Dedicated Fansites - Or other interesting sites to share

[YTV In the 90s]

Some games, movies, TV shows etc have had some hyper dedicated fans over the years who made some nice looking detailed websites. I've always found these way comfier and fun to browse compared to an information driven wiki. As a result of the web being how it is now, a lot of them tend to be older too, if you have one to share, why not drop a link in this thread? Here's a few I know about.


Into the Labyrinth

Into the Labyrinth | An Etrian Odyssey Fan Site

When I first discovered the Etrian Odyssey series on DS and became a fan after playing 2 and 3, I needed information on EO's convoluted stats since its a genuinely hard game. This site was more or less a dedicated forum to EO, you do have to dig through forum posts for info, but its nice to see a dedicated community to such a good series.

Mr P's Castlevania Realm

Mr. P's Castlevania Realm - Last Updated: 2/8/20

A really cool animated Castlevania fansite with a presentation in the shape of Dracula's Castle. Lots of writeups, history, and images spread throughout.

Serene's Forest

Serenes Forest | A Fire Emblem Resource

A Fire Emblem fan site since 1st February 2005. This site was created to provide accurate and reliable information about the Fire Emblem series.

serenesforest.net

This is a Fire Emblem fansite I discovered recently after looking for info on the new Three Houses DLC. There's lots of older Fire Emblem here and it all seems to be catalogued nicely.

Castlevania Dungeon

Welcome to the Castlevania Dungeon

Another fansite dedicated to the Castlevania series, full of old artwork, detailed character bios, storyline and old magazine ads. It gives me strong Geocities vibes, more colorful than a wiki.

Distant Skies

Distant Skies - A Crystalis Fan Site

Your source for tips and information about the NES classic action RPG Crystalis.

distantskies.neocities.org

A work in progress fansite for the NES game Crystalis, I only ever played the GBC remake, but its still interesting to see. Hopefully this user continues his work.

 

[break these cuffs]

I haven't looked at, or even really thought about sites like this in ages, but the first that came to mind was MAHQ. I'm pretty sure it used to be MechaHQ when I visited it years ago, but I could be wrong. I always preferred them to wikis, but they went the way of the dinosaur long ago and I haven't cared about the kinds of things they catalog in while.

 

[sasazuka]

Here are a couple of non-Wikia/Fandom anime-specific fan site survivors from the 1990s and early 2000s that are still around today (without needing to go to Web.Archive.Org to read them):

Tomobiki-cho, the Urusei Yatsura Fan Site.

Schaft Enterprises - A Patlabor website.

Tenchi Muyo, No Need for a Homepage.

Eternal Sailor Moon.

It would seem that a lot of the best classic anime fan sites I remember, like Marc Hairston's Nadia fan page, have gone the Wikia/Fandom route since the last time I thought of checking. I mean, that's fine, as it's much easier and cheaper to start a Fandom page than it is to maintain a whole website on a dedicated server, but the downside of Fandom is that every Fandom site uses the same template and, as a result, they look exactly the same aside from the logo and background art. You don't get the unique flavor to each fan site like you did in the 1990s.

 

[MediocreMilt]

Used to be a fan of this Zelda site:

Zelda Dungeon

www.zeldadungeon.net

Full Disclosure: haven't really used it in a few years, don't know if it wound up getting pozzed

Also this Metroid site:

Metroid Recon

Read all about Metroid and bounty hunter Samus Aran. Learn game strategies with walkthroughs, bosses guides, power-up locations, secrets, tips and maps.

www.metroid.retropixel.net

which appears not to have been updated since 2017 and which is now broken in some places, but does still seem to have its old info on the games if you browse the site menu

 

[Bunny Tracks]

The most dedicated fansite I have ever seen was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer one called "the Bloody Board" that had virtually all of its nearly 40,000 posts made by a single person. Just one. It was just the site creator "jamie_marsters", posting and replying to herself for years.

There was basically no one else on that site until it was featured in this Cracked.com article, and was then flooded with users from 4chan, who subsequently spammed the site with porn and gore until the site creator shut it down.

 

[Oaat]

CosmoDNA has interesting commentaries and behind-the-scenes information for the old Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers anime.

Ourstarblazers.com/Cosmo DNA

Metroid Database was the #1 website for Metroid autism. I noticed that the site I remember is now called the "old_site" (the one linked,) and the new one looks completely terrible and confusing to navigate. IDK what's that all about.

Metroid Database

Since 1996, the Metroid Database has provided Metroid fans with manuals, reviews, walkthroughs, maps, artwork, and FAQs for each title, as well as news, fan works, utilities and a thriving forum community.

www.metroid-database.com

 

[YTV In the 90s]

Here are a couple of non-Wikia/Fandom anime-specific fan site survivors from the 1990s and early 2000s that are still around today (without needing to go to Web.Archive.Org to read them):

Tomobiki-cho, the Urusei Yatsura Fan Site.

