Demon's World

Demon's World[lower-alpha 1] is a 1989 run and gun arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan and published in Japan by Taito and in North America by Catalina Games.[1][2] In the game, players assume the role of two ghost hunters to fight against several ghosts and monsters that were unleashed upon Earth by the titular demon king. Initially launched for the arcades, the title was then ported to the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² by NEC Avenue and published exclusively in Japan on 26 February 1993, featuring various additions and changes compared with the original release.

Demon's World
Developer(s)Toaplan
Publisher(s)
Artist(s)Atsushi Kawaguchi
Composer(s)Osamu Ōta
Toshiaki Tomizawa
Platform(s)Arcade, PC Engine Super CD-ROM²
Release
  • WW: July 1989
Genre(s)Run and gun
Mode(s)

Demon's World was met with mixed response from critics who reviewed the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version as an import title despite being exclusive to Japan. As of 2019, the rights to the title is owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia alongside many other Toaplan IPs.

Gameplay
Arcade version screenshot.

Demon's World is a horror-themed horizontally-scrolling run and gun game where players assume the role of two ghost hunters through ten increasingly difficult linear autoscrolling stages across various locations, some of which have a boss at the end that must be fought before progressing any further in a effort to defeat several ghosts and monsters that were unleashed upon Earth by the titular demon king as the main objective.[3][4][5][6]

The player characters are armed with a gun complete with energy pack reminiscent to the Ghostbusters franchise to shoot various ghosts and monsters that infest each stage, though players can also defeat enemies by jumping on them, in addition of performing a double jump to move across platforms as well.[4][5] Along the way, players can collect multiple a weapon power-up to change their gun to fire lasers, bombs or a spread shot.[3][4][5] Other items can also be collected during gameplay such as "P" icons that, after collecting three icons in a row, grants the players a shield that takes an extra enemy hit and heart icons that gives points.[3][4][5] Firing on determined locations is crucial to reach high-scores and get extra lives, as certain setpieces in some stages hosts bonus secrets.

The opening stages of the title take place in an eastern setting, featuring various spirits and creatures of Japanese folklore. Some of these include ghostly karakasa, chochinobake, kappa, hitotsume-kozou and rokurokubi. The game then changes course, moving to a ghostly pirate ship and then the haunted American Old West, featuring a ghost town and a canyon inhabited by traditional ghosts and monsters from western culture such as Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and even Jason Voorhees-style masked monsters. The game's final stretch takes place in a medieval setting complete with cursed castles and dungeons infested with haunted armor, goblins and dragons.[4]

Demon's World uses a checkpoint in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying.[4] Getting hit by enemy fire, colliding against certain stage obstacles, falling off the stage or running against any enemy will result in losing a live and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Although there is an ending, the game loops back to the first stage after completing the last stage as with previous titles from Toaplan, with each one increasing the difficulty.

Development and release

Demon's World was released on arcades worldwide in 1989 by Taito in Japan as Horror Story, Catalina Games in North America and Toaplan across other regions.[2][7] The soundtrack was co-composed by Osamu Ōta and Toshiaki Tomizawa, while artist Atsushi Kawaguchi was responsible for the artwork.[8][9] The arcade board is multi-regional, meaning that it can be configured for different regions via the DIP switches and these settings change the legal warnings, display the Taito licensing message and can change the title between the English version and the Japanese version.[10] In 2018, an album containing music from the title and other Toaplan games was published exclusively in Japan by City Connection under their Clarice Disk label.[11] On 26 February 1993, Demon's World was ported to the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² by NEC Avenue under its original Japanese title (Horror Story) and published exclusively in Japan, featuring an arranged soundtrack using Redbook CD Audio along with a new stage exclusive to this version, among other changes.[12][13]

Reception and legacy

In Japan, Game Machine listed Demon's World on their August 15, 1989 issue as being the twenty-second most-popular arcade game at the time.[18]

