Sharp electronic organizers with the IC card slot (Wizard OZ/IQ/PA/PI series)

[Akuji]

(03-30-2021 12:55 AM)Dave Britten Wrote:  The fourth one, Puzzle Daimeikyuu, looks like it's basically the same game as Pitman for Gameboy, also known as Catrap in the west. Both games appear to be published by Ask Kodansha, so that's probably not a coincidence.

https://ameblo.jp/showagamer/entry-12498262996.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smh-OC7YqxI

Yes, you're totally correct: the developer behind Catrap and The Great Puzzle Labirynth is the same person - Yutaka Isokawa: http://yutakaisokawa.com/web/sakuhin.html. He mentions on his website, that the total print run for this game IC card was 'about 5000 copies', which makes it quite uncommon. The Great Puzzle Labirynth is also one of the games which could have been localized published in the west quite easily since its UI is partly in English already:



As for ASK Kodansha, it published four IC cards for the Japanese Sharp organizers, three of which are games, including the only 'Dragon Quest-like' RPG for the platform - ポケットクエスト (Pocket Quest). Here're the screenshots with the gameplay:



Also, Dave, could you please help me identifying this card and its purpose (maybe, you can understand the meaning of the buttons' descriptions)? Unfortunately, I've got this card without a box and instruction manual, and the card was never listed in Sharp's IC card catalogs from what I know. But it's a genuine retail card and not based on a Basic/EPROM card from the looks of it.