|
|
 |
 |
 | | | | |
 |
|||
 |
||||||
 | | | | | |
|
 |
 |
||||
|
Japanese Arcade Titles Revealed at ATEI The ATEI show in London recently offered a chance for many people, including myself, to look at the latest Japanese arcade machines. And although there were plenty of exhibitors, including SNK showing off a new Hyper-Neo-Geo fighting game and Capcom with Jo-Jo’s Bizarre Adventure, it was Konami and Sega which really dominated proceedings. Konami’s stand was full of music-related titles, almost all retaining gameplay elements from its all-conquering Beatmania, the Parappa-style "press buttons in time to the music" title. The company showed off Beatmania 3rd Mix (4th Mix has been announced for the spring in Japan), a more cartoonish version of Beatmania that used colored circular buttons called Hyper Bishi Bashi, a game in which the player "plays" guitar called Guitar Freaks, and even a game where you step on floor pads to "dance" in time to the music called Dance Dance Revolution (which is currently the number one arcade title in Japan). To be fair, Konami didn’t exclusively focus on music-related games -- the arcade racer Thrill Drive had a nice emphasis on winding through traffic, and there was also an excellent basketball game.
The Naomi titles (using barely modified Dreamcast hardware) on Sega’s stand were a mixed bag, but probably the most interesting from my point of view. As I mentioned in previous columns, Naomi’s House Of The Dead 2 is excellent, although after repeated plays I think it loses out to Time Crisis 2 due to the fact that the former is much less skill-based and much more shock/memorization-based. As hinted in my last column, the HOTD-universe-based Zombie Zone is a poor title, with spectacular graphics but very confusing controls and cameras and uninspiring gameplay. On the other hand, Crazy Taxi was Naomi’s star of the show, with a gorgeous arcade-realistic San Francisco acting as a setting for the action. The player has to screech to a halt in a pre-defined area to pick up a customer, and then rush to wherever he or she wants to go, with the help of an on-screen arrow. It works somewhat like the Harley-Davidson Sega arcade machine, except that this title is actually fun. It may be a little quirky for the arcade crowds, but much like the weird Radikal Bikers, it could gain a sizable following just by the virtue of being different. Other highlights on the Sega stand included a great rubber-stamp machine co-designed with Data East. The player picks a background, has a picture of himself taken within the cabinet, and the picture is put on the rubber stamp in just 20 seconds. There was also a crazy neon-tube Ping-Pong game with a jukebox in it that was pretty much indescribable, but great fun. What I saw at ATEI indicates to me that the Japanese arcade industry is in reasonably good health, despite the recent Asian economic downturn. Another revelation that struck me is that many arcade game developers are using custom controller or other gimmicks to entice players. People have joysticks in their homes, so it’s the games that use more novel devices that tend to rake in the coins. The nice thing from a game designer’s point of view was that, in most cases, these games were good in their own right, and that the custom controllers had valid and clever uses (Namco’s Prop Cycle is one of the best examples of this). More
Dreamcast peripherals revealed As for what consumers think about it, I’ve heard some comments that the gun looks ugly, but I suspect it will look better with a VMS plugged into it. The Sega Saturn gun wasn’t the sturdiest in the world (which may indicate that Sega puts lower priority on this peripheral) , and living up to the reputation of the excellent GunCon on PlayStation will to be difficult. In other words, Sega should make every effort to make the Dreamcast gun a winner. The only fault with Sega Rally 2 appears to be that the standard Dreamcast controller doesn’t work too well with it. Are we seeing weaknesses Sega’s peripheral design emerging already? It’s probably a bit early to comment. At least the fishing controller looks excellent (despite its $50 price tag, even in Japan), and the recently released VGA box is getting rave reviews from many people. (For those who don’t know, the VGA box allows you to play Dreamcast games using a VGA monitor, and apparently makes all the games, especially Sonic Adventure, look much sharper.) I’m not clear how this VGA device fits into Sega’s overall strategy, however. Does the company expect consumers to buy VGA monitors especially for their Dreamcast, or is the company simply trying to accommodate those who already have PCs? A Dreamcast hard disc has already been announced, so with a keyboard, the Dreamcast would practically be a typical PC. It’s an interesting hybrid, but I wonder in which room Sega anticipates most will it reside. FF8
