Gamasutra
September 25, 1998
Vol. 2: Issue 38
Crypt of MGTs Past
Japanese Titles: Besting the West?
[09.11.98]
Arcade King: Sega
"*ega." I'm sure all of you have heard quite enough of that particular four letter word over the past few months. But the big news of the JAMMA Show was again the returning masters themselves, Sega.
It should probably be pointed out that they were always one of the leaders in the coin-op field, but one of the key problems with their Model 3 technology (powering coin-ops like Virtua Fighter 3 and Lost World) was its price. It was simply priced much too expensively for many smaller arcades, both in Japan and elsewhere in the world.
Therefore, the announcement of Sega's low-budget Naomi board was the big event at JAMMA. It should cost only a quarter of the price of Model 3, and up to 15 internally-developed titles are promised by Sega in the first year, including several titles already playable at the show - House Of The Dead 2, anybody?
Sega's coin-op games have been easily its strongest products over the past couple of years, and this coin-op dominance is continuing. Predictably, with this announcement coming so close to the launch of the Dreamcast, the Naomi, Sega's arcade platform, is very closely linked to the Dreamcast. It runs with very similar Hitachi processors and PowerVR 2 graphics chips, although obviously it uses ROM boards for heavy-duty arcade use as opposed to CD-ROM drives, which still seem out of favour in an arcade environment (having said this, Capcom's CPS3 has dual ROM and CD-ROM use for games such as Street Fighter 3, and the Naomi has an optional CD-ROM add-on.)
All of these arcade games produced by Sega for the Naomi will be a cinch to convert to the Dreamcast . In fact, there'll be just about no conversion needed. This seems to me almost the first time in the history of computer games that a console has come out at the same spec as state-of-the-art arcade technology. (The Saturn managed to spawn the ST-V board, but only for a minority of titles such as Athlete Kings, and somewhat after the launch of the Saturn at that.) The Naomi even has slots for the Dreamcast VMS (memory cards).
It'll be interesting to see whether Sega will try releasing arcade games at a similar time in the home and in arcades. If so, would this dent arcade sales or would people be more keen to go to arcades and show off their gaming knowledge? An intriguing question.
As many of you may know, Sega have officially announced Sega Rally 2 (with at least twice as many tracks) and Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle (with extra modes and networking options) as Dreamcast launch titles, so it's plain that, for now, they're sticking to their past 'greatest hits'. But who knows what's in store for the future?
It was always presumed that Sega would have the time and inclination to make their best arcade games available on their next console, whatever the correlation between arcade and home hardware. But the announcement of third parties developing Naomi games has had even greater implications for Dreamcast support.
Considering at least 15 third parties already signed up (including Tecmo with the Dead or Alive sequel and Capcom with, no doubt, some brain-smacking 3D fighters.) What does this mean? If we look at Dead Or Alive (a good example), it came out in the arcades on Sega's Model2 board and people were verily impressed by the bouncing bosom technology it showed. It was converted to a version for the obviously out-of-shape Saturn, and then to a much superior Playstation version that's really impressive, even if it took a lot longer to come out. But with Dead Or Alive 2, it would be available to go straight onto the Dreamcast with none of the months/years of converting normally needed for home conversion.
Of course, arcade titles aren't everything, especially now-a-days when a lot of console owners aren't arcade-going kids. But a good spectacular 'arcade' game is what a lot of people buy consoles for, and it's clear that the Dreamcast is going to have a big headstart over its competitors in that field.
Show News
So, onto the news for the rest of the show - what were the trends, info, and surprises? Well, as mentioned in the previous issue, Arika's Fighting Layer was unveiled, and very cute it looked too. One of the best features was a combo naming system, whereby the player can include their own names if they invent special moves to finish off their opponent. So that'll be a "h0l fighting crab spin super finish", then? :) The title is still very much in the Street Fighter idiom, though - and why not?
Namco featured a couple of cute new Jap-centric titles that have already been on worldwide test, and both feature 'NamCam'. The machine takes a picture of your face and it features it in the game! Gunmen Wars and Race On (mech game and driving game respectively) both use more simplistic play mechanics and graphics to make a game that appeals more to the novelty audience than the hardcore gamer. It appears that Namco and other manufacturers are increasingly splitting their development to make games for both those who wander into arcades for a bit of fun and for those whom arcades are a second home.
