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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?

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.

Raccoon Lad wrote

Plus, these games are SO similar in feel that they've gotta be from the same developer.

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...

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.

ArnoldRimmer83 wrote

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.

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,

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.

Here we have it. Splendor, secret escaped from some beta:

psychofox-aimo.jpg (13.05 KB)

Bock wrote

Here we have it. Splendor, secret escaped from some beta:

I can't seem to find any info about Aimo. My guess is that it's a pseudonym.

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.

Kidkool_Title.png (2.14 KB)

Hey, it's Mr. Hardcore!

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.

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!

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.)

Bock wrote

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.)

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.

TheRedEye wrote

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!

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.

adaml wrote

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..

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.

TheRedEye wrote

adaml wrote

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..

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.

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.

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.

koolfox.png (3.09 KB)

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.

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.

Bock wrote

(Remember of the legal problems with Ni****do. Tecmo releasing stuff in Japan under the Salio brand.)

How can you tell Salio was part of Tecmo and not just a separate company that licensed from them?

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.

Taken from a old Brazilian magazine, some images from the proto?

*EDIT* MOD: Changed ImageShack link to attachment.

psychojx6.jpg (75.92 KB)

I have yet to find if Aimo was an actual company or VIC Tokai had internal development.

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.

Wow, that was a really extensive interview. Lots of new information there.

This is a bit of a stretch, but maybe Aimo's short for VIC Tokai and Tecmo? (They apparently had some sort of relationship.)

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I found the unused logo, it's still among the gametiles.

aimo.png (476 B)

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.

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.

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..

Career of F.Tamayama_J.zip (4.89 KB)

Incomplete, but Wikipedia lists the credits as:

Director(s) Toshihisa Hasegawa
Programmer(s) Shoji Suzuki
Composer(s) Fumito Tamayama, Hiroto Kanno

Am I interpreting this right? Is Hikoshi Hashimoto saying he worked on Psycho Fox after he joined Aicom?

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。

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.

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.

CRV wrote

Apparently Hiroto Kanno, Tamayama's boss at Graphic Research, did the rest of the music.

Any source for that?
What do you make of the fact that Hikoshi Hashimoto he worked on it?

Bock wrote

Any source for that?

Someone here said that, but that whole thread's a little...conflicting.

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

Anything happen with this? I either missed it or forgot about it.

Komabayashi will (has already?) meet Hashimoto at some point.
(He's been writing a book and interviewing lots of developers.)

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?

Aino.gif (257 B)

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.

A translation of that interview with Takayan (Fujito Takada):
http://shmuplations.com/battlemania/

Looks like Hashimoto deleted those tweets about Psycho Fox.

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.

Bock wrote

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.

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….

Safely received it

psycho fox aimo.jpg (349.25 KB)

The AIMO prototype has now been released here:
https://www.smspower.org/forums/18978

Author	Message
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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?

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 494 Location: El Cerrito, CA	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.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:00 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Raccoon Lad wrote Plus, these games are SO similar in feel that they've gotta be from the same developer. 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...

ArnoldRimmer83 Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 14	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:58 am
ArnoldRimmer83 Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 14	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.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:15 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	ArnoldRimmer83 wrote 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. 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,

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	Psycho Fox by Aimo Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:40 pm
	Here we have it. Splendor, secret escaped from some beta: psychofox-aimo.jpg (13.05 KB)

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Re: Psycho Fox by Aimo Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:05 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Bock wrote Here we have it. Splendor, secret escaped from some beta: I can't seem to find any info about Aimo. My guess is that it's a pseudonym.

adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:16 pm
adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	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. Kidkool_Title.png (2.14 KB)

TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:21 pm
TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	Hey, it's Mr. Hardcore!

adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:24 pm
adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	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.

TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:25 pm
TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	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!

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.)

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Bock wrote 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.) 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.

adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:48 pm
adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	TheRedEye wrote 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! 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.

TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:58 am
TheRedEye Joined: 20 Sep 2000 Posts: 149	adaml wrote 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.. 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.

adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:11 am
adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	TheRedEye wrote adaml wrote 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.. 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. 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.

ArnoldRimmer83 Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 14	Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:52 pm
ArnoldRimmer83 Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 14	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. koolfox.png (3.09 KB)

adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:35 pm
adaml Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 54	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.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:01 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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.

NeoZeedeater Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 28 Location: Vancouver, Canada	Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:57 pm
	Bock wrote (Remember of the legal problems with Ni****do. Tecmo releasing stuff in Japan under the Salio brand.) How can you tell Salio was part of Tecmo and not just a separate company that licensed from them?

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:04 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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.

PrOfUnD Darkness Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 366 Location: Brazil	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. psychojx6.jpg (75.92 KB)

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:02 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	I have yet to find if Aimo was an actual company or VIC Tokai had internal development.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:43 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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.

idrougge Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 360 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:44 am
	Wow, that was a really extensive interview. Lots of new information there.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:20 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	This is a bit of a stretch, but maybe Aimo's short for VIC Tokai and Tecmo? (They apparently had some sort of relationship.)

Wrim Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Umeå	Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:01 pm
Wrim Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Umeå	Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I found the unused logo, it's still among the gametiles. aimo.png (476 B)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 494 Location: El Cerrito, CA	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.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.. Career of F.Tamayama_J.zip (4.89 KB)

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 494 Location: El Cerrito, CA	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

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:54 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Am I interpreting this right? Is Hikoshi Hashimoto saying he worked on Psycho Fox after he joined Aicom?

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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。

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 10:19 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 6:21 am
	CRV wrote Apparently Hiroto Kanno, Tamayama's boss at Graphic Research, did the rest of the music. Any source for that? What do you make of the fact that Hikoshi Hashimoto he worked on it?

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 3:53 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Bock wrote Any source for that? Someone here said that, but that whole thread's a little...conflicting.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:52 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Anything happen with this? I either missed it or forgot about it.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.)

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 5:36 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	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? Aino.gif (257 B)

dr.slump Joined: 20 Oct 2017 Posts: 2	Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 7:55 pm
dr.slump Joined: 20 Oct 2017 Posts: 2	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.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:15 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 661	A translation of that interview with Takayan (Fujito Takada): http://shmuplations.com/battlemania/ Looks like Hashimoto deleted those tweets about Psycho Fox.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	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.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 8:44 pm
	Bock wrote 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. 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….

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2021 1:12 pm
	Safely received it psycho fox aimo.jpg (349.25 KB)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8546 Location: Paris, France	AIMO dump released Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 7:57 pm
	The AIMO prototype has now been released here: https://www.smspower.org/forums/18978

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