Shimaden: Legends of the Japanese Games Industry

A blog about one man's journey from England to Japan, the video games that inspired him to visit, and the curiosity that spurred him to stay, seeking out the legends behind those games and the secrets of their creation.

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Zero 4 Champ / ゼロ4チャンプ (PCE) - Media Rings 1991/3/8

Working the Jam with Zero Yon

I stumbled upon the Zero 4 (Yon) Champ series thanks to the cheat pullout that came with theJune '92 edition of Gekkan PC Engine 1 . Of course, then all I could do was decipher was the game's title (I only knew Katakana 2 at the time) and marvel at the pixelated nudity that one of the cheats revealed. That, and puzzle over how nudity had been shoehorned into a car racing game.

A free 35 page cheat supplement given away with the June '92 edition of Gekkan PC Engine

Pixelated nudity was pretty standard on the PC Engine

It wasn't until the 3rd game in the series, Zero Yon Champ RR, that I had the chance to take it for a spin. Going in I had no information on the game other than memories of pixelated breasts and fast cars, but given this was a Nintendo platform, I was only expecting the latter.

Despite the title, Zero Yon Champ basically boils down to an adventure game with racing tacked on. The former is very simple, centering around the main character's attempts to woo beautiful women on the road to the Zero Yon championship. As such, any scenario present consists of a linear, light-comedy vehicle to further the player's race track exploits, with turn key events unlocking more advanced races. For the import gamer, these can be skipped through with little consequence. The races then, must be where the game shines through?

Track Side

The races, as it turns out, are little more than one on one drag affairs carried out over a straight, 400m track. The victor is the first across the line and the only available controls are the pedals and gear shift. So whereas mastery of well-executed gear changes will shave several seconds off your time, the majority of victories are decided in the garage before any race begins. Careful selection from the various cars and parts becomes as essential as which armour or weapon you should purchase in a more traditional RPG.

Zero 4 Champ (PCE)

Unlike an RPG though, your choices in what goes under the hood transfer over to your race results in a very easy to understand fashion and tuning your car to perfection then roaring past your opponent with perfect gear changes is very satisfying. The latter games in the series really make the most of sampled sound effects here to add to the experience.

Zero 4 Champ RR (SFC)

Bachelor's Pad

The central hub for all the games is the hero's apartment and depending on the which one you're playing you can access everything from the ranked and local Zero 4 races, your garage, the tuning shop, the city map, and toggle various items on and off. You can even change the music in your room by switching CDs in your stereo.

Even the console under the TV can be turned on to access a puzzle game (Z4 RR/SFC)

So the game basically centres around racing, winning then funneling your prize money into new cars and parts, rinse, repeat and a little reading (or skipping!) through the adventure parts in between, right? Wrong.

Mini?! Games

One of the other traditions of the Zero 4 series are the part time jobs you can do to earn money. As the story centres around a young man with no career, you have a variety of jobs you can perform to earn money. These boil down to a collection of mini games ranging from car valet (sokoban), taking dogs for walks, mahjong and security work (a dungeon RPG). Though some of these are merely a nice diversion, others offer the volume and playability of a standalone title.

Courier, Dog Walker and more

Being a courier entails you delivering packages around a top view map of the city while avoiding other vehicles and keeping an eye on the time. Dog walking is, well, pretty much what it sounds like. RR featured a car valeting mini-game which was basically a sliding puzzle and RRZ has a murder-mystery board game, simple 3rd person shooting and an arcade puzzle game to boot.

Get the specified car out of the car park in as short a time as possible

A promo video for part 2 showing off the chicken chucking game

Security Guard Quest

The most regularly occuring of all the jobs, this started out as a first person dungeon crawler where you had to go from room to room as a nightwatchman. To complete the assignment, every room had to be checked on the floor/in the building. All in all a simple affair, really.

Minmal interface, using the joypad and Button I to interact

Part 2 expands on the interface, with a few additions (stats, floor map etc), but it is the SFC itterations where this mini-game comes into its own: Each floor of the building/dungeon is presented in a top down view, with a map showing which parts have been explored. Once you have walked every inch of a floor, the map is saved (similar to Etrian Odyssey) and you get paid a bonus. Of course, there are a variety of enemies who will do their best to stop you and defetaing them provides another source of income.

Combat is presented in a 3/4 view, a la Breath of Fire

To combat the various foes, up to 2 party members can be taken with you and various equipment can be looted from treasure chests scattered throught the building to strengthen your intrepid band of guards (not sure your employer would be happy with your lightfingered antics though). RRZ, the fourth game, takes this one step further, with a second, much larger dungeon appearing after completing the first and a plot about evil demons taking over the world.

