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Number Six:
Insert Credit's own Vincent Diamante and I were at a Del Taco in downtown Los Angeles one night, eating cheap burritos. When we finished eating, we were still hungry. I didn't have any money on me. I'd left my wallet in my computer bag, which was approximately pretty far away. Vince didn't have any cash on him, either. We'd spent out last bits of cash on Del Taco, and we weren't exactly complaining. They didn't accept credit cards.
So I joked:
"Here's the plan -- I punch the cashier in the throat, and you grab the cash register."
I mimed a Bruce-Lee punch, and then what looked like a guy uprooting a tree with his bare hands.
Further musing on this throat-punching-register-grabbing led us to question, well, what if the Del Taco was run by vampires, or else demons?
And I said we had nothing to fear -- why, the demons' weakness is most likely a punch in the throat, anyway.
This was all well and funny, until the night of October 1st, 2002, when, after playing plenty of Bangai-Oh! and then switching over to River City Ransom, I remembered Vince and my musing about this demonic-throat-punching. Why, days later, even Insert Credit's Brandon Sheffield had gotten in on the musing. We dined on cheap French fries, and drank boba milk tea, and discussed theories as to why game developers seem to have learned so little from River City Ransom.
It was on this night in October that the game was born in my mind: the game would be called Tokyo Psychic University: Demon-Puncher 20XX. It would be a combination of River City Ransom's gameplay and Metal Gear Solid 2's postmodernly wacky story. It would feature fighting mechanics not unlike those of Streets of Rage 2, musical and visual aesthetics reminiscent of Jet Set Radio Future, and plenty of purchasable powerups. It would feature the detailed locales of Shenmue and a character customization system not too different from that of Microsoft's Dungeon Siege. It would feature a few characters from a few of my novels, and feature minigames such as pachinko and mahjongg. The setting would be Tokyo of the year 20XX, and the heroes would be the first four foreign exchange students allowed to study at the illustrious Tokyo Psychic University. The timeframe would be during a heated series of psychic student protests for educational reform. The method of transportation between city sections would be trains. On the trains, you'd be attacked by countless angry students -- for your invitation to study at TPU means that four Japanese students were sent off to spy on your universities, blackening the image of the Japanese education system. The game would feature four young people set to plunge into and solve other people's business using the only method they knew how: their fists.
I wrote a lengthy semi-formal design document as I finalized the story flow in my head. It spawned a great discussion, and even a follow-up installment.
Yet the game has not progressed past this point. There were real games to play, like Animal Crossing and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I didn't have time to think about fake ones.
Yet I still thought. You can't yet buy Tokyo Psychic University: Demon-Puncher 20XX. That doesn't mean you won't be able to, at some point in the future.
I have been told that Tokyo Psychic University: Demon-Puncher 20XX is something of a "fanboyish dream." Well, thank you Tokyo Psychic University: Demon-Puncher 20XX, for being my personal proof that I can still have fanboyish dreams about videogames. Writing that "design document," yeah, that's about my sixth-most memorable moment in gaming for 2002.
And I continue to think . . . inspired by Bangai-Oh!, something keeps telling me that Conspiracy's Dan Jevons might be able to help me get TPU: DP20XX off the ground . . .
. . . or maybe not.
[next: number five: ask not for whom taco bell tolls; no man is an MMORPG]
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