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Whodunit: VIC Tokai
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 12:04 am Last edited by CRV on Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
According to the Japanese site Developer Table, Magical Hat no Buttobi Turbo! Daibouken/Decap Attack for the Gen/MD was developed by VIC Tokai. That game's been compared to Kid Kool for the NES, also done by VIC Tokai. THAT game's been compared to Psycho Fox. Is it possible Psycho Fox was actually done by VIC Tokai? | |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:28 am |
It's gotta be. I think I saw Rich Man in the credits of Decap Attack, and he's in the credits of Psycho Fox too.
Plus, these games are SO similar in feel that they've gotta be from the same developer. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:00 am |
They sure got a lot of use out of the "engine" (well, if you can call it an engine). VIC Tokai makes one game for the SMS and it's not a Golgo 13 game. Oh well... |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:58 am |
Professor Toshi, Big Foot Shijou, and Dark Side Toshi are all in the credits of Kid Kool. There's also a Big Hit Machiya, who is probably Blushed Machiya with a slightly different nickname. | |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:15 am |
Well, there you go. We done solved another gaming mystery. And here's the credits from Decap Attack, from Moby Games: Director:
Dark Side Toshi, Programmers: Suzuki , Chem. Watanabe, Carrot Iwasawa, Character Designer: Buffoon Yamaguchi, Map Designers: Western Village, Kunoichi Kagawa, Sound Composer: Tamachan , Special Thanks To: Bert , Sti Jester, Supervisor: Bigfoot Shijoh, Producer: Rich Man, |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:09 am |
I have a great info in an old magazine. I scanned it but it's at home (will upload tonight): screenshot of a beta of Psycho Fox, with a different company logo on title screen. I think it's Aimo, maybe Aymo, not sure. | |
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Psycho Fox by Aimo
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:40 pm
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Here we have it. Splendor, secret escaped from some beta:
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Re: Psycho Fox by Aimo
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:05 pm
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I can't seem to find any info about Aimo. My guess is that it's a pseudonym. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:16 pm |
Which came first, Psycho Fox or Kid Kool? The title screen on that Psycho Fox proto reads 1989 while Kid Kool's title screen reads 1988. If the dates on the title screens are in fact accurate, Kid Kool would have come first. I actually played Psycho Fox first back in 1990-91 when I got it in a bargain bin at KB Toys and loved it...played the hell out of that game.
A few months later I rented Kid Kool and was amazed at the similarities. Either Vic Tokai is responsible for all these similar games (Decapattack, Magical Hat, etc) or perhaps the programmers left to form their own group and just did what they knew best. These games are too similar to not all be linked together. It's kind of like how you can tell which shooters were programmed by Compile. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:21 pm |
Hey, it's Mr. Hardcore! | |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:24 pm |
TheRedEye, I just read your posts on Phantasy Star...didn't know you played on the NES' rival team.
I haven't been to this board since the format change, but decided to give it a try. Arn visits here too, I see. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:25 pm |
Don't tell anyone here, but Phantasy Star is the only Master System game I've bothered playing through.
Unless Game Gear counts. I've had one of those since 1992! |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:31 pm |
Indeed difficult to find much info! :(
I could find that, not sure if it's the right one. Yahoo Japanese Phonebook Category: Tokyo Prefecture - Amusement - Games http://phonebook.yahoo.co.jp/list?a2=13116&g3=2375000 Name: 株式会社アイモ (AIMO Corporation)
Tel: 03-3986-4591 Address: 東京都豊島区東池袋2丁目22-8 (in Toyoshima, Tokyo Prefecture) There's a job offer they posted here: http://www.worktank.co.jp/arbeit/a0901.html The ad is for seeking amusement staff in arcade places. So today that's what the company is dealing with. But it may be the same (or a related spinoff) who developped Psycho Fox? Found a website: http://www.aimo.co.jp/ Not much information. I can try sending a well worded e-mail. Theory: due to legal issues with Ni****do, Vic Tokai created or used a spinoff company to make Psycho Fox on the Master System, they called that Aimo, but maybe said company never existed since they were finally published under the Sega brand. (Remember of the legal problems with Ni****do. Tecmo releasing stuff in Japan under the Salio brand.) |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:43 pm Last edited by CRV on Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
That was my theory, but this Aimo you found COULD be the one. But that Japanese site I mentioned before said VIC Tokai developed Magical Hat/Decap Attack (not that they're never wrong). You might try e-mailing Aimo, but they probably know nothing. The credits for Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy for the NES give Special Thanks to a Mr. Shijou (Big Foot Shijou?). Unfortunately, VGMuseum.com doesn't have all the credits posted, nor do they have the endings to any other VIC Tokai games. Anyway, that little piece either further solidifies that VIC Tokai did these games or that this Aimo did development for VIC Tokai. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:48 pm |
Red, I vaguely remember you describing the movement of the character sprite in Alex Kidd in Miracle World...how exactly did you put it ;) I remember borrowing Phantasy Star from a friend. I got to the part right before you would fly as Myau to the castle and somehow erased my saved file. Hard to believe that out of all my NES games beaten my most "full of rage" moment came from a SMS game. Come to think of it, my greatest video game accomplishment was in a Genesis game, beating Sonic 1 without dying while drunk. I did beaet Phantasy Star, but had to use my buddy's save file that started me right before Darkfalz. |
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:58 am |
That's AWFUL! That segment is still one of the most memorable videogame experiences I've ever had. God, Phantasy Star was brilliant. The entire time I felt like I was playing something LEGENDARY. I couldn't see any faults in it because it wasn't a videogame to me, it was like experiencing videogame history. |
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:11 am |
And I actually didn't get to see the part with Myau flying because of the erasure. I do remember checking out his save file and wandering around in a maze before stumbling across the final boss. It felt like wearing someone else's shoes. It still bothers me that I missed some stuff in that game. If I recall the exact point I was stuck at was not being able to find the morgue. The best memory I have of this game is making a friend laugh his ass off when I was describing how nice and neat the pile of junk looked in the junkyard. I mean, this is a friggin junkyard. There should be parts of stuff lying around, stink vapors coming from discarded waste, yet there were just a few assorted parts in a neatly stacked pile. Someone's gotta have a .jpg of this somewhere. Oh yeah, sorry for hijacking this thread. |
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:52 pm |
Nice seeing you Adam.
