Hoshi wo Miru Hito

[Discoalucard]

Someone suggested this over in the Famicom game thread, so I bring you:

www.hardcoregaming101.net/stargazer/stargazer.htm

Translated as "Stargazer", this is known as the "Legendary Shit Game" amongst Japanese retro fans. It's horribly, horribly, horribly bad, but it's also fun to see what a train wreck it is.

Why I spent my night playing this and not Mass Effect, I don't know.

[YourAverageJoe]

I know! So we wouldn't have to.

Great article as always, Kurt.

[zzz]

I don't speak a word of Japanese, but, based on my limited knowledge garnered from playing a shitload of Japanese video games, doesn't that actually translate as "Legend of Shit"? That actually would make sense, because it would be a play on the cliqued video game naming convention of giving games names similar to "Legend of ______", or with other thematically comparable words (like "adventure", "quest", "tales", etc.) follow by "of ______". This is especially true about RPGs, and HwMH is part of the RPG genre. Hence "Legend of Shit".

I find it interesting that you never mentioned the possibility that it may have been like that on purpose. However, given that it's by Hot-B, that's not particularly likely.

You also never got into what the appeal of a game like this would be to its following. Or why games like this have cult followings, but other horrible game don't. Their entire appeal is not only in that they are horrible games, but why they are so horrible. People get into a game like this because it's horrible in a extraordinary way that makes it stand out from games that are just as shitty or even worse.

It's odd that this seems to be a phenomenon that isn't really accepted, or even really identified or acknowledged, outside of Japan. There does seem to be a difference between the culture of video games in Japan and America, and Japan seems to have a better defined equivalent of a counter culture for video games. Whereas, America seems to completely lack any equivalent thereof. HwMH is perhaps a good example of this fact.

It's also a phenomenon that's entirely exclusive to video games. There are plenty of movies, records, paintings, and anything else you can come up with, that have a following because they're "so bad that they're good". Whereas, video games like HwMH have a following that actually dislikes the game and acknowledges that they are just pure shit, and nothing more, with no redeeming value whatsoever.

Anyhow, this is a really awesome write up, and easily among the best at this site. I hope we can see more "obscure far beyond even the standards of HG101" games in the future.

Also, this has made me seriously consider getting around to that piece about that Takeshi Kitano game that I have been meaning to write for ages. Is anybody aware if that game is even hypothetically playable with an emulator?

[Discoalucard]

I think the English equivalent the whole "kusoge" thing would be like Seanbaby's "worst games of all time" lists and stuff. It definitely exists, but there's no specific word for it. I'd say a lot of it does fit into the "so bad it's good", just because it's hilarious to see just how low it can go, even though the games themselves are hardly fun. I think Hoshi no Miru Hito is specifically interesting because the concept really isn't all that bad, but whole parts of the gameplay are totally, totally broken. It's admirable that fans would actually get together to "fix" it decades after release.

Anyway, for a quick Japanese lesson. "Densetsu" does mean "legend", and the "no" particle afterward basically turns the word into an adjective, hence "Legendary". "Kusoge" is a compound word, comprised of "kuso" (shit, crap, feces) and "ge", an a shortened version of "geemu", which is how you write/say "game" in Japanese. Hence, "Legendary Shit Game". "Legend of Shit" would be "Kuso no Densetsu". (For an example of the template, "Zelda no Densetsu" is "Legend of Zelda".

Takeshi no Chousenjou would be quite a feat. I've seen walkthroughs of it and it's totally crazy. I don't know how you'd do it on an emulator, seeing as how you'd technically need the microphone to get past the karaoke scene, but I know there's some kind of trick to it. Next up for me is "Animal Attack Gakuen", I think.

[zzz]

admin said:

I think the English equivalent the whole "kusoge" thing would be like Seanbaby's "worst games of all time" lists and stuff. It definitely exists, but there's no specific word for it. I'd say a lot of it does fit into the "so bad it's good", just because it's hilarious to see just how low it can go, even though the games themselves are hardly fun. I think Hoshi no Miru Hito is specifically interesting because the concept really isn't all that bad, but whole parts of the gameplay are totally, totally broken. It's admirable that fans would actually get together to "fix" it decades after release.

The difference is that the English equivalent is strictly done to mock the games for the sake of humor. Whereas, like you mentioned, in Japan people are so genuinely dedicated to these games that they will do things like "fix" them, and will actually play them strictly for their flaws. I'm not saying that doesn't ever happen in America, but it's a sizeable enough phenomenom in Japan to have some kind of visible manifestation. Whereas, that isn't the case elsewhere.

Next up for me is "Animal Attack Gakuen", I think.

The Space Harrier clone? Should be interesting. While you're at it, try out two other SH clones called Cosmic Epsilon and Tetra Star - The Fighter (both for FC). The former is arguably as good as, or even better than, SH, and the latter has perhaps the most amazing visual effects for the console.

[Discoalucard]

If you're curious, there's this page:

www.comrade-jp.net/column/kuso/

Which reviews a whole bunch of kusoge. Of the ones I recognize, there's Gegege no Kitarou, White Lion, the game that's known as WURM in America, and a few others. They have their own "densetsu no kusoge" section where they review Spelunker, Transformers (both of them), and Ikki (which I've only heard of because they disparage it ruthlessly on Retronauts.)

[vysethebold]

Hilarious article Kurt. I'd probably hurt something if I played this game....Nothing pisses me off more than old RPG's, especially terribly made ones.

[Scylla]

While I wouldn't necessarily call it a great game, WURM is far from being a shitty game. It was quite enjoyable playing through it over the course or a day or two a couple summers back.

[Deleted]

Oh dear lord... from the sounds of it, absolutely EVERYTHING went wrong with Stargazer. Seriously! Now, this begs the question "Was it done on purpose? Were there technological limitations? Did the programmers just plain suck? Or none of the above?"

... crap, now this article makes me interested in playing and screaming my lungs out at the game!

[Mia-Mo]

Making a town invisible = single worst idea in a video game I've ever heard

[Sinople]

Thanks for taking my suggestion, Kurt!

[zzz]

chiisakimono said:

Making a town invisible = single worst idea in a video game I've ever heard

That's what's so interesting about a game like this. If it had been average, or if it had been horrible in a standard way, if would be forgettable, like so many other RPGs. We're talking about it because it has what probably really are the stupidest design decisions in video game history. While this game certainly isn't any good, it's easily among the most intriguing games ever released.

[Atma]

I just got around to reading this and holy shit this is one of the biggest disasters I have ever read about. Wow. I am really really thankful for the quality control we have nowadays because had I been a Japanese gamer myself way back when and bought this, I would forever hate myself for actually spending money on this.

[aggroger]

"Ocean, who subsisted on tons of licensed garbage for the Commodore 64 and Amiga despite their games being almost universally trashy."

Ahahaha,so true

Actually,sometimes they managed to churn out something good ( Batman The Movie on the Amiga is pretty impressive ) but most of their games were irredeemable disasters.

"And this was by the country that brought us Hydlide."

Everytime Hydlide is mentioned,a Wapanese cries.That's basically why it should be mentioned more often.

[Haz]

After reading this, I decided to play this.

I threw up a little, I mean... everything, just... yuck.