Nichibutsu

[digitalpress]

This company did some great stuff in the 80's. Games like Moon Cresta and Frisky Tom were underground classics for awhile, and they put Crazy Climber on the map, too. There were even a couple of "Nichibutsu Classics" console games released in the mid-90's.

Got any memories of their games, stories to share, tidbits of knowledge to circulate? Now's the time!

Here's a list of their arcade games from KLOV:
http://www.klov.com/manuf_detail.php?letter=N&manuf_id=1530

http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/arcade/nichibutsu.png

[TheSmirk]

Awwwwwwwww.....I bet a bunch of lightbulbs went off in some heads! :wink 2:


[Edit: It must have been a dream, sorry :( ]

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Nichibutsu...collection...GBA?

WHERE?

Seriously. I love Nichibutsu's early arcade games. The Nichibutsu collection for the PS1 is still one of my favorite classic arcade compilations. And their PS1 3D update of Crazy Climber ROCKED - one of the best attempts I've ever seen at updating a classic arcade game into the modern day. And I love me some Crazy Climber - enough to get a big double arcade-style joystick for the PS1 just so I could play it with two joysticks.

http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/about/okge04/pics/cclimber.jpg

[mezrabad]

I loved Crazy Climber. Unfortunately, it was in a far away Mall arcade to which I rarely was able to travel.

Crazy Climber and Robotron were the two of the biggest motivators to get me to build my MAME cab.

I never knew there was a 3D remake for the PS1! Is the 3D version on the Nichibutsu collection or is it a seperate remake (like Robotron X was?). Does the Nichibutsu Collection have the original Crazy Climber?

Just when I thought I wanted everything, I've got something else to want.

[Gapporin]

And no one could forget the millions of mahjong games Nichibutsu made, right? ;) LOL

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

The PS1 Nichibutsu Arcade Classics disc has Crazy Climber, Frisky Tom and Moon Cresta, and a slightly updated version of each. Crazy Climber 2000, the 3D remake, is its own beast. The Nichibutsu Arcade Classics games were recently broken up into three releases - gee, thanks guys - just one game + its updated version per disc.

Here are some reviews with screen shots etc.:

http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/edit/nichi/box.jpg
Nichibutsu Arcade Classics (http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/edit/nichi/)

http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/edit/cc2k/box.jpg
Crazy Climber 2000 (http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/edit/cc2k/)

And the unfathomably updated adventure game:
http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/edit/hcc/box.jpg
Hyper Crazy Climber (http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/edit/hcc/)

And the box art for the "one game + update" re-releases:
http://www.thelogbook.com/z2002/game/jp-crazy.jpg
http://www.thelogbook.com/z2002/game/jp-frisk.jpg
http://www.thelogbook.com/z2002/game/jp-crest.jpg

Funny thing is, Frisky Tom was really the best indicator of Nichibutsu's future - its borderline-racy-for-the-day showering-lady-in-a-bikini "reward" scene kinda presaged the company's later mainstay business of doing the "dirty" mah jongg type games where the more tiles cleared would reveal a picture of a naked woman. LOL

[maxlords]

Heh...I have some Nichibitsu arcade stuff still...have Magmax and all the art for it, and Seicross too. Good stuff, that. And Moon Cresta kicks ass. Did Nichibitsu do Terra Cresta too?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Yup. It was a sequel to Moon Cresta.

[Graham Mitchell]

Wow, the arcade version of Mag Max looks much better than the NES version, which goes down as one of the worst NES games I've ever played. I'll have to check it out.

I know they made Seicross, but the KLOV that you linked list doesn't include it...odd.

