| Policenauts | |
|---|---|
| File:PC-98 Policenauts box.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Director(s) | Hideo Kojima |
| Producer(s) | Akihiko Nagata |
| Artist(s) | Hitoshi Nagao |
| Writer(s) | Hideo Kojima |
| Composer(s) | Tappi Iwase Masahiro Ikariko Motoaki Furukawa Kozo Nakamura |
| Platforms | NEC PC-9821, 3DO, PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| Release date(s) | NEC PC-9821 3DO JP April 21, 1995 (Pilot Disk) JPSeptember 29, 1995 PlayStation JPJanuary 19, 1996 JP February 9, 1996 (Private Collection) JP May 14, 2008 (PSN) Sega Saturn |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game, Visual novel, Interactive movie |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Policenauts(ポリスノーツPorisunōtsu?) is an interactive movie/graphic novel/adventure game with a hard science fiction storyline, written and directed by Hideo Kojima, and published by Konami. It was initially released for the PC-9821 computer platform in 1994, followed by remade versions for the 3DO in 1995, and the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996. The game has never been officially released outside Japan, despite plans for an Englishlocalization of the Saturn version. On August 24, 2009 (in honor of the 46th birthday of the game designer, Hideo Kojima), an unofficial English translation patch was released onto the internet.
The patch contains a complete, 100% English, translation of all Japanese text and graphics. There is not one character of Japanese left in the game - including opening and ending credits. Aside from the translation, the patch also fixes graphical glitches and crashing that was in the original game.
Policenauts, like Snatcher before it, pays various homages to previously existing works. An obvious one is Jonathan's and Ed's (the main characters) respective resemblances to Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon. The game also pays homage to the ancient Japanese tale of Urashima Taro.[1] The game centers on a detective who travels to a space colony to investigate the circumstances surrounding his ex-wife's murder and her new husband's sudden disappearance.
- Okay, now I just created a folder called '98poln' that contains the following contents: The 'Policenauts' sub folder, which contains a CD sub-folder that includes a.bin file and a.cue file. Both of them are VLC Media files, and contain 555,852 kb, and 1 kb respectively.
- Policenauts PC-9821 Emulation Guide version 0.01 By Dick Tanis (aka MrSeed) Here is a guide for everybody who wants the play Policenauts on Anex86 or T98-next emulator.
- 3Development
Gameplay
The game is set in a primarily first person perspective and uses a point-and-click interface: the player can move the cursor and have the protagonist (Jonathan Ingram) analyze objects around his environment or talk to other characters in the game. Like in Snatcher, the game features shooting segments where the player must defend their character from incoming enemies. The player can use the shooting trainer at the police department to test their reflex and accuracy. There are numerous puzzles in the game, including an event where the player must dismantle a bomb by following their partner's instructions.[citation needed]
The console versions of the game all include support for their respective mouse peripherals. The Saturn version features light gun support for the shooting segments.[citation needed]
Story
File:Policenauts cast.PNG
The game centers on Jonathan Ingram, one of the five 'Policenauts', astronauts with police training, assigned to ensure the safety of Beyond Coast, mankind's first fully functional space colony in the year 2013. Johnathan tests a new space walking suit, but drifts away into space by accident and is presumed dead by his colleagues. He is found alive and well 25 years later thanks to the cold-sleep module connected to the suit. Three years later, Jonathan (now a private investigator working in the former Los Angeles) is visited by his former wife, Lorraine, who asks for Jonathan's help in solving the disappearance of her current husband, Kenzo Hojo, the only clues he left behind being a torn leaf, a set of capsules, and the word 'Plato'. Jonathan is reluctant to take her case at first, but after Lorraine leaves his office, she is attacked and murdered by a man in a black motorcycle suit. Jonathan, unable to catch the culprit, decides to fulfill his ex-wife's final request and travels to Beyond, where he is reunited with his former partner from his LAPD days, Ed Brown, who agrees to help Jonathan investigate the circumstances surrounding Hojo's disappearance and Lorraine's murder.
During the course of the investigation, Jonathan and Ed learn that Becker and Tokugawa have been involved in running an illegal drug and organ trafficking ring in order to counteract the negative side-effects of being in space for long periods of time. Hojo had been included in the business in order to save his daughter, Karen, and ultimately wanted to leave, only to be murdered. During a stand-off with Becker, Jonathan records Becker's confession about the scheme and has Meryl broadcast the recording live, exposing the scandal to the colonists. Ed saves Jonathan from death, while Meryl and the remaining police arrest Tokugawa. Jonathan donates his bone marrow to Karen upon learning that he is her biological father, and returns to Earth.
Development
Policenauts was first released for the NEC PC-9821 on July 29, 1994. The PC-98 came in one CD-ROM that included an installation floppy disk. All the cut-scenes were rendered using hand-drawn pixel art as opposed to full-motion video anime. Prior to releasing the standard version of the game, Konami issued the Policenauts: Pilot Disk for the 3DO on April 21, 1995. This disc contains a playable demo, an encyclopedia of the game's backstory, featurettes, and information about the game's voice actors and developers. Policenauts: Private Collection was released for the PlayStation on February 9, 1996, featuring much of the same content as the Pilot Disk, adding an earlier version of the game's script as well. The encyclopedia, featurettes and shooting trainer are included as hidden features in the Saturn version.[citation needed]
The first console version was released for the 3DO on September 29, 1995, consisting of two CD-ROMs. Animated cut-scenes were added to this version along with CG animation, and all the graphics were redrawn. Limited edition copies came bundled with the 3DO mouse and a mousepad. The PlayStation version (January 19, 1996), also on two discs, made further additions by digitally fixing most of the graphics and movies from the 3DO version. The last console version, released for the Sega Saturn (September 13, 1996), on three discs, added support for Sega's Virtua Gun light gun peripheral. Although the home console versions of the game mostly used pre-existing dialog tracks from the original PC-98 version, all of the original voice actors were brought back to record new lines of dialog for the new cutscenes.[citation needed]
The PlayStation version has been re-issued twice. The first time was under the 'Konami the Best' label on September 18, 1997. A second reissue under the 'PSone Books' series was released on August 7, 2003. The game was added to the PlayStation Store's Japanese Game Archives on May 15, 2008, making the game downloadable for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3.[2]
English localization
The Saturn version of Policenauts was officially announced for a North American release by Konami on May 1996.[3] A mock-up cover art was produced and featured on a promotional Sega pamphlet packaged with certain games. However, the North American version was never released. According to Kojima, work began on the North American version, but the developers were unable to synchronize the English dialogue with the animated FMV cut-scenes.[4]
A fan translation of the PlayStation version has been produced, which has gained attention from the video game media. Although the translation of the game content was nearly completed by Marc Laidlaw and Artemio Urbina during the summer of 2007,[5][6] the translation project could not find a programmer to complete the insertion of translated material into a version of the game and progress stalled.
Reception
GameFan's three reviewers scored it 100, 94 and 92 out of 100. One of the reviewers said 'that Policenauts has one of the best game storylines ever.' Another reviewer said that he 'truly thought adventure gaming could get no better than Snatcher' but Konami 'has outdone themselves in everything from the beyond-beautiful music to the professional quality cinemas.'[7]
RPGFan rated it 97% for story, 95% for sound/music, 94% for graphics, 80% for gameplay, and 80% for control, with an overall score of 98%. They called it 'a masterpiece' and concluded that, from 'the incredible graphics and soundtrack, to the compelling story, Policenauts is a true classic.'[8]
The game was notable for being an early example of extensive voice recording in video games.[9] It also featured a theme revolving around space exploration and occasional full-motion video cut scenes. The gameplay was largely similar to Snatcher, but with the addition of a point-and-click interface and some first-person shooter segments. Policenauts also introduced summary screens, which act to refresh the player's memory of the plot upon reloading a save, an element Kojima would later use in Metal Gear Solid. The PlayStation version of Policenauts could also read the memory card and give some easter egg dialogues if a save file of Konami's dating simTokimeki Memorial is present, a technique Kojima would also later use in Metal Gear Solid.[1]
References
Policenauts Pc 98 Download
- ↑ 1.01.1Kurt Kalata, Policenauts, Hardcore Gaming 101
- ↑'PlayStationStore - POLICENAUTS - (株)コナミデジタルエンタテインメント' (in Japanese).CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
- ↑'Konami: Policenauts for Saturn'. Archived from the original on November 9, 1996.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
- ↑Policenauts: Official Guide. pp. 118–122. ISBN4-87188-835-5.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
- ↑Policenauts Fan Translation Project Nears Completion news from 1UP.com
- ↑Fan-translation of Kojima's Policenauts nears completion - Joystiq
- ↑Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedgamefan - ↑Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedrpgfan - ↑Mark Ryan Sallee. 'Kojima's Legacy: We reflect on the influence of Hideo Kojima's 20 years in gaming'. IGN. Retrieved 2009-08-20.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
Bibliography
Policenauts English Download
- Various (September 1996). ポリスノーツ 公式ガイド. 公式ガイドシリーズ (in Japanese). コナミ. ISBN4-87188-835-5.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
- コナミCP事業部 編 (September 1996). セガサターン ポリスノーツ―公式完全ガイドブック. コナミ完璧攻略シリーズ (in Japanese). コナミ. ISBN4-575-28640-0.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
- 講談社 編 (March 6, 1996). ポリスノーツオフィシャルビジュアルデータブック. 覇王ゲームスペシャル 45 (in Japanese). 講談社. ISBN4-06-329246-0.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
External links
- Policenauts Official website(Japanese)
- Policenauts PSone Books Re-release Official website(Japanese)
If you’re new to the world of PC-98 emulation, here are some tips.
First up, a small explanation of the PC-9800 series of personal computers. What you’re emulating is a really old Japanese computer, basically. It comes with floppy disk drives and hard drives, which are the main methods you use to actually load up games and other software.
For the purposes of emulating, you’ll generally need two things. The first is an emulator which we’ll get to later, and the second will be either a set of floppy disk images or a hard disk image. These will come in a variety of formats, though all should work in any of the emulators.
Floppy Disk Images: FDI, HDM, NFD, D88, etc.
Hard Disk Images: HDI, NHD, SLH, etc.
So, now that you know what these extensions mean and what kind of files/disks you’re going to be using, the next step is getting your emulator running.
Option 1: Neko Project II
Neko Project II is a great emulator for PC-98, but you’ll need some tips on optimizing it so that it runs much more smoothly.
First, download np2fmgen.7z. A recent version can be found here with no password. Or for the latest version, head over to this link. You’ll want both the np2fmgen.7z as well as the fmdllset.7z a little further down the page. The first one is the main emulator itself, and the second one is for better sound quality. It takes a little bit of setup but it’s worth it for proper ADPCM output in games like Rusty.
You’ll also want to download a font (trust me) so that NP2 can display Western characters more easily. This one works well. Drop that in the same folder you put NP2 in and then launch np21.exe.
(If you want to know why np21.exe specifically and not any of the other executables in the folder, there’s a good breakdown of what each version emulates here at the Heroes of Legend forum.)
Once you’ve got NP2 open, click Emulate -> Font… and choose the font.rom file you got from here. Next, you’ll want to click Emulate -> Configure… which will take you to a nice new menu with a few options listed. The main one you’ll want to change here is in the CPU section. Try changing the number of cores in the dropdown list to something like 32 is a decent number. The faster the better, generally, but 32 works just fine for most things. The other options here aren’t as important, but I do suggest increasing your Sound‘s Rate to a higher number like 44k or 88k. Hit OK and get out of that menu.
Next up is just a quick click on Device -> Memory -> 13.6MB, because why not? Some games will require more memory so it’s easier to just get the largest available option here set so you don’t have to worry about it too much later.
Last is getting rid of the scanlines. If you want them feel free to ignore this part, but if you want to get rid of them click on Screen -> Screen Option… and put a check in the Use skipline revisions option, and change the Ratio to the max number (255).
If you want to enable the fmgen.dll that you downloaded above as well, this paragraph is for you. Otherwise, skip it and move on. It’s optional but recommended. If you’re still reading, close your emulator and navigate back to the folder where you put it. Inside you should find the files for the emulator as well as the grouping of FMGEN DLL files that you downloaded from the link above. If you didn’t do that, go get those now because this won’t work without them. After that, look for an INI file (probably np21.ini if you’re doing our suggestions.) Open that with Notepad or whatever text editor you like, and add a new line under the [NekoProject21] section that says – FMGenDll=fmgen.dll. Save the INI file and then close it. Restart np21.exe and you should now see be able to go to Devices -> Sound -> fmgen.dll to enable the external sound generator. Once you’ve done that, you’re all set!
Now you’re ready to actually start playing some games!
Generally this entails plugging the first disk (FDI) into FDD1 and the second disk (FDI) into FDD2, or plugging your hard drive (HDI) into Harddisk -> IDE #0 and then hitting Emulate -> Reset. Most games will launch automatically from there.
Common controls are the the numbers 2, 4, 6, and 8 on the numpad, arrow keys, enter, space, ctrl, z and x. Some games require you to use your mouse, so when that happens hit F12 and it’ll force NP2 to accept your mouse’s input properly. (Also, hit F12 again to get out of that mode.) If your keyboard doesn’t have a numpad you might want to look into getting either Joy2Key to get rebind other keys to numpad, or trying out Anex86 which allows you to rebind the keys in its configuration settings.
Option 2: Anex86
Anex86 is another acceptable PC98 emulator, but it’s older and less powerful. It might be a better option if you don’t have a numpad and want to rebind your keys without messing with Joy2Key. Download it here, and download the Japanese font on the same page, extract it and place that in the same directory. Now open up the emulator, hit Config -> Font, and select the anex86.bmp font you just downloaded. Now close it and you can start playing.
Load floppy disks into the FDD1 and FDD2 fields, or hard disks into the HDD1 and HDD2 fields, and check the box HDD -> FDD if you’re using hard disks.
Anex86 runs fine pretty much out of the box, but there are still some improvements to be made. (TODO: Configurations for emulator speed.)
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