You know, I was going to do some kind of intro here about the age of VHS tapes, VHS memories
and all that, but nah, why waste my time and yours!
So instead, just know that in Japan in the 80s and 90s, VHS tapes and video games were
everywhere, and so were VHS tapes about video games, produced to sell or rent in shops,
given to retailers in order to promote upcoming titles, or distributed as promotional items
through clubs, magazines and special events.
Video Games On Video is a video series about these videos, and I've said video way too
many times now, so let's just take a look at five examples of said videos.
Since this is the first entry of the series, I think it makes sense to start it off with
what's probably the very first video game video tape I ever went out of my way to own,
which is simply titled Waruykyuure no Densetsu, or The Legend of Valkyrie.
This tape, produced by King Video in 1989 as part of their Computer Game Video line,
abbreviated CGV, retailed for 4000 yen tax included and was also available as a rental.
It's essentially a perfect 2-player playthrough and strategy guide for Namco's smash arcade
hit, The Legend of Valkyrie.
This expert run shows some great strategies for taking down bosses, reveals hidden item
locations and lets the viewer see the “perfect” ending with all elemental sprites showing
up in the final screen, achieved by meeting certain in-game parameters linked to things
like score and completion time.
The screen is split in three throughout, one window showing the gameplay as is, and two
smaller, zoomed windows highlighting the protagonists and at times enemies and allies, but other
than that, it's mostly a straightforward playthrough of the game done in co-op and with a single
100 yen coin, something very few people could achieve back in 1989, much less three decades
later.
It's a simple, but great collector's item for fans of the Valkyrie series.
Next up is the Making of Game: Ghost in the Shell VHS from 1998, published by Kodansha
and produced by legendary animation studio Production I.G, producer of some of the best
anime of all time, including the Ghost in the Shell movie and Stand Alone Complex series,
as well as stuff like Please Save My Earth, a personal favorite of mine.
This tape was sold in stores for 1905 yen plus tax at the time and has a runtime of
30 minutes.
While it is a mini documentary about the fantastic PlayStation One Ghost in the Shell game, it's
not about the game's development, but rather the process of producing its sleek animated
intro movie, as noted by the tapes subtitle, “All About Digital Animation.”
The tape provides a really interesting sneak peak into a pioneering period of CGI animation,
comprising of staff interviews, explanations of how the latest technology was applied to
create the awesome look of the intro segment, and a look at other animation cutscenes made
for the game.
There's even an interview with the man himself, Ghost in the Shell creator Shirow Masamune,
who doesn't appear on camera, naturally.
Also, keep an eye out for the mischievous fuchikomas that appear throughout the tape,
they're pretty adorable.
This is an awesome documentary that's well worth a watch for people with an interest
in digital animation or Ghost in the Shell.
One of the great perks of being a gamer 20+ years ago was that many gaming companies,
both big and small, set up clubs for their most dedicated fans, where they would send
out special gifts and promotional items, give member-only access to events and contests,
and provide early and exclusive information in printed materials and, you guessed it,
video tapes.
Capcom was among these companies, who had one of the better fan clubs with their Capcom
Friendly Club, or CFC.
Members of this club would receive video tapes like these every once in a while, and from
here on we'll take a look at Volume 13 from April of the year 2000.
It features previews of Capcom's upcoming games shown at the Spring 2000 Tokyo Game
Show, where viewers get a special sneak peak at the presentations and reveals, hosted by
one of Capcom's biggest stars, Chun-Li.
And this is not just any old Chun-Li cosplayer, she's Kana Urasawa, the official Chun-Li model
employed by Capcom, who has worked on many game projects with the company, mainly with
marketing, but also recently acted as producer for the Capcom Fighting Collection.
And she still makes a fantastic Chun-Li, perhaps even better now than before.
ANYWAY, the time period in which this tape was produced is probably my favorite in gaming,
the late 90s and early 2000s, the big transition from the PlayStation 1 to the PS2, Sega's
last foray into console gaming with the Dreamcast, amazing arcade games...so a lot of the titles
featured in the Capcom Friendly Club Video Vol. 13 are among the best the company has
ever made.
In my humble opinion, of course.
So much good stuff is covered here--you have short previews for games like Onimusha, Gunspike
and Marvel Vs. Capcom, extended previews for titles like Breath of Fire IV, and a press
conference about the Bioroid: Year Zero horror comedy stage show set in the Resident Evil
universe.
One of the things I really enjoyed here is a Power Stone 2 match set up between Capcom
employees in Osaka and convention attendees in Tokyo through network play.
