Net Yaroze part 6 - games on the internet part 1
A lot of Net Yaroze games never made it onto demo disks.
The next few parts will cover these forgotten games in no particular order.
Warning: most are Japanese made, so apologies if I don't understand what the hell is going on.
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Tomomi-Chan
Genre: Sports
Programmer: 'Dayon' Kazunari Ishida
Released: 13/12/1997
Tomomi-Chan, short for AI Fairy Tomomi-chan, is a game where you use the gymnast to dance to audio CDs.
/\ = arch back
[] = left arm swing
() = right arm swing
X = bend over. Dat ass
Moving around whilst touching the face buttons makes Tomomi-Chan flip, handstand, twirl, and spaz out.
Mashing buttons will make you flip and spin more than Jackie Chan.
There's no real scoring system and no real point of using audio CDs other than trying to dance in tune.
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3D Dragon Paster
Genre: 3D Action RPG
Developers: Soluze Developers (Toshiharu Araki was main programmer)
Released: 16/01/1997
3D Dragon Paster is a 3D action RPG that looks like someone cranked Dragon Quest through a 3D game maker.
The game starts up with an epileptically-spinning logo and piano music that sounds like a piece you would learn in piano practice.
You are a knight and must go somewhere and do something.
Along the way you are swarmed with ever-respawning green slimes.
You can stick around and level grind but it does take a while.
[] attacks with your sword.
X fires magic when you have MP.
You use MP so fast you will save that magic like it's a lifesaver... probably only to never use it.
What comes to mind is Adventure Game only flat land and no hills.
Actually this game reminds of a 3D version of Hydlide.
One odd thing about this game is the inconsistent framerate.
When not much is on screen the framerate climbs up, making you zoom across the ground.
The game seems all well and good but you are stuck and trapped within trees and water.
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Taisen STG
Genre: 2 player arcade
Programmer: Imo Yuki
Released: 1997
Taisen STG is a simple 2 player Yaroze version of Asteroids.
You both control a ship each and have to destroy asteroids to stay alive.
There is no points or progression system, just good ol' quarter-eating endurance.
You can collect 'BOM' powerups and use them with /\ but 'BOM' is actually a big laser burst.
Pressing () makes you move fast... usually right into things.
[] fires bigger lasers. Slower but more powerful.
Not much more to say about this.
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Old TV Game
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Takashi Ueno
Released: 22/06/1997
This game is basically a Pong clone. First to 15 wins.
This isn't just a standard Pong clone, it's one of those 'soccer' varieties.
The ball must get trough the gap in the walls.
The dotted line in the centre is solid.
The music is very familiar. I'll tell you what game it comes from: A Dog's Tale.
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Minic the Hedgehog
Genre: Platformer
Programmer: Kiyoshi Sakai
Released: 06/06/1997
Minic the Hedgehog is a port of a 1993 Sharp X68000 homebrew game.
Essentially it's Not-Sonic on PS1.
The is basically the same as Sonic the Hedgehog with some differences:
* Not-Sonic is red (to avoid copyright infringement
* the only level is 'FINAL ACT 1-1' even though the level itself is GREEN HILL ZONE 1-1
* the screen size is shrunk so it is only filling 50% of the screen. I guess the PS1 can't handle dat blast processing
* no music and barely any sound effects
* Sonic is slower and can't do his spinball boost
* sign at the end of the level doesn't spin or change
Sonic's speed is slower and as such the jumps are difficult and some are impossible.
This game is sadistic. I was forced to use savestates to beat it and even then it was tricky due to controls.
This game is only one level long. Due to the difficulty is a 20 hour game (just kidding).
Where are they now?:
Kiyoshi Sakai has done a couple of things since making this game.
He was one of the programmers of Ape Escape and recently was the main programmer of Yumi's Odd Oddysee.
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Le Collage
Genre: Action
Programmer: Cocotte
Released: 05/10/1997
Le Collage is a racing action game that makes no sense to me.
The intro cutscene is unreadable to my Western eyes.
As such I don't know what the story is, if there is any.
Then you're driving around as a grey cube. Eh, could be worse, it could be a Nissan March.
You drive around dirt roads with bends that remind me of a Ridge Racer course.
Driving is irksome at first.
How do you move the cube? X? Up? No, it's [].
Ever played a game where [] accelerates the vehicle? And I thought R2 was bad.
When you move about a strange tone is made, raising in pitch as your velocity climbs.
It makes me think that this mere cube is a futuristic vehicle running on cold fusion.
There are other cubes on the track; some racing, some driving in circles.
You can talk to them with (). I can tell from the kanji/kana that each cube say something different. Maybe I have to talk to these in a certain order?
The music is pleasant. It has that flair to it that makes me think of an anime intro.
It actually makes me think of Jet Jaguar. Oh god, all these Japanese games is making me a weeaboo.
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Earth Saves Our Love
Genre: Arcade
Programmer: Lowtec (Taro Kamon)
Released: 12/01/1997
Earth Saves Our Love is an arcade style game where you have to shoot satellites to protect the bottom of the screen.
You play as a stationary turret. You shoot with the face buttons.
Holding the button charges the shot.
The satellites bounce up when hit. A charged shot usually destroys them.
Destroying all the satellites clears the level.
Every next levels add one more satellite.
The music sounds like Crash Bandicoot music; the percussion part mainly.
The early version of this game different levels from what I've gathered.
The title also has an English subtitle. The later version puts this back in Japanese.
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Alien Looter
Genre: Shooter
Programmer: Ben James
Released: 28/05/1998
Alien Looter is a Space Invaders clone on PCP.
The action is thick and fast with lots of bullets shot down at you, shit flying around, it's a madhouse.