Only the second floor you need to negotiate of seventeen (RRZ Super Guide)

Mahjong & Pachinko

Mahjong first appeared in RR and pachinko was brought in for RRZ. Both are competent representations of their real-world counterparts and more than enough to provide a diversion from the racing if needed and playing them provides items which help with the main game.

The Luminous Road machine features a story and battles culminating in a boss fight!

Under the hood

So where did this series come from? The director, Yutaka Kaminaga was working in TV and radio until entering a competition to appear on a TV programme in 1988 where the winners would work with Yuji Horii 3 to prepare a game concept. Kaminaga based his on his then passion: Zero 4 racing and the first game in the series was born.

The publisher was Media Rings, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Plastics (involved in the PC Engine's hardware development alongside NEC and Hudson). By all accounts, Zero 4 was their biggest hit, with the first game being re-issued on HuCard (hence the variant packages) and subsequent sequels appearing on multiple platforms. It was also the first game to feature official licenses from the likes of Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Honda, allowing for real model names and accurate specs.

The finish line

The series is like a cross between Gran Turismo and GTA, but given its inherently Japanese nature, was doomed to remain in Japan meaning the only choice if you're interested is an import. The core racing game and all important security guard quest can be played without much understanding of Japanese, so if you're looking for something different, give it a try.

Gekkan PC Engine or Monthly PC Engine was a Shogakkan-published PCE magazine running from 1988 to 1992. ↩︎

Katakana is one of the three syllabaries of Japanese, most often used for words non-Japanese in origin Wikipedia ↩︎

Hori Yuji of Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior fame. ↩︎

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Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 2 / 川のぬし釣り2 (SFC) - Pack in Video 1995/4/28

Catching the River King

Back in the days before google and YouTube, information on the undiscovered games of Japan was via magazines, word of mouth or pure happenstance. On this occasion it was the recommendation of a friend who was also fond of the weird and wonderful and when he told me of a fishing RPG I had no choice but to seek it out.

Given that I started looking with nothing more than the information above, it was a miracle that I found the game, and it wasn't until years later that I actually learned its title, refering to it until then as 'the fishing RPG.'

Kawa no Nushi Tsuri (lit. fishing for the river boss) or simply "River King" as Natsume crowned it in the US, is a unique game series, even for Japan. Summarising it as a fishing RPG is perhaps the best description as it encompasses most key tenets of an early JRPG: villages populated by quest-giving NPCs, shops to buy supplies from, an inn to save in and a top view map, complete with random encounters.

The similarites end here though. Rather than loot-packed dungeons, bosses and world-ending events, the player must traverse the Japanese countryside via a top-down map in search of fishing spots rich with trout and bass, all the while fending off the local wildlife. That's right, no battling orcs or goblins here, just mice, snakes and bears, and with your bare hands too. Battles are played out via a timing-based mini game, all presented in a windowed layout common to the other myriad Dragon Quest clones of the time. Damage dealt is chiefly decided by timing and remaining stamina and given that stamina is worn down not only by being attacked, but also by wading and swimming, its management becomes essential. All too often the trek back to the inn with your prized catch becomes a battle for survival right down to the wire. This means feeding the animals with your supplies or catch is often better than fighting them. However, this strategy can prove counter-productive because it leads to more encounters as the animal regards you as friendly!

However, the real centerpiece in this unique game is, of course, the fishing. As with any RPG, equipment choice (rod, line, hook, bait) plays a key role in the outcome, but timing will determine whether you'll reel a catch in or not. After casting off and waiting for the fish to show an interest in the bait, a well timed button push sees the screen switch from the overhead map to a detailed cut away view of the water, depicting your struggle with the fish. It's easy to see where the memory went in this game: the fish are all represented individually and as accurately as the Super Famicom could handle with background graphics matching the location to boot. Being successful here relies on well chosen tackle, but also means learning when to reel in and when to hold back. This process of trial and error, along with learning each fish's behaviour means a successful catch is often an elating experience.

Sounds of the River

Another standout element of the series, which only really came to the fore with the PC Engine remake of the Famicom hit, is the sound. The PCE version utlised the CD-ROM unit to play samples of real rivers, birds and other related sounds, providing an unmatched atmosphere which took the edge off the game's steep initial learning curve.

Victor-released Super Natural Sounds provided the samples for the PCE version

I've never been fishing, but I like to imagine this relaxational element is as essential to real fishing as making a successful catch is. Katsuhiro Hayashi1 's music serves a similar purpose, creating a very laid back atmosphere through a heavy use of traditional Japanese instruments and composition styles during the overhead map section, leaving the samples as the only backing during the actual fishing.