What a cool and exciting time!
There's lots of footage from the ground floor in this tape, too, making it an enjoyable
time capsule for fans of gaming in the era.
Game Tech Video, more commonly known as GTV, was the producer of some truly great and creative
video game media in the 80s and 90s, including the Demo Demo and Play Play PlayStation Japanese
trial discs for the PS1, some of the best demos ever made.
Aside from those, however, they also put together some of the best gaming VHS tapes, one of
them being the Famicom Perfect Video from 1993.
This 40-minute tape retailed for 1980 yen, tax included, and is a tenth anniversary celebration
of the system, showcasing 100 of the Famicom's best and most popular titles from 1983 to
1993.
Of course you have your Super Mario Bros., your Metroids, your Kirbys, all the great
classics from Nintendo, but a huge variety of titles are given their due, including those
on the Disk System.
This tape has a few hosts guiding us throughout, the first being Battery, a friendly bat puppet
designed by the spectacular artist Susumu Matsushita, probably most known by video game
fans in Japan for his work as the Weekly Famitsu cover artist for decades now.
Battery was host for a few other GTV video projects as well, some I'm sure we'll take
a look at in future Video Games on Video episodes.
The other hosts include a panel consisting of some popular Japanese video game personalities
from the time—the lucha mask-wearing Mr. X, his supposed Indian apprentice, Indoman,
the lovely Ms. Mika Suzuki, and Koji Watanabe.
These panelists were previously involved in GTV's video magazines, video game “masters”
who specialized in a specific genre or style of game.
Just a neat little aside on Mr. X, he's actually Mr. Hiroaki Takeuchi, who is still active
as a producer in the gaming and anime industries today.
Overall, the Famicom Perfect Video is a fun look at some of the best of what Nintendo's
first home console has to offer—8-bit gaming fans, check it out!
The
last VHS tape we'll take a look at is another “making of” feature, but with some extra
bonuses that make it quite special.
It's the “not for sale” 1993 V Jump Premiere Issue Super Premium Video, which includes
another mini documentary about a piece of digital animation, this time a television
commercial promoting the inauguration of Jump's video game-focused magazine, Virtual Jump,
more commonly known as V Jump, a publication that is still active to this day.
The ad stars a few of gaming and manga's most popular characters—the chocobo from Final
Fantasy, the slime and king slime from Dragon Quest, Kabuki Danjuurou from Tengai Makyou
and Arale-chan from Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump.
For kids in the early 90s, this collision of worlds must have been truly awesome, as
crossovers weren't really much of a thing in gaming back then.
Arale-chan would sort of become the mascot of V Jump in the early days, riding around
in the flying cyber machine the Gulliver Mecha, which Toriyama designed exclusively for the
magazine.
In addition to showing how the commercial was made and a presentation of two versions
of the finished product, a lot of video game commercials play the tape out.
Stuff like Final Fight 2 for Super Famicom, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Mega Drive, the
Game Boy Legend of Zelda, Squaresoft's Seiken Densetsu II (aka the Secret of Mana)...games
that would be popular mainly with young boys at the time.
V Jump was primarily a gaming magazine, but also featured comics like its bigger cousin
Weekly Shounen Jump and covered things like anime and movies, too...whatever the target
audience was interested in.
Here's the actual first issue that this video promotes...as you can see, it's chock full
of color, art, info...and all about some of the best of 90s media in Japan and abroad.
I love looking through old V Jump magazines because of this, and also because of the specific
games they focused on—Gensou Suikoden, Tactics Ogre, Chrono Trigger—they're among my all-time
favorites.
I highly recommend you do the same if you have a fondness for similar things.
As for the origins of this video, I'm not really sure, but I assume it was something
readers of Jump magazines could receive in the mail by sending in a postcard, as this
was the procedure for a lot of promo tapes back then.
Those are just five of the many Japanese video game VHS tapes I own, and just five of the
thousands that were produced over three decades or so.
If you're interested in seeing any of these tapes in full, I've uploaded all of them,
raw and unaltered on my second channel, the Import Gaming FTW Dump, so check them out
there, where I also post video game-related clips and commercials, and I might even do
collection stuff there as well.
Was this video just an excuse for me to plug the second channel?
Yeah, probably.
But whatever the case, I hope you enjoyed this small glimpse into the world of Japanese
gaming, and more specifically, Japanese gaming on video, and I hope to see you around for
episode 2 and beyond.
This is Jimmy Hapa of Import Gaming FTW, taaaaake care.