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Post by Ex on Oct 4, 2023 13:49:07 GMT -5
 In Japan there is a low budget gaming series known as "Simple": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_(video_game_series)gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Simple_series_video_games
The Simple series of games have appeared on:
Dreamcast
Game Boy Advance
Mobile phone
Nintendo DS
PlayStation
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5
PlayStation Vita
Wii
Wii U
Typically these are what you might call B-tier or C-tier games with limited budgets, but the low risk development cost allows targeting niche concepts and unusual genres. The biggest series that evolved from this franchise are Onechanbara and Earth Defense Force. Most of the Simple games did not get English localizations, but some did. Typically the English localizations occurred in Europe via the publisher 505 Game Street (now known as 505 Games). I have played loads of, and beaten a fair few, games in this line. But before I get into that, I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with this series? What's your opinion of it? Any favorites or recommendations?
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Oct 4, 2023 18:12:58 GMT -5
Looked at my shelves. I have three of these.
Qix Neo is okay if you like Qix. I... kind of do? Would rather just play Cacoma Knight in Bizyland.
Putter Golf is an okay golf game. Brutally mogged by things like Waialae Country Club on N64. Only worth checking out if you're balls deep (heh) into golf games like I am.
Bust-A-Move 4... I'm colorblind and can't do color-match stuff like this. Common Bone L. GameFAQs makes it look like it only became a "Simple" game upon reissue which is interesting.
I need to go deeper.
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Post by anayo on Oct 4, 2023 18:14:55 GMT -5
I will try to limit the amount of Simple Man™ jokes in this thread, but fair warning they will occur.
When I first saw this topic's title, that's what I thought this was going to be about. I am familiar with Onechanbara and Earth Defense Force. In fact, I know somebody who is totally obsessed with EDF. He buys every EDF game, every DLC, and will talk about the lore for as long as you let him. I always found this a little odd, since EDF is a low budget series. I'm generally against judging people for liking stuff, but to me it came across like somebody choosing Blinx the Cat as their all-time favorite video game. |
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Post by toei on Oct 4, 2023 18:37:40 GMT -5
I started exploring the Simple 2000 series on PS2 years ago and have played many of them. I know it was on other consoles too, but the PS1 and especially PS2 is where it really flourished - putting the Simple 2000 and Ultimate series together, it's around 150 games on the PS2 alone. This includes multiple subseries and even a crossover fighter. This is what makes Simple appealing to me - it's this whole universe of rough-around-the-edges budget games, in all genres. It even has a kind of mascot, an idol named Riho Futaba who appears in a bunch of those games, along with colleagues (and sometimes her little sister).
First, a lot of those games are, in fact, not great, even if they usually have some appeal. There are a number of minor gems and otherwise decent entries, and they're usually a little rough, causing them to also appear not great at first glance. The series was organized by D3 Publisher in Japan, but many different developers worked on it. I think the most prolific was Tamsoft, known in the PS1 days for Toshinden. The best to me was a dev called Vingt-Et-Un Systems (21 in French, though of course it's a Japanese company).
Like EX said, a lot of those games had official English-language budget releases in Europe through 505, Midas, and others. Many have the option to play in 60hz mode, but not all.
I've beaten those:
Adventures of Darwin* - There's a sim aspect as you control groups of cavemen and try to build up your civilization, but the core gameplay is almost Zelda-like action adventure as you explore lands, gather resources and fight enemies. Legit good game which actually came out in the US.
Deadly Strike - Old-fashioned fantasy weapon-based beat-'em-up that suffers from the PAL slowdown. Not horrible, but nothing special.
Eternal Quest - A really boring roguelike based on the Mystery Dungeon model. Literally every MD game is better.
Hard Knock High - A 3D fighter with an interesting story mode in which you conquer different high schools from a city map, with a little staring contest mini-game prior to the fights (something they took from the Kenka Banchou series). The gameplay has potential despite the simplified move roster, but the noticeable delay between input and action kills the fun. Wouldn't have played it if it weren't for the story mode (which seems to have inspired the excellent Karate Master: Knock Down Blow duo of indie games).
Police Chase Down - Beat this one a few months back, it's a 3D update on Taito's Chase HQ. You're a motorcycle cop, ramming into (and shooting at) enemy vehicles, either to protect a VIP or just eliminate a threat along a section of highway. Fun arcade-style game.
Sailor Suit and Maid Uniform - The only fan-translated Simple game, AFAIK. It's a level-based third-person shooter. It's okay, maybe worth a quick play.
Splatter Master* - A pretty cool 3D action-platformer with beat-'em-up elements starring a pumpkin-headed kid with a chainsaw.
Street Boyz - Ignore the corny English title. This is a delinquent brawler inspired by the Kunio series except the gameplay is fully 3D. It has large levels, allies, and a small overworld map where you can pick your location and talk to a few NPCs. It's super ugly (especially the early prison level) and the camera and controls are hard to deal with at first, but I actually ended up enjoying it. It's not great by any stretch, but if you like that kind of stuff, it's decent.
Yakuza Fury* - It's more River City Ransom than Yakuza, but better structured. A side-view beat-'em-up where you walk around town, buy stuff and talk to NPCs in between the action levels. There's a hidden honor system that determines which chapter you go on next, with multiple significantly different paths through the game. Hint: if you want to get any of the full routes and not a premature ending, avoid using weapons against unarmed opponents (except in the final chapter, it's fine) and don't attack NPCs in town. Initially feels slow and stiff, but the gameplay improves tremendously as you equip clothes and shoes that can double your speed, add to your combos, give you throws, etc. I really like this game.