One facet of JRPGs given a back seat in Nushi Tsuri is the scenario: although each of the four characters have different motives for catching the eponymous River King, the influence on how the game plays out is very minimal and only really changes the text in the intro and ending. Of course, for some, this is a blessing, and I found between exploring the maps, fishing and solving the very basic quests provided more than adequate entertainment.

Asides from the obvious, one of the most unique features of Nushi Tsuri 2 is the ability to send postcards to other players. Being as this is pre-internet, the cards can only be sent to other save files on the same cartridge, but when sharing the game with a friend this little touch is quite endearing. Each area features a different postcard, and anything can be written from a friendly challenge to helpful information.

Fishing in Japanese

However, all this is lost without an abilty to play and given the official English releases only encompassed the GameBoy versions, for any budding Super Famicom import players, the Japanese presents quite an obstacle. So to help out, here is a quick guide.

The Status Menu

渓流（けいりゅう） = Current Location (in this case 'mountain stream') 体力（たいりょく） = Stamina お金（おかね） = Money 経験（けいけん） = Experience

The Command Menu

命令（めいれい） = Command List 釣り（つり） = Fish (action) 移動（いどう） = Move (from fishing spot) エサ（えさ） = Bait 釣具（つりぐ） = Fishing Tackle 食事（しょくじ） = Meal/Eat 道具（どうぐ） = Items びく（びく） = Creel

Shops etc

魚屋（さかなや） = Fishmongers 宿屋（やどや） = Inn 釣具屋（つりぐや） = Fishing Tackle Shop 郵便ポスト（ゆうびんぽすと） = Post Box (send postcards) お地蔵さま（おじぞうさま） = Buddha Statue2 (save game) 立て札（たてふだ） = Signpost (tournament results etc)

Reeling it in

There is a lot more to the game than reading the menus though: finding where each fish lives, working out how to catch them using the various tackle provided and getting them back safely without being brutally killed by the wildlife, but as the producer said "we hope to provide a sandbox-experience where you can cultivate an interest in nature just as much as enjoying the fishing"3 so I will leave that up to anyone looking to take the plunge.

Questions via comments or Twitter are welcome.

Katsuhiro Hayashi is an ex-Sega composer who worked on several titles as a freelance contractor for Pack in Video Wikipedia ↩︎

Ojizo-sama are a common sight in Japan, thought of as a protective diety Wikipedia ↩︎

Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 2 Super Guidebook Amazon.jp ↩︎

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Atomic Robo Kid Special/アトミックロボキッド (PCE) - UPL 1990/1/19

It was Atomic Robo Kid that first brought UPL to my attention. I’d heard of the title either through the MD version (outsourced development and by all accounts, lacklustre) or a review of the PCE version in C&VG and was enthalled by the cute, yet steampunk-esque main character. Needless to say, it went on my wanted list and when I found an importer with stock, I promptly picked it up and enjoyed it thoroughly. YouTube

The game is not without faults: the difficulty can be unforgiving at times, but the variety of enemies, each bursting with as much personality as a robot can have, huge bosses and AI-controlled battles with rival robo-kids kept me coming back until it was finished. The system is easy to pick up, part in thanks to its arcade roots (re-arranged exclusively for the PCE), but also thanks to game design by the gifted Tsutomu Fujisawa.

Before the internet, information on import games was sparse and I relied on magazines (mainly C&VG/Mean Machines) and the various UK-based importers 1, with word of mouth via a few trusted friends. This given, brand was a major decision maker for me, especially as many PC Engine games were never reviewed or even mentioned, so track record was often key to my purchase decisions. Having enjoyed Robo Kid so much, it was only logical to buy Gomola Speed when it came out.

Gomola Speed/ゴモラスピード (PCE) - UPL 1990/09/28

UPL didn’t let me down; the first page of the manual suggests foregoing reading it and instead diving straight in [see photo above]. Not blessed with the ability to read this, or indeed anything else Japanese at the time, I leafed through, admiring the Fujisawa character designs and promptly booted the game. It was another UPL hit: simple to grasp gameplay, classic cute bio-mechanical art with Mechano Associates 2 penned tunes to accompany the arcade action. You take control of a mechanical snake head in its quest to rejoin with its bodyparts, scattered through a series of mazes. Various enemies block your path, but can be disposed of by stunning them with a bomb, then encircling them with your body. They weren’t joking when they said it was simple. YouTube

Bioship Paladin/宇宙戦艦ゴモラ (MD) - UPL 1991/9/30

My final sojourn into UPL’s game catalog came on the Megadrive. It was my brother’s console, so I’m not sure how he came to purchase Space Battleship Gomola/Bioship Paladin, but I have a feeling we went halves on it. Or perhaps I just persuaded him, based on the previous two titles. ARK and GS are uniquely personal experiences due to their single player nature, but SBG offered simultaneous 2 player coop play, so my memories center on completing it one Christmas Eve with my brother.

