Dank Zine - Issue 81
Issue 81 is about people who finish things nobody thought would get finished. A horror sequel that was hidden away forever. A DOS game jam nobody knew they needed. And two MSX games that couldn't be more different from each other. Good issue.
Sad Cat Comix
Sad Cat is here. Sad Cat wants to play a very old game that was never released, but what else is new? Will she or won't she?
Feature Interview: The WINE Team on Dead of the Brain 2
After finishing the fan translation of Dead of the Brain 1, JackDBS wanted to go back to making Doom maps. CrookerWine, who translated the first game, swore off the sequel entirely. Then two years later, someone blinked. A Discord ping, a script dump, and the question "Is it actually that bad?" and suddenly the whole thing was back on the table. This is an interview with JackDBS, Geometrizer, Trentsignia, and FCandChill about the return to the Dead of the Brain corpse pile. They talk about waiting two years for a translator, a bug almost shipped a week before release, the final boss being named Jill regardless of apparent gender, and a Game Over sequence buried in the ROM that nobody has found the trigger for yet. (Annk is giving away a free PC-9821Ra43 to whoever figures it out. Probably.)
DOSember Game Jam: A Conversation with Emmfoolery
Every December, hundreds of streamers spend a month in DOS. In 2025, for the first time, there was also a game jam. Emmfoolery, who helped run DOSember community events including the Pizza Worm incident of 2024, talks about why she organized it, why there are no prizes and no voting, what RSD Game-Maker could do if more people tried it creatively, and why imperfection might be the most genuine quality a game can have. Good attitude. Good interview.
Weird New Hacks and Translations
Four patches for this issue. Illusion City for MSX Turbo R is the big one: a neon-drenched cyberpunk RPG set in future Hong Kong, finally in English. Farland Story FX is a turn-based fantasy RPG on the PC-FX, a console you mostly hear about in collector circles, now fully playable. Apple Town Monogatari: Little Computer People is a 1987 Famicom Disk System game from Square about watching a girl and her cat go about their day in a dollhouse, with no objectives, just atmosphere. Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut on SNES is a dialogue-heavy visual novel with detailed illustrations and corporate conspiracies that somehow works, now fully translated for the first time.
Please Don't Play This Game: Pippols (MSX, 1985)
In 1985, Konami was making Gradius and TwinBee, and also this. Pippols is a maze-based endurance test where you are trapped in five lanes of hedges while rodents crawl out of every direction to erase you. You can only shoot forward or backward. When you finally reach the Holy Gem, the game makes you drag it back home through everything you just survived, in reverse. The graphics are sweet. The music is chirpy. Together they form a trap. Dank-O-Meter: 4/10. MisterRadon says, "Love is a bullet, and this game's got great aim."
Please Play This Instead: Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu (MSX2, 1987)
Before Goemon was the blue-haired folk hero from the Super Famicom, he was a tiny chaos gremlin on the MSX2. A sneaky thief in wooden sandals who beat people up with a pipe and called it a living. Konami's MSX team didn't port the Famicom version; they rebuilt it from scratch with dozens of new maps and a two-player mode featuring the proto-Ebisumaru. There is a cheat code that is never explained and a personal thank-you message from Konami's PR rep hidden in the credits if you finish all 49 stages. Approach it like an archaeologist. 4 pipes out of 5.
3DO-roscopes by MisterRadon
Your horoscope assigned a 3DO game. Myst Libras are encouraged to take a pilgrimage to their own home. Wolfenstein 3D Aquariuses are told now is not the time for subtlety. Rise of the Robots, Tauruses are warned not to tell anyone their plans yet.
Dank Art
Art from AnnK, Goemonsama, Chuboh, and Maru, featuring Fuzzical Fighter, Zombie Hunter, Castlevania IV, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Daredevil, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, Castlevania Rondo of Blood, Elevator Action, Gigandes, Diamond Run, Thunder Jaws, Wurm, and more from the streams of Macaw45, LordBBH, Dnopls, Wolfmaster10, Sonneveld, and A_Maplemystery.