I still remember that when I was in junior high school, I saved my lunch money and bought a pirated GBA cassette from a street stall. The cover said "Martial Arts RPG Collection", but the game crashed halfway through the game. 😂 At that time, who cares about genuine and pirated copies? Being able to play is a treasure. I saved up money to buy cassettes and traded games with my classmates. Thinking about those days still makes my blood boil.
Recently, I found a stand-alone martial arts mobile game called "Rumo Jianghu" on my mobile phone. I originally thought it was old wine in a new bottle, but when I played it - hey, isn't this the same flavor as "Jianghu Fengyunlu" back then? Moreover, it is an orthodox sequel, free to download, no in-app purchases, and a truly conscientious work. The developer, Beijing Luoting Technology Co., Ltd., I think it works, they understand us old players.
Talking about the game itself, the painting style is Chinese style and pixelated, a bit like "The Legend of Heroes" on my old PSP, but the details are more delicate. The dialogue in the plot is humorous and the characters have distinct personalities. For example, the chatty beggar you meet at the beginning makes you want to slap him and find it funny at the same time. The key is that it solves the most annoying problems of pirated cassettes back then - being unable to change jobs, wasting followers, and getting stuck in levels and retraining. In this game, you can change jobs and rebuild, you can climb the Babel Tower infinitely, and there is also a home and servant system, which gives you a full sense of belonging. And there are several free followers, so you don't have to worry about cultivating the wrong character.
Compared with the pirated cassettes of the past, many games broke down halfway through playing, or the plot was cut off due to cassette capacity issues. Now "Rumo Jianghu" runs smoothly on mobile phones, and can be played with system 4.4 or above. I tried the Android emulator, and the experience is similar to the original handheld game, but it lacks the ritual of inserting the cassette and waiting for the disk to be read. But think about it, at that time, several classmates gathered around a GBA, taking turns operating it, and paying money when they died. Now, playing alone while lying on the bed is another kind of freedom.
Youth is like a pirated cassette. Although it is not perfect, each one is engraved with memories. If you also miss the "bulk CDs" you bought with pocket money in those years, you might as well try this work, you will find the excitement of secretly leveling under the desk 🎮❤️