A side scrolling shooter, SBG has the player piloting a bio ship which grows larger with each power up, making dodging enemy fire and ships increasingly difficult. It also sports a cross hair targeted weapon though, which can destroy bullets and target specific enemies and evens the odds. This is where the 2 player comes into its own: aside from the normal 2 ships on screen, a second mode is offered where player 1 controls the ship and 2 handles the crosshair; it’s here that the game came alive as a coop shooting game. Battling against hordes of alien ships and bosses in a single ship is a unique experience and one which I recommend trying. Unfortunately, this was to be UPL’s last foray into the home market. YouTube

UPL 198? ~ March 1992

Which brings us to the crux of this article; UPL the company. Or more importantly their most prolific game designer; Tsutomu Fujisawa. UPL were founded as a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment (currently Aruze), a major Japanese manufacturer of Pachinko and Slot machines. Originally called Universal Play Land; the name was changed to UPL in 1984. They were based in Oyama, Tochigi-ken, but the UPL we are interested was a sales office for that company, located in Tokyo. They apparently handled game development, while their HQ worked on Pachinko and other machines (crane games etc). They went bankrupt in 1992.

They were primarily an arcade game developer, and though many of their titles were ported to the Famicom, this was usually through a third party (NMK, Teichiku, Treco etc). Only Robo Kid and Gomola Speed were created in house. But what many of their games shared was a distinctive character design and pallete which began with Mutant Night and became strikingly apparent with Atomic Robo-Kid. This style was carried over to Gomola Speed and Bioship, and it’s this style that I fell for.

His trademark was like a Geiger and Fukio Mitsuji collaboration with some steam punk thrown in. It features recurring characters too; the most common being Mutron-kun, the star of Mutant Night, but Ninja-kun from Ninja Kid turns up too, as does a Bub/Bob-esque dinosaur. When I got involved in the games industry in Japan, one of the first people I wanted to meet was Fujisawa, so you can imagine the shock I felt when I learnt he had passed away. He had lived just 38 short years.

I’ve been meaning to write something about him since I learnt of his passing nearly 10 years ago, so it’s fitting that now, with a bigger project in mind, an ode to him is how I begin my writing in earnest. In his 7 years at UPL, he worked on at least 13 titles, the earlier ones as programmer, designer and artist all rolled into one. He even created the sound at times. And yet, in the English speaking world, he is virtually unknown. When mentioned, it is only in brief, and no note is given to his passing away.

The Japanese industry lost some of their most prolific stars in the 90s at very young ages; Mitsuji, Hirasawa, Mori and Fujisawa to name but a few, and it’s only fitting that with an opportunity to bring their work, and hopefully their influence to light I do just that.

To be continued…

Console Concepts, Raven Games, Whizkids being the main culprits ↩

Mechano Associates were a group of musicians working on games, TV and film. They had close ties with UPL and later worked on Grandia with Game Arts. ↩

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Slapstick Challenge Book/スラップスティック公式チャレンジブック Enix 1994/8/8

Takebayashi Reiko (T)1 Game design & scenario. She created the world of Slapstick through her constant selfishness (great ideas?!) which threw the team into constant turmoil!

Kita Shigemi (K)2 Game program. A craftsman of a programmer who works in silence and with great speed. Rumoured to be a robot for his ability to work for 20 hours a day.

Hashimoto Masaya3 President of Quintet, Inc. As supervisor for Slapstick, he kept his eye on the staff, making sure they didn't go too overboard.

Message from the Developers

The game is finally complete,so let me jump straight in and ask you what you all worked on.

T) I was responsible for game design and scenario.

K) I handled the programming

How long did development take?

T) It’s been 3 years since we came up with the original concept, but actual development time was more like one and a half years.

The core concept of the hero being an inventor is very interesting; where did the inspiration for it come from?

T) The idea was born from the desire to make a game where the player created something and then went on to nurture it. This in turn led to the inventor/robot idea. The original system was actually based on the concept that the hero would invent robots with varied abilities and these robots would then help the townspeople with their daily lives. The player would then gain experience based on how the people rated the help they received. The idea that the town would be saved by an army of bad guys4 from this original concept was expanded upon and eventually became the game you see now.

I see. Where did you struggle the most in development?

T) Not being able to think of any compelling ideas for the scenario and the development dragging on (I think I gained a few grey hairs).

K) This was the first time I developed a game so pretty much everything was tough going. Rethinking the battle system several times meant having to re-code it each time so that was the biggest struggle.

OK, so how about the most enjoyable part?

T) That would be the mini events. I slipped them in while the other members weren't looking! That was definitely the most fun.

