Mirrors (PC-88) Playthrough [English] - NintendoComplete
180A playthrough of Soft Studio Wing's 1990 horror-themed adventure game for the NEC PC-8801, Mirrors.
Mirrors was one of just two games ever released on CD for the PC88, running from the PC Engine's CD-ROM2 (the Japanese equivalent of the TurboGrafx-CD) that could be attached to a computer with the appropriate interface. For more information, I'd recommend checking out Basement Brothers' entertaining and highly informative look at the game at https://youtu.be/8jeRrOA9un8
Since the game and its FM-Towns port were both only released in Japan, in this video I'm playing a version that has been fan-translated into English by Nebulous Translations. If you'd like to learn more about the translation, check it out at https://nebulous.group/index.php/projects/translations/mirrors/ On that page you'll also find a download link for the patched game, which comes complete with a pre-configured emulator.
Being that this is an 8-bit computer game running from a 1x CD drive and using 5.25" floppies as RAM disks, the loading times are awful. I've edited them out for the sake of watchability, but I did leave in one, at 3:25, to give a general idea of the speed of the game on original hardware. You can jump to 4:55 to skip it, if you like.
Mirrors is a Japanese-style adventure game, so the focus is on the plot - there are no puzzles to speak of here. There are several points where the story branches out based on certain dialog choices, and there are seven different endings.
I've shown a few of the possible paths in this video. After the game ends, I go back to choose different options than I did the first time around and let them play out to their own unique endings.
4:25:48 Alternate path 1
4:55:07 Path 2
5:55:14 Path 3
Mirrors tells the story of the fictional English band Eleno Vision (basically Depeche Mode) who are about to begin their first international tour. David, the lead singer, has been having terrible nightmares, and the night before the band leaves on tour, he dreams that their manager has been violently murdered. The following morning he wakes to the news reporting that their manager had actually been killed, and it's not long before he starts questioning his own sanity.
The story is interesting and the game is good at keeping you hooked despite some of its more absurd twists. For how modest its hardware is, the PC88 puts on quite a show with the game's digitized photos, animated sequences, voice samples, and CD soundtrack. The platform's limitations add quite a bit to the atmosphere - the tinted monochrome images and the muffled audio loops are surprisingly effective at creating the nightmarish tone that dominates the latter part of the game.
Mirrors is slow paced and features little in the way of meaningful player interaction, but it tells an entertaining story that feels perfect for Halloween. If you enjoy Japanese-style adventures or the old "choose your own adevnture" books, give it a look!
For more Halloween/horror-themed games, be sure to check out my playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3gSj_kh1fHuN8U3j4lnYxDOPIpgoQNv3
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!