iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Was researching and stumbled upon a 1981 arcade game by Nichibutsu titled Gomoku Narabe Renju which is also the title of a 1983 Famicom game by Nintendo. I have reason to believe that Nintendo may have taken heavy inspiration from the arcade game.

Title screen for the 1981 arcade game Gomoku Narabe Renju.

Title screen for the 1983 Famicom game Gomoku Narabe Renju.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 28/09/2026

I actually stopped by the other day while I was in the area and saw this in-person. Hope to see the store open soon!

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 28/09/2026

Had a conversation about the current state of emulators which spiraled into me trying LJN's Video Art in MAME. Even in emulation the controls are so bad you'd be lucky to draw anything coherent in it. Can't imagine the real hardware experience...

Roo the Kangaroo trapped in LJN Video Art. He is not happy.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 26/09/2026

So while I was cleaning up @famiwiki.net pages I stumbled onto the fact that there's two Taito published Famicom games that use the exact same product code. Dunno how this blunder happened but that means you'll get this disambiguation page if you look up the code. famiwiki.net/wiki/TFC-KR5...

famiwiki.net

TFC-KR5500

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 25/09/2026

Been a while since I've been able to buy more import games but I was nearby Book-Off today and managed to get a couple cartridges.

2 Game Boy cartridges and 2 Famicom cartridges.

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Reposted by Brenden

Video Game History Foundation @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Starting today, we're piloting Japanese magazines in our digital archive! We've spent the last few months upgrading our library infrastructure to support Japanese-language material, starting with the magazine Neo Geo Freak. Read the full blog post for more info: gamehistory.org/5k-magazines/

A two-page spread from Neo Geo Freak featuring Nakoruru from the game Samurai Shodown. All text is accurately highlighted on the page, including vertical writing being mapped vertically.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 22/09/2026

An unreleased Nintendo 64 game has been released today by Team Carrot. Kaminari no Gotoku: Choukousoku Igo by Seta is as you can guess from the screenshots a table Go game. This prototype build appears to be near final and can be fully played, as long as you have knowledge of Japanese and Go.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 21/09/2026

I have finished adding every LJN published NES game to @famiwiki.net which if you didn't know there were 26 games. Many of these were North American exclusive but some were released elsewhere including two getting Japanese Famicom releases. So here's all the NES box artworks. famiwiki.net/wiki/LJN

All 26 games published by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). These are North American box artworks.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 19/09/2026

So remember that Famicom panel I had planned? I finished up doing a rough version of it in VRChat with a small audience and it went okay. I'll probably need to take notes for each slide before I do this for real but I was able to talk about aspects of Nintendo and the Famicom from just my knowledge.

Donkey Kong arcade and Masayuki Uemura of Nintendo R&D2.

Top 10 best-selling Famicom games in Japan.

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Gaming Alexandria @gamingalexandria.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Even in 2026 there's still undumped games to release for the NES/Famicom. Bought a lot of Fukutake Studybox tapes awhile back and they'll be released soon!

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 18/09/2026

Some more "solo adventures" in VRChat.

Roo the Kangaroo conducting a Japanese train Densha de Go! style.

Roo the Kangaroo in a Japanese game center arcade playing Puyo Puyo Tsu.

Roo the Kangaroo watching a trailer for a Conan anime movie.

Roo the Kangaroo in real life. Yes this is a scan of a real place apparently.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 17/09/2026

Well this is a surprise! The GEMS Module Test Program for the Mega Drive/Genesis was dumped and released today by CartridgeCulture. It features music composed by David Javelosa, who uploaded footage of this demo back in 2019. It features music composed with the GEMS sound program.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 16/09/2026

A long while ago I was sent a copy of Doraemon UNO, which is a typical UNO card deck but themed with Doraemon characters. I had scanned both the cards and packaging but it took me until now to port it all over to Tabletop Simulator. Have fun! steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/...

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Sin Cama @sincama.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Thank you for the review! I agree with you on the Soundlink bit, even with our voices, something about it all coming together during gameplay feels so natural to me. Like it was always made to be played this way! (Also dang looks like you got a pretty high score!)

