Anyone played Initial D on Saturn, PSX or GBA?

[ZeroRisk]

I've gone Initial D mad lately after watching the boxset from start to finish. Do any of you know anything about the old versions of the game?

Are the Saturn and PSX versions the same game?

Anyone played the GBA version yet?

Will they help you play the arcade ver. any better?

Cheers in advance for any help on this. :p

[Madbury]

You and me both mate, I simply can't get enough of Takumi and the gang. I've heard good things about the GBA version, wanted to try before buying so I downloaded the rom, but couldn't get the damned thing to work on my emulator.

As for the Saturn and PS versions. I simply don't know.

[ZeroRisk]

Right then Madbury me ole china.... I will make it my job to get one of the versions and check it out on our behalf. I'll also pick up the GBA ver and post some thoughts.

Since getting the DVD Boxset, my life has changed. Sounds funny me saying that but I really wanna race downhill against other drivers at 22:00hrs and getting some major driftige going!

Ahem..... Seeing as that is illegal and there are no hills to race down near me, I've gotta get the games, keep watching the awesome Animé and get me ass down the arcade and play the damn thing instead!

[Chief H]

The GBA version is quite a bit of fun but don't be fooled by the screenshots - there's very little direct control of the car in these races. You only get to control the throttle for the start, how you line up your car for each corner when you're on a straight and overtaking/blocking your opponent on a straight. Instead it plays out like a text-based rpg. As you approach a corner, options pop up on how to take it: do you let go of the accelerator? Brake? Brake hard to catch someone off guard when they're right behind you? Then you get more options on how to take the corner: out-in-out? late apex? occasionally (once you've learned them off the in game characters) you can pull more advanced moves such as handbrake drifts, feint drifts and zero-counter drifts. It's really quite an enjoyable game.

It's all in japanese, which can be difficult for non-japanese speaking gamers and from my translations, the choice of corner is a little absurd at times. The point is to pick the right cornering method for the right corner given where your opponent is in relation to you, thus reflecting the very technical driving nature of the series, which is an element I like a lot. Can you corner normally or will you need to take an inside blocking line to stop yourself being overtaken? It's really quite intruiging but choices, as i said, can be a little absurd - there tends to be many times when a late apex shouldn't work, but strangely does. Maybe my translations need to be more accurate.

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyable. You get to race the point-to-point tracks from the arcade version, including a couple from version 2, so in that respect it could help you learn the tracks a bit better. I myself can't help imagining myself roaring down akina downhill in the game's arcade counterpart when buzzing through the GBA incarnation. Most of the characters from first stage seem to be there including the Emperors to give it a little more linkage to the arcade version. Graphics are very much competent and pleasing. The sprites move pretty basically around the screen but the effect is still rather convincing as you watch your cars hurtle round the corners. Music, whilst occasionally repetitive (but that's more down to the game's incessant requirement for you to race the same guys repeatedly - or maybe i'm picking the wrong options) but is wonderfully reminiscent of the anime series, capturing the mood and instrument selection delightfully. Upgrading your ride isn't as thorough as in the arcade - 8 areas of your car can have two upgrades applied to them from pions earned in races.

But I think the one standout feature that makes ID:Anther Stage so wonderfully engrossing is the technical nature of the driving. You really have to think about what you're going to do next and thoroughly consider the situation you're in before doing so. The player is sent through emotions by all this: jubilation upon a successful overtaking gamble or woe for a simple mis-judgement of speed. And then there are the simply satisfying races where you simply eek out a win by not letting your potentially faster opponent overtake at any cost. Much may be lost or made up by myself trough the translation but I for one think this is one captivating game.

[Ravon]

if you need a little more Initial D then try this ring tone for your phones...

http://arcadetones.emuunlim.com/psx/initiald.html

[therealjohnpeat]

Initial D on GBA is really a 'turn based' racing game - bizarre and HEAVY on the Japanese...

Not played the other games - but if you need your mountain driving 'thang' - you could do worse than pickup Tokyo Road Race (usually about £10).

It's based on the Battle Gear 2 arcade game so the graphics aren't amazing but it's a superb hill/drift game and it has 'Akina' :)

TTFN

JP

[ZeroRisk]

Thanks for the info guys.

Nice review Chief. Guess I'll need to brush up on some Japanese in that case. Does it have a lot of Kanji or is it mainly Katakana and Hirigana?

Ravon: I would love a ringtone of Initial D but alas, I have a Sharp GX10 not a Nokia..... :(

therealjohnpeat: It's not so much the mountain driving, although that is a big pull seeing as not many racing games have it. It's all about the Animé and getting as much ID as possible. I may still look into the title. Cheers.