Poised wonderfully between the two is Namco's continuing flagship, Ridge Racer Pt 4, not shown extensively at the show but previewed elsewhere with screenshots and press releases. 300 different variations of cars, 8 courses, and reliably gorgeous graphics mean that the series looks to continue in style. I especially like the way the history of Namco games is shown to the cognoscenti in the Pacman and Digdug paint schemes. With the relative failure of Konami's Racing Jam, Sega and Namco are the two big duelists in the straight Gran Turismo-style arcade racer world . It's difficult to tell who's nudging ahead right now.
Capcom showed off Tech Romance, a new 3D mecha beat-em-up that was looking better even than Plasma Sword, and also a massive team-up - Tetris meets Disney with Magical Tetris Challenge featuring Mickey. Cute graphics and characters in a Super Puzzle Fighter style will probably appeal to the female audience the same way titles such as Puzzle Bobble seem to reach the female audience in Japanese arcades. It seems a canny move by Capcom, continuing the success of Super Puzzle Fighter along a different avenue.
Return of Parappa
Konami's big success of the past few months has been Beatmania, a DJ-ing game in a wicked custom cabinet sadly not really seen in many places outside Japan. The forthcoming Playstation version should make it accessible in the West though, and it'll be interesting to see how it goes down as an import - with a custom controller! So they were showcasing number 3 in the series, plus a couple of other similar slightly Parappa-esque music titles, Pop 'n Music and a control with your feet game Dance Revolution!. Sega's Mogu Rapper attempts to board the very same bandwagon as it happens, showing that novelty titles like this are going down very well in Japan right now.
In a similar example of crazy popular trends, Taito demonstrated Densha De Go! 2, the sequel to their mindboggling but mindbogglingly successful Japanese arcade game where the player controls a train, stopping at the correct signals and in stations. For our Western minds, this seems, well, bonkers, but considering the Playstation version was in the Top 10 for some time and there's even a custom Playstation controller with train levers for the title, it's not surprising that other manufacturers are following their lead. Namco's Attack Pura-Rail is its attempt to cash in on this unlikely genre!
Finally, a brief wander around the details of the Sega titles is also in order - Star Wars Trilogy Arcade was there. The Model 3 technology plus George Lucas' classic vehicles and characters were enough to make anyone faint dead away. Admitted, the Star Wars game done by Sega 4 or 5 years back was a little pedestrian, but this time Sega's in-house team AM8 (formerly known as AM Annex) were promising Death Star dogfights and speeder battles, all in a custom cabinet with a force feedback joystick! Very promising indeed.
Watch out for Spike Out
Spike Out, already previewed in the Western press, looks great, with a lot of Virtua Fighter-looking moves and animations in a Fighting Force style 3D beat-em-up environment. Sega's Die Hard Arcade (also called Dynamite Deka) kicked ass with this style a couple of years back, and with even better graphics and some unique link-up features, Spike Out could bring the scrolling beat-em-up slap bang back into fashion again.
Naomi-wise, House Of The Dead 2 was only 70 percent complete, but was looking spectacular, with new city-style settings. Since the House Of The Dead movie is now in the works, (being directed by Bob Dylan's son, of all people!), Sega obviously figure they have a franchise going on, since they also announced Blood Bullet, in the same style as Spike-Out, a 3D scrolling fighter.
That was how things lined up for the JAMMA show - an impressive, invigorating set of products which actually bode pretty well for the future, despite the economic downturn in Japan. Let's just hope all the manufacturers sell enough copies of these great titles to keep in business! [Thanks to next-generation, gamespot, intensepsx and retokyo for extra information towards this article!]
Simon Carless is a game designer/team leader at a UK games developer. He has previously contributed to a number of UK computer magazines, and was the co-editor of www.videogamedesign.com. His game credits include design on PC and Playstation titles for (amongst others) Eidos and GT Interactive. In his spare time he runs the virtual music label mono211, and he can be contacted at h0l@mono211.com.