I'm Willie D. Nelson from All Things Good and Nerdy, a pop culture podcast part of the Gun and Geek Network. Just like the show you're checking out now, shows on the network are individually owned and opinions expressed may not reflect others. Find other tantalizingly geeky shows@gunnageeknetwork.com and welcome to Play Comics, where once again, we are here looking at a video game based on a comic property and how it represents that source material. And today I am digging deep down under a bunch of stuff to pull out a great guest because I have Sega master Tim here to help me look at Spellcaster for the Sega Master System. Because I. I don't know, it wasn't on Wikipedia's list and Wikipedia failed me. So, Tim, how are you today?
I'm good, mate. How are you? Yes, and you did. Did dig down under, didn't you? Because that's where I'm at, Down under, sitting right there.
I had to use it. I would have been mad at myself if I did.
Yes, yes. Gotta take these opportunities, mate. Yes, yes, but no, no. Pleasure to be here. It's been a long time since I've done a podcast. Yes. But happy to be doing well with you. My pleasure to help you out.
I was looking around here saying, man, it's a SEGA Master System game. There's not a lot of people who have much experience that I know with the Master System. There's not a lot of people who really get into a lot of the old, more obscure SEGA stuff. And I thought, you know, yeah, how do I find a really good guest for that who is somebody amazing that I can grab? And really. And then you. I scrolled past you on Twitter and I went, oh, really? Why didn't I think of that myself?
Well, well, maybe I was your 10th choice, but that's okay. Yeah, yeah, no, well, that. That's if people aren't aware of me. I used to work for. For Ziga back in the 90s, and I was a games counselor. So one of those people you called up if you got stuck on the game. So. Yeah. And had very fond memories. Dumb podcasters, I guess, with many people and that. And I've always loved sharing my stories here because people are just really curious. What. What was gaming like before the Internet? Yeah, so. So one of our jobs was like, we'd have two large cupboards in our room, and one room was full of Mega Drive slash Genesis games, and the other, the other half was all Mar System and game gear games. So the job for me and These three other guys, their names are Brian, you might know him as Sin Spacey out there, another Tim, and his twin brother Nick. And we just basically played these games to the best of our abilities. We complete them and then we would update the database and help each other out. So whenever, whenever kids and I always say lonely housewives called up. Yeah, we'd have the information better to help them out. So, yeah. Yeah, so I did. I did that for about five years until I moved on. But yeah, really good memories working for Sega. Yeah, absolutely.
One of the things that I think is really good here is that we're looking at something from well before the Internet and. Well before the Internet. I don't know many people that would have known, at least over on my side of the world, that Spellcaster was based on a comic at all. I mean, or a manga, if you want to get mad at me and say I'm calling it the wrong thing.
I don't, I don't know. Well, I didn't know either because even as a young fella, we, we weren't exposed. And I mean, especially in Australia, we knew nothing about Maga. Nothing at all. We didn't really become aware of it until about the early 90s. I definitely became aware of it when I had a girlfriend that was Japanese. So at the time she made me aware of it. But yeah, I, I didn't realize that there were a few games in the, in the SEGA Master Library that were based on Maga comics and that. So, for example, what was sold to the Western world as Black Belt was actually, what was it? Fist of the North Star. Okay.
So.
And, and we all, we all agreed that if we, if we had the Japanese version of the COVID art for, for Black Belt, I think we would have been a lot happier because the one that we've got it at the end of the day looks pretty plain. The ones that the Japanese got looks so, so amazing. The artwork on it is so good. Yeah. But, yeah, go figure. The marketing crew of America. I don't know why they went with that.
Yeah, mean, for anybody who doesn't know, Spellcaster was based on a manga which is usually translated over here in America as Peacock King. I'm not even going to try to say the Japanese after this. I'm going to try it the once and that's it. Jaku O. But the O also has a line over the top and I don't know what that does.
Could be you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, look, I. I only, only found that out recently too. And when playing the Game. I was looking for the. The. The ROM for it and it kept up, kept on coming up with Peacock King, and I'm like, okay, all right, so this is what it is. But I then didn't even realize that it was actually based on. Based on a manga comic as well. So. Yeah. So you learn things every day, I must say. Yep.
