A1 Games
Written by noiseredux
The PS2’s US launch in October of 2000 was a pretty big deal. And as such gamers were mostly overlooking new releases for the original PlayStation in anticipation of bigger and better things. That’s when Agetec got a great idea: why not take a handful of the hundreds of Japanese budget titles that had been released on the PS1 and bring them to America? By utilizing nearly zero effort to the localizations these could amount to cheap, easy sales for broke-ass gamers looking to just get something new to play as an impulse purchase.
And indeed zero effort to localization is what we got. A dozen titles were cherry picked to be part of Agetec’s A1 series. Each one with the same solid color bar across the top of the cover art. Most of them with stock-looking artwork. And almost of all of them with titles about as generic as the worst offenders of the 2600. (Tennis, Bowling, Racing… really?)
In many ways it’s sad that some of the more oddball fare didn’t make its way over. Certainly this could have been a chance to expose Americans to some interesting genres and ideas based solely on price point. But instead Agetec tended to take more chances when localizing games outside of this A1 budget line — things like Strikers 1945 or RPG Maker for instance. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing worthwhile within the lot. Even if you do have to do a fair share of digging to find it.
Battle Hunter
Battle Sugoroku: Hunter (SuperLite 1500 Series) (1999)
Developer Success’ take on the Strategy RPG was meant to appeal to fans of the immensely popular Final Fantasy Tactics, and its brethren. By using similar chibi character sprites and the grid-based movement pattern of Strategy RPG’s, it at least does a decent job of being an enjoyable diversion of time for fans of the genre.
Indeed Battle Hunter does get quite a few things right. To start with there’s an impressive amount of customization present in beginning the game. Not only can you choose the appearance of your character, but you can distribute their stats as you like as well. This is certainly a bit more fun than just picking a preset set of stats from a character class. The presentation is also mostly welcome with its interesting use of cyberpunk style. The speed at which the battles play out is also welcome. Sitting through other characters turns never feels like a chore since all the action is brisk.
But Battle Hunter isn’t a perfect game either. Ultimately the dungeon design leaves much to be desired. And the single player mode will soon start to feel very repetitive. Really none of the missions are immensely different than the ones before them. But the truth is that as an S-RPG, this game is unique in that it really shines in multiplayer mode. With a Multitap Adapter you can actually have four players competing against each other in each dungeon.
Billiards
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 10: The Billiard (1999)
Originally released as part of D3’s Simple 1500 series, this simple version of classic billiards delivers exactly what it should. It’s got fair physics and looks good, if a little sparse. Though as a basic time-killer there are enough game modes (9-ball, 8-ball, etc) to keep players happy.
Board Game Top Shop
Tenant Wars (1998)
By far one of the more interesting titles in the A1 series, Board Game Top Shop is slightly hard to describe properly. Developed by Kid, who had previously crafted the GI Joe NES game and the somewhat infamous Recca, this is a very unique interpretation of board games. It basically revolves around various chibi characters who move around several floors of a shopping mall, all the while buying empty space and opening new stores. Certainly the closest thing the game could be compared to is Monopoly, but it’s got plenty of character, not to mention support for up to six players, to make it feel a worthwhile addition to your library. As far as budget board game sims go, this one is an excellent way to start a party game night.
Bowling
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 18: The Bowling (1999)
D3’s bowling title is far less successful than its billiards game. Sure the graphics are passable. And yes, four player support and multiple game modes are appreciated. But sadly the game just controls terribly. A ball thrown straight down the middle of the lane will go charging at the pins and then inexplicably make an L-turn into the gutter right before striking them. It’s hard to tell if this was intentional or just bad programming, but it completely sucks all realism out of the game leaving you with nothing but a poor simulation. On an even stranger note, this one actually made it to the PSN under the banner of PlayStation Classics!
Boxing
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 32: The Boxing (2000)
D3’s simple boxing game looks nice, even with its somewhat primitive polygons. It has a fairly large and diverse looking roster. It also has several gameplay modes and the ability to save your progress. Sadly, what it truly lacks is any sort of depth. This boxing title is the true definition of a button-masher. There’s really nothing to any of the fights other than getting in close to your opponent and tapping that X-button as fast as possible until the round is over. Considering the level of effort that was put into the games various modes and features, it’s really a shame that the actual game isn’t more fun than it is.
Card Games
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 44: The Card 2 (2000)
A nice little package of casino games, Card Games includes takes on Draw Poker, Black Jack, Baccarat, Seven Card Stud, Speed and President. The games are all good representations of their casino counterparts and the art style of the game has a certain noir look to it that really sets the mood. Even more interesting is the inclusion of game saves and the ability to decorate your hotel room by using your winnings to buy things at the casino’s shop. Though essentially the game is little more than a basic gambling simulation, the extra bits thrown in help make it stand out.
Puzzle Crossroad Crisis
Chiki Chiki Chicken (SuperLite 1500 Series) (2000)
A totally charming puzzle game developed by Success. The goal of the game is to rotate tiles to create a path to guide a small chicken out of a maze. If the chicken crosses two tiles of the same color, they disappear. The layout of the game is somewhat similar to the puzzler Pipe Mania, and although this all sounds extremely simple, it’s also uniquely fun. The sprite work is cute and the game is actually much more difficult than it sounds. Definitely the sort of challenge that puzzle fans will want to seek out.
Puzzle Star Sweep
StarSweep (1997)
Another wonderful puzzler developed by Success. Star Sweep was actually also released on the Game Boy in Japan, which is suiting considering its Tetris-like nature. Here, various blocks come down with stars on certain ends. Touching two like colored stars will result in those blocks disappearing. And although it sounds simple, it’s actually quite difficult to master — the mark of a great puzzle game. Although this one won’t likely become your favorite puzzle game of all time, it’s certainly a nice little hidden gem.
Racing
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 13: The Race (1999)
Tamsoft, the same developer responsible for Battle Arena Toshinden created this racing game. And it’s really not very good. Racing attempts to evoke the spirit of the classic PlayStation launch title Ridge Racer, but somehow manages to make a far more primitive game at the end of the console’s lifetime. Pretty much everything about Racing is slightly off. The cars feel too big, or the tracks feel too small. There’s an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia that completely removes all realism from the race. Add to that some slippery controls and ugly visuals and you have a racing game just generic enough for its one word title. While it may seem unfair to judge a budget game so harshly, knowing the development team behind it was as experienced with the PlayStation’s hardware as they were makes the game feel like a total letdown.
Shooter Space Shot
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 35: The Shooting (2000)
Presumably the only title developed by C.I.I., Space Shot is actually a surprisingly fun budget price-point shmup. It’s a horizontal shooter that plays a bit like a poor-man’s Einhander, with enemies making their way to the foreground and bright colorful bullets. Of course it’s not nearly as perfected as Einhander. In fact it plays rather slow for the most part. But the ability to customize your three guns directions (a la Sol-Deace), some catchy albeit generic techno music, and CGI cut-scenes with hilarious translations makes this one totally worth the pocket change it can be acquired for. Though it certainly pales in comparison to many other PlayStation shmups out there, it’s easily one of the best games to be localized as part of the A1 series.
Shooter Starfighter Sanvein
Sanvein (SuperLite 1500 Series) (2000)
Sanvein is a bit of an odd one. Though “Shooter” is there in its US title — giving the impression that it’s more along the lines of Space Shot — it’s actually a strange little arena shooter having more in common with Smash TV or Loaded than it does with R-Type. You pilot a spaceship and have a time limit to shoot a handful of other free-roaming spaceships in a small hexagonal room. The game is pretty poor graphically and the stages are quite redundant. Though it’s meant to be fast paced (a typical level should take you less than ten seconds to complete), the enemies are basically non-threatening save for bosses which tend to attack every once in a while.
Snowboarding
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 27: The SnowBoard (2000)
After the success of Cool Boarders it seemed that Snowboarding might be a good budget title to bring over to the US. And actually Snowboarding looks rather impressive for a budget title. Though it doesn’t offer a hell of a lot of variety in play modes beyond just racing or performing tricks, it handles well enough to be fun. The inclusion of unlockable tracks and multiplayer also means that there is at least a bit of replayability inherent in this one.
Tennis
Simple 1500 Series Vol. 26: The Tennis (2000)
Tennis has certainly been done to the death on every console. So why not localize a budget title, right? Here we get a typically minimalist presentation, both graphically and musically. Though the super-deformed character appearances and terrible muzak may appeal to the fans that made Wii Sports such a huge hit, but always wished they didn’t have to use motion controls. Although there are seemingly options such as which type of surface to play on, none of it seems to make a whole lot of difference to the game play. In most scenarios you’re left with fast moving characters and a slow moving ball. Though when you take into account how easy the game is to perpetuate as well as the inclusion of four-player co-op, it could actually be a dirt cheap party game.
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