Tokyo Game Show 2000: Booth impressions

[04.09.00] » See what the GIA thought of the various shows and booths put forth by various companies at the spring 2000 TGS.

    The Tokyo Game Show Spring 2000 has come and gone, with all of the funky promotional items having been given away, and the Dragon Quest VII lines finally being reduced to zero. The GIA was at the show all three days, and gives you a look back on what titles each company had on display, as well as brief impressions on each.

    The first hall (technically halls 1-3, but you couldn't really tell) held only two major companies: Square and Capcom. As mentioned previously, Square's booth was a bit of a disappointment, with the only playable titles being sports and driving games, and anticipated titles such as Final Fantasy IX and The Bouncer being shown only briefly in their video presentation. Even Square's typical Game Show Catalogue was a bit on the weak side, as it lacked the memory card stickers that are typically included within. On the merchandise side, very few new items were on sale, with Final Fantasy IX being a no-show here as well.

    Capcom's booth was a bit more exciting than Square's, and for good reason. The N64 exclusive Biohazard 0 (Resident Evil 0) was on display, and was fully playable, albeit in a slightly buggy, beta version. Rockman Dash 2 and Breath of Fire IV both had quite a few playable units on display, showcasing the nicely polished games. PS2 adventure title Onimusha was shown in video only, but appears to be coming along nicely. Short piece of gameplay were shown, and the title looks like it will be filled with lots of great detail and gameplay. Capcom's newly-announced serial RPG Emblem of Eru: El Dorado Gate was nowhere to be found, and inquiries about it were met with a simple "It's not here." Like most game companies, Capcom had a nicely-sized store in the merchandise section, complete with replica Biohazard guns and foam rubber Kobuns.

    It wasn't the first set of halls, however, but the second set that held the real meat of the show. Right off the bat was Kadokawa Shoten, most famous in the USA as one of the names that comes up in the Lunar load screens. Two RPGs were on display in the Kadokawa booth: Record of the Lodoss War, a Dreamcast game based on the famous anime series, and the newly announced, and quite good looking, Sorcerous Stabber Orphan, a PS2 action-adventure RPG that easily had the strangest name of any game at the show.

    Across the way from Kadokawa was Atlus, who were showcasing their upcoming three Megami Tensei titles, amongst others. Devil Children Red and Black were both on hand, and way too cute for having demons be an integral part of the title. To make things even more odd, both of the games were playable in the kids section of the show as well. Atlus also put quite a bit into displaying the upcoming Persona 2 sequel, Persona 2. Aside from being slightly confusing, the new Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is coming along quite nicely, and should please fans of the series when it is released in Japan this summer. And while Atlus did provide playable demos of the MegaTen titles, as well as the Pokemon Snap-inspired PS2 title Primal Image Vol. 1, fans of pet simulation games were horrified to find that the eagerly anticipated GBC game Hamster Paradise 2 appeared only in Atlus' catalogue, and not on the floor.

    After recovering from the shock of the Hamster Paradise 2 no-show, gamers could move on to the Sega booth, which was just down the floor from Atlus. With the second-biggest booth on the floor, Sega was able to really pack in the games. The three major upcoming Dreamcast RPGs each had its own section. Phantasy Star Online was the most visable of the three, with its wall residing at the very front of the booth. While the game itself wasn't playable, Sega was showing the game on four sets of televisions, one from each character's viewpoint, so that the crowd could see how the game will look and play. While it wasn't realtime, seeing the same scene from four different viewpoints was fairly impressive, and if Sonic Team carries through to the finished product, the game could be quite a nice surprise. A bit down and around the corner from PSO was the double-team of Grandia II and Eternal Arcadia. Showgoers were treated to a video presentation of GameArt's upcoming RPG, as well as cute inflatable Kyaro armbands and one of the most worthless VMU downloads in history, which basically turns your VMU into a Grandia II clock. One of the most pleasant surprises of the show was right next to Grandia II: a playable version of Eternal Arcadia. Between the video that was running and the three different playable demos, RPG lovers got to experience not only the normal fights, but also sneak a peak at the airship battles. And to make things even better, people who arrived at the show early enough were treated to Eternal Arcadia Tryal [sic] Version demo discs, courtesy of the Sega information booth. Once visitors had their fill of the three big RPGs, they could wander around Sega's extensive booth looking at the other great-looking games. As expected, Samba de Amigo made its appearance, complete with Maraca Controller, and generated long lines at the same time. Climax's upcoming 'Virtual Horror Land' game Illbleed was shown on video only, as was Red's Sakura Taisen 3. Rune Jade made a small playable appearance, as did other quality non-RPG/adventure titles such as Jet Set Radio. Finally, those who paid attention to Sega's event schedule could join in a presentation on Phantasy Star Online given by none other than Sonic Team head Yuji Naka.