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 14/09/2026

I played Episode 1 of this fanmade English version of the Satellaview game and wow I now understand what SoundLink had to offer. This is a must play if you are into unique retro game experiences and for Mario fans that want to hear characters interact and affect the game as you play.

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Frank Cifaldi @frankcifaldi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This is a part of the game's second level that exists only for you to go watch the birds and enjoy some serenity. It has its own location and scrolls the rest of the level off screen so you're not interrupted, it's very intentional. It's absolutely wild to see something like this on the NES.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 11/09/2026

Today is a day we shall never forget. That's right Klonoa: Empire of Dreams allegedly released on this day 25 years ago. At least that's the date Nintendo uses in the NSO applet, but other sources claim it actually released on August 30, 2001. So which is it then?

North American box art for Klonoa: Empire of Dreams.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 09/09/2026

I went ahead and uploaded original hardware gameplay on YouTube if you are interested in seeing what this contains! www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AuU...

youtube.com

Project Dream (Unreleased) / SFC/SNES Gameplay (Original Hardware)

YouTube video by Bro3256

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Facts About Banjo-Kazooie @factsaboutbk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Someone claimed to have uploaded the SNES prototype of Project Dream that they had in their personal collection on Archive.org. This is footage by OlieGamerTV. We don't know if its authentic but it works.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 08/09/2026

Dunno why western box art for Zelda games in the 1990s had that gold background template so here's the Japanese box art for comparison.

Box art for Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Okarina aka The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64.

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Syncoplay Retro Gaming @syncoplay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

As my Beyond the NES Kickstarter wraps up in less than 24 hours, I want to thank a whole bunch of people who helped it succeed (see comments). I will forget people, but if I forget you PLEASE msg me. This wouldn't have happened without you all! www.kickstarter.com/projects/syn...

kickstarter.com

Beyond the NES: Rediscovering 8-bit on the Japanese Famicom

Discover the 8-bit games you missed. A curated, 300+ page player's guide to the Japanese Famicom library.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 07/09/2026

Just for the heck of it I watched this Japanese dubbed version mainly to compare with the English original. I'm obviously not the target audience for this dub but we'll see how it ends up performing.

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Play History @playhistory.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I'm sure people have been seeing this garbage pop into their feed recently. But if I recall correctly, the original video isn't even AI or misleading. Somebody made a cool oscilloscope version of Pong and it's been deliberately mislabeled.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 05/09/2026

Was poking around with keitai emulation and played some of the mobile phone versions of Famicom games Konami released in the 2000s. The version of Konami Wai Wai World is actually pretty interesting cause it changes 2 of the main 6 stages likely due to rights issues.

Konami Wai Wai World for the Famicom and in a keitai emulator.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 05/09/2026

Non-zero chance this happens by the way.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 04/09/2026

So I try to steer away from political talk on here cause that aint my cup of tea, but I am interested in video games and for some god forsaken reason there's now a page on a government website that features clones of popular video games including a Tetris clone... where you can't even clear lines?

The arcade page featuring 5 different games.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/arcade/

"Build The Wall" which is a clone of Tetris where you don't even clear lines.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 03/09/2026

I just learned that we are getting a new Konami Wai Wai World game... but of all things it is a Roblox clone mixed with Minecraft and Fortnite. Who is this for? The promotional material I've seen for it feels like it was AI generated but I'm just more confused as to why this was even made at all...

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 03/09/2026

I'm very familiar with how this game works and speedrunners have been tinkering with SMB1 for over a decade, so believe me when I say this is not the most insane glitch this game has to offer. Anyways I've known about this glitch for several years, for about as long as when I first played it.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 02/09/2026

Why is it whenever big video game leaks happen people start to coin them as either "gigaleak" or "teraleak" as if that's a sufficient description? Those terms are about as helpful as calling all early builds of games "betas" when said builds aren't even classified as such.

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Ryuto Setsujin @ryuto.quizmagic.academy · 31/08/2026

I worked on this game :) I did the charts for Euphoria from Rave Racer! This is a very technically impressive port so I'm really happy I was able to work on something so monumental

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Deni_iguess @deniiguess.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

i knew that pfp and name looked familiar! anyways tysm for playing it on hardware and also enjoying the work i put into it!! (i wish i knew how to word it better..)

