Tatsumi

[NeoZeedeater]

Tatsumi had mostly remained in obscurity as a game developer, their games were often credited to their Western publishers and overshadowed by bigger name arcade manufacturers like Sega. It's unfortunate as they made some good stuff in their time.

TX-1 was an impressive piece of technology in 1984 as it was the first racing game to use three monitors. It also had branching paths, something Sega's Out Run was famous for a couple years later. It was released by Namco in Japan(I'm not sure if it was in '83 or '84) and Atari brought it to the West. Being a Namco property some consider it part of the Pole Position series although I think of it as separate.


It was followed up soon by TX-1 V8.
http://emustatus.rainemu.com/games/tx1v8.htm

Tatsumi's best known game is Speed Buggy AKA Buggy Boy which was brought to Western arcades by Data East in 1986.


It was released by Elite on various 8-bit and 16-bit computers.

Atari ST version


Recently there was a Nokia cell phone version by Elite and developed by Incognito Games(not the same developer as Incog).


Also from 1986 was flight/action game Lock-On which was released in North America by Data East and in the UK by Electrocoin.
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/index.ph...d=4146&image=1

Data East also published a PC port which they got Quicksilver to make.

Gray Out appears to be similar to Sega's After Burner. I'm pretty sure this had no distributor outside of Japan. According to this flyer it's from 1987 and it looks really good from the screen shown.
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=fl...d=4145&image=1

The 1988 arcade game Apache 3 is the main reason I'm a Tatsumi fan as it's one of my favourite rail shooters. Frogacuda recently informed me that it has finally been emulated. The MAME emulation isn't perfect as it's missing the ground graphics but it's still very playable. The game is similar to the 3d sections of Sega's Thunder Blade with some hostage rescuing thrown in. I think it has enough of its own feel to not feel like a Sega rip off though.


Round Up 5: Super Delta Force came out in 1989. It was also brought to the Western market by Data East. It 's supposed to be similar to Taito's Chase HQ except with three monitors.

Screenshots -
http://emustatus.rainemu.com/games/roundup5sdf.htm

From 1991 is the arcade release Cycle Warriors. It seems to be some kind of motorcycle action game, like EA's Road Rash where you could use a melee weapon. I haven't played it and it's likely it was left in Japan.
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=fl...d=2877&image=1



Does anyone know what happened to Tatsumi or if they have any other games?

[Frogacuda]

Speed Buggy is cool stuff. I only recently realized they were responsible for it. I always just associated it with Data East. There's an arcade at Seaside Heights that has the 3-monitor version if anyone cares. I haven't really played the rest except for fumbling with the very rough Apache 3 emulation in MAME.

Speed Buggy is being worked on for MAME right now. Maybe it'll be emulated soon. Here's some progress. Also, there's some videos of the real thing at the bottom of that post for those that have never seen it.

[Master of 7s]

As always, Zeed is a treasure trove of gaming info.

I played Apache 3, but up until now I always thought it a Thunder Blade sequel. I didn't realize it wasn't a Sega game.

[gameoverDude]

Speed Buggy is a great game, and the C64 version is amazing- right up there with other 8-bit racing translations such as SMS Out Run. Racing over a course with 5 different stages is a big plus here, and this is one good "score attack" racer- go through the gates and hit the soccer ball. You aren't just playing for the best laptime.

It's a shame Lock-On was never ported to a console. IMO the Genesis should've been able to do a good though certainly not perfect translation. The IBM PC conversion isn't quite so grand.

[Cowutopia]

When Zeed leaves, TNL truly dies. I <3 you, NeoZeedeater.





though TNL really dies when all the trolls leave, I'd say.

Apache 3 was a great game.