Beatdowns in Techno City: The Denjin Makai Series Thread

[Macaw]

Nico nico vids of the full soundtracks to both Denjin Makai and Guardians:


Denjin Makai - http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7753552

Guardians - http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm7753164


The Denjin Makai soundtrack will probably be of more interest to people as the sound still isn't emulated in MAME, though for the most part it has the same compositions as Ghost Chaser Densei (ghost chaser densei is slightly remixed though)

Definitely some shady stuff going on with its soundtrack. The last boss track (22:20 in the niconico vid) has a whole chunk taken straight from Eye of The Tiger, and the ending track (24:10) sounds exactly like a famous track that I forget the name of.

I still think its got a decent OST though, more fun to listen to than the Guardians OST anyway, which despite being quite unique and fitting the cyberpunk setting of the game pretty well, can be quite boring at times as many of the tracks sound similar to each other thanks to excessive use of the same handful of samples (kinda like old Nichibutsu and Toaplan music...)

[shinjojin]

HOLY CRAP!!! A Denjin Makai thread!

Some amazing stuff you guys posted so far. Keep it up!

Oh and Kurokishi FTW!

[JoshF]

I know the song your talking about. It's used for scenes with slow-motion celebrations or something. Too bad you can't look up instrumentals.

EDIT: Vangelis - Chariots of Fire This is the artist who scored Blade Runner too right?

[Gaijin Punch]

EDIT: Vangelis - Chariots of Fire This is the artist who scored Blade Runner too right?

Yes, and apparently hated the movie so much refused to have his music on the original soundtrack (until almost a decade [or so] after it's relaese).

[Macaw]

Yeah josh that's the track.

Never knew it took over a decade for Blade Runner to get a proper ost release, its got a damn awesome soundtrack.

[sven666]

Yeah josh that's the track.

Never knew it took over a decade for Blade Runner to get a proper ost release, its got a damn awesome soundtrack.

it took almost a decade before the movie got any kind of recognition, a HUGE flop in the cinemas initially..

[Gaijin Punch]

it took almost a decade before the movie got any kind of recognition, a HUGE flop in the cinemas initially..

It was always big amongst sci-fi dorks. I don't think it was ever considered "bad"... it just didn't make any money. Interestingly enough, that cock-holding ending and from what I know, the narration (both items absent from the Director's Cut, which isn't really a Director's Cut) were both put in by the guy that financially backed it when the movie went over budget (with quite a ways to go).

This movie definitely has a history, but I guess that's what makes it so awesome.

[sven666]

theres a +3h documentary on the subject out there, called "dangerous days".. well worth watching if youre anykind of a fan of the movie

would be cool to see the original test-screening which got shunted by the test audience (and has afaik never been released), apparently it was quite a bit different witha supposedly really dark ending.

[Gaijin Punch]

From Wikipedia

Original workprint version (1982, 113 minutes) shown to audience test previews in Denver and Dallas in March 1982. It was also seen in 1990 and 1991 in Los Angeles and San Francisco as a Director's Cut without Scott's approval. Negative responses to the test previews led to the modifications resulting in the U.S. theatrical version,[94][95] while positive response to the showings in 1990 and 1991 pushed the studio to approve work on an official director's cut.[96] It was re-released with 5-disc Ultimate Edition in 2007.

I'll have to watch that, since I have the Ultimate Edition (a fucking bargain if you ask me).

Interesting that it was shown in Dallas. If I had a time machine I could go back and tell my younger, seven year old self to sneak into it. How the fuck do you get invited to a test screening anyway?

[Shou]

I'll have to watch that, since I have the Ultimate Edition (a fucking bargain if you ask me).

Interesting that it was shown in Dallas. If I had a time machine I could go back and tell my younger, seven year old self to sneak into it. How the fuck do you get invited to a test screening anyway?

They're just like regular viewings except only lightly advertised or they are given out through some kind of ad vehicle.

Have the UE on BR and it is magnificent.

[Macaw]

Hahaha, its ironic a thread on Denjin Makai would turn into Blade Runner discussion. There's perhaps no other movie that has influenced the visuals in sci-fi video games as much, with Denjin Makai and Guardians being prime examples.

[Gaijin Punch]

That's the way we roll!

[Macaw]

I got a Gamest issue where Denjin Makai is first featured, where the bio's of all the characters are given (which isn't in the game). Haven't spent any time yet really trying to translate them, but here is a quick and interesting list of the characters origins and age:

Belvar - From Germany, Age: 3
Iyo - From Japan, Age: 5
Makaigensei - Unknown origin, Unknown age
Zeldia - From Japan, Age: 6
Kurokishi - From Russia, Age: Unknown
Tulks - From America, Age: 32


According to http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/‾dummy/gamest/game/h_a.html Denjin Makai is featured in quit a few issues and had strategy guide treatment. Eventually I'll try get hold of them. Guardians unfortunately was only featured in a single Gamest issue.