    Catty-corner from Sega was arch-rival Sony Computer Entertainment. While Sony boasted the largest booth at the show, it was also one of the least exciting. Sony chose to show only four playable titles, with two of them already being available in stores. TVDJ was their big Playstation 2 title, although people who attended the Playstation Festival 2000 in February noticed that other than the name of the game, very little had changed, including the single level that was available for play. Sony filled up the remainder of their PS2 side with puzzlers Fantavision and I.Q.Remix+. The lone playable PSX title at the show was a disappointment as well, being the Japanese version of Spyro the Dragon 2. Those who attended the hideously named 'Information' session were treated to videos of quite a few odd PSX games, but with an Aconcagua video thrown in. Unfortunately, it merely reiterated much of the info that is already known on the title.

    Sitting right in the middle of the hall were the booths of both Enix and From Software. Enix had no real surprises; like last TGS, Dragon Quest VII was playable again, and again was boasting a line of up to 75 minutes. Star Ocean Blue Sphere was shown for the first time, and appears to be coming along quite nicely, a fact that was re-inforced by the 30 minute lines. Enix wrapped up their booth with BladeArts, a rather typical-looking adventure game with character design by the Chrono Cross designer, 0 Story (Love Story), the first Enix PS2 title, and the surprising Suzuki Bakuhatsu, a rather fun puzzle-type game that requires you to defuse bombs that are hidden in all sorts of things, such as an orange and a gun. Across the way was From Software, who showcased their upcoming PS2 Adventure-RPG title Evergrace, allowing show-goers to take a look at both the male and female playable characters. The recently announced 'Pointing Tactics' RPG One/Fourth was shown on video only, as it is only early in the development stage, but its unique gameplay style could bring a breath of fresh air into RPG battle systems. Finally, PS2 lauch title Eternal Ring got a video nod on both monitors sitting outside the From booth, as well as on their large video screen.

    Konami's booth was not only one of the largest at the show, but was, by far, the busiest. Much of this traffic was due to their extremely popular BEMANI music series. In addition to expected titles like Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix and Drummnia, Konami also showed off their new Dance Dance Revolution Deluxe Controller, as well as upcoming arcade release DanceMania X. However, if you fought the crowds and delved deep into the Konami booth, you found quite a few gems. Shown on only one to two screens were upcoming games such as Metal Gear Ghost Babel, Ring of Red, Z.O.E, and The Day of Walpurgis. Attendees were able to sample the latest in the Metal Gear series, and with surprisingly pleasing results. Ring of Red, the upcoming World War II mech strategy game, was fully playable, although Konami was mum on giving out any information on the game to the foreign press due to the story content. The latest from Hideo Kojima, Z.O.E, and the new PS2 adventure title The Day of Walpurgis were each given 3 minute looping video segments, although these segments showed off the games rather well. The big surprise at the Konami booth was the latter game; Walpurgis looks to be graphically excellent, and the non-violent gameplay (there are no fights at all) should make for a nice change of pace.

    The rest of the show floor offered only spotty RPG and adventure coverage. Namco showed the latest in their Tales series, Tales of Eternia, in video form only, although rewarded attendees with a very large ToE bag for taking a look at the title. SNK had Ogre Battle Gaiden on the floor, but a long and rather awkward system modeled after a McDonald's restaurant (don't ask me...) limited the amount of people who got to take a look at the title. Also at the SNK booth was Cool Cool Toon, an upcoming Dreamcast music game. Unfortunately, it was shown video only, and with no sound to boot, making it rather hard to make a judgement on the title. ASCII had both RPG School 4 and RPG School GB (also known as RPG Maker) on the floor, and both titles look as if they will make fans of the series happy. ASCII also and their upcoming PS2 adventure game Flower and Sun and Rain listed in the TGS game list, although it was nowhere to be found on the show floor. Koei had a nice presence on the floor, but was not showing any of their usual war sim titles; instead, most of the focus was on their upcoming, and rather excellent, PS2 fighting/strategy title Shin Sangokumusou (aka. New Dynasty Warriors).

    Sadly enough, this show was not much of one for playable RPG and adventure titles. The best game of the show in this aspect was easily Eternal Arcadia, although this mainly stems from the lack of competition. Many of the standout titles, such as Shin Sangokumusou and Jet Set Radio, lie anywhere from slightly (Shin Sangoku) to extremely far (Jet Set) out of the GIA's range of coverage. There were a few pleasant surprises, such as Star Ocean Blue Sphere, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and Suzuki Bakuhatsu, but many of the games that looked truly intriguing (Walpurgis, Z.O.E) or are just plain anticipated (Final Fantasy IX) turned out to be video only, and in some cases, rather limited video at that. Like normal, Nintendo was asbent from the show, preferring to showcase their wares at their own Space World event, and even Microsoft's X-Box only got a nod on the back of the Show Directory in the form of an ad. Disappointments aside, the show was far from a failure, and has put a few more interesting titles on the burner.