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 31/08/2026

The Famicom and NES never had any rhythm games during their initial lifespans so it's nice to see when we get ones made in recent years. "Taiko NES" by Deni_iguess takes Taiko no Tatsujin and shoves it into the old Nintendo, very impressive work.

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Gaming Hell @sarahssowertty.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Hi, just saw this on TCRF's Discord, this may be of interest- a Vs. System flyer mentions a Vs. Helifighter releasing in Summer 1985, probably the same game? flyers.arcade-museum.com/videogames/s...

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 29/08/2026

Happy 1 year anniversary to the greatest find of my Famicom collecting journey. Still at home with all the other cartridges. @pinkgorillagames.com

Igo Meikan inside a case sitting on top of a Famicom.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 28/08/2026

I've been keeping a close eye on this situation since I contribute to this site frequency. Allegedly this ddos happened in response to tech bros getting blocked from the site while using scraper tools. They claim the site is being malicious but are also the ones disrupting both editors and readers.

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Frank Cifaldi @frankcifaldi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

For my fellow NES weirdos: a long chain of detective work just resulted in these basically-never-seen screenshots of the unreleased Magic of Scheherazade II being unearthed. It looks like more of the same, but there ain't nothing wrong with that. From The Super Famicom issue 1, for future reference!

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 27/08/2026

Gonna have to do more research on this but on the back label of most Nintendo manufactured cartridges contains a 6-digit code. It appears to be a production code for the cartridge shell though not for any specific releases as examples have been found of later releases with earlier codes.

A Famicom cartridge of 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong with the production code 830901 which translates to 1983 September 1
https://famiwiki.net/wiki/Family_Computer_Cassette

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 26/08/2026

Imagine running low on fuel in Japan so you turn to the nearest gas station and you just see this while turning in.

An EneJet gas station towered over the Nintendo Co., Ltd. building in Kyoto.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 25/08/2026

While streaming my process of cleaning dozens of Famicom cartridges I bumped into some rather interesting glitches when attempting to test them. First up is this cursed Soccer cartridge.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 25/08/2026

I will be going live in less than 2 hours to test over 100 Famicom cartridges. If you wanna watch the process feel free to tune in. youtube.com/live/rILVg2G...

youtube.com

Stream: Cleaning and testing 155 Famicom cartridges.

YouTube video by Bro3256

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 24/08/2026

GCCX is what I usually point to in how I define retro in terms of video games. Still feels surreal to see the ban lifted for PS3 and Wii... though hilariously no mention of the Xbox 360 but I assume that was also lifted.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 24/08/2026

That was a fun stream! Still crazy to see the hobby site I've worked hard on featured in printed pages of a book.

Screenshot of the live stream featuring FamiWiki.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 24/08/2026

There are a surprising amount of Famicom games that are based on MSX games specifically, like enough to where I'm kind of shocked this hasn't really been documented all that much. Anyways here's Konami's Ping Pong aka Smash Ping Pong for the Disk System.

Konami's Ping Pong for MSX on the left and Smash Ping Pong for the Famicom Disk System on the right.
https://famiwiki.net/wiki/Smash_Ping_Pong

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 22/08/2026

The package is expected to arrive in the next few days. Will be preparing to livestream it on YouTube. I have a personal channel which you can check out if you like. www.youtube.com/@Bro3256

youtube.com

Bro3256

The guy who owns a Famicom. This channel is primarily used for uploading gameplay footage which includes high scores and speedruns of video games.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 20/08/2026

I submitted a panel for @retrogamingexpo.bsky.social a while ago but unfortunately it got rejected, a bummer but I understand. It was basically going to be about slices of Nintendo Famicom history and trivia along with mentioning FamiWiki. I might consider presenting this elsewhere, who knows.

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 19/08/2026

It has occurred to me that I own every single blue Disk Fax game for the Famicom Disk System. Maybe I should attempt to go for a full set of Nintendo published FDS games...

All five blue Disk Fax games.
Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race
Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School
Golf: Japan Course
Golf: US Course

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Brenden @bro3256.com · 17/08/2026

This is sorta neat but I don't see a lot of these being sold. Most people will probably get a standard Analogue Pocket which is 240 bucks, though currently out of stock as of writing this. At least I'd rather support a company that at worst has unclear communication than the alternative.

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