You can pretty much tell Kid Kool came first from playing it. Psycho Fox is generally a lot more refined than Kid Kool is, fixing quite a bit of that game's problems. I once made this comparison picture out of boredom. |
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:35 pm |
Hey Arn. Those sprite comparisons don't leave too much doubt, eh? Funny thought, before playing Kid Chameleon I used to have the idea that it might have been a sequel to Kid Kool. Little did I know Psycho Fox kind of was. | |
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:01 pm |
VGMuseum.com has pics from the ending of the VIC Tokai Gen/MD game Socket/Time Dominator 1st here. Dark Side Toshi is credited with directing and Character Design. Again, this either further solidifies VIC Tokai's involvement with Psycho Fox, et al. or shows Aimo did this game, too. | |
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:57 pm |
How can you tell Salio was part of Tecmo and not just a separate company that licensed from them? |
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:04 am |
It's possible these games were developed by a company called Marionette. For example, the name Kunoichi Kagawa (Decap Attack) turns up in several of their NES/SNES games. It ties into a topic I started at Digital Press about Pony Canyon & the NES:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=71714 I'm very tired, and don't feel like getting way too into it now. |
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Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:31 pm |
Taken from a old Brazilian magazine, some images from the proto?
*EDIT* MOD: Changed ImageShack link to attachment. |
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:02 am |
I have yet to find if Aimo was an actual company or VIC Tokai had internal development. | |
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:43 pm |
So I've been talking to Shouichi Yoshikawa (read the interview here). According to him, VIC Tokai and Seibu Lease developed games together (you can read more about that in the interview). I showed him the credits for Psycho Fox. He said the programmers were from VIC Tokai. He recognized "Dark Side Toshi" and "Peetan Yamaguchi" and said they were Seibu Lease staffers. | |
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:44 am |
Wow, that was a really extensive interview. Lots of new information there. | |
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:20 am |
This is a bit of a stretch, but maybe Aimo's short for VIC Tokai and Tecmo? (They apparently had some sort of relationship.) | |
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:01 pm |
Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I found the unused logo, it's still among the gametiles.
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Posted: Mon May 29, 2017 10:02 am |
Occured to me that we still don't have real name listed for Psycho Fox credits:
http://www.smspower.org/Credits/PsychoFox-SMS According to Beep's Komabayashi, DARK SIDE TOSHI = PROFESSOR TOSHI = はせがわとしひさ (Hasegawa Toshihisa) Also worth checking the credits for Decap Attack and Magical Hat Buttobi Turbo! Daibouken http://segaretro.org/Decap_Attack Director: Dark Side Toshi
Programmers: Dr. Suzuki, Chem. Watanabe, Carrot Iwasawa Character Designer: Buffoon Yamaguchi Map Designers: Western Village, Kunoichi Hagawa Sound Composer: Tamachan Special Thanks to: Bert and STI Jester Supervisor: Bigfoot Shijoh Producer: Rich Man http://segaretro.org/Magical_Hat_no_Buttobi_Turbo!_Daibouken Producer: Sugea the Monster Programmer: Doctor Suzuki, K. Iwa, Nabe-Chan Character Designer: Dark Side Toshi, Porten Map Designer: Paul Weller Sound Composer: Anzaki Waraco Director: Credit Company Probably more of those names could be traced. |
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:40 pm |
Just a thought, but Clash at Demon head on NES seems like it could have posibly shared some staff with Psycho Fox or Kid Kool.