There is no pauses between waves; as soon as all the ships are destroy the next wave appears just like that.
There is no pause button. Pressing Select quits the game.
You need to marathon this one if you aim to get great heights.
The music is kind of good but it has a very awkward loop where it trips over itself.
This is a good game. I'm surprised it didn't make it onto demo disks.
Ben James also made Psychon, which did make it onto demo disks.
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Space Guy
Genre: Shooter
Programmer: Mario Perdue
Released: 1997
Space Guy is a simplistic POV space shooter made as a tutorial by Sony.
The 'goal' is to move the crosshairs and shoot UFOs.
It's hard because you can't move the ship, just the crosshairs.
The controls must have been made by aliens.
Up and Down move the crosshair up and down, but Left moves the crosshair right and Right moves the crosshair left.
Why is the controls X-inverted? I can understand Y-inverted, but horizontal? WTF.
The music is immediately recognizable: Terra Incognita theme.
They couldn't find more suitable music?
The timer is indicated by the shrinking coloured bar, also seen in Pandora's Box later on.
When it runs out it is game over.
There is no objective. There is no scoring, no points.
A boring title does beget a boring game.
Where are they now?:
Mario Perdue is a retired software developer.
His website: http://www.indyrockets.org
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Tetsujin
Genre: Shooter shmup
Programmer: 'Kame' Nahoisa Kame
Released: 09/08/1997
Tetsujin is a 2D shooter Yaroze port of Tatsujin/Truxton.
You boot the game up and you are thrust into the action. No title screen, no intro, just wham bam hello death.
() shoots your spread shot lasers.
X sets off a bomb, with a white smoke-like texture.
The music is great. Lovely melody.
I don't think this is in Tatsujin/Truxton but it might be.
Pressing the Start button crashes the game.
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Dance of Death
Genre: Beam 'em up
Programmer: Shigeaki Matsumoto
Released: 04/05/1998
Dance of Death, also known as Mortal Dance, is a 3D action beat 'em up. You play as a samurai with the goal of killing all the other samurai within six minutes.
There are 35 samurai to kill. Just a few can wreck you.
This is because they tend to surround you. You can only block in one direction.
X swings the sword to the right
() swings the sword to the left
[] swings the sword downward slowly
/\ swings the sword down fast
L1 makes you run when held
L2 makes you strafe 45 degrees clockwise
R2 makes you strafe 45 degrees counter-clockwise
R1 blocks
As mentioned you can only block in one direction. This isn't like God of War where holding the block button blocks all blockable attacks.
Under the health meter is a swing count meter.
You have six swings. Every swing tires you. When you reach 0 then you cannot attack anymore until you wait a bit.
So not only are you being surrounded and gangbanged by unblockable guys but you have a stamina limit. Great.
The music is a pretty nice drum tune but it is annoying in that it also sounds like it is about to expand into the proper melody but keeps holding back.
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The House of Hair Out
Genre: Shoot 'em Up
Programmers: Jeff Hannan (Tim Hannan did the art)
Released: 19/06/1998
The House Of Hair Out is a 3D shoot 'em up that looks like a cross between Wolfenstein 3D and Windows 3D Maze Screensaver.
The goal is to find the room with the symbol as fast as possible.
I wish I could tell more of this game but it has a nasty habit of crashing and hanging.
* on the title screen the game crashes. Hold the Start button as the game loads to bypass that
* spawning more than one cube with the [] button
* look down the hallway you start in - something in the room up the slope crashes the game
The readme file talks of guards, which are 'disguised' as cubes, which are slow but follow you relentlessly.
What a shame that I can't get to see the rest of this game.
Where are they now?:
Jeff Hannan has been a programmer for some games, most recently Guitar Hero Live.
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Famicom Emulator
Genre: Emulator
Programmers: Team Fatal
Released: 23/12/1997
Famicom Emulator is as the name suggests a Famicom emulator.
I've always had a thing for homebrew emulators inside games and consoles, like the ZX Spectrum emulator found in GoldenEye 64.
The Famicom comes bundled with Popeye, but two more can be selected via the Select button when the Famicom Emulator select screen is open: Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr.
I don't really need to go into detail about these classic games but my OCD says I'll at least cover them:
Popeye:
collect the hearts Olive Oyl lets out and avoid goddamn Bluto and his purple Hawaiian shirt.
Donkey Kong:
guide Jumpman up the top of the construction site, avoid barrels that Harambe tosses down, to get your girl Pauline, whom you'll drop once you encounter Princess Peach.
Donkey Kong Jr:
get Donkey Kong Jr to save his daddy from that bastard Mario.
If only you could upload your own ROMs. You probably could via haxing a menu in but eh too much effort.
There are more emulators to explore...
Team Fatal also made Terra Incognita, and Fatal Fantasy VII.
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The Comedian Adventure
Genre: Platformer
Programmer: Lowtec (Taro Kamon)
Developed in: 12 hours
Released: 05/05/1998
The Comedian Adventure is a platformer made for the Net Yarouzu Graduation Thesis contest.
The goal of the game is to get as high a score as possible.
You cannot move but jumping scrolls the screen towards you.
The game is easy to score on. The high score is 5000 but you can easily surpass 10,000 within the time limit.
I've seen that comedian before. I think I've seen this game before. Wasn't this shown on Game Center CX?
Turns out I was right: Game Center CX season 3 episode 1: Kato-chan and Ken-chan (J.J. & Jeff).
The title screen is based on the Indiana Jones title. Explains the colour at least.
When the time runs out a picture pops up. I have no idea what it means.
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There are still more internet-released Net Yaroze games to cover.
Click here to go to the next part, Internet Net Yaroze games part 2.
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