K) For me it would be the coding the command program, which was used to generate events and algorithms, because it was comparatively easy to write.

Despite the hardships, is there anything in particular you want the player to see: a certain message or event?

T) I'm quite fond of the event that takes you to Rococo in the past so I’d like players to look out for the subtle changes that occur when they return to the present after their trip. Also, be on the look out for a certain place that can only be accessed with the Cyberjack5.

K) Please search for Robot K6 (the invisibility isn't a bug!).

Is there anything you’d like to say to the players in parting?

T) I'm confident that every player will be able to find their own way to enjoy the game; from the setting of special attacks to combining items. I hope you enjoy becoming a resident of Rococo Town and have fun with the various ways the game can be played in.

K) Some of the weapons come with a special effect, so please use them wisely. Also, some of the robots’ battle commands are very effective so please have fun experimenting with combinations of the two.

Translated from pages 110-111.

Middle row, first from left. ↩︎

Front row, second from left. ↩︎

Middle row, second from left. ↩︎

The Hackers are modelled after the Shockers from Kamen Rider/Masked Rider, where they are often referred to as 悪の軍団 / an army of bad guys/evil; it's possible the original concept had them as the hero's allies. ↩︎

In reference to the developer's room which can be accessed via your father's computer. ↩︎

K for Kita. Located in Snow Mt. and invisible without the Chameleon Glasses. ↩︎

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Slapstick/スラップスティック (SFC) - Enix 1994/07/08

Often overshadowed by Quintet's 'Soul trilogy'1, Slapstick, or Robotrek as it was know in North America, is a quirky RPG which is not without its flaws. Certainly, when compared to the high standard set by the above mentioned titles, or Actraiser, Slapstick falls short in several areas. The combat tends to be drawn out and for the NA release, the localisation was lacking in quality.

However, for a JRPG with such a small world map, the number of secrets, hidden surprises and attention to detail crammed into this game push it into the upper echelons of SFC gaming and certainly make it worth a look for Quintet fans.

The key staff here are Reiko Takebayashi (scenario & game design) and Shigemi Kita (main programmer). For the latter, this was his first experience at game development, but the former was ex-Falcom, and had worked as a scenario writer on several titles there before joining her colleagues at Quintet. Both would go on to work together on Tenchi Souzou/Terranigma before leaving Quintet, and it is interesting to note the thematic similarities at work here, and indeed in many of Quintet's SFC titles.

It should also be noted that the anime 発明ボイカニパン/Inventor Boy Kanipan shares many similarities with Slapstick and both the PS1 and Saturn versions share key staff with Slapstick, which may explain the link.

It's also worth touching on the score by Ayako Yoda, produced, as one would expect, by Ancient's Yuzo Koshiro. In fitting with the game's tone and title, the score is suitably comedic and although the track titles were dumbed down for the English release, the music retains its quality. Yoda seems to have only worked on a handful of games, all with Koshiro, before departing Japan to work as a classical musician.

Soulblazer, Legend of Gaia, Terranigma. Linked more in theme than any actual ongoing story elements. ↩︎

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All About Shin Samurai Spirits ALL ABOUT新サムライスピリッツ下巻  Denpa Shinbunsha 1995/2/25

Page 29-30 - Kuroko's official background story

Two men stand, facing one another. The first, with dishevelled hair, focusses on his opponent, his sword his sword in the overhead position. The other, dressed like a Zen priest, holding a blade that has drawn the blood of many an adversary. 

Between them stands a man garbed in black. Despite the air of menace present, he calmly looks at both their faces before tightly grasping his red and white flags.

"Let the the first bout..."

Crossing his two flags overhead, he takes a small vertical jump and swings them down simultaneously upon landing. 

"...begin"

With a shout, the man with the dishevelled hair swings his sword with all his might.

I see his style is unchanged; simple and to the point

Kakiiin! A crisp noise rings out as the attack is repelled. The setting sun reflects off the blade, giving off a brief flash of light. The man in Zen priest get up is on the offensive now; his blade slices through the air towards his foe. "Whoah" The dishevelled man steps aside at the last moment.

Few men could dodge an attack from that stance. I should expect no less of Haohmaru. Which reminds me, I wonder how Nicotine is?

Kakiin! Kan! Zing! Crang! Again the two blades clash, sparks fill the evening air and are this time accompanied by freshly spilt blood from the two combatants. The white flag shoots up once, followed by the red, twice. Even while deep in thought, the black-garbed man's arms move, almost with a life of their own.

Both men are highly skilled; watching them... It's been some time since I've felt the urge to fight myself

"Doryagh!" The dishevelled man strikes, once again putting his full weight behind it. The Zen priest steps aside just in time, almost as if he knew the attack was coming, and swings his own blade down, pommel first, at his foe.

