. Moreau-type maniac? Is he massacring villagers to harvest body parts for his experiments?

You reach Culex's throne and find... Randolf?! Didn't you kill him? Is this another Randolf? Is the name Randolf the "John" of this world? Nope, Culex brought the original Randolf back to life, which is a thing he can do. Guess he's a Dr. Frankenstein-type maniac, too.

Randolf says he's supposed to keep you busy while Culex and his army go to the Eastern continent, because "They plan to kill more there! But I plan to kill YOU now!" :0

Naturally, you kill him again -- but he has a second phase this time and turns into a cyclops monster! So you kill him again again.

After re-vanquishing Randolf, you go back to the king, who tells you that all his men have already left for the East, and then just... dies, for unspecified reasons. Maybe he was too tired from running back and forth between here and the castle? This scene also reveals that the king was a Jedi all along, since his body disappears upon death.

Goodbye, king. We'll miss you forever. Unless we go back into this cave, since his sprite will still be there for some reason (and it isn't even blue, so it can't be a Force Ghost).

Before dying, the king was nice enough to prepare a boat for you to follow Culex to the Eastern continent, and he even asked a blond-haired knight called Jerzi to join your party. Yelfe is less than welcoming, but Tani once again puts him in his place.

There's something about boat rides that makes RPG characters particularly introspective, so it's time for more heart-to-hearts with each member of your crew: Yelfe reminisces about his wife and says he wants to prevent more wives from being harmed, Tani confesses that Culex killed her BFF, and Jerzi just tells you how much time is left on the trip. But he probably said it in, like, a really emotional way.

Once you're in the Eastern continent, you wander around fighting random monsters for a while until you run across a place called "Janki cliff" (not sure we want to know what sort of common activity earned it that name). Near the cliff, you spot a familiar face:

Once again, his body shakes before saying that. Wait, is he cheating on that other pond with this pond?! Shame on you, promiscuous pond-loving old man. You are now the worst character in this game.

After climbing to the top of the Janki cliff (doing your best not to make eye contact with the people loitering there), Corda is stoked to bump into an old friend called Joyce, who just happens to be vacationing here in the middle of the ongoing mass slaughter.

The gang goes to a nearby inn to rest while Corda catches Joyce up with the "mass slaughter" situation, which she had no clue about; some people just don't like looking at the news. Later, while everyone sleeps, Corda wakes up to a scream and realizes Joyce is missing. He goes out and finds her at the top of the cliff, but she's sorta fading in and out of reality. W-Was she a ghost? Is someone gonna say "Joyce? But Joyce died... ten years ago, on this very night!" Guess that would justify her not keeping up with current events.

Culex's voice comes out of nowhere and says that Joyce will be a sacrifice for "his master." Corda is instructed to go to a shrine in the middle of an island if he wants to find out what the hell that even means. He goes there alone and meets Culex, who says he'll finally explain his whole deal if Corda defeats his evil genie minion (because this game's creator is admirably committed to using all the sprites).

So, Corda wins a tough battle against the genie, and... Culex is like "lol, just kidding," kills Joyce, and goes away without explaining shit.

Wow. This might be coldest villain in all of gaming.

We cut to Joyce's funeral, where Yelfe gives Corda like two seconds to mourn before ruining the moment with a "Now what?" Shut up, Yelfe, you insensitive prick.

Anyway, the answer to Yelfe's question is "go kill Culex," obviously. Now it's personal (for Corda; it was already personal for the rest).

The gang heard Culex was heading north, so that's where they go. This leads to a ton more enemies (all the sprites!) and, eventually, a big mansion you can't go into unless you're "a member." Hmm, guess it must be some sort of club? You try to sneak in through a side entrance, but you're stopped by an employee who's dressed like... oh.

Oh, it's that sort of club.

Inside a nearby house, you meet a bed-ridden young lady who asks if you're the "replacement" her boss sent to pick up her "uniform." She also says she heard that "one of Culex's ex generals" is at the mansion. You see where this is going. Tani certainly does, and she's not happy about it.

Note that the usually mature Corda seems to have turned into Beavis for a second there. Tani insists that she's NOT wearing a goddamn bunny suit. Cut to: Tani wearing a goddamn bunny suit.

Oh, and a blonde wig, presumably borrowed from Jerzi. Incidentally, Jerzi is the only male in the party who handles the situation with decorum (simply wishing Tani good luck in her mission), while Yelfe follows Corda's example and turns into Butt-Head:

Wasn't this guy supposed to be a priest?!

At this point, Tani becomes a party of one as the men are left behind while she infiltrates the Medieval Playboy Mansion to get info on the former Culex general enjoying himself there. Will she complete this mission with her life and dignity intact? We'll have to wait until the next part to find out, since we just reached Tumblr's image limit.

STEP 1: Extract the Ryouma de Yuku Graphics Pack

Launch BS-X Flash Manager and open the Ryouma file you downloaded from Satellablog (Ryouma De Yuku - Complete Set.bs). It should look like this:

Select the second file on the left (the one that says 2 blocks), then go to File and click Export. This will create another .bs file with only the graphics pack and not the other Ryouma stuff. NOTE: If you skip this step you'll still be able to change the sprites, but they won't actually work in the game. Why? No idea! Just accept the mystery and don't skip this step.

