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Capcom Bringing GBA Court Drama To West?
Thanks to The Magic Box for relaying the unconfirmed rumor that "Capcom is planning to release the popular court simulation game Gyakuten Saiban for Game Boy Advance in US later this year, as they have applied for a [trademark] for the title in US." Searching the USPTO database certainly reveals a U.S.-specific "Trademark 78416207... [filed] May 10th, 2004" by Capcom for the Japanese courtroom adventure title with intriguing handheld gameplay, which is helpfully explained in a recent InsertCredit review: "Listen to witnesses speak; at the right time, use the L button to question them... [which] may reveal holes in their stories... Point to the right pieces of evidence at the right times (hey! you can see the victim's watch in that picture with the bottle of pills!), and look really good to the judge as the witness stutters out a confession." Although the game's release is distinctly unconfirmed, would you buy this title if Capcom opted to translate it?
Lawyer: What happen?
Witness: Someone set up us the bomb.
Lawyer: What you say!!
Witness: We get signal!
Defense Lawyer: How are you gentlemen !!
Judge: All your base are belong to us.
(note, I know they're not in order. They have a poor court clerk)
How Jaded Are You?
This game does have one very interesting feature that I've never seen before. There is a flash demo available on the official site, which lets you try out a few episodes of the game. The slightly grainy graphics and BGM are very GBA-esque, but you're in for a special treat of not having to squint at kanji -- it seems to use a truetype font for the main game text.
The demo can be accessed from the "taikenban" ( in unicode) button, the second from the left on the main page.
My impression? Definitely seems wacky and stylistic. As the reviewer said, it may not be "literature", but it might be a nice break from trashy paperbacks for reading on your commute. Anyway, try it yourself and see. Of course, reading Japanese is necessary, but hopefully, they will have a similar demo for the English version if and when it's released.
Only if I'm able to use the Chewbacca Defense.
Try playing one of the PC Law & Order games. They're not as FMV-game-like as you think. The only time in that game where you have to press a button at a specific time is when you're objecting during the courtroom scenes, and then you have to give a reason for your objection. And it's not like trying to figure out what arbitrary button to press at an arbitrary time; objecting works just like it does in a real courtroom. I imagine this GBA game isn't that much different.
Rob
I love getting carjacked or being attacked by zombies! Those could never make good game experiences! Just because you don't think an experience would make a good video game doesn't mean it won't; I personally have no interest in getting into a sword fight but Way of the Samurai and Soul Caliber are pretty fun.
Who loves the police and the DA? That could never make a show people would want to watch! Wait, Law and Order has been on for 10 years with 2 spin offs...I must be off base.
Don't knock it til you've tried it. My Japanese isn't as great as it should be, but the games are actually kinda fun.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
actually, this game is more than a courtroom drama. it's . . . insane. as in insane-crazy. i've played it through to the end. (i'm the guy who wrote the review linked up there.) by the end, it's not even about a courtroom anymore. it becomes about demons and the end of the world and all that.
it's an anime, is what it is, only without a lot of the animation and voice-acting.
the format is an adventure game. the review excerpt up there makes it sound like it's fucking dragon's lair or something. that's not entirely correct. you sit, and think, and pick things. later, you're in the lawyer's office, and you goo over case files and all that. it's like an old PC adventure game. the producer was heavily influenced by hideo kojima's snatcher and policenauts games. and hideo kojima says (to me) that this is his favorite game of the year. yes, it's an adventure game -- in three parts, no less -- though it's also a damned, damned fine one.