The ego of sloperators cosplaying as legitimate artists never ceases to amaze.

Speaking of bugs, let's just take a second and imagine what QA looks like when you're dealing with a full-length game built entirely on vibes and stolen IP.

"That bus in Level 3 is still turning into a subway car and then phasing through reality."
"Let's call that one 'non-critical' and move on."

How could anyone gaze upon this buffet of tactical options and not come away convinced that yes, imAI-powered gaming is indeed The Future™?

It also bears mention that the wide-eyed conspiracy fantasies that underpin the game's narrative are markedly less fun now that notions like "FEMA is a puppet of the Deep State!" have morphed into accepted gospel for a distressingly large chunk of the population. Ah well.

As well-preserved as the core loop is, though, I'd still give an edge to the Eidos duology, whose denser, richer urban environments reward furtive exploration far more readibly than neutron bomb-empty New York or Paris. (Never mind Invisible War, where "cities" consist of five-odd alleyways.)

To your original point, though - I've seen Yokoyama's concepts for the costume, but the bird seems to have been derived from this particular Mœbius piece:

I've seen some sources claim that he fabricated at least some of the physical props/models too, though I can't speak to the accuracy of that. Still, a fascinating constellation of talent any way you cut it.

This lycra warrior training montage gets circulated a lot more often, but I'm all in on those sweeping miniature landscapes soundtracked by the most '80s power ballad ever to '80s.

Eh, close enough.

Happy 40th, you bandit. Now go out and do something fun to celebrate.

One unfortunate early adopter did a deep dive on this stinker. Turns out “550 pages packed with detailed writing” translates to ”endless, rambling personal anecdotes, swiped quotes, and a highly essential discussion about why Chrono Trigger is actually a Final Fantasy.” Three years well spent, guy.

My bad - it’s actually two beat-‘em-ups, so almost 10% of this totally comprehensive chronicle’s RPG coverage is devoted to two middling Capcom belt-scrollers with fantasy theming. Small wonder Mr. Mage is such a highly respected game researcher.

Not any more - he seems to have nuked his account as soon as people started pulling up the receipts on his past behavior.

As others point out, it's also pretty ballsy to call a book "The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs" when it only focuses on games released in the US - one of which is a beat-'em up.

I’ll admit, ”No Sympathy“ has been running a lot through my head these last nine months.