This was a manga series that came out from 85 to 89, and it's had some continuations over the years. But as far as we're concerned for this game, there's just that original run of it and eventually got turned into some OVAs, which are, you know, just basically an anime miniseries type of thing. Yeah, very, very simplified, but close enough for our purposes right now. And the basic story here is that Kujaku is a Buddhist monk who goes around doing exorcisms and devil hunting, and he's part of a secret organization that does that type of thing. And so it's some monster of the week for periods of it, some more extended stories for other periods of it, but for the most part, just him going around being either an exorcist or a demon hunter.
Yeah. As you do. Because that's what we all do, don't we? Yeah. I love the storylines that the Japanese come up with. It really makes you wonder as to, like, when we bring out films and that, especially in Hollywood, you know, the stories are generally bland, you know, and they have been for quite some time. I think they should turn to the Japanese to get some better storylines. And here's a great example of it.
You could take this and like, definitely get movie franchise type of thing going or a real nice TV series. I mean, obviously you could get a good anime, but that's almost cheating to say that at this point.
Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. And so, I mean, I think that's as annoying as what Netflix is and all those pay paid web channels and all that. They're now opening themselves to new markets. And I think an example is Sega at the moment. I believe they're doing one for Yakuza. Okay. And that. And that's based on. I don't know if it's based on a comic series. It probably is, but it probably isn't either. But great storyline in the video game. Video game series. And that can easily be translated. And know, I hope people really enjoy that series. I can't wait for it to come out.
That sounds super interesting with it. And I haven't played any of the games yet, but I've got a bunch of friends who have, and they love them and they tell me I'm a horrible person for having not played them yet. And I don't have an excuse for that, except for this podcast because I have to play old stuff right now. But just from what they've told me, I mean, I can't argue with you at all. That would have to be a pretty good series to try to pull off.
Yeah, you definitely see the interest, especially on Twitch, because as soon as there's a new rendition, you know, another branch of Yakuza, so one of the more recent ones was like a dragon. You'd always see everyone playing it and see people in shock, you know, when, when some part of the story goes off on a tangent and they find out more about what's going on with the, with the main characters and why things are the way they are. So, yeah, look, I, honestly, I haven't had a chat. I, I, I've played a little bit, but with a little time that I've had, I wish I could get into it more. Yeah. But, and this is why I think this is where it helps people like myself. Like, I don't read many books. Okay. Because books send me to sleep. Okay. And I don't have much time to play video games. And when the first Lord of, the Lord of the Rings series came out all those years ago, I, I loved it because I, I wasn't going to sit there and read through three thick novels of books to understand what the hell was going on. This was a great way for me to understand the love for the, for the storyline. And I think Yakuza will also help me in that way as well.
Plus, just with like, what computer graphics have been able to do in the special effects there, the things you could do with somebody who is a demon hunter and an exorcist going around doing that kind of thing, I think have really gotten to a point where we can handle doing that as a live action thing if we wanted to. I mean, yeah, if you can pull off Avatar, the Last Airbender and One Piece as a live action, you could pull this off too.
Yeah, I, I don't think there'd be any question about it, you know, so. No. So if anyone's listening to this, anyone from Hollywood, get in touch, get in touch with the people in Japan. Okay. See what, what you can do with the story, because I think it'd be pretty cool.
I mean, that's the fun part, though. You don't have to do much of the story. It's sitting all right. There just.
Yeah, yeah. Oh, but you just. You've got to tweak it in a way that it's going to blend in well, because, you know, like. Like going back to Lord of the Rings, people, you know, Die Hard people that. That read the books will say, oh, but they left this bit out, and they left that bit out. You're never going to keep the fans happy, you know, so they got to. They got to cut certain things out for the sake of how much money they've got for their budget and how much real time they've got. So. Yeah, so I'm sure they can do it. I'm sure they could do it. It wouldn't be any issue at all. They'll just have to leave out little bits here and there's.
Maybe you leave out some of the horror elements that pop up in this one that could keep it a little more family friendly. Although you're a demon hunter, so that's weird.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dial it back a little bit. Yeah.
But it's definitely something that I can see happening and needs to happen and just somebody make this, and then we can have a whole new set of fans coming around and experiencing that as their introduction to this. And still not my life, because she can't handle scary things.
Oh, I. I can handle them. I just haven't watched a horror film for a bloody long time. Last one I saw was. Saw that was about it. So more I'm. More. I'm. I think I'll probably be more watching Thrillers now than anything. Yeah. But, yeah, I don't think my wife can handle horrors either. She's got a very delicate mind, I must say.
Well, on that note, I'm gonna drop some promos for a few other things, and then we'll come back and talk about this game.
Cool.
Do you like the Transformers?
Yes.
Do you like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Do you like IDW Comics and comic book podcasts? Then come check out Ninjas and Bots. Each week we look at an issue.
Of Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from their IDW Comics incarnation. We drop episodes every Saturday morning, just.
Like the cartoons we loved as a kid. The show can be found on your favorite podcaster and@john readscomics.com.
See you then.
Do you need a little more queer media analysis and discussion in your life? Check out the Glitter Jaw Queer Podcast Collective, which has a dozen podcasts hosted by folks with queer lived experience, talking through film series, TV show deep dives, book clubs, video game histories and more. You might Just find the right queer media podcast that resonates with you. Check out the whole catalog of shows@glitterjaw.com.
Those are some great things to check out. But first, let's finish up here. So, Tim, we have to jump straight into what we're really here to talk about today, and that is the game Spellcaster, which came out over in North America, at least early September 1989, developed, published, everything by SEGA of America because, I don't know, America is the center of the world or something.
Yeah, well, SEGA of America would. Would take a lot of the games that originally were put together in the. In Japan and then build it for the western market. Okay. So. Yeah. And why they changed certain things, I'll never know. I. E. Like the artwork and the name of the game. I think we would have been happy with. With Peacock King, because that. I reckon that would have stood a little bit of curiosity. Like Peacocking. What. What the hell is that all about? Yeah. Yeah. So I think Peacock King's got a better name than Spellcaster.
I know there's been licensing issues with some of the games. I'm going to assume that's the reason for it here.
Yes, but. And it's weird, but Peacocking, it's been interesting name for a business.
This one has a big advantage for me over all the Dragon Ball games that I've been doing lately, where you're playing as one character and that's it. They changed his name to Kane over here.
Yes. Pretty. Pretty boring name.
Obscure and boring at the same time, which is hard to pull off.
Yeah. It's just. Yeah. Maybe it was the same characters on the screen for memory. I don't know. But yeah, Once again, we leave it to the powers that be to make these decisions. Apparently, we don't know.
And a lot like the Fist of the North Star games that we've looked at lately. This one got heavily localized for the North American release, but still kept the same basic idea of what was going on. Like the Buddhist robes and everything just turned into like a set of robes and they were just different and people's names were changed and stuff. But, you know, you're basically looking at the same thing as what came out in Japan graphically.
Yes, yes, yes. I think an example of that was, that is early in the game, some random guy with a spaghetti store. I couldn't quite understand why is this guy in the mid? You know, he's just standing there. Oh, I just sell spaghetti, and there's a big pile of spaghetti. So I'm going To assume that is something else. Probably some other Japanese cuisine. Maybe ramen. I'm not sure. But yeah, I don't know what. Like, okay, of all the foods, spaghetti. I couldn't quite figure that one out. So that would explain. Spaghetti is good, but spaghetti, I. Hey, don't get me wrong. I love me spaghetti. But in a video game, which is set in ancient Japan, had me a little bit confused.
What's kind of weird with us looking at it here in 2024 is that we could have just left it as pad Thai or udon noodles or, like, any number of things, and it would have been fine. But 1989, we didn't know what a bunch of that stuff was, so it had to be spaghetti. And that way you don't have to change the graphics.
Yeah. Yes, true, true. Yes. Amazing how much we know these days of other cultures, but also, at the same time, so little, too.
It's a fun little world where a lot of things coming over from places that are more isolated, like Japan. I mean, even Australia and New Zealand to an extent. Like, we over here just have no idea what's going on at all.