STEP 2: Edit the Graphic Pack Sprites

Before getting started, take a look at the Ryouma de Yuku characters below and pick one whose colors more or less match your desired characters' colors:

(That one lady in the second row has a pretty Garfield-esque dress, for instance.)

Now launch YY-CHR and open the graphics pack .bs file you extracted in the previous step. You'll see nothing but nonsensical graphics with weird-ass colors, until you change these settings:

Format: 4BPP SNES/PCE(CG)

Pattern: 16x24

Address (click the red "ADDR 0x80" icon): 0001BC00

There, now you'll see sensical graphics with weird-ass colors. It should look like this:

At this point, changing the colors is technically optional -- nothing here will change what the colors in the game itself will look like, but seeing them as you would in the game will make the next part a lot easier. To see the correct colors, you need to load a ZSNES emulator save state created within RPG Maker 2. No, this won't work with a save state made in an emu created this century, for, once again, some reason. Yes, this is kind of a pain in the ass, so here's an RPG Maker 2 save state we made just for you. You're welcome.

Anyway, go ahead and click "Palette," then "Load Emulator State" and pick the one we provided. Now the colors will look... worse?!

Ah, but notice that the color palettes available on the lower right are now different. If you scroll down that list, you should find a palette that makes each character's colors match the ones in the game.

Scroll down the window on the left to find the character you settled on at the start of this step, then pick the right palette for them. In our case, here's the Garfield lady with her right palette:

Now look at the sprites for the character you want to add. We're using this Garfield sprite sheet by Jon Gandee and Hansungkee from Spriters Resource, hastily adapted for this tutorial by someone who clearly isn't a pixel artist. (PRO TIP: you can easily add a grid over your image by opening it in Paint and pressing Ctrl+G. Take a screenshot to be able to zoom in all the way.)

Now use the drawing tools on the right of YY-CHR and the colors on the palette to replicate each sprite over the existing ones, always over its equivalent position ("walking right" over "walking right," and so on). Click the second cog icon on the bottom (the one that says 32x32 by default) if you want to zoom in. Heeeeeere comes Garfield!

When you're done with a sprite, you can click the Copy button on the toolbar above to copy everything currently being shown on the right window, the Paste button to paste it over another sprite, and lastly Mirror Horizontal (the double arrow pointing left and right reminiscent of Nickelodeon's Catdog) to mirror it.

Once you've finished all the sprites, you can go to File and pick Save as to create yet another .bs file, which takes us to the next step...

STEP 3: Load the Graphics Pack in RPG Maker 2

Assuming you're using an emulator, because you almost definitely are, we recommend Snes9x over bsnes, since save states don't seem to work for RPG Maker 2 on the latter and you'll be needing a shitload of those if you actually want to play this game. In Snes9x, go to File, Load MultiCart, and pick your legitimately obtained RPG Maker 2 ROM on Slot A and the last .bs file you just created in Slot B, then click OK. (You can ignore the BIOS part for this game.)

If you like living on the edge and insist on using bsnes, go to System, Load Special, Load BS-X Slotted Cartridge, and set the two files just mentioned as Base cartridge and Slot cartridge respectively. The game should start now. Press A to go to main menu, then go to the second option ("EDIT" if you're using the English translation patch).

Now go to the last option ("DAT" in English), then the last option again ("MEM-PAK IMAGE DATA"). Press up to select the memory pack and A to confirm (this part is untranslated in the patch).

Press B to go back to the previous menu and go to the second option there ("PARTY"). Press A twice and that will take you to the Character Maker screen. This is, astonishing as it might seem, where you make characters for your game.

The first option in this screen is where you can name your character, so go for it if you want. In the Japanese version, press R twice to use the Latin alphabet. In the English translation, you start with the Latin alphabet and pressing R once will let you use lower case letters (not available in the Japanese version).

Press start to save the name and A to confirm. Now, at last, the reason we're here: goddamn Garfield. Pick the second option in the Character Maker screen ("IMAGE") and use the D-Pad to select a character. Your character will be among the last ones, so you'll probably want to start by pressing down. There's our boy!

Press A to select the character, B three times to leave, and A to save and exit the Character Maker. At this point you can start playing with the other options to make a game for your character -- or, if you just wanna see what it looks like in action with little effort, simply load someone else's RPG Maker 2 game, like one of the 11 existing English language ones from the '90s preserved at rmarchiv.de. These are always in SNES save ram format (.srm), so simply rename the file to match the name of the ROM, put it in the "saves" folder for Snes9x or the same folder as the ROM for bsnes, and repeat the process above to replace one of the characters in the game with your own.

NOTE: You'll need to load both files via the "Load MultiCart" or "Load Special" option every time you want to use the custom characters, but you only need to do the in-game memory pack loading/character selecting process the first time. You'll know you forgot to load the .bs file if your character is suddenly invisible.

NOTE 2: Be aware that this game's English translation is somewhat unstable and can randomly crash during fights, so you'll either have to save a lot (we weren't kidding about this game requiring shitloads of save states) or get used to navigating Japanese menus.

And that's it! You are now 1/10th of the way to creating your own SNES RPG Maker 2 character pack. In the words of Garfield himself: