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    Densha De Go! 3

    Yeah, I know I'm VERY late to this party, but has anyone else jumped into these fun train sims?

    I'm having a blast with Taito's madness on rails- but I have to admit, this is NOT easy. Pain in the arse if you ask me. I should have expected it though, since this is Taito - makers of "Power Shovel" which drove me to tears in complexity and difficulty.

    But I just love these specifc cultural Japanese titles. The market in my neck of the woods (USA) won't fund/publish/create stuff on this level. Last night I was so thrilled to open up a movie clip showing trains just......riding around town. I worked all night to get my ranking up just to get more movies, tracks, and 3D models. Can't say that for a lot of games.

    Has anyone played Densha De Go with the special controller? (Street car, professional model) And is Shinkansen (Bullet train) worth my time? I actually like riding the rails around the Tokyo district and outside areas. A bullet train might be fun to see the countryside, but I can't imagine the scenery being too specific.

    Ja ne.

    #2
    I`ve got Densha De Go 2 on my DC but find all the Jap text a pain in the arse. I would get one of the train controllers if I could find a decent translation guide.
    The game it self is a very nice concept, but the above problem is too much of a crux for me to spend much time on it.

    "Power Shovel"
    is that the one where you have too scoop fish from one pool to another on one of the stages?

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      #3
      Ah, I see. I saw a special Densha De Go controller for the PS1 on eBay - looked just like a regular PS controller but instead of buttons it had a slide lever and other switches. I was going to get it, but it was only for PS1, if I recall. And sadly, I don't have that console anymore.

      As for "Power Shovel"....it did indeed have a level where you scooped turtles out of a pool into a big tank. Hated that level. To be fair to the game it was great - just all out hard as hell! You will find yourself doing many tasks with the power shovel. Shopping via math selections using the power shovel to ring up cash registers. Scooping up food items to order via a menu selection - noodles, sushi, soy sauce. You'll find yourself racing in an obstacle course, or simply beating the bejeezus out of a wrecked car. The game had it's wacky moments, but trust me, just getting your "license" in that game was tough enough.

      The main drag of the whole gig was simply operating the power shovel - which was like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. In short, every button on the controller is used. Each button had a function. Up. Down. Scoop. Release. Left swing. Right swing. Forward. Reverse.....the list goes on. The crane on a power shovel is jointed, and then pivots at the scooping/bucket.

      Trust me, it kicks your donkey.

      But I loved it. Just have to swallow your pride and put it on "easy' mode.

      First you get a license, then you can apply for different "jobs" in the classified ads. This is where you find the "endangered turtle" job. Much like Densha De Go, you can open up live action films of REAL power shovels at work. The most glaring of these is an actual Japanese promotional commercial for the construction equipment. It has to be seen to be believed. The Japanese will mythologize anything. And you gotta love them for it.

      If you can find Power Shovel (and I'm sure it must be cheap by now) I'd say check it out. The boss foreman yelling at you when you mess up is worth the price of admission alone. You'd never think digging holes in the ground was so satisfying. But after learning the controls you feel a certain satisfaction in your accomplishments.

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        #4
        I got Densha de Go! 2 for Neo Geo Pocket Color and it's challenging. Though graphically not over the top, I still enjoyed the game, but hated it when they yank the emergency break on if I'm unable to come down to a certain speed limit that's suddenly popping up.

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          #5
          Chevkoch, I agree. In fact, I really love / hate the game.

          I'm flying along the rails and doing well, obeying the safety rules and such, but then it's time to bring her into station and making it on the ZERO mark is painful. I know what you mean about the emergency brake. In Densha De Go 3 the emergency brake comes up if you just hold the regular braking button too long.

          I really need to master time and distance, it's so tempting to just fly full throttle into the station, but to do it and have control over a city block length of steel is another matter.

          I do find it interesting that the game never shows the trains (at least up to the part I've been playing) crowded / jammed with passengers. Japan is notorious for "pushing" commuters into the trains, often crushing people in the process. But in Densh De Go 3 they make it appear so casual, and the trains are empty. Either they are embarrassed about the reality of their situation, of they just didn't have enough graphical power to show it. In fact, many times (when up close) the few passengers that are waiting on the platform are so badly rendered they appear as simple blocks as you'd expect from Famicon, or Atari 2600.

          For a game so wildly popular in Japan, and spread across so many platforms you'd think more attention to detail and money couldv'e been laid into this. However, as with many Japanese titles, the theme is more important than the details.

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            #6
            Originally posted by JetBlack
            I do find it interesting that the game never shows the trains (at least up to the part I've been playing) crowded / jammed with passengers. [...] and the trains are empty.
            They just don't feel like entrusting their fellow Japanese's lives to sim-geeks high on the exotic-adrenaline like us, would be my guess.

            In fact, many times (when up close) the few passengers that are waiting on the platform are so badly rendered they appear as simple blocks as you'd expect from Famicon, or Atari 2600.
            Slap me, that's proving my theory: the devs let us drive pixels around, not even recognizable virtual images of people.

            By the way, the NGPC's Densha de Go! 2 sports no passengers at all. So I feel like riding off duty all the time.

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              #7
              "By the way, the NGPC's Densha de Go! 2 sports no passengers at all. So I feel like riding off duty all the time."

              Haha! Now that's funny! Right after selecting my train, before the game starts, I get a quick CG intro of what my train looks like sailing along the tracks. In these shots the trains are COMPLETELY void of people.