Before we started this recording, you know, I was talking about some of the workplace rules that we have over here, and, you know, you're like, my God, you get all of that, all that time off from work. Yeah. No, no. So even for myself, like, because in my work, I'm dealing with lots of students that are from other countries and that. And I'm learning something new every day about their culture, you know, so, no, we can learn a lot from each other to help ourselves move forward.
And one of the ways you can do that, I think, is taking these two things that you have that are similar in the different cultures and just looking at them right next to each other. And on this very superficial thing, you can do it with a video game that basically will have no impact on your life at all, but then you can take those skills on other more important things in your life and use it there.
That's right. That's right. And it can even take you into other weirder, weirder directions. Like, because when I. I always thought that, like. Because I fell in love with the company, Sega, I'd always wanted to go to Japan, and I only. I only got to do it for the first time back in 2019. You know, it took me all this time, and it was like a. A big tick off in my bucket list that I ever wanted to do. And I don't regret doing it because I've Been looking at them from afar and even though they're only like a 10 hour flight from us, once I got over over there I was, I was like a kid in a candy store because I, I learned all these things about it. I read so much and then it's like till you're actually there, you really feel the impact. Plus more on top of that. So, yeah, now can't wait to get back again.
I need to get over there for the first time.
You. You need to. It will be the best bloody thing you've ever done. Seriously. It's such an awesome country.
Honestly, my worry with it is that I'll go over there and then just not come back.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true. It was a bit of a, a sad moment when we got back onto the Qanza's flight back home. Oh no. Going back to reality and bad. But I always say to people that are going to Japan for the first time, just don't go to the main cities, go out into the country to get a real idea, a better idea of what Japanese culture is like. But yeah, I could go on forever in a day talking about my experiences there and, and how we could take so much from the Japanese and apply it to our workings every day in working life and just how we do things from a day to day basis.
You're right. We need to rein this back into something a little bit more realistic, like a, a wizardy guy.
Yeah, sorry. Yes, went on. I digress. Yes.
The basic plot of this game is that your main character, Cain, which I'm mostly going to keep saying his name that way because I know I'm saying it right, is summoned by the leader of one of the temples and there's a war between a couple different groups of warlords and you're going around the temple defeating ghosts and ninjas and beasts and monsters. And then there's villages and stuff and you're RPG your way through the world so that you get the ending you want to get.
That's, that's the gist of us. Yeah. Yes. I must say that the, the Buddhist monk that you always report back to, he's a demanding person. You know, you go off, you do a thing, you come back and say, all right, and you have this presumption of all right, he doesn't need anything else from you. And then, oh, no, no, you now got to go off to this far away land as well and go to this temple. Felt like just saying to him, why don't you go off and do it yourself, you bloody idiot. Yes, yes, he's very demanding. I think he's called Dak the Buddhist.
Yes, that's the way I would say it.
Yeah. Die, die, cock. I don't know, I've probably murdered that too.
This is a nice example of early RPGs too and where they're really trying to figure out what you can do on a console because there's parts of it where you can build up your strength or what is essentially your magic points. But there's also parts of it that are like point and click adventure, which I think are really awkward on a console. But enough have been made that some people must really like playing them on a console and not something with a mouse.
Yeah, well, look, the demographic. When I was taking the calls back in the 90s, the main demographic of people playing RPGs I found were mainly mothers playing these games because they love the storyline to it all. I don't think they particularly enjoyed so much maybe this game because there is a platformer element to it. Side scrolling platformer where you got to jump and shoot at things and that whereas there, there were many, there were many other RPGs that there wasn't any of that element to it. So yeah, I think, I think this wasn't probably one of the most popular, most popular RPGs at the time, but I think it definitely served its purpose there. Yeah, I did like the fact that there was some side scrolling action in it with a bit of storyline to it as well. And point and click, point and point and click. So I didn't mind that though it was rather clunky as you're saying. Like point and click on a console is a little bit tricky. But you know, that was the technology back then. You know, we didn't, we didn't really start using mice for consoles and that only for a few years later I didn't see them entering onto the market. And whether it worked on, on that. Well, not. Is another matter altogether. So.
Yeah, because SEGA didn't have a mouse until Mega Drive, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And even then they were barely sold. Probably the closest thing that we had for the, the master system was a sports track ball, but it was only used for the sports games and there was another game. I think it. Sorry, that's my dog, guys, if anyone's wondering what that sound is. Yeah, for, for just a couple of action games. But yeah, it, I don't think it was ever used. I don't think it would have worked properly on a point and click. Wouldn't have worked at all.