"Argh!" Blood jets from the dishevelled man, as if it were a wild animal trying to escape it's captivity.

He left his guard open. It appears as if this duel is at an end.

The red flag goes up. Haohmaru crouches in pain; his hand over the open wound and the man in the Zen priest get up raises his sword and moves in for the kill.

An opening presents itself.

Gakiiin! The high pitched scream of blade on blade wails out and is accompanied by a blinding white flash. Hoahmaru seeing the opening, deflects the Zen priest styled man's death blow.

What on earth?!

"Kogetsuzan!" Haohmaru's blade draws a smooth arc and with it unleashes a single, deadly blow. The man in Zen priest garb takes the full brunt and is sent flying backwards to lie limply on the floor.

"Victory!" The white flag shoots up. Only Haohmaru could take advantage of an opening that fleeting

Bringing both flags down to his waist, the man in black throws a handful of confetti once, then twice and feels his emotions reach boiling point. "Congratulations, Haohmaru" The man senses his grip on the flags tightening.

It seems I am not suited to merely judging these duels A smile crosses the man's lips. Now I know what must be done

In one swift and silent move, the man in back darts in front of the parting Haohmaru and, looking gleefully into his confused eyes, says the words he has been unable to utter until now: "So very talented, I'm impressed. Please, allow me the pleasure of a match with you". END

NB: Although the English versions don't translate it, Kuroko's pre/post match lines are all references to medicine/operations, and it is hinted at he is a doctor of some form. 

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All About Shin Samurai Spirits ALL ABOUT新サムライスピリッツ下巻  Denpa Shinbunsha 1995/2/25

The main reason for hunting down this two decade old strategy guide was for research on the book I'm currently writing. Specifically, the interview with the development team and the background information, including rough sketches, of the new characters introduced in this sequel to one of my favourite SNK games; Samurai Spirits.

Shin Samurai Spirits is the follow-up to SNK's 1993 arcade hit, Samurai Spirits, going into circulation a mere year after the first instalment's release. In western markets, it is known as Samurai Showdown 2, making the sequel aspect clear, but the Japanese naming Shin, or True, shows the thinking behind the game's development and what they were hoping to achieve here.  In fact, as mentioned in the guide's interview, the team's aim was to include more 'entertainment' in an effort to expand the user base past the core fans that had made the first game a minor success.

So what were these entertainment aspects then? Well, there were three main elements; firstly a high profile TV advert with two big-name Japanese stars. Next up were product tie ups such as the inclusion of a super deformation move for every character, turning them into a likeness of the key links offered in SNK's Neo Carnival machines at the time, and Haohmaru and Nakoruru's super moves, which were an a tie-up to the TV anime (the instructions for Haohmaru's being hidden in the anime!). This marketing backup was vital to SSS as the prequel only received a publicity push from SNK post launch, probably as it was not considered likely to take off.

However, it is the third element that holds most interest; that of the theme of parody. This theme was carried over from one of the team's previous titles: Nam 1975, the Cabal-esque game ripe with Vietnam film references, and SSS is much the same. From Genan's background to Ukyo's ending, it is clear the director likes his cinema, but if there is one single focal point for this playful desire to entertain, it is surely Kuroko.

The Kuroko character design itself is a direct reference to the stagehands in Japanese Kabuki theatre who are 'invisible' thanks to their all-black garb. Their role in the SS series reflects this; match judges who allow the combatants to take centre stage, silently removing defeated warriors post battle. However one of them hides a past linked to Nicotine and his demon-hunting days.

Appearing as a bonus match, similar to, and likely inspired by the earlier appearance of Gouki/Akuma in SSFII Turbo, and later as a playable character in the Neo Geo CD port, Kuroko is sure to bring a smile to any SNK fan's face. His base animations are taken from Tung Fu Rue and his AC taunt from Ryo Sakazaki and the BD taunt being Mai Shiranui's, but the actual move list reads like a who's who of SNK games; from Junbei Yamada's Senbei Shuriken to Terry Bogard's Power Wave, John Crawley's Mega Smash and Cheng Sinzan's Bakuretsu Hou, and even Krauser's Blitz Ball (Garou Densetsu 2) and more. The one move not taken from other characters is the Bean Ball; a homage to the horror film Phantasm. Which leads us back to cinema references and Kuroko's stage with it's prominent plaque reading "REDRUM"; directly lifted from The Shining. The director suggests that there are "numerous other references" to be picked up from this stage, but apart from the excerpts from the Tibetan Book of the Dead I have yet to come across any.

When we return to this book, we will have a look at Kuroko's background story and character.