Schaft Enterprises - A Patlabor website.

Tenchi Muyo, No Need for a Homepage.

Eternal Sailor Moon.

It would seem that a lot of the best classic anime fan sites I remember, like Marc Hairston's Nadia fan page, have gone the Wikia/Fandom route since the last time I thought of checking. I mean, that's fine, as it's much easier and cheaper to start a Fandom page than it is to maintain a whole website on a dedicated server, but the downside of Fandom is that every Fandom site uses the same template and, as a result, they look exactly the same aside from the logo and background art. You don't get the unique flavor to each fan site like you did in the 1990s.

I never considered that they all looked the same, thats probably why I find them so boring these days. These ones you shared are all very nice, I'm probably one of the few who hasn't seen Ranma or or the bulk of Inuyasha. I never knew the title for that Oni looking girl's anime, but I see gifs from it often on the Artzie music YT channel. I had no idea the same woman made all of those series, but I can definitely see the resemblence now. Will add these sites to my collection.

I haven't looked at, or even really thought about sites like this in ages, but the first that came to mind was MAHQ. I'm pretty sure it used to be MechaHQ when I visited it years ago,

I was never very into mecha save for a few things like gundam wing, but I grew up with some friends who really liked Mechwarrior and battletech which both seemed to have some really detailed and interesting lore. I bet there's some really good fansites out there for them both somewhere.

Used to be a fan of this Zelda site:

Zelda Dungeon

www.zeldadungeon.net

Full Disclosure: haven't really used it in a few years, don't know if it wound up getting pozzed

Also this Metroid site:

Metroid Recon

Read all about Metroid and bounty hunter Samus Aran. Learn game strategies with walkthroughs, bosses guides, power-up locations, secrets, tips and maps.

www.metroid.retropixel.net

which appears not to have been updated since 2017 and which is now broken in some places, but does still seem to have its old info on the games if you browse the site menu

I recall seeing Zelda dungeon at some point too, I only gave it a quick look just now and it seems to be structured like a walkthrough, but I can appreciate all the screenshots on the Link's awakening page. This however
https://www.metroid.retropixel.net/games/metroid2/manual/ is the good stuff. I love quality scans of old instruction manuals. They're all going to be ruined someday if we dont save them.

The most dedicated fansite I have ever seen was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer one called "the Bloody Board" that had virtually all of its nearly 40,000 posts made by a single person. Just one. It was just the site creator "jamie_marsters", posting and replying to herself for years.

There was basically no one else on that site until it was featured in this Cracked.com article, and was then flooded with users from 4chan, who subsequently spammed the site with porn and gore until the site creator shut it down.

I'm sure that article was worth ruining a veritible museum of madness eh? Its really interesting reading the posts of people from 15 years ago and how carefree or unafraid they were to embarass themselves. I dont think anyone ever expected to have their content read by more than a few hundred people, less still anyone who could ever bother them about it. Sometimes I like to browse old webrings that are just about untouched snapshots of people's lives at the time.

 

[Princess Peaches]

I’ve been trying to find any site that has ongoing discussion about the guitar hero games. I know that only nerds play them but the music in the games means a lot to me.

 

[Takodachi]

>needing a guide for EO

lol git gud casul, i bet u also play on picnic, real men play eo on day 1 and expert

 

[A Hot Potato]

>needing a guide for EO

lol git gud casul, i bet u also play on picnic, real men play eo on day 1 and expert

Real men also know how to fucking spell.

 

[Takodachi]

Real men also know how to fucking spell.

books r 4 nerds, i bet u also went to highschol

 

[Doughnut boy]

Dyk there's an entire site dedicated to the Jurassic Park toys Kenner made in the 90s?

http://jptoys.com/

 

[A Hot Potato]

books r 4 nerds, i bet u also went to highschol

Well, got me there.

 

[YTV In the 90s]

>needing a guide for EO

lol git gud casul, i bet u also play on picnic, real men play eo on day 1 and expert

I had to look up picnic, they didn't have that difficulty in the earlier games. The originals only really had normal and hard, later changed to casual and normal. I always play the default difficulties or the "how its meant to be played" kinda settings. At the time it was really hard to find any information on the functions or math behind stats. I wanted to know how much things like ATK and STR or VIT and DEF compared with each other.

 

[Lucifuga]

JUNKER HQ - Kojima/Lunar

Lacrima Castle - Dept. Heaven series

FireEmblemWoD - Primarily Spanish site