Princes, Frogs, and Bells that Toll
Back in the early ’90s Nintendo’s dominance of the handheld market went practically unchallenged. Sega’s Game Gear barely put up a fight while Nintendo gave us entries from popular franchises like Super Mario Land and Metroid. With that kind of success, you’d think they’d be willing to take a few chances by localizing all their titles, but in 1992 Nintendo released Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, or For the Frog the Bell Tolls — a title that never made its way overseas. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Thankfully, some dedicated fans have decided to take it upon themselves to localize the game for you. It may be nearly two decades old, but this old gem might be worth firing up your favorite emulator to play. Developed by the same team that brought us Metroid II and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, For the Frog the Bell Tolls is an action-adventure title with a twist. You play the role of young prince charged with finding the frogs that inhabit a Kingdom and delivering an important message while attempting to save a princess from peril. The game’s humorously-scripted and has some fantastic music, so it’s sure to be at least somewhat entertaining. You can download the patch for the game here, though you’ll have to obtain your own rom and emulator to play it with. If you’d rather just watch the video above, you’ll get a pretty good idea of how the game plays.
n-sider via destructoid
Tim is a pro-blogger and freelance writer out of San Diego, California. In addition to Fanboy.com, several outlets he’s written for include the Japanese culture and entertainment blog, Japanator, and the collectible toy culture site Tomopop. For more information, follow him on twitter, or check out TimSheehy.com.