Thanks for starting this thread; this is one of those days on DP when I learn a lot about something that I should really check out. I aprreciate it 8-)

[NE146]

Ok. First things first. The Nichibitsu collections on the SFC and PSX? They're kind of crappy :/ One play at Moon Cresta on either of them and you'll see how the enemy swoops are totally off in their arcs and speed. They're good for collecting purposes... but suck for playing. :roll:

Ok now that's off my chest. :) NICHIBITSU! Their early stuff is mainly what I like about them. First of all Moon Cresta... I don't know about you guys but back at home Moon Cresta was just about as popular as Space Invaders or Puckman ever was. You couldn't go to a laundry mat or movie theater without the strains of Moon Cresta music hitting your ears. That game was extremely popular. I've told this story before, but I was also a big Terra Cresta fan years later... I would go to the arcade specifically to play that game. But it never dawned on me that it was the sequel to Moon Cresta until only recently from the internet LOL

Crazy Climber..mmmmmm. The one thing about Crazy Climber that always sticks in my mind, is the goofy voices! The guy had the wackiest quacks and grunts. When he got hit "BWAARK!" or when the old "Bambala". Unfortunately of course they replaced it in the U.S. version with the far tamer "go for it" and "ouch".. which in my opinion took out some of the wacky character from the game. Still though, one of the all time great arcade games in any form. :) It can still be a challenge for a player today to figure out the controls.

Hyper Crazy Climber and Crazy Climber 2000 are excellent games as well as PDFsays. Any of you try the Famicom version? That's kind of nifty to check out.. it used two pads and it even came with joystick attachments.. I've only tried it via emulation though but it's still great fun. I do however have the CC keychain and 2 boxed Bandai CC's. So I'm sort of a half fanatic of the game....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/b2stoys/cc.jpg
Famicom CC
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/b2stoys/fcc3.jpg

[TheSmirk]

I just noticed over at KLOV that there was a crazy climber 2? ? ? ?!! See, you can learn something new everyday :D

[digitalpress]

I just noticed over at KLOV that there was a crazy climber 2? ? ? ?!! See, you can learn something new everyday :D

Indeed - it's also emulated in MAME. It looks a lot better than the original but I still prefer the first CC.

[bargora]

When I got an "import-friendly" PlayStation I popped over Wolfgames.com and grabbed the three single-game discs that PDF showed above. Frisky Tom is much harder on the PlayStation than it was on the 5200! And Crazy Climber give me fits just as much as it did in the arcade. Alas, NE146 is right about Moon Cresta being sorta bollixed on the PS release. Which makes it hard as nails.

But still classic games. Plus the user interface for the PS discs has teh h0t ch1x!!1!

[DDCecil]

I own Super Pachislot Mahjong and Mahjong Hanjouki for the Super Famicom, both made by Nichibutsu. Here's a shot of SPM:

http://img122.exs.cx/img122/941/image7.png

[Sotenga]

http://img122.exs.cx/img122/941/image7.png

A. Oh barf. :puke:

2. Go for it! Go for it! OH NO!!! Ah, that takes me back. Crazy Climber is the awesome. :D

Three. Has anyone ever heard of a little known Nichibutsu shmup with the moniker "UFO Robo Dangar?" Dangar is AWESOME. It plays a bit like Terra Cresta, and there's just so many ways you can power up your ship. I can't explain the charm of it all, but trust me, if you're a shmup fan, I recommend playing this.

[Ed Oscuro]

x68K ports galore! Yep, they did release their share of STEAMING HOT mahjong games, but I definitely still love them. The dual joystick approach of Climber is one of those great ideas.

[Kid Fenris]

I have fond memories of Terra Cresta, as it was one of three arcade games stocked by the local youth center when I was in third grade. Long after losing interest in Ten Yard Fight and Tiger Heli, I was still sneaking over after school to play Terra Cresta.

Why? Well, I most liked the challenge of finding those extra component ships that could combine with your basic fighter. I loved to tell my friends that I could get all five parts and merge them into the blazing phoenix of destruction, even if I was lying about it. I couldn’t even get to the floating six-armed boss. But I played the game voraciously, to the point where I actually imagined that each of the five ships had its own pilot, like something out of Voltron, and I felt bad whenever they blew up. Hey, I was eight.

