A small recommendation from the editorial team: a YouTube channel where even role-playing pros are likely to discover new games.
I know a heck of a lot about video games. I mean, really – I can’t tell the difference between a Golf and an Audi on the street, and I have to have the offside explained to me at every pub get-together, but games? That’s where I’m in my element. And so I dig all the more diligently through the vastness of YouTube for channels that will open up new worlds for me. One such channel is called Basement Brothers – and obskur
isn’t even close to describing it here.
Behind Basement Brothers are three buddies who have teamed up to showcase truly obscure games from the 80s and 90s. So candidates like Xak: The Tower of Gazzel or Farland Story or Sword Dancer, a mix of classic role-playing and… fighting game à la Street Fighter 2:
So, all games I never heard of in my life. And that’s no coincidence, because Basement Brothers focuses on very special hardware.
Hardware that never made it here
For example,the PC-98andPC-88, Japanese home computers that appeared in an era when the Japanese PC market was still very separate from the rest of the world. Consequently, these machines run their own operating system, completely different architecture and, to a large extent, completely different games that never made it to the West.
On Basement Brothers, you will rarely find role-playing games that you can try out yourself, but you will get fascinating insights into a community far removed from our own gaming market. Incidentally, the site is not limited to role-playing games; for example, you can also find obscure role-playing games like – wait a second, I have to type this out – Dead of the Brain:
As I said: Just a little tip from me, for those who, like me, like to rummage around in the really dark corners and drawers of the gaming world and are looking for new stuff to play. If not, thanks for reading anyway.