If you had the right people programming it, maybe you could pull off something here where like that's in your second controller port for it and you use it when you need to.
Yeah, there were a couple of games like that that used two controls. There was a sort of simulator. And I say that with inverted commas. F, F16, Fighting Falcon. That required that because as you can imagine, you know, Jet Fighter's got to have all these controls and that. So they adapted that over two controllers. So why they didn't apply that to this game? Not sure. Maybe it might have been a. A programming problem they may have thought about. But yeah, unfortunately they didn't have such a thing for this game. Maybe it wasn't worth the investment.
What I think they did invest some good things into though, was the artwork here in the game. Like. Yeah, a lot of people looking at this will probably think I'm crazy. But you've got to remember that the Master System is an eight bit console that, you know, is not exactly an nes. So I mean, you're thinking like early NES is what you need to compare this to. Not late, late Mario 3 stuff. We're talking like the black box games all day long.
Yeah, yeah. And look, you know, people will always debate this, which was the better console. And I think, look, if, if you looked at it on a graphical basis, the Master System won out because it just had a broader palette scheme compared to. Compared to the nes. So when you look at any Master System game, the colors just jump off the page. They really do.
I've been looking at a few, like a few things, comparing screenshots of some games that came out on the Famicom here that were based on Peacock King.
Yep.
About the same time. And it, it's pretty obvious on there which one is Master System and which one is NES or Famicom.
Yes. Yeah. And it's. And that, I mean, going, going back to why I ended up with working with Sega, because the first time I saw a Master System, I, I was like. As a young kid, I was just blown away by the colors on it. I was sort of like comparing that to. Because back in the day, everything was comparing what you could play at home compared to what you could play in the arcades. And we always, we'd always talked about porting all the time. You know, how close was it to the arcade original? But if you just looked on a color basis, it was almost like for, like, it really was. It was just amazing.
You know, when I finally got a console that's about the same reasoning. My dad decided that we were going to get a Genesis because he saw Super Nintendo stuff when we were over at friends houses and then he saw a Genesis game that had come out and yep, like instantly he said Genesis. And I mean I would have been happy either way, but I'm definitely happy that I was the kid who had a Genesis with a bunch of friends that had a Super Nintendo.
Yeah, right, right. I was a bit different when I was a kid. I was the only, only kid with a console. Everybody else was using things like Commodore 64s or Amigas and that. But you know, I was, if you did have a console in my hometown, it was probably an Atari 2600. So I was one of those rare people that had an eight bit console. But you know, I saw potential with this thing and now here we are 30 odd years later and everyone's using consoles at home. So yeah, I chose wisely.
RIP SEGA home consoles please come back into our lives.
Yes, yes, yes. Look, I've said this many times, you know, people just think, oh, they can just bring one back and it's easy. But to put some, give some idea how much it costs to do to put the console onto the market is at least $1 billion, 1 billion U.S. and that, that's all down to research and development, getting the people to be actually to build a unit as well. Then you got your marketing. There's so much money that goes into it and I don't think Sega's got a billion dollars just to throw into a, into a console that could, that could compete against what's already established. There's people are already pretty much stuck either onto, either onto the Wii. Oh, sorry, is it we. Oh, sorry, is it a Wii? I've forgotten the name of it.
Switch now.
Switch. Yes, Switch. See, there you go. That's how far back I am. Switch. Xbox or PlayStation. And even the Xbox is, is slowly dying on the market too. So yeah, Sega can't afford to just throw away a billion dollars and let it go, become a flop, you know.
Well, it's not like they made a console that flopped, which before it was a console that flopped, which before it was an add on that flopped that didn't even really need to exist.
Yes, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah. So the Saturn didn't really work. The architecture behind putting that thing together in such haste was ridiculous. And then they brought out a console after that which was Dreamcast, but it was too far ahead of its time. So. Yeah, yeah, but it is what it Is, as I say, there's not much you can do about it.
So Sega makes the good console and Nintendo makes the good timing.
