Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Games Not Played: The Tower Bonus Edition

Here's something new I want to try and might provide content for those slow weeks, Games Not Played. This is where I showcase a game either not in English or perhaps a game never released. Settle down, I won't provide free ROMs, but I will give a few tidbits and helpful links.


Originally today I wanted to do a Famicom Disk System game that was basically an adventure/dating sim game featuring a Japanese pop idol. Although it had some merits, such as the option to choose what expression to use while talking (from |tsr's nes archive: "Obviously apologizing to a girl while grinning wildly is a bad idea, but looking suitably sad could have a more desirable result."). But I decided not to do it, instead focusing on something else...

The Tower: BONUS EDITION!


DATA BOX
Title: The Tower: Bonus Edition
Developer: OpenBook 9003
Publisher: ???
Systems: PlayStation
Release: November 1, 1996 (JAP)


The Japanese counterpart to SimTower's Wikipedia article, located here, sheds interesting light on The Tower: Bonus Edition, a PlayStation port and upgrade of the famed title (I believe there was also a regular "The Tower" port). Unfortunately, since it was all in Japanese, there have been some translation errors, rendering it basically unreadable. Some facts gleaned from it, though...

• It was released in November 1996, nearly two years after SimTower was released in the US.
• There are five locations to build, very similar to Yoot Tower (except in Yoot Tower, more modules could be added). These include Commerce City, Business City, International Restaurant, Resort City, and Liberty (the text implies that it is the Statue of Liberty, similar to the cancelled Yoot Tower product)
• A "City International Airport" location allows you to build a monorail instead of a subway.
• There are skywalks.
• There is a way to look inside a tower in really crummy 3D.

Box art from GameFAQs

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