lauded by Japanese notorious trade magazine Golden
Treasure Zombie
investigator hits the slopes! The Japanese Top Ten
Taking a look at the best selling games in Japan currently, of note is the fact that the Nintendo beat-em-up, Smash Brothers, sold twice as many copies as any other title this week. It’s developed by HAL, the creators of Kirby, and, as I’ve mentioned in earlier columns, it’s a cute beat-em-up involving all the Nintendo characters (including Mario, Samus from Metroid, Fox McCloud, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Pokemon). I had a chance to check it out this week, and it’s beautifully done, with great graphics and special effects, and a stupendous real-time introduction sequence. It reminds me a little of Capcom’s Pocket Fighter, but it’s polygon-based and supports four players simultaneously. One of the challenges I think Smash Brothers will face in the West is that it’s based heavily on the Nintendo style -- cute rather than cutting-edge cool. I think this look is much more accepted in Japan where characters like Pokemon are major stars for games-buyers of all ages. On the other hand, Zelda uses a similar look, and that doesn’t appear to have affected its worldwide sales. Perhaps Nintendo’s (Disney-influenced?) wide appeal will help it succeed in the mass market. Number six on the list, Crash Bandicoot 3, has now sold a million copies in Japan alone since its launch in December. Time for Naughty Dog to break out the champagne, surely? I wonder whether Sony will try to force the issue and demand a fourth in the series. I wouldn’t be surprised to see two titles from the folks at Naughty Dog: a new Crash in development for the next Sony console, and something completely different to allow the designers to flex their creative muscle a little. This is, however, blatant speculation. Farther down the list at number eight, Street Fighter Zero 3 is well on its way to selling half a million copies on the PlayStation, and has just been announced for both the Saturn (using the 4MB expansion) and the Dreamcast. You can say what you like about the originality level of the Street Fighter series, but its playability and the enduring nature of its characters continues to make it a massive seller in Japan. Jump Around[01.29.99] New
Year, New Style? Simon Carless is a game designer/project director at a UK games developer. His game credits include design on PC and Playstation titles for (amongst others) Eidos and GT Interactive. He can be contacted at h0l@mono211.com. Simon would like to thank Magic Box, Re:Tokyo, Gamespot, FGNOnline, Core Magazine, and his other Japanese sources for the information that helps to write this column. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
News
Analysis 
Sega
had a deeper lineup of titles at the show. One of its anticipated titles,
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, was fun but not as great as I had
hoped. Another Sega game, Magical Truck Adventure, is a great Model
3 title that features mine-cart handles which players have to pump up
and down and a Time Crisis-style pedal that allows players driving
the cart to dodge or jump. The graphics are sharp, detailed, and arcade-stylized
in a beautiful way, and the gimmick is great. Unfortunately, this game
will almost certainly suffer from the problem arcade operators have had
with a lot of past Sega titles -- they’re very expensive to purchase.
The
first pictures of the Dreamcast peripherals have appeared since my last
column, and suffice it to say that there are some interesting choices
emerging for consumers. Especially intriguing is the decision to give
the Dreamcast gun a VMS (memory card) slot and a D-pad. It’s been pointed
out that the Puru-Puru (rumble) pack will be able to plug into this slot,
which means you can get rumble action with your Dreamcast joypad and then
plug it into your gun for feedback while playing House Of The Dead
2. Now, that’s an ingenious idea. As for the D-pad itself, it definitely
opens up new possibilities for games making use of both the gun and D-pad
at once, and, if nothing else, it’s very useful for menu selections.