Zombie Virus* - Cool concept, but lacking. It's basically Crazy Taxi in a zombie apocalypse - pick up survivors in your armored ambulance and bring them to the hospital before they turn to zombies. Ambulances are big and clunky by nature and so the driving isn't too wild or thrilling. The ramming-attack based boss battles are a highlight, and I did enjoy driving around that zombified city at night, but it got very repetitive and boring. It's a long game for what it is, too.
*21 Systems. Note that they weren't all winners, such as their awful broken stealth game Special Forces.
I think that's it.
I've tried many others, in English or Japanese. Most of the Tamsoft games are pretty bad, but not all. Dragon Sisters in particular is one of the dullest beat-'em-ups ever made. There's still a couple I want to try, like Sniper 2.
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Post by toei on Oct 5, 2023 2:55:17 GMT -5
Playing The Sniper 2 right now, will talk about it further in the Theme thread once I beat it since it's a PS2 game.
One more thing I wanted to say about the Simple series, which is a big part of their charm: these are b-games. The term "b-movie" originally comes from double features; the b-movie would be the lower budget one in the double feature, while the a-movie was the main attraction. Oftentimes, producers and studios didn't put as much pressure on the makers of those b features, since they had less money riding on them, allowing them to take more chances and be more creative. Other times, they were just cheaper knock-offs of popular movies with less popular actors - potentially giving genre fans more of what they liked. And then, of course, sometimes they just sucked - but so do a lot of a-movies.
The marketing concept for the Simple series in Japan was that since they were considerably less expensive than regular games, people would go to the store to pick up a full-priced game they really wanted, and grab a Simple 1000 or 2000 game while they were there for an extra 1000 or 2000 yen. As we all remember, cheap (new) console games were not a thing back then and most people just did not own many games. So they were literally intended to be the second game the consumer bought along with their main purchase so they could come home with two new games to play instead of just one for just a bit more money, as a full priced game was probably 6000 - 8000 yen. I'm pretty sure Japan had banned game rentals by then, too, making new games even more desirable. The plan must have worked, because they sold well enough for over 150 to be made over the 6-7 years of the PS2 era. To enjoy them, you have to come into them with different expectations. They're b-games, the b-movies of video games. They're usually janky and pretty short. But some of them are still pretty cool.
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Post by Ex on Oct 5, 2023 9:18:00 GMT -5
these are b-games. since they had less money riding on them, allowing them to take more chances and be more creative. Other times, they were just cheaper knock-offs of popular movies with less popular actors - potentially giving genre fans more of what they liked I agreed above: Typically these are what you might call B-tier or C-tier games with limited budgets, but the low risk development cost allows targeting niche concepts and unusual genres. >Playing The Sniper 2 right now, will talk about it further in the Theme thread once I beat it since it's a PS2 game I dabbled with the original PS1 version long ago:
From what I can recall, it reminded me of Silent Scope... if you've ever played that Konami game.
Interesting responses thus far, though I didn't suspect many HRG members were familiar with, nor have played, the Simple series. I'll come back later with my big post.
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Post by toei on Oct 5, 2023 9:51:24 GMT -5
Ex Silent Scope integrates the zooming and sniping into the framework of a normal light gun game, so you have a bunch of clearly identified enemies to eliminate and there's no confusion. In The Sniper you're a hitman (though motivated by revenge etc., not a regular criminal) so you're after typically unknowing targets, often in public, and they're not identified with icons or whatever. So you kind of have to play Where's Waldo and find the guy among all the tiny NPCs, then make the shot. It honestly has potential, but at least for The Sniper 2, it's quite bad. What might work is adding some adventure elements so it's not just 1 shot, 1 cutscene - have the player investigate the targets, then decide where to carry out the hit, secure the location and getaway, etc.
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Post by Ex on Oct 5, 2023 9:58:06 GMT -5
What might work is adding some adventure elements so it's not just 1 shot, 1 cutscene - have the player investigate the targets, then decide where to carry out the hit, secure the location and getaway, etc. There are sniper series that incorporate aspects like that: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper:_Ghost_Warrioren.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_EliteBut they aren't set in Japan nor mafia based. The Hitman series has some mafia stuff in it, though. At least the earlier games. And those games tend to offer a lot of player freedom about how to do the hit, and how to escape. I've beaten a bunch of its earlier entries. Some of the entries did release on PS2, so would work for our present theme: I beat all of those on PC long ago, good times. |
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Post by toei on Oct 5, 2023 10:15:25 GMT -5
I had a friend who was always playing the Hitman games. I remember the inane banter between the security guards as you wait for your chance to strike. I even went to see the movie when it came out. It was incredibly forgettable, in fact I remember nothing about it.
The Sniper isn't set in Japan either, it's set in America. It's one of those wacky-Japanese-takes-on-the-US-as-seen-in-action-movies things.
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Post by Ex on Oct 5, 2023 10:22:16 GMT -5
I even went to see the movie when it came out. I never saw the movie (forgot it even existed!) but quite a few of the Hitman video games are very good. The very first entry (which didn't get a PS2 port) isn't good, but IO had to start somewhere. In stealth games I often enjoy listening to guards banter while they don't know you're there. The Splinter Cell and Thief series did this concept well. Their guards would obliviously give away intel or say legitimately humorous things. Fair enough. It was quite a long time ago when I emulated the game (using VGS), I've forgotten nearly everything about it. Wasn't a particularly great game that stuck in my mind. Some of the Simple games are, though, and I'll talk about them here soon. |
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