#cd-rom2

From FANTASY ZONE: ULTRA SUPER BIG MAXIMUM GREAT STRONG COMPLETE ALBUM

Basted (PC Engine CD) - Episode 117

Basted (バステッド) is a Japanese exclusive PC-Engine CD game released in 1994 developed and published by NEC Avenue.

The game is a very lightweight action RPG. Over the course of its rather short 3 hour playtime, you’ll see over 30 minutes of beautiful (and sometimes risque) cutscenes from AIC Spirits with the voice acting and music handled by 81 Produce.

The game uses redbook audio almost…

I’ve been meaning to put out a slightly more substantial update to this Tumblr before heading out for a working vacation in Tokyo in a few weeks. This isn’t that post unfortunately, but I did come upon some interesting tangential Atlus history that I figure is worth sharing.

While reading a post about Persona 3 singer Yumi Kawamura’s upcoming solo concert in Japan early next year, I happened to notice in the little biographical blurb about her included with the article that she’s been working with Atlus as a singer since 1991, predating even some of the company’s most prominent current employees. Back then, she was involved in a game called Jantei Monogatari 2: Uchuu Tantei Deiban, a game that came out for the PC Engine CD-ROM2 and isn’t otherwise all that notable in the Atlus pantheon, essentially being a hybrid Japanese-style adventure game with some occasional mahjong matches thrown in for good measure.

Anyway, her official involvement is in the game’s opening theme song, which you can listen to up top. The embed should automatically direct you to the right starting position, but otherwise it starts at 0:29. It’s a pretty different voice from the one she’s most famous for post-Persona 3, which is a given since the two games are 15 years apart, but you can definitely still hear her distinct voice this early on. Digging around some more, I think she might also be the vocalist behind the post-credits song that plays towards the end of this video here at 30:15, too (NicoNico account required), but I’m not entirely confident. Feel free to message me about this if you have more confident ears for this stuff than I do!

Regardless, hopefully this tides you all over, if even just a little. The post I actually have in mind probably won’t be particularly grandiose, either, but it’s a little something I’ve meant to translate for posterity, so look forward to that.

Until next time,