Daikatana (Game Boy Color)

Daikatana is an action-adventure game developed by Will and published by Kemco for the Game Boy Color handheld game console. It was released in Europe in 2000 and in Japan in 2001 for the Nintendo Power cartridge. A North American release was planned but was cancelled due to the poor reputation of its Windows and Nintendo 64 counterparts of the same name. Where these versions are first-person shooters, the Game Boy Color version was designed at the request of creator John Romero to be an adventure game similar to The Legend of Zelda in order to differentiate it. It stars Hiro Miyamoto, who must rescue his friend and the titular sword Daikatana. It has received generally positive reception, as a contrast to the poor reception other versions received.

Daikatana
Developer(s)Will
Publisher(s)Kemco
Director(s)Takeo Mogi
Producer(s)
  • Seijiro Okuhara
  • Mitsuo Shinjo
Designer(s)Takumi Takahashi
Tatsuo Masuda
Programmer(s)Kazuyuki Makishima
Tomokazu Yoshida
Artist(s)Masayuki Tsuboi
Noboru Matsumura
Hideki Ujiie
Writer(s)Noriyuki Saeki
Kazuhiro Takada
Norihiro Onodera
Composer(s)Hideki Sakamoto
Platform(s)Game Boy Color
Release
  • EU: September 29, 2000
  • JP: May 1, 2001
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Daikatana features gameplay similar to early entries in The Legend of Zelda series. It has a top-down perspective as opposed to the first-person perspective of its PC and console counterparts. It features dungeons, which have puzzles to solve and bosses to defeat. It features super-deformed character designs.[1][2]

Plot

Daikatana stars Hiro Miyamoto, who is told that an enemy of his family, Kage Mishima, had stolen the Daikatana with the intention of using its time-warping abilities to change history. Mishima then kidnaps his friend Mikiko and attacks the family dojo.

Development

Daikatana was directed by Takeo Mogi and developed and published by Kemco. It was designed to resemble The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening at John Romero's request.[3] It was announced that Kemco would be responsible for publishing the game in the United States.[4] It had a set release date of December 17, 1999, but Kemco said it could be pushed back to January or February of 2000.[5] When informed of the planned release of Daikatana for the Game Boy Color in 2000, IGN staff joked that it would end up coming out before the PC version, which was infamous for delays. Other media outlets picked up on this as a story, and Kemco did a press release to clarify that this was not the case.[1] Kemco cancelled its American and Japanese releases due to the negative reception the brand had received.[3][6] An unreleased version of Daikatana was released by Romero on his website.[7]

Reception

The pre-release reception for Daikatana was positive. E3 footage of the game seemed promising to IGN staff, noting that its differences from the PC version were a good thing due to the PC version's issues. They praised the E3 demo's visuals and gameplay, specifically noting that its Japanese-inspired design benefits it.[1] It was the runner-up for IGN's "best handheld adventure" award at E3. GameSpot writer Yukiyoshi Ike Sato compared it to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Secret of Mana, noting that the game's demo seemed easy but showed promise.[2]

Daikatana has received generally positive reception and is noted for being quality despite the poor critical reception of other versions. It holds a 79.38% on GameRankings.[8] Writer Frank Provo found the game fun, praising the game's puzzles and instant save feature but criticizing its lack of overworld and stiff control. He found the visuals appealing, noting that while the character models lacked color diversity, the world was rich with color and the characters with strong animation. He was more negative towards the sound quality, owing to a limited selection of sound effects and poor use of the GBC's two-channel MIDI.[9] Writer Lucas Sullivan called it a "little GBC gem for those who bothered to give it a chance."[6] Writer Scott Sharkey expressed disappointment in its cancellation due to it being a better game than its PC/N64 release. He felt that the translation was "wonky" and that the characters were not very different from one another mechanically, but noted that these were ultimately minor issues.[10]

References
  1. "Daikatana". IGN. May 26, 2000. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  2. Sato, Yukiyoshi Ike (May 17, 2006). "Hands OnDaikatana for Game Boy Color". GameSpot. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  3. Romero, John (December 10, 2004). "Ion Storm And Daikatana". Planet Rome.ro. Archived from the original on December 10, 2004. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  4. Gerstmann, Jeff (May 9, 2000). "Daikatana for the N64 and GBC". GameSpot. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  5. "Daikatana Still on the Board". IGN. September 21, 1999. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  6. Sullivan, Lucas (March 23, 2017). "Legendary PC games you completely forgot were on console". GamesRadar. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  7. Burnes, Andrew (December 9, 2004). "The History Of Daikatana". IGN. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  8. "Daikatana". Game Rankings. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  9. Provo, Frank (May 17, 2006). "Daikatana Review". GameSpot. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  10. Sharkey, Scott (December 13, 2004). "A brief history of Daikatana". 1up.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2019.

Daikatana at MobyGames

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