That's right. That's right.
Bringing this back to Peacock King somehow. Pretend there was a good segue there because there's not going to be at all. This game, I think does a really good job of showing off a bunch of different monsters that you either did or could have seen in the manga. Showing off really? At least what on what an 8bit console could handle, doing what it could be like having to be somebody who goes around, gets these demons out of people, gets these ghosts out of the place, doing all that stuff. And also having a boss that can't tell you a whole list of things to get done so you can find an efficient way to do it. Instead they want to micromanage how you get your job done.
Pretty much. That's pretty much the gist of it all. And there's a lot of problem solving which is normal of an RPG because you come across certain bosses and that. So the first level of problem solving is trying to understand the firing sequence or attack sequence from those bosses. And then when you start finding out that you can't really read it, then you figure out which one of these spells would best be used in this situation. Now I don't know what the manual would have looked like for this game if it gave any clue or not. But because I didn't have access to the manual, this is what took extra time in trying to advance against the bosses. Every time I saw them, I didn't know which one to use, when to use it. Yeah, so. So it took a lot of sleuthing to get to. As far as where I got to.
I just found the manual online a couple different places.
Okay. Of course you did.
I mean, I know it's the power of the Internet. I'm looking at one where they took all the text and put it somewhere so I don't have to try to read a scan. But.
Right.
Even with your spells, like there's lets you get a destructive beam of lights or lightning or a big old ball of fire and send all your walking dead people back to the underworld. Get your strength back. Of course it's a bunch of stuff like that. Which, you know, D and D terms would basically just be like which element is going to work against the monster that you've got. But all essentially the same thing mostly. I mean there is also one that lets you fly, which is different and really, really cool.
Right? Yeah. And. And flying. Look if, if, if the flying aspect can be used in your platform stages, that would make the game a lot easier because another thing to this game is that the mechanics of when you jump and when you move are very sluggish. When you want to get from one. One platform to another and that. And there'd be like some, some enemies there that just hover around the top. I, I would have loved to have just, you know, being able, able to go up there and shoot it from their height and trying to time my jump while avoiding their attacking lasers or beams or fire, whatever it is. So something like that would have been hand. Yeah, yeah. It looks. It's definitely got its challenges and it's not a game you're going to be able to finish in a day. If you had a day to play video games. Yeah, I did a lot of saving along the way so. And I, I honest, I don't think I got far in as.
From what you've been able to see. As we wrap things up. What does this game really get right? Right. Looking at what you've learned pretty recently about Peacock King, I think, I think.
What it gets right is I, I think the, the sleuthing that's required. Okay. So when you're using spells you really have to be patient and take lots of notes on how to get through each of the bosses. So. So there's that. The other thing is trying to work out. Unlike unlike other RPGs where you've got these side scrolling elements of that it's also working out your jumping patterns and knowing where to stand. There's. Yeah. So I think that that's the thing I like about it is that you need to be patient and you need to take notes and you need to really be asleep and figure out. Okay, okay, so I can't do that and can't use that spin on. I can't do this. All right. That. I think that's the one thing that, that really stands out with this game.
And comparing this one to the Peacock King manga too, I think that also fits in well because if you just have a manga where somebody goes in and blasts the same spell the entire time to get rid of the monsters, then that's going to be a really boring manga or at least a really short manga. And you can't make a really short rpg. That would just be weird and dumb.
No, no, no. Yeah. And I look putting on to the benefits of the game. I think you get a lot of shelf life out of this game because I like I would get a game Back in the day. And I, I could, I could finish it. This is when I was younger and had eye hand coordination, but was a lot better. I could, I could finish off an action game in probably eight hours straight. No, no problems about it. This one, I reckon would take me months, months to get through. And now as a kid, would I have the patience? I don't know. But if I wanted to get my money's worth, this would be one of those games. Yeah, definitely.
What do you think this one really gets wrong?