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Being as today marks the 30th anniversary of the NES/Famicom's Japanese launch, I thought I would provide a little background information courtesy of an interview with Uemura Masayuki, formerly of Nintendo.

Uemura and Takeda Genyo (the father of battery backup saving no less!), were sent to the CES ('80 or '82?) under the auspices of a general technology sight-seeing mission. It was some time later, when Yamauchi ordered him, out of the blue, to begin development of a "machine that would play arcade games on a home TV", that he realised the CES was actually a research mission. Nintendo had already made its first foray into the home gaming market with the 1977 released Terebi Game or Color TV Game, as it was known in the West. However, it wasn't until the 1981 release of Donkey Kong that they would find real success, and this is likely what inspired Yamauchi's request to Uemura and it was this very game which would be their benchmark in developing the Famicom.

Developing a machine of that calibre for home use would require designing a chip set which was up to the job, and Nintendo being Nintendo, didn't want to follow the pack so Uemura needed to create a new chip set. His first thought, being a former Sharp employee, was to ask his old company, but Yamauchi forbade him (likely in order to keep Sharp focussed on the then successful Game & Watch line).

Unable to find another firm able to help out, Uemura was at a loss; could this be the end for the Famicom? Of course not! Fate came a knocking in the form of Ricoh, who had developed some "cutting edge tech you may want to see". Uemura made his way over to there only to be greeted by the team that built the Color TV Game; they had joined Ricoh from Systech or Mitsubishi (likely the former, as it went bankrupt part way through development of the CTV).

A year later and the epoch making creation of the CPU RP2A03 and PPU 2CO2 was realised and Donkey Kong could finally be played at home! The rest, as they say, is history.

As a side note, it seems that NDAs and corporate secrets were not quite the same in the Japan of the 80s and Uemura's son had told all his friends about what his Dad's job was (well, you would, wouldn't you?). This resulted in Uemura being called on to do house-calls to repair Famicoms in his neighbourhood. What a great bloke!

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Dual Orb II/デュアルオーブII (SFC) - I'Max 1994/12/29

Dual Orb II is the second, and final, part of duo of RPGs both released on the Super Famicom and neither seeing official English release. Whereas the first was a bog-standard Dragon Quest type with some solid music being among its saving graces, the second is much better at endearing itself to users. Though not by much.

The music is still good, but very limited in scope; the battle theme is the *only* tune for battles in the game, so get used to it.

As for the game, it has a clichéd, but not unenjoyable plot and a penchant for quarter view battles, a la Breath of Fire. It also shares that title's excessive encounter rate. What it doesn't share is its Capcom cousin's menagerie of foes; the beasts you will encounter are few in number, but they do make up for this by being large and nicely animated.

Away from the main game, the shop features archaic controls, forcing you to buy each item individually, which is painful when stocking up on healing potions for dungeon delving. And then there's the odd, game-breaking inclusion of a  Sokoban-style puzzle mid-way through which blocks progress. It had me perplexed for several years until my dad solved it in a matter of minutes (cue smug grin).

Having said all that, the game holds a special place for me; the music, though limited, is great, and much it should be with an ex-Sunsoft member of Harada Nobuyuki's stature on board. And the graphics, particularly the aforementioned battle scenes, hold a unique charm.

Of course, upon finishing this game (which took around 5 years thanks to that puzzle), my interest switched to who developed it. No pseudonyms, but it took some time to discover that Kitaichi Koizumi, the director, is none other than the founder of Prism Kikaku, who took an all-star dev team (Batman, Blaster Master, Gremlins 2 etc) from Sunsoft when he set up shop. With the staff on hand, it makes one wonder whether Dual Orb II wasn't underfunded/developed on a tight schedule and thus unable to reach its true potential. 

Whatever the reasons, the developer would change their name shortly after the game's release to Nippon Ichi and given the timing, it is likely this was their final game as Prism. PS the fact that the assistant director is none other than Kotani Hiroyuki of Patapon fame, is just icing on this little-known cake.

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Super Fire Pro/スーパーファイヤープロレスリング (SFC) - 1991/12/20

The Fire Pro Wrestling series, of which Super Fire Pro is the inaugural SFC version, is very close to my heart and also historically significant in many ways.

Firstly, Fire Pro Wrestling - Combination Tag (PC Engine, 1989) represents the first game published by Human Entertainment, beginning a legacy which would span 15 years and start the careers of many well known Japanese game industry alumni. But Fire Pro's roots stretch deeper than this: Human, known as TRY Co., Ltd at the time, were actually the developers behind Nintendo’s Pro Wrestling; the second wrestling game on the NES and one of the most popular games in the genre at the time. And it was Masuda Masato who was the driving force there, as with Fire Pro. In fact, it was his frustration here, that drove Fire Pro in new directions.