The character designs, music and text speed seem somewhat similar. It's probably at least using some elements of the game engine from Kid Kool. Clash at DemonHead credits for reference: Developer(s) Vic Tokai Publisher(s) Vic Tokai Designer(s) Haruhiko Kawamura Programmer(s) Norihiro Hisamatsu, Tomiko Narusawa, Mayumi Sano Artist(s) Kazuaki Kinoshita Composer(s) Michiharu Hasuya It seems that Michiharu Hasuya was also the composer on Kid Kool too. |
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 11:03 am |
My new favorite detective Mr Komabayashi found some stuff:
Psycho Fox's music, Fumito Tamayama made 1 music and SE
http://web.archive.org/web/20010724174848/http://www.parkcity.ne.jp/~cliche/html/ca_tama.htm it says FOX HERO, but it must be Psycho Fox https://twitter.com/fumito_tamayama *EDIT* already in http://www.smspower.org/forums/90-PsychoFoxVGMPackageReleased#72882 Which mentions Hiroto Kanno doing most of the OST.. |
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 6:52 pm |
Incomplete, but Wikipedia lists the credits as:
Director(s) Toshihisa Hasegawa Programmer(s) Shoji Suzuki Composer(s) Fumito Tamayama, Hiroto Kanno |
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:54 pm |
Am I interpreting this right? Is Hikoshi Hashimoto saying he worked on Psycho Fox after he joined Aicom? | |
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:30 pm |
Yes.
1989年エイコム(エイリムじゃないよ)に入社して初めて手掛けたのがマスターシステムのPsycho Foxというゲームだったのですが、この曲をカバーしてくださってる方が数名いらしたのでコメント形式でご紹介します。海外販売も視野に入れたゲームなのに1面からいきなり和風という。
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 3:44 pm |
So recap:
Fumito Tamayama website (copied in a ZIP above) says "Fox Hero", Master System, 1993, 1 song. 1993 is after Psycho Fox. Maybe Tamayama made a mistake with the year? or maybe it's not Psycho Fox at all. But he says 1 song. So maybe he made one, and Hashimoto made the rest. Will have someone ask Hashimoto. |
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 10:19 pm |
Some of Tamayama's dates seem off, but I don't think that matters. Apparently Hiroto Kanno, Tamayama's boss at Graphic Research, did the rest of the music. It doesn't seem likely that sound designers from two different companies would have worked on Psycho Fox together, so I assume Fox Hero is a different game, maybe a sequel. | |
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:21 am |
Any source for that? What do you make of the fact that Hikoshi Hashimoto he worked on it? |
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:53 pm |
Someone here said that, but that whole thread's a little...conflicting. |
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 8:57 am |
Komabayashi got hold of Hikoshi Hashimoto e-mail and will ask him questions. Could we gather questions here?
(The questions will be translated to Japanese, keep them simple) Some questions: - Did you made all the music tracks in Psycho Fox? - There has been some confusion as to who made the music for Psycho Fox. We thought Hiroto Kanno or Fumito Tamayama were involved. Do you know them? Do you know if they helped with Psycho Fox? - Can you explain the relation between AIMO and Vic Tokai and Sega? Early magazine pictures show a "AIMO" logo on Psycho Fox title screen. In the final release, the logo became "SEGA". - Do you remember the name of people who worked on Psycho Fox? The game credits (they are beautiful!) only have handles such as "Dark Side Toshi" or "Blushed Machiya". It would be interesting to know who all the team members were. You can check the credits: http://www.smspower.org/Credits/PsychoFox-SMS |
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:52 pm |
Anything happen with this? I either missed it or forgot about it. | |
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 8:13 am |
Komabayashi will (has already?) meet Hashimoto at some point.
(He's been writing a book and interviewing lots of developers.) |
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 5:36 am |
A while ago, I discovered a Dreamcast-era developer called Aino, which may have been connected to Aicom president Akio Inoue. It looks like they recycled the Aimo logo and made it less angular. Maybe Aicom was going to publish Psycho Fox in Japan under the Aimo name?
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Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 7:55 pm |
I was googling this topic in Japanese and it seems this book:
謎のゲーム魔境〈4〉ロストゲームズ DECO&ビック東海編 contains an interview with "Takayan" of Vic Tokai who says that Sega were impressed with Kid Kool and comissioned two games using the same system: Psycho Fox and Magical Hat. |
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Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:15 am |
A translation of that interview with Takayan (Fujito Takada):
http://shmuplations.com/battlemania/ Looks like Hashimoto deleted those tweets about Psycho Fox. |
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Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2021 9:36 am |
I found a gentleman who has a Psycho Fox prototype with the AIMO logo. They seem willing to help share it with the community but they aren't very available right now. I'm keeping in contact. | |
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 8:44 pm |
I have failed to get that person to get back to me reliably (this has been going on since May). However I ended up finding another person with an AIMO build and bought it from them along with a few other prototypes. News soon…. |
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Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2021 1:12 pm |
Safely received it
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AIMO dump released
Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 7:57 pm
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The AIMO prototype has now been released here:
https://www.smspower.org/forums/18978 |
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