Well, as I mentioned before, I think the mechanics of when you're in the platform stages, it's very sluggish. I think that's. That's an issue. I also think that there's a lot of going back and forth. Like you're always going back to this Buddhist monk died dicac. Just to tell him something and then he'll say, oh, no, no, no. Right. Well then you go. What I would have liked to have seen is that in the storyline you went less back to this Buddhist monk and probably got more information from after beating each of the bosses that lead you off onto another path. I got to a stage where that happened for the first time and that was after I had beaten, what was it about four different bosses before I was. Oh, no, no. Well, you now go on to here. Oh, my God, that's a nice change. I don't have to go to that annoying Buddhist monk anymore. Okay. So I think the storyline could have flowed on a little bit better there where I wasn't always returning back. It just. It just didn't make any sense in going through that process now. The conversations that you have with people. I have to say that Kane is not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Right.
So he gets, he gets, he gets. You know, he kills a person and then the enemy just disappears. And before he disappears, he or she disappears. Is says this one word and then he goes, what would that mean? You know, the script is very. It's. It's not very deep when he's doing a monologue or if he's talking with himself, what could that mean? So I think they could have put a little bit more depth in that. But I don't know if that's because of it being translated from Japanese. That could have been a reason why, why they couldn't put in so much depth. That's my only guess. But yeah, I think they're. They're my main annoying things about this game is that you're always going back to the Buddhist monk. It's not the sharpest thorn to share. And the. The. The depth of the story from where I got wasn't really too deep. I. I couldn't find that. I guess that might open up in later stages. That would all make sense. I often think if you're going to put together a game, you have to grab your audience early to want them to play more. And I found myself that I was just going, why am I having to put up with this, with this rubbish? And I almost felt like quitting a lot of the time. But I got to a point where it actually went on a slightly different turn. I'm like, okay, now I'm getting. I think they need to do something. If I were going to change the story, I would have some major things happen earlier on. They're waiting so far to get into it because like a kid, kids just not going to be engrossed in it early, you know, not unless they are a big Peacock King fan and they want to see more. You know, maybe that will grab their audience. But you're talking about a very niche audience there.
I would be saying, yeah, my one defense that I can have with the script here is that Master System games, you had 512 kilobytes of data to play with.
That's right, yeah.
Unless you had one of the cards, then it was 32 kilobytes of data. So there is not a lot of room to work with.
Yeah, there's not a lot of room. I get that. I get that. Yeah. So. And that's why I'm thinking, if it was in Japanese, was it kanji? Is it kanji? I can't think of. Yeah, kanji. If it was in that, maybe that would. Because there'd be less characters there to describe something that could provide more depth to it as opposed to the English language, which is rather inefficient.
I think that's the nicest thing we can say about the English language today.
Yes, yes, yes. There, there, there or there? Which one am I talking about? Yeah. So the English language obviously has its limitations, and I think that's. That's probably why it's lacking in depth for the. For the storyline.
And seeing as how you didn't have too much experience with Peacock King before this, do you think that looking at this game was a good, at least piece of a primer course and maybe getting you ready to check out the manga or the anime?
I think it would have been if. If I had have known back in the day that it's actually a part of manga. I think I would have investigated it more and then would have tried to do as much searching around as to which of the other SEGA games were related to that to manga series I. E. Pistol, North Star and Ben. I probably would have gone down that path. But trying to get information back in the 80s is not just like a simple search on the computer. You really have to do some sleuthing. You really do. And as I mentioned earlier before, like, the only way I found out about manga was when I was going out with a Japanese girl years ago. So I didn't know if there was such a thing. Yeah, yeah. So I. I think I would have. I would have investigated it more, but it wouldn't have been easy to do. It wouldn't have been easy to do.
This one and the sequel to this one, Mystic Defender, I think are the closest I'm going to be able to get to having one of these be a primer course for me, at least for a good while. I know there's some games coming up later where I'll be able to use them the same way, and I feel like these were enough to get me into the world to know that I'm interested in what's going on, or at least could be interested in what's going on. But like I'm not going to be able to explain really what's going on to anybody just because of this game. So it definitely can't be the whole primer course in itself, but it could definitely be part of it.
Yeah, yeah. Agree. Agree. Yeah. And once again, like, it's only. There's only so much you can really put to your audience through a video game back in the 80s, you know, so you're limited with how much you can present to everyone. Us Westerners could really relate to comics converted to video games.
Most importantly Tim though, I have to know if you could make a live action peacock king accept your main wizardy character got to be a Muppet. Which Muppet would it be?
