In the summer of 2006 a video game was released to nonexistent fanfare.
Zero copies were sold and the game was played by only a handful of people.
This commercial failure came as no surprise to the game’s developer; he
made it for himself.
THE PLOT
The plot of Daikon Warrior is a simple one: the hero, Clyde Sideright,
must go on a quest to defeat the evil DarkMeister and his hordes of evil
minions. Along the way he enlists the help of his friends Nissa Blissfist
and Nox Treeme.
THE IMPETUS behind DAIKON WARRIOR
Most games feature a rigid plot that either has hidden things along the
way, or at some point late in the game the player is allowed to access
hidden areas. This game takes the opposite approach and treats the whole
world of the game as ‘optional’ or ‘secret’ and in this way the player is
allowed to do as much (or as little) exploring as he deems necessary.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS
Clyde Sideright
He woke up from a strange dream and decided it was
his destiny to go on a quest to fight evil.
Nox Treeme
Clyde's best friend and believer in all things
extreme and edgy, from energy drinks to extreme sports. He doesn't
share in Clyde's delusions, but does want to keep an eye on his crazy
friend.
Nissa Blissfist
Clyde's girlfriend. Easily distracted by shiny
things, she gets into trouble and it's Clyde's job to come to the rescue.
She swings a mean rolling pin.
The DarkMeister
The leader of the evil Meister Gang that rules
Daikonia's underworld. Also works as the janitor in St. Elmo's
Cathedral.
SPECIAL FEATURES in DAIKON WARRIOR -high-level character intro
During the game’s intro, you have the ability to control a high-level
character and sneak preview some of the abilities that will be available
to you in the late stages of the game, a la Lufia I.
-completely open-ended plot
Strictly speaking, there is nothing you ‘have to’ do in this game. You
could walk straight to the final boss and defeat him. You’d get
slaughtered by the high-level enemies along the way, but it’s
theoretically possible to do.
-seamless map changes
Walk inside, outside, or on top of buildings without screen switches or
fades. There is no ‘world map’ as most of the entire game takes place in
one ‘map’. Underground dungeons are an exception to this.
-the ability to fight defeated bosses
any time
Bosses you defeat are sent to a ‘prison’ in one of the game’s cities. Once
you find the ‘prison key’ you are able to fight these bosses again for
experience and gold.
-language support
Some of the NPCs speak Japanese, which you will eventually be able to
decipher once you find the ‘electronic dictionary’ item.
-secret passages
While traveling above ground is fun, why not take the sewer system
connecting all the dungeons and cities? Just watch out for the rabid giant
sewer rats. Aside from the sewer, there are also other secret dungeons and
tunnels. This feature unites what most games treat as a mishmash of places
into a unified world with real spatial depth.
-play as the antagonist
Roughly halfway through the game you can find an item which will allow you
to play through the (rest of) the entire game as the villain, eventually
facing off against the hero and joining his party. He then becomes a
usable character until the final dungeon is entered. This feature (and the
villain) were based on Magus from Chrono Trigger.
-secret characters
Most games have one or two. This game has four. Since your ‘regular party’
only consists of three characters, this gives you lots of options when it
comes to party formation.
-the ‘debug key’
This is an item that unlocks a hallway with a series of doors which lead
to all the dungeons and areas of the game.
-drenal pills
How about a power-up that actually does something useful? Drenal pills are
very rare in the game, but they turn your character into a bloodthirsty,
stat-maxed skullcrusher for the rest of that battle. Unfortunately, some
of your enemies can use them as well…
-high-level monsters
In most games, getting to level 99 (or sometimes as low as level 50+)
allows you to mollywhomp the hell out of any monster in the game. FF9 had
the notable exception of Ozma, and FF7 had the Weapons, while FF12 had
those ridiculously difficult Marks. Daikon Warrior has some insanely
difficult high-level monsters of its own.
-end-game options
Upon completion of the game, the player has two options: to continue
playing with the items acquired from the final boss (the final battle can
then be played again) or a ‘new game plus’ where the player starts from
the beginning, but keeps his levels and items.
IDEAL FEATURES (things I wish I could've added)
Due to my lack of coding prowess, these are things that, sadly, I could
not put into Daikon Warrior.
-an innovative battle system
I wish someone would combine the battle systems of Link to the Past and
Secret of Mana for a HP-based, real-time battle environment. While
Mana
utilizes real-time in most aspects, you still need to resort to a menu for
spells and commands. If there were a way to incorporate Chrono
Trigger-style combo attacks, that would be even better.
-8-directional movement
This was a small touch that made EarthBound stand out from most of the
other games of its time, and one that never caught on with future 2D
games. Spike McFang did a great job of combining this feature with the
above philosophy regarding battle systems, but that game’s major weakness
was that it only took about three hours to complete.
-adult themes
Since the people who’d be interested in this kind of game skew older (we
grew up playing NES and SNES games), why not introduce some grown-up
themes like drugs and sex? Why should GTA have a monopoly on it?
-a casino Dragon Quest games (and some Lufia titles) have used a casino system as a
way to gamble and get incredibly strong/rare items.
-Forfeit Island
This was a place in Lufia where you could buy back items you
lost/sold/dropped during your quest. For players intent on having at least
one of every obtainable item, this was a great feature.
THE DREAM
I’d love to see this game completely redone with better graphics and all
the extra features listed above, perhaps as a DS game. If you or someone
you know has the interest and the ability to help with this, e-mail me at
jbaugher [at] rocketmail.com
