On vacation

Did you know that Flicky was originally going to be called Flippy until US distributor Bally/Midway found that someone else had already trademarked that name? It’s true! Here’s the original art for the instruction card, as drawn by designer Yoshiki Kawasaki — who, for some reason, moved to Sega’s sales/PR department in the late ’80s and still works there as of 2007.

Anyway, I’m roadtripping this weekend so I’ll be back next week, when some of the following things will happen:

• I will talk about Gaia no Monshō and Makyō Densetsu (aka The Legendary Axe)
• The long-awaited Chapter 4 of The Phantom of Akihabara will be uploaded
• I will write a thorough analysis including video examples of how to play Puyo Puyo competently and make your friends wish you were a rotting dead person
• I finally start discussing the ZX Spectrum and put more people to sleep

Stay tuned!