2004 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Madden NFL 2005, NBA Live 2005, ESPN NBA 2K5, Tony Hawk's Underground 2, WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw, Doom 3, Dragon Quest VIII, Gran Turismo 4, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Myst IV: Revelation, Ninja Gaiden, Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen/Emerald, Everybody's Golf 4, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Tekken 5, and World of Warcraft. New intellectual properties included Fable, Far Cry, FlatOut, Killzone, Katamari Damacy, Monster Hunter, N, Red Dead Revolver, SingStar, and Sacred. The Nintendo DS was also launched that year.
1995 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Dragon Quest VI, Mega Man 7, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, and Tekken 2, along with new titles such as Mario's Picross, Battle Arena Toshinden, Chrono Trigger, Rayman, Soul Edge, Twisted Metal, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Destruction Derby, Wipeout and Jumping Flash!
Fantavision, sometimes stylized as FantaVision, is a puzzle video game developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 (PS2). The game's objective is to use a cursor to select three or more launched fireworks of the same color in a row and then to detonate them to increase the player's score. Used in conjunction with various power-ups, the resulting explosions can ignite and chain together even more flares for additional points.
Echo Night: Beyond, known in Japan as Nebula: Echo Night is a 2004 survival horror adventure video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2 console. Agetec published the game in North America, with the European release, by Indie Games, following in August 2005. It is the third game in the Echo Night series. While it shares common elements with Echo Night and Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares, Beyond takes place in its own timeline.
Nemuri Kyōshirō is a series of jidaigeki novels written by Renzaburō Shibata. The stories were originally serialized beginning in May 1956 in the Shūkan Shinchō.
Shadow Tower is a 1998 action role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation. The game was originally released in Japan by FromSoftware on June 25, 1998 and in North America by Agetec on November 23, 1999. Shadow Tower shares many similarities with the King's Field series of video games. A sequel, Shadow Tower Abyss, was released for the PlayStation 2 exclusively in Japan.
Shiren the Wanderer is a roguelike video game developed by Chunsoft for the Wii. It was released in Japan on June 5, 2008, and in North America on February 9, 2010. A PlayStation Portable version was released later in 2010.
Surveillance Kanshisha or simply known as Surveillance is a First-Party PlayStation 2 Adventure Science fiction interactive game published by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan with animation created by Production I.G, which was released in Japan on April 25, 2002 and was sold for a price of ¥5,800. The game had not been released in any other territory aside from Japan/Asia.
Echo Night is a 1998 adventure game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation. It is the first game in the Echo Night series, following up with the Japan-exclusive Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares in 1999, and Echo Night: Beyond in 2004. A spinoff for the PlayStation Portable was included with Adventure Player, an adventure game creation tool, which was released in Japan on June 30, 2005.
Kowloon's Gate is a 1997 Japanese adventure video game developed by Zeque. Set in the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, it is considered a cult hit.
Dragon Knight 4 (ドラゴンナイト４) is an erotic role-playing video game developed by ELF Corporation and released only in Japan for several platforms between 1994 and 1997. In 1994, the game first became available for PC MS-DOS, NEC PC-9801 and X68000, with a censored version ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996 and later to the PC-FX, PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1997. It was also adapted into illustrated novels and an anime miniseries.
Nemuri no Mori is a 2014 Japanese feature-special directed by Nobuhiro Doi. It is based on the novel "Nemuri no Mori" by Keigo Higashino.
Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg is a 1997 role-playing video game developed and published by Gust. The first entry in the Atelier series, it originally released for the PlayStation, then received ports and enhanced versions on other platforms. A remake for modern platforms, Atelier Marie Remake, was released worldwide in 2023 by Koei Tecmo. Following the efforts of alchemist-in-training Marie to pass an exam within five years, the gameplay focuses on exploring for materials to create alchemical recipes, and completing story missions and requests within the in-game time limit.
Valkyrie Profile or Valkyrie is a series of role-playing video games created by Masaki Norimoto and Yoshiharu Gotanda, primarily developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix. The series is notable for featuring elements from Norse mythology.
epics Inc. is a Japanese video game software developer located in Tokyo, Japan. Originally established as Gen Creative House Co., Ltd. in February 1987, changed company name to G-Artists Inc. in March 1991, then to epics Inc. in June 2006.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is a roguelike role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft. It is the fifth main entry in the Shiren the Wanderer series, which is a subset of the larger Mystery Dungeon series. It was originally released for the Nintendo DS in 2010 in Japan.
Crime Crackers is a first-person shooter/action role-playing video game (FPS/RPG) developed by Media.Vision and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. Based on a science fiction manga set after an intergalactic war, the story follows of group of bounty hunters aboard the spacecraft Pink Dolphin as they take on jobs requested by the Galactic Federation police. Gameplay resembles dungeon crawlers, largely consisting of exploring complex 3D corridors, collecting items, and shooting enemies. The player is able to freely rotate between three unique characters within missions, while points earned afterwards can be used to purchase consumable items and upgraded equipment.
Nemuri Kyōshirō manji giri is a 1969 Japanese film directed by Kazuo Ikehiro. It is based on Renzaburō Shibata's novel series Nemuri Kyoshiro. The lead star is Hiroki Matsukata. He played the role of Nemuri Kyoshiro as a replacement for Ichikawa Raizō. In this film Masakazu Tamura played a villain.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a series of video games within the Final Fantasy franchise developed by Square Enix. Beginning in 2003 with the game for the GameCube, the series has predominantly been released on Nintendo gaming hardware and covers multiple genres, including action role-playing. The Crystal Chronicles series takes place in an unnamed world inhabited by four tribes. Recurring themes include creating objects from memory and the importance of family. The gameplay, which has always been aimed at as wide an audience as possible within a genre, generally involves either multiple players or a large group working together.
Echo Night is a trilogy of Japanese adventure games developed by FromSoftware. The original Echo Night was first released in 1998 for the PlayStation. Two sequels were developed; Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares for the PlayStation in Japan in 1999, and Echo Night: Beyond for the PlayStation 2 which released worldwide between 2004 and 2006. All the titles feature a protagonist called Richard pursuing a magical artifact and interacting with ghosts. Titles are played from a first-person perspective, and place a focus on puzzles and exploration.