The Fire Pro series was rich on industry first features; introducing a control method centred on timed presses, bringing skill to the forefront over pure button-mashing. Another innovative feature for 1989 was that of wrestlers bleeding after being hit with certain moves; something that WWF fans like myself could not get enough of. Then, of course, there was the referees who would get knocked out on occasion(allowing players to cheat however they liked in the interim), the commentators who reacted to the action and a camera man too. Add to this 4 player being a standard thanks to the PCE multitap and you had a sure fire winner.

The series went on to spawn 15 iterations across the PCE, SFC, MD, SS and PS1, with modem play being introduced via X-band on the SFC, and even Dreamcast and PS2 releases via Spike following Human’s bankruptcy in 1999. The series has in fact spanned over 15 years up to Fire Pro Returns on the PS2.

The book in the background of the photo above is written by none other than the creator of this classic series; Masuda Masato, who went on to be a lecturer on game design at Human Creative School and whose current status, post school closure, is unknown.

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Momotaro Densetsu Turbo/桃太郎伝説ターボー (PCE) - Hudson 1992/10/1

My first JRPG and the closest I ever came to playing Dragon Quest, which as it turns out, would have been a similar experience considering Sakuma Akira, director of the Momotaro series was shown how to put an RPG together by his friend Horii Yuji, the creator of the DQ franchise. Furthermore, it appears the battle system was lifted from DQ too! I ended up with this gem having purchased Momotaro Katsugeki (PCE) from the same importer (Console Concepts?) a few months prior. I called them up, as we did in the days before Google reigned supreme, to check the new releases only to learn of a new Peach Boy game in stock. I’d fallen in love with Doi Takayuki’s depiction of Momotaro and his three animal companions in Katsugeki, so this was a done deal.

When it arrived, I recall opening the box to find the manual was a giant fold out affair, packed with Doi’s wonderfully vibrant, colourful illustrations so couldn’t wait to get stuck into the game (I’d already finished Katsugeki at this point). I really enjoyed my first jaunt with a JRPG, despite the language barrier necessitating trial and error for everything from menu usage to combat.

I enjoyed it that is, until I needed to save…

Try that with zero ability in Japanese. On a 12” PAL television in super low quality. Without a smartphone/digital camera to help. Needless to say, I never knew whether I would be able restart my game, making every save point a lesson in fear and anxiety.

Still, that aside, this game was developed by an all star team; Sakuma and Doi for starters, with Masuda Shouji stepping in to manage the project and Sekiguchi Kazuyuki of Southern All Stars handling the music. Furthermore, none of them are originally game creators; it was the Famicom version of MomoDen (of which this PCE ver is an enhanced port), which found them shifting career paths to game development; surely a team worthy of interview.

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Ossu! Karatebu/押忍!!空手部 (SFC) - Culture Brain 1994/08/26

Youtube

I first chanced upon this when the tidal wave of fighting games that began with SF2 was beginning to lose momentum and I had already played everything I thought the Super Famicom had to offer.

The box art, based on a popular manga was appealing, the shots on the back looked great and even the setting (super-powered high school delinquents battling to the death) hit the spot.

The game itself is typical Culture Brain fighting fare: solid pixel art, a good variety of characters with interesting move sets and some innovations on the gameplay front too (in this case, one of the first examples of guard-countering), but as always, the frame rate prevents it from reaching the upper echelons of the genre.

The greatest shame is that I have no idea who developed this due to the use of pseudonyms for the majority of the staff. The music is credited to Miyabi Eiji, who appears in numerous other CB games of the time, and the Producer/Director/Game Designer is Akademiya Yumenosuke (CB’s president). The other key members appear, with the same pseudonyms, in other CB game credits which would explain the common vibe many of their games exude.

Omake: Press L, Left, Down, B, A, R at the title screen to access 2x hidden characters.

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There and Back Again

Could have sworn I’d already written something here, but must I suppose that must have been my sleep deprived imagination playing tricks on me. Since starting this Tumblr, my plan has been slowly coming to fruition (in fact the seeds had been prepared some time ago, but only sowed in late ‘12). I talked to the president of my company again and he displayed interest in helping, as did a very friendly N-san which would mean interviews with people from the formative years of S and C.

On top of that, I already have a commitment from the ever friendly A, who promised to introduce people from the golden age of Japanese game development. With my own initial short list of contacts at 30+, we already have a fair number of people, but I won’t be happy until I secure at least twice that. The aim is to pin down names well known in the West such as SH, OY, HY, etc as well as people such as SA, YH, KH who, whilst less well known, are of equal import to the history of the Japanese industry. In the meantime, the main obstacle to be overcome in this endeavour and also the answer to this riddle:

This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.

Until next time!