Demon's World has been met with mixed critical reception since its PC Engine Super CD-ROM² release as Horror Story from critics who reviewed it as an import title.[14][15][16][17] French magazine Consoles + praised the graphics, music and gameplay but noted the presentation to be the conversion's main negative point.[14] Markus Appel of German magazine Mega Fun gave mixed remarks to the graphics and sound.[16] Likewise, both Andreas Knauf and Martin Gaksch from German magazine Video Games gave this port a mixed outlook.[17] Den of Geek noted it to be a soild but forgettable title from Toaplan.[19]

In more recent years, the rights to the game and many other IPs from Toaplan are now owned by Tatsujin, a company named after Truxton's Japanese title that was founded in 2017 by former Toaplan employee Masahiro Yuge, who are now affiliated with arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia.[20][21][22][23][24]

Notes
  1. Also known as Horror Story (Japanese: ホラーストーリー, Hepburn: Horā Sutōrī) in Japan.

References
  1. "東亜プラン". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 49. Shinseisha. September 1990. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-11-07 at the Wayback Machine).
  2. Iona; VHS; K-HEX (June 2009). "東亜プラン FOREVER". Floor 25 (in Japanese). Vol. 9. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2020-10-10 at the Wayback Machine).
  3. Musha, Ryota (July 1989). "Super Soft Corner: Video Game - ホラーストーリー". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 85. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 288-290.
  4. Plasket, Michael (13 November 2017). "Demon's World". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  5. "ホラーストーリー" (in Japanese). Shooting Star. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  6. Kermel, Laurent. "Pc Engine CDrom²: HORROR STORY". videogameden.com. Video Game Den. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  7. Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). タイトー (Taito); 東亜プラン (Toa Plan). アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005) (in Japanese) (1st ed.). Amusement News Agency. pp. 43, 50. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  8. Abeto, Kobatsu (September 1989). "東亜プランインタビュー". PSG (in Japanese). Vol. 10. FSG. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2017-05-31 at the Wayback Machine).
  9. "東亜プラン シューティングクロニクル". SweepRecord (in Japanese). SuperSweep. 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2020-02-27. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2018-07-11 at the Wayback Machine).
  10. Wovou (2019). "L'histoire de Toaplan – page 2". neo-arcadia.com (in French). Neo-Arcadia. Archived from the original on 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  11. "CDST-10066 | Toaplan ARCADE SOUND DIGITAL COLLECTION Vol.7". vgmdb.net. VGMdb. Archived from the original on 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  12. "PC-ENGINE Soft > 1993" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  13. "Horror Story". pcengine.co.uk. The PC Engine Software Bible. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  14. Axel; Rocket (May 1993). "PCE Super CD-ROM Review - Horror Story". Consoles + (in French). No. 20. M.E.R.7. pp. 94–96. Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  15. Halverson, Dave; Sgt. Gamer; Stratton, Tom; Cockburn, Andrew (April 1993). "Viewpoint - Turbo - Horror Story; Super CD Review: Horror Story". GameFan. Vol. 1 no. 5. DieHard Gamers Club. pp. 16, 74–75.
  16. Appel, Markus (May 1993). "Test Turbo Duo - Horror Story". Mega Fun (in German). No. 8. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 104.
  17. Knauf, Andreas; Gaksch, Martin (May 1993). "Warpzone - PC/Engine - Horror Story". Video Games (in German). No. 18. Future-Verlag. p. 24–27.
  18. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 362. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 August 1989. p. 21.
  19. Lambie, Ryan (21 June 2018). "Toaplan: the rise and fall of Japan's greatest shooting game company". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  20. "ライセンス事業" (in Japanese). TATSUJIN Co., Ltd. 2019. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  21. Bravo, Roberto (12 September 2018). "Nueva compañía «Tatsujin» asegura tener gran parte de las IPs de la extinta Toaplan" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  22. "Tatsujin". exA-Arcadia. 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  23. Bravo, Roberto (25 January 2019). "Tatsujin, los dueños de Toaplan, anuncian que están trabajando para exA-Arcadia" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  24. "［JAEPO2019］TATSUJINやナツメアタリの参入が発表されたexA-Arcadia。出展コーナーの模様を紹介". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas Inc. 26 January 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
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