Giant robots for dealing with civil unrest.
Plenty of games in the late 80’s and 90’s never left the land of the rising sun, much less the Asiatic continent. For some, it was their quirks, for others, a potential lack of interest in foreign markets. Which is why it’s odd that CRW Metal Jacket never saw an English translation until now; giant robots were like half of the 90’s anime boom in the US.
Even the fact that it was a PC-98 game wouldn’t have been too much of a holdback. There was a Playstation version released in Japan with a so-90’s-anime-it-hurts intro sequence; though, admittedly, the game was probably much harder to play with a controller.
Nonetheless, the game has been translated now, courtesy of 46OkuMen. The team has definitive focus on translating super finicky PC-98, judging from the fact that they actually managed to complete a translation of E.V.O. the Theory of Evolution. That game, and it’s sequel, could probably be the subject of an entire article. But enough digression; the PC-98 had tons of odd games that never made it out West, much like the MSX.
The game itself is sort of an odd fusion of X-Com and Front Mission (fun fact: Front Mission was released several months after CRW Metal Jacket). The difference being that, unlike both of those games, CRW is a real-time strategy game (hence the reason the Playstation version was probably awkward).
Much like Front Mission, there are pilot skills and the robots are, basically, equipment. They’re important, but they’re not the thing that gives you an edge against enemies.
To play the CRW Metal jacket, you’ll need a PC-98 Emulator. Thankfully 46OkuMen have an entire article meant to help you get started with that. And such low-grade piracy is on an international level equivalent to dumping a Take A Penny, Leave A Penny tray into your pocket and walking off, so there’s little to be worried about.
You know, other than getting things to run properly; PC-98 emulators are notorious for being kind of weird. That said, you can get the game, along with some interesting tidbits about it, here.
Happy Hunting!
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