Is JastUSA somehow related to JAST

Visual Novel Community Visual Novel Talk
#1

I suppose only a [color=red]red name[/color] could answer this - but I wanted to ask.

I was on a 2chan related chat, trying to determine what was the oldest eroge with twins in it (might be Love Score from Kiya Tsuushouin back in 1984 for the PC88) - and the discussion brought up a title by a company called JAST… now of course that suddenly rang a bell in my head.

Is there any relation between JAST (???) and JastUSA. Was the company name inspired by them? Or is that just a coincidence?

For that matter… what does JAST stand for anyways? :stuck_out_tongue:

#2

I was under the impression JAST USA was something JAST might have started and Peter Payne took it over or something… although it’s hard to tell. Was ten.ko.sei the only JAST title to be released by JAST USA?

#3

Ancient history lesson:

Jast USA was one of the first eroge localization companies. It was run by Peter Payne (also owner of JList, etc. etc.).

Yes, there was an affiliation between Jast USA and JAST. Jast USA was … I don’t know the exact details, so I dunno if it was a proper subsidiary or what. But Jast USA was to Jast, as Peach Princess is to Crowd and Will. Jast USA released a lot of old games - Seasons of the Sakura, Three Sisters Story, and Runaway City - that were localizations of games made by Jast.

After awhile, Jast went under. (The founder and president died of a heart attack, I seem to recall.) So Jast USA was left without any new games. They were forced to recode an entirely new engine for Transfer Student because they had the data and the rights, but the engine couldn’t be worked on by a non-existent company anymore.

So then Peter went out and convinced Crowd and Will to work with him. He couldn’t use the name Jast USA though. So he opened a new division named Peach Princess and mostly retired Jast USA.

Recently he’s reorganized and put things mainly under Jast USA again. But yes, JAST and Jast USA were connected in the past.

Unfortunately I don’t have the Japanese names of a lot of old Jast USA titles, but if you looked them up, I’m pretty sure you’d find Seasons of the Sakura and 3 Sister’s Story (in their Japanese titles) on the list of old JAST games.

#4

Thanks for the info!

So that only leaves me with one question… what’s the meaning behind the name JAST? :o

#5

Hahahaha, you’re showing your age, Nande!

#6

I wasn’t quite around when Jast USA was still in business, but I WAS around almost at the start of Peach Princess. They more or less told us that’s what happened. If you went back to the very old Peach Princess newsletters (if they’re archived on the board; they might not have gone back and reposted the ones from before they started archiving on the bbs) you’d probably find mention of Jast USA.

#7

nande got most of the stuff correct, although i believe the president of jastusa passed away from cancer not heart attack

as to why peter still bothered keeping the jast name even though there are no more jast-branded games to release…he said that the name jastusa has been around so long he wants to keep it since more people are aware of jastusa as supposed to some new name which will take time to register among fans (peapri for example)

note that when we approach japanese companies nowadays we do not use call us representatives of “jastusa”, we use another entity name but i wont get into that

so all in all, as it is currently now “jastusa” is simply a decades-long brand name here in the west that most of the fans are familiar with

#8

Season of the Sakura : Sakura no Kisetsu (???)
Runaway City : Meisou Toshi (???)
3 Sisters’ Story : San Shimai (???)
Transfer Student : Tenshitachi no Gogo ~Tenkousei~ (??? ???)

Nocturnal Illusion : Mugen Yasoukyoku (???)
May Club : May Club or May Club DX (???)

For the Fairy Series (the Milky House’s Titles) they have the exact same name in japanese and i don’t know their name in Kanji.

#9

Well, I noted when I was looking up the brand that tenkousei was the only one under the JAST label I recognised (I’ve heard of a couple of the others, but they weren’t released under JAST but rather subbrands like Parsley). The others I haven’t played, except ??? bizarrely enough

#10

These titles were not released originally by Jast USA. RCY America originally released Nocturnal Illusion and May Club. They did not really last very long, I think that may be the only two titles they ever released.

I think the Fairy Nights games were released by Hobibox Europe? It was either them or Milky House.

In any case, the titles in the Milky House Collection were (so far as I know) essentially license rescued. I did find this reference: http://www.peterpayne.net/1998_08_30_archive.html which intimated that RCY America’s games were different from Jast USA’s games (insofar as they don’t seem to be part of a sale on Jast USA products).

Milky House was just another one of those companies that started up, released only a few titles, then folded.

#11

No.Hobibox Europe only released 2 Viper Title (i have them, with their box and all) and another crappy title.

#12

I suppose you don’t have that one.

#13

I had them once upon a time. I think I threw them out. Some of the really old games I got rid of because I didn’t think I’d ever want to replay them. I also had one of the Viper titles.

#14

I searched in the Eroge Box Corner, and i have all the Viper from Hobibox (even the one with some CG, artbook, Manga and a crappy 2D Shoot’em up) and another one.(Not Ace of Spade 2, the other one)

#15

i hope peter gets crowd to work with them on 3 methods or x-change a2