Might do some scans of stuff, we'll see.

[Gaijin Punch]

How are your PS skills? I've got a scan of a 2-page ad. Started stitching it, but never finished.

[JoshF]

For some reason those ages remind me of a commentary on the Cyber City Oedo DVD where the director said you can't have a protagonist over the age of 30 and be liked by Japanese.

[Macaw]

How are your PS skills? I've got a scan of a 2-page ad. Started stitching it, but never finished.

I'm decent I guess, though I'm not sure what kind trickiness is involved in putting together a 2 page ad having never really messed with scans too much before.

For some reason those ages remind me of a commentary on the Cyber City Oedo DVD where the director said you can't have a protagonist over the age of 30 and be liked by Japanese.

Hahaha, although in Denjins case half the characters aren't human.

[Gaijin Punch]

Maybe I can finish it up here soon and reward you for all your obscure thread support. Now to just find where I put it...

[Macaw]

Ooh, cool.

[loempiavreter]

I always thought it played well, saw a japanese play Guardians in Tokyo. Looked very impressive and fun to watch someone who is good at it play it.

Only the bosses dissapointed me a bit.

[Macaw]

Noticed something weird, in a newer version of Mame I gave Denjin Makai a run after not playing it in a while, and realized the score calculations were actually correct now. The score counters were originally all messed up because the score calculation supposedly used the protection of the Seibu hardware its on, heres from the MAWS WIP:


25th May 2008: David Haywood - I've been working on improving Denjin Makai recently, but that one hardly uses the COPX-02 protection (only for the score calculation between rounds and some timer countdowns) so the improvements seen in that in the last couple of releases don't reflect progress on the protection emulation.

That was back when the game first became playable in MAME, and there hasn't been a listed update since. It does only say for score calculations between rounds, but it was hard to tell considering up until now all the score counters were just garbled. Perhaps the bonuses between rounds are still wrong, but everything else seems accurate to me, such all the score amounts for moves. I remember some from playing the game at TRY, and its the same.

Stealth MAME updates win this day! now fun can be had playing the game for score on MAME. Earlier in this thread I talked about the scoring system in the game... interested people should go back and read it, its quite something I have full confidence Fubuki's WR score in Gamest of 3 million can practically be doubled, for anyone with enough balls.

[Macaw]

Some more Denjin Makai notes after a bunch of play with the proper score counters:

The game has a kind of level up system. At 200,000, 500,000 and 1 million points both your life gauge and special gauge will get bigger.

All characters super moves (the special that can only be done when you have red health and a full special bar) yield different point values, the more risky ones give more.

For example Makai's super, being a projectile, gives 2,500 points a hit. This is shit cause with the red health 4x multiplier a standard attack string of his will give you over around 5000. Belva on the other hand who has a close range super gets 10,000 points a hit with it.

Because the supers do so much damage they often kill enemies in a single hit except for the few tougher ones. Because of this you can milk an enemy for more points with strings or grapple moves or whatever and then when they are low on health you can finish them with a super. You cant fiddle around too long though as stages have a time limit.

Playing this game for score feels like I'm playing a STG at times.

So the WR is 3 million. My highest is about 1.1 million dying at the end of stage 3. There are 6 stages.

That WR was done with Kurokishi too, who also has a shitty 2500 point super. The guy must have just got a clear doing the whole game on red health, unless there is some trick I'm not aware of.

[Gaijin Punch]

Thanks for the update. So, have you played the board before? How would you rank the emulation?

[RadiantSvgun]

What mame are you using? Denjin Makai is still non-working in mine. I've been wanting to play it for awhile now.

[Macaw]

Thanks for the update. So, have you played the board before? How would you rank the emulation?

Yeah played a handful of credits last year at TRY. Emulation is fine except there is no music. The biggest graphical problem is a grayish colour being displayed instead of black in a few areas, mostly noticeable in the intro. The character close-ups in the intro don't fade as they should either.

That actually reminds me of something hilarious at TRY. When the game is in its attract mode and gets to the title screen there is a incredibly deep voice with insane bass that yells out DENJIN MAA....AAA..KAI. It literally roared through the entire retro floor. The sound wasn't even that loud I was struggling to hear the music, but that DENJIN MAKAI voice just blasted over everything. It was like the machine was alive.

I remember absolutely needing to take a video of it on my mobile. I should upload it to youtube!

What mame are you using? Denjin Makai is still non-working in mine. I've been wanting to play it for awhile now.

Its still labeled as red in mame because of the protection on counters and the music, but it works. Get the newest version of mame anyway for the improved score counters.

[Macaw]

WTF! I just realized Go Nagai did the poster artwork for Denjin Makai! Bottom right...