I had to fire up MAME after reading this thread, and I think Terra Cresta holds up fairly well. The enemy patterns are demanding but seldom unfair, while I like the way the levels change slightly if you die and re-start from an earlier point. Even the soundtrack is fun, with that catchy “Enter Your Name” music and the little tone that plays when you’re launching your last ship.

I still can’t reach the six-armed boss.

Two questions:

1) Does Terra Cresta end? Or does it just repeat its layouts and bosses, getting tougher and tougher until you give up?

2) Is Terra Cresta 3D as bad as I’ve heard?



Plus the user interface for the PS discs has teh h0t ch1x!!1!

OMG PIX PLZ.

[icbrkr]

Heh...I have some Nichibitsu arcade stuff still...have Magmax and all the art for it, and Seicross too. Good stuff, that. And Moon Cresta kicks ass. Did Nichibitsu do Terra Cresta too?

Mmmm.... Magmax is one of my all time fav arcade games. It's on my "need to find" arcade machines ;) Did it come out for any home system besides the NES (which was a terrible port :/)

[Nature Boy]

You know about "that guys?" Those actors you see all over the place but never really learn their name?

Moon Cresta is a "that game" for me.

Whenever I see it I go "oh yeah," but I typically look over it when thinking about what to play or thinking about Nichiasdfnasu (never could pronounce it properly).

Crazy Climber I remember being one of those games I *really* wanted to play in arcades back in the day but never could. I had no money and it was *always* busy anyway. I play it in MAME but even with a PlayStation controller I find the control tough. My goal is to finally climb that first damn building...

[geelw]

nichibutsu also did a number of 3D games for the playstation in japan, and all are interesting in one way or another. Expert is a corridor shooter very much like doom meets die hard, and there are a few racing games i need to check up on and report back here with (i'm sorta turkeyed out and half asleep...) LOL

[Gapporin]

Someone just posted this pic in RGVAC. It's an Asteroids cab, but I've never seen that cool side art before!

You mean Crazy Climber, right? :hmm:

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

That looks a lot like the original Japanese side art.

[odysseyzine]

Three. Has anyone ever heard of a little known Nichibutsu shmup with the moniker "UFO Robo Dangar?" Dangar is AWESOME. It plays a bit like Terra Cresta, and there's just so many ways you can power up your ship. I can't explain the charm of it all, but trust me, if you're a shmup fan, I recommend playing this.

I LOVED Dangar! This arcade game was at a pizza joint in my home town that was a block away from my house. I used to head over to the Dangar machine, spend all my money, and then go home to dig in the couch, steal change off my parents' dresser, etc. and run back to play again. I also really like the background tune for some reason. It's so happy-sounding.

It was cool to stumble across this thread (thus the resurrection). I was actually working on a fun little writeup about Nichibutsu for my web site, and I did a search here to see if I could find any bits of information I hadn't been able to dig up yet. I'll post a link here when I'm finished with it. I love me some Nichibutusu.

Oh! And my wife's best friend's parents (say that 10x fast) have a Moon Cresta cocktail cabinet in their basement tucked away in storage. I've tried to get them to sell it, but they always change the subject as soon as I bring it up. I make it over there for the occasional visit and always take a trip to the basement to fire it up.

[odysseyzine]

Ok, I finished my little writeup on Nichibutsu. I don't mean for it to be an authoritative history on the company, rather just some thoughts about one of my favorite shoot-em-up companies.

http://www.odysseyzine.com/articles/nichibutsu1.html

[NeoZeedeater]

Great write up. :)

It's sad that Nichibutsu's games often don't enough credit outside of Japan.

[CRV]

About five years ago, I put together a Nichibutsu site made up of stuff I stole from other sites (I didn't know any better back then). It didn't last long and it's been lingering on my hard drive ever since...until now...

You can download the files (in .zip format) from here:
http://sg1000.emucamp.com/sgr/nichi/nichi.htm

Keep in mind that many of the files aren't linked together.