Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not neccessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. We hunger to ply our wicked trade. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Well, it was a tough decision. More than 120 applications for the Double Agent position were read. Including one person who laughed at our endless requirements for candidates, claiming we'd never, ever get any applicants. Well, we had some impressive entries, but in the end, we had to select the finest of the fine... ladies and gentlemen, meet Mr. Chris Jones, our newest Double Agent. I think this would be an excellent time to send Mr. Jones a welcome email, so he can get rolling on this whole column-writing thing.

However, there's one last bit of business to mop up - the answers to our Obscure RPG Quiz. Questions by yours truly, with answers supplied by myself and GIA pal J.T. Kaufman! Let's roll 'em!

1. Who is Koichi Sugiyama?

Composer of the Dragon Quest series.

2. Name three RPG development houses that do not publish their own titles.

Lots of answers possible here. Red Company, Contrail, Tri-Ace, Quintet, and so forth.

3. What game kicked off the 'endless, randomly-generated dungeon' craze in Japan?

Mysterious Dungeon by Chun Soft. It could be argued that the genre received a serious boost when they added the Dragon Quest license to the sequel, creating Taloon's Great Adventure, but MD gets the nod for now.

4. Name four projects that Yoshitaka Amano has worked on.

Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D, Sandman: Dream Hunters, Angel Egg, Front Mission, Kartia, and the list rolls on. Anyone who mentioned Gatchaman (aka G-Force) have earned themselves a cookie.

5. What was Live A Live?

It was a mid-90s Square RPG for the Super Famicom, composed of six different scenarios, with different character designers, in different time periods. A curious game.

6. What was Falcom's trademark RPG series?

Ys, of course. It's not their only successful series (Sorcerian, Dragon Slayer, and Xanadu did quite well), but Ys is still their trademark series. They even have a little superdeformed Adol on their letterhead. Seriously.

7. What was so odd about Phantasy Star III?

The fact that it sucked. And that it was set outside of the Algo system, unlike the other games. It allowed you to get married, and then play as your children. It had overhead dungeons, instead of the trademark PS first-person ones. Did I mention that it sucked?

8. Name the manufacturer of each system:

Playdia

Bandai.

Supergrafx

PC-FX

NEC.

Nomad

Sega - it was that portable Genesis that nobody bought.

Wonderswan

Bandai.

Neo Geo CD

SNK. It's scary how many people don't know this. Seriously.

9. What are the three most obscure American-released RPGs you can name?

There's no 'right answer' to this question. I just wanted to gauge what the applicants would consider to be an obscure title. My nominees were Lord of the Sword, Spike McFang, and lamest of the lame... PINBALL QUEST! Man, we've gotta Vault that sucker but soon.

10. Who was the developer of Shadow Madness, what was the history of that team, and what are they doing now?

It was developed by Craveyard, who were previously the members of Square USA who developed Secret of Evermore. Square disbanded the team, they founded Big Rain which underwent a name change to Craveyard, did Shadow Madness, and then got canned again, this time by Crave.

11. Name an RPG series with incarnations on both the NES and the Saturn.

I was thinking of Hydlide and Virtual Hydlide, respectively. Other options include Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Megami Tensei, and Columns. I believe it's in the UN Charter that all video game systems need to have a version of Columns available for them.

12. What is the significance of the Fire Emblem series?

It's probably the best thing Nintendo ever produced that was never released in the US. It's the first real strategy-RPG, and as such, it founded a lot of strat/RPG conventions, like generational gameplay, a lot of the clichˇs of how different units interact, and a million other things. Classic, classic stuff.

13. Name as many RPGs without medieval settings as you can.

I could list off a whole list of 'em (Fritz came up with 80-odd candidates), but hell, that's beside the point. The point of the question was to gauge how broad your knowledge of RPGs was. The more answers provided, the more impressed/frightened I became. If you really want to compile a definitive list, I'll be hanging around the GIA message boards for a few days, so if anyone is really interested, we can compile a list there.

14. Give the US title for each of the following Japanese games:

Rebus

Kartia.

Epica Stella

Vanguard Bandits.

Seiken Densetsu

Final Fantasy Adventure.

Nectaris

Military Madness. There was a recent-ish PSX rerelease using the original title, subtitled MM, which is an acceptable answer.

Slapstick

Robotrek.

Elnard

The 7th Saga. God help us all.

Lennus

Paladin's Quest.

Langrisser

Warsong, ported to the US by Treco. Langrisser has yet to be ported to the US with its name intact, which is a damn shame.

15. What kind of game is Koei best known for? For extra credit, name a straight RPG that they've produced.

They're best known for those insanely detailed, historically accurate, historical simulation/strategy games, such as Nobunga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. They've done a few 'straight' RPGs over the years, including Inindo: Way of the Ninja (SNES), Brandish (SNES) (Koei did a US release of it), Uncharted Waters (SNES), and Zill O'll (PSX).

Bonus question: what was remarkable about the game Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy?

It's remarkable that it was ever released by thinking human beings. Also, it was an unashamedly anime-styled game in the US at a time where developers hid that sort of thing. It had your heal by smoking. You slept with at least one woman every level. It had multiple gameplay styles. The graphics were remarkably awful. The hit detection was so shitty, you could occasionally dodge bullets by turning away from them just before they hit you. Awful game.

Bonus #2: where did Secret of Evermore composer Jeremy Soule end up?

He ended up doing the score for Total Ahnnihilation, and won an award for it. These days, he's into classical composing, which you can check out at jeremysoule.com. Nifty. So no, I'm afraid he didn't end up in Hell, much as many applicants hoped for as much.

And that's all she wrote, kids. Hope you had a good time, and one of these days, I might write up a REAL Obscure RPG Quiz. Perhaps an Test, or even an Exam. But for now, hie thee to your mail programs to break in the new Double Agent, and find me a copy of Pinball Quest if you're really daring. Ciao, cool cats.