              Densha De Go 3 has a few people that you see board the train at the station, but otherwise I can't see inside my train at all. Except for when you pull into the station badly. Then a small quick insert of a graphic in the upper left part of the screen pops up of a person complaining about your service. I've only seen four of these lil' animations.

              A man rubbing his back, complaining about how you stopped.

              A woman who was holding onto a strap and falls over.

              A man who is watching his stop go by (as you speed through the station missing the platform by a mile) Then he turns back to face the camera and ounds his fists on what appears to be the glass.

              A man/woman who will fall over because they were too close to the edge of the platform when you brought the train in (use the horn to alert them to step behind the yellow line) (earn 2 points for safety)

              As for your theory about the developers not trusting us Gaijin (tourist/outsiders) at the helm of their precious trains (with actual people in them) you might have a point. hahaha! However, the game is obviously made in Japan, for the Japanese - so they must be trying to say something.

              However, I think it's just due to lack of funds and resources. Although, I do admit, it paints a pretty picture of the JNR (Japanese National Railways), and I guess it would look god awful to show "pushers" cramming hundreds of people into the trains. As a gamer I'd be ultra pissed if they made my clock run slower due to overcrowding - taking precious seconds away from my score, or reducing my speed and braking distance due to the weight.

              Still, this isn't the first time the Japanese have painted a rosey picture of certain aspects of their society (whether due to limitations in technology, or via a purpose design choice). I guess we shouldn't really ask for too much detail....after all, who wants to see perverts taking advantage of women in such crowded situations (which has been a problem to the point where adverts are posted in the trains to: "Please, do not fondle the women" and "Please, report perverts to the security".

              Now put that in the next Densha De Go! and I bet you'd sell copies like hotcakes across the import market! Hahah!

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                #8
                Originally posted by JetBlack
                However, I think it's just due to lack of funds and resources. Although, I do admit, it paints a pretty picture of the JNR (Japanese National Railways), and I guess it would look god awful to show "pushers" cramming hundreds of people into the trains. As a gamer I'd be ultra pissed if they made my clock run slower due to overcrowding - taking precious seconds away from my score, or reducing my speed and braking distance due to the weight.
                Right, I can see that Densha de Go is probably positioned in the arcade sim department, but including passenger mayhem, perhaps in an extra "realistic" mode or difficulty option, would be a fine addition I think.

                Taito was plain lazy about the passenger issue I bet, it could come out as a more grown out feature in a next instalment though - it might have been just a case of feature creep being omitted due to a tight budget cash and/or timewise, like you suggest.

                Originally posted by JetBlack
                I guess we shouldn't really ask for too much detail....after all, who wants to see perverts taking advantage of women in such crowded situations [...]
                Yeah, better not go there... But just as weird gameplay idea (on a less serious note), how about installed cameras that you can have an eye on in your cockpit, so if someone can't keep his hands by himself, you have a button that gets a message through in-wagon-speakers across like: "Don't even think about groping! We know who you are, you have been filmed. Keep your distance." for a couple of time points. And more boldly, you could add a message like: "... and you're no Arnold either, so we'll beat the **** out of you when you exit the train!". Now I'm getting carried away...

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                  #9
                  Sony's PS2 Real Train Simulator:Yamanote Line pisses all over the Densha De Go! series...

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                    #10
                    phillai, is that so?

                    You've played them both? Please tell me what differences you've found between them that make Sony's title work better than Taito's? I've only had Densha De Go! as my experience, and I don't have a special controller, either. It has been a royale pain to be "perfect", much less "good" time after time.

                    Which Densh De Go! game did you play? 1, 2, 3, or "Bullet train"? I have DDG 3, which is the first PS2 title for the franchise. And as I noted above the graphics are sub-par......so much so that I question if it was a design choice or lack of funds. I just can't imaging a game getting outhe gate and on the shelf with such problems (graphically speaking).

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                      #11
                      Check here...

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                        #12
                        Well, now I see where I stand on the totem pole. Looks like my DDG 3 Commuter version is in the minoirty. Perhaps it wasn't out yet. Nonetheless, the real motion pics of Sony's traim sim looks damn cool. I may look for that down the road...currently I'm still riding the tracks of DDG3.

                        But I do see where "you" prefer to ride the rails. Hahah!

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                          #13
                          Yamanote Line??? If you enjoy fast forwarding and rewinding a movie, you will enjoy that game. It's just playing with the speed of MPEG footage ~_~

                          Densha De Go! May look naff, but the gameplay is much better!



                          Densha De Go! Guide may be read here

                          DDG! Shinkansen is OK, but there is some terrible slowdown in the stations that makes stopping accurately a real chore ~_~

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                            #14
                            Densha De Go Pro 2 (actually later then 3) is really well done, but they've omitted animations and so forth (as per Densha 3).
                            The reason i'd suspect is due to the length of some of the routes.
                            Theres only 5 routes but four of them are very long and theres loads of trains (about 50 i think).

                            Some take well over an hour, but it did more for Taito then many other games they've had recently. Fingers crossed, they'll keep em' coming.

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                              #15
                              Greng, Train Simulator Real: Yamanote Line absolutely rocks man!

                              In case you're all wondering this is the latest Densha De Go game coming up with real FMV like graphics similar to Sony's Train Simulator Real: Yamanote Line...
                              I am sooo looking forward to this one!
                              Not sure when it's out though...



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