Description
With almost 40 years of hard-boiled sleuthing under its belt, Data East's legendary "Tantei Saburou Jinguuji" (aka "Jake Hunter") series, inspired by the likes of "The Portopia Serial Murder Case", "Deja Vu", "Animal Land: Murder Case", "Sanma no Meitantei" and other ye olde text-adventure games hit the scene. Initially started in 1987, it might not be the first, but it's certainly one of the longest-lasting ones, and the franchise has changed hands several times since DE has gone defunct. As the first of MANY games in our channel, I decided to cover PS' 1999 "Early Collection", which covers the first 4 (5) games in the series on Famicom and Famicom Disk System, from 1987 to 1990. Besides housing the games, it also has a ton of extras from music and FMVs to insider data and a decent amount of the legendary (and prolific) Katsuya Terada's artwork (寺田 克也, series illustrator, known for PLENTY of other works, but most known for this series of video games).
The basic gist of the games is to go through menus to travel, investigate and progress. One of the series' trademark features is for Jinguuji to smoke cigs to jog his memory during investigations to aid progression (and it's just cool, lol). Here's a brief overview of each game below --v
Timestamps:
Intro: 0:00:00 - 0:03:37
TJS1: 0:03:38 - 0:34:06
TJS2: 0:34:07 - 1:17:23
TJS3: 1:17:24 - 2:03:06
TJS4: 2:03:07 - 2:52:24
Extras: 2:52:25 - 3:08:54
Credits: 3:08:54 - End
Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Shinjuku Chuuou Kouen Satsujin Jiken (1987): Detective Jinguuji's first outing and also one of the most experimental, the player is looking to find the killer of a young woman named Momoko who was the friend of a hostess at "Bar East". Dubbed the "Shinjuku Central Park Murder", this woman had ties to money and an unknown father. The game let's you explore the park in a top-down fashion and talk to NPCs, but it serves little actual purpose in the game. There's also little music, Yoko (your assistant) has almost no role, and the amount of menus and unnecessary actions is rough. This game also differs from the others as you have about two weeks to solve the murder, and bad choices (Game Overs) or taking a break will advance one day.
Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Yokohama-ko Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (1988): The second game in the series and the first released for Famicom, it's a big step up from Shinjuku Chuuou Kouen. Dubbed the "Yokohama Port Murder", the game is bigger, looks better, removes the top-down searching, has a lot more (and cooler) music, a better story with better character interactions, and you can have others help solve the case such as Yoko and Hinode. Yoko gets to strut her stuff more and show off her mastery of multiple languages too. A marriage is denied and the disappearance of an overseas woman named Eva sends waves through the town. Can Jinguuji solve the case?
Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Kiken na Futari Zenpen / Kouhen (1988-1989): The third game in the series and second for FDS, the game's volume was allegedly so vast that it had to be split into two parts between 1988 and 1989. Despite that, it's not especially longer than the second. The graphics have improved a little more and Yoko starts coming into her own as a deuteragonist as her and Jinguuji work independently at times to solve the murder of one of Yoko's old friends. A race course, illicit drugs and Jinguuji even being framed for murder.... brother can't even get relief from the trauma with his Marlboro cigs while riding around in Yoko's proud yellow Volkswagen (and she surprisingly likes heavy metal music... good girl). The plot takes a bit before it makes sense as it starts abruptly like a fever dream and a dangerous duo emerges.
Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Toki no Sugiyuku Mama ni (1990): The last game in the 8-Bit saga, once again for Famicom. Dubbed "As Time Goes By", this one is a strange departure from the rest of the games. Kumano (former police officer) is officially forced into retirement, Jinguuji winds up gaining custody of a lost kid and a young dog (yes, you can pet the dog), and the game bounces back and forth between the past and present as Jinguuji and Kumano recount the events of a case from last year. There's a few less menu options (you lost the ability to take photos too since the second game), occasional multiple choice selections, and the game takes on a sepia-ish tone as you explore the past, which is kinda neat. The Meiji head and Yakuza boss, Gozo, reappears from TJS1 with a job for you to aid an attractive middle-aged rich woman, Nobuko, by finding stolen art, but the case evolves into more. The graphics again see a subtle improvement.
Individually, these games are certainly products of their time, but it's a pretty nice collection overall with several unlockables (you need to earn cigs by clearing games or playing a sliding puzzle to get them). This is a video of the games in action with some extras. Enjoy.
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