Translations of Japanese only games:

Below you will get to read analysis of gameplay, based on playing the games

All these translations were made by Neil Schuldenfrei.

SD GUNDAM: DIMENSION WAR:

The basics of Gundam:

Advance on the enemy army, and defeat them in battle. You control the warriors and ships facing away from you. (It's hard to tell which ones are facing away...there's a trick -- see below.)

You get to use each of your warriors/ships once per round -- move it, or use it for battle. Then, the computer takes a turn.

To select a warrior/ship to move, move the cursor left/right/back/forth with the LEFT +. To move up or down (there are 3 levels of action), use the BACK L and R buttons.

When you've selected your warrior/ship, press A. (NOTE: If you press A, and nothing happens, you've either selected one of the enemy's warriors/ships, or one that you've already used this turn. You can tell which ones you've used this turn -- they're marked with a small "E" to the left of the warrior/ship.)

Once you've selected your warrior/ship, use the RIGHT + to select what you want to do with it. If you're not close to an enemy, the game will only let you select the option "move". Press A, then use the LEFT + and BACK L and R buttons to move up to 3 squares. (Some directions may be blocked.) Then press A to complete the move.

If you're close enough to an enemy, the game will let you select the option of "indirect". This lets you attack an enemy without them firing back on you. (You can't cause much damage to them, but at least you won't suffer any damage yourself.) Press A to select this. The cursor will then move to the enemy that's in range. Press A again to start the indirect attack. (NOTE: On rare occasion, 2 enemies will be in range. In that case, use the LEFT + and the BACK L and R buttons to put the cursor on the enemy you want to attack before pressing A.)

If you're really close to an enemy, you can select "attack". In this case, you do direct battle with the enemy.

For some reason, the game does all of the fighting by itself EXCEPT when a it's warrior-on-warrior "attack" (NOT "ambush" or "indirect"). (Once or twice, it did let me control a warrior in a battle with a ship...have no idea why it was only those times,) For a warrior-on-warrior attack, follow the on-screen instructions to start the battle. The attack is a 2-part battle (why -- who knows???). In the first part, you fire on the enemy using the A button, and he doesn't fire back. In the second part, use the following buttons:

- Move left, right, up, down with the LEFT +.
- Move in and out of the screen using the BACK L and R buttons.
- Fire with the RIGHT + button, pushing left or right for 2 different weapons.
- Attack at short range (with sword) with RIGHT + button, pushing down.

When you've used all of your ships/warriors once, press A. You should see an option screen. Select "end turn". "Finished" will appear. Press A. Now, the computer will take a turn. Sometimes it doesn't seem to move anything...other times it does.

When all of the enemy is destroyed, the game plays some animation, then moves on to the next battle.

INSMOUSE NO YAKATA:

Insmouse instructions:

The object is to find the key, and get to the exit in less than 2 minutes. If you do, you move to the next level. Each level is a more intricate maze of hallways. At each level, you must avoid or kill the monsters. You can turn down any hallway (using LEFT +button to go forward, backward, left or right). You can also go through any door, simply by walking through it; however, you can not go through the exit door without the key. Monsters can not follow can you through a door, so you can run for cover, if need be, by going through a door.

SCREEN:

Upper left: the number of bullets you have left, starting with 6. To fire, use the RIGHT REAR button.

Middle left: the number of "stocks". Each stock is a reload of 6 bullets. When you have used all 6 of your bullets, press the LEFT REAR button to reload. You start the game with 1 stock (i.e. one reload), and can pick up extra stocks in the maze.

Bottom left: If you've picked up the key, it will appear here.

Top right: Life-meter (designated by the number of hearts). You start with three hearts, and can pick up others in the maze. Each time a monster hits you, one heart is taken away. When all are gone, the game is over.

Bottom right: Orbs. During the gam, you can check your location on the map at any time, and see where you've been. Simply push SELECT to pause the game and see the map. There are 2 orbs in the maze. If you pick ck up one, the map will show you where the "goodies" (bullets, key, hearts) are located (they flash). If you pick up the other, the full maze will appear, and the exit will flash.

When you have the key, walk through the exit door to move to the next level.

VIRTUAL LAB:

VLAB instructions:

GOAL

Drop pipe pieces, Tetris-style, trying to seal all pipes on the playfield.

OPTIONS

1. Game Speed: At title screen, press START, then use L+ (up or down) to select game speed. Press START.
2. Password: Although the game provides a password after each level, there appears to be no way to enter a password at the start of the game; the password appears to be useless.

CONTROLS

L+ or R+ Press LEFT or RIGHT to move pipe pieces Left or Right
Press DOWN to speed descent of pipe piece
A: Rotate the pipe pieces as they are dropping
B: Shift relative position of pipe pieces (when 2 or more are falling side-by-side)

RULES

Drop pipe pieces to try to seal all pipes on the playfield. You must seal all openings on each pipe.
Pipes are sealed when they:

* Are topped by an end cap (pipe with only one opening)
* Touch a side wall
* Touch the bottom wall

Pipes are NOT sealed when they touch the side of another pipe!
When a pipe is sealed, it disappears, and you receive a score based on the size of the pipe.
(Larger pipes yield higher scores.) When a pipe disappears, the remaining pipe pieces fall to the bottom of the playfield. If any of them become sealed in their new positions, the also disappear, and give you points.

When all pipes on a playfield are sealed (disappear), the game moves to the next level.

ON SCREEN DISPLAY

"MAX" This is the size (in number of pipe pieces) of the largest pipe you have sealed on the current level.
"GET" This is the number of pipe pieces of your last completed pipe.

BONUS

If you seal a pipe at least 10 pieces in size, the pipe will disappear, and a "bonus fairy" will move across the bottom of the screen, taking the bottom layer of pipe pieces with her to help you out.

VIRTUAL FISHING:

VFISHING instructions: