GBAtemp Recommends Revival # 009

[Another World]

​

Welcome to the 9th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This project is a weekly magazine feature where we share our favorite games and application with you. The things we recommend may be “old school” titles, a Homebrew, a ROM hack, sleeper hits, an application, etc, but one thing's for certain, we think they are fantastic and deserve your attention!

GBAtemp Recommends!

Sweet Home English Translation Patch​

When most discussions about survival horror games and RPGs are had the NES is not often included. Back in the late 80’s, there were only a few games which could have be classified in both of these two categories and the best of this grouping never made it to the United States.

Sweet Home (translated to English) was released to Japanese gamers in 1989 by Capcom. The game tells the story of 5 brave soles who venture into a deserted mansion on a mission to photograph and restore a collection of fresco art. Very quickly things stop going according to plan as the group begins to find out that the mansion is haunted by the previous owner’s dead wife and her minions of evil creatures. As the gamer explores the mansion and solves intricate well thought out puzzles, the mystery behind the plot is told through 50 yr old diary entries, a tense atmospheric musical score, and scary cut-scenes.

The game plays very much like a traditional RPG with elements thrown in which most consider to have been ahead of their time. For example, each character in the game has only 1 life but a unique skill set that may be essential for solving a single puzzle. When that character dies there is no way to bring them back, a rare but realistically welcomed gaming element for the time. The game also features some action sequences which pause and await choose-your-own-adventure-type input, a classic survival element not often associated with top-down NES RPGs.

Sweet Home was a licensed property for a movie of the same name. The game was featured in the preview trailer for the movie which helped to advertise it, as did the fact that the game’s producer, Juzo Itami, acted in the film. Sweet Home has additional fame as it is widely accepted as being an influence for the Resident Evil series. In fact, the Resident Evil games borrow many of Sweet Home’s themes and imagery, such as the mansion setting and the “door” loading screen.

In June of 2000, gamers from around the globe got a taste of what they had missed out on when the English translation patch was released. The patch is widely regarded as one of the better NES RPG translations reflected by the full year of work which went into it. The patch is a simple IPS patch which can be applied to the Japanese ROM using the Lunar IPS utility.

Sweet Home is an adventure that still feels scary and creepy even when played by modern gamers. Its unique battles and thought provoking puzzles make it an exceptionally enjoyable RPG to explore. The deep story line, cut-scenes, and musical score enhance the adventure and the overall experience. With 5 possible endings and NES era classic fun, Sweet Home is a RPG that you should not miss out on. For these reasons I am recommending it!

English Translation Patch:

by Gaijin Productions, Suicidal Translations

Genre: RPG
Type: Retail
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: December 15, 1989
System: NES
Translation by: Gaijin Productions, Suicidal Translations
Translation Patch Release Date: June 15, 2000

If you enjoyed this weeks edition of GBAtemp Recommends! please leave a comment in the thread. This helps us monitor feedback and ensures we keep posting these magazine articles in the future.

Official GBAtemp Recommends! Mini-Page & History

 

[Sicklyboy]

Thanks for the recommend. Downloading the ROM and the patch, gonna check this out.

I know that the NES could only do so much as far as graphics and visuals go, but this game has a very Mother-esque look to it (schlupi would probably kill me for comparing anything to it lol). And I'm not saying that in a bad way - I tried (but have yet to finish) Mother, but I do quite enjoy the gameplay style and visual style of the game. I wonder how long this game was in development, Mother was released July 27, 1989 in Japan.

I digress though, thanks again!

 

[BigLord]

5 brave soles? That sounds like an interesting game indeed!

... then again, after reading all of it, it DOES sound interesting when you read the entire text. Here's a question: do you think it will work on nesDS?

 

[Another World]

it worked on the original nesDS that loopy released. it should work on the updated build, and with that build you can use the ips soft-patching.

-another world