Okay, most random question. Who would it be? What character? Who would be? Who's the most? I. I'd say Animal, I think. I think he'd be all right. Animal the drummer, I think be all right for that.
Oh, crazy. So cool.
Yes. So have him doing that. I think that would be a good having doing that. Rob would be pretty cool. I was also thinking Bea and all these noises to Casti spell and been the dialogue between, you know, all the different characters and that. No. Oh, but, but, but Kane, I'm lost. I don't know what to do me.
Me me me me me me me me me me, me.
Save a lot of memory on the. On on the video game, wouldn't it? It just.
It has been great talking to you about all of this. If people want to hear more from you, where else can they find you? Around the Internet?
As least likely as I'm. I'm doing posts these days, I'm mainly on Twitter or X now, even though the domain still called Twitter. So you'll find me there. You can either search for me as SEGA master Tim Redu or R E D U X or just at segar mstim. You'll find me that way. I'm not as active these days as aforementioned. I'm very busy with work and life at the moment and I've been hoping to get a little bit more time but that hasn't come to fruition. So I've just got to see what happens in this next month, see how we go from there.
Well, hopefully that goes well for you.
I hope so too.
But at least as far as people finding you, we have links down in the show notes because that's easier than trying to remember how to spell things.
Pretty much. Pretty much. Sorry, I just thought I mentioned that just in case. Yes. But no, it's been. Been a pleasure to be on here. Thank you very much for having me.
Well, it's been great having you here too. And I get to continue the Australian accent because we're going to go straight into watching some taskmaster after I close this out.
Oh, very good, Very nice.
Got to keep it classy over here as much as can be classy.
Yeah, Tom's a leech.
As always, the best place to find me is going to be over@playcomics.com where there's links to all the social media things. I'm pretty sure I'm going to settle on Blue sky, but you know, we'll see. And if nothing else there, there's links to everything over there. So you can find me with stuff and we can make it easy if you want to be on the show yourself or if you know some people who should be on the show, friends or enemies or I mean maybe not enemies because I don't want you to send me giant assholes or anything. But there is a link down in the show notes here to the list of games that I'm looking to get booked the soonest. It's a lot more obscure things right now, so one way or another, like if you want to be on the show and talk about something cool that I don't have a ton of other episodes on and probably won't have a ton of other episodes on. Now is a good time to jump on that. If you want to help support the show, then you can be like Dan McMahon and own a lit class and give the show money, because it does cost money to make a podcast, unfortunately. Yay, capitalist society and everything. But also just share the show with friends, share the link around, tell everybody how great it is, and maybe the they'll believe you. I hope they believe you because that's true, even though I'm a little bit biased. Don't forget that Plague Comics is a part of the Guine Geek Network, home to such wonderful shows as Legends of SHIELD what if Marvel was making a third season of what if? Would we be covering that? That's not even a real question. Because the answer is yes, we would, because we are. If you like the music that I'm really talking on top of right now, head on over to BackingTrack GG to check out their music and maybe grab some something to use in one of your own projects. But most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics, and go find yourself a new favorite character. Okay, those are some great things to check out. First, let's finish up. I can't talk today. Think the kangaroos might have eaten the Internet.
How's that? Can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you. Okay.
Yeah, Yeah, I could hear you and see you. That's fine. So. So wasn't my kangaroos. Might have been your kangaroos.
We actually have some. Not too far, but they're in a zoo or something like that. Not just out in the wild.
Oh, can you. Can you sit with them and feed them?
I don't think the ones that are easiest for me to get to, I don't think they would let us feed them. But they're in just like a super giant cage and.
Right.
I got within a meter. They didn't seem to care.
Okay, okay. Okay. Yeah. Now we've got a place out east that's out in the bush, and you can actually sit down with them, feed them right next to them. And it's just. All they do is just lie in the sun, get a few rays. They're not really. They're rather docile, to be honest. Not unless you get the ones out in the bush. And especially if it's bloody mating season. They're a bit. How would I say? Frisky.
Yeah.
Bit doughy, bit towy.
What's fun.
All right.
It broke. This thing broke on us almost right at the very end. So we're not coming back for much.
Okay, cool.